Hostility, disappointment and hope.

"So you want to tell me why I'm tied up inside the abandoned dorm?." Alexis asked as she still looked rather coldly.

It's okay that she's alert, but it's clear I'm the good guy here. I mean, she was tied up while there were only two people in there, me and this man, but in no way do I look like the bad guy.

"I'm more curious to know what your deck was." Dueling junkie Jaden asked right away.

"Hey guys, this man is fine." Syrius asked as he tried to wake up the man I still don't know the name of.

"No, no, you're taking the wrong questions into account, no one saw that huge black dome?. Does anyone want to tell me what that was?." Who said that was Chumley, I think he's the most sentient here.

"Well, now that you say it, I was confused by that too. Just looking at the cupola made my heart go cold." Syrius even shivered a little.

"Wasn't that a Field Spell Card?. I swore it was." Jaden dense as he always was, at least at the beginning of the story.

"It's no use guessing, I'm sure our friend here will explain everything that's going on. And I think you better tell us what happened to the people in the abandoned dorm." Alexis said as she pointed the Duel Disk at me. Just remembering that with him, she took down someone as big as this man, I even get a little scared.

"Look, I understand your fear, you were knocked out and then tied up I would be angry too, but how about you stop being so offensive to me?. I explain to you everything that happened, but i think we better get out of here, this place is not good at all." I sigh a little annoyed. I don't understand why she looks so different from what I remember, in the anime she is a very calm person.

Does it have something to do with these people who disappeared from the dorm ?. If I'm not mistaken, she had someone important, however I don't remember what happened here.

I only remember the dorm, because thanks to Master Duel I felt like watching it again, but I only watched the first few episodes before I ended up here.

Chumley, Sirius and Jaden looked at Alexis to which she looked at me before sighing and handing Chumley the Duel Disk.

"Let's get out of here then. But I'm going to take this man to the academy guards. Regardless if this was a joke or not, the fact that he kidnapped me is a crime in itself and he won't get away with it. Besides, you could please give me back my duel disk.?." I'm a little confused by what she's implying, but I agree with her. I remove my deck from the Duel Disk before handing it.

"I found this card on the floor of one of the rooms, I think it's your." I extend my hand to hand over to Etoile Cyber. I remember a little of what the decks of everyone here are like.

"Well, thanks then." Alexis sighed a little before taking the letter from my hand. At least her hostility towards me has lessened a bit, but her attention is still high.

"Well then, could you guys help me carry him ?. If possible to some hospital or ward. I don't know if he's very well." The guy was consumed twice by alien cockroaches, it would be surprising if the guy is totally fine.

The boys looked at each other a little before looking at Alexis.

"Do you want me to help?." Alexis asked with a normal face.

"Of course not, we're the boys here, come on Jaden, Chumley." Jaden looked like he wanted to say something, but Syrius stopped him by pushing him to help me.

Jaden wouldn't ask Alexis to help would he?.

...Of course not right?...

...

Well, never mind. We should get out of here soon before something happens.

As soon as we left the abandoned dormitory, the moonlight consecrated me. I was so relieved that I was no longer in a place where a shadow duel could happen at any time that I even lost some of my strength.

Syrius, who was the smallest, felt it the most.

"Hey, you threw all the weight on my side." Syrius complained.

"Sorry, I lost strength for a moment." I smile a little awkwardly.

"Would you like to rest before we continue?." Jaden asks behind me.

"That's a good one, now that we're out of the abandoned dorm is a good time to talk." Alexis said, she is the person who most wants to know what happened.

"I don't know if this man is okay. Let's take him first and then I'll explain the situation." Alexis is in a hurry to know what happened, but priorities first. Even though this man is someone bad, I don't want to see him dying in front of me.

Alexis looked conflicted for a few moments before sighing and nodding.

It took a while before reached the dueling academy. As it's late at night, there aren't any students just a few guards hanging around.

When the guards saw us approaching carrying an unconscious man they immediately moved with exceptional speed.

By the way, this dueling academy is huge and extremely beautiful. She's so tech she seemed above my world.

The man was taken to some unknown place being carried by a robot, does this have an AI inside it?.

Anyway one of the guards ushered us into a quiet room. Alexis almost couldn't take it anymore and was ready to try to look inside my head.

Jaden, Syrus and Chumley just chatted normally, mostly talking about how scary the abandoned dorm was.

"Now that the man has been taken to safety can you explain what happened?." Alexis asked staring at me. Unlike before, there was no more coldness only... Hope ?.

"Of course, I don't mind explaining." I nodded, was ready to start talking.

"First of all I'd like to make it clear that I don't know how I got here." I say this right away.

All four looked at me confused.

I chose not to lie. This world has technology so superior to my world, I can bet they easily managed to figure out that I don't have an identity.

So I'd like to get that explained right away.

Of course, I think they would hardly accept the truth, so I withheld some factors.

"What do you mean by that ?." Everyone looked at me confused.

"I'll explain everything that happened and then you guys ask me the questions, ok?." Seeing that everyone nodded, even Alexis even though she looked a little reluctant I was finally able to start explaining.

"I showed up here all of a sudden, I didn't know what to do it was all dark so I looked for a source of light... And then that's when I found that letter... After going down the hall I found that man with this girl tied up he said that he was a shadow duelist and that he wanted this girl's soul."

"While we were dueling I found out that he was a fake shadow duelist, I think the girl saw that too as she knocked him down with just a dueling disk."

"But that's when things start to get weird. That dome was not created by him, there were some strange monsters that tried to enter my body, luckily I managed to escape. But that man was unlucky and the monsters entered his body, then we went back to the duel."

"After I won the duel the monsters got out of him and tried to take him somewhere, but I managed to carry him and escape the dome. And that's when I found them."

"That man seemed to mistake me for someone named Jaden Yuki."

"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet, right? I'm Kotaku."

I finished telling the story. Syrius and Chumley were open-mouthed, almost hugging each other and shaking. Jaden's eyes were shining.

Alexis, on the other hand, had a doubtful look.

"Are you sure you're not lying? I've never seen you at this academy, if you are lying and have entered here anonymously, you will have serious consequences. If you tell me the truth and tell me what happened to the missing students of the abandoned dorm I might even try to help you." Alexis said with a serious and hopeful look.

I really don't remember what happened to the students, otherwise I would really give you some hope.

"Sorry girl, I don't know what this missing students is about." I sigh, but then Alexis did something I never thought she would.

"You don't want me to really believe this little story and that this shadow dueling thing is real. This is pure fantasy." Alexis slammed her hand on the table hard and said extremely annoyed.

Me and all the other boys were freaked out by what she did.

"Say something that's true. Why don't you say something real instead of trying to make up lies, I even accept the truth that you're like those other boys who want to try to win me over by trying to be the "hero", but don't lie talking nonsense." Alexis spoke it all in one breath.

I was a little stunned looking at her. I don't think anyone has ever seen that side of her.

"I'm sorry. Everything I said is the truth." I sigh, but what I said only seemed to make her angrier.

Before she could say anything else the door to the room opened and two men entered.

One of them has a really recognizable look. Professor Crowler. The other is a bald man, he is also quite familiar.

Academy director Chancellor Sheppard.

"Director, Professor." Everyone greeted them, except me of course.

"Calm down Alexis, some of the things he said are real." Sheppard waved at them, but the first thing he said was different than I had imagined.

Did he defend me ?.

"I'd like to talk to him alone. You have class tomorrow(today). How about going back to your dorms." Sheppard told them that.

Jaden, Syrius and Chumley looked at each other before nodding their heads and getting up from the couch. Alexis was the only one who didn't get up, she just sat there staring stubbornly at the headmaster.

"Come on Alexis." Syrius whispered, nudging her on the shoulder, but she didn't respond.

Sheppard just sighed at the sight of it.

"Alright boys go back to your room first, you can stay Alexis. Crowler escort the boys to their dorms." Crowler nodded.

Now that I've stopped to notice, Crowler looks a little nervous. If I'm not mistaken, he was the one who hired that man, right?

His being captured must be filling him with fear.

Crowler left with the boys not even looking at the seriousness of the situation.

Sheppard then sat down on the couch.

"Director, what do you mean that what he said was half true?." Alexis asked.

But my question now is. Was he listening to our conversation?.

"I understand your wish Alexis, but you need to calm, down at least for now." Shepard sighed.

"I overheard your conversation and while you guys were talking I looked for any records about the kid's information, Kotaku right ?. And well... I didn't find any. Not even his documentation exists." Alexis was silent, somewhat stunned.

"You mean what he said is real?." Alexis asked.

"That's what I've said so far." I mutter to myself.

"At least half the truth. But that doesn't explain a lot of things. If you ended up here, then where are you from, why can you speak our language so easily ?." Unlike the series where Sheppard is somewhat playful, here the moment he addressed me I started to feel a gigantic pressure, as if my body was heavy.

"Language ?." Now that I thought about it. How can I speak this language? It's none of the ones I know, not English, Japanese or Portuguese. How can I speak and understand ?.

"I... I don't understand what's going on either..." Well, I can't say that my computer exploded in front of me and then I ended up here, nor would I believe such a story.

However, the fact that I can speak this language is something I didn't really realize.

Perhaps because I noticed my internal struggle over what was going on, the pressure I felt eased away.

Sheppard looked at me for a few moments before closing his eyes.

"Fine. I'll temporarily believe what you say. But we're going to need to do some more thorough testing before I completely believe you." I nod somewhat relieved, at least I have some chance yet.

I look for a moment at Alexis, who has her head down. She must have really felt bad knowing I had nothing to do with what happened to her brother.

I feel a little bad so I decide to say some things that I remember from the anime.

"Girl." She looked at me, her eyes were dismayed and the side of her lip is cut.

"These missing students, is there anyone important to you from the missing ones?." I ask, although I already know, this is to avoid suspicion.

"Yes. My brother disappeared." She replied despondently and in a low voice.

"I don't know if this can be of any help, in fact it might even be a bad thing, you want to know anyway?." I ask with some trepidation.

"Of course, anything will help." Alexis' eyes lit up, the despondency disappeared and happiness came into her eyes. Her fists were clenched.

"I see. I already talked about man being overpowered by monsters, didn't I?. Well, what happened there was really a shadow game." I say lightly. Alexis looked at me surprised, while Sheppard continued with a calm face.

"How can you be so sure of that?." Alexis asked a little agitated.

"Usually shadow play needs a catalyst to start." Even though it might raise suspicion, I still decide to talk about it.

"That… abandoned dorm, there's something there that is a catalyst for this shadow game. Whatever happened in that dorm, the students' disappearance must have something to do with it." Alexis' eyes were confused.

"But... Shouldn't shadow games be a legend?. How could this have come about in the abandoned dormitory?." Alexis asked confused.

"No. Shadow games exist." The one who answered it was Sheppard.

I remember now. This academy guards the three gods. It would be strange if Sheppard didn't know about the existence of the shadow game.

"I already had some suspicions, but now it looks like that's really what happened." Hearing what Sheppard said, Alexis lowered her head, her hair now covering her face.

"Does that mean my brother... Died?." Alexis asked in a shaky voice.

"No, it's actually the other way around. If he's trapped by a shadow game he can still be recovered." I answer without holding back. Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have said that, Alexis will try to save him as soon as she gets out of here.

"That's true, but Alexis, you're too weak right now. If you play the game of darkness, we'll lose you just like we lost your brother." Sheppard said that before hope shone on Alexis.

"I've been researching the abandoned dorm and so far I haven't found a way to get in touch with the force inside, I even thought it might not be that. But now that I know, I understand how dangerous it is, even if I go in there right now. situation will be dangerous for me. If you really want to save your brother, I won't stop you, but you must become stronger spiritually or you will only be consumed." Shepard said.

"I understand director." Alexis bit her lip hard.

"Now that we have the right direction I'm sure we can save your brother. But make sure you don't do things alone, if you do it will be even worse. You need to prepare before you do things." Sheppard surprised me. I thought he was going to try to stop her, but it was just the opposite.

"I understand Director." Unlike before, Alexis' eyes were shining with determination.

"Now go back to your room to rest, you will need energy for the next few days." Alexis nodded before getting up from the couch and walking towards the door. She stopped a few feet from the exit before turning to me and bowing.

"I apologize for everything I did. I apologize for my hostility. You gave me a very important tip, thank you." I'm a little surprised at what she did, but a smile crept over me.

"Don't worry, just being able to help makes me happy." Alexis gave a small smile.

"My name is Alexis, nice to meet you Kotaku." Alexis extended her hand to me, which I gladly accepted.

"Nice to meet you Alexis." I smile happily as I hold her hand.

"I promise to make it up to you someday. Good night Kotaku, Director." Alexis says before leaving the hall.

At least today ended well.

Or at least that's what I thought...

Sheppard wouldn't let me out after I left such a big flaw.

Questions and more questions about how I know what a shadow duel.

And then came tests and more tests...

He even tried to see my deck, which I fought tooth and nail, he didn't lay a finger on my deck. No one will touch it, only I can.

It wasn't until much later that I was released.

Fortunately I managed to survive without being arrested.

Aliais I must thank the help of "Titan".

Titan was the man I faced, he woke up and after interrogation he confessed everything.

Even though he was hired to scare "Jaden Yuki", he had only confused me with him.

It seems that Crowler narrowly escaped, he hadn't said his name to the Titan.

Thanks to the indirect help of the Titan, I got free faster.

It was only one to two weeks after I was finally released.

And all thanks to Sheppard, I finally have an identity in this new world.

My story starts now, As a student at the dueling academy.