Two days before the commencement ceremony, Youyu officially moved to the island where Duel Academy is located.
As the honorary principal, he not only has his own office on the island but also a nicely decorated residence. After all, the island is quite large, but the academy occupies only a small area, leaving plenty of space unused.
However, until now he had hardly ever been to his residence on the island. Even when visiting for business, he never stayed overnight.
But that was before.
With the era of GX arriving, this island is likely the center stage of the new version from now on, and naturally, Youyu, who had been preparing for so long, wouldn't miss it.
He might spend more time on the island in the future, so he decided to move in early.
Now his helpers have come online, so he didn't bother moving his things himself. Youyu casually edited a simple task and threw it to Xue Lang and a few other little helpers.
The players excitedly whistled, each one acting as if they were called to a mission, and eagerly rushed out to organize.
The task was issued in the morning. Several players boarded the 9 AM ferry at Domino Pier, carrying various needed tools and furniture to Duel Academy.
By around 6 PM, when Youyu arrived on the island, the residence, unused for years, had been cleaned to perfection, and everything was neatly in its place.
Youyu sometimes couldn't help but think that the homes of these goofy folks in real life might not be as orderly as this.
Players are truly strange creatures. Tasks like moving bricks, working, running errands, or cleaning that might trigger laziness in real life become pursuits they zealously undertake in the game, afraid someone else might beat them to it.
Of course, in some self-reflection, Youyu himself was seemingly like this at first, so he wasn't in a position to say much.
He distributed some experience points to the little helpers as rewards, which made them instantly jubilant, as if it was New Year's Eve, and they left happily.
It's like tricking kindergarten kids with candy.
Youyu settled in his house, put down his luggage, took a nice hot shower to wash away the fatigue and weariness from his journey, and sat down at his private computer to start working.
He obtained a complete list of new students from Principal Samejima, along with detailed file information submitted by each of them, categorized according to the academy's evaluation and entrance exam results.
This time in Domino, he recruited a dozen players to the island as temporary special mentors.
The plan was to select a small number of students from the newcomers to participate in a special training program, where these special mentors would teach card playing techniques to the students.
Since it was uncertain whether the decks built and card skills explored by these card enthusiasts would suit the local NPC students—likewise, Youyu wasn't sure if appointing these goofy folks as teachers was a good idea—he initially picked only a dozen players for testing to see how effective it was.
If this approach proved effective—if the players' card playing concepts indeed successfully elevated the NPC students' card skill levels—he would then work towards promoting this teaching method, establishing a mature system.
"Yu-Gi-Oh! GX" is undoubtedly a work of high quality; at the very least, it has stood the test of time. But it can't be called perfect, and there are many regrets that players find unforgettable.
Take, for instance, the most annoying point: aside from the protagonist Yuki Judai, the rest of the faculty and students at the entire academy are pretty much useless.
Whatever they do, they fail at, first place in losing, always wandering off aimlessly, yet they felt righteous even when losing, highlighting "do whatever on top lane, Judai will cover it."
If one day they accidentally lost through wandering, they'd all turn back to blame Judai, complaining about being too incompetent to carry them.
Youyu felt that this mode of relying solely on Judai to carry them needed to change. While not expecting the supporting characters to steal the spotlight by defeating the bosses, they should at least clear the minions without losing heads, shouldn't they?
Setting aside duelists' level advantages in divine draws, purely in terms of physical card technique, Youyu himself wasn't sure if he was much stronger than other card enthusiasts.
If these players were unable to teach these underperforming students to play cards, then Youyu might be out of options too.
Browsing the new students' profiles, Youyu pulled out some students' files he was interested in and placed them in a separate folder as candidates for the first round of the "mentor responsibility system" training program.
The doorbell rang outside.
He found it strange that someone was visiting on the first night he arrived on the island. He stood up, left his seat, crossed the spacious and somewhat empty hall, and opened the door.
The girl stood on her tiptoes outside the door, looking up at him, her silver-white long hair shining under the door frame's light.
Chinai was holding a large rolling suitcase in her hand, tilted her head slightly, expressionless, and asked, "Which room do I stay in?"
Youyu: "..."
He asked, "You... have your own dorm on the island, right?"
"I do." Chinai nodded, then asked again, "So, which room do I stay in?"
Youyu reluctantly stepped aside to let her in.
He closed the door, took the heavy suitcase from Chinai, and pulled it as they walked further inside.
"There are plenty of vacant rooms; you can pick any one you like."
Chinai thought about it: "Which room do you stay in?"
"Right here." Youyu pointed to his room door, "The one next door and the one across are both empty... You want one of those, don't you?"
Chinai pondered for two seconds, calmly said, "Actually, I was going to say I'd stay in your room."
Youyu: "..."
His perspective was still too small.
Chinai lowered her head in silence, but still dragged her luggage into the next room.
She put down her luggage and went to the bathroom. When she returned, she poked her silver head out from the door, asking, "I took the clothes for washing."
"Oh."
Youyu was busy staring at the computer and casually responded. But then he felt something was wrong and quickly got up and came out.
"Wait..."
He opened the bathroom door, only to find Chinai holding the clothes he had just changed out of—the most prominent position being a certain intimate garment.
Yet the girl remained expressionless, only tilting her head slightly: "What's wrong?"
"...Nothing."
Youyu said nothing, quietly retreated, and sat back at his seat in his room.
Everyone pretends nothing happened.
Chinai acted nonchalant, but actually, as she carried the clothes out, her small heart was pounding hard.
Luckily, she had a poker face; Youyu didn't seem to notice anything amiss about her.
But the girl felt that today, she had made a huge step forward in her long journey!