"Then, that's the end of the declaration of war. As for that little Blue one… if you really want me to give her back, nii-san, it's not impossible. But whether Midai agrees or not… well, that's another story~"
Waving lazily at Youmi, Yuki turned around. Despian Proskenion stepped protectively in front of him and released a surge of black-red aura. Immediately, everyone except Dragonmaid Sheou grew drastically weaker, preventing the Dragonmaids from breaking through.
"Yuki, wait…!"
Weakened even further by Despian Proskenion's aura, Youmi used every last bit of strength to rise. Practically crawling on all fours, she dragged herself toward Yuki—yet, he merely gave her a single glance before stepping into the portal with Despian Proskenion.
Watching the silhouette of Yuki vanish completely, Youmi—exhausted and out of strength—collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, falling into unconsciousness.
"Hey, boss!"
"Kid!"
"Lord Youmi!"
In her fading vision, Youmi vaguely saw Fleurdelis without her helmet, Albaz, and Chamber Dragonmaid shaking her body in panic.
Then her consciousness sank into darkness.
…
Inside the Slifer Red dorm.
Fallen of Albaz had put on Youmi's school uniform and disguised himself as Youmi to attend class. He was called on by the teacher several times but failed every question, even being asked with concern whether he was feeling unwell.
Fleurdelis, now wearing her regular attire, was tending to the unconscious Youmi alongside Chamber Dragonmaid.
Laundry Dragonmaid had been tossed out of a suddenly opened portal later that night. House Dragonmaid and the other Dragonmaids brought her back to the Spirit World. Chamber Dragonmaid volunteered to remain in the human world with Youmi, taking the Dragonmaid Deck with her to help with his care.
Since Youmi was now her employer, Springans Kitt set up numerous Tri-Brigade birds around the dorm entrance to watch for intruders.
As for Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous… she handled bringing extra meals to Youmi.
For the first few days—likely because Youmi had been forcibly fused back into the Fallen of Albaz card while still carrying the Dragonmaid powers—his temperature fluctuated wildly. Ecclesia and Kitt even cracked an egg on his forehead as a joke.
Unfortunately, before the egg fully cooked, Fleurdelis grabbed both of them by the collars and dragged them out.
Three days passed like this. With Kitt's miniature earpiece feeding him answers from Fleurdelis, he managed to respond perfectly to classroom questions. But because Jaden and Syrus saw him entering the dorm every day in such an overly sneaky way, they suspected he was hiding some secret—or maybe even possessed by a ghost—and eventually confronted Fallen of Albaz one afternoon.
"Hey, Youmi? We're friends, right?" Jaden cornered him against the wall without thinking, not noticing Syrus reddening behind him. "You've been acting weird the past few days. Why do you sneak into the dorm like you're trying to hide some contraband Crowler-sensei confiscated?"
Fallen of Albaz jolted inwardly and hurried to lie. "Eh? Yuki—Ah, no, Jaden. I wasn't sneaking. I just didn't want to bother everyone while they were resting, right? It's lunchtime, so everyone should be trying to recharge for afternoon classes, yeah?"
"Saying that in Slifer Red sounds kinda ironic…" Jaden scratched his hair, then continued, "And that's not all. You haven't come play with us at all these days. You sat out during P.E. too, and you declined every duel invite even though you normally never turn down a duel."
That left Fallen of Albaz speechless. To avoid interacting too much and exposing himself, he'd rejected every duel request and skipped tennis with them.
"Uh… I sat out in P.E. because I twisted my ankle that day. And I didn't duel because I'm still adjusting my Deck, so I really can't duel right now." As if to prove it, Fallen of Albaz pulled out a half-complete Deck from his right pocket. "See? My Deck isn't even finished."
Even so, this action almost exposed him.
Because Syrus pointed at the Deck in his right hand. "Youmi-nii, aren't you left-handed? Why would you automatically put your Deck in your right pocket…? And didn't you say your left eye was fine? You haven't opened it once these days. Did you get hurt?"
"This… this… this is…!"
Fallen of Albaz screamed internally. He was definitely about to get found out.
Just then, the door to Youmi's dorm opened slowly in front of the stunned trio. From within walked a red-eyed, white-haired maid in a black-and-white uniform. Her left hand twirled a lock of her pale hair, and her glowing red eyes settled on Jaden and Syrus, cornering Fallen of Albaz.
"His Deck is in the right pocket because I accidentally put it there this morning. As for his eye, every month, my dear brother suffers a few days of severe phantom pain in that eye. It hurts too much to open."
Jaden lowered his arm and pointed at the sudden intruder. "Eh? Who are you? Slifer Red doesn't have any girls… also, you kinda look like Youmi…"
"So cute…"
Hearing Syrus mutter that praise, a few black lines appeared on the maid's face.
"I am Yu… Yuyumi, my dear brother's little sister. I'm sure my brother has been well cared for by you during his time at this academy. You have my thanks."
She performed a perfect curtsy to Syrus and Jaden, then added, "You two must be Jaden-sama and Syrus-sama, the close friends my brother often writes about in his letters home. He mentions you both quite frequently."
Jaden's jaw dropped. "Ehhhhh?? Youmi, you had such a cute little sister?! I guess we really don't know much about your family… so what you've been hiding these past few days is actually—"
"My dear brother was nearly… harmed by some wicked woman not long ago. When our family heard, they sent me here to take care of his daily needs. But because the journey was long, I only arrived three days ago~"
(Midai: Achoo! …Who's talking about me? Hmph. Probably not Youmi.)
Calling herself Yuyumi, the maid placed one hand over her chest and continued.
"With my brother's personality, of course, he wouldn't want his little sister fussing over him, so he tried to hide it from everyone~"
...
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