Chapter 36.

I let out a sigh of relief. I was in the lead the entire time, but that guy definitely wasn’t a push over like I thought he might be. “That was an awesome Duel dude!” Belowski cheered while he held out his hand. I nodded and shook it with a small smile. “Yea. It’s nice to see a good duelist using lower level cards too.” Belowski laughed while he laid back down on the ground to cloud gaze again. I then looked back over to the girls.

Mindy was napping in the sunlight, while Jasmine was trying to wake her up. Blair ran over to me with a large smile on her face, and Alexis wasn’t far behind. “That was so amazing!” Blair cheered. “How all of your cards work so well together, even with different cards! Like how your trap worked for so many of your different spells! And the way all of your monsters have different purposes!” I grinned after Blair was done, it was nice to see her genuinely happy about my deck.

I was quickly broken from my thoughts after Alexis punched my arm. “Ow…” I said as I rubbed my arm. “You actually took in that psycho!?” I looked at her more closely to see that she was really mad at me. “What are you talking about?” I then remembered Blair wasn’t around for when I dueled Jinzo when she asked what was going on. Alexis was happy to fill Blair in, and be vindicated about her anger towards me. “I’m assuming you know about Duel Spirits, and have seen them because of this idiot.” Alexis pointed her thumb at me while I held my hands up in confusion from how upset she was about this.

Blair nodded a bit embarrassingly, but Alexis continued on. “He dueled an evil Jinzo who was trying to steal the souls of people, and now he thinks it's smart to keep it around!” Blair then looked at me to see if what Alexis said was true, and I nodded with a shrug. Alexis hit my arm again while Jasmine cheered. “Yea! Hit him again!” I squinted at Jasmine and she laughed while helping Mindy get her bearings. Blair then caught my attention with a small hit on my chest. I looked down to see Blair’s eyes were glistening with tears she was holding back.

I sighed as I ruffled her hat. ‘She’s a bit of a crybaby… It sucks that I’m weak to tears.’ “I’ll be fine.” I then looked at Alexis still frowning at me with her arms crossed below her chest. “The real reason I was weak after that Duel was because Zorc used my energy to wipe Jinzo’s evil. He’s loyal to me now.” Alexis frowned as she stared at me in silence. I stared back into her eyes to let her know that I was completely fine., and after some time, she let out a sigh and shook her head. “Fine… I’ll trust you. But if I think anything is wrong, then I’m Dueling you again to make sure Jinzo isn’t doing anything funny.”

I scoffed at her. “Is that just an excuse to Duel me?” Alexis smirked at my question, and shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe… But I know that I will knock some sense into you if you’re wrong about Jinzo.” I rubbed my arm she had hit before and rolled my eyes with a frown. “I’m not doubting it.” Alexis quickly punched my arm again while Jasmine cheered her on.

I turned my attention to Blair, and saw she was still worried. I gave her the best reassuring smile I could give to help ease her angst. “You think a single spirit that I beat before can hurt me? I beat him once, and I can do it again.” I then moved her hat over her eyes to block her vision before continuing on. “So… Stop worrying… It doesn’t suit you.” I sighed after hopefully getting her to stop being scared of things she shouldn’t, and looked down at Belowski who was still cloud gazing.

“Yo, Belowski! Did Crowler ask you to Duel me up here?” He kept staring at the sky while he answered. “Oh yea man! He totally brought me out of my resort to Duel ya! That totally slipped my mind with how much fun I had!” He laughed at how forgetful he was, and continued relaxing. I shook my head at how dumb Crowler’s schemes were. “Whatever… At least I got a good Duel out of it… Oh! Because I know that a decorated Obelisk teacher wouldn’t be spying on students to hopefully get them into situations to get them expelled! I can just do this, knowing nobody else is here!!” I yelled as I flipped the bird to the direction Crowler was hiding at.

I knew he was there after my pal won me the duel and danced around the roof in his happiness. He found Crowler and let me know where he was so I could let him know what I thought of him. I wasn’t really upset from this duel, it was fun, but I wanted to mess with him while he was on a crusade against Jayden and I. After I was done, I noticed Alexis covering a smirk, and shaking her head. She instantly knew what I was doing, and I could tell she was stifling a chuckle.

Blair seemed a bit more confused at the start, but by the end she stared off to where I flipped the bird to see if Crowler really was there. I smiled from imagining the anger he was feeling about having his hands tied, and sat down near the edge of the roof. I was surprised they didn’t have any railing for safety reasons, but I wasn’t scared of the drop at all. Even though I estimated it to be above 100 feet at least (I was never really good at estimating), I instinctively felt at ease even if I dropped down. Like I knew that I would be ok, and uninjured. It was strange having my sense of values change, but I ignored it to enjoy the scene.

I looked back at Blair and waved her over with my head. She seemed nervous, but slowly walked over beside me and sat down with her legs still on the roof instead of hanging off like mine. She seemed too scared to look down at the amazing sight. I smiled a bit and ruffled her hat to help ease her worry. “You’ll be fine. I won’t let you fall.” I then lowered my back onto the ground and looked skyward at the clouds. The subtle breeze tickling my face while I watched the clouds go by. ‘Maybe that hippie is on to something…’

I noticed Blair had decided to lay down the same as me, but she was holding my sleeve to make sure that I could hold her in case she fell. My smile grew from how nice this day had been. ‘Able to have a good Duel, and found a nice lounging spot to nap.’ Alexis scoffed at me as she took the other spot beside me. “You were just thinking about how this place is good to nap in, weren’t you?” I chuckled at how well she read me.

She sighed with a defeated smile as she laid down. I noticed that she grabbed the bottom corner of my jacket. I wouldn’t have normally noticed it, but her slightly reddening face gave her away. I didn’t say anything though. I was starting to doze anyway, and didn’t want to jeopardize my sleep with being attacked by Alexis again. “That cloud looks like your Kuribohble.” Blair pointed to the sky, and I squinted to see a cloud that did resemble my pal. He floated around and chirped with glee.

Jasmine then came around with Mindy, and decided to lay down beside us as well. She kicked me as she sat herself down behind me with Mindy. “Sorry~.” She wasn’t hiding her mocking tone while I rubbed my head. I sighed, and just continued to enjoy the calming sea breeze with the warm embrace of the sun. I let Crowler slink off downstairs while he was still inside his stay puff suit. I was glad he decided to go, and felt much better about napping safely without any more of his schemes for the day. I rested my eyes, and fell asleep, enjoying the peacefulness of this place.

I woke up some time in the evening. The sun was setting, and the air seemed much cooler. However I was warm, I first thought it was the spirits helping me, but the familiar weight I had on both sides of me proved otherwise. I sighed before looking down to see Blair and Alexis both hugging me in their sleep. We were all huddled together to keep warm while it was getting more brisk outside. I then looked around to see Jasmine and Mindy doing the same with each other.

Both of my arms were being used as pillows for Blair and Alexis, so I couldn’t do much besides just wait it out. ‘Not like I would try to end this early anyway.’ I chuckled as I looked skyward, wondering how I would react if I told my past self about my life now. "Has my luck finally changed...?"