NOVEL NEXT Chapter 35: TST [35]
The grand and tumultuous midterm exam had finally come to an end.
The principal almost immediately retracted Morgan's expulsion and announced her as the top scorer of the midterms.
No one objected—after all, Morgan had earned everyone's respect with her true strength.
Even though there was a mysterious Duel King behind her, luck and destiny were part of being a duelist. No one complained, and no one questioned it.
Milo's reaction had convinced everyone of that.
At the same time, the principal issued a gag order: all students were to return home in silence and not speak a word about what had happened. After all, none of them wanted to be removed from the Duel stage.
Though Morgan had successfully overcome this crisis, her life had undergone a dramatic change...
"Morgan, please go out with me!"
Seeing the flustered boy in front of her shout out a confession with the kind of awkward boldness only teenagers had, Morgan dropped her head in defeat.
"Sorry, I can't accept."
"Why? Just tell me your conditions, I'll do whatever it takes!"
The boy pressed on, having apparently mastered the art of relentless pestering.
"..."
Morgan sighed and said helplessly, "I don't have any conditions. No means no. Stop coming to me."
As she turned to leave, the panicked boy whipped out his Duel Disk and shouted:
"Then let's Duel! If I win, you have to be my girlfriend! My goddess!"
"Eugh!"
Morgan shivered with disgust, goosebumps covering her arms.
...
BOOM!
The Duel ended fast. The boy fell to his knees, unwilling to give up, and declared:
"Damn it, am I still not strong enough? My goddess, wait for me! I'll become powerful enough to be worthy of you!"
Morgan ignored him and walked away briskly, feeling so sick she could vomit.
Ever since the midterms ended, this sort of thing hadn't stopped. Every break between classes, a boy would call her outside to confess.
Lately, she'd been stuck in an endless cycle of confessions, rejections, angry Duels, and bold declarations after losing. What bothered her most was that class had become the only time she could enjoy peace. She'd never loved being in class more.
At this rate, she had practically become the goddess of the Middle Division at Duel Academy.
Despite that, Morgan absolutely didn't want that title!
If she'd known this would happen, she would've rather lost to Mr. Grant.
Returning to the classroom, Morgan had just sat down when someone called out to her.
"Morgan, there's a boy outside looking for you!"
Morgan's temper flared. She hadn't even been sitting for a full minute!
Just as she was about to chase the guy away, she heard Jade's voice shouting outside—Jade and Isla were driving the boy away, then came over to Morgan.
"Morgan, you've been really busy lately! Haven't had time to hang out with me at all."
Jade said lazily.
"You think I want this?"
Morgan's face was full of exasperation.
"More than half the boys at school worship you like a goddess. That must feel great, huh?" Isla grumbled slightly, though then she hugged Morgan's pale neck and murmured dreamily, "But you don't have to mind them. You belong to me alone."
"Nonsense! Morgan is mine!"
Jade grabbed onto Morgan's head, not backing down.
Expressionless, Morgan looked resigned. She felt like these two were no different from the boys… maybe even more dangerous.
Just then, Jade leaned in with a devious look and said:
"The weekend's almost here. Let's go out! Duel Amusement Park is running an event. We can wander around and celebrate your first-place win."
"Great idea. We should celebrate," Isla nodded.
"When I said 'we,' I wasn't including you. This is a date between Morgan and me."
Jade narrowed her eyes at Isla. This witch really had no shame!
"I never said I was going with you."
Isla rolled her eyes and said mockingly.
That set Jade off. She whipped out her Duel Disk.
"Then let's Duel for it!"
"Bring it on!"
As the two locked eyes, ready to Duel at a moment's notice, Morgan said weakly:
"I'm not interested. You two go together."
Honestly, she'd rather stay home and grind ranked matches than go shopping with those two.
Seeing Morgan's complete lack of enthusiasm, the two stopped fighting. After some intense eye contact, they quickly came to an agreement.
"I heard a new card shop just opened in Duel Amusement Park with special deals. Wanna check it out? I'll buy you anything you want."
Isla changed her approach smoothly.
In fact, she was bluffing. There was no discount event at the Duel Amusement Park—but most of the card shops there were Jade's family property. Setting up a sale was no big deal.
This finally piqued Morgan's interest. After the exam, Milo had warned her not to use Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder too much. If anyone recognized it as the Duel King's card, that would spell trouble.
It was her punishment for lying, in a way. She couldn't reveal the truth, so she had to comply.
Without ZEUS, her Melffy Deck had gone from low-tier to completely non-viable.
To face upcoming challenges, she indeed did need to upgrade her cards.
With that in mind, Morgan nodded.
"Sure, might as well check it out."
Seeing her agree, the two girls clapped excitedly.
But their brief truce ended instantly as they exchanged glares and huffed, turning away from each other with a snort.