"Aisha, it's the Millennium Ring!'

"Mm. I heard it too, Mr. Miles!"

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence—but this was beyond even the third time.

Miles could recognize the sound of the Millennium Ring in any form, even if he were ashes in the wind.

Based on earlier suspicions from both Miles and Aisha—though lacking hard proof—the Millennium Ring's holder was most likely Luca Slint.

Aisha quickly asked, "Um, Irena-senpai, did you see Luca today?"

If Luca had been in the library, perhaps Irena, as the librarian, might've noticed.

After all, borrowing books there required her approval.

"Luca Slint..."

Irena rested a slender finger on her chin, tilting her head as she tried to recall.

"If you're asking about today, Aisha, then no... I haven't seen Luca at all. At least, not while I've been here."

"Luca didn't come to the library?"

Yet Dark Aisha had sensed it—the wind chime of the Millennium Ring rang clearly, confirming that the Item's holder had entered Fusion's library.

Still, Irena's answer was the complete opposite.

It made Miles begin to doubt.

"Could we have been wrong? Maybe Luca Slint isn't the Ring's holder after all?"

So far, neither Aisha nor Miles had gathered solid proof that Luca held the Millennium Ring. And now, this latest event had given her a near-perfect alibi.

"Yaaawn…"

Irena let out a huge yawn, and the fatigue on her face deepened further.

"Senpai, are you okay?"

Dark circles were faintly visible beneath her eyes, and Aisha looked on with concern.

"I'm fine, really... Though to be honest, I didn't sleep too well last night."

"Poor sleep? You had a cold and still didn't rest? Did something happen?"

"Uh, how do I put this..."

Caught off-guard, Irena's eyes flickered and her cheeks turned pink with uncharacteristic embarrassment.

"It's kind of embarrassing to tell you, Aisha. I feel like you'd laugh."

"Of course, I won't laugh! I'm asking because I care!"

"Alright then, but promise me you won't laugh."

"Mm! I'm a professional. No matter how funny it is, I won't laugh."

...

"Pfft!"

"You laughed, Aisha!"

"No, I didn't! I just remembered something happy!"

"Have you been hanging around the wrong crowd lately?"

Though she frowned in mock displeasure, seeing Aisha's smile seemed to ease Irena's exhaustion slightly.

"I never expected the reason you didn't sleep was because you dreamed you were in a Duel! That's such a weird reason."

"Weird, but truly vivid."

Irena gestured with her arms, drawing a large circle in the air.

"I even remember specific details from the Duel. There was this enormous monster I'd never seen before... I think its name was Hamon?"

"Hamon?"

The name sounded familiar to Miles, though he couldn't quite place it.

Aisha asked, "So you were Dueling this Hamon monster in your dream, senpai?"

"No, no—Hamon was summoned during the Duel. My opponent... hmm? Who was it again? I can't really remember."

"Well, it was a dream. It's normal for parts of it to be fuzzy."

It stands to reason that dreams often fade fast after waking, leaving only blurred fragments.

Despite that, for Irena to recall Dueling and even a monster named 'Hamon' showed just how deeply the dream affected her.

"Can you remember anything else, senpai?"

"I think... I lost the Duel in the end."

She chuckled awkwardly. Losing even in a dream Duel was a little embarrassing, even for Irena.

"You lost in a dream?" Aisha gasped. "Then your opponent and that Hamon monster must have been insanely strong."

As one of the Twin Pillars of the Academy, Irena was rarely bested in a Duel.

"I don't know if they were strong, but... I definitely don't want to have that dream again."

"You poor thing, senpai."

"So now I need you to heal me, Aisha~ Let me pet you!"

Irena began stroking the ahoge atop Aisha's head. She looked slightly more energized now.

Meanwhile, Irene had picked up a book titled "Principles of Fusion Dispersal" in the library. Fifteen minutes later, she got bored and dashed outside to play.

None of the strange things Miles feared happened. Just another normal day at Fusion Academy.

…

Three days later, the seal on Luca Slint's abdomen finally faded. After holding her tongue so long, she was finally able to speak freely again—and spent that night in the dorms venting nonstop to Aisha.

Her complaints mostly boiled down to how boring Fusion Academy was.

Three days a week of culture classes, while actual Duel classes only happened on Thursday (Summoning) and Friday (Practical).

Meanwhile, at Xyz Academy, Duel training took up Monday through Wednesday.

While Dueling was important, the Academy also valued student development; therefore, the Headmaster had set that policy since founding the school.

As for Fusion being dead last in rankings for Summoning proficiency due to their lack of Duel hours—the Headmaster didn't seem to care at all.

In the new week, though Aisha had joined the High-Level Spirit Research Society and no longer belonged to the Go-Home Club, she still headed to the library right after school most days.

There wasn't much to do at the research society. Without clues about where the God Cards would appear, everyone just followed President Nia's original motto: eat snacks and wait to die.

Until Thursday's Summoning class, when something finally disturbed the peaceful routine.

After class, Aisha had successfully summoned another new Kuriboh monster and was in a great mood.

But as she returned to the dorms for lunch, she found someone both familiar and unfamiliar waiting at her door.

"Kaima Seth-senpai?"

Up close, Kaima's beauty was stunning. Normally aloof, her expression today held faint complexity.

"What are you doing here, senpai?"

"Aisha Yuna Carlos. I've come to deliver a message."

"What kind of message?"

"Something's happened to Irena."

"Huh?! What happened to senpai?!"

"Her Spirit Eyes... no longer work."

...

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