Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"You bastard, are you planning to renege on your defeat?!" Jonouchi raised a hand to stop Goro, who was trying to approach. "I won't let you get a step closer to Hayato."

But Goro only glanced at Jonouchi before walking past him: "Hmph, although I, Goro, am a delinquent, I also have the dignity of a duelist."

With that, he walked up to Hayato and pulled out his deck: "I lost this duel. According to Mr. Pegasus's card betting rules, take your loot from my deck, Hayato Kobayashi."

Hayato looked puzzled: "I remember this wasn't part of our bet at the beginning, was it?"

"I don't care about your rules. Just like fish live in water and birds fly in the air, for me, the Duel Monsters game is a game where I have to gamble with my most treasured cards." Although Goro was a little reluctant that Hayato was going to take his cards, he still firmly spread out his deck. "Alright, Hayato Kobayashi, make your choice quickly, unless you don't want our class to take the Iron Plate."

"Just as choosing the spoils is a right of the victor, refusing the spoils is also a privilege of the victor. I choose to refuse—" Hayato had no intention of gambling on the cards, largely because none of the cards that Goro had just used were to his liking, so there was no point in taking them.

But just as he was about to say the word "refusal," Hayato saw a card in Goro's deck: "--- It seems a bit awkward to refuse you, so I'll accept this card."

Seeing Hayato take a card from his deck, Goro couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He was relieved that Hayato had taken the card, and also relieved that it wasn't one of the cards he valued most: "He just took such a useless card? What a kind guy."

"It's really unbearable to be talked to like that by a big guy." Hayato put the chosen card into his card box and put it away. He glanced at the iron plate that had just been used as a dueling ring: "So now, can you keep your promise?"

“Since we’ve lost, let’s get out of here!” Honda added, but Jonouchi corrected him: “No, the guys in Class D still have to help us rebuild all the damaged parts.”

"You nobodies, just shut up. The only strong person I acknowledge is Hayato Kobayashi. You have no right to command me." When facing Hayato, Goro's attitude was much better than before the duel began, but when he turned to Jonouchi, he reverted to his bully demeanor.

"Speaking of which, I remember Class D's area is right next to Class B's, right?" Hayato looked towards the other side from the direction of their class's area gate. Although Class B's area had been damaged by Goro and his gang, since the main events at the Game Carnival were games, the renovations could be easily repaired without any impact.

Meanwhile, the venue for Class D is still completely bare even though almost a day has passed. Tomorrow is the cultural festival, aren't they worried at all about not making it in time?

Goro Inoto noticed Hayato's confusion and replied, "Our Class D project is a super-large okonomiyaki. There's no need for any decorations or anything like that, because for us, the main purpose of the space is to serve as a warehouse for storing ingredients and consumables."

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese snack made by adding ingredients such as ham, corn, chicken, shrimp, and bacon to a batter made of flour and eggs. The batter is then poured onto a griddle and fried into small round pancakes about the size of a palm. Finally, it is sprinkled with sauces such as bonito flakes and mayonnaise and can be eaten on the go. It is a convenient snack to eat on the go.

Class D also operates other businesses that can be made at the same time as the takoyaki, grilled skewers, fried noodles, fried rice, etc., all of which are takeaway food. In this way, they really don't need to renovate the "warehouse".

“Your Class D doesn’t need the shop interior, just a display window, while our class doesn’t need a display window, just an interior play area.” Watching the Class D students being directed by Goro the Inuyasha, apologizing to the Class B students while decorating the shop interior, Hayato came up with what he considered a pretty good idea. “I have a plan!”

Chapter 45 The Package for the Game

The next day, the cultural festival of Domino High School officially began, and Domino High School itself was open to all visitors of Domino City on this day.

The students, who had been eagerly anticipating this day, couldn't wait to show visitors their various projects that they had been preparing for a long time, from acrobatics and magic to a homemade jewelry shop, a fortune-telling house, and a haunted house, showcasing the youth and vitality of the students at Domino High School.

Of all the projects, two stand out the most.

At Hayato's suggestion, Goro Inoto, the executive committee member of Class D's cultural festival, and the executive committee member of Class B's cultural festival reached a cooperation agreement. The two classes directly connected their adjacent venues and jointly built a large amusement area, and set up food vending points at the entrance and exit of the game carnival.

Class B's location is right at a corner of the entrance and exit of the cultural festival venue. While there is a large flow of visitors, it is also very convenient for trucks from outside to transport supplies in. This is why Goro Inuyasha came to take over Class B's venue yesterday.

By combining the efforts of both classes, the project between Class B and Class D achieved results greater than 2. The funds originally intended for the cultural festival were not only fully recovered, but also increased by 1000%. Everyone in both Class B and Class D received a large sum of money and was even commended by the school.

The other project, or rather the program, was the performance that Manjoume Seiji prepared for the cultural festival—he brought out the dueling platform that he had used on the rooftop last time, disassembled the parts, and put them on the performance stage, and found an "ordinary passerby"—his love rival Honda—to duel.

Although the two duelists were evenly matched, essentially a battle of novices, the fact that the Duel Monsters cards were materialized through a virtual video system still attracted the attention of many people interested in Duel Monsters, and the show received a very positive response.

The final victor of the duel was Manjoume, whose deck had a superior quality. Honda lost to him by a margin of 100 life points thanks to a bunch of "noble" monsters that he had recollected.

However, despite winning the match, when Manjoume Masashi confessed his feelings to "Little Ribbon" Nosaka Miho with a microphone, he was rejected because "Masashi's expression when he summoned the Duel Monster was too scary."

This pleased Honda greatly, while driving Manjoume to utter frustration. He had thought that Duel Monsters would help him achieve victory, but instead, he was rejected because of Duel Monsters? Because he believed that his tendency to make exaggerated facial expressions while playing cards must have been contagious to him by Honda, Masashi and Honda continued their endless argument.

However, although Ribbon rejected Manjoume's confession, Honda's smugness didn't last long. Spurred by Manjoume's public confession, after the school festival, Honda privately approached Ribbon and presented her with the confession puzzle he had been hiding for almost a week.

Then they received the words, "You're a good person." They cried quite a bit that afternoon. Both Honda and Manjoume, the two "love rivals," hugged each other after their breakups. It wasn't until Hayato treated them to a barbecue that they recovered.

Then they started arguing again the next day.

Not long after the cultural festival ended, Sugoroku Muto, who had recovered well, was discharged from the hospital. Hayato and Jonouchi went to help him that day. After being discharged, Sugoroku fulfilled his promise to Jonouchi and began to teach him the secrets of fighting the monster "Heart".

In other words, it was all about shuffling the deck. Under the grueling training of Sugoroku, Jonouchi spent every day shuffling the deck until he cramped up, and this continued for a whole month.

One month later —

"To the ten million Duel Monsters fans across the country, today is finally the day to decide the final winner of the national qualifiers!" The announcer's excited voice came from the television. "Who will be the one to become the Japanese national champion among the two hundred selected from the regional qualifiers?"

"Now, please welcome the contestants to the stage!"

Watching two duelists, whose strengths were currently unknown and who were roughly equal in age and height, enter the arena on their dueling platform, Jonouchi, watching on TV, angrily slammed his fist into his thigh: "Damn it, I should have been the one dueling there!"

“You’ve already tried your best, Jonouchi.” Kyoko glanced at Jonouchi. “Didn’t you train with Grandpa Sugoroku for a whole month? As long as you’ve made progress, that’s good enough.”

"If shuffling the deck every day counts as training," Jonouchi shuddered involuntarily as he recalled his hellish days.

Hayato, sitting next to him, patted him on the shoulder: "At least you're much better than before, and you even made it into the top eight in the selection tournament, didn't you? Although, it was the selection tournament in the Domino area."

“Hayato, you didn’t have to say that last sentence.” Jonouchi sighed, lowered his head, and let his yellow hair cover his face. “My 300 million yen bonus is gone, and I feel so ashamed to face Mr. Chicken, who trained me for a month.”

"Sigh, Jonouchi, what do you think is wrong with me?"

Speak of the devil, and he appears. Muto Sugoroku, seemingly out of nowhere, stood behind the sofa facing the television, tilting his head and asking Jonouchi a question. He was also holding a large cardboard box in his hands.

"Ah, Mr. Chicken, I'm so sorry!" Upon seeing the arrival of Old Master Sugoroku, Jonouchi quickly stood up and bowed. "He trained me for a month, and yet..."

"What are you talking about, Jonouchi? You've already performed exceptionally well." Old Master Sugoroku interrupted Jonouchi with a smile. Jonouchi looked up at the smile on Old Master Sugoroku's face. "To be honest, at first I really thought that with your strength, you wouldn't even have a chance in the selection process. You've already tried your best."

"Chicken, Chicken-san!" Jonouchi's eyes welled up with tears of emotion. He rushed towards Sugoroku to give him a hug, but Sugoroku Muto nimbly turned around and dodged away. Jonouchi missed and fell to the ground.

"Ah, game, I received a package for you."

"Huh, mine? Who sent it?" Yugi was a little confused. Her friends were all from Domino City, so if they wanted to send her something, they could deliver it within a few steps. No one would send her a package, right?

Shuanglu shook her head: "I don't know, the sender's name wasn't written on the package."

"What a strange package," Honda said, looking at the game as he took the package. "If there's no sender, how did this package get sent?"

"Why don't we open it and take a look?" Hayato calculated the days; today was the final battle of the National Monster Duel Tournament, so surely that package contained that, right?

Thinking of this, Hayato couldn't help but glance at Sugoroku.

The fate of the "Millennial Hostages" is about to descend once again.

Chapter 46 National Monster Battle Tournament

Although filled with curiosity about what was inside the box, Yuqi restrained himself, placed the box at his feet, and looked up at the TV screen. "The competition seems to have already started."

His words drew everyone's attention back to the program on television. After a segment of annoying but essential sponsor commercials, the finals of the Japan National Duel Monster Tournament, organized by the International Illusion Society, had begun.

The first player on the black side is "Insect" Yuga, who is good at using combinations of insect monsters and spell cards. The second player on the white side is "Dinosaur" Ryuzaki, who is good at using dinosaur-type monsters, whose specialties are powerful strength and high precision.

"My turn, draw a card." After glancing at the cards she drew, Yuga placed three cards face down in her back row, then, with a sinister smile, summoned a monster face down to the field and ended her turn.

"He actually set three traps in the back row in one go. This Yuga deck is really weird." Watching Yuga's "T"-shaped spread on the TV show, Hayato was very unhappy with his actions because he had a bad impression of the duelist.

Jonouchi glanced at Hayato with a hint of exasperation. Speaking of starting with a three-hit combo, I think Hayato is the one who uses it the most, right? Of all the people present, he's the only one who doesn't have the right to call others awful—just as he was thinking this, Jonouchi caught sight of Yugi.

Lately, when playing cards, I've started to enjoy using various face-down cards in battles more and more, and the Underworld Duelist has shown signs of spreading from person to person.

"My turn!"

Although both are fourteen years old, it is obvious that Ryuzaki is not as tall as a certain precocious, delinquent priest with tattoos on his face, smoking and perming his hair. However, the aura that appears when he draws a card makes people forget that he is only 14 years old.

Ryuzaki glanced at the monsters on the field and chuckled before summoning his own: "Simply defending is useless against my invincible army of dinosaurs. I summon [Wild Raptor]!"

"Roar!"

Unlike the plain opening of Yuga, with Ryuzaki's summoning declaration, a jet-black dinosaur descended onto the field. It had strong thighs that looked like it was good at katakana, and sharp claws that could tear an entire deck apart in one go. It was very domineering!

[Wild Raptor] [4 stars/Earth] [Dinosaurs/Normal] [1500/800]

I've seen this move before. You summon a second monster and then stack it to summon Divine Dragon, right? Watching Ryuzaki's move, Hayato couldn't help but think of the fun dinosaur deck he used to play in his previous life. Using [Support Rabbit] to summon two [Wild Raptor Dragons] and then stacking them for an Xyz Summon was one of his most frequently used moves.

"Attack power is a whopping 1500 points! Oh no, this means my monster is in trouble!" Yuga also cooperated with Ryuzaki's actions, showing a face that was a mixture of fear, panic, and despair, like a meat sandwich.

Seeing Yuga panic, Ryuzaki was overjoyed and quickly ordered, "Then go! [Wild Raptor], use your claws to crush that monster!"

The monsters covering the field were easily torn apart by the approaching Wild Raptor Dragon with a single claw, revealing its true form: the 2-star Insectoid monster, Devil Scorpion.

[Demon Scorpion] [2 stars/Earth] [Insectoid/Normal] [900/200]

Faced with the Wild Raptor's 1500 attack power, the Demon Scorpion was instantly killed, but strangely, its corpse did not disappear immediately.

Seeing his monster destroyed in an instant, Haga's expression changed drastically: "Haha, you fell for it, Ryuzaki! I happen to have a Trap Card on my field that can respond to 'Monster Destroyed,' and now I'm going to activate it!"

It turns out his earlier panic was all an act, a mere ploy to lure Ryuzaki into attacking his monster. One of the three face-down cards in the back row of Haga was flipped up, revealing its true form: [Fellow Traveler]!

"When a monster is destroyed and sent to your Graveyard, you can activate this effect to target and destroy 1 monster on the field." Yuga revealed a sinister smile, pointing at the [Wild Whale] that had just attacked. "International Illusion has released quite a few new cards lately. Your reckless battle is about to cost you the game!"

"I'm going to destroy that Wild Raptor!"

The corpse of the Demon Scorpion, left on the field, twitched slightly without the Wild Raptor noticing. Then, the Demon Scorpion's stinger suddenly attacked the unsuspecting Wild Raptor, injecting deadly venom into its body. Without even struggling, the Wild Raptor collapsed, and the corpses of both monsters vanished into specks of light.

Furthermore, Ryuzaki's base score also dropped by 750 points due to the destruction of [Wild Raptor].

[Ryuzaki: 2000LP → 1250LP]

"Chirp chirp chirp~ Now you won't have any monsters on your field, and you'll lose the match at the end of the turn." Yuga revealed his plan, while also feigning regret, "It's such a pity, you finally made it to the finals, but you didn't even last the first round before I took you down."

"Don't underestimate me, my turn isn't over yet, Yuga!" Ryuzaki's face showed no sign of seriousness, but rather an expression of expected surprise. "During my Main Phase 2, I'm going to activate the Spell Card [Double Summon], and then summon [Greedy Corpse Dragon]!"

"Roar!"

With the same high-decibel roar, the same jet-black body, and the same upright stance, Ryuzaki summoned another dinosaur monster, and its attack power was even stronger than the [Wild Raptor] that had just been destroyed!

[Corpse Dragon] [4 stars/Earth] [Dinosaur Race/Normal] [1600/1200]

"I had my suspicions when I saw your face-down card in the back row. [Wild Raptor] is just bait. Don't try to see everything, Moth!"

The two on TV were locked in a fierce back-and-forth battle, with one using traps to destroy the other's monsters and the other using magic to boost their defenses and deflect attacks, resulting in a stalemate.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Jonouchi was dumbfounded. Before the match started, he thought that Yuga, who used insects, would be crushed by Ryuzaki's dinosaurs very quickly, but now it seems that both sides are incredibly strong.

Hayato looked at the trap cards used by both sides and smiled with satisfaction, thinking to himself: Pegasus, that guy, just wouldn't agree to implement the 4000LP rule, but he's still very enthusiastic about printing cards.

Chapter 47 Rule Adjustments

In the past month, it wasn't just Jonouchi who changed; both the game and Hayato's deck underwent significant changes. The reason for this is that Mirage International recently released many new card packs, including a brand new card type—Trap Cards.

At the same time, Pegasus also announced card adjustments, changing cards such as "Savior's Ant Hell" into trap cards. Duelists can either purchase card packs to obtain them or exchange them for the new version of the cards at game shops in various locations.

It's not that there aren't people who don't want to exchange cards, but Pegasus came up with a "cool" idea to deal with this situation—he partnered with some companies to install dueling arenas equipped with virtual projection technology in stadiums in major cities, where only cards that the dueling arenas can read can be virtually projected.

The "some companies" mentioned here are none other than Haima Group, the company that holds the patent for the virtual projection system. At the same time, a large number of medium-sized enterprises are also responsible for the production of this high-tech product, the dueling platform, such as the "Manjoume Group" owned by Manjoume Masashi.

It's worth mentioning that Kaiba hasn't appeared at school since his defeat in the duel with Yugi, and it's said he's dropped out.

New cards were released, and since the game has a grandfather who runs a game shop, they naturally wouldn't waste this advantage. They acquired many "interesting" trap cards early on, such as [Angel's Hand Mirror], [Light-Sealing Sword], and Hanno's Exalted - I mean [Holy Shield - Mirror Power].