Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Just then, a hand landed on the cameraman's shoulder.

Turning around with a sense of fear, the cameraman saw Kobayashi Hayato's rather "kind" smile: "Don't be in such a hurry to leave, cameraman. You've come all this way to our high school, you should at least do one of the problems before you go, right?"

Question: 1000 - 7 = ?

Chapter 6: Male friendships often stem from being arrested together.

"Ah, the teacher really is a nag." Stepping out of the office, Jonouchi let out a long sigh of relief, looking completely relaxed.

Honda nudged him: "Hey, let's get out of here first, don't block the way."

"After all, even though you weren't caught on camera, you two are definitely the prime suspects, given how mischievous you are."

Hayato was the last to emerge from the office.

After giving the director, Fujita, and the others a good beating, Hayato and his team retrieved the recording from the camera and destroyed it. However, because the director's cries of pain during the beating were so loud that they attracted the attention of others, Hayato and his team had to hastily flee the scene.

Unfortunately, due to Yugi's short legs, just as he was about to be caught by the security guards who had chased after him, Hayato volunteered to stay behind to cover their retreat, allowing Jonouchi and Honda to take Kyoko and Yugi away first. Jonouchi refused to agree, stubbornly insisting on staying as well, and Honda was not to be outdone.

Finally, Honda, Jonouchi, and Hayato were all caught by security guards and sent to the disciplinary office.

The director, who had been severely beaten, initially wanted to use his position to demand that the school expel the three students and issue a public notice. However, after Hayato produced a camera that recorded "the director and the cameraman filming Fujita beating a game," the school changed its previously submissive attitude and instead put pressure on the three directors for "entering the campus without permission and having malicious intentions towards students."

Hayato and his two companions were unaware of the details, because after providing compelling evidence, they were taken home by teachers arranged by the principal, while the three directors negotiated with the school administration, led by the principal. However, it was likely just another dirty exchange of interests.

For example, the school can get more publicity, and the director can eliminate any evidence against him.

However, for Hayato and his two friends, who were taken home by their homeroom teacher, the matter was not over. Although there was still no concrete evidence proving that the other two, besides Jonouchi, hadn't participated in the "fight," Honda and Hayato remained suspects. Based on the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free," their homeroom teacher gave each of them a punishment.

"Jonnouchi has to clean the school toilets for a week, and Honda has to stand guard at the school gate for a week, and they both have to copy the school rules three times as punishment," Hayato sighed. "Sigh, we're really miserable."

"You're the only one who has no right to say that!"

Jonouchi complained, "I can understand that I received the harshest punishment, but why is it that all you have to do is promise not to fight again?!"

"That's exactly what I meant!" Honda was also a little annoyed. "I suspect that old man prefers men, otherwise why did you get no punishment at all?"

"Go to hell." Hayato rolled his eyes at Honda, then shrugged, looking helpless. "I can't help it. I've always been a good student. I never caused trouble and my grades were pretty good. As for you two, you can only be described as having a long list of bad deeds."

"You're so annoying," Jonouchi said, somewhat disgruntled. "The thought of having to clean the toilets makes me so mad."

"Don't forget about copying the school rules," Honda said, somewhat dejected.

Hayato patted the two of them on the shoulder: "At worst, I'll copy the school rules for you, okay?"

"You said it!" "Don't go back on your word!"

The two, who had just been feeling a bit down, immediately perked up. Although, for those two idiots, they wouldn't have kept things to themselves for long anyway.

"Jounouchi, Honda, Kobayashi!" A soft, sweet voice came from behind the three of them, sounding like a primary school student.

Hayato turned his head: "Isn't this Game Boy?"

Standing behind the three was Yugi Muto. Watching them emerge from the office, Yugi said apologetically, "Everyone, I'm so sorry. It's all because of me that you all..."

"Don't say that, game." Jonouchi had a bright smile on his face, clearly having put his unhappiness behind him. "Aren't we friends?"

“If we’re friends, we shouldn’t stand on ceremony. It’s just a game,” Honda said with a philosopher’s air, nodding affirmatively.

"Kobayashi, I'm sorry to have dragged you into this." Yugi said to Hayato as Jonouchi held his head in her arms.

"I just can't stand that guy's sarcastic attitude. Even without you, I would have taught them a lesson. So, don't worry about it, game boy." Hayato said with a bright smile.

Kyoko muttered under her breath behind the game screen, "What strange English..."

"Yes, thank you, Hayato."

The game didn't seem to care much about Hayato's strange nickname "game boy." However, after saying a sentence, he suddenly hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know whether he should.

"What's wrong, the game?"

"Um, Kobayashi-kun..."

"Just call me Hayato."

"Um, Hayato." Yugi hesitated for a moment before finally speaking, "Can we be friends?"

Hayato's face showed a brief moment of surprise, which quickly turned into a smile: "What are you talking about, game boy? Aren't we already friends?"

The group of people gathered there exchanged glances and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Who's making so much noise outside!"

The teacher's roar from the office shattered the harmonious scene, and the group left cheerfully.

After school that day.

"Hayato."

"What's wrong?" Hayato, who was tidying his bag, was called by name. He looked up and saw Yugi, who had already put on his little backpack.

"Do you like playing Duel Monsters cards? Jonouchi said he wants to check out the card shop my family owns. Kyoko and Honda are going too. Do you want to come along?"

As he asked, Yugi blinked his big, watery eyes, clearly hoping Hayato would come along. After all, Yugi had very few friends, and it was rare for him to make a new one today. He couldn't wait to go back and share this with his grandfather.

Hayato casually pulled a metal box from his pocket and showed it to Yugi: "Actually, I'm also a Duel Monsters enthusiast. Yugi, does your family own a card shop? I was just thinking of buying a few cards. I'll come to your place tonight, I'll call home later."

"Great!"

Yugi seemed quite pleased, but then, as if remembering something, asked, "But Hayato, do you have a lot of pocket money? I remember those rare Duel Monster cards are very expensive, and the less rare ones don't seem to be worth buying."

"I'm not buying any particularly rare cards, just a few ordinary ones. Because I believe every card has its value," Hayato said righteously, while casually pulling out three wallets. "As for money, I think I have enough."

The game player vaguely saw a photo in the wallet, which looked like the portrait of the director who had been beaten up by Jonouchi.

"Maybe I'm seeing things?" the game player thought.

Chapter 7 Let's have a duel with monsters! / Of course, nobody in the whole village can beat me.

"Everyone, my house is just ahead." The group of friends were walking home, with Yugi leading the way. He pointed to a small house not far ahead and turned to the other four to say this.

"Oh, Yugi lives here?" Although Kyoko had known Yugi the longest compared to the other three, this was her first time visiting Yugi's house.

After all, before Yugi became friends with Jonouchi, Honda, and Hayato, she had almost never played with boys. Under such circumstances, even if Yugi invited Kyoko, it would be impossible for her to come here alone, as it would be too easy to cause misunderstandings.

Following the direction indicated by the game's finger, Jonouchi could clearly see the huge red "GAME" sign in front of the small house from afar: "Is that the shop? I wonder how powerful the rare cards are at the game's grandpa's place. I'm really looking forward to it."

"I don't think card strength is the most important thing. The most important thing in Duel Monsters is the synergy between cards." Yugi didn't have high expectations. Firstly, because he had seen many powerful cards since he was a child, and secondly, because he had already seen the true appearance of the card that his grandfather had collected.

Its powerful physique and gorgeous appearance are unforgettable once seen. However, the game does not consider such monsters to be invincible. As long as the deck works together well, there is no enemy that cannot be defeated.

"Is Duel Monsters really that interesting?" Honda asked, looking rather uninterested.

“Of course! You can control all sorts of monsters to fight in a small space. The strong can accumulate advantages to build an unstoppable army, while the weak can turn the tide by relying on cards with various effects.” Hayato explained enthusiastically, “You’ll know the charm of Duel Monsters once you play it.”

Honda was somewhat tempted by Hayato's words. Jonouchi, Yugi, and Hayato all seemed to play that game called "Duel Monsters," though he wasn't particularly interested. However, since his companions were playing it, should he give it a try? Besides, Yugi's family owned a card shop, so he could also support his friend's business.

As they talked, they arrived at the cottage. Yugi pushed open the door and said to the person inside, "Chicken Sauce, I'm back."

"Oh, Game, you're back." Pushing open the door of the small house, you could see an elderly man with white hair standing behind the counter, flipping through a magazine. Hearing Game's voice, the old man looked up and responded, quickly noticing the group of people following Game in. "That's rare to see you. Are you back with your classmates today?"

"Excuse me, Grandpa Muto," Kyoko greeted first, followed by Hayato and the other two, who all smiled and greeted the old man in return.

Sugoroku Muto is an officially rated duelist with a dueling strength and deck of 4 stars (out of 5 stars). His hairstyle is exactly the same as Yugi Muto's, the only difference being that Sugoroku Muto wears a yellow headscarf and his hair is gray.

In addition, the height difference between Yugi Muto and his grandson Sugoroku Muto is an awkward zero.

Looking at Sugoroku's relieved expression, thinking "Finally, I have friends to play with," Kyoko couldn't help but worry about Yugi. Judging from Sugoroku's grandfather's posture, was Yugi's height hereditary? Wouldn't that mean that Yugi's current height was the peak of his life?

Grandpa Mutou and his grandson, both in good spirits, didn't have the ability to see a thousand years ahead, so they naturally wouldn't know what Kyoko was thinking. Before they even had a chance to put down their schoolbags, Yugi excitedly asked Grandpa Sugoroku, "By the way, Chicken-chan, let everyone see your super~ awesome card."

"What, you mean that card?" Grandpa Shuangliu tilted his head, put down the magazine in his hand, and stroked his beard, looking thoughtful.

The game player quickly clasped his hands together and pleaded, "Please, Chicken Sauce."

"Please." Jonouchi bowed very politely.

"Sigh, I really can't do anything about you guys, so I'll make an exception this time." Muto Soroku, after all, runs a toy store and isn't someone difficult to deal with. His previous thoughtful look was just his naturally mischievous personality. Seeing Yugi and Jonouchi's request, he smiled brightly and went inside to find his hidden treasures.

While waiting, Yugi led the others around the toy store. This toy store originally sold all sorts of toys, but due to the increasing popularity of Duel Monsters, Sugoroku was considering transforming it into a dedicated card shop. Even now, before the complete transformation, nearly 90% of the store's space is used to sell Duel Monsters cards.

"Wow, there are so many cards!" Honda exclaimed, looking at the dazzling array of cards. "There must be hundreds of them. Are there really that many Duel Monsters cards?"

No, that's not it.

Seeing the game shake its head, Honda breathed a sigh of relief: "I knew it, there aren't that many."

Hayato chuckled and patted him on the shoulder: "What the game means is that this isn't all the cards. There are far more Duel Monsters cards than what's shown here, probably over a thousand, and some of the rarer cards are even limited editions worldwide."

"Thousands?! That's a bit too much." Honda and Kyoko both looked surprised, while Jonouchi said with a smug look, "Not only that, the number of cards is still increasing. Maybe there will be two thousand, five thousand, or even more than ten thousand cards in the future."

"You really did jinx it." Hayato recalled the 10000th card, also known as "The Dragon of Ten Thousand Shatters." It was a special commemorative card issued to mark the 10000th Yu-Gi-Oh! card release, not only available in Japanese but also with a rarity level of only 1. And because some anime-exclusive cards weren't made into physical cards, the number of cards featured in the anime is likely even greater than 10,000.

However, that's a long way off.

"Duel Monsters is a so-called collectible card game where players can build different decks according to their own preferences. The more cards you have, the more fun it becomes."

"Wow, the pictures are all so exquisite! These cards are so pretty and cute!" Kyoko seemed to really like the cards displayed in the counter. "But there are also some cards that are drawn quite strangely."

"Is this also the first time you've seen Duel Monsters, Kyoko?" Jonouchi asked. Kyoko shook her head. "I've learned about it before, but I've only seen other people play it. This is the first time I've seen the cards up close like this."

As if struck by a sudden thought, Yugi pulled out his deck from his bag and asked Hayato, "Speaking of Duel Monsters, simply collecting cards is not as fun as battling against each other."

“We’re really on the same page, game boy.” Hayato laughed and took out his deck box. “Let’s play a game of Duel Monsters.”

Chapter 8 Please remember this little table; this is when he was still considered to be in the mortal realm.

After successfully completing their duel, Yugi and Hayato immediately found an empty table in the shop and sat down, placing their decks in the pre-designated deck area on the table. After all, Sugoroku's toy shop mainly deals in Duel Monsters, so providing a testing ground for customers who have drawn powerful monsters is only natural.

Kyoko and Honda gathered around the table with great interest, watching Yugi and Hayato become serious. Seeing this, Jonouchi couldn't help but feel a little jealous, saying, "Honestly, I often play Duel Monsters with Yugi too, but I've never seen you two this interested!"

"Yeah, I always see you two playing together." Kyoko was also a little puzzled. "Why is that?"

Honda complained, "It's obvious, Jonouchi is too weak. He's played the game so many times and never won once. In fact, every game is one-sided, and the viewing experience is terrible."

"Honda, you bastard!"

The bickering between the two did not affect the two sitting opposite each other. After shuffling their decks and drawing five cards, Yugi said, "Hayato, you go first."

"Well, then I won't stand on ceremony, game boy." Hayato didn't hold back either, taking the first move.

In the rules of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the player who goes first cannot attack but can set traps to summon monsters, while the player who goes second can attack but must contend with the traps set by the first player. This balance gives the first player an advantage. However, in the real-life card game rules that Hayato played in his previous life, the first player cannot draw a card during their draw phase, while the second player can draw one card, which is considered compensation.