Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Wait, didn't you just tell that person you'd always protect the world?!" Daitokuji couldn't help but complain, "How come in the blink of an eye, Principal Hayato, you're about to start destroying the world yourself!"

"Fool, because I will destroy the world and then create it again, my divine talents are all-powerful!" Hayato made an exaggerated backbend and looked at Daitokuji behind him, "For example, right now, I found this book on that Darkness guy as a trophy!"

In Hayato's hands was a thick notebook wrapped in a purple cover. At the very center of the cover was a golden sphere containing the "Eye of Ugato." Golden marks radiated outwards from the sphere, like a seed that had taken root and sprouted deep in the soil.

Daitokuji's narrowed eyes snapped open instantly, staring in surprise at the book in Hayato's hand: "That's my notebook... or something?"

"Why are you asking me a question?" Hayato asked, tapping the spine of the book against his palm. "Things that have been touched by that Darkness magic seem to automatically have the 'Eye of Ugato' pattern on them. Could it be that the guy doesn't have any eyes, so he uses his eyes as a mark?"

"Was this found on that skeletal guy? But why is it here?" Daitokuji asked, puzzled. "Even if, as you say, Mr. Hayato, Fujiwara Yusuke stole my notebook and drew alchemy circles here, why would the notebook be on that terrifying guy?"

"Could it be that the skeleton is actually Fujiwara Yuusuke?! Could it be that he's no longer satisfied with being number one in the school and wants to challenge stronger duelists, so he used an alchemy circle to access dark power, turning himself into a skeleton, all to return to the Duel Academy and defeat us adults to become his—"

"Stop, damn it, Daitokuji, what's with your vivid imagination?" Hayato interrupted Daitokuji's wild thoughts. "While some of it is correct, that guy wasn't Fujiwara Yusuke. He was something that wasn't even human or a living being. It just disappeared from the world because of Fujiwara Yusuke's personal reasons, and the things he was carrying naturally ended up in the hands of that guy called 'Darkness'."

Nodding as if he understood but not quite, Daitokuji leaned closer to Hayato, smiling ingratiatingly, and said, "Although we couldn't find the missing Fujiwara Yusuke, it's good that we found my notebook. I haven't written in my diary for several days. Principal Hayato, you see—"

"Huh? I don't understand what you're talking about. Since I took this from Darkness, shouldn't it rightfully belong to me? This is also compensation for not being able to steal the deck from that guy. Is your name on this?" Hayato said matter-of-factly, and casually flipped through it, only to find that on the first page was indeed the name "Amunaeru" that Daitokuji used to use.

"Tsk, here you go."

Unhappily handing over his only spoils to Daitokuji, Hayato, who had gained nothing except the duel settlement from the system, watched as Daitokuji carefully checked his notebook for damage. Suddenly, a smile appeared on Hayato's lips, as if he had thought of something, and he said, "However, since this notebook belongs to you, Daitokuji-sensei, then the evidence is conclusive."

"Huh?" Daitokuji looked up at Hayato, tilted his head, and didn't quite understand what Hayato was talking about.

At a school teachers' gathering over the weekend—

"My notes were stolen by a student, and the principal punished me by making me do chores for Miss Tomyo for a month. He deducted more than 700 yuan from my pay~" Daitokuji said to his colleagues at the dinner table with a long face after taking a sip of beer.

"So, the main point is that the notebook was stolen, right?"

“No, it’s obvious they deducted more than seven hundred dollars, that’s quite a lot.” Holding a glass of red wine, Ayukawa Emi retorted, looking at Kira Aoki beside her, “Kira-sensei, don’t just focus on eating, why don’t you have some wine? Although the appetizers were cooked by the chef hired by Chronos-sensei, the wine is also a treasure that Chronos brought from Italy.”

"Excuse me, I only drink a little wine." Since Professor Chronos was treating everyone today, even Kira Aoki, who prefers a peaceful life, attended the party. As he spoke, he picked up a piece of grilled A5 steak and ate it with gusto, a look of enjoyment on his face.

"It's a shame there's no curry," Professor Kabayama remarked, raising his glass. "Anyway, let's first toast to Professor Chronos's thirty-fourth birthday!"

"Oh, happy birthday, meow!" "Happy birthday!" "Happy birthday, mmm..."

Cheers and congratulations, then Ayukawa Megumi looked at Chronos with surprise and said, "But Professor Chronos is only thirty-four years old? That means he was only thirty when we first met when the academy was founded? He's surprisingly 'mature'."

"It's not like I wanted to look like this!"

Meanwhile, in the principal's office, Hayato shrugged at the electronic screen: "That's just how it is. Rushing to look for it will only make it harder to find. It's better to leave everything to time. When the time comes, what you can't find will naturally appear in front of you."

"You make it sound so easy, you bastard." Keihei said angrily on the screen, "Hayato-kun, you have no idea how troublesome it is to deal with those mouthpieces spreading rumors that are detrimental to Kaiba Corporation and Duel Academy. It's not like the Duel Monster cards are missing, it's like the students have gone missing!"

It's been quite a few years since Hayato graduated, and compared to Hayato and Kaiba, Keibei, who is now in junior high school, has changed the most. He has grown nearly 20 centimeters taller than he did three years ago. Although he is still not as tall as Kaiba, he is very close to Yugi, who was about 1.6 meters tall when he graduated.

"No, you've got it backwards, Popko. If it were Kaiba, he would definitely be more concerned about the latter than Iso's disappearance and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's disappearance."

"It's me, Guiping!"

Watching Hayato relentlessly tease Keihei, Kaiba pondered for a moment and quickly understood Hayato's meaning: "Is that so? Time will bring everything back? How long do you think it will take for those missing students to reappear?"

“Today is June 13th, and around this time next year, the missing students will reappear,” Hayato said confidently. “I can bet Daitokuji-sensei’s salary for next year.”

"Hmph, speaking of that Daitokuji guy, do you really have to keep that unreliable guy who teaches some inexplicable so-called 'alchemy' at the school?" Kaiba sneered. "Kobayashi Hayato, you'll regret this."

Upon hearing Kaiba's words, Hayato, who had just sat down in the boss's chair, instinctively replied, "Seth, I am the principal."

"Hmm~ That feels good. I've wanted to say that line for a long time." Hayato leaned back in his chair with a tactical backrest and said with a smile, "Although the student disappearance is troublesome, let me tell you two pieces of good news that you'll definitely like to hear. Yugi will graduate from university next year. Also, remember Jaden Yuki? He'll be of high school age next year too."

"Really? He's graduated from the game? Hmph, let me see if his skills have declined in the past few years." After a pause, Kaiba said casually, "As for Jaden Yuki? Never heard of him before, I've long forgotten about him."

—Yeah, right. To this day, Kaiba still can't forget that guy who claimed to be from several years in the future and defeated him with the then-unreleased [E·hero] deck. Otherwise, why would Kaiba deliberately make Osiris-Red Dormitory the worst dormitory for underachievers after learning from Hayato that Hayato's future seemed to be a student at Duel Academy?

Hmph, the time to avenge this humiliation has finally come! Hahahaha!

Kaiba, holding a Duel Monster card called "Partner of Justice - Kaiba Man," suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, without even turning off the video call.

Chapter 1055 Reunion

"Time flies! It's been four years already without us even realizing it."

On the streets of Domino City, a man wearing sunglasses and sporting a buzz cut sat in the driver's seat of a jeep and said to the person in the passenger seat, "Is this the first time since we graduated four years ago that everyone has gathered together again?"

"There's no way around it. After all, Yugi has to go to university during the week, and Hayato works at the Duel Academy. The time when the two of them have the most free time is during the summer season of the World Professional Duelist Tournament every year, which is also the busiest time of the year for Broadway."

In the passenger seat, Jonouchi rested his elbow on the window and propped his chin on his hand. His golden hair swayed as the wind blew into the car through the open roof. "Honda, you're the best. Your family business is so stable that you don't even need to manage it much. You can drive around Domino City every day."

"Don't just see that I haven't had much to do these past two years. I was working like a dog to learn the basics of business management in the first two years," Honda said, still sporting his bad-looking hairstyle. "Besides, driving around Domino City is kind of like advertising for my family's factory."

"Tell the citizens of Tongshino that Honda cars are for bad people?"

"Screw you!"

The jeep drove through an intersection. Although the light was red, there were no restrictions on turning left. Honda drove Jonouchi to a park and introduced, "This is a new forest park planned by Haima Group. It wasn't finished when you came back for the New Year a few months ago, but now it's April and it seems to be completed and about to open. Bakura is here shooting promotional posters."

Although Bakura was initially chosen by Haima for his appearance and became the promotional ambassador for the first GeneX competition, and later signed a contract to join the Haima Group, over the years, Bakura, who often stands in front of the camera for promotional work, may have discovered his talent in photography because of the commonality of needing to find the right angle and timing. In addition to continuing to work as a presenter in the Haima Group's publicity department, he occasionally works part-time as a photographer to take promotional photos.

—Incidentally, contrary to many people's expectations, Minazuki Jun, the representative of the first graduating class of Duel Academy, did not become a professional duelist. Instead, through Hayato's connections, he was introduced to the publicity department of Kaiba Corporation. With his top-notch understanding of dueling and the knowledge he had learned, he became a professional dueling commentator and referee. Occasionally, he would even entertain the audience and personally play cards as a referee.

"That Kaiba guy is such a ruthless capitalist. He even exploits a kind person like Bakura, paying him one salary to do two jobs," Jonouchi complained. "A guy like him deserves to lose to Hayato and Yugi. What's that word? 'Destined to be single forever.'"

"No, that's not it. Kaiba is quite generous. Rather, he's a bit too extravagant when it comes to money. Whether it's paying employees or doing business with them, he's very quick to give money. Although Bakura occasionally works part-time, Kaiba simply gives him two salaries. In the end, Bakura is the one who benefits. It's Kaiba's younger brother, Keihei, who often feels the pinch when it comes to money."

Honda paused, then smiled and looked at Jonouchi, saying, "Also, Jonouchi, you haven't forgotten that Kaiba specially created something called 'Airborne Loop' to reduce the crime rate in Domino City, which is why there are Kaiba Group surveillance cameras everywhere in Domino City, right? Be careful not to get retaliated against by Kaiba for saying such bad things about him."

"Although I am indeed affiliated with the Haima Group, how can Haima possibly make things difficult for me?" Jonouchi completely disregarded Honda's words. "Besides, Domino City is so big, with so many people. Can Haima possibly monitor every single person's words precisely at all times?"

The next moment, as if to slap Jonouchi in the face and confirm Honda's words, an advertisement suddenly began playing on the huge screen on the exterior wall of a commercial building not far from the park—

"The remarkable rising star of professional duelists, Ed Phoenix, has broken his winning streak and successfully defeated the famous duelist 'Superpower' Ryouba. Who will his next opponent be? Will it be 'The Legendary Fisherman' Ryota Kajiki, or 'Ultimate Dinosaur' Ryuzaki?"

"To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Duel City held in the millennium, Ed Phoenix will face off against Joey Nene, who will challenge one of the top four players in Duel City and narrowly lost to the legendary strongest White Dragon, Seto Kaiba. Will Joey Nene be able to defend his honor, or will Ed Phoenix break his winning streak record?"

"Please look forward to next week's Pro Duelist Grand Tournament, 'The Death of Yoroi...', Dueling by!"

The advertisement featured footage of a young duelist named "Ed Phoenix" showcasing his past duels, along with images of professional duelists whose names were called, and a few clips of Jonouchi's recent duels. It was clearly a hastily produced promotional ad. Even worse, although there was no narration, Jonouchi and Honda could immediately recognize Seto Kaiba's voice just by listening to it.

Especially at the end, the guy even subconsciously wanted to say the word "mediocre", completely revealing his identity!

"Onore Seahorse!"

"Alright, alright, it's not the first time anyway," Honda casually reassured Jonouchi, saying, "It's on the way anyway, let's wait here for Bakura and go to Kame-ki together..."

As they were talking, Honda felt a vibration on his wrist and saw a text message on his watch from Otogi Ryuji. After glancing at the message, Honda, who had just parked the car, started it again and said, "Okay, we don't need to wait anymore. Otogi seems to have already picked up Bakura and is almost at Kame-ki Game House. We can go straight there."

As Haima Group's involvement in the urban development of Domino City increases, the city's level of informatization has already surpassed that of over 90% of the world's capital cities. The best example of this is the smartwatch Honda is wearing. This smartwatch, distributed free of charge to citizens by Haima Group, not only connects to their personal smart devices for centralized and portable information processing, but also serves as proof of their "Domino City citizen" status.

It's worth noting that Domino City is now practically an independent kingdom. "King" Seto Kaiba has even declared that outsiders who aren't qualified duelists won't be able to obtain this identity document, which is equivalent to a residency permit. In other words, even native residents of Domino City who aren't duelists can obtain identity documents.

Combined with Honda's "suspended loop" surveillance system covering the entire city, Domino City has achieved a terrifying record of 0% crime rate for three consecutive years, and this record will likely continue to be broken as long as the Haima Group continues to exist.

Before long, Jonouchi and Honda arrived at a place they knew all too well, a place where they used to gather after school—Kameki Card Shop, run by Muto Sugoroku, which was also the home of games.

Upon arriving, the two noticed a banner hanging at the entrance of the Guiji Card Shop—

"A grand celebration of the release of 'Duel! Domino City Sightseeing Route - The Footprints of Legendary Duelists!'..."

"For every purchase of Duel Monsters card packs at our store totaling 10,000 yen, you will receive a signed photo of the author; for purchases totaling 100,000 yen, you will receive a signed photo of the legendary Duelist Yugi Muto..."

As they stepped out of the car, Jonouchi read the words on the banner and they all muttered in unison, "To be able to give away autographed photos of games so casually, could the author of that book with a title as long as a light novel be Sugoroku-sensei?"

Honda, who had parked his Jeep on the side of the road, heard Jonouchi's words and said, "You're absolutely right, Jonouchi. Grandpa Sugoroku is the author of that book called 'Sightseeing Routes.' And even though he wrote it while he was running the shop and had nothing else to do, it unexpectedly sold quite well. Even the publicity department of the Domino City government bought it to promote Domino City. It seems that the Kaiba Group is also planning to buy some."

"...So why did you put Haima Group behind the government?" Jonouchi glanced at Honda and shrugged. "But after all, Master Sogoku has traveled all over the world and lived in Domino City for so long, so his travel guides are definitely not bad."

A voice picked up where Jonouchi left off: "What's more, Sugoroku can directly ask us, the people involved, about the specific times and places where the events happened. The popularity of the Duel City event and Duel Monsters has also boosted the sales of Sugoroku's books to new heights."

Honda and Jonouchi turned to look in the direction the voice came from. Upon seeing the speaker's face, Jonouchi happily raised his hand to greet him, "Yo, Hayato!"

"Jonnouchi, Honda, you've arrived too." Hayato waved and greeted him. "Malik said he was going to pick me up, but his motorcycle ran out of gas halfway there. I had to transfer to the subway, but the train was delayed. I thought I would be the last one to arrive."

"It's okay if you arrive last. Waiting a little while won't hurt. Besides, everyone knows that Duel Academy is very busy."

Upon hearing Jonouchi's words, Hayato couldn't help but recall how hard he had worked and how much effort he had put into teaching students at the Duel Academy over the years... It seemed like he hadn't.

Although there are many things to do at Duel Academy, the dormitory heads are not incompetent and are capable of handling most of the academy's affairs. Furthermore, Samejima, as the vice principal, is responsible for liaising with other academies or organizations. With both internal and external affairs handled by others, Hayato's role as principal is merely symbolic.

In other words, it's a mascot? But this "mascot" is the kind that, when something really big happens, shouts "Henshin" and beats up the troublemaker.

Although Hayato is both the principal and a teacher, the course he teaches, "Spirit Coexistence Course," is only preserved because he is the principal. Since the Duel Academy was founded, only the first class of Minazuki and his classmates enrolled. After learning that Hayato had a habit of assigning homework and that most people would not learn anything even after three years of study, no one came to class anymore.

As a result, Hayato's daily work basically consisted of carrying a fishing rod to the lake to fish, and then getting lost in the various classrooms of the Duel Academy.

"It is indeed a very busy job," Hayato nodded, affirming, "especially since there was an entrance exam in Domino City today."

"Huh? In that case, Hayato, shouldn't you go over there and check on the new students?"

"Not at all, because the teacher in charge of the entrance exam in Domino City is my right-hand man, and his abilities are very trustworthy."

The three of them walked into Kameji Card Shop together. Pushing open the door, they saw several people sitting in front of the counter with their backs to the door. Inside the counter stood Muto Sugoroku, who hadn't changed much and was still as energetic as he had been a few years ago.

As the shop door opened, a quiet notification sound rang out. Muto Sugoroku instinctively said, "Sorry, the shop is not open to the public today... Huh? Isn't that Jonouchi? Hayato and Honda are here too."

"I'm back, Master Shuangliu!" "Sorry to bother you, Grandpa Shuangliu." "You're still as energetic as ever, Grandpa Shuangliu."

As Hayato and his two companions greeted Sugoroku Muto, the group sitting at the counter turned around as well. Although they had rarely met in real life over the years, they still recognized each other because they often communicated via video calls online.

Wearing a cool jacket and still wearing dice as earrings, Yuji Ryuuji now runs an offline experience store for the video games he develops, in addition to traditional game rooms.

Even though he is already twenty-two years old, Bakura still has the youthful and innocent look of a boy. His face is still the same as it was a few years ago. Even without makeup, he has an enviable, flawless, fair complexion. When he sees his familiar friends, his cheeks involuntarily turn red. You can't tell that he is now a popular star.

And there's Anzu, who's still exactly the same as she was in high school.

"It's one thing to just mutter to yourself and introduce everyone, but Hayato, you really need to see an eye doctor! What do you mean, 'exactly the same as in high school'?!"

Anzu said excitedly, hands on her hips, looking exactly the same as when she was angry in high school. You couldn't tell that she had been working hard on her own in America for many years and even received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress last year—the equivalent of the Oscars in the film industry. Although she unfortunately didn't win, the nomination itself was already impressive.

Hayato glanced at Kyoko, a subtle smile playing on his lips: "I feel... she's not as good as Is."

“It feels… not as good as dance.” Jonouchi nodded in agreement.

“You! Her! Me!” Kyoko tried to refute her two friends’ words, wanting to say that she had developed very well over the years, but after thinking about Mai and Miss Isis, she sat down sullenly.

"Huh? Everyone's already here?" Behind Hayato, the shop door opened again, and a young man walked in with a familiar voice. "Sorry everyone, I ran into some trouble on the way and was late. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

With black and reddish hair and golden bangs, wearing a blue-purple suit jacket over a white vest and a red tie, the young man who walked into the store was at least 1.7 meters tall, a far cry from his pitifully short 1.53 meters in high school. He was none other than Yugi Muto, who had just graduated from university this year.

Although Yugi still wears a gentle smile, his increased height and slightly muscular physique, thanks to the special training habits taught by Jonouchi and Honda, almost made the first few people who saw him think that Atum had returned to the human world... Wait, why did I say "again"?

Compared to most students who are unemployed after graduation, Yugi easily obtained an offer from the world's largest game development and publishing company, International Vision, thanks to his talent. All of this was due to his personal efforts and had nothing to do with his 30% stake in International Vision.

"Yugi!" Kyoko called out Yugi's name with joy upon seeing him again after so long, while glancing warily behind him. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found that the blonde twin-tailed girl hadn't followed them.