Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Jonouchi's words suddenly stopped. Just now, after Hayato let go of his arm around his shoulder, he started gesturing wildly. This was a bad habit he had inadvertently picked up after traveling to Italy with Mai and staying there for more than a week. He hadn't had time to correct it before coming to the Duel Academy. At this moment, the gestures he used to help express his meaning also stopped as he spoke, because another hand was placed on his shoulder.

"...While I understand that you two have a good relationship, you've been so focused on talking to Hayato ever since you got ashore that you completely forgot I was there..." Mai's calm voice reached Jonouchi's ears. He quickly turned around and saw that although Mai seemed calm when she spoke, her puffed-up cheeks revealed that she was a little upset. "In the end, why don't you ask Hayato to play doubles with you?"

"No, Mai! I'd rather team up with Ryota or Ryuzaki than with Hayato or Yugi," Jonouchi quickly said. "Ryota and Ryuzaki are just a step slower than me and can't keep up with the attacks and defenses, but with Hayato and Yugi, it'll be me who can't keep up with them."

"Not to mention that Yugi is now the chief card designer for the International Illusion Society and Hayato is the principal of the Duel Academy, if I team up with them, the opponents will surrender long ago as soon as they see that their opponent is them. Wouldn't I become a slacker and not fight? That would be such a bad dueling experience!"

As he spoke, Jonouchi held Mai's hand, "Only you, Mai, only you and I are so perfectly in sync. We are absolutely the best partners."

"Hmm—even if you say that..." Although she exudes a powerful queen-like aura, in reality, Mai Kujaku can only be described as having high offense and paper defense. Just as easily as Jonouchi blushes when teased by her, she is just as easily made to blush with embarrassment by Jonouchi's unintentional words. She fell silent for a moment, and after a long while, she managed to stammer out, "Hmph, since you've begged me like this, then I'll reluctantly go to the doubles duel with you."

"After all, you're too clumsy. You easily fall into obvious traps set by others, right? And you always try to be strong on your own. But I promised you that you could rely on me if anything happened, and that I would take care of you~"

"dance......"

Hayato, standing to the side, pursed his lips, watching the two of them so affectionately cuddling together. He couldn't help but think, "No wonder they're newlyweds, so cheesy. This is just too much..." Ah, he already said that earlier. "Tsk, it's so annoying to watch, isn't it, Kaiba?"

"Huh? Seth? When did he arrive?" Hayato said with some surprise when he caught sight of the seahorse that had also appeared on the dock. He looked up at the sun in the sky, which was warm but not glaring under the cover of white clouds. "Yes, it's a beautiful day today."

"Hmph, I was already here when you were hugging that mediocre guy over there and spouting nonsense. What, is ignoring my existence your way of humiliating me as the victor?" Kaiba ignored Hayato's ambiguous second half of his sentence and said with a hint of displeasure.

But Hayato didn't think that Kaiba was really angry. Rather, every time Hayato won a card game against Kaiba, he would be in a state of displeasure for three or four days. There were even a few Kaiba Group employees who were usually lazy and were kicked out by Kaiba in this state for three months' salary because of the "left foot entering the elevator first" incident.

Then, because Kaiba's card addiction can relapse every two or three days, and his mentality is rarely completely defeated, he is basically in a state of "the rain stops, the sun shines, and I feel good again." He plays cards with Hayato ten or even nine times a month, so to the point that in the eyes of ordinary people, Kaiba is always in a state of dissatisfaction with everything.

However, compared to before, this time Kaiba seemed particularly unhappy, not because of Jonouchi, but because—

"When you asked the academy to allocate funds to hire a head chef to work in the cafeteria, I thought you were just considering the food problem for the exchange students in the Duel Academy Exchange Tournament. I shouldn't have listened to you and gone to the back door of the cafeteria to get my food." Kaiba said with a sour face, "The head chef you hired wasn't one of those famous chefs in the catering industry, but that guy Ameruda. Did you plan this all day long?!"

Even though there's no doubt that Kaiba is a genius, geniuses are still human and need to eat. Although Kaiba had previously developed a special drug that could exempt him from eating for seven days by taking one pill, and Hayato forcibly renamed the original "DC Pill" to some inexplicable "Soldier's Ration Pill," he didn't bring that thing with him to Duel Academy this time. He originally planned to sample the food provided by the cafeteria.

Who could imagine how embarrassed Kaiba must have been when he, wearing a seahorse helmet, bumped into Ameruda, dressed in a chef's uniform and carrying a basic meal as instructed by Hayato, at the back door of the cafeteria? Especially since Ameruda saw right through his perfect disguise, which no ordinary person could recognize, immediately identified him, and then loudly mocked him. Kaiba's face turned so dark that his Blue-Eyes White Dragon-style helmet almost turned into a Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

After snorting and glaring at Hayato, Kaiba vented his frustration on Jonouchi, who was standing nearby: "Hmph, a mediocre person is a mediocre person. Even after five years, there's still no change. Even the number of transistors in Moore's Law, which is no longer valid, should have doubled by now."

"Seahorse? What are you doing here?"

Jonouchi looked at Kaiba's displeased expression, not surprised by his mood. They were all old acquaintances and could tell at a glance that Kaiba had lost to Hayato again at cards, and it was either [Turtle Kaizan], [Rade Rathalos - Sphere], [Magma], or [Super Fusion], there was always one of those ways Kaiba hated losing.

However, knowing Kaiba's feelings didn't affect Jonouchi's anger towards Kaiba's attitude. After all, although it was true that he had never beaten Kaiba, the guy's constant use of phrases like "mediocre," "a novice," and "a second-rate duelist with a third-rate deck" was infuriating.

"Hmph, I'm here to laugh at you."

Kaiba glanced at Jonouchi and Mai standing next to him, a cold smile spreading across his face. "I heard you got married, you mediocre guy? You really are just a mediocre guy. You don't understand that women only hinder your card-drawing speed. Now you can't even maintain your current rate of progress, keeping it just out of sight so that I don't leave you in the dust. Just keep drowning in the bottleneck of a second-rate duelist with your third-rate deck."

Kaiba never speaks properly. He meant to wish Jonouchi a happy marriage, but what he said sounded like a provocation and an argument. Jonouchi has a strong sense of pride, and even though they've known each other for six or seven years, the two of them almost never get along well when they meet.

At times like this, even Hayato might want to agree with Shadi and Deva's original goals. If the only way to prevent Kaiba and Jonouchi from arguing when they meet is to make them both "New-Type" and communicate without words, that might be the only solution.

"Huh? You're the one who can't find a girlfriend and nobody wants you, right? Stop fooling yourself with those 'I'm going to become the world's number one duelist, women are just a hindrance' kinds of talk." Jonouchi mocked Kaiba mercilessly. "If you call me second-rate, then what kind of person are you, who's been defeated by Hayato countless times?"

"Without a doubt, both I and my Blue Eyes are top-notch, and even a temporary defeat will not change that fact."

Kaiba said without hesitation, and Hayato nodded in agreement: "That makes sense, because I'm super mainstream."

"Tch, what's so great about Blue-Eyes? I don't think my Red-Eyes is weak at all. Besides, the key factor in deciding the outcome of a duel isn't the card's performance." Jonouchi lifted the corner of his open jacket with his right hand, revealing a card box hanging on the right side of his belt. "It's been quite a while since I dueled with you, Kaiba. Let me show you how much stronger I've become over the years. Don't try to cheat by jumping off a building when you're about to lose."

However, Jonouchi had the idea of ​​challenging Kaiba to show him how powerful he was, but Kaiba, who had just lost to Hayato, had no interest in watching Jonouchi's duel. In the end, although he verbally belittled Jonouchi as much as possible, Kaiba Group had never made any mistakes in managing Jonouchi's career over the years and had always followed the highest standards. Kaiba himself did acknowledge Jonouchi's strength.

Just like Jonouchi dislikes Kaiba, he simply dislikes Jonouchi, so he always argues with him.

"I have no interest in wasting my precious time 'playing' with Duel Monsters against mere mediocre people. Your level is only good enough to go toe-to-toe with the students at Kobayashi Hayato's school, right?" Kaiba said arrogantly, his arms crossed and his fingers lightly pressing the Duel Disk, which resembled an arm armor.

On the previously empty helipad, as if the paint had been washed away by rain, a jet shaped like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon suddenly appeared, as if it had always been there. However, even this kind of active stealth technology, which is difficult to detect even at close range, is still nothing special in the Haima Group's advanced technology reserves. Didn't you see that even Jonouchi wasn't particularly surprised?

"The 'Legendary White Stone' game pods that have been delivered to the island are only trial models, just enough for the contestants. They are far from the perfect duel I envisioned. The Gallam Foundation in Europe has taken over the order in place of the Manjoume Foundation. The troublesome thing is that the guys there actually want me to go there in person to negotiate. It's such a waste of time, but it just so happens that the boring selection tournament still has a month left."

As Kaiba spoke, he had already reached the helipad and was looking down at Hayato and Jonouchi on the ground. "When the selection tournament ends in a month, I will bring back a sufficient number of 'Legendary White Stone' devices. As for what you mentioned before, in a few days, Domino City will be able to send a cargo ship to bring it to the island."

"Hmph, why bother escorting those outdated things here? Old things aren't worth paying any special attention to."

Although neither Jonouchi nor Mai understood what Kaiba was saying, Hayato knew what Kaiba was talking about. He shrugged and said, "Who doesn't know your personality? You can even sell Gosaburo's antique collection for a pittance. But what's important about old objects is not their intrinsic value but the meaning they carry. Even if the game has moved the Pokémon away, it's still the same."

"Hmph, whatever, it's something you and the game agreed on anyway." Kaiba snorted, turned around and got into the cockpit, closing the jet's canopy without even saying goodbye. With Jonouchi and Hayato watching, Kaiba's jet took off vertically and disappeared into the horizon.

Releasing his hand from Mai's ear, Jonouchi gently cleaned his ear and found it didn't hurt anymore. He then asked Hayato, "So Hayato, what kind of riddle are you and Kaiba playing? I also heard you talking about games."

"It's nothing, it's just that the game's card decks need to be sent to Duel Academy Island for a short exhibition."

"Oh, it's just that we're displaying some older decks from the game..."

"Huh!?" Not only Jonouchi, but even Mai Kongjaku looked surprised.

It's important to understand that, regardless of strength or anything else, almost every duelist values ​​their deck as much as a soldier values ​​their gun. Simply lending your deck to someone else to look at it is a sign of considerable trust – unless someone is as easily fooled as someone in a high school game, believing everything they're told, even lending it to someone like Yua who wants to see "The Sealed Exodia" without any suspicion.

To simply send the deck away from him to be exhibited in a distant place? Even if it were Jonouchi or Mai Kujaku, they would hardly agree to exhibit their spare decks, let alone Yugi. He cherishes his deck more than anyone else.

After all, Yugi's deck isn't just his own. According to Hayato, the deck he's going to showcase is the one with special cards like "Dark Magician" and "Dark Magician Girl," which is proof of the friendship between Atem and Yugi when they fought side by side!

However, judging from what Hayato and Kaiba said, it didn't seem like a joke. In fact, the whole thing was discussed between Yugi and Hayato, and Kaiba was just an intermediary responsible for sending out ships for transportation.

"Wait, Seto Kaiba only sent a ship, but who delivered the card?" Mai Kujaku noticed something was wrong and asked, puzzled.

Hayato shrugged: "So only you two are allowed to visit the island? As far as I know, Kyoko doesn't have any performances scheduled recently, and what's even more exciting is that Rebecca is free too."

"What a coincidence! Someone in the card design department of the International Illusion Society has taken leave recently." As he spoke, Hayato couldn't contain his laughter. "I can't wait to see what a spectacular showdown will happen!"

Chapter 1210 Don't Have Any Strange Expectations About Me

"Lesson 1, don't have any strange expectations of me."

Looking at the ambiguous sentence written on the blackboard, and seeing how the lecture, which was being given properly, inexplicably changed from "how to live in harmony with spirits" to "how to secretly activate face-down cards during a duel," Hayato Kobayashi was teaching a lesson on the platform.

Marufuji Ryo regretted it a little. He didn't know what he was thinking. He had already confirmed back in his first year that Principal Hayato's "Spirit Coexistence Class" was a course that he couldn't understand at all and that wouldn't help him. It was only slightly better than the "Alchemy Class" taught by Daitokuji-sensei in the Red Dormitory. So why did he suddenly decide to audit the class?

Perhaps it's because of confusion?

During this period, as the selection matches for the exchange competition continued, Ryo Marufuji, who was known as "Kaiser" and was undoubtedly the strongest student in Duel Academy in the eyes of other exchange students, was constantly being challenged. This gave him a sense of what Yugi and Hayato felt after Duel Kingdom ended, when they were constantly being challenged.

Even with the rule that "losing without accumulating victories will disqualify you from the selection tournament," Ryo Marufuji still faced a constant stream of challenges. Even though he could refuse one or two of them, the remaining duels he had to fight allowed him to quickly accumulate consecutive victories. Despite his evaluation remaining largely unchanged, his ranking was pushed up to first place by those challengers.

Without a doubt, dueling with those people wouldn't be very interesting for Ryo Marufuji. After all, not everyone has the strength to cross grade gaps like Judai or Manjoume. Even those who survive the combo of "Power Welding" and "Cyber ​​End Dragon" are few and far between, let alone unleash their full power to make Ryo Marufuji feel the full fighting spirit and will in their decks. Such duels can only be described as "massacres," devoid of any dignity.

However, Ryo Marufuji could not deceive himself. As he crushed one opponent after another in one forced duel, he felt an undeniable joy in his heart, as if he were enjoying victory after victory.

It's like this: although he has always been taught to respect others' duels and to be dignified in his own duels, in Marufuji Ryo's heart he has never really cared about the other's duels and was only satisfied with his own enjoyment.

To avoid these inexplicable thoughts, Ryo Marufuji went to the "Spirit Coexistence Class," which had the fewest people but was the easiest to audit.

Even during the qualifying rounds for the exchange competition, as Hayato put it, "students should act like students," and they still had to attend classes. However, Marufuji Ryo, a third-year student in the Blue Dormitory, who had no classes this morning, still made a special trip to audit the "Pokémon Coexistence Class" for the first-year students. Perhaps he wanted to avoid trouble and have some peace and quiet for a while.

Although the "Spirit Coexistence Class" was a common course for all first-year students, it was not a required course but an elective course chosen according to individual interests. The classroom, which was large enough to accommodate all the students in the three dormitories of the first year, was somewhat empty, with large areas of seats vacant. Ryo Marufuji was sitting at the back of the classroom.

He noticed two other people sitting side by side in the back of the classroom. Although he could see their faces clearly, for some reason Marufuji Ryo could only feel that they were somewhat familiar but could not connect them with certain people in his memory. He did not doubt his strange feeling too much, at most he just thought that he might have seen them at school. After all, there are so many people in school, and not everyone can be remembered.

Even if the other person isn't wearing the school uniform, it's still the same, because they might be a student from the previous two years who has returned to the school for a nostalgic visit. This would explain why Marufuji Ryo might feel familiar with the other person but have no recollection of them.

As for whether the opponent might be an outsider duelist like "Seven Stars," Marufuji had no doubt whatsoever. This guess might be plausible in Professor Chronos's or another teacher's class, but what fool would choose to show off in Principal Kobayashi Hayato's class?

While Ryo Marufuji was completely unable to understand what Hayato was saying, another Marufuji in the front row was digging his fingers into his hair and scratching his scalp in distress, saying, "I don't understand at all, I can't understand what the principal is saying."

"I used to think that the 'Elf Coexistence Course,' which doesn't have any reference materials and doesn't require memorization, would be easier than the 'Duel Basics Course,' which has almost the entire book as the focus of the exam. I was completely wrong."

"Ultimately, the idea that you can see 'spirits' just by believing in yourself is far too abstract!"

Upon hearing Marufuji Sho's words, Judai, who was standing to the side, denied it, saying, "That's not how it is, Sho."

"Big brother, you think so too—"

"No, I meant you were talking about Lesson 3. Hayato is still talking about Lesson 1," Jaden corrected. "You haven't even finished Lesson 1. You've taken too many shortcuts."

"Honestly, isn't there anything concrete that we can learn directly, Mr. Kobayashi?" Not only Marufuji Sho, but also many exchange students from other academies were in the class, auditing the lecture given by the legendary Duel King out of interest. But who would have thought his teaching would be so abstract?

"For example, A+B=B+A, e^(iX)=(CosX+iSinX), are there formulas like these that we can memorize and learn?"

When Judai saw the exchange student from the Eastern branch who raised his hand to speak, wearing glasses, munching on an apple with a blank expression, and occasionally uttering catchphrases like "the wisdom of mortals" to the other students next to him, Judai immediately realized that the other person must also be an excellent student at their school. The main reason was that the other person had asked the same question when Rokuzo had come to class before.

Judai glanced at Rokuzoku beside him and said with a smile, "It seems like you asked the same question before, Rokuzoku... No.3? Speaking of which, why did you come back when you decided not to come to this class anymore?"

Although Judai, like most people, couldn't pronounce his name correctly, at least the nickname he used could still be connected to the "three" in his name. Misawa sighed and said, "I know what you want to ask, Judai. That's the Euler equation. It has nothing to do with the 'Eurah Euler' shout you make when you make the monster attack. It's a very basic equation."

"As for why I'm back in this classroom for a lecture... cough cough, although I don't want to admit it, it's all because of mistakes I made when I was young."

Misawa's face flushed slightly. Before the "Seven Stars" incident, he hadn't shown much interest in this class, but after only a short time, he had returned. What else could be the reason? It was because he had fought Tania, who was a "Seven Star" but also an elf, during that incident.

But to tell those things to Jaden and the others? Absolutely not, not even if you killed him. He even specifically asked Maeda Hayato, who had witnessed the duel, to keep it a secret. As for Oyama Hei? Because he'd been skipping classes for over a year, he's currently being scolded by Professor Chronos and preparing to repeat his second year.

As for what answers Hayato could get from the exchange students' questions from the Eastern branch campus, Misawa and the others already knew.

"So this is Lesson 1, Xuan Chu." Hayato tapped the blackboard behind him and gestured for them to look at the only line of text on the blackboard. "Don't have any strange expectations of me."

"But how exactly does 'stopping at sight' mean?"

"So... it's just... limited to the line of sight?" Hayato saw that many students in the classroom were looking completely bewildered, but he said nonchalantly, "This kind of thing doesn't need to be explained, nor can it be explained. When you go to get a cup, do you think about 'what angle to extend your arm, how long to extend it, and how much force to use to hold it'? Limiting to the line of sight is the same principle."

“It’s not a completely different logic.” Maeda couldn’t help but complain after hearing Hayato’s explanation. “Although I can also see the [Death Koala] spirit, this description just feels weird.”

"Maeda-kun, you should be able to describe it, right?" Marufuji Sho looked at his roommate expectantly. Jaden could see spirits, Maeda who had repeated a year could see spirits, and Manjoume, the unofficial roommate who occasionally visited the Red Dorm, could also see spirits. When watching a movie at night, the other three could see spirits, but Marufuji Sho was the only one who couldn't. He always felt out of place. "At least you can describe it better than my older brother, right?"

"What are you talking about, Sho? I feel like I'm describing it perfectly." Judai crossed his arms. "It's just that it's limited to eye contact."

"Isn't that just like Principal Hayato described?"

"Because it's indescribable, that kind of thing. It's like being able to breathe without learning, or swallowing saliva without conscious effort. At most, you'll start breathing and swallowing saliva voluntarily after you become aware of it, but even after you forget about it, you'll still breathe and swallow saliva naturally."

Upon hearing Judai's description, Marufuji Sho couldn't help but cover his face: "Thank you so much, big brother. Now I'm actively breathing and swallowing."

What drove him even more crazy was that after thinking for a long time, Maeda Hayato also managed to come up with the phrase "stops in sight".

After the class, Marufuji Sho, like most people, didn't learn anything at all. He just watched Manjoume, Maeda, and Judai talking to the air around them with Hayato-sensei on the podium, as if that was where their spirits resided.

No, it's not fair to say he learned nothing. At least Marufuji Sho completed the first lesson, which was "Lesson 1" written by Hayato on the blackboard—don't have any strange expectations of him.

In this respect, even Ryo Marufuji is the same. The strength of a duelist does not determine whether a person can have the ability to see Pokémon. Even whether one loves Duel Monsters or not cannot change this fact. Even "Kaiser" in the academy, Ryo Marufuji, like most people, cannot see the existence of Pokémon. This is the main reason why few people have signed up for Hayato's "Pokémon Coexistence Class" for so long.

Even though the "Alchemy" class was suspended because of the disappearance of Professor Daitokuji—at least the academy's official notice stated "disappearance"—there was still a considerable amount of knowledge that could be memorized using chemistry. But the "Spirit Coexistence" class? Marufuji Ryo could only remember "stopping at sight." But what does "stopping at sight" mean, and how does one stop at sight?

"Don't have any strange expectations of me," that's the answer.

But compared to Marufuji Sho, who already had the idea of ​​not wanting to attend this class again, at least Marufuji Ryo saw through Hayato's hidden meaning behind that strange "Lesson 1". That is, seeing and being with spirits is not about relying on the teachings of others. You can only rely on yourself for that. What matters is not the teachings of others but your own "confidence". Perhaps this is the true meaning of "Lesson 1".

As get out of class was about to end, Marufuji Ryo planned to leave the classroom first. This was quite relaxed in Hayato's class. Students could leave whenever they didn't want to listen, and come back whenever they wanted to listen. It was all a matter of whether they wanted to listen or not. Marufuji Ryo also wanted to avoid being blocked on the way home during the break.

However, he then discovered that the man and woman who were auditing the class with him had left the classroom before him. He could hear them saying things like, "Even though it's not the first time, this disguise ability is really useful," and "This kind of class makes me feel like I'm back in my old classroom listening to lectures until I fall asleep." However, they were all a bit muffled, and Marufuji Ryo could only make out "disguise" and "fall asleep."

The two seemed to have a clear route. Following them out of the classroom, Marufuji Ryo noticed that instead of taking the main road that students usually take after class, they turned and headed deeper into the school. Marufuji Ryo remembered that most of the classrooms in that direction were empty spare classrooms and storage rooms, and there weren't many teachers' offices.