Chapter 2: About Bringing a System to Yu-Gi-Oh! and Becoming a Duellist
"Ding-a-ling~"
The bell for the end of class rang. Sitting in his seat, Lin Sun closed his book and silently began organizing the notes he had taken during the lesson. On the podium, the teacher hadn't even finished tidying up their lecture materials yet, but several restless students in the audience couldn't sit still. Before the teacher had even left the classroom, they had already excitedly gathered together.
"Hey, did you hear? That 'Demon Prefect' seems to have gone crazy. Someone sent him to a mental hospital."
"That Tetsu Ushio? That's great news! When did this happen?"
"It was this morning, by the tree near the school gate. That Ushio was lying in a pile of fallen leaves and trash like a madman, constantly muttering about 'money'. Lots of people saw it."
"And I heard, it's very likely because he bullied someone he shouldn't have messed with at school, and people from the outside world messed him up like this."
Listening to the voices coming from behind him, Lin Sun thought to himself: He definitely bullied someone he shouldn't have messed with, but the person who messed him up wasn't some gang from the outside world. You guys would never guess who it was.
Thinking this, Lin Sun turned his head and looked towards the other side of the classroom. Sitting there was a boy with colorful, spiky hair like a starfish, and a short stature that didn't look like a high schooler. At this moment, the spiky-haired boy was sitting opposite a blond boy, holding several Cards in his hand, seemingly playing some kind of card game.
"Alright, it's Joey's turn."
A boy with a completely unremarkable hairstyle, who looked like he couldn't play cards at all, approached the two sitting opposite each other. He naturally extended his arm and draped his right hand over the blond boy's shoulder, wrapping around his neck, inserting himself into their game: "What are you playing, Joey?"
"Ugh!" The blond boy, whose neck was being pulled, used his free hand to push away the other boy's arm. He twisted his neck, then proudly held up the Cards he was holding to show them off. "What the heck, you don't even know this? Of course, it's Duel Monsters!"
"Duel what?"
After only a couple of sentences, the blond boy became a bit impatient. "So noisy! Just go watch quietly from the side. If I lose to Yugi this time, it'll all be your fault."
Saying this, the blond boy pushed away the boy leaning on him and refocused his attention on the Cards in his hand.
The boy who was pushed away didn't get angry over such a small matter; it was clear he had a pretty good relationship with the blond boy. Looking at the two focused individuals, the boy scratched his head, slightly troubled. "Seriously, is this stuff really that interesting? I don't see it at all."
Lin Sun, who had stood up to go to the restroom, heard the boy's muttering clearly. He tilted his head and glanced at his hairstyle, thinking to himself: No wonder. After all, Tristan, your hairstyle is just too ordinary. It's not even as wild as the unicorn from the Conan series next door. It's not your fault you don't get the fun of playing Cards.
As Lin Sun walked out of the classroom, he could still hear the words spoken by the girl standing next to the boy the blond boy had pushed away: "What's called 'Duel Monsters' is a game where you summon Monsters onto the field and then use Spell Cards in proper combination to battle each other, attacking and defending. It's a very popular and famous game."
And in the future, playing Cards can even save the world, more than once, Lin Sun added inwardly.
The name "Duel Monsters", although it sounds quite unfamiliar, becomes much more familiar if you call it something else: "Yu-Gi-Oh!"
Initially, this was just a fictional game thought up by the author in a manga because they set the protagonist as "good at various games". There were many other games like it. However, unexpectedly, as the manga was serialized, many readers became particularly interested in this "Duel Monsters" game, leading to the manga titled "Yu-Gi-Oh!" undergoing a major setting change and later focusing entirely on the "Duel Monsters" game.
And the manga title "Yu-Gi-Oh!" thus became synonymous with this game.
After a day's time, Lin Sun had reluctantly accepted the fact that he hadn't been reborn by taking over a body, but had Transmigrated into the world of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and become an ordinary student at Domino High School. Even his name had changed from "Lin Sun" to "Kobayashi Hayato".
What brought Lin Sun — or rather, Kobayashi Hayato (henceforth referred to as "Hayato") — some comfort was that his name from his previous life hadn't disappeared; it had merely been embedded within his new name.
Furthermore, Hayato's luck was quite good. His class happened to be the same one as the protagonist of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" — Yugi Mutou. The people in this class could be described as hidden dragons and crouching tigers:
The officially designated strongest (Underworld) Duellist, Yugi Mutou;
Yugi's spiritual mentor and pseudo-heroine, Téa Gardner;
The genius inventor, second protagonist with a severe Card-playing addiction, Seto Kaiba;
Lv. Normal Monster, Supreme Gambling King and third protagonist, Katsuya Jonouchi;
The Human Host of the final boss, the Great Evil God, who appeared in the first episode and survived until the end, Ryou Bakura;
And Tristan Taylor, who beat up the one above with his iron fists, is Joey's best buddy, and wants to become his brother-in-law.
Now *that's* a luxurious lineup (leaning back strategically).
Lost in thought, Hayato finished using the restroom and walked out, wiping the water stains from his palms with a handkerchief.
Honestly, he didn't have many complaints about Transmigrating to the world of "Yu-Gi-Oh!". In his previous life, his parents had passed away early, leaving no elderly to care for, and he wasn't married. He didn't have many other regrets either.
At most, it was not being able to wait for GTA 6, not getting to play with the Kamen Rider toys he pre-ordered, and not having time to clean his D drive... The more he thought about it, the worse Hayato's expression became.
Let's change the way I think, change the way I think.
At least one thing was true: although the world of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" was dangerous, it was safer compared to those purely combat-focused anime series.
Even an ordinary person with no strength to tie up a chicken would have a slight chance to resist when facing an aggressor, although it was more likely they'd be OTK'd by someone drawing the perfect hand and creating Cards. But at least it was better than going to worlds like "One Piece" or "Bleach" and being casually killed by wild pirates or Hollows, right?
After confirming that no one in the hallway was paying attention to him, Hayato cautiously raised his hand and seemingly casually "tapped" the air in front of him with his finger.
A voice rang in Hayato's ear: [Beep beep, you King — Your Initial Card Pack has arrived.]
Almost simultaneously with the disappearance of that mysterious voice, Hayato felt a weight in his clothes pocket. Reaching his hand inside, he touched a square metal object.
End of Chapter