Is the chapter good?
Katsumi and Aika ran straight toward their destination.
Well, Katsumi dragged Aika while she struggled to keep up.
The moment Katsumi laid eyes on the kindergarten gates, he held his breath until he crossed them.
The fear of school was common.
Even Katsumi had it.
But for someone with the soul of a grown adult, it felt shameful to be afraid of a kindergarten.
He didn’t fear school.
Nor did he fear this kindergarten.
There was simply one object of fear within it.
“S-Seems like we arrived just in time?”
The bell rang.
It was the signal that the morning classes were about to begin.
Katsumi was about to urge Aika toward their classroom when someone beat him to it.
“Why are you standing here, children?”
A deep voice came from behind them.
“Eek!”
Both children froze.
Katsumi slowly turned around and greeted the man standing there.
“Good morning, Principal Takakura!”
A tall man stood before them.
He wore a bright yellow suit and dark sunglasses.
His face carried the strange ability to leave both a first impression and a last impression at the same time.
“G-Good morning, Principal Takakura!”
Aika hurriedly followed suit.
“Go to your classrooms quickly.
You shouldn’t be loitering around when classes are about to begin.”
Mr.
Takakura spoke with a warm smile.
Unfortunately, neither his smile nor his voice felt warm.
“Yes, sir!”
The two children immediately fled toward their classroom.
‘Father!
Stop ignoring me!’
Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s voice echoed through Katsumi’s exhausted mind.
Ignoring the dragon was becoming increasingly difficult.
What would happen if he left Blue alone for an entire hour?
Katsumi didn’t dare imagine it.
‘Silence, Blue.
Can’t you see what I’m doing?’
Katsumi communicated with the spirit mentally.
After all, speaking out loud had made him look like a complete idiot.
Better late than never.
‘Carving is for the old.
True warriors would fight to their death!’
‘Unfortunately I ain’t one.’
At the moment, Katsumi was participating in a group drawing activity.
It should have been an easy task for someone with the experience and knowledge of an adult.
Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
“Hehehe!
Katsumi, what’s this?
Is it ice cream?”
A child his age walked over and peeked at his drawing.
Katsumi glanced down at his masterpiece.
He had attempted to draw the solar system.
Unfortunately, the planets resembled colorful scoops of ice cream lined up in space.
Mercury looked like chocolate.
Venus looked like lemon.
Jupiter looked like a melting orange scoop.
Even Saturn resembled fancy grape-flavored ice cream with a ring wrapped around it.
“…”
Katsumi stared at the drawing.
The drawing stared back.
“Bugger off.”
The other child laughed even harder.
‘Father has the artistic talent of a Goblin.’
‘You be silent as well.’
Katsumi couldn’t handle the embarrassment.
He redrew until it fit his taste.
The periods slowly trickled away and the time for lunch break arrived.
Katsumi left the confines of the building and breathed in the fresh air outside.
Slowly the children also exited.
Hand in hand with their friends.
‘Friends…’
‘Father, the hatchlings are grouping together.
Is their a invasion?’
Blue uttered his usual questions.
‘No.
They are going to eat their lunch.’
‘But why?
All they did was sit and carve.’
‘A child has to eat, Blue.’
Katsumi was slowly becoming accustomed to Blue’s patterns.
‘Ah!’
“H-Hey…”
A soft voice came from Katsumi’s side.
Turning to his left, he found Sendou Aika, the girl from earlier.
“Oh hey!
Did you eat your lunch?”
Katsumi asked a polite question.
“No…”
Aika answered shyly, turning her face away.
Katsumi could only scratch his head at that side.
“Then…let’s eat together.”
Katsumi and Aika went together to a shade beneath a tree, sat down and opened their lunches.
‘Father.
What’s this weak meal!’
Katsumi had sandwiches.
Looks like the dragon did not like it.
‘A fulfilling meal for a human.’
“What you have Aika?”
Katsumi simultaneously spoke to both Aika and Blue.
Aika flinched slightly when Katsumi looked at her lunchbox.
Slowly, she opened it.
Inside were neatly arranged rice balls, a small rolled omelet, and a few slices of fruit.
“M-My mom made it…”
She spoke quietly, almost as if she was apologizing for it.
“Oh.”
Katsumi glanced between his sandwiches and her lunch.
Then he glanced back.
Then back again.
“…Can I trade?”
Aika blinked.
“Eh?”
“I’ll give you half a sandwich for one rice ball.”
“W-Why?”
“Research.”
“Research?”
“I need to know if your lunch is better than mine.”
Aika stared at him for several seconds.
Then a tiny smile appeared on her face.
“O-Okay.”
The exchange was completed.
Katsumi bit into the rice ball.
His eyes widened.
“…”
“…”
‘…Father has entered a state of enlightenment.’
‘Blue, shut up.’
Aika giggled.
A small sound.
But it was the first genuine laugh Katsumi had heard from her.
“You’re weird.”
“So I’ve been told.”
A comfortable silence settled between them as they continued eating.
Around them, groups of children chatted and laughed.
For once, Katsumi wasn’t standing alone watching from the sidelines.
“Do you…
always sit by yourself?”
Aika suddenly asked.
Katsumi paused.
“Pretty much.”
“M-Me too.”
The two looked at each other.
Then they both looked away at exactly the same time.
Awkward.
Very awkward.
‘Father.’
‘What?’
‘You have successfully formed a pack.’
‘That’s not how friendships work.’
‘The lonely hatchling has joined our territory.’
‘Stop calling people hatchlings.’
Aika tilted her head.
“Why are you twisting your face?
Was it not good?”
“It was good!
Just thinking something”
“Hmm.”
Katsumi chewed onto the rice and a moment replayed in his mind.
“Say Aika.
Did you have fun stalking me?”
Aika’s face instantly turned red.
“I-I wasn’t stalking!”
“You absolutely were.”
“I wasn’t!”
“You were.”
“I wasn’t!”
The argument continued until both children started laughing.
From panic to happiness.
For the first time since arriving in this world, Katsumi felt something strange.
Not excitement.
Not nostalgia.
Not the thrill of cards.
Just simple companionship.
A small thing.
A childish thing.
Yet somehow, it felt more real than anything else he had experienced since waking up.
And neither of them noticed the teacher watching from a classroom window.
A smile slowly appeared on her face.
Looks like Sendou finally made a friend.
“Bye bye!”
Katsumi waved back to Aika who was returning home with her mother.
The school time has ended and now his time of grind will begin.
Katsumi didn’t need to wait for his mother to come.
His home was near so he can sprint to it and reach in thirty minutes.
And so he ran.
Skipping pasts people, dodging the senses of the dogs and crossing roads, he finally reached his home.
The door was locked and he needed to press the button of the bell.
But his height was lacking.
“Oh yeah!
There was a stool somewhere here…found it!”
However if their is will their is a way.
With the aid of the stool, he accomplished his task of ringing the bell.
*Dingaling
A normal sound rang out.
A moment later, a voice reached his ear.
“Coming!”
And then the door opened.
His mother was standing there with a thick gloves and appron.
Probably cooking.
“Mom I arrived.”
Katsumi habitually reminded her that he had arrived.
A instinctive action he brought from his previous life.
“Yes yes, I saw you come.”
She laughed and stepped aside.
“Get inside and freshen up.
Food will be ready in a hour.”
And so Katsumi did.
Running upstairs, he placed his bag down and slipped his card on the desk.
‘Father!
Don’t abandon me!’
The screams of despair invaded Katsumi’s mind.
‘Relax.
I am not abandoning you.’
Katsumi lay on the floor.
A way for him to loosen up after a hectic day.
Mind of a adult in a child’s body is exhausting.
As he lay on the floor, he subconsciously looked at the box of cards he had found.
Staying still for a good minute he stretched his body.
Drowsyness was slowly creeping in on his mind.
Nevertheless he picked himself up and took the box in his hand.
Blue-Eyes units were the only ones inside.
The quantity was good for making a deck but it lacked a surefire mechanism.
Sage with the eyes of blue, Maiden with the eyes of blue and some more.
It just lacked the more powerful dragons.
Chaos Max Dragon, Ultimate dragon and whatnot.
Katsumi counted the copies of each card.
It was not too much.
But as he counted each card, a itch formed.
The very same itch that made him a card addict.
Blue-Eyes were great cards but his thirst for the new cards was greater.
The royal palladin, Tachikaze and the rest.
They were similar to many of the archetypes of YuGiOh but had differences.
Katsumi was lost in his card collection just as other cardfighter in the nation.
Thousands of innocent, malevolent or passionate roamed cardshops and participated in tournaments.
Ignorant of the birth of a card collector who will bring awe and despair.
Morikawa Katsumi, that was his name.