Joey Wheeler had always been one of the easiest Duelists to discuss because there was simply so much about him worth talking about.
His determination as an ordinary human standing among monsters, his terrifying gambling luck, and the gradual growth of his heart and character were all fascinating in their own ways.
Even his relationship with Mai Valentine had fueled endless discussion among fans.
What kind of relationship did they have?
Obviously, they were the legendary god of gambling and the beautiful casino dealer standing beside his table.
What else could it possibly be?
In any case, after Dueling the still-inexperienced Joey, Jamie more or less became friends with him.
Naturally, that extended to Yugi Muto, Téa Gardner, and Tristan Taylor as well.
That was simply how friendships between card-game addicts worked.
Play a Duel together and suddenly you knew each other.
As for why Yugi had somehow gone so long without friends before meeting Joey and the others?
Who knew?
After losing to Jamie, Joey was noticeably less impulsive than before.
Having several turns of work erased at once before getting finished in a single explosive counterattack had left him deeply curious about Jamie’s style.
Joey naturally preferred straightforward aggression, but once he tried looking at the Duel from Jamie’s perspective, he had to admit there was something satisfying about locking yourself down, waiting patiently, and then suddenly overturning everything to steal the win.
Before long, he was sitting with Jamie and Yugi as the two of them helped him make adjustments to his Deck.
One thing continued to puzzle him.
Why did both of these guys keep recommending Trap Cards?
“You’re entering Battle City too, right?” Joey asked eventually.
“So why are you running a card shop?” “That’s a long story.
The short version is that once the tournament starts tomorrow, I’ll close the place temporarily.” “When are you opening it again?” Jamie and Yugi exchanged a look.
Both smiled.
“Do you really need to ask?” Joey understood immediately.
“Oh, I get it.
Then I can’t afford to fall behind either!” He pointed enthusiastically at them.
“Yugi, Jamie—save me a spot in the quarterfinals!” Young Jaden was impossibly adorable at this age, so he quickly became popular with the girls.
Téa had already taken him off to one side to keep him entertained.
Oddly enough, Yubel did not react at all.
Perhaps even Yubel knew better than to start causing trouble while the Pharaoh was standing nearby.
The pleasant afternoon passed quickly, and before long the sky outside had begun to darken.
“Oh, it’s already this late,” Téa suddenly realized.
“Joey, don’t you still have to visit your sister at the hospital?” “That’s right!” Tristan slapped Joey on the shoulder.
“Serenity’s waiting for you!
Did you seriously forget?” Joey froze.
Then his eyes widened as everything came rushing back at once.
“Oh, crap!” He hurriedly said goodbye, grabbed his Duel Disk, and was halfway toward the door when Jamie stopped him.
“Joey, wait.” Jamie followed him outside and immediately flagged down a taxi.
“It’s late and you’re in a hurry.
Take the cab.
I’ll pay.” “What?
No, I can’t let you—” Japanese taxi fares were infamous for a reason.
Given the environment Joey had grown up in, riding around in taxis was an extravagance he would almost never consider for himself, which also made accepting that kind of help uncomfortable.
Jamie cut him off before he could continue.
“I can afford the money.
You might not be able to afford the time.
Call it one friend helping another.” He clapped Joey on the shoulder, gave him no opportunity to refuse, and practically shoved him into the taxi.
Then Jamie pulled out enough cash to make the driver straighten slightly.
“Take him to the hospital.
If that isn’t enough, come back here and I’ll cover the rest.
Just get him there.” The driver quietly accepted the money and adjusted his black-framed glasses with the calm professionalism of someone who had no intention of questioning a generous fare.
The taxi pulled away toward the hospital.
Sometimes money really did make problems easier to solve.
And Jamie had to wonder what the Rare Hunters would do about it if events still followed the original timeline.
Hijack a taxi in the middle of the road?
That seemed considerably more troublesome than ambushing Joey on foot.
Without making any fuss about it, Jamie had potentially eliminated an incident that might otherwise have happened later.
When he returned to the others and said goodbye, Yugi and his friends had clearly noticed what Jamie had done, and their opinion of him seemed to improve yet again.
Probably another five points of friendship.
After everyone left and Jamie finished handling the remaining chores around the shop, he finally had time to investigate whatever the System had unlocked during his Duel with Joey.
“Hey, System.
Translate this nonsense for me.” [Additional Special Mode category restrictions have been unlocked.
When drawing a random Deck, the Host may now specify a keyword to narrow the selection pool.] Jamie immediately brightened.
“Great.
Keyword: Drytron.” [The System can function as a babysitter.
It will not function as an idiot.] Jamie stared at the message.
“…” After another round of completely pointless arguing and a closer look at the interface, Jamie finally understood how the feature worked.
Previously, he had essentially been searching an ocean-sized card pool by throwing in a fishing line and hoping for the best.
Now he could narrow that ocean into a smaller river.
The System itself determined how broadly or narrowly a keyword could restrict the pool, which meant Jamie could not abuse the wording to guarantee a specific archetype.
He found that deeply disappointing.
“When are you going to give me one proper, respectable Deck instead of all this jank?
I don’t want to challenge Blue-Eyes White Dragon with some pie-chart monstrosity that only functions when the planets align.” Still muttering about his extremely modest request, Jamie eventually fell asleep.
…
The next morning, the shop’s doorbell woke him.
After washing up and getting dressed, Jamie stepped outside and found an envelope waiting in the mailbox.
Inside was a sealed Locator Card along with a simple map marking his assigned starting point.
Battle City’s rules revolved around ante Duels.
Competitors had to win Locator Cards from one another, and gathering enough of them would complete the map revealing the location of the finals.
The first eight Duelists to reach that destination would advance to the quarterfinals.
Jamie finished preparing and was just about to leave when the System decided to make itself known again.
[Mission System Unlocked.] [Main Mission: Start with a small goal—become the King of Games.] [Side Mission 1: Duel Joey Wheeler using a gambling Deck.] [Side Mission 2: Duel Yugi Muto using a Trap-heavy stun Deck.] [Side Mission 3: Use a homewrecker Deck to steal Blue-Eyes White Dragon, then defeat Seto Kaiba with Blue-Eyes White Dragon as the finishing blow.] More Side Missions continued appearing beneath them.
And then more.
And still more.
Jamie stared at the enormous list and began to wonder whether his System had somehow been infected by a Ubisoft open-world checklist.
[Missions themselves have no fixed time limits.
However, some missions are tied to specific events and will automatically fail if those events are missed.] [Rewards are substantial.
Please work hard.] Jamie continued staring at the projected interface.
At this point, he strongly suspected the System had simply given up pretending to be respectable.
The Main Mission was reasonable enough.
The Side Missions were a different story.
Not a single one looked remotely serious, and the third was so maliciously specific that it practically radiated personal hostility toward Kaiba.
Jamie grinned.
“But that’s exactly the kind of nonsense I like.
Good work, System.” He flipped the sign hanging on the card-shop door from OPEN to CLOSED, picked up his beloved Deck case, and leisurely headed toward his assigned starting point.
Partway down the street, another thought occurred to him.
“Hold on.
KaibaCorp Duel Disks collect Duel data, don’t they?
Does my data get uploaded normally?” [Without explicit authorization, this product will neither collect nor disclose information related to the user’s privacy.] Jamie stopped walking.
“Wait.” His expression slowly stiffened.
“Doesn’t that make me more obvious?
Every Duel has two sets of data, and mine is just blank?
And now that I think about it, you never asked me for permission to share anything in the first place.” [This System does not proactively request permissions.] “Are you kidding me?!
Why couldn’t I have had privacy protection like this before I transmigrated, when I actually needed it?
Now all you’ve done is make me look suspicious as hell!” Jamie rubbed his forehead.
“Since you’ve gotten me into this mess, shouldn’t you compensate me with a powerful Deck?” […] There was a brief pause.
[That function has not yet been implemented.
Please look forward to future updates.] “Useless.” Jamie sighed and started walking again.
“I’ll deal with things as they come.
At least I’ve still got one emergency Deck if everything goes wrong.” He looked toward the city skyline.
“For now, I’ll just pray I don’t run into Seto Kaiba.” Who in their right mind wanted to attract the attention of a man that obsessed with dragons?