Jamie had always been the kind of person who enjoyed watching amusing situations unfold, which was why, given the choice, he probably would have preferred transmigrating into one of the later Yu-Gi-Oh!
eras with all their ridiculous summoning mechanics and increasingly extravagant Duels.
Still, he was already here.
It was not as though he could ask for a refund.
Besides, the Duel Monsters era was hardly without its advantages.
For one thing, this was an era where a Duelist might genuinely encounter Dark Magician Girl or Silent Magician, and if someone had a sufficiently close relationship with a Duel Monster spirit, they might even get to watch Silent Magician grow all the way from LV4 to LV8.
And even if someone lacked the bond necessary to interact with spirits, there were always characters like Ishizu.
Or Ishizu.
And, of course, Ishizu.
Any serious Duelist could surely understand why that name alone was enough to get the blood pumping—purely because of the original version of Exchange of the Spirit, obviously.
It definitely had nothing whatsoever to do with anything else about her.
Absolutely nothing.
Only one day remained before Battle City officially began.
Even while staying inside his card shop, Jamie could feel how dramatically the atmosphere throughout Domino City had changed.
Duelists were arriving from everywhere, and excitement seemed to hang in the air.
Jamie idly adjusted his current Decks, trying to figure out how to reduce the chances of disastrous opening hands.
He personally preferred consistent Decks that could produce consistent victories.
Unfortunately, after unlocking his jank-related achievement, the System no longer considered ordinary unnamed Duelists equal opponents for him.
Beating them would no longer unlock additional Decks through the special mode.
For now, Jamie could only work on improving the cards he already had access to.
Putting Deck construction aside, his thoughts returned to Jaden.
The young boy was wandering around the shop with nothing else to do, staring curiously at the enormous variety of cards displayed everywhere.
Whether he recognized them or not, Jaden examined practically every card he could reach one after another.
Teaching a young Jaden who had not yet endured any of life’s harsher lessons promised to be incredibly entertaining.
Jamie did not believe he needed to teach the boy very much.
All Jaden truly needed was for someone to leave a small flame burning inside him—one that would never go out.
Everything else was already prepared.
The only thing missing was the proper opportunity.
If Jamie wanted to give Jaden a memorable lesson, he needed suitable teaching material.
Outside the shop window, three boys and one girl were examining the card boxes on display.
One of the boys had a somewhat ridiculous hairstyle.
Another had an extremely ridiculous hairstyle.
Jamie’s eyes immediately locked onto the unmistakable starfish-shaped hair before shifting toward the blond boy standing beside its owner.
Level 2.
Certified nobody.
Joey Wheeler.
On a personal level, Jamie genuinely respected Joey.
After all, three of Battle City’s semifinalists were people running Egyptian Gods.
Joey was the one guy who showed up with dice.
By the later stages of the story, Joey would grow into a true Duelist capable of standing beside people who wielded gods despite being an ordinary human.
Right now, however, both his skill and his resolve still had a long way to go.
Growth required experience.
And time.
Jamie smiled faintly.
Looks like today’s lesson could benefit two students at once.
Jamie liked most of the important characters from the original series.
The ones he disliked?
Well, those tended to get dealt with.
The shop door soon opened.
Yugi Muto entered first and immediately explained why they were there.
They needed a Duel Disk.
Jamie had to admire the timing.
Battle City started tomorrow, and the reigning Duelist Kingdom champion had apparently waited until the very last day to look for the equipment required to participate.
What would have happened if every shop in Domino City had sold out?
Would Battle City simply end before it began?
Jamie could already imagine the headline.
SHOCKING: DUELIST KINGDOM CHAMPION MISSES BATTLE CITY FOR THE STUPIDEST POSSIBLE REASON!
His thoughts beginning to wander, Jamie glanced at the Duelist database displayed on the shop’s bulky desktop computer, completed the required registration procedure, and handed Yugi a Duel Disk from the shelf.
He completely ignored the increasingly anxious Joey standing nearby.
“Hey, shopkeeper!” Joey hurried forward.
“I’m Joey Wheeler!
I’m entering too!” “Joey Wheeler…” Jamie pretended to search the database.
“Here you are.
Level 2.
Nobody.” Joey’s face twitched.
“Unfortunately, only Duelists ranked Level 5 or higher are eligible to receive a Duel Disk for free and qualify for Battle City.” As expected, Joey immediately exploded.
“What?!
That’s gotta be Kaiba’s doing!
That cheating coward just doesn’t want me in the tournament!” He continued ranting about Kaiba’s bias, cowardice, dirty tricks, and general lack of character until Jamie finally interrupted him.
“How about this?” Everyone turned toward him.
“We happen to have one extra Duel Disk.” Jamie’s smile deepened slightly.
“You put it on and Duel me.
If we play a match, I’ll be able to judge for myself whether you’re good enough to enter Battle City.” Joey’s irritation vanished immediately.
“Wait, you’re allowed to do that?” His expression transformed into pure delight, followed almost instantly by absolute confidence.
In a world where practically every problem could be solved through a Duel, nobody found Jamie’s suggestion particularly strange.
“Fine by me!” Joey declared.
“I’ll show you exactly what the runner-up of Duelist Kingdom can do!” “Then I’ll look forward to seeing it.” Compared with Weevil, whose mind seemed permanently occupied with schemes and dirty tricks, Joey was practically a single-celled organism.
There simply was not much deception in him.
Once the possibility of earning a Duel Disk appeared in front of him, he focused on it completely.
Joey opened the device with somewhat clumsy movements, fastened it onto his arm, loaded his Deck, and immediately prepared for the challenge.
Jamie, meanwhile, considered his own Decks.
“For you…
this one should be about right.” He selected a modified version of his Kuriboh Deck and inserted it into his Duel Disk.
Jamie and Joey walked together into the open space outside the shop.
Both raised their Duel Disks.
“Duel!” “I’ll go first!
Draw!” Jamie had learned from his previous mistake.
This time, he concentrated with one thousand percent of his attention and shouted the instant the Duel began, successfully claiming the first turn before Joey could react.
Drawing on the first turn.
Beautiful.
Then Jamie looked at his opening hand.
His eyelids nearly closed on their own.
“Kuri, kuri!” “Kuri!” Six cards.
Three different Kuriboh monsters.
Only two Kuriboh spirits were making noise because Winged Kuriboh had already changed employers.
The moment Jamie’s Kuriboh spirits appeared beside him, Yugi—who had joined Joey’s friends to watch the Duel—noticed them as well.
An ordinary Kuriboh spirit appeared beside Yugi.
Together with the one accompanying Jaden, that made four Kuriboh spirits in the area, all of them waving happily at one another from a distance.
Yugi watched Jamie and Joey carefully.
“Joey, he’s a Duelist accompanied by spirits.
I wonder whether the you of today is strong enough to earn his recognition.” His thoughtful gaze moved between the two Duelists before briefly settling on the young Jaden nearby.
Jamie looked back down at his cards.
“Anyway, I’ll Set one monster and one card in my back row.
Turn end.
Your move.” [Jamie St.
James: Hand 6 → 4] Out of six cards, three were Kuribohs and another was currently almost useless.
Jamie did not exactly have an abundance of choices.
He Set the cards that could actually do something and passed.
The card in his back row was Sakuretsu Armor.
Jamie had included it in the Deck for one reason above all else.
He wanted to find out whether the card was truly cursed by the laws of the universe and incapable of ever resolving successfully.
“That’s it?” Joey flicked his hair back and drew a card in what he clearly believed was an impressive pose.
“I thought you were supposed to be good!” Joey had not yet experienced enough serious Duels to temper his personality, and his impatience still showed clearly.
“I Normal Summon Panther Warrior!
Then I activate the Spell Card Scapegoat and Special Summon four Sheep Tokens!” The standard version of Scapegoat prevented its controller from Summoning other monsters during the turn it was activated.
Joey’s anime version quite obviously did not care about that restriction.
“Panther Warrior has to Tribute one monster whenever it attacks, so I Tribute one Sheep Token!” Joey thrust out his hand.
“Panther Warrior, attack that Defense Position monster!” Jamie’s face-down monster flipped over the instant it was attacked.
With only 600 DEF, it stood no chance whatsoever against Panther Warrior’s 2000 ATK.
The monster shattered almost immediately.
“Thanks, Joey!
That’s exactly what I wanted!” Jamie actually started applauding him.
“The instant Morphing Jar was flipped face-up, its effect activated.
Both of us discard our entire hands, then draw five new cards!”