Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh! novel Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - 5: Joyful Duel

Kira began to discover the joy of dueling in this other world.

However, he soon realized that, indeed, happiness in this world seems to be a zero-sum game. As he started to have fun, the other disciples in the dojo seemed to lose interest in dueling.

In just three days, nobody wanted to play against him anymore.

Kira could only look up at the sky and sigh deeply.

Now, he finally started to understand why Yugi Muto said he couldn't make friends before meeting the Pharaoh. It turns out that people like him just aren't meant to have friends.

Things escalated to the point that even the dojo master took notice.

The dojo master was named Takeuchi Kageru, who, rumor had it, was once among the top 32 in the town's Duel Tournament when he was younger. Upon hearing that an apprentice's dueling skills had skyrocketed, that this apprentice had even defeated his prized senior student, and that in just three days had made all the apprentices too demoralized to play anymore, Takeuchi felt he had to step in.

He immediately gathered all the apprentices, first praising Kira for his diligent study and rapid improvement, then criticizing the others for their negative attitude.

The master taught, "The point of challenging each other is to improve. A strong opponent is a good thing. Otherwise, if you just beat up on the weak all day, what's the point? It's like boxing in a seniors' home or kicking around a kindergarten—what do you gain from that?"

All the apprentices hung their heads in silence, not daring to speak.

"Enough."

The master made a sweeping gesture and beckoned Kira over with a smile.

"If they don't want to play, then I'll try you out myself. I can give you some pointers on your deck."

Finally, someone was willing to play with him again!

Kira had several deck tweaks he wanted to test, so he eagerly agreed.

So, today's duel would be against his teacher.

The teacher was cool—he even graciously gave Kira the first turn, showing the style of a true master. Kira didn't hesitate and took the first move.

He immediately paid 1000 life points and revealed the Spell Card [Confiscation]. This familiar play sent shivers through the apprentices, who had suffered from it over the past three days—some nearly had PTSD.

Now, Confiscation's effect activates.

Let's see... what's in your hand?

Kira glanced at his teacher's hand and instantly picked out [Monster Reborn] to discard. Then he Normal Summoned [Green Gadget], whose effect let him add [Red Gadget] from his deck to his hand. He set three cards face-down in his back row and passed the turn with style.

Now it was the teacher's turn. He immediately summoned [Gearfried the Iron Knight], a Level 4 monster with 1800 ATK and looking very cool. But it was useless because before Gearfried could even find his footing, Kira's [Trap Hole] sent it straight to the graveyard.

[Trap Hole: When a monster with 1000 or more ATK is summoned, destroy it.]

But the teacher wasn't done yet. Even though he couldn't Normal Summon again this turn, he activated the effect of [Spirit of the Rock – Titan] in his hand, which could be Special Summoned by banishing an EARTH monster from the graveyard. He banished Gearfried and brought out Titan.

Takeuchi then had Titan attack Green Gadget. But with a snap of Kira's fingers, a face-down card flipped up—a bright red trap.

"I activate Mirror Force!"

[Mirror Force: When an opponent's monster declares an attack, destroy all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.]

Takeuchi: "..."

Stepping into two traps in a row, the teacher had no choice but to end his turn.

Then it was Kira's turn again. He looked at his draw, then played [Delinquent Duo]—paid 1000 life points, forcing Takeuchi to discard two more cards.

Takeuchi looked down at his now nearly empty hand, leaving only one card, and fell into deep thought about life.