Kaiba Corporation

At nine thirty the next morning, the taxi stopped outside Kaiba Corporation Headquarters.

Yūki pushed the door open, got out, and looked up first.

After looking, he confirmed one thing.

President Kaiba really was good at making sure everyone knew at a glance how rich he was.

The building pierced the clouds, deep-blue glass joined with silver-gray metal, with an enormous KC logo embedded in the center.

Beneath the logo, an electronic screen spanning three floors played a promotional video for the new Duel Disk on a loop.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon swooped out of the screen, his wings nearly covering the entire face of the building.

The office workers passing by quickened their pace.

With his Booster Pack on his back, Yūki followed the crowd into the lobby.

Watching a white dragon advertise his own company, people in this world could actually keep walking so calmly.

The lobby ceiling was over ten meters high, with dozens of transparent screens suspended overhead.

Professional League match reports scrolled on the left, while specifications for the new Duel Disk were listed on the right.

The largest screen, right in the center, displayed only a single slogan.

[The future of dueling is defined by Kaiba Corporation!]

Yūki stared at those words for two seconds.

In his previous life, that would have been nothing more than some game company flattering itself.

But in this world, Kaiba Corporation really did have the right to make such a bold claim.

The most advanced dueling systems, the most comprehensive Card Database, the largest Professional League-even Duelist Rating could not get around this company.

Seto Kaiba really had turned playing cards into infrastructure.

"Are you Mr. Fujiwara Yūki?"

A young woman in a white business suit approached, a KC badge pinned to her chest.

"I'm the staff member assigned to receive you. I'll guide you through the process."

"Sorry for the trouble."

Yūki followed her through an identity verification gate to the side.

A blue light swept across the Duel Disk on the back of his hand, and several lines appeared on the nearby electronic screen.

[Name: Fujiwara Yūki]

[Duelist level: Three stars]

[Eight-School Campus Duel League · Champion]

As soon as the last line lit up, the receptionist turned back and smiled at him.

"Congratulations, Fujiwara. The recordings of your matches in this league have been very highly rated within the corporation."

Yūki's steps paused for half a beat.

"Highly rated?"

"The Technical Department is very interested in several of your builds."

She led him to the elevator, her tone still polite.

"Especially Lava Golem and the Elemental HERO Sunrise. The corporation's database currently lacks complete information on Sunrise. Researchers have already requested your match projections for specialized analysis."

The corner of Yūki's mouth twitched.

Yesterday he had still been shouting about heroes onstage, and today this card had already entered Kaiba's archives.

That really was efficient.

"A friend gave me that card."

The receptionist's smile did not shift in the slightest.

"The corporation has always respected every duelist's sources for their cards, as well as the fate that brings cards and duelists together."

Beautifully put.

Translated, it meant: we will investigate the information as usual; as for where the card came from, you should work out your answer first.

"Mm." Yūki nodded. "Fate."

The elevator doors opened, revealing two people already seated inside.

On the left was Tachibana Shingo, with a black Booster Pack resting on his knees.

Seeing Yūki enter, he raised a hand in greeting.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Seated on the right was the female duelist from City Second Middle School, who had placed third in the league.

The three exchanged glances, and the atmosphere grew a little awkward.

Yesterday they had been fighting tooth and nail onstage; today they were crammed into the same elevator to collect their prizes. Life was sometimes just that absurd.

Tachibana Shingo spoke first.

"I thought the champion's prize would just be a rare card. I didn't expect Kaiba Corporation to actually bring people down to choose."

"Kaiba Corporation generally isn't too stingy when it gives something out," Yūki said.

The female duelist glanced at him.

"You sound experienced."

"I just have faith in President Kaiba's capabilities."

Yūki watched the floor numbers drop rapidly outside the elevator.

"It's only a few rare cards. Surely he can manage that much."

Tachibana Shingo could not help laughing.

The laugh was not exactly friendly, but there was not much malice in it either.

"All right, let's see what kind of eye you have." He looked down and patted the Booster Pack on his knees. "Anyway, I couldn't make sense of that HERO fusion play yesterday. I do want to see what you pick today."

Yūki did not take the bait.

This runner-up had not lost too badly yesterday, and now that he was here to collect his prize, he wanted to see what card the champion would choose.

Half curiosity, half refusal to accept defeat.

The elevator continued downward.

Kaiba Corporation's aboveground section was already extravagant enough; the underground section clearly had even less intention of being reasonable.

The numbers passed minus three, minus six, minus ten.

Only at basement level twenty-eight did the elevator stop.

When the doors opened, a boy in a white coat was already waiting in the corridor.

Mokuba Kaiba waved at the three of them.

"You're right on time."

"Mr. Mokuba." Tachibana Shingo and the female duelist both straightened a little.

Yūki nodded too.

"Sorry to make you come here in person."

"No trouble." Mokuba smiled. "I happen to be free today, so I'll be handing out your prizes."

His gaze lingered on Yūki.

He had clearly watched yesterday's HERO fusion very closely.

"Besides, I'm pretty curious about what cards you'll choose."

Yūki understood what he meant.

Mokuba Kaiba still had questions about where Lava Golem and Sunrise had come from.

Today's prize collection most likely doubled as a bit of an inspection.

But Yūki thought that was perfectly normal.

A middle school student had first pulled out Marik's Lava Golem, then a HERO Fusion Monster that could not be found in the database.

In his place, Yūki would have taken a closer look too.

Mokuba led the three through a silver-white corridor.

Transparent display cases stood along both sides.

On the left sat a prototype of the first-generation Duel Disk, as bulky as a metal chopping board.

On the right were successive generations of Kaiba Corporation's card-printing equipment, with several yellowed first-edition cards laid beside them.

Yūki paused as he passed a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

The white dragon on the card held his head high, his silver-white wings almost pushing beyond the card's frame.

A line of small print was marked beside it.

[Seto Kaiba's private collection. Not for trade.]

"Is this one genuine?"

"One of the earliest Blue-Eyes White Dragons my brother collected." Mokuba nodded.

"He still keeps it?"

"My brother says a true duelist remembers every important encounter."

Yūki thought about it.

For someone to remain devoted to three Blue-Eyes White Dragons for decades-that dedication really did deserve admiration.

As for tearing up someone else's Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the spot back then...

That counted as a tiny mistake from President Kaiba's youth. Understandable.

At the end of the corridor stood a circular metal door.

It had no handle, only a floating screen.

Mokuba pressed his palm against it.

"Identity confirmation: Mokuba Kaiba. Grant access to Card Vault C-07."

A blue ring of light spread from beneath his palm, and the circular door slid open to either side.

Beyond the door were not the shelves they had imagined.

Everything was pitch-black.

As soon as Yūki stepped inside, a pale-blue path of light lit up beneath his feet.

Then countless points of light emerged from the darkness.

Phantom cards flew in from afar, revolving around the platform beneath their feet.

Monsters, Spells, Traps-the card faces became densely packed streams of data, extending into depths with no visible end.

Above them looked like the cosmos, and so did the space below.

In the distance, vast stretches of data even gathered into slowly rotating nebulae.

The female duelist stopped in the doorway, one hand still resting on the frame.

"This is..."

Tachibana Shingo had not moved either.

Even when he lost yesterday's Championship Match, he had stood steady. Now, however, he stared at the cards in the air without speaking for a long while.

"Kaiba Corporation's Card Vault?"

"To be precise, it's a Synchronized Mapping Space linking the Card Database and Physical Card Storage." Mokuba swept a hand through the air.

The streams of data overhead scattered, and a field of card projections descended in front of them.

"Every card Kaiba Corporation has ever released is cataloged here."

"Also, as long as a card has been recorded by a Duel Disk developed by the corporation, its basic information is synchronized here too."

Yūki watched the cards flashing past his eyes.

Gemini Elf.

Jinzo.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

Mechanical Tyrannosaurus.

There were also several he had only ever seen in card-image threads on old forums.

"What percentage of cards in circulation does it cover?" Tachibana Shingo asked.

Mokuba raised two fingers.

"About fifty percent of those on the market."

The female duelist's mouth fell open.

"Fifty percent?"

He stated the figure very calmly.

But in reality, it was already so absurd it was like cheating.

After all, the sources of cards in this world were a complete mess.

Cards released by Kaiba Corporation and the International Fantasy Society made up the bulk.

Universities, research institutions, and dueling schools also produced their own research results.

Some cards were excavated from ancient ruins, some were said to have been manifested by monster spirits themselves, and others would grow on their own in specific environments.

A card could be dug up from beneath a desert, or it could "grow" out of a duelist's Booster Pack.

No one could say where the limits of cards lay.

But as long as one came into contact with Kaiba Corporation's dueling system, its effects, Attribute, Level, Type, and ATK and DEF values would be entered into the archives, one by one.

The rest was left to the Technical Department.

"Can cards be replicated too?" Tachibana Shingo asked again.

Mokuba nodded.

"Ordinary cards can."

"Rare cards are much harder. The stronger a card, the higher its requirements for materials, manufacturing processes, and compatibility with the rules."

He looked up at the slowly revolving streams of data.

"Card creation itself was constrained by rules. Researchers could replicate their structure, but they couldn't create power beyond what the rules could support."

"Those things called 'fake cards' were merely cards twisted by special powers. They still had to obey the rules of dueling."

Yūki stood where he was, in no hurry to respond.

Rules constrained creation, the system recorded everything, and even fake cards had to follow the rules.

It sounded like an ironclad law, without a single loophole.

But Yūki knew that the stricter the rules, the more valuable any gaps to exploit became.

Every one of those cards that had ended up on the banlist in his previous life had been pried out of gaps like these.

He withdrew his gaze and followed Mokuba deeper into the Card Vault.

The real main event was still to come.