The bell had barely finished ringing when the hallway erupted like a refugee camp at mealtime.
The clatter of desks and chairs and the squeal of sneakers against the floor tore down the corridor.
"Hurry, hurry! Kurosawa's personally running public certification matches in Building Three today!"
"Vice President Kurosawa from third year? Didn't he reach 3 Stars ages ago? Why's he still stomping beginners?"
"A few troublemakers from Second Middle School came to challenge us, saying nobody at Third High could put up a fight. Kurosawa's stepping in to teach them some manners!"
Several boys in the front row grabbed their Duel Disks off their desks and swept out like the wind without even capping their pens.
Yūki followed the crowd at a leisurely pace, his schoolbag slung over one shoulder.
The side pocket of his bag bulged slightly. Inside the black deck box, a brand-new anti-aggro stall build stood ready for action.
To raise his star rating within two days, he needed an actual match recorded by a Kaiba Corporation local terminal.
And the Duel Club's third arena was an officially certified direct-access node for the Domino City education bureau.
"A 3 Stars examiner delivered right to my door. Saves me taking taxis all over town looking for card shops."
With both hands in his uniform trouser pockets, Yūki strolled through the gymnasium's side entrance.
Three full rings of people surrounded Dueling Field Three, packed so tightly there wasn't a gap to be found.
At the center of the arena, holographic projectors hummed softly, bathing the dueling platform in brilliant light.
The match had clearly already entered garbage time.
A boy in the neighboring Second Middle School's uniform was drenched in sweat, a large patch of his uniform's back soaked through. His Duel Disk showed only 800 Life Points remaining.
Opposite him stood a slender boy whose uniform had been ironed free of every crease.
Third-year Duel Club vice president, Kurosawa Kōshin.
Two solid-looking holograms stood firmly in Kurosawa's front row.
On the left was [Shining Angel], spreading pure white wings and holding a divine staff.
On the right was [Kaiku the Ghost Destroyer], clad in deep blue robes and surrounded by demon-subduing runes.
Kurosawa stood with his arms folded, his Duel Disk resting level on his left forearm, wearing his signature fake smile: three parts composure, seven parts pity.
"You've certainly put plenty of fighting spirit into your offense, junior. Reckless charges and high-attack vanilla monsters might actually overwhelm an ordinary low-star player."
Kurosawa's voice wasn't loud, but it sounded particularly grating in the hall, where everyone was holding their breath.
"Unfortunately, the true essence of Duel Monsters lies in the absolute dominance of powerful monsters. Blind faith in a vanilla monster's attack power won't get you through the door to becoming an advanced duelist."
The Second Middle School boy's face was as white as plaster.
He gritted his teeth, placed a trembling right hand on top of his deck, and jerked out a card.
"Shut up! A true duelist never gives up until the very last moment! I draw!"
The card sliced through the air.
The instant he saw its face, the Second Middle School boy's eyes went red.
"I activate the Equip Spell [Axe of Despair]! I equip it to my Battle Ox! Its attack increases by 1,000, bringing it to 2,700!"
A shrill bellow rang across the field. Raging flames rose from the burly beastman's twin axes as his attack power soared!
"All-out attack! Battle Ox, smash that Spirit Reaper and his mystical act to pieces!"
A murmur rose from the spectators below.
"Twenty-seven hundred attack! Is this a comeback?"
"Kurosawa's field is wide open-he doesn't have any defense-position monsters!"
Standing at the edge of the crowd with his hands in his pockets, Yūki glanced at the lone face-down card in Kurosawa's back row, and his mouth twisted despite himself.
No searching, no probing, no awareness of traps. He sees twenty-seven hundred attack and charges straight in, screaming his head off.
Yūki mentally lit a candle for the guy from Second Middle School.
If he doesn't walk into a trap here, Seto Kaiba will swallow Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the spot.
Sure enough.
The instant Battle Ox charged up to Spirit Reaper with his blazing axes, the curve of Kurosawa Kōshin's smile hadn't shifted even a millimeter.
He elegantly raised his long fingers and gave a light flick.
The face-down card flipped over.
[Holy Barrier - Mirror Force].
Five silvery-white beams formed a massive prismatic wall of light. Battle Ox's raging axe struck it without leaving so much as a white mark.
The reflected wave of light swept across the field like a lawn mower.
Crack!
The Battle Ox with 2,700 attack shattered like a drinking glass into a skyful of blue light.
"Holy Barrier's effect."
Kurosawa's tone was flat, as practiced as if he were reading a product manual. "When an opponent declares an attack, it activates and destroys all their attack-position monsters."
The Second Middle School boy froze in place, his fist still thrust forward, as though his spine had been pulled out.
His front row was empty, his hand empty.
800 Life Points.
And the Spirit Reaper before Kurosawa was coldly raising his staff.
"Spirit Reaper, attack directly."
A purple orb of runic light struck his chest, instantly draining the Second Middle School boy's Life Points to zero.
[Second Middle School challenger, LP 800 → 0]
Thunderous applause erupted throughout the hall.
"That's our vice president! A textbook defensive counterattack!"
"Mirror Force is so cool! A big monster holds the field and seals the deal!"
His supporters from the club swarmed over, some offering towels, others unscrewing bottles of sports drink for him.
Kurosawa Kōshin folded up his Duel Disk and waved a hand, an easygoing smile returning to his face:
"Just luck. If he'd been holding a Mystical Space Typhoon, I would've lost."
He called it luck, but he straightened his uniform collar with an utterly relaxed air, chin tilted upward by fifteen degrees, his entire body practically saying, "Praise me."
Having watched the whole thing from below, Yūki sniffed.
By early GX standards, Vice President Kurosawa did count as a technical player. He knew how to trade floating monsters for resources, catch people with Mirror Force, and finish them with a big monster.
But to a modern card player, this style was no different from showing off a torch to cavemen.
Every one of his tactics rested on the premises that "the opponent summons a big monster" and "the opponent declares their Battle Phase and attacks."
What if the opponent simply didn't attack?
What if the opponent's monsters huddled behind an iron wall as soon as they entered the field, then used mechanisms to shoot him in the face and bleed him out, shot by shot?
Yūki stepped over the boundary line on the floor and passed through the gathered crowd.
"Kurosawa."
The boy's clear voice wasn't loud, but it slipped precisely into the lull as the cheers died down.
The seven or eight students surrounding Kurosawa instinctively turned.
Yūki stopped five paces from the dueling platform, his bag hanging casually off one shoulder, and smiled at Kurosawa Kōshin as he drank:
"Got time for another round?"
Kurosawa stopped twisting the bottle cap.
He sized up the boy before him.
An old uniform washed slightly pale, harmless-looking short, tousled hair, not a single branded high-end deck box anywhere on him. Even the Duel Disk on his wrist was the basic civilian model the school issued free of charge.
"And you are...?"
"Fujiwara Yūki, Class Two, third year."
Yūki unzipped his bag and took out the plain black deck box.
A senior club member beside them suddenly snickered:
"Fujiwara? Oh, that one-star vanilla king who got shut out in three turns by someone from the next class using a two-thousand-attack monster on the rooftop the day before yesterday? Junior, you still haven't kicked your gaming addiction?"
Undisguised laughter rang out around them.
Kurosawa Kōshin raised a hand to stop the club members' mockery, looking exceedingly well-mannered.
"Don't say that. Low-star duelists have enthusiasm too."
"Fujiwara, the Duel Club always welcomes friendly matches. But the practical certification machines are rather fully booked today. Why don't you fill out a form at the practice arena first? I'll find some time after school another day to give you a few pointers."
His words were extremely polite. Translated, they meant: you one-star punk, don't try to muscle in on a 3 Stars big shot's machine.
Yūki didn't back away. Instead, his smile deepened.
He drew the top monster from his deck box, spun it jauntily between his fingers, and lightly slapped it faceup onto the table.
It was a mechanical monster cast from dark alloy, with the flat wings of a B-2 bomber.
Defense: 1,700.
Attack: 700.
[Stealth Bird].
Kurosawa glanced at the card and nearly laughed aloud.
A piece of trash with seven hundred attack?
"Kurosawa, there's no need to wait until next time. I'm in a hurry to apply to Duel Academy, so I need a win against a 3 Stars today."
Yūki's smile was especially innocent.
"I hear you're a big advocate of high-attack monsters fighting head-on?"
"What a coincidence. This deck of mine... specializes in dealing with all kinds of high-attack tough guys."
Everything fell silent for a second.
The plastic drink bottle in Kurosawa's hand gave a sharp creak as he crushed it flat.
The smile vanished completely from his face, and the corner of his narrow eye twitched.
A bottom-ranked one-star nobody at school, holding some unknown low-level monster with seven hundred attack, was declaring in front of the entire club that he would use their 3 Stars vice president to grind experience and level up.
"Specializes in high attack?"
Kurosawa shoved the deformed bottle into a nearby club member's hands and sharply raised his left arm.
Clack!
With a crisp mechanical unfolding sound, the Duel Disk extended into a silvery-white blade, and a holographic screen burst into azure light overhead.
The watching students sensibly backed away, clearing the entirety of Platform Three.
"Since you're so impatient, Fujiwara, I'll give you a free lesson today as your senior."
Kurosawa coldly stepped into the duelist's position, his gaze icy.
The Duel Disk terminal unfolded.
Blue light flashed.
Yūki planted his feet and raised his left arm level. His Duel Disk's indicator lit up standby red.
"Duel!" ×2.
[Fujiwara Yūki, LP 4000] [Kurosawa Kōshin, LP 4000]
Before you continue