In the center of the dueling hall, the first-turn indicator lit up on Chazz Princeton's side.
Chazz glanced over his six-card opening hand, flicked the edge of one card with his thumb, and grew even more confident.
"Looks like even my deck thinks there's no need to waste much time on this duel."
He slapped a monster card onto his Duel Disk.
"I summon [Mystic Tomato] in Defense Position!"
A dark red projection swelled out of the Monster Zone. An enormous tomato with fangs and sharp claws crouched on the field, spreading its vines along the ground and baring a set of teeth at Yūki that didn't quite belong on a vegetable.
[Mystic Tomato, DEF 1100]
Chazz pulled out two more cards and inserted them into his back row.
Two face-down cards settled behind the tomato, forming a neat defensive line.
"I set two cards and end my turn."
He folded his arms and looked at Yūki's yellow uniform.
"Did you get a good look? This is how the top student sets up his field. My monster probes your defenses, while my two back-row cards can cut off your attacks at any time. Whatever direction you take, it's all within my calculations."
"The difference between Obelisk Blue and Ra Yellow isn't just the color of our uniforms."
"The gap in our intellect decided the outcome before the duel even began!"
His two lackeys nodded repeatedly at the sidelines.
"Well said, Chazz!"
"That's Chazz Princeton Lightning for you! He figured out everything his opponent could do on the very first turn!"
Bastion Misawa studied Chazz's field and earnestly corrected them. "Based on the available information, all we can establish is that he has one Defense Position monster and two unknown face-down cards. We can't conclude that the outcome has already been