Want to play cards? I'll use my King's Deck!

Chapter 163 The Eternal Second Place

The store manager, Gao Wen, who came out to greet them, was about thirty-five years old.

His slanted eyes and centipede-shaped scars gave him a rather fierce look. He had a neat buzz cut and wore a sleeveless vest over his hair.

His bare arms were adorned with monster tattoos, exuding a dangerous aura. At first glance, he looked like a ruthless gangster boss.

"Hello, are you Manager Gao Wen?"

Yu Xi felt a chill run down his spine as he was stared at by Gao Wen’s intimidating gaze. He hadn’t expected the store manager who came out to greet them to be dressed like this.

This person doesn't look like a good person.

"It's definitely me. Where's the letter?"

Gao Wen had a cigarette in his mouth, but after coming out of the room, he stubbed it out in the ashtray on the table next to him.

He took the letter of introduction from You Xi, opened it, and then took out his phone to pull up photos in his album and compared them with the people in front of him. Then he turned his head and said, "Come with me."

After leaving those words, Gao Wen immediately turned and walked back to the room he had been in before. This cold and decisive reaction surprised everyone.

"Huh? So you're agreeing that readily?"

Xing Yewu looked surprised. She thought she would have to exchange a few more polite words, but she didn't expect the other party to not follow the script at all.

After confirming their identities, they didn't even bother to say a single unnecessary word.

Is this the demeanor of a mature adult... no, should I say a gangster?

"We don't have any other choice right now, so let's just follow along and see what happens."

"That's right."

Izayoi Yuki was the first to step into the passageway leading to the room where Gawain had disappeared, and Hoshino Mai shrugged and followed second.

Next up was You Xi.

He first turned to look at the bunny-eared loli beside him.

"Mashiro, are you coming with me, or are you going to wait here for us for a while?"

"Of course we'll go together!"

Mashiro Kaiba made her decision without even thinking.

She was very curious about the experience at the card store, but the store was there and wouldn't move. She could just come back and try it out later. Yuki's place was definitely more fun and more important.

"Okay, let's go together then."

With the little girl following closely behind, Yu Xi quickened her pace to catch up with the girls.

The group climbed the stairs, turned a corner, and another huge room appeared before them.

"Wow~~!"

Hoshinobu let out a small gasp, and Izayoi Yuki couldn't help but widen her eyes slightly.

There is no other reason.

The room was filled with cards.

Although there are many cards in the card shops outside, the quality of the cards here is far superior.

Rare cards are common on the market, and many of them are very valuable Extra Monster cards.

Black, white, purple, blue... cards of four colors each occupy an entire wall, a dazzling array that is hard to look away from.

Among the creatures that Yuki and the girls caught a glimpse of were "Ice Barrier Dragon Trident Dragon", "Psy Skeleton King Omega", "Ancient Dragon", "Shadowy Midrash", "Dragon-Locking Serpent - Skeleton Four-Faced Demon", "Crystal Machine - Inherited Fiberglass", and "Super Heavy Turret Train Skybreaker Love", which had only made a brief appearance in the duel with Touya.

However, compared to cards like Synchro, Fusion, and Link, Xyz cards are the fewest, so the blank spaces on its walls are filled with some monsters and Spell & Trap cards from the Master Card.

Obviously, this is a VIP room, unlike the outside shops, and is not open to ordinary customers.

It's said that collectors have dedicated rooms to store their collections, and that these items are categorized and placed in different rooms according to their grade and value. This might just be the personal collection room of the intimidating-looking shopkeeper.

You Xi and the others speculated, but they weren't the only ones in the room with the shop manager.

"Uncle, who are those guys?" Inside the room, a boy who had been there early frowned when he saw You Xi and the others follow the shop manager in. "Wasn't today supposed to be my special day?"

He was about the same age as You Xi and the others, and he was also wearing a flat-topped hat. His eyes, hidden under the hat, were sharp and tinged with hostility as he looked this way.

“I never said that. To me, you are all guests, there is no distinction.”

As Gao Wen, who was the first to enter the room, casually answered the boy, he gestured for Yu Xi and his group to look around the room as they pleased, and said, "I used to owe that guy Satomi a favor. I was thinking he wouldn't ask me to do anything difficult for him, but it seems he's planning to use that favor on you guys. Since he wants to waste it like this, I won't say anything."

"Of course, personal relationships are personal relationships, and business is business; the two should not be confused."

Gao Wen held up a few fingers.

“Satomi and I have already explained the details and requirements to you in the letter, but I have collected these cards myself with great effort, so there is no reason for me to just give them away for free. Three cards, at most an hour, you can take a look and see which ones you like, and I can sell them to you at half the market price.”

Fifty percent—that's practically a huge financial blow.

Even if any of these cards aren't priceless, they could easily fetch the price of a white-collar worker's savings over several years. Manager Gao Wen's 50% discount significantly reduced the expenses for You Xi and the others.

Even so, this level of rarity is still beyond what Yu Xi and his friends can afford.

The school's funding is limited, and even if Yu-hsi and the girls pay out of their own pockets, they can probably only buy one card at most.

—Well, that is, assuming there isn't a noble lady among the people present.

"What? Yuki, is this what you came here to do? There's no need to go through all this trouble!"

After listening for a while, Mashiro Kaiba finally understood the cause and effect.

"I'll buy all the cards here... no, I'll buy the whole store! Then Yuki, you can pick whatever you want! Use whatever you want!"

"What the hell?"

As the saying goes, "If you don't say something shocking, you'll never rest until you've said it," and as soon as Mashiro Kaiba uttered those words, everyone's attention was immediately drawn to her.

The boy in the hat couldn't help but mock, "Hey! Where are you from, you idiot? You can't just brag like that! Do you know how much this whole store would cost... Wait, holy crap, are you Kaiba Mashiro!?"

Halfway through his sentence, the boy's expression suddenly changed. He recognized the bunny-eared loli following behind You Xi and immediately swore.

"What's going on? Kaiba Mashiro, what are you doing here!?"

"Mashiro, do you know him?"

Yu Xi and the girls looked curious. Judging from the boy's attitude, it seemed that he had some kind of connection with the loli.

"Huh? I don't know him."

Kaiba Mashiro shook her head, her rabbit-ear scarf swaying on her head, making one want to grab it and play with it: "Anyway, I have no recollection of her. She's probably one of my many fans."

"I'm not a fan at all!"

The boy angrily refuted Kaiba Mashiro's speculation, shouting, "It's me! Have you forgotten who was competing with your Star Front team for the preliminaries championship a while ago? The person you dueled with back then was me, Jonouchi Ranpo! Don't tell me you've forgotten me in such a short time!"

"Walking around in the city?"

Upon hearing the boy reveal his family background, Kaiba Mashiro remained bewildered, while Yuuki and the girls quickly remembered something after a moment's thought.

"Oh! You mean the regular player on the Firefire Duel Academy's team, right!"

Xing Yewu slammed her fist into her palm and said with a sudden realization.

"Yes, it's me!"

Ranpo Jonouchi said with satisfaction, "As expected, you guys have a better eye. Now you remember who I am, Kaiba Mashiro?"

"Ah! I remember now, who do I think it is? It's the defeated opponent from next door."

Reminded by Hoshino Mai, Kaiba Mashiro's long-forgotten memories suddenly surfaced from the deep sea.

Feng Huo Duel Academy is a renowned dueling school in Xingfeng City.

The relationship between Feng Huo and Xingfeng Duel Academy is roughly similar to that between Tsinghua University and Peking University. However, naturally, two tigers cannot share one mountain, and there can only be one number one. Feng Huo has always been firmly suppressed by Xingfeng, and has always been the perennial runner-up.

This left all the students at Fenghuo feeling frustrated and resentful.

It is also one of the few schools that still has the ambition to compete with Xingfeng for the championship.

Ranpo Jounouchi clearly shared this sentiment, stubbornly declaring, "Just wait! When it comes to the main tournament, we, Feng Huo, will not lose to your Xing Feng again! This time, the Star Cup championship will definitely belong to us, Feng Huo!"

"Uh... why does this sentence structure sound so familiar?"

Yuki felt that this wasn't the first time she'd heard something like this. Well, the little girl next to her often said that when she lost a duel.

Does everyone here like to make such harsh statements?

"Kaiba Mashiro, is she the eldest daughter of the Kaiba family?"

Gawain hadn't paid much attention to the little girl who was following Youxi around; he was just going through the motions of entertaining her.

Unexpectedly, a great white shark was hiding among these seemingly young and innocent kids.

His expression was a mix of surprise and something odd: "Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? If you know such important people, why would you need to buy cards from me? You're not here to cause trouble, are you?"

Although it's unclear why Mashiro Kaiba hangs out with Yuuki and the others, one can easily guess that the two sides have a good relationship.

The strength of Haima Company is far beyond what a small company like his can compare to. If the former were to let slip even a little bit of its resources, it would be more than enough for You Xi and his group to enjoy.

No, that's not how it works.

As Gawain brought it up, everyone remembered the little girl's earlier interrupted speech.

Yuki shook his head, clearing up the shopkeeper's misunderstanding, and said to Kaiba Mashiro, "Mashiro, we appreciate your kindness, but I'm sorry, we can't ask you for help with this. Don't forget, we're rivals. If we need our rivals to help us prepare the cards we need for our own enhancements, that would be too unacceptable."

"Yes, Xiaoxi is right."

Xing Yewu chimed in with a light laugh, "After all, you're bound to be obligated if you take a bribe. You have to take responsibility for your own actions. If we take advantage of you here, it won't be easy for us to be your enemy in the Star Cup later."

"Ah, is that so?" Mashiro Kaiba blinked.

"That's it."

Izayoi Yuki concluded definitively: "Duel is all about having a clear conscience. If you hesitate or have any distracting thoughts, your card play and actions will have unnecessary flaws. Accepting your opponent's charity will only bring you additional psychological burden."

Not only Yuki, but also Hoshino Mai and Izayoi Yuki reached the same conclusion.

Even disregarding that, it's hard for them to repay a favor when a friend they've only known for a day spends so much money on them, even going so far as to buy out someone else's entire store.

This is different from what Satomi Teruaki did.

Satomi Teruaki was investing in their future, a fact they were well aware of. They could repay him later when they achieved success; in a sense, it was a business deal. However, Kaiba Mashiro had nothing to gain from Yuuki and the others, and they didn't know what equivalent gift they could give in return.

However, taking favors too seriously will only backfire.