Chapter 222: Seele: Brother, Did You Already Make Plans with Someone Else?
"Ahem, guys, I've recently put together a new Blue-Eyes deck. I'm going to try it on the ladder today!"
In the bedroom, Sirin sat before her computer, her face alight with excitement as she spoke to the stream. At once, the chat rolled out the roasts.
[Yo yo yo, why isn't the Pufferfish playing that self-made 'Invincible Dark Magician' from a few days ago? Didn't you say it was literally impossible to lose?]
["Literally impossible to lose" means a win rate under 20%. Our Pufferfish is just amazing!]
[Pufferfish, I'm telling you, stop trying to brew on your own. Go bat your eyes at that thief Masato and have him teach you a deck, won't you? You might even get to stick close to him for a bit.]
Unfortunately, the chat scrolled too fast, and Sirin never saw that last line. Otherwise, she'd be gnashing her teeth in regret.
Naturally, Yu-Gi-Oh! wasn't only launching on AR glasses. Most people don't have time to head out just to find an open space for a Shadow Duel. When developing it, Xander Masato had the team also port a PC and a mobile version. Lately, Sirin had become obsessed with the PC ladder. Every mealtime, she muttered card effects. After eating, she immediately dove back into her room to climb the ladder. Even lying in bed before sleep, she studied decklists. Kiana was scared she'd gone off the deep end.
As for going to Xander Masato? Sirin honestly never thought of it. She hadn't even talked to Xander much these days, looking every bit the internet-addicted girl.
"Hmph, what do you know? It's just that Dark Magician isn't strong enough! It's not my fault. Now my deck is the invincible Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I definitely won't lose today!" Bristling at the mockery in chat, Sirin snorted and clicked "Ranked" without hesitation.
[Ah yes, yes, yes—clearly the #1 ladder deck running Dark Magician is the worst deck ever. Pufferfish is just so smart!]
[If you're bad, don't blame the deck. How come Dark Magician's great lines don't work only in your hands?]
[That's how Pufferfish is. It's never her problem. Hilarious.]
Bickering with the chat like always, she quickly found a match.
I will become a Duel Master VS Games should be played with a smile
"The opponent's ID is kinda fun. Seems like a pretty cheerful person." Glancing at the name, Sirin chuckled. Very soon, the opponent went first and Normal Summoned a vanilla monster with no effects.
"That's it? So simple and... huh?" Sirin hadn't even finished her sentence before she choked on the scene before her. Right after Normal Summoning, the opponent slammed the remaining four cards in hand face-down into the Spell & Trap Zone behind the monster.
Sirin: "?"
[One up front, four set behind—pleased to meet you!]
[Hahahahaha, the legendary T-shaped formation, lol!]
[Opponent really is a sunny, cheerful person!]
"Come on, who opens with one up front and four set behind???" Sirin couldn't help griping, and soon it was her turn. "My turn..."
Looking at the cards she drew, Sirin swallowed, clicked the mouse with trepidation, and forced herself to summon a monster. "Summon, Kaiser Sea Horse..."
As long as this monster survives one turn, thanks to its effect, it can count as two Tributes when I Tribute Summon a LIGHT monster. Then my invincible Blue-Eyes White Dragon can come out and blow the opponent up!
But right then, the sound she dreaded rang out.
"Trap Card, activate—Trap Hole! Destroy the monster you summoned with 1000 or more ATK!"
With a crash, the monster Sirin had just summoned shattered instantly and went to the Graveyard.
"You!" Her chest rising and falling, Sirin gritted her teeth.
Trap Hole isn't that great in later formats since it only hits Normal Summons. But this is the early era where Normal Summons are king. It's downright practical—and nasty. With no usable Spells or Traps left in hand, Sirin could only end her turn in frustration.
Soon, the opponent summoned another normal beater with no special effects and swung straight at her wide-open field. Just like that, her Life Points fell below 2000.
"My turn..." Saying it, Sirin had lost all confidence. Eyeing the three set cards still on the opponent's field, she gingerly clicked her mouse. "Summon in Defense Position—Spear Dragon..."
The in-game avatar had barely finished speaking when, sure enough, the opponent's voice popped again.
"Activate the Trap Card—Ballista Squad. Tribute one monster on the field; destroy one card on your field!"
In an instant, the monster Sirin had just summoned was destroyed.
Sirin: "?"
Seriously, how is anyone supposed to play like this? Who plays cards like that?!
[Stop! Your deck is crying!]
[All necessary sacrifices. Confirmed!]
[Lol, now we know why that guy's name is 'Play with a Smile.' If it were me, I'd be happy too!]
To be fair, this kind of pure "annoy-you-to-death" trap build is easy to crack. If you have something like Harpie's Feather Duster, the opponent can just scoop. But the problem is, Sirin's too honest. She hadn't the faintest awareness of ladder nastiness, hadn't teched any counters into her list, got her face screwed up by the nonsense, and simply hit "Surrender" so the opponent wouldn't get the final hit of joy.
"Trash game. Whoever wants to play can play!" She closed the game outright and booted up Cities: Skylines to torment her citizens. She'd just finished fixing 72 toll booths and was about to expand to 108. Soon, the smile returned to her face.
[Citizen: Fine, fine, fine—that's how it is? If you're unhappy, you torture us? What kind of crap mayor are you!]
[Pufferfish really does know how to regulate her mood.]
[She said the same thing three days ago. Waiting to see her get slapped in a few days!]
Skipping past the Pufferfish, at Gensokyo Company, Xander Masato was listening to Seele's report. Seated on his thigh, the trainee little secretary spoke while sneaking a small hand to scratch at his chest.
"Stop it. Finish first." Catching her wandering hand, Seele threw him a coquettish glare. He wasn't normally this proper; now he was pretending to be serious. With no choice—since Brother said so—Seele obediently went on with the report.
"Registered users have already surpassed eighty million? Not bad." Yu-Gi-Oh!'s audience would never match Pokémon's. In just over a month, eighty million players already exceeded Anti-Entropy's expectations by a lot. Even Duel Disk sales had climbed past twenty million and were still rising steadily.
As long as operations continued properly, while it wouldn't reach the nationwide fervor of Pokémon or Homu, building it into a top-ten IP in the world would be no problem. At the moment, Anti-Entropy was still constructing related supporting facilities around the globe. Several large dueling arenas had been built, drawing waves of player attention.
Beyond that, the one thing Anti-Entropy hadn't predicted was that Yu-Gi-Oh! card sales absolutely exploded. Exploded to what extent? In a single month—counting by individual cards—Yu-Gi-Oh! cards had already passed ten billion sold. That's right, not a million—ten billion. It was five times their initial forecast of two billion, leaving experts stunned. They really couldn't understand how a tiny card had such pull for players. On average, was each player buying two booster boxes?
And the cards weren't cheap, either. Every card had a built-in encrypted coil for Duel Disk recognition—something you couldn't crack without Schicksal-level tech. But Schicksal, with all its might, wasn't about to pirate Gensokyo's cards. So everything circulating on the market could be guaranteed genuine. Because of that, the most important part of a card was the internal coil, not the hard cardboard shell outside. Even if you had a rare card, you could freely use it. If it got damaged, you only needed to pay the price of a booster pack for an official store to swap a fresh face for you, completely indistinguishable from the original. Players didn't need to worry at all. On top of that, the cards would continue to be updated. Future profitability would probably shock everyone all over again.
"Looks like we can finally let go of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Next, hand its ongoing operations to the team under Sakura." Hearing Seele out, Xander Masato exhaled long and slow. In that pleasant mood, he couldn't help but pull the little secretary into his arms to play with "ice creams and buns." Seele let out a soft whimper and rolled her eyes at Brother. So he was faking it just now!
"Seems Sakura's tethered to Gensokyo for good." Bronya, who'd been bent over her code, sat up, rubbing her slightly sore waist with a lazy smile.
"When I called her over, I never planned on her leaving. I'm giving her far better terms than Anti-Entropy did. More importantly, Rin's already settled into a key local high school. In half a year, she'll be heading to St. Freya for university. Sakura can't go." As his hand slipped in under the hem, Seele trembled, cheeks flushing, body going soft as she collapsed against Brother.
"Even without Rin, I doubt Sakura wants to leave." Smiling back, Bronya explained, "Anti-Entropy is full of factions. Every team guards its cutting-edge tech to the death, and even teams in the same faction keep their guard up against each other. Where do you ever see Gensokyo's kind of cross-team borrowing? With Sakura's soft, easy-to-push-around personality, she's way more comfortable here."
At Gensokyo, if a team was shorthanded, they could just holler and borrow two people from next door. Even the tech was shared openly without hiding. That's the benefit of clear leadership. Although there were multiple teams, at the end of the day everyone had only three bosses: Xander Masato, Bronya, and Kaguya. There was no backstabbing at all. When Sakura's team first came over, they were shocked and couldn't adapt for a while.
"You've got a point." Xander Masato chuckled and nipped at Seele's ear. "So... can we start our vacation?"
Standing up and walking behind him, she gave the back of his head an exasperated smack. The moment he's idle, he only knows how to play with Seele. Seems she didn't squeeze him hard enough last night.
"It's been over a month since Yu-Gi-Oh! launched. Time to take a break." Reluctantly letting go of her ear, he instead hugged Seele's waist. He stopped moving; Seele, however, kept rubbing against him. They'd planned to go on vacation as soon as Yu-Gi-Oh! released, but somehow it got dragged to now. Even Elysia had grown impatient and urged him many times.
"There's more than a month until the New Year. Any plans for where to go?" A precious long vacation obviously couldn't be spent at home. Seeing Seele released and softly panting, Bronya nudged her aside and sat on Xander's lap herself.
Seele: "?"
Her fuller, softer body made the sensation even better. Now that it was her turn, Bronya didn't mind his wandering hands—she even hoped he'd move more. She leaned on him lazily and let him toy with her. Blinking, Seele listened to the other self in her mind scolding her for being useless, then pitifully slipped behind Brother, wrapped her arms around his neck, and cuddled him from behind.
But in that moment, the warmth in front and back no longer occupied Xander Masato's mind. At the mention of this topic, his heart gave a heavy thump, and he froze.
What could he say? That he'd planned a one-on-one trip with Elysia? If he said that, would the two ladies before and behind him tear him apart on the spot? Was Bronya's gun not lethal enough, or Seele's knife not fast enough? He suddenly wanted to wring the neck of his month-ago self who'd agreed to Elysia under pressure. How did he just nod right away?!
Even if given another chance, he'd still agree. But that didn't stop him from condemning himself hard.
"Lately, the weather's getting colder. This concubine wants to go somewhere warm." Hearing the topic, Kaguya also left her workstation, bustling over to the group in high spirits. However, seeing there was no space by her husband, Kaguya could only drag a stool over and sit beside him.
"Someplace warm... mm... how about a subtropical beach? Feels like we haven't gone seaside in a while." Resting her chin on Brother's shoulder, Seele offered softly.
"If it's the seaside, Mother Cocolia has a private beach in North America—wait..." As if remembering something, Bronya suddenly perked up. "I recall, during our last call, Mother Cocolia told me she bought a private little island over a year ago. By now, all kinds of facilities are built. She invited us to come play. How about we go there?"
"That's great. We won't have to worry about anyone seeing our bodies." Kaguya's eyes lit up, delighted. Seele nodded excitedly as well. A little island, a sandy beach—holding Brother's hand, strolling together under the sunset. Mm~ so wonderful!
The three chatted on in excitement, but Xander Masato's thoughts veered off. A deserted little island, with no one around, where you can do anything? Damn—!
As he drifted into daydreams, Bronya nudged him and asked, puzzled, "Say something. What do you think of this plan?"
"This plan is, of course, very..." Halfway through, he fell silent.
"Husband isn't satisfied? We can pick another place; this concubine doesn't mind." Kaguya spoke gently, looking at him.
"No, n-not that I'm not satisfied..."
"Then why won't you agree?"
"B-b-because..."
Hearing Bronya sounding more and more puzzled, Xander Masato hemmed and hawed, unable to string a full sentence together. After a while, Seele's faint voice rose from behind him. "Brother, did you already make plans with someone else?"
In a flash, Xander Masato went rigid. Facing three pairs of unblinking eyes, his whole body tensed.
I'm drenched in sweat here, guys.
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