"So where are we going today?" Tristan asked after leaving the group.
If possible, he would have preferred to travel with Joey, but this was also good.
This way, he could spend more time with a beautiful girl.
Who knows, maybe something could even blossom between them.
After all, he, the Great Tristan Taylor, was both handsome and rich!
Of course, he was not rich-rich like Kaiba and Pegasus, but he was definitely a member of the upper class... even though he was probably one of the lowest-ranking members.
"Honestly, no plans, I just want to find a strong duellist to fight against. I feel like I am still too weak," Yuta said offhandedly, a comment that irritated Mai.
If he was weak, then what was she?
An ant?
Something smaller than a speck of dust.
And he still says he was too weak!
Hateful!
"Oho, then Mr 'Weak' Yuta, how do you plan on getting stronger?" Mai asked sarcastically.
"Through betting, of course; after yesterday, when I tasted taking Rex's and Bandit Keith's decks, suddenly I feel a thrill when I think of duelling with my deck on the line."
Mai suddenly felt confused; this guy was not like this yesterday, but today, he feels like a villainous boss.
Who talks about fighting with their lives on the line with a smile on their faces?
After all, from her perspective as a native, for a duellist, their decks were equivalent to their lives.
So in front of her, Yuta was talking about risking her life just to get stronger.
And with delight at that!
However, from Yuta's perspective, things were not that serious.
If you lost, you lost.
Just build a new deck then.
After all, unlike Kaiba's Blue-Eyes, his Red-Eyes was not that rare... though he did not remember seeing anyone else with Red-Eyes, but it should not be that rare because Atticus in GX had two of them.
Meaning even if he lost his deck, so what?
Just make a new deck and challenge the opponent again!
That way he could get new cards as well.
Anyway, Yuta believed that even if he lost today, he could still avenge himself tomorrow.
Seeing the situation that was about to get tense again, Tristan decided to set the mood.
"Oh yeah, thank you once again, Yuta, for helping Joey make a new deck, I mean." Tristan said as he put his hand around Yuta's shoulder, who promptly pushed it back.
"Right, why did you give such a rare card like Barrel Dragon to Joey?" Mai asked, as she was also curious why Yuta gave such a strong card to Joey.
Even in Yuta's deck, Barrel Dragon would be in an ace position, but Yuta readily gave it away, which seriously surprised her. She wanted to ask about this yesterday, but it would be awkward to ask about it with the person in question being present, so she decided to hold back. Now finally there was a chance to satisfy her curiosity.
"Because, aside from Red-Eyes, all the other cards in my deck are temporary and can be replaced at any moment. Even if I added Barrel Dragon, it wouldn't give me much of a boost, but for Joey it is different. That is a card that can only reach its full potential in Joey's hands."
Mai was taken back because she did not expect Yuta to have such a high opinion of Joey.
"Him? The idiot who can't even tell his left from right?" Mai asked once again to confirm. Thinking that Yuta might have misspoken.
"Well, Joey is not smart, but he is not as bad as you make him out to be." Tristan tried to defend his good friend, but he was soon shut down.
"You shut up!"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Before I answer, do you remember Barrel Dragon's effect?" Yuta countered with a question of his own before answering Mai.
"Does it not allow you to turn a roulette and attack simultaneously based on the results, up to a maximum of three? Or did I miss something?" Mai looked confused. The effect itself was strong, but it depended too much on luck, and there was a big drawback: if your results are not good enough, you might not even get to attack a single time during that turn.
"No, you got everything right. Now let's ask Tristan something. Tristan, can you tell us something about Joey's past?"
Tristan looked weird; he was sure that he had not uttered a single thing about Joey's past, but from Yuta's expression, it was obvious that he knew everything.
"How did you know?"
Looking at the suspicious Tristan, who looked like he had encountered a stalker, Yutaka did not know whether to laugh or cry. So he opened his backpack to take out his wallet and show Tristan something.
Looking at the card in his hands, Tristan's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"What!? We go to the same school, and you are even in the class right next to us!?" Tristan could not believe what he was seeing. What kind of a school was Domino High? Full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. First there was Kaiba in the upper class, then there was Yugi in his class, and now even Yuta was from the same school, just the next class over.
Was Domino High even worthy of educating you big bosses?
"Wait, then why don't I remember seeing you in school? I think I would have remembered seeing you before?" Tristan asked uncertainly.
However, Yutaka just rolled his eyes in response.
"You? A bunch of delinquents will remember me? No thanks!"
"Oi! We were not delinquents, okay! ...Maybe just a bit rough around the edges..." As he spoke, Tristan grew more and more uncertain about himself. He definitely knew what kind of people he and his good friend Joey were, so it was not surprising that people would avoid them.
"Then why are you 18?" Tristan asked again.
"Huh? You are already 18?" Mai asked in doubt. The maths did not check out.
This time it was Yutaka's turn to be embarrassed, as this was not a glorious thing.
"Ahem, well, you know I have participated in nationals, right? Unfortunately, our school did not support duelling as a proper sport before. So I missed a lot of classes last year, and then there is my health condition. So yeah... I was held back..." Yutaka wanted to grab Tristan, who was laughing in schadenfreude, and take him to a duel arena to confront him; however, he knew that Tristan was much stronger than he was... he meant physically!
Tristan was finally happy that the mystery was solved, and he also felt a little bit happy. After all, just now this guy called him a delinquent, and now he was caught skipping classes. Ultimately, he wasn't much better than him; after all, Tristan maintained a stellar attendance record, or else the Harpy at home would have devoured him alive.
"Anyway, Tristan, explain Mai Joey's past, otherwise I might say something wrong. Since you are friends with Joey, you should know what to say and what to avoid." Yutaka reminded Tristan, who looked like he had forgotten the question.
Yuta was uncertain if Tristan had genuinely forgotten the question or was attempting to change the subject, but he needed Tristan to share this story so that Mai could understand what kind of a person Joey was.
"Well, there's not much to say, is there? His parents are divorced, his father is a gambling addict, and he apparently has a sister who needs surgery; otherwise, she will go blind." Tristan briefly recounted Joey's past in a single sentence. This would be too much of an injustice to Joey's suffering, but Yuta had no intention of digging deeper.
As someone who also went through a rough childhood, Mai could empathise with Joey's suffering, but that was about it; she still did not understand why Yuta favoured him.
"Now, remember Barrel Dragon's effect." Yuta assisted from the side.
"Wait? Are you telling me Joey is a gambler like his father, and that's why this card is suitable for him?" Mai yelped in surprise. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
"No no no no, there is nothing more than gambling that Joey hates in the world," Tristan chimed in from the side, defending Joey.
"Then why?" Mai looked confusedly at Yuta, awaiting his explanation. Even Tristan seemed confused once he made a connection between gambling and Barrel Dragon, wondering if it was really a suitable monster for his good friend.
"Well, that is the irony of the situation, isn't it? Joey, a man who hates gambling down to his bones, is actually someone who was born under a lucky star. I don't mean to suggest that his life is characterised by smooth sailing luck; rather, I am referring to his literal gambling luck. For example, even the simplest 50/50 Heads and Tails coins would be a 90/10 split for Joey. That does not mean his luck is infallible, just that he was born with an outrageous dogshit luck!
For a person like him, if he wanted to, he could easily get rich through gambling, but he detests it because of his father. So even if Joey knew of his luck, he still would not use it to earn money. However, Duel Monsters is different. After all, this is just a card game. And any mechanic that seems similar to gambling is just that, only similar. Not actual gambling.
Therefore, he can fully utilise his skills in this game, free from the constraints of his past. In fact, the true deck I am envisioning for Joey is one that adds countless dice and coin toss cards. Unfortunately, I don't have those cards with me, after all, conventionally, gambling cards are bad because of their uncertainty; as a result, their jackpots are truly game-breaking effects. Normally, this would be fine for a game, but for Joey it is different. For others, those effects are extremely rare, but for him, it is as easy as eating and drinking.
Now do you understand his potential? Such a Joey, you can never hope to defeat him... in fact, the duel would feel even worse to lose, because what you are losing to is not Joey, but his luck."
Listening to Yuta's analyses, the duo stood frozen on the spot.
They had never noticed Joey was so formidable before.
Tristan always knew that Joey was luckier than most, but he did not know his luck was this abnormal before. He was also somewhat surprised and a little bit sceptical about how Yuta had discovered it.
Also, if this were true, wouldn't it be extremely outrageous?
After all, just like Yuta explained, Joey detested gambling the most in the world, but his talent lay in gambling, the max-level kind.
It's like saying you hated titans and being one yourself.
Isn't this totally a protagonist treatment?
Thankfully.
Thankfully, Joey was not very strategic and failed to capitalise on his strengths; otherwise, the championship would have remained just a pipe dream because how can one defeat something as illusory as luck?
"Wait? Then why did you give him the Barrel Dragon? Didn't you just create a monster that can attack three times every turn with your actions?" Mai asked in panic.
"Hm? Why is that a problem? Even if he is lucky, so what? Can't I always just design a game plan that excludes luck and defeat him either way?"
As a modern duellist, Yuta was not worried, because they had studied how to exclude the element of luck religiously.
So how could he be afraid of Joey's luck? After all, Joey was still the dumbest person he knew, which meant it would still be possible to trick him, regardless of how lucky he was.
"Stop" X 2
"I am Mako/Yako, and we, twins, are challenging you to a tag duel!"