Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!

Kira yawned, leaning against the bumpy window of the jeep, idly flipping through his cards.

These were all cards he'd picked up during Battle City—quite a haul. He was sorting them into useful, undecided, and for sale piles, thinking about new deck ideas.

It was barely dark, but the night was already thick like ink, with no moonlight. The forest seemed like a silent, ancient temple.

Branches twisted like skeletal arms reaching out in the dark. Leaves rustled with the wind, sounding like ghostly whispers.

The jeep bumped along a forest path, its headlights like faint fireflies. Wheels crunched over fallen branches and leaves with squeaky, creaky sounds.

The man in the front passenger seat turned to him. "You're a duelist?"

He was a local guide, and both he and the driver had been arranged by KaibaCorp to wait for Kira at the station. After arriving in the city, Kira transferred to this off-road vehicle, heading straight for Shimizu Town.

"Yes," said Kira.

"Impressive. I really admire you duelists—I could never do it," said the guide.

The driver joked, "With your brain? Forget it. Learn to play Karuta first."

"What's wrong with Karuta?" The guide puffed up. "It's hard, too!"

The driver just chuckled. "I don't know much about dueling, but I do know… Is there a monster called Dark Magician Girl? I've seen her—she's really huge."

Kira: "…"

"Pfft, what's the use of just being big?" The guide shook his head. "I prefer hard-working and capable girls."

The driver squinted. "If you're lowering your standards, you can drop 'hard-working' too, right?"

"Hah, you get me, man."

"…"

They joked for a bit, but seeing Kira uninterested, they fell quiet again.

After a while, the guide couldn't help but turn again. "So, big-city duelist, what brings you to a backwater like this?"

"I'll say this: if your company wasn't paying so much, I'd never come," the driver said. "A few people have gone missing here these past two weeks."

"Oh?"

That finally piqued Kira's interest.

"Yeah. Last week I came here with the police, looking for a missing traveler, but we never found them. Just ended up dropping it," said the guide.

Kira pondered.

Maybe KaibaCorp's hunch was right—something was up around here.

The trees grew denser. The jeep followed a side path and finally stopped.

"Let's rest a bit, get out and stretch. I'm stiff from sitting so long."

The guide got out, stretched, and pulled out a cigarette.

"Need a smoke?"

He offered Kira a cigarette.

"No thanks, I'm still underage," Kira declined.

"Good for you. Healthy habit."

The guide approved, then hummed a tune as he went to smoke.

Kira stayed in the car, sorting his cards.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but the night seemed even thicker. Even the wind had stopped. Every tree stood eerily in the dark, branches twisted like claws.

Ten minutes passed.

"Strange, he's not back yet?"

The driver muttered, getting ready to get out.

"I'll go check."

"I'll go," Kira said, opening the door.

The atmosphere felt off. But he wasn't worried—he had spirits at his command. There wasn't much in this world that could threaten him.

As always: no matter what monster it is, are they not going to duel?

He walked in the direction the guide had gone and soon noticed something.

A half-smoked cigarette.

Still burning, lying on the damp ground, the smell of smoke mixing with earth and tobacco—a strange scent.

A little further, there were drag marks in the grass and bushes, faint in the darkness.

Had the guy been attacked?

But it was so close to the car, and yet not a sound.

A few steps further, the marks ended abruptly, as if the man had simply vanished.

He went back to the car, only to find it empty.

Again, no sound, just a few steps away—and the driver was gone. This time, there weren't even signs of a struggle.

Darkness pressed in from the woods, wrapping around the car. The headlights were the only points of light, flickering like candles about to be snuffed out.

No, it wasn't his imagination—the darkness really was closing in.

It was a crowd of figures.

Staggering steps, strange postures, arms raised toward him as if by instinct.

Judging by their clothes, they were probably locals, but their eyes were empty, bottomless black whirlpools. In the headlights, the black circles under their eyes glowed like burning coals.

Their posture and movements made one think of zombies at first glance.

But not traditional zombies—more like the zombies from GX, when the whole academy was transported to another dimension and infected.

All they had on their minds was dueling.

Come to think of it, that sounded a lot like Jaden.

It looked freaky, but Kira wasn't worried.

"Silent," he called quietly.

White light flared from his body and a magic circle formed under his feet. Silent Magician flew out, spinning her staff, launching blasts of magic that exploded all around.

The explosions shredded the ground, sending the zombie crowd flying.

But when the smoke cleared, one figure was still standing at the back.

He looked like the leader of the group—mindless and swaying like the rest, but clearly stronger.

He staggered forward, squinting at Kira.

Then slowly raised his duel disk, groaning, "Duuueeell…"

Kira relaxed.

See? Nothing to be afraid of.

Even zombies have to duel.