Chapter 19: Isn't that Chazz Princeton? You've gotten so weak in just a few days?
Enduring the teacher's endless nagging, the morning quickly passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was lunchtime.
After quickly tidying up their notes and the like, Hayato and the others left the classroom and headed straight for the rooftop. As they ascended the stairs, Joey mused, "Who do you think slipped that note to Hayato?"
"It must be someone from our school, right? Otherwise, they wouldn't have known Hayato returned the camera to Nosaka yesterday after school," Tristan analyzed.
Hayato, walking at the front, said without turning back, "There's no use in guessing blindly here. We'll be at the rooftop soon enough, won't we know then?"
The school building only had four floors in total. Hayato's classroom was on the second floor, so it didn't take them long to climb the stairs to the top floor. Looking up from the staircase, they saw that the rooftop door, usually locked by the school for safety reasons, was already open.
Clearly, the person who slipped the note had already arrived.
Pushing open the rooftop door, the group filed out. The first thing Hayato noticed upon arriving on the rooftop was a guy in a male school uniform standing with his back to the door, gazing into the distance.
"Too slow, Hayato." The boy heard the "creak" as Hayato and the others pushed open the door, but didn't turn around, remaining with his back to them.
"So you're the one who slipped me this note?" Hayato pulled his hand from his pocket, holding the note he'd found in his shoe locker that morning. "Still playing these 'Duel Invitation' games? Haven't you graduated middle school yet?"
"Enough talk! Did you bring your Deck? Duel me!" Provoked by Hayato's words, the boy excitedly spun around, glaring into Hayato's eyes.
As the boy turned around, revealing his face, Joey immediately recognized him: "This guy? You're Chazz Princeton from the next class!"
"Call me Mr. Chazz!" the boy retorted instinctively, then introduced himself, "My name is Chazz Princeton! Remember that name well, Hayato, because I, the great Chazz Princeton, will crush you in your own field of expertise and prove that only I am worthy of pursuing Miho Nosaka!"
"Chazz Princeton, Shoji? That name sounds familiar. Though if your name were Eiji, I'd be a little scared." The name "Chazz Princeton" immediately made Hayato think of Chazz Princeton, the outwardly cool but actually comedic relief character who attended the same school as Jaden Yuki, the second King of Duelists. But the Duel Academy era was still nearly a decade away, wasn't it? This must be a member of the Princeton Family.
As for why a member of the Princeton Family was also attending Domino High School? Despite the school's lax rules and abundance of delinquent students, Domino High School was actually a place where hidden talents resided, with many children of prominent families and heirs to conglomerates studying there. To say nothing of others, Hayato's own class included Kaiba, the heir to KaibaCorp, and even Miho Nosaka, the "Little Ribbon" Tristan had a crush on, came from a family of wealthy merchants.
Even Hayato himself was no exception; his father was a diplomat, and his mother was an executive at a major conglomerate.
"However, the place you picked isn't very good, Chazz Princeton." Hayato glanced around the rooftop. To prevent students from jumping, the rooftop was usually locked, and high guardrails were installed all around, even enough to play tennis. But these guardrails couldn't block the wind. To Duel here, aren't you afraid the cards would blow away?
"Hmph, I've already accounted for everything, you fool." He raised a hand and snapped his fingers. Following Chazz Princeton's gesture, the cloths covering the "miscellaneous items" piled around the rooftop were suddenly pulled back. A large group of people emerged from behind the clutter.
"Damn it, you bastard!"
Seeing so many people suddenly appear on the rooftop, Joey grew very tense: "What a despicable guy, it's an ambush!"
Despite Joey's tension, he wasn't particularly afraid of a fight. His real worries were whether he and Tristan could protect their friends and hold off so many people, and how long he'd have to clean the toilets afterwards.
Chazz Princeton frowned, looking disdainfully at the tense Tristan and Joey. "You commoners, what do you take the honor of the Princeton Group for? I'm not some crude brute who only knows how to use brute force, like you!"
With a wave of his hand, he instructed the people around him, "Get the equipment ready!"
Following Chazz Princeton's command, his subordinates immediately hoisted the "miscellaneous items" and moved them to the center of the rooftop. They skillfully began assembling them, and soon, a considerably large Field was put together by the group. They had already started connecting it to the power supply on the rooftop.
"What is that thing?"
Seeing Yugi's puzzled expression, Chazz Princeton smugly declared, "Marvel all you want, you country bumpkins! This is the latest and most popular technology in high society: Solid Vision Technology for Duel Monsters cards!"
Tristan: "Duel Monsters?"
Téa: "Solid Vision?"
Yugi didn't speak, he just subconsciously reached for the Deck at his waist. Duel Monsters Virtual Projection—though he hadn't seen the actual Effect yet, just hearing the term made him feel his dueling urge was about to flare up.
"Interesting. I recall that's KaibaCorp technology, isn't it?" Hayato, knowing about this technology, wasn't overly surprised. However, the design of the Duel Arena assembled by Chazz Princeton's people looked somewhat familiar to him. "Looking at the design of this Duel Arena, does your Princeton Group have ties with Industrial Illusions? Don't tell me your Princeton Group was responsible for assembling the Duel Arenas at Duelist Kingdom?"
"You're surprisingly well-informed," Chazz Princeton said with a cold expression. He wasn't too surprised by Hayato's words. In high society, the information Hayato mentioned wasn't a huge secret, and many people knew about it. It was probably his mother, who worked at Paradox Company, who told him.
"Alright, let's just get this Duel started already. The sooner I deal with you, the sooner I can eat lunch." Hayato took out his Deck and walked towards the Duel Arena first.
"Instead of running, you're approaching? Hmph, since you're so eager to be humiliated by me, I'll grant your wish."
The two stepped onto the Duel Arena, shuffled their respective Decks, and placed them on the surface. The Duel Arena activated, and the Field lit up with a faint blue glow. On the side of Hayato's and Shoji's respective Duel Arenas, the Life Points display area simultaneously lit up with "2000".
"Duel!"
"Duel!"
[Hayato: 2000 LP, Hand 5]
[Shoji: 2000 LP, Hand 5]
(end of chapter)