Chapter Text
In Domino City, a bustling ramen shop was slowly overflowing with middle schoolers. Some nervous, some crestfallen, some confident, and some wistfully watching the old TV screen in the corner as a well-dressed newscaster sat behind a large desk, discussing a certain CEO.
‘Kaiba Seto-- an unbelievable story of an orphan boy turned multimillion business owner by the age of 18. The Kaiba Corporation is known for many things, AI systems, robotics, and famous and skilled coders and technicians from around the world, but the newest young boss of the Kaiba Corp has zeroed in on his own interests-- that of the up and coming card game known as “Duel Monsters.”‘
The old, thick TV flickered a moment as Maximillion Pegasus’ face replaced the newscaster on the screen, a large showman’s smile on his face and one of his eyes shadowed by his long silver hair. A fist reached out from the crowd around the bar, lightly slamming it into the side of the TV and bumping the screen back into focus. A few patrons muttered thanks.
‘Kaiba was mocked for his decision at first, as at the time the game was known as little more than a children’s card game, but it soon became obvious that Kaiba was ahead of the game when not even a year later, DM had risen to exponential heights of popularity.’
Saturdays at three weren’t usually the busiest times at ramen shops, with people still satisfied from lunch and not hungry for dinner yet, but numerous students were starved after their various high school entrance exams. The first wave must had finished their tests not too long ago as a large group of students entered the shop.
The first wave finishing meant the second wave would start soon, a worker realized. He kept half an eye on a new group of students loudly complaining about tests and proctors as they entered the small, crowded shop.
‘Having started investing early, Kaiba was at the top of the industry from the very beginning-- from mass production of cards to new advanced technology for gaming systems the world had never seen. Kaiba ran his own tournaments, both pulling in great deals of money and raising the popularity of the already soaring game.’
The ramen cook took a moment to lean away from the boiling pot beneath his face to bellow at the young teen currently carrying a box full of sauces from the back “Judai!” The boy looked up, startled but a carefree grin quickly covering his face as he acknowledged the man with a ‘yeah?’, “Don’t you have your own entrance exam soon?”
. The boy’s hair was a brown fluff ball, only partly due to the steam of the small shop and mostly due to the natural state of the unbothered boy, and his old gakuen covered in oil stains under a considerably much more oil-stained apron.
The boy’s smile faltered at the man’s question as he quickly placed the cardboard box down on the oily counter and leaned around the bustling patrons to get a look at the clock in the corner of the TV screen.
‘It wasn’t long before the Kaiba Corporation became the face of the Duel Monsters game, even more so than the creator of DM Maximillion Pegasus. In fact, Pegasus himself endorsed Kaiba Seto numerous times and attending most, if not all of his tournaments and events. In as little as five years, Kaiba Corp had risen DM to the highest rate of popularity ever seen in a children’s card game, to the point that it’s considered even offensive to refer to it as such in our day.’
Below a video clip from the last Kaiba Corp Duel Monsters Tournament with Kaiba himself shaking hands with Pegasus as a smug-looking boy held a trophy between the two men, the clock showed 3:14 PM.
Judai grimaced as he quickly slid the box down to the worker and tried to untie the back of an apron in the same motion, “Shit, thanks Takeshi-san!” stumbling over himself as he attempted to wrestle free of the apron ties, “You good if I leave now?”
The man snorted good-naturedly, not even looking Judai’s way as he pulled a bottle out of the cardboard box and flipped the cap open, “You’re already late, aren’t cha’? Started at three didn’t it?”
He didn’t need to look at Judai to know that the boy was nearly tripping over patrons on his way to the door, hearing the boy’s loud carefree laugh taking over the whole ramen shop, “When am I ever on time?”
‘It’s not uncommon for Duel Monsters to be played in every household in Japan, along with most of the rest of the world, and is even now being commonly used to settle disputes. It’s gotten to the point that gangs have adopted dueling as their method of conflict and even political disputes were being compromised through duels.’
One hand pouring soy sauce over a pan of noodles, the other lazily waved Judai off without a backward look, “Go, go, you brat. Don’t want to piss off the school before you’re even accepted, huh?”
A crash sounded and the shop went quiet.
Takeshi whirled around in alarm to find the cardboard box Judai had set down smashed on the ground with red and brown liquids leaking out the bottom. A stammering, red in the face customer stood over it, glancing frantically between Takeshi and the ruined sauces, a look of dawning horror and embarrassment on his face, “It-- it’s not my fault! What kind of shitty shop puts their goods where customers can knock them over?!”
Takeshi wanted to growl, torn between not wanting to make a scene and his need to tell this brat off for not taking responsibility.
But before he could move, Judai had shoved his way back into the center of the shop, “Hey, hey, no problem!” The boy threw a grin up through his messing brown bangs at the fidgeting customer as he crouched down to carefully slide his fingers under the soaked cardboard, “I’ll get it cleaned up and you can enjoy your ramen, okay?”
Not okay, Takeshi thought, glaring at the customer as the kid stammered out something like “you better” as he backed away and noise returned to the small store in a rush. Takeshi wanted so badly to make the brat pay for the ruined sauces he’d now have to replace, but gods know if he made a fuss Judai would try to use his own meager funds to cover the fee.
Takeshi held anger back and affectionately patted Judai on the shoulder as the boy stood back up, box now in his arms and sauces soaking the front of his clothes, “Leave that to me, Judai. You got your test to get to.”
Cheerful and seemingly carefree, Judai grinned up at Takeshi and skipped out of his reaching arms for the box, “No worries, old man!” Takeshi threw a glare at the nickname, only serving to make Judai laugh, “I got this. Besides, now you’ll need someone to pick up a new set of sauces don’t cha’?”
Takeshi cursed under his breath. He forgot. That was their last stock of sauces and their other part-timer wasn’t scheduled to work until after their own entrance exam finished, making Takeshi the only worker there for another two hours.
“Judai--”
“Don’t worry about it!” Judai was already ducking into the back storage, tossing the ruined box into a corner to clean up later and darting for the mop and bucket as he rose his voice to yell at his boss in the front room, “Today’s practicals and you know that won’t take me all that long.”
“It’ll have to be one hell of a practical to make up for your written exam score,” Takeshi mumbled, shaking his head good-naturedly as he turned back to the stove with another group of kids coming in the door, accepting that he wouldn’t get off without the stubborn teenager’s help.
‘Not one to miss an opportunity, Kaiba Seto quickly took advantage of the game’s new role in society. If skill in Duel Monsters was to determine such decisions in every aspect of society, Kaiba would make money teaching people how to win.’
The middle-aged man’s eyes flickered to the TV screen, still going on about some Kaiba Corporation special, as he listen to Judai cheerfully make conversation with customers as he mopped up the remaining sauce on the floors.
The man sighed. Takeshi wanted Judai to get into this school he was gunnin’ for, but it was a rich fucking place and Judai didn’t exactly have the money for top education. He was barely surviving off the salary he got at the shop.
‘Thus, Kaiba founded the Kaiba Corporation’s Dueling Academy.’
Takeshi waved Judai goodbye as the kid shouted goodbye and ran out the door to pick up a new set of sauces, guilt gnawing at his chest as the TV screen flashed an image of a ridiculously large high school.
Could a poor, foster kid like Judai get into a school like that?
In downtown Domino City, a Kaiba Corp-owned duel arena was packed with students still in uniforms from their various middle schools. A good chunk had already been dismissed for home, either with a failing grade or a passing percentage. The remaining students were split between applicants in testing duels against teachers and proctors and spectators watching and waiting for their turn.
In the stands, carefully watching the duels, was a collection of blue-jacketed professors, some frantically taking notes on pads of paper and some devoting full attention to the duels. After all, a student’s score on the practical exam accounted for half the grade an applicant was evaluated for; they couldn’t afford to mess something up.
In the lobby of the arena, tables were set up covered in forms and name cards as a few students had yet to check-in. A worker checked his watch, forty-five minutes since the doors had opened and fifteen since the last student had checked in. He slid down his chair lazily, the last worker left manning the tables and bored out of his mind. Would anyone else even show up? Who would be applying to such a prestigious school but would show up so late?
Low in his chair, he titled his head backward over the metal chair back to catch one of the TVs on the wall behind him.
‘KCDA was built on an island bought by the previous Kaiba head for experiments and research, research that had gone nowhere. Kaiba Seto didn’t hesitate to repurpose the property for a removed campus, far away from distractions and potential danger.
‘The school only took two years to build, with four campus buildings. One educational building the size of a small town, and three dorms. Depending on a student’s grades and performance, they would be placed in respective dorms with varying levels of perks and luxury.’
Every screen in the lobby flashed and changed to an interview clip with Kaiba Seto, the man’s cold shadowed eyes looking straight into the camera like a challenge.
‘“Your skill will determine everything. If you can’t act like the best of the best, you won’t be treated as the best.”’
The man snorted, glaring up at the screen. What he’d give to get a job there on campus instead of handing out name cards in some random duel arena in Domino City.
The sound of an explosion rocked the lobby and the man nearly fell out of his chair. Cursing, he quickly righted himself before anyone saw. Some kid must have finished their practical.
In the arena, a proctor’s life points dropped to zero as his holographic Abyss Flower visually shattered under the onslaught of an Axe Dragonute. On the other side of the dueling court, a boy in a clean black gakuen with well kept black hair and cold black eyes smirked.
The boy sent a holier than though look at the watching judges in the stand as he called out to them, “Did you see that?!”
The boy’s shout caught attention not just from the judges, but the other students both in and out of practical duels as well. In the arena next to the boy’s left, one boy, in particular, jumped at the volume and looked nervously over at the finished duel.
The small boy sported a small pair of round glasses and his own black gakuen expensive like the first boy but much more disheveled like he had put it on in a hurry. His hair was a messy mint green, and his face was pulled into a pinched frown.
“That’s what the Manjoume family does!” The black-haired boy continued to shout, unbothered by the attention he was gathering and a wide old smirk on his face, “That’s the kind of dueling that comes from years of skill and top education! That’s the dueling of an elite!”
Cheering came from a portion of the crowd, not-surprisingly a portion wearing the same expensive-looking gakuen and shouting “Jun! Jun! Jun!”
The judges watched as Manjoume Jun proudly sauntered out of his arena and towards his cheering schoolmates, some teachers shaking their head in exasperation while some nodded sagely as if agreeing with the boy’s words.
Among the professors was a tall foreign-looking man with long blonde hair and pronounced cheekbones, watching the duels with a sour expression that twisted into a self-satisfied smirk as he watched the ‘elite’ boy make his way up the steps.
The smaller boy in the arena over watched in awe.
I wish I had his confidence, the boy thought, eyes nervously snapping back to his own proctor who was waiting for him to finish his turn, Money and education can’t do much for a wimp like me.
He looked between his hand and his field, knowing that if he didn’t act soon his opponent’s Baby Dragon would destroy his own Truckroid, but was startled from his thoughts at the stern shouting of the proctor, “Hey, Marufuji Sho!” He startled nearly dropping his cards in his haste to stand up straight and pay attention, “You can’t take this long in a real duel! If you wait any longer they’ll be docking you points.”
“I-I’m sorry!” Sho quickly pressed the button on the right end of his duel disk, “I end my turn!”
It wasn’t until the man drew his card that Sho realized that in his hand, he had drawn a Power Pickaxe card. His heart sank. If he had waited just a second, he could have added 500ATK to his Truckroid and would have won in that turn.
As his opponent entered his battle phase, Sho felt sweat drip down the back of his neck. He knew it would dock him major points with how much longer this duel was going to take now, and the thought of all these teachers and students watching him fail was only driving his anxiety further up.
He took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm himself. His written exam score wasn’t bad. It’s not like he needed to ace the practical. Glancing at the TV screen at the end of the arena hall, Sho wished he could have already been accepted into the school, like his brother.
‘The school began accepting admissions seven years ago, seeing thousands upon thousands of applicants every year. Reaching Kaiba Seto’s expectations isn’t easy, and only 5-10% of applicants pass the entrance exam with a score of 60% or higher.’
The sounds of the TV were temporarily drowned out as a feminine voice sounded over the loudspeaker, “Misawa Daichi, please advance to court 7 for your practical exam. Thank you.”
In the stands, a boy stood up and quickly and gracefully navigated his way out of the students in the stands. Most students had finished their duels, not waiting around for friends to finish or just to watch the other duels, and Misawa Daichi was one of the last left.
Short and neatly cropped black hair, the boy looked a picture of “academia.” Despite his old, worn uniform sticking out among the sea of clean expensive fabrics, the boy looked calmly confident as he made his way down the stands.
Students whispered as he passed, giggling and gossiping. They recognized his uniform, and mocked the chances of someone from the local public school passing an exam for such a prestigious school.
“What’s he thinking?” A girl snickered to her friend, no care for whether the boy heard her or not.
The boy did, in fact, hear her. His jawed stiffened and his steps did not falter.
Back in the lobby, the man’s watch showed 3:59 PM. It was time to cut off the arriving students.
Behind him, the Kaiba Corp special came to a close; fitting as it was time for his tear down his set up.
‘With the new school year beginning soon, KCDA is accepting applications once again, and thousands of families are flooding the application pool. Good luck prospective students-- you’ll need it.’
“Waaaaaiiiit!” The man startled so hard a form or two slipped out of the stack in his hands as he jumped, his head snapping to the front of the lobby as a messy boy nearly crashed through the glass doors as he pushed them open, “I’m….” the boy nearly collapsed in the doorway, leaning heavily on his knees as he panted, “Here!”
The boy’s head snapped up, revealing a sheepish grin on his face, eyes lit up with determination even as he struggled to regain his breath. Weirdly enough, the man at the table felt… overwhelmed under the boy’s gaze.
“Yuki Judai-- I’m here for my exam!”