Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!-Chapter 68: Kira’s Study Plan

Before this match, Yamamoto Yuichi was full of ambition, eager to be the first to step up for the dorm exchange battle.

He'd wanted to impress everyone with a flashy first win during the welcome dinner, but instead of glory, all he got was humiliation.

After the duel, his first thoughts weren't regret over his loss or where his tactics had failed, but rather a deep existential crisis.

Like... Why did I pick a fight with this troll? Why did it have to be in front of everyone?

He had the feeling—maybe it was just his imagination—that everyone else seemed happy watching this duel. The other freshmen were practically giddy, especially after seeing him get double-slapped by the combo of bike and submarine.

But people's joys and sorrows are never the same—Yuichi just found everyone else unbearably noisy.

He soon slunk away into the crowd, sulking in silence.

"Ahem."

Dorm head Professor Sartyr cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Well... Kira and Yuichi have given us a great demonstration and set a fine example for this year's freshman exchange battle.

I hope everyone else will duel actively, get to know each other quickly and build friendships for the next three years."

Let's hope, anyway.

To be honest, after watching that duel, Professor Sartyr was a little less confident.

He'd hoped this event would help freshmen bond through dueling, but he hadn't expected things to start off so... differently.

With duels like this, would they bond at all? Or just freeze each other out?

He couldn't help but glance again at Kira, who had already put away his Duel Disk, and stood politely listening to the speech.

Such a sunny, handsome, polite kid, and yet...

Professor Sartyr sighed. Appearances can be deceiving.

He suddenly had a bad feeling—the future style of this year's Ra Yellow class might be... unpredictable.

...

That night, back in his dorm, Kira finished washing up and flopped onto his bed, turned on the heater, and relaxed on the soft sheets.

Ra Yellow's hardware was top-notch—better than his own home. Obelisk Blue was said to be even better, and he couldn't help but wonder what that would be like.

But he wasn't in a hurry—he'd get there soon enough. Maybe before long, he'd get to experience it himself.

Lying there alone, he got a bit bored, so he pulled out his Silent Magician card and tried calling out the spirit.

Maybe they'd grown a bit closer because Silent Magician wasn't as withdrawn as before—if the master called, she'd usually appear now.

Spirits weren't supposed to need frequent walks, but Kira thought occasional communication was good for the bond. After all, Jaden always chatted with his spirit buddies—maybe that was his secret to lucky draws.

But today, when he called, Silent Magician didn't respond.

Kira was puzzled. What's up? Did all the goodwill I built up vanish? Playing dead again?

Ignoring your master's summons? Maybe you need correction!

He called twice more, and, perhaps unable to resist his pestering, the Silent Magician finally appeared—still half-hidden behind a book.

He was surprised to see Silent Magician holding a book, so absorbed in reading that she hadn't noticed him at first. Even after showing up, she still kept her nose in the book.

Kira leaned over curiously to peek.

Nope—couldn't read a single word.

It looked like some kind of pictographic script, with complicated magic circles and runes—like a magic textbook.

"What are you reading?" he asked.

Silent Magician glanced up, gave him a slightly resentful look, then buried herself back in the book.

Kira: "?"

What's with that "you unfaithful jerk" look?

But maybe because of their subtle connection, Kira kind of understood.

She was probably afraid that if Kira got a new spirit, he wouldn't need her anymore, so she was working hard to improve herself.

Kira: "..."

He remembered reading that spirits could sometimes evolve and gain new forms not just through research teams printing cards, but also by breaking through with their effort—especially when their bond with the duelist deepened.

Sometimes, a duelist's Extra Deck would suddenly glow mid-duel, and a new monster would appear out of nowhere—that could be the reason.

Many spirits fear abandonment. The most famous is GX's top yandere, Yubel, who crossed the stars to find Jaden. And in the final season, Honest left the Spirit World to find his missing master.

If spirits could evolve just by lying around, Kira would be thrilled. But he still coughed and reassured her: "Don't worry, you're my first spirit—we'll always be partners."

Silent Magician peeked out from her book as if to ask, Really? Not lying to me?

"Of course." Kira smiled. "You're my wings. How could I ever abandon you?"

The spirit seemed innocent enough. Upon hearing this, the magician girl's icy face blossomed into a smile, nodding fiercely as if pledging to always be one with her master.

Kira wasn't just saying it. He'd already considered getting support cards for Silent Magician if given the chance.

At Duel Academy, he wasn't that interested in deckbuilding or dueling classes—he'd just attend to get a sense of others' strategies. But it wasn't like the Academy had nothing worth learning.

First, card design classes were something he'd circled as a priority. The Academy would teach card creation systematically from the basics—much faster than trying to learn on his own.

He was also interested in classes on duel spirits, monster archaeology, and duel history.

Apparently, there were even card drawing practice classes. In the anime, students in the Cyber Style Dojo practiced drawing cards day and night, and there was a GX student who went to the mountains to train and discovered the secrets of lucky draws through communing with nature.

It seemed that even without cheating or artifacts, lucky draws could be trained. Kira was keen on this and had marked it as a key course.

Summing up, there was a lot to learn—three years would go by quickly, so he had to work hard.

Though he'd gotten a side quest from the Spirit World to save the world, he still had no clue who was behind the new Dorma plot or where they were hiding—they could be anywhere in the world. Plus, Kira himself was nowhere near the level of the Pharaoh; this side quest was too high-level for now.

Anyway, with Kaiba on the case—strong and resourceful—no one was better suited for the job. For now, Kira's priority was to study and grow, upgrade his deck and skills, and build from the basics.

Like, for instance, his next exchange duel tomorrow.

He'd make sure to keep bringing smiles to his new friends in Ra Yellow—with dueling.

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