295

"Nice job, Joey," Hayato said, glancing at Mai Valentine, who was sitting nearby and deliberately avoiding Joey's gaze. He added, "But, as your friend, I have to give you a piece of advice. Instead of celebrating, now is a great time to press your advantage~"

Before Joey's head, which only had room for his sister and Dueling, could understand what Hayato meant, his attention was completely drawn by Kaiba's usual cold tone from the side.

"You only won one Duel. Is that enough to get you so excited? Mediocrities will always be mediocrities. Even if you temporarily become a winner, you're just a slightly stronger Normal Monster."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Kaiba? You wanna fight?" Joey might be slow to understand other things, but Kaiba's easy-to-understand mockery was instantly clear to him. He immediately forgot Hayato's well-intentioned reminder, rolling up his sleeves as if ready for a fight.

However, upon realizing that the others were just watching the show with expectation and no one was coming to stop him, Joey sheepishly put his sleeves down. Just then, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Lottery Machine GO! GO!, which now only had four Balls left in its connected container, started running again, giving Joey a way out.

Among the current Top 8 Duelists, Bakura Ryo and Mai Valentine had lost, while Kaiba and Joey had advanced. The Duelists who had not yet Dueled were Hayato, Ishizu, Marik, and Yugi. With two clangs, two yellow Balls were spat out, numbered "2" and "4".

"Now, for the third match of the Duel City Top 8 to Top 4 selection tournament, the Duelists are—"

Iso announced, "Kobayashi Hayato, and Ishizu Ishtar!"

"This result is, in a sense, really bad," Hayato said, covering his forehead helplessly upon hearing that he and Ishizu were up next. "I'd rather face Yugi or Marik, but of all people..."

Ishizu said somewhat strangely, "Hayato-kun, do you really not want to Duel me?"

"Isn't that obvious? Honestly, how many people would willingly face your Exchange of the Spirit Deck?" Hayato was straightforward, speaking his mind. "If I'm not mistaken, when Marik Dueled with you and Rishid as a child, he must have often worn a painful expression, right?"

Ishizu showed an expression of recalling the past. "Uh, 'painful expression'... I don't quite understand. However, every time he lost a Duel, Marik would often get angry and try to fight or cheat, but Rishid would always restrain him immediately."

Chatting casually, the two walked onto the Duel Field, each inserting their Deck into the Card Slot and setting up their Duel Disk. Compared to the first Duel, where Bakura secretly injected Dark Energy into the Duel Monsters, causing the Duel to evolve towards a Dark Game and resulting in substantial damage to the Duel Field, the previous Duel between Joey and Mai Valentine was much more peaceful, and the Field could still be used normally.

However, considering that the next Duel would be between Yugi and Marik...

Hayato glanced at the people in the Audience Seats. Joey, having forgotten Mai Valentine due to Kaiba's provocation, was trying to provoke Kaiba with words, but Kaiba remained calm. Yugi had somehow switched to the Pharaoh taking over. Without Hayato and Ishizu between them, he was directly facing Marik, his expression serious due to the undisguised malice emanating from Marik.

Hopefully, in the next Duel, those two will hold back a bit and not blow up the airship.

Hayato thought to himself.

Meanwhile, at the Judge's Stand, the dedicated professional Iso, after confirming that both Duelists were ready, raised his arms straight above his head and announced loudly, drawing the attention of the people in the Audience Seats back to the Duel Field:

"I declare the third match of the Duel City Top 8 to Top 4 selection tournament,"

"Now, begin!"

"Duel!"

Shouting out the word instinctively, Hayato felt a bit awkward realizing that Ishizu didn't have the habit of shouting that before a Duel. He didn't used to have this strange habit either, so when did it start? He got it, it must have been that loudmouth Joey who led him astray!

[Hayato: 4000 LP, Hand 5]

[Ishizu: 4000 LP, Hand 5]

"I'll take the First Turn! Draw!" Hayato seized the right to the First Turn. After drawing a Card from his Deck, he said with a smile, "Facing you, Ishizu, going second would be bad. I have to go first."

"Activate Spell Card Graceful Charity! I draw three Cards from my Deck, then choose two Cards from my Hand to Discard." To deal with Ishizu's extremely dangerous Exchange of the Spirit, Hayato immediately started sending Cards to the Graveyard right from the start. "Then, I Activate the Effect of Ojama Magic, which was sent to the Graveyard by Graceful Charity! From my Deck, I add three useless Cards to my Hand."

Before Hayato could even draw the three Cards ejected from his Duel Disk, the Card Spirits of the Ojama brothers, feeling exceptionally excited after a long absence from the Field, had already popped out of the Cards:

"Ojama~ We're here!"

"Now it's Show Time!"

"Next up is our stage, ne~"

Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, and Ojama Black, who had somehow acquired a set of items, bounced in front of Hayato and struck a pose. If they were slightly more normal monsters, their well-made items might have looked quite cool, but unfortunately, they were Ojama monsters.

Amidst Ishizu's light chuckle, Hayato, with a black line on his face, played another Card from his Hand: "You three idiots, it's really better to find a place for you to stay quiet."

"Activate Spell Card Fusion! Using the Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, and Ojama Black monsters from my Hand as Fusion Material, come forth, Ojama King!"

A Fusion Vortex appeared on Hayato's Field. The Ojama monsters reluctantly flew towards Hayato, trying to cling to his leg.

"No, Aniki!" "We haven't been on the Field in so long!" "Give us an opportunity, Boss, ne~"

"You're too noisy! Get in there obediently!" Responding to the Ojama brothers' snot and tears was Hayato's kicking foot.

The three Ojama monsters were swallowed by the Fusion Vortex. The chubby white guy who was also making a long-awaited appearance—Ojama King—landed on Hayato's Field quite calmly.

[Ojama King] [DEF 3000]