Chapter Sixteen: Please Care for Underage Elderly Living Alone

The appearance of Kaiba was, in the end, merely an interlude. The group at the Kame Game Shop spent the rest of their time happily studying their Duel Monsters cards. Hayato and Yugi, having the deepest understanding of the game, explained the various mechanics to the newcomer, Honda. Jonouchi, who had played for a while but was essentially no better than a beginner, sat quietly to the side, while Anzu enthusiastically helped Grandpa Sugoroku.

As time flew by, it was suddenly dinner time. Hayato and the others bid Yugi farewell and headed home.

Hayato walked home alone. Just as he reached his front door, before he could even insert his key into the lock, his attention was drawn to an envelope tucked under the doormat.

[For Hayato]

Picking up the envelope, Hayato saw these few words written in isolation. He didn't rush to open it, however, choosing first to unlock the door and call out, "I'm home."

Having not been Japanese in his previous life, Hayato still felt somewhat unaccustomed to saying "I'm home."

To his expectation, the reply of "Welcome home" that he had anticipated did not come from within.

Confused, he took off his shoes and stepped into the house to investigate. To his surprise, the house was completely empty and silent. Well, not entirely silent—the robot vacuum cleaner had started on its pre-set timer, its motor humming as it faithfully cleaned the floor.

Hayato was a transmigrator, and in the world of fiction, having parents is often a high-risk occupation. However, in this life, his parents were alive and well. The woman he had seen immediately after waking up in this world was his mother, Kobayashi Sumire. She seemed to be a tax manager in the finance department of an international company, though Hayato had only heard the company’s name once and had already forgotten it.

As for his father, Kobayashi Hiroyuki, he was a diplomat who spent most of his time abroad due to the nature of his work. Having only transmigrated a day ago, Hayato had only seen his father’s face in family photos and had yet to meet him in person.

What puzzled Hayato was that while his mother, Sumire, was often busy with work, she should have been on annual leave recently. Why was she nowhere to be found? Could she have gone shopping with her friends?

The only clue Hayato had was the envelope he had found at the door.

He took off his bag and sat cross-legged on the kotatsu in the living room; the tatami mat beneath him was quite comfortable. He picked up a letter opener from the table, sliced open the envelope, and pulled out a letter along with a bank card.

Placing the bank card on the table, Hayato opened the letter and began to read:

[My dear Hayato,

By the time you read this, Mom will likely have boarded a plane to London. I’m going to go find your father—come to think of it, that’s where we first met all those years ago.

...]

Hayato scanned the text quickly. The letter was indeed from his mother. The general gist was, "My son has grown up so fast without me noticing, and I’m very reassured by you, so I’ve decided to use my annual leave to go see your father."

His mother also mentioned that after flying to London, she would likely be staying for longer than a month, as her company had trade projects to launch there, and as a member of the finance department, she had to be involved.

Consequently, Hayato would likely have to live alone for quite a while. The bank card contained his pocket money and living expenses—two hundred thousand yen. If the card ever ran dry, she would transfer more in time. The password was "030221."

"So, this is what they call 'parents busy, no sister, but I have a house'?" Hayato muttered to himself, feeling a sense of relief.

Even though he could socialize normally with Yugi and the others, the truth was that they didn't know much about each other. At most, Yugi and his friends might find his personality different from how it was at school, but they wouldn't harbor too much suspicion.

However, if he had to face his original parents, Hayato would feel immense pressure. After all, parents know their children best; if he showed any signs of being "strange," they would certainly become suspicious.

Not having to be around his mother constantly made Hayato feel much more at ease.

He rummaged through the refrigerator, found eggs, some greens, and a can of luncheon meat, then opened a pack of instant noodles, deciding to keep dinner simple. While waiting for the water to boil, he summoned the system.

He skillfully navigated to the [Storage] module. Among the endless, infinite grid slots, only four items sat there: his deck (currently stored in the system), an R-rank card pack (Dragon type), an SR-rank card pack, and an R-rank selection ticket.

Following the logic of saving the best for last, Hayato opened the R-rank card pack (Dragon type) first.

Unlike basic card packs, the R-rank pack guaranteed at least an R-rank card. However, as a trade-off for the higher floor, the ceiling was also capped at R-rank, making it impossible to pull an UR card.

The pack Hayato was opening was even more specific; the "(Dragon type)" suffix meant the cards were limited to dragons and dragon-support cards. Unfortunately, Hayato’s current deck consisted mainly of Warrior-type monsters.

Still, Hayato noticed that "Dragon Capture Jar" was counted as dragon-support, so perhaps some of these cards would still be useful.

[You have opened the R-rank card pack (Dragon type). Congratulations, you have obtained the following cards: Curse of Dragon, Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1, Dragon's Mirror, Baby Dragon, and Darkfire Dragon.]

"Good grief," Hayato exclaimed. Out of the five cards, four were vanilla dragons, and all of them were classic monsters.

He had expected as much, knowing an R-rank pack wouldn't yield anything spectacular, so he wasn't too agitated. Besides, dragons were symbols of power; even these cards were far stronger than the "trash" vanilla monsters in his current deck and were worth adding to his rotation.

The only mystery was the "Dragon's Mirror" card.

"The only things I have the materials for are 'Ojamaking' and 'Gaia the Dragon Champion,' but Ojamaking isn't a dragon, so it’s useless. That means I can only fuse Gaia," Hayato thought, tossing the noodles into the boiling water, adding the greens and an egg. "But the problem is, I have the materials, but I don't have 'Gaia the Dragon Champion'! What use is 'Dragon's Mirror' if I can't use it?"