Chapter 26: When "Luck" Comes Knocking

After Hayato opened the booster pack he had spent all his DP points on, several messages popped up within the system:

【Newbie Booster Pack detected as opened. "Sai-Q Duelist System" is now fully initialized, providing upgrade patches for the Duelist...】
【Patch installation complete. The "Personal" module for the Duelist has been enabled. Please click on your avatar to view.】
【Upgrade rewards are being distributed automatically. Please accept them.】

Hayato had not even had a chance to check which cards he had pulled before he was hit with a barrage of notifications. He finally figured out that his system had not been a complete version until he opened that "Newbie Booster Pack," which triggered the official launch.

As a benefit of the upgrade, the system granted Hayato the ability to communicate with "Duel Spirits"—the standard "heart-to-heart connection with cards" possessed by high-level duelists.

Who would his awakened Duel Spirit be? Hayato couldn't help but fantasize. His most vivid memory was that one time he had pulled off a miracle draw of "Gaia the Fierce Knight." If he were to awaken a Duel Spirit, it would most likely be Gaia.

Thinking this, Hayato was suddenly swarmed by three palm-sized creatures, accompanied by three distinct voices calling out "Big Brother."

This was the reason Hayato had looked so displeased back at the Kame Game Shop. On one hand, there was the disappointment of not awakening Gaia; on the other, he had been startled by the tactile proximity of three Ojamas.

"Even 'Marauding Captain' would have been fine. He’s a 'soul' I’ve acknowledged, and he was the first monster I ever summoned," Hayato grumbled to himself while walking home, looking at the stack of cards in his hand. "Out of so many cards, why did it have to be this one?"

In his hand was the "Ojama Trio." It seemed that because the card had helped him secure a victory in his duel against Manjoume, the system had randomly selected it to awaken its spirits—the "Ojama Yellow, Green, and Black" brothers. Coincidentally, Hayato happened to have the physical cards for all three.

Why did he have to buy these three in the first place? Why did he choose this out of so many R-rank options? Hayato sighed.

"Big Brother~"

The cheeky voice echoed in his ear again. Hayato immediately reached out and grabbed "Ojama Yellow," which had crawled onto his shoulder without him noticing. "I remember warning you: keep it quiet, or I'll imitate my classmate, Seto Kaiba."

"Eh~ Did your classmate do something?" Even while being held by his midsection between Hayato’s fingers, Ojama Yellow didn't lose its insufferable nature. It wiggled its feet, looking at Hayato with eyes that seemed to detach from its head, a smarmy grin plastered on its face.

Hayato kept a straight face. "He tore up a Duel Monster card."

"Yikes!" Ojama Yellow let out a strange shriek, its words spilling out like a machine gun. "Big Brother, please don't tear me up! I'm way more useful than my two brothers! If you're going to tear someone up, tear them instead!"

"Ojama Yellow!" Two more shrieks erupted from Hayato’s other shoulder. Calling out Yellow’s name, Ojama Green and Black leaped onto the body of their brother, who was still being pinched by Hayato.

"You traitor!"
"I'm going to teach you a lesson!"
"Eat my Nine-Heaven Thunder Double-Kick!"

Watching the Ojama Trio start bickering again, Hayato felt a headache coming on. He shouted to cut off their argument: "Shut up, all of you! Whoever speaks again, I'm tearing them to pieces!"

The trio jumped in fright, quickly smiling apologetically at Hayato. They made a gesture as if zipping their mouths shut, and to their surprise, a physical zipper actually appeared; Ojama Green’s tongue even got caught in it.

"Mommy, mommy, is that big brother over there the 'idiot' you told me about?"
"Don't go over there, it might be contagious."

Silently watching a passerby woman hurry away while holding her child, Hayato carried the three Ojamas, looked around for a suitable place, and quickened his pace toward home.

What he didn't notice was that in the dense woods by the roadside, a pair of eyes had been locked onto him the entire time.

————Being Stalked————

Lucky hid in the cool shade of the forest, watching the kid, who clearly came from a wealthy family, walk away. He was hiding not only to evade the annoying police search but also to prepare for his escape.

He was a murderer currently on the run from prison. The escapee mentioned in the newspaper that Hayato had heard about on the bus was none other than Lucky.

To facilitate his escape, Lucky, who was superstitious about astrology, had specifically chosen the luckiest time to break out, and things had gone smoothly. Just last night, he had killed a prison guard to escape and snatched a revolver in the process.

Escaping prison wasn't a single act but a continuous state. Since leaving, Lucky had done everything possible to shake off police pursuit and avoid being seen. According to the law, as long as he could successfully reach international waters, he could secure a long period of freedom; as long as he wasn't caught by Interpol, he could remain at large indefinitely.

However, reaching international waters wasn't easy. Lucky needed a boat. He knew a human smuggler in Domino City, so the route wasn't the problem—the biggest problem was that after breaking out, he didn't even have a single coin to his name.

Furthermore, he hadn't eaten since yesterday noon. Having not had a drop of water, he felt like he could barely walk. Rather than searching aimlessly for a wealthy target, Lucky decided it would be better to find someone nearby to rob for money and food.

Clearly, our protagonist, Hayato Kobayashi, was the unlucky one chosen for this.

"To think I'd find a target so quickly. As expected," Lucky muttered, gripping the revolver with one hand while instinctively stroking the "777" tattoo on his forehead with the other. "The magazine was right—today is my lucky day!"

Scrambling up from the dirt, Lucky didn't bother brushing off the grime; in his view, if he was going to rob someone of their money, taking their clothes as well was no big deal.

Moving through the lush greenery of Domino City, Lucky followed silently behind Hayato.