Kaiba Land.
Jie Ke handed over the matter to future protagonists Judai and Yusei, and Youyu felt quite at ease.
In the early days, Yuki Judai was a bit scatterbrained, aside from playing cards he wasn't very reliable, but as the story progressed, he went through so much that he completely matured into a trustworthy Duelist who can handle challenges on his own.
As for Yusei, there's no need to say much. From the moment he appeared, he's always been the cool and dependable type, mature and steady, someone who does not talk much but is very capable.
...Oh, and he's also a tech-savvy geek and has maxed out his martial arts skills, making him exceptionally capable in battles.
That's why Yusei has such a high popularity among the protagonists.
After all, everyone loves a mature man who's cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
So after entrusting the matter to them, Youyu didn't specifically inquire about Jie Ke's dealings anymore.
There shouldn't... be any problems, right?
With the first duel over, Youyu, who has successfully advanced, is now patiently waiting for the host to inform him of the location for the next duel while...
... waiting for Chinai-chan to finish using the restroom.
The amusement park—especially on its opening day—possibly the most despairing place is the endlessly long line at the women's restroom...
Legend says there's a young girl who once queued at the amusement park's restroom for an eternity without moving, finally asking the older lady in front how long the wait had been.
The older lady rolled her eyes and said disdainfully, "New here? When I first arrived, I was as young as you."
"..."
Truly terrifying.
While Chinai was queuing, Youyu didn't idle away the time either. He found a small shop and decided to buy some drinks.
After all, playing cards and storytelling make one quite thirsty.
Youyu picked up two bottles of drink from the store—and brought one for Chinai-chan as well. As soon as he made his choice, Dark Magician Girl came up, "Master, master! I want that stick from last time!"
Youyu followed the direction of her little finger, spotting an icebox full of popsicles.
Youyu thought it over. It's a rare outing, so he decided to buy it for her.
After all, we are loving and caring owners of our spirits.
With drinks and popsicle in hand, Youyu went to the counter. The woman behind the counter glanced up at the well-behaved.jpg Dark Magician Girl following him, seemingly mistaking it for some kind of cosplay.
Hearing Dark Magician Girl call him "Master" so affectionately, the woman might have misunderstood something, simply shaking her head, "Ah, the youth is good. You young folks sure know how to have fun..."
Youyu had black lines on his face.
Did you misunderstand something, ma'am?
This is my spirit, do you understand? The real kind, for card games, not for keeping warm at night!
Just then, Youyu noticed the Kaiba Land commemorative merchandise in the store—a Blue-Eyes White Dragon keychain, which he surprisingly found to be well-designed. So he asked the lady at the counter for the price and wanted to buy one as a memento.
Perhaps due to some 95 charm points, the lady had a nice attitude, enthusiastically offering a buy-three-get-one-free deal, saying he's a lucky customer and giving the keychain to him for free.
This enthusiastic gesture reminded Youyu of the kind cafeteria lady back in his school days, who liked to give him extra pieces of meat...
But honestly, the keychain design is rather nice—actually, all Blue-Eyes White Dragon-related merch from Kaiba Group is quite good.
Youyu guessed it might have something to do with the fact that making a bad White Dragon design might directly get the president to fire you...
Dark Magician Girl was gnawing at the hard, cold popsicle while curiously watching Youyu fiddle with the keychain.
"What is it?" Youyu noticed her gaze.
"Nothing... nothing," she said softly, adjusting her magician hat, "I thought since you always... always pull out Duel Discs, you weren't interested in anything other than cards and Duel Discs..."
Youyu: "..."
Does my own spirit have this impression of me!?
Besides, You considers himself not someone who often covets others' Duel Discs. He only does it occasionally, as a way to punish those who misuse dueling for evil...
...Okay, excluding Paradox's impressive Future Duel Disc. He might indeed want that a little...
But the Duel King's case... Can that be called stealing?
Youyu felt necessary to educate his spirit girl on inappropriate word choices.
After all, language is an art; sometimes, you need to learn to word things appropriately and reasonably.
For instance, a monk who has taken a vow of celibacy might respond when asked if he has needs: "Amitabha, bless you, patron, in Buddhism, this is called liberation."
"..."
That's the art of language.
Youyu also browsed the forum to understand the KC tournament's dueling situations in other regions.
To his surprise, he didn't see Paradox—or anyone resembling Paradox—among the top eight contestants.
Initially, he thought Paradox might participate as a contestant intending to cause trouble, just like other villains did in the 5DS animations.
But apparently not.
Could it be Paradox refrained due to the overwhelming number of formidable duelist here at KC Grand Prix and the power of luck draws?
Youyu thought it unlikely.
This is someone who, in the original, dared to challenge three generations of Duel Kings—not someone to back down easily.
Scrolling through player forums, no one seemed to have spotted Paradox's tracks.
However, some noticed there were two infiltrators among the players.
The forum talked about spotting two figures in unicorn and rabbit costumes in Kaiba Land...
... with no IDs on their heads!
Yet, it didn't spark much attention since few keen-eyed players discovered this, and most assumed it to be a small easter egg placed by the game company to promote their headgear costumes in the park.
Some players posted about wanting to try a hidden quest, confronting the unicorn-costumed NPC who accepted the challenge.
Then...
... the player got beaten into submission by what seemed to be a makeshift Normal Deck picked from a street stall...
But Paradox definitely hadn't left this era yet; if he had, Yusei would know.
So for now, Youyu remained vigilant, occasionally checking the forum.
All the players in this park were his potential informants. Players have a keen nose for "hidden plots"; any unusual occurrences should quickly be discovered by them.
...
With Chinai-chan finally returning after a painstakingly long restroom ordeal, Youyu received information about his next duel's location as well.
This battle's venue was outside a plant-themed pavilion, where his opponent was already waiting.
It was a little girl with rose-colored hair and white stockings, her bright amber eyes gleaming. Although she was quite petite and a bit slender, she had the air of a stately young lady.
For some reason, Youyu found this little girl seemed somewhat... familiar?