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Chapter 362: My Place is Quite Big; I Often Help Runaways
Battle City ended, but not entirely.
At least, that was the case for Kaiba and KaibaCorp.
Duel Monsters was becoming increasingly popular worldwide thanks to its unique charm. Maximillion Pegasus's Duelist Kingdom tournament back then had accelerated its promotion, and Kaiba's Battle City Tournament this time propelled it even further.
Both players assembled their most trusted Decks using the Cards they collected daily. With the help of KaibaCorp's Virtual Projection System, they commanded powerful Monsters to annihilate their opponents, competing against each other with an endless stream of Spell Cards and unpredictable Traps.
Thanks to the Duel Recordings released from Battle City, not only were boys who enjoyed such passionate, competitive scenes captivated, but even girls were drawn in. This was because, in addition to powerful Monsters, Duel Monsters as cute as **Kuriboh** or as cool as **Mystical Elf** also made appearances one after another. Not to mention, Mokuba was clever when filming and occasionally captured the Duelists' heroic figures in the footage.
There was Yugi Mutou's calm smile under the lightning when facing Marik's **Slifer the Sky Dragon**;
Kaiba's maniacal grin when giving the attack command with **Obelisk the Tormentor**, whose ATK had soared to infinity;
And Hayato's mysterious smile as he brushed aside his bangs and slightly lifted his chin.
In short, except for Joey Wheeler, who was just grinning foolishly, the Top 4 players became Mokuba's ace in the hole for Battle City's publicity. And you could tell the effect was quite good from the thousands of comments below the Videos posted on the Network, like "Husband, scold me," "Hayato, my Hayato," and "Yugi is so handsome, I'm dead."
While Battle City was a huge success, KaibaCorp also received foreign trade orders from all over the world. Capitalists have a keen sense for opportunity; they already had a premonition that Duel Monsters, barring any unexpected events, would continue to explode in popularity at its current rate for the next few years, or even decades.
If they didn't seize the opportunity to get involved now while they still could, they would only be able to watch enviously when it came time to divide the cake later.
Looking at the thick stack of reports beside him, Mokuba sighed helplessly. He could foresee that KaibaCorp wouldn't be idle for a long time to come.
But Kaiba didn't even spare a glance for the thick stack of reports next to Mokuba. Standing in front of Mokuba, he looked at the data on the Tablet in his hand and nodded with considerable satisfaction. "Heh heh, after seeing how popular Duel Monsters is, have they agreed to KaibaCorp building Kaiba Land there?"
"With this, I'm one step closer to my small target—having Kaiba Land spread across every city in the country."
"So, next, should I host a few more Duel Tournaments? What kind of gimmick would be best then?"
Hearing Kaiba's soliloquy, Mokuba almost couldn't stay seated.
Big brother, you're my own brother! Please, just take a look at these documents, okay? We haven't even finished processing these yet. Can't you wait for your little brother to finish handling these matters before you start thinking about stirring things up again?
Heaven and Earth, please, someone, anyone, help me out! If worst comes to worst, find a woman for my brother to fall in love with! At least then he won't be thinking about Dueling and causing trouble every single day!
---- Mokuba decided that if he couldn't beat them, he'd join them, and started Dueling too ----
Kicking a small stone with his foot, Hayato walked on his way home, with Marik walking beside him.
Marik, who had decided to turn over a new leaf, discovered something quite awkward not long ago: he had actually snuck into Domino City and had no Identity Document whatsoever. Besides him, Ishizu Ishtar was a legitimate official from the Egyptian Government, and even Rishid had a Passport.
Don't underestimate this point. You see, without an Identity Document, Marik couldn't even check into a hotel room.
A long time ago, it might have been somewhat possible, but ever since KaibaCorp successfully communicated with the Domino City Government and decided to host the Battle City Tournament, KaibaCorp had funded and oversaw the closure of various illegal businesses throughout Domino City. The goal was to root out the Ghouls, and incidentally, they also caught quite a few Illegal Inns that specifically harbored undocumented Runaways.
"Luckily, I have you, Brother-in-law."
Marik said, looking at Hayato with considerable gratitude. Hayato shrugged. "Mainly because I'm usually the only one home, and there's a Guest Room specifically prepared for visitors. I don't think there'll be any problem with you staying for a while while my parents are away."
"But let's confirm something first. You don't have any strange habits, do you? Like not liking chopsticks and eating rice with your hands instead, or sleepwalking, things like that."
"Brother-in-law, I admit I used to be a bit neurotic, but being neurotic and being insane are two different things."
Leading Marik to the front door, just as he was about to take out his Key to open it, Hayato noticed a Package placed on the lawn beside the door.
The Package was quite small, with no sender's name written on it. It was tightly bound with Packing Rope, and the outside was covered in a layer of waterproof Oil Paper, making Hayato wonder if it contained a German engineer.
Although he was very curious about what was inside the Package, Hayato still opened the front door first and led Marik into the Villa. Ever since the night before Battle City, Hayato hadn't returned home because he had fallen unconscious after Dueling Marik. It had been about three days until today.
Thanks to the automatic Sweeping Robot on the floor, there wasn't any dust on the ground at home, but it felt a bit deserted after being uninhabited for three days.
"Brother-in-law, your place is quite big," said the "Runaway" Marik, looking out from the living room. He immediately saw the expansive sea view. "And it's a sea-view Villa too. You're unexpectedly richer than I thought."
"Can't compare to your Tomb Keepers clan, all decked out in gold and silver." Placing the Package on the round table in the living room, Hayato picked up a pair of scissors to cut the package open, intending to see what was inside and who had sent it to him.
The moment he saw what was inside the Package, Hayato knew the answer to the latter question.
Inside the Package was just a Videotape. Of course, you couldn't tell anything just by looking at that, but Hayato figured that besides that guy Maximillion Pegasus, probably no one else would draw a Chibi Version of himself and a **Blue-Eyes White Dragon** in a Cartoon Style on the outside of the Videotape with a Marker Pen.
It was also fortunate that Kaiba didn't see this Videotape; otherwise, Hayato couldn't guarantee that Kaiba would be able to resist the humiliation of having his **Blue-Eyes White Dragon** taken right in front of him back then and wouldn't smash this Videotape.
Battle City ended, but not entirely.
At least, that was the case for Kaiba and KaibaCorp.
Duel Monsters was becoming increasingly popular worldwide thanks to its unique charm. Maximillion Pegasus's Duelist Kingdom tournament back then had accelerated its promotion, and Kaiba's Battle City Tournament this time propelled it even further.
Both players assembled their most trusted Decks using the Cards they collected daily. With the help of KaibaCorp's Virtual Projection System, they commanded powerful Monsters to annihilate their opponents, competing against each other with an endless stream of Spell Cards and unpredictable Traps.
Thanks to the Duel Recordings released from Battle City, not only were boys who enjoyed such passionate, competitive scenes captivated, but even girls were drawn in. This was because, in addition to powerful Monsters, Duel Monsters as cute as **Kuriboh** or as cool as **Mystical Elf** also made appearances one after another. Not to mention, Mokuba was clever when filming and occasionally captured the Duelists' heroic figures in the footage.
There was Yugi Mutou's calm smile under the lightning when facing Marik's **Slifer the Sky Dragon**;
Kaiba's maniacal grin when giving the attack command with **Obelisk the Tormentor**, whose ATK had soared to infinity;
And Hayato's mysterious smile as he brushed aside his bangs and slightly lifted his chin.
In short, except for Joey Wheeler, who was just grinning foolishly, the Top 4 players became Mokuba's ace in the hole for Battle City's publicity. And you could tell the effect was quite good from the thousands of comments below the Videos posted on the Network, like "Husband, scold me," "Hayato, my Hayato," and "Yugi is so handsome, I'm dead."
While Battle City was a huge success, KaibaCorp also received foreign trade orders from all over the world. Capitalists have a keen sense for opportunity; they already had a premonition that Duel Monsters, barring any unexpected events, would continue to explode in popularity at its current rate for the next few years, or even decades.
If they didn't seize the opportunity to get involved now while they still could, they would only be able to watch enviously when it came time to divide the cake later.
Looking at the thick stack of reports beside him, Mokuba sighed helplessly. He could foresee that KaibaCorp wouldn't be idle for a long time to come.
But Kaiba didn't even spare a glance for the thick stack of reports next to Mokuba. Standing in front of Mokuba, he looked at the data on the Tablet in his hand and nodded with considerable satisfaction. "Heh heh, after seeing how popular Duel Monsters is, have they agreed to KaibaCorp building Kaiba Land there?"
"With this, I'm one step closer to my small target—having Kaiba Land spread across every city in the country."
"So, next, should I host a few more Duel Tournaments? What kind of gimmick would be best then?"
Hearing Kaiba's soliloquy, Mokuba almost couldn't stay seated.
Big brother, you're my own brother! Please, just take a look at these documents, okay? We haven't even finished processing these yet. Can't you wait for your little brother to finish handling these matters before you start thinking about stirring things up again?
Heaven and Earth, please, someone, anyone, help me out! If worst comes to worst, find a woman for my brother to fall in love with! At least then he won't be thinking about Dueling and causing trouble every single day!
---- Mokuba decided that if he couldn't beat them, he'd join them, and started Dueling too ----
Kicking a small stone with his foot, Hayato walked on his way home, with Marik walking beside him.
Marik, who had decided to turn over a new leaf, discovered something quite awkward not long ago: he had actually snuck into Domino City and had no Identity Document whatsoever. Besides him, Ishizu Ishtar was a legitimate official from the Egyptian Government, and even Rishid had a Passport.
Don't underestimate this point. You see, without an Identity Document, Marik couldn't even check into a hotel room.
A long time ago, it might have been somewhat possible, but ever since KaibaCorp successfully communicated with the Domino City Government and decided to host the Battle City Tournament, KaibaCorp had funded and oversaw the closure of various illegal businesses throughout Domino City. The goal was to root out the Ghouls, and incidentally, they also caught quite a few Illegal Inns that specifically harbored undocumented Runaways.
"Luckily, I have you, Brother-in-law."
Marik said, looking at Hayato with considerable gratitude. Hayato shrugged. "Mainly because I'm usually the only one home, and there's a Guest Room specifically prepared for visitors. I don't think there'll be any problem with you staying for a while while my parents are away."
"But let's confirm something first. You don't have any strange habits, do you? Like not liking chopsticks and eating rice with your hands instead, or sleepwalking, things like that."
"Brother-in-law, I admit I used to be a bit neurotic, but being neurotic and being insane are two different things."
Leading Marik to the front door, just as he was about to take out his Key to open it, Hayato noticed a Package placed on the lawn beside the door.
The Package was quite small, with no sender's name written on it. It was tightly bound with Packing Rope, and the outside was covered in a layer of waterproof Oil Paper, making Hayato wonder if it contained a German engineer.
Although he was very curious about what was inside the Package, Hayato still opened the front door first and led Marik into the Villa. Ever since the night before Battle City, Hayato hadn't returned home because he had fallen unconscious after Dueling Marik. It had been about three days until today.
Thanks to the automatic Sweeping Robot on the floor, there wasn't any dust on the ground at home, but it felt a bit deserted after being uninhabited for three days.
"Brother-in-law, your place is quite big," said the "Runaway" Marik, looking out from the living room. He immediately saw the expansive sea view. "And it's a sea-view Villa too. You're unexpectedly richer than I thought."
"Can't compare to your Tomb Keepers clan, all decked out in gold and silver." Placing the Package on the round table in the living room, Hayato picked up a pair of scissors to cut the package open, intending to see what was inside and who had sent it to him.
The moment he saw what was inside the Package, Hayato knew the answer to the latter question.
Inside the Package was just a Videotape. Of course, you couldn't tell anything just by looking at that, but Hayato figured that besides that guy Maximillion Pegasus, probably no one else would draw a Chibi Version of himself and a **Blue-Eyes White Dragon** in a Cartoon Style on the outside of the Videotape with a Marker Pen.
It was also fortunate that Kaiba didn't see this Videotape; otherwise, Hayato couldn't guarantee that Kaiba would be able to resist the humiliation of having his **Blue-Eyes White Dragon** taken right in front of him back then and wouldn't smash this Videotape.
