Yugen had known that long ago, of course, but he still put on the face of someone hearing the secret for the first time. "But why were they looking for me? As far as I know, I have nothing to do with Sacred Beasts."
"I have no idea about that." Mokuba Kaiba scratched his head. "I guess... maybe they had their eye on your special talent in Duel, or your gift for Spirit Affinity. You really are one of the most unusual Duelist I've ever seen, so it's not strange that you'd attract attention."
At that point, Principal Samejima also arrived. The principal shook hands with Seto Kaiba, the top sponsor of Duel Academy, and repeatedly apologized for the academy's weak security, saying they would definitely do better in the future.
Yugen felt the principal should just forget it. Right now, Duel Academy's security might be flimsy, but at least it still technically existed.
Starting in the second year, that concept basically disappeared anyway, and Duel Academy Island practically became a public bus stop where all kinds of related and unrelated people could come and go freely.
By the third year, even the Academic Affairs Office seemed to vanish outright. The whole school would fly off to Different Dimension, and the students would end up standing on the front line under pressure while the principal was always away on business and Professor Mommy Mia somehow covered the work of the entire faculty alone.
After that, Judai Yuki and Asuka Tenjoin also gave their reports. Both had encountered enemies and ended up in Duel conflict, but both won without any real danger.
The AI that Judai Yuki defeated had especially terrible luck, since it fell off a cliff and died on the spot. The one taken down by Asuka Tenjoin, however, was still barely alive.
It was said that when the AI called Gamma was being carried away, it was still muttering in a daze, saying things like "This isn't a Duel at all," "That isn't an angel at all," and "Give my monster back." Most likely, it had been beaten so badly by the digitized bull angel Cyber Angel Nashira that its system crashed.
The Kaiba Corporation employees who had landed on the island with the president quickly cleaned up the battlefield. They collected the wreckage of the three machines and handled the basic aftermath.
"We're already very close," Mokuba Kaiba said to Yugen. "Once we go back and analyze these three AIs, we should find clues about the mastermind very soon. If we find anything, I'll tell you right away."
The other side had clearly said that Yugen was now on their target list as well, so he was no longer an outsider in this matter. "Sure." Yugen readily nodded.
Without thinking much about it, he touched the brand new Deck in his pocket, the latest unreleased product from Kaiba Corporation that he had just pulled out and that was still warm. These AIs really were too polite.
If they were coming, they had even gone out of their way to bring gifts. And this time they had not used data cards either. They were all real physical cards that could be plugged in and used directly.
He would not mind at all if this kind of good thing happened a few more times.
At the end, Mokuba Kaiba glanced toward Seto Kaiba, as if confirming that his brother was busy directing the employees and was not paying attention here. Only then did he lower his voice and speak quietly.
"There's one more thing... Even though my brother definitely wouldn't want me to say this, I still want to thank you."
"Huh?"
"For what you said." Mokuba Kaiba smiled faintly. "I heard it all. To be honest, I was genuinely a little moved. Even though many people respect my brother now and see him as the peak of Duelist, very few truly understand him.
A lot of people only think he's overbearing and rude, and some even say he's a dictator in some sense... but only I know that he has never forgotten what he is fighting for."
"Only after going through hell can someone better understand how precious dreams are." Yugen smiled softly. "It's a pity that even if he told the truth to the Board of Directors, no one would believe that a 'dictator's' dream was to bring smiles to children everywhere."
"Haha, forget the Board of Directors. In all of Kaiba Corporation, besides me, there's basically no one who really knows him. I think the last person who truly understood him and really knew him was probably Yugi Muto instead..."
Mokuba Kaiba shook his head, feeling that it was a pity. Deep down, he had always envied and longed for the unbreakable friendship that Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler had, and he had even imagined joining that group together with his brother.
But in the end, maybe they were just not the same kind of people. Now they had already gone many years without contacting each other again.
"Knowing there's someone else in the world who sees my brother the same way I do really makes me happy," Mokuba Kaiba said again. "Thank you."
"It's nothing. I think there are probably quite a lot of people who feel the same way. I'm just one ordinary Duelist among them, too insignificant to matter."
Yugen waved his hand generously. "There's no need to thank me..."
"Oh, right. We're heading back to the company next. There are a few newly developed Deck at Headquarters. Want to come take a look?"
"Lead the way."
So Yugen came to Kaiba Corporation once again.
Not long after he arrived, he was immediately surrounded by the panda-eyed people from the Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning Research Team. The team leader grabbed him excitedly and dragged him off for testing without another word, saying that the hint Yugen had given last time had been incredibly important. It had opened a new direction for Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning Level Series development and helped them break through yet another bottleneck.
Yugen had to think for a moment before he remembered what he had said last time. Oh, that. This time, he had not even given them a whole stack of images under the name of "Spirit Vision" like before, and had only casually pointed out a rough direction.
He had merely mentioned that Duel King Yugi Muto had once liked using "Gaia the Fierce Knight" together with "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning," and that there might be some special meaning in that. He suggested they strengthen their research in that direction. If anyone else had said it, the Research Division would have heard it and moved on.
After all, aside from both being Warrior-Type and looking cool, Gaia the Fierce Knight and Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning had basically no connection. There was also no evidence that those two cards belonged together. But when the words came from Yugen, it was a different story.
With just a few casual remarks before, Yugen had helped them break through a bottleneck that had trapped them for years and produce results that shocked the entire industry. Because of that, they no longer dared to ignore a single word he said. The facts had once again proven that Yugen was right.