"The orbital elevator has arrived."
"Gravity field stability confirmed."
"No system malfunctions, Level 3 orbital regulatory device has been inspected…"
"..."
A series of clear and pleasant electronic female voices continuously sounded next to Youyu's ear as he walked through the long corridor. He slowly walked down the narrow hallway leading to the orbital elevator, with top-of-the-line computer equipment neatly arranged on either side.
Behind every computer was a programmer girl dressed in a sci-fi uniform, wearing a helmet and smart goggles. Each had nimble and skilled fingers, typing away non-stop on the keyboard like a pianist playing the climax of a concerto.
... Yep, as usual, all programmers at Kaiba Company were girls, each one good-looking and pleasant-sounding, not a single rough guy in the crowd.
With the ridiculously skewed gender ratio in the programming world, Youyu was very curious how President Haima managed to hire all programmer girls.
Or maybe because the president thought since his programmers were just for show, and the company's firewall was as easy to breach as a public bus, every time something went wrong, he had to personally code by hand, so he might as well hire some pretty girls for eye candy?
Seated inside the orbital elevator developed by the president, Youyu fastened his seatbelt. The elegant electronic female voice swirled around him, and the scene outside the glass became a blur due to high speed.
Sitting inside this contraption, with the starry sky becoming within reach, Youyu felt as if he had entered a whole new dimension.
He still found it hard to believe that President Haima went through all this trouble for such an unscientific creation just to drag the King up here to play cards.
This kind of black technology system could make anyone think they had stepped into the wrong film set. Although it looked like Duel King, it seamlessly integrated with the neighbor's Mobile Suit Gundam without any sense of discord.
"You have arrived at your destination."
The elevator gradually stopped, and the synthesized electronic voice rang one last time.
"Have a pleasant journey."
Youyu walked across most of the space station to the central room. It was no surprise to him to see President Haima patiently waiting, and the Millennium Pendant being assembled under the scan simulation of a supercomputer.
President Haima didn't even turn his head when he came in, yet somehow instinctively knew his identity.
"That Yugi said it took eight years to assemble this thing," Haima said blandly without turning his head, "and I'll have it done in six hours."
Is this your reason for building a cosmic space station? Youyu internally mocked.
Youyu carefully organized his words and tentatively said to the president, "President, have you ever considered... maybe grave robbing isn't right?"
They say the deceased are gone, and the King had finally let go of all burdens to find rest in the Netherworld. Yet he hadn't lain there for a year, and here you are, digging him up... Isn't that a bit inappropriate?
However, the president only gave him a cold glance.
No attachments?
He left without attachments. What about me?
I won't allow him to escape before we reach a true conclusion!
Youyu couldn't help but mutter, "The problem is, if you insist that it isn't over until you've beaten him, that could be pretty tough. By then, he probably won't even be able to buy a ticket back to the Netherworld…"
"What did you say?"
"N-nothing."
Evidently, this argument wasn't working. The president didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with his grave-robbing behavior.
In fact, let alone grave robbing, he didn't even find anything wrong with playing cards right there at Aigami's grave, dismantling it in the process...
Youyu decided to try a different approach.
Wasn't the president the biggest believer in science? Fine, then let's reason with him from a scientific angle.
Everyone knows that things like deceased souls and the Netherworld are all superstition from a modern scientific perspective—unscientific concepts. People say the soul of the deceased lingers only to provide comfort to the living.
President, aren't you the one who's always saying this supernatural stuff is nonsense?
How can a dead person come back to life?
But the president merely let out a "hm↓" and said that was just the limit of modern science. Some phenomena are temporarily unexplained due to the limitations of the current era, but I will sooner or later uncover the principles!
Youyu: "..."
Oh my, President, when Atem was still around, you didn't used to say that?
He remembered in the past whenever Atem brought up mysticism to the president, the president would always be like, "Not listening, not listening, turtle chanting scriptures." Why is it now that the person isn't here, you long for his good qualities?
Youyu felt helpless, reminding the president that Atem wasn't the only Duel King. You've never beaten Atem, but you haven't ever won against me either?
Why must you be so fixated on someone who's already passed away...
But when the president shot him a fierce look as if thinking about dueling, he couldn't help but shut his mouth.
The president gave a snort: "Don't worry, you and I will also have a final conclusion sooner or later. But before that, I still have unfinished business with this guy."
Youyu: "..."
Oh boy, President, you want to get every pie?
Playing cards with one Duel King isn't exciting enough, you want both of them?
Youyu was truly helpless now.
He could see that President Haima's determination was unmovable. His current mindset might be "either you come back to the Mortal World to duel with me, or I'll go down to the Netherworld to find you, in any case, you can't escape this duel, Yu↑gi↓..."
Youyu felt powerless. Thinking it over, he thought maybe the only one who could stop the president's growing obsession with the King might be Muto Yugi.
In terms of missing the King, perhaps no one in this world could compare to Yugi. But even so, Yugi didn't show even a moment's hesitation when sending the King off, never wavering in his resolve to let the King rest in the Netherworld.
Youyu considered—if it came to it, maybe he should relay everything to Yugi and arrange for him to duel with President Haima, to see if he could help dispel the idea from Haima's mind.
However, this might be a bit cruel to Yugi, who perhaps has just managed to walk out from the sorrow of parting.
Giving up the attempt for now, Youyu sighed and changed the subject: "President, Mokuba told me you encountered that opponent called 'Aigami'... and you let him go?"
Mokuba had described the process to him, and it was generally the same as the plot in the movie, though there were some minor differences.
Mokuba said among all those Kaiba Company sent to that temple, nearly all the armed guards were sent to the Other Dimension by Aigami's mystical means. The only ones who came back were Kaiba, Mokuba, and Uncle Izono...
Kaiba being superhuman was expected, and Mokuba having a hidden prince identity from Konoha Village might be plausible, but how Uncle Izono made it back unharmed was rather intriguing.
Perhaps, in fact, Izono was the true mastermind... (cross that out)
Kaiba gave him a sideways glance, letting out a snort as an answer.
"Didn't you consider capturing him?"
"Why should I do that?" Kaiba retorted.
"Uh... because of recent disappearances in Domino? Those might be linked with Aigami?"
"Not interested," Kaiba said, crossing his arms. "It's unrelated to me. Those matters should be handled by the police; it's not the concern of our company."
Youyu admitted he was suddenly surprised.
So there is actually a police force in Domino?
But President, even if there is a police force... I'm afraid they won't be of much use!
After all, if the cops can't beat Aigami in a duel...
What? The police have to duel to arrest people?
You wouldn't believe it, but that isn't a joke.
The protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Fudo Yusei, was constantly chased by the Officer of Sector Security everywhere. Yet the Sheriff could never catch him, simply because every time they dueled, they lost...
"Scan complete."
It was then that the computer emitted a soft electronic notification.
All the components had stopped, the laser had ceased scanning, the device was no longer operating, but the Millennium Pendant was still not assembled.
"What's the meaning of this?" Kaiba coldly remarked.
"The program cannot continue execution," the computer answered. "The final fragment's shape does not match, assembly cannot proceed."
Kaiba quickly deduced the issue.
Was it that Aigami swapped out the pendant's fragment?
"Aigami."
The same President Haima, who just declared it was none of his business, suddenly wore a dark expression.
Seems someone is going to have a bad time.