"Here it is," Kaiba said quietly as he took his seat in the classroom beside Harry, holding out a Duel Monsters card for the other boy. "The Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon you wanted. Mokuba insisted that he be allowed to help design it, and was apparently rather inspired by that Egyptian guy who took the Millennium Eye back. He did the final picture that went onto the card."

Harry whistled in impressed approval as he looked at the card, and bit back a chuckle. It actually looked a lot like the Egyptian Stone Bellied Dragons he'd recently covered in his Magical Animals course for his cram-school.

"He's quite the artist then. How many are going to be made?" Harry asked.

"Seven," Kaiba answered. "There are ten Red Eyes in the world, four Blue Eyes, and you wanted the Yellow Eyes to be in between the two, so there are seven. Only five are going into general circulation though. That one's yours, and counted within the seven, and I'm keeping one for myself as well."

Harry nodded at the explanation. "Prizes for competitions, or random distribution in bumper packs?" he asked.

"Kaiba Land is having a Tournament next month for new Duellists only. The top four Duellists in that competition will each receive a Yellow Eyes to add to their decks as encouragement to keep playing," Kaiba answered.

Harry smirked. "And keep coming to Kaiba Land," he quipped. "And the last one?" he asked.

Kaiba's answering smirk was wickedly delighted. "A randomly selected starter pack," was the answer he gave.

Harry chuckled. "Very nice," he praised quietly. "Starter packs cost more than the bumper packs because they've got more cards in them, but seasoned Duellists generally only buy the bumper packs, in hopes of getting something good for their decks without having to sort through a bunch of more common cards, or else they trade and we make no money at all. By announcing that the last available copy of a new, rare, and powerful card is in a starter pack, profits will go up as even the most established Duellists will scramble to get their hands on it."

Kaiba nodded. "I'm glad you approve," he said. "What I owe you is settled then?"

"Oh I do," Harry agreed with a smile, "and yes, it's settled."

From across the room, squealing girls could be heard all of a sudden, and the two teens turned to see what all the fuss was about.

"New kid," Kaiba noted, then promptly turned away, dismissing him.

"Competition," Harry corrected. "That is Otogi Ryuji. He's opened a new game shop not far from Muto-san's. He's also the instigator of the game Dungeon Dice Monsters."

Kaiba scowled. "A fad," he said, disgusted. "Duel Monsters has been played for years, and hasn't waned in popularity in all that time. Dungeon Dice Monsters won't still have the attention of the masses in a month."

Harry chuckled. "Not least because of your Rookies Tournament at Kaiba Land that will draw in a new generation of Duellists," he commented slyly.

"Hn," Seto agreed with a smirk. "And he's not our competition anyway. We sell the games to the shops, the shops sell the games to the masses. He's Muto's competition."

Harry's expression flattened out. "And what about his acquisition of holographic technology for his game shop?" he asked. "Purchased from Kaiba Corporation of course, but still an issue. Especially since his order had a few extras in it to accommodate his new game. People are going to have to go to him if they want to play his game with holographic technology."

Kaiba shrugged it off. "The new shop purchased enough parts for one Duelling Arena only, with the special parts so that the one Arena could convert for the new game. He was charged heavily for the alterations and the installation of his single Arena. He won't be competing with Kaiba Land on any serious scale."

"No Jounouchi, it's a trick!" Yugi exclaimed, interrupting conversations – few as they were – around the room.

"I'll take that," Otogi said, picking up a dice from the table. "I moved the dice into my right hand without ever touching the cup," he explained smugly.

Beside him, Jounouchi was holding up a purple cup. It wasn't hard to figure out that the blonde had been duped.

"That makes me the winner," Otogi finished with a smile.

Now Jounouchi was turning a purple to match the cup he'd put back down on the table. "You are nothin' but a dirty, rotten, con-artist. If you were a real man you'd play a real game! I challenge you to a match of Duel Monsters!" Jounouchi declared, striking what he no doubt believed to be an impressive pose.

Actually, he just looked like a dork.

"If it weren't so pathetic, it would be entertaining," Harry commented with a sigh. "Worse, people might start wondering if Otogi and I are related, because his eyes are almost as green as mine."

Seto could only laugh quietly at the whole thing.

"But I don't have a Duel Monsters deck," Otogi answered with false sorrow.

"That's not my problem," Jounouchi answered. "After all, your the one with the new game shop."

"Stance?" Kaiba asked Harry as their classmates set terms for their Duel – that is, whole new decks, something which Yugi objected to as it would mean relying on luck a great deal more than skill.

"Otogi is too calm to have never Duelled before, even if he claims to have no deck. Katsuya is an idiot for agreeing to make a totally new deck just for one Duel. I may have several decks myself, but I am intimately familiar with each one, and so I do not suffer from the sudden confrontation of an unfamiliar card in my hand as Katsuya will," Harry said, dissecting the confrontation.

Harry shook his head in dismissal of the whole show. "Otogi will win. He's setting the terms and the cards will all be coming from his game shop. What's to stop him from opening packets, sorting cards, and then re-sealing them?" Harry said.

"What?" yelled an offended, affronted Otogi, as well as an irate Jounouchi, who had both apparently heard that last bit Harry had said.

"Ne, Shokunin-san," one of the girls who had been crowding around Otogi said, approaching Harry now. "You don't really think that Ryuji-kun would do such a thing, do you?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "I wouldn't have said it if I did not believe it at least possible," he answered her. "Otogi-san already tricked Katsuya-san once after all," he added with a dismissive shake of his head.

"Where do you get off saying stuff like that?" Otogi demanded.

"At my cram-school, I have a sensei who is fond of proverbs," Harry said, confusing all around him with his apparent digression. "One of his proverbs goes like this: beware a man who is fond of dice, for likely he keeps his own loaded," he said, pointing to Otogi's earring – which matched the little white cube he held in his hand.

Just about the entire room froze at the accusation as Harry lowered his hand and turned to Katsuya.

"If you wish to Duel, then you may do it in this room, right now," Harry said.

"Ryuji-kun already said he didn't have a deck!" objected one of the girls he had been impressing with dice tricks before.

"And they both agreed to use totally new decks for their Duel," added another. "They can't get those decks now!"

A valid enough objection. It was only fifteen minutes until class started after all.

Jounouchi, for all that he was a bit thick sometimes, remembered that Harry had more than one deck, and always got his opponent to choose which deck he would Duel them with.

"I'll take lucky number seven, if you're getting at what I think you're getting at," the blonde said with a smile.

"What?" Otogi asked, looking between Jounouchi and Harry in confusion.

Harry opened his bag – he couldn't fit all of his decks into his uniform jacket after all – and pulled out a deck of cards. "Deck number seven for Katsuya-san to Duel with. This is a loan only, Katsuya. I expect every card to be returned to me."

"Of course!" Jounouchi answered. "They're your cards."

Harry turned to Otogi. "A number between one and thirteen, not including seven as Katsuya-san has already selected it. You will Duel with my cards, and return the deck to me when your Duel is over," he informed his fellow teen.

"Shokunin-san, do you have a Duelling Mat in there as well? Because they can't Duel here without one," Anzu pointed out.

Harry nodded. "I promised Ryou-san a friendly Duel when we had time after school," he explained as he pulled out the printed felt mat and nodded to the white-haired boy in question, who smiled in answer and held up his own deck, letting Harry know that he was also ready.

Otogi was just barely catching on, for all his smooth talking a moment ago. "Deck number... five," he decided at last.

Harry drew out that deck as well and set it on the table in front of him. "Same goes for you, Otogi-san. I am loaning you this deck for this Duel only. When the Duel is over, I will have every card back from you. Katsuya-san I warn because I can imagine him just slipping the deck into his pocket without even thinking about it afterwards. You, I neither know, nor trust, with my cards," Harry informed the other green-eyed teen, then lay out the Duelling Mat on his own desk so that he could watch everything that was done with his cards.

"You should both feel honoured," Kaiba informed them as chairs were brought up for the two to sit on while they Duelled. "Being permitted to use decks belonging to the King of Games, just to settle a petty argument."

Otogi actually scowled at that. "He's not the king of every game," he grumbled.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I'm not. It's an exclusively Duel Monsters title," Harry answered simply. "Now do get on with it. You have a limited amount of time in which to conduct this Duel. If you don't actually have a winner in fifteen minutes, then whoever has more life-points will be the declared winner. Alright?"

Both Jounouchi and Otogi nodded in agreement, and Harry set the two decks down on the Duelling mat in front of them. When he removed his hands, they took their first five cards and began the Duel.

The Duel didn't end before class had to begin, which Harry thought was rather pathetic and due entirely to their ridiculous grand-standing. Still, Jounouchi had more life-points to his credit when the Duel had to be halted, making him the winner, as per the set rules.

According to the bet the two of them made about ten seconds into the Duel, Otogi would be closing down his game shop – Jounouchi's prize for 'winning'.

A development which had Kaiba smirking quietly at his desk throughout the rest of the school day. He'd be reclaiming the holographic technology from Otogi at a reduced price, as he wouldn't have a shop to keep it in now. With no shop, he would have no need for a Duelling Stadium, nor any way to make the expense viable within the next ten years. Having one arena in Kaiba Land for Dungeon Dice Monsters wasn't going to be a problem really. Even a fad could make money after all, however distasteful Kaiba found them.

~oOo~

After school was over for the day, Harry and Ryou sat down to have a friendly little Duel. Of course, because Harry was the King of Games, there was a ready audience – and Otogi Ryuji was among them.

"Which deck do you want to face Ryou-san?" Harry asked.

Ryou chuckled. "Well, not number one," he answered happily. "I remember what it did to Para and Dox on the island. I'm not too keen on facing numbers five or seven after this morning's Duel between Jounouchi-san and Otogi-san either. All the same, I at least know some of what is in those decks now, and I've a better chance against them than a complete unknown. I'll choose deck number five," he decided at last.

Harry chuckled. "Because Otogi-san was losing with it earlier?" he asked, even as he took out the deck and handed it to Ryou to shuffle.

"In part," Ryou admitted, smiling a little sheepishly as he did a quick shuffle. "But also because I recognised more of the monsters in that deck, and I know more about how to combat them," he said as he passed the deck back to its owner.

Harry nodded, and the Duel began. It was ten minutes before it was over.

Ryou laughed. "Well, that was unexpected," he said with a smile. "The King of Games wins again, though. I admit that I am rather pleased," he added. "I lasted longer that Pegasus did against you after all."

"Yes, well, Pegasus was used to cheating at his own game, rather than playing it," Harry commented lightly. "You're very good Ryou-san. You almost had me a few times there. Thank you for this Duel," he said, smiling for the only other student in the school who had, like Harry, come from England.

"Oh it was my pleasure," Ryou insisted, a smile of his own in place.

"King of Games," Otogi growled out through gritted teeth. "How can you be called King of Games when you cheated to win?"

"How could I have cheated, Otogi-san?" Harry asked coldly. "I couldn't even see my own cards in that Duel, I couldn't possibly have cheated." Never mind he'd arranged Pegasus' deck during the shuffle before the Duel.

"I don't know, but I'm absolutely certain that you did!" Otogi snapped. "And to prove it, I challenge you to Dungeon Dice Monsters. If I've got to close down my shop," he sneered at Jounouchi as he said that, "then I'm at least going to prove you're not as great as you claim before I do!"

Harry's bright green eyes were chips of ice as he locked gazes with Otogi Ryu. Time stretched with neither set of bright green eyes so much as twitching. Whispers sprung up around them, wondering if Shokunin-san would accept the challenge that had been levelled at him by the new and attractive student.

Harry, for his part, had silently cast the spell for mind-reading, legillimens, and was rifling through the process that Otogi had gone through in order to create the game. The rules, the tricks, the helps, the loopholes, the objectives, everything.

It wasn't cheating to know the rules of a game before agreeing to play it after all. Even Otogi knew how to play Duel Monsters before he'd agreed to Duel Jounouchi, even if he didn't have a deck of his own.

"In the event that you loose at this game that you invented," Harry said, finally breaking the silence between himself and Otogi. "And don't scoff at the idea, Otogi-san. Beginners luck is a very real thing. If I win, then you will give your shop's private Duelling Arena to Kaiba Land, and rights to your game to me."

"And when I win," Otogi answered, "I'll be King of Games, I'll use video footage of our Duel to promote my game, and you will never Duel again."

Harry nodded. "If you like," he agreed. "Now, I'm going to have a bath first, and I have homework to do," he said, standing from his seat. "And you have camera crews to organise I'm sure, not to mention a closing-down sale at your brand new shop. I will see you in front of your shop at five for this Duel," Harry said, nodded to Otogi and the rest of the students in the room, and headed for the door.

"I'd ask what you're thinking, Shokunin, risking your title over a game you've never played before," Kaiba said as he joined Harry in walking down the halls. "But that would sound like I was doubting you, and frankly, I know better than to do that."

Harry smiled and hummed agreement. "Personally, I think that Otogi's game is too complex to properly catch on, though we should take another opinion on that," Harry said. "And it will be harder to win than my Duel against Pegasus, simply because the game is harder. All the same, you'll be getting the arena for free. Will you and Mokuba come and watch?" he asked.

Kaiba nodded. "We'll be there," he promised.

~oOo~