Disclaimer: I own nothing of the properties within this story and all rights go to the creators and companies of said properties

Beta by Slothful, Old Man of the Mountain

Chapter 1: Bare-bones Dueling

"Happy Birthday, Yuki!" party poppers go off as the two adults yell, showering me in confetti.

"To think you are already ten years old! It feels like just yesterday you were still in your crib!" The man cheers, giving my back a strong pat. The man is wearing jeans with a light blue t-shirt and has black hair with gray bangs.

This man… is my dad.

"And I know you have been waiting all day for your presents so let me go fetch them for you," Dad said as gets himself up from his seat. The woman sitting across from him shoots a death glare at my dad, stopping him in his tracks.

"How many times do I have to tell you? No presents until after we eat." the woman said.

She is wearing jeans and a bright red shirt with an apron. She has long black hair that seems to reach her mid-back (hard to tell since she is sitting down) but her hair starts turning white once it gets past her shoulder blades.

This is my mother.

"Please, Honey! I have been waiting all day to see the excited look on our son's face as he opens up his gifts! How about two quick gifts and then we eat?" my dad bargains with my mom. Shouldn't I be the one begging for gifts since it seems to be my birthday?

Though it doesn't feel right. As I'm not Yuki, or rather Yukito.

I don't know how it happened but I'm in the body of a child on his birthday. I wanted to blame it all on a dream caused by watching too many isekai animes to pass the time but this feels far too real to brush it off as a dream.

I don't know why this is happening. How could something like this happen? This should be impossible. And why am I a kid? What happened to the original Yukito? Is he in my original body? Is he dead? Did I erase his soul by entering his body?

As I'm having my moral dilemma, two wrapped boxes are placed in front of me, one big rectangle and one small rectangle.

"I know you are going to love these Yuki!" Dad gives me a bright smile as my mom stands behind him, camera in hand.

I feel disgusted with myself as I grab the large box, acting as if I really was ten. But what else can I do, tell them that I took over their child's body and possibly killed him?

I tear off the wrapping paper, revealing a box with an image of a child with a device strapped to his arm as the child is holding some cards in the other hand. The package says Duel Disk Mark 6: Duel with solid holograms!

A duel disk? As in what the characters of Yu-gi-oh used to play the game?

I pull the device from the box and the realization of what version of Yu-gi-oh sinks into my stomach and fills me with dread.

The hardware resembles a combination of a tablet and a shield, with the shield being black.

"I know your favorite color is green, but they didn't have any in the store and I thought having the duel blade green is good enough. A-And black is a great color to go with green." my dad blurs out in a panic. He probably thought I was upset at him for not getting my favorite color when in reality I'm panicking on the inside as I know what world I'm in.

I'm in Yu-gi-oh Arc-V.

This is bad. While Arc-V is a show targeted toward kids, it is pretty messed up. Child soldiers, corrupted police, classism, a city destroyed by war, a mad scientist who is willing to kill to bring back his dead daughter, and a crazy duelist who wants to destroy everything!

And to make matters worse, I'm in the Fusion dimension, the same one where Leo is making children become psychopaths that enjoy hunting down people from the XYZ dimension as if they are animals.

And since this isn't a cartoon anymore, I have no doubt when the invasion starts people will die. Buildings exploded and fell toward crowds of panicking people, there is no way everyone was getting out of that alive. And countless more after the attack started.

And what was all this bloodshed for? A lie about making a utopia where everyone is happy and Leo bringing back his daughter while making their friends and families of her counterparts feel the pain of losing them forever.

Just thinking about all the war crimes Leo has done from child soldiers to funding mind-controlling parasites makes my blood boil. Even more the fact he was never held accountable for any of his actions and was the reason for Zarc's counterparts meeting and fusing, which almost destroyed the four dimensions.

"Y-Yukito?" my dad shakes me on the shoulder. Both him and my mom giving me a worried look. "Do you not like your present?"

I guess I let my emotions get the better of me. I turn to them with a small smile. "No, I love it. I'm just upset that I can't use it since I don't have a deck."

My answer made my parents sigh with relief. "Then we need to fix that." my dad smirks as he hands me the second gift.

Taking the box from his hands, I open it to reveal a deck box. I flip open the lid and pull out the content, fanning out the cards to see what my first deck is.

It… is quite bad. Really bad.

The deck isn't something you can even call a deck, it would be better described as a series of one-offs. The deck itself is full of random Dragon-type monsters, most of which are Normal Monsters. Some random spell cards like Dragon Treasure and trap cards can only be activated under specific conditions. My best normal summon is Twin-Headed Behemoth. Why is Twin-Headed Fire Dragon in this deck?! It is a Pryo-Type so it wouldn't benefit from what little dragon support this deck even has.

This deck isn't good enough to compete against early Yugi-Kaiba format decks! La Jinn by itself is enough to beat my deck!

If I was in Standard and wanted to keep a low profile then I suppose having such a crappy deck would be a good thing, but I'm not in Standard, I'm in Fusion where parents will literally ship their kids to become one of Leo's soldiers. Something my parents will one day do.

As much as it annoys me, I can't truly blame them. Practically, nobody knows what Leo's true end goal was until the very end. I don't know what Leo did to earn such loyalty in this dimension but he has them eating from the palm of his hand.

Besides, what can I do to stop him? I know Leo is planning but I have no way to stop him or to make him listen to me. Am I to expect that he would listen to me, some kid he had never met before when he was willing to invade the dimension where his son and wife live and might get caught in the crossfire?

I can try escaping Academia but I will be hunted by Juvenile Officers until I get caught and returned to Academia or get turned into a card.

But no matter what path I choose, I need a better deck and fast.

Maybe there is a card shop nearby? But what is the cost of making a whole new deck? This isn't like Earth where Yu-Gi-Oh is a simple, but sometimes expensive, hobby. All four dimensions have their societies based around Duel Monsters. Being a Pro Duelist is a respected career here.

Meaning cards are going to cost more—especially staple cards.

And the card pools might be different as well.

Cards like Blue-Eyes White Dragon have been reprinted to hell and back on Earth but there might only be three in existence here. Making them super rare and valuable.

I need to check card prices and see what cards I can afford that are worth playing.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as a plate of food was placed in front of me. And as if on cue, my stomach growled.

I sigh and picked up a fried drumstick. I might as well eat and take my mind off of the predicament I'm in. Being emotional won't help me one bit. All I can do now is enjoy as little peace as I can.

{The next day}

I must admit, whoever made duel disks knows how to make them convenient. It lets me play the most popular game in this world and has a phone, credit card, and laptop all rolled into one device. I can even play other games on it. Though they are not as popular as Duel Monsters…

But that's beside the point. Last night I looked up where is the closest card shop that I could reach on foot. Which is a twenty-minute walk from my house.

I hope I have enough for a functional deck. I have 15,000 DP saved on my duel disk (5000 from my grandparents on Mom and Dad's sides and another 5000 from my dad who deposited it when he got it) plus what little Yukito had saved before I took over, which isn't much but what else would you expect from a kid. In total, I have 15,000 DP and 1,500 Yen to spend on cards.

It sounds like a lot but again I don't know how much cards costs here. For all, I know a single pack would cost me ten dollars or a thousand Yen. Duel Monsters is not only the most popular game but there are jobs centered around dueling, card design, and more. This means I have to expect packs to cost more and the same can be said for singles.

I open the shop door, hearing a small bell ding as I enter. Posters of big boss monsters litter the walls, showing Ancient Gear Golem about to punch Elemental HERO Flame Wingman while he is charging a counterattack, Five-Headed Dragon roaring at Blue-Eyes Ulitmate Dragon, and The Last Warrior From Another Planet walking alone on a barren planet. Children crowd around plastic tables, either watching people duel tabletop-style or wanting to see cool cards that are being traded.

It does feel nice. It is nice to see some things stay the same- Why the fuck is Ancient Gear Golem a grand?! Who would pay that much for it?! Why does it cost so much?! Leo has to be the reason for this somehow! He must have bought all the Ancient Gear cards and driven the prices through the fucking roof! Or the prices are jacked up because the elite Obelisk Force uses them.

Never thought I would have to say I'm not playing Ancient Gears because they are too rich for my blood. This is a shame as I like to play big-beat sticks from time to time, Gren Maju being one of my favorites.

But the prices of some of these cards are just plain ridiculous. How are people supposed to improve their decks when most of the good stuff staples are blocked behind a money wall? Though I suppose the argument of Yu-Gi-Oh was like since Mechanicalchaser was printed as a tournament Ultra Rare, it is just here that has been taken to the extreme.

So singles are out and I rather not blow my small war funds on packs that could give me only worthless cards, meaning I stick to structure decks. Especially three of the same kind to max out on key cards.

"Excuse me!" I yell out to the elderly shop owner. "Do you sell structure decks? And is there a discount area?"

The old man gives me a small, kind smile. "Yes, over there is where we keep the new structure decks, and over there is our discount bin. And I think I put in some structure decks there this morning."

I give the shop owner a quick thanks and head for the bargain bin. It was mainly just Duel Monsters merch, such as plushes and posters but I was able to find three of the same structure decks.

"Talk about going down memory lane," I mutter to myself, chuckling at the box artwork.

To think I would be buying Warrior's Triumph in stores again. God does Gilford the Legend suck. But I'm not going to use him so it doesn't matter. Just having access to the Warrior-type toolbox would be enough for a solid starting deck. It is a pain that a bunch of the cards were swiped with normal monster support but I can understand it. Getting cards like Heavy Storm, Snatch Steal, and Giant Trunade from a discount structure deck would be ridiculous but why is Lightning Vortex replaced with Fissure? The only banned card in these structure decks is Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade but without cards like Gumblar or Gouki, it is pretty worthless.

At least the most important card is still there, Reinforcement of the Army.

Another thing I learned from my research last night was there isn't a ban list in place, meaning I can have three RotAs and no one can complain about it. Well, they can complain but I would still be following the rules.

But I'm not done with my shopping yet. I have monster removal in the forms of Fissure and Exiled Force but I have nothing in terms of back row removal. I don't even have MST or Dust Tornado.

Should I buy another structure deck? Even though each of these decks is markdown, they still cost 3,000 DP each, meaning I'm already spending 9,000 of my 16,500. I might not even have enough to buy another deck. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to at least check.

I walked away from the discount bin with my decks in hand, or rather in arms. As I walk towards where the shop owner told me where he places the newer structure decks, I browse the cards on display. I need to get a better sense of how much cards are worth if I'm going to be part of this world. But my god these prices are outrageous. How is this the most popular game in the world if a deck that is barely above playground format cost the same as a house? I shudder to think of the price of a deck that is rouge status, let alone meta or tier zero.

Once I reached my destination I was greeted by two people arguing. I'm assuming one of them is a store employee as she is wearing an apron with the store's logo on it and the other is a heavily overweight man with thinning, greasy hair. I can only sigh at the scene that I'm all too familiar with.

This guy must be a scalper. You can't escape their kind even if you jumped into another dimension.

But I suppose this can be seen as a blessing in disguise. After all, scalpers only go for products they can see becoming highly demanded.

So I slip behind the arguing pair, quietly opening the backpack and pulling out one of the many, many copies of the same structure deck called Forbidden Treasures. I… don't recall ever hearing of a structure deck named that back on Earth but I suppose structure decks might just be made more frequently as opposed to Earth.

I slip away before they could notice that I was there, reading the card list on the back as I walk towards the counter. The deck is a Spellcaster focus deck with some random cards to fit the theme of treasure cards. Shame that most of them suck. Why put in cards like the Ancient Treasure cards that negatively affect the player just so you can complete a theme? The only good cards in this are cards such as Forbidden Lance and Breaker the Magical Warrior. A part of me wants to try grabbing two more but I doubt I can afford it without giving up on one or two of my Warrior structure decks so I push that thought away.

After paying for my decks, I took a seat at one of the empty tables. I pull out all four decks and open each of them, fanning out the cards on the table before grabbing the cards I want for my deck.

"Well look who the cat dragged in?" a young boy said next to me. I look up from my deck building to see who is talking to me, as I'm the only person at this table. The kid is the same age as me, a tad overweight, with brown hair and green eyes. He also has a scar on his left cheek that looks like the letter 'X' and is wearing a graphic yellow teeshirt and brown shorts. There are also two other young boys standing next to him but I don't know who they are unlike the boy beside me.

Kenji Yamamoto is the school's bully, though I would argue that his actions are not that bad. All he does is tell his friend group not to play with certain people at recess.

"Hello, Yamamoto. Is there something I can help you with?" I ask, drawing a confused expression from the young boy. He blinks twice before regaining his cocky smile.

"I heard that you got a duel disk and a deck for your birthday. And don't try saying that you don't have one. My mother told me all about it." Yamamoto said. Oh yeah, his mother and mine are high school friends that kept in touch. I believed they wanted us to be friends just like them but things didn't go according to plan.

"Yes, I did get a duel disk," I said, continuing my deck building.

"Then let's go!" Yamamoto yells.

"In a minute. I still need to finish building my deck." Of course, they would put in cards like De-Spell instead of simply giving me MST.

"What are you talking about?! You already have a deck!" I know he is a kid but it doesn't make his yelling any less annoying.

I sigh, turning away from my almost complete deck to face Yamamoto. "Yes. I did get some cards with my duel disk but I would call it a deck." I said. Yamamoto is about to say something until I interrupt. "Besides, what would you rather have, a victory when I'm using a mishmash of cards with no real strategy or a deck with an actual game plan?"

Unsurprising, Yamamoto gave me a blank look, not understanding a single thing that I'd just said. "What I'm saying is would you rather have me on easy mode or do you want me to put some effort into our duel," I said, dumbing it down.

The change in Yamamoto's expression was immediate, changing from blank confusion to childish anger. "Fine! Just finish your deck already so I can beat you!"

"I suppose it is a good thing that I just got done," I said, gathering the rest of my unused cards and putting them into my bag.

"Take you long enough! Now let us du-"

"Outside."

I get up from my seat, take the duel disk out of my bag, and head for the door. "We are going to duel outside. I doubt the store owner, the employees, or the other customers would be all too happy with us dueling with holograms." I said.

"What are you… You know what? Fine. We will duel outside. But I know that you are just trying to hide how badly you are going to lose!" Yamamoto yells, running ahead of me and out the door.

I didn't say anything in response, just simply following Yamamoto outside.

Yamamoto and I split ways, him going down the side while I went up. I felt like I'm in an old Western film and we are about to have a standoff. Or as close to a standoff between two ten-year-old kids can be. Then again, I'm not a kid so this makes it a standoff between a kid and an adult in the body of a kid.

And I made it sound lame as hell.

I turn to face my opponent after strapping on the duel disk to see we somehow gather a small crowd. It was primarily kids younger than us, Yamamoto's two followers, and a couple of kids our age and maybe a tad older. Could hologram dueling be rarer than I give it credit for?

Though in the end, it doesn't matter if we gather a crowd or not. I raise my duel disk shield as Yamamoto raises his shield, with his being dark red in color. The screen of my disk says 'DUEL MODE ENGAGE' as the forest green energy blade appears, taking the form of a European broadsword. Yamamoto's disk produces a blade of its own but his blade is dark blue.

"DUEL!"

Yukito LP: 4000

Kenji LP: 4000

"So how do we decide who goes first? Rock-Paper-Sci-"

"I will go first!" Kenji yells, drawing his opening hand. A little rude but the anime never had a solid rule to decide who picks the starting turn.

I draw my opening hand, which consists of RotA, Call of the Haunted, Forbidden Lance, Marauding Captain, and Rush Recklessly. Not the best but not the worst.

I look up from my hand to see Yamamoto having an ear-splitting grin. "Looks like this duel is already over!" Yamamoto declares, drawing gasps from the people watching us.

"I'll start by playing the spell card Polymerization!" An enlarged hologram version of the card appears, glowing as Kenji explains how Polymerization works. Something that I tuned out as I don't need a refresher on the card. "I will fuse Flame Manipulator and Masaki the Legendary Swordsman in my hand!" The two monsters appear before jumping into the swirling vortex.

"Swordsman of Legend! Wielder of Fire! Combine your powers to form a new warrior! FUSION SUMMON! LEVEL 5! The swordsman that wields the fury of fire! Flame Swordsman!"

Flame Swordsman: FIRE/ Level 5/ Warrior/Fusion - 1800/1600

A storm of mixed emotions runs through me. As a child, I always wanted to duel with holograms ever since I watched the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh. Seeing the iconic ace monster of Joey Wheeler until he got Red-Eyes standing in front of me, sword posed, ready to attack at a moment's notice, makes my heart pound in excitement. But at the same time, I'm a tad disappointed that this is my first duel. Using three cards to bring out a monster that is equal to a La Jinn. But again, my opponent is a child so expecting his deck to be more than a mishmash of cards that he likes is a bit much.

"Next I play the Spell cards Lightning Blade and Salamandra! These cards will raise Flame Swordsman's attack by 800 and 700 points each!" Yamamoto explains as a flaming dragon wraps around Flame Swordsman's sword as the blade starts crackling with electricity.

Flame Swordsman: 3300

"Turn end! You might as well give up now! My monster is even stronger than Ancient Gear Golem!"

I ignore the banter. I put my fingers on my deck, about to draw when a ding sound rings in my ears. I don't know why but I look up from my deck to see a hologram panel you would normally see from an RPG video game.

Mission 1: First duel challenge

Objective: Win your first duel

Reward: 10000 DP, a Fusion starter deck, and the shop menu

Failure: The system will be permanently locked

Wh-What the hell is this? I rubbed my eyes, thinking my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but it was still there.

What the hell is going on?

"Oh! It is your turn Yukito! Or are too scared to even play?" Yamamoto said in a smug tone. "If you don't make a move soon, you will forfeit!"

Looking down at my duel disk, a large number of '30' appears, flashing red and white as it counts down to '29'. At least this dimension doesn't have to deal with slow-play players.

"I draw," I said, drawing Unexpected Dai. I just got lethal. "First I play Unexpected Dai. I can summon a level four or lower normal monster from the deck. I summon Dark Blade." I took the card that popped out from my deck, placing it on my blade to summon the duel-wielding black armored monster.

Dark Blade: DARK/ Level 4/Warrior - 1800/1500

"Next I play Reinforcement of the Army, which adds a Level 4 or lower Warrior type from my deck to my hand. I choose to add another copy of Dark Blade." I said, slipping the card in hand, and shuffling my hand afterward. "Now I will normal summon Marauding Captain, who on normal summon lets me special summon one Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from my hand. I will summon another Dark Blade."

Marauding Captain: EARTH/ Level 3/ Warrior/Effect - 1200/400

"H-He summon three monsters in one turn?!" someone yells in shock, a little girl judging by the pitch of the voice.

Yamamoto's eyes widen, taking a small step back before regaining his smirk. "You summoned a lot of monsters in one turn, so what? None of them holds a candle to my Flame Swordsman!"

"Battle phase. Marauding Captain will attack Flame Swordsman." I say, the dirty blonde knight charge at the flame sword wielder.

"Are you crazy?! My monster's attack is way higher than yours!" Yamamoto points out as my monster crosses his swords together to block a downward swing from the red-armored monster.

"Before the Damage Step, I active the quick-play spell Forbidden Lance."

"Y-You can't play a spell card during the Battle Phase!"

"Quick-play spells can, as long as I meet the conditions of course. So my spell resolves, making Flame Swordsman lose 800 attacks and is no longer affected by the spell and trap cards." I said.

"Use words that I can't understand! But fine! Your monster is still too weak." Yamamoto argues.

"No. It isn't."

Yamamoto gives me a confused look. "Forbidden Lance makes your monster immune to any spell or trap cards. Including your own. That means that Flame Swordsman will lose 800 attacks and the attack boost from Lightning Blade and Salamandra." I explain, causing Yamamoto's eyes to widen in horror.

Flame Swordsman: 1000

Once Flame Swordsman's attack wanes, Marauding Captain pushes away Flame Swordsman, causing him to lose balance as Marauding Captain slashes the stumbling warrior twice, causing the monster to break into golden particles.

"FLAME SWORDSMAN!"

Kenji LP: 3800

"Now both of my Dark Blades will attack directly," I said, making my two knights rush forward to my opponent, slashing at him twice each.

"B-But I will still have life left! And on my next turn-"

"Before damage calculation, I activated the quick-play spell Rush Recklessly to give one of my Dark Blades an extra 700 attack." I interrupt, making the young boy's eyes widen.

"UUUAAAHHHH!" Yamamoto screams, flying backward for a short distance before landing on his butt. A tad bit of an overreaction if you ask me.

Kenji LP: 0

Winner: Yukito

"How could I have lost? How could a monster with over three-thousand attacks lose?!" Yamamoto questions. As he starts pounding his fist into the ground, looking like he is about to cry, I start to feel a little bit guilty.

He is just a kid and I have been playing this game longer than he has been alive so going for the OTK is a bit harsh.

"I built my deck with plenty of options for monster removal." I remove my deck from my duel disk and pull out two cards from my deck. "Both Exiled Force and Fissure let me destroy a monster, both of which I'm running three offs. Add the fact that Exiled Force is a Level 4 Warrior meaning I can search it with Reinforcement of the Army. So I have nine ways to deal with monsters with high attack. But those cards only work as long my opponent doesn't play a monster with protection. Something that Flame Swordsman doesn't have."

"Protection…?"

"There is also the fact that Flame Swordsman is terrible for all needed to summon it. A Fusion Monster which requires two named materials is already a pain but the fact it has no effect at all with honestly a laughable attack for a Level 5 monster. There is also the fact equip cards are mostly crap. You are playing equips with strict conditions to use, making them easy to brick with. A much better equipment card would be Mage Power or United We Stand-"

"Wait! Wait! WAIT! What are you going on about?! You are not making any sense!" Yamamoto yells, picking himself up. "How could Flame Swordsman be bad?! It is a Fusion Monster! A Fusion Monster! And how are equip cards bad?! I was able to raise my monster's attack super high!"

"One of the major downsides to fusion summoning is how heavy the card cost is. To summon Flame Swordsman you have to go minus two in card economy since you have to use a Poly and two monsters to make the card, and since it is a non-effect monster that some Level 4 can run over, it isn't worth it." I explain. "Equip cards also have a bunch of issues, such as how Lightning Blade can only be equipped to Warrior-type monsters and Salamandra is the same but only with FIRE monsters. And they are bad for the card economy. A could use a single card to get rid of three of yours. And equips are easy to destroy, be it by simple back row removal or even flipping the monster face-down."

I would have continued with my lecture but the buzzing from my duel disk stopped me. I raise it to where I can read the screen to see a message from my mother telling me that I need to return home for lunch.

At times like this that I forget that I'm a child all over again.

"I would love to give you tips on how to improve your deck but my mom is calling me! Later!" I said, dashing off before Yamamoto could respond.

In all honesty, I shouldn't be teaching a child things like card economy or deck construction when I should be focusing my attention on figuring out what that weird textbox was. Despite the fact I won the duel, it hasn't appeared again. Perhaps I need to consciously want it to appear?

I made a small detour into an alleyway, checking both sides to ensure that I was alone.

"Open shop menu," I said. The screen appears but this time showcasing a bunch of items from cards to snacks to even clothes. It is like a mixture of Amazon and TCGplayer.

While I would love nothing more than to explore this thing, I need to return home before my parents start worrying about me.

{?'s P.O.V.}

Where… am I? I look around, finding myself in a child's room. A boy's at that judging by all the robot toys and sports balls clustering the floor.

Why am I here? I shouldn't be here! I should be outside stopping Zarc!

But I can't help but notice everything seems so… quiet. Calm. Peaceful.

Had I stopped Zarc and simply passed out? That's impossible! I know the Natural Energy cards would end up killing me!

Well… technically they wouldn't kill me as they would turn me and Zarc into babies but the person that is me would have been killed.

This sounds way more confusing now that I have time to think about it…

No, Ray! This isn't the time to think about confusing nature energy and the malicious from some guy who is really good at a card game being able to fuse himself with a dragon! You have to find where you are and where is Dad! I wouldn't put it past him if he was going to do something dangerous. Again.

Once I calm down, I noticed there was someone else in the room, a young boy with jade eyes and three-colored hair. He has on pajamas and glasses. His hair is also damp, I guess he just got out of the bath.

Should… I ask him where we are. Wait, what if he cries for his parents?! I don't to be labeled as some sick person who breaks into someone's home and sneaks into their son's bedroom!

Wait! Why am I even in a kid's bedroom in the first place?! If I passed out after the duel with Zarc then shouldn't I be in a hospital right now?!

And all the while I'm having my panic attack, the little boy is sitting on his bed, fanning out what appears to be Duel Monster cards before shaking his head and…

Where did that box come from? I'm certain it wasn't there a minute ago.

Why am I focusing on that?! I should be trying to leave before I get caught, arrested by the police, and written off as some child predator.

Just be quiet and sneak out of the room and leave through a window. The sooner I get out of this situation, the sooner I can give Dad a piece of mind.

What was he thinking?! He thought I would be okay with seeing my Dad die?! Sure, stealing the Natural Energy cards might have been a bit much. but again, I'm not going to stand still and watch my Dad kill himself!

As I reach for the doorknob, I hear a gasp behind me. Turning around to see the young boy staring at me with wide eyes.

My blood runs cold. "D-Don't scream! I'm not here to hurt you or anything!" Smooth Ray, say what any other home invader would say when caught.

I hear a creaking noise coming from behind me. "Yukito! It is time for bed honey~" A woman (who is most likely the boy's mother) said. Her face was mere inches from mine.

She is going to scream! She is going to call the cops! This is how Ray, the one who risks her life to stop Zarc, ends up becoming known as a thief, a kidnapper, or anything else that ruins someone's life!

The woman opens her mouth. I flinch, expecting her to scream, to question why am in her child's room. "Don't stay up too late honey. I know that you want to play with your cards but you need your sleep. Good night, love you." the woman said, shutting the door after saying night.

Wh-What happened there? She should have noticed me! I was right at her face!

I turn back to the kid, who is still staring at me in stun silence. It doesn't make sense how she didn't see me.

Then… I notice two things. One, there is a dresser with a mirror on top. The second thing… is I don't see my reflection.

"Aw, shit." The little boy curse. "I have a ghost roommate."

Author's Note

Yeah… This is a new fic, but at least it isn't a gamer fic! Or at least it is very, very light on gamer elements… I have been wanting to write a Yu-gi-oh fic and I never liked how Arc-V ended (both anime and manga) with how strong it started for me. That desire only grew when I started reading 'Trading Game' a really good Yu-gi-oh Arc-V fic in my opinion.

The shop system is pretty much Campfire Cooking with My Absurd Skill's Online Supermarket. Though some other features will be explored in the next chapter. Ray is here and super early. I have never seen any fics use Ray in the early stages so I thought it could be fun.

And for those wondering who is Kenji, he is an OC character that I made using Strong from the Yu-gi-oh OCG Structures manga as the base. And he will be playing a bigger role than just a simple childhood bully.

I hope you all enjoy this. See you next update.

Side note, someone in the reviews told me that I made a slight error in the life points in where Kenji should have 200 LP left. Thank you for pointing that out and sorry for the mistake, I will try to do better next time.