In the end, Youyu took along this streamer lady.
With a wave of money exchanged for a "Solemn Judgment" card, Miss Yue Hua finally succeeded in gaining five points of favor from Youyu... and followed behind him as a dedicated cheerleader!
She quickly changed her livestream channel name—
—Rebirth: I Am the OB in Duel City!
Then she plastered a screenshot of Youyu on the cover.
No need for the right angle or post-editing; our Youyu has such high looks, there's no such thing as a bad angle. Even the back of his head is about two to three times more handsome than the average person.
And as expected, the channel's popularity soared, reaching a peak for this month in no time.
Miss Yue Hua was so delighted she could hardly contain her excitement.
No wonder my Youyu is amazing; his popularity is off the charts! Riding this wave, hitting the leaderboard is as easy as eating or drinking!
This was just from following Youyu for a morning. If she could stay by his side forever, what could happen to her popularity then?
Maybe she could become the top streamer in her section... Haha, just kidding.
But thinking of this, Miss Yue Hua's eyes couldn't help but heat up, and her heartbeat quickened as she looked at Youyu.
If there was a chance, becoming his wife wouldn't be out of the question...
At this point, Youyu didn't mind having such a player tagging along.
After all, a big streamer brings a lot of traffic, and following him for two days during the Duel City Tournament basically served as free advertising.
Even though the beta players are now probably all busy fighting for their Puzzle Cards, and 80% of the viewers in the livestream probably didn't qualify for the beta, most of them will likely join once the official release opens.
Advertising early is like an investment for the future. When the official release begins, it'll be time to reap the rewards again—a perfect plan.
Moreover, the Duel Disc he seized from Pandora was not carried by Youyu himself. He casually handed it over to Miss Yue Hua behind him.
It's so handy to have a helper!
The first morning of the Duel City Tournament passed, and it seemed about time for lunch.
As a player, Miss Yue Hua naturally didn't have this problem, but she thought Youyu might stop to grab a bite to eat.
She slapped her forehead.
Oh no, silly me, really!
If I had gotten him food in advance and presented it to him now, I could have gained more favor points, right?
How did I not think of that earlier? Not sure if I can make up for it now...
Suddenly, Youyu's steps halted, and Miss Yue Hua, deep in her thoughts, almost bumped into him.
Coming back to her senses, she noticed that at some point, another hulking man had appeared in front of Youyu.
The guy was all muscle, with shoulders almost twice as wide as Youyu's, built like a tree trunk, and a face full of brutishness, clearly not someone easy to deal with.
With her seasoned gamer instinct, Miss Yue Hua quickly realized that another storyline might have been triggered.
Another enemy attack!
And she assumed it might be someone from the Ghouls. After all, just look at that face—shaped like a shoehorn, he didn't look like a good guy!
Sure enough, the atmosphere had already grown tense. Youyu paused, then continued to stride towards the hulk. The hulk squinted his eyes and advanced with large steps.
It had the feel of an Imperial City duel in the peak of Redbud.
They closed in quickly, about to collide. Their eyes clashed in the air like sparks flying from a grinding wheel, a battle on the verge of exploding...
...and then their hands clasped together.
Miss Yue Hua: "?"
Wait a minute, there's something wrong here...
...Aren't you going to duel?
"Ha, you look in good shape, I guess you've gathered quite a few Puzzle Cards?" the hulk chuckled.
"No, only one, snatched from a Ghouls member." Youyu shrugged, "What about you, Kuroda? I heard you signed up too, how's your performance?"
Indeed, this "bad guy shaped like a shoehorn" in Miss Yue Hua's eyes was none other than Kuroda from the Nightwalker World.
Kuroda looked a bit embarrassed: "Haha, got KO'd, eliminated in the first round."
"Oh? Beating Mr. Kuroda must mean he's a strong Duelist, right?"
"Yes, it was Kajiki Ryota with his ocean-themed card deck, the third place in the previous national tournament. I tried him out, and he was overwhelmingly strong."
Mr. Kuroda gritted his teeth, "His monsters attacked from hiding in the sea, and most of my monsters couldn't fly, unable to traverse the ocean and putting up no resistance."
Youyu: "..."
So, the ocean he mentioned... It must be the Field Magic "Umi," which boosts the attack power of water-type monsters?
Can't attack because they can't cross the ocean. It's indeed indicative of the spirit of the era, adding a rule or two can't bind the imaginative minds of the Duelists of this age...
I remember in the original manga when Jonouchi dueled this Kajiki Ryota, he was also outdone like this. But Jonouchi, having been around Yugi for so long, seemed to have picked something up, so he "printed a card on-the-spot," using a Magic Card - Polymerization to have his Warrior-Type Monster ride atop a flying-ability "Baby Dragon", giving the monster the ability to fly.
Jonouchi said, "Weren't you saying my monster can't swim and thus can't attack you? Well, now my monster can fly, so it can directly ignore your field and fly over the sea to attack you directly!"
The animation team, upon seeing this scene when adapting it, likely thought it was too absurd and so edited it during adaptation, adding "can directly attack if your opponent only has Earth, Water, or Fire Attributes on the field" to Jonouchi's Fusion Monster.
"Definitely, I still need more practice." Kuroda seemed not at all annoyed by being outdone by the narrative, instead stated, "If I were as strong as you... well, never mind. We're all counting on you, being the representative of our association."
Upon hearing this, Youyu suddenly felt the heavy weight of being the "hope of the entire village"...
"But of course, I won't just give up." Kuroda grinned, "After our last duel, I decided to make you my target.
Next time will be different. Next time, you'll be the one stripping down..."
Thunk!
The Duel Disc in Miss Yue Hua's hand dropped to the ground, her face full of shock.
Youyu instantly realized that some serious misunderstanding might have arisen.
For the sake of future negotiations he must clarify, "Oh, this is Mr. Kuroda, we were just opponents in a duel..."
Miss Yue Hua nodded absentmindedly, still not entirely back to her senses, when the muscular guy added, "Yes, but Youyu is too strong, and I got one-turn KO'd just as we started, hahaha!"
"Right, I see," Miss Yue Hua said, looking relieved.
What a scare, I almost thought my idol came out, nearly lost my dreams...
Only then Kuroda sheepishly scratched his head and added, "Oh yes, but as per the duel bet, the loser has to do a strip dance on stage. It's actually my first time, quite embarrassing..."
Miss Yue Hua nodded as she listened.
Oh, I see, luckily, luckily, I almost thought my idol came out when it's just a rather peculiar hobby, right...
...Wait, something still seems off!?