Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh! novel Chapter 606

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Chương 606: Chapter 606: The Day of Resurrection

Syrus groggily opened his eyes, struggling to sit up.

He was starting to regret downing that huge bottle of cola before bed. Even though every other part of his body was extremely reluctant to leave the warmth of his bed and blankets, his bladder disagreed.

He could only get up unwillingly, yawning as he groped his way out of bed to relieve himself in the bathroom.

Half-asleep and half-awake, he got out of bed, but suddenly noticed something strange. The light was still on under the bed.

Peeking over, he was surprised to find that Jaden, who usually fell asleep at the drop of a hat and snored so loudly all night that nothing could wake him, was actually still awake tonight—a rare occurrence.

Not only awake, but his bed was covered in a messy spread of cards, as if he was seriously studying something.

Noticing Syrus getting up, Jaden finally looked up.

"Sy, going to the bathroom?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Syrus rubbed his eyes, a bit puzzled.

"Why aren't you sleeping yet, big bro?"

"Oh, I just had some ideas and wanted to study my deck a bit."

"Oh, okay."

Syrus nodded in confusion and left the room.

Slifer Red dorms didn't have private bathrooms. If you wanted to use the toilet, you had to walk down the hallway to the public bathroom at the end of each floor.

Back when Professor Lyman was still around, Syrus had gotten lost one night and ended up in Lyman's room by mistake.

Syrus felt strange about it, and the walk woke him up quite a bit.

Studying decks in the middle of the night instead of sleeping—if this were the research maniac Misawa, it wouldn't be surprising. But Jaden?

It was as if he'd been possessed.

Actually, Syrus could somewhat sense that Jaden had changed a little.

It was hard to spot during the day. He was still the same cheerful optimist, passionate about everything, able to get fired up over anything, especially duels. Just mentioning duels would make him extremely excited, as if nothing else in life mattered as long as he had cards.

But, as someone who lived with him day in and day out, Syrus could feel that things weren't quite the same as before. Last semester, the Jaden he knew was truly carefree, full of hope for life as long as he could duel. But now, he could vaguely sense that Jaden was just trying hard to make himself seem like he was the same as before—or at least, part of him was.

But in those seemingly carefree, optimistic eyes, there was now occasionally a trace of heaviness that didn't match the rest of him.

…

"Kuri kuri~"

Winged Kuriboh floated beside him.

"Partner?" Jaden smiled, "I know, I know. Just a little longer, then I'll go to sleep. Anyway, vacation is almost here, there are no more classes, so staying up late isn't a big deal."

He yawned lazily as he spoke.

Joey had left the island again yesterday. Jaden actually felt he got along pretty well with the legendary "Gambling King." But Joey seemed busy; yesterday, after a phone call, he rushed off for something urgent, saying he'd be back in a couple of days.

Right now, in front of Jaden, at the center of his scattered cards, was "Elemental HERO Terra Firma." He stared at Gaia, momentarily lost in thought.

"Say, if it were Mr. Koyo, wouldn't he be much better at this than me?"

Winged Kuriboh drooped its eyes: "Kuri."

"Haha, just saying."

Jaden smiled.

"Recently, after following Kira to the Spirit World, I've seen more and more. Those oppressed by the Supreme King, people whose living space has been squeezed to almost nothing… and that Supreme King is probably the darkness in my own heart.

Just thinking about it makes me uneasy. Kira was right—dueling isn't always fun after all. Mr. Koyo entrusted his HERO to me, so I can't just muddle through and be complacent anymore."