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"Chapter 872: Thanks, Brother, I'm Already 1000%
On the bustling Street, an area that was normally completely fine was now surrounded by several temporarily transported standees. The sign on them read "Road Construction," seemingly indicating some kind of situation with the road surface.
However, if someone were to walk into the Open Space enclosed by the standees, they would see that there was nothing wrong with the road surface at all. Instead, several people were standing there talking.
"Is this it? The place where Kaiba suddenly disappeared?"
Keipei nodded, recalling the situation from before. He said to Hayato, "Brother and I were walking down this Street together, eating pita bread and chatting. Suddenly, Brother just disappeared."
Because of his Brother's sudden disappearance, Keipei quickly snapped out of his role as the "lively younger brother" by Kaiba's side and recovered into the capable and shrewd Vice President of KaibaCorp.
Besides using a backdoor program to hack into the electronic map that Hayato had taken and informing them of the news of Kaiba's disappearance, he also leveraged the influence of KaibaCorp's branch, which was gradually establishing itself locally, to interfere with the Traffic Commission and achieve the result of having this area locked. And now, facing the party led by Hayato who had rushed over, he was providing all the information he knew without any concealment, hoping they could help him find his Brother as quickly as possible.
"So, were there any abnormal signs before or after? Like someone suddenly dancing in the rain at the drop of a hat, or kneeling in front of a public phone while playing music?"
"...Are you sure you're talking about things normal people would do, Brother Hayato? Or are you saying you think you could do such things and are judging others by yourself?" Keipei looked at Hayato and retorted, but still thought seriously for a moment. "At that time, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. I was eating pita bread and chatting, and Brother suddenly disappeared."
"Uh, right, I remember now." Seemingly thinking this point might also be useful, Keipei added, "Before Brother disappeared, I think I was just about to trip over an uneven spot on the Ground, and I even had the illusion that the pita bread in my hand had slipped out. But actually, I didn't fall at all; I was standing perfectly fine in place, and the pita bread was still in my hand."
"At that same time, I found that Brother was gone."
"Mhm, mhm. You had the impression you were going to fall, but you didn't actually fall, and Kaiba disappeared in an instant. It's like someone incredibly fast helped up Gomamon and picked up his whatever pita bread in an instant, and then took Kaiba away."
Hayato analyzed quite seriously, "I understand now. This is time stop. We just need to look for a suspicious person who's been holding a strange device like a stopwatch in their hand, and we'll find the Culprit."
"Who's Gomamon? I'm Keipei! Also, speaking of strange and suspicious, aren't you the most strange and suspicious one, Brother Hayato!" Keipei pointed at the checkered trench coat Hayato was wearing with an annoyed expression.
Adjusting the deerstalker hat on his head, Hayato said with a straight face, "You don't understand this, Lambo. This is the legendary Great Detective set, which can enhance my detective reasoning ability to 1000%. With it, I can eliminate any Sun Monster."
"Who understands what you're talking about..." Keipei sighed, too lazy to even complain about Hayato still not getting his name right. "So, Great Detective Hayato-san, whose ability is 1000% of the original, have you deduced where Brother went?"
"Heh heh, the most basic deduction, my friend. Although after you provided the information, the 'Kaiba Seto Disappearance Incident' still seems quite perplexing to others, I have seen through everything." Hayato said, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to look behind him. "Looks like, this incident only involved Naruto and Kaiba, but actually, there was a third party at the scene who witnessed Kaiba's disappearance!"
"You're spying on me, aren't you, you hidden guy!"
"Huh? There's no one else here, Brother Hayato." Keipei pouted. "Although it's not like when we were in Domino City where we could rent out the entire City, KaibaCorp's branch in Egypt is in this City. the Police and Traffic Commission personnel were quite cooperative in locking this area and driving away unrelated personnel."
"They can even do something like that?!" Joey Wheeler said incoherently. "Does having money mean you can do whatever you want?"
Having specifically bought some popcorn from the roadside, Joey Wheeler was unusually patient and not at all anxious, standing to the side, waiting for Hayato and the others to resolve the problem and find Kaiba, while he waited to see Kaiba potentially get frustrated or make a fool of himself.
And Tristan also followed suit, buying a bucket of french fries and standing next to Joey Wheeler. He said with a grin, "Sorry, but rich people really can do whatever they want. Just like the KC Cup Kaiba held last time, didn't you participate because Kaiba gave you too much money?"
"Heh heh, you don't understand this, Tristan. With Kaiba's personality, inviting me to participate is simply like the sun rising from the west. Plus, if I won a prize, I'd be taking Kaiba's money, so why wouldn't I participate?"
"Ah, that KC Cup time, actually, Joey Wheeler, I was the one who invited you, using Brother's name. After all, with Brother's personality, let alone inviting you, if he saw you on the list of participants, he might even trip you up and mess with you using the authority he has, like a child who hasn't grown up yet."
Keipei said casually, glancing at Marik who was grabbing french fries and popcorn from Tristan and Joey Wheeler's buckets and stuffing them into his mouth. He didn't remind the two of them, but continued speaking to Hayato, "In short, I already had people check the surroundings before, and even checked the surveillance footage. There was no one else around, was there? Brother Hayato, you must be mistaken—"
Before Keipei could finish speaking, a male voice suddenly rang out, interrupting him. Only to see the lid of a trash can by the roadside suddenly flip open, and a man with short reddish-brown hair actually jumped out of the trash can:
"As expected of Hayato Kobayashi, you were able to see through my perfect disguise!"
His dark green trench coat had been replaced by a white long robe similar to a chef's uniform, worn open. His mushroom-like hairstyle had also been trimmed slightly, making him look less like someone who would duel, but that didn't prevent the few people present from recognizing this strange guy who had run out of the trash can.
However—
"He came out of a trash can!" "Why was he in there?!" "(Frenziedly gnawing on french fries)"
Joey Wheeler and Tristan exclaimed in surprise. Although their expressions were indeed surprised, it wasn't because of why Alister appeared, but because they were surprised by why he came out of a trash can.
"You two guys, Katsuya Jounouchi and that other guy, what's the key point of your surprise? Why do you look like you already knew I would appear?"
Alister's face showed an annoyed expression. Hearing his words, Hayato also helplessly spread his hands. "Honestly, even if you wanted us to put on an expression like 'Wow~ Why is Alister here~', it's too forced. First Rafael, then Valon. Did you Doma Three Swordsmen agree to show your faces and get some screen time?"
"Hmph! First of all, it's not 'Doma Three Swordsmen' but former 'Doma Three Swordsmen'. And speaking of which, I betrayed Doma and Dartz even earlier than you, Hayato Kobayashi." Alister said with a cold snort, crossing his arms over his chest. "Secondly, I haven't been in contact with Valon and Rafael recently. Their coming to Egypt is probably just a coincidence."
"Well, actually, Valon said the same thing." Hayato looked at Alister's clothes and said somewhat strangely, "Are you a chef now?"
"Heh heh, you saw through it, Hayato Kobayashi. That's right, I'm a chef now." Alister pulled a chef's hat from somewhere and put it on his head, saying proudly, seemingly quite satisfied with his current profession.
However, Joey Wheeler and the others seemed somewhat unable to understand why Alister was so proud.
"If I remember correctly, Alister, you should also be a strong and excellent Duelist, right?" Joey Wheeler said somewhat strangely. Although the two didn't have much interaction, he was one of the witnesses to Alister's duel with Rafael on Doma Island and knew how strong this man's strength was. "Did you just put down dueling like that?"
"Duel Monsters, what an interesting game. In your hands, it can bring happiness and smiles to people. Unfortunately, I can't do that." Alister said with some emotion when he heard Joey Wheeler's words. "In the past years, I brought too much pain to people with dueling. My dueling style is completely set and cannot be changed. Bringing happiness to people, my dueling cannot do that."
"But, I discovered that food can. Even someone like me, who was like an executioner, can make delicious food and make people happy and smile." Alister paused, then looked at Keipei and said, "My grudges and bonds with Kaiba Seto and KaibaCorp have been severed. So, I have indeed put down Duel Monsters."
"Grandma once said that the only person who can make people happy while holding a knife is a person who does cuisine." Ignoring Marik's rare snarky comment when his mouth wasn't full, "Are you talking about yourself?", Hayato looked at Alister and gave him a thumbs up. "Keep it up, Alister."
"But I'm still a little curious. If you're doing cuisine, there shouldn't be any difference between any country, right? Why did you have to run to Egypt instead of staying in the American system?"
It was fine when Hayato didn't say this, but as soon as he mentioned the American system, Alister's mood instantly became very bad, as if he had eaten explosives, and his face was also very pale, just like the expression of Alister who hadn't woken up from the past and was still immersed in hatred, when Kaiba Seto was mentioned in front of him.
"That bunch of American? I'd rather pour the cooked dishes to feed the pigs than let them eat them! It's much better!" Because of his excited emotion, Alister even was awakened the memory engraved in his bloodline. As he spoke, his hands couldn't help but clench with his fingers together, constantly making gestures. "I, Alister, would rather starve to death, die outside, jump off a building, than cook a single bite of rice for the American!"
"Not only do they put pineapple on Margherita Pizza, those bastards even break pasta to boil it!"
"Those people are committing a crime! Don't they know they're breaking the law!"
"If I had known this, before I betrayed Doma, I would absolutely have discussed with Dartz to prioritize the extinction of those bastard heretics when extinguishing all humans!"
In Alister's gaze, Hayato could see that his last sentence didn't seem to be a joke.
Thinking about it, Hayato himself found some strange ways of eating unacceptable, such as strawberry jam mapo tofu, yogurt cake dipped in chili sauce, Goubuli steamed bun soup, white porridge over rice, etc.
When he was at School, even if he forgot to bring his lunch, he would rather starve than buy oily and dry fried noodles bread from the convenience store. However, later Ishizu would prepare lunch for Hayato, so he never went hungry again.
Joey Wheeler somewhat didn't understand why Alister was so excited: "If it doesn't fit in the pot with straight noodles, isn't breaking it normal? And I think pineapple pizza is quite delicious?"
However, these words only turned around in his heart and were not spoken, because he felt that if he said them, Alister, who had just said he had given up Duel Monsters, would very likely pull out his Duel Disk in a fit of emotion and fight him desperately with a Dark Game.
"In short, I don't want to stay in the American system anymore, so I simply came to Egypt, planning to start from here as a starting point. Kaiba Seto said his dream is to build Kaiba Land all over the World, right? Then, my dream now is to let my cuisine go global."
With his hands on his waist, Alister said firmly.
Hearing Alister mention Kaiba, Joey Wheeler also remembered the important matters: "Let's talk about those things later. Uh, Alister, Hayato said you were also nearby when Kaiba disappeared before, is that true? Also, I'm a little curious, why were you in that trash can?"
"You mean that? Actually, it's because the Italian Restaurant I work at was closed today, but I forgot. I only remembered after arriving at the restaurant and finding the door closed. But since I was already here, I might as well wander around the nearby Street. As a result, I saw Kaiba Seto and Keipei at one glance." Alister spread his hands and said casually.
"One glance?" Keipei heard this and quickly looked down at the clothes on his body. Although Keipei usually preferred to wear a suit when at the company, this time he had changed into inconspicuous casual clothes for his trip to Egypt. He felt he wasn't noticeable at all? How could Alister recognize him at one glance?
"Heh heh, it's not your problem, Keipei, it's Kaiba Seto. Even from four kilometers away, I can clearly see the buttons on Kaiba Seto's body. As soon as he came to this Street, I smelled a special scent on that guy, the scent of rich people." Alister said, clenching his fist.
"Isn't that your clairvoyance (money)?" Hayato snarked.
End of Chapter
On the bustling Street, an area that was normally completely fine was now surrounded by several temporarily transported standees. The sign on them read "Road Construction," seemingly indicating some kind of situation with the road surface.
However, if someone were to walk into the Open Space enclosed by the standees, they would see that there was nothing wrong with the road surface at all. Instead, several people were standing there talking.
"Is this it? The place where Kaiba suddenly disappeared?"
Keipei nodded, recalling the situation from before. He said to Hayato, "Brother and I were walking down this Street together, eating pita bread and chatting. Suddenly, Brother just disappeared."
Because of his Brother's sudden disappearance, Keipei quickly snapped out of his role as the "lively younger brother" by Kaiba's side and recovered into the capable and shrewd Vice President of KaibaCorp.
Besides using a backdoor program to hack into the electronic map that Hayato had taken and informing them of the news of Kaiba's disappearance, he also leveraged the influence of KaibaCorp's branch, which was gradually establishing itself locally, to interfere with the Traffic Commission and achieve the result of having this area locked. And now, facing the party led by Hayato who had rushed over, he was providing all the information he knew without any concealment, hoping they could help him find his Brother as quickly as possible.
"So, were there any abnormal signs before or after? Like someone suddenly dancing in the rain at the drop of a hat, or kneeling in front of a public phone while playing music?"
"...Are you sure you're talking about things normal people would do, Brother Hayato? Or are you saying you think you could do such things and are judging others by yourself?" Keipei looked at Hayato and retorted, but still thought seriously for a moment. "At that time, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. I was eating pita bread and chatting, and Brother suddenly disappeared."
"Uh, right, I remember now." Seemingly thinking this point might also be useful, Keipei added, "Before Brother disappeared, I think I was just about to trip over an uneven spot on the Ground, and I even had the illusion that the pita bread in my hand had slipped out. But actually, I didn't fall at all; I was standing perfectly fine in place, and the pita bread was still in my hand."
"At that same time, I found that Brother was gone."
"Mhm, mhm. You had the impression you were going to fall, but you didn't actually fall, and Kaiba disappeared in an instant. It's like someone incredibly fast helped up Gomamon and picked up his whatever pita bread in an instant, and then took Kaiba away."
Hayato analyzed quite seriously, "I understand now. This is time stop. We just need to look for a suspicious person who's been holding a strange device like a stopwatch in their hand, and we'll find the Culprit."
"Who's Gomamon? I'm Keipei! Also, speaking of strange and suspicious, aren't you the most strange and suspicious one, Brother Hayato!" Keipei pointed at the checkered trench coat Hayato was wearing with an annoyed expression.
Adjusting the deerstalker hat on his head, Hayato said with a straight face, "You don't understand this, Lambo. This is the legendary Great Detective set, which can enhance my detective reasoning ability to 1000%. With it, I can eliminate any Sun Monster."
"Who understands what you're talking about..." Keipei sighed, too lazy to even complain about Hayato still not getting his name right. "So, Great Detective Hayato-san, whose ability is 1000% of the original, have you deduced where Brother went?"
"Heh heh, the most basic deduction, my friend. Although after you provided the information, the 'Kaiba Seto Disappearance Incident' still seems quite perplexing to others, I have seen through everything." Hayato said, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to look behind him. "Looks like, this incident only involved Naruto and Kaiba, but actually, there was a third party at the scene who witnessed Kaiba's disappearance!"
"You're spying on me, aren't you, you hidden guy!"
"Huh? There's no one else here, Brother Hayato." Keipei pouted. "Although it's not like when we were in Domino City where we could rent out the entire City, KaibaCorp's branch in Egypt is in this City. the Police and Traffic Commission personnel were quite cooperative in locking this area and driving away unrelated personnel."
"They can even do something like that?!" Joey Wheeler said incoherently. "Does having money mean you can do whatever you want?"
Having specifically bought some popcorn from the roadside, Joey Wheeler was unusually patient and not at all anxious, standing to the side, waiting for Hayato and the others to resolve the problem and find Kaiba, while he waited to see Kaiba potentially get frustrated or make a fool of himself.
And Tristan also followed suit, buying a bucket of french fries and standing next to Joey Wheeler. He said with a grin, "Sorry, but rich people really can do whatever they want. Just like the KC Cup Kaiba held last time, didn't you participate because Kaiba gave you too much money?"
"Heh heh, you don't understand this, Tristan. With Kaiba's personality, inviting me to participate is simply like the sun rising from the west. Plus, if I won a prize, I'd be taking Kaiba's money, so why wouldn't I participate?"
"Ah, that KC Cup time, actually, Joey Wheeler, I was the one who invited you, using Brother's name. After all, with Brother's personality, let alone inviting you, if he saw you on the list of participants, he might even trip you up and mess with you using the authority he has, like a child who hasn't grown up yet."
Keipei said casually, glancing at Marik who was grabbing french fries and popcorn from Tristan and Joey Wheeler's buckets and stuffing them into his mouth. He didn't remind the two of them, but continued speaking to Hayato, "In short, I already had people check the surroundings before, and even checked the surveillance footage. There was no one else around, was there? Brother Hayato, you must be mistaken—"
Before Keipei could finish speaking, a male voice suddenly rang out, interrupting him. Only to see the lid of a trash can by the roadside suddenly flip open, and a man with short reddish-brown hair actually jumped out of the trash can:
"As expected of Hayato Kobayashi, you were able to see through my perfect disguise!"
His dark green trench coat had been replaced by a white long robe similar to a chef's uniform, worn open. His mushroom-like hairstyle had also been trimmed slightly, making him look less like someone who would duel, but that didn't prevent the few people present from recognizing this strange guy who had run out of the trash can.
However—
"He came out of a trash can!" "Why was he in there?!" "(Frenziedly gnawing on french fries)"
Joey Wheeler and Tristan exclaimed in surprise. Although their expressions were indeed surprised, it wasn't because of why Alister appeared, but because they were surprised by why he came out of a trash can.
"You two guys, Katsuya Jounouchi and that other guy, what's the key point of your surprise? Why do you look like you already knew I would appear?"
Alister's face showed an annoyed expression. Hearing his words, Hayato also helplessly spread his hands. "Honestly, even if you wanted us to put on an expression like 'Wow~ Why is Alister here~', it's too forced. First Rafael, then Valon. Did you Doma Three Swordsmen agree to show your faces and get some screen time?"
"Hmph! First of all, it's not 'Doma Three Swordsmen' but former 'Doma Three Swordsmen'. And speaking of which, I betrayed Doma and Dartz even earlier than you, Hayato Kobayashi." Alister said with a cold snort, crossing his arms over his chest. "Secondly, I haven't been in contact with Valon and Rafael recently. Their coming to Egypt is probably just a coincidence."
"Well, actually, Valon said the same thing." Hayato looked at Alister's clothes and said somewhat strangely, "Are you a chef now?"
"Heh heh, you saw through it, Hayato Kobayashi. That's right, I'm a chef now." Alister pulled a chef's hat from somewhere and put it on his head, saying proudly, seemingly quite satisfied with his current profession.
However, Joey Wheeler and the others seemed somewhat unable to understand why Alister was so proud.
"If I remember correctly, Alister, you should also be a strong and excellent Duelist, right?" Joey Wheeler said somewhat strangely. Although the two didn't have much interaction, he was one of the witnesses to Alister's duel with Rafael on Doma Island and knew how strong this man's strength was. "Did you just put down dueling like that?"
"Duel Monsters, what an interesting game. In your hands, it can bring happiness and smiles to people. Unfortunately, I can't do that." Alister said with some emotion when he heard Joey Wheeler's words. "In the past years, I brought too much pain to people with dueling. My dueling style is completely set and cannot be changed. Bringing happiness to people, my dueling cannot do that."
"But, I discovered that food can. Even someone like me, who was like an executioner, can make delicious food and make people happy and smile." Alister paused, then looked at Keipei and said, "My grudges and bonds with Kaiba Seto and KaibaCorp have been severed. So, I have indeed put down Duel Monsters."
"Grandma once said that the only person who can make people happy while holding a knife is a person who does cuisine." Ignoring Marik's rare snarky comment when his mouth wasn't full, "Are you talking about yourself?", Hayato looked at Alister and gave him a thumbs up. "Keep it up, Alister."
"But I'm still a little curious. If you're doing cuisine, there shouldn't be any difference between any country, right? Why did you have to run to Egypt instead of staying in the American system?"
It was fine when Hayato didn't say this, but as soon as he mentioned the American system, Alister's mood instantly became very bad, as if he had eaten explosives, and his face was also very pale, just like the expression of Alister who hadn't woken up from the past and was still immersed in hatred, when Kaiba Seto was mentioned in front of him.
"That bunch of American? I'd rather pour the cooked dishes to feed the pigs than let them eat them! It's much better!" Because of his excited emotion, Alister even was awakened the memory engraved in his bloodline. As he spoke, his hands couldn't help but clench with his fingers together, constantly making gestures. "I, Alister, would rather starve to death, die outside, jump off a building, than cook a single bite of rice for the American!"
"Not only do they put pineapple on Margherita Pizza, those bastards even break pasta to boil it!"
"Those people are committing a crime! Don't they know they're breaking the law!"
"If I had known this, before I betrayed Doma, I would absolutely have discussed with Dartz to prioritize the extinction of those bastard heretics when extinguishing all humans!"
In Alister's gaze, Hayato could see that his last sentence didn't seem to be a joke.
Thinking about it, Hayato himself found some strange ways of eating unacceptable, such as strawberry jam mapo tofu, yogurt cake dipped in chili sauce, Goubuli steamed bun soup, white porridge over rice, etc.
When he was at School, even if he forgot to bring his lunch, he would rather starve than buy oily and dry fried noodles bread from the convenience store. However, later Ishizu would prepare lunch for Hayato, so he never went hungry again.
Joey Wheeler somewhat didn't understand why Alister was so excited: "If it doesn't fit in the pot with straight noodles, isn't breaking it normal? And I think pineapple pizza is quite delicious?"
However, these words only turned around in his heart and were not spoken, because he felt that if he said them, Alister, who had just said he had given up Duel Monsters, would very likely pull out his Duel Disk in a fit of emotion and fight him desperately with a Dark Game.
"In short, I don't want to stay in the American system anymore, so I simply came to Egypt, planning to start from here as a starting point. Kaiba Seto said his dream is to build Kaiba Land all over the World, right? Then, my dream now is to let my cuisine go global."
With his hands on his waist, Alister said firmly.
Hearing Alister mention Kaiba, Joey Wheeler also remembered the important matters: "Let's talk about those things later. Uh, Alister, Hayato said you were also nearby when Kaiba disappeared before, is that true? Also, I'm a little curious, why were you in that trash can?"
"You mean that? Actually, it's because the Italian Restaurant I work at was closed today, but I forgot. I only remembered after arriving at the restaurant and finding the door closed. But since I was already here, I might as well wander around the nearby Street. As a result, I saw Kaiba Seto and Keipei at one glance." Alister spread his hands and said casually.
"One glance?" Keipei heard this and quickly looked down at the clothes on his body. Although Keipei usually preferred to wear a suit when at the company, this time he had changed into inconspicuous casual clothes for his trip to Egypt. He felt he wasn't noticeable at all? How could Alister recognize him at one glance?
"Heh heh, it's not your problem, Keipei, it's Kaiba Seto. Even from four kilometers away, I can clearly see the buttons on Kaiba Seto's body. As soon as he came to this Street, I smelled a special scent on that guy, the scent of rich people." Alister said, clenching his fist.
"Isn't that your clairvoyance (money)?" Hayato snarked.
End of Chapter
