Chapter 872: Thank You, Brother, It's Already 1000%!
On a bustling street, an area that was previously normal was now cordoned off by several temporary signs. The signs read "Road Construction," as if there was some problem with the road surface.
But if someone were to walk into the empty space cordoned off by the signs, they would see that there was nothing wrong with the road surface here. Instead, several people were standing there, talking.
"Is this the place where Kaiba suddenly disappeared?"
Mokuba nodded, recalling the situation, and said to Hayato: "At that time, my brother and I were walking down this street, eating pita bread and chatting, when my brother suddenly disappeared."
Because of his brother's sudden disappearance, Mokuba quickly shed his role as the "lively younger brother" by Kaiba's side and reverted to the shrewd and capable KaibaCorp Vice President.
Besides activating a backdoor program to hack into the digital map that Hayato had snatched to inform them of Kaiba's disappearance, he also leveraged the influence of KaibaCorp's local branch, which had gradually taken root, to interfere with the Traffic Commission and achieved the lockdown of this area. And now, facing Hayato and his companions who had rushed over, he provided all the information he knew without any concealment, hoping they could help him find his brother as soon as possible.
"So, were there any unusual signs before or after? For example, someone suddenly starting to dance in the rain without warning, or kneeling in front of a public phone while playing a song?"
"...Are you sure those are things normal people would do, Hayato? Or do you think you're capable of such things, so you're judging others by yourself?" Mokuba retorted, looking at Hayato, but still thought seriously for a moment. "At the time, there didn't seem to be anything unusual. I was eating pita bread and chatting, and my brother suddenly disappeared."
"Uh, right, I just remembered." Feeling that this point might also be useful, Mokuba added, "Before my brother disappeared, I seemed to be about to be tripped by an uneven spot on the ground, and I even had the illusion that the pita bread in my hand had slipped out. But in reality, I didn't fall at all; I was standing perfectly still, and the pita bread was still in my hand."
"At the same time, I discovered my brother was gone."
"Hmm, so you had the impression you were going to fall, but you didn't actually fall, and Kaiba also disappeared in an instant. It's as if someone incredibly fast instantly helped Gomamon up, picked up his whatever-pita-bread, and took Kaiba away."
Hayato analyzed quite seriously, "I understand. This is time stop. We just need to find the culprit by looking for any suspicious individuals who constantly hold a strange stopwatch-like device in their hand."
"Who's Gomamon? I'm Mokuba! And speaking of strange and suspicious, aren't *you* the strangest and most suspicious one, Hayato?" Mokuba said with a displeased expression, pointing at the checkered trench coat Hayato was wearing.
Adjusting the deerstalker hat on his head, Hayato said with a serious face, "This is something you don't understand, Rambo. This is the legendary Great Detective Outfit, which can enhance my detective reasoning ability to 1000%! With it, I can eliminate any Sun Monster."
"Who understands what you're talking about..." Mokuba sighed, already too lazy to even retort that Hayato still couldn't get his name right. "So, Great Detective Mr. Hayato, whose abilities are 1000% of his original, have you deduced where my brother went?"
"Hmph, the most basic deduction, my friend. Although the 'Seto Kaiba Disappearance Incident' still seems quite baffling to others even after you provided information, I have seen through everything." Hayato said, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to look behind him. "It appears this incident only involves me and Kaiba, Mokuba, but in reality, a third party also witnessed Kaiba's disappearance at the scene!"
"You're watching me, aren't you, you hidden fellow!"
"Hmm? There's no one else here, Hayato," Mokuba pouted. "Although it's not as if we can rent out the entire Domino City like back then, KaibaCorp's branch in Egypt is in this city. The police and Traffic Commission have been quite cooperative in helping us lockdown this area and drive away unrelated personnel."
"They can even do something like that?!" Joey slurred. "Does that mean if you have money, you can do whatever you want?"
Having specially bought some popcorn from the roadside, Joey was also uncharacteristically patient, standing by without a hint of eagerness, waiting for Hayato and the others to solve the problem and bring Kaiba back. He was just looking forward to any potential scene of Kaiba being embarrassed or making a fool of himself.
Tristan also followed suit, buying a bucket of fries and standing next to Joey, saying with a grin, "Sorry, but rich people really can do whatever they want. Like the last KC Cup that Kaiba hosted, didn't you participate because Kaiba paid you so much?"
"Hmph, that's what you don't understand, Tristan. For someone with Kaiba's personality to invite me to compete, it's 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, I actually invited you, Joey, using my brother's name. After all, with my brother's personality, forget inviting you to participate; if he saw your name on the entry list, he might even use his power to trip you up like an overgrown child."
Mokuba said casually, glancing at Marik, who was greedily shoveling fries and popcorn into his mouth from Tristan and Joey's buckets, but didn't warn the two. Instead, he continued to Hayato, "Anyway, I already had people check the surroundings, and even the surveillance footage. There really wasn't anyone else around, was there? Hayato, you must be mistaken———"
Mokuba hadn't finished speaking when a male voice suddenly rang out, interrupting him. The lid of a trash can by the roadside suddenly flipped open, and a man with short reddish-brown hair actually jumped out of it:
"As expected of Hayato, to see through my perfect disguise!"
The dark green trench coat he was originally wearing had been replaced by a white, open chef-like robe, and his mushroom-like hairstyle was cut shorter, making him look less like someone who would Duel. But that didn't prevent the few people present from immediately recognizing the strange fellow who had popped out of the trash can.
However———
"He came out of a trash can!" "Why was he in there?!" "(Frantically munching fries)"
Joey and Tristan exclaimed, their expressions indeed surprised, but not because Alister appeared, but because he emerged from a trash can.
"You two guys, Joey Wheeler and whoever that other guy is, what's with the focus of your surprise? Why do you both look like you already knew I'd show up?"
Alister's face showed an annoyed expression, and hearing his words, Hayato helplessly spread his hands, "Honestly, it's too much to ask us to pretend to be like, 'Wow~ why is Alister here~?' First Raphael, then Rex, did you 'Doma's Three Swordsmen' conspire to make an appearance and leech off some screen time?"
"Hmph! First of all, it's not 'Doma's Three Swordsmen' but *former* 'Doma's Three Swordsmen'. And speaking of which, I betrayed Doma and Dartz even earlier than you, Hayato." Alister snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Secondly, I haven't been in contact with Rex and Raphael lately; their arrival in Egypt is probably just a coincidence."
"Well, Rex said the same thing," Hayato said, looking at Alister's clothes with a hint of surprise. "Are you a chef now?"
"Hmph, so you noticed, Hayato. That's right, I'm a chef now." Pulling a chef's hat from seemingly nowhere and placing it on his head, Alister said proudly, apparently quite satisfied with his current profession.
However, Joey and the others seemed a bit unable to understand why Alister was so proud.
"If I recall correctly, Alister, you're also a powerful and excellent duelist, aren't you?" Joey asked, somewhat puzzled. Although the two didn't have much interaction, he was one of the witnesses to Alister's duel with Raphael on Doma Island, and knew how strong the man before him was. "Did you just give up dueling like that?"
"Duel Monsters, what an interesting game. In your hands, it can bring joy and smiles to people. Unfortunately, I can't do that," Alister said with a sigh, hearing Joey's words. "In the past, I brought too much pain to people with my duels, and my dueling style is completely set and cannot be changed. My duels cannot bring happiness to others."
"But I discovered that food can. Even someone like me, who was once an executioner, can create delicious food and make people happy and smile." Alister paused, looking at Mokuba. "My grudges and bonds with Seto Kaiba and KaibaCorp have been severed, so I have indeed put Duel Monsters behind me."
"Grandma once said that only those who cook can make people happy with a knife." Ignoring Marik's rare comment—when his mouth wasn't full—about "Are you your own grandma?", Hayato looked at Alister and gave him a thumbs-up. "Keep it up, Alister."
"But I'm still a bit curious, if you're cooking, there shouldn't be any difference which country you're in, right? Why leave perfectly good America and run off to Egypt?"
It was better that Hayato hadn't said anything. The moment America was mentioned, Alister's mood instantly soured as if he had eaten dynamite, and his face turned grim, just like his expression when Seto Kaiba was mentioned to the Alister who hadn't woken from his past and was still immersed in hatred.
"Those Americans? I'd rather pour all my cooked dishes to pigs than let them eat it!" Overcome with emotion, Alister even had memories etched in his bloodline awakened. As he spoke, his hands involuntarily pressed his fingers together and gestured wildly, "I, Alister, would rather starve to death, die outside, or jump off a building, than cook a single bite of food for those Americans!"
"Not only do they put pineapple on Margherita pizza, those bastards even break spaghetti before cooking it!"
"Those people are committing a crime, don't they know that?!"
"If I had known this, before betraying Doma, I would have definitely discussed with Dartz to prioritize exterminating those heretical bastards when wiping out humanity!"
From Alister's eyes, Hayato could tell that his last statement wasn't a joke.
Come to think of it, Hayato himself also found some strange eating habits unacceptable, such as Mapo Tofu with strawberry jam, yogurt cake with chili sauce, Goubuli Baozi soup, or white porridge over rice.
When he was at Duel Academy, if he forgot his bento, he would rather starve than buy oily and dry yakisoba bread from the school store. However, Ishizu later started preparing bentos for Hayato, so he never went hungry again.
Joey couldn't quite understand why Alister was so agitated: "If straight noodles don't fit in the pot, isn't it normal to break them? And I think pineapple on pizza is quite delicious, too?"
However, these words only spun in his mind and remained unspoken, because he felt that if he said them out loud, Alister, who had just claimed to have given up Duel Monsters, would very likely get agitated enough to pull out his Duel Disk and desperately challenge him to a Shadow Game.
"Anyway, I don't want to stay in America anymore, so I simply came to Egypt, intending to start from here. Seto Kaiba once said his dream was to establish KaibaLand all over the world, right? Well, then, my current dream is to make my cuisine known throughout the entire world."
Alister said firmly, hands on his hips.
Hearing Alister mention Kaiba, Joey then remembered something important: "We can talk about all that later. Um, Alister, Hayato said you were nearby when Kaiba disappeared earlier. Is that true? Also, I'm a bit curious, why were you in that trash can?"
"You mean this? Actually, the Italian restaurant I work at was closed today for a holiday, but I forgot. I only remembered when I got there and found the doors shut. But since I was already there, I decided to just walk around the nearby streets, and then I immediately spotted Seto Kaiba and Mokuba," Alister said, spreading his hands casually.
"Immediately?" Mokuba quickly looked down at his clothes upon hearing this. Although Mokuba usually preferred wearing suits at the company, for this trip to Egypt, he had changed into inconspicuous casual wear. It didn't feel very noticeable, so how could Alister have recognized him immediately?
"Hmph, it's not your problem, Mokuba, it's Seto Kaiba. I could clearly see the buttons on Seto Kaiba's clothes even from four kilometers away. The moment he came onto this street, I smelled a peculiar scent on him—the smell of a rich person." Alister said, clenching his fist.
"You don't happen to have clairvoyance (money), do you?" Hayato retorted, punning.
(Author's note: Although the specific gameplay of BWS's new theme [New Style Magic Chef] is still unclear, the card art has made me hungry.)
(end of chapter)