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Domino High Pep Band
"C'mon Joey! We're going to be late! We're getting out field show music today!" Yugi called back to Joey while galloping down the hall. Joey made no effort to move faster.
"Yug," he said. "They can't start without us. They'd have no rhythm or bass section."
They reached the Band Room and walked in as the bell rang. Seto glared at them; everyone else was already settled. Yugi smiled apologetically and retrieved his sousaphone from the storage shelf. Joey went to the back where the Percussion Section was.
"Now that we've all arrived," Seto said pointedly, looking at Yugi and Joey. "We can begin passing out the field show music and practice schedules. You will receive drill sheets within the week," Seto moved back while Teá and Ryou, among others, passed everything out.
Mr. Howard came to the front of the room and motioned for silence. "Welcome to the Domino High School Band. I am Mr. Howard. Some of you may know me as Bandit Keith. But since we're not in America, you will address me as 'Mr. Howard' or 'sir.' This year, under the direction of Seto Kaiba, your drum major, you will be performing Hey Baby, Itty Bitty Pretty One, and Pokerface."
Excited muttering broke out at the mention of Pokerface. Yugi turned and saw Joey grinning at him from behind his quads. Joey would no doubt be singing his parody of it before long.
The Trumpet Section had gotten excited at the return of Hey Baby. Duke and Bakura, however, were looking at the solo in Itty Bitty Pretty One and deciding who would take it.
Mr. Howard motioned for silence again. He consulted his clipboard as he said, "Now for roll call. I caught most of you on the way in, but I seem to have missed some of you.
"Florence Bakura?"
Bakura looked up from his music and said a quick, "Here" before returning to his bickering with Duke.
"Ryou Bakura?"
Ryou looked up from the stack of music he was passing out to the Clarinet Section. "Here."
"Duke Devlin?"
Duke paused his bickering with Bakura over the solo and said, "Duke Devlin is here."
"Teá Gardner?"
"Present," she said, stepping away from Seto.
"Ishizu Ishtar?"
Ishizu waved a hand lazily. She was directly in front of Mr. Howard. He nodded and called out, "Marik Ishtar?"
"I'm right here!" Marik said, flinging a gold spangled arm into the air, from between the Flute and Clarinet Sections. His oboe clattered to the ground, he swore.
"Hey, none of that," Mr. Howard admonished. His eyes flicked down the page. "Let's see, Seto is here. How about Mokuba Kaiba?"
A small, cheerful voice shouted, "I'm here, sir!" from the depths of the Percussion Section.
"Atem Moto?"
Yami called out lazily from the Tenor Saxes, "Here, sir. But I prefer to be called Yami."
"Okay, Yami. And Yugi Moto?"
"Here, sir!" Yugi called out.
"Rex Raptor?"
"Here," he said from the Alto Saxes.
"Take your hat off, please, Mr. Raptor," said Mr. Howard. Rex grumbled, but complied. The boy next to him snickered at the purple streak in his bangs. Rex socked him on the shoulder once Mr. Howard's eyes were back on the clipboard.
"Tristan Taylor?"
Tristan raised his trombone epically. Mr. Howard nodded and turned to his checklist with a small smile on his face.
"Mako Tsunami?"
"Here," Mako said. His bassoon did not quite cover his "I Ocean" t-shirt.
"Weevil Underwood?"
"He's absent, sir. He's rarely here," said Ryou from the Clarinets.
"Okay. And last but probably not least, Joey Wheeler?" Mr. Howard said. He missed Seto's expression.
Joey's Brooklyn accent sounded off from the back, "Here, teach!"
"Good. Did I miss anyone?" Mr. Howard said, eyes roving over the various sections. His eyes caught the rough visage of Melvin, who had raised his hand from the Bari Saxes. "And your name?"
"Melvin Ishtar," he said, glancing over at Marik with an evil smile. Marik huff'd and crossed his tanned arms over his bare—and toned—midriff. Ishizu rolled her eyes.
Mr. Howard nodded, ignoring the Ishtar family drama. "Alright, great. Now, in America, we'd do some form of team building, but this is Japan. I'll leave you to your Drum Major." Mr. Howard went back to his office to do American things. Seto stepped forward and took over the class.
"Now, listen up. We're going to sight read these 3 pieces, starting with Hey Baby. So get ready," Seto said. Everyone shuffled around a bit and Seto began conducting.
"I think that went rather well," Teá said, coming up behind Seto at the end of the class. Seto was talking to Ryou about which sections were still missing music and didn't see her. She waited patiently until he finished.
"Oh, hello Teá," he said, sending Ryou off to talk to Mr. Howard about making copies. He ran a hand through his chocolate brown hair and looked down at her. "What's your next class?"
"I have Culinary next," she answered.
"Then I'll walk you there. I have Advanced Digital Design next, which is in that area," he said, following her out the door.
"I think that went rather well," Teá repeated as they walked slowly down the hallway. Seto nodded, briefcase swinging in his hand. "You made good choices; I think everyone is really pleased."
Seto let a small smile take over his mouth. "Thanks."
They reached their classes and waved goodbye. Seto was still smiling as he walked into the Computer Lab.
Homeroom next morning was uneventful. The juniors were hanging out and dueling, the seniors were scrambling around while their teachers nagged them about graduation requirements, the sophomores were mostly asleep, and the freshmen were still unsure about how to act in homeroom. 48 of the students at Domino High were waiting for homeroom period to end so they could go to Band and practice for the upcoming field show.
Seto was in one of the calmer junior classrooms, drafting the field show drill sheets. He was lucky; this year the pep band had an even number, which would make shaping them easier. For Pokerface, he was thinking lots of moving around and borderline chaos. Hey Baby would be simple with more dance moves than marching. He was stuck on Itty Bitty Pretty One. Seto's problem was the clapping and the trumpet solo. Maybe a simple block and Bakura or Duke would come out to the front…yes, that's what he'd do.
The bell rang and Seto placed everything in his briefcase. He'd have to talk to Ryou about their uniforms and how much money needed to be raised for dry cleaning. Ryou was a surprisingly dependable sophomore; most of them were too busy bagging on the freshmen to be of any help.
"Ryou!" Seto said as he walked into the classroom. Ryou looked up from the stacks of newly copied music he'd received from Mr. Howard. "How is the uniform situation?"
Ryou handed the music over to Teá, who'd arrived behind Seto. "We have enough uniforms for everyone. Whether they fit or not is an entirely different question. I expect we'll need to raise at least 16,000 yen1 for cleaning fees. Most of the band funds were spent on new music over the summer."
Seto cursed. He took a deep breath and calmed himself; it wasn't Ryou's fault that some people were incompetent. "Alright. I'll go speak with Mr. Howard to see what I can do about it."
Seto went to Mr. Howard's office and knocked. "C'mon in!" he called from within.
Seto entered and stopped in the doorway. Mr. Howard's office was so unnatural. Instead of a tea pot on the desk and wise tapestries on the wall, he had plastered the walls with hockey posters and his desk had a collection of bobble head dolls. "What is it you need, Kaiba?"
"Mr. Howard, Ryou has brought to my attention our lack of funds for the uniform cleaning fees. He says we need 16,000 yen and I need to know how we will get those funds. More specifically," Seto added, "If I and my company can be of assistance."
Mr. Howard took a sip of black coffee from his Go Army mug and said, "I'll have to ask the principal about you helping. But we could always hold a car wash or bake sale."
Seto raised an eyebrow. Bake sale? When all that was needed was a trip to the bank? Mr. Howard was ridiculous sometimes. This wasn't America. You couldn't just hold a car wash and expect people to actually show up. It was preposterous. "Get back to me as soon as you can. I need to be able to tell the band." Seto left to get out the music after Mr. Howard nodded.
"Seto? Should I start taking people's measurements to see how many uniforms we can pre-assign?" Ryou asked as Seto left the office. Seto nodded as he began sifting through the music at the front. He found the charts and relaxed. It would all come together. After all, he was Seto frikin-Kaiba.
1 16,000 yen is around $200