"Heh, well that was lame," Chazz scoffed.

The holographic monsters faded from the field as Houzan, the bratty Obelisk freshman, fell to his knees in disappointment. Normally, this win would let Chazz finally go back to the dorm he was supposed to be in (aka, the one the little punk across from him was in), but first he was beating a third-year Obelisk.

And then that slacker Judai.

…Well, actually, no specific order. Just those two things.

His ambitions, though, didn't stop the other students who were watching to applaud his win, and he even heard a few girls (mainly the freshmen who didn't know better) whisper and giggle about him in that lovey-dovey way.

It was already halfway through the year, how didn't they realize that Chazz only cared for the attention and not the dating part of things?! Ugh, whatever, it wasn't his concern. Not really. Maybe they'd even get the picture as he strolled away from the field without a care for anyone's opinions and praises.

"The Chazz" didn't do romance. Didn't do the dating thing.

Because there were far more important things to than that.

…And yet, he felt kind of…

Empty.

He, of course, never admitted this. Not even to himself, really. But it was times like this - when he was walking through the dank tunnel that led from the field to the main building, knowing that no one would be waiting to truly congratulate him - that Chazz realized he needed…something. He couldn't place a name to it, though.

Friends? Nope, he scoffed at those.

Acquaintances? He had enough of them to last fifty lifetimes full of annoyance.

Love? Ha, and get in the way of him being the best duelist?

(Well, okay, there's Asuka, but he was starting to finally understand she wouldn't come around.)

Fed up with the (not) unusual thoughts, Chazz stomped his black boots down louder and scowled as he picked up the pace to go do homework or rearrange his deck or...something that wasn't this.

Because "The Chazz" didn't do romance.

There was definitely no reason for that.

…

"Oh, why are these directions so confusing?" she whined to herself, staring at the piece of paper intently. She took a small clump of her purple hair, wrapped it around her finger, and stuck the end of it into her mouth absentmindedly. A bad habit, she knew, but it was hard to break. "You'd think for the best dueling school in Japan they would make better directions, but it's like they were written for someone who's been here before. 'Turn left by 1A'? But where's 1A? What even is 1A? Maybe the front desk could help." She whined in her throat again. "But where's that? And how much time would it kill? Wait, how much time do I have now?"

There is both a blessing and a curse to looking at a watch.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" she screeched, tearing down the hallways of a building she knew nothing about. Of course she knew panicking wouldn't help her, she was smart enough to know that. But panicking was yet another bad habit, perhaps her worst one, so all logical thought kind of made an exit stage left most (all) of the time.

As did her awareness of her surroundings.

The unmistakable "Oof!" of another human being - along with both of them colliding with the tile floors - sent her guilt into overdrive. And it just got worse as the guy growled and grumbled, the volume and tone telling her he was already in a bad mood. She was about to brush her thick hair out of her face and apologize profusely, but he beat her to the talking.

"You ever heard of watching where you're going, slacker?"

…No.

Nonononononono.

Not him.

On a day already filled to the brim with anxiety and stress and other negative things she really couldn't handle on their own.

And yet, here he was, just shy of giving her a heart attack.

She should have known, though, that he was here. Of course he was here. His dream. Duel Academy. It was kind of like a fish in water. And, okay, yeah, she did know. Knew it the entire boat trip over. But she was banking on him dueling, or studying, or whatever else he did why was he here at this moment in time?!

"Hey, slacker, answer me!" he demanded, jumping to his feet with a scowl no doubt on his face. She didn't know; the floor was far too interesting. "Have you heard of paying attention? Huh? How about some manners? An apology would be nice!"

"…Y-yeah, s-sorry," she stuttered meekly, feeling her voice and even the rest of her body shaking. Please don't recognize my voice, please don't recognize me at all. "I-I… I-I'm r-running a little b-bit late to…a-an appointment, a-and I j-just don't know…which w-way to go. I-… I've never been here b-before."

"Is that so?" he sneered, and yet she could tell he was relaxing a bit. Normally she wasn't that keen, but then again this was…him. "Fine then, I'll help. Where do you need to go?"

Okay, okay, you can do this, she encouraged herself. Just tell him what room, and have him make the directions more comprehensible. And then you can politely excuse yourself, and never see him again… Maybe.

"It's… It's the small auditorium," she informed, now a bit more confident from her thoughts. Well, at least confident enough to not stutter every two seconds. Then she held out the paper. "These directions… I don't really understand them."

The paper was snatched from her hand, and after a few seconds he scoffed. "Wow, who wrote this? A toddler?" he insulted. "Basically, just keep going down this hallway. The next left you see, take it, and then it's four doors down on your right." He crumpled up the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. "Now come on, get up. You said you're late, right? So stand up and get going."

"Right," she agreed. See? Easy. Now just stand and put one foot in front of the other and move as far away from him as possible. She stood up slowly, her head hung low so he couldn't see her eyes. Though he did take notice of it.

He was always keen on that stuff.

"Your hair too heavy for your neck or something?" he questioned.

"Never really thought of it that way," she mumbled. "Thank you very much for the help. Excuse me." She began walking again, and she would like to say she made it all the way to the auditorium without further interruptions and minimal confusion.

Life was never that simple.

"Hey Chazz!" She flinched at the name but kept walking. "Not a bad duel, for someone like you."

"Whatever," Chazz snorted.

There was only a moment of pause - maybe it had become awkward, or maybe the other guy was about to say more about that duel and got distracted - before he asked, "Who's that? New student?" She kept walking. "Oh wow, rude much?"

She stopped and slightly turned her head, making sure her hair was in front of her eyes. "Sorry, I just need to get going," she said.

"What was that?" another guy jeered, and she flinched again. "Speak up, mousey."

"She's running late," Chazz answered for her, and it was probably the only time she was grateful for his presence. "Just leave her alone."

The two guys snickered. "Since when did you get all chivalrous, Chazz?" the first one taunted.

"Must be all that time hanging out with those Slifer losers," the other added.

"Shut up!" They just laughed.

And they'd probably make fun of her too if she stayed. So she started walking once more, picking up the pace.

Only for them to get in her way.

"And where are you going, mousey?" the second guy chuckled. "We didn't get to hear you before."

"Your voice is probably so tiny and cute," the first one cooed condescendingly. He pinched her cheeks between his thumb and pointer finger to the point of almost bruising. "Just like you. You'd be like a little pet mouse, who squeaks and scurries and looks at us with big scared yellow eyes all the time. Hehe, wouldn't be surprised if a little pet like you ends up in Slifer."

His friend snickered, and she wondered how long they were going to torment her. They were definitely going to make her late, and there was no way she was going to tell the Chancellor it was two of his students that held her up. As if being late wouldn't be bad enough, placing the blame on someone else-

Suddenly, she was violently ripped out of the guy's hold and then was moving at a brisk pace. When she regained her bearings, she realized Chazz had dragged her away and was now leading her down the hallway. And while his steps were resounding, his body strained, and he was probably scowling again…

His grip was gentle.

"Stupid punks," he grunted. "Can't even let a stranger be on her way." Then he glanced back at her.

Her heart leapt; affection or fear… She kind of hoped for the latter.

Because his gray eyes were so soft.

"I'll get you there in time," he promised. "And I'll explain everything."

She whined lowly in her throat.

The two made their way to the turn Chazz had mentioned, and once they were there she tried to continue on her own. But before she spoke, Chazz shook his head and picked up the pace. Not long after, they made it to the door of the auditorium. She breathed out in relief and opened it, meeting Chancellor Samejima and-

"SETO KAIBA?!" she somehow managed to squeak and screech at the same time.

The brown-haired rich duelist glanced at her before looking at the Chancellor. "I told you she would be jumpy," he stated.

"It's just that she sounded so formal in her letter I could only assume she was that confident in person," the other man replied with a laugh. "Although, I could still be right. Am I not, Ms. Sato?"

"Sato?" Chazz repeated, surprised.

"Yes! Sato! Maya Sato! Th-that's my name!" Maya exclaimed. "Thank you very much for the assistance, Chazz, but I really need to get going! Bye!"

And with that she scurried inside and slammed the door in his face.

"Aw, there was no need to force Chazz out the door, Ms. Sato," Samejima said. Thinking she was about to get scolded, Maya flipped around and opened her mouth, only to find he was smiling. "He's a very nice young man. Well, when he wants to be."

"Enough with the chat, we have important things to discuss," Kaiba brought up.

"Right! Sorry!" Maya shouted, and she practically warped into the chair across from the two men. It actually had Samejima seriously laughing.

"Seto, take it easy on the poor girl," he defended. "This is a pretty big decision for a high schooler."

Kaiba (thankfully) nodded, and Maya found herself relaxing just a tad. "We had actually agreed to look over the tardiness," the owner explained. "Duel Academy can be confusing for first timers, from what I hear. Even then, you are tardy by only a few minutes."

Maya nodded. "Still, I apologize," she said.

"No trouble at all," the Chancellor assured. She nodded again. "Then, shall we get down to business?"

"I agree," Kaiba stated. He pointed to Maya's binder (which she had totally forgotten about in the chaos but was happy to see it and its content were still in her hand). "Now, show me some art."

…

Chazz stood in front of the door, confused.

No, baffled.

No, bewildered.

NO… Was there something stronger than bewildered?

"Wow, Boss, she really didn't like you!"

Annoyance. Annoyance was stronger.

"Do you ever shut up?!" Chazz hissed at the little yellow slug-looking monster. Ojama Yellow looked at him, ready to speak. "On second thought, don't answer that. I already know."

He began to walk back down the hallway, this time with a set destination: the library. Hopefully a little bit of studying would erase the embarrassment of...whatever that was.

Awkward, that's what, he finally decided.

"Hey, do you know her?" Yellow asked, continuing to pester him (surprise, surprise).

"And why would you think that?" the teen shot back.

"Because no one just hates you for no reason, Boss!" he answered. And, okay, he wasn't entirely wrong, but Chazz wasn't about to let that get to Yellow's head and therefore make him even more annoying. "Soooo… Come on, come on, come on! Tell me who she is!"

"You really want to know?" The monster spirit eagerly nodded his head. "Fine then. She's Maya Sato. That's her name," Chazz sneered. "Unless you weren't listening while you chatted my ear off!"

"I'm impressed you didn't yell at me once, Boss," Yellow stated with a grin.

In response, Chazz smashed him against the wall.

"Stupid slug," the duelist grumbled as he stomped off.

Of course, being a card spirit, not seconds later Yellow was back, no worse for wear. "So then, you don't know her?" he questioned.

"NO. There, is that a clear answer for you?" Chazz retorted.

Yellow tilted his head, thinking. "She was super jittery, though," he brought up. "Like, really really jittery."

"Probably has major anxiety or something," the teen dismissed.

"But-"

"Oh my God, I don't know her!" Chazz shouted, seething. "So can you just SHUT UP!"

Chazz then actually kicked the little spirit, sending Yellow right through the wall, screaming all the way. His master, meanwhile, was seeing red and definitely fuming from his ears.

And to top it off…

"Oh boy, there he goes again," someone sighed.

Chazz grimaced. Once again, he was looking like a total dunce screaming at air since only one other guy on campus could see spirits.

"Sometimes I seriously fear for you, Chazz," a girl stated. "Do you just need someone to talk to?"

"What I need is to be left alone," Chazz huffed as he stomped away to his new destination: his room.

A third person pouted. "Did people make fun of you just because you're in Slifer again?" he inquired. "You know not to listen to them, right? You did great." His friends agreed.

"Yeah, whatever," the teen brushed off.

And even though he was walking away, yeah, the compliment actually felt good. Made him feel better. Unfortunately, now he wasn't angry. He was upset, sure, but a different kind of upset.

Maya Sato, he snorted lightly. Please, give me a break. He frowned.

The second half of the semester was about to become far more complicated than the Society of Light could ever hope to be.

…

Kaiba closed the binder. "Well then, I believe we should start figuring out your dorm and schedule," he stated.

Maya, who had finally begun to relax, tensed up with a squeak. "Wh-wh-what?!"

Chancellor Samejima laughed. "My dear, of course you've been accepted," he informed. "Your parents and I discussed your enrollment around two weeks ago. Seto and I just wanted to see and hear about your work."

"Um, right." Duh, you idiot, you came into this meeting knowing you were already enrolled. She sighed mentally. Well, at least everyone is going along with my idea of a different name. Makes things easier… I guess. Maya shifted in her seat. "So, what dorm am I in?"

"Obelisk, naturally," Kaiba responded.

"Obelisk?!" she repeated. "B-but that's for the top duelists! I don't belong there!"

The two men raised eyebrows at her. "Ms. Sato, why would that matter?" Samejima asked. "That isn't-"

"But this is Duel Academy," Maya argued. "Yes, I didn't take the duel test; I know my enrollment was based on my art for the Card Design class. But I know if I did I'd end up in Slifer. Because I'm a bad duelist."

Kaiba hummed in thought. "I'm a bit hesitant putting a girl in Slifer, though," he said. "Slifers share dorms, and all Slifers are boys. That's why I want you in Obelisk: you'd have your own room, and therefore privacy."

"But it's not fair that I get into the best dorms just because I'm a girl," she reasoned. Or my status, she thought as she mentally frowned. "Please, Mr. Kaiba, there has to be a way to have me in Slifer."

"Well…" Maya and Kaiba looked at Samejima, who was smiling. "I do believe there are just enough boys where they can all room together and leave one dorm completely open. That is, if you're absolutely sure you want to room in Slifer, Ms. Sato."

"There aren't many things I'm sure about, Chancellor," Maya admitted. "So when I say I'm sure, I am."

He nodded with a smile as Kaiba sighed lightly. "Very well," the owner reluctantly agreed. "We'll arrange your dorm by the afternoon, and by the end of the week your personal belongings will be sent to you."

"You'll also be given a Slifer uniform before your first class begins next Monday," the Chancellor continued. "We've never had a female red uniform, but it shouldn't be that much trouble-"

"I'll have all measurements and alterations sent to my mom by tonight, and done by Friday!" Maya exclaimed with confidence.

Fashion and art kind of did that for her.

The two men were surprised by the sudden boost in tenacity before Samejima once again laughed. "Somehow, I can't find a way to say no," he stated.

"Just make sure to follow up on that. Fail to do so, and you'll be stuck with whatever we give you," Kaiba challenged. Then he glared. "And nothing promiscuous, understood?"

"I give you my word," Maya promised.

With one last nod from both of them and a quick look at her schedule, the meeting was concluded. Samejima gave her (far more coherent) directions to the Slifer dorms and gave her a friendly send off. Kaiba, meanwhile, simply excused himself and left in the opposite direction of the new student.

Which led to Maya letting out the biggest sigh of relief ever.

God only knows how she didn't accidentally choke on air after such an inhale.

"That just might have been the scariest thing in my life," Maya muttered quietly. "And that list is already long to begin with. Oh, but why do I have this bad feeling it's only going to get worse? High school's already demanding enough, but now I'm with other people. And I'm at Duel Academy. This was a bad idea, I knew I should have convinced Dad against the idea before he went to Mom about it, especially since he's-"

A loud, jolly ringtone cut through her nervous mumbling. And it had her jumping with a slight scream. When she calmed her beating heart enough, she realized it was her phone, and she dug through her jacket pocket to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force," replied a very familiar voice trying (and horribly failing) to imitate Alec Guinness.

Maya sighed. "Haruaki, you're trying to use an American accent again," she chatsized.

"No, British," he emphasized. Maya assumed that he probably said that with a cheeky grin.

Call it a hunch.

"They're both western!" Haruaki simply laughed, and Maya sighed again as she began to walk once more. "Seriously, why did you call? Aren't you busy working on another play?"

"Nothing is more important than knowing how my little sister is on her big day," he answered, no doubt with a big, gleeful, giddy smile on his face.

Oh. Good, she thought. No worrying. He has enough on his plate. "Good, actually," she reported. "Very good."

"Amazing!" Haruaki congratulated. "I'm so proud! And here I was worried you were having a panic attack."

Silence.

"…You had a panic attack, didn't you?" he asked in a deadpan.

"No!" Maya denied. "I mean, sure, I was nervous, but it's kinda hard not to freak out with Seto Kaiba in the same room as you." Haruaki hummed. "Hey, don't make that noise, I'm honest!"

"Yeah. Right. Mmm hmm." The purple-haired girl whined. "Come on, Ko-"

"Not so loud!" she hissed.

"…Are you really being this paranoid?"

"Shut up!"

"And you seriously went through with that pseudonym?"

"It's a good idea! …Well, it was."

"Explain how you figured out I was right in the end, Sis. This should be good."

The student was silent for a moment or two before she said, "He's here, Nii-Chan. Chazz."

A few more seconds passed before Haruaki sighed lightly. "That would certainly cause your plan to fall apart," he noted. "Did you run into him?"

"Yeah, and he knows it's me… I had a panic attack."

"At least it was small, judging from how you were able to have a successful meeting with Seto Kaiba," Haruaki reasoned. "Sis, don't worry about him, okay? He doesn't matter. Just keep your head up, focus, and have fun. You'll make friends this time around, I'm sure of it."

"I hope you're right," Maya sighed.

"'Course I am! Cause you know what they say, life is like-"

"Someone who works in the theater business too much," she interrupted.

Haruaki laughed. "Ah, now if only the whole world could understand how snarky you truly are," he teased. "The face of an angel, the soul of a monster."

Maya felt her face heat up. "You suck."

"Right back at ya, Kirby! See you soon!"

And before she could yell at Haruaki for more of his stupid western referencing ways, he hung up.

"I'm so getting him back when I see him," she grumbled as she shoved her phone back into her pocket. Then she began to make her way to the entrance to the school before she stopped. "Wait, see me soon? So he's flying from New York?" She began to think. "When, I wonder? Guess I'll have to question him later, and… What time was it again?" She pulled out her phone again.

"…Why was he calling me at five in the morning?!"