Don't worry, o great owners of the YGO franchise, I am not trying to make any money off your licensed property, which I know belongs to you, not me.
People hurry by in both directions. Cars pass, splashing water onto the pavement. Heavy rain falls, and the dark, lowering clouds say there isn't going to be any let-up for a while. Two boys, wet from the rain, and unregarded by the crowds hurrying past, duck into an available doorway.
"Nii-sama, smell." The younger one tips his head back and inhales in deep breaths. "It smells good," he declares happily.
His brother looks around. A bakery? Yes, it smells good, with petit gateaux and Christmas cakes filling the glass cases, and loaves of fresh bread resting on the counter. He can't help taking a few sniffs too, but when he smells the customers' expensive perfume, along with the cakes, his face clouds.
"This isn't a place for us, Mokuba," he says. Sometimes it feels like no place is, no place has been, since the death of their parents that summer. But Seto knows a smart boy can make his own place in the world …even if that knowledge isn't very warming on a December afternoon. "We'd better go," he tells his brother. "They're probably waiting for us, back at the orphanage."
Mokuba's face clouds, but he's already learned not to argue with his brother. "Yes, nii-sama," he says. "Can I just look at the cakes first?"
A little boy with tousled dark hair and threadbare clothes moves closer to the glass cases of bakery goodies. Maybe he pushes past the customers a little, but he does the best a little boy can do, to be polite. "Excuse me," he says, and "I'm sorry," after he steps on an old lady's feet.
"What are you doing?" First she protests, then she looks down to see what sort of intrusion is annoying her. Then, "unattended children do not belong in a business establishment," she tells the man behind the counter. "Nakamura-san, throw this boy out."
Nakamura-san bows, and rushes to obey this important customer's directive. It's not until he's out from behind the counter and right next to Mokuba that he re-thinks himself a little.
"Are you hungry?" he asks in a low voice. Seto's too proud to answer, but Mokuba nods at once. "Wait here, the baker tells them.
A minute later they're in the staff lounge of the bakery. They're sitting at a table with forks in their hands, and a plateful of Christmas cake in front of each of them. "We have to get back to the orphanage," Seto wants to say, thinking of curfews, and the harsh consequences that come with breaking them. But Mokuba's face is already covered with whipped cream, and he can't deny his brother this Christmas present.