Candid Photo

"This is the most twisted prank anyone has ever pulled."

Sotachii threw down the photograph he was holding. In it, he was between Yugi and Jounouchi. Each of the boys had a look of shock on his face.

Jounouchi stared down at the picture. "I'll have to agree. Whoever did this didn't even get my good side!"

"Stop worrying about how you look in the stupid photo!" He stared down at it for a moment longer.

***

Yugi fanned out the cards he held. "I'm surprised you were willing to trade these, Sotachii."

"Well, I didn't really need those anymore. I had doubles of them." Sotachii smiled. "In fact, that 'Sword of Deep-Seated' would help in a pretty handy combo that would boost your Dark Magician higher than a Blue- Eyes White Dragon!"

Behind them, Jounouchi stared at his own new cards. "This 'Dragon Treasure' might work with my Red-Eyes."

"Might?" Sotachii looked back at Jounouchi. "Here's the thing: Slap that onto a Red-Eyes Ultimate, and with Dragon Nails, you'll be unstoppable."

"Woah, yeah!" Jounouchi laughed. "I was wrong about you workin' for Pegasus. It's pretty awesome!"

The three teens stopped beside a street light. On it was a poster that simply said, "Say Cheese!" and a strange mirror-like device.

"This is interesting." Yugi stepped forward to get a closer look at the mirror. "I wonder what that's for?"

"Hard telling." A puzzled look crossed Sotachii's face. "If it's posted out here, then it's probably meant for someone else."

"Or maybe," Jounouchi ventured, "just maybe it's one of those new Boy Scout ads. Maybe this year to raise money, they're selling cheese."

A light flashed. The trio simply stood there, staring at the post.

"That was.weird."

***

The phone rang. Instinctively, Sotachii pressed the speaker button. "Industrial Illusions. How may I help you?"

"Did you get one, too?"

"Who in.?"

Jounouchi rushed to the desk. "Hey, Yuug!"

A slight sound was audible on the other end of the phone as Yugi laughed. "Jouno, what are you doing there?"

"Long story," Sotachii said calmly, sitting behind the desk. "If you're talking about that photo, yeah. It was sitting on my office desk with three Duel Monsters cards."

"Three cards?"

"Dark Magician, Flame Swordsman, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Our three favorite cards."

"So, who could've done this?"

"I vote Kaiba!" Jounouchi announced.

"No. It has to be someone that knows we're friends now." A look of deep thought crossed Sotachii's face.

"How about Pegasus?" asked Yugi. "You did say that three cards accompanied your photo."

"He promised that he'd never read my mind as long as I keep the Dark Spirit at bay. We've been friends for about a month now, and I made that promise a half-year ago." He leaned back in his chair. "Do Anzu or Honda know about our friendship?"

Jounouchi looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "I know Tristan doesn't know."

"Anzu doesn't know, either," added Yugi.

"Okay. I have a feeling that Megu doesn't know, and Ryou knows what Megu knows, so that's a bit out of the question."

"Do either of them know that you have a slight crush on Anzu?"

"I'm just going to ignore that and continue naming suspects." He looked at Jounouchi. "Do either of our sisters know?"

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. "What am I, your sister's keeper?"

"Kiichana spends more time at your house than mine."

"Well, I haven't talked to Serenity lately, and." Again, Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying that your sister has a crush on me?"

"You said the same about me and Anzu!"

As Yugi started to speak, the phone beeped twice. "Sounds like you have a call, Sotachii," he said instead.

"Yeah. I'll get back to you in a moment." He pressed a second button, answering the same way he answered Yugi's call.

"Your expression is priceless, Sotachii!" laughed the voice.

"Who is this?"

"Take a wild stab."

The voice rang familiar. "Kaiba!"

"Told ya he did it," Jounouchi said.

"I did what?" asked Kaiba.

"Took that picture of us! You are so dead, Kaiba!"

Kaiba laughed again. "I wish I did! Someone obviously beat me to it. Of course, if I did something like that, I'd be standing right in front of you taking the picture. Or maybe I'd."

His words were cut off as Sotachii hung up on him. "Sorry about that, Yuug. Seems that whoever did this sent it to everyone we know."

"That means that whoever doesn't know of our friendship will know about now."

Again, the phone beeped. Once again, Sotachii pressed a button and answered the caller.

"GOT YA!" chimed the unmistakable voice of Megumi. A bright shade of pink blended into Sotachii's cheeks.

"You caught the photo?"

"Yeah, after a couple tries." Megumi's voice was upbeat. "Zorched a couple cameras before finally getting one to stay there."

Jounouchi laughed. "Outfoxed by a ref!"

"You're in the photo, too."

"Right."

END