Little Miss CEO
Written by: ShizukaEyes
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, I'm just a fan of it, etc.
In the last chapter, Serenity agreed to become CEO of Industrial Illusions, as per the late Pegasus' wish. Thanks for the support!
Chapter Two
"So when do I get started?" Serenity asked, shrugging.
"Sis! You aren't seriously thinking about doing this?"
"Don't be so dramatic, Joey." Serenity gave him a reassuring glance. "Just tell Mom that I'll be late for dinner that's all!"
"Um…actually," Croquet said while Joey stared at his sister disbelievingly, "It would be best if Miss Serenity would change into something more businesslike, and then meet me in two hours." He gestured to two limos that had pulled up, sleek and a shiny pink color.
"…Cool!" the others said, gathering around at the magnificent limos, though pink as they were. "Even though it's pink," Tristan said in disgust.
"Pink was Mr. Pegasus' favorite color," Croquet stated.
"Oh, mine too!" Serenity said, lighting up.
"Sis…" Joey said warningly.
"If it is Miss Serenity's command, she can ride home with her friends in one," Croquet said, looking at him in distaste, "and we can ride in the other one."
"Beats walking!" Tristan said and the others climbed in the larger of the two. There was plenty of space in the plush maroon velvet interior.
"Wow!" Tea said making herself comfortable.
"Don't get too comfortable!" Joey said.
"You're just bitter," Tristan accused.
"Why would I be?"
"Because you didn't sit down first! For once your sister gets lucky..."
"No," Joey said as mostly the other nodded their heads. "Because Pegasus was a weirdo, and now he's lured Serenity!"
"I agree," Yugi said solemnly as the engine started. "Something's fishy about this…whoever heard of writing 'whoever sits down first at my funeral gets my company' in their will?"
There was a pause. Then Serenity said, "...I have." Everyone looked over with puzzlement in their eyes. "I heard on TV, that once this woman was looking for shelter in the rain, because it was raining," she rolled her eyes, "and she found a church that was having a funeral, so she sat down in it and paid her respects, and it stopped raining, so she left—but was stopped by a man just like today-" she looked around impressively, "and he said that she had inherited a million dollars, or something close to that because, well, he had no family…"
"Well, it's true that Pegasus had no family," Tea said finally and slowly after a stunned pause, "no sons—no daughters—since his wife passed."
"…Huh." Joey hadn't thought of it that way. Now it made sense…sort of. "I know!" he yelled and everyone jumped. "You should sell it!"
"Sell it? The company? Oh, no, no." Serenity said. "If he wanted that, he would've before he died."
"But you didn't even know the guy!"
"But he's dead, Joey, and we have to respect him." Serenity looked hard at him. "Besides, it was his money that paid for my eye operation. Or do you want his ghost haunting you?"
"G-g-ghost?" he stuttered with a start.
"Boo, Joey-boy!" Tea said imitating Pegasus. "Muah ha ha!" Tristan said and Joey jumped.
"That's not funny, you know. Evil spirits are real!" A loud rap at the window made them all jump.
"We have arrived, ma'am. If you are ready to get out?" The chauffeur bowed deeply to her and ushered her out. Joey followed, looking suspiciously around.
"I knew we shouldn't have come to Pegasus' funeral," he muttered, stomping up the front steps and slamming the door. "Now…ghosts are following me…"
"Thank you very much." Serenity said. "And your name?"
The chauffeur blinked as if he'd never been asked this. "My name? I-It's Boggle, sir. I-I mean, ma'am." He bowed again.
"Nice to meet you. And call me Serenity." She shook his head and went home.
It had been a very tiring day. Her head was spinning. She took off her black funeral dress and put on her pink robe. Then she fell on her bed and went to dreamland.
She dreamed that Pegasus' ghost was haunting her, not Joey, as Tea had predicted for disobeying his wishes. It kept saying "Why? Why did you kill me?" and she said "I didn't kill you!" and it said "Then find my killer, Serenity-boy!" and she was about to say "I'm not a boy!" when she woke up.
The window showed late evening twilight, not afternoon. "Oh, no!" she whispered, sitting up. Quickly, she found a pant suit her mother bought her for her fifteenth birthday last week and never wore. The tags were still on it. She put it on, and then ran a brush through her hair. At the dinner table Joey was watching the kitchen TV.
"Why didn't you wake me?" she said, hobbling around, putting on her never-worn-except-today-at-the-funeral shoes.
"You looked tired." He drew his gaze away from the TV. "I really, really think this is a bad idea."
"Oh, never mind." He was always so unsupportive. Whenever he won something, she cheered for him, but never the reverse… "Did that Croquet come by?"
"No," he said, looking hopeful. He hoped that he would forget. Fat chance.
"And now we have late breaking news!" the woman on TV said.
"My program!" Joey yelled.
"It seems that Maxmillion Pegasus' company, Industrial Illusions, has a new CEO!"
She froze.
"Yes, in a statement today, Mr. Pegasus has decreed that a young woman has sat down first at his private funeral grounds and has inherited billions in stock!"
"Stock?" she whispered. It was like another language.
"The lucky woman's name has not been disclosed. Mr. Pegasus, 1945-2006, has himself made II from scratch long ago before it was just a tiny corporation…"
The woman droned on about Pegasus life. Joey shut it off. "See?" he said. "The vulture media has already gotten wind of it. Now they'll make up some story about you being his lover or something!"
"His lover? Don't be silly," Serenity said, strapping her last boot on. "Honestly…" The front door rang.
"Miss Serenity? Are you ready yet?"
"Coming!" she called, fixing her hair into a bun at the nape of neck.
"You want me to go with you?" Joey said.
"No. I'll be fine. Dinner's on me." She gave him a bill and left.
"What'll I tell Mom?" he yelled as the door swung shut.
Serenity smiled distractedly as Croquet bowed at her. She looked paler than before, except more businesslike in her pantsuit. "Hungry, miss?" Croquet said kindly, pressing a button and a little snack bar popped up.
"Starved." She took a package of cookies and opened it hurriedly. "Sorry I'm late."
"No need. You'll find everything you need here. It has food, drink, and even a little exercise gym." Croquet gestured around grandly in the pink limo. "As well as fireproof, waterproof, bombproof, bulletproof…"
"Bombproof?" Serenity choked.
"Yes, well, Mr. Pegasus has had a lot of enemies." Croquet said impressively. "Mostly from rival companies. They want to take over, you see."
Despite herself, she was curious. "Rivals? Who?"
"Other gaming companies." Croquet looking distinguishably surprised. "Ever heard of KaibaCorp.?"
She swallowed. "No, though the name does sound familiar."
"We at II have a great distaste for Mr. Kaiba." Croquet sounded vehement, looking disgusted. Then his face cleared so rapid it was alarming. "I.I. is short for Industrial Illusions, by the way. You'll hear of it all the time."
"…Interesting." She took another bite. "Why, though?"
"Why what?"
"Why do 'we' hate him?"
Croquet looked at her again, somewhat more suspiciously. "He is not fit to be the head of the most successful company. He is only a teenager. And plus-"
"I'm a teenager." Serenity pointed out, just as the vehicle came to a stop with a bump. She left her cookie package behind, but Croquet stopped her.
"It's not safe. Look."
A pack of reporters and cameramen were gathered in front of the I.I. headquarters. That was an understatement. More like a herd. The harsh light gave them a shadowy look.
"There she is!"
"Your name, please!"
"A comment, please!"
"Any statement, please!"
"No comment! No comment!" Croquet yelled, shoving them back. Two musclemen in suits came to help push the mob back. Seeing that they were equipped with heavy cameras and metal microphones, she hurried through as quickly as she could. One jabbed her in the arm, bruising it.
She was rubbing her arm in the revolving doors and noticed the one of the suits had also come through. "This is Kemo." Croquet looked distinctly disheveled as if he'd fought through bramble bushes. "Kemo, this is Serenity Wheeler. Your new boss. She the one who sat down first?"
"Duh, 'Wheeler'?" Kemo said stupidly. He was huge, seven feet tall. Serenity had to lean backwards to see his face, which was covered with sunglasses. "Dat name sound… familiar."
"Her brother was in the Duel Monsters Tournament at Duelist Kingdom." Croquet said smartly.
"Oh, yeah." Kemo said with an evil glint in his eye that was visible even through his dark glasses. Serenity gave him a look.
"Dismissed!" Croquet snapped. "Come, let's give you a quick tour." As Kemo walked away rubbing his knuckles, Croquet said more gently, "He's not bright, as you see. But he's handy with any gun and hates Kaiba the most of anyone here. He is head bodyguard for fifteen years."
"Um, charmed, I'm sure," she said with a touch of sarcasm. "But Kaiba can't be that bad since Kemo hates my brother too." Serenity made a mental note to get rid of Kemo ASAP.
"Well, I wouldn't shout that out everywhere here."
"Why not?"
"Most of the workers here were from KaibaCorp but left. That shows you what kind of CEO he is." Croquet said snidely.
"Huh. I met him at Pegasus' funeral, and he seemed very respectful." She nervously laughed. "He didn't dance or spit on his grave…and I saw some people I didn't know doing that."
"With all due pardon, miss, he probably wanted to be sure Mr. Pegasus was truly dead. He hates any I.I. worker here as well, and about you since you just got here…" Croquet rubbed his chin. "I'd say he thinks of you as a rival."
Her? She hardly said two words to him. Okay, maybe more that two but still. She made a mental note to talk to him and make amends ASAP. "And what are you—I mean, what is your position?" she asked.
"Me? I, Croquet, am head advisor. I am the one who runs everything and very well and max efficiency. This is the main lobby."
"Welcome to I.I.," a woman with blonde curls said. Serenity assumed her to be the receptionist. "Please, all visitors must consent to a metal detector and search."
He made the introductions, and Serenity found herself shaking hand after hand with people a lot taller than her. Okay, first thing I'll do with my millions is buy some extra high stilettos! Yeah.
They stopped floor after floor on the elevator, where she noticed at lot of people had left already. "The hours are eight to four. Only the heads stay after."
"Oh. I see."
Most people gave her patronizing smirks, but all bowed deeply to her as if she were the Queen of the Universe. She found out that she liked it.
"…And this is Mr. Pegasus's office," Croquet finalized. "As you can see, it's very cozy and done in pink pastel shades of his choosing, so it's to your liking?"
"It is a very pretty and airy room," she said, looking out the good-sized window. "What a view."
"Yes, isn't it? Well, now I know that you haven't had any experience in business, but no worries. It's pretty simple. All you have to do is make the decisions, and we'll do the rest."
"In that case, you should go home and get rest."
"Oh, you're too kind." Croquet left. "Thank you, miss...and see you later." He murmured.
She wanted to go home also, but spent a time savoring the feeling of importance, remembering all those people bowing to her over and over again. She had never expressed an interest in business but now she could see why so many people liked it. And now she had to return to her normal life. At fifteen, she was the youngest to ever run an empire. Okay, there was a kid that he'd inherited billions of a vitamin company at nine or something like that, but at least she was the youngest female to ever run an empire.
That had to count for something.
Tomorrow she was to start her at her new school, Domino High. It was the middle of the school year, but Joey went there and would help her. She would make him. Smiling, she got up and sneaked out (because of the press) and went home.
