Everything in the room felt too big—from the desk and hair to the responsibilities of the one who sat upon it. Despite the pressures from the board of directors to fully embrace his role as President and CEO of the company, Mokuba could still feel his brother's presence woven within the very fabric of the room which had been his office. It had been three months since Seto had disappeared, but everyday still felt like a battle.
Who am I kidding, Mokuba thought as he stared blankly at the memos and requests for project approval that needed his attention. It was all too much. He would have given anything for his brother to sweep into the room and take this responsibility from him, though he knew that Seto would not have passed on such responsibility had he not thought Mokuba could handle it. Still, it was too much.
Mokuba shuffled through the stacks of paper one more time, trying again to make himself care about what was on them. He knew that he should look at them and make some decisions regarding them, but he just could not. He knew it was important for the continued success of the company, but it was just too much today. Failing in his attempt to care, he sorted the sheafs of paper into piles based on their topic. He hadn't even wanted to read that much of them. Despite his position at the company, he was still required by law to attend school, and all of these urgent requests had magically appeared in the time he was there. He looked at the tidy piles with an urge to just fling them all off of the desk. He didn't care that he had just worked to make them that way. Looking at them now angered him. He closed his eyes and turned the too big chair around to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out over the city below.
He could see his brother's mark all over the landscape. His fingerprint was everywhere in the city below. Mokuba had always marveled at Seto's plans to rebuild the world in his image—to make it a more peaceful place, a place where no child would ever have to worry about their future, but looking at the city now, he could see that plan starting to take shape. Very few people knew of that side to his brother, but Seto had built himself a legacy from the ashes of Gozaburo's funeral pyre and it was spread out before him. Mokuba leaned against the window as he looked out, feeling the weight of Seto's legacy pressing upon him. It was now up to him to build upon and protect that legacy. And it was too much.
He thought about the revolver that he had found hidden in one of the drawers of his brother's desk. He knew it had been a remnant of their adoptive father, but he wondered now if the weight of everything had ever gotten to Seto as it is affecting him now. He wondered if Seto had ever been tempted to use it. He wondered what would happen if he used it now.
Mokuba shook the thought from his mind. The weight of it all might be too much right now, but tomorrow will be different. Since Seto had disappeared, everyday was different. Some days were good and everything seemed fine; school was easy and he was able to do the job he needed to do. Other days were like today, where he feels like he's drowning. He glanced at the clock on his phone and sighed. He was expected to be here for at least four more hours, trying to keep the company afloat. And after that, he still had homework. He sighed and reached out to pick up the intercom handset. A voice came over the speaker just before he touched it.
"Mister Kaiba? You have a visitor. He does not have an appointment." The disembodied voice said
"I've told you, my name is Mokuba." He said, his voice thin with annoyance.
"Uh, Yes, sir. But about the visitor? Should I ask him to come back?" Mokuba rolled his eyes. Seto would have done it—sent the person home only to return another day that was more convenient for Seto, even if he was not actually doing anything important. He had once asked Seto why he did it only to have him explain that it was always important to play your hand from a position of strength and power. He realized now what his brother had meant, but Mokuba was not his brother.
"Who is it?" he asked the receptionist.
"He says his name is Yugi Muto? That he's a friend of yours?" she said after a long moment where Mokuba could hear her talking to the visitor. "Should I send him away, Sir?"
"Um, No. Please send him in."
Mokuba was not quite sure how he managed it, but Yugi walked into the office with something akin to a swagger. It had been nearly as long since he had seen the one-time vessel of the ancient spirit as it had been since he had seen his brother.
"Yugi!" he tried and failed to contain his excitement. The arrival had at least broken the dark spiral that Mokuba had found himself traveling. "Good thing Seto's not here or you'd never get in."
A grin spread over Yugi's face.
"You are probably right." He said as he plopped down into a chair. "How are you doing Mokuba? It's been a while." He looked concerned as he leaned forward and propped his elbows on the desk.
"I've been good…" Mokuba answered, standardly, as he tended to answer all of the other well-wishers. He stopped then, sighing as he reminded himself that this was Yugi, the person who had seen him at his most raw the night that Seto had left. "And I'm lying." He finally admitted, both to his friend and himself. Yugi looked at him sympathetically.
"You know, when you hadn't called or come over for a couple of weeks, I had assumed you were busy." Yugi started. "After a month, I figured that you just wanted some time to process things. It took me at least a month before I was ready to really talk about Atem. But after three months… Mokuba, that could only mean that you are lying to yourself about how things are going."
Mokuba leaned back into the tall chair. He felt like such a child sitting in it. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before pushing his long hair back from his face.
"Yeah. Can I be really honest about something then? Can we both agree on how absolutely insane all of this is?" He asked, finally giving voice to things that had bothered him for the last few months. "I'm fourteen years old, and I'm in charge of shuffling around billions of dollars a day, of making decisions that will impact hundreds or thousands of peoples' lives. And this is actually not just kind of nuts, but completely crazy. No one my age should ever have to make these kinds of decisions."
"Your brother did." Yugi pointed out
"Well, Seto was always a little nuts anyway. As were the people who thought it was a good idea to have a child in control of the company. Like, why didn't they insist on a sort of regency or run most of the decisions by the board first?" He looked at Yugi worriedly. "Don't tell him I said that." He added as if it were even possible. Yugi chuckled.
"Don't worry."
Mokuba laid his head on the desk and rolled a pen back and forth along the slick surface.
"I should be worrying about things like… I don't know, passing English or how to get the girl I have a crush on to like me. I shouldn't be worrying about whether it is a good investment to pursue some new technology." He said softly.
"Oh, Mokuba has a crush on someone?" Yugi raised his eyebrows questioningly. Mokuba sat up again, a slight red tinge coloring his cheeks as he blushed.
"No, it was just an example. Besides, I don't have time for that sort of thing."
Yugi laughed a good hearted fully laugh.
"Maybe you should make the time, then, Mokuba. At the very least, it would give you someone to talk to." Yugi's face fell as he looked at the kid. "It has to be lonely…" Mokuba's expression showed Yugi that he had touched a nerve. He decided to not finish his thought as Mokuba seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Hey, I have an idea." Yugi said, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm meeting Joey and Tristan in a little bit. Why don't you come with me?"
Mokuba looked at him dumbfounded for a moment. He wondered if Seto had not been so cold and aloof if just hanging out with Yugi and his friends would have been commonplace. He knew Seto would refuse—in fact he would have probably laughed in Yugi's face at the suggestion, only to spiral down into the despair and depression that he had so often denied by throwing himself into his work. But his first instinct was to do the same.
"I can't just leave…" He heard himself say, channeling his brother's spirit, but hoping that Yugi would convince him otherwise.
"Why not? Aren't you the president? Will the company fall apart if you do?" Yugi challenged him much to his relief.
"Um… well…" He could find no good reason. "I guess it won't."
"So take a break. The world won't end if you do." Yugi said with a gentleness in his voice that turned Mokuba's heart.
"But school…" He started to protest, feeling that to not even try to fight the pull to leave would be a betrayal of his brother's spirit.
"What's the teacher going to do if you don't turn something in, Mokuba? Believe me, it's not as bad as you imagine. After all, Joey and Tristan barely turned anything in ever."
Mokuba could not help the laugh that erupted from his gut. He realized that resisting was pointless. Yugi was right; he did need to take a break. He felt like he was being swallowed whole by the responsibilities that had been thrust upon him and either they would have to give or he would.
"Alright. Sure. Let's go." He tried to sound resigned, but could not deny the feeling of excitement rising within him.