Chapter 7 : Co-Op Gaming

Seto leaned back into the leather seat and felt the car come to life underneath him as Roland turned the key in the ignition. His left leg throbbed in pain, and he slightly tightened his grip on the door as Roland backed out of the parking lot of the hospital. He wished he hadn't been so stubborn and simply taken the pain medication the doctor offered. Suppressing a groan as he moved slightly in his seat, he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"This physical therapy shit is so awful," he thought to himself. "How is putting me through so much pain really helping me? I swear, my leg feels worse now than it did when I woke up this morning..." Opening his eyes, he glanced down at his cast. "Funny how my broken bone doesn't hurt as much as my twisted muscle. Why didn't they put my leg in a cast while they were at it? Why just let it go? I can't walk, that's for damn sure. So why not do something to straighten it out? I should really do some research on what is happening with my body right now. That way I can call out the doctors if they try to bullshit me. There has to be a better way of fixing my leg than making me pedal for a long hour and stretch for fifteen minutes."

Sighing, he glanced out the window at the city. In the distance, he could see the towering building of KaibaCorp. The sight made him flinch, and he swiftly turned his attention away. "How shameful. I can't even look at my own company. Mokuba insists I stay home, but he doesn't have to tell me. If I were to show up in a wheelchair at my own company..."

Biting his lower lip, he reflected on the work he had missed and sighed again. "I'm going to have to start beta testing this game today if I wish to get back on track. Mokuba said he was going to start looking at some marketing tactics. We'll have to begin preparing presentations of demos and what-not. In fact, we should probably already have a demo out in order to get the fanbases talking. Perhaps he can do some online marketing, start some discussions up in forums and get some interviews with the leading video game magazines. Those wouldn't be hard to organize."

His mind was reeling so much with options, paths they could take, processes to get done, that before he realized it, he was entering his property through the familiar stone archway. Glancing forward, he blinked in surprise upon seeing another car parked in the long driveway. It didn't look like a car a businessman would have; it's dark green hue was slightly dirty, and there was a significant dent in the back. "Roland, whose car is that?"

"I believe that is Anzu Mazaki's car, Mr. Kaiba," Roland answered.

Seto's heart skipped a beat. "Fuck... I forgot about her."

The car soon came to a stop. Roland, taking the keys out of the ignition, swiftly popped the trunk open with the wheelchair inside and got out. Seto pushed his own door open and noted Anzu approaching him. The sounds of the wheelchair caught his attention, and he watched as Roland deftly unfolded it and pushed it towards him.

"Just ignore her...just ignore her..." Seto mentally burned in utter shame as he carefully gripped the wheelchair and pulled himself up. Quickly twisting himself around, he slumped back into the leather seat and watched as Roland closed the door shut for him. By now, Anzu was standing right next to him, and he swallowed the lump in his throat before turning to look at her. He glanced up and was surprised by how tall she was in comparison to him now that he was in the wheelchair. Her hips came up to his armrests, and he had to look up to see her face. She was wearing a pair of black capri pants, and the morning sun made her light blue shirt shine warmly.

"Morning, Kaiba," she greeted in her usual cheerful voice. "How are you doing?"

Seto grunted. "Been better," he curtly replied. Her smile curdled slightly, he noted, but he ignored it as Roland pushed him to the front of the house. Fortunately Gozaburo had thought to put a small ramp next to the stairs, else Seto was sure he wouldn't even leave the house due to the hassle the stairs would cause him. Watching Anzu climb the stairs, however, while he had to be pushed was tough to swallow. She seemed completely oblivious to his feelings of shame, though, for she continued smiling at him.

"How was your physical therapy session?"

"Painful."

"What do they have you doing?"

Seto frowned and looked over at her. Roland was fishing for his keys in his pocket, and Seto briefly wondered how he had lost them on the way from the car to the door. "Pedaling," he answered. "Pedaling a stupid bicycle."

"They don't have you doing stretches?" she inquired. He blinked in surprise.

"No. Just at the end. Why would they?"

"Because whenever we get people into the dance studio for some sort of therapy, it mostly involves stretches in order to rebuild the muscle. Just putting you on a bike is actual training, not necessarily physical therapy."

"More proof that I need to do research." The sound of the front door unlocking caught his attention, and he was soon pushed into the main foyer of his manor. The smell of new roses filled the room, and Seto noticed the new indigo pot near the stairwell. "Irika..."

"Your house is quite lovely, Kaiba," Anzu remarked. "I love the style. And are those roses I smell?"

Not knowing what to say, he muttered, "Thanks. And yes... Irika must have planted some this morning."

"Where would you like to go, Mr. Kaiba?" questioned Roland.

"To the game room," he replied. "I need to start beta testing that game."

"Of course."

Getting there took a little longer than desired, for Seto had to be pushed around the various stands holding vases of flowers or standing underneath paintings. He memorized their positions and could easily avoid them while walking, plus they added a touch of life to the otherwise empty hallways. But with him in a wheelchair, they just served as obstacles. "Perhaps I should ask Irika to move those for the time being. Just while I'm in this wheelchair. We can put them upstairs in my room or a spare bedroom in order to make space."

They soon entered the game room, and he smirked at the gasp he heard Anzu elicit. "Mokuba said he gave you the tour last night," he remarked as Roland pushed him to the end of the sofa. "So why do you sound so surprised?"

"He didn't show me this room," Anzu answered, taking baby steps into the room.

He scoffed. "It's just a game room."

"It looks bigger than my entire apartment..."

Seto watched as she approached the billiard table and looked around. In front of him was the large entertainment system, bigger than the one he had purchased for the living room. The largest HD t.v. he could find stood in front of him in an extravagent, mahogany entertainment system, with two large speakers surrounding the t.v., one on each side. The two shelves above were filled with video games of all different systems, and he watched as Roland opened the cabinet containing the Playstation4, the system he and Mokuba would release their game on.

"Is the game in the system, Mr. Kaiba?" Roland suddenly asked.

Seto mentally cursed. "No. It's in the computer over there."

Roland nodded, and Seto watched as he walked down the length of the room, past the entertainment system and two couches, towards the computer. He had set up a makeshift office at the end of the room in front of a large bay window, granting him a view of the garden outside while he worked. As he watched, however, a soft "meow" caught his attention, and a smile automatically glued itself across his lips as he turned to see Yuki approaching him.

"Hey Yuki," he whispered. Patting his lap, he chuckled when she jumped up to greet him. She took a seat on his lap, and he began petting her behind her ears, right where she liked it. She began to purr at the attention.

"Mokuba told me how you rescued that cat," Anzu remarked, taking a seat next to Seto on the end of the couch. "She's very pretty."

"Her name is Yuki," Seto stated.

Anzu nodded. She leaned in and whispered, "Hey Yuki."

"She doesn't normally-" To his surprise, the cat took a step forward and sniffed at Anzu's hand, which she held out as if ready to pet him. Anzu chuckled and scratched behind Yuki's ears, right where Seto had been petting her, and the cat purred in reply.

"She's so adorable!"

"Yeah..." Petting her, he smirked when Yuki immediately returned to looking at him. "Though she usually doesn't take kindly to strangers."

"So I'm an exception?"

"That's one word for it." By now, Roland had returned with the disc and was placing it into the Xbox.

"So what are you going to do now?" Anzu asked.

"The disc contains the entire game Mokuba and I have been working on for the past two years, just as though I had sold it," Seto explained. "It's finally done; I believe I managed to work out all the kinks and errors in the game. Now I wish to play through the entire game to make sure there are no final glitches. This game needs to be perfect."

"Mind if I watch?"

"Didn't you bring something to keep you occupied?"

"Not really. I was going to bring a book, but I woke up late this morning, so I didn't have much time to think about it."

A sudden thought struck him, and for a brief second, Seto questioned his sanity. "No... Absolutely not..." But his brain was quick to rationalize the irrational idea. "Mokuba and I did make this game to allow players to play in an offline two-player co-operation mode. More of Mokuba's ideas; he said he wanted to play it with a friend at some point. And it would be good to see how someone who never played a video game as far as I'm aware gets used to the game. It would give me a chance to see how intuitive the game is for newcomers. Plus it would keep her from annoying the hell out of me and interrupting." Roland handed him the oculus rift, the machine that allowed him to see directly through the avatar's perspective, and before he could think of what he was saying, he said, "Roland, get her the second oculus rift."

"Sir...?"

Seto looked over at Anzu and smirked. "You're stuck sitting here with me. You're going to get bored and interrupt me with questions, whether you mean to or not. So instead of getting bored, you're going to help me beta test this game. We can play co-operatively, and it will give me a second pair of eyes since Mokuba can't be here to help."

Anzu's eyes widened in shock. "B-B-But I've never played a Playstation game..." she stuttered. "I mean, I've seen Yugi and the gang play, but I never played myself. I don't own any systems."

"Even better," he insisted, watching as Roland clumsily gave her the second oculus rift and controller. "It's hard for me to judge difficulty since I've made the game myself. You can inform me if something doesn't make sense or if something is too easy or difficult."

"Are...you sure about this?"

"No. I have no idea what I'm thinking right now. In fact, I'm pretty sure this morning's physical therapy just caused my brain to fry." Watching her fumble with the oculus rift, he held it up and smirked. "Watch me."

After messing with straps for a few minutes, Seto finally managed to get his and Anzu's oculus rifts on. Feeling the controller in his hands, he smiled upon feeling Yuki curl up in his lap, knowing Anzu couldn't see him. "Okay Roland, turn the game on."

"And let's see if I really have lost my sanity by inviting her to play with me."