NOA walked into the shop with a smile on his face. He had a cool six hundred dollars in his pocket, and any child with that much money would have a bounce in his step, although Noa's bounce was somewhat hindered by the cane he still had to use in order to walk.

Yugi noted the buoyancy in the boy's demeanor, and smiled in turn. "Hey, Noa. How's it going?"

"Good," Noa said. "Really good."

Mokuba walked into the store shortly after his stepbrother, a grin on his face as well. "Yep. Noa's probably my brother's favorite employee right now. Hey, Noa, you oughtta apply for a higher position. He'd prob'ly give it to ya."

Noa laughed. "Maybe. It was only a one-time thing, though. It's not a full-time position. Seto said he'd offer more work for me if his workers need help again, but I'm not actually employed."

Mokuba shook his head. "Oh, c'mon, Noa. You got a bunch of money for that. It has to make your head swell a little, right? That meeting you had with Seto in his office? I don't think you realize just how…monumental that was.He didn't break anything!"

Noa shrugged. "Maybe that just shows how bad the rest of Kaiba-Corp's employees are. I did my job, that's all. It shouldn't be anything monumental that I did my job."

Mokuba nodded. "Well, sure, I guess that's true. People should do their jobs the best they can, 'cuz that's what they're paid to do…still, not many people think of things that way. 'Sides you and Seto, I think there might be four people working at Kaiba-Corp who think that way."

Yugi was looking at Noa with surprise. "Is that what you were doing all week? Working at Kaiba-Corp?"

Noa nodded. "Yep. I wanted to make some money to buy cards so I could make my own deck, and Seto needed someone to help one of his teams work on his virtual reality project, so he offered the job to me."

"How much did you make?"

"Same as any other software engineer at Kaiba-Corp: twenty dollars an hour."

"Whoa!" Yugi exclaimed. "And you worked for a week, didn't you?"

"Six hundred," Noa confirmed, smiling. "I think I can get some cards now."

"Noa, you could get seven boxes of cards with all that!"

"I've been thinking of buying a box, actually. Is there a certain set you'd recommend?"

"Well, aside from a certain few cards from other sets that you'll need, I'd recommend Black Zenith, the set your brother just bought from us. We still have a couple of boxes left. Some of the best cards I've ever seen are in that set."

Noa nodded. "Okay. I'll go with that. What cards should I get from the other sets?"

Yugi waved Noa over, showing him the various cards on display under the glass counter. "There's Mirror Force right there, and Pot of Greed, and Monster Reborn…let's see, Polymerization is a must if you're gonna use fusion monsters, obviously…and, uh…"

"What about Enchanted Javelin?" Mokuba asked, approaching the counter and pointing to a trap card.

"Ah!" Yugi said, "Yes! Thanks, Mokuba. Yeah, that's a really good one. Now, these cards aren't worth a whole lot, you know. So if you were a collector, I wouldn't recommend these. There are first editions in the back of the shop. But you're a player, so I doubt you mind. Right?"

Noa shook his head. "Doesn't matter to me. They're still legit, right?"

Yugi nodded. "Of course."

"Okay. It's fine, then."

Yugi nodded. "So, you want a box of Black Zenith and these ones here…"


SETO walked slowly into his office and slumped down in his chair, wiped his face with a hand. "Damn it…" he murmured softly, looking up at the ceiling. "What is wrong with people…?"

He wondered, seriously confused, how he had managed to replace his former board of directors, the Big Five, with five more men just as pompous and malicious as they had been. Was it just bad luck? Was it a law of the universe?

His phone rang, and he slammed a finger on the speakerphone button. "What?" he snarled.

"Mr. Franks wishes to speak with you, sir," came his secretary's voice.

"Put him through," Seto snapped although he wanted nothing to do with the man. Enoch Franks was a total idiot, a man who never worried about anything except keeping his job. It didn't matter if he did his job poorly, or not at all, as long as he had it. He cared nothing for the quality of his work or the quality of Kaiba-Corp's products, only Kaiba-Corp's reputation, which seemed an oxymoron to Seto but which made perfect sense to Franks.

"Mr. Kaiba, how nice that you would allow me the honor of speaking with--"

"Get to the point, Franks, I don't have the time to play your games."

"Very well, sir, I'll cut to the chase. The board and I are quite concerned with a recent decision you have made regarding your latest project."

"What?" Seto growled, wishing he would come right out and say it.

"We have received word that you had a…child work on your virtual pod prototype?"

"I did."

"Sir…you did not come to us about this."

"I don't have to ask your permission, Franks, I am your employer. Noa Kaiba is rightfully allowed a position at Kaiba-Corp as per his father's order. Perhaps you should look into that. Regardless of his age, Noa performed the task I gave him and performed it well, which is more than I can say for most of Kaiba-Corp's employees."

"Be that as it may, sir, he is not a Kaiba-Corp employee. He is not on our payroll. You've taken work away from the team in charge of the virtual pods and given it to some kid."

"I did not give the work to some kid, I gave it to someone who could do the work. I don't care that I've supposedly taken money away from the VRPG team and given it to Noa, I only care about the project's success. That is what matters to me, not whether or not I'm being fair to people who can't do the job I pay them to do."

"Sir, such a viewpoint is not--"

"Don't say it, Franks; I'm not in the mood to hear your communistic prattling. If this is all you wanted to talk to me about, then this conversation is over."

"…Very well, sir. There is one other matter I wish to discuss with you. Kaiba-Corp's reputation hinges on your own, sir, as I'm sure you know, and it has come to our attention that Yugi Motou still holds the title of--"

Seto jabbed the speakerphone button again, cutting Franks off.

"I'll duel Motou when I feel like it," he said in a low, annoyed voice. "Not when you snap your fingers and whistle at me…"


Hmmm...not as long as I'd hoped, but it's here. Chapter 9 should be posted shortly. And as a side note (I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but if I have, I'll reiterate it in case it was missed), I realize Domino City is in Japan, and as such American currency wouldn't be used. However, since I've only ever watched the dub, I've decided that - in my stories - Domino City is in the state of California. Why California? I live there. It helps. In any case, i know it's innacurate, but it doesn't really take away from the story in my opinion. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.