Ham Man: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, you got that? Well do ya, punk?
…
Oh, okay then. That's good. Carry on…
Chapter 12: Like Father, Unlike Son
The group walked down the crowded Neo Domino streets; Hayato was still moping about his embarrassing loss against Bruno earlier.
"Hey, cheer up dude," Tamaki smiled, "It was only a duel, I lost too you know."
"It wasn't only a duel," Hayato mumbled, "It was a clash of pride, our club against his, and I blew it."
"Relax," Hiro assured his friend, "You'll get him next time!"
"There isn't going to be a next time," Hayato pessimistically replied. "He's way out of my league; he's the son of Yusei and Akiza-freaking-Fudo. They used to be two of the best duellists ever!"
"Yeah," Sora surprisingly agreed, "but Yusei devotes all his time now to his work, he hasn't even participated in a major tournament in years, hell, even a minor one! And Akiza's one of Japan's finest doctors. But I wish they'd go back to duelling one day."
"That would be cool," Hiro replied.
"And I'd be even better than them!" Sora bragged, "I'd be the best duellist ever!"
"Like that'd happen," Hiro smirked, "You lost to Crow the other day. Man that was awesome, meeting Crow Hogan face to face!"
Sora stood motionless for a second as her face turned purple, as if trying to think of a reply. "Why you… little… big person… you!"
"Calm down, beautiful Sora," Tamaki urged, "There's no need to get viol…" Tamaki's pleading was cut off by Sora fist landing on his head. "Never mind…" he slurred, taking a dizzy step back.
"Are guys coming?" Hayato yelled, now a fair way ahead of the others. Everybody quickened their pace to catch up.
"Dude seriously," Hiro whispered into Hayato's ear, "You lost one duel, sure it was sort-of-bad, but who cares?"
"I do,' Hayato simply replied.
"Oh come on…" Hiro whined, stepping back from Hayato, and thinking for a second. "Hey I know, we can go to my Dad's museum, it's only a little way down the next street. There's a really cool samurai display up at the moment."
"Your dad owns a museum!" Tamaki gasped. "Why couldn't you of mentioned that earlier?"
"You never asked," Hiro answered. "So how about that, Hayato? We all go check out the samurai display, it is free… I think."
"Fine," Hayato sighed. "Lead the way."
The group stood in the entrance of the International Neo Domino Museum, a banner hung above the entrance doors, it read 'Until Friday – Oda Nobunaga Exhibit On Display'.
"Let's go inside," Hiro excitedly smiled, grabbing Hayato by the arm and dragging him into the building, with Tamaki and Sora not far behind.
Inside the museum, the group was stopped by an elderly man at entrance desk, "Hey! You kids can't just barge in here!" his attire, a white shirt, dark pants and a dark blue tie, were the usual dress for museum. "What are you doing here anyway? You should all be in school!"
"Sorry Mr. Howa," Hiro apologised. "But the school has been closed for today."
"Oh," Mr. Howa gasped, "Hiro. I didn't recognise you. Why I haven't seen you here since you were a young lad."
Hiro nervously scratched the back of his head, "I've had other things to do recently, that's all."
"Oh, well I guess I better let you get on with your business. By the way, your father is around here somewhere, he's is with a potential investor, I think." Mr. Howa replied.
"Well okay then," Hiro smiled, "have a nice day." But then Hiro turned back around, "Oh one more thing, do you know where the Nobunaga exhibit is? It's what we've come here to see."
"Hmm…" Mr. Howa pondered for a moment, "If I can remember… It's in the main exhibition hall, which is just down that hallway." He pointed to a hallway in the corner of the room. "But there is a requested donation, make sure you pay that, and don't touch anything! You know how your father gets!"
"Thanks," Hiro smiled, as he turned back around, "We'll see you on the way out."
"See you!" Mr. Howa waved, as the group walked off.
In the exhibition hall, the room was fill with many different kinds of armour, and weapons, most of which was behind safety glass, for obvious reasons. The four stood under a large suit of armour, propped up on a carefully carved marble stand, with an angel at each corner. A few old sketches on old paper of a man surrounded the armour. Hiro read from a plaque in front of the exhibit.
"Oda Nobunaga born in 1534, credited as the initiator of the unification of Japan and one of Japan's most successful warlords, controlling a third of Japan before his death in 1582. Known for his mastery of tactics and his ruthless and brutal strategies, he revolutionized the way modern Japanese armies fought using firearms, and remodelled the early Japanese economy. His successors, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu continued, completed and finalized his work, which united Japan for over 250 years, until the Meiji Restoration in 1868."
"That was a mouthful," Hiro panted.
'He sounds scary," Tamaki cowered.
"Oh please," Sora smirked, "He's been dead for hundreds of years. And besides, I could take him."
"Did you even listen to anything I just said?" Hiro asked.
"Why should I?" Sora replied, "I can take on a dead guy any day of the week."
"That's the beautiful spirit, beautiful Sora." Tamaki added.
Hiro sighed and turned to Hayato. "Is any of this working for you?"
"I guess, this stuff is pretty awesome," Hayato sighed.
"See," Hiro smiled, "you feel better now don't you."
"A little," Hayato replied.
"Good," Hiro grabbed Hayato by the shirt sleeve and dragged him away, "let's go see all those old weapons, I bet they look really cool!"
Hiro then tripped over, his attempt to grab something to stop his fall failed, sending him and Hayato tumbling to the ground.
"Ouch," Hiro groaned, "What did I trip on?" Hiro turned around to inspect what tripped him, his jaw dropped in horror. He had chipped a large chunk of the corner of the main display stand. "Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God!" he panicked.
Tamaki and Sora were staring at horror at the sway suit of armour, until it fell backwards off the stand, landing with a loud crash.
Hiro desperately tried to force the chunk back into place, only to have out fall out of place immediately. "Oh God, my dad's going to kill me. Or send me to prison, or worse make me pay off the debt by working here!"
"I don't think you've got your priorities straight." Sora sighed. "That suit fell off. That dead guy's suit fell off the stand."
"NO! The stand is more important." Hiro replied. "I remember back when he first bought this museum. This was the first thing that arrived. It's all the way from Italy, damn it! Hand carved and everything! We're in real trouble"
"Oh Crap!" Tamaki swore, "We're vandals, we destroyed valuable property, we have to run, I can't survive jail, hell I can barely survive school!"
"You mean YOU'RE in trouble," corrected Sora, "you broke it!"
"Don't you think you guys are overreacting," Hayato said, now standing up and rubbing his head. "You should be careful; I hit my head on the floor back there." He then spied the full damage of the calamity. "Oh… Shit…"
"I guess Hayato's right, it was and accident." Hiro panted frantically, "Just calm down and b…"
"Yes Sir, your exhibition is just down the hall," a voice came from down the hall.
"Crap, crap, crap, it's my dad." Hiro whispered as he frantically pointed to a doorway on the other side of the room. "Move it. Move it. Move it."
Everybody hurried toward the door, only just managing to escape the room before two well dressed men entered the room. One of the men looked older and was significantly shorter than the tall well built man.
"Don't notice it. Don't notice it. Don't notice it." Hiro whispered his mantra, as he hid on the other side of the doorway, still clutching the broken piece of the stand. "For the love of God. Do. Not. Notice."
"Oh I think he's going to notice," Sora replied, her teeth chattering.
"I agree the exhibition was a great idea," The older man said, as he and Hiro's father entered the room. "I just hope nothing happens to my…" The two then saw the toppled over armour, and the damaged stand.
"What the…" Hiro's father mouthed, "Who did this."
"My prized possession," the old man whimpered.
"Shit." Hiro cringed, "We're dead."
"My stand!" Hiro's father roared, "Somebody broke my stand!"
"Forget your stand. Nobunaga's armour has been damaged, whoever did this throw them behind bars, and throws those bars behind bars!" The older man said furiously.
"Don't worry Sir." Hiro's father replied. "I'll personally get to the bottom of this. The security cameras would have at least caught a glimpse of the culprit."
"Crap," Hiro hissed, sliding down the wall. "I forgot about the cameras. What do I do? What do I do?"
"We're going to jail," Tamaki panicked, "Don not pass go, do not collect 200."
"I can't go to jail!" Sora added, "I'm not jailbait tough!"
"Okay, everyone calm down." Hayato ordered, "It was an accident, they'll understand." He then gulped, "I hope."
"There's only one thing to do," Hiro sighed, standing up. "You guys go home, I'll see you at school tomorrow, if I'm allowed to leave the house before I'm thirty." Hiro turned to the doorway, and walked back into the exhibition room.
"Right…" Hayato nodded, with some hesitation "let's go." Then he, Sora and Tamaki headed off in a different direction.
"Dad," Hiro sighed, raising the broken part of the stand in his hands. "But I broke the stand, and knocked over the armour. I'm sorry, it was an accident, I tripped and fell."
Hiro's father, and the old man's, faces turned red. Hiro's father then spoke, "Hiro… what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in school."
"School is cancelled for today," Hiro answered. "So I came here to tell you, but I decided to take a look at the Nobunaga exhibit, and then… this happened."
Hiro's father pinched the bridge of his node, while the old man glanced over to the fallen armour.
The old man then spoke. "The damage looks superficial. I guess the repair price to be… 10 million yen."
Hiro's father made a face that looked between embarrassment and rage. "How… much… was… that… again?"
"10, maybe 11, million yen," the old man replied.
"Of course…" Hiro's father winced.
"How can I help?" Hiro hesitantly added. "It's my fault and I demand punishment.
"Well you better punish me too!" Hayato yelled from the doorway, "Because it's my fault as well!"
Earlier.
Hayato, Sora and Tamaki were running toward the main entrance, when suddenly Hayato stopped in his tracks.
Sora turned around while running to see her brother, "what are you doing?" she yelled.
"I can't let Hiro take all the blame, it's my fault too!" Hayato answered as he turned around and ran in the other direction.
"Idiot!" Sora yelled. "I'll see you when you're thirty! Enjoy Prison!"
Ham Man: Sorry about the wait on the update, I've been lazy… again. I also had to a little bit of research on Oda Nobunaga, if my info is wrong, blame Wikipedia.
Plus I've been listening to the ZeXal dub theme, Take a Chance, it's catchy as all hell. Don't know why I didn't listen to it before, though that's probably a good thing considering how much time I spend listening to it.
Well I hope you like this chapter, I guess I just have to Take a Chance there… Sorry I'll never Take a Chance with a pun like again… never mind.
