I stepped down from the podium, relieved that that was over. I hated making public statements. I could care less what the public opinion was of me—but the public opinion of my company was another matter. The press had gobbled up my reports of the Big Five's treachery and their role behind the attempt at my life.
When I returned to the Kaiba Corporations headquarters, I was surprised to find that I could barely make it my office—the entrance to my office was blocked my rows upon rows of flowers mostly from business' expressing their condolences. Condolences my ass. They knew how ruthless I could be—the Big Five was a prime example—and wanted to make sure to get on my good side.
I perused the nametags on the flowers. I was surprised to find many of them were from women—whom I knew only by name. Famous actresses, singers and businesswomen. Rich, highly accomplished women. Probably using this as an excuse to get closer to me, I thought. A simple bouquet caught my eye. Unlike the others, this bouquet was cheap—probably no more than 2000 yen at most—with mostly leaves with a sprinkling of two or three flowers. I picked up the nametag and found myself smiling.
Dear Kaiba—she had written in her elegant handwriting—I hope you are doing okay. When I heard about the attack, I was really worried about you. Please come back to school soon. ~Kisara
School. Although it was low on my priorities at the moment, I knew I had to go. I needed to meet with Pegasus to hand over the documents for the Duel Monsters project—which I had pulled an all-nighter to finish—and I needed to give Kisara a proper answer. And I needed to talk with Muto to finalize the plans for this Saturday. Frowning, I picked up Kisara's bouquet and handed it to my secretary.
"Make sure this finds its way in a vase on my desk. Throw out the rest after you've written thank you letters to the senders," I ordered. My secretary nodded, looking at the pile of bouquets with trepidation.
Deciding that I could deal with work while at school, I changed into my school uniform and headed out. I had made plans to move to a larger residence and had bought a few cars and hired a handful of drivers that Pegasus had recommended. One such driver had taken Mokuba to school earlier and another was holding the door open to my car now. I felt myself slowly returning to the life I had had under Gozaburo—but this time I was in charge. And it felt exhilarating.
When I reached the school, I was greeted by a swarm of curious students—one of the major reasons I had my driver take me to school. He cleared a path for me, and I made it to my classroom with little difficulty. As expected, as soon as I sat down, I was called to the principal's office.
"The news of your attack at Kaiba Corporations is well known throughout the school," the principal said, placing a newspaper down on the desk between us, "I want to confirm that this will not interfere in your studies. Your grades are excellent as usual. We have nothing against your business activities—Maximillion Pegasus attends this school as well, after all—but this attack raises concerns."
"If you are concerned about the safety of the other students while I am at school, I can have bodyguards or the police force stationed at the school. Or if you'd prefer that I do not attend this school, that would suit me just as well," I responded. I had little patience for graying men who lived in the past like this principal.
He cleared his throat.
"Oh no, that won't be necessary, of course. Just want you to be careful," he said uncomfortably.
"If that is all, then I will be returning to my class," I said briskly, rising. The principal nodded, watching me with a worried expression on his face.
I ignored the whispers and glances thrown in my direction and sat down at my desk, opening my laptop. I felt an arm slung around me and continued to type.
"Max, if you tighten that arm any more, I won't be able to breathe," I said in as calm a voice as possible while checking my company email.
"Ah, lively as ever! Good!" he said, releasing me, "So, do you have the documents?"
Without turning from my laptop, I handed him the documents from my briefcase. I felt him surveying the documents carefully.
"Perfect as usual. Just what I'd expect from you, Kaiba boy," he said, sitting on my desk and pushing my laptop aside.
"Do you need something?" I asked, "I have a lot of work to do."
"That press announcement was brilliant—you have many sympathizers, both inside and outside the business world. And you've ensured that the Big Five can do nothing to you. You're quite the celebrity at the school, too," he said, looking around. I ignored him and continued checking my work email with my laptop on my lap, since Pegasus had occupied the entirety of the top of my desk.
"So, do you want to hear about my date yesterday?" he asked cheerfully, closing my laptop. I felt my irritation reach a peak.
"No, that's the last thing I want to hear about," I snapped, "Now will you get off my desk?"
"Aha, there's the usual Seto Kaiba," Pegasus said, sliding off the desk, "Ah, morning Yami."
I looked up from my laptop at Muto, who was watching me with a very concerned expression. He slid into his seat beside me.
"It's not really the Big Five, is it?" he asked me in a low voice.
"No. I have a pretty good hunch that whoever was behind the Cairo attack was behind this one, too. What I'd like to know is why he's targeting me specifically," I said.
"Probably because you pose the greatest threat other than Yami here," Pegasus answered in an equally low voice from behind me. As I watched Yami gaze at his millennium item, a sudden thought occurred to me.
"Our enemy has a millennium item as well…" I muttered.
"Most probably. I've been thinking about what you described about the Cairo attack. You said the men seemed as if they didn't feel pain. What if they were forced to not feel pain?" Muto asked.
"You mean like drugs? Or torture?" I asked. When Muto didn't answer, I continued, "The men who attacked me at Kaiba Corporations also didn't seem to feel pain…and the brain waves in their frontal lobe also concerns me…"
"It must be due to the effect of the millennium item," Muto said after a moment's pause.
"Did your father's research say anything about the specific abilities of each millennium item?" I asked.
"The ancient writings can be quite vague in their meaning—encrypted so that only the pharaoh and his most trusted priests and magi would know the truth. Thus far, my father has been able to determine the powers of the millennium eye, the millennium puzzle and the millennium necklace. The remaining items—the millennium key, rod, ring and scale—remain a mystery that my father is still trying to solve. The power of the millennium necklace, in fact, my father could not figure out until Ishizu Ishtar revealed its powers to him," Muto explained.
"Bullshit," I muttered, after hearing Ishizu Ishtar's name. Muto started at my response. I shook my head.
"So we don't know the identity, nor the abilities of our enemy," Pegasus mused aloud.
"I tried to ask as much from the curator—I know she knows much more than she's telling us," I hissed, "But she refused to say anything."
"We shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly. There must be a good reason why she remained silent," Muto said. I felt my fists clench involuntarily, and felt Pegasus' hand on my shoulder.
"Relax," he muttered in my ear. Was my agitation that obvious?
Thankfully, I was sparing from discussing the curator any further by the beginning of class. As I opened my laptop and glanced through the financial reports by quarter—the Big Five had left quite the mess that I had to clean up—I worked on making the final merge between the conglomerate of companies I had amassed and Kaiba Corporations. I wanted my workers back, but didn't want to fire all the current workers at Kaiba Corporations, either. A smooth transition would be best.
As class continued, I felt Pegasus tense behind me. I almost turned around, but felt a pair of eyes on me. The teacher's eyes. I looked up, confused, until I realized that she wasn't looking at me, but at the desk behind me. At Pegasus. Don't tell me, I thought, inwardly groaning. Ignoring the pheromones around me, I continued with my work.
Merging the two companies was simple on paper, since I owned both. Reorganizing the infrastructure would become a nightmare if not handled properly. I began making a flow chart of the individual departments and management. I would need to condense the management—which would mean axing a good part of my workforce.
I frowned and decided to wait to reorganize until after the Duel Monsters project deal was signed. Depending on the success of the project, I might not need to reduce my workforce too much. The project would also allow me to test the individual abilities of the managers and help me make a more informed decision about whom to keep.
I paused when I felt Muto tap my shoulder. I turned to him and received a folded sheet of paper in my palm. Closing my fingers around the sheet, I almost tossed it. But my curiosity got the better of me.
I opened the sheet of paper, only to realize that it wasn't Muto's handwriting at all.
Hi Kaiba, I'm glad you're back ~Kisara
I smiled and looked over to the far end of the classroom where she was sitting. She was paying full attention as usual, taking notes rapidly. Her long blue hair was tied up into a braid, her bangs falling lightly into her eyes. She turned and caught me staring at her. I felt myself turning red as she smiled at me quickly before returning to her notes. This wouldn't do. I needed to be clear with her.
I turned the note over and wrote quickly: Thank you for the flowers and for your concern. –Kaiba
I passed the note over to Muto, indicated to him to send it over to Kisara. He smiled at me knowingly—I had forgotten that he had been there when she kissed me as well—and sent the note in her direction. I watched as the note reached her. The smile that spread across her face at my note sent a shiver down my spine.
No, I decided, this would not do at all.