Eventually, the framing story will kind of meld into the rest, because the timeline will catch up. But there's still a fair amount of ground to cover before we catch up to the present. Each section of this story serves the purpose of introducing something.

Part 1 introduced the heroes.

Part 2 introduced the villains.

Part 3 introduced the main conflict.

Part 4 will introduce the aftermath of that conflict.

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"Niisama tried to help me. He—he really did. I know he did. But . . ."

Yuugi and Jounouchi both knew that the Kaibas' relationship was complicated. For several years, Mokuba had basically been the only person who ever advocated on his brother's behalf; pretty much everybody else in Domino City, Yuugi and Jounouchi included, had written him off as a power-drunk sociopath. Mokuba was his only cheerleader, the only one in his corner.

Even Kaiba himself had admitted—once, and he'd have denied it in court, Jounouchi was sure—that the general consensus on his character was probably accurate. He was one fucked-up son of a bitch, and he knew it.

For a long time, they'd all assumed that Mokuba wasn't aware of this, though. They'd all thought that he was blind with adoration for the man he called "Niisama," because who would give a title like that to someone they were afraid of? For the first time, seeing the agonized expression on the young Kaiba's face, Yuugi and Jounouchi realized that he did know; Kaiba Mokuba was painfully aware of his beloved Niisama's lack of general humanity. Mokuba, in fact, probably understood it better than most people, and there was something incredibly sad about that.

Kiko put her hand back on Mokuba's shoulder. "You called me Bocchan's maid, when you first arrived." She smiled. "The truth is, I'm a social worker. You might call me a live-in therapist. Seto-sama's social graces are one of our more pertinent projects at the moment."

Mokuba blushed slightly.

". . . There's nothing to be embarrassed about, kid," Jounouchi said. "Sometimes you need to just, well, you know. Unleash all the emotional crap that builds up in your head. Social workers, shrinks, lonely old ladies at the mall. Whoever. I mean, look at us. Today. Are you going to tell me you wanted to tell us everything? No. You were venting. Nothing wrong with that."

"I'm not embarrassed for me," Mokuba muttered, lowering his eyes and staring at the floor.

Kiko cut in again: "Seto-sama grew up learning that therapy—any kind of emotional support, really—was a sign of unforgivable weakness. I know very little about him, honestly. I'm sure you could teach me a thing or two. But just from what I've observed, in the past months, it must have taken a tremendous amount of courage for Seto-sama to admit that he didn't know what to do this time." She glanced at Mokuba. "You know what it meant, when he did that, don't you, Bocchan?"

Mokuba bit his lower lip, closed his eyes as though he could will the bad feelings away. ". . . I—Niisama . . ."

"He cares about you, Bocchan," Kiko said, and the conviction in her voice was such that even Jounouchi had a hard time arguing the fact; Jounouchi who, for the most part, had spent most of his high school career trying to put together an I Hate Kaiba club. "He loves you," Kiko continued. "Even if he doesn't remember how to show it, he does love you." It was obvious from the painful confusion on the young Kaiba's face that he wanted to be reassured. Kiko glanced at the other two, looking expectant.

"If he didn't think you were worth changing for," Jounouchi said, "he wouldn't be trying. I'm not going to pretend I know all about Kaiba or whatever, but something's different about him. I think you oughtta listen to, ah—Kiko, right? Listen to Kiko. She knows what's up."

Yuugi just smiled. And it was Yuugi; the dark spirit of his partner had retreated for now. "When Kaiba-kun found out, how did he react?"

Mokuba blinked, seemed to think back for a long while, before a smile slowly spread on his lips.

". . . He got mad."

"The Kaiba-kun I remember," Yuugi said, "the Kaiba-kun that we met at school, the Kaiba-kun that tried to steal my grandpa's card . . . he would have been disgusted. There wouldn't have been any anger in it. Not directed at the criminal, anyway. And I've seen Kaiba-kun lately. He's not disgusted by you. He's not ashamed of you. He's scared for you. He wants to do right by you. I'm sure of it. I'd bet my life on it."

Mokuba's smile widened the slightest bit. Then it vanished, and he said, slowly, like he didn't want to admit it: ". . . He was disgusted. In the beginning."

Jounouchi grimaced. "Well . . . baby steps, I suppose. Can't go from power-drunk psycho to doting big brother in a week, you know. Tried that one once. Damn near drove myself to drinking."

". . . Baby steps," Mokuba repeated, and the smile came back.