"Marik, this is my little sister Amane." Ryou introduced them with a sense of pride. "Amane, this is my friend Marik Ishtar."
"It's nice to meet you," Marik greeted with an easy smile, shaking hands with Amane.
"Nice to meet you too. Ryou's told me a lot about you."
"Oh?" Marik's heart stuttered as he glanced at Ryou with a questioning look, but his friend reassured him with twinkling eyes.
"She's just itching to duel you. She's watched as many of your Battle City duels as she could to prepare for it." Ryou put an arm around her shoulders and gave them a slight squeeze. "She's got a nasty deck, though, so watch out!"
"Hey, no spoilers!" Amane elbowed Ryou in the ribs, so he dropped his arm from her shoulder so he could poke her in the side. She squeaked indignantly and Ryou laughed at her, Marik laughing a little too.
"I'd love to duel you some time—" Marik began but was cut off by Ryou's eager sister.
"We could duel right now, if you're up for it." Amane seemed just as keen as Ryou'd claimed.
"Slow down, sis, he just got off a thirteen hour flight," Ryou chided, patting her shoulder with a patronizing smile. "You'll have plenty of time to duel him before he leaves."
"How about tomorrow?" Marik proposed.
"Sounds good to me."
"Where's Mokuba?" Marik asked, realizing that he was missing.
"He left a few minutes ago to make Christmas cookies with our mum," Ryou answered, his face taking on a new glow. Marik felt a small twinge of envy at Ryou's happiness, but reminded himself that Ryou'd suffered more than his share of tribulations in life and that his joy was still fresh and new. "Mum likes Mokuba a lot. I think spending time with him makes her feel like she's making up for some of the things she missed while we were separated, and Mokuba's nice enough to go along with it."
"Mokuba's always been a good kid," Marik agreed. "I remember him being nice to everybody." He glanced up at the TV screen and asked, "So, what game are you guys playing?"
"We're playing the old Grinch Dreamcast game," Amane answered with a grin. "It's pretty well done considering how old it is."
Marik was already lost. "Grinch? What is that?"
"You've never seen The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?" Amane asked in shock.
Marik shook his head. If she was shocked by that, then he knew that Ryou hadn't told her about his family's origins either, for the which he was grateful.
"And you've never read the book?"
"No, I haven't."
"That's crazy! Do we have a copy of it lying around somewhere?" That question was directed at her brother.
"I think we have one in the library. I can go get it if you want me to."
"Yes, because he needs to see this." Amane turned and picked up the controller so she could save their progress. "In the mean time, I will set up the movie. We'll read the book, then we'll watch the movie, and then he'll know what we're talking about."
"Which movie?"
"Both of them!"
Marik found Amane's enthusiasm appealing, and as Ryou left to fetch the book, he found that he didn't actually feel uncomfortable being left alone with her, as he thought he might be. While he'd wanted to visit with Ryou's family for the holidays, he hadn't felt entirely confident about how welcome he'd be here or how long he'd get along with everyone. Things seemed to be going well so far, though, so he felt hopeful.
As Kaiba rode in the backseat of his limo answering emails on his phone, he wondered how Mokuba was doing with his assignment. In early December, Mokuba had come to his brother with an odd request that had changed things between them.
"Seto, can I talk to you?"
Kaiba looked up from his computer screen to his brother, who stood just inside the doorway to his office.
"Shouldn't you be at school?"
"It's lunch time. I called Roland to send the limo for me." Mokuba rocked back and forth on his feet, suddenly feeling a bit uncertain.
"What's on your mind?" Seto saved his spreadsheet and looked up as Mokuba walked closer and placed his hands on the far edge of his brother's desk.
"So..." Mokuba looked troubled, or maybe he was just thoughtful. "I'm the vice president of KaibaCorp, right?"
"Yes, you still technically hold that title." Kaiba sat back in his chair, arms crossed over his broad chest as he watched his little brother process this.
"But I don't do any work."
"No, you don't." He calmly stated the fact, careful not to sound accusatory lest Mokuba take it to heart.
"Do you have more work to do because of that?"
"Most likely," Kaiba answered after a moment's thought.
"I want to work," Mokuba declared, the thoughtful look leaving his face and replaced by determination.
Kaiba certainly hadn't been expecting that.
"I want to learn to do what you do."
Seto looked at his brother for a few moments as he contemplated Mokuba's request. Mokuba was waiting, afraid that he might be refused. He watched every movement his brother made as Seto stood and rolled up his shirt sleeves, crossing over to the wall-mounted whiteboard. He picked up a blue marker, uncapped it, and began to write something across the top of the board.
"Lesson number one: correlation does not equal causation."
Mokuba plucked a blank legal pad from the stash on his brother's bookshelf and picked up a pen so he could take notes.
"Just because two or more events occur at close temporal proximity does not necessitate a causal relationship between them," Seto continued, drawing a diagram. "Between any two proximal occurrences, there are never any more than three possible causal relationships in addition to the possibility of their being entirely unrelated.
"1) A causes B.
"2) B causes A.
"3) A and B are both caused by an unknown X.
"Using variables assumes a closed system that doesn't exist in the real world, so you must always be open to the possibility of an unknown X. Before making any causal claim, you must have evidence to support it. When I get home this evening I'll have an assignment for you so you can practice applying this. It's a lesson in formal logic more than a lesson in business, but it's a necessary foundation from which to begin." Seto capped the blue marker and turned around to face his brother, who looked so focused as he jotted down notes while seated in the oversized office chair that Seto couldn't help but be reminded of his younger self.
"When is it due?" he asked, looking up as soon as he'd finished writing.
"Look, I'm not going to set deadlines for you. Either you want to do this or you don't. If it's what you want, you'll turn it in to me when it's done, and if you're having trouble with it, you can ask for help. It's your decision."
Seto had gained control of KaibaCorp when he was his brother's age, and he'd been groomed with all sorts of advanced education even before that. It had been to his detriment, and he wasn't going to make that mistake with Mokuba. Did he want his little brother to become his business partner and work with him to run the company? Of course he did, but not unless Mokuba wished it too.
"Okay, thank you, Seto." The young high-schooler seemed satisfied with this arrangement. He also felt honored to have the opportunity to learn from the brother he'd always believed to be a genius.
Kaiba was pleased Mokuba had taken an interest in the family business, and so far, he'd demonstrated promising potential. Mokuba shared his brother's intelligence, but Seto wasn't surprised. He was a Kaiba after all.