Dear Guest: Thank you again for your kind review. I hadn't realized it, but yes, out of the five couples in the story only one is currently happy. This could be an issue of Half Hearted. But, as in life, sometimes you must love the one you're with, rather than be with the one you love. You have a lovely day as well. SJ
Chapter 23, Piece 6 * * * * * * * *
"So, I invited Kaiba to hang with us at the aquarium," Jou said casually over breakfast.
Honda, Otogi and Ryou all nearly choked.
"Ok," Yugi replied without hesitation. "Good. Did he say 'yes'?"
Jou grabbed another bowl of miso and shrugged. "He's gotta fix a computer at the aquarium anyway, so he said he might. Kinda jacked up, the way they just call him and don't give a shit about his life."
"What life!" Honda snorted. "He doesn't have friends and his only hobbies are dueling and money."
"You wouldn't have friends or hobbies either if your job treated you like a product, not a person," Yugi rebuked him. "I think he's actually trying. So if he joins us, you be nice."
"Me!"
"Yes, you!"
Seto had to wire his personal laptop to the aquarium's computer as a slave drive, then download the files he needed. The drivers hadn't been updated since the initial installation. And, while reviewing the program, he discovered several instances where coding was inefficient or had been improved since the original creation. He made changes as he worked, actually losing track of time.
It was the most pleasant thing he'd done in ages. It was even fun.
The only nuisance was that the user interface was on the opposite side of the room, forcing him to move back a forth as he tested processes and changes.
"Wow!" Someone behind him gasped. "I didn't know there were orange sharks!"
Seto turned and looked up. "There aren't. That option shouldn't be available." He looked at his watch, frowned at being almost an hour behind schedule, then looked at the speaker.
Mutou was gazing up at the holo-sharks swimming over their heads. Honda, Bakura and Otogi were looking at the real sharks in the nearby tank.
Jounouchi was looking at him.
"Ah. Yes. I'm afraid this has taken longer than anticipated. This unit needed an entire overhaul. The software was archaic."
He crossed the room back to the terminal and fixed the color options. Then he crossed back to the user screen and ran the shark program again. The animal appeared blue-grey.
"So." Jou watched him work, remembering the muscular body hidden under those conservative clothes. "How long you think?"
Seto crossed the room again. "I am still downloading a system update. And I have five more species to review." He crossed back. "Maybe another hour, if all goes well." He began crossing the room again.
"You're gonna spend an hour wearing out this carpet!" Jou laughed. "Could you use a hand?"
"I hardly need help operating a game I designed for children!" Seto bristled.
"So then it can't be too hard for me, right?" Jou grinned. "I wasn't thinking of your skill, I meant your time." Jou went to the user screen. "How's it work?"
Kaiba hesitated. An opportunity to work with Jou was rare. "I wouldn't want to hold you all up."
"They're feeding the manta rays upstairs in ten minutes!" Yugi exclaimed. He had a map and a schedule. "If we hurry, we can get a good spot! Come on; we'll be back, Jou."
Before the others could respond, Yugi hustled them down the hall.
Jou laughed again. "See? Toldya. We pretty much play everything by ear."
"I see." Kaiba nodded and silently vowed to send Mutou an actual ton of rice in thanks. "Very well. Select the type of creature here, species, size, dimension of the scene, time, and run."
"Ok, sooooo, like this?" Jou press a few selections and a tiger shark began swimming the length of the room."
"Yes. Except I've already finished those. Start here and we'll work through the options."
"Cool. What are we looking for?"
"Anything that doesn't load properly. Like an orange shark."