Author's Note: Okay, hi! I know we're all here for Seto, and plot buildup can be annoying but I promise he comes back in chapter four. And there will be a whole lot of him following that. I promise a shirtless Seto, and I shall deliver a shirtless Seto.
X
It was Friday night. And Friday night meant sushi and karaoke.
Marie leaned back in her office chair and sighed. She was working overtime again, which had become the norm over the past few years. If not for the prospect of getting rip-roaring drunk and screaming her heart out on stage in front of a bunch of alcohol-dredged partygoers, she would have stayed glued to her chair well into the night. The majority of the day had been spent hunting down and deleting negative comments on the KC social media pages. In the beginning, she had been naive enough to think that her job as the KC social media manager would be a paradise of snapping pics and coming up with creative taglines. But somebody in upper management had a bone to pick with every middle school-aged naysayer with a keyboard. She was paid handsomely to essentially do damage control 24/7. She felt her humanity stripping away with every abrasive comment she deleted.
Ryo burst into her office and quickly closed the door behind him. He strolled towards her desk and slammed her laptop shut. "Still on that damn laptop?" He demanded. "Girl, I'm 'bout ready to explode! Gonna throw this tiny ass in a trapezoid all over the dance floor."
He placed his hands on her desk and began to wiggle his butt left and right, a look of pure undisturbed concentration on his face. She guffawed and fell back into her chair. The camera in the corner of her office flashed red but there was no reason to worry. Three years ago, she had slapped a black strip of construction tape across the lens. No one seemed to notice or particularly care. Monitoring their social media manager seemed to be very low on the list of KC priorities. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about this.
She quickly packed up her things as Ryo, singing Doja Cat, tried to fall into a splits in front of her desk. The execution was unsuccessful and he stumbled back up with a red face.
"Sara's about to go flying out of her seat, 3-2-1 blast off style. That girl needs a drink," he said in embarrassment as he brushed the wrinkles out of his pants. They walked to the door and he stood behind her as she turned the key in the lock.
"What's wrong with her now?" Marie asked as they walked down the hall. A few employees had their office doors open to let in a bit of fresh air, or perhaps dispel the illusion of being locked in a tiny cage. They kept their eyes on their work as Marie and Ryo passed, never once glancing up to say hello or acknowledge the presence of the two. The sound of rapid typing and telephones ringing filled the air like a depressing ambiance.
"Between you and me," Ryo whispered, "Kaiba's about to unveil something big-"
"He's good at that, isn't he? Unveiling big things…"
"In your dreams, girlie." Ryo snickered as they turned the corner. This brought them into a hall snaking between two large windows. Beyond the windows, several large, glowing computer screens took up either side of the wall. Below them, hundreds of rows of brand new computers sat on interlinking desks spread out across the room. During the day, these desks would be occupied by leagues of men and women dressed in identical uniforms. Marie always felt as if there was something dystopian about the way that they sat immobile with their fingers flying and eyes shadowy beneath blue holographic lenses. Ryo had offered to wrangle her a seat in this department but she had quickly declined.
"No, listen. Sara said that Kaiba's been working his Cyber Security team to the bone these past few weeks. As in no time for bathroom breaks, and no time to take a rest in the grave. 'Tween you and me, Marie, I think he's on the verge of launching a new duel disk."
"Version number five hundred and twenty-six?" She asked. Ryo rolled his eyes and pushed the door to the Cyber Security room open. Normally, he would have had to use his ID to get in but someone had left the door open. Not like it made a difference, really. His level of clearance opened doors everywhere in the KC network. She was lucky if hers let her use the vending machine downstairs.
"Nah. This one's different. There's something special about it."
"That means there's gonna be hate comments galore," she moaned. "There goes my vacation to Belize."
"It's okay! We'll get you so drunk tonight that you won't even remember that you're in Domino City," he nudged her as she walked through the door. "How's that for a vacay?"
"Deal."
They found Sara waiting for them at the bottom-most row of computers. When she saw them approaching, she whipped her electronic glasses off of her face and threw them on the desk.
"Let me tell you something," Sara said as she climbed the stairs towards them. Her plastic badge thumped against the black embroidered KCCS patch as she walked. Her wig - black and curled into a uniform bob beneath her chin - still looked fresh and sleek despite the hours of work that she had put in. Having a short, black bob was a mandate for all females in the Cyber Security department. It wasn't an option. It was widely believed that Kaiba was a sucker for sharp uniformity, even if he only ever saw the Cyber Security team in passing. Anybody with an obvious sense of personal style rarely made it past the initial stages of an interview. Tattoos were covered, makeup was discouraged, earrings were worn at a single stud per ear minimum, and only a simple wedding band was allowed. The straight, knee-length skirt and luminous white zip-up jacket worn by the female staff was an impressive and yet intimidating ensemble.
"There's a reason why the number of daily cyber attacks made on the KC corporation is confidential," Sara said. "If you guys knew how many cyber sleuths with a bone to pick I have to fend off, you'd blow a gasket."
"Jaded, overworked, and underpaid never looked so good," Marie said as she held up her phone. "Say cheese!"
Sara grinned broadly and spun around with her hands in the air. Marie caught a short, three-second video and quickly saved it to her phone. In it, Sara looked stunning and piercingly professional in her sharp white suit. But happy, too. It was a good catch and would provide a much-needed light-heartedness to the KC Instagram account.
"Hey, Sara-kins. How do you feel about being the face of today's Entertainment Emporium web post?"
"Moi? Bring a smile to families seeking entertainment in the bleakness of today's reality? Count me in!"
"Good!"
Marie swiped through the hundreds of tabs open on her phone until she found the one labeled 'Entertainment Emporium Acct.' She uploaded the video of Sara spinning around and typed in the title 'Me, when I find out that I can get 20% off all regular price purchases at the Entertainment Emporium.' She pressed the upload button and watched as the likes began to roll in. The Entertainment Emporium was a small toy shop owned by Kaiba Corporation smack dab in the middle of the city. She had been trying for days to figure out ways in which she could draw people into their newest sales gimmick. The number of followers on the EE account had been in a sharp decline recently. As it turned out, people just weren't interested in neutral banners and bland slogans. She was willing to try something new, maybe appeal to the growing meme culture which was starting to prevail across the web. With her exuberant face and flying hair, Sara would be perfect.
Marie had no idea that posting such a video would forever change her life.
"Get up offa that thang," Ryo said with another nudge which sent her phone bouncing in her hands. "There's a such thing as clocking out mentally, you know. I will train you in these ways."
"Sorry," Marie said, stuffing her phone in her pocket. She was amazed. In the few seconds that the post had been up, over a hundred likes had been garnered. She couldn't wait to see what the next few hours would hold.
X
The trio pulled up to the karaoke club dressed in their finest Friday Night attire. Sara had insisted that they try out a new bar, one that was known for being seedy and rowdy. She was tired of working and ready to let loose for all that she was worth. The black wig had long ago been ditched and now a fountain of curly strawberry-blonde hair cascaded around her shoulders.
"Fuck KaibaCorps," she hollered as she walked through the door, casting her ringed middle finger to the sky.
"Remove the Corps part and Marie will be onboard," Ryo said, holding out his wrist for the neon green entry band. The music was pumping, shaking their very shoes as they walked across the foyer.
"All I said was that he didn't have a punchable face," Marie yelled back. Bright pink disco lights flashed across her strawberry print dress. The people inside the bar were screaming and laughing as a man onstage made a desperate attempt at the lyrics of Careless Whisper. They wound their way through the dancefloor and settled at a table towards the back. A waitress in a pair of sparkling bunny ears took their order for three beers and returned at lightning speed.
"You should've seen her the other day, Sara. She was giggling and blushing at Kaiba's feet like some kind of dolt."
"You would be too if you won him in a street race and took his parking spot," Marie spat back. "Let's all be honest, here. He's not that bad to look at, is he?"
"I like my men non-compensatory," Ryo said. Sara threw her head back and chugged her beer in two impressive gulps. She burped loudly, wiped her mouth, and fixed Marie with a knowing gaze.
"That man's like magma," she said. "You're gonna get burned, even from a distance."
"Jesus, you guys act like I'm trying to marry the guy," Marie said. She suddenly caught sight of something familiar at the farthest end of the bar. Her forehead creased and she squinted her eyes. "Speaking of magma…" she muttered beneath her breath.
It was Mizumi: Kaiba's personal assistant and right-hand woman. The Henchman of the Devil, or Mega Tits as she was sometimes called. She was wearing a large pair of sunglasses and a heavy purple scarf wrapped tight around her chin. As Marie watched, she took a drag from her long cigarette holder and blew smoke rings at the ceiling. If she was trying to be discreet with her looks, it wasn't working. Marie would notice her crackling aura anywhere. Intrigued by the slack-jawed expression on her face, Ryo and Sara turned around in their seats and spotted Mizumi immediately.
"Holy shit," Ryo said in awe.
"Is that Mega Mizumi?"
"Undoubtedly. I'd recognize that glossy perm anywhere."
"What's she doing here? Isn't she supposed to be out wrestling a grizzly bear or something?"
"Don't call Kaiba a grizzly bear."
The two of them turned around and giggled. Maire shushed them and ducked down behind her glass of beer. They were right. Mizumi didn't seem to be the type to hang around shady karaoke bars at the edge of the city. Though Marie had only ever had a few tepid interactions with the infamous woman, she got the sense that Mizumi was better suited for opera shows, vying for elbow space amongst celebrities like Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Her presence made Marie feel caught out in the open like a fish suddenly yanked from the water. Luckily, it didn't seem as if Mizumi had noticed them yet.
Noticing her troubled look, Sarah frowned and drummed her fingers on the back of Marie's hand."Stop acting like you're doing something wrong. We're grown adults, we can go to whatever bar we want."
"I know," she said back. "I just…"
A woman in a tight pinstripe skirt and heeled boots walked past their table and settled across the bar. Mizumi seemed to watch her with interest, her cigarette holder held languidly in her gloved hand and her red-bottomed shoes tapping impatiently against the legs of her chair. The pinstripe woman placed her order to the bartender and Mizumi stood up, sweeping her hair away from her forehead. The image of Mizumi flipping her off and stepping out of Seto's car flashed across Marie's mind and she suddenly felt uncomfortable.
"I gotta go to the bathroom," she said. She hurriedly stood up and raced away from the table before either Ryo or Sarah could stop her. She wound her way through the crowd, glancing left and right, but Mizumi was nowhere to be found. One of the bartenders pointed her towards the Lady's bathroom, which was located down a flight of shoddy stairs and in a gloomy cement corridor covered in graffiti. She twisted her hips and, using the flashlight on her phone as a guide, slid past a couple making out feverishly against the wall before pushing open the door to the musty bathroom and stepping in. A horrid smell of mold and unflushed toilet assaulted her immediately and she yanked her hand up to shield her nose. Her phone jumped out of her hand and went skidding across the stained tile floor. As she watched in horror, it spun under the door of the supply closet and disappeared.
"Shit, shit, shit," she said. She wedged the door open and stumbled into the dark. It immediately slammed closed behind her, making her squeal in alarm. As she groped about for her missing phone, she heard the door to the bathroom fly open and slam against the wall. There was a sharp click-clack of heels as whomever it was walked in and paused before the supply closet.
Marie was about to step out when suddenly there was a loud crash, followed by another. Whoever was in the bathroom was going along the row of stalls and slamming open the doors, making sure that the bathroom was empty. They hadn't been inclined to try the supply closet door, perhaps thinking that there was no reason for anyone to hide in there.
The door to the bathroom opened again and a heavier set of footsteps sounded out. There was a moment of silence and then-
"Let's make this quick, shall we?"
It was Mizumi's voice, recognizable by its ever-present hint of sarcasm. There was a thud as something heavy hit the floor.
"Let me see it," came another voice, this one unfamiliar. Marie crept down to her hands and knees and peered through the crack beneath the door. It was too late for her to come out of the supply closet now. Doing so would be very suspicious, and it was obvious by the tone of the two people in the bathroom that they were trying to avoid detection. She immediately recognized the polished, heeled boots belonging to the lady in the pinstripe skirt next to a small briefcase, as well as Mizumi's red-bottomed shoes. There was the sound of a bag being unzipped and then Mizumi spoke again.
"It's all here. All one hundred and twenty pages of good stuff. Ah-ah-ah, no touchy. I wanna see my reward first."
The suitcase was lifted away from the ground. There was a silence again and then the sound of Mizumi sucking her teeth.
"That's not all of it," she said. "Or I must be going blind."
"The prototypes that we made using the last set of blueprints were...unsuccessful. The boss is starting to doubt the validity of your information."
"No offense, but you're using lambs to do the work of a lion. As in, Seto: Lion. You: lambs. Your disappointments are none of my concern and shouldn't affect my pay."
"That's not for me to decide," the Pinstripe Woman said. She was tapping her foot impatiently in front of Mizumi's red-bottomed heels. "Take half a cut now and the other half if things turn out well. Or nothing. Boss's orders."
"No dice, kemosabe," Mizumi said in a heated tone. "I have people willing to pay a pretty penny for the blank papers that get spit out of my printer. Tell your boss that he can switch up the rules all that he wants, but I'm always going to come out on top. You need me, isn't that obvious?"
There was another round of loud clacking as Mizumi stormed past the Pinstripe woman. The door to the bathroom creaked open and then slammed shut. Marie held her breath as she listened to the sound of the Pinstripe woman breathing. Then, after another few seconds, the Pinstripe Woman turned on her heel and exited the bathroom.
Marie tumbled out of the closet and took a deep breath in. The smells coming from the stalls overwhelmed her immediately and she gagged. She ran to the faucet and wrenched the handles until cool water went gushing into the porcelain sink. Her reflection in the mirror looked bleary and confused, like a child who had seen one too many monsters under their bed. It was obvious that she had witnessed something that she wasn't supposed to. But what had it all been about?
The only answer that she could think of was that Mizumi was dealing drugs. Fiery, holier-than-thou Mizumi with her penchant for dealing out write-ups was actually in the drug game. But parts of it still didn't make sense. As far as Marie knew, dealing drugs didn't involve blueprints or prototypes. Or maybe they did, Marie didn't know. Her resume didn't exactly include Bonafide Drug Dealer under the Work History section.
She crept out of the bathroom and back up the stairs. The couple was still making out and she had to push past them to reach her destination. Once she was back in the bar, she did a quick look around but Mizumi and the Pinstripe woman were gone. Sara was on stage, belting her heart out to an upbeat pop song while riding around on the back of a rather concerned-looking bar patron. Ryo was cuddled up in the corner with one of the waiters, grinning and showing off the silver rings on his fingers. Marie grabbed her coat from their table and mouthed "I gotta go." He saluted her with a wave and a smile as she rushed out the door.