by Lethe
Chapter Twenty-two: Canceling
"I'm sorry, but… something else came up." Jonouchi paused. "Yeah, okay. Bye."
Honda sighed and put his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, Jou."
"Don't be," said Jonouchi after hanging up the phone. "Thanks for telling me."
It turned out that Yugi and Anzu had gotten back a while earlier and immediately been enlisted in Sugoroku's Christmas Decorating Crew. Jonouchi had stopped by and been persuaded to help. That was where Honda had found him.
"So, Christmas is only two days away!" said Honda cheerfully, in a futile attempt to change the subject, and with it, Jonouchi's mood.
However, Honda had never been very good at that sort of thing. How could he have known that those words would make Jou feel even worse?
*
"It's all right. We can get together some other time, then? …See you." Seto put down the phone slowly. Whatever Jonouchi had to do, it must be quite important. He had never called off any of their dates before.
Seto sat down and began analyzing the call, playing it back from memory. He had heard voices in the background – Honda's voice was the most prominent, but there were others. A girl's voice – Anzu's? Which would mean that the other boy's voice he had heard was Yugi's. Kaiba turned to the phone and pressed a few buttons. Yes, Jonouchi had called from the Game Shop.
Something had been different about Jonouchi's call. He had sounded – distracted? No, that wasn't quite right. There had been a barely noticeable choked quality to Jonouchi's voice that Kaiba had picked up on almost immediately. Had he been crying? Or about to?
No. Jonouchi must have a cold. That would tie in perfectly with his being unable to come, wouldn't it?
Except for the fact that he was in the Game Shop.
Kaiba groaned. In any case, he was stuck with Mokuba and the demon called Shingo.
*
"You can stay here tonight, if you want to," offered Yugi. "I know that Grandpa wouldn't mind. We could make it into a pre-Christmas party sleepover!" he added, grinning at Honda.
"I feel so left out…" mumbled Anzu.
Yugi's grin became sheepish. "Sorry, Anzu. Maybe you could sleep in a guest room or something…? Although I don't know if Grandpa or your parents will-"
"No, no, it's all right!" she said quickly, waving it off. "I wouldn't be able to anyway. My shift tomorrow is in early morning."
"Shift?" said Honda.
"I work at Burger World, remember?" she said with a raised eyebrow.
"…Oh. Right."
"All right. As long as you have plenty of food," said Jonouchi, answering Yugi's previous offer.
"Got it!" Yugi beamed.
Honda grinned and made punching motions in the air. "All riiiight! Pillow fights! You remember what happened last time?"
Yugi winced at the memory: a big, fluffy pillow, coming out of nowhere and bouncing off his hair. And then a second, and a third, directly in the face! His Yami had taken it as a challenge, come out of the Puzzle, and – well, Yugi had had to vacuum up the feathery mess that remained afterward.
Yami was like that with every game, wasn't he? Which meant that when it snowed…
"Hey, Yuug, are you okay?" Jonouchi glanced quizzically down at the trembling, pale heap that was his friend Yugi.
"F-f-fine…"
"I didn't think the pillow fight was that bad…"
*
"Whoa, Shingo! Whoa! Mush! Cornflakes! Cease and desist! How the hell do you get him to stop?!" yelled Kaiba loudly enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
"Language!" chided Mokuba. "Just say 'heel'."
"HEEL!"
Mokuba blinked as his elder brother zoomed down the sidewalk faster than the passing cars. "I guess that wasn't it…"
Several minutes later, the creature had finally slowed. Kaiba glanced around in surprise. He had ended up in front of the Game Shop.
"Big…brother…wait…for me!" panted Mokuba. The speed of Shingo had been too much for the poor kid.
"I'm waiting," said Kaiba patiently.
He saw shadows moving around behind the curtains on the second floor. Things were flying back and forth and making contact with bigger shadows. A pillow fight? That would explain it.
Seto let out a hiss of breath when he realized that one of the shadows was Jonouchi's.
Well, now I know what 'came up'.