Prologue
Noa had no idea what made him walk into that library.
Ever since that incident with Yugi-tachi and Seto, Noa found himself acting strangely.
If course, as strange as someone who had been digitized and then inserted into a physical body would act.
Well, he walked into that library. It was a rather huge library, but that day there weren't many people around. All gone to some kind of vacation, he supposed, as it was a long weekend.
As he was in the library, and it was hot ouside, Noa thought his accidental trip should be made worthwhile. Even if Yugi-tachi were there, but Noa had the ability to go unnoticed by people. So he used it now.
It was a long time since he read a book. Noa couldn't even remember the last time he held one in his hands. Was it when he was still alive? Noa didn't really know. He always thought books were so dumb, written by people who think they're smarter than other people, and were admired by people simply because they were authors.
Then he saw it.
It was later that he found out it was accidentally published, but that time he didn't know, so naturally he thought it quite odd that Seto Kaiba would write a book, a memoir, in fact. The last time he checked, Seto Kaiba was rather conservative about his personal life.
Well, he got the newsflash this time.
What made him reach and take the book?
I'm going crazy. Noa thought. As if I'm not crazy already, but what do I care about this person who stole my place?
Not a thing. But still, curiosity was something that drove anything that could think. Which was kind of why computers don't think. They aren't curious. But Noa isn't a computer.
He's now flesh and blood. And however cold his heart may be, the curiosity was still there.
He flipped to the back cover.
" A heartbreaking story," said the Tomoeda News. " It is sheer talent and genius, and what is more
painful is that it's actually true."
" It gives you a real look on life through Kaiba's eyes." Said an author, and from what Noa could
remember he was a rather famous one. " And perhaps a true look at people when you're on the
other side of society."
" A surprising work from a young child that had grown up too fast." Said another author.
" Ten thumbs up."
" With his heart Kaiba wrote the story of how he grew up in a world where everyone turned their
back on him..."
Noa wrinkled his nose in disgust. Some people get over-dramatic. But inside he suddenly wondered. Seto Kaiba? Writing a memoir? What exactly could there be that made people so crazy all of the sudden?
So Noa Kaiba did the unthinkable.
He borrowed the book.
The book was titled " Through the Eyes of an Orphan".
Well, that got Yugi interested, considering he was pretty much an orphan himself. Then he looked at the author.
" Hey Jou! Kaiba wrote a book!" He cried.
That got Jou's attention. " Nani? Kaiba writes books? Which Kaiba do you mean?"
" What do you think." Anzu slapped Jou's head. " Gozaburo never wrote a book in his life, and
Mokuba's wouldn't get published. Of course it's Seto Kaiba-? What kind of title is that?"
" Don't know. Don't care." Honda shrugged. " Hey, Yugi, are you actually going to borrow that
book?"
" Sure. Why not?" Yugi smiled in his innocent way. " It might be a way for me to understand him
better."
" Don't know why you'd even bother trying." Jou shrugged. " That guy's a moron."
" Well, according to Yamato, and it's the Yamato," Yugi made a motion that looked like the Japanese
Emperor, " This book is good. And heartbreaking?"
" Gee, that's new." Anzu blinked. " I never thought Kaiba was capable of making people
sympathize. He's such an...unlikable person."
" Yeah well, according to the comments, it's pretty good." Yugi shrugged, as he went to the stand to
talk to the librarian.
" How did this happen?" Seto blinked. " I never published anything! What are you talking about?"
" But Mr. Kaiba, the evidence is here." Said the newsreporter, as everyone else agreed, and someone
practically shoved the book into his face. Seto Kaiba stepped back, bewildered, and took the book,
staring at it. He blinked, flipped through the pages, and looked at the copyright date.
" There must be some mistake..." Kaiba dropped his arrogant act as he looked up with pure
confusion. " I think they put the wrong author or something...but...they must have put the wrong
author but I definetely remember this paragraph, and..."
" So you did write it. Tell us, Mr. Kaiba, are the events in that book true?"
" Look, I really don't know what's going on." The arrogance was back again. " But I'm telling you,
whatever questions there are, I have no comments. Who in the world published this? Tokyo
Publishing Company? But-"
" Mr. Kaiba, is it true that-"
" Mr. Kaiba, the book states that-"
" Mr. Kaiba, tell us what you thought when-"
" Alright, stop this." Seto growled. There was a sudden silence.
" I want all of you off my property, now." The young CEO commanded. " Otherwise, I will call the
police. Whatever nonsense this is about, I don't want to have any of it. I want you all OUT!"
" It's clear he's a little disturbed by this news." Said one reporter.
" It seems he didn't know that the book got published." Said another, sighing.
" Poor kid."
" Mokuba, you are getting crafty." Seto glared at his brother. " I know you have something to do
with this!" He slammed the book on the table. " Well?"
Mokuba was not afraid of him. " I published it."
" You published it? And what made you think you had the right to? Actually, don't answer that yet.
How did you find it?"
" When you ' fell asleep' on the stairs." Mokuba answered just as harshly. " I went to get some
water for you. Then I stumbled upon the computer and I saw the sentence ' when I was seven and
Mokuba was four'. I got you the water. You remember that day, right?"
Seto did. He remembered very clearly, and suddenly he didn't feel like talking about this. One day when he came home he changed and had typed on his computer the remainder of his memoir that he had never planned to ever publish. He was going downstairs to get a drink of water when he suddenly fainted. Mokuba had ran to him full of worry and he woke up as the child was shaking him. He had asked for some warm water to soothe his stomach.
I left the computer on. Seto thought.
" After that I remembered the file name and you went upstairs to continue working on it." Mokuba sniffed. " Sometime later you finished. And then I duplicated that file and saved it on a disk. I put it on my laptop and I read the whole thing." Mokuba's eyes watered up and he sniffed again, this time the tears escaped. " And then I saw that you were looking more and more pale every day and more thin. And one day at dinner you were muttering something in the kitchen. At first I couldn't hear but I went closer and I heard you say that you-" The child broke into sobs. " That you wanted someone to push you up, not step on you, and you were wondering if anyone would do that. And you were sick, and you were...so I thought publishing it would make people understand. You never go for help, so I was hoping that someone might..." Mokuba couldn't go on anymore.
Seto suddenly felt ill and darkness blocked his vision. He sat down and sighed, listening to Mokuba's crying but found he didn't have the strength to go and comfort him.
My brother did this for me. Seto thought to himself. In the end he's still the one taking care of me.
" Oni-chan!" Mokuba ran to his brother. Seto wrapped his arms around the boy and found that he was beginning to lean on him.
Mokuba's right. Seto thought. I do need help. If I don't get it soon, I think I'll die...
" Now what in the world was I thinking when I borrowed this book?" Noa looked at the object in
his hands and tossed it up and down while thinking.
Of course, you probably wanted to READ IT?
Somehow Noa was suddenly reluctant to even begin reading the book. Perhaps afraid of what's in it? He didn't know.
Sighing and deciding he was wasting his time with the matter, Noa flipped open the book.
" When I was born of course I didn't remember anything. But from what my father told me before his death, my birth was lined with misfortune..."