Chapter 6
" Noa! What are you doing here all alone? Thought you'd be taking care of Seto."
" I was, until Mokuba decided he was good enough to take care of his brother himself."
" So you mean Seto took Mokuba out?"
" Iie. Mokuba took Seto out."
" You sure that's good?" Yugi asked, sitting down. " The kid cares for his brother, sure, but Seto's
still recovering."
" Oh, you didn't see him today." Noa beamed. " His lips were bright red, and his cheeks are like
peaches. I'm telling you, that's the healthiest I've ever seen Seto get. He'll be fine. And would you
believe he lost those three white hairs? Now he actually looks his age!"
" So where did Mokuba take him?"
" He mentioned the arcade. I guess poor Seto got dragged to play games."
" Must be bored to death. You never know what that guy likes."
The group laughed.
" I've never seen in my entire life any guy who borrowed as many books from the library as you
did." Jou flipped one book over. " You can actually sit down and read this?"
" Huh?" Seto looked up, adjusting his glasses. " Yeah. Books are my life. Always had been. One
reason why Mokuba always complained."
" So instead of taking you to the arcade he took you to the library."
" Very wise too. I don't think I can stand the arcade." Seto laughed, looking back to his book. " Too
much radiation."
Jou cocked an eyebrow. " Huh?"
" Yeah, it was very thoughtful of him." Seto was delighted, Jou could tell. " He said, ' this day is all
for you Oni-chan.' Very thoughtful. He always knew my favorite place was in the library.
Unfortunately all these years I couldn't go very much. So I coped with my own library."
" You have a library?"
" Of course I do, Mutt. You think Gozaburo ever went to libraries? I'm surprised he's even literate.
That is, until I found a way to educate myself."
" Yeah, you said that in chapter 4."
" Nani?" Seto blinked, confused. " Oh no! Don't tell me you're reading it too!"
" It's Yugi's fault." Jou pouted.
Seto threw a book at him. Jou dodged while laughing.
" I really should bust that publishing company." Seto muttered.
" Or you can go on being anemic." Jou said brightly. " Maybe die, and people will realize your
blood's not red or pink for that matter, but clear as water. Yah, that'll be great!"
" I can't believe I got type R- blood. I always thought I had type B."
" Speakin of blood types, what is type R-blood?" Jou asked. " I asked it over and over again and no
one answers me."
" You know the ABO blood types, right?" Seto began.
" Hai?"
" That's type R+. If I remember correctly, ninety percent of the world population has type R+. The
remaining ten percent have my blood type, so it makes it hard to find. Good thing Mokuba has type
R+ blood."
" So it's outside the ABO blood types?"
" Hai. But let's not go into biology. You'll learn that in eleventh grade."
" I don't want to learn biology. Sounds so complicated."
" Too complicated for you, mutt." Seto laughed. Then he took of his glasses to polish them.
" The Blue Eyes White Dragon was being created at Industrial Illusions. I was working on the
program when it was first displayed. When I heard the name I immediately thought of the only
words I remembered from my mother. So I studied the card, and immediately felt a connection. I
was my mother's Blue Eyes. I was born in the year of the Dragon. And I knew that if this card is
the only card left in the world I'm going to be the one to take it."
" And I did. It was interesting. Someone, an American, decided that he could sell the Blue Eyes White Dragon on an online auction for a high price. And the price was by no means low for a piece of cardboard. Three thousand American dollars for a piece of paper is a really bad deal. But I was determined to get it. After all, it's the only card in the market, right?"
" I guess I got lucky. No one wanted to offer more than twenty-eight hundred dollars for a piece of paper, and I was crazy. The card was shipped to me. I looked at the card and laughed. Three thousand dollars for three thousand attack points. How uncanny. And then came the next Blue Eyes White Dragon."
" This time I got it for free. A boy somehow laid claim to it but he didn't know how much it was worth. I was thirteen years old and I offered to duel for that card. He lost. I never knew his name. But he gave up his Blue Eyes White Dragon without thought. I guess he regrets it now."
" I had two Blue Eyes White Dragons in my hand and I decided it was enough. After all, one was enough. And I had two. And this time, both birds were in my hands. But then came the third Blue Eyes White Dragon."
" ' Do they ever quit?' I once said to Mokuba. ' This is getting annoying. Each time they make a Blue Eyes White Dragon card the individual cards lose their worth. And to think, I spent fifteen hundred dollars for each of the two cards. Now they're worth even less."
" The card fell into my hands. I didn't even try to take it this time, but the card fell into my hands when I traveled to New York City two weeks before my fourteenth birthday. Someone left that card in the hotel room I was placed in. I left it in the lost and found, but when no one claimed it, I took it with me when I left the country to come back to Japan. When I announced I got the third Blue Eyes White Dragon no one complained, so I assumed no one was upset and whoever lost the card didn't miss it."
" I was fairly happy. What use to be three thousand dollars per card now became only one thousand dollars per card. I passed my birthday quite secretly with my brother and by that time neither of us complained. We were so use to having no birthday parties that it no longer mattered. All those cheap gifts, gift wrappers, cakes, seemed trivial to both of us. We did buy gifts-a blue dragon made of crystal. I would have given it to Mokuba."
" ' But it's your birthday, Ni-sama.' Mokuba chirped. ' I'm not the birthday boy.'"
" But when we took it home, the box the crystal dragon was in slipped from my fingers, and the beautiful dragon shattered into pieces."
" It's called reading." Noa smirked.
" How's Kaiba doing?" they heard voices ask. Seto looked up.
" It's raining outside." He noted. A middle aged man entered the room.
" Good afternoon, Mr. Kaiba." The man smiled good naturedly.
" Mr. Richards!" Seto laughed, standing up. " How delightful! I'm certain you didn't fly from England just to see me?"
" What are they saying?" Jou asked. Noa rolled his eyes.
" Don't you learn English in school?" He asked Jou.
" How are you? How is your lovely wife doing?" Seto asked.
" Oh, she's fine. Recently diagnosed with hypertension, but she'll be perfectly fine."
" Oh. And your children?"
" John graduated from Oxford." Richards smiled. " I don't have much time but I heard that my dear boy is anemic. You look healthier than I've ever seen you, my boy."
Seto smiled and blushed. " Thank you, Mr. Richards. I've had some..." He closed his eyes. "
Support."
" I'm glad to hear that. Well, I would come by later. I see you were quite busy before I came,"
Richards eyed the books with amusement. " Take care of yourself."
" I will. You too." Seto sat down as Richards left.
" What was that?"
" That was Mr. Richards from London." Seto answered, taking his glasses again. " Wow, it's really
pouring outside. We use to have dinner together whenever I was in England."
" Seto, you're jumping from topic to topic." Honda observed.
" Oh? Oh. I'm just reading, that's all." Seto ignored them.
" Chapter 8"
" The next year the I worked on enhancing the fields that the corporation covered. We drowned most of the other technology companies, but being that Japan took the suggestion of the United States and prohibited monopoly, the remaining companies binded together into a trust group."
" I wasn't worry about the trust. My company was stable and my inferiors were loyal. The company was growing and it was healthy. One morning I woke up to the voice of Mokuba and I heard him call out,"
" ' I'm off for school now! Bye Ni-sama!'"
" School! I knew I didn't need to go to school anymore. My future was set. Even if my company failed I would have no problem building a new life. School was useless. But I thought of that fateful year when I was under Gozaburo's control. I thought of how I aimed for the nearest future I could possibly get. I could have gone to high school three years ago. It's not too late."
" So I did the craziest thing I ever did yet. I went to high school when I didn't have to. But it was a nightmare. I found that I could no longer talk to people. I couldn't deal with people. Teachers are supposed to be superior over students but the teachers were afraid of me. Students, classmates, were supposed to be equal with me and yet I couldn't help but strive to prove that I was better than they are. I was an orphan. No matter how successful I become deep inside I would still be an orphan. And people will still treat me like one once I become less than the best."
" Students talked. They didn't like me. I was an outsider. They couldn't understand why I went to school anyway. I heard people calling me a money-greedy bastard. It was hard to tell myself that it was false now, because I don't know if I'm greedy for money anymore. Money never seemed to be the purpose of my attempts, but it always seemed to be the result. The students immediately sensed that I was different. A misfit. And I couldn't bring myself to fit in. It was so long since I last had friends that I no longer knew how to make any. I put my mind completely into telling people who's the boss that I couldn't stop anymore. So the teachers didn't like me. The students didn't like me. And school became hell for me."
" But I still went. To fulfill the last promise I ever made for myself. I had promised myself I would go to school. If I didn't get to college, at least I'll get to high school. And that was my ultamite goal in the days Gozaburo was still alive. I also sensed that I needed to be with people my age. Even if my natural instincts were to prove who's the boss, I still felt more comfortable knowing that the people around me wouldn't look down on me because of my age."
" So I went. I coped with high school."
" The obsession began to develop. I found I couldn't stop thinking about that fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon. I began to feel uneasy, knowing that one Blue Eyes would be enough to enhance any deck. I needed to be the best, for I can settle for nothing less, and this new threat to both the value of the cards and to my reputation was more than I could stand for."
" So I began to search for the last Blue Eyes White Dragon. It seemed these cards always ended up in the most odd of places. I actually found out where the card was from my high school."
" It was in a game shop."
" Typical, Duel Monsters is a game, but the Blue Eyes White Dragon isn't something you sell in every store on the street. So when I heard that the card was in the game shop I was intrigued. So I followed the group of students to that game shop."
" That's actually how I met Yugi Motou and his grandfather, Soguruku Motou. But I dealt with Sugoruku first. I offered to trade. He refused, a wise man. I offered to buy, and still he refused. I thought that odd. And then he gave me the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my entire life."
" ' This card was given to me from a dear friend...'"
" Friends! You keep a card for a friend? Gods, if I gave one of my Blue Eyes to someone I know he would sell it for all the gold in the world. I never heard of anything so ridiculous. But inside I knew it was true. This old man, poor and insignificant as he was, had a good heart. I would have laughed out loud back there if I weren't so shocked and bitter. I never knew such friendship existed. I went out."
" Little orphan, I said to myself. All because you're a little orphan. What could an orphan give? An orphan has no family, no money. An orphan is all alone in the world. You're lucky, you have Mokuba, and Mokuba has you. But you won't find anyone else."
" Why is it that this always comes up as the final excuse? Why is it that this prevents me from getting what life had to offer? I always wondered what it would have been if Oka-san hadn't died, if Otou-san hadn't died, and I was someone like Yugi Motou, or any other fourteen year old in this world. Perhaps I would not be Seto Kaiba, the billionaire in Japan. But at least I would be rich in other areas. I wanted that day to say that I was not an orphan. I was not some ragamuffin going around the streets. It was simply that my parents died early!"
" But I knew it wouldn't matter. The moment I lose my ground people will sneer and say, ' that's how an orphan usually ends up. Nameless and laughable.'"
" So when I normally would have let that last dragon go I went for it. And I took Sugoruku to duel him for it."
" He lost. I tore the last card. I really should have kept it, I guess, but I tore it. And then came the famous duel between me and Yugi Motou."
" So you're going for it?" Noa asked Seto.
" Hai." Seto nodded.
" You're fine the way you are."
" I know."
" You sure you want to take the risk?"
" I'm sure, alright?" Seto smiled, taking off his glasses and putting them aside. " What, are you
nervous?"
" Of course I'm nervous. I wouldn't want you to develop some brain tumor three years from now."
" If I do, at least I'll die as the great Seto Kaiba!" Seto laughed.
" Seto, that's not funny. I'm serious. Now that I think of it I really don't like this."
" They did all the tests."
" They're still not sure yet."
" They're never sure."
" Seto,"
" Noa."
The door opened and Mokuba hopped in.
" Oni-chan!"
Noa sighed and left the brothers alone.
" Why's Noa suddenly so worried?" Jou asked.
" Dunno." Honda answered.
" Do you suppose it's a good idea to let Seto do it?" Ryou asked. " I mean, the machine does have
odd powers. Remember the head?"
" Don't talk about that head. Onegai!" Anzu groaned.
There was a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder.
" Okay, that's really gettin on my nerves." Jou looked towards the window. " Whaddya s'pose's up
with the weather lately?"
" I think it started ever since we went to that library." Yami observed. " It stopped in between but
each time it rained it's like someone's pouring a bucket of water in the sky."
" Freaky." Anzu shuddered.
" Everything's going to be alright." Seto assured his brother. " and this time, I'm going to give you
your first birthday party."
" Really? But...I don't want a birthday party." Mokuba muttered. Seto blinked.
" Why?"
" You know." Mokuba shrugged. " It doesn't matter anymore. We never had birthday parties, ever.
And the gifts are always cheap anyway."
" You know, I saw that crystal dragon in the store a few months ago. Do you want one?"
" I don't want it to break like last time. It feels as if you were breaking."
There was a stunned silence.
" Everything's going to be okay, right?" Mokuba asked. " Things are going to be better. You'll come
home earlier?"
" Maybe." Seto smiled doubtfully. " If the world is kind."