Disclaimer: Neither I, nor my heirs, nor theirs, can ever lay claim to Yu-Gi-Oh! (See chapter one for extended prefatory notes.)

Two Hours' Traffic

Chapter Four

It was approaching suppertime. Conveniently for them, the four friends were still ensconced in the diner. Bakura, shift over, was fiddling with the table jukebox while his indulgent manager Mrs. Ichinose bawled advice from behind the counter. Yuugi was nursing a cup of tea and giggling over Jounouchi's dramatic representation of the Engineering Professor from Hell; Honda was scanning the classifieds for an apartment for the "prodigal son."

As Jounouchi paused for breath and a long swallow from his soda, he became aware of a small clicking sound coming from the booth behind him.

Click. Pause. Clickclick. A longer pause. Then an agitated-sounding series: clickCLICKclickclickclick.

When a suppressed curse reached his ears, he had to turn and peer over the naugahyde barrier.

The customer seated opposite him could have passed for a Secret Service agent with his severe business suit, forbidding shades and intimidating physique. The effect was spoiled, however, by the man's defeated-looking posture: teeth gritted, hands clutching at his hair as he stared down at an odd heap of glasslike rectangles in front of him.

"Hey. Need help?" Jounouchi found himself asking.

The man's head jerked up. "Oh—no thanks—"

Suddenly he paused, seemed to focus on the group in the neighboring booth. "Actually—any of you good at puzzles?"

As one, Honda, Bakura and Jounouchi looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Guess that's a no." The man sounded nettled; he rose and made as if to gather the objects in front of him.

"Wait! Yuugi here is good. I mean, expert. Really." Jounouchi propelled a surprised Yuugi out of the booth and over to the next table.

Soon, they were all clustered around Yuugi as he fanned the six cards out on the formica. For a moment, he simply looked at them, chin propped on hand. Then, with small precise movements, he lifted each to examine it closely: front, back, and edges. Finally, he began to stack them.

As Yuugi laid the last rectangle on the others, the man stirred. "I did try putting them in that order," he observed with a kind of pessimistic relish. "All it shows is the time of the event."

Yuugi smiled at him. "Yes, it's not very straightforward. But if you take a look at the edges..." He tilted the stack so the man could see the side; the others craned to look.

"'Big Web,' see? And when you turn the top three cards around and upside down..." Yuugi rotated the stack. "'Wednesday, July 7,' and another quarter turn gives you 'Birthday Gala.'"

Jounouchi stole a look at the stranger—the man's mouth was working soundlessly as he stared at Yuugi's moving fingers.

Yuugi continued, "I think if you then drop them back in their holder like this—making sure that the marks here line up--"

They all jumped as a beam of light flashed from the stack of cards. Yuugi quickly withdrew his hands.

Four lines of glowing letters appeared on the top of the "deck" of rectangles.

The Kaiba Family

Requests the Honor

of Your Presence.

Be There.

"Well. I'll be damned." The man shook his head. He turned to look at Yuugi. "No idea how you were able to figure it out—but you're good, kid!"

Yuugi shifted in his seat and gave him half a smile.

"Say--could you take it apart again and put it back together, slowly? I need to get this right."

Yuugi's smile broadened and he bent over the cards with the man, going step by step through the puzzle. The other three stared mutely at each other. Eventually Jounouchi mouthed "Kaiba Family?" Bakura gave a slight shake of the head; Honda's brows drew together.

"You're a lifesaver!" the man said eventually, sitting back with the assembled stack in his hand. "My boss seems to think if he runs through something just once with you, you'll be able to duplicate the same thing without explanation or practice. That may work for him, but--"

"You must have boxes of these to deliver?" asked Yuugi.

"No, this is the only one. What I have to do now is visit every single household on the guest list, and put it together in front of them. 'Face-to-face contact works well, but face-to-face contact with special effects works best'—that's the PR department's motto."

"Well, with an invitation like this one, who would refuse?" Bakura laughed.

The man swept a glance around the table as he got to his feet. "Know what? You all look like good kids to me. If the four of you are free that night, come join the fun. Just tell Kino—he'll be at the door—that Kei said you could. Here—" he took a notepad out of his pocket, jotted something down, and handed the slip of paper to Yuugi. The rainbow-headed young man looked stunned; Jounouchi wasn't far from it himself.

"Just keep out of the way of the bigshots. There should be plenty of food, and unlimited free tokens for the arcade games; you can play as long as you like."

Jounouchi watched unadulterated joy dawn in Yuugi's eyes as the latter stammered thanks.

Maybe you haven't changed so much after all, Yuug. Thank God!

Kei clapped Yuugi on the shoulder, plunked down payment for his coffee and strode off.

"Whoa," Bakura said softly. Honda was staring at the paper in Yuugi's hands as though it were an explosive device; Yuugi's face still glowed as he gazed after Kei.

Jounouchi cleared his throat. "So. Er."

"It's perfect!" Yuugi swung to face him.

"Eh?"

"This is the chance we've been waiting for!"

"To crash a party?" Bakura sounded bemused.

"No! To connect with Kaiba's circle as people. To see if they're reachable. And--" unexpectedly Yuugi reached out, laid a hand on Jounouchi's chest— "to bring your mind and heart back home. This is exactly the sort of situation you used to drag me into. Now it's our turn to pull you back into a bit of harmless mischief."

"Yuugi?"

"You know...Yuugi's right." Honda's eyes remained serious, but one side of his mouth quirked. "Domino's best and brightest, or at least Domino's most sexily dressed, will be there in droves—something tells me Jounouchi's Temple of Mai will collapse before that evening is through."

Jounouchi grabbed him by the collar and shook. "Whaddaya think I am—a windsock?"

Prying the other's hands off, Honda wheezed, "Don't think it; know it."

Mrs. Ichinose's voice boomed over Jounouchi's outraged roar. "Stop the brawlin'! You boys going to have dinner or not?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Apologies for the brevity of the chapter! And thanks as always to Hush Puppie for betaing.

Yes, these are locator cards, based on the Battle City ones. Since DuelMonsters don't really appear in this fic, I had to figure out a different way for them to work than the DuelDisk. (The other inspiration is a sculpture I once saw at an art glass exhibit in Pittsburgh, composed of a stack of thin sheets of glass--spots of color on each layer were juxtaposed to create the illusion, if you looked at the stack edge-on, of objects caught in the glass. Darned cool.)

Only in my recent Romeo and Juliet rereadings have I noticed the way Romeo et al. get wind of the party—through literate Romeo's helping an unlettered Capulet servant figure out the guest list. With my librarianly interest in different kinds of literacy, I just had to figure out some way to transpose that situation into this fic. My apologies if it feels contrived! ::sweatdrop, sweatdrop::

Inspired by LeDiz, I too have borrowed a character from Maison Ikkoku—Mrs. Ichinose in this case. She doesn't really run a diner, but I bet she'd love to. (Think of the opportunities for gossip!)

Thanks to Tuulikki, LadySaturnGirl, and otherwise-nameless Reviewer for your comments and encouragement! Glad to have cheered you, Tuulikki.

Anzu's combination of practicality and idealism echoes qualities I've admired in folks from the Catholic body of faith—there are some brave, self-giving, visionary people out there. (Says the Quaker who wrote her BA thesis about liberation theology...)