Chapter Four: Procrastination Ends with Desperation
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"Jii-chan, I'm home!"

"Hello, Yuugi. How was school?"

"Just the same as it was yesterday. And the day before, and the day before…" He replied automatically. Grandpa chuckled.

"Same thing every day, ne? Well, on a lighter note, some mail came for you." He said, handing his grandson a thick brown envelope along with some other pamphlets. "More college brochures." He said unnecessarily. Yuugi sighed, and tossed the first leaflet from the pile into the trash.

"I don't want to go there!" He moaned.

"You have to pick a good university, or you'll never get a decent education." Came the unchanging reminder. Every day it was the same thing; countless offers for a better education and a new life- and the year had barely begun! Trudging upstairs with his burden of papers, Yuugi nearly dropped the huge brown envelope when he slipped on the staircase leading up to his bedroom.

When he reached his bedroom, he dumped the pile of papers on the floor, and started sorting them. The first thing he ripped open was a letter from Seisei University- one of his top dream schools.

Yuugi smiled after he had read the letter, and folded it up. If he was accepted to Seisei University, he wouldn't want anything more for the rest of his life. Seisei was affordable, and it helped that Jii-chan was an alumni, so that got him more credit. His grades, however, would have to drastically improve to just meet the minimum requirements for admission. Some other colleges that were near Domino were good too, but paled in comparison to Seisei.

Feeling lighter than he had before, Yuugi tore open the next letter. He didn't even scan the contents before he tossed it aside and continued on.

Within fifteen minutes, the trashbin was completely filled, and a mere three booklets were saved and placed on Yuugi's already cluttered desk.

"Now if I can get my homework done, I can go online." The teen said aloud. The letter from Seisei had put him in a bouncy mood- very rarely did the university send out personal, hand-written letters to any applicant. Especially when it was still early in the year. Yuugi considered it an honour to have been invited to an open house that was, nonetheless, his dream school. Among the selective choices were also Jonan, and Tokyo U. The last school caused Yuugi to think of Yami, and remember that he said he had graduated from there two years ago, on his first day of teaching. That first day had been two weeks ago already.

If his teacher was a graduate, then writing a letter of recommendation when the time came for entrance exams and applications would be simple. That is, if he passed the preliminary exam to get into Tokyo U. Yuugi sighed, and pushed the college brochures away from him; he was tired of thinking about college, and he needed a break. Abandoning his desk, he crossed the room over to his schoolbag and pulled out his History notes. No sooner had he read over the first page, when he realised that he was starting to zone out.

He knew he wouldn't get any work done if he was boring himself to death, so instead, he found himself booting up the computer and accessing the Internet.

USERNAME: puzzlingartist569

He logged in, and was happy to see that Jou and Otogi had the same idea and were online too.

diceboy006: I still can't sleep at night thinking about it. Oh, hi Yuugi!

puzzlingartist569: hi Otogi, hey Jou! I can't stand the History hw.

duelya4abuck: that stuff is . It makes me hungry

puzzlingartist569: when are you not hungry, Jou?

diceboy006: when he's not Kaiba

duelya4abuck: heeyy! Watch it, or I'll take away your Shizuka-privileges!

diceboy006: you wouldn't!

duelya4abuck: if you keep bringingSeto into this, I will

diceboy006: she's here right now, actually. If we're talking privileges here, why don't you tell her yourself?

puzzlingartist569: you guys crack me up!

duelya4abuck: Hey Otogi…your piece of blackmail just walked through MY kitchen! Where's your pride NOW?

diceboy006: I don't need your sister to prove my point- I thought you were at Mr. Moneybags' place anyway.

puzzlingartist569: Yeah, where did you run off to after school?

duelya4abuck: I wanted to ask Jii-san a question about that Duel Monsters tournament that's happening over in America. I didn't want you guys to find out

puzzlingartist569: (sigh) Jii-chan told me about it months ago. You should know we're gonna be behind you all the way, Jou!

diceboy006: Why the big secret?

duelya4abuck: don't tell anyone, but…

duelya4abuck: I can't afford to go to a good college myself, so if I win a few of these tournaments, Seto promised he would pay for everything.

puzzlingartist569: oh Jou…wouldn't that be something he'd do for you anyway because he loves you?

diceboy006: Yuugi, Kaiba doesn't give stuff without a deal attached to it. He's Kaiba!

duelya4abuck: He wants to challenge me, and I wanted to enter it anyway. Aren't you gonna enter too, Yuugi?

puzzlingartist569: Nah, I'm taking a break for a while. After everything we went through in Battle City, and after that, I don't think I wanna duel for a while. But if you need some practice, I could get out my deck and show you a few things

duelya4abuck: You! Yuugi Mutou, not entering a tournament! Are you okay?

puzzlingartist569: Ah, I'm fine. I just need a break, that's all.

diceboy006: I might start a DDM tournament later this year, before we graduate. Would you guys do it for me?

puzzlingartist569: hmm..maybe. That'd be fun!

They continued to chat until Yuugi heard Grandpa call up for dinner, and logged out. The teen glanced at the digital clock, and gasped.

"Ah! It's that late already! I haven't done anything!"

Sighing, he shut down his computer and sprinted downstairs.

"Sorry dinner isn't much, but I had to order out because our oven isn't working."

"No, it's fine, Jii-chan." Yuugi helped himself to some yakisoba and rice. This was his favourite kind of yakisoba- from the take-out place down the street where Jou worked part-time.

"So," Grandpa asked through a mouthful of takoyaki, "Any final decisions on college?"

Yuugi took a moment to swallow, and answered "Well, Tokyo U and Seisei University are my top two right now, but I'm gonna keep looking."

"Tokyo U, ne? I've heard a lot of professors graduated from there, and look where they are now!"

"mmhmm. Sorry Jii-chan, I just don't wanna talk about college right now."

"With that attitude, it's no wonder you don't." He raised a chopstick to press his point. "But I know you'll get into a good college."

Yuugi ate the last onigiri, and nodded.

"I hope so, too."

Grandpa raised an eyebrow.

"Hope so? Don't you have any faith in yourself? With your grades, you could make it into any college you want."

Yuugi absently tapped a chopstick against the table, and sighed. "I don't see why this is such a big deal.."

"You should care more about school.Speaking of which, are you failing?"

"No..."

"Now I know there's something going on. Tell me what happened."

The boy answered tersely, "Nothing's happened! Why is everyone so worried about me?"

Before Grandpa had time to protest, Yuugi ran upstairs and slammed his door shut. Grandpa at first got up to go after him, but sat down again,knowing better that it would be best to just leave his grandson alone and give him time to himself. Muttering under his breath, hejust shook his head, and continued eating dinner in silence.

Yuugi, meanwhile, was confused about why he had gotten angry so quickly. He stared up at the ceiling above his bed where he lay, and thought of school. Why was it he hated it so much? It was a chance to be with his friends, and most of the subjects were pretty interesting. It had been through school that he had met so many of his friends, and now he wished he could escape.

"What is it I'm trying to escape from?" Yuugi asked himself aloud, shifting his gaze over to his computer as if it held the answer. When the screen remained blank, and he was tired of thinking of an answer himself, he got up and turned the computer back on. He logged in again, and much to his surprise, nobody on his buddy list was online or away. Amethyst strayed to the bottom of the screen.On the toolbar, therewas an IM window that had been on hold for several minutes. Yuugi frowned. "Who is..'ceruleandancer'?"he thought.

He clicked on it, and up popped the message:

people do favours all the time, and there's nothing wrong with a little payback now and then. will you help me get revenge on someone you know? if you reply to this and add me, you are a true friend. if you ignore this, then i will get my revenge on you double what the other person on my list is owed.
plz help.

Yuugi watched the blinking cursor in the reply box, unsure of what to do. Figuring that it wouldn't hurt to find out, he started typing a reply.

I don't know who you are, but I might be able to help you. What did that person do to you? I can't add you until I know what you want me to do.

He didn't have to wait long for the reply, which came as soon as he had clicked "Send".

i knew you would help me. there's a guy i had loved for so long, and this other guy took him away from me! now everyone has left me alone and i feel like i can't take it anymore.

Sorry to hear about that. Was the other guy your friend?

not really, but i knew both guys for a while. the guy i liked was rich, popular- all the girls were, like, in love with him, but i was popular too so i was gonna ask him out, but it turned out he was gay, and the other guy i thought was a good person took him away from me! it's not fair.

That must have sucked. How do you want my help? And who is it exactly?

The reply didn't come right away this time, but when it did, the text had been changed into smaller, bright pink letters in a hard-to-read font:

jonouchi. all i want is for you to split them up, and i'll do something for you. i'll get you a girlfriend...

Yuugi stared at the screen in shock. This girl had to be talking about Seto Kaiba- who else could no girl resist?

I understand how much it must hurt you, but I can't do that to Jou.

The reply came in bold, red letters with a 24-pt. font:

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! I KNEW YOU WOULD SIDE WITH HIM! I'LL GET REVENGE ON YOU TOO!

ceruleandancer logged off, leaving Yuugi feeling slightly put off, and with a dreaded feeling that he knew who it had been.

Anzu.