"Who was renting the northernmost office in the last week?"

"Beg your pardon, sir...?" The security guard squinted at Kaiba through the square window of his booth. "Hey, are you feeling all right? You're looking a little..."

"Who was renting that office?" Kaiba repeated, wondering if the man might hear him better if he smashed that window.

Jounouchi rapped his knuckles on the glass, though too lightly to shatter it. "Just get the records, man. He's your boss now, right? So it's all good." He threw a quick glance over his shoulder at Kaiba, turned back and muttered, "And I'd hurry it up."

Black Magician had followed them back outside to the guard's booth. The Blue Eyes and Red Eyes were both watching, wings half-spread, as if they were just waiting for the word to take to the air. But as yet there was no obvious place for them to go.

The guard knelt behind his desk to go through the files, then stood again and unlatched the window. "Office six, right? Here you go." He handed over a sheath of papers. "That's the last year's worth of contracts. Looks like a private firm has it now, only for the month--"

Kaiba yanked the folder from his gnarled hands, leafed through the typed forms, scattering paper on the ground. The guard might have made a noise of protest, and Jounouchi might have advised him sotto voce to let it go, and Yugi might have crouched to pick up the fallen papers before the night breeze carried them off, but Kaiba only had concentration enough to focus on the one sheet with the current date. Hayashi Kazuo wasn't a name he recognized; nor the Hayashi Shipping Co. But that was almost certainly just a cover, and the name likely assumed.

Police records might have the alias listed. It probably would be quicker to hack into their database than to go through the proper channels. But he would need to return to the office for that; his laptop didn't have the processing power.

"Can I see it, Kaiba-kun?" Yugi asked tentatively, getting back to his feet with the stack of gathered pages rustling in his hands. "I've been going through all those employee records, maybe I'd recognize the name?"

Kaiba knew he wouldn't, but it was easier just to shove the folder at him than to say so. The Blue Eyes' tail was lashing like a giant angry house cat's, impatience in its mantled wings as it looked down at them. The guard in the booth shifted uneasily, glancing up in a perplexed way and then away, almost as if he could sense that draconic glare even if he couldn't see it.

Yugi, on the other hand, seemed entirely oblivious to Black Magician leaning down to peer the file over his shoulder, though at the same time he was whispering to the phantom copy of himself standing on his other side. Though Black Magician appeared every bit as substantial as the pharaoh, and Kaiba wondered if maybe the Yugis simply weren't paying attention.

And watching them, trying to figure out the logic of something as patently illogical as hallucinations, was making his headache that much worse, so Kaiba turned away instead. Unfortunately that meant he ended up looking toward Jounouchi, who made a gesture that was meant to be either rude or encouraging. Probably the latter, as he followed it up by saying, "We've almost got 'em, Kaiba," though he offered no hint of how he expected this to be the case, just a weak smile.

Honda beside him was still holding the blood-spotted length of rope. Jounouchi elbowed his friend in the ribs, muttered, "Get rid of that!"

"But it's evidence, isn't it," Honda muttered back.

"'Then hide it or something. It's upsetting...you know." Jounouchi tipped his head significantly toward Kaiba, as if he were both deaf and blind and wouldn't notice. "I mean, even more..."

"--You're right, he does look familiar."

Kaiba turned back around. Yugi and his translucent counterpart were frowning down at the paper in their hands. Yugi had flipped the form over; stapled to the back was a xerox of the renter's driver's license, and they were both studying the tiny black and white photo of the man. "We've seen him before. Though I don't think it was any of the employee records we've looked at," Yugi mused.

"Perhaps we met him in person somewhere," the pharaoh remarked. He raised his head to meet Kaiba's gaze. "Kaiba, do you recognize him?"

"I don't know, let me see," Kaiba said, taking the page back and ignoring the decidedly odd look Yugi was giving him, as well as the pharaoh's triumphant nod. Probably thinking that getting his imaginary self acknowledged counted as a victory. He had always suspected that Yugi was secretly out to drive him mad.

That was inconsequential right now. He did recognize the man. Kaiba's facial recognition wasn't as faultlessly eidetic as his memory for numbers or the written word, but he had made a point of memorizing this individual last year. In Battle City he had kept careful track of all the competitors, but some in particular had been especially significant.

If they had truly taken Mokuba...considered with the lack of ransom demands, he could make several hypotheses why they might have wanted his brother, none at all reassuring, and the worst of them...

This was supposed to have been ended. Battle City was to have put a stop to this; the pharaoh had laid it all to rest, standing victorious before Malik on the Duel Tower. This was supposed to be over, the thought hadn't crossed his mind, and he was furious with himself for not realizing it sooner, for not checking into this possibility already. Furious, in the parts of himself left which hadn't gone too cold to feel anything at all.

If they had gotten what they wanted from his brother already...or if they had decided they couldn't get it...or if this had been a plot of vengeance after all, restitution for their failure a year past...

"Do you recognize that man, Kaiba?" the other Yugi asked again; whether he was real or not was meaningless, because the others actually present were asking the same question. Though none of those three were speaking it aloud, just in their eyes, Yugi and his two friends staring at Kaiba hushed, as if they were listening for something in his motionless silence.

"I know him," Kaiba said, and the words came out crisp and hard-edged, though fragile enough to shatter in his throat. "He's a Ghoul."


to be continued...

I wanted to have the next scene be part of this chapter as well, but it ended up longer than expected and I'm not entirely happy with it, need to retool it a bit. So this is a short chapter, but I should have the next one up soon-ish. In case you've been wondering what's been happening to poor Mokuba-kun...
As always, can't thank everyone enough for the reviews. MikaSamu, Peacewish, J-L Lover, and everyone else who's mentioned the story's making them laugh in spite of themselves, glad to hear it. Humor doesn't always come easy to me, but Kaiba's attitude carries this story without much help from me at all! It might get more serious later...then again, it might not. Guess we'll find out when we get there!