Seto's fingers froze in place over the laptop keys. "What makes you think that I would agree to be the body?"

Yugi couldn't help but smirk at him. "Well, how much interest did you have in playing – really playing – with Joey and the others?"

"Very little," Seto said without a beat, and eyed Yugi's rather smug face with a raised eyebrow. "Mokuba is much more excited about it, which is why I wouldn't want him to be the stiff. It's a short-lived role."

Yugi snickered, but Seto pressed forward, skeptical. "What makes you so sure that because I agreed to let your friends come here that I would also join them in your little mystery – that may I remind you will be no secret to me since we're both sitting here plotting the course of the entire evening."

"You said so yourself," said Yugi, "Being the body is a small part. Whoever it is won't really get to play after they're discovered dead. You don't want to take part, but this would keep you involved, appeasing Mokuba, and it would limit your involvement with Joey and the others."

Yugi watched Seto's features shift to mild interest. Got him, he said to himself. "And really, once everyone discovers the body, we can more or less leave you alone."

"Get real, Yugi. It's a murder mystery. They're going to be in and out all over the game space, checking for clues. I'll be shackled to waiting around for your friends to figure it all out. Which, knowing Wheeler, will be a while."

"You can be killed here, in your study," Yugi offered, "Then all you have to do is lay on the floor. Pretend you're taking a nap or something."

"While your friends poke and prod at me? No thanks. I'd rather just hide in here and get my work done while you all leave me to relative peace and quiet."

Yugi looked about the room again. He supposed Kaiba could just stay seated and slump over the desk, and that way he could do whatever he wanted when alone, but having to stay hunched over would get really uncomfortable after a while. There was no way of knowing how long he would be stuck in that position, and he would have to be still for the group to examine the crime scene and gather any evidence.

But his eyes then lit up once he spotted a tablet on the corner of Kaiba's desk.

"I got it!" he said, "Play dead for us, and then when we're not in the room you could work." He pointed to the tablet. "You could keep that near you on the floor out of sight or something and just do emails or whatever you need to…and technically you're still participating in the game."

Seto's gaze drifted to the tablet and lingered there, and Yugi could almost hear him weighing options in his head. Not one to back down, now that he could see that Kaiba was considering it, Yugi leaned forward, splaying his hands out on the desk, drawing Kaiba's eyes back on him. "And, from a narrative perspective, you are the only one who we could potentially come up with enough fake reasons to kill."

After several beats pause, Seto sighed and leaned back in his chair. "…Alright, Yugi. So long as I can do whatever I want when your little band of mystery solvers aren't snooping through my office, then we have a deal. I'll be your corpse."

His gaze then hardened. "But – if I'm going to be more or less trapped in this room after I'm discovered, then I expect you to keep your friends in line. You can use part of the mansion, not all, and I expect your friends to keep out of rooms where they're not allowed."

"I understand," said Yugi. Kaiba had mentioned conditions, and it seemed like now they were finally coming to light. "What do you consider out of bounds?"

"Anything upstairs, for one thing." The last thing he needed was to find that Wheeler was digging around in his bedroom. Seto got up and led Yugi back into the hall, and towards a side corridor off of the kitchen. "That leads to the basement. Unless we decide otherwise later, no one should be going down there, either. Leave your sleuthing to the ground floor."

Yugi nodded. That seemed reasonable enough.

"I also expect that when your little game is done, that the house looks the exact way you found it."

"Don't mess up the place and stay downstairs. Got it."

Seto nodded once, gestured Yugi back to the dining room and retreated back to his office.

Yugi settled back in his seat from before, and took a second look around the dining room. There was enough room for all of his friends plus the Kaiba brothers and still have empty chairs.

He still had to come up with some sort of story. For what reason would Kaiba have to invite a number of people he didn't like – those with enough "grudges" to commit murder – into his mansion in the first place? A dinner party perhaps?

Maybe all of his friends would have a fabricated role to play. Would this be a business dinner full of disgruntled partners or ex-partners? Would Kaiba himself have a role – maybe someone dealing in some under-the-table transactions…and maybe he did all the people at the table dirty at some point. But to invite them all at the same time to his home? What would be the connecting link?

Seto returned moments later with the tablet from his office and narrow stylus pen in hand.

"Let's get started."

"You're overthinking this," said Seto.

"Am I?" Yugi groaned. "I can't come up with enough reasons for people to want to kill you."

Seto raised an eyebrow, the ghost of a smirk forming across his face. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Yugi couldn't help but cringe. "That wasn't supposed to sound that way…wow. I'm glad that the both of us know this is for a game, or this would be pretty awkward."

"It's a good thing Roland also knows we're talking about a game," said Seto wryly, "He takes death threats rather seriously."

Three days after his initial visit with Kaiba and he once again found himself at the mansion. Yugi was surprised to see that Kaiba's right hand man and bodyguard had joined them, and was off to the side of the living room, sitting quietly in an armchair, watching them work out the finer details of the upcoming game night. He wasn't quite sure what the point of having him here was, but Kaiba must be thinking ahead. On what, Yugi didn't have a clue.

"It's just…" Yugi began, "Without a special backstory, the only one of my friends who would probably have any want to hurt you – exaggerated reasoning, of course – would be…I dunno…Joey? But I can't just roll with that because it would be too obvious."

"You don't need a backstory for everyone," said Seto, "Just enough people for a murderer and maybe a few scapegoats."

Yugi chewed on the end of his pencil and stared down at his notebook. He had long since given up on the poor eraser and resorted to crossing out all of the tossed ideas. The page was a battlefield of scribbles and long abandoned half-formed thoughts.

Well, he thought the ideas were bad, at least. Putting together mystery night was so far a lot harder than he initially anticipated.

"Which of your Nerd Herd is coming, anyway?"

"Everyone," Yugi shrugged. "The usual gang: Joey, Tristan, Téa, Duke. Serenity is going to be in town so Joey asked to invite her. And of course Atem, and then you and Mokuba. I invited Bakura but he's not going to be around."

"Do they know what game night is supposed to be?"

Yugi shook his head. "No…not yet. I think only Mokuba knows for sure, because he was there in your office when I brought it up. But unless you told him anything else, he should be just as much in the dark as the rest of them."

He tapped the pencil against the side of his cheek. "I also haven't figured out how to sell this to the gang. They'll be suspicious at least for having it here. As it is, they're going to expect to go to the Game Shop."

Seto stood off to the side of the couch, the tablet in his hand, and was using some sort of tech mastery to project the screen onto the massive tv mounted on the wall.

"I suppose it should be obvious then – don't tell them what you're planning on doing. Problem solved."

"Kaiba, they're going to know something is up the instant I tell them it's going to be here."

Seto leveled him a pointed look. "Mokuba is playing. Tell them he organized it."

Yugi's jaw dropped, scandalized at the thought. "I can't lie to them!"

Seto rolled his eyes. "Hosting, then, which is not a lie as he lives here." He gestured to the tv on the wall. "Invite them over under the guise of some video game they've never played. That shouldn't be too difficult; Mokuba has more than plenty to choose from."

"And when we don't play any?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you? You want to make a murder mystery? Bring them in under, I don't know, Monster Kart Racer, and set up the murder after everyone gets here and into a game. It shouldn't be too hard for your murderer to sneak away from the group while they're distracted to kill me."

Yugi looked down at the notebook again and flipped to a fresh page. Having the gang be themselves, and stumble upon the body that way? It certainly was a take he hadn't considered.

"If I may," said Roland, for the first time since Yugi had arrived at the mansion, and looked to Seto. "As you are not as well…received by Mr. Muto's friends, it would also create an illusion that you are not part of their festivities if, say, you make an appearance after the others arrive."

Yugi slowly nodded. "Ooh, I think I see what you're saying. That is different." He looked back at Kaiba. "Okay, so the day we do this? Say the gang arrives here at…I dunno, four. Show up at five, through the front door or something, make a little scene, make your presence known, and then go hide in your office. We'll keep on playing and quietly transition things into the murder game, and then the real party will start."

"How do you plan on the killer getting away without making it obvious?"

Yugi frowned. "I'm not quite sure yet. Everyone would have to branch out somewhere, so no one had an alibi, or we'd all have to gather in the study with you, and I don't see that happening if we pretend you're not an active participant."

"Simulate a power outage," said Seto. "You're doing this at night, aren't you? Shouldn't be too hard to cause mass confusion in the dark."

"How can we do that?"

"The breakers are in the basement, near the security room," said Roland. "I can operate them for you. If you plan on being a sort of narrator or guide to your friends' game, I can fit you and your murderer with ear pieces and then signals can be sent back and forth when the lights need off and on again."

Yugi hummed and jotted down another line in the notebook. "I'm wondering if it will still be too obvious who the killer is if they're not stumbling around with the others in the dark. It'll be known right away if someone tries talking to them and they're not in the room."

"Have you considered creating the illusion of a separate murderer? A phantom player to draw suspicion around, rather than simply have them all point fingers at each other?" said Roland. He got up, reached for his own tablet, and switched out the internet search displayed on the tv with a roughly-drawn floor plan of the mansion's main level. "If your friends are going to be in here for the majority of the time, you can throw in a red herring. A window open elsewhere, footsteps leading somewhere else in the house you're not supposed to go, just to give them something else to figure out."

The corner of Seto's lip ticked upward. "Or, we can pin in on you."

Roland shrugged. "If you'd like me to make myself known in the house that evening, I can as well, and then 'disappear' after you are killed."

Yugi tilted his head curiously. "Would you also want to be in on it, Roland?"

"I won't lie that I am curious to see how this all plays out."

Yugi nodded, scribbling down another note. Another thought popped into his head, and he bit his lip, looking up at Kaiba, who merely raised one eyebrow back at him.

"…What?"

"I have another idea…but you really won't like it, and I don't think I can come up with enough bribery to make it happen."

Seto merely stared at him.

Yugi put the pencil down. "It would help spread the gang out in the house naturally, hopefully, and make it easier for the killer to sneak around unnoticed." He then turned to Roland. "I like the lights idea, but I think we can work it in somewhere else."

Seto crossed his arms. "…Well?"

"You promise you'll hear me out first and foremost, and won't just say no until I'm done?"

"Yugi –"

"Promise?"

Seto huffed. "Alright, fine, now what is it?"

Yugi took a deep breath and began to speak, and saw his rival's eye twitch before he was even finished.

One week later…

"Say, Yug', when's game night gonna be, huh? I thought we would've had it already," said Joey. He leaned back away from the camera so Tristan could get his head on the screen. It was the first time they managed to wrangle everyone online in a long time, and with Téa so far away, it was nice to all be able to chat together.

Yugi grinned. "Well, I was trying to come up with something new. None of the games in the shop were really speaking to me, you know? So I had to track down something else. And then I got overruled, so we'll, uh, start it in a few weeks."

"A few weeks?" Serenity pouted from her own screen. "I'll be back with my mother then."

"Aww man!" Joey frowned, "You sure you can't up the date?"

Yugi shook his head. "Sorry, but I have something else in mind instead? As a consolation?"

"What sort of consolation are we talking about?" asked Tristan.

"I'll let him tell you," said Yugi, and he shifted out of the way from his camera and angled it to the side of his bedroom, where Mokuba sat on the edge of the bed, waving energetically.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi Mokuba!" Téa waved back. "It's good to see you!"

Mokuba beamed at her. "How's New York?"

Téa exhaled noisily. "Busy. But I love it. Next time you and Kaiba are in town, let me know and maybe I can come see you!"

Mokuba nodded.

"Say, Mokuba," said Joey, giving Tristan a weird look before looking back at the camera, "Whatcha doin' in Yugi's house?"

"…Visiting? I had to stop by the shop and pick up something for a friend at school, and then I had to run an idea by him. In any case…I got a question for all of you."

"What's that?" asked Serenity.

"Well…" Mokuba looked away from the camera and down at his shoes. "I was wondering if you all wanted to have game day at my house."

"You mean like your house, your house?" said Tristan, "Kaiba's house?"

Mokuba rolled his eyes and sent him a deadpanned stare through the phone. "Yeah. My house. As in, the one I live in. With my brother."

Joey and Tristan exchanged looked.

"Anyway," said Mokuba, "While we were in the USA last, I picked up some really cool party games that aren't even available here. I thought maybe we could make a whole night out of it. You can even stay over – we have plenty of room!"

"Uh…" Duke said slowly, and he sighed. "Mokuba, there's just one problem."

Mokuba blinked. "What?"

"Your brother," said Joey, "We don't like him and he sure don't like us."

"Yeah," said Tristan, "I can't see him letting us hang out overnight. I wouldn't be surprised if he had his spooky security guys throw us off the property before we even made it to the front door!"

Mokuba scowled. "Okay, look. First of all, Seto already gave me the okay to invite friends. He's going away to a convention the weekend I was thinking of anyway, so he won't be home."

"He's just leaving you all by yourself?" said Téa, eyes wide. "Why wouldn't you go with him?"

"Because I didn't want to go," said Mokuba, as if the answer was plain as day. "And I think it's only fair that if you guys always invite me to your places for game day, that I can do it too! And it's not like I'll be alone. We have security on the grounds."

"I agreed to let Mokuba take the day I originally wanted," said Yugi, though he was out of sight of the camera. "That way Téa and Serenity can make it."

"Oh, that's really sweet of you," said Serenity. "Of course I'll come!"

"Great!" Mokuba grinned, and then gave Yugi a fleeting look before setting eyes on the others again. "Okay, so. I can't stick around, and I haven't quite figured out what to do 100% when you guys come, but be prepared to spend the night. We're gonna play video games till our fingers fuse to the controllers."

He paused. "And maybe blanket forts."

"Count me in!" said Duke.

"Do you want us to bring anything, Mokuba?" asked Téa.

"Yourselves," said Mokuba, "Ok. Gotta go. I'll give Yugi the rest of the details to send out in the next few days."

He gave them a quick wave before handing the phone back to Yugi. The conversation migrated in and out of dueling, escape rooms, where Atem was hiding ("in the shop with Gramps,"), and a bet of how long it would take for Joey to get kicked off the Kaiba Mansion grounds, until Téa announced having to get off the call.

"Sorry, guys. I have to get some sleep. Rehearsal soon."

The others said their goodbyes soon after, and one by one disappeared from the group chat, until Yugi was the only one left, staring at his own reflected image in the bottom corner of the screen.

He sat and waited, not taking his eyes off of his phone, though there was nothing new to look at.

Until the screen suddenly darkened and his ringtone chimed through his bedroom. He was invited to a private video call.

Yugi clicked the "Accept" button and a single face from the previous chat stared back at him.

"At first I thought you forgot to call me back," he said.

The caller shook their head. "Sorry. Got sidetracked for a minute. So, what is it you wanted to talk with me about, and not in front of the others? Everything okay?"

Yugi leaned forward. "Everything's cool! So – you're good to come to Mokuba's game night, right?"

"Yeah. Sounds fun."

Yugi smiled. "Great! But there's something you should know about it first, and you have to swear you won't tell anyone else."

They nodded.

Yugi's smile widened. "Okay. So. Game night at Mokuba's is going to be way more intense than just sitting around playing new video games. It's going to be something like we've never done before. And you have a really important role to play."

"Okay…?"

"We're doing a murder mystery party. And you are going to be the murderer."

Eyes widened. "Well, I wasn't expecting you to say that, and honestly, it sounds even better. I take it Mokuba knows what the plan really is?"

Yugi nodded. "Oh, yeah. He was super supportive of the idea."

"So you want me to be the killer." They smiled. "Interesting. I'll bite. Which of us do I get to kill?"

Yugi grinned into the phone.