Chapter 11: Brothers in Lies
The dragon let out a mighty roar, soaring over the charred battlefield. It scanned the area for its target.
There was a rustle in the dirt as a skeletal hand emerged from it.
The dragon's eyes glowed brightly, opening its maw wide.
"Go, Red-Eyes! End Honda's life!" Jonouchi cackled.
Honda rolled his eyes, flipping over a card.
"Mirror Force."
Yugi grimaced.
"That… uh… destroys Red-Eyes. Jonouchi, that was an obvious bait and switch monster." He pointed to the text under the card's image. "Its effect says if it's destroyed in battle too, you could summon a higher level one to take its place."
"So, they both mis-acted." Seto spoke up from where he had been sitting, looking over every now and then.
The day was over so now they were getting into the games as promised.
"Oh? You wanna try?"
Seto smiled.
"I mean… if you insist." He shrugged, picking up the deck he had been given, looking it over briefly. "Hm… This'll be simple."
Seto's entire demeanor changed, when he drew his cards, his gaze, cold.
"Duel."
oooooo
"Yes Mr. Crawford, Seto-kun is settling in here just fine." Mahad assured as he walked into the classroom. "He's with Yugi right now and-"
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?" Jonouchi yelled as the door slid open. "You… You can't be that good!"
"I'm sorry, I just have more practice then you."
There was a sigh on the other side of the phone.
"Sounds like it."
Yugi looked over to Mahad, giving a grimace.
He totally wiped the floor with Jonouchi and he didn't even need much to do it...
"I activated the spell card, Brain Control. Red-Eyes is now mine for the next turn." Seto smiled. "Hand it over please."
Jonouchi narrowed his eyes, sliding the card over.
"And to Red-Eyes…" He set down two cards, one of a bright red sword and another of a dark necklace. "Black Pendant and the Sword of Dark Destruction. With the field spell currently active, all dark monsters get a boost in attack… and with no monsters to defend your life points…"
"Say it." He growled. "Just… say it."
"You lose."
"One moment." Mahad muted the phone. "If you all are done playing, please get to cleaning up."
There was a chorus of disappointment.
"What was that?"
"N-Nothing!"
Yugi sighed as he helped get things put away before grabbing up a broom.
"So, Seto, do you play Duel Monsters a lot?"
Seto hummed in thought.
"Well… I play mostly tournaments outside of town. Then there's the online circuit, which is fine. It's not the most exciting version of the game but it's something." Seto shrugged, gathering his things up. "You know, something to keep in mind of the meta game and all that…"
Yugi was stunned.
"W-What? You're THAT level?"
"Bit rusty. It's been… awhile."
Who even is this kid…?
"How long have you been playing?" Seto asked.
"Since I was in third grade, right when it came out. My dad brought back a deck that was in English from America. I was really bad at reading it and he thought a game would help me learn it better."
"Ah, multi-lingual then?"
He nodded.
"English isn't my strong suit but I can speak arabic pretty fluently."
"I see, I'm not the only one then…"
"Siblings?"
Seto gave a small shrug.
"One younger brother. You?"
"A little sister… Do you wanna come to my house sometime and play cards? We have a whole shop."
"Hm… How about instead, you visit mine?"
Yugi stopped short, looking at him with a stunned look.
"Huh? You mean…"
"Yes, the Crawford mansion."
I… Wow… Okay…
"S-Sure thing! And then you can come to mine. My grandpa's got lots of super rare cards too!"
"Very well. It's a deal."
oooooo
"Where do you wanna go after school?" Natsuki looked behind her at her friends. "We know how well it went the last time…"
"No Burger World." Ayaka pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'd like to forget that."
"Hm… Crepes? Arcade?" Natsuki turned to Mokuba. "Anywhere you'd like to go?"
He hummed in thought.
"Know any place where we can get some Capumon capsules?"
"That'll be Nat's house for sure. Her grandpa's got this massive set of Capumon gachapon machines outside the shop." Ayaka cut in. "And her grandpa's super nice too."
"So's her dad." Sera added. "We've known them since we were super little."
Mokuba looked at Natsuki with a nervous look. He wasn't sure about the sudden invite.
Isn't it rude to invite yourself to someone else's house like that? Father would've had a field day…
… No… Father wouldn't.
He would.
Natsuki noted the way his eyes darkened, a concerned look coming to her eyes.
"It's okay. We can go to my house and hang out. Plus, my grandpa also makes really good snacks. He'd be happy to have more people over."
Mokuba let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew…"
There was a small crowd gathered near the gate, whispering and talking amongst themselves.
Natsuki raised an eyebrow.
"What the…?"
Mokuba's phone buzzed, checking it.
"Where are you?"
… Ah crap. No no no no…
"Uh, I think I'll have to take a raincheck on that invite today." Mokuba hurried past Natsuki, giving an apologetic look. "Can I text you later?"
"S-Sure…" She frowned. "You okay?"
"It's fine!" He called, picking up the pace, silently thanking his lucky stars the crowd of students was hiding a very expensive car.
He motioned for the driver to move away from the school but the car didn't budge. He narrowed his eyes, making his way over to one of the windows, knocking on it.
The window rolled down, revealing a teenager with dark hair and piercing blue eyes.
"Do you mind?" Mokuba hissed. "I'm trying to be subtle here."
"Oh. Are we doing "Get out?"
"Yes."
Mokuba took a deep breath.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? This isn't a parking spot!"
The boy inside motioned for the driver to pull away to go down the block.
"Whatever, kid. Enjoy your boring public school!"
Thank you, amazing big brother.
"YEAH THAT'S RIGHT! KEEP MOVING!" He yelled after the car before going in the opposite direction, ducking right out of sight.
"I'll go around the back. It's a long walk home and it'll be dark before you get there."
"I know, I know, but I was making plans. You kinda wrecked them."
"... I'm sorry. It's been a long day and I'm fried."
"... Bad day or good day or people?"
"Yes."
Mokuba sighed before continuing down the block, deciding he'd take the long way.
"Meet me down the block instead, you're gonna make a problem."
"Sorry…"
"It's okay, just… trying to be careful here. I don't want people to talk to me just because of the company."
He noted the message was left on "read".
Great.
He saw the car pull up beside him once he was far enough, sliding into the backseat. He looked around one more time to be sure no one saw him.
"Seto, you can't just leave me on read-" He stopped short, noting his brother was holding the side of his head. "Something wrong?"
He reached over, touching his arm. Seto tensed up, shaking his head.
"Headache… I think today just fried me more than I thought."
"Okay, okay, we'll get you home then." Mokuba turned to the driver. "Straight home please."
"Right away, Master Kaiba."
Mokuba turned back to Seto, squeezing his arm gently.
"You're okay…"
"M'fine. It's my job to worry about you, not the other way around." Seto shook his head. "I'm just tired, I think."
"Too many people?"
"Yeah… Let's go with that."
Mgh…This headache has been brewing since this morning…
"So, today or tomorrow?"
"I think tomorrow… Little exhausted."
Why did I agree to that? I mean, the kid's not bad, but… people…
At my house…
"How was school?"
"It was good, I met a girl named Natsuki and her friends too. She's really smart and witty. Funny too." Mokuba smiled a little. "She invited me over to her house sometime."
"That's good… really good. I… invited people over to the house tomorrow."
"You know, you could invite people over if you wish."
"Absolutely NOT!"
… Who is this guy?
Mokuba looked up at him with concern. He reached up, feeling his forehead.
"Seto?"
"Hey!"
"No, no I'm glad but… you sure you're okay?"
"Yes. Reminder, Noah does his stream tomorrow, right?"
"... Seto, you didn't." Mokuba narrowed his eyes. "You did not."
He suddenly was very interested in his phone, ignoring the pounding in his skull.
"Seto Kaiba…" Mokuba narrowed his eyes.
"I don't know why you're giving me that tone, I didn't confirm or deny anything. It was just a question."
"This isn't over."
"It is."