Original Yu-Gi-Oh Series
Parallel
Chapter 017
Originally Written: Saturday, April 9, 2022 1009AM to 1114AM
. . . . .
"I don't see what the big deal is." Tristan interrupted as he, Bakura, Tea and Joey walked to school. "If he doesn't want to ask about it, that's his right, isn't it?"
"Point." Bakura agreed. "Personally, I'd ask as soon as he was feeling better though. Just for my peace of mind."
"I think I would too." Tea gripped the handle of her bag just a little tighter. She wasn't sure if Pegasus was truly trying to goad Yugi or help him. Solomon of the Kame Game Store and Yugi did share the same last name. Why would Pegasus say such a thing so publicly though?
"Yugi doesn't have the best family, so maybe not asking is how he's gonna keep said peace of mind?" Tristan replied.
Joey slumped behind the others, hands in his pockets. The whole thing stunk. Solomon didn't seem like the type of old man who lied about such things. Was it something that just came up or what?
He nodded to Seto, as they entered the school grounds. He was sitting on a bench under one of the large trees in the yard. Seto returned the nod, even though his nose was stuck in a book.
The whole thing sounded like the legal rulings that stopped his sister from regularly visiting home. Not that he would want her to. His mom never explained it much to him, but he got the gist. If he wanted to see Serenity, he'd have to go see them, not the other way around. Maybe it was like that here? He didn't know.
"Can we just drop it?" He didn't mean to snap like that, but he wound up doing so anyway. "It's none-a-our business anyway. He either asks or he don't. We can't make 'im, and we shouldn't eitha."
"Hm." Bakura chuckled, "Two for two, it seems."
They entered the classroom to find most of their female classmates gathered around a new kid. A male with black hair in a ponytail, green eyes and a hanging die earring was performing all kinds of magician's tricks with dice.
Joey exited the room, and entered again. "This is the right classroom."
The new kid's seating placement meant that most of the girls were gathered around Seto's desk as well. A couple were even sitting on Seto's desk.
"Yay," Bakura clapped his hands, "I'm no longer the new fangirl bait."
"Duke, darlin'" A girl asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm still working on that, ladies, but I'll get back to you." The boy, Duke winked, and the entire gaggle of girls either pretended to swoon or actually did. Duke caught one. "Ladies, ladies, please. No need to fret."
Joey and Tristan shared a look. Joey walked back out of the room with a wave of his hand.
Bakura looked at Tea with a question in his eyes.
"Oh, right, you're never here this early." Tea answered, "Mitsura...Seto is kind of weird. Students sit on his desk all the time. He'll never ask them to move, so they won't. He'll wait until they move themselves, but that will be when the teacher comes in, so he'll be marked tardy and get in trouble."
"That's quite the problem." Bakura frowned.
Only one girl sat apart from the rest, and her head was stuffed in a textbook she was taking notes from. She had purple hair, and a green bow tied it up in a ponytail.
Tea nodded. "Mhm. She'll never answer you Tristan. Classroom politics. And if you get her injured, I'll maim you."
Tristan grunted and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He walked over to her "Hey Miho."
She looked up from her book. "O-oh, hello Tristan. Welcome back."
"Thanks. Got a question for you. Who's the new kid?"
Miho's dark eyes trailed to the group of fangirls hovering over Duke. He didn't seem to mind that one had wrapped their arms around his shoulders. She cleared her throat, raised an eyebrow, and went right back to taking notes. "We have a test in chemistry next week, and I need to study."
Tristan fished a book out of his briefcase and set it on the desk. "This is yours for a week."
Miho gasped, "Is that the new Batman comic?"
"Uh huh." Tristan smirked. "I hear it's sold out everywhere, too. What a shame."
She made grabby fingers for it, but Tristan snatched it away. She huffed, eyes shifting to the gaggle of girls. "You owe me."
By now Bakura and Tea had walked up to the desk as well.
"Please, you're the one who did the you-know-what to the boy's bathroom." Tristan rolled his eyes, and waved the comic in her face.
"That was you? Good show." Bakura chuckled. Tea playfully smacked his arm.
Miho flushed. "His name is Duke Devlin. He transferred here while you were at Pegasus' tournament thingy. He's an up and coming business partner of Pegasus, including a stockholder of Industrial Illusions, but has had to find other avenues because Pegasus decided to drop seventy five percent of his net worth on a dueling tournament. Industrial Illusion's other stockholders and business partners are understandably pissed."
"I knew there was a lot of money in prizes, but that much?" Tea gasped in surprise. "What would make him do such a thing?"
Tristan slowly edged the comic towards her.
"He seems calm and flirty, but he's a mess. Noa Kaiba dominates the gaming industry. The drop in worth means Pegasus isn't a top dog anymore. Without Pegasus to oppose him..." She shifted her gaze, "You know how Kaiba's are." She raised her textbook and shifted her fingers in the shape of a gun behind it. She dropped the textbook, and snatched the comic from Tristan's hands.
"Thank you, milady."
"Go away. Someone's gonna spread that I badmouthed Japan's next top model and I'm gonna get my butt kicked." She shooed them away with her hands.
Joey and Seto entered the classroom ten minutes later. Seto blinked in confusion when he noticed his clear seat. Joey smirked, shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled a happy tune as he walked away. Duke sat at his desk, with an eye twitching, as he repeatedly tapped one of his dice on the desk. The fangirls sobbed and tried to console each other while attempting to maintain their stance as Duke's fangirls.
Joey took his seat, and poked Tristan. "Whatcha tell 'im?"
Tea giggled, needing to cover her mouth with her hands. "I feel so bad. It's so bad. He's gonna give himself a heart attack."
Tristan leaned back in his chair with the air of a top gang member. "Apparently no one had the balls or pussy to tell him who sits there." Tristan jerked his head towards Bakura, "Then he saw him."
"Amane is a pain in my arse." Bakura lifted his head from his desk for just a moment, before dropping it again.
Joey laughed, "Good times. Good times."