Trying my best to fit Yu-Gi-Oh's slightly messed up world-building logic while trying to make things believable/immersive. I want to hopefully try and at least capture some of the energy from the show. :\
I yawn into my hand, the clicking of chalk on the blackboard a scraping rhythm in the background.
My class was boring me out of existence. It was a first grade level, so I didn't know what I could've possibly expected. The orphanage was the one that put us all into classes anyway, and this was turning out to be just as much of a wretched fiasco as kindergarten.
At the very least, we didn't have homework or anything because all the teachers were volunteers who didn't have the extra time to spare on grading work. It kind of sucked for the other kids, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
It's only been a few days since we arrived, but the adjustment has been a little rough. The orphanage had a hall of classrooms connected to the main building, which we all attended from morning till noon with a break for lunch. Then, my brothers and I would spend the rest of the day reading in our rooms or trying out new games that we found stored in the classrooms until dinner. After that, we would sometimes take a quick walk around outside before getting ready for bed.
It wasn't a particularly interesting routine, but it was what worked as we all tried to get settled into our unfamiliar surroundings. Mokuba had become more quiet, preferring to spend time inside or around Seto and I, who were the only people he'd ever really talk to. He always had questions that Seto and I didn't know how to answer, but we tried our best. Seto has changed too, smiling much less and becoming much more serious, even than before.
I didn't know how to deal with all of it either, so I just tried my best to be positive, although all I wanted to do was lie in bed the whole day and not talk to anyone. It was hard, but day by day we were slowly trying to make it work.
The teacher's moved on to talking about fractions, and I pretend I'm writing down notes like the other kids while I read through the book in my lap. It's a series of tanka poems by Takuboku Ishikawa, and I'm going to use it to finally beat Seto in karuta-a poem based card game-the next time we play.
Luckily, after another half an hour, class ends. With the chorus of scraping chairs, shuffling papers, and budding conversations, I drop my notebook and pencil into my standard issue book bag and squeeze my way between the other children and desks out of class.
I head straight towards Mokuba's classroom, which is only a few rooms down the hall. I give Mokuba a wave from the doorway as he collects all his crayons together, and he calls my name happily as he shoves close his bag and runs over.
He gives me a big hug, and I return it. Then, he looks around.
"Where's Seto?" He asks. I look down the hall, but no one else is approaching.
Strange, Seto usually would've met us by now.
"I don't know Mokie, let's go look for him." I say, and he links hands with me as we walk to Seto's classroom. It's on the other side of mine, so we have to backtrack, but I ask Mokuba about his day and he gets a little more animated as his pent-up stories and questions are unleashed. I enjoy the glimpse of childish fervor he shows, although his story gets cut off as he spots Seto sitting at one of the desks.
"Seto-nii!" He yells, and our brother turns from regarding the shapes on his table to look up at us. The teachers and other children had already packed up for the day, and the classroom was empty save for Seto.
"Hey!" He greets, giving us a smile as I pull up chairs for Mokuba and I. He's playing a game on the desk, the splay of a checkerboard in front of him.
"What's that, big brother?" Mokie asks, sliding onto his seat as his book bag drops to the ground with a thump.
"Is that chess?" I add, sliding into the other chair. The individually carved shapes of the playing pieces are easily recognizable, although the layout is slightly off.
Seto gives me a surprised look, but answers as he turns his attention back to the board. "We talked about it in class today, and I remembered that there was a set in here."
I look at the board. It's definitely been a while since I last played, but I knew how the game worked. The knight and the bishop are in the wrong position, so I switch them and then nudge the pawns from their alternating lines into a single one.
Seto watches what I do quietly, and when I'm done, the board is standard set.
"You know how to play chess, Risa?" He questions, and I just shrug in response.
"I've seen it a few times." I lie. But he takes it into stride with a thoughtful look.
After a pause, he finally asks "Could you teach me?"
I give him a smile. "Yeah!"
It takes a bit to explain everything, but Seto soaks up the information like a sponge. I beat him at the first two games, but by the time the sun finally starts to set through the classroom windows, Seto's thrashing me nearly every round.
My eye twitches, and I once again am reminded of how terrifying my brother can be. Well, I can't say that I was great at the game to begin with though.
"Do you want to try, Mokuba?" I ask, noticing the way my younger brother was itching to get his hands on the board. He nods shyly, and I move over to let him take my seat at the opposite end of the board.
Mokuba's a quick learner too, and he already has a good grasp of the rules just from watching Seto and I play. Very impressive for a kid his age, I think with a smile.
Seto goes easier on him, but Mokuba lacks solid plans. He gets distracted by each new move Seto makes, and in a few turns, he's backed up right where Seto wants him. As his king gets captured, Mokuba pouts.
"Let me try again!" He cries, standing up. But just then, his stomach growls, loud enough for Seto and I to hear.
My big brother breaks into a laugh, the first time in a while, and I can't help but snicker a little into my hand as Mokuba blushes.
"Maybe after dinner, huh Mokie?" I say, and Seto packs up the set for later.
As we walk to the dining hall for dinner, Mokuba hangs on my shirt with hungry complaints and Seto keeps up steady banter with a new glint of excitement in his eyes. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
(✦✧✦✧)
It was a beautiful summer evening. The sky was blushing, the air was warm, and everything was almost perfect.
If it wasn't for that fact some brats decided to snatch Mokuba's shovel right out of his hands.
"Hey!" My little brother yells as they run through the sand pit, trampling over our roughly made buildings. Immediately I'm on my feet, and the bullies turn back to laugh at us. I quickly recognize them as the ones that have been picking on Mokuba for the past few weeks.
"Give that back right now!" I demand, but the one holding Mokuba's shovel just sticks his tongue out.
"Or what?" Another hollers back, and they break out into laughs again. Sand crunches between my hands from how hard I clench my fists, and my rage flares up. They had picked us out purposefully, the weak and inexperienced new arrivals.
But even if I'm so much shorter now, I'm not afraid of a group of six year olds, and I never have been. I step forward, but a hand lands on my shoulder.
"Or else you'll regret it." A voice answers from my back, and I turn my head to see our oldest brother standing behind me.
I tilt my head in confusion as the bullies jeer.
"Yeah? Try us, tough guy!"
Seto doesn't give them the chance to say another word before he tackles the guy waving Mokuba's toy around. The rest of the bullies yelp as he wrestles the other boy to the floor, and I scream as I see red hit the dirt.
"SETO!" I shriek, running over to grab my brother. I pull him back, and his head jerks up just fast enough to miss a scratch to the face. The other kid is howling and bleeding from his nose, not quite broken, and I can't help but be relieved it wasn't Seto that had gotten injured.
"You're crazy!" One of them yells, and they help the other crying kid get up. I crouch in front of my brother and watch them warily as they scramble off the playground with a few furious looks back.
"Are you okay, Seto?!" Mokuba asks as he runs over, and I check Seto's face carefully despite him trying to avoid my eyes. It doesn't look like anything's wrong save for some redness, so I let him go for Mokuba to fret over.
"Seto-what are you doing?!" I ask in a frantic yell. He has never acted like that before-our eldest brother had always been the quiet, studious type. It was always me picking fights.
Seto doesn't look at me. He still has the shovel clutched in his hands, and he gives it to Mokuba with a bad attempt at a reassuring smile.
"Big brother..." Mokuba starts, only for our brother to shake his head.
"I'll protect you guys." Seto finally says. "No matter what."
My eyes are wide, and at first I don't know what to say. I have always been the oldest in my mind, and I will always do my best to protect these two children next to me who I have watched grow up from chubby cheeked babies to now.
But next to me has always been Seto. Seto, who has always been there for us, who has always helped us. Seto, my brother, the only one left to care about us. My heart feels a little sore, vulnerable and battered, but touched. Some part of me says that I would trust my big brother, who has never once broken my faith.
"Okay" is what I manage to squeeze out, before I recover from the sudden attack of emotions.
I'm back and smiling, and the next minute Seto and I are helping Mokuba rebuild the sandpit city.
Seto wakes up the next day with a dark blossoming bruise on his cheek, and I try to tell myself it's fine. But as I watched my brother, ten years old and wincing at the icepack the nurse gave us, I knew that this would never be fine.
I could never let myself stand by and watch as my brothers suffered because of my own weaknesses.
That soft part of me, who welcomed the protection of my older brother, recedes back into my chest.
(✦✧✦✧)
It's fall now, and we're more than halfway through the year. There is some part of me that is achingly unfulfilled.
It's a cool fall evening, and I'm taking a walk in the near vicinity of the orphanage. It's technically not allowed, and I know I shouldn't, but the streets here have always been safe and I valued the space that a change in scenery gave.
I pass through the main part of the town and find myself walking down a more residential area. It's not very late yet, so a lot of people are still out and about. Kids yelling as they chased each other down the road, mothers walking home with grocery bags, and retired elders enjoying the fresh air as they played their favorite games.
I note two games of shoji and one of chess, but the familiar shuffle of cards catches my attention.
There's a group of four old men set up on a table outside of a shop. They're lucky that the store is at a corner, so the last bits of sunlight aren't blocked by any buildings around them. Or maybe that was a strategic choice that made them choose the location in the first place.
I can't help but wander over, and my eyes flash brightly when I realize what they're playing.
It's poker.
Suddenly, I'm filled with memories of late nights at my aunt's house, dim lights over the breakfast table as I stacked chips and waited on each pass of the dealer's hand.
I have never been a big gambler, and my interests typically lined up with other things or even other games that I preferred more, but poker was something that I had been good at. I enjoyed the rush of the draw, the boldness of the bluff, the feeling of the cards protected under my hand.
I don't even notice I'm already standing next to the table.
"Can I play?" I ask, but the words come out of my mouth without me even thinking. I don't know if I even want to play, but calmness runs through me like a stream, and I find myself not caring either way.
The old men look at me, and then at each other. One laughs, a raspy bellow that betrayed his age.
"Sure thing, girly!" Someone says, and my shoulders relax. They pull a chair up for me, and I feel something like satisfaction slot into place.
All my worries fade into the back of my mind as the cards are passed out. The numbers register themselves in my brain, I think, because I know them with just a glance. My hands move on their own, and I surrender to the instinctive actions.
The first round passes before I know it, a check, a raise, someone folds, chips slide to the middle of the table, and my full house beats a flush and a three of a kind.
The chips go to me, and the old men are taking me more seriously now.
"Beginner's luck..." The grandfather to my right mumbles, but he regards me with a new interest.
I play until the night falls and the streetlights flicker on. After the fourth win, one of them retires for the night, fifty dollars poorer with a grumble. I don't know how long I play, but someone's hand on my shoulder startles me out of my trance.
"-isa!" I hear as I tune back into the world, and I look up to see Seto over me, a deep furrow in his brow. The old men pause their playing, looking over with curious glances.
"What are you doing, Risa?!" He asks, voice a little too loud as he looks between me and the other people at the table. Something crushes against my torso, and I look down to see Mokuba burying his face into my ribs.
"Wha-" My voice cracks and I pause to wet my lips. I hadn't realized how dry they were. "What...?"
"We were looking for you everywhere!" Mokuba says, looking up at me. I realize his eyes are teary and I quickly drop the cards in my hands to give him a hug.
"I thought...I thought you left us." Mokuba squeaks out, and my heart shatters.
"No, no, no." I stumble over my own words, panicking as he whimpers into my shirt. "I would never leave you. Never ever ever."
I hold him close as a wave of guilt washes over me.
"W-what time is it?" I splutter, and Seto levels me with a steady glare.
"Nine." He states, and I can feel the sharp edge of his anger like a knife to the throat.
Nine? I left at six. How have I spent three hours playing without noticing the time? I look back at my side of the table and finally take in the towers of chips I've accumulated, the cross looks of the old men across the table, and the way the streets were much emptier than before.
"I'm sorry." I say, confused and upset. "I don't know how I lost track of time. I'm really, really sorry."
I give Seto my best pleading look, and his eyes soften slightly. Mokuba sniffles, getting up to wipe at his eyes with his sleeves.
Seto finally sighs. "Let's just go," He relents, "Curfew was two hours ago."
I get up in a hurry, the entire game forgotten in lieu of more pressing matters. I only take a few steps, however, before someone calls out, "Wait a second young lady!"
We all look back, and one of the old men is getting up and hobbling over to us. I turn around, and he presses something into my hand.
"I believe this is yours." He says, and I look down at the stack of wrinkled cash he has given me.
"But-" I start, ready to give it back, but the old man just raises a hand.
"You won it fair and square, missy. It's been a while since we've had such good competition. Come around whenever you're free." He offers, and a smile lifts at the corner of my lips.
"Thank you." I say, and he just gives me an irritated wave of the hand.
"Just don't come around too often, okay?" He tacks on grumpily as he goes back to the table.
I turn back to Seto and Mokuba, the former giving me a look of disbelief while the latter cranes over curiously. The cash is heavy in the pocket of my skirt where I stuffed it, and my heart is beating in my throat.
"What were you doing, Risa-nee?" Mokuba asks as we set off hastily.
"I'll tell you later." I say to him, something new fluttering around in my chest.
We manage to sneak back into the orphanage with the help of Seto boosting us over the gates, and Mokuba and I collapse onto the floor of our room after we crawl back in through the window.
"Thank god we left that unlocked." I said, panting from our run back home, and Mokuba makes a small noise of agreement.
"Watch it!" Seto warns, and Mokuba and I quickly shuffle out of the way as he wiggles in as well. Luckily the orphanage was only a floor tall, so we were able to even reach the windows in the first place.
The security here was pretty weak, but I guess they didn't really care. As long as the children had nowhere else to go, they would always return.
"Next time, tell us if you're going to run off somewhere for that long." Seto says as he starts to get ready for bed.
I nod my head, before realizing he's looking somewhere else. "I promise!" I say out loud, and Mokuba starts asking me about what game I was playing. I answer as best as I can, and luckily the questioning stops before we sneak into the bathroom to brush our teeth.
I lay in my bed, and I feel like the money is glowing from where I've stuffed it underneath the mattress.
Tonight, sleep isn't as elusive as it usually is.
(✦✧✦✧)
"One day, I want to go to a theme park!" Mokuba exclaims. I grimace as I watch Seto's horse take my bishop before turning to our youngest brother, who was reading through a slightly outdated children's magazine he had found.
"Look!" He says, and flips the page so I can see the giant spiral of a rollercoaster that takes up the whole page.
"They have a big waterpark and a superhero ride, and it looks so cool!" He points out on the other page, and I see the blown up pictures of kids splashing through a waterslide and a power ranger standing at some kind of entrance. "I've never been to one before. I really want to go."
I smile softly at him. "We'll definitely go one day, Mokie! I pinky-promise."
He giggles as he loops his pinky with mine, and Seto rolls his eyes.
"Even better than that, Mokie, I'll promise you that one day we'll have our own theme park!" He says matter-of-factly.
I give my oldest brother a wounded look. "Hey! That's not fair, you can't out-promise me!"
"I can and I just did." He taunts lightly, and I wrinkle my nose at him.
"Well, Mokuba and I pinky-promised, so ours is better!"
To my surprise, Seto leans over to Mokuba, and sticks out his own pinky. "I'll pinky-promise too, right Mokie?"
Mokuba smiles and locks his little finger with Seto's.
"Traitor!" I cry out in fake outrage, and Seto sticks his tongue out at me childishly.
"Also, make your move Risa." He says, and when I look back at the board, I realize that I was almost completely trapped. There was no way that I would be able to win now that I had lost my dark square bishop.
"Argh, Seto, you..." I gasp, and he has the gall to smirk at me.
"I give up!" I say, and get up from my chair. "You two traitors can play together!"
I give Mokuba a look, and he doesn't need a second prompt to jump into the empty seat. One of his favorite things was to play chess against Seto and I, but since Seto was much more into the game than I was, it typically ended up with him and Seto occupying each other for hours.
Which was just fine with me, I thought to myself as I went around the table to find a new book near the back of the room.
As I scour the ragtag selections, my brain wanders back to the promise that Seto had made Mokuba. Pinky promises were only for serious things, things we whole-heartedly intended to fulfill. But promising to build our youngest brother his own theme park wasn't realistic.
Nonetheless, there was a seriousness in Seto's eyes that made me pause.
I don't get much longer to think about it though, because Mokuba's calling my name and I have to go back to the table to help him sort out the latest of Seto's tricks.
(✦✧✦✧)
Seto comes back into the room with a click of the door. He had been called out by the matron a few minutes ago, and she only picked kids out if they were in trouble or if they were getting adopted. For Seto it was almost nearly always the latter.
I've also had a handful of requests, but like my brother, I refuse them if it doesn't include the three of us. We were a set of siblings and none of us were okay with being separated. However, that meant that our chances were significantly lower, as rarely anyone wanted a trio of children.
"How was it?" I ask, not looking up from the house of cards I'm carefully building. From the corner of my eye, I see him shaking his head.
Another flunk then. That's alright, we were making a fine living on our own anyway.
I go back to making my little project, an origami crane that one of the volunteers taught me to make.
(✦✧✦✧)
It was fairly dark out, not too late yet, but definitely a few hours past the orphanage's 7 pm curfew. I step outside the open door of Matsuda's house and into the night. Matsuda was one of the friendlier old men I had met that first day at the poker table, and a big hoster of poker nights. Every few days, I would come out to play a round with the locals.
It had been a few months since I first played, winter having already come and gone with chilly gusts. I had bought some new blankets and coats during the colder months with some of the poker money I had saved up, and it proved to be a worthy investment as the orphange's heating system struggled throughout the snowy days.
Tonight was one of the first warm days of the new year, and so a few more people were willing to make the trek for a good game.
Seto's waiting outside to pick me up, shuffling through his new Duel Monsters deck under the yellow lights of the street lamp. He had gotten into it just a few weeks ago when he saw some of the other kids playing it in the courtyard. Of course, Seto being Seto just had to get into their duel and eventually came back to show us the two cards he had won.
After that, whenever he wasn't playing chess, he was dueling. With the help of a few bets and some occasional local tournaments, Seto also came back every once in a while with cash. It had helped out with getting some new clothes or snacks, and it let him buy some more duel decks, which made him happy.
Seto finished reorganizing whatever he needed to and looked up as I approached, tucking the deck away in his pocket.
"Heya, Seto!" I greet cheerfully, my heart warm at his presence, and he graces me with a smile.
"Hey Risa." He responds as we set off together back in the direction of the orphanage.
"Did you win anything today?" I ask, noticing the pep in his step. Seto hums, and digs something out of his pocket.
"Just a twenty," He says, showing me the bill before tucking it away again. "Some teenager thought he could beat me. I'm guessing you did better?"
"Just a sixty," I say, grinning at him cheekily. "Not as good as the last tournament you did though..."
Tournaments, although more few and far between, had much higher payouts. A few hundred dollars for the championship most of the time.
Seto rolled his eyes at my teasing but gave me a congratulatory "Nice."
I bump his shoulder playfully while we walk, and ask what Mokuba was up to. Seto shrugs, "When I left, he was just drawing in our room."
The bright neon lights of a 24 convenience store catch my eye, and I stop in my tracks.
"Ah, wait." I say as Seto slows down in front of me, "Speaking of Mokuba, he said he wanted to try the new melon flavored taiyaki."
We both walk in, and the sliding doors release the cold air of the store onto our faces. The front desk clerk is busy reading a magazine, so she doesn't say anything as we walk in.
It's a quick path to the freezer section, and I look around in the ice cream selection before finding what I'm looking for. The green wrapper crinkles in my hand as I take it out from its icebox prison.
"That's the new limited edition Super Midoriiro Sentai flavor, isn't it?" Seto asks, recognition lilting his voice as he looks over my shoulder.
I stick my hand out to see it better in the light, noticing the little green superhero at the bottom. "Yeah, I think it is! Maybe it'll be a collectible in the future."
"Get me one too."
I laugh a little, but reach into the freezer and get two more.
We walk to the counter and I check out with one out of my stack of twenties while Seto wanders off to stare at the bundle of Duel Monster packs near the register.
"You want one, nii-san?" I ask as the cashier gives me back the change. He shakes his head, so I grab the plastic bag with our treats, and we walk out of the sliding doors and the chill of the bright store is replaced with the darkness of a warm spring night.
"I already got some new cards today." He says, and his fingers twitch like he's already itching to have them in his hands again.
I hide my smile. "What cards are they?" I ask, and his hands are around his deck before I even finish the sentence.
We spend the rest of the walk enthusiastically as Seto shows me his new additions under each lamplight we pass under, explaining not only their mechanics, but also all the ways they can be used in a variety of decks. I likewise feel myself drawn to the cards, but I definitely couldn't match the vigor of my older brother.
Regardless, his happiness is contagious and we keep up a steady conversation about deck strategies until we reach the orphanage.
It's gated, but Seto boosts me up onto the fence, and I drop the plastic bag onto the lawn before grabbing the rails with both hands and leaping down as well. Seto is quick to follow, hoisting himself over smoothly due to his height advantage-already five foot at the age of eleven.
We're quiet as we creep up to the window of our room, once again thanking the fact that we didn't have any roommates. Mokuba's in bed, reading one of the children's books we got, but he looks up as I gently tap on the glass.
He walks over in his little blue footie pajamas and opens the window so that we can climb in.
I smile and shake the plastic bag. "Guess what I got, Mokie!"
The five year old's face lights up, and I give him the bag to dig through.
He beams as he takes out the fish-shaped ice cream, looking up at me happily. "Thank you nee-san!"
I just grin back and ruffle his fluffy hair. "No problem Mokie."
While Mokuba's distracted by the snack, I go over to one of my drawers and open it up. At first, it only looks like the drawer holds books, but between the pages are the earnings that Seto and I have made. I find some spots for my sixty between the pages of one of the books and then put it back.
If we ended up making more in the future, we would need to open up a bank account, and it would be at least seven more years before either of us could. But that was a problem for another time.
I go back to sit with Mokuba and Seto near the window, the sweet spring breeze ticking our cheeks as I open my share of the ice cream. I lean against the wall and take my first bite, letting the cold melon flavor spread along my tastebuds.
Surrounded by my two favorite people, enjoying a beautiful calm night and a delicious treat, I felt content.
I look over at Seto, whose brown bangs are falling into his eyes as he leans over to show Mokuba his deck. I couldn't have done any of this without him. Despite being mentally older, I still feel like a child, especially after all these years spent living like one. But Seto, he's always had a plan, and he's always been more rational than any child has the right to be, even if it's simply the role he's been forced into. Either way, I appreciated him more than anything else.
And Mokuba...I switched my gaze to the little tyke currently dripping green ice cream onto the floor because he's distracted, tilted to the side to look at Seto's cards. Mokuba's the sweetest kid I know, all the soft edges and sugary smiles that me and Seto lacked. I had worried a lot about how he was doing when we first got to the orphanage, but now he was opening back up, even making friends with some of the other kids in his age group.
I scoot up closer to them, and they naturally make space for me to see the cards as well. Although I'm less interested in the cards and more in the way their voices are a hushed vibrance in the silent room, the gleam of their bright eyes in the lamp light, and the way they both lean into me, a solid presence on either side.
I adore my boys, and all I could ever ask for is to stay this way forever. Together, carefree with youth, and sweet.
It's impossible, so I savor every moment I can.
When the ice cream is finished, we throw away the wrappers. I clean up the drips while Seto gives Mokuba a napkin to wipe his mouth and we all sneak into the communal bathroom to hurriedly brush our teeth.
Seto tucks Mokuba into bed while I change my pajamas, and then I switch out to read Mokuba his first bedtime story while Seto gets ready for bed.
With one last kiss on Mokuba's forehead, the lights are off and the three of us are drifting off easily to a peaceful sleep.
This was how life was in the orphanage. And, objectively, we were happy.
Until one day.