Seto was preparing to open Duel World officially.
His programmers had checked it and there was nothing to stop it from opening to the public so long as they limited the number of players per session.
Haru had been over the moon once she and her design team were finished, and the final adjustments were made to the costumes. Players could special order their own costumes, but for the most part they'd have to wear the generic ones available for everyone.
There were still the duel arenas, as well as other games that had a longstanding popularity. He had even consulted with Solomon regarding some of the older, forgotten games that could use a comeback. He was mostly playing off the nostalgia the older crowd would have playing them with a more modern twist.
It had the added benefit of sending those same people to the shop Yugi's grandfather owned for the original thing, as Kaiba had made very sure to let people know Solomon had helped with the selection and had several of the originals for sale.
Duke Devlin might have a more modern shop, but he sold most of the newer games that would take years to get a proper fan base going.
Yugi, in her favorite Dark Magician Girl costume, was on the stage with him. Mostly to help show off how to use the cards in the Duel World game, and what it looked like when you cast spells.
Yugi was eager for this for an entirely different reason. She had seen the way the women had looked at her boyfriend on Mafia Land. They hadn't seen him...they had seen the power he could wield, the money he had, the influence he possessed despite being a relative unknown.
They wanted a piece of that, and they didn't care about the man beneath in the least. It had pissed her off immensely.
And the worst part was that Yugi knew full well it wasn't just the mafia ladies...there were a number of girls at her school and among the older dueling circuit who looked at him the same way. She also knew there were a few rumors of Kaiba having a girlfriend, but he had kept the reporters at arm's length so no one could confirm it.
She kept her cool, and waited for the perfect moment. If Kaiba's intuition told him something was about to happen, he didn't show it.
Right after he cut the ribbon, Yugi made her move. The second the first camera flashed, she grabbed his collar and pulled him down and kissed him on the lips.
The camera flashes tripled in a second, and she really didn't care. She was staking her claim and damn what the media had to say about it.
Seto, rather than be annoyed, smirked and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her close.
"Took you long enough to get tired of hiding it," said Seto loud enough for the reporters to hear.
Yugi's blush was obvious to everyone, but so was the fact she wasn't trying to pull away.
By the time night fell, there were two major news stories being covered...the opening of the Kaibaland, which held the most interactive adventure game for duel monsters, and this was the news story that held the attention of duelist everywhere (particularly the women) the reveal of who Seto Kaiba's girlfriend was.
Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of public approval for them being a couple. There were also a few rabid fans who didn't like either of them being unavailable for dating.
At the game shop...
"I can't believe you and Kaiba finally went public," said Jounouchi.
"I can't believe Yugi was bold enough to pull that off in front of so many cameras," cackled Anzu. "Way to go Yugi!"
"They're calling it the Dragon and the Princess," said Yugi, almost mortified.
There was a chirp, and she saw a text from Kaiba. She read it and groaned.
"Oh gods... he said Haru and the design department just came out with a new costume next time I play Duel World!" she groaned.
"Really?" said Anzu with interest. She loved hanging out with Haru and the others. She had to laugh when she saw the base sketch. "Seems like Kaiba is taking the princess theme seriously!"
"Oh it gets better... Seto's costume when he plays looks like the White Dragon Emperor armor from High School DxD, except instead of a sword he has cannons and realistic gauntlets," Yugi confided.
"What about the wings?" asked Honda.
"Oddly enough, the wings are orange instead of light blue," said Yugi.
"Wonder how the loose girls at school are going to take it. The best catch of their age group got snagged by the girl they used to pick on!" said Jounouchi, joking.
"Please don't remind me...it was bad enough they harassed me a lot because I had to wear the boy's uniform for the longest time," said Yugi exasperated.
She had finally grown enough that she could wear the smallest girl's uniform they had. Though it still wasn't as awkward as learning she had gone past a B-cup into a C. She had to go on another shopping trip with Chrome to get new things.
Bakura looked extremely pleased, and who could blame him? He finally had a proper body that didn't require him to possess Ryou. Verde and the "idiot scientists" as Seto flippantly called them had managed to clone him a new body using Ryou's DNA as a template.
If asked, Ryou would claim him to be a cousin from Egypt.
"Why do you call them the idiot trio?" asked Ryou.
"Because while those three are certifiable geniuses in many aspects, they have a bad habit of forgetting basic necessities like food, water, staying clean and sleeping," deadpanned Seto. "And do not get me started on the sheer number of times I've had to yell at them for the fact they'd blown up their lab again because they crashed and forgot an experiment that went out of control without supervision."
"I resent that remark," said Verde.
"Are you really complaining because you know it's true, or because I deliberately assigned a minder to insure you got adequate levels of sleep, food and that your partner Keiman was taken care of whenever you got too distracted?" Seto shot back.
Verde noticeably stayed silent. He still grumbled under his breath though.
"That's all well and fine, but when do I get my body back?" asked Noah.
"You're next. We just need to hook up the machines properly...we've already secured a copy of your DNA to insure it's a proper clone," said Verde.
"What are you going to do?"
"A reverse of Sword Art Online. Instead of sending him into a mainframe, I'm having his mind transferred out of one."
Noah couldn't describe the sheer relief it was to actually feel things again. And to know it wasn't entirely zero's and one's.
Seto felt the bond between him and his brother click into place almost immediately. It fit in nicely with the bond he had made with Verde shortly after they started to play around with making actual dragon armor based off his costume.
"So...how are things going with your official girlfriend?" asked Ryou smirking.
"Surprisingly well, especially since the 5,000 year old sis-con actually likes me," said Seto, and waited for Bakura to stop cackling.
Yugi's very public claim on him had been a nice surprise. His intuition had purred when it happened, and he felt zero shame in staking his own claim on her.
A few days later...
Yugi felt like crap, fortunately Anzu still had some medicine from hers. It was going to take at least fifteen minutes for it to kick in, but she didn't feel like going to the nurse's office.
She spotted her boyfriend and remembered something Chrome had told her. To the disbelief of the class, she plopped herself onto his lap.
Even more surprising, Kaiba didn't say a thing. Merely adjusted the hold he had on his book and continued reading...all while silently increasing his flames so he turned into a living heater.
"Chrome was right, you really are a living heater."
Seto snorted.
"She would know...she's used me like this more than once," said Kaiba. "Though in her case she usually leans on my back."
Not even Kyoko had been brazen enough to sit on his lap like this.
Yugi got up only when lunch ended, but by that time the medicine had kicked in.
"Man, Yug', you're getting bolder by the day," said Jounouchi.
"Actually it's because I remembered something Chrome said about Seto being a human heating pad."
"Wait, really?" said Anzu. Yugi nodded enthusiastically.
"Why's that so important?" asked Honda.
"If you were a girl, you'd understand why that would be appealing. Particularly since he's her boyfriend," said Anzu.
"That plus it insures the looser girls don't get any ideas," said Yugi darkly. Anzu snorted at that.
"So...is he taking you on a big date soon to celebrate?" asked Anzu. Yugi gave her an odd look. "You know, because you're finally official."
"He doesn't do big dates, most of ours have been pretty low key and really fun. Then again quite a few of them had been in Duel World where he tweaked the programming so I could use the higher level and more visual spells despite not having fit the requirements for them. Well, that and he prefers to cook rather than go out to a restaurant."
"Explains how you kept it quiet for two months," said Anzu.
Unknown to the girls, Seto overheard their conversation. Well, he had no reason to keep it quiet anymore. He saw no reason to hide the fact they were dating.
Yugi's squeak when Seto kidnapped her was hilarious.
Her expression when she realized what he was planning, more so.
Seto handed Yugi an odd device that fitted over her ear and had a small screen in front of her left eye.
"What is this?" she asked.
Seto smirked.
"I'm taking you on the first official trial run of a new translator device for the market. The ear piece takes in the language around you, and it translates to the screen in whatever language you select. It's mostly so you can understand what is said around you, since it would be too confusing in crowds to translate what you're saying in a crowd."