The next morning, Anzu woke up with one of the worst hungover she'd had in a while, lying on her bed with her clothes, and even her shoes, still on. What a mess she was. And here she thought she had not been that bad.

She buried her head in her pillow, in a pitiful attempt to soothe her headache, trying to recall the events of last night, but unsure if she really wanted to.

How had she gotten here in the first place? She remembered getting on Kaiba's car, bits of him walking her to the door holding her arm so she wouldn't fall, struggling to find her keys in her own bag, almost falling as she dropped off his car… As for the rest of her ordeal, well, it was pitch black….

No, no, no, no… She mumbled to her pillow.

The knowledge that she'd been in such a state that she needed him to walk her home was already embarrassing enough, but the lack of knowledge on what she might have done or said was even worse. Maybe nothing happened, she told herself, painfully aware of how naïve this thought was. Maybe he'd simply walked her to her apartment as she remembered and nothing else had happened. But knowing her tendency to ramble under influence, it seemed unlikely. Though, what were the chances of running into the man again, she tried to reflect objectively. Last night had just been a pure coincidence.

Still... she didn't really like the idea of leaving a negative image, not knowing what she might have done or said, especially after not seeing each other for so long. He'd probably already proceeded to tell his brother all about what a drunk disaster she had been, how couldn't handle herself.

This was a nightmare.

"What now?!" She complained with an angry grunt, feeling her phone vibrating next to her pillow.

She grabbed it reluctantly, to see who was calling, not even knowing what time it was.

Unknown Japanese number?

Oh God. What if it was Kaiba, she was absolutely not mentally prepared for this type of confrontation. Though, this could as well be Mokuba who hadn't the decency, yet, to properly apologise to her for standing up her last night.

She decided to press answer anyway, knowing well she was playing Russian roulette here.

"Hey Anzu. How you goin'?" Okay, this was totally unexpected, but better than she thought.

"Huh. Jounouchi?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I know this is kinda random and that we haven't talked in a while, but I heard from Mai that you're gonna be back in town next week." Oh right, she'd completely forgotten about that, too. Her trip to domino, her flight back that she was supposed to start packing for this weekend.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked at her lack of response.

Oh, not at all. I went to dinner last night with Kaiba, you know that 'bocchan' you couldn't stand in high school, and got a little too wasted that he had to take me home, of which I have little memory of and that I'm trying to remember now. But otherwise, it's a good time. She mused, with a certain dark humour, trying to imagine her friend's reaction should she tell him the truth. Really, the timing of this call couldn't be more ironic.

"No, sorry, I just woke up. I'm a little hazy." She was quite curious as to the nature of this call. She hadn't heard from him, or any of her high school for that matter, for quite a while. This was quite random, indeed. She hoped it wasn't any bad news or anything.

"No worries. It won't be long, international calls aren't included in my phone plan. Anyway, Yuugi's playing in the national tournament next week. Mai said she can get us free tickets, I'm going with Honda and wanted to ask you if you wanna tag along. It could be a pretty good occasion to catch up. And we could go all go have dinner and drinks at my place, afterwards. I've got new place and all now that I really wanna show you guys… So what do you say?"

"Er." She paused, she wasn't really in the right set of mind to consider his proposal. One awkward situation at a time.

"I don't know, Jonouchi. I have this whole family catch up thing. Not sure if I'll have much time to hang out." She lied. She didn't really like doing this, but she really wasn't sure if it was a good idea accept right away, without proper consideration of the pros and cons. She'd made enough bad decisions for one day.

She hesitated to ask him if Yuugi was aware he'd invite her, but she had absolutely no idea if he'd told Jounouchi what happened between them and if he didn't, it would probably raise question on Jounouchi's side.

"…Okay. Well, It's cool if you can't. I mean, I get that you probably wanna catch up with your folks and stuff, first. Just thought it'd be cool to be all together again, y'know, like in the good ol' days. Been a while since we saw you around. Let me know if you change your mind. The door's open."

Anzu felt silent for a fleeting moment, detecting a hint of disappointment in his tone. The good old days were long gone, as much as she wished she could go back to those days, at times. And the whole Yuugi drama aside, she wasn't sure how she felt about reminiscing about those good old days, then going back to being pretty much estranged. What if they all no longer anything in common, nothing to say to one another?

"You know what, it's fine. I'll go." She still had time to figure out the Yuugi situation, after all. And she didn't want to be unfair to Jounouchi. Maybe it could do her some good to hang out with other people than her parents back in Japan, and people who used to be true friends. Something she lacked direly these days.

"Sweet! I'll tell Mai to get you a ticket. Well, see you then. Can't wait to hang out with you guys!"

No, he doesn't know, she realised as she hung up the phone. If Jounouchi knew anything of what had happened with Anzu and Yuugi, he would have likely sided with Yuugi. Though Anzu had never been jealous of their friendship and had been happy for Yuugi to have guy friends, she sometimes felt left behind. And Jounouchi's and Anzu's respective, original diverging opinions of Atem had sometimes caused tension and friction within the group. Out of her all friends, Jounuchi was probably the one with whom she clashed the most, albeit not that often. In spite of his occasional stupid remarks or behavior, Jounouchi didn't take shit from anyone, something Anzu very much liked about him, but inevitably led to clashes, as it was a trait they had in common.

She wasn't too sure what Jonouchi was up to these days. But he sounded like he was doing alright at least, that was nice to hear. It was strange, how group so close such as theirs, with everything that been through together, seemed to have drifted away over the years. She supposed it was the natural course of life. Everyone had taken their own paths. But she often humoured the thought of what her life could have been, had she stayed in Domino, gone to college as her parents wanted her to. Would it be much different? Probably.

Though, she could not ignore the fact that Atem's absence had taken quite the toll on them, particularly Yuugi who had pretty much been the cement holding their group together, and the one to bring everyone together in the first place. But on her, too, as much as he hated to admit and reflected upon it; If she had known better, learned to cope with her own grief and sorrow in better ways, being a real friend to Yuugi, she probably wouldn't find herself in this whole predicament with her friend, or rather, ex-friend.

But for now, she had other preoccupations to worry about. She had a place to clean, clothes to wash, a suitcase to pack and a massive hungover to deal with.

"So how was last night, huh?" Mokuba asked with a rather sneaky expression on his face that Seto didn't like one bit, but he'd expected his brother to be pressing for details about his dinner with Mazaki. Of course, first thing in the morning. Seto wasn't exactly a morning person. He very much preferred staying up late to do his work than wake up before dawn. Night time had always been his personal favourite, it was quiet and when his brain happened to be the most productive and inspired. Most of what he'd considered his most brilliant dueling strategies or technology were the fruit of night work and brainstorming.

Mornings, on the other hand, he needed at least two or three cups of coffee until he could function and tolerate any kind of social interactions. In that regards, he was the polar opposite of his brother whose energy sometimes overwhelmed him. Just like this morning.

"Seems like you recover pretty quickly." Seto responded, watching his brother literally devouring his breakfast. Food poisoning had apparently not deterred his appetite. Another point where the Kaiba brothers diverged, while Seto preferred to keep his meal light and relatively healthy as to avoid the aftermath of long, sleepy digestion, his brother's stomach was a bottomless pit and had a strong affinity with junk food.

"Don't try to change the topic. I asked you a question." Seto could detect hints of taunt in his brother's voice. Did he really sound like that?

But as for his brother's original question, Seto wasn't sure of the answer himself. Let's see, while Mazaki had been decent company, she'd also made a tasteless joke in reference to their past, almost threw up in his car, and the entire vibe of the dinner had been rather awkward. Their exchange had been pretty shallow and unsubstantial, which was a bit strange, considering Mazaki had always been a pretty chatty and transparent kind of person. Something he used to like about her, her spontaneity and honesty. Yet last night, she seemed like a different person, dodging and avoiding the questions when asked about her new life.

"It was okay." He decided that could be one way to put it.

"And?" But as expected, his brief summary of the night didn't suit his brother.

"Had to take her home because she had too much wine?"

"That's pretty sweet of you."

"I'm not a complete asshole. It was the decent thing to do." An asshole, he imagined that was what Mazaki probably thought of him. Why she'd rejected him in high school without so much of an explanation and then completely ditched him as though they were strangers. Seto was well-aware he could be harsh sometimes, at least now he was, but for some reason he just couldn't help it. He often envied Mokuba for being so at ease in his interactions with others, being able to feel comfortable with them and being himself, without fear of judgment.

"No one's calling you one… But sometimes, you can be a little… extra?" Seto rolled his eyes, extra. That seemed to be Mokuba's favourite word to describe him and he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

"You did call me one once, for the record." Seto glared at Mokuba.

"Oh my God. You're still going on about that. It was years ago." His brother tapped his forehead with his palm.

"I'm not." Seto interrupted before this escalated into another unnecessary argument. He wasn't certainly one to live in the past, unlike most people. "I'm just pointing out facts."

"Yeah, sure are."

"Anyway, is she okay? We should probably text her or something."

"You do that." Mazaki probably didn't want to hear from him, given how bother she looked by his presence that she had to drink herself to making it tolerable. And Seto didn't really want to deal with the embarrassment of being left on read, looking like that pushy moron who couldn't take a hint. In this case, Mazaki had been the one to push away, and while it had pained a little back in these days - as much as he hated to admit -, he was not going to go out of his way to reach out to people who didn't want him in his life.

"I believe you owe her a proper apology for last night. And while you're at it, could you kindly ask your friend to delete you those 'wild night in Paris' pictures from Facebook, should Mazaki or the press see it." He continued, making quite sure that this did not come across as a request.

"How do you even-?" Mokuba interjected, dropping his fork. "You're doing it! Again. You're unbelievable! You just can't fucking help yourself, can you?"

"Not like you're giving much of a choice since you won't accept any professional supervision to run your accounts." No, Seto really wished he had another choice than asking his PR team to monitor his brother's activity on social media, against Mokuba's attempt at making them 'private'.

A private social media account, what a profound naïve and contradictory notion. Unfortunately, Mokuba still seemed not to know any better. While from a strict marketing and communication perspective, Seto found social media to be highly useful medium, he could not understand the need of most people and their derived sense of self-importance to advertise from the most significant to the most private details of their lives on such plate-forms. He wasn't sure what was worst, the people who found it interesting to advertise what they had for breakfast or those who deem it worthy and interesting content through likes and comments. Digital era could be so ever ridiculous sometimes.

"My God. Just chill out. It's just two pictures of me and my friends." Mokuba argued, raising his eyes.

"At some dubious night club, with expensive bottles of champagne standing in the middle." Seto corrected.

"And I thought I made myself very clear that I don't want you to associate with a bunch of obnoxious spoiled brats. They're bad influence and bad press." He continued, keeping his tone contained and firm. Seto had worked too hard over the years to cultivate image of a scandal free, diligent and hard working business man to see it blow, by bunch of party pictures taken by a bunch of entitled kids who had nothing to do better with their time than throw away hard won money like it was nothing.

"How do you think VP of Kaiba Corp. blowing money on Dom Perignon in Paris, with his hashtag 'rich kids of Instagram' friends would sound like for a publicity for amusement parks for underprivileged children?"

"Seriously?! Are you for real?!" Seto nearly cringed. He really didn't like it when Mokuba took this tone.

"Does it look like I'm joking?" He sure hoped not.

"You can drive around the city with mazzerati and a chauffeur and spend millions on a dragon jet, but I can't have one picture at a party with my friend because it does not align with Kaiba land's brand image?"

"There is a substantial difference between spending money on necessaries resources on, for instance, reliable and advanced means of transportation that allow me to save a tremendous amount of time, and per se money, that I can then dedicate to business and between wasting it away on mindless parties. There is also a difference between owing expensive goods as per advertising your wealth on social media to look cool. Public image isn't about mere appearances, it's also about attitude." He couldn't believe he even had to explain such a simple thing to Mokuba, when they had gone through this topic countless times, and the implications of his brother's statement.

Seto hadn't spent a lifetime and many sacrifices to build an empire to recklessly blow his hard-won money. If he were anything like Mokuba was currently accusing him to be, they'd likely be bankrupted by now. Clearly, his friends' attitude and behaviour already seemed to have rubbed off on him. At this point, Seto was no longer sure how he was to deal with this situation.

He'd considered several times to cut his brother's allowance, to teach him a lesson about life and the value of money, but that would contradict with his original ambition to build a secure future for his little brother, where he would not lack in that department. Besides, financial pressure could have a very negative impact on his Mokuba's studies success. At this rate, Mokuba wouldn't be prepared for the real world. While Seto never really had any intentions of grooming Mokuba to take over him, this would be far too much responsibilities and pressure, and lacked the cold pragmatism and firmness it took to run a company like theirs in a world of greedy sharks, he'd at least hoped that he could take on functions such as Chief Operating Officer, after his graduation. As to, at least, preserve the heritage and spirit of the company, in some shape or form.

"Oh. Spare me the grand lectures. Man, it's way too early for this." He complained with a grimace.

"Mokuba, that's enough."

"Yeah, you're right, Seto. I've had enough of this shit, of you trying to police my damn life. Of Kaiba corp this, Kaiba corp that. Can't we have one conversation that doesn't resolve around the goddamn company or work?" Mokuba paused briefly, his elder wondering where all that cursing that made his ear bled was coming from.

" Man, look at you, Seto. You're not even 30, and you've had several burns out. We barely spend time together anymore or share anything together, unless it is about, well, Kaiba fucking Corp. Or you lecturing me. Try, Seto. I really, try, but I can't take it anymore. You really need to learn to stop before it kills you." Mokuba finished, while Seto watched, at loss of words, unsure wasn't where he'd messed up. They'd had heated argument before, but this seemed to be escalating into something entirely new.

"Where are you going, Mokuba? We have details to go over regarding the national tournament."

"Well, you do that, Seto. I'm out. Don't worry about me. I'll take a commercial flight back to Japan. You take care of yourself." Mokuba finished as he made his way out of the room.

Seto sighed, hesitating to follow his brother, but from experience, it usually made things worse. Besides, the few people that were all seemed to be staring at them, he didn't want to make this public scene worse than it was.

Absent-mindedly, as he watched his brother leave, completely powerless and helpless, he hailed the waiter.

"I know it may be a bit early, but could I have a gin and tonic?"

"Certainly, sir."

Seto already knew he was in for a long journey back to Japan and self-introspection of where did it all go wrong.