It was a shock for Téa to turn around and see that Seto was not there behind her. Immediately she stopped, aiming to turn back, but footsteps told her that the Rare Hunters were pursuing her. She could not afford being discovered as the spy; Arkana already promised her a terrible fate.

Hoping against all hope that Seto had somehow escaped to safety, Téa fled up the stairwell and onto the third floor, searching for a window with a fire escape. But she hadn't gone far past a room with an open door when a pair of arms reached in from within, clamping a hand over her mouth, and forcing her into the room. Téa shut her eyes, knowing that the worst was about to unfold.

"This is why I prefer to work alone," a voice muttered into her ear.

Now her eyes widened. She turned to face Seto as he released her.

"They didn't see you, did they?" he asked.

"No, but how did you get here?" she asked. "I didn't hear you near the stairwell at all…"

"I didn't use that stairwell; I found another internal stairwell in the center of the building," he said. "Follow me; I know a way out of here."

"But what if they…?"

"Look, you were the one who insisted on coming along with me," he replied. "Just trust me on this, alright?"

"Did he really just say that…?" Téa wondered.

Pushing the thought aside, she followed him, keeping track of the footsteps running in every direction; the Rare Hunters were undoubtedly splitting up to comb the building. But Seto was unconcerned; he led her to the loading dock of the building, and successfully led her into the fresh air.

"This isn't the place to rest," he said, as she paused to catch her breath. "We need to be out of sight of the windows."

"There!" Téa exclaimed, pointing to the nearest building. Upon entering their unlikely sanctuary, a sweet smell wafted into the dancer's nostrils. Piles of chocolate were displayed all around them, each treat as inviting as the next.

"Welcome!" greeted the bright-eyed owner of the shop. "May I help you?"

"We're just looking," Seto insisted, before Téa could point out something she wanted to buy. The shopkeeper gave him an understanding nod and went back to check on the latest batch of chocolate.

After she had left, Téa finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"How did Strings notice us!?" she asked.

"He may not say anything, but he's certainly over-vigilant," Seto muttered. He knew that he couldn't blame Téa this time; she hadn't said a word to alert Strings.

"At least Kayser doesn't want to believe that I'm the spy," she went on.

"It's only a matter of time until he figures it out and accepts it," Seto said. "Fortunately for you, you don't have to deal with this anymore."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Seto held up his handheld computer.

"I used the recording feature on this to get a partial excerpt of the Rare Hunter's meeting," he explained. "This is all the evidence we need to put him away."

Téa pondered over this for a moment.

"Kaiba," she said. "Can you do me a favor? Can you wait until our Broadway performance is over before you report this?"

Seto glared at her.

"You have got to be kidding," he said, his eyes narrowed.

"No; I'm not," she said. "I realized that I'm being a little stupid here, but to dance on Broadway has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. Just let me perform one last dance."

Seto glared at her.

"You aren't a little stupid," he said. "You're completely insane!"

"Kaiba, please try to understand!" she said, blinking back the tears in her eyes. "This is all I ever wanted, Kaiba, ever since I was a child. This dream is within my grasp; I'm begging you to let me take it!"

"Do you honestly think that I'm going to let this Kayser hack away at my company for a moment longer just because of your dream!?"

"No," she admitted. "But it was worth a try. It was worth trying to see if you could learn to think about someone other than yourself for once."

"What do you think I'm doing!?" he replied. "Do you realize what's going to happen to you if Kayser finally agrees that you're the spy!?"

She glanced at him, cool and unafraid.

"Yes, I do," she said. "But I'm willing to risk it for my dream. I've seen you do the same; you don't care what it takes to keep your company strong, or your brother safe. It you tried, you could relate to how I'm feeling right now."

Seto wasn't sure if he was willing to try to understand her. It was true that he would be willing to do anything for his company or his brother, probably without regard for anything or anyone else. But on the other hand, Téa was being ridiculously stubborn, blind, and… acting just like him.

There would be no arguing with her; they would just go on until they were both blue in the face.

"I guess I'll need time to structure the evidence together anyway," he said, grudgingly. "I'll deal with that, but I'm going home to Domino in the meantime. This is out of my hands now."

"Thank you, Kaiba."

"I still say that you're going to regret this," he warned. "So don't come crying to me if something goes wrong; I can't be held responsible for what happens to you. Don't forget that if it hadn't been for me, you would've been captured by the Rare Hunters a few minutes ago."

"Right…"

"And how are you going to explain your absence in Philadelphia?" he asked. "You'll need an alibi."

"Oh, I think I'll have one," said Téa, as she looked around at the shelves of chocolate. "Just as long as you can get me back there relatively soon…"

And Téa departed the shop soon afterwards with two bags full of chocolate as she followed Seto back to the airfield.

"Was there really a need to buy all of that?" asked Seto, rolling his eyes again as they boarded the jet.

"This way, I can tell everyone that I was shopping," she said, bracing herself for the sudden acceleration of the jet.

Most of the short flight was spent in silence; she really didn't want to disturb him while he was flying the jet. But, after a while, she found that she had to speak her mind.

"I want to thank you, Kaiba," she said. "For all of the help you gave me on this case."

"My company and reputation are at stake; this had nothing to do with wanting to help," he informed her. "You just happened to be involved."

"Well, I wanted to thank you, anyway," she said.

He didn't reply to this; he didn't say a word until they had landed. He did say goodbye to her, which she returned as she left. As he was readjusting the autopilot to Domino, he noticed a chocolate bar that she had apparently forgotten on the passenger seat. Picking it up, he realized that it was a specially molded chocolate bar; it was a greeting bar that simply read, "Thank You."

And that was when he realized that she hadn't forgotten it at all.

Téa's shopping bags of chocolate seemed to convince everyone that she had been shopping the entire time. The Tessurcas weren't too interested in the sweets, but Aurus gratefully helped himself to the treats. Between the two of them, it was a miracle that she still had a few pieces of chocolate left when they arrived in New York.

"Glad to see that my cousin is giving us our day off before our show," said Aurus. "You want to go sightseeing with the Tessurcas and me, Téa?"

There would be no point in drawing suspicion to herself now, especially when Seto was very close to bringing an end to the case. She decided to accompany the others this time.

But it was around the region of Times Square that Téa noticed a familiar face. This time, however, she didn't make any indication of knowing him; she didn't want to draw attention to him, since she knew that he would loathe it. But that didn't stop her from discreetly sending him an email.

"Kaiba, what are you doing here?" she had asked. "I thought you were going back home."

"I figured that this whole fiasco could come to a close the night of your performance," he wrote back. "If the police are in the audience and see for themselves how the messages are transmitted in the dance steps, it'll be even more of an open-and-shut case."

"So this has nothing to do with you knowing how much it means to me to be on Broadway and actually have one of my friends in the audience?" she asked him, trying not to sound sarcastic.

"I wasn't aware that I was anyone's friend," he replied.

"Whatever you say, Kaiba," she replied. She was almost tempted to add in a winking smiley, but decided against it. After all, she was convinced that she was finally seeing the Seto Kaiba she had always wanted to see; the last thing she wanted was to send him into hiding again.

She didn't say anything else; as the next couple of days passed, she focused on learning her steps (sending him whatever fragments of message she found out, in case he needed any more evidence). And she spent most of the long hours before her performance just keeping herself calm, pacing her dressing room as she waited for showtime.

Seto, in the meantime, was trying to believe his own words. He knew he didn't need any more evidence; it already was an open-and-shut case. And he could easily arrange the evidence he already had from the comfort of his manor in Domino; in fact, he'd prefer it.

"So why am I here…?" he asked himself, as he returned to his hotel room. "There's nothing keeping me in New York…"

His thoughts came to a halt upon seeing an envelope addressed to him on the floor; someone had slipped it under his door. There was no return address; he was half tempted to discard the letter, assuming it to be from a random fangirl. But something told him to open it, and although he didn't believe in little voices in one's head, he decided to obey his instincts.

"You know Téa Gardner, don't you, Kaiba? Well, we suggest that you stay away from the Dancers of the Elements and return to Domino tonight. Leave them alone, and don't say a word. Otherwise, you might be forced to say from now on that you knew her."

The young CEO clenched his fist, the note crumpling in his grasp. It was just as he had predicted; they may or may not be suspecting Téa of being the spy, but they were certainly using their knowledge of her familiarity with Seto against him. Whether they suspected her or not, one fact remained: she was in danger. And in spite of however nonexistent their relationship may be, Seto could not allow them to bring any harm to the dancer.

"Just wait one moment, Kaiba," chided his pride. "You've already warned her several times to leave while she had the chance. If anything happens to her now, it's entirely her fault. And if something does happen, it won't bother Kaiba Corporation in any way."

This was true. But for some unexplainable reason, it would bother him, not to mention that Mokuba would be worried for his friend. Yes, that was it; he didn't want his brother to lose one of the few friends he had.

"Stop fooling yourself," said the normally quiet part of his mind. "This isn't about Mokuba anymore; it's all about Gardner. She's succeeded with her little ploy of worming her way into your heart; now you've got to live with it. And you're the only one who can help her now."

The CEO let out a frustrated sigh. He couldn't even try contacting the police; any sign that he was trying to infiltrate the theater would result in something happening to Téa. He silently cursed himself for going soft; it was bad enough that he was changing, but now was the most inconvenient time.

He would have to warn her somehow. Glancing at the clock, he realized that emailing her wouldn't work; it was too close to showtime. He would have to meet her face to face. Following the directions in the letter and staying out of the fiasco wasn't an option; Seto Kaiba never gave in to enemy demands, and they would find that out soon enough. On the other hand, returning to Domino just might confuse the Rare Hunters and cause them to lay down their guard.

Departing out of the hotel doors, he hired a taxi.

"Where to, Sir?" the driver asked.

Seto pondered over his options: either the airfield or the theater. He sighed, inwardly; this shouldn't have to be this difficult.

"The Theater District—44th Street," he said, at last.