Chapter Five: The Truth

Astra calmly met Seto Kaiba's turbulent, blue eyes as he towered over her. She took the moment to organize what she wanted to say.

"I could give you an answer you'd like, such as I don't know Mr. von Schroeder at all; we only ever saw each other in the workplace, the meeting rooms. We never became anything more than passing acquaintances, never said more than three words to one another at a time. But that would be a lie, a gross lie; I could, and would, never lie about my feelings for or my relationship with Zigfried. Zigfried von Schroeder is the dearest person to me on this planet. When I disappeared a few years ago, I also disappeared from him, but we've recently reconnected, and our bond is as strong as ever."

As she spoke, she had maintained eye contact with Seto, not once allowing her grey-green eyes to leave his steely blue ones.

"Now, I'm pretty sure this interview is over, so I'm going to go."

She stood serenely, ready to go.

"Mokuba will arrange for a car to take you home."

Astra smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, that won't be necessary, but before I go, I have something to say to you."

"Go ahead."

"I'm glad I came here today and met you because, you see, for a long time, many people have compared my friend, Zigfried, to you. They've said that not only are you equal in intelligence, inventiveness, and even in dueling prowess, but they also say that the way you conduct business is very similar."

Here she stopped for a second, noting the building anger in Seto's entire stance.

"Please, hold your temper; I'm almost finished. It may anger you to be compared to Zigfried, but it angers me as well. Like you, Zigfried is a genius and a prodigy, but as I said before, I'm glad to have met you because now, I can truthfully say that you, Seto Kaiba, hold no other resemblance beyond that to Zigfried von Schroeder whatsoever."

With that, she turned and headed for the door. Now, normally, being told that he held no resemblance to Zigfried von Schroeder would have put Seto in a good mood, but the way she said it made him think that it was meant as an insult, which angered him, and the fact that someone like Astra could anger him, angered him even more.

"What do you mean by that?"

She stopped and seemed to be thinking whether to answer or not. When she turned to face him, he suddenly had the feeling he was facing someone ancient and wise, instead of just the seventeen year old girl in front of him. Her green eyes shown with an emotion unknown to him.

"Do you truly want to know, or are you just asking because you're angry."

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know."

"If I were to tell you exactly what I mean, it would take quite awhile, and I think I've already talked too much today. So, I'll cut it short. Zigfried would never allow a personal opinion or emotion to affect a decision he made concerning his business. You on the other hand allow your personal feelings to dictate the choices you make, and for the life of me, I don't know how you've managed to do so well. I guess intelligence and a lot of luck are enough. I think that's the part you most wanted to know about."

The sound of the door shutting was what finally shook Seto from the trance he had been put in. He sat down heavily in an armchair and realized, with a shock that she had actually stood up to him and stated what she felt without feeling, or at least not betraying, any fear towards him whatsoever. Not only that, but this girl had managed to insult him, more than once, and escaped without even one scathing word on his part. He suddenly remembered Mokuba telling him that this girl was different, that she was special; perhaps, he had had a point. Her test results showed that she was a quick study, and now that he knew she was Astra Mirina, he knew that she had a strong background not only with computers but also with dueling and with working with large companies. 'It seems she isn't as low on experience as I initially thought.' With a jolt, he abruptly realized that he was still thinking of hiring her, even after everything she had just said; in fact, what she'd said and done was sealing the deal, rather than sinking it.

"Astra, how was it?"

"I think you'd do better asking your brother, Mokuba; I'm not really in the mood to talk right now. I'm just going to go home."

Mokuba looked both confused and concerned at the same time; he was accustomed to an upbeat Astra, not this distracted and slightly depressed Astra. Nonetheless, he picked up the phone on the desk.

"KCAIS, I need Milan sent to the side entrance..No, I need him now...Good."

"Come on, I'll take you down."

"Thank you, Mokuba, but I'll get home on my own."

"Forget about it; I brought you here, and I'll make sure you get home alright."

Astra nodded silently, and they rode down in the elevator in silence; even KCAIS kept silent. As soon as she spotted Milan and the car, she climbed in and shut the door. As Mokuba turned to reenter the building, the window rolled down, and Astra stuck her head out.

"Hey, I'm sorry I wasn't very good company; I just have a lot on my mind."

"Don't worry about it; I'll call you tomorrow."

Her reply was cut off when the door slid shut in front of him. 'Oh well, I guess Seto can tell him.'


"How did the interview go, Seto?"

"Didn't she tell you? She compared me to Zigfried von Schroeder and told me that I make bad business decisions."

Mokuba stared at his brother in open wonderment; he was sure his mouth was hanging open, but for some reason, he couldn't quite figure out how to shut it. His shock wasn't just from the fact that Astra had insulted his brother but from the fact that Seto wasn't storming around the office shouting and throwing things. Instead, he was sitting calmly in an armchair looking at something on his laptop.

"Seto, are you feeling alright?"

Seto laughed and looked up to meet his younger brother's concerned eyes.

"I'm feeling fine; I have a question though. You know Astra Mirina's phone number, don't you?"

"Umm…yeah, why do you ask? You aren't planning on finding out her address and sending a hit man, or anything like that, are you?"

"I want her phone number because I need to call her to tell her that she got the job."

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