Once Seto had made it perfectly clear that despite the potential opposition to his plan from the aforementioned art teacher, Yugi had sighed to himself and taken him on a little tour of Domino Town.
There wasn't much to see. Domino had the standard small-town amenities that kept people still feeling loyal to this place in the middle of nowhere: a barbershop, post office, candy/soda shoppe, City Hall, all organized around a picturesque central square; elementary, middle, high school; a general store, some clothing and material stores, and a restaurant on the street Seto had walked along earlier; a few factories, the outlying farms that Seto had passed on his way from the train station, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
The streets were smoothly paved with cobblestones; cleanly tapered trees lined every avenue, intermingled with pruned shrubs and bushes and gaslights that cast foggy glows against the greying sky.
The pair sat down on a bench in the central square just as the clock tower above City Hall chimed six-o'-clock. Yugi offered Seto a cigarette, which Seto declined, before lighting one himself.
In Seto's line of work, a disarming smile was everything, and nicotine-stained teeth hardly spelled out "trustworthy." He reached into an inner pocket of his suit and pulled out a small cloth sack of sunflower seeds, a few of which he popped into his mouth, savoring the rush of salt that enveloped his tongue.
Yugi puffed a bit on his cigarette, inhaling that acrid smoke into his lungs, and held it thoughtfully between his index and middle finger.
"So, let me tell you about Domino Town." For something that seemed like a benign statement, his voice was rather uncharacteristically serious.
"I'm all ears." Seto folded his arms across his chest and crossed one leg over the other, settling back into the bench, chewing busily on the salted seeds.
Yugi pointed to a tall man in an especially fine suit with flowing white hair and his be-hatted stout wife, strolling arm in arm away from City Hall. "That's Mayor Crawford, and his hell-train of a wife, Cecelia."
Seto chuckled at Yugi's bluntness. "What compliments you're paying this woman. Does she know you hold her in such high regard?"
"She's a total ninny—gossipy hen, that woman. She's got every housewife and mother in Domino under her thumb. Used to be a model in Chicago back in the day, and carries herself like it, too. I know I warned you about Ishizu Ishtar, that art teacher-curator lady, but I wouldn't get on Cecelia Crawford's bad side either."
"And the most Honorable Mayor Crawford himself?" Seto queried mockingly, eyes following the couple as they disappeared into the night.
"Mayor Crawford's all right—a bit of a stuffy geezer, but he gets the job done. Bit overzealous when it comes to criminals, though—loves the whole tarring and feathering business. Maybe it'd be good for you to also not get on his bad side as well, come to think of it…"
"Is there anyone in this town it would behoove me not to anger?" Seto bit back a chuckle at Yugi's placidly delivered words of warning.
"You're telling me, Seto. You're telling me." Yugi tapped out a bit of ash and stuck the cigarette back into his mouth.
He drew it out quickly with a short cough and pointed to a young woman clad in deep indigo velvet, her long blond curls streaming behind her as she walked her small yappy dog along the avenue of the square. "That's Mai Valentine. Widow. Like Ishizu, she's a bit of a social pariah around here, especially with the ladies social committee and all that, but she gets around better. Officially, she works as a secretary in City Hall, but word around town is, if you're looking for some easy action, Seto, I'd recommend going up to see her. Not Ishizu Ishtar."
Seto cast a lingering glance at the buxom blonde woman, whose long coat showed her curves off to their best advantage. Occasionally the woman would wave at the other passers-by; while the men waved back or tipped their hats to her, their wives merely sniffed and pulled their coats tightly across their bodies in response, as if whatever Mai Valentine had was catching and they certainly didn't want it.
"As for Domino's townsfolk in general, just sell the pitch hard and win 'em over. That's the best you can do in this case…" He blew a smoke ring and fumbled in his pocket for another cigarette.
"…The Duel Monsters scam, huh? Boy, Seto, I gotta tell you…"
Despite the placid exterior of this town, its veneer of coldness, Seto surmised that there was a hot running current of gossip and backtalk that served as the veritable lifeblood of this stale town. People hardly moved to Domino from someplace else, Yugi (and Seto, for that matter) being the exception, and people rarely left.
Was it boredom or despair that kept these souls tied here?
This strange little town was quickly becoming a drain on Seto's veneer of good cheer...
Seto presumed that there were things that Yugi were not mentioning—the matter regarding Ishizu Ishtar. What could an art teacher and curator have done to incur the wrath of an entire town?
So this entire town will be a challenge to woo, not just this little art teacher.
"Well, Yugi, you sure picked yourself a town," quipped Seto, a bit harsher than he really needed to, beginning to feel only slightly uneasy. He spat out a few stray seeds and reached a hand to his breast pocket, rooting around for a toothpick.
Do I even dare?
Yugi gave up on another cigarette and reached for some of Seto's seeds. He popped a handful into his mouth, seemingly done with the tedious Domino Town gossip. "Say, Seto, why don't you let me take you back to the hotel and get you all settled in?" he mumbled, cheeks round and puffed-out like a chipmunk's.
Do I?
Seto pressed his lips together briefly and shook his head. "Haven't made my mind up whether I'm going to stay or not. Not sure if it's worth it yet." His voice came out harsher than he intended.
He settled back on the bench, crossed his legs, and popped a toothpick between his paling lips, looking around the square with increased agitation. He felt a bead of sweat begin to percolate at the back of his neck, sliding just beneath his collar where it was not needed.
What's my way into these small-town stubborn Iowans' hearts and wallets? What's my angle here?
Have I finally gotten in too deep? Should I just quit now, before I've tried, before I've gotten involved? Catch the next train out of town and start over somewhere where people aren't quite so idiosyncratic and damned strange?
Mokuba rarely felt this far away, and Seto this lost, as in this delicate moment.
He gritted his teeth, feeling the all-too familiar feelings of quiet rage and frustration liquefy and crystallize within him. Oh, how he hated nearly everyone in this damned town already, how he hated the people who had grown up like this, with their perfect little families and picket fences and general stores.
How he hated those who dared to take his own family away from him.
Yet what other reason could possibly be worthy of this endless charade?
Yugi watched Seto's rather tense behavior carefully, eyes round and concerned even as his mouth was scorching with the salt from the sunflower seeds. What was he even doing, helping out Seto like this? Hadn't he had admittedly enough of the con artist game—wasn't Domino Town meant to be his opportunity to go strait, settle down with a nice girl, and get away from all the false names and false hopes Seto sought to bring?
Seto wiped the back of his neck with his sleeve and turned back towards Yugi, whose eyes were streaming, tongue covered in bitter welts. If nothing else, Yugi Moto had a keen salt tooth, and little idea of when was a good time to give up, already.
The irony of what he was doing now, working as Seto's inside man in this burgeoning Domino Town Duel Monsters scam, was not lost on him.
Seto proffered the smaller man a toothpick, which Yugi accepted gratefully. "Come on, Yugi. You know how this works. I need an angle to work. Something to latch onto."
Yugi fished around in his mouth for the pointy remnants of seed shells. He sighed. "Yeah, I know."
Seto leaned in towards Yugi, eyes twinkling with a flicker of curiosity, causing the younger man to inhale sharply in surprise. "So what's new in town? I do have to create a desperate need in Domino Town for Duel Monsters, after all."
It would seem as though the game is on…?
Yugi scratched at his forehead, trying to think quickly. To be quite blunt about it, despite the churning undercurrent of endless gossip and the strangeness of her citizens, Domino Town was not exactly well-endowed in the way of exciting new attractions. After all, Domino Town had been one of the last towns in all of the United States to get the telephone, and that had been almost at the turn of the century.
Yugi swept his eyes across the square, taking in the gently glowing gaslights as they created haloes against the darkening sky. He chewed on his lip as Seto's eyes bored into the side of his neck. Come on, Yugi. Think…
"Well, a baby was born a few months back with a sixth finger. It was in the paper and everything," Yugi burbled witlessly, a tiny smile cracking onto his face as Seto rolled his eyes in response.
"I bet that was exciting." Seto's voice could hardly have been drier. Dear god. This town.
"Oh, it was!"Yugi giggled to himself, enjoying Seto's annoyance as the taller man groaned in mock agitation. Just like old times.
"I'm serious, Yugi…" If Seto rolled his eyes any harder, it was surely going to cause him brain damage.
"I know, I know, I know," mumbled Yugi almost thoughtfully.
"Well, we did get a nickelodeon-theater last week… just off Pine Street." Yugi pointed towards a corner of the square, where a crowd of people was beginning to gather. Men, women, children, all dressed in their finest, waited in lines, jostled one another, chattered, or ignored one another entirely.
Seto almost laughed out loud, risking attracting the attention of passers-by. "Yugi, you do realize that Domino Town has to be the last town in the United States to get a nickelodeon-theater, right?" Even smaller towns in New York State and Illinois had those ten years ago… Seto allowed himself to chuckle a bit under his breath. Only in Domino Town…
Yugi thought back to what he'd heard about the telephone and nodded. "I'm not exactly surprised at that. But it's something, right? People are pretty excited to have it…"
Seto fixed him with a quizzical glance.
Yugi amended: "…for Domino Town, that is."
The pair squinted their eyes towards the building and read the marquee: NEW IN TOWN. DOMINO NICKELODEON-THEATER PRESENTS: A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
A Christmas Carol in April?
I mean, Domino's behind the times, but that picture is from five years ago…
Seto readjusted his seated position on the bench with some discomfort. His brow furrowed, hands beginning to knot and unknot together and apart as he turned it all over in his mind.
So Domino Town has a new nickelodeon-theater. Hm…
Suddenly, it came to him in a burst of raw, ragged intuition—how exactly to take advantage of this new happening in town, something that people in Domino saw as exotic and different, something with which they were unfamiliar…
"That'll do it, then." He heard his own voice before realizing it came from his own lips.
"What?" Yugi gazed back at Seto, who stood up and briskly patted his linen suit into place, arranging his handkerchief in his breast pocket, and dropping the sack of sunflower seeds onto Yugi's open lap with a gentle thud.
Seto cut his eyes back to Yugi and smirked broadly, toothily, an actual glimmer of excitement, of glee, of joy flickering onto his pale patrician features. "Well, Yugi, aren't you worried about what kinds of things the young people could see on that screen?"
After all, I've seen all sorts of things on nickelodeon screens that surely the good citizens of Domino Town wouldn't want young boys and girls to accidentally stumble upon in the dark…
Seto made his way over to the theater and thought back in particular to a picture he'd seen a few years ago, a short one, involving a man spying on a woman through a keyhole as she changed her dress… that had certainly surprised him, back in his younger days, that anyone would have had the audacity to record such a thing for public consumption.
That had been such a long time ago, and he little more than a youth. Of course, such things hardly shocked him so anymore. In fact, he rather enjoyed the view the man in the picture had sought through the keyhole (not to be indelicate about it), and had enjoyed such views a good many times in person.
If I can pull this maneuver off, then surely Domino Town will fall into place just like the rest, even with that art teacher Yugi warned me about.
Yugi's eyes grew impossibly wide and he nodded in what was fast approaching understanding. Can he mean…?
Seto turned back towards Yugi and called out: "You stay right there with my suitcase, Yugi, and remember, if you see Ms. Ishtar…" and here he made a swooping painting motion with his right hand quite abruptly, as if he were attempting to swathe the air in front of him in invisible color.
Yugi nodded slowly and popped a few more seeds from the bag into his mouth, eyes trained on Seto's tall, narrow form as he approached a man on the periphery of the crowd outside the theater.
Seto reached out his hand in greeting towards the suited fellow standing before him, arranging his features into a look of gravest concern. Here we go.
Charming, friendly, open... concerned. Naive. Well-meaning.
He hated the act as much as he hated anything.
"Excuse me, sir, but is all this fuss about the new nickelodeon-theater in Domino Town?"
The man bristled, but extended his own hand towards Seto, who shook it firmly. "Yes, son, that's why everyone's outside. Brand new. No-one's seen such a thing before." His voice was as flat and cold as it seemed everyone in Domino Town's was.
Seto continued, "well, friend, either you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are simply not aware of the caliber of disaster, indicated by the presence of the nickelodeon-theater in your community!"
The man raised both eyebrows questioningly as Seto went on, fighting the urge to cackle to himself under his breath. He raised his arms to his sides, looking for all the world like a simple concerned, nearly frightened honest citizen.
As he should be.
Steady now, bait the hook… "I mean, could it be that I am the only one concerned about the potential for harm to our citizens of this fine town if people spend their time watching all manner of goodness knows what on this very same screen?" He raised his voice towards the end, ensuring that it would carry straight into the heart of the crowd, which paused for a moment.
Several more people approached him; a woman clung to the man's arm as Seto rubbed his chin in mock thoughtfulness. "We simply don't know what kinds of things people could be watching in this theater… in the dark… what kinds of pictures will our young boys and girls see?"
A buzz of murmurs and shuffling overtook the crowd, which began to migrate piece by piece to form a circle around him, all eyes and ears starting to become trained on Seto Kaiba. The women in particular, with their large feathered hats and fur coats, began to look extremely aghast at the mention of their sons and daughters, delivered in such a worried, fraught tone of voice by this handsome young stranger. What does this man mean? What will the new nickelodeon theater do to our children? What could he be saying?
Seto cleared his throat, voice ringing out like a bell. "I must say I am a fan of the pictures myself, but it does take judgment, brains, and maturity to be able to go to the theater, no? It's not as if any young child should just waltz into a moving picture without being able to understand…" and here he groped for something further… "…to understand the very delicate implications of what they are seeing!"
The citizens of Domino Town who stood around him, whispering and worrying one another, buzzing, clucking, humming with activity, with concern, now seemed to number at least one hundred. Seto went on. "I know that all of you folks are good, solid, honest Iowans, and good parents, but I know as well as any of you that a child will not be able to understand something as innocuous as a man and a woman on that screen in the nickelodeon-theater the way clear-thinking adults would. Additionally, my friends, this nickelodeon-theater could harm our sons and daughters by showing smut."
The word echoed around the circle, rippling like a stone thrown into a pond. The townsfolk fell silent, pondering the implications of what the stranger had said. Smut? Our children?... did he mean? Of course he meant… but how? What kind of pictures are being shown in that new nickelodeon theater?
"It seems, my friends," Seto called out, employing his full magnetism and charisma that he wielded so well, "that we have trouble on our hands!"
He watched the growing discomfort of the people around him as his canny words took hold with no small measure of personal satisfaction. While, of course, the inherent worry about the content of these pictures was hardly cause for alarm, it was not in his best interest to point that out.
"This nickelodeon-theater will bring us nothing but trouble, good people of Domino Town. Just think—if your son or daughter happens to see something indelicate on that very screen—" and here he pointed ahead of him towards the marquee; nearly everyone turned their heads to follow his gesture, faces looking positively ill with fear—"it is only a matter of time before they begin to change…"
He walked up towards the people closest to him in the circle and began to make his way around the inside of the crowd, marking his territory. "My friends, you must be vigilant. Watch for the telltale signs of corruption—mark my words! If your children have been going to the nickelodeon to see moving pictures, you will know."
Here Seto was utterly freewheeling, adrenaline shooting through his veins as precisely the right thing he needed to say popped into his head. Oh, it was a delicate moment to be sure. One false move and the crowd could disperse, their stubborn sensibilities refusing to be riled up by this stranger to Domino Town.
It was indeed a balancing act of the most daring sort, but Seto would be lying if he were to say he did not enjoy this raw feeling of power, of sway over the minds and emotions of these small-minded, provincial townsfolk.
"If your children begin to sneak a cigarette or two from a friend…
"... if you smell bourbon on your daughter's breath…
"... if certain words begin to creep into your son's conversation…
"... if they begin to talk back to you…
"... if she is out far too late, with people who do not respect you, her mother and father…
"... if he begins to show an interest in things far too indelicate to name here…" and here Seto paused, watching with satisfaction as the crowd waited for him to continue with bated breath.
He balled his fists and raised them again, backing up into the center of the circle, a charlatan surrounded by his marks. Each and every one of them shaking, trembling under the sheer force, the power, the weight of his words.
His voice rang out once more. "Then, fair citizens of Domino Town, we have trouble!" The word echoed across the crowd in whispers, in shouts, in wails as the citizens of Domino Town finally lost their heads to false worry.
Seto raised his hands for emphasis one last time, looked over the crowd, and caught Yugi's eye as the latter sat on that bench, mouth agape.
Damn. He's still got it…
Seto's lips flashed into a brief smile, too small for anyone but Yugi, who knew Seto well, to pick up upon.
And… baited.
Ishizu Ishtar folded up her spectacles and placed them on the table beside her paintbrushes, taking pains to make sure the delicate wire rims bore no marks of the paint that stained her overalls, stained her hands and face.
She heard, distantly, the bell of the town hall ring out eight times, and busied herself with removing the aforementioned overalls, her paint-smeared blue blouse, and poured a bit of mineral spirits on her hands and arms in a quick attempt at cleaning them. If she did not make haste, she would be utterly late for Serenity Crawford's eight-fifteen drawing lesson back at the house, and she certainly did not want to anger Mrs. Crawford with any potential lateness.
Although, she reasoned to herself, Mrs. Crawford certainly would be happy for any opportunity to push her out of her henpecked daughter's life, and tardiness would be a fair enough reason…
She could not, however, arrive to meet Serenity at the house dressed like some bohemian artist. She reached into a satchel underneath the table and withdrew her slip, petticoat, girdle, white lace-trimmed blouse and deep green skirt, which she tried to put on as quickly as was possible.
She did not keep a mirror in her studio; she was sure her thick hair had become irredeemably tangled over the course of the day. She smoothed and tucked the fine clothes into places and haggled her hair into a low bun. Donning the gloves tucked away in the pocket of her skirt, she placed the thin spectacles on her nose and locked up the studio for the night.
The collection building was located a few blocks away from the center of town; as she approached the main square she was greeted by an impossibly large crowd all gathered around one young man, who spoke loudly and clearly, gestured gracefully and eloquently, his manner belying the incendiary words he was speaking.
"This nickelodeon-theater will bring us nothing but trouble, good people of Domino Town…" she heard him call out. Hm. What could he possibly mean? How could having access to moving pictures possibly harm these small-minded Philistines?
Ishizu did not have time to dally or listen to the increasingly suspicious words that erupted from the man's mouth, for she was expected home soon. As she took a circuitous route around the highly impressionable crowd through the main square, she did notice, however, that strange disconnect between the confidence and authority the man projected through his voice and body language and the worry and fear his words contained.
She did not like the sound of that. Not one bit.
Something about that handsome young man in the center of the throng rubbed her quite the wrong way.
As she approached the bench where Yugi sat, walking perfectly primly and controlled, Yugi stood up abruptly, waited for Ishizu to pass, and waved his hands about wildly to catch Seto's eye.
Seto narrowed his eyes at Yugi, attempting to decipher the smaller man's motions; Yugi raised his eyebrows childishly and attempted to imitate the swooping painting motion with his arm that Seto had indicated earlier.
Yugi's movements had lost a bit in translation, but Seto got the message, narrowed his eyes at Yugi's facial expression—although Yugi's not wrong about that, ha—and trained his eyes around the area of the bench.
Then he saw her—black hair tucked into a tight bun, white blouse with lace edges, buttoned up to her chin, and a dark green skirt, all covering what had to be a rather shapely figure, moving quickly across the square, avoiding the crowd.
As the throng continued to moan and groan amongst itself, seemingly without end, Seto pardoned and excused his way through a tight cluster of concerned Domino Town citizens, picked up his suitcase from where it sat beside Yugi, and began to follow Ishizu Ishtar out of the town square.
Well, I certainly will not have to convince myself that this will be worthwhile, he thought as he got a better look at her, the way she walked and held herself up like a queen. He did his best to keep his eyes from drifting to her rear in a most ungentlemanly way.
Ishizu was acutely aware of someone following her as she walked out of the square and onto the quiet side street where she and Marik lived in a small two-story home at the end of the road. The gaslights grew farther and farther apart; the neatly pruned bushes by the side of the cobblestone streets were replaced with generous front lawns behind white picket fences.
Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt him approach her from behind with a gentle tap on the shoulder. She whirled her head around and narrowed her eyes, an automatic reflex, and gazed into a rather attractive pale face, crowned by a halo of dark brown hair, with almost fiendishly bright blue eyes—the man from the crowd!
She bristled, holding onto her satchel tightly as the man leaned in towards her, so close that she could almost feel his breath tickle her cheeks.
Despite herself, her cheeks pinked.
"Excuse me, miss," the man drawled, holding up a square of cream-colored lace between long fingers. "Is this yours?"
Ishizu nearly rolled her eyes in response to this ploy. Really? This trick, now? Who does this man think I am, some silly schoolgirl? Some blushing nymphet? I don't even know who he is…
"No, it's not mine." The words came out curt and definitive, as she intended, and she continued to walk down the street, determined not to give him another thought.
Seto Kaiba nearly cursed under his breath as she walked away, his breath returning to him as he recovered from the shock that had been Ishizu Ishtar's exquisitely bronzed face, with full pink lips and intelligent sea-blue eyes. He had nearly dropped his suitcase after she had turned her gaze towards him. Those eyes that had narrowed towards his own, not sparing his stupid effort to gain her attention with that scrap of cloth any more time than was absolutely necessary. Well, that was a bust.
He straightened his suit and picked up the pace to continue after her, not caring how rather untoward he was being in this moment. His legs in his suit pants were longer than hers, which had a long skirt to contend with, and he soon caught up to her again.
Here goes nothing…
Ishizu bit her lip in frustration as she felt the familiar tap on her shoulder. Enough already! She turned her head and sighed with resignation as she saw that same handsome face. She was so close to the front steps of her home…
Seto smirked in a way that had brought many women to their knees before him and murmured quietly, "I'll only be in town a short while…"
If this doesn't get her, doesn't pique her interest, I'm going to have to rethink my strategy entirely.
It was not exactly the most joyous of prospects.
Ishizu pressed her lips together to keep from laughing aloud at Seto's foolhardy forthrightness. Who is this man, and what kind of childish game is he trying to play?
She breezed along past him, walking nearly quickly enough to be cantering, up the porch steps of her house, where she could see Serenity Crawford standing in the window with a stick of charcoal and a pad of paper, laughing gently at some joke Mai had likely told her only moments ago.
She reached out her hand for the doorknob and pulled open the heavy oak front door. Suddenly, she cast a stern look back over her shoulder and uttered a single:
"Good."
Then she let herself in and pushed the door shut behind her, cutting off the strange man with the suitcase and his silly attempts at conversation.