Day 4

January 17, 2013

Manjyome is no Javert

8:30AM - Asuka's Apartment

Asuka woke up early.

"Oh my gosh! I'm going to be late for work!"

She slammed the doors open.

"J! Toppa! Get up! Now!"

Toppa got up freaking out.

With the both of them dressing and undressing at the same spot unaware of each other's presence and gender, mashing uncooked bread in their mouth and trying to run into the car, Nezumiko stopped them.

"Ms. Tenjouin, you don't need to go to school anymore. Remember? You're protecting everyone and Misawa is taking care of your class.", Nezumiko muttered timidly. Her teal eyes peeked out of the dark brown long locks she called her bangs. Her black rimmed glasses glared under the morning sun.

"Oh... Thanks, Nezumiko.", Asuka muttered.

"You mean I woke up over nothing?! JEEZUS!", Toppa groaned before passing out on the ground.

9:00AM - Asuka's former classroom, now Misawa's.

"Okay, who drew a penis on the board?"

Misawa was furious. He was so furious, he was about to tear off the greying locks of hair he kept so well.

"That's a student from next door."

"Excuse me for one moment class, I have to go discuss matters to the teacher next door on this matter."

That's when Misawa bolted out the door. A few minutes of awkward silence later, Misawa was yelling at the top of his lungs at how he no longer tolerated such shenanigans in his classroom ever again. Afterwards, Misawa came back with a black sharpie, erasing the disgusting image off the board and replaced it with algebra equations for students to solve.

"I miss Ms. Tenjouin, already...", a girl whimpered quietly to a boy next to her.

"Yeah, even if she's the teacher of this class full of violent hooligans, at least she keeps her calm.", a boy whispered back, still shivering as he shook the pencil as he wrote the problem.

"She usually brushes it off, taking a picture of it first and then showing the administration and then explains about the kid from next door."

"What's that kid's problem, anyway? He's such a pervert!"

Misawa sighed. How did Asuka do it?

12:00PM - Asuka's Apartment

"Okay you two, what happens when you attack a creature in facedown defense mode?", Asuka asked Toppa and J, as if doing a quiz show.

J raised his hand briskly.

"Yes, J?"

"Your opponent does not lose life points, and depending on what is facedown in defense mode, an effect may 'turn the tables' as one might say.", J smiled.

"Umm... Correct?", Asuka muttered.

"Toppa!", Judai smiled.

"Yes!"

"Good luck on this...", Judai smiled.

Toppa nodded. He wasn't a slacker like Judai was, but Toppa was still not one of the brighter tools in the shed. A little heads up can go a long way for him.

"Thanks."

"Okay. On to the next question. This has nothing to do with Duel Monsters so bare with me... What is the square root of 561?"

Toppa and J looked at each other confused.

"You may use a calculator if you like.", Asuka muttered.

"That's the first time Ms. Tenjouin asked us a question not relating to Duel Monsters today.", Toppa gasped.

"Hopefully you know the answer, right Toppa?", J muttered.

"Don't tell me you don't know either!", Toppa started to snicker.

"Toppa! I-i-I was only making sure you did!"

"I may have flunked Algebra once, but I know how to use a calculator!", Toppa growled as he typed hard on the small device.

Toppa figured out the answer and showed Asuka.

"That's... correct.", Asuka muttered.

"Great job!", J smiled.

"Thanks!", Toppa smiled, "Sorry for stealing your calculator though."

"It's no biggie. You had to use it."

2:00PM - Manjyome's Office

"Sir! No signs of Yugi Mutou, Toppa Bashin, or J Sawaragi.", a police officer grinned.

"Not good. Toppa and J I can understand. Yugi on the other hand... That's revolting! How do you not recognize a spikey haired adult male that's a dwarf and a celebrity?!"

"Umm..."

"Nevermind! I'll go look for them myself! Seeing they were last seen with Ms. Tenjouin, I'll go find them possibly at her apartment."

3:00PM - Asuka's Apartment

"Okay... I'm ready to ask for her help...", Misawa gulped, standing by her front door, sweat dripping onto his ratty old ugly forest green turtleneck, his otherwise perfect teacher's outfit, a grey suit, was starting to smell up the rest of the complex, almost in an ungodly fashion. Asuka's complex was the only thing not touched by this horrendous funk.

"Dear God, Misawa! Do you always have to stink the place up?", Manjyome asked, clenching his nose tightly.

Misawa glared at Manjyome, "How humorous. I never took you to be the kid that wanted to be a cop when he graduated college."

"Shut up and listen. Asuka is helping Batosupi players escape the law. Mokuba Kaiba requested me personally to find and bring them to me. However, I realized that the Kaiba Corporation will reach a much larger threat than a bunch of kids playing something that isn't Duel Monsters. I'll let them slide through the radar if they can do one thing for me: Whatever they do, they should NOT get on the bad side of Yugi Mutou when they see him.", Manjyome muttered.

"Interesting... For a cop to negotiate something like this, are you sure Emperor Mokuba wouldn't get upset that you let them slip out of your fingers?", Misawa asked.

"Heh. Upset is an understatement. The future fascist of Japan is going to be pissed off. But seeing I am only one of his many search dogs for people that don't play his big brother's favorite game... Yeah, even I know when one jumps the shark.", Manjyome snickered.

"What would Tyranno say about this? He's your best underling at the moment.", Misawa questioned, puzzled at Manjyome's surprisingly cynical view on Mokuba.

"Games are meant to be played, Misawa. With people taking card games too seriously, I might as well say that Judai was right to slack off in Duel Academy."

A few minutes of awkward silence later, Misawa and Manjyome both laughed hearty guffaws.

"Oh wow, Manjyome. When you first said there was going to be under a certain condition, I thought you were going to say that Ms. Tenjouin would have to marry you!", Misawa chuckled, shedding a tear from laughing too hard.

"Really? That's a total cliche! Like I'd stoop that low as a cop! I'm no Disney villain, I'm Manjyome Thunder!", Manjyome laughed.

"Okay, when are you two going to get out of this apartment?"

Manjyome and Misawa turned to see a cranky looking Asuka.

"Ms. Tenjouin...", Misawa blushed.

Manjyome couldn't help but stare, but Asuka was wearing her old black turtleneck back in high school, and white shorts. It wasn't that revealing, but behind her were Toppa and J, embracing in a kiss.

"Woah... Didn't know the boys swung that way...", Manjyome muttered.

"Ah! It's Officer Manjyome!", Sho squealed, "Quick Jim! Get them out of here!"

"Calm down, Marufuji! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph... I was just here to say I'd let them go free.", Manjyome huffed, disgusted that he already had a reputation.

"Ah. Thank you Manjyome. I was going to say how stupid it was that this whole Duel Monsters thing got out of hand..."

"Under one condition, though...", Manjyome pointed out.

"AWW! No! You will not marry Ms. Tenjouin! I will not allow a mere swine like you to do so. I have reservations against stalkers of hers..."

"Why do people assume that? Was I that annoying back in Duel Academy?! Damn! I was just going to tell you that you should stay away from Yugi Mutou! That guy spells trouble. He fatally wounded a Batosupi player.", Manjyome then pointed out.

"Ah... So he won that Shadow Game...", Richard then looked down.

"Shadow Game?"

"Yeah. Yugi Mutou said something about playing a 'Shadow Batosupi' game. We were there because Smile kidnapped, drugged, and almost raped Mr. Sawaragi just to get a hold of Asuka's deck.", Jim pointed out.

"I see... So Yugi Mutou was being a vigilante? That's so not like him? Usually he's more demure and innocent, much like Marufuji.", Manjyome muttered.

"Me? Demure? Innocent? You don't know me very well, Manjyome.", Sho muttered.

"C'mon! You never even seen a non-fictional girl you had romantic feelings for! And you're totally a virgin!", Manjyome snickered.

Sho blushed, "At least I keep my sex life to myself unlike you, Mr. Tough Guy..."

"What's a sex life?", Judai asked.

Manjyome looked at Judai for a minute. Sho blushed harder.

"You guys... That wasn't a good topic for J and Toppa to be around in.", Jim muttered.

"I totally agree with Jim, here. Especially since now you have to explain it to Judai.", Asuka hissed. Then again, if you love Judai, then you can take so much advantage of a boy that's the most innocent of all the guys in this room by teaching him. Though, that thought wasn't worded properly because I don't want Judai to be in the same position as J yesterday.

"S-sorry...", Manjyome groaned.

"Is anyone going to tell me?", Judai asked.

Wait... He's 20 years old and he never knew what that was? He really is a ditz! A cute ditz, but still..., Asuka thought.

6:00PM - Kaiba Manor

"SETO! Do you see this?!", Mokuba hissed on his seat.

Seto looked and saw the news. A Battle Spirits player died after being arrested for battling.

"Yeah... Maybe the kid was beaten by the cops for it. You can't blame them for following your rules.", Seto muttered.

Then they heard Manjyome's interview with the news reporter, Momoe Hamaguchi.

"Unfortunately we got a hint on how he got this way from the boy. He actually dueled the King of Games, Yugi Mutou. He tried to laugh but in the process his face collapsed and we had to hospitalize him quickly. I will halt all searches for Batosupi players, as they're just small pebbles being tossed on this river compared to this big boulder that made a splash here. People are getting hurt now. This is a good chance to tell people to stop playing Batosupi, and whatever you do, avoid Yugi Mutou at all costs.", Manjyome replied, "Let the police deal with him for now."

"That son of a bitch!", Mokuba hissed, "I wanted those Batosupi players RIGHT NOW!"

"Actually, sweet brother, you should notice that maybe Manjyome's being smart for once. The King of Games made a big mistake fatally wounding that boy. Don't you want me to be the next King of Games?", Seto asked.

"I see... Very well then. I'll take care of those boys myself!", Mokuba grinned as he turned the TV off.

9:30PM - Nezumiko's Apartment

"So Manjyome let you guys free? What a relief. You guys can probably go back to school again.", Nezumiko smiled.

"We'll need to take extra precautions now. Manjyome is only one cop, but what about the many other cops that want our heads.", J asked.

"J is right; How do we know when it is really safe?", Asuka muttered in worry.

"Let ME do the honors! I am your bodyguard after all!", Richard smiled.

"Okay, Rich. I hope you know what you're doing.", Asuka sighed.

It was the coldest day of the year, and Asuka's apartment was the only one heated up.

"By the way... Can you fix our heater? It's acting up...", Richard muttered, a little disgusted. His expression showed a scowl as he pointed toward nextdoor, revealing a shirtless Toppa and Judai jumping up and down as if their feet were burning. Sho tried to turn on a fan and even then, Sho had to use a more traditional paper fan for himself.

"Oh my... I'll go call my mother...", Nezumiko blushed to run off.

"Okay, who is fucking around with the heating system?", Jim growled with his Australian accent making the atmosphere even more heated.

"Not me! I haven't even touched it!", Toppa whined as his feet were turning red.

"You guys can stay in this apartment instead if it's killing you.", Nezumiko muttered.

"Thank you, Ratty Girl.", Jim muttered as he ran next door.

"Thank you Nezumiko...", Sho bowed politely.

"I owe ya one!", Toppa and Judai gasped in relief as they panted, their fire dance finally tiring them out.

"No problems...", Nezumiko sighed as she closed the door.

10:00PM - Just Outside Asuka's Apartment Building

Manjyome and Misawa were out smoking. The crisp late night breeze picked up a small wave of snowfall, but otherwise, there was no wind.

"You know, Manjyome... Remember when we were in that alternate dimension?", Misawa asked.

"Yeah...", Manjyome muttered, "I was a fucking zombie. Of course I do!"

Misawa nodded, "That Amon Garam... He saved my life back there. I want to thank him somehow."

"From those Harpies? Well that's a surprise. At least you have a reason to see him again. After fucking up Asuka's life, I feel useless...", Manjyome told him.

"What are you talking about? If not for you, Judai wouldn't have saved Asuka from the White Society's evils.", Misawa noted, "AND, you helped rebuild Obelisk Blue. That's a totally awesome achievement."

"But she notices Judai more than me...", Manjyome sighed, "That's why I gave up on her."

"Smart move. You know... I had a crush on that woman myself. Unlike you, I kept it to myself as well. Didn't turn out the best of ideas of mine."

"Why?"

"Well, one little messup with words and you get slapped. That's the hammer to breaking your heart.", Misawa laughed shamefully.

"Why did one stupid slap from her make you lose interest in her?"

"If I were to be married, I'd rather be the slapper if one made a dumb move. Then again, I'm not that sensitive.", Misawa sighed.

"Well, good luck finding Amon... I'll stay here. After all, I don't want any other cops trying to dick around and ruin my promise to those kids.", Manjyome grinned devilishly.

"You're crazy like a fox, you know that?", Misawa smiled.

TO BE CONTINUED...