3: Chain of Command

"Ah! Meijin Kawaguchi the fourth!" a familiar voice cooed.

Kaiba cringed before schooling his face and posture. He turned and formally returned the greeting with a bow. "Chairman Mashita, it's good to see you."

It actually wasn't.

Mashita was PPSE's founder and current CEO. He was an older man now in his thirties; a self-made man who had built a toy empire from nothing. Mashita had no background in science or business, so how he managed to make a revolutionary discovery like the Plavsky particles would forever elude Kaiba's understanding. If Kaiba had to describe his boss in one word, it would be "sketchy."

Mashita skipped up and clapped a hand on Kaiba's shoulder. "The team tells me you've been hard at work."

Much like in their last two meetings, Mashita was artificially cheerful and overly familiar. The act set Kaiba on edge— reminding him of... He shoved the thought aside and pushed down on the urge to recoil.

"Of course," Kaiba replied in his best monotone. "We are going to win the upcoming tournament."

"Good, good!" Mashita exclaimed in English and clapped his hands together. He glanced back at his ever smug and ever present sentinel hovering steps behind him. "Isn't our fourth-generation Meijin splendid, Baker-chan? Such confidence!"

Baker, Mashita's executive assistant, appeared to be the true power behind Mashita's throne. Where Mashita was flaky, she was focused, but her unwavering loyalty also meant she would never turn on him. She adjusted her glasses before dutifully responding, "Indeed, Chairman. You made a excellent choice picking him."

"Maa..." Mashita preened. "I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you during candidate testing that you would make the perfect Meijin: your concentration, your control, your ruthlessness, your drive to win at all costs. Perfect! So much like Meijin Kawaguchi the second!"

Funny how Mashita never talked about Kaiba's immediate predecessor.

In his time, Kaiba had interacted with enough shrewd business people to read between the lines. Meijin Kawaguchi was nobody without backing from PPSE, and Mashita could break his new career as easily as he had made it.

"I will win," Kaiba promised.

"Marvelous. I look forward to your debut then. Make sure to give them a good show." Mashita squeezed Kaiba's shoulder. Then he continued on his merry way, with a jaunt in his step and whistling a flat tune.

As Baker passed him, she bowed her head in mock deference. Light shifted across her lenses, revealing the calculating gaze usually hidden behind the glare of her glasses. "Please do your best, Kawaguchi-san. PPSE will be counting on you."

Kaiba may have escaped Domino City, but the reality was he had probably traded one fickle master for another. He looked down at his gloved hands and balled them. No, he would overcome and surpass them all in time.

-x-x-x-

"I just had the greatest idea!"

"No," Kaiba replied automatically. The data from his last training session was encouraging. His particle emission rate was holding steady, but it also registered a 20% increase after his Gunpla's last tuning. Which was good, but not good enough. He'd have to find a way to increase the emissions rate by another 30% before the world tournament.

Jounouchi had yet to move away from the door, but Kaiba could feel the pout directed in his direction without looking up. "C'mon, I haven't even said anything yet," he whined.

"No." Kaiba hated to repeat himself, but he needed to remain firm. Jounouchi's last "great idea" involved some absurd Sandhoge/Deathscythe kitbash [1]. If he didn't put his foot down firmly and often, Jounouchi was liable to let his imagination run wild. Kaiba wouldn't be so sore if the builder's wild flights of fancy didn't also produce viable prototypes.

Not that Jounouchi ever let the Meijin's attitude discourage him. Everything that Kaiba threw at Jounouchi rolled off him like rain off oilcloth. Such was the case when he found his chair spun around and Jounouchi looming over him with an arm planted on either side of Kaiba's head, effectively caging him. He narrowed his eyes, ignoring the tingling sensations racing up his spine.

"Jounouchi," he growled as a warning.

Much like a man unaware that he was dangerously close to signing his own death warrant, Jounouchi's grin broadened as he leaned in closer. "Think about it: a three-headed Danazine."

The idea gave Kaiba pause. He could actually visualize what that would look like. It wasn't half-bad.

"Hah, see? Not a bad idea, right?"

Kaiba tried to wheel his chair back, but Jounouchi held fast. He was only released after delivering a kick to Jounouchi's shin.

"Dick," muttered Jounouchi and reached down to rub his leg, though he seemed no more bruised in spirit or body as a result of Kaiba's lovetap.

"Instead of wasting your time on half-baked ideas, you should be concentrating on the task at hand. The world tournament is only three months away. Where are the weapon packs that I asked for?"

"I messaged you this morning, left them in your locker, remember? Didn't you see 'em when you came in?" he asked as he flopped into a chair opposite of Kaiba.

Kaiba hadn't. After his run-in with Mashita yesterday, he had spent the night in the workshop and slept two hours in the sparse room provided to him in the company dorm. Part of him also wanted to scold Jounouchi for breaking into his locker yet again, but it would only fall on deaf ears. He checked his phone. Jounouchi's message about the parts topped the list of the other half-dozen messages bitching about the overtime.

"You stayed the night again, didn't you?" He seemed to take Kaiba's lack of response as a yes and sighed heavily, "Why ya gotta be so fucking stubborn? Don't forget that you have an entire team working with you. You don't have to do everything yourself."

The Works Team was part of the problem— some members were still mourning, while more resented Kaiba's very presence. The last Meijin's death had come as a shock to everyone, including Kaiba. No one could have anticipated the lab accident. Months of work on Gunpla models and weapons tailored to the third Meijin's preferences and fighting style were set aside. No one knew what to make of the new Meijin Kawaguchi the Fourth or his abilities, as untested as Kaiba was.

So he didn't have the luxury of a smooth transition like his predecessor— where the second Meijin had reached final stages of his terminal illness and his death was long anticipated. Meijin Kawaguchi the Third had been young; and not only was he widely admired, he had been well-loved too. By comparison, Kaiba knew others saw him as too aloof and/or unjustifiably arrogant. But on some days, the pressure to prove himself made it feel like he could choke on air.

Given his circumstances, it was foolhardy to depend too much on anyone but himself.

"Don't make that face, Kaiba."

The combination of his birth name and the pressure between his eyes dragged him from his reverie. Coming back to himself, he startled when he noticed Jounouchi had scooted close enough to poke him in the forehead. Before Kaiba could smack the offending hand away, Jounouchi withdrew his finger and offered another encouraging smile. Like Yuugi, Jounouchi must have some never-ending well of goodwill to draw from.

Jounouchi continued, "I know you're worried, but I'll be with you every step of the way through the tournament. Just like the old Meijin and his builder."

Kaiba's curiosity was piqued. The third-generation Meijin Kawaguchi cast a huge shadow over everything he currently did. But other than video recordings of his battles and several official interviews, he knew next to nothing about the man himself. Kaiba met him once in person at a promotional event, where they shook hands and exchanged a few words. That had been almost three years ago. "Did you know my predecessor well?"

Jounouchi hummed and tapped his chin. "The old Meijin? About as well as any other PPSE employee, I guess," he admitted several seconds later. "But Chief Allan was like a mentor when I first started here, and I worked in the First Lab before I was transferred to weapons design."

Allan Adams was more than the previous Meijin's builder who'd helped secure three consecutive world championships for the Works Team; he was also the company's chief engineer, specializing in the science of Plavsky particles. That would explain why Jounouchi was so damn good when he had no right to be. He had studied under the best.

"Do you know why he quit the Works Team?"

"He and the third Meijin were close. I think they were at the Academy together. So his death hit the Chief real hard..." Jounouchi trailed off with a faraway look in his eyes.

Kaiba felt a pang of regret. Even he recognized what a lost opportunity that was. Allan Adams would have been a solid asset to have on his side, but his withdrawal from the team was nothing short of a personal rejection of Kaiba.

Jounouchi shook off his gloom. "Enough about that. I'm starved. Let's go eat. The cafeteria's got oden on the menu today!" he declared and rose from his seat.

A hand skimmed across Kaiba's shoulder blades, lighting his nerve endings on fire. Jounouchi had been doing that a lot lately, using little touches to call and guide his attention. But Jounouchi was a tactile person to begin with— Kaiba had seen him hug Yuugi on several occasions. He told himself not to read too much into it.

-x-x-x-

Meijins did not traditionally keep their own offices on PPSE campus, and Kaiba earned some strange looks from upper management when he tried to request one. In lieu of an office, he invited Yuugi for coffee inside his company dorm room. He left the television on in the background, and a soft-spoken newscaster read out the day's news events.

Kaiba cleared his throat before speaking, "I wish to know more about the lab accident that killed the third Meijin."

"Why do you ask?" Yuugi asked and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Even the hand stirring cream into his cup slowed.

He narrowed his eyes. His request seemed straightforward enough, so he hadn't anticipated any pushback. "Surely PPSE conducted its own internal investigation. That was no small accident. I'm curious as to what they found."

"No, no, there's an after incident report. You're privy to read it as the current Meijin," Yuugi appeared to struggle for his next words. "I'm just… surprised you're asking for it this many months later. I didn't think you cared about what happened to the third Meijin."

It wasn't that Kaiba was glad that his predecessor— that another human being was dead. But he hadn't known the man personally, and mourning the third Meijin now wasn't going to change anything. Yet as his successor, it would also be remiss of Kaiba to completely ignore the circumstances around the man's death. But all he would say to Yuugi was "You'll send me the report then."

Yuugi nodded, "I'll email it to you before the end of the week."

Meanwhile, the news had moved onto its financial segment. Kaiba suppressed a wince when a familiar logo flashed across the screen. The gesture did not escape Yuugi's notice, who turned to glance at the television. Kaiba raised his cup to his lips, hoping that it would mask his discomfort.

"Stock prices for Higuchi Holdings soared today as talk of an impending buyout by the Kaiba Corporation came to a close, with shares closing at an all-quarter high of 8363 yen each. An official announcement from CFO Kaiba Noa is expected within the coming days. Higuchi is a leading electronics component manufacturer best known for supplying the motherboards to PPSE's advanced battle simulator machines. This move, following on the Kaiba Corporation's acquisition of NITO last year, has analysts speculating on whether or not the company will set its sights on PPSE next. As a result, the Nikkei rose by..."

Yuugi faced him again, peering curiously out from under his brightly colored bangs. "Have you talked with your family recently?"

Kaiba almost wished Yuugi would ask about the financial rumors instead. Instead, he glared at the television set, where a video of Noa and the CEO of Higuchi Holdings shaking hands ran on the split-screen. "Why? Save for Mokuba, I have nothing to say to any of them. This is hardly the political climate to be seen associating with them."

Yuugi rolled his eyes. "Don't be over-dramatic like that, Kaiba-kun—"

He felt a tic in his temple. Had Yuugi never seen the previous Meijin in action? Kaiba was practically reserved by comparison.

"—I'm certain that they would be overjoyed to hear from you. It's not as if I'm telling you to hold a press conference. Other than myself and a few of the upper management, no one knows your real identity."

Of course, there was also Jounouchi, but he remained ridiculously oblivious to the significance of Kaiba's family name. He had expected the builder to at least ask out of curiosity, but the question never came.

He laughed. "Yuugi, as always, you can be exceedingly naive."

Call Kaiba paranoid, but he didn't want his connections to the Kaiba Corporation to come to light and jeopardize his new position. He had worked too long and too hard to escape its shadow. For a moment, Yuugi looked like he wanted to say more. But after so many years of acquaintance, he was aware of Kaiba's feelings on the matter and knew when to leave things well alone. Deep down, even Yuugi must have known that his relentless optimism was wasted on the likes of Kaiba Gozaburo and Kaiba Noa.

[1] A kitbash takes parts from two or more different model kits (not limited to gundams) to make a new unique creation. A number of characters in the Gundam Build Fighters series does this to some degree, because straight assemblies (just following the instructions on the kit box) result in comparatively weaker machines.