Author's notes: *surrounded by Easter eggs* Yooooo. Happy Easter! So much chocolate, so little time…

AND NOW THE CHAPTER WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. THE ANSWER TO ALL THOSE DAMN QUESTIONS. YOSH.

Also, le Puzzleshipping is right around the corner. Ha. Meep.

Tokyo, Japan
September 13th, day 34, 7:21 pm

All of a sudden, Yami felt nervous. He had never interviewed someone, let alone a person who could be behind all kinds of horrible crimes.

While everyone around him was chatting excitedly about the show, Yami strode over to the auditorium. There were so many posh looking seats that it almost looked like he was staring into infinity. They were all facing a huge stage, which was still empty, except for a few boxes and tables. Huge curtains had been pulled aside and when Yami turned his head, he saw the back area behind those red velvet curtains.

Taking a deep breath, he walked down the stairs and then climbed the stairs of the stage itself. The wood beneath his boots felt weird; awfully fragile and a bit damp. People in black clothing were pacing up and down behind the curtains, shouting instructions at each other and moving things around.

Yami fidgeted a bit before he took out his badge in case anyone asked and walked past all those people. Several of them gave him odd looks, but they shut their mouth when they saw the badge he was holding close to his chest. A few nervous murmurs could be heard in the distance and he even heard,

"Maybe it's about those murders. Do you think he's here to arrest someone?"

It didn't take very long to find what he was looking for. There were a few rooms, but only one of them was closed and had a huge yellow star on it. Yami let out a small breath through his nose and knocked.

There was a bit of shuffling before someone from the other side opened the door. It was as if his heart dropped down his stomach the minute the young adult was revealed to him.

Yugi Mutou was only a few centimeters shorter than him, yet looked tall because of the confidence that was radiating from him. His shining violet eyes looked up at him questioningly, sparkling with a hint of excitement. Yami's eyes fell on his lips, they were small and looked dry, and… familiar. His sharp jawline also looked like he had seen it before. His eyes narrowed.

"Um, who are you?" Yugi said with a hint of an amused smile. Oddly enough, his voice wasn't the same he had heard on the phone and it made him even more nervous than he already was.

"I'm Yami Tanaka, police officer at the Criminal Investigation Bureau." Yami held up his badge and Yugi raised one of his thin eyebrows in response, obviously not intimidated.

"Can I help you?"

"I only want to ask you some questions."

Again, Yugi didn't look very impressed. "Why, may I ask?"

"Just doing my job. Can I come in?"

"… Sure." Yugi gave the door a small push and stepped aside, allowing him entrance. When Yami walked past him, he caught a hint of his cologne and felt the urge to keep his distance. The door was closed so they could have their privacy and Yami took a quick look around the room.

It was very cliché: small, with a white dressing table, surrounded by fancy lights, a coffee machine, a closet with a clothing rack right next to it, and another small table accompanied by a plastic chair. Curious, Yami walked over to the clothing rack and ran his hands over the black cloak that was hanging there. The fabric was so incredibly smooth and had something addictive about it, making him want to run his hand over it until the joint would get tired.

He felt Yugi's eyes on him. Even though he was neatly dressed, he didn't appear to be a very polite guy. In fact, he was probably anything but.

"I don't wanna be rude, but I gotta get on stage in a few minutes. It would've been better if you had done this after my show."

Raising both of his eyebrows, Yami looked over his shoulder at the magician who was had taken a seat behind the small table and was giving him an intriguing look. "Fine, I'll get on with it."

"One question, though." Yugi raised one finger in the air and pursed his lips. "Why do you have to interview me?"

"Three people were brutally murdered over the past few weeks and two days ago, there was another attempt," Yami said quickly, his heartbeat quickening already. "I'm here to investigate."

A small frown appeared on Yugi's face. "That's very awful, but again, what does that have to do with me?"

His head throbbed and he shoved his shaky hands in his pockets to hide them. "The three kids that committed the crime all have one thing in common—"

"Wait, lemme get this straight." Yugi got up from his chair, his hands were resting on the table and he tipped his head to one side. "You already know who murdered those people?"

Yami tried to swallow the big lump that had formed in his throat. This was not good. Yugi was staring at him like he was a complete idiot and now that he put it like that, Yami felt like his brain had shut down. He couldn't think straight anymore and he felt faint.

"Yes, but—"

"Did people testify?"

"Yes—"

"Then it's solved, right? You have no reason to be here."

Fuck. "I do."

"Oh?" Yugi folded his arms over his chest and took a few daring steps forward, raising his head so his chin stuck out. "I'm not a professional, but I do know that once the murder is solved, they close the case. If you already know who committed the crime, then I suggest asking the murderers what you wanna know and not some random guy who has to perform in five minutes."

"We are not closing this case until we have all the necessary answers."

Yugi took another step forward and Yami felt warmth in his stomach, spreading all the way up to his chest. "Are you new, or something? You're not very good at this."

Blood rushed to his face and Yami fought the urge to punch the guy in the face. "All those kids went to your show."

A silence fell over them, but the eye contact stayed. Yugi's eyes seemed to darken, the light in them faded out and for the briefest moment, they sparkled. Yami leaned in a bit closer; curious as to how Yugi's eyes could display all of that in less than ten seconds. However, Yugi pulled back and Yami saw him wrapping his fingers around his arm, squeezing the skin.

"And?"

"That's quite coincidental."

"Not trying to sound arrogant here, but ever since I started performing in Tokyo, thousands of people have come to my show. And you said that the murderers are kids? All the more reason to leave me out of it, since the majority of my fan base consists of children. I'm pretty sure that it's just a coincidence."

This was getting out of hand. Yami had little to no experience in interrogating and now he was on the verge of panicking. "I don't think it is."

A loud snort came from Yugi and Yami felt his left eye twitching. "By all means, go ahead and frisk, interview my colleagues, inspect the entire area. I've got tons of alibies, since I've been on stage for four weeks in a row."

"You're pretty defensive for someone who's innocent."

"Well, apparently I have to be because you obviously think I have something to do with these murders. Does your boss even know you're here?"

"Where were you on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 11th?"

Yugi narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Right here."

"Can you prove it?"

"Pretty sure my stage manager can."

The longer he talked to this guy, the more he wanted to give him a piece of his mind. It turned out that this was going to be a lot harder than he thought and so far, he hadn't gotten anything out of him.

He reached inside his jacket and took out the pictures he had taken with him. Laying them on the table, he pointed at them. There were four of them: A small one of Rebecca he had gotten from her parents, a large one of Mokuba that Kaiba had given him, another one from Leon that he had printed out himself and a personal one of Mana he always carried around in his wallet.

"Do you recognize any of these teenagers?"

Yugi walked over to the table and glanced at the pictures while Yami watched him closely. Unfortunately, Yugi's face remained neutral, leaving him with absolutely nothing.

"Nope."

"All of them went to your show, though."

"Have you seen the amount of seats? I see hundreds of faces everyday. There's no way I'm going to remember all of them," Yugi argued stubbornly. Yami was breathing fire at this point, beyond pissed off and about to take his magic wand and shove it up his ass.

"You didn't drag them on stage, talk to them or take a picture with them?" Yami urged, feeling like he was about to explode. Kaiba was going to be fucking mad at him and for a very good reason.

Yugi clicked his tongue and looked thoughtful for a few seconds before he shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I have no idea." He quickly added, "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't remember these things. And even if I did, why would it be of any value to you?"

"Because every detail counts."

"Geez, and they let you become a police officer? You've got a long way to go, man."

"Have you ever been to Urawa, Warabi or…" he swallowed and blinked to keep eye contact. "Shinagawa?"

He couldn't hold back the sigh when Yugi shook his head. Of course he could be lying about all of this, but seeing that practically everyone in this place could serve as an alibi, there was no way he could prove that the Yugi Mutou had anything to do with the murders.

Then, his eyes fell on the cloak again. An idea popped into his head. "Can you put that thing on for me?"

"… Why?"

"Humor me. It's the least you could after all those rude comments of yours," Yami bit back.

"I don't have to do anything for you," Yugi sneered, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "I have the right to be angry or upset since a police officer barges into my room because he suspects me of murder even though he's already got the culprits."

"They're missing!" Yami was losing control now. He was supposed to stay calm and polite, like Kaiba had told him to, but Yugi was pushing his buttons like no one had ever done before.

"And so you come all the way over here because I obviously had something to do with that. Oh, wait, I do, because they've all been to my show. D'you have any idea how utterly ridiculous your arguments are?" Yugi chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Please go back to school and study. Not sure if I feel safe now that I know that those people at the academy let people like you protect us."

Yami's jaw dropped. "You motherf—"

"Mutou-san, the audience is getting impatient." Both adults looked up at the tall girl in the doorway. She grinned nervously and clutched the doorknob. "S-sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"Nah, don't worry. I think he was just leaving." An innocent smile appeared on Yugi's face and he walked over to the door. He looked over his shoulder at Yami who was clenching his jaw so tightly that it hurt. "Right?"

For a few seconds he considered punching the living daylights out of him, but seeing that he had already screwed up and that Yugi had left him with little to no pride, he decided it was best to leave. Clearing his throat, Yami straightened his tie and brushed past the other. The illusionist kept smiling until that smile turned into a sickening smirk that made Yami grit his teeth.

Then, Yami thought he saw something odd glittering in Yugi's eyes but it disappeared so quickly that it was probably the lightening being weird. He kept his eyes locked on the other's, nearly trying to stare him down. The illusionist, too, was looking at him intensely, his piercing violet gaze appearing to be enjoying every second of this.

"Interesting," Yugi mumbled, yanking him out of his daze. That smirk was still plastered on his face and Yami was surprised to hear that Yugi almost sounded amused. It pissed him off even more.

"What?"

"Nothing," was the nonchalant answer and Yami threw his head back in defeat, pretty sure Yugi was just toying with him now. Yugi reached for his cloak and threw it over his shoulder. "Now move, you're in my way."

Shoving his hands in his pockets to make sure he wouldn't break the guy's jaw, Yami obeyed and moved out of the way with a cynical smile. Yugi took his time walking past him, teasingly patting his shoulder with his right hand and dismissing the girl who bowed her head in response and scurried off. Yugi disappeared around the corner, to the stage and it didn't take long before the audience started cheering and Yami rolled his eyes.

Just when he was about to walk towards the exit, his phone started buzzing. Yami got out the device and bit his lip anxiously. He let out a small breath, pressed the green button and held the phone to his ear.

"Yes, Kaiba?"

"So, what'd you find out?"

"Other than the fact that Yugi Mutou's a dick, not much," Yami murmured and he took a few steps back into Yugi's room, closing the door behind him so he could talk in private.

"Interview didn't go as well as you'd hoped?"

Yami absently ran his hands over the wall, not sure what to think anymore. "Not exactly, no." He closed his eyes and sighed to keep his temper. "I could've sworn he had something to do with it."

On the other side, Kaiba cleared his throat, obviously trying to bite back some rude comments. "All right, well, you gave it your best shot. Meet me at the front and we'll go back to the office to talk."

Yami hung up and put the phone away, leaning against the door with his shoulders for a few seconds. His eyes fell on the pictures and quickly jogged over to the table, wanting to hit himself for almost forgetting about the pictures. Quickly putting them back in his plastic bag and shoving it in one of his pockets of his jacket, he headed out.

The cheering, clapping and screaming annoyed the hell out of him so he tried his best to get out of there as soon as possible.

"All right, I'll need a volunteer for my first trick!" Yugi's voice called out and Yami froze. He couldn't resist, he absolutely couldn't and let his feet drag him to the stage. The stage manager was watching everything closely from the side and Yami casually stood next to him with a forced, polite smile. He saw Yugi's profile, facing the audience and teasingly waving his hand around, trying to pick someone.

"Who're you?" the man hissed after he had covered the microphone that was attached to his headset.

Yami made sure to keep that smile on his face when he pulled out his badge again and the man's brown eyes widened. "Police officer."

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, not at all. Just wanna keep an eye out," Yami replied smoothly and put the badge back. He clasped his hands behind his back, feeling his cheeks hurting from smiling too much. The stage manager let out a sigh of relief and focused his attention back on Yugi, who seemed to have picked a small girl.

Her brown curly hair covered her blush while she stood in front of her idol and Yami's eyes narrowed. The girl looked no older than eighteen and was obviously head over heels for the magician. Yugi slowly pulled her towards him and placed his hands on his shoulder, letting her face the audience.

"So, what's your name?"

"C-Chris," the girl stammered, the blush on her face increasing and at this point, her entire face was bright red.

"Tell us a little about yourself, Chris." Yami couldn't believe Yugi's endearing approach. No wonder everyone was in love with him; the guy was an excellent charmer. Plus, he was handsome and he knew it. The kind smile on his face was real and he was stroking Chris' shoulder reassuringly, making Yami frown.

"Well, I'm fourteen," Chris mumbled and Yugi chuckled in response, causing the arms on Yami's arms to stand up straight. It droned in his ears for a few seconds, drowning out the curious murmurs from the audience. A teasing, cold shiver ran down his back, making him straighten up. An unwelcoming warm feeling developed in his stomach once again and he groaned inwardly, wondering what the hell was going on.

It appeared Chris was a very shy girl and didn't know how to respond to Yugi's questions. She was playing with her long skirt and avoiding eye contact. Their small talk went on for a few minutes, Yugi coming up with simple questions and Chris giving him closed answers. The atmosphere felt cold and awkward until Yugi moved one of his hands to rest between her shoulder blades and put on one of the most inviting smiles Yami had ever seen in his life.

"Do you already know what you wanna do when you grow up?"

Smart move. Chris' eyes started sparkling right away and she beamed at him. It was as if Yugi had pressed a button, seeing that the air felt warmer and the girl had become very enthusiastic. "Yeah, I wanna become a vet!"

"Oh, so you love animals?" Yugi's smile was real and so bright that anyone would have fallen for it, Yami thought bitterly. "That's great! You're probably very smart."

Chris giggled and looked away, playing with her short hair. "W-well, I do get good grades in biology and chemistry."

"I'm sure you'll become a great vet and that your parents will be very proud of you. Everyone, show this incredible girl some love!"

The room exploded with the audience's cheers and applause, but Yami was starting to feel sick. Of course nothing was certain and he could be totally wrong, yet, there was something very off about this. He watched as Yugi circled the girl a few times, humming teasingly and letting his cloak flutter behind him. Yugi was playing some twisted, psychological game that he was very good at, and Yami hated how he was wrapping everyone in the room around his finger, including him, and that they were now waiting with bated breath for the so-called magician to make his move.

The black and red silk stopped flowing as Yugi stood behind the girl and held up his arms. Yami tensed and felt a small bead of sweat trickling down his neck. This was it.

"Do you trust me?" Yugi almost whispered to Chris and when she nodded, he shook his wrists so his sleeves were pulled back and placed his fingers over her eyes, blinding her. "Relax and close your eyes."

He dropped his hands once she had closed her eyes, winked at the audience and snapped his fingers. The audience, including Yami, gasped as Chris' body went limp and she nearly hit the floor if it weren't for Yugi who gracefully caught her. Yami was about to run forward, but the stage manager held up his hand, preventing him from moving.

"She's fine," he assured.

"But he—!"

"Just keep watching."

Yugi laid her on the floor, crouched down, took off his cloak and covered her up, smoothing it out so her figure was completely visible beneath the silk. Not even a second passed before he yanked the cloak off her body, discarding it into the air with an elegant flick of his wrist. It swirled around before it disappeared and when Yami frowned, his eyes fell on the spot where Chris was supposed to be, only to find out she was gone. People gasped again and started clapping enthusiastically while Yami was absolutely flabbergasted. Yugi threw his hands up in the air with a triumphant grin plastered on his face, obviously enjoying the attention more than anything, pissing Yami off.

"He's better than I thought," he snarled and the stage manager nodded with a smirk.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Yugi called out, his grin turning into an arrogant smirk and Yami bit back a nasty remark. "I've got her right," he pulled his cloak out of thin air, straightened it out, let his free hand run over the smooth fabric and dropped it to the floor, revealing a shocked Chris. "here."

Everyone immediately jumped out of their seat to give Yugi a standing ovation. Chris wobbled on her feet a bit, looking just as surprised as Yami felt, and stumbled over to Yugi who put an arm around her. Chris looked up at her idol with her big brown eyes and Yami gritted his teeth when Yugi ruffled her hair and gave her a quick, one-armed hug. That same blush appeared on her chubby cheeks as Yugi gently pressed their foreheads together and held her hand.

"Thank you. You can go back to your seat now," he told her and she obeyed, bouncing off the small stairs, running back to her seat and giggling like crazy.

"Now that we've warmed up, we can start heating things up," Yugi announced as he bent down to pick up his cloak. Yami's eyes widened when he found himself staring at the other's backside, which was hidden behind the thin layer of leather. Rolling his eyes up to the ceiling, he cursed himself and unconsciously dug his heel into the wooden floor to distract himself.

"You okay?"

Yami nearly jumped out of his skin and looked at the stage manager who was giving him an amused look. "Perfectly fine. I should go."

"There's no need to be ashamed, you know," the guy said, that stupid shit-eating grin on his face widening. "It's okay to be impressed by his skills. Sometimes he still manages to blow my mind and I've seen pretty much everything."

"He almost dropped her."

"'It's all part of the act."

Raising an eyebrow, Yami let his eyes wander off to Yugi who was holding up a hat and pursing his lips. The black object flew up in the air and exploded, much to Yami's surprise. Millions of golden glitters swirled around and Yami was so distracted by the reflecting light that his jaw dropped when he saw that Yugi had vanished. People even stood up to look for him and Yami couldn't help but wonder how the hell he'd managed to—

"Bet you didn't see that coming," a voice whispered in his ear, causing Yami's instincts to kick in, so he tried to punch whatever was behind him, but stopped when a soft hand grabbed his wrist to keep him from doing so. He turned around and saw Yugi smirking up at him in triumph. "Hope you're enjoying the show."

Yami yanked his wrist back and stared him down. "You're good at distracting people. That's all."

"Don't act so tough," Yugi replied, infuriating him. "If you wanna be a police officer, you gotta work on your social skills. Anyone with a brain can tell you're trying way too hard here and that you're a bad liar. But I guess your looks outweigh your poor abilities."

His heart jumped as Yugi teasingly patted his cheek before he went around the back so he could appear back onstage. Yami let out a small breath, trying to process what just happened. He was hot, way too hot, and he noticed he was shaking.

The stage manager was about to open his mouth but Yami shot him a look. "One word and I won't hesitate to stick my foot up your ass."

Without waiting for an answer, Yami quickly went to the back and made his way through the mass of people that was taking care of the show. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest and he shook his head to pull himself together. It had been a while since he had had someone and, inconveniently, it had come to bite him in the ass. His head was telling him to shut up and pick up the pace, but his stupid feelings were going nuts about the fact someone had flirted with him after all this time. His stomach did a few flips and Yami decided to kick the exit door open with his boot.

"Wow, someone's ego got bruised," Kaiba muttered after Yami had found his car and told him what happened, casually leaving out the last part. "You gotta admit that the guy's good. He should've become a lawyer, not some stupid magician."

"Glad to see you're on my side," Yami remarked and secured his seatbelt.

"Oh, don't be a baby. This is your first real case. Of course you're gonna make mistakes and fuck up. It's what we all do. It sucks, but you knew that was bound to happen when you chose this job," Kaiba shot back and Yami looked away, gripping his arm so tightly that his hand started trembling. "So stop whining and suck it up. You're gonna write down everything that happened, every word, every action, every detail, and you're gonna reflect."

As soon as Kaiba mentioned the word everything Yami flinched. He slowly looked at his boss with an awkward smile. "… Everything?"

"Yes. That way, you'll learn from your mistakes and you won't make them again. I want your report by tomorrow morning."

Kaiba started the car and Yami hung his head in defeat. They drove off and Yami leaned back against the chair, folding his arms over his chest and trying to calm down. He could always exclude the flirting part because, technically, it had nothing to do with the case. After all, Yugi had downright insulted him again and…. complimented him. And touched him.

Yugi was such an asshole.

"Also, I almost forgot to tell you. Before we left, I looked into his files and I found out you used to live in the same neighborhood."

"What?" Yami gave him an incredulous look.

"You told me Sugoroku Mutou used to babysit you and your sister, right? That's his grandfather."

Yami couldn't believe he had overlooked this extremely important detail. "How the hell did I miss that?"

"Like I said, it's your first case," Kaiba reminded him and Yami grumbled something under his breath in response. "Happens to the best of us. Not to me, of course, but most people tend to overlook the things that are right in front of them. If you're still interested, I called him and arranged an interview."

"You're giving me a second chance?" Yami was quite confused that Kaiba still trusted him after this and had sort of expected to lose his job. Especially since he messed up big time.

"The guy's at least eighty years old. If you can't handle that, then you're obviously not capable of doing your job. 16th, ten o'clock, his place. Got it?" Kaiba gave him a look and Yami blinked when he saw that he was serious about this.

He managed to raise the corners of his lips. "Yes, sir."

Author's note: What. THERE WAS PUZZLESHIPPING IN THERE. For, like, two seconds, but it was totally there! :DDDD

Oooookay, so yeah, working out my notes because I kinda messed things up in the next chapter. It's probably because I'm also working on my other stories and it's seriously making my head spin. Uhuhuhuhuhuhu, adlufishajksdfl *noms on chocolate*

Please don't forget to leave a review~!