Summer had finally come for real in Japan, rather than arriving as a heat wave in the middle of spring. Weather studios all over were still going on about that actually... Winters were getting colder and summers were getting hotter; it was all a little disturbing. Like the weather was just sort of saying 'screw it! Hot is hot and cold is cold! I can't be bothered to find a happy medium!'
Nonetheless, regardless of the season, there were still classes to attend for the moment. Just two weeks before the summer holidays began, and to 'celebrate' that coming, the Aptitude Test Rankings had been posted that very week. And he had come in 392nd. Out of 400. And Mokuba wouldn't shut the hell up as he groaned, the boy instead relaying the story to a still comatose Kaiba. "Nyhhhh..." He grabbed his head, scowling. "Can Seto-chan even hear us! I mean seriously?" Because if she could, that just made things worse in his opinion.
The hospital room was well guarded, what with its sole occupant being the billionaire President of KaibaCorp. Mokuba, for the most part, had been dealing with the entire incident of both his sister's coma and the issues with the company fairly well, having temporarily taken the reigns of the company with the aid of Kaiba's current adviser, Isono. Incredibly well actually, given how fast he'd done it... It almost made him wonder if Mokuba wasn't hiding anything, but really, he was done with paranoia for now.
For the time being however, the hospital was essentially the only break Mokuba was getting from the job outside of school; so really, this was about as much time as they had to speak, regardless of living in the same house. At least it was sound proofed... And surveillance free... Granted, when the doctors had realized their patient was female, it took a fair amount of explaining to keep their mouths shut. Not to mention cash. Given certain glaring legalities. Not to mention the fact that Kaiba apparently had a private doctor, who knew all of this, and had still handed over the papers with the male gender written on them. Well... When one had money he supposed...
As Katsuya continued to grumble about his marks and the pointlessness of speaking to a coma-victim (Saying 'corpse' would be bad.), Mokuba shook his head. It hadn't been long since 'Death-T'... Only a week in fact, and it was fairly alarming that the school had only just given the go-ahead to ditch the jackets for uniform t-shirts. More alarming however was Mokuba's 'recovery' rate from the shock of his sister going under, though Katsuya had the nagging feeling that he had a hand in that for some reason. "I already told you," he said from his sister's side with a frown. "Of course she can! People in a coma always recover faster it you treat them like they're awake after all!" Whatever worked for him really... The boy paused, before frowning. "And stop calling Nee-sama 'Seto-chan'... Otherwise, you'll get so much into the habit, that I won't be able to keep you out of the hospital for more than an hour at best..."
He groaned, rubbing his head. "Nyhh... Whatever. I say that what I'm doin' is jus' proving you wrong on the hearin' thing but..." The blond smiled, looking at the siblings. "Whatever helps I guess, I mean, I'm just a moron righ'?" Hell, even Honda beat him out... He expected Yugi to do that, but Honda?
Mokuba blinked, before rolling his eyes. "If this is still about your test score..." It was really pathetic... Really pathetic actually. Seriously, he knew that Katsuya didn't do well in school, but to think he was THAT BAD? Maybe he should call up Tanaka or someone...
The blond scowled. "No! ... Yes." He turned away, still frowning. Stupid stupid school...
"H-Hey... They've still improved though right?" Katsuya raised an eyebrow at that, but nonetheless said nothing as the kid had a point. He WAS getting a little better in school... Possibly because he wasn't holding 4 or 5 part-time jobs in an effort to pay the bills for his old man. Not to mention that an attention for detail on the job helped with 'detail in the class'; provided he paid attention of course. Speaking of his dad...
The man was now currently jail-ridden for tax fraud and theft. God... Damn it... It really figured didn't it... "Yea well... At least I got t' play a game out of it..."
He blinked. "A game... What kind of game could you get out of exams?"
Katsuya grinned. "'Aptitude Test Bingo!' It was great until Tsuroka-sensei started harpin' at us about our grades though... Lousy bastard..." His muttering suddenly turned into a laugh however, as he remembered the frantic plea the teacher had made to keep his baldness secret. That... That was gold... Across from him, Mokuba merely sighed and hung his head, deciding to let the blond live in his memories for a moment. Reality however, was not so ready to do that; there was a knock on the door at that moment, and he blinked. "Heh? Visitin' hours aren't over already are they?"
"No," the boy said as he shook his head, moving to answer the door. "Not for another half hour... Hang on." He opened the door, before returning with a letter. "ZTV Broadcasting..?" Mokuba raised an eyebrow, looking over at Katsuya. "Katsuya," he said, having gotten used to calling the teen by his first name rather quickly. "It's for you..."
He blinked. ZTV... Wait... No way! The boy grinned, jumping as he went over to take the envelope from Mokuba's shocked hands before opening it. "Yes... YES! This is GREAT!"
Mokuba shook his head, frowning as he watched. "Hey... Isn't ZTV that game show channel?" His friend appeared to ignore him, instead hopping around the room with shouts of excitement. "Katsuya, you... Do realize that those are normally scams right?" The teen appeared to ignore him, and he tapped his side. "Hey! I'm serious about this!"
Again, Katsuya ignored him. "Man... I'll finally be able tah pay off those debts!"
He rolled his eyes. "Katsuya, you don't have to pay off your Dad's gambling debts... We fixed that remember?"
Oh yea... Well, regardless of that. The blond shook his head. "I don't care! I'll feel bad if I jus' let you handle everything in my life!" Crossing his arms and taking a seat in the chair as he read over the details in the letter, he continued. "I mean... Ever since that one day with the 'reward' and stuff, you've pretty much snapped a leash around my neck and butted intah everything I do! I mean, no offense kid," he said as Mokuba scowled at the 'leash' comment. "But I can fix my own problems. Besides," he added. "If I win... I have a shot at visiting my sister again..." Oh yea, didn't she live in like... Osaka right now? Talk about getting as far away from their father as possible...
"Hnn..." Well, now that he thought about it, it wouldn't hurt now that he'd gotten in. "Alright... But seriously, when did you even send that thing?" That 'thing' which was coloured in various neon colours and quite frankly had the risk of possibly blinding people...
Katsuya blinked, before looking at the ceiling in thought. "Now that I think about it... I hadn' even met you an' Seto-chan at the time..." Weird. That was like... Three months and counting. Did it get lost in the mail maybe? As he pondered this and continued over the letter, he pointedly ignored Mokuba's exasperated cry of 'Don't call nee-sama that!'. "Hey," he said idly, as they sat there in silence. "You wanna watch?"
The boy's amused smirk was enough of a response for him.
School the next day was fairly interesting. Given that after being questioned on his wider-than-normal grin (Given his poor grades), he flashed the envelope for ZTV rather proudly. "Woah!" Yugi stared with wide eyes as they ate their lunch, blinking. "You're gonna be on TV Jonouchi-kun!" Katsuya grinned as he and the others sat at their desks, break having started a few minutes before.
Honda turned from where he was opening the bento his sister made for looking after his nephew, eyes wide. "Hang on, what? Seriously?"
He grinned. "Haha, yep! On the 'Get the Million Yen' show! If I can clear all the games," he continued, grin widening more and more with each word, "I win a million!" And then he was heading for Osaka... Like, right away.
The looks on the others faces clearly said what they thought of this, before Honda raised an eyebrow. "Wait, I thought you were over entering these things... Didn't Mokuba pay off your old man's debts to keep the loan sharks off your tail?"
The blond shrugged, crossing his arms. "Yea, but I don' like feelin' like I'm relying on 'm for this kind of thing... I know he's doing it 'cause he wants to, but still!" He grinned again, thinking of the contest. "Now that I'm in, not only can I return the favor, but I could probably visit my sister for the first time in years!"
"Hey," Honda said as he shook his head. "You haven't even won the money yet..." He appeared to realize just what Katsuya had said however, and turned back to the blond with wide eyes. "Wait, you have a sister!"
Katsuya smirked. "Yea yea... Either way, I'll definitely win!" He chose not to mention the fact that his letter had somehow been postponed three months, instead silently thanking whoever had pulled the application from the back. Whoever did it had to be a GOD... He was also ignoring Honda, really really obviously. "Anyways, you'll all be watchin' right?"
Yugi nodded. "Of course!" As the others joined in with a quick 'yea! definitely!', (And an added 'Seriously? A sister!') Katsuya sank back into his seat with the same grin on his face.
A million yen...
"Dude! You could at least tell me what she looks like!" No. No he 'couldn't'.
So stop asking.
Saturday had come really, really fast Katsuya decided. It was two weeks from before school cut out for the summer, but in the back area of the stage for the show, it felt more like a blizzard. "Hihhh... What's with the AC in this place..." Nervously, he poked his head around the wall as the announcer began the show, looking out at the crowd. Lesse... Yugi, Anzu, Honda (Who was still asking him about his sister damn it), Mokuba...
Oh hey! Mokuba made i- "Now," the announcer cried, snapping his attention back to the moment. "Here's tonight's challenger!" He walked out on the stage, willing the butterflies in his stomach to stop jumping around so he could focus on the events. "From Domino District," the announcer continued, "Our 16 year old guest, Jonouchi Katsuya-kun!" Haha! YEA!
The crowd cheered, and he quickly grinned. "Yug, Mokuba!" He waved at the four in the crowd, his friends eagerly waving back as the youngest of the group merely shook his head and grinned. As shouts of good luck came his way, Katsuya turned to follow where the announcer was now pointing.
"For the first challenge," he said, the blond quickly realizing he'd missed the summary of just how many challenges there were (It was supposed to be 3, right?), "The prize is one hundred thousand yen!" Katsuya watched as two rather sultry looking 'bunny girls' pulled out a large dart-board wheel. "The rules are simple," the announcer continued with a smile. "If you can hit the 'Hundred Thousand' area with a dart, you pass to the next stage!
He looked at the wheel, grinning; aside from a small sliver labeled 'lose', pretty much the entire board was labeled '100,000'. This would be simple! "Alright! Leave it to me!" Taking up the dart, he watched as the wheel began to spin at top speed before tossing it. "EASY!" There was a 'thunk' noise, and the teen paled. "H-Hihhh..." It was like... What, half a centimeter away from 'lose'? "That was... That was really close," he muttered under his breath. Like really really close. Shit.
The crowd in the meantime (Yugi and the others in particular he hoped) cheered, as the announcer smiled. "PASS," he shouted, as the same 'bunny-girls' wheeled the dart board out. "And now, the next game, for the prize of 500,000 yen!" As the back walls moved to the side to reveal a small wire maze filled with steps and ramps, the announcer continued. "Now, Jonouchi-kun has a choice to either leave with 100,000 yen, or take this next challenge! Here are the rules!"
As a rather idiotic looking helmet (It looked like... A plunger, in his opinion) was placed on his head, he listened to the announcer as he continued. "If, before the time limit runs out, Jonouchi-kun can reach the goal without hitting the wires on the helmet, he passes! However," he added, motioning for Katsuya to move forwards, "If he fails, and touches the sides, he'll be given a shock, and he'll lose not only the 500,000 yen prize, but also his current 100,000!" He turned, looking at Katsuya with the same, somewhat plastic wide smile he'd held the entire time. "So, what do you say?"
Katsuya nodded. "I'll do it!"
As Yugi and the others sat down, they did not expect for the seat beside them to be occupied by Katsuya's employer. "M-Mokuba-kun?" The boy merely grinned at the reactions, the teens taking seats as the show prepared to begin. "What are you doing here," Yugi continued, blinking.
He shrugged. "Well... I heard that Jonouchi," the boy said, keeping the relationship 'professional' as he spoke (They didn't need to know that he was like... The only person who called him by his first name.), "Was in a contest of some sorts on one of his work days... I figured if I was giving him the day off, I mind as well come to watch." That and he was just a little worried about the possible results.
The others blinked, before nodding. "That's pretty good of you kid," Honda said as he leaned forwards to see from the opposite end of their seats. "I'm... Actually kinda surprised..." In fact, Honda looked as though he was going to drop the subject he'd been holding with Yugi up to that point; namely about what Katsuya's sister likely looked like.
Anzu rolled her eyes. "Of course your surprised," she said with an annoyed stare. "You were surprised when you found out he kept the job too." Actually, so was she but... It was kind of Katsuya's decision. Not to mention, things were probably improving as a result. "I think the fact that he did that after what happened before is enough reason to give him a day off."
As the two began to bicker again, the topic of Katsuya's sister officially vanishing, Yugi groaned. Not again... Mokuba in the meantime, merely laughed, before elbowing the short teen beside him. "Ah," he said as he pointed to the front. "It's starting!"
So it was. Cheers filled the room as filming began, Mokuba wincing as Yugi and the others shouted particularly loud. Dear lord... His ears felt like they were in a furnace now... "Hnn..." Maybe he should have just watched this on TV... Looking at Katsuya as the teen waved after them however, he had to grin despite the earache he was getting. Ack, what the heck. It was probably better he was here.
Watching as the first task passed rather easily (which was expected, he mentally thought, given the fact that sour luck on a game show equated to bad ratings,) he watched as a timer for 3 minutes appeared on a screen above the stage. "Hn..." The three beside him fell silent as the rules of the second stage were explained, watching as a few seconds later the teen took off into the wire maze.
It was kinda weird actually, watching him run through it... The helmet on his head looked way too much like a plunger, or a joystick. Watching as the timer hit ten seconds, he cheered as Katsuya crossed the finish line with relative ease. "Hah! There's only one more challenge now!" His smile faded however, as he remembered the second point of game show ratings.
Fatal losses at the last possible moment. He swallowed, turning to glance at the others as a commercial break started. Most likely, this last one would be rigged... Mokuba watched as Yugi left for the washroom, before turning his attention back to the stage. Man... Maybe he really shouldn't have come... If Katsuya's work was just going to be crushed like that...
Time passed, and the announcer came back on stage as another wheel was brought on the stage from behind a wall. Mokuba frowned, looking at the others. "Hey, when's Yugi getting back..? Don't tell me he got lost..."
The other two blinked, before frowning. "Actually," Honda said before shrugging, "That probably happened.."
Greaaat... He turned as the announcer spoke, starting the show up again. Final challenge, 1,000,000 yen, and damn it Katsuya, even though you probably won't listen just take your 500,000 and go.
Of course, as the announcer pointed out the wheel (Which had a small enough chance of winning as it was), Katsuya cheerfully exclaimed 'I'll do it!' "Aughhh..."
"Go for it, Jonouchi," Anzu called out, Honda's shouts mirroring hers for the most part. "You can do it!"
He sighed. "Yea, provided it isn't rigged," he muttered under his breath. Which it likely was. The wheel began spinning, the announcer telling Katsuya to yell 'stop' when he thought it would land on the right part of the wheel. The blond stood there, silent for a fairly large amount of time, his arms crossed as he studied the wheel. Ordinarily this would be hard enough as it was... It was a 1:6 chance he'd win, so Katsuya would have to wait for the exact right moment for it to stop on '1,000,000'. But if there was additional 'help' involved...
Man, this ruined his entire day... There went asking Katsuya to play CapMon with him that evening. "STOP!" The blond's voice filled the room, the wheel slowing to a stop as Katsuya and Mokuba both shut their eyes. And then...
"It's..." The announcer's smile widened, eyes filled with both cheer and disbelief. "IT'S THE MILLION YEN!"
Mokuba opened his eyes, shaking his head in shock. What? He actually... The boy grinned, laughing. Only he could possibly take those odds and win with them... Really... As the crowd erupted into an applause, he had to laugh. Amazing. Only this guy could do that... Really..
'Somebody get him away from the cameras!' Mokuba frowned as shouts started, applause cutting off just as quick. 'Stop filming!' He blinked, both himself and all others in the room turning as what looked to be the company director began shouting at the camera. His eyes were wide and crazed in appearance, staring out into space as he shouted. 'Give me all your money! All of it! AHAHAHA!'
"What the..?" He raised an eyebrow, before Isono (Who was currently acting as legal guardian) tapped his shoulder. "Ah, Isono..."
He coughed. "I think it would be best to leave right now, Mokuba-sama." At least before the swarm to get out began.
As he took a glance at the incredulous and confused stares from the others around him, he nodded. "Y-Yea... That's probably a good idea."
Needless to say, several days later when the ZTV company went bankrupt, Katsuya could be seen slamming his head against the wall of Kaiba's hospital room multiple times. "Damn it!" Of all the things to happen! It'd take at least another year to earn Damn it damn it damn it!"
Mokuba rolled his eyes, arms crossed. "You know, from what Yugi said later Katsuya-n..." He paused, as though about to say something else before continuing. "From what he said Katsuya, the game was rigged as it was..."
He scowled, sitting at the chair. "Nyhhh... But if he hadn't 've done that weird penalty game thing..." What was that game supposed to do, seriously..?
"What, you would have gotten the money?" The boy snorted, turning back to look at Seto from his chair. "Please, companies have loads of ways to avoid actually dishing out the prize money. They could have easily called you out for some fake trick and gotten away with it... Yea, there are a few that Besides," he added with a frown, "Didn't the company that bought them out give you compensation?"
Katsuya blinked. "Compensation..?" Wait, that existed for people who weren't employed..?
The boy rolled his eyes. "Yea, compensation. They're supposed to pay you something since you went through all that trouble for nothing. Obviously not a million yen, but hey..." He grinned. "It'll probably be enough for a trip to Osaka, right?" Well... Barely enough, but it'd be something. At the suddenly cheery look on Katsuya's face, he laughed. Now that was more like the guy... He blinked however, when he spotted something in the teen's bag. "By the way... Is that a Monster Fighter?"
He blinked, before looking at the toy he'd brought in and grinning. "Heh, yep! Got it from Yug's game shop! It's pretty fun!" The blond grabbed his, the scaled monster he'd bought hanging from it rather precariously as he turned to Mokuba. "Hey, you have one?"
"Yea," he said, simply looking at Katsuya's blankly. "But I didn't think they were that popular at high school... I don't have mine here either..."
The blond shrugged, putting his back down. "Eh, probably better that way..." He grinned, chuckling as he leaned back on his chair. "You'd thump me neh, 'Vice President-san'?"
Mokuba scoffed, gaining a 'Kaiba' face before attempting to imitate his older sister's voice. "Hmp! Of course I would, I'm heading the biggest game company in the world!" The voice was of course, not at all a good impression in terms of tone, and highly exaggerated, so all the boy got in response was laughter. "Hey," he shouted, returning to his usual one. "Stop laughing, I spent all night practicing that!"
"Ahaha! What ever you do Mokuba," he said between breaths, "Make sure that's the first thing Seto-chan hears when she wakes up, alrigh? I wanna see her face... Gahaha!"
"Oi! Stop calling my sister 'chan'!"
The rest of the evening passed as it usually did after that, Katsuya later (as expected) being sorely beaten in a game of Monster Fighter with Mokuba. Personally, Katsuya didn't know what was worse; being beaten by an eleven year old, or being beaten by a monster that looked like a tiny little griffin.
It was now the last week of school before summer came, and things had gotten really tense, really fast. For one, Monster Fighter had taken off quicker than fire and oil. So fast in fact, that essentially every store in not only Domino, but all nearby districts even, were out of stock for anything related to the game. Yugi's game-store had of course gained an incredible amount of profit as a result, but one could tell he was getting tired of telling people that the store was still out of stock. (That or just nervous.)
As it was, having gotten one early on, Katsuya was thankfully able to simply spend his time trying to get used to the thing. For the moment, school had finished- Yugi had gone upstairs to the roof, to play against some other kid from out of the school. Katsuya wasn't sure who exactly this Kouji guy was... But if the classmates reaction to him was anything, he had an awfully bad feeling about it.
Of course, it was shortly after Honda cleared up who he was for him that Yugi came through the door resembling a kicked puppy. 'Monster Fighter Hunter'. That was what Kouji Nagumo was, and what it essentially meant was that he stole other kid's sets to sell on their own. Including, as fate would have, Yugi's.
And Yugi had, in the end, borrowed his own Monster Fighter to let his 'other' self face him. However that worked. He didn't really get how they switched... Nonetheless, Mokuba's amused expression when he showed up (as usual) at the Hospital without his Monster Fighter, it took a bit of self control to not just shake the living crap out of him.
Hell, with luck, that probably would have woken up Seto... Maybe. Or not.
"Sheesh, it's not like I expected for Yugi to end up losing the first time!" He grumbled from his chair, before shrugging. "On the bright side, with the other Yugi's record, I'll probably have it back tomorrow..." Honestly, by this point, Yugi's 'penalty games' were just normal.
Mokuba laughed, shaking his head. "Either way- It figures that the one day I remember mine, you end up coming without yours!"
He rolled his eyes. "Yea yea, rub it in twerp..." Idly, Katsuya looked over to Kaiba, frowning. "Hey, Mokuba... Whadya think your sister would think of all this Monster Fighter buisness?"
For a moment, he looked at the ceiling in thought. "Well... Monster Fighter technologies aren't licensed by KaibaCorp... Actually it's one of the few really popular 'high tech' games that aren't..." He shrugged, smirking. "Anyways, given that fact, it'd probably be something like 'Hmp! This is just a phase... Duel Monsters will always be the better game!' I think." He sighed, shrugging again. "It really sucks actually... Though I2's cards are really getting popular, CapMon is just not popular anymore..."
"I2? That's..." He frowned, trying to remember what that company was; it was kinda sad that he knew the names and info behind gaming companies, but completely fell short when it came to actual school work. "Industrial Illusions right?"
He nodded. "Yep; KaibaCorp is more a tech building company. The cards themselves come from I2." The boy then shook his head, laughing. "If Duel Monsters takes off as much as I think it will though, the company will end up focusing on the game completely, haha!" Provided KaibaCorp wasn't completely hijacked by Pegasus at that point, he added mentally. The man had been hounding him enough as it was, if things didn't let up soon... Hell, regardless of the issues they had with the 'Big Five'.
Katsuya snorted, shaking his head as well. "An entire company based on holograms for Duel Monsters... That's pretty obsessive..." He rolled his eyes from where he was slumped on his chair. "Knowing her that's exactly what's gonna happen... Auuuugh..." He grinned, laughing. "Watch, the entire world will be built around card games or something crazy like that!"
"Hahaha! I doubt it's that bad!" Mokuba smiled sadly, turning his head to watch the steady 'in out' breathing of his comatose sister. "But yea... Who knows, it might happen... When she wakes up anyways..." It'd been long enough already... Doctors were saying that if this kept up, she'd never wake up. As Katsuya turned away awkwardly, Mokuba bit his lip. He hadn't said it but... The fact was, he and Isono had lost control of the company. The top five members of the Board of Directors ousted him easily, and while he still held his position as 'VP'... They were losing power fast. "...Katsuya-nii," he finally said, the blond blinking at the honorific attached. Mokuba slowly looked back at him, before finally forcing the words out. "...When will she wake up, you think?"
"I..." The teen froze, before turning his eyes to the floor. The room quickly fell silent after that. After all... Just what did you say in that situation?
What did you say when your best friend was the one that did it?
"I don't know..."
The puzzle was a complex series of interlocking pieces. Each one meshed together just right, and you could never force a set into the other. Sometimes, it took hours to find the ones that interlocked properly. Other times, mere seconds. Right now, Seto decided, she was half way through this puzzle... And it showed no signs of holding a steady building pace.
Even half way through however, one couldn't see what a puzzle would look like in the end. Seto held her puzzle, resembling little more than a mess of pieces built around each other with a look of confusion, still more pieces surrounding it. "...Hnp," she said with a frown, idly spinning the puzzle as she worked.
Right now, all of the things she knew from this puzzle were a jumbled mess. Lots of things, things she didn't care about that somehow made her feel for them anyways were in this puzzle. And, the girl thought with a scowl, something told her that until it was complete, she wouldn't know exactly what any of those things meant.
She knew a few things. But not enough. She knew the boy's name was Mokuba, and that they were very close. She did not, however, know why, and it was something that was annoying her to no end. She knew that 'Mutt' also had a name, 'Jonouchi Katsuya', but she also knew that calling him Mutt would be much more amusing.
And she knew, from the beginning, that the Mutt would be receiving a crotch shot as soon as she found him in person, because she really, really, didn't like being called 'Seto-chan'. At all.
Seto also knew that she liked games. Chess was her favorite at one point, but she felt closer to cards now. Three in particular, a trio of blue eyed white dragons... She didn't know why though. She just... Did. They were powerful, majestic creatures though, from what she could tell. Beautiful, and pure...
So many things from this puzzle that had yet to really stick. Little things, tiny things; for example, she didn't like snow much, but then she hated summer as well, possibly more so. It was hot and muggy, and there was a third reason but she couldn't recall that one either. Spring was her favorite- the reason was a secret, and unknown even to her. Fall was nice too, an in-between season... Winter came with oden at one point, a dish she knew she disliked considerably, but also hadn't had for a long time she felt. Not like beef fillet... (Which she could recall liking considerably.)
She knew... Lots of things. Good things, things that made her smile... Things like her cards, silence... And also bad things, terrible things that she could remember doing if she could just recall to whom and why! She felt sick... Nauseated by those things she did...
The girl moved the puzzle in her hands, looking for a happier memory overcome her. It was an odd memory. Not the one she wanted to see, she thought with a frown. It was one of the Mutt... He was on a bed, unconscious. Not hearing him speak was strange, almost frightening... All she'd done in that memory was stare at him blankly, with some underlying feeling of rage. And she didn't know why.
'When do you think she'll wake up?' Seto blinked, looking up into the empty darkness around her. She felt as if it'd thinned out somewhat lately... Like instead of being at the bottom of a hole, she was somewhere in the middle of it. She couldn't be too sure though.
There was a silence after Mokuba spoke, and for some reason, it tore at her heart when she heard him say that. What hurt even more though, was when the Mutt answered. 'I don't know.' Wake up... They were talking about her. She knew that much. It was always 'her' that they were talking about after all. After the Mutt answered Mokuba, things got quiet again. It wasn't right, she thought, the Mutt wasn't supposed to be quiet. He was supposed to yap-yap-yap, and occasionally bark and growl like the dog he was.
Numbly, she grabbed another piece of the puzzle. It felt warm in her hands, like the ones that took place in either long past times or recent days. At least, she thought as she put the rest of the puzzle down the examine the piece, she thought it was like that.
This was a school memory. She didn't understand most of those... Though she never heard any names, or recognized too many faces, there seemed to be a constant theme to these ones. Namely the 'wrong' feeling. The feeling that something wasn't right, that she wasn't in the right place. Or maybe she just disliked school all together; it certainly seemed pointless enough.
Gym class, the memory told her. Volleyball. The Mutt was sitting at the side. He had a broken arm... She felt like she should know why, but she didn't. "...Stop looking at me," she found herself saying out loud, following the memory of playing volleyball. "...Stop it, right now."
And yet, instead of stopping, she stared back for a few seconds. 'Mutt' as well stared back, before hurriedly turning back to his papers with a look of partial fear and confusion. And then the moment was gone. Seto held the piece in her hands, looking back at the the puzzle before picking it up and putting it in. It locked in beside the last piece she'd touched before, the one of the Mutt on the bed.
Looking at the puzzle in silence, she frowned. "Who are you..." There was of course no answer, but in this place, she couldn't help but voice some of her thoughts. "...Why do I care that you exist?" It was a blunt question, and probably not one she would normally ask out loud.
However, Seto thought to herself, it was also a rather good one for the moment.
AN: Duel monsters deciding the fate of the world? IMPOSSIBLE. *shot in the face by both GX and 5D's* - Seriously, screw immense magic powers, GX effectively said that the entire balance of the UNIVERSE sits on these things. OHHH LAWD. THAT AIN'T GOOD. Ooooohh it's so fun to just lampshade future anime arcs here...
We just skipped over two manga games! You know why? Cause Jonouchi had like... Nothing to do with the second one. (Seriously he shows up at the beginning in the one, then again in a two page conversation on Kouji... During which Yugi comes in all growly saying 'I need to ask a favor...' - If you thought this kid was all innocent, THINK AGAIN. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree neh? (Regardless of the fact that the only 'relation' is resemblance.)
The questions from before are still open to those who want to answer! (It's not required...) Number one asks if there's a 'voice' you see specifically for Kaiba (The fanfic one)... Number two is if there's a scene missing so far that you want typed out.
Anonymous Review Responses
Again from Iona! I have to agree; Seto is probably one of the most extreme cases of sore-loser I have ever seen. And the only reason why he isn't is because I read murder mystery manga's half the time... (Which means that those sore losers succeeded.) Such a prick... It's a good thing he gets better...
And oh my- You answered the questions.. *w* You didn't even have to but you did... *w* Thanks for saying even what you said; regardless of not having any preferences or ideas on those questions, your reviews are always appreciated! (All reviews are really..)
And another review from Iona! (Because I got it RIGHT as I finished typing this AN. xD) Ahhh... So nice when people get what's coming... And YEP. Estrogen. I think I like it even more when the others show their own reaction to the joke... Ahhhh... 'Ignorance is bliss' neh? -bricked-
Ohhh I had LOTS of fun doing SuperBitch!Kaiba. Lots and LOTS of fun, I can tell you that. I don't know if that makes me a closet bitch myself or not though... Hurhmmm..
Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner
The section so incredible, that for some reason there's more to type in an original chapter than a fully manga-stolen one! ...Wait what?
The 'timeline' for the manga is fairly loose, given that no real dates are specified; however, using uniform changes as well as general outfit usage, I was able to figure one out. Given the change from long sleeves to short, as well as exam results, I was able to place them fairly late in the first half of the year (Japan's school year starts in April.)- In fact, right after the Monster Fighter chapters, we get Yugi and Anzu's 'date', which quite clearly happens during the summer. (As it was, temperature changes happened because of an earlier fluke I made when writing the chapter involving Jonouchi's trek to the library; originally, he did this in June. Had I left it like that however, there wouldn't have been time for anything that happened afterward. WHOOPS!)
The original inspiration for Jonouchi entering into the 'Get the Million Game' was as he said; to pay off his father's debts. This obviously went out the window after being pulled into Kaiba's house... But all the same, I didn't want to just scrap a good chapter from the manga like that. In the manga, Jonouchi's entry was accepted specifically because of his background- in fact, when he appears on screen, the Director has a caption added, which specifically states that he's there to pay off his drunk father's bills. As Mokuba decided to keep the specifics on Jonouchi's living spaces at his house quiet, this would have been changed to something more along the lines of needing money to pay rent due to his father being in jail. Which is both better or worse depending on how you look at things. (In the end, the real inspiration for continuing through is to see Jonouchi's sister. Which brings us too...)
Shizuka, or 'Serenity' as she called in the dub, doesn't really have a specific living place in the manga or the anime; though Jonouchi states that she lives far away, she's later in a hospital that's... Fairly close to Domino, given the relative ease Honda and Otogi (Duke Devlin) have in getting there. For the sake of distance, I ended up assuming; which means that the reason for Shizuka and her mother being in Domino during the Battle City arc is now 'surgery occurred in Tokyo', similar to how people are often transferred across the country to a different hospital if that hospital specifies in that particular practice of medicine. As it is, Jonouchi would need 200 dollars, or around 20,000 Yen to get an economy class, four hour train ride to and from Osaka.
Seto's 'likes and dislikes' are more than just ramble! In a guidebook on the characters, Kaiba's favorite and least favorite foods are given respectively; his favorite is 'beef fillet', more commonly known as beef tenderloin... Essentially steak. In a country with as little land as Japan, steak is a very big deal! Due to the amount of space they have for cattle, the price for beef tends to skyrocket... It costs hundreds for a closed-palm size amount of steak... Seto's least favorite food on the other hand is Oden, a dish commonly cooked up during the winter time in Japan. You could compare it to Sukiyaki. But you shouldn't. To be specific, Oden is a boiled dish of eggs, konjac, radish, and fish cakes... But there are many many many other things that go into it. So really, Kaiba saying he doesn't like Oden is like saying he doesn't like boiled eggs, fish and vegetables... And also like saying he just has expensive tastes and prefers 'western' food.
Ironically enough, on another note, when Mokuba says 'My favorite' in regards to the chocolate parfait from 'Russian Roulette Dinner', he's not lying; it really is his favorite food... His least favorite is just as childish; celery. Jonouchi, on the other hand, doesn't really have a 'least favorite', and his favorites are a tie between steak with shrimp (Where did he get the steak? Probably Battle City, if the foods available to the competitors on the blimp were any sign. Though in this fanfic...), and the oh-so-simple curry rice.
Speaking of Jonouchi- many have likely noticed that while I'm sticking to Japanese names and terms, Jonouchi is still using the dub 'accent' of Brooklyn. This is to further emphasize his speech pattern from the anime, which is generally an informal, rude if not borderline insulting form of speech.