Lucky Fourteen

Snow had officially 'stopped' falling in Tokyo by the time February had come around. Rather than the occasional snowfall, the weather was now predominantly either a light rain or a frigid breeze, as it had been since late January to say the least. Perhaps both at the same time even... Though that resulted in a rather painful and unwanted bout of freezing rain, much to the displeasure of anyone caught outside. Personally, Katsuya missed the times when a few degrees below zero was rare... But he supposed it would only last until late March really.

Thankfully however, that was not what they had that day, making it a fairly good way to start the second week of February to say the least. Well... Mostly. School was school after all and damn it their English teacher was a bitch... "So," Honda was saying with a 'sigh' as they left the school building, heading toward Yugi's house now that clean-up was over and done with. English class was not the reason why they were less than 'cheery' this time around to say the least... Not by a long shot. "...Valentines day."

Yeaaaaa... The boys shared looks before gaining seemingly identical looks of depression, sighing rather loudly as they made for the school gates. "Ahhhhh don't r'mind me," Katsuya said with a groan, before Bakura came up from behind.

"Ah..." The blond looked back, blinking as their friend stared. "...What are you all upset about," he asked somewhat nervously, frowning.

The others turned, Katsuya giving a small shrug before answering. "Eh... T'morrow's valentines day," he said with a slight wince, stretching. "An' given what happened at middle school las' year..." Terrible terrible incident terrible...

Honda groaned, face-palming as Yugi and Bakura both raised their eyebrows. "Oh god," he groaned, the others continuing to stare confusedly. "Don't remind me," he said with a sigh, shaking his head.

There was a small span of silence, Bakura and Yugi both trading looks before the latter decided to ask. "Ah... What exactly happened Honda-kun..?"

Katsuya looked over at Honda for a moment, both of them swallowing as they turned back. Friends or not... It was a thing that would never be spoken of again. Ever. "Er... 'D rather not go there..." It involved lots of chocolate that they didn't get... And... Them trying to get it anyways. And... A lot of girls... Not enjoying that... Ehhh... Didn't end well, that was all he needed to remember really.

The other two blinked, nonetheless shrugging it off as they continued to walk toward the game shop. What was left unsaid was... Probably better left unsaid to say the least. The only question was...

How to change this topic with Valentines just a day away... "Ah... So," the blond began, "Yugi," Katsuya asked, hands in his pockets as they continued walking. "Are there any new cards at the shop?" He could probably get a new booster pack... Maybe actually go through his deck like everyone was recommending...

The boy blinked, before shaking his head. "Nope... Nothing new," he said as they walked, the gameshop now in sight along side a mostly tarp-covered building. "Though Grandpa's getting worried about that store across from us..." Eh? The others looked at him after glancing at the building in question, Yugi scratching his head. "It's starting to look like a department store... We might have a bigger selection of some games," he said with a cough, "But most of the profits come because people don't want to go out of the district for cards..." The boy sighed, shaking his head. "It's starting to get a bit tense actually..."

Hoh... The others nodded in silence at that, quite easily catching what their friend was getting at. If Sugoroku got somewhat pouty when they went to a department store on the otherside of down on a rumor of new cards... Hihhhh... The four moved inside the store, Yugi's grandfather looking up from the counter with a blink. He had to say... For a guy who probably went through two heart attacks and one full on coma, he wasn't doing too badly. "Oh... Welcome back," he said with a smile, Yugi nodding in response. "And it's good to see you boys as well... Anzu isn't here," the man continued, grandson shaking his head.

"She said she was staying after school to help put something together for the Home ec. class..."

Sugoroku nodded, looking back at his paper. "Ah, I see... Well then," he said with a small smile, "You boys look around then..."

The others nodded in response, ignoring the somewhat odd tone Sugoroku had suddenly taken before turning as the door opened again. "Aha," a familiar voice said, the four jumping somewhat as Mai walked in. Sugoroku looked around the four, eyes growing wide as the woman walked over with a bag in her hands. "I thought I'd find you all here," she muttered, pulling a bit of hair back.

"Ah... M-Mai," Yugi said, looking up at the woman as the door shut behind her. "What are you doing here..?"

The woman shrugged, pulling out a few boxes from the bag in her hands. "Oh... Just passing through," she said somewhat dismissively. "I was invited to a small private tournament on a cruise leaving from just out of the city," she continued with a wink and a grin, "Adults only~! If I'm lucky," the woman said with a fair bit of cheer, "I'll be able to have a bit of a vacation here!"

The others blinked, before jumping slightly as she handed them each a small box. "Ah... Mai-san," Bakura asked somewhat nervously, looking over the palm-sized package with a frown, "What is-"

She smirked, hand on her hip as she gripped the bag tight. "Well, I won't be here tomorrow," the woman began, "But I didn't think it would be too early to give you boys a bit of chocolate..."

Sugoroku leaned around the counter, staring still as the others looked over the boxes. They were all getting chocolate..? "Er... Yea but..." He coughed, looking over the box and frowning. "Why're y' givin' us chocolate anyways..?" That was reserved for couples... And... Compensation... ...Wait, was this compensation chocolate! ...Though, it could also be 'tomo-choco'... Too much chocolate damn it...

Apparently this was the wrong thing to ask though, as the woman instantly huffed and went somewhat red in apparent anger. "Hn! It was originally going to be for my boyfriend," she grumbled, Honda appearing to deflate somewhat behind them at the mention of any relationship at all. "Until I came in on him with some Chinese woman..." Errr... The others swallowed, watching as Mai continued to grumble in front of them. That was awkward... Uh... She shook her head, sighing as she crossed her arms. "I dumped him on the spot, but he just won't leave me alone... If I see him in front of my house again," she growled, appearing to be speaking to no one in particular by that point, "I swear it, he'll find out just how much he needs his 'team'..."

Kay... Maybe they should drop the topic... "Ah... You said you were going on a cruise Mai," Yugi asked curiously, the woman looking down before nodding.

"That's right," she said somewhat calmly, "The ship leaves around five." She rolled up the small bag she'd been carrying, continuing on. "It's a small competition, but because of the high stakes the profit will be incredible," she said with a smile, the thought quickly lifting her spirits again. She moved toward the door, the boys following behind somewhat as she gave a wink. "If I win," she called out as she went back outside, "I should invite you over to my house for a celebration... Maybe give you boys a taste of wine~"

The boys went fairly red, coughing a little awkwardly as Mai shook her head and laughed. They watched her walk over to a car on the side, the silence quickly broken as they looked over it. "Woah," Honda said rather loudly, shaking his head as the woman pulled out her keys and unlocked the clearly expensive (not to mention red) convertible. "That's your car?"

Again the woman chuckled, shaking her head as she stepped in. "What, you thought I walked? In this weather?" The boys exchanged odd looks again, and the engine started with a roar. Damn that was a nice car... "I'll see you all later," she said with a wave as she pulled off into the street, winking yet again. "Ja-ne!~"

The car took off with a roar, quickly vanishing down the street as the others watched it go. ...Wowwww... Um... Katsuya coughed as they went back inside, looking at the chocolate nervously. When he thought about it... "Er... If this w's s'pposed t' be for her boyfriend b'fore he cheated on her," he began, swallowing as he looked it over, "What kind 'f chocolate is it..?"

Their eyes quickly widened, all four looking back at the chocolate. Now that they thought about it, if that kind of mood went into it... Suddenly... It didn't look very appetizing... "Erm... I think I'll leave now," Bakura finally said nervously, stowing the chocolate in his bag with a cough. "I'll see you all tomorrow," he added, before walking out the door.

"Ah, bye Bakura-kun," Yugi called after the teen, the door closing with a small 'ding' from the bell up top.

There was a short span of silence as they looked at the door, Honda eventually breaking it with something that was likely on both his and Katsuya's mind at the moment. "...He's going to get swamped tomorrow..."

"Damn right..."

"So... Katsuya-nii..." Supper at 'home' (almost a year and that still sounded weird), as usual, was a semi-awkward, semi-happy, semi... Awkward... meal. Mokuba and Katsuya would hold a conversation of sorts, generally centered on what was going on in life, and maybe if they were lucky Seto would say... Something. Though normally it would be to insult him... He'd gotten used to that really. Katsuya turned, mouth somewhat full as the boy continued with his question. "I was just wondering... The kids at my school are getting pretty excited for Valentines Day..." Yea, that was kinda expected.. "And... I don't really know what's going on..." Wait what?

He didn't- Katsuya blinked, swallowing as he frowned. How the hell did he not- Right... Mokuba and Seto both started school with the school year, since this was Mokuba's first year so to speak... And something told him Valentines would otherwise have no purpose if there was no school... He opened his mouth to answer the boy, only for Seto's usual 'annoyed' tone to come from across them on the table. "It's a stupid day for love-sick women to fool men into a date using their stomachs," she muttered rather nonchalantly, looking over a few papers as she ate. Briefly, she looked up from the papers to Mokuba, the frigid tone somewhat calmed down for his sake. "It shouldn't concern you," she continued, returning to her food.

A 'stupid day' huh... Well, wonder why that would be... Katsuya smirked, laughing somewhat. "Hehehe... That outlook come from th' workplace," he asked, Seto in question looking up with a blank stare. "I bet yer desk gets swamped durin' this time 'f year..."

The woman glared, leaning back on her chair somewhat as she crossed her arms. "If you're done Mutt," she growled, nodding her head toward the blond's food, "You can leave the table and drop that subject..." Sore topic eh? Hehehehe...

Well, his plate was empty... The blond continued to grin, laughing quietly as he moved from his chair to leave. Mokuba in the meantime looked back at his friend, before turning to his sister with a similar grin on his face. "Hey, Nee-sama," the boy asked 'innocently, Katsuya turning back from where he was heading for the door. Mokuba had hopped out of his seat as well, now pushing his chair into the table and continuing with a somewhat conniving grin. "Are you going to be giving anyone chocolate this year then~?"

Ooooooh... That got a response. "I said drop the subject," the woman bit out, standing from her seat as both of the boys fled the room. "Don't mention it again!"

"Ahahah!" They charged through the door, Katsuya leaving the moment the question had been asked as Mokuba laughed behind him. "Just asking nee-sama~" The laughter continued as they ran down the hall, looking back with a grin before shaking their heads.

"Ahhhh... Oh man..." He attempted to calm his laughter, shaking somewhat as he sighed. "I'm so screwed now, but th' look on her face..."

Mokuba continued to laugh, before sighing. "Hahhh... At least now I know why there was always a box of chocolate in the garbage around this time of year..."

The blond raised his eyebrows, snorting. "Wait, y' mean I was right?"

"Hehehehe..." The boy nodded, a large grin on his face. "Yep!"

Haha! Damn... Remind him to avoid talking to Seto the next day then. "Well... In any case... Don' worry about t'morrow alright," he said with a grin, Mokuba looking back up with raised eyebrows. "I mean... I don' think that it's really th' same thing in elementary..."

The boy stared, before nodding. "Right!" He paused, before an odd look came on his face and he stared off. "I wonder what kind of chocolate I'll get..."

And there went the point of 'not worrying'...

The next morning had come a little too quickly for his liking really- mostly though, that was because he was still not done his homework but... Really, when was he ever. Even so, not having homework was one thing. Not having the English homework... That was another thing entirely. Especially since he was pretty sure that sometimes when the teacher's face did that weird puzzle thing, not too many other people noticed. All things aside though, getting into the classroom was... Interesting. To say the least. "O-OI!" Katsuya scowled, trying to push through the swarm of girls around Bakura's desk to get to his own. Damn it, they didn't have to stand on both sides..! "Move!"

One of them turned, snorting as the blond continued to push against them. "Psh! Just calm down, 'Jonouchi'," she said with a frown, crossing her arms. "We're trying to give Bakura-kun these chocolates~ Just let us do that and leave us alone..."

"Yea, well d'yah mind letting me sit down," he snarled, glaring at the group as a number of them turned on him.

The girls rolled their eyes, before moving to the side to clear a path to the chair and allow the blond to sit down. "There," one said with a somewhat annoyed drawl, crossing her arms. "Happy?"

As a matter of fact... Yes. As Bakura in the meantime laughed somewhat awkwardly ('Erm... T-Thanks for the chocolate...'), the blond nodded and took his seat, bag dropped to the side. "Yeep!" At that moment Honda came in, squeezing his way through to the other side of the blond's desk and looking at the small crowd preventing anyone from talking to the albino sitting there.

"Wow," he said after a moment, shaking his head as he squeezed past to lean against one of the desks. "I know I said swamped but..."

Katsuya nodded, shaking his head. "Yea," he muttered, scratching his head. "This goes waaaaaay beyond what I 'xpected..." God damn it, if this was just their class, what would happen when that 'school wide fanclub' the girls had started up struck home?

"Erm... Excuse me, Honda-kun..." The teens turned, blinking as a young girl with ribbon tied hair bowed her head somewhat. Eh..? Miho..? "Could you please move," she asked quietly, gaze occasionally shifting off to the side. "I was hoping to give this to Bakura-kun..."

There was a small, awkward bout of silence before the teen nodded, moving to the side with a slow nod. "Yea," he said quietly, again bowing his head. "Yea... Sure... Miho-chan..." He watched as the girl moved through the crowd, before sighing and taking a seat at his desk as the girls continued to swarm Bakura's own. "Man..."

Katsuya bit his lip, giving his friend a somewhat sympathetic look as he glanced back at the crowd. "Er... Bad luck there Honda..."

"Yea," he said, rubbing his head as the classroom filled and cleared somewhat as the start of class came closer. "No shit..."

"Erm..." They turned again, Bakura coughing somewhat as the crowd at his desk cleared up with the bell. "Honda-kun," he said somewhat nervously, holding out the same box Miho had given him. It was small, tied tightly shut with a ribbon... Much like a number of other boxes on his desk. "If you like, I could give you-"

The teen shook his head, moving from his desk and walking out the door as a confused Anzu and Yugi walked in. "I'm fine," he muttered, disappearing as Bakura nervously began clearing off his desk.

Anzu and Yugi in the meantime shared a look, before turning back to the others as they both walked in. "Ah... Did we miss something," the taller of the two asked, Katsuya scratching his head.

"Well," the blond said with a shrug, "That's one way t' put it..."

As for where Honda went for the morning... They found him on the roof at lunch, shortly after questioning the school nurse on things. He'd been there for most of the morning according to her... Apparently he'd had a headache..? ...Yea he could see how that excuse would still apply. (At least it meant his sister wouldn't ream him out for skipping class...)

Yugi and Katsuya took a seat beside the teen, keeping silent for a short bit as they looked up at the sky. It wasn't too bad outside actually... Getting a little warmer, no more frost in the morning... "...Gym class is next," Yugi said eventually, the boys already knowing what was wrong and just how much they could really 'do' about it. He turned to the side, leaning forward slightly as his friend gave no response. "...Are you going to come back inside Honda-kun..?"

The teen shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know," he muttered, rubbing his head with a slight groan. "Probably," he added as an after thought, before leaning forward on his arms. A small breeze passed, the three continuing to stare out at the horizon. "...You guys end up getting anything," he said after a few moments of silence, still staring past the fence.

They shook their heads, Katsuya smirking somewhat wryly. "Nah... What," he said with a laugh, "You think we'd do any better than you?" The blond leaned back against the wall, stretching somewhat. "Hah... Nah, I think th' box we all got from Mai is about as good as we'll get..." Though he had to say, that chocolate had been pretty good...

"Hn..." Honda nodded, before appearing to brighten somewhat as he looked at the sky. "Hey," he said with a smirk, turning to the blond beside him. "Do you think your sister will give anyone chocolate?"

Katsuya instantly tensed, gritting his teeth. "Definitely NOT," he growled, glaring at his friend.

The teen grinned, laughing as he edged away from the blond. "Hey," he said with a grin, "I'm just joking around man, calm down..!"

Calm down? Like hell! "That's my sister you're talking about!"

"Well... What can I say," Honda said with a shrug, "She's hot!"

"HONDAAAAAA..."

"...Haaaaah..."

Eh? The boys turned as Yugi sighed, watching as he fingered his puzzle for a few moments. Around the same moment the boy seemed to space out, before staring forward in silence and leaning his head on his hands. For a brief moment, Katsuya almost thought he saw something... A shadow maybe... 'Flickering' beside him but... The blond shook it off, pushing it to the back of his mind. That couldn't be right... A small bit of silence hung over the air, Honda and Katsuya both sharing a glance before leaning back against the stairwell wall again. Now that he thought about it, while it was one thing to be raring for any chocolate, Yugi was probably just waiting for-

"Ah!" The three turned as a shout came from around the wall, before watching as Anzu stepped out from the stairway with a grin. "Yugi!" They stared, the woman walking over in her gym uniform and shaking her head somewhat. "I've been looking all over for you," she continued, walking over and holding out a pair of boxes. "Here; happy Valentines day neh?" Yugi blinked, eyes somewhat wide as he went red in response to the 'offer'. "One of these is for the 'other you' alright," she said with a smile, the boy before her nervously taking the boxes with a slow nod. "I don't think he would get anything otherwise," she added with a small laugh, shaking her head. Again Yugi nodded somewhat, still rather red as the woman stood up again. Obligatory, compensation chocolates or not... It was still chocolate. From the boy's crush. "Well," Anzu muttered, bowing her head somewhat as she looked at the three. "I'm going to go get ready for gym... I'll see you in English," she continued, heading for the stairs.

The three stared, Yugi looking back at his chocolate while Honda frowned. "O-Oi," he muttered, turning back from the stairs. "And I don't get any 'giri-chocolate'," he asked with a sigh, looking back at Yugi as the boy in question shrugged as well.

"Heh," Katsuya said with a smirk, crossing his arms. "You ain't th' only one," he continued with a laugh, "After all, I didn't get anything either! It's just like every other year right?"

Honda shook his head, lightly punching the blond's shoulder. "Well yea," he said with a shrug, "But you're dating someone," he continued, "You'll probably get a box after school... From whoever this person is..."

The blond tensed, gritting his teeth and quickly reeling on the teen with a snarl. "I told yah, I ain't datin' anyone!"

His friend merely laughed as the bell above them rang, signaling the ten-minute wait period they would have to change for gym. "Whatever you say," he said with a grin, Yugi pulling himself up and sighing as the two argued. He moved past them to head down the stairs, shaking his head as the others followed behind.

Damn it he wasn't dating anyone! "I'm tellin' th' truth!" He thought so at least. Even so, Honda was merely shaking his head.

"A-huh..."

It was really expected that the judo class the boys took mere moments later ended a little badly for Honda after that... Though in the end, both himself and Katsuya were in a just as well off state to tell the truth.

After all was said and done, it was probably that conversation from the school roof that made him decide to give his sister a phone call after that. Not that he was paranoid about what Honda had said or anything, but... To tell the truth, he hadn't called her since December, before the surgery... After she went through, he'd spoken to his Mom a few times when she called to see how things were doing on his end, but even so, the answer was always the same when he asked; 'She's still resting in the hospital... I'm sorry Katsuya.'

She was supposed to go home around now though right? Hell, they couldn't keep her in the hospital forever! Katsuya leaned against the 'breakfast room' counter, staring at the phone with that thought in mind. Besides the fact that he'd long since given up on asking why the house had what could effectively be considered a 'second dining room'... It was as good a place as ever to make the call really. "Hn..." He had time... Katsuya looked over at the clock, before looking back. He had to take a shift for someone today but... Yea... He had to have time! The blond grabbed the phone, punching in a few keys before leaning back on the stool he was on. He'd just have to keep track of it was all. 'bzzzz'... 'bzzzzzz'. Come on... Pick up...

There was a 'click' sound on the other end, before a somewhat phone-garbled voice came over. "Moshi-moshi?" Ah... Ah!

Katsuya grinned, instantly sitting up on his seat as he recognized the voice. "S-Shizuka," he shouted with a laugh. "You're back!"

The girl on the other end jumped somewhat, a slight yelp coming over the end before the girl responded. "Ah... Katsuya-nihan," she shouted, before shaking off the surprise and continuing. "It's good to hear from you," she said cheerfully, "How are you doing?"

He continued smiling, again leaning back against the counter and nodding his head. "Pretty good... School sucks, nothin' else new really..." Besides all that was true... Like hell he'd be ruining his sister's good mood with talk of the VR chaos that happened a few weeks ago. Ooooooh yea... "What about you," he continued, staring off past the window at the side. Damn, it was already getting dark out there... "Did the surgery work," he asked almost hesitantly, suddenly pulling his gaze from the window as he waited for the answer. "Can... Can y' see now..?"

"Erm... Actually," she said, the blond tensing at the words. Oh no, oh no no no no- Just as quickly as he panicked however, he gave a relieved sigh, the rest of Shizuka's answer coming through. "I'm not supposed to remove the bandages for another month," she said somewhat nervously, laughing lightly as her brother calmed down. "Eyes take quite a while to heal nihan, and the surgery was risky enough as it was..." Oh... Right... That was a good point... Ahahaha... Um... "Oh... How was your birthday by the way?"

His... His birthday? ER... Besides the fact that it was the weirdest and scariest damn thing since the 'Shadi' incident? ...Honestly, it was like someone had taken that night, and the Monster World Night and... Smushed them into one thing... He coughed somewhat, shaking his head. "Er... It was good," he managed to force out, otherwise hiding his discomfort. "'S good as any other time..." Except... Not really...

There was a slight pause on the other end, his sister likely nodding in response. "Ah, I see... Well," she continued, "What about your job then," she asked, Katsuya silently thanking his luck for the change in subject. "You still work on security for Mokuba-kun's family right?"

He nodded despite the gesture being unseen, smiling again. "Yep! It's goin' pretty good really... Workin' friday nights an' saturday... An' sunday morning too... Takin' th' late shift f'r someone t'day though," he added, scratching his head as he stared off at the wall. "Heh... Probably gonna feel like hell in th' morning, but what ever! 'Nuff about me," the blond said with a stretch, looking at the phone for a moment before continuing. "How're you doin'? I know y' can't take off th' bandages but... There has t' be somethin' you can do while y' wait right?"

"Ah, well... Actually," she said calmly, "A friend from school has been visiting me a lot lately..."

Oh, a friend? "Hoh..." He nodded somewhat, smiling. "That sounds good..."

There was a sound of agreement on the other end, Shizuka continuing on. "It is," she said loudly, likely nodding as she spoke."Keichi-kun has been helping a lot in his spare time... He's even teaching me to play duel monsters," she added, Katsuya more concerned with the 'kun' for a moment. Her friend was a guy. ...How close was this friend... "It's fun! Maybe someday, we can play together," Shizuka was saying, the words pulling her brother from his thoughts rather quickly.

Wa-wa-waaaaaaiiiit... "H-Hang on... Shizuka," Katsuya asked, shaking his head as he ran over the last few sentences again. "If... You're learning to play duel monsters... ...How are you doing that when you have the bandages on your face?" Cards were kind of a visual deal...

"Hn?" There was a slight pause, before a cheerful response came over the end. "Ah, Keichi-kun tells me what cards are in my hand..." Didn't that kind of kill the point of not showing your hand then... "Though he tells me what's in his to make it fair," she continued quickly, "I've even won a few times!" W...What..? How did that... The blond shook his head, thoughts interrupted as his sister continued. "Speaking of Keichi-kun... I decided to give him some chocolate as a thanks, he's been really nice lately..."

Wait wait wait what! She- "O-O-Oii... Wh-What kind of chocolate-"

"Ah- Mom needs the phone, I need to leave... Good-bye, Katsuya-nihan!" What! WHAT?

"S-Shizu-" -beeeeeeeeeeep- Damn it. "Shizuka!" Nooooooo...

"Ah..." Kyouko's voice came from the side, the maid walking into the room with raised eyebrows. "...What are you shouting about..?" Katsuya ignored the question, the phone returning to its cradle with a click as he slammed his head against the wall.

"Ghhhnn..." He could keep his friends of his sister, but in the end, she was still hours away in Osaka... "...Nothing Kyouko," he finally said as the maid walked in. The maid nodded in response, scratching her head as she walked in with a small plastic bag. The blond turned his head, frowning somewhat as he spotted it. Eh... What? "...What's in th' bag..?"

She blinked, looking back at the bag in question. "Ah... For some reason, Seto-sama asked me to pick up a few things for her..." The woman brought the bag back down, apparently still confused. "I'm not sure why..."

Kay... He blinked, frowning somewhat. "Then... What kind 'f stuff..."

"...Jonouchi," the woman asked, frowning abruptly. He tensed, the maid continuing. "...Doesn't your shift start in a few minutes? You said you would cover for Odoru didn't you?"

The blond tensed, looking back at the clock on the wall before pushing past Kyouko with a start. "Gh- Shit!" L-Late!

As it turned out, he wasn't late in the end. Hell, the clock in the kitchen was about ten minutes fast so... He'd been early for once, which was fairly interesting to say the least. Got into the uniform, grabbed a bit of homework to pass the time and five minutes later, as per usual... Nothing was happening at all. At one point Seto went into the kitchen, but really, not only would staring at her when she was on camera be really awkward in the long run, he was supposed to be paying attention to the other screens...

And besides, she was done with whatever she was doing within half an hour anyways. Either that, or Mokuba would likely manage to successfully eat all of the chocolate he was carrying... Katsuya yawned, leaning back against his chair and blinking a few times to keep awake. Damn... His job was boring as hell but... Well, it was better than delivering papers at least...

He continued looking at the screens, idly flipping through his duel monster's deck as he sat there. Homework? Bah, he'd do that later. Though... He had to wonder, Katsuya thought with a frown, holding up the two 'dice' cards he'd gotten recently. After the Duelist Kingdom... Where were the new cards coming from? At least ones that worked on a duel table? He knew they worked on the table, since Mokuba would mention Seto muttering about certain errors with new cards but... Why would she still be working with Pegasus on that?

...He hated missing things, he really did...

The blond groaned, folding his deck back up and looking over the screens again. He should really be paying attention, really... Ahh... Lets see... Nothing in the north wing, nothing in the south wing, nothing in the-

-bzzzz-

"Eh?" Katsuya sat up, shaking his head and turning back toward the door. That sound... Who the hell... He pocketed his deck, looking around the chair as the door lock was accessed and the door opened. "Who-" The door swung in, the blond sitting up with raised eyebrows. Eh! "Set-" Oooh shit that glare... He coughed, shaking his head and correcting himself. "...Kaiba?"

The woman walked in, arms somewhat crossed as she held a box in her hands. Evidently, catching himself was the right thing to do; the glare was 'mostly' gone, replaced with her usual stare. "Hn... Good to know you don't sleep on the job..."

He snorted, looking back at the screens for a moment before turning back. Nothing in the east wing... "Heh! Would I still be here 'f I did?"

There was a small span of silence in response, Katsuya again glancing at the screens to continue his job before looking back to the woman. No answer... Save maybe a look that said '...No, you'd be dead if you did that'. Either way...

"So... What is it anyways," he asked with a slight shrug, "There somethin' y' need t' check or..."

"I came to repay you for two weeks ago," she muttered somewhat bluntly, holding out the box in her hands. Wait what? Re... Repay..? What? "In that rogue program," AKA 'the game from hell' he added mentally, "When you took that strike for Mokuba..." Hang on... This was about..? The woman turned away somewhat, still holding the box out. "You're a complete moron for doing it," she spat almost angrily, "But at least you stopped the attack..." Katsuya stared at the box that was being handed to him, frowning somewhat before looking back at the woman. She was... Thanking him for something? Seriously? "...We're even now," Seto said plainly, still holding the box. "Don't get any ideas that this means anything more than that though," she spat with a slight growl, narrowing her eyes. "I just figured a moron like you would ordinarily avoid even getting 'obligation' chocolates." Well yea, they didn't really do that at sch-

Waaaaiit... "O-Oiii," he said with a frown, narrowing his eyes and looking back from the security feeds. "What th' hell is that s'pposed t' mean..."

The woman rolled her eyes, a glare coming from over the box as she forced it into the blonds' fumbling hands. "Just take the chocolate mutt." Okay, okay! He'd take the chocolates! God...

He nodded slowly, before watching the woman leave and close the door behind her without another word. "...Hihh..." Okay... That was wei- Waaaiiit a second... Katsuya looked back down at the box, before quickly unwrapping it with wide eyes and staring. It was a fairly smooth cut, palm-sized slab of chocolate but... Well. It was... Chocolate. It was... "... I just got chocolate," he muttered under his breath, voice heavily laced with disbelief. "...I just got chocolate from Seto-chan," he said slightly louder, looking back at the screens before breaking into a grin. "Haha! YES! YES!" Who the hell cared if it was giri-chocolate, it was fucking chocolate! The chair he was in spun somewhat, and he nibbled a corner off the slab before choking and dropping the slab on his lap. "Gh-k- Kahk..!" Woah-woah-woah! He grabbed the slab again, taking another nibble before swallowing and paling. Oh hell...

...This chocolate. "Ooooooh hell..."

Was not giri-chocolate. "OHHHHH hell..."

Not by a long shot. "Damn it," he muttered, slamming his head into the desk he was sitting at.

...He was so screwed on White Day...

Making a small slab of (very) good chocolate last was something of an art really. Almost as much as making the chocolate itself, given the difficulty in actually melting the chocolate down without ruining the pot, and then adding things like sugar or flavoring to get just the right 'sweetness'. Even without the added difficulty in cooking though, it was definitely the sort of feat that had to be marveled at, saving chocolate for a certain amount of time at least. And while this was definitely not something that Bakura needed to worry about given all the boxes he'd received, despite the fact that he'd been writing down what kinds of chocolate he'd been given from each girl in order to return the favor properly as a result, it was something that Katsuya and Yugi seemed to be doing. Not that he ended up telling Yugi about his chocolate in the end, but even so... The mood was there, and it was rather obvious given that both of them decided not to buy any cards for the next month, instead saving money for 'something important'. Or... It seemed that way to him at least.

Mokuba himself had come back from school with lots of chocolate, as it turned out that the girls in his class did indeed go with the Valentines day 'tradition' despite it being the last year of elementary. A fact that he'd been more than pleased about... For about fifteen minutes, after which his sister had of course had confiscated about... Three quarters of it lest he end up on a sugar high and awake for the next month. Nonetheless, it was still rather obvious just how much was there... It was... Lots of chocolate to say the least, and Mokuba was very happy about that... Especially since the confiscation actually meant that he still got chocolate with his lunch.

His own chocolate on the other hand, not counting the bit from Mai he'd eaten the day of, had lasted about... Two days. (It was so good...) Which left him wondering one fairly important thing almost a month later.

How the hell was he going to double that in quality? Hell, there hadn't even been a brand or something to go by, it was just... Chocolate. Damn it. Katsuya rubbed his head, mentally groaning at the thought as Bakura's mutterings from beside him pulled his thoughts back to the present. "Ah... And I'll need this much for Nosaka-san... And..."

The blond blinked, raising his eyebrows as the albino continued to scribbling things on a note pad. "Y'know Bakura," he said with a laugh, "Y' don' have t' buy chocolate f'r every girl that got y' somethin'..."

He shook his head, not looking up from his rather interestingly organized list. "I know," he said nervously, scratching his head and looking at the paper. "But I only have two days left, and I'd rather not be rude..."

Honda sighed, leaning back on his chair. "It's just 'fan-girl chocolate' man, you need to relax..."

The two were largely ignored, their friend merely continuing to mutter to himself. "How on earth will I afford all of this..."

"..." They shared a glance, before sighing and shaking their heads. Well, obviously Bakura wasn't convinced...

Yugi smiled somewhat wryly, shaking his head from his own seat before turning to the others. "Well... At least Mai doesn't expect anything in return," he said with a slight shrug, holding his puzzle and laughing somewhat. "Apparently, she didn't want the chocolate to go to waste..."

"Yea," Honda said with a slight sigh, staring at the ceiling. "She also apparently got a restraining order once she got back to Kyoto..." He smirked, shaking his head and laughing. "I'd hate to see what happens to the moron who pissed her off..." Speaking of the restraining order... The entire thing was more than a little interesting to find out about, though at least she sounded happy about it when Anzu was sharing the message over her cellphone... Not to mention loud. The teen laughed slightly as they recalled that moment, before Yugi leaned back on his chair and stared off in thought. No matter what, it was a little hard to avoid the other topic on their mind...

"I wonder if Anzu wants two boxes of chocolate," he wondered aloud, leaning on his arm with a slight frown. "Since the other me got chocolate as well..."

That... That was a good question... "Can y' even afford that much chocolate," Katsuya asked with a frown, turning as the bell rang. The boy merely shrugged, shaking his head before turning to the front. Er, that wasn't a good response... Well... School time...

Maybe they should just drop the subject...

They sure as hell tried to drop the subject at least... Normally it wouldn't have been hard... And normally, two out of three of them wouldn't have gotten anything on Valentines. Even so, they had fought to change the subject over from that moment on... And it appeared to have worked too, given that the rest of the day had been filled with guesses on what the hell was underneath the tarp covering the rather enormous 'lump' on the store across from the game shop. So far, the guess was... No fucking clue. (Seriously, what was that thing...) They'd have thought it'd be a clown given the name but after the enormous thing had been put up on the building... Well. There was no way it'd be that big right?

...Riiiiiiight..?

In any case, it was Tuesday evening now... And... Well, he mind as well see what he could get in terms of chocolate really. Maybe he could just guess at what kind of chocolate he got on Valentines and... Go with that...

...

Yeaaaaaa...

He was screwed.

Katsuya scratched his head as he stood in the 'seasonal' aisle of the department store, biting his lip. Aw hell, this would take forever... Why the hell were there so many chocolates here damn it... He walked down the aisle, hands stowed in his pockets as he looked at the various white chocolate brands. There was one with some kind of lemon taste... A marshmallow one... A caramel one... ...Dang it... Had to be something there... Maybe... This box? He grabbed one, looking over the labels for a moment before looking at a different one. Not that one, not that one... Katsuya looked up at the next shelf, grabbing another box before jumping as a voice came from behind. "N-HHHHAA!"

"A-Ah!" Who the- Wait that sounded like... The blond turned, watching as Yugi poked his head around the aisle. "Jonouchi-kun!"

"Jonouchi?" The boy was quickly joined by Honda, Katsuya mentally smacking his head against the wall in response as the two walked over. "Seriously?"

Damn it. The blond scowled, turning as Honda and Yugi walked over. "Gh... You guys..." He'd kept it quiet for so long too...

Yugi laughed, shaking his head as he gripped the chocolate he'd apparently decided to buy for Anzu. "Hahaha... Jonouchi-kun," he continued, scratching his head with a slight grin. "You didn't say that you got chocolate..."

Nope. No he didn't... For a good reason. Ahhh, oh well... The blond sighed, shaking his head. "Yea well..." Er... What to say... "Whatever," he muttered, somewhat red as he changed the subject. "...Didn' Bakura say he was gettin' th' chocolate t'day though..?" Shouldn't he be here too..?

The other two shrugged, Honda shaking his head before returning his hands to his pockets. "With the amount he's aiming at," he asked somewhat incredulously, before taking a more serious expression. "He's probably at a bulk store... I'm surprised he can afford all of the chocolate personally," the teen added with another shrug. He then grinned, laughing as he shook his head. "Heh! Suddenly, I'm really glad I didn't get anything! Now," he continued with a smirk, the others looking back with somewhat unimpressed frowns, "I don't have to shell out my allowance for chocolate."

Oh yea, rub it in a little more alright? Katsuya frowned, free hand stowed back in his pocket as they headed for the check out. "If y' don' need anythin'," he said with a growl, "Then why th' hell are y' here..?"

The teen blinked, only for Yugi to answer for him. "Honda-kun was at a key-stand when I spotted him," he said with a blink, looking up at the teen in question.

"Yea," Honda said with a slight nod, pulling out a lanyard to reveal a rather shiny looking key. "I was getting a second key for the house made."

Okay... The two stared, Katsuya frowning. "...Why?"

Honda shook his head, Yugi stepping in front of the two to hold a place in the check out line as he answered. "Well," he said somewhat plainly, "Now that Matsuda lives in the house, I've been lending him my key... But... Since he gets back late," the teen continued, "And the other one is lost..."

Lost key... Hn... The others blinked, moving up in the line and putting their things on the counter. "Matsuda," Katsuya asked, tilting his head somewhat and turning back to their friend.

Honda nodded, replacing the key in his pocket as he spoke. "Yea- Ane's fiancee," he continued, pausing for a moment as they came to the end of the line. "Moved into the house in February, didn't I tell you guys..?"

The others shook their heads, before turning to the cashier as the chocolate was rung through. "Will this be all," the attendant asked the boys, Katsuya moving the 'divider' to the side as Yugi pulled out his change.

"Nope," he said before handing the money over, grabbing the bag with his chocolate in it. "This is all." He walked past the checkout as Katsuya bought his own box, the blond answering the same question before grabbing his own bag as the three headed off to the escalator. "So... Matsuda-san is your sister's fiance then Honda-kun?"

The teen nodded, leaning back somewhat as they went down. He never did give them a name after all... "Yep; he was originally gonna move in around December," he said with a shrug, looking at the two as they moved for the next escalator down, "But he ended up breaking his leg... So he couldn't move anything out of his apartment." Huh. That sucked.

Well, anyways! The boys walked out of the store, Honda spinning the new key around on a lanyard as a slightly cool breeze smacked them all in the face. "So," Katsuya said with a slight stretch, shouldering the bag. "Arcade?"

Honda nodded, before catching the key in his hand and holding it out. "Sure... Need to test the key first though," he continued, pocketing it again. "Besides, I left most of my change at the house..."

Well, alright then, whatever... "Honda-kun," Yugi asked as they walked, the taller of the three leading the way to his house. "How did you lose the first key anyways?"

He shrugged, the spinning stopping as he pocketed the key. "Jouji," he said bluntly. "Apparently he decided to see how many things he could cram into a toilet before it would clog up." ...Ew... "Guess which went first," he asked with a frown, the other two pulling a face at the thought.

"...Y' know what," Katsuya said with a swallow, "I'm gonna say you can keep whatever I lent y' last week..." Lest he loose his lunch trying to get it back at least... "Hey," he said with a cough, Honda's house coming into view as they crossed the street. "Yer dog isn't gonna go after my feet again is he," he asked with a frown, looking at his friend. "I mean... He doesn't have that weird shoe thing goin' on right..?" Not like last time where it tried to swallow it whole...

Honda snorted, shaking his head. "He's penned up in the back," he said with a smirk, "It'll be fine! Had to lock him out there after Jouji chased him around with an RC plane," he continued with a slight stretch, pulling his key out again as they came up to his house. RC plane? That was interesting... The three walked over as Honda unlocked the door, before pocketing the key and stepping inside. "Kid's deadly with that thing," he continued somewhat loudly, disappearing into the hall as the others watched from outside. "Hell," he said with a sarcastic laugh as a light flicked on from the other end, "Even without actually using the plane he's deadly with it!"

The other two frowned, the pair staring into the hall for a moment before trading an odd look with each other "Without," Yugi asked somewhat hesitantly, frowning as he turned back to the hall. "How does that even make sense..?"

Honda merely shrugged, coming back out from the side of the hall and slipping his shoes back on as he looked at the others. "Remember how I said Matsuda broke his leg?" The two nodded, stepping to the side as the teen shut and locked the door behind him. "Well," he continued, "He did it trying to get the plane off the garage roof. Ended up having to stay off work until it healed," he added, shaking his head.

Huh... Katsuya blinked, staring blankly for a few moments. That sounded almost familiar... "Huh... That sucks," he muttered, shaking his head and giving a short laugh in response. "Heh! Sounds almost like how S... Kaiba's chauffeur ended up outta work f'r December too! Hahaha..." They walked back down the driveway, before stopping as a car pulled in.

"Ah- That's Matsuda's car," Honda muttered, pulling a key out of his pocket as the sound of the car's engine died down. "Mind as well hand this to him while we're here," he said with a shrug, watching the man step out of the car as the others waited.

There was a sound 'thump' as the door was slammed shut, Matsuda in question turning to them all before staring. Hey, this guy looked like- "...Jonouchi," he said after a few moments, Katsuya staring with somewhat wide eyes as he recognized the voice. "What are you doing here..?"

There was another short moment of silence, the three boys each sharing surprised stares before looking back. If it was the same voice, and the same accident... "H-Hang on," Honda said with wide eyes, shaking himself somewhat. "You're Kaiba's chauffeur?"

Oh man... That was... "Holy shit," he muttered, momentarily missing whatever Matsuda said in response. The only other time he'd seen this guy as 'Honda's soon to be brother-in-law' was back at Burger World when the guy had been outside, on the other side of the window, mostly covered in snow... It was pretty easy to say that two and two didn't come together at that time as a result, given that he'd looked completely different as a chauffeur...

There was a few more moments of silence, before Matsuda coughed and took a few steps forward. "Ah... Hiroto," he asked with a slight shrug, having apparently figured things out rather quickly and decided to simply move on. "Do you think I could get into the house..?"

The teen blinked, before nodding his head as the three were pulled back to reality. "Right! Right, ah..." He tossed the key over, Matsuda bowing his head in thanks before waving as he left for the door. "Here!"

"I'll see you later then," he said as he looked back. "Hiroto, Jonouchi..." And Matsuda didn't know Yugi, so that was probably what the third 'nod' was for...

The others watched as Matsuda opened the door and went into the house, standing in silence for a while before slowly turning to look at each other. Okay... "Well," Honda said with a somewhat exasperated sigh, shaking his head as they made to leave the driveway again. "That was weird..."

"Yea..." Yea, it was... Katsuya shook himself off, scratching his head and turning to the others. "So... Arcade," he asked, Yugi nodding in response.

"That sounds good," the boy said with a smile, the three heading off down the street in the direction of the arcade and Yugi's house both. "I hear they have a new game there..."

Honda nodded, smirking slightly as they headed off. "Yep- watched them put it in when I was babysitting Jouji actually..." Oh did he now? ...What was Jouji doing in... ...Never mind. "It looked pretty good actually," he said with evident surprise, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes in thought. "I think it was called 'Ninja Ninja Revolution'..."

The other two blinked, looking at their friend somewhat incredulously. Wait what..? Like... 'DDR' except... ...What... Katsuya frowned, the expression set firmly in place as he finally found the words to say. "What th' hell kind 'f game is that..?"

"I don't know," he said with a shrug, pushing in the button for the crosswalk. "It looks like any other DDR machine, just with footprints and the word 'ninja' on the side. I'm just saying, it doesn't look too bad..."

Yeaaaaa... "It sounds interesting at least," Yugi said somewhat optimistically, turning to look down the street as they walked further down. "I mean... If they installed it in the arcade then it has to be somewhat good right?" He... Guessed so..? They stopped at the next crosswalk, looking off at the slightly distant 'Black Clown' building across from them.

The tarp was hanging by one string on the building, blowing slightly in the wind but that wasn't at all what they were staring at to say the least. "Heh... Speakin' of interestin'," Katsuya said with a grin, looking back at Honda as the other two narrowed their eyes at the giant black-eyed clown. He continued to laugh, Honda in question pulling his attention from the enormous and eerie looking clown with narrowed eyes.

"What the hell are you trying to say Jonouchi..."

"'Ninja Ninja Revolution'. That's what I'm tryin' t' say. Seriously," he said with a laugh as they crossed the street, holding his head. "Who thought 'f that name!"

"Damn it Jonouchi!"

"Hey, Honda-kun, Jonouchi-kun..." The two turned, moving to where Yugi was looking at a sign outside the building. Ah, he'd run ahead... Yugi looked back at them, smiling. "They have an opening date now!"

Eh? They had a set date? They moved closer, reading over the sign blankly. "'Black Clown Gaming Store, opening April Seventh... Huh," Katsuya said, looking back up at the enormous 'clown'. Besides the fact that they finally knew what the hell this place was... "Game store eh?" About time the clearly finished building get a set opening...

"Right across from your house," Honda muttered, looking back at the Kame Game and letting out a long sigh. "That's not going to be helping profits..."

Yugi nodded, laughing somewhat nervously. "Yea," he said in agreement, "Grandpa isn't going to be too happy about this..."

"It looks like they're offering some kind of 'store exclusive' though," Honda said as he looked at the sign, turning to the others. "Uh... 'Dungeon Dice Monsters'..?" Yugi appeared to stare somewhat eagerly at the poster with those words, the same 'flickering' shadow briefly appearing beside him before vanishing.

Probably a trick of the light... Katsuya looked down at Yugi, blinking it off before giving a wry smirk. "...Yer still goin' huh..."

He nodded, continuing to stare at the die-decorated poster before laughing. "Yep!"

"Ohhh man..." He knew where he'd be on the seventh then... "This'll be way harder than when we went t' th' departm'nt store f'r cards..." Way way way harder...

The morning of White Day was probably something everyone in the school building was anticipating in terms of class 1-B. "Erm... Here you go Matsuoka-san," Bakura said nervously as he gave a box of chocolate to each of the women who had swarmed him a month before. "And, erm, this one's for you Nosaka-san, I hope you like it... Ah..." Needless to say, this was not the kind of morning that went well for his nerves.

Katsuya shook his head from his seat, Honda and Yugi watching as Bakura ran about the room handing boxes to each of the people who'd given him chocolate. For the most part, it was being rather well received... The one on the receiving end of the chocolate bowed politely in thanks, put the chocolate in her bag, and Bakura hurried off to the next desk with hopes that he wouldn't run out of time. Though... There was that one girl who looked at the box rather quietly before leaving for the washroom... Before a few other girls gave a glare to a rather unnerved and guilty looking Bakura...

The albino collapsed on a chair beside them after he handed out the last box, sighing. "Hah... That was so confusing," he said somewhat sadly, shaking his head as the others stared. "I think one of them's quite angry with me..."

Honda shook his head, crossing his arms. "Honestly Bakura," he said with a small sigh, "I think you should just call in sick on Valentines..." Agreed- Seeing Bakura as a nervous wreck, while not weird persay was... Not normal. "...What exactly did you do the other years though," he added, frowning.

Oh, that was a good question. Bakura turned to them, blinking. "Erm... Well that's the thing," he said somewhat awkwardly, looking to the side as he coughed. "I don't actually remember anything from the other Valentines days so... I decided not to think about it," he continued, subconsciously rubbing his left-hand.

Oh. ...OHHHHH... Shit. The others paled, staring for a few moments before awkwardly turning to the front as Anzu came in. "Ahhh... Hey, Yugi," Katsuya said with a cough, before jerking his head toward the woman. Time to change the subject! Go go go! "You gonna..."

Yugi turned, jumping somewhat before pulling something from his bag. "R-Right..." The boy swallowed, coughing somewhat nervously and turning toward the front. "Ah... Anzu," he called, the woman coming over just as he stood from his desk. He swallowed, slightly red in the face as he held out a box. "Ah... I didn't have enough yen for two chocolates," he muttered as he handed it over, scratching the back of his neck as the woman took it.

"Ah..." She stared somewhat, taking the box before smiling. "...It's fine," she said sweetly, putting the box in her bag and leaning down somewhat. "The other you wouldn't know about White Day right? Besides," she said as the bell rang, kissing the boy on the cheek as the others stared. "One box is plenty, wouldn't you say?" She moved to take her seat, Yugi slowly turning to the others as his face went beet red.

Did... She just... 'Hey... That was... Aibou,' a voice called over the air, Katsuya growing pale as he heard it, 'I think you have a clear shot at this!' The blond coughed, hurriedly turning down to his desk as the other Yugi's voice came through the room. Alright, what the hell damn it, this was way beyond what he'd finally accepted as 'normal'!

"Oiiiii... Jonouchi," Honda asked, Bakura looking as well as the blond turned to them in response. "You alright," he said somewhat jokingly, "You look like you've seen a ghost!" Don't even say that damn it...

Yugi blinked, frowning somewhat as he lost the red-shade on his face. "Jonouchi-kun," he asked, Katsuya still somewhat pale as he looked them over. "Is... ...Something wrong..? ...Are you alright?"

The blond stared, eyes drifting off to the side as a shadowed, misting figure appeared to double off his friend for a few moments before fading out. Two... He could have sworn... "...Y ...Yea," he finally said, looking at the front as the teacher walked in. He saw both at the same... At the... "...Yea I'm fine..."

Getting back to the house that night probably happened faster than it ever had before that day, or so it seemed. Mostly it involved him awkwardly using the excuse of calling his sister to avoid being questioned on the intense paranoia he'd had for pretty much the entire day after that... Though... It definitely didn't help that he kept hearing weird rumbling sounds from Bakura's desk. Which seemed to have no source.

But there was no way the ring was back right..? The blond suppressed a shudder as he took off his shoes in the foyer, banishing the thought from mind. Right... No way in hell. Maybe there was just something going on with the puzzle, who knew... ...Though with his luck this was going to turn into something similar to the duel tables... The blond sighed, walking over to the hall and watching a rather breathless Mokuba come from another room. "...Mokuba," he asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked the boy over. "Y' look..." The blond shook his head, frowning as he changed his words around. "What happened t' you?"

The boy turned, before joining the blond as they walked toward the 'Breakfast room' with a few gasps. "Ran home," he said somewhat tiredly, shaking his head and continuing to breath deeply. "One of the girls... Really didn't like not getting anything back apparently..."

Katsuya blinked, staring for a few moments. He got chased home..? What? "Er... Y' need any help with that," he asked somewhat hesitantly, frowning. (Chased home, what?)

He shook his head, pulling himself onto a stool with a sigh. "No... I'll be alright," he said with a shrug, "There's only two weeks left before school's out right?" Well, he supposed so... "...She runs really fast though," he added with a shudder, Katsuya staring a few more moments before grabbing the phone. Mokuba snapped out of his shuddering, turning as the blond moved to pull a seat out. "Hn... Who're you calling?"

"Shizuka," he said as he took a seat, leaning against the counter. The blond frowned, slowly looking back at Mokuba from the phone. "...Hey," he asked, adjusting his seat and continuing to frown. "Seto-chan knows you're here right..?"

The boy paled, quickly running from the room with a shout with those words. "Ack! I forgot about that!"

"O-Oii!" He leaned over the counter, Mokuba having long since fled the room. "Wouldn' it be faster t' jus... Call..?" ...Well, not like he actually had a number that would get the message through fast enough... Oh well. He punched in the number for Shizuka, leaning against the counter. Now that he thought about it, if Shizuka couldn't see, how did she answer the phone last ti-

"Moshi moshi?"

He grinned, deciding to push the thought from mind as his sister's voice came through the other end. "Hey, Shizuka! ...Did you get the bandages off yet," he asked, crossing his arms on the counter. First things first, it was a month later after all...

There was a bit of silence, some shuffling sounds coming on the other end. "Actually Nihan," she began, the blond growing pale at the tone. "I'm not supposed to touch them until at least the end of the week..." He blinked, the cold feeling quickly vanishing. ...Oh. "But I'll let you know how things go after I take them off alright?"

He nodded, grinning. As long as there was a chance the surgery worked... "Hah... Alright then," he said, looking at the phone and nodding. "Sounds good! So," he continued, staring off at the wall. "How are things over there?"

"Pretty good," she said calmly, "I'm getting a little better at Duel Monsters," the girl continued, tone picking up somewhat with her cheer."I've even got my own deck!" She had... Eh? But, but how... "Keichi-kun is helping a little with that of course," she said with a slight laugh, likely shaking her head. "Telling me what the cards look like in the booster packs, what their stats are..." He was really starting to not like this 'Keichi' guy... "Ah, that reminds me," she continued, sounding clearly excited about something, "He actually gave be some chocolate with the packs!" Pbbbbtttt what! The blond froze, gripping the edge of the counter as his sister went on. "He's a lot nicer than he comes off in class..."

This boy. This boy was dead damn it, DEAD.

"Katsuya-nihan," Shizuka continued, somewhat snapping the blond from his tense stare at the counter. "Did you end up getting anything on Valentines day?" E-Eh..? Um... "Are you going to be giving anyone chocolate," she continued innocently, waiting for her response.

Katsuya quickly coughed, going somewhat red. "Er... Y-Yea actually," he said somewhat quietly, coughing again. "Kinda tryin' t' give it t' her in secret though, since she's a lil'... Testy abou' things... Um..."

There was a small bit of silence on the other end, as though a small, broken smile was being sent through the phone in response. "...I see..." Urk... Um... No really, Seto was really testy about... Things... "Well," she said, mood appearing to pick up somewhat, "The only way I could really recommend nihan is mailing it... But I don't think that's really an option right now..."

Yea... Not really... "Eh... Thanks anyway Shizuka..." He shook his head, looking at the clock on the side before leaning back on the seat. Hnnn... Hadn't been too long, but at the same time if he was going to keep his mom off his back about homework... "Talk t' yah later alright," he said, watching as Mokuba walked back in to sit beside him.

"Alright Katsuya-nihan..." There was a slight pause, before the girl added a little more. "Good bye!"

"Bye..." There was a small beeping noise as the connection was cut, the blond clacking the phone back into place on the side before slumping back down in his seat. "Aaaaaaaauuugh... What th' hell 'm I gonna do..."

Mokuba shrugged from beside his friend, having been busy pulling books from his bag for homework. "Don't ask me," he said with a frown, opening one of the books up to get his homework over with. "I don't even know what we're talking about! ...So," he continued, propping his head on his arm and turning to the blond. "What are we talking about..?"

"Nothin'," he said with a slight groan, hopping from the stool and leaving the room as Mokuba stared after. "Jus' nothin'..."

Things had gone very well from the 26th of January on. Extremely well, actually. Possibly better than when she'd taken over the company and turned it over to game technology as opposed to warfare. For one, thanks to the fact that (for the most part) her board had spent the last number of months doing next to nothing, the fact that they were now dead and gone affected very little. Things were running more than smoothly, and since she hadn't seen fit to ever trust the morons with what their titles would normally entail, it was merely work as usual. She was the CEO, and she held the responsibility... And while she should probably replace the positions eventually, there was no rush just now.

As for the 'missing' staff... Well, besides the fact that there was of course a bit of questioning on disappearances and such, everything had been dealt with completely. In fact, the questioning only lasted a few weeks before the lack of evidence turned up nothing... In the end, it was assumed that the board had high-tailed it out of there; the only 'real' issue had come from Ota, since apparently someone actually cared about him enough to keep pressing for his whereabouts. But what was done was done...

They were gone. And she was here. They would never be coming back, which meant that she would have nothing to worry about outside the company save finding a way to beat Yugi at his own game. Preferably soon... And with this, she screwed in a few things on the prototype of the second version of her duel disk. Definitely with this. The woman leaned back on her seat, looking over the device before moving it to the side. She couldn't test it now though... The device that would power it hadn't been completed just yet, same with the programming for the new cards she'd purchased recently. It wouldn't take long though... Not long.

Though despite this 'calm', Mokuba had given her a just a 'bit' of a scare when he hadn't been at the school... At least she'd gotten a call from Kyouko seconds after arriving however. In any case... Seto pulled a large sketch-book from the side of the desk, flipping it open while turning on her computer. A year ago, she probably wouldn't have even thought of doing this, what the design on these pages entailed. While it had everything to do with Blue-Eyes, it had nothing to do with 'KaibaLand', or the company... If anything it was no better than customizing a car for show. With all of that in mind however...

It was going to be the best damn private jet in existence when it was done. "Hn!" She snorted, logging into the desktop as she recalled the 'reason' she'd thought of this. 'Have fun once in a while'... Fine, she'd do just that! "...Moron..." These designs were completely ready to be built on now... The cost of the plane itself determined, materials ordered in along with the building itself... With luck she could test drive it in May, she told herself, putting the book down to move onto what she had intended on doing on her computer. That would be good... And it had two seats, which meant Mokuba could come...

-kots-kots-

"Hnn?" Seto looked up from her designs, putting them to the side as knocking came from the other end of the study. She frowned, silent for a moment as the sound came through the air again. Alright... The woman moved from her chair, the sides clacking against the desk as she moved toward the door. Maybe it was Mokuba..? No one else would be knocking while she was in here, that was for sure... She opened the door, frowning as she was met with nothing. "What..?" Who the hell..?

The sound of footsteps caught her attention, the woman turning only to see a slight 'blurr' disappear down the hall. What was this a prank? Seriously? She looked down, eyebrows raising as she bent down to pick up a small box from the ground. The frown vanished, Seto flipping the box over and looking over the label. "..." This was... Chocolate. The damn mutt got her... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." She shook her head, shutting the door and returning to her desk. "Hahahahaha..."

Haaaah...

"...Moron..."

AN: Awwww look, they really do like each other~ ...I... I think... Um.

Interesting thing, this chapter was originally supposed to be two chapters, but as it turns out, the events were just too short to take up a chapter on their own. And even then, it's still not quite the average length of the chapter! Which is okay really, as the chapter doesn't quite hold as much plot importance as Christmas...

Or does it...

Bwahahahaha! Nothing makes sense any more~ And the fact is, my own hatred for filler series with no point prevents me from writing breather chapters without putting a bit of a plot hook in them. Keep an eye on that ex of Mai's... You'll probably see him at some point in Battle City, dressed in white. But yea... Heck, look at the filler before the 'Christmas' arc, the 'Summer Chapter'. That key turned mighty important eh? Not to mention a few other things...

Poll Results! Keep it up people! You've still got plenty of time! ...Kinda.

(And in case you forgot, the poll is to decide on the identity of Kaiba's past incarnation; female and crossdressing, female, or, as with Canon, male.)

Female Crossdressing Set - 12 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priestess Set - 8 (Three Anonymous)

Canon (Male) Set - 2

Anonymous Review Responses

Oh hi Death-Dimension!

Hahaha, explaining things like that is part of my way of making sure I haven't accidentally made any obscure references… …Also helps when bringing up plot holes I've found! (If you think you're laughing now, wait until we hit Doma.

Oh god I love writing~ Though that's probably rather evident given that I think I managed about 100,000 plus words this month… (That's double NaNoWriMo… Holy shit…)

Hahaha, well as long as you like the explanations!

Something tells me that if anime Kaiba were to get a girlfriend, it would take an awful lot of patience… Not to mention some extreme event to tie the two together, hahaha!

Oh, that! That'll actually happen, though the outfit may or may not be something else depending… Hehehehehe… (She does go rather red, but... erm… Embarrassment is only part of it to say the least.)

Enjoy the chapter!

Mokuba being passive would be terrible Iona! But yea, some of the need to do epic things probably came from Jonouchi's (admittedly bad) influence.

It probably will smell… …Though Kaiba probably got rid of the bodies… (Maybe set the room on fire, not like the rest of the building will catch on…) …In any case, the fact is, if everyone is completely 'A-Ok' with them being 'trapped in the virtual world forever', the underlying message of 'Oh by the way, that means they're dead' should probably still exist.

Because… Yeaaaaa that's kinda what it means… Given that the Big 5 have to actively attempt body snatching and are desperate enough to work with Noa. (You can bet that he's the reason why Kaiba and everyone woke up so damn quickly; Noa knows a pawn when he sees one. HIHHHH.)

That's what you think~ Actually, whether or not Jonouchi really plays into the Noa deal has a fair bit to do with how Noa reacts to Kaiba in that arc. OH WELL. We'll see how it goes…

To the next chapter!

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that enjoys plotting! (...Do you?)

The chapter title here is based on the date of both Valentines Day and White Day; February and March Fourteenth respectively. It's also a play on the phrase 'lucky 13', but you probably caught that one a mile away.

Keeping in mind I've been referring to the 2012 calendar for all of this ever since cementing Christmas on a Saturday, so the dates are technically all accurate. Until you realize that the year isn't actually supposed to be a specific year. (Whoo!)

Valentines Day in Japan works a little something like this; girls give the guys they are in a relationship with or are crushing on chocolate (unless they see no point in it of course)… It's their way of saying 'I like you', or at least the way that chocolate companies want them to. (And it really REALLY caught on.)

Sometimes however, in a co-worker situation, the woman of the building will feel a bit of pity for the guy that regularly gets nothing, and give him chocolate as compensation, or out of obligation. Or they'll just give it 'as friends'. Whoo!

Here's a fun fact; Home Economics is a required class in Japan. The other classes (For the first year) are Japanese, something called 'Contemporary Society' (I'm gonna take a wild guess and say... Socials.), Math, Science... The standard really. Oh, also Health and Music. (Those ones aren't really standard I think, least not to me... As Health was part of PE and Music was an elective.)

In any case, it used to be that the guys would have about 4 hours of PE per week while the girls would have 2 of PE and 2 of Home Ec. But around 15 or so years ago they changed it so that the guys would have to take Home Ec as well... (I guess they wanted to make sure the boys didn't poison themselves with bad cooking? I dunno...)

Right well anyways, thus we have explained Anzu not really being here for this chapter. (The reality is, she's likely at her secret job, ahahaha... Remember, Anzu really doesn't like the boys all knowing where she works. Probably because she's afraid of them bugging her and getting her fired.)

OH. Keep in mind that most of my information comes from the internet; if it weren't for the fact that the Home Ec. topic was explicitly mentioned while I was surfing for info on this, I wouldn't have actually known that it was required now... So if something's inaccurate (There's a reason none of this goes into much detail) tell me.

Mai, as a Pro. Duelist, obviously has loads and loads of time on her hands… However, if she's going to live as a pro duelist and as nothing else (she doesn't have any other jobs… I have a feeling she took the 'Legendary Heroes' one as an exception because it had to do with duel monsters), she's going to either be playing with super-high stakes half the time, or in a lot of minor, side tournaments.

Her reasons for being in Tokyo right now were inspired by a flash of backstory we got in the Doma arc; she was duelling on a cruise ship… Where they were quite obviously doing a fair bit of gambling on the side. (At least in the Japanese version... ) In any case, you can bet that a majority of the duelling world would be divided by this, as one half would be locked out completely being underage, while the other half would probably be duelling as a career.

Remember guys, Bakura's the one that the girls immediately made a fan-club for after he started school there. (Least in the Manga) If that doesn't say 'avoid school at Valentines day if you value your life', I don't know what does. And of course, the other three are the 'dead lasts' of the class (As seen in the manga at least), two of which were considered delinquents and the other as 'that kid in the back of the class' so to speak, so they'd be lucky to get a single bar (unfortunately.)…

School starts on April the 1st in Japan (They don't have April Fools, so this isn't quite as amusing a thought as it is for us in North America.), so since Mokaba has otherwise had one year of school, he probably doesn't really know much about the whole valentines deal… Because really, what would the point in going over that be? ...Also, while normally going into the new year wouldn't spare you the 'attack' from an angry classmate, Mokuba's entering Middle School... So he'll be going to a completely different building.

Speaking of school in Japan, I should probably mention this before anyone 'notices', but Japan used to have half-day classes on Saturday. However (And this isn't me doing internet research, this is me actually asking the teacher, who went to Japan numerous times), they don't have that any more last I checked... Hence why Jonouchi works the full weekend for the most part.

Another note on the Valentines day business of chocolates, generally the 'obligation chocolate' ('chou-giri choco' with 'chou' being 'very', 'super' and etc. and 'giri' being 'obligation') will be really crappy and cheap, whereas there are two other kinds: 'honmei choco', 'favourite chocolate' (Choco being short for chocolate, 'honmei' or 'hon' (origin, or 'true') 'mei' (fate, life…) being 'favourite'… And 'tomo-choco', 'tomo' meaning 'friend'. (So basically chocolate between friends.) Which is what Yugi thought he got... Hehehehehe...

Though Honda tends to omit honorifics just like Jonouchi does, Miho is an exception; during the one chapter we see her (And yes, this is Manga!Miho Nosaka, the quiet, polite student librarian.), she's referred to as 'Ribbon-chan' by him, due to the ribbon she uses to tie her hair back. Miho rejected (albeit politely) Honda when he initially asked her out… Though really, who can blame her after the whole issue of the teacher's face flaking off in puzzle pieces… Poor Honda. Given the explosion that happens at his feet and the fact that he appears to be crying in the next panel... It wasn't taken well. (But hey, he started hanging around Jonouchi and Yugi after that.)

Gym uniforms! Keep in mind that not only are the classes split among genders (One class has one unit, one the other), but the uniforms differ between the seasons… In fact, they have a specific day where you switch out the uniforms; October marks when summer uniforms go out for winter (the Gym uniforms are track suits at this time.) and June is when you switch out for summer... By the way, the girl's gym uniform is pretty much a t-shirt and shorts so short they could pass for underwear.

Speaking of uniforms, the 'slippers' that the students wear are technically slip-on, uniform shoes. Whooo!

By the way, these classes have between 45 and 50 people in them… So needless to say, the crowd of girls at Bakura's desk is fairly big. (Poor guy... You know he's too polite to refuse the chocolate...) Interestingly enough, the classes are decided from a mix of skill level and the classes the students are taking (Keep in mind that each school has an entry exam, so there's really no 'blank slate' for this.). But… If Kaiba was in their class…

Of course, that could have been because of the last minute enrolment.

The last line going on about 'judo' is actually based on an episode from season zero. Jonouchi comments on how lucky Anzu is that the girls only have to play tennis; 'We have judo! JUDO!' Judo of course involves throwing people around… A lot.

Given the size of the house Kaiba has, is a breakfast room that surprising? Technically it's not really another room as an off-shoot of the kitchen... The reason why it's called a 'breakfast room' is pretty much because, due to how varied everyone's morning schedule is, it'd be completely ridiculous to have a fully prepared meal all set up in the normal dining room. So really, the morning tends to just have them going in and out grabbing things from the fridge for breakfast. (Unless something is pre-planned of course.)

As a stretch, you could say a lot of houses have 'breakfast rooms'. How many of you eat in the kitchen when there's another, closed off room on the side that is handily called a dining room? (And by eat in the kitchen, I mean there are chairs in there that you sit on.)

'Moshi Moshi', something that showed up two chapters ago, is extremely common as a way to say hello on the phone. Scratch that, it's the way to do it. It can also mean 'excuse me' in an exceedingly casual, 'passing by' sense as well…

The Kansai dialect! Being Osakan in this fanfic, Shizuka will be depicted with a fairly heavy kansai-ben way of speaking… Oddly enough, kansai-ben is considered a feminine sounding way of speaking by some, despite the fact that the accent is often translated into a southern one in english dubbing. (Weird…) The kanas dialect has a lot of shortened vowel extensions, extended short vowels at the ends of words, slurred words… (Omoshiroi, or 'interesting', becomes 'omoroi', or even 'omoro' for example.) The 's' sound also gets replaced with 'h' a fair amount of the time, one very obvious example being 'han' instead of the honorific 'san

'.

This actually means that the previous chapter with Shizuka in it, the 'summer' chapter, is inaccurate (Besides the obvious slight OOC she had); Shizuka would have called Katsuya 'Katsuya-nihan' (Say it quickly for the accent, otherwise it's just weird) rather than 'niisan', as the 'ii' sound would be shortened and the 'san' would become 'han'… I think.

See, my only source of info for this is the fact that 'san' becomes 'han' with the Osakan dialect, along with the common language points of the accent. If anyone can correct me on this, tell me if I'm right on this though… That'd be great.

I think the only real accent point that will come up (eventually) is 'ahou' instead of 'baka' as an insult; 'ahou' is considered fairly insulting in the eastern areas of Japan… While baka is used rather casually almost, as an insult that pretty much translates to 'idiot'. It's the complete reverse in the kansai region however, as 'ahou' is the one tossed around for 'idiot', whereas 'baka' is the more insulting term.

This makes it quite amusing for those who know when watching anime when an Osakan and a Tokyo-resident who know each other well enough to toss those insults around start yelling at each other…

You'll see later on another standard of the accent, but the small hiragana character 'tsu', which appears in words to signify a 'skipped beat' of sorts (often replicated in english with a double consonant) is also often skipped over or just blurred in. I kinda implied this with 'nihan'; when typing the honorific without the name, I normally put the dash between the two words (IE: Nee-sama)… Because technically, it's two words. In Shizuka's case however, I didn't, as her manner of speaking would blur it together.

If you haven't guessed, Shizuka's making excuses about the bandages… (Though she really isn't supposed to take them off in February…)

Also, if you didn't guess from the above, 'Keichi' should actually be 'Keiichi' (A fairly common name for boys). But since everyone's going to be referring to that guy by his last name (other than Shizuka at least), it really doesn't matter… (This will just kill Jonouchi when he finds out...) Also, the 'i' hasn't been extended at the end mostly because… Well, the accent doesn't extend every 'i' sound into an 'ii', it's just rather common.

Shizuka's 'duelling lessons while blind' will actually prove to be very important in the end. Obviously this will affect a number of things in the Noa arc, where it was rather apparent that despite having watched at least four duels prior, she knew squat… But the importance will be with a fairly interesting twist, see if you can guess what it is.

A note on the reason why whenever Jonouchi has called he hasn't ended up hearing mutterings from 'Keiichi' in the background; most students in Japan are a member of an after school club of sorts (It would be borderline insane/suicidal to join more than one, for reasons I'm about to explain.)... Now, our main cast in Tokyo are exceptions... Actually, I think it's mentioned in either the manga or anime that Anzu's been a little pressured to join something, but simply hasn't. (Ahahaha...)

In any case, these club activities start after school ends, which is around 3:30, and then they last until five or six. Some 'clubs' go even longer, with a short break between then and the 'second half' for supper. My Japanese teacher actually made that mistake while over there; he'd joined the band club, and went home for supper thinking that they were done. His host family idly asked if they'd ended early, which had him scrambling for the door, aha...

So basically, when Shizuka says 'spare time', she's basically meaning maybe an hour or so after supper. As to what the hell Ryuzaki (He doesn't have a canon first name, so 'keiichi' won out) would be taking... You'll find out..? (Heheheeee...)

Why didn't Jonouchi end up seeing Kaiba melting down chocolate in the kitchen (That's what she was doing by the way.)? Because the camera's don't completely cover the kitchen; they cover all the rooms around it, but they don't quite cover certain parts of the kitchen… (Mostly because the board didn't really care about the kitchen, and Kaiba hasn't quite finished finding all the blind spots yet.)

In any case, Kaiba actually knows about this one, but it's such a minor one that it doesn't really matter… Because to get there, you'd have to pass at least five cameras. (So really, all Jonouchi saw was Kaiba going in and out of the kitchen. Which she occasionally does when she's working from home… Because hey, you can't work too well on an empty stomach.) ...She's probably going to be working on that now though.

Jonouchi has a point guys; in the manga, Pegasus died (I'm… Still not sure about his fate in the fanfic myself, but it isn't looking good.)… So where the hell were the new cards coming from? Seriously did… Did Kaiba take over I2 or something? What the hell happened?

I'm speaking in terms of the rest of the 'Duelist' manga by the way. Yugioh R came after all that in terms of publishing, so until then, we didn't know that Yakou and Gekko were there to keep things running. So really... Who the hell took over the company?

In any case, it's safe to assume that Gekko temporarily took control of the company in Pegasus' absence while Yakou does whatever he's plotting for certain events to take place after the Battle City arc.

Awwwwww look, they really do like each other~ … Kinda. (I've said this already...) Anyways! The question remains, is it really a 'thanks for taking a hit' or is it something else... (BAHAHAHAHA I love doing this…)

White Day is something only Japan has, and it's meant to sell chocolate! Started out like that too, so really, it's no secret. Basically, the deal is this: The girls have given the guys chocolate, and now they need to return the favour. Not doing so isn't just saying 'I don't want to date you' though. It's like smacking the girl in the face and then dumping them via e-mail, saying 'I'm way too good for that'. Owwwwch… (Granted, Kaiba expects nothing, and would probably give nothing in the reverse situation, but still.)

Now some girls are obviously ok with this if it's a 'giving the hot guy in class chocolate' situation for the most part(The fact that he took them tends to be enough really)… But others are really, really sensitive to this, particularly since some people interpret accepting the chocolate as an 'I'll consider dating you', or even a flat out 'I'll date you'! (This is why Mokuba was chased around after school actually...)

In any case, giving about the same amount of chocolate back in terms of value/quality etc. tends to be the polite way of saying 'thanks for the chocolate, but I'm not interested in dating you'. To say yes to a relationship, you need to return a gift that is worth around three times (Or at least double) the amount of the original gift's worth. Which says something that's for sure…

Though I think Ryuzaki might have surpassed that standard with the booster pack he gave Shizuka... (And if you didn't guess that it was Ryuzaki she was talking about, FOR SHAME. I've been giving blatant hints at this bizarre pairing since way back.)

In any case, besides chocolate, some men use other types of gifts to do this, like jewellery and such, which is interesting since those gifts are really uncommon during valentines day itself. Huh.

White chocolate is picked for white day of course… (Supposedly because white signifies purity and beauty and sugar aaaaand it's really just to sell white chocolate, since most people by milk or dark chocolate for valentines. That's how White Day started by the way. To sell chocolate.)

Of course, thanks to the sheer quality of the stuff that Kaiba gave Jonouchi… Or assumed quality (Take a look below)... Yeaaaaaaa…

Ironically, it was probably just Kaiba adding things like sugar and such to the mix. She only asked Kyouko to buy cooking chocolate... Though the fact that it's hand-made makes it a little worse for Jonouchi…

Some of you are probably arguing that Jonouchi doesn't keep much from Yugi, but there are still going to be things he keeps his trap shut on. Such as this. Mostly because while Yugi knows, Jonouchi still wants to keep things concerning the 'relationship' that isn't technically a relationship underwraps... Cause he's nervous about it (and about saying too much). And... Yea. (Also, you can bet that Kaiba was giving the silent message of 'Tell anyone and you DIE.') That's not the 'big' reason though, especially since the fact is, Jonouchi probably just didn't want to bug Yugi with it when the poor guy is trying to figure out how to re-pay Anzu.

The main reason though is more Honda. Who will tease him about it, because that is the kind of friendship that Honda and Jonouchi have. Mostly because the prospect of Jonouchi dating is that foreign. Though it helps that all of Honda, Anzu, and Bakura's comments are based on assumptions that are being very very thinly disguised... So while they know there's someone (Though they're obviously completely off on the topic of dating), they... Obviously don't know who. So it's obviously one of those things that's fun to 'talk' about.

Jonouchi's comment on Honda's dog (affectionately named 'Blankey'. Awwww.) is based on a scene we get in the manga, where Honda only appeared during the D-D-D arc to walk the dog around... And spot Bakura doing some shifty things. (Hehehe.)

In any case, as Honda continues walking it toward the Kame Game, he tells the dog to 'not eat Jonouchi's shoes this time', which kind of begs the question as to what the last time was... Particularly since that's the first thing the dog does once Honda actually meets up with the others. The dog in question has the fur colouring, size, fur length and ears of a German Shepherd... But the face of a god-damned Bull Terrier. WHAAAAAAT.

Anyways, safe to say it's a mutt but still. I can't tell if it even does have that face, because it changed a few times in the panels we saw the dog... (And that chapter was the only one he showed up in...)

Funny thing about the word 'Yen'... In Japan, it's actually pronounced 'En'. Learn something new everyday~

'But Usagi, Shizuka said a month-' Guys, February is ordinarily 28 days long. A month is thirty, thirty-one days. Which means that Shizuka still has a good three days after that phone call for her bandages, or at least that's what she's saying. (We all know when she's taking those things off.) Of course, most people take a month as the number of days between 'Day one Month one' and 'Day one Month two'...

Remember back when Honda called his sister 'ane-san'? Ordinarily he would be calling her 'ane', the informal way of referring to an older sister. Normally, it's reserved for (ironically) referring to an older sister to other people, and shouldn't be used when actually talking inside the house… But in any case.

You can probably guess from this that the male equivalent would be 'ani'... Which is where 'aniki' comes from. The 'ki' is a second kanji that means 'honor'; so 'aniki' is basically saying 'honored older brother' (hence why you always see it in gangs, or as a term of respect between two non-brothers.).

That shout out to Scott Pilgrim… I couldn't resist! The game won't show up again of course (Unless that's something you REALLY want…), but the fact was, I was kinda watching the movie as I typed this, so that scene had to be written.

Conversations aside though, I wish, so bad, that that game actually existed…

And for those who don't know, Scott Pilgrim's shout out to DDR was a literally 'ninja-esque' version called 'Ninja Ninja Revolution'. Which... Basically had you going through the motions of a ninja rather than dancing. (Whoo!)

Normally, Mokuba would have been with the three boys as they were having this interesting conversation… The main reason why he isn't is mostly because of Kaiba actually; now that she's back, she's also picking him up from school every day… (In fact, this is probably the only thing keeping her from spending endless hours at her desk during the week) So the time that these guys spend with Mokuba for now is fairly limited.

Note that I said for now. Hehehehe.

Granted, as it turns out, he was busy running away from someone on white day...

The last half of the conversation on the Black Clown (Hey, I wonder what arc is next… NOT that one. AHAHAHAH.) is based somewhat on the conversation that Yugi has with Anzu, Bakura and Jonouchi outside the store as they wait for it to open. (Honda was walking his dog somewhere) Yugi mentions that if Sugoroku catches him there, he'll be in trouble for obvious reasons… After all, two gamestores across from each other, it doesn't take a genius to realize that one of them is going to fail. (Or at least get set on fireeeee… Yeeeeeeeaaaaaa…) And at the time, it looks like it'll the the Kame Game. (So basically, with as little showing up in terms of profit, it kinda hurts for your grandkid to go buy things somewhere else.)

In any case, Jonouchi's referencing something that only happened in fanfic land obviously… But it's pretty much along the lines of 'Kame Game didn't have new cards, but the other store did.'

Remember when I said private conversations between the two (Yugi and Yami) wouldn't be heard by Jonouchi? Not really private if Yami Yugi is materializing on the side and shouting. (And you so know he is.) And as evidence of his 'shipper on deck' tendencies, he does more than a few things with the idea of helping Yugi get Anzu. Hehehe. Standard 'indoor voice' conversations however will remain unheard (So he gets to see their mouths moving, but the 'ghost' one makes no sound), and at the distance where you would normally not wince at a shout, he wouldn't be able to hear the 'ghost' half. Whooo!

By the way you can bet that the others got stuck with 'Paranoid-Jou' for the rest of the day as a result.

Oh, and the 'rumbling' he heard? Three guesses as to what that was…

Shizuka's 'I see...' is based on the Summer chapter... And also on the fact that Jonouchi as a whole has generally proven very incapable of figuring out what a lady is getting at, which makes his actually fairly accurate description (as of now) seem… Exaggerated. Unfortunately. (Mostly because, obviously, Shizuka doesn't know who her brother is talking about. And won't for quite a while.)

Yes, Jonouchi's mom is still checking in on her son's grades... She isn't happy either, particularly since Shizuka's own marks are on the complete opposite side of the scale; more on that will come later, in Battle City though.

Normally, I would say that it was clearly Kaiba's obsession with Blue-Eyes that translated into building a jet that resembled it. However, thinking back, with Kaiba so focused on the company during the 'evil' bit... Where was there any time to even consider making a Blue-Eyes White Jet with two seats? How... How did that ever come to mind, seriously! Was Kaiba just... Sitting at work, and suddenly 'Huh, I think I'll build a jet..'? Aaaaaaggghh so confusing... At least the airship made sense...

Though it did prove extremely important at the end of Battle City when I think about it... (Even so, I don't see the jet coming about because of the tournament... Eh, oh well...)

'Kotsu' is the Japanese onomatopoeia for knocking. It was typed as 'kots' in the fanfic however, as the 'u' in 'tsu' isn't often pronounced in that case.

Awwwwwww… They really do like each other… …I think. ...Three times! Three time's I've said this! We went from killing five old men to trading candy of all things!

On the other hand, FAN ART FOR YOU.

FanArt and My Art Section

Remember guys, if you can draw and are drawing things from the fanfic, let me know! I'd love to see!

Innnn any case... Remove the spaces, you'll have your link.

Fun With Dragons - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DragonFun. jpg - While watching 'How to Train Your Dragon', I got a little bored, and decided to try my hand at the style with Blue Eyes... There was empty space, so I half-heartedly gave it another shot with Red-Eyes (I gave up when the head went wonky. HAHAHAAA. Ahhh...), and then randomly decided Mokuba should get in on this as well. Despite the fact that both Kaiba and Jonouchi are probably like... Ten in these pictures. Oh well~ Obviously holds no canon/fanfic significance whatsoever, except to make you 'D'awwwww'.

Spoiler/Concept: Jou of the Past - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ PastPeople. jpg - Oh hey, it's a past Jonouchi! I gave him a reincarnation, but by Egypt's standards, he won't be very important... (As in, he's no Priest, that's for sure!) ...In any case, see if you can guess at what 'PastJou's occupation is! Has very little to do with the kid on the side; that was just me doodling. ...I'll give you a hint as to the occupation though; Scapegoat. Now go!