With only an hour left until he was expected to endure insufferable pleasantries without end, Yusei was facing down against his most hated rival – the bow tie. For a man capable of unravelling the secrets of the universe and constructing a Duel Runner from little more than discarded scrap, the exact methodology behind forming the perfect bow had eluded him for years. "Over, round, down, over." Carefully following precise instructions had somehow given him no clear advantage over the slim piece of fabric and he was currently trying to follow Crow's example as his brother tied it about his own knee. "See?" As the only one of the three brothers who had not been attended the social circles which required a bow tie, it was amazing that he was also the only one who could successfully create one. "It's not that hard." Holding out the completed circle, he took Yusei's withering look in stride.
"I'll just go without it." Dressed in a suit so sharp that he could cut himself, Yusei felt distinctly uncomfortable. It had been the result of a psychological experiment from one of the crazier collusions at the SRC to make the perfect formal outfit. As a staunch disbeliever, he had been given the honour of being their test subject. Never again would he doubt the power of a professional tailor with a team of psychologists backing them up. Fiddling with his top button, he cut a carefree air. "How do I look?" Realising that both of his brothers were suddenly slack-jawed, Yusei felt a slight tingle on the back of his neck. It reminded him of the one time that he had accused Din of making a mistake and turned around to see him sharpening a chair leg into a shiv.
"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Standing on the middling landing between the two floors was the single most enchanting sight that he had ever seen. Working with Misty might have just been a means to humanitarian ends for Luna but she made sure that her skill at those means was unshakeable and two hours of fibre-precise adjustments had produced work that would have fetched high enough prices to bankrupt her student-loan-encumbered friend.
Scarlet hair had been parted on the right of her forehead, curving delicately around the nape of Akiza's neck and cascading gently over her left shoulder. A backless silk dress hugged every curve of her body, crafted from a colour of such intensity that it matched the nearly alive hair that swung over the top of her bodice. Gracing either ear was an expensive ruby earring on loan from her mother which had been a gift from Hideo to celebrate their engagement. Delicately strapped high-heels peeked out from beneath the perfectly hanging hem, just about able to be glimpsed through the cut that led almost to a hip. Of course, the only way to see the shoes through that gap was if you weren't distracted by the slip of creamy thigh that lay beneath or the daringly cut neckline which was already on view. And that was only visible if it was possible to evade the smouldering gaze from a face which had been so delicately touched up that it was impossible to tell with the cumulative effect of her appearance shattering even the best minds of her generation.
"Um... uh... er" Finally able to loosen the collar about his neck, Yusei couldn't pretend that it was inhibiting his ability to speak properly.
"What my brother is so ineloquently trying to put together." Smoothly sliding into the conversation with the undetectable brotherly smugness that would come back to haunt Yusei later, Jack interpreted the various noises into a more coherent form of language. By lucky virtue of not being her target, he was able to overcome the peripheral effects by adapting his anger therapy to the surprising new circumstances. "Is that you look positively resplendent and it would be his honour to take you out for a relaxing evening about the town. Perhaps you would be so graceful as to let him escort you to an event reserved for the upper echelons of society?" Anticipating the one day regained the ability to speak for himself, Yusei made a mental note to thank his brother for covering the sudden absence of his intellect. "There is the possibility of dancing, probability of meaningful encounters and certainty that it will be an evening to remember." Unless Jack had suddenly become a prophet for five minutes, he had no idea just how right his words would be.
"Really?" Delicately gliding down the stairs with the sort of grace that came from being able to perform brain surgery and riding a Duel Runner at speeds that would make most people giddy, Akiza displayed no outward signs that she was secretly delighting in Yusei's dumbfounded expression. "All of that?"
"There may be some minor embellishment." Noticing how his brother was still not moving, Crow gave him a subtle poke in the back. Although Jack had managed to overcome the effects of Akiza's presence with mental exercises he had been taught, Crow had slowly regained his senses all by himself. "But I think he probably got the broad strokes right. Right, Yusei?" Finally starting to bring his vocal cords back under control, Yusei nodded to indicate that he agreed with his usually less delicate brother's translation.
"Yarh, I mean, yes." Fluent in many languages and passable in many more, his native tongue was failing Yusei that evening. Every situation – from trading scathing insults with Din to discussing complex legal agreements with Kamikawa to the wild and varied conversations with his brothers – had utterly failed to prepare Yusei for the raw beauty descending towards him.
"That hair will never do." Akiza had spent enough time with raised hands fixing her own hair that fingers had lost feeling several times. By contrast, Yusei had showered. Due to the importance of the event, he had even used some conditioner. "Come here." Pulling his head down slightly, she carefully ran her hands over his hair. Combing it together, she gently slipped an elastic hairband around the stripes of colour. "How's that?" With her arms ensnaring his head, there was no way for Akiza to miss the look of minor betrayal. Or for Yusei to miss how they were pressed together in distinctly arousing ways.
"Why were you going to bring elastic hairbands if you're wearing your hair down?" Remembering that they were not alone, the pair separated as Crow's thoughtless question ruined the moment. A vengeful part of Yusei's mind that he didn't even know existed started planning how to ruing his brother.
"Because I knew that he would try anything to get out of this." Giving a stern glare at her escort for the evening – which he deflected by examining the dust gathering on the ceiling beams – Akiza noticed another subtle attempt to evade the events of the evening. "And where's your mask?" Being a masked ball, there was no way that they would be let in with open faces. Ironically, it was usually the other way around.
"Remember how you told me to go and find one?" While Martha had been able to force Yusei into a suit by telling his brothers to make it so, she had neglected to mention the mask. "Well, I didn't. So there." If Akiza didn't know how much Yusei cared about Abi, she would have begun to suspect that the trial had been concocted purely to avoid attending the ball. If her appearance hadn't been so enchanting, he would have been able to come up with a convincing excuse.
"That's okay." Beckoning to Jack, she wielded absolute authority in the room. Her two newest subordinates were trying to work off a lot of wrath from their prank with the water. "Jack got you one." A look can say many things. 'I love you' is a popular look. So is 'I loathe you'. In extremely precise circumstances, a look can even mean 'whatever you do, don't cut the red wire or we'll all be smears on the wall'. The one that Yusei was sending his brother roughly translated into 'traitor' and the look he received in reply was 'right now, she's more scary than you'.
"Trudge." Feeling increasingly like he was under arrest again, Yusei lunged for the single avenue of escape that still existed. "I didn't tell Trudge. And I can't go unless he's informed in advance." It was the last line of defence that he had left. One step out of the square and he would be in violation of his house arrest, the ICC would have him spirited away to a secret prison in minutes and there would certainly be no ball.
"That's okay." As if on cue, a horn honked just outside Poppo Time. "Lazar asked him to chaperone for the evening. He'll drop us off and pick us up at the end." Considering that Yusei had managed to evade and outwit Yliaster several times over the past few months, it could be forgiven that he had forgotten they were only the second most manipulative force in his life. First place went to his peculiar mismatched family.
"Fine." Reaching into the paper bag Jack was holding out, Yusei pulled out his mask for the evening. "Seriously?" Waving the disguise about, he was tempted to ram it straight into Jack's face. "This was the best you could come up with? What happened to anonymity?"
"Hey," Shrugging off the issue with the same game face that hid a victory grin, Jack pretended not to recognise the problem. "You were told to get a mask and didn't so the job went to me." What was in danger of being used as an instrument of murder was a midnight-blue mask speckled with silver stars, delicately curved into a crescent moon that would rest over his cheekbones. At least Yliaster would just kill him outright rather than by inches.
"Well," Hooking the mask over his ears with a scowl set into the empty space around his mouth, Yusei cut a dashing figure. "How do I look?"
"Like an idiot." Jack replied. Martha had raised them to be honest with each other and they would follow that rule whenever there was the opportunity to have fun with the truth.
"A speckled idiot." Was Crow's helpful addition. Like Jack, he was feeling the moral obligation to tell the truth. More so if he could get away with it before the mesmerised brain could start functioning once more.
"You look fine." At least Akiza was able to go incognito with a laced rose design blooming up her nose to flower on her forehead with the vines spiralling out around her eyes and across her cheeks. "Come on," Holding out her hand impatiently, she waited for Yusei to take it in one of his own. "Don't wait up." Practically dragging him up the ramp, she waved his brothers into silent submission with one graceful arm. A silent plea for help went unspoken as the corner of his eye caught the enchanting sight that preceded him up the ramp. Biology trumped neurology and crushed his outright displeasure at being forced into a social event full of people who probably hated him with the sight of Akiza's perfectly curved rear.
"Do you think it's too late to get a hotel room?" Watching their brother's enchanted gaze get drawn up the stairs, Crow had an idea of the sort of events that would be happening later on. Just many years faster than they had for him.
"For who?" Noting how the door wasn't even closed properly as Yusei's brain continued to fail at the most basic level, Jack had a much better understanding than Crow. Being reigning World Champion – until Yusei had returned to active duty – had been a powerful aphrodisiac. "Us or them?" Professional witches couldn't have cackled as had as Crow as he realised exactly what Jack was subtly implying. Exactly if the departed pair would be hooking up for an exciting tryst in a fancy hotel or a romantic evening together at home.
"Trudge." Waiting with an open door to a plain car, the chaperone had been decided to wear a smart blazer over his casual shirt. A very smart social decision that Mina had supported right from the moment that she had pulled it out of the closet for him. "Nice of you to do this."
"You look wonderful." Years of stern tutoring under the control of his partner – both in work and life – had embedded a list of phrases for all circumstances. Those instincts that had been implanted in advance saved his hide from the cataclysmic effects of Akiza's appearance. "You're a lucky man." Speaking in an almost robotic monotone, he noted Yusei's mildly dazed appearance and wondered just how his own brain was functioning when the smartest man he had ever met wasn't even able to speak. Only when the door actually closed on Akiza did the spell break.
"Wha..." Coming back to his senses, he checked his surroundings and tried to account for the last thirty seconds. "Trudge?" Images other than the taut sight of Akiza's behind managed to force themselves to the fore of his mind. "I think I'm in trouble."
Laughing as his friend walked around the back of the vehicle – only bumping into both ends of the trunk as he tried to shake free from the vestiges of his mental cobwebs – Trudge held off from opening the door. "You have no idea." While the younger man could talk his old friend under the table on almost every other subject under (and including) the sun, greater experience meant that Trudge could see just how dangerous the determined young lady was.
Conversation was sparse on the journey. Trudge was focussing more on the drive, Akiza was relaxing in the knowledge that she was the reason Yusei couldn't speak and the aforementioned mute stuttered to a halt before he could begin every time that he looked across the seat. Twenty minutes of precise driving later, they pulled to a graceless halt outside of a swanky hotel a stone's throw from a shore edge.
"Okay, you kids have fun." If there weren't enough official perks to his job, Trudge was satisfied by the sheer outrage set into Yusei's scowl as he looked over at the posh entrance. "Don't do anything that I wouldn't do and I'll pick you up when the boat gets back."
"Back? Boat?" Then he saw the magnificent cruise ship docked on the far side of the road from the hotel. Several ramps lead to the deck with an array of black masks checking invitations of the crowds slowly filtering up to attend. A few grey masks were observing the funnelling process as it happened. Once everyone was aboard, it would pull off for the perfect sense of privacy and there would be no escape. "Trudge?" Tugging on the suddenly unresponsive handle, he pounded on the window with his spare hand as the car started to pull away from the curb. "Trudge? Trudge, TrudgeTrudge!" Running after the car even a few steps was difficult in dress shoes and he was forced to give up the chase as instinct screamed of the smile that was growing behind him. "You knew about this." Turning around wasn't an option with the mere sight of Akiza striking him silent.
"Of course." By the time he realised that his sense of smell could just as easily be manipulated, an impossibly alluring scent wafted over him as she snuck up behind him and slid her right arm around his left. "Did you make sure to bring the invitation?" Trying to lie to a psychologist was difficult yet not impossible. But trying to throw every excuse under the sun to say that he wasn't going to attend the ball only to have the embossed card tucked firmly in his pocket betrayed his lack of resistance. And – by the way that he couldn't deny the question – Akiza knew it. "This is going to be fun." No sooner had the words left her mouth than Yusei felt a twinge of instinct.
"Wait." Standing on the pavement outside a fancy hotel, he felt like an uncomfortable prickle growing in his back. "Something's off." Not feeling the same sensation, Akiza just looked about as they tried to locate the cause. Unlike the tingle that had pricked his neck in Poppo Time, this came from a less friendly source.
Spotting the culprit at the same time, Yusei's mouth suddenly ran dry. If the ball hadn't been enough reason to consider fleeing, the mere sight of them filled the gauge the rest of the way. "Took you long enough to get here." Waiting for them on the side of the far road was an unmistakable figure, no matter how differently they were disguised that evening.
"Musume." Disengaging his arms from Akiza's in case the waiting party tore it off, they both crossed the road to where she stood.
"How did you know it was us?" Even though Akiza was a wonderfully dressed rose in a garden of incomparable flowers, Yusei was dressed almost identically to every other man at the party. With their masks on, they should have been invisible to everyone else.
"The shouting helped." Admittedly, screaming after his departing driver had been a major clue. "And the car." Opening his mouth to tell her that Trudge's undercover car had been as surreptitious as any other at the event, Yusei noticed a slight flashing in the corner of one eye. Caught behind a trail of cars, the impatient cop had opted to flash his lights in order to secure a faster return to his partner back home.
"Well," Trying to defuse the situation, Akiza focused on the positives. "You look nice."
Musume was looking regally resplendent in a white kimono that slowly slipped towards a gentle rose pink the around the hems and edges. An intricately carved dragon mask was a bit on the nose and so ornate that Yusei was partially worried that maybe she had stolen it from a museum. There was the faintest whiff of perfume that had definitely not been present before. Akiza might have admitted her daughter was beautiful if it hadn't been for that air that she wanted to rip apart the world.
"I. Hate. This." Speaking through gritted teeth behind that mask gave a strange echo to the words.
"Then why did you come?" As the words exited her mouth, Akiza realised that the dragon mask was tiled more in her direction than Yusei's. Of course, her daughter from another life had come to make sure that she was alright. Before this could actually be articulated, another voice approached the conversation.
"You're here. Wonderful." Note that the tone actually had a sense of anger. Consider if that qualifies as sarcasm or irony. Wonder if calling the police would be amiss. Realise that it would mean alerting Yliaster. Reconsider slightly. Turn around and be thankful the mask meant you didn't have to pretend to look happy. Reconsider calling the police anyway.
"Obake." In the time it took Yusei to process potentially selling out the man whose life he may have sacrificed, Akiza came to the more reasonable choice of not letting pity overwhelm her. Unlike her partner, she had actually tried to get to know the Englishman and sympathised slightly. "What are you doing here?" Coated in an outfit so high-collared that it was practically from the Victorian era, Obake was dressed in a black tux that overlaid a crisp white dress shirt and buried hidden beneath a light overcoat. At his neck was a bowtie that seemed to have been tied slightly askew but was really a simple elastic fake. Even when sneaking into a party, Obake wasn't insane enough to put a noose around his own neck. Any hint of his features had been hidden behind a curved white mask that had been carefully stolen from a higher-end retail store for one evening of brief encounters.
"I have not been to a party in many years. Just for one night, I wanted a taste of normal." Several limos drove past in a coordinated movement as more celebrities and politicians arrived at the party. It was far from normal. "This is not something that I want to be ruined by your group and their rivalries." Straightening his tie, Obake tried to glare at the trio. It was difficult when they couldn't see his eyes behind the wide tinted lenses. The pale base and dark overlay made his head almost look like an oversized owl.
"What if I just ripped your arms off and dumped you in the water?" One of Crow's more vocal threats growing up with Jack had been to tear off one of his brother's arms and then beat him with it. Yusei shuddered to think of what sort of circumstances Musume had picked up the threat.
"That would be an interesting experience." Carefully bringing his left arm up and wrapping it under his right, a slim blade appeared in Obake's hand like magic. "If you could get close enough to do it." In the chill winds by the sea, it was inevitable the only two uninvited people at the party who were the most likely to start a fight.
"How about we just take a minute to talk about this?" Stopping the battle before it could begin, Yusei risked stepping into the periphery of their sight. If either of his brothers had been present, one or both of them would have made a joke at a hate-hate relationship or the two younger people having a deadly crush. Obake was giving the strong impression that he didn't mind killing any of the people he held responsible for ruining his life and Musume was practically ready to go rip his head off with her bare hands in response to the blatant threat. Knives didn't even come into it for her. "Obake, what would it take to get Mu... my friend into the party?"
"I want paying." It was a fast answer and not at all what Obake really wanted but it was a greedy enough excuse to cover himself.
"How much?" Yusei's own earnings weren't large (an effort to make his station seem unappealing to anyone in it for themselves) yet he was willing to tighten his belt if it meant sneaking Musume aboard without bloodshed.
"Put me on payroll." It took the words a moment to sink in and Akiza was the first to react.
"Pardon?" Having met Obake prior to discovering his connection to Yliaster and riding with him in the expensive and luxurious Grayston truck during the Pegasus Trinidad, Akiza hadn't even thought about the problem of trying to remain anonymous and earn money at the same time. "What's he talking about?"
"It's complicated." Recollections of the past flooded Yusei's mind in a wave of guilt.
"It's not complicated at all." Similar memories entered Obake's. "When I first arrived at the SRC, Professor Fudo arranged a little hiding place in the utility tunnels." Personally fetching and relocating the necessary items, Yusei had converted one of the smaller storerooms into a tiny corner for Obake to live in and left him some spare clothes. A few meals were carried down each day when nobody would notice and Obake gradually began to recover from his ordeal. "Over time, he began to forget about me." It had been a simple enough slip at first. An unavoidable meeting that stretched on most of the day. Then a conference overseas that he had been volunteered for. A few times he had remembered to give Obake some money in advance but eventually, Yusei forgot about the man altogether as his condition worsened and the pale spectre began working around the SRC in such an innocuous fashion that few people even knew he existed. Spotting him in the dining hall eating one of Chris' meals had cemented the idea that Obake was coping in Yusei's mind and he had left the young man to his own devices ever since. Never did the issue of money cross his brain. "Did he tell you that all the work I did for the SRC was technically voluntary? I haven't been paid for any of it."
There wasn't room behind his mask to see Yusei's face but Akiza watched the tips of his ears gradually colour in shame. "Fine. I'll figure out some way to pay you once we're done here."
"Retroactively?" Without any distinct movement, that dull blade was gone from behind Obake's fingers.
"Don't push your luck." Even if Yusei could figure out some way to start paying Obake for the work he did around the SRC, it was impossible to move such a large amount without setting off alarms up and down the system. "Now that we've agreed," There was a surly grunt that Yusei pretended not to hear. "To get along." A louder grunt was more difficult to ignore but Yusei persevered. "Can you tell us how you planned on getting into the party?"
"Simple. All the attendants are scanning invites as guests show up." Lacking the common beeping noise – probably because it might offend some of the richer guests – the white masks at the launch ramp were professionally scanning the codes from the guests' phones and manually checking off printed white rectangles. "Which means they either have the entire database on each device (which would be stupid) or,"
"Or they're connecting to a local server to verify each invitation." Seeing the best answer going onwards, Musume was begrudgingly impressed. "And all the phones can check is for the right encryption key being sent back."
"Which could be harvested from the wireless transmissions whenever they check a new pass." Yusei wasn't criminally-minded so it took him a fraction longer to see the conclusion.
"But the server would notice a fake invitation unless the scanner was looped into another system first." And Akiza was fast enough to prove she was a genius in more fields than one. "Which wouldn't need to last long enough for more than a single check." Slightly deflated as his plan was quickly deconstructed by the others, Obake was still quick to regain his composure.
"It will take me a moment to amend the fake name." It had occurred to Obake that this could easily be some sort of sting or scam to have him imprisoned but he was beyond caring at that moment in time. Pulling a chunky tablet from his pocket, he briefly checked on the programs already running before adding just three words of text to his fake invitation to the event. "Congratulations, you are now Dominica Latella. Adopted by an American couple, we probably met because we have foreign names. Mine's Peter Salerno." It only took a moment for him to hash out a background and hash in an extra name to the completed program. "It might help ta ah-dopt ah fake axcent." Polite English had morphed into drawling Texan between the start and end of the sentence. Now in a group of four, the quartet approached the boat as fast as social convention allowed. None of them were particularly eager to stick together longer than was necessary.
Wireless devices connect to any correctly named access point with the strongest signal. If that access point just so happened to be a false copy of the network port which connected them to the server, it was no real loss. After all, the scanners would only respond to the correct encryption key being returned. So unless a figure had been lurking around without reason only to suddenly try and sneak in, there was no cause for concern. And since this doughy-owl mask had just shared a brief conversation with some late arrivals before joining up with them, he had clearly just been waiting on his partner.
One quiet beep later and Obake gallantly lead the way up the boarding ramp. Musume would refuse to turn her back on anyone she didn't trust. There was no way to suspect that they had entered the event under a fake invitation. Especially when all hidden eyes were turning towards the commotion that was occurring to the next pair of guests behind them.
"I'm sorry, this invitation isn't on the list." Thankful for a prepared line that fit the eventuality he was facing, the concierge was handing back the card with a noticeable shake. "I'll have to ask you to leave." Now, Yusei had been fully committed to avoiding the party at all costs right up until that moment when Akiza had struck him dumb with her radiance. Everything since then had been a rear-guard action to keep up a brave face and he would be damned if they were going to be turned away at the gate.
"Take a look at the name on the invitation." Slipping into the politically polite tone he kept for such occasions as when his internal voice whispered lines similar to 'How about I punch that smug smirk off that face', Yusei held out the card for another read. "Take a look at the reason this event is even being hosted." Printed in embossed lettering were the words 'We invite you to a cordial celebration of New Domino City's new King of Games' being literally held in the hand of the new King of Games staring on the invite. "And if you still have any problems," Lifting his mask to one side just long enough that the distinctive criminal mark beneath his eye could be seen, Yusei dropped his voice into less pleasant registers for the eight words every entry-level grunt instinctively feared. "I would like to speak to your manager."
Gratefully taking the offered exit with both hands, guests filtered off towards the other ramps as the concierge scurried off to one of the impassively watching grey masks that had already been looking over at the interruption in loading. Facial cues are only one way of determining ongoing events. From the way that the black-masked concierge leaned in, they were whispering to keep the news from spreading. And judging by the way that the grey mask twitched slightly, leaned to one side to look at them and instantly began hurrying over, Akiza could tell that they were nervous.
"Prof.. Doc... Mr Fudo!" Although he was now being spoken to by a managerial-level mask, that flustered effect he was having had spread upwards through the chain of command. With his personal wish to be titled 'Doctor' and the invitation addressed to 'Professor', upper management settled for using a more traditional form of address.
"Yusei will do fine." Seeing how the blank mask had struggled to pick a title, it was clear he was a tabloid reader who believed Yusei was to be stripped of his professional qualifications. Unlike proper reporters, tabloids rarely felt the need to uncover the truth when they could pretend denial of ludicrous claims was a cover-up. "We seem to be having some trouble with my invitation." Gripping card between thumb and finger, he held out the invitation for another scan.
"Ah," Withdrawing the card again, Yusei sensed trouble brewing beneath the surface tension of polite nonsense. "Considering recent events, we thought that you might perhaps be taking some time to yourself?" Translation: we heard you were in jail and cut you from the list.
"Considering recent events, I realised that my open invitation to this party was just what I needed to get over those baseless accusations." Reading between the lines to 'we cancelled your invite', Yusei responded with an equally powerful 'no RSVP, no cancelling and you wish I was in jail but here I am, talking to lucky old you'.
"Are we going to stand out here all night?" Lifting off her mask, Akiza dabbed away at an imaginary smear of mascara. Her makeup – like her dress – was absolutely perfect yet gave her an excuse to reveal her face.
"Just while we sort out this minor problem." Thinking nothing of the mask before, the faceless beauty Yusei had on his arm suddenly became a lot more important. "It shouldn't take too long." Following her cue perfectly, he played the part of gently suffering escort well enough.
"I'd hate to tell daddy this company couldn't even get a simple invitation right." Dropping her mask back down, she managed to keep the smile out of her voice. "He heard such nice things from all his friends." Jots were joined. Yusei Fudo was here with Akiza Izinski. Akiza Izinski was the daughter of Senator Izinski. Senator Izinski was going to tell his friends how the company cancelled invitations without informing the guests. Friends who were as powerful as senators but could still be in the business sector. Which is where this unfortunate manager was working.
"Would you mind coming with me for a moment?" Hustling them away from the desk, the blank mask ushered them into a functional little temporary office nearby before leaving to make a panicked phone call.
Alone in the room, the pair burst out laughing as quietly as they could manage. "That was wicked." Trying to take control of his breathing Yusei actually had to put his hands on his knees. "Did you really just do that?" In the sparse area of a temporary office cabin, they struggled to recover their composure.
"Well," Using her mask to fan cooler air back onto her face, she just barely managed to keep from choking. "I'm sure somebody he knows has been to one of these types of parties." So many layers were in the sentence that Yusei couldn't even pick between them as he burst out into fresh rounds of laughter.
Hearing footsteps approaching the door, Yusei and Akiza hid themselves behind their masks again and tried not to let out the giggles they held inside. As the door opened, it was clear that they had risen even higher up the food chain. The suit this woman was wearing was clearly several steps above the regular cut and she moved with an unconscious grace forged from hours of practice. Over her face was a mask of pure white, punctured by sapphire eyeholes.
"Dr Fudo." Unlike her predecessor, this one had clearly done her homework before entering the room. "I apologise for this mistake. It seems that somebody revoked your invitation during the events of your trial." Those authoritative tones lingered in the back of Akiza's mind. She knew that this woman had met them somewhere before. If only that mask wasn't in the way.
"Probably thinking I was unlikely to set the record straight in time." Even through it all, Yusei still held no ill-will to the people who had been hoping he would end up in jail. Everyone was entitled to their opinion, no matter how ridiculous.
"Be that as it may," Smoothly ducking the inference, she continued to control the situation. "As you made no move to cancel your invitation, I will consider it valid and hope you enjoy the rest of the party. As an apology, I will extend the invitation to include Dr Izinski." Between the various bouts of recent excitement - being arrested, thrown in jail, put on trial, seeing Akiza in that dress - Yusei had forgotten that his was the only name on the invitation. He could have used that to avoid coming to the stupid party. Turning around to open the door for them, the white mask paused with her hand on the knob. "I personally apologise for tonight's incident." Looking into the plain mask, Yusei tried to see the eyes behind it. "Please, enjoy the party." A slight tingle ran down his spine at the heartfelt confession.
"We look forward to it." Inclining his head, he took Akiza's arm again and gracefully swept up the ramp towards the bustling hub of the party.
"Was it just me or did she seem familiar?" A tiny sense of doubt marked her words. Without a face to put a name to, it was difficult to know if it was the same person.
"I didn't notice." There was only one option available when a female friend asked about another beautiful woman – deny everything. Just make sure not to do it too quickly on they catch on. Or too slowly because they'll notice the pause. Be prepared for instant failure.
"Uh-huh." A major problem with trying to lie to a woman is that they are usually smart enough to see the ruse. "Let's just try to enjoy the evening." Gripping the arm a bit tighter than was necessary, it was apparent that Yusei's enjoyment of the evening would be happening whether he wanted it or not. Just about everything was out of his control. "How about we start with a dance?" Although he may have been many things, careful planning had kept Yusei from ever having to become any sort of dancer. Any hope of escape was left back on the shore as the ramps were retracted and the boat began to edge away from the land.
In an empty corridor nearby, Yusei wasn't the only one finding events out of his control. Grabbing at the wall to steady itself, unsteady gasps filtered out through a gaping mouth as the figure struggled to draw in enough air. Every variable had been planned for, every eventuality considered. Even the two former Signers showing up had been taken into the planning, inevitably dragging Musume at their heels. Hubris had prevented the admission of a critical weakness slipping from control for even a few hours. Fumbling through several pockets, nimble hands were able to piece together a much-needed aid and apply it. Risking several seconds of deep breathing allowed an equilibrium to be restored. In, out, in, ooout. Order returned. Straightening up, gloved hands smoothed the outside suit down again. Not as expensive as many at the party but it was better to be discovered as a cheapskate rather than an unruly mess from stealing an expensive suit that didn't fit. Back in control, the figure quietly returned to the party as unnoticed as it ever was.
The main venue was a splendid spectacle. Fancy stage at one end for the band, lengthy bar along the inside wall and sweeping views of the departing city out of the floor-to-ceiling glass panes along the other, with impractically long curtains framing them at regular intervals. A sprawling rectangular pattern in the centre of the room marked out a place for couples to twirl and spin to the fancy music with chattering guests surrounding them on all sides.
Musume was not an easily spooked person. Standing alone in the middle of a masked crowd, she felt her stomach tighten from instinctive trepidation. She had tagged along to the crazy masked ball in the quite likely event that Yliaster targetted Yusei and her mother was swept up in the chaos. Being suddenly separated from them was causing her to feel no small amount of anxiety. They could be just about anywhere in the crowd, if not the ship.
Looking for a single face in a crowd is not as hard as most people believe. Get a decent vantage point, look for hair colour, distinctive clothing, facial features. Attempting to find two people in a crowd where more than half the people were wearing the same outfit, the rest were dressed in distractingly gorgeous designs and everyone had masks on was marginally more difficult.
Trying to force through the mess would draw more attention and actually slow her down. Luckily, there was an area with a good view of the crowds, plenty of space to move about in and barely scrutinised. All she needed was an accomplice. Scanning nearby clusters for a good match turned up an interesting result leaning the wall only a few feet away from a pair of doors, partially obscured by a drooping plant.
"Hey!" Putting on a deathly cheerful air, she reached through the leaves to grab one shoulder. "Fancy a dance?" As they stepped around the bending leaves to face her directly, Musume was glad the mask prevented any embarrassment from showing on her face.
It was an almost identical outfit. Black suit, sweeping coat and that distinctive high-collared neckline she had only seen one other person at the party wearing. "Sorry, I thought you were my date for the evening." Almost identical except that Obake had been wearing an eggshell coloured mask and this figure was wearing one so dark that it seemed flat from every angle. There was something else as well. So much of the body language in this figure was different that she couldn't really believe she had mistaken them for Obake even for a moment. They seemed... softer somehow. More fluid in each movement.
Staring at her with an amused air, the stranger carefully bowed as one hand raised in invitation. Maybe it wasn't the easily manipulatable fool that she had been looking for but one body was as good as another.
"Well. Thank you." Not many people at the party would have been willing to forgive such an intrusion yet this one seemed to take it in good spirits as they followed her out to the dance floor. Probably just a foreign visitor who had no idea what she was saying. Taking the hand, she dragged the bemused body out onto the dance floor. Setting one hand on a hovering touch by her hip, the impromptu dance partner cautiously followed Musume's lead as they moved in graceless patterns across the dance floor.
Now, Musume was many impressive things. Turbo Duellist, Signer, recently trained flyer. But one activity that she had never put any thought towards was dancing. Her lead bumped into other dancers, stumbled backwards and sideways. It was only in time to music insofar as there was music at the same time that she was dancing. In the space of a minute, she realised that the major flaw of her ingenious plan was the creator.
Deftly twisting both hands into a new posture, her formally submissive partner realigned their stance. Not enough to grip Musume's but simply held their own in place for her to lean on. "Hey, what are you doing?" A slight tilt of the head and the air of 'are you kidding?' made the hidden raised eyebrow unnecessary. To call their movements up until that moment without grace would have been an understatement. Shifting one leg to the outside, they waited for a heartbeat as Musume cautiously followed the lead. Step, step, step. Step, step-on-toes, stumble. Keeping both hands steady, it was impossible for Musume to actually fall as she clutched at that unyielding palm and lifted herself upright.
'Nothing to worry about. We can always try again.'
Not exactly words yet a clear meaning in the careful grip that squeezed hers for just a moment. Step, step, step. Step, step, stumble. Step, step, step. Step, step, step. In the space of a few movements, she found herself gliding gently across the floor. Clear and gentle circles that slowly revolved around and let her carefully scan the masks in the background. For just an instant as they gradually moved about the space, Musume had the most unusual sensation. Unless there was a better word for it, she might have called it enjoyable. Simply dancing in simple circles was providing her with a distinctive sense of simple joy. Then time moved onwards, reality returned and events continued to proceed.
Tapping her clasped hand with one finger, the figure slowed their spinning and jerked their head to indicate Musume stare straight over one shoulder. Tucked neatly against one wall was the lengthy bar. It appeared her impromptu partner was offering a drink. More importantly, dancing just behind them was the softly speaking pair that she had been looking for when they first moved out onto the dance floor.
"Maybe some other time." It was strange. For the brief time that they had been pressed together, Musume hadn't felt that presence of anger and hatred that had permeated her every inch since leaving Paris. Even that little voice that had been constantly whispering in her head had faded away in the gentle moves of the dance. "Thanks for the dance." Stepping away from the silent figure, she walked out to the periphery of the crowd again. Now that she knew where to look, it was possible to keep an eye on them from afar.
Stepping out into a corridor again, an uninvited guest carefully raised their right hand to examine the covering as the left moved to stow away some small items. Something was different about appendage inside. It... tingled? Carefully replacing a mask, gently dissipating thoughts almost scoffed at the idea. What sort of diagnosis could come from 'tingles'?
Against everything that he had done to avoid attending the party, Yusei was being forced to admit a dreadful truth. When his brothers found out, there would be severe blows dealt. "Admit it." Spelt across his chin in tiny little markers that a good psychologist could read from across a room, it was the one currently a few inches away that was the trouble. "You're having fun."
"If there's anything that being on trial has taught me," Reading cues for himself, the physicist was plotting the course that was being laid out for him. "It's to deny everything until your accuser has proof." Figuring out where her feet were about to move, he made sure to keep an inch ahead at all times. It was strangely difficult for a man who was used to reacting to speeding vehicles.
"Admit it." Adopting a little sing-song voice, she shifted ever-so-slightly closer to him as they moved through the steps. "You're hav-ing fu~n."
"Dr Izinski." Curving around another pair on the floor, a flash of white went unnoticed in the corner of his eye. "Are you reading me?" In psychological terms 'reading' a person was taking all those tiny little facial ticks and body postures to get a glimpse at their inner-workings. With degrees in neurology, psychology and both a physical and mental insight into his mind, interpreting the subtle clues he was expressing was child's play to her. It was also not meant to
"What makes you think that I would need to?" With the ship already floating out into the open sea of New Domino Bay, there was no option of retreat. With his dwindling resistance, there was no option other than to accept his fate and make sure at least one of them had a nice evening. Yusei was not the sort of person who would disappoint his friends. "Admit it."
"Not without talking to my lawyer." He was also not the sort of person to give in easily. A minute passed while he considered the damage his reputation would suffer if word ever got back to the competition about what he was about to do. "But it's not as awful as I thought it would be." Looking at that smile almost blinded Yusei as he suffered another rare mental stutter.
Then Akiza said something that took him completely by surprise.
"Do you remember what we talked about the other night?" Lying with a covered face was incredibly easy. Any hints of deception were literally masked, there was nothing visible save the sights of his eyes. That would have been enough. But Yusei couldn't bring himself to lie. Not about anything that important. Not to her.
"... Every word." Nearly everything altogether. Right up until he walked into the bathroom. After that was blank. "I didn't expect to but I do." A quiet moment went past as he envisaged countless futures falling apart from the words.
"What are you going to do about it?" Of all the events that could have spiralled out of his confession, this was one that he hadn't been expecting. For a moment, he considered the idea that he was dead and rotting with his soul journeying to an undeserved paradise. Then she repeated the question. "Well? What are you going to do?"
Various emotions waged bloody war inside his heart. Fear, doubt, fear, worry, anxiety, fear again. Mostly fear. Swallowing the thick lump that had stuck in his throat, Yusei grabbed all the courage that he had. "Let me take you to dinner." It was a soft invitation. Clearly ready to be turned down.
"Do you happen to know somewhere that reporters can't go?" She was teasing. Not willing to lean one way or the other just then. "Because I'm kinda famous around town." Everyone with a camera would be pointing it at their faces for months to come. Privacy wouldn't exist for them.
"Okay. What about my place?" Even though this one was actually a question, it was in a more certain tone.
"Hmm." Musing over the thoughts for a couple more twirls, she tried to logically weigh her options. "Do you have any pets?" Logic couldn't quite keep up with the conversation and went off to sulk in the corner as Akiza dismissed it for failing to be of any use.
"What?" It was a teasing question. She was playing with him. "Yeah, a cat." Like the dismissed notion of logic, Yusei couldn't keep up with her mind. A rare feeling for him.
"Sorry, that's a deal-breaker." Titling her mask to one side, there was no disguising the laughter in her eyes. "What about my place?"
"Do you own a cat?" Carrying them across the floor, he turned the joke back on her. "Because that would be a deal-breaker."
"According to a friend of mine, nobody actually owns cats. But one lives with me." For a smart man, he hadn't seen the obvious trick she had been playing on him.
"Your friend sounds like an idiot." Another flash of amusement came from behind that tendril mask.
"Oh, maybe about a couple of things. A good cook though. I was thinking of having dinner with him." Newspapers would never hear about it but Yusei was increasingly finding himself outmatched when it came to Akiza.
"Really?" Carrying them backwards across the floor, he tried to keep his heart from pounding through his chest.
"Only if he can hold his nerve long enough to actually ask." Giving them one last swirl, he slowed them to a corner of the dance floor as other pairs continued to cross the space.
"Can I make dinner for you?" Even though they were no longer actively dancing, she remained comfortably nestled within the embrace of his arm. Those high heels were just high enough for her to look him straight in the eyes without having to stretch. All that he could see was the faint twinkle of laughter darting through the fine lines in her irises.
"Only if I don't get a better offer." Leaning up, she moved until her lips were just about to meet his. "Buy me a drink." Unlike his first offer of dinner, hers was an order that could not be ignored.
"I..." Mesmerised by the hazel orbs that controlled his fate, Yusei tried to recall just what was happening and where he was. "I thought it was a free bar?" The company behind the event had to be racking up a massive bill from the constant drinking by socialites with a taste for the finer stuff.
"Oh?" Moving even closer, he felt the pull of the planet was less than the invisible force keeping him tortuously separated from pressing his lips to hers. "Then I'm buying." Trying to recover from whatever magic she had been working on and off the whole evening was like having a stroke in reverse. "What's your poison?"
"Club soda." Having a few social drinks at events was nothing new to Yusei but he needed every brain cell to keep functioning at even a tenth of its usual levels around Akiza. At roughly the same time that he listened to the enchanting figure request a red wine down to the vintage – a talent that he had no inkling that she possessed – darker orders were taking place elsewhere on the ship.
Having conversations behind those masks was strange. Akiza was less famous than Yusei and he was able to evade detection by simply changing the pitch of his voice. "I don't quite understand all this computer stuff." With his companion leading conversations simply by saying 'what do you think about the trial', the accused was actually finding out what opinions people had actually made about him. "But thinking computers? Well, I doubt that anyone could make one really alive if they tried." While the simpering figure probably needed ten minutes to brew a cup of coffee, Yusei took it to mean that they doubted his crimes. Not exactly the best that he could hope for but at least it was one person who believed he was innocent.
"Blow that." Unfortunately, her ageing husband had a very different take. "Trash is trash. I say we send that scum back to where he came from and be done with him. I don't know what that ridiculous mayor was thinking, letting him get above his station." Rolling the stem of her wine glass between fingers, Akiza was grateful that it was empty because she might have otherwise thrown it in his face.
"I thought that his father lived in the Tops?" Peeking at the corner of her vision to check his face, she wondered if Yusei was intentionally trying to mock the socialite. It was the voice that he used when imitating Jack. A surprising number of events had been peaceably passed by with its use. "So wouldn't you say that he's right where he's meant to be?"
Before the aggressive mind could reply with anything that would end poorly for him, a minor stir at the stage holding the musicians drew everyone's attention. A bulky outline was indicating that they hold the delicate music for a few minutes while he addressed the crowd. When he turned around to display a buzz-cut, it was evident that this was a man who kept the idea of 'relaxing' in the same mental box as the idea for 'exercise'.
"Ladies and gentlemen." Tight didn't quite do the suit justice. Barely containing the muscles beneath, it was actually possible to see a white vest poking out between the gaps of the shirt. "I have been given the unfortunate duty of informing you all of a potential security risk." Fearful muttering quickly spread. "There is no need to panic. We have discovered some signs which could indicate a stowaway. Then again," A professional smile made headway across the scowling face. "We might just need to hire a new cleaning crew." The small joke alleviated the tension just enough for a few laughs to break out across the room. "The majority of my team are sweeping the ship as we speak. In order to be our most effective, we must ask you all to remain in the main room for the time being." Something wasn't right. Hairs prickling on the back of his neck were telling Yusei that it was probably time to run and hit anything standing in his way. A concerned glance told him that Akiza was feeling it as well.
"In the unlikely event that the intruder is working with somebody in this room, we have blocked communications both in and out." It all sounded perfectly reasonable to the politicians about the floor and tables. Yet something continued to nag at the only Duellists there. "Should any of you require to make use of the facilities, I have requested two of my best to escort you both to and from the toilets." It was difficult to place a finger on but there was definitely something amiss. A fraction of movement in his eye drew attention to Musume. If anybody else would see a storm coming, it would be their personal shadow.
Turning back to face Akiza, Yusei almost missed it. Almost everybody else would have. The few who did would probably have pushed it from their minds automatically. But there were perks to having the largest recorded intelligence ever. One of them was the ability to recognise the significance of the muddy outlines being left behind by the departing shoes. Carefully calling Musume over with a jerk of his head, Yusei leant down and whispered a single sentence to Akiza. By the time their companion arrived, she had paled a shade but managed to put a game face up behind her mask. "Muddy footprints."
As smart as she was, the small clue was enough for the thief to unravel the rest of the riddle. Aboard the ship, there was very little mud and dirt. Plenty of grime and muck but no actual soil. The only place to grow anything was in the plant pots spread artistically across the lower decks. As insubstantial as that was, any littered dirt would have been shoved overboard with the side of a shoe and the rest quickly spread about by the constant pacing of the security personnel.
The only possible way to get enough imprinted on a shoe to last was if you somehow stepped in a flower bed four feet in the air. Of course, seeing them from the far side of the railing was impossible. Any trespassers would easily step into one of the numerous pots. But nobody would be stupid enough to believe that anybody would attempt to steal onto a boat mid-voyage.
This was originally one massive chapter with the next one but also then I realised it was 16k words so yeah, two chapters. Also, two reviews?