Author Note: My work schedule changed today, so I'm updating early. Enjoy!

Chapter 30:

Not a Confession

"Mokuba, go now." Seto growled at his brother as he finished changing into some of his more regular outside of work clothes.

"Fiine."

His brother looked disappointed, but headed out the door. Right as he opened the door, Seto heard another one close. What was that? No servants should be in this part of the mansion during the day, and especially not while I'm here. What idiot wants to be fired?

Ana's request not to fire the people involved with the parade popped in his mind. It's not like she needs to know if I fire them. But if she asks me later…. He sighed and went out into the hallway to investigate who was invading his wing of the mansion. The sound was pretty close… My study? Is someone trying to steal something? Not that I keep anything important in my study. That would be foolish considering how many people want to take over my company constantly.

He checked anyway and turned the doorknob, but when he pushed on the door, it didn't budge. Is it stuck? He tried again and realized that it wasn't stuck, but blocked. Someone's in my study. I'm going to rip this frickin' intruder a new one.

"Whoever's in there, you have three seconds to unblock this door before I break it down." He threatened.

There was a small odd noise from the other side that sounded like a squeak. He tried to open the door again, and this time it opened. His eyes fell on a familiar head of hair. Ana was standing in his study with the lights out, her back turned to him.

"Huh? What are you doing in here?" Seto almost doubted what he was seeing.

She turned to him. Her face was bright red, and she was holding her hands over her mouth, looking guilty. Slowly, she lowered her hands and adverted her eyes. "Hi… Amin-chan."

"Uh, hi? What are you doing in my study?" Seto pressed the issue.

She laughed nervously. "It was just the first door I went into."

"The first…? What are you doing in this wing? Your room is on the other side and I'm pretty sure they instructed you to rest before lunch."

"I got bored, so I was exploring." She still didn't look him in the face.

"With a concussion?"

This question made her seem more guilty.

He sighed. "Well, don't explore people's homes without permission. This is my wing. How would you feel if I entered your room without permission?"

"Not… great." She still wouldn't look at him, and in fact she seemed to shrink under his gaze.

Why is she acting so weird? He took a glance around the study. It doesn't look like she touched anything and based on when the door shut, she couldn't have been in here for more than a few seconds… Wait… Based on the timing… Frickin' shit she heard the conversation I was having with Mokuba! Wait, wait, think what was the last part of that conversation? He went over the conversation in his mind and came to one conclusion. I'm screwed. Do I tell her what she heard was a misunderstanding, or maybe that it was about some other girl? That would kind of piss me off though to make up a fake girl friend this time to trick the person I actually like.

This thought process took him about two seconds. The entire time he was thinking, Ana stood there fidgeting nervously. Finally, he decided. I'm just going to pretend that I didn't figure out she heard.

"You have a concussion. Go back to your room and rest. Someone will get you for lunch." Seto side stepped to let her out of the room. He kept his poker face on. Ana however looked very uncomfortable as she passed him and headed back down the hall to her section of the mansion. When she was gone, he walked into his room, picked up his pillow, and punched it as hard as he could. The pillow went flying and hit the floor. Damn it. She knows. He put his hands over his face and groaned. She looked so frickin' uncomfortable.

There was a ring on the phone the servants used to call and he picked it up.

"What?" He wasn't in the mood for anything annoying.

"Lunch is ready, sir. We'll send someone to guide your guest down momentarily."

"Don't." He paused. "I'll get her."

"… Very well, sir."

Seto hung up and let out another groan. What am I doing? Should I just tell her I know she heard? She has to spend the night here though. That will make this really awkward. Seto kept running over different scenarios in his head as he headed to Ana's room. When he got there, he stopped outside. Voices carried out to him. What the heck? Was the mansion always so unsound proofed?

"…. Yeah, he's still waiting for my answer to his confession..."

Seto's heart stopped for a moment. Wait, I didn't confess. She only overheard that I liked her.

"I told him that I mentally wasn't in a place after the kidnapping to date anyone…"

He felt his stomach drop. I know that… It's why I didn't want you to know.

"Yeah, I really should have just out rightly told him no. I'll have to tell him that when I get back."

Is she talking about someone else right now? Wait, who confessed to her? The realization that he may have some sort of rival made his competitive spirit stir. He quickly knocked before he could listen to anymore of the conversation. He heard her say goodbye, and she opened the door. She looked up at him, confused.

"Y-yeah?" She asked nervously.

"It's time for lunch."

"I… thought someone else was going to get me?" Ana's mouth pulled tightly, and she adverted her eyes.

He didn't make up an excuse and only sighed. Turning, he headed down the hall, Ana followed behind him. He took her to the dining room where a late lunch was already waiting for them. Servants pulled their chairs out for them. Ana looked rather uncomfortable, but thanked the servant. A couple minutes later, Mokuba rushed in and took his seat.

"Do you like your room, Sakurai-san?" Mokuba asked, trying to be pleasant.

"Huh? Uh, yeah. Thank you." She picked at her food.

Seto didn't join in the conversation. Not that it was much of a conversation. It was mainly Mokuba talking and Ana giving short answers. After a while he shot Seto a concerned look. However, Seto couldn't bring himself to join in. It was taking his full effort to eat and not throw up. This sucks. I don't remember the last time I was nervous because of someone else. Why does liking someone make me want to barf? Eventually, they finished lunch and Ana excused herself back to her room to rest. After she left, Seto dismissed the servants so that only he and Mokuba where in the room.

"What would be cheaper, hiring an assassin or sound proofing the whole manor?" Seto slumped in his seat and rubbed his temples.

"Nii-san, sometimes your train of thought confuses me." Mokuba sighed. "What's this about?"

"She overheard our earlier conversation and later I overheard hers. Apparently, some guy likes her and confessed to her. I guess he goes to her school."

Mokuba's mouth fell open, but he quickly recovered and cleared his throat. "Nii-san, you can't have every guy that confesses to her murdered. If you fell for her, she's obviously someone special. I'm sure she's going to attract attention from multiple people. But putting that aside, she knows you like her?"

"It would seem so."

Mokuba hopped out of his seat and walked around the table to Seto. "Alright then, go confess. Right now."

"What?" Seto looked at his brother like he'd lost his mind. "You saw how awkward it was. Confessing will not help anything."

"She knows. You know she knows. You can either go confess now or you can wait until she's back home to think about how to turn you down. Or maybe she'd run to this other guy, so she has a reason to turn you down." Mokuba put his hands on his hips and huffed.

Seto stood up and Mokuba lit up.

"Are you going to go—"

"No." Seto interrupted him. "I will not confess. I don't want to pressure her for an answer. But she did hear me. If I pretend to be ignorant about her knowing that's just going to make things more awkward."

His little brother looked at him baffled, and Seto pushed around him. Before he could change his mind, he went to Ana's room and knocked. She opened the door and gave him a concerned look.

"Yeah…?" She couldn't really meet his eyes.

Seto held up a finger, drawing her eyes. "I'm only going to say this once. I know you overheard my conversation with Mokuba earlier. Yes, we were talking about you. Yes, I like you in a romantic sense. No, I will not ask you out because it's obvious what your answer would be. So, you can stop acting so defensive around me. Ok, bye."

He turned and started walking down the hall.

"Now, wait a minute!" Ana yelled. She must have grabbed him from behind because his collar jerked back and choked him.

"Gah."

She quickly released him, and he turned around to glare at her. She laughed nervously.

"Why do you always get so violent when people walk away from you?" He snapped and rubbed his neck.

"You're the only one who pushes me over the edge like that." She glared back at him, then shoved her finger in his face. "You can't just say a bunch a of stuff like that to a person and walk away!"

"Sure I can, this is my house. Watch me." He tried to turn and go again, but she grabbed his collar again. "Ah, stop that!"

"I'll stop when you stop trying to walk away!" Ana flailed her arms like a child.

"Fine. What do you have to say?" Seto put a hand on his hip and looked down at her.

She froze and opened her mouth. They stood there for an awkward moment.

Seto sighed. "You don't really have anything to say, do you? You just got annoyed and stopped me without thinking."

Ana's face turned bright red, and she puffed up her cheeks. "You…"

"Yeess?" Seto tilled his head and gave her an annoyed smile. "I'm waiting."

"You can't just drop a confession like that and run away!" She shouted.

"That wasn't a confession. When did I confess to you?" He smirked at her.

Ana glared at him and crossed her arms. "How was that not a confession? You just told me you have romantic feelings for me."

"I was just stating a fact. You over heard it and were acting like an awkward baby dragon. So, I figured it would be better to state a fact than pretend you didn't know." Seto shrugged. Internally his stomach was playing seesaw with his lunch.

"Awkward baby dragon? Is that some sort of duel monster reference?"

"Sort of."

Ana let out a long sigh and glared at him. "You're a huge nerd. Kuriboh is cuter than you."

Seto's eye twitched. "I don't know why, but that's more insulting than if you just called me a piece of shit."

She ran her fingers over her face and sighed. Oh, she's calmed down. She's not acting as awkward anymore.

"Let me get this straight. You just came to tell me you like me romantically because I was acting weird but aren't actually asking me out or anything." Ana raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yup, that sums it up." Seto crossed his arms. "You're being a lot less awkward now, so it looks like it was the right decision."

Ana blinked, then plopped her hand in her fist like she finally understood something. "Oh, I get it. You just for some bazar reason find yourself physically attracted to me and don't have any legitimate feelings."

Seto dropped his arms and stared at her, slightly appalled. "No, you dense weirdo. I would have said physical attraction if it was just that. I like you for your personality more than I like you for your looks. Though I can't deny finding you pleasing to look at."

Ana's face and ears were bright red. "H-how the heck do you like me for my personality? We have nothing in common!"

Seto started listing off the things he liked. "You're not a pushover, you're pretty smart, you're hardworking, you're personable, a lot of the stuff you say is pretty funny even when you're just responding to my jabs… Should I keep going or should I stop, it looks like your taking damage."

Ana's face was the brightest red he'd seen on a person, and her eyes were unfocused. "Y-yet, you're not confessing."

"Do you want me to?" Seto raised an eyebrow.

"No," she said it quickly.

He rolled his eyes. "Then there you go. I'm not confessing."

She seemed confused and relieved. "So, you're just stating it and never going to confess, right?"

Oi, why does she keep insisting… Oh, whatever.

"I didn't say that." Seto frowned at her and she grimaced. "I'm just not going to right now. I don't jump into situations where I obviously will lose. Though I suppose if me telling you is enough to make you avoid me, then I ran headfirst into a losing situation."

Ana scratched her cheek and looked at the ground. "I don't think I'll avoid you. I'm mean, we're kind of friends…."

"No." Seto growled. "We are not friends. You're not sticking me in the friend zone."

Ana blinked, then laughed. "Wait, is that why you said you'd have to think about being friends?"

Seto didn't answer, and she soon realized that was exactly the reason he'd refused to be friends.

Ana sighed. "So, what are we then?"

"I don't know. Acquaintances on good terms?" Seto shrugged.

"You know you're a weirdo, Amin-chan."

He rolled his eyes and looked down the hall. "You said you were bored, but you can't go exploring again. You need to rest. Want to play a game?"

"No duel monsters."

"How about chess?" He grinned evilly.

Ana tilted her head. "I know a little about it."

"Great, it's been a while since I annihilated a beginner at something."

Ana tried to kick him, but he dodged and led the way down the hall. She fell in line with him. As they walked down the hall together, Seto felt rather comfortable. This is nice. Now, how do I go about getting rid of this rival? I don't even know who it is… Oh, this school year will be my last before college. The company has calmed down and there doesn't seem to be any emanant take over plots. It might be nice to see what a real school life is life one last time. Hehe.