Disclaimer: Been doing the #stayhome thing for over a month and I still haven't figured out how to sneakily transition ownership of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" to me… so I guess it's never going to happen.

Author's Note: I have a day off! Oh the weird freedom it gives! I've been working from home and there is something to not having to worry about work WHILE AT HOME. Anywho, it's allowed me the creative freedom to write this little chapter up. So I hope you like it! Let's get right to it, shall we?

Terms -

Mochi Choco - Legitimately the BEST breakfast on the go, at least in my opinion (the best ones are sold in Lawsons stores!). Think of a lump of dough with chocolate swirled inside. Though baked, it feels more like a dough in your mouth. Just delicious! Can also pass for a good snack.

Today's chapter title is the short, less formal version of a common phrase that is often said at the end of greeting someone for the first time. Though often translated to "Nice to meet you", as that is how we greet one another in English, it's closer meaning is "Take care of something (for me)", with that "something" normally being a person or task. For instance, co-workers might say it to one another after giving a colleague a task that's part of a group project or parents might say it to a future spouse regarding their son or daughter. The use of it today is closer to the latter example in terms of meaning, with a tone of "take care of someone who is special to me". This is another one that can be written in both Kanji and Kana, but rather equally. In keeping with tradition in this story, I'll be writing it in Kanji.

(Also, for those wondering how those two very different uses, that in a greeting and then the literal translation, link, often in a formal greeting, the actual meaning of the phrase when used is "Please take care of me" instead of "Nice to meet you". It tends to speak to the difference between cultures and languages as a whole - while in English, we speak of our delight in meeting something in greetings, in Japanese greetings, you instead include that you are trusting that other people will "be kind to you and guide you as needed" in order to create harmony. Rather interesting insight into culture I think, speaking of the unique values those cultures have.)

-YGO-

"Baby set me free from this misery,

I can't take it no more,

Since you ran away, nothing's been the same,

Don't know what I'm living for,

Here I am so alone,

And there's nothing in this world I can do,

Until you're back here baby."

- "Back Here" by BBMak

Chapter Thirty-One: 宜しく (Yoroshiku)

Joey got to the shop early the next day, but somehow managed to miss Yugi all the same. He suspected that Yugi would be avoiding him. He wished he wouldn't. Yesterday had been hard enough without the knowledge that Yugi was likely now beating himself up over the situation. Because that was Yugi. A "King of Games" that considered himself a "Fool with Friendships".

He supposed that had to do with the fact that when Atem had been around, Yugi had become a very calculating person. But people, people couldn't be calculated. There was no way they could have known that Kaiba would have even stopped by yesterday. He couldn't be that hard on himself...

The door at the front clicked open and in shuffled his one employee. He looked up at her and gave her a… rather forced smile, "Hey, you - you had us worried sick yesterday."

Kisara glanced up at him and then down at the ground, "I... I don't feel too well today, Joey."

"Why, you still worried over what that jerk said?" Joey asked, coming around from the counter.

"No, not… that... " Kisara mumbled, "I... I think I might have eaten too much ice cream…"

Joey laughed, "Tea got you hooked on how she deals with problems?"

"Hmm.. I don't know. I couldn't... I couldn't eat it that fast anyway..." Kisara said slowly.

Joey nodded. He could tell the small talk was just that. Small talk. And it wasn't improving Kisara's mood by the looks of it. He'd never seen her look so down. He debated in his head what to say, or if he should say anything at all. It really ticked him off though, what Kaiba had said and seeing her like this. It had been so out of line. Kisara was one of the kindest, sweetest, my genuine people he had ever met. She hadn't deserved any of that...

"You know," He said, "I know you ate with him a lot, but... Kaiba... he has a lot of his own issues that he doesn't always show everyone. Not that that makes what he said right or anything. But... as your boss, I'm going to forbid you from dwelling on what he said. Unless of course your dwelling on it gets us the new Saikou disk sooner."

"You... what?" Kisara said, blinking and looking up at him.

"You heard me, I forbid you from thinking about his crap," Joey told her, a mock, but all the same, with a real expression of firmness on his face. It looked so odd that Kisara found herself almost smiling as a laugh came out of her.

"What... what are you doing?" She asked, "What kind of look is that?"

Joey shrugged and pointed at her face, which now had a little smile on it due to the laugh, "The kind that suits you better than any sad one."

"But, I..." Kisara started, but realizing he probably wasn't actually planning on addressing her actual question, simply replied, "Okay."

She followed Joey back behind the counter when a thought occurred to her, "Wait... so you'd be okay with me dwelling on what happened yesterday if it meant we got the new Saikou disk?"

Joey halted his motions and quickly stood up, hitting his head on a shelf, "Ita.. um, hehe, no, no of course not."

Kisara's eyes narrowed,as another small laugh tried to escape, "I'm... ha, I'm not sure I believe you."

"Believe it sweetie," Joey told her, "Otherwise I might cry."

"Like you are now?" Kisara said, laughing a bit again.

"It hurt!"

-YGO-

When Seto opened the door to his room, he only had to look to his left to see Mokuba asleep outside. He sighed and despite being in a suit, walked around and slid down the wall next to the teen. The sound was apparently enough to wake his younger brother up. Mokuba moaned a bit, blinked, and looked around to see his brother.

"Seto..." He said slowly.

"Morning kiddo," He said quietly.

"You okay?" Mokuba asked.

"I'm fine," Seto said monotoned, "But what are you doing sleeping out here?"

Mokuba stretched his neck and back and answered, "I was worried about you."

Seto nodded, "Well, you don't have to. But thank you."

Mokuba watched him, trying to determine if that really was the case or not, "You sure? Is... you wanna talk about it?"

Seto shook his head, "Not really."

"Did..." That meant don't ask, but he had to, "Did she... reject you?"

Seto didn't look at him, didn't say anything. He just stared aimlessly ahead of them at the opposite wall of the hallway. Mokuba felt a little sick. He shouldn't have...

"I'm sor-"

"She didn't reject me," Seto interrupted, "Kisara... Kisara wasn't what we thought she was."

Mokuba's brows raised. What did that mean? As if sensing the question, Seto relented the answer.

"She was just after our financial assets," Seto said simply.

His brother's mouth opened and then closed, opened again, and shut. That... how... he leaned back. He supposed... well, anyone could... he'd seen it countless times. But this had to be the first time anyone so close to either of them... And she didn't... Kisara didn't seem like the type...

"I'm sorry," He said, "I... I never thought..."

Seto ruffled Mokuba's head of hair to stop him, "Forget it. It's not your fault. I fell for it too."

"But," Mokuba pulled Seto's hand off his head, "But how... how did you-"

"I heard her, her and Muto talking," Seto explained, and then after a moment of recollection, "And Wheeler. She's not amnesiac. She's was trying to get back to Egypt by stealing the Blue Eyes for Muto's crazy project."

"Wait, wha-"

"I don't want to get into it," Seto finished.

The younger of the two sat bewildered. He wasn't... that didn't sound like Yugi at all. Was Seto...

"Nii-sama, are you sure-"

"I know what I heard."

"But… that just seems so odd... I mean, Pegasus didn't know who she was. If she was helping Yugi with something related to Egypt, wouldn't Pegasus more than likely at least know of her-"

"I don't know," Seto cut in, but Mokuba continued.

"I mean, I guess that's not entirely necessary, but Yugi gets all his access to those things through Pegasus - you'd think she'd have to at least cross Pegasus' radar if Yugi was using her for something, even for his own me-"

"Mokuba, just drop it," Seto told him, an edge of bitterness in his voice.

He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to argue it. He was stiff from having fallen asleep on the floor from the previous night. He had to get to work. Get to work on the new Saikou development line-

He felt his brother wrap his arms around him and his eyes widened.

"Mokuba?" He asked.

"I'm sorry," He heard Mokuba mumble.

Though surprised by the gesture, Seto slowly managed a half hug back. This kid... He really wasn't a kid anymore, but... he had a kid's heart. He was so good. He could have just thrown his hands up in the air and left after that last snap from Seto but… he had sensed that this was what he should do. Put his own feelings aside… for his older brother. He loved this kid. When Seto didn't have the energy anymore, he let go and Mokuba took the hint as well, sitting back into a seiza style of sitting.

"So... what are you going to do now?" He asked, looking up at Seto, sad, disappointed, but accepting.

"What else?" Seto said, standing up, "Go to work. Get the Saikou line up and running. Hopefully not be interrupted by anything else."

Mokuba nodded, looking up at Seto who continued, "You going to sit there and be late for school then?"

Mokuba looked at his watch, "I'm already late for school."

Seto rolled his eyes, despite the tired features surrounding them, "You're incorrigible you know that?"

"Hey! I was worried about you!" Mokuba said, standing up, "You should be thanking me."

"I'll be sure to make a memo of that," Seto said, "Go get ready."

Mokuba nodded with a smile and headed to his room, leaving Seto alone in the hallway. Even as he ran though, a weird feeling twisted up in his gut. Even though Seto had said he had heard it with his own two ears... It just... It didn't sound right. How could... Kisara was so sweet. Was she playing Tea too? Was Tea in on it? And if Pegasus didn't know about Kisara... how did Yugi meet Kisara? Did they meet in Egypt? Or in Japan? And… when she had first seen the Blue Eyes, she had looked so surprised, dazzled by it. Like she really had never seen it before… unlike someone hunting the cards down. Maybe she had been faking it but… No, something just didn't add up in his gut. He had to figure it out. And if Seto wasn't going to confront Yugi and Kisara about it, then he would.

-YGO-

"Hey, hun, I'm gonna go grab a bite, do ya mind watchin' the store for a half hour or so?" Joey asked.

Kisara shook her head and Joey smiled, "Alright. You want anything? My treat?"

Kisara shrugged, "No.. I'm fine. Thanks though."

Joey's gaze lingered on her for a bit before he nodded. Slipping on his shoes, he made his way out the door, the sound of the bell ringing behind him. Kisara sighed, sitting down on the stool behind the counter and leaning down over the glass. She looked inside at the miniature figurines and flicked her finger through a stack of sticky notes.

There really wasn't much to 'look over'. No one was there at this hour anyway. The place was clean. The shelves restocked... again she sighed, pursing her lips and staring out at the game boards. Some of the landscapes of the RPG games caught her eye. Deserts, beaches, mountains, castles, farms... offhandedly she wondered if there were places like that in a time such as this. They looked almost archaic in comparison to the buildings she saw every day, but they all still held a kind of quaintness to them.

The bell alerting her to the opening of the door sounded, alerting her to a new guest.

Standing up immediately, Kisara stood up straight and bowed, "Irasshaimas-"

But Kisara stopped upon seeing the guest. She... she knew this person. Where had she seen her before? She had wavy blonde hair that seemed to bounce and flow with every step she took and she wore a purple jacket that appeared to be more for style than function. Additionally, her make up was generously applied over her eyes, making them look much bigger than Kisara guessed they would be naturally. Her tall leather boots gave her at least three inches adding to her already impressive height. Immediately, she felt like a greenhorn in fashion, wearing only the clothes Tea had leant her, with not a speck of make up on her. And then it hit her - she remembered. This was the woman Joey spoke to at the Saikou Duel Disk release - what was her name?

The woman walked around, gazing past items as though only looking to be polite. Finally, she spoke, "Is Joey here?"

Kisara shook her head, "Oh, no, I'm sorry, he's at lunch... did you want to speak with him?"

The woman shrugged and shook her head, "I guess, but... it's fine... you're new here aren't you?"

"Oh, uh, sort of, I've been here for about a month or so now..." Kisara answered, looking at the ground. This woman was obviously older than her and she felt like she should show her respect.

"Ah..." The woman said, "Well, I'm Mai, nice to meet you."

"I'm Kisara," She replied, "Is uh... is there anything you'd like to buy? Or would you like to leave a message for Joey? Or rather, he's probably going to be back soo-"

"How's he doing?" Mai interrupted.

"Hm?" Kisara asked, "Oh, Joey? He's, he's doing fine I guess."

"Ah..." Mai mused again, trailing off, "Well... that's good to hear."

Kisara nodded, waiting for Mai to continue. She wasn't quite sure who Mai was, but it was clear that she was familiar with Joey and likely the rest of their friends. Right as she began to question why Mai wasn't around more often though, her train of thought was interrupted by the shop's guest.

"So, how did you get hired here?" Mai asked.

"Oh, uh, I, uh, I had just gotten here, moved here and uh, Joey offered me a job," Kisara relayed.

"Oh," Mai said, "Are you a fan of gaming then?"

"Oh, um, no, not... I mean, I play a bit of Duel Monsters now, a friend-" Kisara stopped, trying to brush over the memories, then continued, "A friend taught me how to play a while after I started, but I uh, I just needed a job at the time..."

Mai nodded, "Ah, well... hopefully Joey gives you a discount on cards at the very least then."

Kisara nodded in return, "He does, or would, I don't collect though..."

Mai took in the knowledge and glanced around, her eyes falling on a figure of what Kisara knew to be the Red Eyes Black Dragon. Mai walked over to it, as though to appraise it, but said nothing for a while. When she finally spoke, she almost startled Kisara.

She laughed a bit, "This... this was stupid of me to come by. I'm not really sure what I expected. I'm sorry for bothering you."

"Oh, uh, no no, it's no trouble at all..." Kisara said, but as Mai headed for the door, she felt compelled to say something, "Um... sorry, but... did you, is there something you were searching for?"

Even as the words escaped her, she felt dumb, but at least she had acted on her instinct. It was better than what she had been doing before.

Mai turned around and shrugged, "I guess what we're all looking for hun."

What we're all looking for? Kisara tilted her head in question and Mai continued, "You know, that ecstasy, happiness... love... whatever you want to call it."

"Oh..." Kisara said, the sound trailing as Mai looked around again.

"Maybe that was selfish of me though..." She finished.

Kisara immediately shook her head, "I.. I don't think so. But... maybe you won't necessarily find it in a game shop?"

Mai smiled at her, recognizing Kisara wasn't fully getting it, "I'm not sure where else I would… Do me a favor? Take care of him for me?"

Kisara looked at her in question for a moment. Him? Oh, Joey...

"Thanks," Mai said and with that she was gone.

Kisara found herself frozen in place from the quick visit, rather unsure of what to do. She felt that she shouldn't go after Mai, but she was still rather confused by what Mai meant by that or even if she had done the right thing while Mai had been critically, from the sounds of it, maybe she and Joey had been involved at one point? But... that's all she could really guess. She stared at the Red Eyes Black Dragon, its ruby eyes gleaming.

The door opened, "Hey, I know you didn't want anything, but I got you some mochi choco."

Kisara glanced up to see Joey coming in, a konbini bag in hand, likely filled with yakisobapan, karaage, and pocky sticks. She nodded, but he caught her hesitation.

"Something up?" He asked, tilting his head to the side, his blonde hair falling into his face. He blew it out of the way.

"Uh..." Should she mention Mai? She wasn't sure. Maybe just, hold off... "Um... it's nothing. Thank you."

Joey smiled.

-YGO-

A/N: I know SOMEONE out there appreciated the brother fluff in this chapter. Personally, I had fun with the bit regarding Mai though. I'm not really sure why, but I do rather love Joey and Mai's relationship. I think it's very different and interesting - two people who are so very different on multiple levels in a realistic manner being drawn together. -shrugs- Makes for an interesting story and analysis of the human psyche. Anyway, let me know what you thought of the chapter! I'll try to be better about getting the next one out sooner. Take care!

Later,

~Rena