Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho ❯ A Matter of Mathematics ( Chapter 12 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Gee, this is my longest story yet!
Monoshiri: Actually, Chihiro knows very well Ryuunosuke likes her. Unfortunately, as stated in Chapter 6, the more romantic feelings aren't mutual.
Alex Warlorn: Half of Lake Tahoe is in California, and half of it is in Nevada. From what I know about Kuriboh, they're like living grenades. Grenades can kill people. And I never said Toons were cute; I said their eyes were big.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I do, however, own an Upperdeck duelist account (whether I'm going to use it is another story). I'm officially Lady of DragonFaith, and judging from the fact that my previous two attempts were rejected, there's apparently another Lord of D. fangirl out there. And I thought I was being original.

WARNINGS: Religious references, yaoi/shounen ai (no sex here)

"I don't miss him," said Esper Roba. "I hope he stays away forever. I hope I 'accidentally' drop that card into a paper shredder." This mantra had about as much effect on him as the last five dozen repetitions had.
Danny walked up. "Isn't it time to go yet?"
Esper looked at the clock Danny shoved in his face and started. "Yeah, you're right, it is."

Dar was there when the last so-called bell rang (or, rather, wailed) and Rex left his last class of the day. They walked back to the house, first stopping to buy a large bag of assorted candy from a store having a Halloween clearance sale. This was carried out after Dar explained why Scale had gotten up in the low numbers of the AM and ransacked the kitchen cabinets (fortunately, the damage hadn't been too severe).
"I think," said Dar, producing a fistful of quarters and pennies, "this is the last of it." Rex briefly considered asking him where the rest of it had gone, but decided against it. Maybe Dar had just been really generous to that cousin he'd mentioned.
Scale grabbed the bag and tore into it. He did not say thank you; Rex hadn't thought he would. Dar began to read one of the paleontology books with Ran and Sora crowding near him, while Rex started on his homework, or tried to. There were so many other things to think about. Such as what was going to happen on Friday, and that seemed a lot more relevant to his life than geometry could ever be.
Just when he was giving it up as a lost cause, he noticed the floor swirling like there was a drain right there. Only- insert incredulous blink here- he thought things were supposed to go down a drain, not up a drain.
And he'd never, ever expected an entire, living, breathing person to come up a drain.

Shadi got his bearings and began to speak when he hadn't quite completed the ritual. "I hope we haven't come at an inconvenient time."
Scale threw some mutilated candy wrappers (the smears around his mouth were a testimony to where the candy had gone) at him. "Get lost, fish eyes." Serpent Night Dragon promptly dropped the book he had apparently been engrossed in and scrambled to catch the wrappers; even so, a few of them fell through the not-quite-solid floor.
Shadi wondered briefly whether the wrappers would land in Pegasus's hospital room or be flung about the Shadow Realm. "I trust you are doing well?"
"Well?" Scale consumed another handful of candy before responding. "This is perfection! Then again, compared to you two twits, just about anything's perfection."
One of the heads of King Rex looked up. "Two?"
Shadi sighed. "Allow me to explain…"

Seto stepped out of the limousine, first previewing his messages to see if anything of note had happened at Kaiba Corp. between lunchtime at the high school and his arrival (nothing had). Then he set about completing his homework- not doing, completing. Considering his distinct lack of friends, there was little else he could do with the free time allotted by the school.
It took him less than an hour. He checked the last mathematics problem (of course, everything was laid out nice and neat just as the teacher wanted; they could not abide people who worked out the entire problem mentally and still had few to none errors) and went to visit Jane.
"Welcome back."
"Don't 'welcome back' me."
"Ah, so I shouldn't say that?"
"This has gone too far."
Jane sighed; if it hadn't come from the speakers and been programmed in by himself he would have been convinced of humanity. As it was, he was only irritated further. "You went too far. Now you stop. If you dare."
Okay, this is a really bad movie. I've already gone through the part where I design the most advanced computer in the world and get famous. Now's the part when the computer tries to take over the world.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to attempt world domination just yet. Far too much competition. I just wanted to tell you what an idiot you're being."
Seto typed instructions prohibiting automatic shutdown. If he was going to have an argument with the computer, he was going to make sure the computer wouldn't bow out. "Tell me who sent that message. Voice identification, not user."
"Tell me, what message?" Jane countered. "I'm just a stupid computer, you know."
Seto consulted the printouts from Mokuba's mini-computer and recited the specifics. "Ah. That would be Ryuunosuke."
He'd expected to hear Haku (Occam's Razor said the simplest choice was most likely), Chihiro, maybe even Sapphire using his siblings' accounts. If the amount of surprise had been translated to physical action, then Jane would have shoved him straight out of the room. Ryuunosuke the so-called Lord of Dragons? Who, all observations indicated, had no spine?
Then again, it wasn't so preposterous. There was that locked file. And still waters ran deep; Seto had himself as living proof of that statement.
"He thought he was doing the right thing," said Jane. "And he was."
"What do you mean, the right thing?" Seto had to take several deep breaths to keep himself from yelling. "Mokuba won't talk to me anymore, and you think that's a good thing?"
"Wouldn't you rather," said Jane, "live in a not-always-pleasant world built on truth than a pleasant world built on lies? He's growing up, he's getting smart. He won't idolize you, and, to be frank, you won't deserve to be idolized, if you behave like a stubborn donkey."
Seto noted with a sort of rueful delight that the programmed blocker preventing Jane from using profanity was still in place. "I'll choose the latter, thank you."
"The problem with lies is they're not usually good building material. Lies snap all too easily, and where will you be then?" Jane laughed. "Your original set already has, and I am not going to let you build them all over again. This time you're going to go with more reliable stuff. It might not be as comfy as you want, but it's good for you. I swear."
"And what do you want me to do?"
"First things first- go find Haku and say sorry. That can't be so hard."
"You have no idea," Seto muttered after he was a somewhat-safe distance from the computer. "You have no idea."

"So he's always been like this?"
Shadi sighed. "I hoped you would never have to experience him after consumption of chocolate."
"It can't be any worse," said Dar, "than experiencing him before consumption of chocolate. Can it?"
"I believe," said Shadi, "he is currently dismantling one of your books."
Rex grabbed the Millennium Scales. "Well, I'll have to stop that-"
Scale was, to his obvious consternation, clobbered over the head with his own set of Scales and drawn into them via ownership privileges. Rex gathered the mangled remnants and gave them a solemn burial at wastepaper basket, buried under a stack of candy wrappers folded into shapes superficially resembling origami.
"At least it was just the record book." He frowned and touched his forehead. "Am I schizo-whatsit, or is he really yelling inside my head?"
"He is really yelling inside your head," Shadi told him. "But it should improve in a while. Either that or it will worsen. It depends on how you perceive it."
Rex frowned as he sensed the change, then shrugged. "At least he's not yelling anymore."
"Some people," said Shadi, "find his laughter more disturbing."
"Well, I'm not one of those people."
"That's good. It should clear up in several hours. Tell me," and here Shadi fingered the Ankh, "how do you intend to use the Millennium Scales?"
Rex shrugged again. "I guess I'll use it to get back the card."
His tone was entirely too casual. "Are you aware of what the Scales can do?"
"I think if someone is bad they don't get to Egyptian heaven. Right?"
"Anyone who fails the test," said Shadi, "is sent straight to Anubis. Anyone and everyone."
Eyes widened. He obviously hadn't expected that. "Right then and there?"
"Right then and there."
"How bad do they have to be to fail it?"
Shadi contemplated this for a moment. "I am not quite certain. However, if they pass the test, then we must honor any requests they may have, according to the goddess whose power the Scales contains."
Serpent Night Dragon grinned in a curious manner. "So they're real? Real-real-real? Not just in stories of what they'll do to you when you do wrong?"
"Of course," said Shadi. "Anubis appears whenever someone fails the test. You did not know this?"
Serpent Night Dragon threw his head back and laughed; it had no malice, just the fact that he thought something was funny. "No wonder I didn't get an answer! Wait till Geoffrey hears about this! Least he won't have to worry about going to hell anymore."
"If you don't mind my asking… Serpent Night Dragon," said Shadi, "who is Geoffrey?"
He'd stopped laughing and now the grin was back. The red eyes didn't look so disturbing anymore. "Oh, please, call me Dar. Or if you insist on being formal, DelaSangre. That would be Geoffrey Giltia, known to many as the aspiring Dark Magician, and he was somewhat worried because he's one of those people who thinks there's only one god, who thinks a lot of things that went on Before are wrong." Dar DelaSangre leaned against a convenient wall, hands behind his head. "So according to Geoffrey he'd probably be up on two counts. One, last time I checked, we're friends."
Shadi resolved to find some sort of dictionary to look up the meaning of both first and surname; he was sure they held some significance. "I see. Go on."
"Two, he's… well… an aspiring Dark Magician. Even if his spells don't always work out."
Shadi found himself mentally defending Dar DelaSangre from the charges of what he had in all likelihood done to the children and the crew of Lady of Fate. He was sure there was some kind of rational explanation for it; the subject did not seem like someone who would do this for no reason at all, or for recreational purposes.
After all, the subject had befriended the Dark Knight (though how the latter had received the title when his attribute was light and his hair was anything but dark, Shadi could only guess at), and according to Ankh his thoughts were not on revenge. Ankh had sensed humiliation meted out by Esper Roba; no stereotypical impure soul would not fantasize of revenge for such a thing.
Actually, Ankh reported, I think he has doubts about whether the Scales should be used at all.
Considering their spirit's nature, Ankh, I can see where he's coming from…
It hasn't got much to do with Scale. He's worried about Roba's younger brothers- he's wondering who'll take care of them if Roba is sent to Anubis.
Brothers…oh yes, the ones involved in the deception, correct?
And he thinks that Roba is in possession of another locator card.
He is what?
"Excuse me?" said Rex.
Shadi apologized to Ankh and withdrew his attention from that area. "Tell me, how many locator cards did you lose to this cheater?"
Rex held up a finger. "One."
"And how many did he bet?"
"One, of course. Plus his Jinzo."
"And how many did Joseph Wheeler win from him?"
"One- oh, I see!"
"What?" said the King Rex heads at the same time. Then they turned and glared at one another. "Stop that!" "Cut it out!"
They tried again. "Stop being such a copycat!"
Dar explained before they could bite each other's heads off- pun intended. "Roba had two. He only lost one. So he has another one somewhere."
One of the heads stated the obvious question. "So why isn't he still in Battle City?"
Scale emerged once more. "Perhaps," he said with a glint in his eye, "he suffers a crisis of conscience?"
Shadi counted to three before the other occupants of the room (except for Dar) burst out in hysterical laughter. Then he apologized for the intrusion and sank into the floor.
Shadi?
Yes?
I'm not sure the cheater deserves to go to Anubis, either.
You are not alone, Ankh. You are not alone.
With that, Shadi rose up from another floor. By the time he was completely out, three children with sea-green hair had gathered around him with wide eyes.
"Excuse me," he said. "Do you know where I can find your brother?"

Joey Wheeler was not in a good mood. Someone had noticed his father's new sleeping location and come over to inquire about it. Joey had given them a half-baked excuse about his father trying to get back to nature or something; they had obviously not bought it.
He didn't think they had seen Sandy the Baby Dragon running around, waving Geoffrey's spear and shrieking with laughter, but in all likelihood Murphy's Law would make its presence known.
Not to mention the neighbor's arrival had interrupted his train of thought on a math problem and now it had to be thought out all over again. And Joey despised starting things over.
His return to the damned problem had been delayed once more by an extremely concerned-sounding Yugi calling and telling him that Jade had vanished. Joey promised to keep an eye out, meaning it as he said it, and then promptly hung up and focused both eyes on the math.
"Excuse me?"
Joey looked up. "Yeah, Geoffrey?"
"Could I please use the phone?"
"Ya do know how to use it, right? How to dial, how to hang up, stuff like that?"
"Of course."
"And ya won't rip the cord or anything, right?"
Geoffrey brushed back yellow hair and replied in a somewhat more irritated tone. "Right."
"And it's not long-distance, right?"
"It shouldn't be."
"And ya won't be on too long, right?"
"I won't."
"Are ya sure ya know how to hang up?"
"Joey," Geoffrey yelled, "If I hadn't known I wouldn't have asked!"
"Oh. Right. Sorry." Joey grinned sheepishly and motioned in the direction of the phone. He returned to his math problem, keeping one ear focused on the sound of Geoffrey looking through the phone book, dialing, the doorbell ringing-
"I've got it!" he yelled, warning the others away in case it was the neighbor again. He boxed the answer to the problem and then made for the door. He pressed his face close. "Yeah?" he shouted.
"Joey?"
Joey promptly opened the door. Jade smiled in a way that advertised his current emotional state as "I'm so nervous I'd scream when a frog croaked."
"Did they turn out okay? Because… I counted the sounds later and I figured the count wasn't what it should have been. There were six in the last line and there should have been five-"
Joey reached out and pulled him inside, shutting the door immediately afterward; he only considered the possibility that the neighbors might have been watching after the deed was done. Damn the neighbors, he decided. Besides, they just might have thought Jade was a girl. "The poetry stuff was fine, far as I could tell," he said. "What were you doing, running off an' freaking out Yuge like that? He thought maybe the Rare Hunters caught up with ya."
"If they tried," said Jade, "I'd blast them. And tell them exactly where this Merrick person can stick his Rod-"
"Dar? Is that you?" Joey kept himself from reflexively turning to the source of the sound; Geoffrey apparently was as competent with the phone as he had claimed, much to Joey's relief. "Yes, it's me." Pause. "That must stink." Longer pause. "Really? The Millennium what?" Still longer pause.
By now Jade had noticed Geoffrey's current activity and was obviously watching it, so Joey felt safe in turning around and doing the same. Geoffrey looked straight at them and continued. "That's good! So he'll get your card back? Really and truly? Yes… well, that's even better! No, I don't think that was his fault." Sandy and Brendan had entered the room as well. Sandy pulled down the shades as he passed them; Joey felt himself color as he berated himself for not thinking of it. "Dar, I'm certain he at least skimmed the rules. It's just that old habits die hard and all that."
Joey knew exactly what Geoffrey was referring to; he knew exactly who Geoffrey was talking to, and he knew that he himself had had an exchange with that person in the boys' bathroom that Monday. And he felt very much like breaking something. Taking a plate and dashing it against the kitchen floor, tearing apart the phone cord, something to that effect.
"Hey," said Jade, "ya didn't expect all of us to agree with you 'bout everything, did ya? Did ya? I know ya didn't expect Brendan to like the kinda stuff he does." Joey nodded (because of course it was true), having no clue about which direction Jade would turn next; in the meantime Geoffrey was laughing at something. "Geoffrey and Dar go back a long way, and it's really not at all fair for 'em to stop now, just 'cause of something like this. It's just like what happened with Sandy and Sapph…"
"Sapph?"
"Short for Sapphire. One of the Blue Eyes."
Joey sensed the direction in which this conversation was headed and he didn't much care for their destination. "They're friends, too?"
"Yeah. I didn't see a lot of it 'cause I didn't get in the deck for a really long time, but I could tell. Then that battle came… and they just… stopped. Like it had never happened. And I'd rather that didn't happen here."
Joey thought on this for a moment. He'd never thought Baby Dragon would befriend one of the Blue Eyes, but then again it wasn't as preposterous as Flame Swordsman loving poetry. And that had happened. Besides, if he judged all Duel Monsters based on how they looked in the holograms, how they executed actions not determined by themselves, and of course the duelists who used their cards, then he'd have quite a different picture of Jade.
"So, ya see my point?"
"Yeah," said Joey. "I see your point."
At that point, Geoffrey said, "All right, goodbye," and hung up. He did it correctly, too.

One of the children looked him over, then responded to his query. "He'll be back in 'round an hour. Are you an angel or something?"
Shadi had to smile at that. "No, I have a warning for him."
"Don't tell me you're here about taxes or something like that!"
"No, it's not that kind of a warning." Shadi saw a Duel Monster, Reflect Bounder he thought, taking care of a baby. "How long have you had Duel Monsters living with you?"
The first child responded promptly. "Since Sunday. But he wasn't there then. That would be Dar. Oh, and we haven't been introduced properly." He stuck out a hand. "I'm Tom Roba. Nice to meet you."
Shadi gave his own name and lightly shook the proffered hand. "By Dar you mean-"
"Oh, you want his last name?" Tom considered this for a moment. "I think it was- Angry or something. Dar De-La-Angry."
"No," said one of his brothers, "it was DelaSangre. It's Spanish. Something to do with blood. Oh, and I'm Charlie."
"Actually, I meant to ask, which Duel Monster?"
"The Serpent Night Dragon Esper won in Battle City," said the third brother. "And Rigel, something stinks in here. I think Kyo's got something to do with it." The Reflect Bounder, newly labeled as Rigel, hastily picked up the baby and made for another door, apologizing along the way.
"Ah, yes. I wished to warn you about something concerning him."
"What," said Charlie, "he really is evil like Danny kept on saying at the start? I don't think so…"
"No," said Shadi, "not that. Do you recall the duelist your brother- ah- won him from?"
Charlie nodded. "Oh yeah, second in this year's regionals. The one with all the dinosaur cards. You do mean him, right?"
"Yes, that would be Rex Raptor. You see, he has recently come into possession of a very dangerous object, the Millennium Scales."
Tom scoffed. "How dangerous can scales be?"
"You'd be surprised."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Tom crossed his arms and frowned; for a moment Shadi thought of Kaiba. "I might not be in double digits yet, but I'm not stupid. Lots of things are more dangerous than scales! They're only dangerous when you hit people with them! And they're not made for hitting people!"
"True enough," said Shadi, "for most scales. But the Millennium Scales are different. They have the power to send people to Anubis."
Charlie's eyes expanded. "Say what?"
Shadi, he told himself, remember, you're not speaking to the Pharaoh. Knowledge of necessary information cannot be assumed. "In other words, using the Scales is often fatal. And I suspect whom he intends to use the Scales against. Your brother."
The third one- presumably Danny- spoke again. "What the- but he was looking out for us! That's all! He shouldn't ought to die for that!"
Shadi recalled some of the other news reports he had gone through and felt somewhat disturbed that they were opening up so quickly; apparently, in this modern world, for children to speak so openly to strangers was inviting trouble. Then again, Ankh's powers probably had something to do with it; Ankh often had that effect on people.
"I know. That's why I'm here. I'd like to see if there's a way to carry out justice before he is put in immediate danger."
"Well," said Charlie, "I really do hope he doesn't go into immediate danger until past seven. That's when he ought to get back. I hope he never gets into immediate danger."
"So do I. I hope you don't object if I stay here and wait for him."
Charlie grinned. "Not at all. So, you want some potato chips? I've got half a bag left over from the lunch cart. They're the sour cream kind. You want some?"
Shadi politely declined, sat down in the proffered chair, and waited for Esper Roba.

It's a matter of mathematics. One in the duel disk box. That's one. One from Rex. That's two. One to Wheeler. That's one. Where did it go?
He had discussed it with Geoffrey. Fortunately, the Dark Knight (though how he had gained that title Dar had no idea, unless it was via association with Dar himself- Michael Gaia was the one whose skin had turned ebony under the Egyptian sun) bore no grudge towards him for his behavior that Monday. Geoffrey was very understanding, and laughed at Dar's recounting of several of the tactics he had employed. He had been a friend.
But Geoffrey, too, was mystified as to what Esper Roba could possibly have done with that locator card.
I guess we'll find out on Friday then.

Seto was not accustomed doing to this sort of thing; he blanked out. Haku waited a good sixty seconds for him to continue from his initial greeting, whereupon he said, "Some of my accusations were unfounded. I apologize for the inconvenience." He took several deep breaths while trying to think of an appropriate method to end his attempted apology; he settled for, "Now get out." Haku got out. Somewhat insensitive for his intended purpose, but effective.
Once the door had shut, he went for his deck. Obelisk was on top, where he had placed it after the incident on Wednesday. He picked it up, admiring how the fluorescent light seemed to make it glow, seemingly with power waiting to be unleashed. Guess I'm a poet and didn't know it. Seto smiled. Then he looked for a paper shredder. The simple rip that had finished off the fourth Blue Eyes simply would not do for his purposes. Maybe some Scotch tape was all it took.
Seto Kaiba was not stupid. You did not become the CEO of a major corporation by being stupid. He had watched movies, though Mokuba had had to shove him into some of them. He had read books.
And in the movies, whenever someone had a near-omnipotent power that could take over the world, that power would generally turn on them. This isn't a movie, he argued with himself, but sometimes with all the corporate shenanigans and virtual reality and Egyptian mythology running together and all seeming to revolve around Kaiba Corp. (but then again, perhaps from another perspective it revolved around something or someone else, say, Yugi Motou), it definitely seemed like a movie.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. He'd read that somewhere.
There was a shredder in the computer room. He turned it on, then held the card over it. He looked at it again; then he switched off the shredder (just for now, he told himself) and scanned an image of the card into the computer. Several images, in fact.
Then he looked up a name in the phone book and made a call.
"Hello, Ishtar residence."
"Isis."
"Seto Kaiba. What is so urgent that you must contact me at my house?"
"Did that Millennium contraption of yours predict that at roughly seven PM Pacific Standard Time I will be shredding Obelisk the Tormentor into unrecognizable strips?"
"…"
"Well, did it?"
"… no, it did not. Why do you intend to do such a thing?"
"Because I did just fine without it, that's why. Unless you want to come over and take it off my hands."
"… at seven, you said?"
"Exactly. Be there." He hung up before she could have replied and placed Obelisk in one of those sleeves people used to keep rare cards that they didn't intend to duel with. Then he waited. He didn't wait long.
Several minutes before the set time, a taxi approached the Kaiba house. Seto sent a command to open the gates; the taxi drove through them when they were half-open. Isis Ishtar got out and ran the last twenty feet or so to the front doors; Seto took the opportunity to run to them as well after sending another command, this time to open the doors.
She was waiting for him. He pressed Obelisk the Tormentor into her hand, then added fifty dollars for the taxi fare. She lifted an eyebrow. "Is this your idea of a joke?"
"I never joke."
Isis frowned at the card. "I did not know you were one to give up so much power."
Seto managed a smile. "Do some research. Don't you know the attack power of a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon?"
She got his point; without another word, she ran back to the taxi, holding Obelisk close to her like she was a child and it was her imaginary friend. Seto watched her climb in and watched the taxi go back into the street. He watched the lights from it dwindle and finally disappear when it went around a corner before he closed the gates and the doors.

At precisely seven o'clock, it was officially illegal for Zachary Roba, Jr., to continue work. However, he bent the law in order to finish ringing up the last customer's purchase. Once that was carried out, Mai turned to him and said, "So, you want a ride?" He accepted.
Several minutes later, they were in the elevator, on their way to the twenty-first floor.
A minute or two after that, he opened the door and started.
The stranger regarded him with a deadpan expression. "Do you use the name of Esper Roba?" He continued without waiting for Esper's reply. "My name is Shadi, and I must warn you of something."

Joey made a collect call in order to assure Yugi that yes, Jade was fine, and would it be all right if he stayed for the night? Yugi was very obliging. After that, a long time passed and then the phone rang. Joey grabbed it; it was Tristan.
"So, Joey, you done it yet?"
"Tristan?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
"Gee, lighten up already!" He could see the head shaking in amusement. "Just go have some fun, okay?"
Jade made a motion; the phone was promptly handed over. "Hello, guy-with-Lava-Battleguard. Yeah, it's me. All right, Tristan then. No, he didn't." Pause; he sighed. "Did you see me with the Dragon Nails? Okay, how thick do you think your skin is? Okay, long do you think those claws are?" Long pause. "I'm glad we understand. Goodbye." He hung up, then turned to Joey, in hysterics on the floor. Jade grinned, jumped on top of him, and began to tickle mercilessly.
"Hey! That's- no fair!" Joey managed as he struggled into a half-sitting position, then degenerated into crazy laughter as he succumbed to the tickles. "No fair- no fair! Damn you!" More laughter. "I'm gonna- break my neck!" A chance kick freed his arms. "I'll show you what tickling's all about!"
With that, the tables were turned on Jade, who also began to laugh, even harder than Joey had; they went completely down in a tangle of arms and legs and faces and fingers searching for just the right spots.
Geoffrey, Sandy, and Brendan were treated to a good three hundred seconds of the tickling war before they finally pulled away from one another, gasping with leftover laughter.
"Oh god," said Joey, "that was fun. Let's never, ever do it again."
"I second that," Jade managed, before he relapsed into another fit.

Shadi had gone after repeated assurances that Esper would watch his back, be careful, et cetera. And Esper could tell he wasn't convinced.
He locked the doors and went to sleep early; his dreams were troubled.

After the incident, Haku approached Ryuunosuke and demanded a match. This time, chess. "You know how to do it, right?"
When Haku and Chihiro were being taught the basics, he had watched, listened, learned. Just in case. "… yes. A little bit."
"Then in the name of Tiamat, do it!"
A summary: Ryuunosuke proceeded to soundly thrash Haku in two out of five games. One of the remaining three was a long, ferocious battle that still ended with Ryuunosuke saying, "checkmate." Another one was a draw, and the one loss happened to be the first game.
"I thought," said Haku in the middle of the third game, "you hated challenges."
Ryuunosuke looked straight at him for the first time since he-didn't-know-how-long. "Some things, even if you hate them, it helps if you know how to do them." Haku nodded as if Ryuunosuke had just stated the meaning of life.
Mokuba went to bed at nine. Around ten, in the early stages of the fourth game, Chihiro and Sapphire and Seto Kaiba all retired as well (Chihiro asked everyone to keep out of her room; they knew it was not a request).

"You can have the bed," said Chihiro. Cassiel's objections were cut off with a motion of her hand. "You're a guest here. Guests have priority. And I did think it was a little too soft, anyway."
He called Aaron to tell him why he wasn't returning for now (Aaron sounded very knowledgeable about where Cassiel had gone, and kept on hinting at something. Cassiel hadn't thought the difference in knowledge between seventeen and twenty was so large) and proceeded to sleep extremely well; for once he had no nightmares.

At the end of the fifth game, it was perhaps an hour after everyone else had gone (Neither one of them seemed inclined to look at a clock). Ryuunosuke yawned in spite of himself as he slid his bishop diagonally and knocked over Haku's king.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm all right." Judging from Haku's expression, that wasn't what he had wanted to hear. "Really, I am."
"I would be a bit more inclined to believe that," said Haku, "if I hadn't heard it so many times. I need to talk to you."
"What were we doing for the past hour?" Ryuunosuke would have tried very hard to make his tongue bleed if he had made that statement earlier. But somehow he couldn't look at Haku the same way once he had defeated the latter (of course he had gotten all the imitations of Exodia when they had been playing Master, but that wasn't the same thing).
"This time it's talking about something different. I promise in the name of Tiamat that nothing will take place that would offend even Michael Gaia and his nonexistent deity." Ryuunosuke had to smile at that. Haku still had a modicum of respect for Gaia, even if the latter now refused to refer to him by name (after all, who had taught Haku chess? Michael Gaia), but that didn't keep him from poking fun at the Fierce Knight's religious beliefs.
Haku's room was large but generally empty. What was space, Ryuunosuke wondered, without something to fill it with? Due to lack of other convenient articles of furniture, they both ended up seated on the bed.
"You know," said Haku, "how Sapphire is now. And you know we all said it was because of Pegasus and that stupid card." Ryuunosuke nodded. "Now… I'm not so sure about that."
"How do you mean?"
He frowned. "Ryuu-chan, promise you won't laugh." The promise was duly made. "I think a lot of it was because of me."
"Why," said Ryuunosuke, "would I laugh at that?"
"Do you remember Sapphire's best friend?"
"Alexander Sang?"
"Yes, that's him."
"Are they still friends?"
"… I don't think so."
"Do you remember I spoke to Black Jade like he was an oversized Kuriboh? You know what I thought about Kuriboh back then, don't you?" It wasn't a question proper- the answer was already known, and as such, he didn't wait for it to be articulated. "Do you know what Jane would say about that? She'd say I was acting like a donkey."
No pause for exclamations of incredulity considering his hypothesizing about the reaction of a machine; Ryuunosuke, too, had experienced Jane's sentience and Haku knew it and went on. "And Ryuu-chan, I was. I really was." Ryuunosuke started to say that no, he was not, but thought better of it. Haku just wanted to be heard; he wasn't looking for false assurances. "So you see, Pegasus didn't have anything to do with it. It was me."
"Haku," said Ryuunosuke, "you told me not to blame myself for everything. So why do you do it to yourself, if I'm not to?"
Pause, then laughter. "You're right, Ryuu-chan. But none of that was your fault. You have to admit some of it was my fault."
"Maybe some, but definitely not all of it. You didn't make that card."
"I know." Ryuunosuke yawned again, quite unintentionally. "I think it is time this discussion ended, don't you?" A nod. "Good night."