Seto pulls Téa out of a bad situation in America and calls it a coincidence. By morning they are a tabloid romance, and when the reporters ask about marriage he answers with one sentence that detonates the story and puts it out at the same time. Yugi arrives at the Kaiba mansion jealous; Atem, reassuring him, feels something stir that she has no name for. Later, over card packs and macarons, Seto lets her keep hold of his hand.
This is a translation of an original work on Pixiv.
Original Title: 04 彼と彼女のスキャンダル
Original Author: 葉人(@Hathor_yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
Even in a crowd, a path formed of its own accord the moment he stepped forward. Seto was long since used to it. As always he cut across the plaza toward the car he had waiting.
It was then that Seto's ear picked up a voice he half recognised.
English with slightly off intonation was quarrelling with native English. Ordinarily he would have ignored it and walked on. Seto thought for a moment, then headed toward the knot of people.
"That's just you saying whatever you like, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about, Japanese girl? Come along with me."
"That hurts — don't touch me! Let go!"
"Don't be so cold about it, come on."
A commonplace pickup attempt. Somewhat forceful, at that.
Japanese people were slight of build with youthful faces, and there was a tendency to take them lightly on the assumption they wouldn't assert themselves.
She was on the strong-willed side, but the man neither noticed nor cared. In any case a woman's strength was no match for his.
"Just come with me alrea— ow!"
"Do you have business with her?"
"The hell are you doing!"
His grip having been struck away, the man must have decided a fight was being picked. As he turned and swung, Seto deflected it, caught the wrist, twisted lightly, and dropped him on the ground.
Applause broke out at the deftness of it.
"Gardner. We're going."
"R-right. Thank you."
Téa, for her part, was dumbfounded at having been rescued, and for the moment followed the sudden intruder as instructed.
She didn't quite understand how the situation had come about, but she did grasp that she had been rescued by a prince appearing out of nowhere — no, by the king, as Atem put it: Seto Kaiba.
She got into the car and let out a breath, thinking what a novel combination this was. Not Atem, not Yugi. Not even a duelist. They had been classmates, but she'd assumed he didn't even know her name.
Come to think of it, hadn't he thrown soldiers around in the palace in the afterlife? So it was true that he was strong physically as well, she thought.
"You saved me. But why did you help?"
"Coincidence."
That couldn't be it. This was a man who did nothing wasteful.
"...And the real reason?"
She asked, probing.
"Hmph. Consider it standing in for her, toward the little friend she's been closest to lately."
Seto said it with an amused sideways glance at Téa. There was no sign whatsoever of his hiding his regard, or his feelings, for Atem.
A well-arranged face, beautiful blue eyes, a head positioned high above her. She had thought it when she took his call as well — his voice was pleasant on the ear. It was the first time she had seen him from this close, and on looks alone she could easily understand why women everywhere fell for him.
"Oh, I see. So it does come back to that after all."
It made sense. He really did hold Atem as something enormously precious. Téa was now certain her intuition had not been off.
"Obviously. If it turned into an incident, she would find something to blame."
"That's true. She's that sort of person."
Good face, good build, a sharp executive and an enrolled student, and a genius to the point that rumour had his skipping ahead already guaranteed.
Atem hedged with talk about his personality, and Joey was combative about him, but Téa had never had much of an allergy to Seto Kaiba.
Having confirmed Seto's feelings for Atem all over again, she gazed vacantly out of the window of a car whose destination she did not know.
After that she tagged along with his schedule, shared a meal, stayed the night in a hotel room that had been prepared at some point without her noticing. And then it was morning.
Checking her social media idly, her followers had shot up and notifications had piled in. Had she set something alight? No, she hadn't posted anything that inflammatory. Why, then?
Dazed, she left the room and ran into Seto. The faint smile gave her a bad feeling.
"Congratulations."
She had no idea what he meant.
She could recall nothing that warranted congratulation.
At Téa's thin reaction, Seto's face turned quizzical.
"Haven't you looked at the news, or your social media?"
At that she hurriedly opened the news.
There, an article about a passionate romance between Seto Kaiba and a Japanese woman dancer went dancing across the screen. And the flood of notifications.
That settled it. She had been identified that easily.
Anger welled at the nonsense of the article, but the blood draining from her face came first.
"I'm so sorry!"
"Heh. It's my first scandal. Consider it an honour."
"Scan... dal..."
Her spine went cold, but Seto's manner held no anger at all; he was perfectly composed.
"There's nothing to concern yourself with. It will burn out shortly."
Burn out — or rather, be put out by him.
The pleased smile on his face was reassuring, given that she would certainly be saved, but he was also a man who might do anything, so it was a little frightening.
"You'd best think up an excuse for your little friends. The car has been called. Leave today to Isono. And if you still find it impossible, I could clear it up for you while I'm about it. Goodbye."
In the retreating back, in the stride, not a trace of unease or hesitation could be seen. As stately as ever.
Reporters were surely massed outside the hotel.
"Miss Gardner. We'll be leaving by the rear entrance. This way, please."
"Oh — yes."
She got into a car with tinted windows and searched the news for a live stream. There. This hotel was on screen.
Reporters pressed in on Seto as he came out the front entrance, but arrangements must have been made in advance; hotel staff and security were holding them back.
Walking on without letting the uproar touch him — that was him all over.
"President Kaiba! The woman from yesterday—"
"There is no relationship of the kind being insinuated."
"We understand you attended the same school—"
"An acquaintance."
The barrage of predictable questions she had imagined. She had thought he would ignore them; that he was answering was unexpected.
But that must have been precisely the strategy. Seto did not let it end there.
"Any plans to date, or to marry?"
He glanced at the camera for an instant and smirked.
"I left that behind in Japan."
The air of the place fell silent in an instant with shock.
By the time it began to stir again he was in the car and already moving.
Left it behind in Japan. She knew instinctively that he meant Atem.
Even so.
Social media notifications that would not stop, and emails offering appearances.
"...I have just had the most outrageous publicity of my life."
"Miss Gardner. Master Seto anticipated that this would happen. He also said that whether it ends with this one moment is likely up to you."
"Isono..."
"Things around you will be noisy for a few days, but please leave today to me."
"Yes. Thank you."
There would be reporters around her apartment as well.
Was this an opportunity, or.
"I'm not going to let this crush me."
"...If I may presume — I am cheering for you."
That Téa climbed her way up as a newcomer dancer after this affair is another story.
It was fairly soon after that Yugi, startled by the news, came to the Kaiba mansion.
"Where's Kaiba?"
"What's the matter, Aibou? Kaiba's away on business."
"Look at this."
Yugi showed Atem the news footage and the articles.
"Kaiba, in a passionate romance? Since when. Well, he's supposed to be popular... Did you know? Women everywhere are falling for him, apparently."
"That's not the part — well, that too, but look here."
"The other party is a dancer — this photo, that's Téa."
Atem stopped understanding anything.
Hadn't Téa been trying to push Atem and Seto together?
She didn't know why, but something in her stirred uneasily.
"Why... Téa? Have you contacted her?"
"I did. She says he only helped her when someone was hassling her."
"Then that's a relief, isn't it."
Hearing that Téa was safe, Atem was relieved. It was not only that which relieved her, but of course she hadn't noticed.
"Nnh, that's true, but."
"Aibou — are you jealous of Kaiba, by any chance?"
"Th—"
Maybe I am, Yugi thought.
He wanted to confirm that Téa was safe, and he wanted to confirm the truth of the romance the world was buzzing about (there was no need to confirm it, and yet).
"Yeah. I am."
"It's all right. Kaiba said it himself, didn't he. That he left that sort of thing behind in Japan."
Again something stirred uneasily in Atem. Without understanding what it meant, she encouraged Yugi: so it's all right.
At Atem's utter confidence, Yugi was seized by a certain suspicion.
Atem and Seto Kaiba were rivals. But the Atem of now was an ordinary girl, and it did seem that Seto had grown calmer since she came back.
If the trust that had existed between them was unchanged, and on top of that the sex had changed.
"You two—"
"Hm?"
"No. Never mind."
This sort of thing was better left until the people involved reported it themselves. Though he might give them a push now and then.
"It's true, he appeared out of nowhere looking absolutely dashing and pulled me right out of it. So that's what being protected feels like. And the way he followed up afterward—"
"That's not something we can let Aibou hear, though."
Téa had come back to Japan for the time being, essentially fleeing. She had agonized over whether she ought to avoid going anywhere near the Kaiba mansion, but in Japan she wasn't chased all that much.
Thinking that he must have put the fire out as he had said he would, she paid Atem a visit, and the topic was of course the affair.
Atem was relieved that Téa had come home safe and that they could meet, but Téa had apparently become quite the fan, and her Seto Kaiba monologue went on and on.
In other words, Téa's oshi had been Atem, and now Seto Kaiba had become one too.
"That is exactly what you call a supadari. I'm swooning!"
"What's a supadari?"
"It's short for super darling. It means a perfect partner."
"Huh."
"Honestly, do you understand? He was truly, truly magnificent."
"I already know he's magnificent, you know?"
"That's good to hear."
Less the voice of a man pleased at being praised than one enjoying himself.
At the man's appearance, Téa, who had been praising Seto unreservedly moments earlier, flushed slightly and laughed it off.
"Ah — Kaiba. Um, thank you for the other day."
"I'm glad Téa is safe. It's thanks to you being there."
"No thanks are necessary. I merely happened to pass by. Atem. The souvenir you asked for."
The souvenir: packs of cards released ahead of schedule in the English-language market. Building decks would be fun all over again with these.
Her hand went out before she could stop it, forgetting Téa was even there.
"Have you told her about that matter?"
"Ah — I'd completely forgotten. Start up the display."
Responding to Atem's instruction, a display appeared in midair.
She operated it as though it were a touch panel.
Technology impossible in any ordinary setting. Here was an ancient person handling a composite of solid vision, AI and management systems without the slightest trouble. Téa's gaze went distant.
"You really do have a high capacity to adapt, don't you."
"Hm? Do I?"
"Mm. In all sorts of ways."
"Er — ah, this."
What Atem opened was a musical project.
A commemorative performance was apparently to be held in a hall KaibaCorp was building. This was the casting call.
"I heard about it and thought it might suit you."
"It's wonderful..."
KaibaCorp quality. Lighting, sound — whatever you took, they would build the finest stage machinery in existence.
Just as she had been thinking of signing with an agency, that affair had happened, and in the end she was working freelance, which meant finding work herself.
"I want to do it."
"Then it's settled. Print it out."
Once again Atem issued instructions to an unseen party.
"Here are the application guidelines. It's got the schedule for the — audition? — thing written on it too."
She handed over the single printed sheet.
"Thank you. I'll do my best."
"Yes. Do your best."
"Don't tell Yugi about this, all right?"
"I see, you want to surprise him. Understood."
Atem winked and laughed.
"Display, off. Put those guidelines in your bag."
Responding to Seto's voice, the display vanished.
She had just put the guidelines into her bag as told when Yugi came in with a loud bang.
"Téa!"
"Yugi? What's got you in such a rush?"
"Of course he's in a rush. You and Kaiba are the talk of the town, after all. But there's no need to worry about those two."
"Honestly! You're always teasing me like that."
"I'm not teasing. I'm serious. Kaiba, say something to him too."
"What is there for me to say."
It was only then that Yugi noticed the master of the house.
"Kaiba!"
He had been standing just inside the door, but Yugi's eyes had held nothing but Téa.
Not that Yugi felt no jealousy toward the man in the rumours.
"Er, um — thank you. For Téa."
"Coincidence."
Atem and Yugi, alike to the last, had said the same thing.
The only one who knew that it was a coincidence and yet not a coincidence was Téa.
"Atem, are those new card packs? I'm waiting for the Japanese release myself."
I don't really understand English, Yugi added, and Atem was startled.
"Why not? We learned it at school."
"Well, yes, but. Do you remember it?"
"I do. Some of it from what I sat through at school, but I'm being taught here as well."
Ugh, I should have had you sit my tests for me — and not a soul pitied Yugi as he lamented.
Atem, puzzled.
Téa, exasperated.
Seto, with the look of a man observing something regrettable.
"Yugi. Suppose you developed a good game. The great festival of games is in Germany. And if you intend to distribute it, your specifications will require English at minimum."
"Couldn't I get an AI to translate that?"
"For a document, several rounds of revision would bring it close to natural. And when you are asked to explain it aloud?"
"I see. Aibou, do your best with English and German too."
Atem's gaze, convinced he could do it if he tried, was dazzling.
"Master Seto. Guests. I've brought drinks."
"Kaiba, Aibou, don't just stand there, come over here. Let's have a snack."
The maid had brought in drinks and sweets.
Seto had intended to finish his business and return to his room, but if Atem wished it there was nothing to be done, he told himself, and lowered himself onto the sofa.
Téa had iced tea, Yugi a sweet café au lait, Seto coffee, and Atem, of course, coconut water. Macarons to go with them.
"Macarons. These are good."
"Right? The shapes and the colours are cute too."
Atem's fingertips picked up a pastel-coloured round. Yugi was seeing a macaron for the first time, though he had heard the name. So this was a macaron. It looked exactly like something girls would love.
Yugi was relieved that Atem's attention had wandered. And at the same time resolved that he would at least review his English.
He hadn't cared when he was with Joey and Tristan in high school, but once he looked realistically at the world, English really was necessary. Téa's base, after all, was America.
"Kaiba, what flavour is this?"
A round baked sweet held out to the tip of Seto's nose.
The scent.
"Pistachio."
"The green thing. Then this one?"
"Almond."
"Next, this one."
"Your favourite."
"Coconut!"
On the plate set in front of Atem, the macarons were being lined up neatly, like pieces on a board.
No — more to the point.
"Téa. What on earth am I being shown here?"
"Those two, as usual."
Téa did not actually know those two as usual, but on a woman's intuition she dropped an irresponsible bomb (Yugi-specific).
Inside Yugi, the image of two cool duelists was collapsing. Nothing remained of the tension and the sheer pressure of the pair who had acknowledged each other as rivals and traded lines about a road of battle stretching on past all sight. What was left was only an air that no one else could step into. His admiration collapsed audibly.
Even allowing for bias, the Atem of now was very cute, and it was no wonder he fled into escapism, wondering whether Kaiba, who lived with her, was some manner of ascetic monk.
Yugi had decided to make the two of them — who could only be described as flirting — into something visible but unseen, and while he was catching up with Téa, the two culprits grew noisy about something.
It didn't seem to be a quarrel; when he looked to see what it was, they had opened the packs at some point and were going back and forth about card effects. The working language was English.
The text is written in English, after all. Yugi, unable to escape English, tried once more to flee into escapism.
"What language do you two usually talk in?"
"Japanese. But things in English get done in English like this, and afterlife matters are sometimes in the ancient tongue."
Compared to the wall between dimensions, the wall between languages might as well not exist. At least, Seto's head was built that way, and once Atem realised that languages had rules, acquiring them was equivalent to clearing a game.
"Aibou, I'll learn German too and come running to the showcase."
A wink around a bite of macaron; encouragement dependable enough and not the least bit welcome.
There was no escaping a multilingual world. If she would just interpret for him — no, Atem was not permitted to work.
The macarons are good. I suppose I ought to study, at least a little. Yugi's inward sighs piled up, fretful and unnoticed by anyone.
The finishing blow came when they nearly handed him the duplicate English-language cards. That time a strangled noise did get out of him.
"I got to see Aibou and Téa today, and you were here too. It was fun."
"Was it."
Atem had spread the cards out on the bed and was rolling about looking at them, so Seto sat down beside her and looked at the cards too.
They had each set about exploring new tactics, and Seto's room was often where the card talk happened.
In terms of win rate, Yugi lost to Seto often.
Seto, who had chased Atem, had a poor win rate against Atem.
And that Atem would drop a game to Yugi out of nowhere.
The three of them in a standoff. Decks inevitably had their matchups, so it couldn't be helped, but one's own deck was supreme. Neither Seto nor Atem was the sort to concede a matchup. So when Atem asked for advice on how to beat Aibou and was told to crush him by force, the situation had become unsalvageable — a memory still fresh for her.
"This one with the brutal effect. Seems like your kind of thing."
"It does look quick to set up. But do you think I would put it in my deck because you said so?"
"I would."
"I'm sure you would."
"You know me well, Kaiba."
"Well enough."
"There are times I don't understand you."
Seto silently urged her on.
"That you helped Téa, and that you sat and talked with everyone the way you did today — honestly, both of those surprised me."
"What else?"
"That you came all the way to the afterlife didn't surprise me, since you make anything possible — although, somewhat... no, I suppose I was quite surprised. And that you took me out of there, too."
"And?"
"I knew you look after people, and that if you do a thing you do it all the way, but you're very — what is it? Kind, to me?"
The correct answer was probably overprotective, but that was not in Atem's vocabulary.
He was not a man to let such an opening pass. Words once spoken harden awareness. Atem had just placed a suggestion on herself.
Seto smirked, murmured softly, that's only for you, and stroked her head.
Atem blinked once, wide, and turned to look at him.
Not yet. Any more would be going too far. He intended to bind Atem hand and foot, or else spoil her into something viscous, until she could not go back.
Atem rolled over and caught the hand resting on her head.
"Big hand."
"Compared to yours."
Stroke her and she would grow attached, presumably.
But first he wanted her accustomed to this hand. Accustomed physically, until she could not let anyone else touch her. Until even Yugi would feel wrong.
Thinking such things, he let her touch it as she pleased.
"The hand that made the Duel Disk, huh."
"That's right."
And a hand trained in techniques that could take a life easily. He did not say so.
A situation like this one. It could just as readily become a hand that pinned her down and trampled her dignity.
She surely did not think it a hand so frightening. Not in the slightest.
The construction of the relationship appeared to be broadly succeeding.
"I want to treasure this."
"It's another man's hand."
"It is, but — I just thought so, somehow."
Unconsciously, she pressed Seto's hand to her cheek. Just as on that morning. Perhaps the jealousy was working; it was as though she were declaring it hers.
She was the type to be carried along if you let her drift, so it had to be made clear to her, not merely atmospheric.
Why did she want to treasure it? Why press her cheek to it? But he did not ask.
"Aibou was jealous."
"That business."
"About the coverage. Téa's a wonderful woman, and you're what they call good-looking, I suppose, but I think the two of you don't suit each other."
"Because Yugi exists?"
It was absolutely not that, but Seto asked as a formality.
"No, I don't think so. On the news you said you'd left what mattered behind in Japan, but there isn't anyone like that either."
"Is that so."
"It is."
Did she notice at all that she had forgotten to include herself among the options? And this only minutes after he had told her that the kindness was for Atem alone.
"No — that's wrong. I'm saying strange things. You're popular, apparently, so among them there'd be attractive women—"
She was jealous of her little friends, and of every resident of Japan other than herself. Because Atem must love Seto and want him to herself.
If you are the most attractive of all would land, he would say it this instant, but with her unaware of her own feelings, it would not land yet.
"There is nothing strange about it."
You alone have the right to say that — he nearly said it, and stopped. Excess information. Excessive hints invited confusion.
They moved the cards to the bedside and lay down side by side.
On days they played, they often did a post-game review, and Atem would start rolling about, so this was nothing new.
There had often been times they stayed together until morning.
He had never once let her think of danger to herself. Atem had apparently taken a liking to Seto's hand, and kept touching it.
Perhaps she was sleepy; her hand was warm.
It would be better to send her back to her room and let her sleep, but if he opened up distance now, the feelings of an Atem who had finally learned jealousy would take a step backward. He would not pursue too far, but there was no need for restraint either.
"No, it is strange. Something's wrong with me."
"There is nothing wrong with you anywhere. You only feel that way because you're sleepy."
Yes — this was a normal reaction produced by jealousy, and there was nothing wrong with her anywhere. She simply had no awareness of it.
"I'll go back to my room."
"Sleep here as you are. I'll listen to you talk to yourself, or whatever else, until you drop off."
"See — you really are kind to me."
Satisfied, perhaps, she had already slipped into sleep.
He dropped the lights and, leaving the caught hand where it was, Seto closed his eyes as well.
There was no need to rush. This pace, now, was the optimal solution.
