While in America, Kaiba rescues Téa from an unwanted situation — and the next morning, the two of them are front-page news. What follows is a press conference, a single devastating sentence delivered to camera, and Téa accidentally launching her own career. Back in Domino, Atem sees the headlines and feels something she doesn’t quite have a name for yet. Yugi visits, notices more than he lets on, and goes home with questions he can’t quite bring himself to ask.
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 opened naturally the moment he stepped forward. Seto was long used to it. He moved through the plaza the way he always did, heading toward the car waiting for him.
That was when his ears caught a voice he recognised well enough.
Slightly off-key English tangled up with native English — an argument of some kind. He would normally have ignored it and walked on. Instead, Seto considered for a moment, and turned toward the cluster of people.
“You’re the one making things up.”
“What are you talking about, sweetheart? Come on, come with me.”
“Ow — don’t touch me! Let go!”
“Don’t be like that, come on—”
Standard unwanted attention. Somewhat forceful.
Japanese women tended to be slender, young-faced, assumed to be passive — they were underestimated, as a rule. This one had spirit, but the man hadn’t noticed, and wasn’t going to. Strength alone wasn’t going to settle this.
“Fine, let’s just—ow!”
“Do you have business with her?”
“What the hell?!”
The grip on her arm had been removed. The man turned around, apparently decided he’d been picked a fight with, and swung. Seto deflected it, caught the wrist, applied a light twist, and set him down on the ground.
A clean piece of work. There was scattered applause.
“Gardener. Let’s go.”
“Yes — thank you.”
Téa, for her part, was too stunned to do much of anything. She simply followed the sudden intruder as he walked away, because there was nothing else to do.
She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d ended up here — but she had at least grasped the essentials: Seto Kaiba, whom Atem had called less prince and more king, had just rescued her.
She got into the car and let out a breath. This was a strange combination of people. Not Atem, not Yugi — not even a fellow duelist. A classmate, technically, though she’d never have said she knew him.
Then again — hadn’t he thrown several soldiers in the royal palace? So the stories about him being physically capable were true, apparently.
“Thank you for that. But — why did you help me?”
“Coincidence.”
That seemed unlikely. He wasn’t the type to do anything without purpose.
“...What’s the real answer?”
She asked it carefully, testing the water.
“Hmph. Consider it a stand-in for her closest friend, lately.”
Seto glanced at her sideways, a flicker of something amused in his expression. He wasn’t hiding his regard for Atem — not at all.
A well-proportioned face. Clear blue eyes. Head held at a height that required her to look up. She’d noticed it over the phone, but his voice was pleasant to the ear. This was the closest she’d been to him in person, and she could immediately see why women the world over were falling for him on looks alone.
“Oh. That makes sense. And there it is — exactly where I thought it would end up.”
Of course. He cared for Atem enormously. Téa felt her instincts confirmed, clean and certain.
“Obviously. If something were to happen, she would find something to blame herself for.”
“She would. That’s exactly who she is.”
Good-looking, well-built, a formidable CEO and a current student — reportedly on track to graduate early, by multiple accounts. A genuinely exceptional person.
Atem had danced around it with comments about his personality, and Joey came at him bristling — but Téa had never had much of an allergy to Seto Kaiba.
Having confirmed his feelings for Atem, she settled back and let the view outside drift past, not particularly concerned with where they were going.
What followed was accompanying him through the rest of his schedule, dinner included, and waking up the next morning in a hotel room that had apparently been prepared at some point without her noticing.
She checked her phone out of vague habit. Her follower count had exploded. Notifications, everywhere. Had she done something controversial? She was fairly certain she hadn’t posted anything.
She stepped out of her room, bewildered, and nearly walked into Seto. The faint smile on his face made her uneasy.
“Congratulations.”
She had no idea what she was being congratulated for. Nothing had happened that she would consider cause for celebration.
Seto tilted his head slightly at her blank response.
“You haven’t seen the news?”
She pulled up the internet in a hurry.
There it was: Seto Kaiba, rumoured to be in a passionate relationship with a Japanese dancer. And the flood of notifications.
They had found her. Just like that.
The story was nonsense, and anger rose — but underneath it, the blood drained from her face first.
“I’m so sorry!”
“Ha. My first scandal. Consider it an honour.”
“A scan... dal...”
Her spine went cold — but Seto’s manner was entirely unruffled, not remotely angry.
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be put out quickly.”
Put out, or rather, made to be put out. She suspected the latter.
The easy smile was reassuring, in that he clearly had this well in hand — but also somewhat alarming, because she still didn’t know what he was going to do.
“You’d do well to think up an explanation for her. The car is arranged. Leave today to Isono. If that still isn’t enough, consider it a bonus — I can deal with it for you. Now, then.”
He turned and left. There was not a trace of uncertainty in his step. The same unhurried composure as always.
Outside the hotel, there would be reporters.
“Miss Gardener. We’ll use the back exit. This way.”
“Ah — yes.”
She got into a car with tinted windows and found a live broadcast online. There — the hotel’s exterior on screen.
Seto emerged from the main entrance. Reporters crowded in, though hotel staff and security were already holding them at a measured distance.
He walked through the noise without breaking stride. That was impressive.
“Mr. Kaiba! About the woman yesterday—”
“There is no relationship of the kind being implied.”
“She was a classmate of yours—”
“An acquaintance.”
The questions were exactly what she’d expected. She had thought he would ignore them — answering them was surprising.
But that had been the strategy.
Because Seto didn’t end it there.
“Any plans for a relationship? Marriage?”
He glanced briefly at the camera. And smiled.
“I left her in Japan.”
Silence — sudden, complete.
By the time the murmur started back up again, he was already in the car and moving.
I left her in Japan. She knew at once it was about Atem.
Even so.
Notifications still pouring in. Interview requests by email.
“...I have just accidentally launched my own career in the most spectacular way possible.”
“Miss Gardener. Seto-sama anticipated this outcome. He also said whether it amounts to more than a moment is entirely up to you.”
“Isono.”
“It will be noisy around you for a few days, but please leave today to me.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
There would be reporters outside her apartment too, without a doubt.
Was this an opportunity? Or something else?
“I won’t be crushed by this.”
“...With all due respect — I’m rooting for you.”
What happened after that — how Téa rose as a new professional dancer — is a story for another time.
Yugi came to the Kaiba mansion fairly quickly, once he’d seen the news.
“Where’s Kaiba?”
“What’s up, Aibou? Kaiba’s on a business trip.”
“Look at this.”
Yugi showed Atem the news footage and the articles.
“Kaiba, in a relationship? Since when. But he’s apparently popular with women, so... you know that? Apparently women everywhere fall for him.”
“That’s not the part — well, yes, that part too, but look here.”
“The other person is a dancer — wait, isn’t this Téa?”
Atem was completely lost.
Hadn’t Téa been trying to nudge Atem and Seto together? Why would she—
She couldn’t explain it, but something stirred in her chest.
“Why would... Téa? Have you been in contact with her?”
“Yeah. She said she’d just been grabbed by someone and he helped her out.”
“Then that’s fine, isn’t it.”
Hearing that Téa was all right, Atem felt relief settle through her. That alone — though of course she hadn’t noticed that it wasn’t only that.
“Yeah, it is, but—”
“Are you jealous of Kaiba, Aibou?”
“Maybe I—”
Maybe he was, Yugi thought.
He wanted to confirm Téa was safe — and he wanted to check on the truth of the reported relationship (though there was really no need to check), just to check.
“Yeah.”
“It’s fine. Kaiba said so himself — that sort of thing, he left in Japan.”
Something stirred in Atem again. She didn’t quite understand what it meant — but told Yugi confidently that it was fine.
At that certainty, Yugi’s mind drifted toward a certain thought.
Atem and Seto Kaiba — rivals. But the current Atem was an ordinary girl. And since Atem had come back, Seto had seemed, in some way, steadier. If the trust between them was unchanged, but the gender had changed—
“You two are...”
“Hm?”
“No. Never mind.”
Better to wait for a report from the people involved. Though there might be times to give a small nudge.
“It’s true, he appeared out of nowhere and got me out of there. That’s what it feels like to be protected. And everything after—”
“But I can’t tell Aibou that part.”
Téa had come back to Japan for the time being — retreating, more or less. She had wondered whether she should avoid the Kaiba mansion, but she hadn’t been followed much here in Japan. True to his word, he had put it out.
She visited Atem, and the topic was, inevitably, the incident.
Atem was relieved to see Téa home safe — but Téa had, apparently, become a devoted fan somewhere along the way. The Seto Kaiba commentary showed no signs of stopping.
In short, Atem had always been Téa’s oshi — and now Seto Kaiba had joined her right beside him.
“That’s exactly what they mean by SUPADARI. It’s incredible—!”
“What’s a supadari?”
“Short for super darling — the perfect partner.”
“Huh.”
“Honestly. Do you even understand how unbelievably cool he was?”
“I already know he’s good-looking.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Less pleased, more entertained — the voice came from behind them.
Téa had been praising Seto without restraint just moments before. She went slightly red and laughed it off.
“Oh — Kaiba. Um, thank you for the other day.”
“I’m glad Téa made it back safely. It’s thanks to you being there.”
“No need for thanks. I happened to be passing by. Atem, here — I brought you something from the trip.”
A souvenir: a card pack from the English-speaking market, released early there. This would make building a new deck exciting.
Without thinking — entirely forgetting Téa was there — her hand reached out for it.
“Did you tell her about the other matter?”
“Ah, completely forgot. Can you bring up the display?”
At Atem’s instruction, a display materialised in the air.
She navigated it like a touchscreen.
Technology that had no business existing in an ordinary setting. An ancient person operating a seamless fusion of Solid Vision, AI, and management systems without blinking. Téa stared into the distance.
“You really do have extraordinary adaptability.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. In all sorts of ways.”
“Let me see — ah, here.”
What Atem had opened was a musical production proposal. A commemorative performance to be held at a new hall being built by KaibaCorp. They were recruiting cast members.
“I heard about this and thought it might suit you.”
“It’s wonderful...”
KaibaCorp quality — the lighting, the acoustics, every detail would come together into something extraordinary.
She had been thinking about finding an agency to sign with, and then that incident happened. She was still freelancing, so she had to find work herself.
“I want to do this.”
“Then it’s settled. Output it.”
Again, Atem gave instructions to an unseen presence.
“That’s the recruitment details. The audition dates are in there too.”
She handed over the printed sheet.
“Thank you. I’ll give it everything.”
“Do. Good luck.”
“Don’t tell Yugi, okay?”
“Ah — you want to surprise him. Got it.”
Atem winked.
“Display — off. Put that in your bag.”
At Seto’s voice, the display vanished.
She had just tucked the sheet away when the door burst open.
“Téa!”
"Yugi? What's got you so rushed?"
"I'd be worried too, in your shoes," Atem said. "Téa and Kaiba are all over the news. But you don't need to worry about those two."
“You’re always teasing me like this!”
“I’m not teasing. I mean it. Hey, Kaiba, say something to him.”
“What would I say.”
Only then did Yugi notice the owner of the house. He’d been standing just inside the entrance, but Yugi’s eyes had gone straight to Téa.
Yugi wasn’t without some jealousy toward the man in question — but.
“Um. Thank you. For Téa.”
“Coincidence.”
Atem and Yugi, saying exactly the same thing.
The only one who knew it hadn’t been a coincidence at all was Téa.
“Atem, is that the new card pack? I’m waiting for the Japanese release.”
“I don’t really know English that well,” Yugi added — and Atem blinked at him.
“What? We studied it at school.”
“We did, but — do you actually remember it?”
“Yeah. I had some from school, but I’ve been studying here too.”
I wish I could swap test papers, Yugi lamented. No one sympathised.
Atem: puzzled.
Téa: quietly exasperated.
Seto: looking at him like something unfortunate had crossed his path.
“Yugi. Say you developed a worthwhile game. The major exhibition is in Germany. If you’re thinking about expanding, you’d need English at minimum for the documentation.”
“Can’t I just have an AI translate it?”
“For written documents, a few rounds of revision would get you something natural enough. But what if they ask you to present in person?”
“Fair point. Aibou — work hard on your English and German.”
Atem’s confident gaze was encouraging in a way that brought no comfort whatsoever.
“Seto-sama, your guests — I’ve brought drinks.”
“Kaiba, Aibou, stop standing around — come sit. Let’s have a snack.”
A maid had brought drinks and something to eat.
Seto had intended to hand over the souvenir and head back to his room — but Atem wanted this, so he told himself it was unavoidable and settled onto the sofa.
Iced tea for Téa, sweet café au lait for Yugi, black coffee for Seto, and coconut water for Atem, as always. Macarons to go with.
“Macarons. These are good.”
“Right? The shapes and colours are adorable too.”
Atem’s fingertips reached for one of the pastel rounds. Yugi hadn’t seen a macaron before, though he’d heard the name. So this was a macaron. It looked exactly like something a girl would love.
He was relieved Atem’s attention had shifted. And quietly resolved to at least review his English.
In high school, with Joey and Tristan around, it hadn’t mattered. But looking at the world clearly from here — English was necessary. Téa’s base was America, after all.
“Kaiba, what flavour is this one?”
A small round confection held up near Seto’s face.
He took in the scent.
“Pistachio.”
“The green one? What about this?”
“Almond.”
“Next — this one.”
“Your favourite.”
“Coconut!”
Macarons were lined up on the plate in front of Atem, neat as game pieces.
But, more to the point—
“Téa — what exactly am I watching right now.”
“Just the two of them, as usual.”
Téa didn’t actually know what as usual looked like — but she delivered the observation on pure instinct, and it landed squarely on Yugi.
Something in Yugi’s image of two brilliant duelists began to crumble. The tension, the weight, the sense of two people pushing each other toward an endless horizon — none of that remained. What was left was an atmosphere that made clear, without words, that there was no space for anyone else to enter. His admiration made a distinct sound as it fell apart.
On any honest reading, Atem right now was extremely cute — and Yugi’s mind fled to the question of whether Seto was some kind of ascetic monk, which was the only retreat available.
With the two of them doing whatever they were doing, Yugi decided to simply not see what he was seeing, and turned to catch up with Téa instead.
The two in question had become loud about something. Not an argument — when he looked, they’d opened the pack at some point and were exchanging thoughts on card effects. In English.
Right, the text is in English. Yugi, unable to escape English even here, attempted another retreat into his own head.
“What language do you two usually speak?”
“Japanese. But if it’s in English, then English. Sometimes ancient when it’s about the Afterlife.”
Compared to crossing dimensions, a language barrier was nothing. At least, that was how Seto’s mind operated — and for Atem, once she’d grasped that language had underlying rules, learning it was the same as working out the mechanics of a game.
“Aibou — I’ll learn German and come cheer you on at the expo.”
A wink over a macaron. Encouraging, and yet somehow deeply unwelcome.
There was no escaping the multilingual world. She could always translate for him — except Atem wasn’t allowed to work.
Macarons are good. I suppose I should study a little. Yugi’s inward sighs accumulated quietly, unnoticed by anyone.
The final blow came when he was nearly handed an English-edition card. An actual sound escaped him.
“Today was great — got to see Aibou and Téa, and you were around too.”
“Was it.”
Atem had spread her cards across the bed and was rolling around looking at them, so Seto had settled beside her, looking them over too.
New tactics to explore — that tended to happen after a session. Card talk often ended up in Seto’s room.
In terms of win rate: Yugi tended to lose to Seto. Seto, who had chased Atem, had a poor record against her. And Atem, against all expectation, occasionally slipped up against Yugi.
A three-way deadlock. Deck matchups were what they were — but neither Seto nor Atem were the type to accept matchup as an excuse. The time Atem had asked for advice on beating her partner and been told to overpower him by force, and the resulting chaos — she still remembered it clearly.
“This one has a heavy effect. Seems like your kind of card.”
“The development speed is promising. But do you really think I’d put it in my deck just because you said so?”
“I would.”
“Yes, I know.”
“You know me well, Kaiba.”
“Reasonably so.”
“There are times I don’t understand you, though.”
Seto said nothing, waiting.
“You helping Téa. Sitting around with everyone today. Honestly, both of those surprised me.”
“What else?”
“Coming to the Afterlife — with you, nothing is actually impossible, so I wasn’t surprised exactly, but... I was a fair amount. Maybe more than a fair amount. And bringing me back with you.”
“Go on.”
“I knew you were attentive and all-or-nothing about things, but — you’re very... what’s the word? Kind to me?”
The accurate word was overprotective, but it wasn’t in Atem’s vocabulary.
He wasn’t going to let this pass. The words you speak reinforce what you believe. Atem had just talked herself into something.
Seto smiled — slow, certain — and leaned in to murmur: Only to you. Then he reached out and ruffled her hair.
One slow, wide blink. Atem turned to look at him.
Not yet. That was enough for now. He was going to entangle her, layer by layer, sweet and inescapable, until turning back wasn’t an option.
Atem rolled over and caught the hand still resting on her head.
“Big hands.”
“Compared to yours, yes.”
She’d probably let herself be won over completely if he kept this up.
But first, he wanted her to get used to this hand. Physically used to it — until anything else felt wrong. Until even Yugi’s hand would seem out of place.
He thought all of this and let her do as she liked.
“These are the hands that built the Duel Disk.”
“Yes.”
And hands that had learned, with complete efficiency, to end someone’s life. He didn’t say that.
This situation. These hands could also restrain her, could strip away every last thing she had.
She didn’t consider that for even a moment.
The groundwork was going well, it seemed.
“I want to take care of these.”
“They’re someone else’s hands.”
“I know, but — that’s what I feel.”
Without thinking, she pressed his hand to her cheek. The same as that morning. As though she were claiming it — as though jealousy had made it hers without her realising.
She was the type to be carried along by atmosphere, so it would have to be unmistakable — clear enough that she couldn’t miss it.
Why do you want to take care of them. Why do you press your cheek against them. But he didn’t ask.
“Aibou was jealous.”
“Was he.”
“Of the news. Téa is wonderful, and you’re — handsome, I suppose, but they don’t suit each other, I think.”
“Because Yugi is there?”
Completely wrong, but Seto asked it anyway, for form’s sake.
“No, I don’t think so. You said in the news that the important one is in Japan. But there’s no one like that.”
“Is that so.”
“Yeah.”
She had forgotten to include herself as a possibility. Barely minutes after he had told her that his kindness was hers alone.
“No — I’m saying something strange. You’re popular, so there must be other women who are attractive to you—”
She was jealous of his friends. Of anyone in Japan who wasn’t her. Because Atem loved Seto and wanted him to herself.
You are the most compelling one — if only that would land, he’d say it right now. But she hadn’t found her own feelings yet, and so it wouldn’t reach her.
“There’s nothing strange about it.”
He almost said you alone have the right to say that — and stopped. Too much information. Too many hints at once would only confuse her.
He moved the cards to the bedside table and lay down beside her.
Post-game reviews after a session were routine. Once Atem started rolling around, so was this. Sometimes they were still there come morning.
She had never once been made to feel unsafe. She seemed to have taken a liking to his hand and was still touching it.
The hand was warm. She was probably sleepy.
He could send her back to her room to sleep — but if he put distance between them now, the jealousy she’d just felt would take a step back. He wasn’t going to push. But he wasn’t going to hold back, either.
“No — it is strange. I’m acting oddly.”
“There’s nothing odd about it. You’re sleepy, that’s all.”
Yes — this was a perfectly normal response to jealousy. Nothing strange at all. She simply hadn’t named it yet.
“I’m going back to my room.”
“Stay and sleep. I’ll listen to whatever you want to say until you drift off.”
“See — this is what I mean. You’re kind to me.”
And with that, apparently satisfied, she slipped quietly into sleep.
He dimmed the lights. The hand she was holding stayed where it was.
Seto closed his eyes.
No need to rush. This pace was exactly right.
