Yugi has put on weight. This is because the other me keeps going somewhere, and comes back having been fed. The messages that arrange it are single letters — C, Y, R, C — and Yugi has worked out most of them.
So he takes the pass and goes to Kaiba Corporation himself, to find out what exactly is being done to the other him. He gets an answer. It is a demonstration, and it is delivered at very close range.
Then comes the airport, and the day of departure for Egypt, and a farewell that nobody says out loud.
This is a translation of an original work on Pixiv.
Original Title: 03 金平糖
Original Author: 葉人(@Hathor_yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
The other me has been going out somewhere a lot recently.
Before he goes, he exchanges messages on a messaging app. The contact is saved as 'S.'
S, so probably — no, definitely — Seto Kaiba.
He doesn't know anyone apart from our usual friends, and the messaging only started after Grandpa's wager made him the prize, so there's nothing else it could be.
The messages are single letters, both ways.
'C' comes in, and
the other me answers with either 'Y' or 'C.'
If the answer is 'Y,' then either 'R' or 'C' comes back.
I don't know what they mean, but going by the pattern, Y is when he goes out, so probably Yes; C is when he doesn't, so something like can't. The problem is R and C. The destination has to be either the Kaiba mansion or Kaiba Corporation, so C is probably the C in Corporation. Probably.
While I was holding the phone a message came in, right then. 'C.' So I answered 'Y.' 'C' came straight back.
I don't know if C really means Kaiba Corporation, but I took the pass that had been sent the other day and headed there.
"Mr. Muto, welcome."
Someone greeted me at the entrance, all smiles.
That alone told me the other me must come here quite a lot.
Same as last time, I took the direct elevator up to the president's office.
What if he isn't in. That would be awkward.
Worrying a little, the way I had before, I opened the door.
"Hey. I'm here."
"Yugi. What do you want. Where's the other one."
Curt, blatantly, and he saw through me the instant I spoke. I did try to sound like him.
Also — what is all this confectionery and fruit on the table? Is he having a party?
"You've been seeing the other me lately, haven't you? What are you doing? Duelling?"
"Nothing worth mentioning. But since you're here, bring the other one out."
"I can't bring him if I don't know what you're doing. What are R and C supposed to mean, and today—"
"Residence. The Kaiba mansion. Corporate headquarters. Here. You came without confirming?"
He gave me the most exasperated look, but how was I supposed to know.
I wanted to spend time with the other me and everyone else too, you know.
And on top of that, I've put on weight lately.
The cause is probably all the confectionery laid out here. No, it's definitely that.
"What are you doing to the other me?"
"Will it change anything if you know?"
"That depends — on what it is. Depending on the case, I won't bring him at all any more."
Depending on the answer, I was ready to walk straight back out.
He looked at me for a moment, then let out a small sigh, as if to say it couldn't be helped.
"Very well. I'll tell you. Sit there. Put whatever catches your eye in your mouth, as much as you like."
What is that supposed to mean.
I didn't understand, but I sat down as told.
He stood up and came over.
"Lock. Put no one through."
"Lock complete."
The machine voice answered.
"Now nothing will interrupt us."
He sat down right beside me.
With his elbow on the back of the sofa, turned toward me.
Uh — what is this distance. This is really close.
"Citron. Lemon."
A macaron was brought up in front of my mouth. His eyes were fixed on me the whole time.
I've never seen him from this close before, but — this guy's eyelashes are long.
"What are you doing."
"Huh?"
"What is it. You wanted to know what the other one has been doing. Learn it and switch, quickly."
I didn't really follow, but I supposed I was meant to eat. I ate the macaron out of his hand.
It's good. No — it's insanely good.
"Well?"
"It's good."
"……"
Silence.
Still silent, he opened a glass case, and this time it was ice cream.
"Melon."
He scooped it up with a spoon and held it out, and I ate that too.
This is unbelievable too. Like eating the melon itself.
"How is it."
"It's good."
"……"
Silent again.
Next he unwrapped a chocolate and held it out.
"Grown in the Dominican Republic."
The piece was small, so when I ate it my lips touched his fingertips.
He didn't seem to mind at all.
"Well?"
"…It's good."
"……"
The feel of his fingertips won't go away.
My body was practically wedged between the sofa and his, and what is this distance.
Other me, what have you been doing.
He drew back a little, and then he was holding a knife.
My heart jumped for a second, but then he started peeling a peach. …No way. He's peeling it himself?
"White peach. Enjoy the scent as well."
It's a peach. So juicy my cheeks might fall off.
No wonder I've put on weight.
"…It's good."
"…You're a poor responder."
He watches me with this incredibly serious face, which makes it hard to eat. What does he expect.
Then he straightened up. The distance opened a little and the tension let go of me.
"That is roughly it. The other one responds better, though."
"No way…"
"You have him hidden there. Go on and switch."
How did he know. I told him I couldn't bring him.
But if he's already worked it out, there's no help for it.
I took the Puzzle out of my bag and put it round my neck, and the other me came out at once.
And then he was being fed all sorts of things, in exactly the position I had been in.
"White peach. A different variety from the other day. Yume-shiratō."
"Sweet! …It's good!"
He really does respond better. And Kaiba watching him steadily hasn't changed either.
"Chocolate. From Peru."
"The last one was good, but this one's good too!"
It's hopeless, I don't understand any of this.
The other me ate a great deal of confectionery and fruit, and last of all he was fed konpeitō.
Their fingertips touched, and again he didn't look remotely bothered by it.
If I had to put the relationship between these two simply, it would be feeding. The way you tame an animal.
But they're rivals. It can't be as simple as that.
Because for all the 'Y's he keeps sending back, he still hasn't managed to tell him he's going back.
The day of departure for Egypt.
At the airport, I felt someone's eyes.
"Sorry, Aibou. Would you switch with me?"
Following where the other me was looking, there was a tall man seen from behind: Seto Kaiba. He stands out wherever he is, as always.
Before I could answer we'd switched, and the other me broke into a run.
"Kaiba. You're going?"
"I am."
"Then I'll see you off."
"Hn. That will be a rare experience for you."
"…It will. Quite a rare one."
"No doubt. I'll let you see me off. This way."
It might really be rare. The other me is the one who gets seen off. He'll never once have the experience of seeing someone else off.
They were taken to a lounge and sat down side by side. The distance was close.
So this really is the distance these two have.
The other me caught the hem of his jacket.
Hold on. That's really the distance?
"Kaiba, I—"
"I've already heard what you have to say."
"There's still one left."
"You're free to want the air cleared, but don't use that mouth for worthless talk."
Not listened to, the other me looked up at him from below and pushed his lips out.
Uh — hold on. Hold on. So it is that kind of distance, and what is that, is he waiting to be kissed?
That's their business, so I don't mind in the least.
I don't mind, so I'd like someone to consider how I feel about having it shown to me from this close.
For the sake of my mental health, I really can't watch the decisive moment.
In a panic, I forced control of the body back.
"Yugi again. Bring the other one out."
"No, hold on. Obviously I can't."
I'd like them to do that sort of thing when I'm not watching. Not that I can say so.
"Switch. Now. I'll have to delay my flight. Of course, that may throw today's timetable into complete disorder, and the plane you want may not fly at all. That is no concern of mine."
It's a threat.
But he seems like the kind of man who would actually do it.
That would be extremely inconvenient. But Yugi Muto, too, has things he will not give ground on.
True, Seto Kaiba is someone Yugi Muto looks up to. But as an opponent he means to face fairly and squarely one day.
And the other self is someone he looks up to as well.
If the two people he looked up to were — like that — then that was fine in itself.
But he didn't want to see it. He didn't want to be peering in.
"If I switch, what are you going to do?"
"You confirmed that with your own body the other day."
Feeding.
Does he just want to feed him something again?
That much would be fine, but I've never seen the other me make a face like that.
It's different from the face he made waiting for sweets. Even I can tell that much.
But the other me has to go back.
And he hasn't been able to tell him.
And leaving without so much as a word of farewell seems a bit cruel, too.
That instant of hesitation was all it took, and the other me came out again.
Too slow.
"So you're back."
"Kaiba…"
The other me looked up at him. His resolve seemed firm, and the Puzzle was taken off.
Once it's come to this, all I can do is watch.
Gazing steadily at the other me the way he had before, his face came near, at the same distance as that time.
"Open your mouth."
Told to, the other me parted his lips a little.
Hold on a second.
No, look, that sort of thing between them is fine, but could they consider the situation?
Even for the other me, doing that right in front of me while I'm watching—
"Ecuador. The Esmeraldas plantation."
Watching on tenterhooks, I saw a chocolate being put into the other me's mouth.
"Your favourite appears to be the chocolate from there. You responded well."
"Mm. I have other things I like, too."
Things the other me likes. Come to think of it, I don't really know any of them.
That day in the president's office, when he was being fed all those things, the other me kept saying it's good — but that was his reaction to everything.
Watching him that steadily, he must have been working out which of them he actually liked. What incredible insight.
"I know. These, roughly."
The other me was handed a large bag. It was packed with confectionery. Probably the ones he had responded well to.
"You worked it out. But the best thing was—"
"Ta'meya."
"That's it. I've liked that for a long time."
"Your eyes always went to it first. That is why I had it reproduced and fed it to you."
"The one at your place was good. You watch closely — but so did he."
The other me was smiling, happily, and a little wistfully.
Kaiba was the same, and the two of them, talking about things I didn't know, looked as though a different world were visible to them alone.
"He watched closely, certainly. When you were faced with batarekh, for one, that one was laughing inwardly. Did he imagine that face of his hid it?"
"Oh, come on — the pair of you are terrible. Actually, isn't there anything he doesn't like?"
"…Shall I tell you?"
"Please do. This time I'll be the one laughing."
Both the other me and Kaiba were laughing with the look of people who have just thought of a prank.
Ta'meya and batarekh — the other me's likes and dislikes, heard for the first time. I've never even seen them. Why does he know?
And who is "he," anyway? Who are they talking about?
There's nothing about their conversation I understand.
He leaned in and spoke by his ear, the way you'd tell a secret.
"That one can't stand deep-fried white fish."
"What? Him? He ate anything, as far as I could tell."
"He would, wouldn't he."
"Ha, I can see it, actually. What about you? I still don't know what you like and dislike."
"I like beef… that one was the same, I believe. I dislike oden."
"You can't stand something like that either?"
Fancy him having a weak spot like that.
Though I didn't think he was the sort of person to hand over a weakness that casually.
"There's no element in it that draws me."
"Ha… I'll let you have that one."
"Interpret it however you like."
For a while they talked about things they liked — colours, games, nothing of any consequence.
From the mildness in the air between them, it came through, hard, that this really was the distance they had.
"…Take these."
He held out two first-class tickets: the flight to Egypt, the one they were meant to be on, and a flight to America.
The other me stared at them, wide-eyed.
I was surprised too. How does he know everything?
"You really — so from the very beginning, you knew…?"
"Who can say. Will you come?"
"I can't go to America."
He answered a little sadly.
But Kaiba put both tickets in his hands.
"So I assumed. As long as you aren't loud about it, whether you eat or cry, your privacy is protected. 'Yugi Muto' may use his original seat or this one, either. Use them as you please. …I'll have ta'meya served, too."
"I see… Now I have something to look forward to on the journey. Thank you."
"It's time. I'm going."
He stood, and the other me stood as well.
Facing each other straight on, they seemed to be holding a conversation with nothing but their eyes.
The other me took a step closer and touched his hand.
He gently closed his own around it.
"Kaiba… Go safely."
"I'm going."
The other me threw his arms around him, as though he couldn't hold back any longer. Kaiba took it, and held him gently in return.
Outside the window planes were landing and taking off, and — how to put it — it was dramatic.
"———." Atem.
He whispered something at his ear, but I couldn't hear it.
Hearing it, the other me lifted his face.
And then his large hand reached out and covered my eyes, which shouldn't have been visible at all.
It moved away again soon after, but I'd been blindfolded, so I don't know what happened in that instant, and I'm not going to guess.
"Just as I said. I won't keep you waiting long. So long as you don't change."
"I won't change."
"Swear it. Here. Now."
He said it with a face that had gone suddenly, terribly serious.
And the other me answered with a serious face of his own.
"I swear. I will never change."
Hearing it, he smiled as though satisfied, pushed one last konpeitō into his mouth, and left.
"Sorry about that, Aibou."
Watching him go, the other me put the Puzzle around his neck.
Emotion came flooding in, at a tremendous rate.
The sweet he'd liked best was konpeitō.
We boarded, and the plane took off safely, on time.
In the air, the other me chewed through the sweets, gazing at nothing, thinking. He ignored the in-flight meal entirely, so Joey ate it.
He ate konpeitō too, but picking them up and eating them himself didn't seem to lift him much.
After the lights went down, the other me said he wanted to be alone. And he made to go to the first-class seat with the sweets. Taking the Puzzle off.
Whether you eat or cry, he had said.
Will he eat konpeitō, and cry?
Ah. It really was a spring that came too late.
He must like konpeitō, but with these in particular, maybe what he liked was being fed them.
Far, far too late.
He had someone that important to him, so why did he never say anything?
He shouldn't have been able to tell him — so how did Kaiba know it was this flight, today?
He didn't call the other me Yugi. He didn't call him Atem either.
He cut the other me's words off.
He made him swear not to change, and only said he wouldn't be kept waiting.
I don't know what any of it means.
All I knew was that the parting was going to arrive without a farewell ever being said.
If he had been able to go to America with him, would he not have had to eat konpeitō and cry alone?
The other me came back when it had grown light. His face was clearer than the night before, but when I asked what he had been doing, he said it was nothing.
He only said he was short on sleep, and withdrew inside.
Liar.
You show me a clear face, but your heart is saying it's this lonely, isn't it. The instant we switched, the tears overflowed.
If he mattered that much to you, then why.
Having crying pushed onto me, I noticed there was a chocolate in my pocket. Grown in the Dominican Republic — the one I'd liked best out of everything I was fed that day.
This one must have been meant for me. His powers of observation really are extraordinary. I opened the wrapper and put it in my mouth. A soft sweetness like candyfloss spread through it.
Sweet, and bitter.
If this journey had been a little further off, would the other me have got to know more of the tastes he doesn't know?
The plane seems to be making good progress.
