Atem discovers cafés.
This rapidly escalates into a meditation-themed coffee chain, ancient Egyptian-inspired desserts, a worldwide wellness movement, a luxury confectionery brand called Love & Theory, and several international cultural phenomena.
Kaiba knew this would happen.
He still helped.
Established relationship chaos, worldbuilding, excessive amounts of coffee and sweets, and two kings accidentally reshaping civilization through love, technology, and extremely questionable levels of influence.
This is a translation of an original work on Pixiv.
Original Title: 愛と理論 11 王、ブランドを創造する
Original Author: 葉人(@Hathor₋yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
"…Both the café and the relaxation were good. Human beings reclaim themselves through stillness."
Seto answered without looking up from his tablet.
"People are drawn to extremes. Either silence or stimulation."
"Stimulation. I see — that too is a form of preference. …There's more to learn."
Seto looked at Atem nodding with complete sincerity, and smiled quietly.
"I thought you'd say that."
On his terminal, several lists were already waiting.
Amusement parks, art museums, cinemas, VR experience facilities, traditional performing arts, and so on.
Each one a representative example of what modern people called stimulation.
But for Seto, it wasn't merely data.
He simply wanted to be there — beside Atem, watching the moment he discovered a new world.
Atem announced his next destination himself.
"Seto, I want to go to a museum. As an ancient king, I need to learn how the modern world handles history."
"Already anticipated."
Even as he said it, Seto was issuing instructions to his staff.
The museum was made private in an instant. General visitors looked up at the sign reading "Closed today for special research purposes" and turned back.
Two sets of footsteps in the quiet of the building.
Each time Atem walked through an exhibition room, sensors responded and the lighting came up softly.
Seto's doing.
"Seto… when did you start preparing this?"
"I knew the day you said 'I want to learn' would come."
"I see. …You really are a man who reads my future."
"I don't read it. I just make the path as short as possible."
Gazing at ancient artifacts arranged behind exhibition glass, Atem smiled.
"I thought our civilization had stopped here. But… it kept going."
"The result of your will never breaking."
Seto's voice was calm — and somewhere underneath it, quietly proud.
Hearing it, Atem reached out and touched his hand, speaking low.
"It's because you were here. …This age is warmer to me than the afterlife."
"I have never served you, and I have no memory of staging a coup."
One by one, the lights in the exhibition room came on.
As if the past itself were offering its congratulations.
On the way back from the museum.
Walking through the night city, Atem looked up at the stars without a word.
Seto watched from the corner of his eye and unlocked the car.
"You've thought of something."
"…Yes. Stimulation isn't only something you feel — it's something you make."
A small laugh from Atem.
"People listen to music, paint pictures, make things for someone. They call it enjoyment. …In my time, creation belonged to the gods. But now, anyone can be a god."
"The result of human beings obtaining permission in the name of freedom."
"What a fascinating age this is, Seto."
Atem thought for a moment, then looked up, expression serious.
"I want to create something too."
Seto's hand tightened slightly on the wheel. He raised an eyebrow.
"Create what. Another DIY project?"
"Hmm… something that gives the world a gentle shock."
Seto exhaled shortly.
"…That always goes somewhere troublesome. There's nothing gentle about your shocks."
But his tone held more anticipation than exasperation.
Several days later. Kaiba Corporation's research wing.
Atem was surrounded by displays, assembling some kind of visual composition.
"Seto — this is footage that stabilizes the human heart. Using sound, light, and scent to reproduce the tranquility of the afterlife."
"…The tranquility of the afterlife, through Kaiba Corporation's technology?"
"Exactly. Modern people exhaust themselves seeking stimulation. Then heal them with love and theory."
"So — evolved stimulation as relaxation."
"Yes. Afterlife-style relaxation!"
Seto pressed two fingers to his temple — but couldn't hide his interest.
"Technically, it has potential. …But I'll handle the trademark registration."
"Hm? Oh — that kind of thing I leave to you."
"Obviously. If you filed it yourself, the world would descend into chaos."
Atem laughed and opened a new scent recipe on the monitor.
"Seto — you bring the theory. I bring the sensation. That is our creation."
At those words, the corner of Seto's mouth eased.
"A fusion of love and theory. …Sounds about right."
Several months later, a project titled "KAIBA × ATEM — Sensory Harmony" launched worldwide.
Spatial design, visuals, scent, sound — all optimized by AI, all calibrated by Atem's instincts.
The reactions from users were, almost without exception, the same:
"I felt love."
"My heart was purified."
"It wasn't an experience — it was a blessing."
The world had been updated once more, by their love.
Afternoon. The glass-walled living room of the Kaiba mansion.
Before a table set up for solid vision conferencing, Atem sat with his arms folded, deep in thought.
Seto closed his documents and looked at him.
"…You've thought of something again."
"Seto. In the afterlife, I don't think the craving for 'calming down' was ever as strong as it is in the modern world."
"Naturally. In your time, life was always bound up with mortal stakes. Survival came before relaxation."
"But now it's different. Modern people have made tranquility itself into a preference. Which means the afterlife needs to supply a different kind of stimulation."
Atem's voice was quiet — but heated underneath.
Seto exhaled.
"…So you're planning to start another cultural import."
"Civilization recycles itself. Trends, history, and preferences alike. The afterlife's records hold something that the present age needs."
"So. What are you importing this time?"
Atem was silent for a moment — then smiled, bright and clean.
"A meeting."
"…What?"
On the display: "Afterlife → Living World: Import Candidate List."
The items: clothing, crafts, architecture, indulgences, and more.
Seto leaned back in his chair, already assuming his role as the filter for Atem's instinct-driven selections.
"First, establish the premise. The objective is 'giving the human heart a new form of stimulation.' Therefore, the means is not cultural import — it's cultural redesign."
"I see. So instead of 'bringing things as they were,' we adapt them to fit the present."
"Exactly. Otherwise, it becomes 'the King's conquest of the world' again."
"Right… I'll be careful."
Atem considered for a moment, then said it with full seriousness.
"Seto — we already have the Sanctum Café. What if we incorporated afterlife sweets into it?"
Seto's expression shifted, just slightly.
"Afterlife sweets… importing taste culture from the afterlife."
"Food is a mirror of civilization. Reproduce the afterlife's sweets with modern technology, and it becomes a harbinger of something new."
"…Theoretically, it holds."
"Taste connects directly to emotion. After love, it is the thing that most advances civilization."
Atem smiled as he said it.
Seto turned his pen slowly between his fingers and laughed, a little helplessly.
"…So we arrive again at 'indulgences advance civilization.'"
"Both the afterlife and the world — the direction of progress lies in love and sweetness."
"…Then we start with prototypes. If we're doing it, we do it perfectly."
The next day.
Kaiba Corporation's food research division abruptly launched the "Ancient-Style Sugar Structure Analysis Project."
Code name: Project DUAT.
Beside it all, Atem drank his herbal tea with evident satisfaction.
"Seto. Preference really does lead civilization."
"…In your case, civilization is led by preference."
Seto's wry smile — and another new era began to move.
Kaiba Corporation. Research floor seven.
Ordinarily one of the most strictly controlled sections in the building — where AI taste simulation and molecular gastronomy trials were conducted.
Before its entrance, Atem stood at the application terminal, expression serious.
"Purpose of use: reproduction of afterlife confectionery culture and modern adaptation experiment… done."
The moment the input was complete, the access request automatically routed upward.
But mere seconds later, the screen blinked red.
"Access pending: approval required — Kaiba Seto"
"…Ah. So that's how it is."
Atem smiled quietly. Behind him, the automatic door opened with a sound.
There stood, as a matter of course, Seto.
"Honestly… setting up an alert the moment you file a request was exactly the right call."
"Seto. You don't trust me?"
"I trust you. But I know your execution capacity — which is precisely why surveillance is necessary."
"…I'll choose to interpret that as a compliment."
Atem laughed with genuine amusement, but Seto's eyes were serious.
"To be clear: your culinary skills from those 'home date cooking sessions' are theoretically domestic — but in practice, disaster-grade."
"Disaster-grade?"
"Have you forgotten the chocolate incident? When you attempted to summon a fire elemental instead of using a double boiler."
"…That was not a failure. It was a magnificent attempt."
"In my assessment, it was an explosion."
From the corridor, the research staff watched this exchange in held-breath silence.
Someone had already posted footage to the company's unofficial social feed.
Tags:
#QuantumMarriageAppearanceAgain
#PresidentPersonallySupervisingAfterlifeSweets
The comment section filled steadily with "precious" and "is the world about to move again."
In the end, a joint experiment began: Seto taking theoretical supervision, Atem handling on-the-ground execution.
"Input the sugar molecule sequence into this simulator. Cross-reference the afterlife's records."
"In the afterlife, sweets were called 'a medium of memory.' I want to reproduce the sensation of a heart softening with a single bite."
"…Too poetic. Say it in data."
"It's the reproduction of emotion, Seto. A flavor that lives on the other side of theory."
"In other words — love."
"Exactly."
Silence.
Then Seto gave a small laugh.
"Then I'll process it theoretically. I'll build what you'd call the formula for love."
Atem nodded, satisfied.
In that instant, the atmosphere of the research wing shifted entirely.
Temperature, humidity, light levels — all brought under control, and a space that could only be described as the fusion of love and theory came into being.
Several hours later.
Before Seto and Atem: a single golden jelly, reconstructed from afterlife honey.
"This… it's glowing?"
"Photon-controlled sugar. It absorbs light and converts it into taste stimulation. In short, eating it computationally elevates the sense of happiness."
"…This is truly the flavor of love."
"What I designed was the flavor of theory. But what was completed — that's the element of love you mixed in."
Atem picked up his spoon and slowly brought it to his lips.
For a moment, his eyes lit up — then he exhaled, quietly.
"…Seto. This is civilization."
"Without question. A joint work of love and theory."
Afterward, the research wing's tasting session sent "the glowing sweets" trending worldwide, and social media filled once more with
#QuantumMarriageSweets
#EatingLoveAndTheory
Seto closed the report and murmured, almost to himself.
"…In the end, everything we do resolves into love."
"Naturally. I am a king. And you are the man who proves love through theory."
Faced with that smile, Seto had nothing left to say.
A news anchor spoke with barely contained excitement.
"Today marks the official launch of Kaiba Corporation's new brand, Love & Logic. Access concentrated from the very first day of release, temporarily bringing the online shop's servers down. According to supervising director Atem, the brand is dominating the top trends not only in the living world, but on the afterlife's real-time social network, Nefer-Link!"
The studio footage cut to the nighttime city streets.
Long queues outside every location.
People lined up as if for a New Year's shrine visit — holding their boxes close to their chests, closing their eyes, quietly praying.
The pilgrimage phenomenon.
At some point, someone had started calling it that.
Atem watched from the display.
"…They're not tasting it. They're feeling it. Like a ritual."
His voice was warm, unhurried.
"In the ancient world, offerings were made to the gods. Now, perhaps people offer them to themselves — to heal the heart."
Seto watched his profile from across the desk.
"Either way — you're the one who gives it meaning, Atem."
"No, Seto. You gave it form. I only remembered. An ancient flavor, brought into the present."
A quiet pause.
On the display, the city lights pulsed softly.
The same color as the sweets.
"I can feel the world beginning to move again."
At Atem's murmur, Seto folded his arms.
"You're usually the one moving it."
"…No. It's you and me. Two worlds, connected by two people."
A faint smile from Seto.
"If you say so — then what do we move next?"
"Let me think. This time — feeling itself."
Seto's eyebrow shifted, barely.
"So that's where we're going."
"You already predicted it, didn't you."
"Obviously. My precision in forecasting you has long since exceeded any algorithm."
Atem gave a quiet laugh and rose from his chair.
"Then the next challenge is touch and emotion. …Brace yourself, Seto."
"I'm already prepared."
The moment their eyes met, the Love & Logic logo on the screen behind them pulsed — faint and steady.
As if announcing the next evolution.
Just ten days after Love & Logic officially launched.
It was no longer a corporate brand. It had become a culture.
An official social media post from a royal household showed a specially commissioned glowing sweet adorned with gold leaf, accompanied by a short line: "With reverence for the King's creation."
The post swept the world in moments. On Nefer-Link in the afterlife, tags like
#TheFlavourOfTheKing
#LightThatConnectsTheWorldAndTheAfterlife
trended immediately.
In response, the living world's media ran special features day after day.
"The Miracle of Kaiba Corporation"
"The King and the Scientist Reborn in the Present"
"The Future Forged by Love and Theory"
Every headline carried both names — the King, Atem, and the President, Seto.
That afternoon. The president's office.
The mountain of correspondence that had arrived at the desk was composed entirely of official requests from royal households around the world.
Letters of refined courtesy, each seeking permission for a royal warrant.
Atem read through them one by one, unhurried.
With each one, a warmth spread through him — nostalgia, and quiet pride.
"…A banquet of kings. Those words have a familiar ring."
"I knew it would come to this eventually."
Seto's voice was low — and somewhere beneath it, faintly exasperated.
"When I brought drink to the afterlife it was the same, but the scale this time is different."
"It isn't. You move an age through taste. I guarantee it through theory. That's all this is."
Said plainly — but the corner of Seto's mouth held a trace of a smile.
Atem didn't miss it.
"Seto — you're smiling."
"I'm not."
"You are. …You're pleased, aren't you."
"What pleases me is that my predictions held."
Atem shrugged and smiled, soft.
"The fact that you can predict means your world and mine are already shaping each other. If that's what quantum marriage actually is — then the people who named it weren't entirely wrong."
"Then shall we formally adopt the name?"
"I'm undecided."
A quiet laugh passed between them.
Outside, the Love & Logic sign cast its light across the city's shop windows.
The resonance of two people spanning the living world and the afterlife — it showed no sign of stopping.
