Atem notices they have never celebrated an anniversary and designs one — all five recommended activities at once, arranged by golden ratio.
He then realizes he does not know what they would be celebrating, and asks the afterlife's scribe, who has been keeping records.
Thirty-six candidates are extracted. Some of them Seto would prefer not read aloud.
The chosen day turns out to be the day they chose each other, which is also, Seto hints, something else besides.
This is a translation of an original work on Pixiv.
Original Title: 愛と理論 22 王、記念日を祝う
Original Author: 葉人(@Hathor_yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
In his hand, of course, he grips the magazine with the pink cover.
"......Now that I think of it, we don't celebrate anniversaries."
Seto stops the hand with which he was operating a tablet.
"...You noticed at this late stage."
"In the world, it seems, anniversaries are celebrated. Married couples, lovers, or even quantum marriages."
"That last category doesn't exist apart from you and me."
But Atem was serious.
"If we are the sole case, then all the more should we be a model. It's written in Z — xy that an anniversary is the visualization of affection."
Seto lightly closed his eyes.
"...Are you still, without learning your lesson, being made into feed for that magazine's editing?"
"I'm merely obtaining necessary information. I'm merely receiving coverage; it isn't extraction."
"That is called extraction."
But Atem had already turned in a different direction.
He takes out a notebook and is seriously turning the pages.
"An anniversary is special time spent by two people... but concretely, what does one do?"
Seto shrugged.
"Daily life is sufficient, isn't it."
"Daily life isn't special."
"In your case it's special by quantum marriage."
"But by the common sense of the world, that isn't what's said."
Even while exasperated, Seto let out a light sigh at himself for liking that seriousness too.
"So, what do you intend to do?"
Atem promptly called up A.R.E.S.
Lord Atem. In coordination with LOVE-OS, anniversary information has been organised.
Seto immediately draws his brows together.
"...Superfluous things again."
But A.R.E.S. continues proudly.
I have made a ranking of representative "clichéd ways to spend an anniversary."
Atem nodded, looking satisfied.
"As expected, A.R.E.S."
First place: give a bouquet.
Second place: go to see a night view.
Third place: a special dinner.
Fourth place: exchange of paired rings or necklaces.
Fifth place: a surprise production.
Additionally, the Z — xy editorial department strongly recommends "commemorative photographs at a photo studio."
Seto put a hand to his forehead.
"...Leave off the commemorative photography."
Atem asks with an innocent face.
"Why?"
"......Because something will happen."
Atem, who has numerous prior convictions in the matter of photographs, averts his eyes while thinking a little.
But he at once returns to a serious face and wrote a note into the page.
"Then let's make it a bouquet, a night view, dinner, an accessory, and a surprise... Mm, the mortal world is ceremonially busy."
Seto let out a breath while leaning back deeply.
"So, which of them do you want to do?"
"All of them, of course."
"All? Simultaneously?"
"Is there some problem with celebrating simultaneously?"
"There is. There are too many tasks."
Atem nodded deeply and added a further note.
"Good, I shall research the golden-ratio-optimal method of anniversary celebration."
Seto laughed a little.
"...In the end it becomes the golden ratio and research."
"Research is the centre of life. Love included. So you cooperate as well."
At that way of putting it, Seto's chest is faintly seized.
"...Nothing for it."
Atem smiled brightly.
"Reassuring. It was written in Z — xy that an anniversary is a construct of two people as well."
"...That magazine company — would it be faster if I bought it out before long?"
"Please don't. The information source would vanish."
Seto, while giving a wry smile, laid a hand gently on Atem's head.
"Rather than anniversaries, if you're here it's sufficient."
Atem, at those words, suddenly stopped breathing.
"...Seto, you at times make me impossible to research."
"That's fine."
The next day.
Atem shut himself in the study, arms folded in front of a whiteboard on which "What is an anniversary" and "What is a surprise" were written large.
On his head, the anniversary special issue he received from Z — xy yesterday sits open.
"A surprise is the act of producing unpredictability. I see."
A.R.E.S. cuts in discreetly.
Lord Atem, for a surprise to succeed, "the other party's astonishment" is held to be important. Because Lord Seto's powers of detection are extremely high...
"Which is to say, it won't work on Seto."
Yes. In addition, since "an anniversary is a thing spent together"...
Atem readily spread both hands.
"Mm, in that case the surprise is rejected."
Clean. Truly clean.
There, Seto shows himself with coffee in one hand.
"You've given up on the surprise?"
"This one is difficult to find a strategy for, as expected."
Seto does not hide a smile.
"Your judgment is quick."
"A surprise holds together by the information gap between the one setting it up and the one it's set up on. But lately you see through me, sense me, and get ahead of me. The information gap doesn't hold."
"Are you praising me?"
"That's right."
Seto averts his gaze as though a little embarrassed.
"So this time I'll discard the surprise."
But Atem had already moved to the next whiteboard.
There were the fearsome words
Anniversary Plan Proposal: The Full Loadout (Provisional)
Seto pressed at the space between his brows in spite of himself.
"...Truly all of them. I have nothing but a bad feeling."
Atem began his explanation in a voice of complete seriousness.
"As a result of organising the information obtained from A.R.E.S. yesterday, it became clear that anniversaries in the world tend to increase in effect by bundling multiple events on the same day."
"I've never heard an analysis like that..."
"For example, dinner plus night view. Bouquet plus accessory. Surprise plus photo shoot. Arrange all of these by golden ratio and it becomes the perfect anniversary."
Seto closed his eyes.
"...The golden ratio is far too convenient."
Atem pointed at the enormous quantity of notes stuck to the whiteboard.
"First, the bouquet. This has scent, colour, and visual splendor.
Next, the night view. This raises the romance index.
Dinner is energy replenishment and improved communication.
Exchange of accessories holds symbolic meaning.
Furthermore, the commemorative photograph is record."
Seto laughed even while exasperated.
"You. Do you intend to write a paper?"
"The draft is already saved in LOVE-OS."
"Stop. Why is a paper being born from an anniversary. At the very least keep it to A.R.E.S."
But Atem was serious.
"Seto, I want to construct a perfect day. For that, I need to put this full loadout plan into a golden ratio array, optimise the timetable, shorten the movement routes, and maximize memory efficiency."
"You... you seriously intend to do all of it on the day..."
An exasperated murmur, at this point of an unknown count.
Atem nodded lightly.
"Of course. But there's a problem."
"Say it."
"There's too much information; it's too dense to cram into a first anniversary."
"One look and that's clear."
Atem drew his brows together, but at once let a provoking smile surface.
"But I'm good at puzzles."
Seto's eyebrow twitched.
"That face predicts an unpleasant development."
Atem spins a pen in front of the whiteboard and declares with dignity.
"I shall solve this anniversary puzzle and derive the optimal solution. I'll construct the two of us's anniversary, more beautiful than the golden ratio."
A.R.E.S. produces a lighting effect, looking pleased.
Lord Atem, I have already activated analysis mode. It will proceed as a joint operation with LOVE-OS.
Seto let out a deep, deep sigh.
"...Am I to be dragged into your research again."
Atem turned around and smiled calmly.
"Seto, with you any research is enjoyable."
At that one line Seto lost his resistance. No — he had not been resisting from the start.
"...Do as you like."
Atem, with the meticulously constructed blueprint of a day filled with golden ratio in hand, nodded, looking satisfied.
The time allocation is perfect, the flow lines are beautiful, Seto's preferences and load optimised.
Tenacity out of love has by now reached the domain of art.
Before such an Atem, Seto folded his arms and lowered a calm gaze.
"So, Atem. What anniversary of what do you intend to celebrate this time?"
That tone of voice is composed, and soft.
Dates, times, the actions of the two. Seto is the type who grasps all of it.
For Seto, the concept of an anniversary is a rational and empirical domain, unconnected with ambiguity.
Atem, by contrast, froze in an instant.
"......That is...... well......"
While manipulating the golden ratio, he is not the least bit versed in the system of anniversaries.
To begin with, rather than when and what one celebrates, he is a man for whom this very moment is like an anniversary, so it can't be helped.
Seto started to say it. "You're a man for whom every day..."
But faster than those words could be spun, Atem moved.
The instant decision characteristic of a king, with zero hesitation.
"I'll ask the scribe of the afterlife."
"What did you say?"
Atem promptly opens an afterlife line.
His former close attendant, the scribe who presides over the records of the afterlife, responded immediately to the summons from the King.
"When Seto was coming to the afterlife, was there anything that could serve as an anniversary?"
An anniversary... is it? Then, extracting from the behavioural records of the King and Lord Seto...
In an even voice, but with contents far from even.
First, "the day the King was reluctant to send Lord Seto back to the world of the living," three times...
"Hey, wait."
Even as Seto stops him, the scribe continues.
One of those times, the King's embrace was too strong, and...
"You don't need to say that."
"Say it."
But when Atem is the one to stop him instead, Seto urges him on.
Either way the scribe does not stop.
Furthermore, "the day Lord Seto organised the King's archive without permission and was scolded," two times.
"I won't have it called being scolded. I merely optimised the classification system."
"Without permission, that is."
There are also records of the two of you talking at length and passing the dawn of the afterlife three times... and a great many "unclassified notes" in which the King was investigating Lord Seto's preferences...
(Unclassified?) and this inner voice is Seto's.
(There were that many of them...) and this one is Atem's.
I shall transmit the above to your side as well.
And A.R.E.S. went and received the data.
Reception complete. Synchronizing afterlife records and mortal-world data. Searching for anniversary candidates that can correspond to "the day off Lord Atem wrenched loose."
I have extracted 36 integrable candidates. The top ones are as follows.
"Thirty-six?"
"There were that many...?"
Those of particularly high importance are
① The day Lord Atem first recognised Lord Seto as a "close friend" (estimated)
② The day Lord Seto first accepted Lord Atem's advice head-on
③ The day the two of you both refused to yield at the gate of the afterlife, and the scribe was bewildered
④ The day of the action judged to be Lord Atem appointing Lord Seto as "Special Afterlife Advisor"
"That was not an appointment; you merely created a post without permission and forced it on me."
"It was a job title that suited you."
Furthermore, "the day Lord Atem's palpitations rose from being touched by Lord Seto"...
"What is that."
"That one I won't make an anniversary, of course."
Then I shall exclude it from the candidates.
To the unshakeable tempo of the conversation, A.R.E.S. quietly joins in, and the whole space is dyed in a strange direction.
Before all the data, Atem quietly steadied his breathing.
In the eyes gazing at the enormous afterlife records and A.R.E.S.'s analysis, a faint temperature dwells.
"...There were this many days the two of us piled up, weren't there."
Seto says, not hiding a faint smile:
"That's why I told you. You're a man for whom every day is like an anniversary."
But Atem shakes his head.
"Even so, I want a day with a name, to be celebrated. As proof that you are beside me, and I am beside you."
Anniversary candidates, optimisation complete. The one with the highest consistency with the leave Lord Atem secured is...
A quiet interval.
"The day the two of you, at the same time, decided to choose each other."
"Eh... that was... that day, was it."
"That's right, that day."
Seto's eyes and Atem's eyes slowly entangle.
The afterlife and the mortal world both fall silent, and the grains of time swayed quietly.
Its name is the day the two of us chose each other.
Atem drew a deep breath and wrote it into the first page of the golden ratio schedule in beautiful strokes.
Seto, seeing that, narrowed his eyes faintly.
Neither by golden ratio nor by rationality, but purely for the single point of having chosen each other.
Immediately after seeing through the optimal solution A.R.E.S. presented, Seto slowly pressed at his forehead with one hand and let out a quiet breath.
"...To be grasped even by the scribe of the afterlife — you are far too easy to read."
Atem throws out his chest.
"Reading the King's emotions is the scribe's work. It isn't that I'm easy to read; their powers of observation are simply sharp."
Seto laughed in spite of himself at that dignified reasoning.
"No, you're easy to read. The scribe of the afterlife said the records were too abundant and extraction was a struggle, didn't he."
Atem knits his brows faintly.
"...I'll admit it a little."
Of course, a little does not cover it.
Atem quietly repeated the name of the decided anniversary.
"...The day this relationship was established, is it."
Seto's gaze wavers softly.
"That day, you couldn't hold back your own feelings and laid all of them bare."
Atem gives one cough.
"I didn't lay them bare. You saw through them. Your emotions are already stripped bare — the one who said that was you, Seto. It's the anniversary of the Emotions Stripped Bare Incident."
"Don't make it an incident."
"It's fact."
Seto, while dropping his shoulders, was somehow enjoying himself.
Because he knows that the instant Atem attaches a name, the world arranges itself the faintest bit more beautifully.
Seto murmured while confirming the schedule.
"Even so, you managed to wrench my day off loose on this day. What did you do about the two meetings and the coordination with the sponsors?"
Atem answers lightly.
"A.R.E.S. had analysed it as Seto's optimal rest day. I merely followed that advice. As for the rest, everyone cooperated."
"Everyone? How far did you talk..."
The sigh is deep.
"In your case, there's also the possibility you push everything through on luck alone."
"For a king, at times the current takes his side."
Seto lowered his eyes, half exasperated, half fond.
"...You've had strong bad-luck fortune since long ago..."
Atem nods, looking satisfied.
"With this, I can celebrate the anniversary at ease."
Just as Atem let out a clear breath.
Seto let a faintly meaningful smile surface.
"...Only, this day is not only that."
"Was there something?"
"There was. But just as you found your own anniversary, notice that one yourself in time as well."
Atem drew his brows together and gazed at Seto.
"...Is this what's commonly called breadcrumbing."
"Where did you learn a word like that."
"...I will definitely remember it later."
"That tenacity is agreeable."
Atem opens the golden ratio schedule anew, and Seto listens over his shoulder while spreading out a display.
"What do we do first?"
Atem answered, full of confidence.
"Stand at the place of beginning. The central point of that day when the two of us chose each other."
Seto walks over and throws a glance at the schedule in Atem's hand.
"...An anniversary composed by golden ratio. That's like you."
Atem lightly raised his chin.
"I'm celebrating a day with you. If it isn't in the most beautiful form, there's no meaning."
Before long, from Isono, notice of the completion of adjustments to Seto's day off arrived.
On the morning of the anniversary, on Seto's schedule table, blanks were lined up as though drawing a splendid spiral.
The leave Atem wrenched loose.
While arranging the collar of his coat, Seto turned his eyes to Atem, who had finished preparing beside him.
"...You really are starting from the afterlife."
"Obviously. The coordinates of the beginning are there."
Seto shrugged faintly.
"You are always large in scale from the very start."
Atem only smiled faintly and denied nothing.
"You don't get to say that."
was all he returned.
The instant the two came down at the gate of the afterlife, the air, which had been serene, stirred with a rustle.
The priests line up and offer deep bows.
"O King, congratulations on your anniversary!"
"On the day of the establishment of the two of you's contract of emotion, we offer our blessings from the heart!"
"It is a special day; a modest offering...!"
Seto froze completely, once.
"...You. Aren't you leaking information to superfluous places again?"
Atem answers with a serious expression.
"I haven't leaked it. The scribe merely analysed it without permission."
Seto pressed at his forehead.
"...Far too excellent, that scribe."
Atem is satisfied.
On leaving the afterlife, what the High Priest lifted with both hands and handed over
was a bouquet that seemed to belong neither to this world nor to the afterlife.
"We have arranged the King's colour of the heart and his affection for Lord Seto by golden ratio."
Seto did a double take in spite of himself.
"...The colour of the heart, by golden ratio?"
Atem says while quietly receiving it:
"Beautiful."
"Beautiful, but... what has become of the spirit of service in your afterlife."
"My afterlife is that sort of thing."
"Don't state it so flatly."
The night view spot.
What Atem had secured in advance was the observation floor of an ultra-high-rise tower managed by Kaiba Corporation.
Reserved exclusively.
Seto narrowed his eyes at that view without a word.
"...As always, your scale is merciless."
"You always do it too, don't you? Besides..."
Atem said quietly, with the light of the night view as his background:
"The days you fought to protect the world — in this place that you protect, I want to celebrate them like this."
Seto turned to the side.
It looks like nothing but hiding embarrassment, but no one points it out.
The golden ratio course supervised by A.R.E.S.
Appearance, nutritional value, balance — all of it beautiful.
"This ratio is perfect."
"...Certainly it's good. But when you say that, I want to suspect that you love the ratio."
"I don't love it. I merely pay it respect."
"No difference."
In a quiet private room, Atem carefully opened the box of a necklace and held it out to Seto.
"This is a memento that remains in form."
Seto received it without words and murmured while putting it around his neck.
"...The things you choose, strangely, fit me."
"Obviously. I chose it for you."
Seto, eyes still lowered, put the paired necklace on Atem's chest for him.
"...Thank you."
That one line of Atem's was like a treasure.
The last of the anniversary.
The schedule should have ended here.
But Seto quietly stands up and gives A.R.E.S. some cryptic instruction.
"Seto? What are you?"
On the Solid Vision called up, a notification from Kaiba Corporation's human resources department was displayed.
Lord Atem. Congratulations on the first anniversary of your joining the company. We hereby confer this fiscal year's Rookie of the Year Award.
Atem froze completely.
"...Rookie? Me?"
Seto says it evenly, and yet proudly.
"Obviously. Today marks one year since you joined. It's an award given to the new employee who contributed most to the company."
"I have no recollection of contributing..."
"Existence was the greatest contribution... though the category of new employee is no longer necessary..."
It is fact. Every time Atem moves the world, the share price leapt.
Atem's eyes waver slowly.
"...Seto. You are, at times, a foul."
"It's an anniversary. A surprise is necessary, isn't it."
Atem let out a quiet breath.
As though happiness were overflowing from his chest faster than he could keep up.
"...Thank you."
Several days later.
On Seto's desk, a thick special issue had been placed casually.
On the cover, in elegant gold-leaf lettering, it reads:
"The Ideal Anniversary, Complete Edition."
Seto opened the magazine without even trying to hide his bad premonition.
Sure enough.
"The Two of the Quantum Marriage" Feature, 36 Pages in Full
At the opening, the figures of the two receiving a bouquet before the gate of the afterlife.
After that, silhouettes lined up before the night view.
The beautiful plates of the golden ratio dinner.
The moment of the exchange of necklaces.
And the one shot at the photo studio, which Atem absolutely would not omit, is attached as a bonus.
Seto pressed at the space between his brows.
"...That's why I told you to leave off that photography."
Atem peers into the magazine and returns it in an even voice.
"I said I would proceed according to plan. The photo studio was a mandatory item of the golden ratio anniversary."
"That part could have been left out..."
"It could not. Perfection must be maintained."
It is the face of one for whom that is self-evident logic.
Seto let out a deep breath.
"So, why have the details of the anniversary leaked to this extent?"
"Because I asked Z — xy a question."
"What kind of magazine carries off information merely from being asked a question..."
Atem stated it flatly, with a beautiful lack of expression.
"There is also the possibility that the excellent scribe was doing public relations in the afterlife."
"The afterlife should learn a little more information management."
On social media it became a topic as "the ideal anniversary plan is too beautiful," the studio photograph was already being made a model of "something to shoot once in a lifetime," and the anniversary business was greatly enlivened.
Seto closed the magazine and sinks his body into the sofa.
"...This is why the world is noisy when I'm with you."
Atem lowers himself beside Seto and, with a terribly natural gesture, rests his head on his shoulder.
"The noisy world can be left alone. Today too, we need only make an anniversary."
Seto gazed at that face out of the corner of his eye and dropped a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
"...No doubt. However the outside makes noise, it's the usual thing. Every day spent with you is special."
Atem quietly narrows his eyes.
"Good, let's begin today's anniversary. Attempted Anniversary Incident Resolution Day, Day One."
"Stop with the incidents. You attach too many names."
"If one is to keep records, they must be accurate."
Seto burst out laughing and drew Atem's head slightly close.
Outside, the special issue sells like hot cakes,
and the world stirs over "the ideal anniversary."
But in a place that isn't featured, the two go on piling up new anniversaries today as well.
That, precisely, was the quietest and happiest festival in the world.
