The date comes by email: no audience, no press, two hours. For ten days no client entertainment is booked, and Joey is told to have a new suit made and to give the company name on the day. Kaiba Land is shut for the afternoon — the whole park, on a Sunday. The Duel takes eight turns. Afterwards, two cards are left in Joey's hand, and Kaiba asks him what he wants.
This is a translation of an original work on Pixiv.
Original Title: 04 貸切
Original Author: 葉人(@Hathor_yuki)
Personal site: https://prideshipping.sakura.ne.jp
It was in my work inbox with an Important label on it. KaibaCorp, Business Development Division, Isono.
8 November, Sunday, 2:00 p.m. Venue, the stadium inside Kaiba Land. No audience. No press. Estimated duration two hours. On the day, enter by the west staff gate rather than the main gate.
I read it three times and checked my Sunday. 8 November was free. Free — or rather, that Sunday had a stocktake to attend, but by Monday morning it had changed to someone else's name.
I didn't ask who changed it.
For ten days, not one piece of client entertainment came in.
Hasn't happened since I joined. Two or three times a week, four in a heavy week. And it was zero, somehow.
"Wheeler's on condition management until the day," the section chief said. Straight face.
Something else came down instead.
"Wheeler. Your suit — have a new one made."
"Huh?"
"We'll put it through expenses. I'll set a ceiling, so go to the menswear place by the station. It's been arranged."
"You don't wear a suit to Duel, sir."
"For getting there and back. And they might take photos, mightn't they."
"It said no press."
The section chief went quiet. Even so, he said never mind, have it made, go now.
I went to the shop I'd been told and had a suit made. Got measured, the cloth was chosen for me, and I was told it'd take two weeks. Back at the office I reported to the section chief.
Then a few hours later word came that the suit would be finished in a week. Somebody made a phone call, I think.
Once the suit was settled, I was told to give the company name on the day.
"Before the Duel or after, doesn't matter. Say I'm Wheeler of Minami Setsubi."
"It's a closed session, though."
"It reaches their ears."
What good it does putting that in his ears, I thought, but I didn't say it.
On Thursday the department head came to my desk. He comes down to the sales floor about once a month, if that.
"We're counting on you, Wheeler."
He clapped me on the shoulder.
On Friday one of the admin staff gave me something. Two energy drinks.
"Good luck out there," she said.
"Yeah."
I drank one and put the other in my desk drawer.
I got home and laid the cards out on the floor. Laid them out, but only touched them for an hour. The company's words were still in my head. Give the company name, condition management, counting on you.
Do this lot think I'm going to win?
I don't think they do.
They don't think it, and they still think something's going to happen. Nobody says what, but maybe they've got it in their heads as a round of corporate golf. He isn't the sort to go easy on someone and enjoy the win. If anything he'd lose it completely.
I turned off the light and slept.
8 November was clear.
I got to the west gate of Kaiba Land at 1:40. I'd been made to wear the new suit, and it was a bit tight round the neck.
There were two security guards at the gate, and once I gave my name they let me through straight away. Inside, someone was waiting for me. I was put in a cart and driven through the park to the stadium.
It was a Sunday, and there were no customers.
"…It's quiet."
"The park is closed to the public today."
The man said.
"Closed — the whole of Kaiba Land?"
"Yes."
The whole of Kaiba Land, on a Sunday.
The big wheel and the roller coaster were stopped. The shutters were down on the kiosks, and only the flags moved in the wind.
Going through between the rides I thought, how much is this costing? It put me off again. Same as when I was working out the price of the floor tiles in the lobby.
Lately my head does that with everything it looks at.
Once I was in the cart it took a matter of minutes to reach the stadium.
I went inside, and the moment I came out onto the field my feet stopped.
Every seat was empty.
Two weeks ago I Duelled here in front of four or five thousand people and grabbed a microphone. All of them watching. Every one of those seats is empty. Rows with the seat bases folded up, running all the way round.
The roof was closed today, but the lights were all on, and the field was as bright as midday.
"Mr. Wheeler."
Isono came over.
"We have been expecting you. We will begin as soon as preparations are complete."
"Um, Kaiba is…"
"He will be here shortly."
I fitted my Duel Disk. Not the newest model I got as the additional prize, the one I've used since high school. I went back and forth over bringing the new one and settled on the one I'm used to.
The new one is still in its box in my room.
He came at exactly two.
Walked in from the entrance on the opposite side and stopped in the centre of the field.
The white coat. Same as two weeks ago. Probably the same as when I saw it in this place three years ago.
"So you came."
That was the first thing he said.
"Well, I was called."
"I did not expect you to keep to a time."
"I keep to them. Work as well, I do it prope—"
I started, and stopped.
It sounded like an excuse, and it wasn't something to bring into a Duel.
He wasn't looking at me. He was starting up his Duel Disk without a word. Practised, no hesitation in it. He must have done it thousands of times.
"An old-model Duel Disk. The newest model should be in your possession."
"Something wrong with it?"
"No. There is no problem with compatibility."
That was all.
"We begin."
"Yeah."
Solid Vision came up. I remember this feeling. My body remembers it. The air moves. The sound changes.
Light came up from the floor, and the whole field looked like it was glowing. That wasn't there in Battle City, so I think it's the effect of the new model he uses.
Five cards in my hand.
The moment I looked at the first one, my judgement moved.
Attack 1800, I can put it out. I can put it out, but if I do it comes back at me next turn. With his deck it gets pushed back by force. And then my Life Points get taken off.
I set on the opening. Placed it face-down in defence position, and set one card. Turn end.
His turn. He did put out something with high attack, as expected, but he watched and waited, wary of my set card.
On the third turn the Spell I'd set went through. It didn't take Life Points off, but it destroyed one of his monsters.
Fourth turn, a board came where I could put Red-Eyes out.
But I didn't. It's my main monster, and he'd be bound to go for it.
If it gets targeted and taken down, everything falls apart from there. Right now the board is holding. Of 4000 Life Points I've got 3200 left. There's no flashy fighting, but it can't be bad.
So I defended.
Fifth turn, he put his field in order. Two monsters lined up, one card set. He did nothing that turn.
It's coming, I thought.
On the sixth turn Blue-Eyes came out. The set card strengthened Blue-Eyes as well, and I took piercing damage.
The Blue-Eyes that came out was one. The second one didn't come. Before it could, my Life Points went under 1000. But there are Life Points left; hold out here and there's a next turn.
Seventh turn.
I activated my set card and stopped his attack. Stopped it, and ended my turn.
The eighth turn ended it.
When my Life Points hit zero, I was a little surprised to find I was still standing. Last time I lost to him, I'd gone down on one knee.
I didn't fall and I didn't go down. Wearing a suit, and still not out of breath.
Did a Duel always develop this cleanly?
It feels like it used to be different.
It used to be more that when it ended there was nothing left. Put everything out, use everything, and it ended with that not being enough.
Today something is left over.
Two cards were left in my hand.
The white dragon vanished along with the Solid Vision.
The quality of the brightness changed, and the empty seats came into view.
He walked over to me.
Stopped about three metres away.
"You meant to win with that?"
I didn't raise my head.
I tried to say something. Tried, and hunted for words.
"So. What do you want."
It was said like breathing out.
Taking off the Duel Disk, lowering his arm, and asking on the way through, about that much.
"…What do I want."
"You have one."
I stayed there with my mouth open for about two seconds.
I hadn't meant to hide it.
I hadn't meant to hide it, but I hadn't meant to say it either.
At the start there was the fact that I somehow had to meet him. But it had stopped being that. I was going to Duel, and end it there.
Two months to get here, thinking that if I fought, something might change. I lost, so I figured, right, I go home.
But how does he know.
I haven't said anything.
"How."
"You have no reason to challenge me."
He said.
"You did not want to beat me. What you did today is not that way of fighting."
"…"
"There is time left over. Come."
He turned his back and started walking.
I took off my Duel Disk and went after him.
The waiting room was three turns down the corridor from the field.
Nothing written on the door. It opened with a card key.
Inside didn't feel like a waiting room.
Carpet on the floor. Two sofas and a low table. A work desk at the back with three monitors lined up. One wall is shelving with document files along it. There's a fridge.
It isn't lived-in, exactly, but you can tell someone has spent long hours here.
Something like a satellite president's office, I was thinking.
"Sit."
I sat on the sofa. Too soft; my hips sank.
He didn't sit. He opened the fridge, took out a bottle of water, and threw it over. I caught it.
He didn't get one for himself. He stood in front of the desk. Looked at one of the monitors, checked something, and then turned round.
"I will hear it."
I opened the cap of the water.
Opened it, drank a mouthful, and then talked.
It didn't occur to me to hide anything. Even if it had, I probably couldn't have. I've always been bad at that sort of thing, and this guy sees straight through all of it anyway.
I gave the company name. A building materials and equipment company, twenty-two employees, parent company Omiya Setsubi Kogyo, and above that again Kaiba Construction. That it wants to get in as a first-tier on the East District redevelopment.
That I'd apparently said something at a drinking session, and got sent to the head office to clean up after it. That there was no way of getting an appointment, and I left a business card at reception and came home.
"And I got given the paper for the form and went home."
"The form."
"That's the one anyone can fill in, right?"
"Correct."
"Yeah, thought so."
He said nothing.
I carried on.
That I found the tournament on the display. That if KaibaCorp was hosting it, the man himself might come. That there was no guarantee he would, but it seemed closer than being turned away at a reception desk.
That I spent two months preparing. Down to the two Sundays that went. All of it.
"And then I won, and you were there, and."
"And you decided to challenge me to a Duel."
"…Yeah."
"I was shown the video."
You watched it?
"A stupid thing to have done."
"It was."
"Your company is currently attempting to take something using my name."
"…"
"So they had you fitted for a new suit."
I looked at my own sleeve.
"How d'you know that?"
"Otherwise there is no reason for someone three years into his first job to be wearing that cloth."
I couldn't answer back.
He leaned against the desk and folded his arms.
I was looking at the bottle on my knees. The label was the KC logo. They even make their own water, I thought.
For a while nobody said anything.
It's not that I'd run out of things I could say. There's more. That days off get eaten. That I get home late. That I get made to drink. The drinking is probably the biggest one.
But I didn't say it.
What good would saying it do, I thought.
What good does saying it to this guy do. There's no way this man hears the working hours of a subcontractor's subcontractor's salesman and does something about it.
I didn't come here for sympathy.
And anyway, I don't know what I came here to do. Or rather, the point of it stopped being clear somewhere along the way.
"After all this time, you are still a mutt."
"The hell did you say?"
"But it appears you are doing some work."
I raised my head.
He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the monitors.
"Huh?"
"I am saying that it is as I heard."
We're not lining up, I thought.
What I just told him wasn't that kind of story. I'd meant it as a story about something unreasonable. Our company says something impossible, I charge in, I get flattened, and I keep going because it's the job. That story.
He said it was a stupid thing to do, and out of all of it, he took only the working.
He took that, did he.
While I was thinking, I noticed something odd.
This guy listened to me all the way through.
He didn't cut in partway. The company name, the number of employees, the two months, he heard all of it. Heard it, and pulled one line out.
Being able to pull it out means being able to read it.
And being able to read it means.
I looked round the room.
The desk chair with the wear on it. Three monitors. The files on the shelf. The water in the fridge.
How old was he when he started being here?
Fifteen.
Back when we were in the same classroom in high school, he was already company president. There were more days he wasn't in lessons than days he was. Back then I had it down as some rich kid's hobby.
From fifteen to today.
Six years.
Three years for me, six for him.
Double.
And on top of that I'm doing what I'm told, and he's doing the deciding.
"…Hey."
"What."
I went to say it, and couldn't find the words.
That's impressive isn't it. That's rough on you is further off still.
"No."
"What."
"Nothing."
He looked at me.
Looked, and for a short while said nothing.
"That is the time. Go home."
"Yeah."
I stood up. The bottle I was still holding, I went to put on the table, then stopped and decided to take it with me.
At the door, I turned round.
"Kaiba."
"What."
"Uh… I'm Wheeler of Minami Setsubi."
I said it.
Having said it, I understood what I'd said, and my ears went hot.
It's the thing the section chief told me. Give the company name on the day. Before the Duel or after, doesn't matter.
Not the place and not the timing to say it. And I said it in the polite form. Three years and it's soaked in.
He was looking at me.
Looking, and then, he laughed through his nose.
"I know."
The door closed.
