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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S4 Ep7: Mai Gets a Day Job (Killing People For Sport)

So, I looked at the calendar and realized, if I don’t get this post up this week then you’ll only have one update from me for the whole of November since I’m leaving for over a week again. :/ So I’m just gonna get right to the good stuff because it has taken just a crazy amount of time to get to episode 7. How great would it be if I also got to episode 8. Real great, right?

So lets do this, I can do this, I can write a recap without getting insanely distracted, watch me do it: This episode starts with Tristan sticking to the fatal flaw of his character sheet and seeing listed at the very top “low key toilet obsession.”

Ah Tristan.

And when you think “well, OK, they’re stuck by some historic Mesas, this is fine,” suddenly they are beset by the world’s most random biker gang of like 20 full grown adults/biker assassins.

And it’s not super clear if their driver died out there in the Arizona desert, or if he just put on a different outfit and joined this gang, but it won’t matter because like...it’s a filler arc in Yugioh so there’s gonna be some deaths.

This season seems to change genre like every 10 minutes, and so for right now we are in a Mad Max post-apocalyptic territory and PS every one of these bikers uses a lead pipe?

I feel like this is way more violent than a gun???

(read more under the cut)

And so, out the horizon comes another biker, like a masked cowboy on horseback, except she shoots these things instead of bullets.

These are trained assassins, by the way, just completely incapacitated by paper.

I just love the marketing team working alongside of this show that’s like “and what else can Yugioh cards do? destroy biker gangs. That’s right, one single card will absolutely destroy a biker!” and the writing staff was like “yeah, we can work that in. That totally works in universe, you don't even know.”

It’s Mai! Back from murdering the hell out of Pegasus, I guess she decided to ninja these 20 bikers, and did it so devastatingly, that they somehow blew up a motorcycle next to a live fuel tank? Like we’re talking Oliver Queen precision throwing here and like...

...Mai’s only been gone like a year right???

And so, seeing that this card is a harpy, which I dunno...doesn’t seem like it’s all that rare in comparison to a Blue Eyes or a God Card or I dunno any of the other signature cards we’ve heard about, Joey immediately recognizes Mai. Despite the fact that everything she is doing right now is completely out of character, and despite the fact that they are in freakin California.

RIP to all 20 of the people in that gang of bikers, because no one followed this limo away from the scene--everyone was, I assume, hella dead.

Youknow, I never expected Mai to kill more people than Bakura. I would have predicted Joey before Mai. I would have predicted Rebecca before Mai. Literally anyone else on this show before Mai.

Seto, crawling out of this oversized castle that I guess...is back on the real estate market now...decides that the irresistible pull of dragons printed on paper cards is stronger than listening to his brother’s needs to put down the damn cards and make a contractually obligated theme park.

I mean Mokuba kept him off the cards for nearly a whole year. What a healthy year that was for Seto.

Back in Arizona, apparently they didn’t make it more than a mile before Tristan busted the car. Not really clear why or how this happened, but they’ve decided to argue with eachother about it despite the fact one of them is clearly magical and does not really need to eat or drink or even maybe sleep?

Like we’ve seen Bakura basically survive off of one plate of tacos and 2 pints of blood, so just make Pharaoh push the car all the way back to California. Or just make Pharaoh use his millennium AIM to call up His tomb keepers and be like “Marik, we need a lift.” or maybe summon a very real monster because that’s a thing now?

Course this would rely on Pharaoh remembering that he has superpowers, which, somehow after 4 seasons, he always forgets how to use the moment he uses them. It’s like reverse Sailor Moon--Usagi tends to level up her Super powers, Pharaoh kind of tosses them out of the window and goes “oops” and becomes more and more mortal every single season.

So instead of magic they will just use Tea.

Amazing how none of them are really willing to date Tea seriously but they will acknowledge, out of the four of them, Tea is the best looking. So their strategy, bear with me, wasn’t to use the fact they’re children to get help from adults driving by, instead, the boys hid behind a rock so they could really make sure they were getting a hella pervy truck driver that would only stop for a single teenage girl stuck in the desert.

Only this group of kids would be like “Hey lets make sure the guy who picks us up is statistically most likely to be a serial killer” and then, weirdly enough, this horndog pedo truck driver ended up being the only person who didn’t try to kill them this entire episode.

So, lets go back to SF but coming from the north side...which makes no sense...but then again, they put Mesas in Napa County.

So last episode I assumed Rex and Weevil were dropped off in Oakland, but Rex informs us this episode that they are in “the worst part of town”

Where they get robbed twice, only to be saved by Duke Devlin, who I guess just lives here now because maybe it’s the only place he can afford in this expensive as hell city? Maybe he isn’t bothered by the crime-rate after that week he spent on Kaiba’s blimp/Seaquest mmo adventure?

Anyway, for some reason Duke--who is a game shop owner/developer by day--is wandering around the Tenderloin as a vigilante and saving people by throwing dice at them as some sort of side hustle and this is never discussed at all.

I would watch that spinoff series. Religiously.

Fun fact, there is definitely sketchy and bad parts of the Tenderloin you will know not to go to (you can smell it actually), but like a third of it is part of the best shopping district in the city and we used to just shop there unsupervised when I was a kid. It has an Anthropologie.

Not saying the parts that are bad aren’t bad. Whenever I drive through the non-shopping parts, I see at least one super sketch thing making me thankful I’m in the car. But I just don't know how Rex and Weevil managed to get robbed twice in one day. Just go five blocks in literally any direction.

Bro and I were like...HOW did this shot happened from this angle on the freeway...and then I only just now realized it. Something I forgot about because it’s from my parent’s generation...maybe the animators weren’t aware that the Embarcadero fell down after Loma Prieta?

So this was the SF landscape before the quake of 89′ (Which I have no memory of since I was a baby when this happened)

and after 89.

Like maybe the animators they had on this team remembered an SF from their youth that had a huge iconic raised street wrapping all the way around one part of it and just...never got the memo that an Earthquake made the entire thing fall down?

Either way, Duke is either driving these two directly out of SF, or he is driving them into 1988 and is taking a lovely drive on the Old Embarcadero, an experience which does not exist anymore, and which makes a lot more sense since Duke has to be somewhat near downtown, going by the skyscrapers and the vicinity to the Tenderloin.

Man. In the Yugioh Universe, Loma Preita just never actually happened. How is that factoid alone not the weirdest part of this episode?

(I am so glad Serenity is not here now that Duke’s back)

Welcome back to the show Duke, glad you’re bringing...Rex and Weevil...

To be fair, Duke has absolutely no idea who is and isn’t Yugi’s friends. Duke just kind of shows up and pretends like he’s part of the gang, and the gang has lost so much brain matter from all the cards and all the dark magic, they just assume he’s been here the whole time.

So at first I was like “this has to be a pun on Industrial Light and Magic” since there’s virtually no other film studios in the city--but ILM moved to SF 3-4 years after this season came out. So it’s just a weird coincidence, I guess. Or maybe it’s just a really uninspired name?

And so Mai, who I guess has been just waiting on this ledge for 8 hours decides to drop in.

Mai has evolved a lot since S1.

But, although Mai is just...straight up evil now, at least we get to see it taken out on Pegasus who, as far as this show is concerned, is a pretty evil bastard.

A pretty evil bastard who took like 3-4 episodes to beat in S1 but Mai could just do it off-screen.

It’s just funny that the entire time on the island Pegasus was probably pretty sure everyone there was trying to kill him EXCEPT for Mai and then the moment his back is turned he’s like “oh whaaaat?”

Like Bandit Keith is already in America. But rather than use Bandit Keith for this, lets use Mai to give Joey something to angst about. We can’t put her in a coma again--so lets instead get her vaguely possessed. Although seriously, if someone I liked did this to me I think I’d be over that crush really fast.

And then, speaking of Bandit Keith, we get to have a Greek Chorus this duel from the minibosses. Valon and the other guy with the handlebar-muttonchops.

I looked up “where does Valon’s accent come from” and literally there is no consensus, as far as I know.

And that’s where this episode ends.

Now I’m gonna go out of town for a week and then will need another week to make more of these so I’ll be on another hiatus. Holding out if I’ll maybe bring a laptop or something to where I’m going so I can type out recaps when I’m bored.

The problem is having the uhhhhh photoshop to do the caps. I can’t bear to do this in MS Paint because hell will freeze over before I lose all of my actions and hotkeys I made specifically to reduce the time it takes to make these. But we shall see.

anyway, if you want to see these from the beginning, click here.

#ygo #yugioh #recap #photo recap #episode recap #yugi muto #joey wheeler #mai valentine #tea gardner #bikers #an exploding shell station #arizona #tristan taylor #valon #S4 ep7

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dxmichelle · 5 years

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Alternate Ending to OLSSM 28

For those who lost track of what was in all of the chapters of OLSSM, Chapter 28 contained the Christmas Ball. [So...uh, spoilers, if you haven’t gotten there, I guess? *shrug*]

Welcome to the Nerdship Alternate Ending.

Notes: /Text/ is Set to Seto; /Text/ is Seto to Set

Seto was speaking quietly on his phone when Hermione stormed inside the empty classroom he had taken refuge, grabbed hold of a student chair from behind one of the desks, and dragged it noisily to the front table where he had set up his equipment. She sat down, bent over to cradle her head on her arms, and sighed. He gave a quick end to his call and placed the phone down.

Leaning back, Seto reached for his coffee mug, eyebrow raised as Set phased out of the Millennium Rod.

“Are you alright?” asked the spirit, when it seemed clear that Seto wasn’t going to say anything.

“Ugh…”

Seto gave Set a fleeting glance before regarding Hermione closely. “What did he do this time?”

Set frowned. “Who?”

Seto rolled his eyes at him.

Hermione drew herself upright. “They’re driving me mad.”

Set waved his arm frantically. “Who?”

“Lavender and her friends,” Hermione said bitterly, “She must be pals with half the school at this rate. They won’t leave me alone.”

“They’ve never bothered you before…” said Set, confused, “So, why would they start now?”

Hermione sighed loudly again and cringed. “I…may have done something stupid.”

“‘Jinx an idiot in the corridor’ stupid, or ‘long-term regret’ stupid,” said Seto.

Hermione paused. The silence in the room told more than anything she might have said.

Set’s eyes widened. “Both!?”

Seto closed his eyes for a moment before slowly turning to the priest. “Will you go back inside?”

Set glared down at his host and the two waged some sort of silent fight for a solid minute before the spirit huffed and vanished back into the Millennium Rod.

Hermione didn’t seem fazed and continued to stare down at the table. “It started a few weeks or so after the Quidditch match…I was trying to find a way to get back at Ronald….and her friends kept making jabs about me and Quidditch players.”

Seto frowned. “You’re not even into Quidditch – not to the extent of everyone else around here, at least.”

Hermione bit her lip and ran her finger along a indent in the table’s surface, purposely not meeting Seto’s gaze. Just how much should she tell him? It’s not like her decision would have impacted him in the slightest – her choice of date for the ball was just that – her choice. She could go with whomever she wanted. …But why did these lingering feelings of guilt and disapproval seem to come up when she looked at him? Seto wasn’t going to the ball – it was no skin off his nose. He probably didn’t care who went with whom to the dance so long as they weren’t bugging him about it.

“…Or did your ‘something stupid’ involve the Pitch?”

“No…” said Hermione, though her voice seemed strained. “Not that…I didn’t jinx a bludger on Ron if that’s what you’re thinking….”

She shook her head again and got up suddenly, causing the chair to scrape loudly against the stone floor, making them both wince. “I’m sorry – I shouldn’t have bothered you, I know you’re busy. I-I’ll catch you later.”

Without even bothering to put her chair back, she was back out the door again.

Set phased back out of the Millennium Rod. “…What was that all about?”

Seto stared at the empty doorway for a few extra seconds before returning to his work. “No idea.”

~~*~~

Seto placed his laptop down onto one of the empty common room tables and made himself comfortable. Harry and Ron were getting ready for the ball with Yugi and Ryou, and he was tired of Yugi's subtle attempts to get him to change his mind about not going down with them.

There would be no dinner in the Great Hall that evening, for food was going to be served at the dance. And for anyone who decided that they weren't going to attend, small platters of sandwiches and drumsticks and jugs of pumpkin juice had been sent to each of the house common rooms from the Kitchens. So after the last afternoon class, the majority of the student body had rushed back to their dormitories to clean up and prepare for the night's festivities.

It was to no one's surprise that the guys began making their way down their dormitory staircase long before the girls. There were a few first year students that Seto recognized from the sorting ceremony sitting around with a moving chess set, apparently just as interested in attending Umbridge's social gathering as he was.

A few of the older students (relatively, they were still a good few years younger than he was) made their way down into the common room, wearing dress robes of all sorts of styles. Despite Madam Malkin's statement that any color would do, it seemed black was still the most popular color for dressy wizard wear. Not that he blamed them – his dress robes were black as well, and remained pressed and untouched, hanging at the end of his narrow wardrobe.

A few giggles were heard across the room as a pair of seventh years exited the girls' staircase in bright, shockingly pink robes that could have rivaled Umbridge's everyday ensembles. They eagerly met up with their dates near the portrait hole and exited out into the corridor.

Yugi and Ryou arrived downstairs next, the pair in similarly-cut black robes, joining Seto at the table. Ryou reached for one of the small sandwiches. "What're you working on this time?"

"Answering emails from the meeting I missed this morning," said Seto without looking up, "And making final arrangements for tomorrow."

Yugi grinned slyly. "You know…there's still time…."

“No.”

Yugi turned to Ryou and shrugged. "It's not like you need to have a date to go. Bakura and I are going alone."

"You're not going to change my mind, so you might as well give up," said Seto.

Yugi shrugged. "I tried."

"Good attempt," said Ryou, patting Yugi's shoulder. "So…you ready?"

Yugi looked back towards the stairs. "I think so. Even Harry got himself a partner, and he's meeting up with her on the way, so we might as well go."

Ryou swallowed the last of his snack and brushed a few stray crumbs from his robes. "Okay. I'm ready."

Irritated, Seto brushed a few stray food crumbs away from his laptop, and went back to his emails.

From his peripherals, he saw another couple meet up and leave the common room. One of the first years lost his chess game and started swearing up a few interesting expletives before the board was reset and they started anew.

Harry and Ron exited the boys’ staircase a few minutes later. Harry left alone and Ron stood off to the side, awkwardly adjusting his bowtie every few minutes before Lavender arrived and they too disappeared down to the Great Hall.

They were the last of the couples waiting to head off, and aside from the few younger Gryffindors considerately minding their own business on the other side of the room, the common room quieted down…

…Until a hand clapped hard on Seto’s shoulder from behind, causing him to tense over completely, and a chair on the other side of the table was pulled out. Cormac McLaggen sat himself down, dressed to the nines, looking ridiculously pleased.

Seto barely spared him notice before going back to his paperwork. “…Can I help you?” he asked, not even bothering to hide the bite in his voice. Most people were smart enough to stay away from him, and definitely knew better than to touch him. It wasn’t something that he taught or told, or even had Yugi spread around. It was a fact that everyone just picked up: when he was knee-deep in work, do not disturb.

A pair of seventh-years figured that out the hard way back in November. Clearly, McLaggen didn’t get the memo. Why he was bothering him now, after never even speaking a word to him before, was beyond him, and Seto really wasn’t interested in finding out why or what he wanted today. With any luck, his date would arrive, and they would both go and leave him once more in peace.

“I see you’re not going,” said Cormac, triumphantly, and that made Seto pause. Why was Cormac so glad that he was staying behind? What was it to him?

“An astute observation,” Seto said dully, signing his name on the bottom of a budget request. He shuffled the page to the bottom of the pile. “The rest of the school came to that conclusion several weeks ago.”

Cormac laughed. “Well, I can’t blame you. She’s quite a looker. If I had lost her, I wouldn’t have gone either. Though, I do have to wonder what it was that made her jump into my arms like that….”

/What is he even on about?/

/Haven’t the slightest idea./

Seto tuned out the rest of Cormac’s conversation and returned his focus to his laptop. Clearly, the idiot has him confused for someone else.

“…If I knew that staying at the library at all hours of the day and night for the last few weeks would get me the date, I would have done this in the beginning of term.”

Cormac looked at Seto with a gleeful smirk on his face. “No hard feelings, right?”

Seto was about ready to slam his pen down onto the table with enough force to probably break it. A shame too – this is the third one he had gone through in the last two weeks after the group of fifth year Ravenclaws tried to get clingy in the library, and he was running out of them. Seriously though – did McLaggen not see that he didn’t have a clue to what he was talking about?

He was about to tell the idiot off, if not for the movement by the girls’ staircase that caught his eye. Hermione stepped down, her dress a frosty blue that seemed to flutter about her as she walked, and her usual long curls pulled back into a sleek half-bun. Any words he was about to speak died off, and he froze, unable to look away. She looked beautiful.

Cormac had frozen too, but he seemed to recover first. “Was wondering when you were on your way down,” he said, getting to his feet. “Most everyone else had left already.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said, but she didn’t sound apologetic in the slightest. “I had trouble getting my hair just right.”

A million thoughts zoomed through Seto’s head all at once. Cormac’s boasting suddenly made much more sense now, but he still had to frown. If Hermione truly wanted to go down this petty road of revenge against Ron Weasley, surely she could have found someone else– anyone else – to take in McLaggen’s place.

Cormac laughed and jabbed at Seto’s arm, earning him a glare that would have sent most others running for the portrait hole. “Girls.”

Seto turned back to Hermione and raised an eyebrow. “He’s your date?”

Hermione could barely look him in the eyes. Instead, was very focused on the clasp of her bracelet.

“I told you I lucked out,” said Cormac, gloatingly, as he looped his arm around hers. “Ready?”

He didn’t even give her time to answer, instead practically dragged her towards the exit. Hermione managed to glance back, giving Seto the most apologetic look before she disappeared around the corner.

Seto stared at the back of the Fat Lady’s portrait long after it closed again. What was she sorry for? McLaggen’s behavior before she arrived? Her tardiness for getting to the party? That would have been towards McLaggen, certainly, but not him.

/…I don’t blame her./ Set said from within the corridor between their soul rooms. With the few younger students out in the common room, he didn’t dare phase from the Millennium Rod currently stashed in the briefcase at Seto’s feet. /I would want to spend as little time in his company as possible./

/She knew what she was getting into/ Seto huffed and turned back to his work, though he found it harder to concentrate on the paperwork now, and it wasn’t due to Set’s mental chatter.

/Perhaps./ Set said, his voice laced with worry. /And I’m sure the boy was boasting his story. I cannot see her ‘jumping into his arms’./

/It’s a figure of speech./

Set rolled his eyes. /I am not dense, Seto. I may not have been out and about as long as the Pharaoh or the Tomb Thief, but I am not unfamiliar with how this world works./

/I know./ Seto said to himself bitterly. /The first thing you did was break into my head./

/It was part of the bonding process/ Set said stiffly /It was near instantaneous. You were not harmed./

Seto glared at his laptop, twirling the pen in his hand. /No, you just gave me severe burns and knocked me out. In that regard, you’re no different than the Shadow that keeps showing up./

Set pushed himself off the soul corridor wall and crossed his arms./We are nothing alike. And your injuries were healed by magic before the day was done./

/Dumbledore’s suspiciously-timed arrival is beside the point. I sure as hell didn’t give you blanket access to my thoughts and memories./

Set threw his hands up in the air and huffed loudly. /Alright – I admit I was forward the day I was released from the Millennium Rod. Happy? But are you going to sit there and say you wouldn’t have been curious about your host, should you have been trapped for 5,000 years?/

/I wouldn’t have stuck my brain into a hunk of gold in the first place./

Set started spewing again, but Seto stopped paying attention. Something about lost memories, but he checked out the instant ‘destiny’ sounded through his head.

He went back to answering his backlog of messages, despite it being the weekend now in Japan. No one would be back in the office until Monday, and he would have the entire train ride and following flight to clear out his inbox.

Despite his attempts to focus, he couldn’t help but find himself sparing fleeting looks back to the portrait hole. If he kept staring at it, would Hermione come back in, admit that she made a mistake choosing to take McLaggen to the ball…and… then what? Ask him if he wanted to go? He had assured the group ten times over that he had no intention of going to the party.

Seto scowled at his keyboard. …Was that the reason why she chose someone as conceited as McLaggen? Because she knew he would turn her down if she asked, because he turned down all of the other girls that came looking for a partner?

Seto paused, his hands hovering just over the keys. …Would he have said no?

He leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose as Set chirped again. /You’re feeling guilty? Over what?/

Seto sighed, spared the portrait hole another glance, and reached for his briefcase.

/What are you doing?/

/I can’t focus./

/Clearly./

Seto took the steps up to his dormitory two at a time, and dropped the briefcase onto his bed. Back in relative privacy, Set spirited back out as Seto tugged his uniform tie from his neck. “Are you turning in early?”

Seto snorted. “At half-past six? That’s a bit too early.”

Set’s eyes widened as the dress robes were taken out of the wardrobe. “I thought you weren’t planning on going.”

“I wasn’t.”

“The plan has obviously changed,” said Set, a sly smile forming on his face. “Why?”

“I don’t know, Set,” Seto snapped, “I didn’t realize I have to explain for every decision I make. Why don’t you just go roam through my head and figure it out?”

Set ignored the barb and hovered near the standing mirror. “It doesn’t take a genius to know why,” he said, “You care for her. As do I. It was clear once she arrived in the common room that she was going to be miserable for the night. But, as you said, she’s made her choice. What do you think you’ll really be able to do?”

“Well, my plans for the evening have been ruined. Might as well return the favor.”

Set narrowed his eyes. Ruin whose evening? Certainly not Hermione’s. Hers was already shot. McLaggen’s? “…What are you planning?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Set,” Seto said casually. A little too casually. “Prevent some long-term regrets. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll get to jinx an idiot in the corridor.”

Set blinked, and before he knew it, Seto had finished adjusting his dress robes and was out the door. But the Millennium Rod was still in the briefcase.

“Hey!” He called, and then groaned. /Seto, you forgot –/

He couldn’t go after him, not with the chance of the other Gryffindors seeing him. But it was too late. Seto didn’t seem interested in returning, and Set was forced to vanish back into the Millennium Rod as soon as Seto stepped out of Gryffindor Tower.

~~*~~

Under the premise of drinks and a table, Hermione shuffled her way through the thick throng of students swarmed in the middle of the Great Hall. The minute Cormac disappeared back into the party, she turned on her heel and fled the Hall, hurrying past a huge stone gargoyle and out into the courtyard, decorated with falling snowflakes (despite the clear, starry night), and twinkling fairy lights around the perimeter.

A few other couples had strayed from the Great Hall and were scattered about, mingling quietly amongst themselves and munching on food taken from the ball.

Hermione moved towards the back side of the large fountain, sitting along the stone edge with her back to the doors leading back inside. What a disaster the night turned out to be. Her ears felt like they were going to fall off from listening to Cormac all evening. He put Gilderoy Lockhart to shame.

Despite the warm torches and lights floating throughout the courtyard, Hermione shivered. It may not be real snow falling from the sky, but it was still December, and it was cold outside. But she dare not go back into the Great Hall, where the fires warmed the ball. While she was certain she could just go find Harry and the others, she didn’t want to run into Ron and Lavender. They probably had their hands all over each other, like she had found them on more than one occasion in the corners of the corridors, or flat out in the common room for all to see.

And she definitely didn’t want to run back into Cormac. He had treated her like some prize to be touted around to his various guy-friends (also just as sickeningly narcissistic), and was much more physical with her than she was comfortable. A kiss or two under a mistletoe was to be expected, should it happen (ooh – and it did, and she started suspecting he was creating them on the sly as the night went on), but at times he was worse than Ron and Lavender.

Her stomach grumbled, and she sighed. The thought of dinner, or a snack, something , sounded heavenly, but she couldn’t gather the courage to go back inside. Despite the chill working its way through her, it was more soothing to freeze out here than go back where there was warm food and friends.

She happened to look to the side as a couple started back towards the door and spied a tray of snacks on a different side of the fountain. Hermione began to reach for one before the male Ravenclaw passing by stopped her.

“Oh, you don’t want those, Granger.”

“Why?” she asked, “What are they?”

“Dragon tarter crisps,” said the Ravenclaw, “I swear the last person who tried one made a run for the loo not long afterwards. And it gives you horrid breath.”

She quickly withdrew her hand. “Thanks for the tip.”

“No problem. See you around.”

Hermione eyed the tray. Maybe she’d feed them to Cormac if he managed to find her out here. …Although, knowing her luck, he wouldn’t get an adverse effect from them, and then she’d be stuck with not only him, but him with nasty breath for the rest of the evening. And there was no way she’d kiss him again if she smelled that on him.

Come to think of it, she had probably kissed him more times this evening than Ron had Lavender the entire week. The thought made her feel slightly ill, taking away her sudden desire for food.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, perched on the fountain’s edge, hugging her bare arms, but the few other people that had been out in the courtyard had since returned inside the castle, no doubt to warm up and dance the rest of the night away.

A quick glance into the water confirmed exactly how she felt. What a mess. Her hair started falling from her half-bun, her lipstick had smudged, and her dress had gotten slightly rumpled. Hermione dipped her fingers into the water and wiped away the smear on her cheek before turning away with a sigh. What was the point in fixing herself up again? Cormac was bound to find her and drag her back to the party, and she was bound to get messed up all over again.

Unless she left. She supposed that was always an option, but that ruined everything. The whole point in seeking out Cormac McLaggen was to make Ron jealous at the ball. So far, all it seemed to do was engage Cormac in all the wrong ways and give her a most miserable time.

And just like that, even indirectly, Ron Weasley ruined her second experience at a Hogwarts dance.

She heard a faint rustle of fabric, and then jumped, startled, as something was draped over her shoulders. To her surprise, Seto, dressed in a five-piece suit – minus the jacket - sat down next to her.

Hermione looked down. He had given her his suit coat. It was longer than a traditional Muggle jacket, and it felt expensive under her fingers as she drew it closer. Hermione couldn’t help but stare as her cheeks flushed. She had seen him in suits of course, it was his preferred dress when he traveled to and from Domino during term, but he looked striking in his dress robes.

He leaned forward slightly, rested his arms loosely against his legs, and looked pointedly at the ground. When he sighed, she quickly turned away, so he wouldn’t catch her staring. She felt an odd sense of déjà vu, only she wasn’t practicing her Transfiguration under Gryffindor Tower. This was the Christmastime ball, and it wasn’t Ron Weasley she was avoiding this time, but someone far worse.

But…why was Seto here? He clearly had no desire to dress up all fancy and join the festivities. What changed?

They sat in a weird silence. It soon became clear that he wasn’t going to start off the conversation. “I…” she began, then stopped, regathered her thoughts, and tried again. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I didn’t expect to be here.”

Hermione tilted her head inquisitively. “Then what…”

“I am here,” said Seto, straightening back up in his spot. He turned to her, taking in her mussed hair and the slight wrinkles that formed on her dress, “To keep you from making another stupid decision.”

Her face reddened, and she turned away from him, withdrawing into his coat.

“I suppose you understood what I was referring to then, that day in the classroom,” she muttered.

Seto snorted. “I think you’ve gone beyond ‘long-term regret’. You can’t sit there and tell me you’ve been oblivious to McLaggen’s silent actions this entire term, and didn’t think this would end badly.”

“I…I just wanted to get back at Ronald,” she said, and it sounded rather petty and pathetic. “Him and Lavender. And…I…I thought he would annoy him the most. Things…just didn’t work out that way. At all.”

Seto snorted. “You could have asked anyone, and it would have worked just the same.”

Hermione shook her head. “If you weren’t so insistent on not going, I might’ve asked you.”

“Thanks for leaving me out of your petty squabble,” said Seto, though the slight bite in his voice didn’t have much meaning now, considering where he still ended up. “If you were planning to use me as a tool, I definitely wouldn’t have considered it.”

Hermione looked up, surprised. “So if I just simply wanted a date, a partner for the evening, no strings attached, you would have said yes?”

Seto froze. True, he wanted no part in being an instrument in a lovesick revenge plot, but under normal circumstances? Would he? He always hated balls and galas. Pegasus tried to swindle him into them at any given opportunity. He went to the ones his position at Kaiba Corp and rank in the tournament industry required him to attend, but he didn’t enjoy them by any means.

But a school dance? Knowing what sort of gossip would follow him – follow them both – during and afterwards?

Seto looked down at his hands before turning to her. “Let’s put it this way – if I knew that my refusal would make you throw yourself at McLaggen, I would have conceded.”

Hermione huffed. “I didn’t throw myself at him.”

“Then his account of your asking him is quite off.”

Hermione snorted and smoothed out her dress. “He’s…ugh. You know I haven’t had a word in edgewise this whole evening? I’ve been subjected to ‘1000’ – or however many – ‘Great Saves by Cormac McLaggen’, or ‘my relative is super influential in the Ministry of Magic, and I get to have summers with the Minister each year’. All he knows how to do is bolster his ego.”

Seto studied her appearance again. “You mean when he isn’t trying to eat you alive?”

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

He gave her a pointed look. “You’re a mess.”

Hermione shook her head and turned away from him. “You sure know how to flatter a girl, don’t you?”

“It’s merely an obvious observation,” said Seto, and he paused. The next question on the tip of his tongue was an awkward one, to say the least, and he didn’t want to seem curious, because what Hermione chose to do on her date was her business, not his.

But McLaggen’s remarks in the common room definitely didn’t sit right with him. “Did you initiate all that?”

Hermione glanced upwards at the starry sky, and gave a sarcastic dry laugh. “As if I had any will of my own tonight. Well…maybe that’s not entirely true. I may have done the first mistletoe, but I swear, it was a peck. He’s started everything else. I certainly didn’t ask for…,” she gestured to herself, “…this.”

Seto’s jaw tensed. “Did you tell him to stop?”

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Seto’s narrowed dangerously.

“If I had known,” she began, “That my evening would turn into the sum of Ron and Lavender’s entire relationship, I would have rather gone by myself and stayed with Harry and Yugi and the others. I saw a peek of them at one of the tables when I rushed out of the Great Hall. It looked like Harry took Luna, but they were all sitting around having a good time.”

“You can go back and join them.”

Hermione shook her head, a little too quickly, and a few more strands of hair fell out of her bun. “I don’t want to see him in there. He’s probably looking for me. And I don’t really want to see Ron and Lavender joined at the face under mistletoe. I’ve had enough of those for a good several Christmases.”

Hermione’s stomach gave another gurgle and she turned beet red.

Seto raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t eaten?”

“Haven’t had the chance, really,” said Hermione bitterly. “I’ve been stuck on his arm the entire time, as he shuffled me around with his friends who are just as vile as he is. If we haven’t been with his friends, it’s been snogging, or in the middle of the crowd without being able to get away.” She sighed loudly, shoulders slumping, and ran her fingers along the edge of his coat. “This has just been a terrible evening.” With her other hand she wiped a stray tear from her eye. “It seems with nights like these, I can’t catch a break.”

“There you are, Granger!”

Hermione froze, clutching Seto’s coat tightly in her hand. Quickened footsteps approached from the opposite side of the fountain.

Seto leaned over and whispered in her ear. “You don’t have to go back with him, if you don’t want to. Make your voice heard, and if he won’t listen, make him.”

She swallowed, and nodded as Cormac McLaggen rounded the fountain. “I was wondering when –”

Seto glared at him.

Cormac looked between the two of them before his eyes set on Seto. “You. You’re not supposed to be here.”

Seto raised his eyebrows. “Oh. I wish someone told me ahead of time that I was to be tethered to Gryffindor Tower for the evening, so I wouldn’t have gone through the bother of dressing up.”

Hermione looked to Seto curiously as he got up from the fountain’s edge and gestured half-heartedly for his coat, noting he looked amused that she didn’t seem eager in the slightest to hand it back.

“Yeah, well, Hermione and I have a date,” said Cormac, holding his hand out to Hermione. “Come on, Roger and Don got a table that we can join.”

Hermione got up, but stepped around his outstretched arm. “Actually, Cormac,” she said, “I don’t feel so good. I think I’m going to head back to the common room early.”

She tried to move out of his reach, but he was faster, and pressed two fingers against her forehead. “You look flushed, probably from sitting out here all this time. What you need is a bite to eat. Let’s go.”

Hermione drew back from him, and at the same time caught a whiff of Seto’s cologne from his jacket. Her cheeks may have been pink, but it certainly wasn’t because of the winter evening.

“No,” she said fiercely, “Cormac, I really don’t want to go back inside the Great Hall.”

Cormac paused, and then nodded. “Okay. Fair enough. It is rather busy in there. I’ll bring you a plate out here.” He looked Seto up and down, sizing him up. “You can go now.”

“She’s got my jacket,” said Seto, lightly. “The last time I gave her something, she never returned it.”

Hermione’s cheeks went reddened even further. The Kaiba Corporation sweater she borrowed the other week during the last snowstorm was sitting on her bedside chair.

Cormac gestured, annoyed. “All right, Hermione give him back his coat so he’ll be on his way.”

“Sorry, it was just cold out here,” she muttered, but didn’t move to take it off.

Cormac waggled his eyebrows. “I’m sure we can find a way to keep warm.”

Hermione shook her head, visibly disgusted, and didn’t miss Seto’s eye twitch. “No, I’m sorry, Cormac, but I don’t think I’m going to stay for the evening. I’m going back upstairs.”

Cormac’s eyes narrowed, looked from her to Seto and back again, before he stepped closer to Seto now. “Are you stealing my date?”

“I’m not stealing anything,” Seto countered. “Perhaps if you treated your date better, she wouldn’t be uncomfortable around you.”

“Don’t be daft,” Cormac snarled, tugging Hermione back towards the Great Hall.

“Let go,” Hermione hissed, yanking out of his grip. “I’m not going back inside with you, Cormac.”

Whatever retort he was likely to make never came out. The instant he reached for her again, Seto stepped forward, but before he could say or do anything, Hermione had shot her arm out and slugged Cormac right in the jaw, knocking him backwards against the edge of the fountain.

Hermione glared at him. “Now, I’m leaving. If you follow me, I won’t hesitate to jinx you with every hex I know.”

She stormed off, leaving both of them at the fountain.

Cormac rubbed his jaw before getting back to his feet and right up into Seto’s face. They were near the same height, but Cormac was bulkier, and he attempted to use it to his advantage to try and make Seto squirm. “I don’t know what you said to her, but this isn’t over, Kaiba.”

Seto snorted. “I told her to stand up for herself. But you’re not worth my time, so this is over.” He clapped his hand hard on McLaggen’s shoulder, a vicious smirk on his face. “But no hard feelings, right?”

Hermione was on one of the steps leading back upstairs when he made it back inside, his coat still around her shoulders, a semi-triumphant smile on her face. “That felt good.”

Seto chuckled. “I bet. Come on.” He beckoned her down a side corridor, away from the steps leading in the main staircase chamber.

“Where are we going?”

“To get you something to eat, for one thing,” said Seto, “Considering you don’t feel like returning to the party.”

“It’s fine, really,” Hermione said quickly. “I can just as easily go back to the common room where there’s food. The night’s already ruined; I might as well turn in early.”

He led her down a set of stairs and towards a painting of a bowl of fruit. “Look, McLaggen is an idiot for sure, but you don’t have to let him destroy what’s left of your evening.”

Hermione shrugged as he began tickling the pear in the painting. “I don’t see what else there is to do.”

“Well,” Seto said shortly, “I didn’t get dressed up just to fall short of jinxing a moron in the courtyard. And I did say that I was going to keep you from making more terrible decisions.”

“Are you trying to tell me that going back upstairs is a terrible idea?”

Seto paused as the pear turned into a door handle, which swung open into the Kitchens. What was he even doing? He did his good deed of the year and got McLaggen away from Hermione (which she did well enough of on her own). They could have both just returned to Gryffindor Tower without any of this. She could turn in early, like she said, and he could return to work, and listen to Set’s irritated mood for leaving him stranded up there this entire time.

Instead, he was doing what – getting her food from the kitchens…and then? There was food back in the common room after all. To stop here first meant that he would be taking her somewhere else afterwards, right?

For someone who had five different contingency plans built into his dueling deck at any given time, he was doing an awful lot of improvising lately.

Dobby rushed forward to greet them as the other house elves stayed back, wary. It seemed they haven’t forgotten her prior attempts to free them during the TriWizard Tournament.

Hermione stayed back near the entrance to the Kitchens as Seto spoke quietly with Dobby. Off to the side, she could see Winky on a stool by a fireplace, staring down into the bottom of an empty Butterbeer bottle, her face pale.

She didn’t realize how long she was staring until Seto walked back up to her with a small basket of something hooked over his arm, and two of his travel mugs. She hadn’t the slightest idea where those came from. Dobby more than likely summoned them from the dormitory.

She followed him back out of the Kitchens and towards the Grand Staircases.

“…I’m sorry,” she said randomly. “I should have returned your sweatshirt ages ago. I didn’t mean to hoard it.”

Seto chuckled. “Keep it, I can get them easily.” He eyed the coat to his suit. “Now, that I would like back when the evening’s over.”

Hermione nodded.

She followed him all the way up past the seventh floor. “…The only thing up here is the Astronomy Tower.”

“I know.”

She raised an eyebrow. “We’re having dinner up there? It’s not quite appropriate, is it?”

“Well you won’t get accosted up here, will you?” said Seto. “I hope you weren’t too fond of the snow down there, because I’m not bothering to recreate it.” He handed her one of the travel mugs, stepped out onto one of the balconies used for classes, and conjured two chairs.

“A bit chilly up here,” she said, rubbing her arms. Hermione reached into the pocket of her dress, barely visible in the pleating, produced her wand and created her blue flame jar. “Engorgio.”

Seto watched the blue flames flicker. “You made one of those in my dorm once. I remember seeing it when I returned from Domino.”

Hermione nodded. “I suppose you can say it’s a specialty of mine.”

She reached into the basket. Dobby had prepared two plates of the food from the Great Hall, an assortment of meats and potatoes, with a smaller bowl of fruit at the bottom of the bin. Despite the cool air around them, the plates must have been charmed to keep the food warm.

Hermione peered at the mug. “Is that coffee?”

“Mine is,” said Seto, “You should have tea.”

She passed him a plate, and couldn’t help but blush as his fingers brushed hers, if only for a moment. “Thank you,” she said. “Really, you didn’t have to go through the trouble.”

Seto merely shrugged, and reached back for a fork left behind in the basket between them.

They ate in relative silence until most of their plates were gone.

“So…what now?” she asked, a smile on her face, “What other surprises do you have?”

Seto held his mug in both hands, keeping his fingers warm. It was cold up here, but his suit was at least layered. She needed his coat more than he did.

“I…haven’t made it that far,” Seto admitted, feeling rather awkward. He was truly running this night blind. Is this what it felt like to be Joey Wheeler in a duel? Making his moves on the fly and hope something pans out of it? What a terrible strategy. He’ll stick to his intricately-woven master plans any day.

Hermione looked around them. “Well…this is the Astronomy Tower. Have you taken any classes before?”

“Not particularly,” said Seto, “My education was rather streamlined. I know the basics, but have never taken a specific course on the subject.”

“Hm…”

“May I ask…what you two are doing all the way up here?” said a stern voice behind them. Hermione jumped and twisted around to see Professor McGonagall in the doorway back into the corridor, arms crossed. Seto also got up.

“Oh, Professor!” Hermione squeaked.

“Escaping the crowd,” said Seto.

“Hm,” said Professor McGonagall, striding forward, “The ball is downstairs.”

“I know,” said Hermione, “but…”

“And I ought to have you sent back to Gryffindor Tower, Miss Granger, for attacking another student.”

Hermione paled.

“Or have house points taken. You know perfectly well violence is not tolerated.” Professor McGonagall gave them both a wry smile. “However, Professor Flitwick and I watched the debacle in the courtyard unfold, and it was his insistence that you gave a mean right hook that made me change my mind.”

Hermione looked to Seto and back, confused. “…Professor?”

“While the rest of the staff would prefer that all the students stay congregated down in the Great Hall this evening, Professor Umbridge didn’t make it a stipulation of the ball.” Professor McGonagall waved her wand, converting both of their chairs into a single lounge with a large blanket draped across the top. Another wave and the main telescope along the parapet wall shrunk down into a handheld sized one.

“Do remember that this evening’s curfew is 2am,” said Professor McGonagall, “I will assure Mr. Filch that the Astronomy Tower is empty so long as you leave for Gryffindor Tower on time. And do set the room right when you’re finished.”

“Yes Professor,” Hermione smiled, “Thank you.”

“Consider yourselves lucky Dolores Umbridge didn’t follow you two up here,” said Professor McGonagall, “Good evening.”

Hermione turned to Seto once Professor McGonagall had gone. “…What just happened?”

Seto looked to the chaise lounge in the middle of the open balcony and picked up the handheld telescope. “…I think you were about to teach me Astronomy.”

Hermione hesitated for a moment before joining him on the couch, drawing her legs up along the seat and leaning against him as he drew the warmed blanket – of course it was magically heated – around them.

She felt Seto reach into the pocket of his vest and pull out his phone. “W-what are you doing?”

Seto smirked. “Setting the alarm for 1am, because I really don’t want to find Umbridge waiting for us at the bottom of the Tower should we be late getting out of here.”

“Good plan,” Hermione said, snuggling into his side. She handed him the telescope. “So – what do you want to look at first?”

Seto passed the telescope back. “You’re the expert. You show me.”

#michelle writes fic #nerdshipping #olssm #hermione granger #seto kaiba #crossover au #yugioh #hp

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