Chapter 31: Tomorrow Starts Today

"Kaiba-san?"

I counted to ten and then pushed the intercom button. "Yes, Crawford?" I had asked my relatively new secretary not to interrupt me, but this morning had been one damn thing after the next. "What now?"

"There's a Honda Hiroto here to see you." She said.

I sighed even as I smiled. Some days are non-productive regardless of how hard you try.

"Honda should be on your list. You do not need to announce him. Perhaps you should take a photo of him – for future reference."

There was a moment of silence. "Yes, Kaiba-san. Forgive me, sir."

There was a long enough delay for me to wonder if she actually was taking his picture, but eventually Honda entered, chuckling softly. "That's not the same one who was here last time, is it?"

"No. My average is about ten days before my patience is exhausted and I call personnel for a replacement. I haven't had a decent one since Anzu and when I asked her about it, she had the gall to laugh in my face."

"Kind of a dumb question, wasn't it?" He laughed.

"You didn't hear the woman they had answering my phone. I was desperate. I almost answered it myself for a day." He laughed louder. "You're not being at all sympathetic."

"Not a bit."

I saved my document; I was more or less finished with my latest statement to the police. "I'd like to think you didn't come here to laugh at me; you can do that at home."

He stopped laughing and his smile faded some. "Yeah, I didn't. Just a couple questions I thought you could help me with."

"Of course. Anything."

"Why is the Dean of Sociology at Tokyo U calling me?"

"I'd think the obvious error would be that he intended to call for Anzu."

"He called my cell and asked for me personally."

I shrugged. "Then I'm afraid you'll have to ask him directly."

"I did. He said that he'd received my application and wanted to interview me for their program." I gestured for him to continue. "I didn't apply to Tokyo. I didn't apply anywhere."

"I helped you fill out several forms, didn't I? Before you decided the sea was calling your name."

"Yeah, but I never mailed any of them. And I sure as hell didn't write any admittance essay and he said he read mine. So I want to know what you did."

"Me?"

"Hey, not stupid, remember?"

"Indeed. Tokyo's Sociology program is one of the world's finest. You couldn't be stupid for them to even consider you."

"So what did you do?"

"Not a thing."

"Kaiba..."

"Truly." I did crack a smile. "Unless your application was in my old mail – in error, of course. I did mail a few things that I had started while I was staying with you. I could have mailed one of your applications by mistake."

"Mistake."

"I have better things to do with my time than sort your old mail."

"Riiiiiiiight." He nodded, pursing his lips. "And the essay?"

"No idea. If you didn't write one, it couldn't have been with the application. And I certainly didn't write one for you."

"You didn't e-mail him something."

"Why would I do that?"

"Why are you such a dick?" He shook his head, laughing. "Just tell me."

I shrugged again. "It's Anzu's fault, really. She put Tabanna on the Board of Trustees for KaibaEducation. He mentioned how difficult it was to find students with an interest in Social Sciences. I told him I could hand him a qualified candidate in less than a week. When he got the application, he informed me that a writing sample was required. Well, apart from a few emails, the only sample of yours that I had was your Sociology final." He moaned. "Well, it's hardly the worst paper I've ever seen."

In fact, it was quite informative. He had written about the inverse relationship between money and interpersonal skills. He made a very strong case for his stance that children raised in poorer circumstances are ultimately happier with life than children who were raised in wealthy environments. The paper had an uncomfortable ring of truth.

"And you sent it."

I made a helpless gesture. "I had to. I assured him I knew a qualified candidate. My reputation was at stake."

"You're a lying sack." He said, grinning and shaking his head.

"Quite the contrary as evidenced by the fact that he called you – I did know a qualified candidate."

"Yeah."

"Are you going to call him back?"

"I just came from his office."

"And?"

He sighed. "And yes, he did offer me a place in this year's program."

"Excellent! This calls for a celebration! I'll..."

"Relax! I told him thanks, but no thanks."

"You what?" I had been reaching for the phone and stopped midway.

"I can't afford to go to school now."

I stared at him. "You must have lost your wits. I think we can locate a source of funding."

"Seto." He smiled. "I really appreciate this. Really. But I'm not going to let you pay my way and – and the money I have saved up, well, I kinda got something else going." His smile actually grew broader.

"You understand, of course that I will not take a 'no' in this matter?" I hit the intercom button. "Get Tabanna on the line."

"I'm sorry, sir. Dr. Tabanna at the Kyoto Office?" Crawford asked.

Honda snickered while I rubbed my temple. "No. Prof. Tabanna in the Sociology Dept at Tokyo University." I released the button. "Why is good help so hard to find?"

"You want a mind-reader." He laughed.

"I would settle for someone who could make a decent cup of coffee." I looked up at him. "What could you possibly 'have going' that is more important than your future?"

He struggled for a moment, apparently warring between keeping his secret and sharing something about which he was clearly thrilled.

"If you don't tell me, I will find out on my own. You do realize that, don't you? I will use every resource –"

"Anzu's pregnant."

"– I..." the words penetrated my skull and effectively stopped any further thoughts I had. " ... have..."

Honda and Anzu were with child.

Honda began howling with laughter. "Oh man! Dude! Close your mouth; the flies will get in." He laughed some more. "Man! You should see your expression!"

"Is this a joke?" I asked finally. He continued to laugh as he shook his head. "You got my Anzu pregnant?"

"I got MY Anzu pregnant." He laughed. "I don't know who your Anzu is."

I got up and came around the desk slowly. "Well, until I see proof of a greater claim, my Anzu is the only one around here who keeps this office organized."

"So if she's mine, I have to marry or her something?" He crossed his arms.

"That is the standard method."

"Well, good thing I bought that ring then, I guess."

"Yes." I could no longer stop the smile from spreading across my face. "A good thing."

"Kaiba-san?" Crawford's voice interrupted us. "I have Prof. Tabanna on the line."

"Put him through." I said and hit the speaker button.

"Good afternoon, Kaiba-san."

"Good afternoon, Tabanna." He growled slightly, no doubt at the breach of etiquette. "What did you think of Honda, professor?"

"Is this where I exalt the great Kaiba?"

"Typically, yes." I grinned at Honda. "But simply admitting I won the bet would be sufficient."

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but it doesn't matter how brilliant he is, he's not interested."

"Why do you say that?"

"He turned me down! He gave some vague 'personal reasons' wind, but he didn't even mention money so it wasn't that."

"I believe he has a student loan lined up." I said. I waved Honda silent.

"Loan? Hell! I have two scholarship programs I can get him into. But I can't get these kids to see how important Social Studies are to Japan's future!" He sighed. "They're all wrapped up in your technology."

"So if Honda were to change his mind..."

"If I didn't already have space, I'd expand the program to include him."

I looked at my friend, waiting.

"Alright!" He said giving up. "I would love to enroll in a program like this, I totally agree that we think too much about tech and not enough about people, but now..."

"A-ha!" Tabanna chuckled. "I thought you were listening. Listen, son, whatever the issue is, I'm sure we can find a way to resolve it."

"Yes," I added, "I'm sure your future wife would be willing to support you as you finish your education."

"Ah! I see. Is that what the personal issue was?"

"Yeah, kinda." Honda grinned at me.

"Well, talk it over with her and give me a call in the morning. Classes started last week so we need to get you enrolled as quickly as possible so you don't fall too far behind. Kaiba, send me the contact information for your Headmaster; I'll pay up." Tabanna hung up. He promised if he lost, he'd teach a semester at my old school.

"Seto, I can't have a wife and baby at the same time I'm going to school!"

I simply smiled at him. "If I can do two degrees at once, I have no doubt that you will manage. One more change; I'm sure we can accommodate it."

There had been massive changes in the corporate structure and in the Kaiba household. It had been two months since I had taken control of KaibaCorp. I had invited Anzu to retain Gozaburo's suite. I saw no real need for her to move out – especially as Honda had virtually moved in when he was in port. Mutou and Mai were frequent houseguests as well.

I had invited Ryou to move into one of the other unoccupied suites, but Otogi had preferred the two of them lease a condo in Domino. They were only ten minutes away, but it was just far enough; Otogi seemed to practice 'trust, but verify' rather than 'trust and believe'. I could not fault him for it.

Mokuba had taken a surprisingly firm grip on the Arms Division and split it into two sections; one to maintain goods that we would continue producing and one for goods that we would discontinue once their relevant contracts were complete. Mokuba was also beginning negotiations to sell off the products we were no longer interested in to Konosuke and Chikuzen who were looking for enough capital to start their own company; an idea I had not considered. Shuzo had left Tokyo and given no forwarding address.

Soichiro was locked in his lab, working on the Hard Light prototype. He had been stunned stupid for almost a week when I finally pointed out to him our basic error in logic. After that, he'd begun designing and hadn't said a civil word to anyone since. That was actually a good sign. I anticipated having a new Arena system available for the next E3 Convention.

Kogoro, as Ryou had suggested, was willing to stay on. I did not give him the Vice President of Operations position that he had been looking for – largely because I was still hoping to move Noah into that job. Instead, Kogoro was operating as my Executive Vice President and seemed pleased enough with it. The position allowed him to have a great deal of authority over issues he had a weath of experience in without allowing him to make controlling decisions over corporate policy.

I was working on the KaibaLand Theme Parks. I had no idea how many decisions went into amusement parks, but I confess, the research and planning had been more fun than Mokuba and I had had together in years. The three-week whirlwind tour of parks around the world had included our friends as their schedules allowed, but had mostly been Mokuba and I spending time together as we always wanted to. Now, as my brother was preparing to go back to high school, I was doing the less-fun parts such as cost profiles and building permits.

I spent the larger part of my time in the office, but I asked Ryou, as a part of his standard scheduling, to make sure I had at least one event per week that was with my friends and purely for fun. If he hadn't done so, I quite literally would not have seen a living soul outside the KaibaCorp office.

The thing with which I was most satisfied was that my memory had returned in full as far as I could tell. I did some research on improving memory and added a few mental exercises to my early morning yoga and tai chi.

My love life, as Honda would so eloquently have phrased it, reeked.