Family Bonds

Interview

Zarc's boss was waiting for him in the front lobby when he arrived at work. The moment he saw the basket of babies, he sighed. "Did you really have to bring your new kids?"

"If a fan is crazy enough to clone me without my consent and knows where I live, then the odds of them breaking into my house are pretty high," Zarc said. "And I don't want to risk the babies getting hurt or kidnapped."

"Babies?" a voice said, and the receptionist appeared behind Zarc's boss. "You have babies?"

"Yes, four of them," Zarc said, showing her the basket. The receptionist gasped, and suddenly Zarc was surrounded by most of his female coworkers, all who wanted to see the babies. Zarc proudly showed off his little ones, much to his coworkers' delight. The babies all woke up, but to Zarc's immense relief they didn't cry.

Eventually, Zarc's boss groaned. "Zarc, you have an interview in fifteen minutes! Where are you going to put the babies?"

"I'm going to bring them with me," Zarc said, a bit confused about why that wasn't obvious. "If they wake up, they're going to need to be calmed down, and I don't trust anyone else with that task."

"But–Well—" his boss groaned. "Fine, but don't blame me if they cause a drop in your popularity..."

Zarc rolled his eyes and went to get ready for his interview. Duelist Entertainment was one of the biggest TV stations in the Duel Monsters community, and this interview would be seen by people all over the world. Hopefully they wouldn't mind the four additional guests.

* * *

"Hello, Zarc, and welcome to Duelist Entertainment!" the lady interviewing Zarc was all smiles as the duelist walked onto the stage. The live studio audience cheered for Zarc as the cameras focused on him.

"Thank you for having me!" Zarc said, sitting down in the interview chair. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought a few, ah, extra guests with me. Couldn't leave them home."

"Oh, extra guests?" the interviewer asked. Zarc set the baby basket down by his feet. "Yes, four of them. They're in this basket."

It took the interviewer a moment to understand, then she gasped. "Oh my goodness, are they babies?"

"Yes, they're babies," Zarc said. The audience gasped and then cheered. Babies were adorable! Zarc brought his finger to his lips at the noise. "Shhhh, I just got them back to sleep!"

The audience quieted down, and the interviewer asked, "Can we see them? Please?" Zarc nodded and carefully lifted the basket's blanket to give the cameras a shot of the babies. Everyone cooed over the cute babies. "Aw! So cute! How old are they?"

"According to the note they came with, three days old," Zarc replied. "And before you ask, I don't know who left them. I just know that someone grabbed a piece of gum I was chewing after I threw it away and used it to clone me, and then just abandoned the baby clones on my doorstep yesterday."

"Oh my goodness, that's awful!" the interviewer gasped, as the audience murmured in agreement. Zarc nodded, "I don't even have any baby clothes or supplies to take care of them, just the few basic necessities I managed to pick up at the grocery store yesterday. I'll have to pick up more later today."

There was a whimper in the basket, and Zarc immediately checked the babies. Yuya was awake, and Zarc knew that he was about to cry. He gently picked the tiny tomato up and cradled him. "Shhh, it's okay Yuya! Daddy's here!"

Fortunately, Yuya calmed down when Zarc held him, gurgling happily. The crowd awwwed, and the interviewer asked, "Is that his name? Yuya?"

"Yes, I named this one Yuya," Zarc said. "According to the note the babies came with, Yuya came out of his cloning test tube last, which makes him the youngest. The oldest is the one with the purple-and-black hair, I named him Yuto. Then there's Yuri, the one with pink-and-purple hair, and then Yugo, the one with blue-and-yellow hair."

"Aw, those are such cute names!" the interviewer said. Yuya yawned, and everyone cooed over how cute he was as he fell back asleep. Zarc rocked him for a few more minutes before carefully tucking him back into the basket with his brothers.

The interviewer smiled at Zarc. "As much as I'd love to talk about your new babies, why don't we get on with the interview? So Zarc..."

* * *

Zarc stared in disbelief at all the gifts that had arrived at his workplace. It had been a few days since the interview, and many of his fans had sent baby supplies to him. There were toys, teething rings, formula, cribs, clothes, diapers, high chairs, car seats, and even parenting books. Zarc was so moved by the generosity of his fans.

Zarc's boss wasn't too happy about his office getting flooded with baby supplies, but there was nothing really he could do about it. In all honesty, he'd expected Zarc's popularity to plummet when the babies were revealed, but instead it had skyrocketed. The boss didn't understand it. Babies were so annoying, with their crying and their neediness and their nasty diapers. He didn't understand why on earth people would think Zarc's tiny clones were adorable.

Unfortunately, Zarc could tell that his boss didn't like his babies. And the duelist was none too happy about that fact. Perhaps it was time to move on to another Duel Agency. Zarc had gotten quite a few offers after his interview, most of which offered use of on-site daycare facilities and better pay than his current agency.

Zarc made up his mind. Later today he would check out the Duel Agencies that had contacted him. It was time for a change!