Virtual Anonymity

Chapter 1

It wasn't hard for Kana to hear the chattering from outside her new homeroom. She supposed, by now, all of the other students would be used to each other. With a calming breath, she opened the door and walked into the room. A quick glance showed her that luckily, the students' attention was on the corner of the room; only a handful of people actually looked her way as she walked in.

Without acknowledging them, she moved over to greet the teacher with a nod of her head.
"Ah, Ka-" Her eyes narrowed, cutting him off.
"I'd appreciate it if you referred to me as Su and nothing else." He cleared his throat, nodding.
"Of course, Su. Mr Fujiwara informed me of the... incident you were involved in. I will endeavour to make sure it doesn't happen here."
"It had better not. If you'll excuse me." Turning, the girl looked for an empty seat and found it to be, unfortunately, next to the one boy she had not wished to sit next to - Seto Kaiba. Hopefully, he wouldn't talk to her.

Exhaling a controlled breath, she walked over and sat down at the desk next to the brunette, hoping she wouldn't attract his attention. He didn't even spare her a glance as she settled into her seat and pulled out her laptop to begin working on her new design plans. For a few long moments there was quiet as she typed away and made notes, only pausing to brush the bangs of her platinum blonde hair back behind her ear when it fell into her sight.

"Hey Joey. Earth to Joey! Hey, are you in there? It's your turn." The conversation attracted her attention, fingers pausing in their rhythm as she watched curiously out of the corner of her eyes. What was going on over there?
"Awww, isn't he cute when he's thinking?" A tall brunette stepped forward, gripping his blonde friend around the neck in what appeared to be a headlock.
"Hey Tristan. Yugi here is teaching me how to play Duel Monsters." Well, now she could identify who was who at least - Yugi, Joey, and Tristan. Kana cast a skeptical eye over the group, a soft frown marring her brow.
"Drooling Monsters?" Tristan seemed confused to say the least, she noted.
"Duel Monsters, ya nimrod!" And... Joey, was it? Appeared to have an accent. How very interesting.

When Tristan stepped back with a quiet 'sheesh', the girl next to him began talking, just loud enough for Kana to hear compared to the boys who she could hear easily.
"They've been at it for hours. Joey's starting to get the hang of the game, but Yugi's like an expert." Casting a quick glance around the desk, Kana found the crowd that had gathered confirmed the girl's words.
"Ok Yugi, it's time to duel!" Joey grinned, placing his card down on the dueling mat.
"See, each card has an attack number and a defense number. First player to eliminate their opponent's life points wins the duel." The brunette girl, standing beside Tristan, explained.

Kana couldn't help but roll her eyes with a quiet scoff - everyone knew how Duel Monsters worked by now. Well, except for Joey, apparently. Her belittlement earned her a side glance from Kaiba, before he went back to his book.

"Pretty good move, huh Yugi?" Joey sat back, smug smirk stretching his lips.
"Yup." She flicked her gaze over to Yugi as he placed his own card down on the mat with a flourish. "Pretty good move, but not good enough!"
"What?!" The familiar sound of scattering cards reached Kana's ears as Joey dropped his hand, "Thanks a lot! A card that powerful totally wipes me out!"
"Woah, you stink at this game Joey." Tristan teased.

Apparently, it wasn't only her attention that had been caught. Kaiba had finally put his book down and looked over to the group, but his attention was lost again only moments later.

"Nah, you did fine Joey. I just have better cards. See, my grandpa owns a game shop and I get all my best cards from him." Yugi was smiling, hand rubbing the back of his head shyly. That caused Joey to slam his hands down on the desk between them, exclaiming;
"Your own game shop? What are we waiting for, let's go!"
"Ok! Maybe I can even get my Grandpa to show us this super rare card he's got." She wasn't ignorant to the lapse in Kaiba's attention once again, his gaze settling on the group just like her own had.

Once the mat and the cards were packed away, and the crowd dispersed from around the desk, Kana found herself able to study them more clearly. Yugi, the spikey haired one, was the shortest in the group, his tri-coloured hair and smile making him look bright and bubbly. Joey, the blonde, and Tristan, the brunette, were both tall and had equally dorky grins on their faces. The last one of the group was the only girl, whose name Kana hadn't overheard.

Apparently, her silent observation hadn't gone unnoticed.

As her eyes wandered back over the group, she found Yugi looking at her. When she paused, blinking in surprise, he waved and smiled. Raising an eyebrow, Kana looked back before looking at the short boy again and tilting her head. Me? He nodded, grin even wider than before, and the girl grumbled quietly before getting out of her seat and walking over. Best introduce herself, she guessed.

She had judged his character correctly - he greeted her with an all too happy 'hey!' and held out a hand for her to shake before she could even get a word in.
"Hello." After shaking his hand firmly once, Kana drew her hand back.
"I'm Yugi. You must be new, I haven't seen you around before." His purple eyes were bright and hopeful, far too much like an eager puppy for her liking.
"I'm Su, it's a pleasure to meet you Yugi." Inclining her head respectfully, Kana managed a small smile in his direction. "I'm not new to the school, just this homeroom."
"Oh?" The eyebrow raise told her everything she needed to know about her classmate's curiosity. "If you don't mind me asking, how come you transferred homeroom? It's unusual for that to happen."

She felt her features twist in a mix of anger and disgust as the memory flashed through her mind.

"A younger student decided that inappropriately laying his hand on my person was a wise thing to do." Kana didn't fail to notice how the other three were not-so-sneakily listening in to their conversation, "So I put him in his place."
"W-well then-!" Nervousness creased the corners of Yugi's smile as he rubbed the back of his head. She could tell he was unsure of how to take the conversation from there.
"Don't touch me and I won't hurt you." Smirking at him, she tilted her head curiously. "Did I see you playing Duel Monsters a few minutes ago?" His nervousness flickered to surprise, and then immediately to relief; obviously this was a topic he was comfortable with.
"You sure did! I was teaching Joey the ropes. Do you play, Su?" His lips turned upwards, his demeanour easy and bright once more.

"I dabble every now and then, nothing serious though." The organised deck stowed away in her bag said otherwise, but she wasn't about to tell him that - not with the country's number one duelist in the room, possibly eavesdropping on the conversation. Instead, she reached a hand up to pat her bun, subconsciously making sure it was still in place.
"Well if you ever want a duel, feel free to ask!" Yugi's grin was infectious, she could feel the corners of her own smile stretching wider. "Hey, I'm taking my friends to my Grandpa's game shop to see his rare card after school, would you like to come?"
"I can't, I'm sorry Yugi." Instantly, Kana felt her mood drop. She had too much to attend to, she couldn't afford to be gallivanting off, seeing rare cards.

"Oh." His own grin dropped, but then he was happy again within moments. "It's ok, maybe some other time?"
"Sure, I like the sound of that."

She didn't miss the way Kaiba's gaze followed her as she moved back to her seat and opened up her laptop once more, waiting for the end of the school day.

When the bell rang, Kana noticed she wasn't the only one eager to get out of the classroom. To her left, Kaiba was packing his suitcase efficiently before he stood and strode out of the room. Between his posture and the look on his face, she was inclined to believe he had something he needed to do.

Yugi threw a 'see ya tomorrow, Su!' over his shoulder, waving as he left with his group of friends. It startled her; perhaps she hadn't been expecting him to be quite so friendly after just a couple of minutes of talking. What a strange boy. Belatedly, she waved back despite realising that he wouldn't see it.

Shaking her head, Kana finished packing away her laptop, nodding to the teacher as she left the room.