Silent Cinderella - Chapter 4

Luck was a very fickle thing. For Cinderella's step sisters, it came in the form of a ball. This was their chance to leave their mother (and the other sister) behind, waltzing towards a life of even greater riches, respect and recognition; a life as a princess! What more could anyone else ever want? Had it not been for the Fairy Godmother, one of them probably would have succeeded in having their dream become reality.

In reality, however, things are never as easy of a wave of a wand and the right pair of shoes. Fairy Godmothers do not exist and more often that not, nice guys finish last. It's a gritty race to the top, with most people unable to make it. So to get to the top, do we have to be relentless with what we want, or is it actually possible for the nice guy to win through hard work and dedication alone?

---

The day was bright and sunny and the new KaibaLand was filled with hundreds of families enjoying themselves. Momo was here with her own family, though she'd ditched them long ago to hang out with her friends. Her goals for the day were simple. Have fun and learn more about KaibaLand. Learning more about KaibaLand would help her to learn more about Kaiba himself (and why he thought it necessary to waste billions of yen on a theme park for kids, or for that matter, even work at all when he could be living it up).

It wasn't much, but it was a start. To even be able to see the bigger picture, you needed to be able to put the small ones together in the right order first. It would take some time but by the end of her internship, that picture would be revealed. Of course, she had no intention of living KC after her time there was over - she'd have a job there, or at the very least, an extension of what she already had.

Flicking her hair back, she laughed lightly at some joke her friend made. Paying attention to them just seemed troublesome. What were their goals? Did they have any, or were they going to leech of their parents forever? For herself, her goal was get to the top. It was going to be hard work to get there, but when she did, she would be set for life.

A good job (if she wanted to keep it), riches beyond imagine, an adorable younger brother and a ring placed on her finger, placed their by none either than Seto Kaiba himself.

First impressions, for a man like Seto Kaiba, were important, but moreso was every single meeting after that, be it in person or via technology. He was not one you ever wanted to show a bad side too - he'd never forget it and would constantly wonder if you were going to be worth his time and effort.

As such, when both Kaiba brothers opened the new theme park in a flash of camera lights and amid an ocean of cheers, she had used her Kaiba Corporation employment identification to push her way to the front, smiling sweetly and clapping along with everyone else. For the rest of the day, she was close to them (wishing furiously that Hanako wasn't there so she could get even closer but the woman's hawk eyes kept her at bay). It was tedious, smiling all day and praising Kaiba Corp and trying to be pretending in whatever the hell was going on around her, but the end goal was worth it.

She wouldn't let anything interfere with her fairy tale.

---

He and Hanako were both on their third coffee of the morning and struggling to act as though they were awake whereas their siblings were bright eyed and chattering happily away, somehow filled with energy. He'd never say it, but he envied them both; whenever Kaiba Corporation unveiled something new, whether it was a Duel Disk or a new theme park, he always spent the night before tossing and turning, unable to get even a wink of sleep, running various scenarios over and over in his mind, hoping that nothing would go wrong and if it did, thinking of ways to counter act it in the faster way imaginable. From experience, he knew Hana was the same which was why he was the one who made the coffee that morning (while she knew it would help her, she always made it far too weak - the coffee he made, on the other hand, was always created with an extra kick or ten).

Watching as Seto and Hanako tried to wake up as they were driven to the new KaibaLand,  he attempted to hide a giggle without much success, leading to him being glared at (though, due to their tiredness, they looked a bit like zombies making him laugh even more). For most of the trip, Mokuba talked to Minako, who was still busy putting on her face (he had no idea why girls wore so much makeup when they were so much prettier by just being them). After today, Seto was going to take a much deserved week off work. Because his brother was awesome, he'd also managed to convince his principal to let him have the week off! Time for a week of sleeping in, playing video games and watching anime!

For the most part, the day was an enjoyable one. They were able to ride everything and the whole park seemed flawless. The only problem was the amount of people, so even if you had a speed pass to get on things quicker, the lines still took a while. Trying to make your way through the stores was also hellish, but as long as he stuck directly behind Seto, everything was fine (Minako joked that it was like he was parting an ocean). Surprisingly they were able to get into Seto's choice of restaurant without any wait whatsoever. Unfortunately however, they ran into Yuugi and his friends.

Mokuba, of course, didn't mind, but his brother didn't like them and they didn't like his brother. It was kind of like being a tiny, obscure little country in between two huge countries who were waging war on each other. He honestly wasn't thinking when he blurted out that they should sit together, but Hanako thought it was a good idea so Seto had caved.

Lunch was awkward, but not totally unbearable. Kawai had obviously not told her friends about working at Kaiba Corporation. Hanako had also picked up on her attitude, though neither of them said much, letting Mokuba and Minako do the talking for them. As much as he had wanted to say something to the mutt and to the morons fawning over the dog's sister, not only would it be bad table manners (Minako liked to lecture him in an attempt to remind the younger but much taller teen that she was a fair few years older than him and deserved a bit of respect) but would also be bad publicity for both the park, his company and himself.

Since he wasn't going to contribute anything to the conversation, he decided not to pay attention to it. That led him to the realisation that Mimi (that wasn't her name... Whatever, she wasn't important nor useful so why bother?) was eyeing him off from the other side of the room. This was the fourth time he'd noticed how close she was - in a place as large as KaibaLand, it should practically impossible to 'bump into' someone once, let alone four times. Shuddering, he made a note to tell Hana later (perhaps she could work her magic and make the girl quit on her own free will... And by free will, of course he meant Hana had terroised her into quitting). Kawai seemed not to have noticed her co-worker, which was probably for the better considering their less than stellar relationship (though they had proven themselves to be a decent enough team last night).

Once lunch was over, he set himself up for an afternoon filled with stalkers and fangirls, screaming children and happy families as well as mediocre duelists trying to provoke him into duels. Of course, he had to make a speech just before the firework festival and Mokuba wanted to go on more rides (which he hated due to his height - rides simply weren't made for someone of his stature). Sighing, he tried to zone it all out, chalking it up to it being another day in the wonderful life of Seto Kaiba.

---

Despite the early hour they'd woken up and left Yuugi's, by the time they arrived at KaibaLand, the crowd was enormous. Thankfully it wasn't an overly hot day so the waiting wasn't too horrendous, but nonetheless, an hour later when they finally had their tickets and were allowed to get in, the gang was all incredibly relieved. The new KaibaLand was much larger than the first and wasn't solely focused on Duel Monsters (though that was the main feature, not that anyone expected any less from Kaiba).

They spent the morning on roller coasters, buying merchandise before it sold out (Shizuka quickly flashed her Kaiba Corp employment card to get a discount - no one caught on, simply thinking it was an opening day sale) and trying out different simulated games. For lunch, they dined in a Dragon themed restaurant (they were all surprised to see the Red Eyes Black Dragon in the same place as Kaiba's precious Blue Eyes and putting it down to Mokuba's influence). Shizuka had the shock of her life when, once again, she literally bumped right into Kaiba.

"I'm so sorry!" Kaiba looked down at her with one eyebrow raised, but Mokuba gave a cheery hello in response.
"We didn't think we'd see you here today, Kaiba!" 
The taller duelist snorted. "You do realise that this is my theme park, right?" Seeing the annoyance coming off of Jou as his brother's eagerness to insult the blonde, Mokuba quickly interjected.
"How about you guys sit with us for lunch?"

Protests from both parties quickly ensured. Mokuba whined that he didn't get to see Shizuka much at school and wanted to hang out with her while Anzu (as much as she hated Kaiba) still tried to see the good in people and was torn as to what she would choose. Shizuka just felt like she'd slip up and say something that would give her whole game away. Fortunately, they were saved by the arrival of Hanako and Minako.

"Seto-sama, if we sit with them, not only will it be a way to get honest and fast feedback about the park, but it will also be good for publicity." As quick as he was, Seto couldn't find a way around that logic and had to concede. Minako was chirpy and polite while introducing herself and her sister, so while they'd rather not sit with (from their experience) the slightly crazy CEO, Yuugi's group felt it'd be more than slightly rude on their end to say no.

Thus began a most awkward lunch, where Shizuka and her friends sat incredibly quiet, unlike what they were used to. It was unusual that Kaiba's group was doing most of the talking. Mokuba talked to Shizuka about the upcoming sports festival while Hanako and Kaiba asked blunt questions about the new KaibaLand. Minako chatted about nothing really in particular, making her seem more and more like an everyday person. She certainly didn't seem the type of girl who Kaiba would enjoy bustling around his house, with her loud laughter and boisterous personality. Jou thought he might have hired her simply because he gave her sister a job and was now too proud to fire her and admit he made a mistake.

"Uh... So what do you actually do all day?"
"Which of us are you talking to?" No matter what anyone else said, Tristan had always found people speaking in unison slightly creepy. Yugi timidly pointed to Hanako so she quickly prattled off a long list of things they didn't understand (Duke did, but having his own technological company it wasn't surprising he understood geek speak). When she had finally stopped talking, her sister started speaking. It was hard to believe the two were actually twins with how different their every action was.

"Well, I clean and cook and-"
"Stop lying Minako."
"Pfft! Well, okay, I don't do most of that stuff. I boss around the people who do though, so that kinda counts, right? I have things on an even tighter schedule then Hana does at KC - simply so theres more time for fun!"

Well, they certainly could have figured that one out for themselves. Minako was a much thinner girl who obviously worshipped every fashion magazine around, covered in jewelry, expensive clothes and make up. She had bleached her skin, making her look less Japanese and more Western. Hanako was already tsking at her for her lack of ethics. Seto just rolled his eyes, focussing on his meal rather than pay attention to conversation and be civil while Mokuba just laughed and defended the younger twin.

When the two groups eventually split, they both sighed with relief. Both Mokuba and Minako had thought things had gone considerably well, when you think of the animosity Kaiba holds towards them all. Hanako hadn't gotten enough decent feedback and had decided that Seto's rivals were really as silly and annoying as he said they were.

But listening to her friend's talk about the company Kaiba was with and who he trusted, Shizuka felt odd. Thankfully she hadn't slipped up and mentioned anything about her job and her not talking much was just attributed to her usually quiet nature. Kaiba and Hanako had thankfully seemed to realise what she was doing and didn't mention anything either (she was going to have to thank him for that later). Something about the whole lunch still didn't sit right with her though. It wasn't until she arrived home late that night that she realised what it was.

Partly it was that she didn't want to walk on eggshells, she didn't want to hide things. She wanted to tell everyone about her internship and wanted to talk amicably to Kaiba's party (she especially wanted to assure Hanako that nothing had gone wrong last night). But the brunette was also especially curious about her boss. Mokuba was obviously his life and for opening day, it made sense Hanako would come along to make sure everything was in order. Minako seemed to be a fixated part of the family as well.

She wondered how they met and how long they'd known each other for. She wondered if he really didn't like the bright, bubbly type so much or if it was one of his masks. There were a lot of things she questioned about the stoic teen, yet she couldn't answer any of them. As she drifted to sleep, one last thought entered her mind.

She wondered what it took to gain the trust of Seto Kaiba.