Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monster GX Fan Fiction ❯ Life in the Pro League, or Lack Thereof! ❯ The School Lecture ( Chapter 12 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
A/N: Aoyama is an actual place in Tokyo. Thank you, Wikipedia!
Based on flashbacks from Episode 83, I am going to go with a spacing of ten years between Yu Gi Oh and GX. Remember this.
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The agent answered on the first ring. What had he been doing, just sitting by the phone all day? Ryo decided he didn’t want to know the answer to that question.
Before the agent could say anything, Ryo said, “If this involves me removing any articles of clothing except shoes, I’m not doing it.”
The agent hesitated, then said, “No, no, nothing like that! What gave you the impression that I’d do that?”
Ryo said nothing.
The agent continued, “Anyway, the event is actually rather simple. You are going to lecture at an elementary school in Aoyama for one class period. Then you may have to give some interviews, then it will be done. Like I said, the fans will love it! It will help boost your clean-cut image.”
Ryo calmly said, “You know that I wouldn’t care if I had the image of a pickle. But I will do this. However, if you ever arrange something like this without my permission again, I WILL fire you!”
The agent apparently had no more to say, because he hung up.
Ryo considered what the agent had said. He had mentioned the Aoyama district, which was known for being an upper-crust area of Tokyo. That indicated that the school was probably some expensive private school.
This made no sense. Celebrities wanted to identify with the common people, right? It would make a lot more sense just to visit a public school.
There had to be some hidden reason for this. But what could it be?
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They just HAD to take the limo. Ryo hated the limo. It practically screamed, “Hey, there’s a celebrity in here! Take as many pictures as you want!” He was much more comfortable on his bike. Even the subway and bus were better than this.
The agent spent the whole ride talking on his cell phone, so at least Ryo wasn’t bothered by his pathetic attempts at small talk.
It was only when they arrived at the school did Ryo notice that there had been a second limousine right behind him.
The agent saw him looking at it and simply said, “Bodyguards.”
Ryo started to make some remark about what he really wanted was bodyguards that would shield him from the agent, but changed his mind.
The school was every bit as fancy as Ryo had imagined. It wasn’t quite at the level of the Obelisk Blue dorm, since this was just an elementary school. But it was quite expensive for a group of children.
Ryo thought he may have to give these new bodyguards a pay raise. They were well into the school, and there wasn’t a reporter or camera in sight.
They soon reached the first-grade classroom. A female teacher who looked pleasant enough ushered Ryo and one of the bodyguards in. The second one would keep watch right outside the door.
As soon as they walked in, the students stood up as one and gave respectful bows. Ryo thought that maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
The teacher said, “All right class, pay attention to our special guest! And anyone who is rude will have to clean the halls after school..”
That was all she had to say. Unlike most American teachers, Japanese teachers could, and did, enforce rules.
Ryo became slightly nervous. He was standing in front of thirty first-grade students. All were peering at him attentively. He almost wished that someone would start talking out of place, because it was so darned quiet!
Fortunately, his agent had already worked out what he was to say. It wasn’t anything really important; just stuff about sportsmanship and fairness and all the stuff famous people talked about at schools.
After he was done with the lecture, there was half the class time left. So the teacher allowed the students to ask questions. The first person he called on was a small boy with glasses. He kind of looked like Sho, but he had black hair.
“Kaiser-sama,” he said, “is it true that you danced on a table once? That’s what my sister’s magazine says.”
Ryo sighed internally before replying,“Don’t believe anything those magazines say. They just tell lies. Next question.”
The next question came from an intelligent-looking girl with a pointed chin. She said, “is it true you got a perfect score on your exam at Duel Academia? That’s what my father says.”
Ryo answered in the affirmative.
The next few questions were nothing extraordinary. One kid asked if Ryo still had a bedtime. Another had heard about the trip to America, and wanted to hear about it. A third kid wanted to know if Ryo liked baseball.
The next person was the pointy-chin girl. She looked at Ryo with a gaze Ryo was sure he had seen before, and stated, “My dad says he likes how you duel. He wants to give you an ‘dorsement.”
“Endorsement, Aiko,” interrupted the teacher. She then looked apologetic and said, “Sorry for interrupting you, Kaiser-sama.”
Ryo hardly heard her. How would a six-year-old know about endorsements? She said her father had wanted to give him one. Who could it be?
Wait a minute...Seto Kaiba had a daughter named Aiko, didn’t he? Now things made sense. His agent had obviously set this up so Ryo could have a photo op with Kaiba’s daughter!”
Ryo decided then and there that his agent was officially fired.
Aiko was still patiently waiting for an answer. Finally, Ryo said, “I’ll have to talk to you later about that.”
Fortunately, the bell rang just then.
The children left the classroom, presumably to go to lunch or some such thing.
The teacher was examining something on Aiko’s desk. Finally she walked over to Ryo.
She bowed, then said confusedly, “I think this is for you.”
It was a note, written in very sloppy and poorly spelled hiragana, “I knew what was going on. I have to get my picture taken all the time. I heard that you don’t like doing that. I don’t like it either. So I tried to warn you in advance. I hope I did all right.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly what it said. He could tell that Aiko didn’t know how to write very many characters yet, so she misused some and completely left out others. Still, that seemed to be the basic point of what she was saying.
Aiko was watching from the doorway, and Ryo swore that she was hiding a smile. She dashed off before the teacher could scold her about being late.
Ryo was in a better mood now. He was still definitely going to fire that stupid agent, but maybe now he’d do so in a slightly nicer manner.
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Fortunately, the agent didn’t protest too much. He knew he had messed up.
Within a couple of days, the new agent had arrived. He was completely different from the previous agent. While the old agent had been fat and balding, this one was slender and impeccably dressed, with a sly look in his eye.
Ryo was uneasy. Something wasn’t right about this guy...
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A/N: Aha! Now we’re getting somewhere! This new agent is the one in the show. For those of you who haven’t seen the show, this new guy is NOT a nice character.
However, there’s one funny part where Ryo tosses this agent out of the limo. I thought that was kind of creepy. After all, I was having Ryo doing things like that in this fanfic weeks before that episode even aired!
P.S. Sorry if there wasn't enough chibiness. I just don't like chibis. They creep me out. I was more aiming for a portrayal of normal, if respectful and hard-working, kids.
EDIT: I just got randomly worried that Aiko is a Sue. It would be a bit hypocritical of me if she was, right? Can someone say if she’s a Sue or not? I’ll fix any Sue-like traits if they exist. I’m fairly sure she’s not a Sue, but I wanted to err on the side of caution.