Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Guilty until proven innocent! ❯ First Day ( Chapter 2 )

I'm rudely awakened by a woman I presume to be a guard. She leads me down the hall and into a small room for breakfast. She introduces herself to me as Ms. Kawasaki. She tells me that the other inmates have eaten already, and that I'm not technically a part of the general populace until after I read over the rules and meet my roommate.

Breakfast is bland. Powdered eggs and the toast is too hard. I wasn't expecting gourmet food, but at least something a little more tolerable would have been nice. I silently eat this "food" and hope that lunch will be a little better. Ms. Kawasaki is on the phone updating the caller of my status here so far. My case is a high profile case. Murder always is. As a result of that, it will be extremely difficult to find an unbiased jury. Ms. Kawasaki is just getting off the phone and she asks me if I'm done with breakfast. I reply and tell her that I'm finished. She takes me to the dining room to throw out the trash.

We head back to the room that I ate breakfast in. Ms. Kawasaki informs me that I am getting a roommate and she will arrive in a few minutes. My roommate will be someone that can help me get acquainted around here. "Ms. Kawasaki, Do you know the name of my roommate?" I ask her.

"Yes," she replies, "It's a young woman by the name of Kujaku Mai. We think she'll be able to help you around." Kujaku Mai. But why is she here of all places? I haven't seen her since Battle City. Jounuchi has been looking for ways to get in touch with her. After a few minutes of waiting, Mai walks in the door. She smiles when she realizes that I will be her roommate. I think this will work out. I was a little worried about who my roommate would be. She takes a seat across from me.

Ms. Kawasaki says she needs to leave us alone for a few minutes so she can deal with a problem with a few inmates.

"Anzu," Mai says, "What are you in here for?"

"I was just about to ask her the same question," I respond and tell her that Honda was murdered and that I'm there for a crime I didn't commit. Mai tells me she knows that I couldn't kill anyone and that things will work out for me.

"So why are you in here Mai?" I ask her.

"Reckless driving and various minor traffic violations. So how is Jounuchi doing"? Mai questions. I figured she would ask about him sooner or later. Jounuchi did risk his life trying to defeat Marik and free her from the Shadow Realm. After Battle City ended, they went there separate ways. It doesn't surprise me that she's in here for reckless driving. She's not one of the calmest drivers. I tell her that Jounuchi is fine. His sister lives with him in an apartment.

Ms. Kawasaki returns to the room and asks if I've read and understood the papers she handed me earlier. I tell her yes. The papers I was handed earlier were just rules of the place, most were common sense rules, such as no fighting. I'll be on my best behavior here; anything else wouldn't look good when my trial starts. Ms. Kawasaki then tells me that she will take us to our room. Mai and I follow Ms. Kawasaki out the room, and down the hall. She points the room out to me. It's the second one on the right. The room is bare; I wasn't really expecting it to be anything else. Mai has a few books on her bed, and a deck of Duel Monster cards. My bed is just a mattress on the floor. Ms. Kawasaki tells Mai to get me some sheets and a blanket from the laundry room, and then turns to me to tell me that I can also get a few personalized things from home if I want. Since I'm going to be here awhile, I might as well ask my parents for a few things to make this place a bit more bearable.

Mai comes back with the sheets and a blanket. She offers to help me make up my "bed", but I tell her that I can do that on my own. Mai tells me that when I'm finished that it will be time to meet the other inmates here. I look over the room one more time before making up my bed. I have to go meet the other inmates. Its recreation time for them. Mai tells me not to worry about meeting the other inmates. She hasn't had any problems here. Duel Monsters is also quite popular and that I should think of getting my deck from home.

Up in the front room, I notice a few girls playing duel monsters, and some sitting by a radio. This isn't how people describe this place to be. I was expecting a much more hostile environment. Mai walks over to a small red head girl and introduces her to me as April. An American. She's in here for being out with friends past the curfew time. She's 16, the same age as me. She's in Japan because her father's job transferred him over to Japan. I overhear a few girls on my right murmur the words killer. I try to ignore them but a few of them aren't whispering their thoughts about me anymore.

A few of the girls get up and walk over to our table. Mai is looking a bit uneasy at what's going on. I don't want to start a fight here, on my first day. I didn't do what I'm in here for. The first girl on my right asks me why I killed Honda Hiroto. I tell her that I could never kill one of my friends. Mai tells her that she knows me and I am not capable of murder.

One of the girls who walked over to our table says everyone in here for murder says they're innocent.

"Honda was a friend of mine and I'm going to make sure he gets the justice he deserves," remarks one of the girls in the group. The rest nod their heads in agreement. A few of them even look as if they're preparing for a fight. This conversation isn't going well and Mai and April seem to be at a loss of what to say. The staff Ms. Kawasaki has stopped what she was previously doing to watch us more closely.

"Don't worry," says the first girl, "we're not going to do anything yet, but watch your back, Anzu." She laughs after saying that and the other girls are giving me nasty looks.

After those girls walk away I ask Mai and April who the main girl was.

"The one with the most mouth, the one that came over here is named Sahara Shinzaki. It's rumored that she went to your school and had a huge crush on Honda."

"Oh," I reply. Mai also says that I should watch out for those girls. They have a terrible reputation and they like picking on the "new girls."

"Anzu, April starts, "did you kill Honda?" I guess in some ways I was expecting her to ask that. She doesn't know me. She doesn't know how close Honda and I were, so of course she would have certain suspicions about me. Who wouldn't? I'm the only suspect in the case and currently the only one that was even in the vicinity when he was killed. Whoever killed him covered their tracks well. I don't know how I'll explain that I'm innocent in court when the evidence so far is clearly against me.

"April," I reply, "Honda was a close friend of mine. We've been through a lot together in the years I've known him. I would never do anything to harm him. I don't know who killed him but I'm sure the killer will be found." I sound more confident than what I really am. I hope the killer is found but I'm not confident that the cops are even looking.

"I believe you, Anzu, I don't know why but you don't seem like the killer "type," she admitted. "Plus" she continued, "If Mai says you're not the killer then that's good enough for me." She's the same age as me but she's a little naïve, or should I say too innocent to be in a place like this. Mai seems a little protective of her like a big sister. It's interesting seeing Mai put in such a protective "role." I don't think I've ever seen that side of her. Being here must have changed her a little. She's usually a little more arrogant and conceited.

"Mai, what day is visitation day? It wasn't in any of the papers I was given today."

"It's every Sunday. You only get two hours with either friends or family." Mai looks a little depressed after saying that. I wonder if Mai has had any visitors since she's been here. Jounuchi, Yugi and the rest of our friends didn't know she was here. She has no family left. Ms. Kawasaki walks over to the table and says that I have a phone call from someone named Yami. I have to use the phone in the hallway.

"Yami! " I shout, happy to hear from him. "It's good to hear from you. How are you? You won't believe whose here with me." I'm sounding a little more cheerful than what I really am. I am excited to hear from Yami. I just wish the circumstances were different.

"It's good to hear you're okay. Yugi and I were worried about you. Yugi couldn't sleep last night. He's really stressed out with you being in that detention center. Who else is there?" I knew Yugi would worry about me. I didn't want him stressing himself over my situation.

"Kujaku Mai is here. Jounuchi has been worried sick about her. Tell Yugi to take care of himself and not to worry too much about me. I'm fine, really I am. With Mai here the place is a little tolerable."

"I'll be sure to tell Jounuchi about her the next time I see him. Yugi is asleep right now. He stayed up all last night and I finally convinced him to get some sleep. Convincing him not to worry about you will be an impossible task but I'll try for his sake."

"So how are Jounuchi and the rest holding up?"

"Jounuchi had to take his sister to the dentist so I haven't talked to him today. Kaiba was by today and he says that he doesn't think you're guilty. Kaiba has even offered to help your parents get the best lawyer money can buy."

That's something I wasn't expecting. Kaiba and I aren't friends so why would he help me?

"Did Kaiba say why he was getting involved?" I'm more than a little interested in if he said anything. Kaiba has always talked down to me and Jounuchi so it's a bit of a surprise that he's helping me now.

"Kaiba says it's because of Mokuba. Mokuba doesn't want to see you found guilty of murder, and Kaiba will do anything for his little brother." That makes sense. At least things are looking up. I'm sure a guy like Kaiba has a lot of connections with good lawyers. Trial doesn't officially start for another month. In that time, will the police even be looking for Honda's real murderer?

"Tell Mokuba I said thanks when you see him again… Mai told me today that friends and family can visit on Sundays."

"Tell Mai I said hello. I'll tell Yugi about the visitation days. That should cheer him up a little. I need to go back to helping gramps with the game shop. I'll call again when I have time. Goodbye, Anzu."

"Goodbye, Yami." I've only been here less than 24 hours but talking to Yami makes me miss the outside world even more. If I was outside, instead of here Yugi wouldn't be so stressed out right now. I hate having Yugi stressed out over me. Yugi has always had a slight crush on me. I'm not sure what I feel towards him. I know I like him as a friend. I haven't thought of him as more than a friend. He's a great guy but I don't want to ruin our friendship. My parents disapprove of him because of Yami. They've thought of Yugi as being a little weird when they found out about the spirit of the puzzle.

I walk back up to the front and glance over at Sahara and her friends. They're all still giving me dirty looks and I know the little "incident" from today isn't all that they're going to do. Ms. Kawasaki tells us all to go to our rooms because it's time for the shifts to change. Once in our rooms Mai asks me who was on the phone. I tell her that it was Yami and that I told him about her being here. Mai said it only takes about thirty minutes for shift change to be over and then it will be time for lunch. She hands me a book to read to pass the time.