Dark Inheritance

Inheritance

Thursday...

Jou cast worried glances from the sides of his eyes at Yugi as he slowly and mechanically ate a breakfast delivered from Priya Indian. With an inward sigh, Jou turned his attention back to his own breakfast, eating with just as little appetite.

After they had finished, Yugi whipped out his phone.

"I'm gonna call our lawyer and ask when I can go for the will reading," he said as he tapped a contact. "Hello, this is Mutou Yugi calling. I was wondering if I could... Really? Yes. That would be great. Thank you! Goodbye."

"Sounds like good news," ventured Jou.

"It is. He actually has an opening today," Yugi answered cheerlessly.

"Dat's a plus," declared Jou.

"Yeah. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can put all this behind me," sighed Yugi as he slumped down on his cushion.

"I hear ya, man," agreed Jou, laying a pat on Yugi's shoulder.

"Um, would you mind..." Yugi began.

"I'll be dere wit' bells on!" declared Jou.

"No bells, Jou! This is serious," Yugi fumed.

"Figure a speech, Yuug," Jou elaborated with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Yugi conceded with the first hint of a smile Jou had seen since Sugoroku's death.

The attorney's office...

Yugi and Jou sat in rigid expectation as Grandpa's attorney went over the estate and inheritance: the shop, all the stock, and a bank account containing *¥22,267,003.64. Yugi nodded politely and signed where he must as each item was read off and each paper handed to him.

"That appears to be the last paper," declared the attorney at length.

"Thanks for all your help," replied Yugi as he and Jou rose to their feet to bow to the attorney.

"Of course, I... Hold on!" said the attorney, as though he had suddenly remembered something crucial.

"Is it important?" asked Yugi shortly.

"Indeed," replied the attorney as he hastened over to a glass cabinet, inside which reposed a black box, took it out, unlocked it, and pulled out yet another folder, out of which he pulled several papers, including a photograph.

Yugi and Jou looked curiously at each other as the attorney brought everything over for Yugi's perusal.

"I would say this is the most important piece here."

Now Yugi's eyes widened as he read the paper.

"No way..." he breathed.

"Dude, wazzit say?!" asked Jou, snatching the paper out of Yugi's hands to read. "No way!"

The "no way" revealed itself in the words typed on the paper: The property of one Mutou Sugoroku, an *Fukisarashi Mansion sitting on an estate on the outskirts of the remote northern town of Higashidori in the Aomori prefecture.

"Here's a photograph of the mansion," said the attorney, handing the old, faded photo to Yugi, who took it in trembling palms.

"God, this can't be real," he whispered as he gazed at the picture.

"Looks like a castle," remarked Jou, gazing over Yugi's shoulder.

"And these," said the attorney, holding out a solid iron ring with some keys dangling from it for Yugi, who held out his sweaty palms once again.