#the idea of Kaiba using Death-T as a birthday present to himself is too delicious to pass up

[sage-nebula]

@brooklynhype --- So, as per the conversation we’re having in the chat right now---yeah, Whispers in the Dark ends very close to the start of Death-T. A long while ago I wrote up a timeline for the YGO manga1 (up to a certain point) so that I could personally have a better grasp on when things happen, and using that I also created a timeline for Whispers so that . . . well, again, so that I could have a better grasp of when things happen, particularly when writing. (Especially since I tend to mention specific dates in Whispers, and I used those specific dates to do things like currency conversion back in 1996 and whatnot, to make things as realistic as possible.) 

So on that note, I can go ahead and share that! First I’ll share the manga timeline (or at least the relevant parts), and then I’ll share the Whispers timeline so you can see how things line up (and thus can see what did and didn’t happen in Jounouchi’s absence due to the divergence of Whispers). And, obviously, the year for all of these dates is 1996.

Manga Timeline:

Chapter 11 - Monday, June 24th

Chapter 12 - Monday, June 24th

Chapter 13 - Saturday, September 7th / Sunday, September 8th

Chapter 14 - Sunday, September 8th

Chapter 15 - Monday, September 9th

Chapter 16 - Monday, September 9th

Chapter 17 - Monday, September 9th

Chapter 18 - Monday, September 9th

Chapter 19 - Monday, September 9th

Chapter 20 - Monday, September 9th

Chapter 21 - Friday, September 20th / Saturday, September 21st

Chapter 22 - Monday, September 30th / Tuesday, October 1st

Chapter 23 - Tuesday, October 1st

Chapter 24 - Sunday, October 13th

Chapter 25 - Saturday, October 19th

Chapter 26 - Saturday, October 19th

Chapter 27 - Sunday, October 20th

As a quick refresher: Chapters 11 & 12 are the first Hirutani chapters (and chapter 11 is the one Whispers diverges on). Chapters 13 - 20 are the Shadi / museum chapters. Chapter 21 is the digital pets chapter. Chapters 22 & 23 are the Hanasaki / Zombire chapters. Chapter 24 is the Mokuba / CapMon chapter. Chapter 25 is the chapter where Jounouchi fights the guy with the knife in his mouth at the arcade, chapter 26 is the Russian roulette dinner with Mokuba, and chapter 27 is the official start of Death-T. 

(Originally I wanted to have Death-T on Kaiba’s actual birthday, but that doesn’t exactly work since Kaiba’s birthday would have been on a Friday that year and it’s never mentioned that the kids are missing school during Death-T, so that tells me that Death-T had to happen on a Sunday, where school wouldn’t be an issue. Thus, maybe it was more like an early birthday present for himself. =P)

Whispers Timeline:

Chapter 1 - Monday, June 24th

Chapter 2 - Wednesday, September 11th

Chapter 3 - Wednesday, September 11th

Chapter 4 - Thursday, September 12th

Chapter 5 - Thursday, September 12th

Chapter 6 - Thursday, September 12th

Chapter 7 -  Friday, September 13th

Chapter 8 - Friday, September 13th

Chapter 9 - Friday, September 13th

Chapter 10 - Sunday, September 22nd

Chapter 11 - Sunday, September 29th

Chapter 12 - Saturday, October 5th

Chapter 13 - Saturday, October 5th / Sunday, October 6th

Chapter 14 - Sunday, October 6th 

So as you can see, Whispers ends one week before Mokuba accosts Yuugi for the CapMon battle, and two weeks before Yuugi and Jounouchi are picked up for Death-T. And Jounouchi misses the museum incident, the digital pet fad, and Hanasaki’s friendship / Zombire introduction altogether. (Though, considering the fact that Yuugi had already run into Jounouchi in the park by the time the digital pets chapter happened, there’s a very, very high probability that he also skipped out on that fad, and likewise was too preoccupied to talk to Hanasaki, so. Those things probably just didn’t happen at all.) 

That’s how I had it sketched out, anyway. So yeah, Death-T does still happen, and everything that happened in Whispers absolutely does affect how that all plays out (especially, as discussed, Jounouchi and Kaiba’s relationship given what happens in chapter 11 of Whispers, and what Kaiba knows about Jounouchi therefore). Perhaps, if I ever manage to get around to writing the epilogue, I can also write a little Death-T follow-up. ;)

(1 This timeline is based on my own headcanon / analysis and is not Takahashi canon confirmed in any way.)