They kept giggling. That was how Yami no Yugi knew that they were keeping secret from him.
"Yugi, why are we at the mall?" he asked. "We never come here."
"Just go with it," Yugi said, but he was even giggling mentally, and shut his soul room up as soon as he was done talking, so that Yami no Yugi couldn't catch wind of his thoughts.
"Come on, Yugi, come on," Anzu said, waving. She was grinning too. Jonouchi and Honda kept exchanging goofy grins and cross-eyed looks, and Anzu would slap them on the shoulders and shush them, even as she couldn't keep her smile hidden.
"Quick, quick," Anzu said.
Yami no Yugi glanced idly out through Yugi's eyes. Jonouchi and Honda were walking into some kind of box, and Anzu was waving Yugi in, too. It took him a moment to remember, using Yugi's memories, that that was something called a photo booth.
"Is this going to work?" Yugi asked. His voice sounded echoey to Yami no Yugi whenever he spoke aloud.
"Of course," Anzu said, grinning.
She squeezed in front of Jonouchi and Honda, who were still grinning those goofy smiles. Yugi squeezed behind Jonouchi and Honda so that on the photo screen in front of them, only his face was peeking out between their heads.
"Yugi, shouldn't you be in front?" Yami no Yugi asked.
Yugi giggled again and didn't answer. Anzu started pressing buttons.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Ready," Yugi said.
"Go for it!" Honda said.
Anzu clicked a button. In a burst, Yugi suddenly drew back into his soul room and practically shoved Yami no Yugi into control. Yami no Yugi blinked, suddenly disoriented. The camera flashed. He jumped. Huh? What was...
Jonouchi laughed and threw his arm around Yami no Yugi's shoulder. Anzu dropped back to fit better into the next shot, her head hitting Honda's chest. The camera flashed again.
"Okay, quick, quick, Yugi, go, you have thirty seconds!" Anzu said, her laughter almost drowning out her voice.
Still disoriented, Yami no Yugi didn't resist as Yugi popped quickly back into control. He pushed between Honda and Jonouchi with some difficulty and practically fell out beside Anzu. Yami no Yugi watched, somewhat dazed, as the camera flashed two more times.
The small strip of photos fed out of the machine. Anzu pulled it out and tucked it into her purse, winking at Yugi. Yugi grinned, and then, with some difficulty, the group pulled themselves out of the photo booth.
"Yugi, what was that for?" Yami no Yugi asked.
Yugi laughed.
"Don't worry, other me. You'll see."
It was two days later before he did.
Anzu popped into the classroom that morning so bright and beaming that she might have been the sun. She had something clutched in her hands.
"I have copies for everybody," she said.
Jonouchi snatched something from Anzu's hands. His eyes widened, and he let out a low whistle.
"Wow," he said. "You were right, Anzu, your cousin is damn good at this. Did he ask why you wanted something like this?"
"I just told him it was a challenge. He can't resist that," Anzu said, laughing.
She handed one of the slips of paper to Honda. His eyes widened too.
"What's going on, partner?" Yami no Yugi asked.
Anzu smiled at Yugi. Yugi smiled back.
"Is he still guessing?" she asked.
"Yes," Yugi said.
She handed Yugi two of the photos – because that's what they were, Yami no Yugi realized.
It was one of the photos from the photo booth strip, but enlarged. Honda was crushed against the side of the frame, one eye closed but laughing. Anzu had fallen back against Yugi, her hair half in her face, laughing so much that her face was red. Yugi smiled hugely, his eyes bright. Jonouchi had his trademark goofy smile, and his arm was thrown back across...
Across his own shoulders. Yami no Yugi's shoulders. He was in the photo – he was there, himself, and Yugi was in it too, but he was there, it was five friends instead of four. There could be no mistaking it – the Yugi in front had purple eyes, but the one in back that looked a little bit confused, but smiling slightly at his friend's goofiness had red eyes.
He was in the photo.
Yami no Yugi sucked in a breath, and realized with a start that Yugi had withdrawn, and he was the one that was in control of the body right then. He was the one holding the picture, and that drawn in breath had been audible to the friends looking at him with expectant smiles.
"My cousin is really good at Photoshop," Anzu said. "I got him to combine two of the pictures we took – remember? You were there at first, and then Yugi switched."
"I...yes."
He continued to stare at the photo. It was a photo of five friends. A photo that couldn't be.
It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
He looked up at his friends. He could see the projection of Yugi standing transparent in front of him, smiling.
"We wanted it to be a surprise," Jonouchi said.
"Thought that might be hard, since you and Yugi are always in the same place," Honda said. "He said he could do it, though."
"What do you think?" Anzu asked, looking a tad anxious.
Yami no Yugi's hands shook slightly. He smiled – it was the biggest smile he could ever remember having.
"Thank you," Yami no Yugi whispered.
He thought he might even feel a tear pricking at the corner of his eye, but that didn't stop his grin from growing wider as he came forward to join a group hug with his friends.
"Thank you."
Yugi had gotten two of the photos. He remembered that. Anzu had handed him two. But he had only one, a frame that sat on his work desk beside the photos of his family, those goofy grins of long ago days brighter than even his desk lamp. People who saw the photo often asked him who the his twin with the red eyes in the back was. Is he your brother? Where is he now?
No. Not my brother. Just an old friend. He's gone now. Gone far, far away.
He touched the frame gently, letting his finger run down the glossy wood.
Anzu had given him two photos. Yugi of all of them had gotten two. But now, he had only one.
He smiled.
The other one had gone across. The other one had walked through that door with him.
That meant, somewhere, in a world full of light, there was another spiky haired boy looking down at a photo of a long ago day and smiling.