"Bakura, are you okay?" Yugi asked, in a hushed voice.
Ryou looked up at him, snapping out of his thoughts. "Hm? Oh, yes," he smiled, "I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You seemed… a little out of it," Yugi said, eyes drawn up in worry.
Ryou laughed. "Really? I was only thinking about what to make for dinner. I must've been making a concentrated face!"
Yugi wavered for a moment, unsure what to say.
"Yugi! We're gonna leave without you if you don't hurry," Joey called from the doorway of the classroom.
Yugi glanced over to Joey. "One moment, I'll be right there!" He turned his attention back to Ryou. "Do you want to go with us?"
Ryou shook his head. "I have to get some groceries. Maybe next time?" He smiled apologetically.
"Are you sure?" Yugi asked.
"Yeah, go on without me," Ryou assured him, "I'll be just fine."
Yugi nodded. "Well, if you're sure… I'll see you next time, then! Bye, Bakura!"
Ryou watched Yugi run to the door and walk off with Joey and the others, the door shutting behind them. He was alone in the classroom, and outside, the sun was beginning to set, turning the sky orange and pink. He waited, until he was sure nobody else was around, before unbuttoning his uniform top and pulling out the Millennium Ring.
He looked at it thoughtfully, turning it over in his hands, and gave a small sigh. "What should I get for dinner, anyway?"
Ryou wrapped a scarf around his neck as he walked home from the store, swinging his grocery bags slightly as he walked. The sky had darkened considerably while he had been in the store, and he wasn't even halfway home when it started to pour.
With a shiver, Ryou ran to a nearby building to try and take cover from the rain.
"This isn't someone's house, is it?" he asked himself. The building was rather old and beat up, its windows broken and its door boarded up. "It's probably fine if I just stand here for a few minutes…"
A strange noise from behind the door caught his attention, however.
"Is… someone crying?" Ryou peaked through one of the windows, but the inside of the building was completely dark, and a draft emanated from inside making him even colder.
Ryou looked from the window back to the sidewalk, hesitantly.
"Well… the rain won't stop for a while, right?" Smiling to himself, he made sure his coat was zipped up all the way. He checked the broken window for an edge where he could place his hands, and then carefully climbed through into the building.
The room he arrived in was wet. Rain was landing on his head from the ceiling, and walls smelled of mildew and rotting wood. The carpet squished under his feet, and it was impossible to see anything, even with the light from his phone.
"I guess it's been abandoned for a while…" Ryou tried to listen to the crying sound he'd heard earlier, but all he could hear now was the rain thudding against the roof of the building.
As the wind picked up, the walls creaked, sending a chill down Ryou's spine.
A familiar weight was placed on his shoulder as his ring grew warm against his chest. He looked up and, even though he couldn't see him, he knew the spirit of the ring was giving him a critical look. "Dumbass! What are you doing here?"
"I just want to look around," Ryou said.
"You have no idea what's even in here," the spirit scolded him.
"It's fine. I'm just looking."
"You'll get your ass killed."
Ryou pouted. "I heard someone, though. What if they're in trouble?"
"You heard the wind," the spirit told him. "Why would anybody other than you be in here?"
Ryou frowned. "Well,... What's wrong with trying to get out of the rain? It's not like I have an umbrella anymore." Not since you broke it, he didn't add.
"Just get out of here already," the spirit said, clearly annoyed.
"Are you scared?" Ryou asked.
The spirit said nothing, but Ryou could still feel his presence.
"...are you actually scared?" Ryou asked, a little quieter.
"Shh." The spirit took over before Ryou realized it, and his stomach felt twisted in knots. Bakura looked from one side to another, and then he heard it again. A peculiar thud, like a sneaker caught in mud, that was stepping around the room. Bakura stayed still.
A shuddered breath broke the monotonous sound of rainfall. Bakura heard another foot step, and then a heavier thud as something else fell to the ground. He bolted for the window, but then a voice called out.
"Is someone there?! Please help!"
It was a little girl.
"Help her!"
"No," Bakura inched closer to the window.
"I knew there was someone! You have to," Ryou begged.
"You came in here because it looked spooky, not because you wanted to help some little child," Bakura hissed, but reluctantly went deeper back into the room.
"...Hello," he said.
"H-hello? Mister…" the voice said. "I- I'm lost."
Bakura made sure he wasn't more than a meter from the window. "Can you see the window out here? Come over."
"I can't, I f-fell, fell down…"
Bakura groaned inwardly. "Crawl then."
This was met with crying noises.
"You're not getting help if you don't get over here," Bakura said.
The crying grew louder.
Bakura rubbed his temples. "Kid. Just get over here and… I'll… do something."
The carpet continued to squish and stick as the child presumably made her way to the window, and for about fifteen seconds both Bakura and Ryou were convinced they were going to see a grotesque monster make its way into the light. However, they were greeted by a stumbling kindergartener with tear stains on her cheeks and mud on her knees and hands.
Bakura made a face before letting Ryou reach down and lift the girl up, and he carefully stepped back over the window before setting her down again.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
"No," the girl said, shaking her head.
"What's your name?"
"It's… A-Aki," she said.
"Aki? That's a cute name!" Ryou smiled. "I'm Ryou. It's nice to meet you!"
Aki smiled brightly. "N-nice to meet you!"
"Where are your parents, Aki?" he asked.
"Um… I don't know…" Aki looked down at her feet, shuffling around.
"Did you get separated from them?"
"..."
Ryou looked from Aki to the building. "How did you get here, Aki?"
"My ball…"
"You lost your ball?" Ryou asked.
"Some- some of the big kids… They threw it in here…" she whimpered.
"That wasn't very nice of them," Ryou frowned. "Do you know your parents' phone numbers at all?"
"Umm…" Aki looked contemplative, but then shook her head.
"Do you… know where you live?"
She shook her head again.
Ryou sighed. "Well, what if we go get you a new ball?"
Aki smiled, and Ryou could see that she was missing a tooth.
"What're you planning?" the spirit scoffed.
"Maybe if we walk around, she'll recognize where she is," Ryou shrugged. He took Aki's hand and led her back to the sidewalk.
They had not even been walking for five minutes when a woman in office-worker attire came running over to them from across the street.
"Aki! Where have you been?" the woman collapsed to her knees and hugged the girl to her chest. "I've been looking for you for an hour!"
"Mommy! I was so scared!" Aki hugged her tight before looking up at Ryou. "But I'm not scared now!" she said, confidently.
"You're filthy! Did you fall in the mud?" her mom asked.
"I was saved!" Aki said, grinning.
"Saved..?" her mother looked up at Ryou. "Oh! Are you a high schooler?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah…" Ryou said, sheepishly. "Are you Aki's mother?"
"I was so worried when I looked over and she was just gone…" her mother sighed. "I'm so sorry that you had to look after her. Thank you so much."
Ryou smiled awkwardly. "It's no problem, I'm glad she's safe…" He took that as his cue to leave.
"Oh, wait," Ryou said as he reached the front door of his apartment. "I left my groceries… Back at that house…"
He sighed, setting his backpack in his room and pulling out a clean pair of clothes. "Darn… I guess I still have some instant noodles left…" Disheartened, he decided to shower before boiling his water.