—
There's a lot Yūgi can put up with.
His console crashing just has he's finished defeating the last boss? Sure! It happens, sometimes.
Anzu's sudden distance with him? OK, maybe there's just a lot on her mind.
Endless teasing and bullying? Alright. Maybe those people are just having a bad day.
His parents absent for his birthday? Yeah, OK. Why not? That's fine. They're just busy.
Floating blue screen?
"Ghh," Yūgi says, ever so eloquent.
GOOD MORNING!
You slept for a while, sleepy head! Your HP, MG are restored. Any status effect has been restored.
Yeah, uh, what?
—
So, good news! Yūgi isn't insane.
Bad news? The floating blue screen is still there.
After a rather humiliating experience with trying to make Gramps see the floating blue screen, Yūgi has now deduced that, even though he's the only one able to see this whole... floating-blue-screen-of-death thing, he's absolutely, 100%, not crazy!
"What am I even gonna do?" he asks himself, back in the safety of his room, where no one can accuse him of taking drugs! (Screw you, Gramps! He's perfectly sound of mind!)
GOOD MORNING!
You slept for a while, sleepy head! Your HP, MG are restored. Any status effect has been restored.
—so answers the floating blue screen.
"That's not helping."
Should he search an answer online? All he's going to find is The Gamer manwha, and other fanfic tributes to it. And in no way will that help—...
"Wait."
He turns to the floating blue screen.
GOOD MORNING!
You slept for a while, sleepy head! Your HP, MG are restored. Any status effect has been restored.
—the floating blue screen tells him.
"Well," Yūgi says, "it's official. I have the worst luck in the history of luck ever."
—
To be fair, Yūgi handles the news quite well. He doesn't scream, doesn't deny, doesn't even cry. In fact, he tries as best as he can to continue on living, regardless of the floating blue screens (screens!) following him everywhere he goes.
It does not go well.
Truthfully, he can't do anything without a pop-up appearing, congratulating on completing a task, on completing a quest, and on scolding him for not doing his homework. It's as if there's a supportive mother hen following him around, but only in the form of blue screen pop-ups. It's... strange, to say the least.
You've unlocked a new skill!
—it tells him, once. With a congratulations dingle.
[OBSERVE]
You can see. Congratulations.
Then, in the corner of the screen:
Not that you're forced to have eyes to observe. Although, how can you see this notification if you are blind...?
—which has to be the best or worst thing this ability has ever said. Does it mean that somewhere, maybe up there, there is someone sentient controlling this whole thing? Why is such an ability so sassy?
In other news, this pop-up introduces him to the worst discovery Yūgi has ever and will ever make in his whole life.
You see, now that a few days have passed and he's gotten used to this real-life-gamer thing, Yūgi likes to test things out. Completing as many quests as possible? Sure! Testing if sleeping for five minutes only still restores his HP and MP? It sure does! Testing out every new ability he gets? Heck yeah!
So Yūgi takes to testing [Observe] on everything in his field of view.
And it just so happens that at the moment he gains this ability, Yūgi is in his room, sitting at his desk, with his Grandpa's Puzzle right under his nose.
You see where this is going?
"KYAAAAH!" rings in the calm, peaceful night.
Grandpa, long used to Yūgi playing horror games until 2 to 3 in the morning, does not bother checking on him.
"There's a, there's a," Yūgi is stuttering, fallen off the chair and onto his butt. "A ghost?!"
[MILLENNIUM PUZZLE]
The Puzzle in which half of the Forgotten Pharaoh's soul is trapped. Have fun figuring it out, loser. ;)
—well, not a ghost per say.
A soul.
Half of a soul.
"There's a Pharaoh," he says, faintly, "a Pharaoh in my room."
See? This is one of the things Yūgi can't handle.
—
—
It's been years since Yūgi made that discovery.
Nowadays, he spends half his time trying to solve the Puzzle, and the other half grinding and trying his best to up his INT and WIS. Not only because he desperately wants to solve the Puzzle, but also because if trapped half-souls are possible, then what else is possible?
Yes, you could say that he's lived in paranoia of his own shadow ever since.
He's made his peace with it, though. He's not quite afraid, in reality, just... prepared for the worst at all times. (Which is what most people call paranoia.) And he's perfectly content like that!
No, Grandpa, I don't want to see a therapist.
His daily life, all things considered, is quite banal.
He wakes up every day at 5:30 sharp, with a [GOOD MORNING!] pop-up, and spends the next one minute preparing himself, with the help of [self-cleaning] and [dress], and then speeds through his homework (that he only ever does the morning it is due — and yet, he still gets the best grades in the whole school). He is then free to do whatever he does for the next one hour and a half, up until 7:30, where he gathers his schoolbag, and [sprints] to school.
At school, his teachers have abandoned trying to make him answer their questions, having long since learned that he knows everything (thank God, the Gamer ability grants him access to the internet at all times). Instead, Yūgi either spends his time daydreaming, finishing up the homework he hasn't bothered to do before, or using [illusion] to disguise the fact that he's working on the Millennium Puzzle.
Once school ends (or once he finishes helping in cleaning the classroom), Yūgi [sprints] back home. Or, sometimes (it's very rare), Anzu talks to him for a few minutes. He relishes in the moment, up until she gets distracted by someone else, and he decides to leave rather than wait (because he's long since used to being forgotten).
Once he's back home, he stands in the entryway for a moment, thinks through the day, and asks himself: "What do I do now?"
It's... a boring life.
Nothing quite amuses or intrigues him anymore. There still are games, of course. But, truthfully, Yūgi sometimes finds himself overwhelmed when playing video games (it hits too close), and board games and puzzles (& etc.) aren't quite as satisfying when you have no one to play with.
Relationships have become dull to him. Don't misunderstand, he still loves his Grandpa and Anzu (and everyone who has ever been even remotely kind with him), but there's something almost predictable to it all. A quest will pop up, will tell him: if you do this and this, then they will love you more, as if human emotions were this fickle, this easy to understand. His [Relationship] tab tells him that Anzu is at Friendship Lv.10 (the max), yet she still barely talks to him. It tells him that he is Friendly with just about everyone in the school (except a few that are just too rotten for him to try), yet no one approches him.
Did he say it was a boring life? Sorry, he meant incredibly lonely.
No, Grandpa, I don't want to see a therapist.
Yūgi's only hope in this world, is the Puzzle.
It's stupid of him, he knows, to rely only on the hope that the Pharaoh will bring something interesting, that he won't just curse Yūgi to an eternity of suffering, but... He's desperate, he supposes.
No, Grandpa, I don't want to see a therapist... What would it bring me?
—
—
It begins as a day like any other.
He wakes up to a [GOOD MORNING!] pop-up, at exactly 5:30, showers and dresses in 1 minute flat, and realizes that he already did all his homework yesterday, while still in class. He finds himself embarrassed with all the free time he has on his hands.
He focuses on the Puzzle instead. (He's so close to finishing it. Just a little more, and it'll all change.)
At 7:29, his alarm rings. He gathers the Puzzle, puts it in his [Inventory], grabs his schoolbag, and [sprints] to school.
Mrs. Maeda, the sports teacher who guards the school gate every morning, greets him jovially, and once again asks him to join the sports club. Yūgi refuses politely, and goes to his classroom.
Today must be his lucky day, because three minutes and 42 seconds after he arrives, Anzu enters the classroom. Her face is flushed, and her breathing sounds weird, as if she had run here yet was too embarrassed to show her exhaustion.
"Yūgi!" She greets, stumbling to her seat like a newborn doe. "Good morning! Did you run here again?" She laughs, sounding just a tad awkward.
He nods accordingly, beaming back at her. "Good morning, Anzu! Yes, I'm trying to keep in shape."
Anzu's smile twitches, and she eyes him like he just said something dumb. "No offense, Yūgi, but I think even if you didn't move for three entire years, you would still be in shape."
Ding! Ding!, goes the pop-up. You are now [Over The Moon]. Someone was even just a little bit kind to you...? Well, you gotta sacrifice yourself for them now!, it says, with an hour-long timer attached.
Yes, well, it's true after all. Yūgi indeed is elated.
"I tried to come at the same time as you," Anzu reveals. "But I fear I'm, uh, not as fast as you."
Before Yūgi can reply with encouragements, a group of three students enter the room. They take one look at Yūgi, then at Anzu, and gain strange, smug smiles.
"Hey Anzu," one of them, Akio, greets. "What's up? I've never seen you this early."
Anzu's smile looks cold. "Good morning, Akio. Are you always this early?"
Akio's smile looks just as frigid. "Of course, I am. Did something happen to make you come this early?"
"Oh yes," Anzu reveals. "There is a reason why I'm this early." She walks to stand next to Yūgi's desk. "You see, I wanted to hang out with my friend." She puts both her hands on Yūgi's shoulders. "Isn't that right?"
Yūgi barely has time to answer, because Anzu pushes him up gently.
"And the two of us are gonna hang out. Together. Just the two of us," she says, pushing the both of them past the group of students, through the door, and into the hallway. "So why don't you three stay in the classroom until then? Hmm?"
Akio looks enraged, but she stills sends a kind smile to Yūgi as he passes. "Of course," she says, tone a brutal kind of jovial. "Good morning to you, Yūgi. Have fun, the two of you. Together. Just the two of you."
"Good morning, Akio," is the only thing Yūgi is able to say, before Anzu finishes pushing him up the stairs.
She sighs, turning to him. "Let's go to the rooftop. I've got the key."
Even though he feels like he's about to walk into a trap, Yūgi follows her to the rooftop. She indeed does have the key, though the real question is why she has the key. The school isn't supposed to hand out those, not to first year students, at least.
She locks the door behind them. Yūgi swallows in anticipation. Will she reveal that she is in fact a dragon, or a magician, or a secret empress, or maybe even an assassin who was sent to recuperate the Puzzle and kill him in the process...!
But Anzu just lets out a huge sigh, shoulders slumping. "Yūgi, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get a hold of you!"
"What?"
"It's like the whole school is in love with you!" she rants, not even glancing at his bewilderment. "And I don't even mean acting on those feelings, just watching you from afar and hoping that you notice them, all the while acting territorial over who gets to talk to you and who doesn't!"
"I, I don't follow," he says.
She finally looks at him. Her shoulders, which had been climbing up, slump once more. "I'm sorry, Yūgi. I did notice that you were getting lonely," she confesses, holding her hands, gaze drawn down. "I tried to hang out with you, but... Even when I begin talking to you, there's always someone to interrupt. I'm sure you've noticed."
"I, I did, but... You're saying this they do it on purpose?" What is this?
She nods, sealing his fate as a cliché shoujo novel protagonist. "I said they were in love, but that's not really it." She looks hesitant. "How can I put this...? It's not that we're unaware of your flaws, or that we're blinded by any of, um," she gestures to the whole of him, "it's just that, you see," she gestures to the whole of him, again, "you're you."
"Well, I sure hope so!"
She doesn't seem amused. "I mean, we all know you're kind, and you're smart, and strong. It's not that we have a crush on you. It's..." she ducks her head. "Everyone wants to be your friend, but you seem unattainable."
Talk about news. Are they good? Are they bad? All Yūgi knows is that he has a hard time believing it. It's almost stranger than finding out your whole life is in the form of a video game.
"So what you're saying," he squints, "is that a majority of the school wants to befriend me, but doesn't...? Why?"
"Because everyone wants to befriend you," she stresses. "You're too popular, and since you don't have any close friends — which, my bad — they think they aren't allowed to approach you."
"That," Yūgi stutters. "That, um, that doesn't make sense."
"I know," she says.
"I want friends," he says.
"Yūgi, I know," she says.
—
The rest of the day passes in a blur.
He tries to stick to Anzu's side, and she tries to avoid any interruptions. The rest of the school looks after them like hawks, eyes wide and focused, looking as if they're about to pop a blood vessel.
Eventually, a teacher calls for Anzu's attention, and so she is forced to leave his side. Yūgi is left in enemy territory.
...but, thankfully, it's the end of the day. Not many people have stuck around (even after staring at them the whole day), but Yūgi can hear two boys just outside the classroom, whispering.
"Just go!" one of them, Boy A, says. "What can you lose? Nothing!"
Boy B splutters. "I can lose everything! What if I lose my cool? Those harpies will kill me."
"Harpies?" Boy A sounds exasperated. "You're just as much a harpie as them."
"It can't be helped," Boy B says, controlled manlinessTM in his voice. "This Yūgi guy... is so cool!"
"You're right!" Boy A says, acting all manlyTM too. "He's just so..."
They share a moment of admiration for Yūgi. Yūgi, sweating heavily under the force of their awe, wishes he could turn off his hearing, even for just a moment.
"Well," Boy A interrupts, "you go first, alright? I'll come after, as a second attack!"
"Yeah!" Boy B enthuses, "we've got to present an united front!"
"Yeah!"
Are they— are they planning a coup?
The door slides open, and a tall boy with blonde hair enters. He seems to be trying to act cool, but the glances he sends when he thinks no one's looking are ruining it. He passes by Yūgi's desk, glances at the Puzzle, and stops, as if suddenly curious.
"What are you doing?" he asks, leaning over a bit. His voice is a bit too stern to be friendly.
"Hello, Jounouchi-kun," Yūgi smiles, uneasy. But he's got to be merciful with them. He doesn't know just what they see in him, but they seem anxious over trying to befriend them. "I'm solving a Puzzle. It was a gift from my Grandpa." He nervously fingers the piece he's holding. "I've been trying to solve it ever since I received it, but..."
"Oh," Jounouchi says, looking surprised in all appropriate places. He's glancing at the door every few seconds.
Honda, perched behind the door, sends him a thumbs up.
"Say, Yūgi. You seem to like games a lot," Jounouchi says, leaning back on his heels.
Yūgi nods. "My family owns a game shop." He chuckles sheepishly. "I guess it runs in the family blood."
Honda chooses that moment to slip inside, strolling casually. The fact he's been (badly) spying on them since the beginning ruins the effect. "Jounouchi, we're gonna go or what?" Dropping the tough, uninterested look, he flashes a smile at Yūgi. "Hey, Yūgi."
Jounouchi nods seriously, sending back a (supposedly) discreet thumbs up. "Yeah, yeah, oh!" He acts surprised, and looks at Yūgi. "Yūgi, we're gonna go to the arcade, and since you like games, wanna—" he hesitates just a moment, then carries on, voice getting just a little louder in false bravado, "—go with us?"
That's it?! one part of Yūgi wants to say. I thought you were about to murder me!
Instead, he smiles shyly, face flushing just the lightest bit. "If it's alright with you both," he manages to say. He's not gonna miss an opportunity to make a friend. Never. He's too damn desperate for that. "I just— Is it possible for Anzu to come along?"
Honda starts to shake his head (probably because he thinks he isn't in Yūgi's field of vision), but then vigorously nods, giving two thumbs up.
"Yes! Of course!" Jounouchi yelps, looking a bit lost with the contradicting indications. "Where'd she go?"
"A teacher called her," Yūgi says, gathering his Puzzle pieces absently. He's feeling a bit numb, shocked out of his mind at just what this day has brought so far. "Hopefully it won't take long..."
As an act of Yūgi's high LUCK stat, Anzu chooses that moment to come back. She looks at the group of them, face frozen in a smile.
"Anzu!" Yūgi says, getting up before she can misunderstand. "Jounouchi-kun and Honda-kun were just inviting us to go to the arcade with them. Is it alright with you?"
Silent, Anzu exchanges long looks with both Honda and Jounouchi. The three of them have a constipated look, as though they swallowed something bitter.
"Hey, Anzu," Jounouchi says weakly.
"Hey," Honda greets.
"Hello," Anzu replies, just a tad bit more dignified. She pursues her lips, then offers a terrifying smile. "Of course, Yūgi, I'm always glad to spend some time with you."
The boys gulp, but Yūgi beams back at her.
"That's great!" he exclaims, trying to ignore the tense atmosphere. They're all just being drama queens, anyway. "Let's go, then!" He turns back to his desk. "I just need to finish gathering my things..."
When he finally finishes and turns back to the three of them, Anzu has a regal, satisfied smile, and Jounouchi and Honda look terrified for their lives. Yūgi freezes, sweating.
Ignore it, ignore it. "Well, uh," he says, forcing a smile on his face. "Let's go, okay?"
—
Yūgi swears this: next time, he will just [sprint] to the arcade, and wait for the rest of them there, because this atmosphere is unbearable.
He tries a few times to make conversation, but only Anzu replies. Jounouchi and Honda try, a few times, but a quick glance at Anzu's frigid face calms them, and they just end up muttering obscure things below their breath.
Yūgi tries to keep a smile. He succeeds, through some miracle. The sight of the arcade is like a godsend. He would cry if he weren't so focused on keeping a carefree face.
"That was, uh, fast," Yūgi says, hoping for a reaction.
There is none. Anzu only sends him a smile.
He sighs.
They enter the arcade, Jounouchi and Honda looking like they're afraid of their own shadows, and Anzu as if she were about to conquer this lands. Yūgi follows behind, sweating at the looks they attract.
While the boys (Yūgi included) stay behind a bit, wondering just what they're supposed to do now, Anzu strides forward, and immediately goes for a shooting game.
"Yūgi," Anzu calls, holding a pistol threateningly, "wanna play together?"
He's 99% sure that she's threatening Jounouchi and Honda, who are shivering in the corner, but he still feels compelled to swallow. He knows that a bullet won't kill him (his HP is waaay too high for that), but still... "Sure, Anzu," he says, faintly.
Meanwhile, Jounouchi and Honda are huddled together, whispering furiously.
"You told me to say yes!"
"I thought she would be restrained by the teachers! And what could you have possibly said to refuse her presence?!"
"Well, I could'a said it was like, a, huh, a boys' night!"
"It's not even night!"
"Aaargh!" Jounouchi puts his hands to his head, bowing down. "What the hell are we supposed to do now? Our plan's ruined!"
"I know," Honda weeps.
Right.
Yūgi turns away from the rest of the conversation. He takes a pistol, and they start the game.
—
"That was fun!" Anzu pipes up, when they group back at the entrance of the arcade. "Isn't that right, Yūgi?"
"Yes," he mutters, sullenly.
Jounouchi and Honda still look like they're about to run for the hills. Yūgi empathizes. He's scared of Anzu too, now. She means good, but... um. Yeah.
"Shit!" Jounouchi suddenly yelps. "I forgot my bag at school!"
"Ah! Loser!" Honda laughs, smug. "Thankfully, I thought about— my bag!"
"Ah! Loser!" Jounouchi laughs, smug for someone who was panicking a second ago.
"You guys..." Anzu mutters, crossing her arms. She seems pleased, though.
"Do you want us to accompany you?" Yūgi asks, nervously playing with the straps of his own bag. He should have noticed that they didn't have their bags...
Honda and Jounouchi exchange a look.
"Nah, nah, it's fine! Don't worry about us!" Jounouchi says, grin in place. "We'll just go back."
"We could just wait until tomor—"
"Shh!" Jounouchi slaps a hand on Honda's mouth, leaning down to whisper in his ear: "I'm tryna playing cool, idiot!"
Eyes wide, Honda nods furiously. "Uh, yeah! We're just gonna go. Today. Tonight?" he asks hopefully, then winces at Jounouchi's glare. "Right now!"
"Yep!" Jounouchi says, already turning away. "Good night, Yūgi! And... you too, Anzu, I guess," he mutters the end.
"Good night!" Honda cries after him.
They go, jogging into the night.
"They're going the wrong direction," Anzu remarks quietly.
Yūgi sighs: "All roads lead to Rome."
—
Anzu walks him back home (although, shouldn't he be doing that...?), and waves him goodbye. She seems cheerful.
He doesn't know what he had been expecting, truthfully. He should have known.
During the whole of their trip, Anzu had acted as his bodyguard, while Jounouchi and Honda looked scared: of both Anzu, and Yūgi.
Yūgi had gone with them, but now... now he realizes that there's too much a gap between him and them. By trying so hard to become likeable, to become perfect enough that anyone would love him, he's put himself too far.
"Well, then, curse them!" Yūgi mutters angrily. "If they think I'm too good, or they're too good, screw them! Everything I've ever done, it's been to make friends, and I don't even get that?!"
He slams the Puzzle down on the desk, deflates, then takes another deep breath.
"Even you," he tells the Pharaoh, "even you. Every moment since I discovered you were there, they were for you." He angrily wipes away his tears, but they continue to drip down his chin. His voice is shaking, hard and wobbly. "And what's my reward, huh? A lifetime of loneliness? Screw you! Screw you, and screw the rest of the world!"
Even as he says that, he continues to put pieces after pieces after pieces, all going into place perfectly. He feels numb, like he's not into his body, but the movements are natural, almost a reflex.
Before he realizes it, only one piece is missing.
"It's— It's finished...?" he whispers, astonished, reaching for the last piece.
But his hand hits nothing but the wood of his desk. He looks around for the piece, even going as far as looking under his bed.
Then, a quest appears: Find the missing piece, it tells him.
"A piece's missing," he realizes, voice faint, as if he were miles away from his own body. "I, I lost a piece?"
—
Rushing out the front door, Yūgi is halfway through putting on his jacket, when he bumps into someone.
"Wha— Yūgi?!"
He turns, and through the tears in his eyes, is able to recognize Jounouchi. "I, Jounouchi-kun...?"
Even in the darkness, Yūgi is able to see that Jounouchi is soaking wet. His clothes and hair are sticking to his skin.
"You're drenched!" Yūgi gasps, "What happened? Oh, come in, come in." He pushes Jounouchi inside.
"I, what? Wait!" Jounouchi is yelping, trying to twist around. Fool, Yūgi is stronger than anything on Earth. "I'm fine!"
"Why don't you take a shower?" Yūgi continues, ignoring him. "I'm sure I have some clothes your height. Just have to find them," he mutters. If he doesn't have any, well then, he can just buy some in the Gamer's online shop.
"I'm fine!" Jounouchi repeats, then makes a high-pitched sound when Yūgi grabs his arm and drags him to the bathroom. "I, I swear I'm fine. I can just go back home and take a shower there."
Yūgi turns a stern eye on him, channeling his inner mother hen. "And what? You'll get sick? None of that in my house, young man! Now, take that shower! I'll put some clean clothes there," he pats the closed toilet seat, then turns to shuffle into the drawers of unused clothes. "You can use the peach and vanilla shower gel. Please avoid using the almond milk one, it's for when my skin gets all irritated, you know? As for shampoo, you can use the coconut one. If you prefer bars of soap, there's this one that my grandpa uses." He fishes out a shirt and pants that used to belong to his father, and put them down (and discreetly slips the underwear that he's just bought in the online shop in the mess). "One last thing, are you allergic to chocolate, milk, or sugar?"
Jounouchi, overwhelmed, can only shake his head.
"Great!" Yūgi beams. "Take your time! Though please don't stay for more than one hour."
He closes the door behind him.
—
When Jounouchi leaves the bathroom, looking a lot more relaxed, and dressed in old fashion clothes, Yūgi hands him a [Hot Chocolate].
"You're, um, you're alone?" Jounouchi asks. "I mean. I thought you lived with your gramps."
Is this common knowledge? How come Jounouchi knows that? "Oh," Yūgi says, instead of satisfying his curiosity, "ever since I changed his diet to give him more energy, he's taken to challenging strangers to duels — gaming duels, I mean."
"What?"
"Yeah, I know, but it's good for the business. He's like... an attraction. Everywhere he goes, he gets noticed one way or another." He shrugs. "And he's having fun, too, so I'm not gonna complain," so says Yūgi, acting carefree, even as the weight of the four alarms on Grandpa's HP points weigh on him. If his HP decends by just one point, Yūgi will teleport to him on the spot.
"I... I see." Jounouchi looks weirded out, but with one sip at his hot chocolate, he forgets his worries. "Did you do this yourself?" he exclaims, looking down at his mug like it contains the secret of the universe. "It's so good."
"Thank you," Yūgi murmurs, pleased flush on his cheeks. "Yes, I learned how to make them some time ago."
(Making hot chocolate is a skill he's perfected for a while, now. It's said to bring the comfort of home into your heart.)
"Anyway," he continues, "why were you soaked, in the first place?"
At the reminder, Jounouchi puffs up his chest, grinning. He digs through the pockets of his new pants, and then presents his closed fist to Yūgi. "So there was this asshole, Ugio, or Ushio, or Yugio, and he was, I don't know, inspecting every classroom in the hope of finding anything valuable that was left behind. And when I entered our classroom, he was there and he was picking up something that was on the ground around your desk. Didn't much of it at first, but then I noticed that—"
He opens his fist, and there lies the missing piece of the Puzzle.
"Oh!" Yūgi yelps.
That reveal is so dramatic.
"—and I remembered that your Puzzle looked like that. So I told him to give it to me, 'cuz it belonged to my pal." He flushes. "But he just laughed, and said that if it belonged to one of my friends, then it must be trash. And that bastard— he threw it out the window, and into the pool!" He pauses, huffs, then scratches his cheek sheepishly. "And I'd noticed that it was important to you, so I, uh, I went to the pool."
Yūgi gapes at him, cradling the piece of the Puzzle to his chest. "No way!"
"Yeah..."
"You searched the pool?" His eyes water. "For me?"
Jounouchi looks a bit alarmed at his tears, but he looks pleased, even with the red in his ears. "Yeah..."
"Jounouchi... Thank you," Yūgi says, sincere. "That was so kind of you."
"T'was nothing," Jounouchi mutters. He looks embarrassed, but— his lips are wobbling, like he wants to smile, but is too bashful to. "I just thought it'd make you sad if you were never able to complete the Puzzle."
Yūgi doesn't tell him that, with the [Tracker] ability, he would have eventually been able to find the piece back.
Instead, he says: "Thank you," and offers to wash his soaked school uniform.
—
Jounouchi eventually leaves, with an upturn to the corner of his eyes and dry clothes.
Last piece of the Puzzle hot in his palm, Yūgi goes back to his room, every step feeling more and more heavy.
This is it, he thinks. The moment that will define the rest of his life. On his desk, the Puzzle remains unfinished. He clenches the last piece like a lifeline.
"Pharaoh," he murmurs, "please be kind."
He clicks the last piece into place.
Immediately, a bright light fills the room, and a figure in the center unfurls, as if waking up from a long, long nap.
By the time it finishes shining, Yūgi's head is throbbing, and there are at least a dozen pop-up alerts bothering him incessently, but he still finds the strength to look up and stare:
The pharaoh, floating in the air above Yūgi's desk, and half-way seethrough, is a young boy, looking to be about 16 of age, with tan skin, and hair exactly like Yūgi's — his face, too, is rather similar in structure to Yūgi's. His clothes, however, are those of Ancient Egypt, with a white tunic and golden jewelry. His eyes are the color of red wine.
"Pharaoh..."
The pharaoh, eyes half-lidded, turns to him.
"Why... do you look like me?"
Like a lost little puppy, the Pharaoh cutely tilts his head.
There's a lot that Yūgi can put up with.
(SPOILERS: This is one of the things Yūgi can handle.)
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