Updates will not be regular for this. It's sort of like a side-project, though it doesn't mean I will put any less than my best quality in the chapters.

Longer chapter than last, because I'm trying to fit in Season Zero quickly-one chapter, one episode at least. Season Zero was pretty short, after all.

Chp 2: First Changes


There's a saying that goes, 'a child will mature by experiencing painful things.' There are cases of children where this may have been taken a little too far.

Shiragiku didn't have a bad childhood beginning. Her earliest memories were of her parents smiling at her with pride and satisfaction as they watched her, as a toddler, read out passages from a book designed for primary schoolers. She accepted the hard tutoring regime she was given, always remembering her mother's words, "you must make this business family proud, so we may uphold our good reputation. Refinement and elegance will do this, but you must achieve it." She had not understood such big words at the time, but she had understood the point her mother was making-do well in everything, try to be grown-up, not childish, and become smart. Like her refined, intelligent father, and her beautiful, equally intelligent mother.

'They are my parents,' was what she thought as she worked hard to achieve what her parents wanted, even if still only a young child. 'I must make them proud. Maybe the next time I prove I can be a good daughter, they will smile at me with the love they say parents' show in picture books. Maybe we can be as happy as the picture books show.'

Of course, that was impossible. Picture books were fictional and unreal, showing only what a young child would dream of with eyes closed and blindfolded. She lived in a fantasy world-a hoax of a family life, where her parents would 'love' her as long as she brought pride to the family. Still, it was a pretty mirage she had behind her blindfold to reality, and one she worked hard to keep on as long as possible.


Shiragiku watched as around her, small changes started to happen. She wondered briefly when the balance of the world had been turned upside-down. Enemies making friends, the sane becoming insane…

It began soon after Ranau-sensei's incident, when Ushio was found one morning crouched on the ground, wailing and panicking, shouting that monsters were attacking him and pleading for help. Ushio was well known throughout the school as the leader of the Public Morale group. With his dark hair, huge pencil eyebrows and narrow stare, he cut a forbidding, stern image which intimidated students. His reputation for brute force and his known powerful physical strength garnered terror and respect from others. It was a shock for the whole school to find Ushio cowering on the ground, apparently hallucinating. He was rushed to hospital, and never heard from again.

On the same day, a bruised and battered Yugi started being friends with equally bruised and battered Katsuya Jounouchi and Hiroto Honda. Katsuya Jounouchi, brown eyed with dirty-blond hair, was renowned for bullying Yugi previously, along with his brown haired partner.

Also, around Yugi's neck hung a strange upside-down pyramid with an eye engraving. It looked antique.

They weren't huge changes, Shiragiku reflected. Well, except for the fact that bullies and victim had suddenly become best friends, and along with Anzu, had made an odd friendship group. (Ushio always seemed a little…off.) That such a group of contrasting personalities became friends was surprising. But it wasn't really her business. As long as she remembered that, nothing would affect her. Still…

It was hard not to expect change when such an odd, explosive friendship group formed. They were far too lively to ignore, and far too animated and hot-blooded not to get involved with others. Shiragiku mentally sighed, remembering how noisy they got in class. She knew first hand…she sat next to Jounouchi in class…

Lost in contemplation, Shiragiku instinctively moved aside to avoid being caught amongst a gaggle of giggly seniors, and accidentally bumped into none other then one of the members of the explosive friendship group, Anzu.

"Ah, sorry…"

Anzu struggled against a man who was restraining her none too gently, one hand covering her mouth. With the other hand he pointed a small handgun at her. His lime green shirt was in miniscule tatters, and he was sporting a malicious, smug expression.

"If anyone moves, she dies!" he shouted, pressing his gun to Anzu.

"Shiragiku!"

Shiragiku blinked, and stared blankly up at Anzu for a moment. Then she remembered where she was, and attempted to regain her wits "A-ah, sorry, did I space out?"

"Er, yeah, you did," Anzu nodded. Out of politeness, she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No," Shiragiku said quietly. "No, I'm fine. Thank you for asking, and sorry for staring. I'm just a little out of things today." She walked away, calm-looking as ever.

Anzu stared after her, hands on hips. 'She's just like usual. She hasn't changed.' She paused. 'Was I expecting change? Maybe, since it's been so different with Jounouchi and Honda as friends, along with Yugi who always seems to attract some sort of attention, no matter how meek he is. It's been lively lately.' She smiled briefly at her own thoughts, and then turned to more worrying ones. 'This waitress job will give me grey hairs prematurely with all the worry it's causing me.'

Shiragiku turned her head to stare discreetly at Anzu. Behind calm grey eyes she calculated concern from a conscience vs. her policy of not getting involved with others.

She made a decision-conscience won.


'I shouldn't get involved in this,' she thought for the thousandth time that day.

Shiragiku had been keeping tabs on Anzu all day, waiting for the time when that incident she had a vision of could possibly occur. All the while, she had been mentally arguing with herself, trying to decide if getting involved with this was a good idea. This was unlike her, why was she getting involved? Anzu didn't deserve to have a gun put to her though and-what if that man in her vision was one of the escaped criminals everyone was fearful about lately?!

Shiragiku watched Anzu as she walked down the street. Every time Anzu turned around to look over her shoulder Shiragiku retreated behind the street corner she was at-thank goodness there were walls. However, she was feeling somewhat guilty, and uncomfortably nervous. This 'tagging Anzu' plan made her feel like a stalker-a first time one.

Just then, she looked at the corner across from hers, on the other side of the road, and spotted two boys also peeking after Anzu, just as she herself had been doing moments ago. Were they following her too?

Anzu walked almost completely out of her sight, and the two male spies, AKA Yugi and Jounouchi, rushed after her, stopping to dive behind a random object as Anzu turned around again. Honestly, it was surprising that those two hadn't been seen yet. Shiragiku shrugged, and decided to just follow the two boys. They would lead her straight to where Anzu was going, and it was more discreet than following Anzu directly.

She eventually caught up to the two boys, who were standing, bewildered, right outside Burger World, the new food joint that had recently opened up. "Hello," she addressed them.

Jounouchi jumped as high as his height. "You scared me! Don't go sneaking up behind people!" he said.

Shiragiku apologised. "But why are you here?"

"Eh, can't a guy relax after school? What's wrong with being here?!" Jounouchi said defensively. Yugi sweat-dropped-Jounouchi looked ready to explode from nervousness.

"Why are you here anyway?" Jounouchi asked Shiragiku, somewhat more calmly. She shrugged.

"I just wanted to see this new food joint everyone was talking about. I don't know many good places to eat out," she replied. Jounouchi scratched his head.

"Doesn't matter where you eat, as long as there's food, you eat, right?" he asked. Yugi sweat-dropped once more-Jounouchi was thinking with his stomach again.

"At least your friend isn't wasteful," Shiragiku told Yugi. Jounouchi coughed; somewhat annoyed that he was being referred to as if he wasn't there, and announced that they should go in together.

They approached the door, and it swung open easily. A waitress in a mostly lime green outfit stood at the entrance, smiling welcomingly. "Welcome to Burger World! I'll get you seated in…just…a…" she trailed off, horrified.

'Anzu?!' was what went through the minds of Yugi, Jounouchi and Shiragiku.


Yugi fidgeted restlessly in his seat, nervous and uncomfortable. Opposite him, Shiragiku was coping with her own discomfort by doing the exact opposite of his actions, sitting straight-backed and still, just as her mother had taught her about etiquette. Ever careful of her surroundings and actions, Shiragiku noticed Yugi peeking at Anzu every few moments, blushing. 'Ah, a crush…'

In contrast to the two, Jounouchi looked relaxed and unbothered, slumping back into his seat in a laid-back fashion. What he was smug about-finding out Anzu had an after-school job, or finding out she was breaking school rules by having an after-school job, Shiragiku didn't know. Though he could just be relaxed because he didn't particularly care about either factor.

Anzu came to their table, bearing a platter of their ordered burgers. She slammed it down onto the table so hard the food trembled, and gave them a cross between a venomously angry glare and a malicious smirk. "Here's you order!" she proclaimed with forced cheer.

She picked up a ketchup bottle, and Jounouchi and Yugi instinctively shrank back at the potential weapon in her hand. "Please allow me to give you some of our famous ketchup as well!" she said in the same tone as before, and proceeded to write a messy message on the burgers:

Blab and you're dead!

Yugi gulped at the message. Some of the menace in Anzu's face left however, and she sighed.

"I guess I can't hide this anymore," she said, and proceeded to tell her classmates about her dream to study dance in New York. "Don't tell anyone!"

Yugi blinked and nodded; surprised she would think they would. It seemed like a private matter. Jounouchi just gave a small smile. "Relax Anzu, your secret is safe with us," he said.

"It's your own business whether to tell someone your dreams or not. We found out by accident-sorry," Shiragiku said, a little awkwardly. She'd never had to apologise for prying before.

Jounouchi made a face, dispelling the serious atmosphere. "But we'd better not have to pay for these burgers. All that ketchup on the burgers…makes it hardly edible…"

"They're on me!" Anzu replied, walking off.

Shiragiku raised an eyebrow at Jounouchi. "So you do have a limit to your stomach."

"It's not a limit! But this isn't the best quality they have here, and I want better quality than this mush," Jounouchi protested, pointing at the lumpy puddle of red on the tray.

Yugi was staring at something, Shiragiku noticed. She peered curiously at the direction he was staring at. Jounouchi, noting his companions' interest in that area, looked too.

Anzu, the manager of Burger World, and another person wearing a brown trench coat were huddled together, talking quietly. Whatever they were discussing seemed deeply serious, since all were frowning in alarm.

"An escaped criminal may be here?!" the manager exclaimed. Yugi's eyes widened, while Jounouchi's narrowed. Shiragiku sat perfectly still-was this the situation leading up to her future vision of Anzu, held at gun point?

The stranger in the trench coat nodded at the manager. "Yes." He held up a photo. "This man was last seen around this area, very close to here. He's very good at disguising himself. Even as chief inspector, it's hard for me to locate him. It's rare to catch him without a disguise, but he can be recognised by one characteristic."

"What is it? Maybe this can help," the manager urged.

"While escaping gaol, one of the guards was able to hit him on the right calf with his baton. It should have left a bruise. If anyone in here has a mark like that, it might be him."

Anzu frowned, casting her glance around, and her gaze landed on a basket of small toy cars. "I might have a way to check everyone. There's a basket of toy cars over there. If someone were to tip them over and scatter them…" she let the idea hang. The manager and inspector nodded in approval of her idea, and she walked back to her eavesdropping friends. Jounouchi quietly offered his help.

Anzu accepted, and pointed out the basket of toy cars. Jounouchi casually stood nearby it and 'accidentally' knocked the basket over. The toy cars scattered all across the room, rolling under customer's feet, tables and chairs.

"Jounouchi!" Anzu yelled, falsely angry, and dragged a fake-reluctant Jounouchi with her to help clean up the mess (as well as check people's legs for bruises).

Yugi stayed behind, watching as the delicate search mission went on before him. 'Everyone's being so brave,' he thought. Why couldn't he be as brave?

Catching sight of his ashamed expression, Shiragiku murmured, "Too many people helping would make things awkward and a little more disorientating." Inwardly though, she was worried about the outcome of this. What could she do to change her vision?

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you…!" a sudden yell interrupted her contemplating. One of the customers had become angry over Anzu's covert checking.

The manager rushed forward. "My apologies, but there is an emergency!" he intervened hurriedly. Except the customer wouldn't calm down. The inspector strode forward, and shoved his badge of office under the man's nose. The customer immediately quietened, as well as everyone in the whole room.

"Please excuse us," the inspector announced. "But we believe an escaped criminal is in here. We must check your legs, since the criminal supposedly has a bruise on his right calf."

"That's easy to cover up though," Shiragiku said quietly to the inspector. "Doesn't he have some other characteristic…or maybe something he would react to…" She'd watched crime shows (out of her mother's sight) where people were identified as criminals by reactions to questions or words.

The inspector looked down at his notepad. "Well, since this is a restaurant, this might warrant saying…it seems he has a strong allergic reaction to eggs."

"This'll be easier than I thought then," Anzu proclaimed triumphantly.

"Oh, why?" the manager asked. She grinned at him.

"You of all people should know, boss. There's plenty of egg in our burger buns!"

One man at the back of the restaurant began to fidget. The fidgeting turned into shaking, and then into panting. The inspector noticed, and strode over to him, asking casually, "Are you alright sir?"

The customer ignored the inspector, and shoved him aside. "Out of my way!" he yelled, and raced for the exit. His hat and wig fell off though, and his true identity was revealed. The inspector restrained him by the arms.

"Tetsu Tasaki, you're under arrest!" But the criminal didn't seem to care.

"Please!" he begged. "Call an ambulance! I'm seriously allergic to eggs!"

Anzu laughed then. "For a master of disguise, you're pretty gullible," she said with a smug grin. Tetsu stared at her blankly. "There aren't any eggs in our burger-we use one hundred percent wheat flour."

Tetsu stared for a moment more, until the fact finally sunk in: he had been tricked. Roaring with rage, he charged forward, out of the inspector's grasp, and right into the restaurant manager, where he hesitated.

Shiragiku mentally sighed with relief-her vision had not come true. Circumstances had changed, or something unexpected and overlooked had interfered with the situation. Whatever it was, it had saved Anzu from a potential life-threatening danger.

She caught Yugi staring at the manager and Tetsu, a worried, frightened expression on his face. What was he worried about? His friend was fine…

The inspector dragged Tetsu away from the manager. Protesting, Tetsu grabbed the manager's shirt, refusing to let go. With a sudden, tearing sound, the shirt ripped, revealing a gigantic, ugly spider tattoo on the manager's back. The spider was black and yellow.

"Jirou, the Yellow Spider?!" Tetsu yelled. Suddenly, the situation became worse than before. One restrained criminal, and one highly dangerous, unrestrained criminal.

Oh no…

Exposed, the manager-now revealed as Jirou-did the only thing he could do to control the situation. Shiragiku's vision was about to come true-but not without her trying to change it, right up to the last moment beforehand.

Jirou snatched the pistol that hung from Tetsu's belt and grabbed Anzu, shouting, "If anyone moves, she dies!" He hadn't quite managed to grab Anzu though. He managed to grab one arm only. Snarling, he levelled the pistol at the person who had grabbed the other arm before he did.

'You totally failed helping in this situation,' Shiragiku told herself, staring at the gun cautiously. She still clutched Anzu's hand though, having been right next to it before. 'Why are you still trying to get involved? It's pointless. Get out of it now!'

She mentally told her policy to temporarily go to hell. It wasn't helping her right now.

Slowly, shakily, she raised her free hand up. For some reason though, her trembling, occupied hand would not let go of Anzu's. It seemed…wrong. She had tried to help someone, it seemed…criminal to retract that hand back.

"You're not as emotionless as you act out to be! Under that mask on your face, you are very caring!" Ranau-sensei shouted.

"She's not superhuman or special among others," Anzu said. "Of course she would have been a little frightened…"

'No,' Shiragiku thought fleetingly as she stared at the gun pointed at her, and then at Anzu's hand. 'I'm not special, though I've been called a freak. Even freaks for humans have feelings. I'm dead scared right now, but I've trained so long not to show anything obvious on my face that I can't react to that gun properly. Everything just seems so detached…which is good. I've still got some common sense left.'

"Let go of the wench!" Jirou shouted.

"As you wish…" Shiragiku answered tonelessly. Anzu instinctively flinched, scared to be left 'alone'. "I-If you let her go too."

"Wench-!" Jirou made to pull the trigger, but she was nodding to a point over his shoulder. Jirou paused.

"T-the i-ins-spector be-behind you has a-a gun on him right now-I saw earlier," Shiragiku said in the same toneless voice as before. Her eyes were completely flat, and revealed nothing.

'Shiragiku, be quiet! You'll only get yourself killed,' Anzu thought desperately.

The slight stutters (by complete accident), the hoarse tonelessness and the girl's trembling arms assured Jirou she was scared stiff, meaning she knew she was powerless. Yet she was still talking.

"If you shoot now the inspector will have time to draw his gun and shoot you. Then you would only be caught again. Besides, having the daughter of a wealthy business family as hostage would work more effectively for you if I'm alive."

Jirou narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

"Tsukuba Shiragiku, only child of the Tsukuba business family, which has ties to several successful corporations," Shiragiku rattled off. She tightened her hold on Anzu's hand warningly. "Please don't kill Anzu. She's close friends with my family, and would benefit you more alive than dead."

'The only honest thing I've said so far is about my own personal family details. I don't know how much longer I can pretend to be calm like this, before cracking.' Shiragiku thought bleakly.

Yugi stared at the girl seated beside him, terrified and at the same time awed. Shiragiku was being so brave, and still didn't look too ruffled to boot, despite having a gun pointed at her head. He himself was almost at the limit of how much terror he could cope with-the edges of his vision seemed a little dark…

"You! Shrimp!" Jirou boomed, and Yugi realised the criminal was referring to himself. "Separate their hands, and show the insides to me, so I can check nothing dangerous is in between." The possible stupidity of what he said was almost laughable, if it wasn't for the gun he was waving around. "Everyone else get down on the floor or both die regardless of worth!"

Everyone was quick to comply-he was still a loose wheel, no one knew what he had decided. Jirou yanked a now unrestrained Anzu to his side. Gun held frighteningly close to her, Jirou removed the hair ribbon she was wearing and tied it around her eyes. He then placed the gun briefly at her temple. Anzu froze-it didn't look like she was even breathing.

Yugi knew what Jirou was doing. Some criminals blindfolded their victims, causing them to be so terrified they couldn't even scream.

Jirou dragged Anzu to a table and sat down, dragging her down next to him. He cocked his gun at a shaky Shiragiku. "You too, wench, get over here, or I'll shoot this girl. As long as I have one, I can still ransom."

Barely able to keep her balance, Shiragiku stumbled over to where he was. Following the motions of his gun, she sat down warily.

Even with only one gun, just its presence could cause enough fear to immobilise a room full of people.

"You! Pathetic little shrimp, don't just stand there-get me some smokes and alcohol from the back room, and hurry up about it!" he barked.

Knowing it was better to just obey his orders (he was too scared to do anything else anyway); Yugi scampered off to get what was demanded, and hastily came back.

'Little shrimp? Who else…there's no one else that would fill that height description but Yugi!' Anzu realised. The closer he got, the more dangerous a position he would be in! She stood up, looking around vainly. "Yugi! Yugi, is that you? Stay back! Please!"

"Shut up!" Jirou snarled, and slapped her across the face. Shiragiku twitched, but the gun was promptly aimed at her.

"Anzu!" Yugi cried, and rage and terror overwhelmed him. 'I'm helpless-I can't do anything! Shiragiku, Anzu!' he thought despairingly, and his consciousness faded away.


Shiragiku observed Yugi with hidden concern, as he bowed his head, closing his eyes. When he opened them, the cute violet naiveté was gone, replaced by narrowed crimson. She started slightly with shock-what happened to him?

Around them, a dark black fog began to grow, enveloping the place and hiding everything but Jirou, his table and items, Anzu and Yugi from sight. The darkness was cold and constantly moving-it made her uneasy. What was going on?

Yugi set the platter of cigarettes and alcohol down with a smirk that would never have been seen on the previous Yugi's face. It would be incongruous with those innocent eyes before, but with these present intense eyes, looked almost sinister. "Here you are, sir," he said, and even his voice sounded different, somehow.

He then proceeded to do what the Yugi from five minutes ago would never have been bold enough to do-he sat down opposite the criminal, next to Shiragiku, still with a smirk on his face as if he was only sitting down to a game of chess.

Jirou glared at this different version of Yugi angrily, and cocked his gun at him. "Who said you could sit with me?!"

"I thought you might like some company," Yugi said, shrugging. "How about we play a game while we're at it?"

Anzu and Shiragiku paused-one shocked; one intent. Shiragiku continued to fathom what the heck had brought on Yugi's personality change while Anzu, eyes blindfolded, wondered who this newcomer, who she was sure wasn't Yugi, was.

"A game?" Jirou considered. "I used to gamble a lot-I guess I could spare some time."

"However," Yugi continued. "This will not be an ordinary game. It will be a Shadow Game."

Shiragiku had had enough-what was Yugi playing at? This was dangerous, and he was challenging this criminal to a game? She reached out slowly under the table, searching for an article of clothing to yank so she could drag him back into sanity, and accidentally tapped his ribs.

The surrounding area was dark, though not in the same sense as night. The whole area seemed covered with a mass of fog and shadows-it made Shiragiku claustrophobic, and she wasn't even in this place physically. Within this shadowy space, stood Jirou and Yugi, but different to even the Yugi that had just challenged Jirou to a game. This Yugi had a golden eye outlined on his forehead, and his own crimson eyes seemed almost ablaze with fury.

"A Shadow Game reveals a person's true nature, which is the only thing this third eye can see. For those who attempt to cheat, it is destined to be a game of punishment," Yugi said, and it echoed like a death sentence.

Jirou roared furiously at Yugi, and aimed his gun at him. "Bastard!" he screamed, pulling the trigger half-way. Yugi didn't react though-if anything, he grew stiller, and the darkness around not only became claustrophobic, but extremely ominous too.

"The door to darkness has opened," Yugi simply said.

A light flashed from behind Yugi-or was it from himself? Shocked, Jirou jerked his hand upward, accidentally pulling the trigger fully. Bullet dispensed, green flames began to spill out, burning the gun. The unnatural fire spread from the gun to his arm, to his entire body.

Jirou screamed and screamed as he was burnt alive…

Another hand pushed her own back to her. Shiragiku twitched violently, but somehow managed to keep a straight face. However, she couldn't control her hands, which trembled even worse than before. She discreetly buried her trembling hands into her lap, and glanced at Yugi.

'You are not yourself, Yugi,' she thought. 'Whoever you are, whatever personality that is acting now, it's brutal.'

His eyes flickered to her, for just a moment. What she saw didn't reassure her-just a whole lot of confidence, and the hint of a triumphant smirk. It was a little unnerving actually, considering what she had just witnessed in her vision.

While she had been witnessing a vision, the rules for the game had already been set-each person playing (only Yugi and Jirou, of course) could only move one finger from all ten fingers. Jirou had chosen his index finger-the finger on the trigger of the gun pointed at Yugi. Yugi had chosen his thumb.

"Don't forget," Yugi reminded, "That this is a game where your life is at stake. Any objections?" Jirou only grinned maliciously. Yugi returned him the favour with one of his own. "Then game start."

"And now it's game over!" Jirou cackled, aiming his gun. The sound of a click made him pause. Glancing at the lit lighter in Yugi's hand, and then at the unlit cigarette in his mouth, he assumed the kid was just prolonging his own suffering. He would let the kid light his cigarette, and then shoot.

Yugi smirked. "This is your lighter isn't it?" he almost chuckled. "I'll give it back to you, and just leave it…here." He tilted his hand carefully, just enough for the lighter to slip out of his hold. It landed right on the hand Jirou was pouring his alcohol with. Right under that hand was a glass full of high-quality alcohol. Yugi tilted his head, amused, as horror crossed Jirou's face. He seemed to be daring the criminal to shoot.

If Jirou fired his gun, the recoil would knock the lighter into the alcohol overflowing from his cup and into his lap. He would be burnt alive! Tricked and trapped, just like Tetsu had been.

Shiragiku quietly gasped when Yugi seized her hand and Anzu's, pulling them up. "Let's go!" he said, pulling them in one direction.

Behind her, Shiragiku could hear clattering sounds coming from the criminal's table, and violent curses. "Bastard!" he roared.

The sound of a gunshot made both Anzu and herself jump, but Yugi pulled them both on, out of the dark fog which had been surrounding the table. Just in time for the broken screams to begin. Like a broken recording, Jirou's voice didn't stop, screaming, whimpering and crying out for mercy.

"Anzu! Shiragiku! Yugi!" Jounouchi yelled, racing up to them. "You all alright?"

"Y-yeah," Anzu said, pulling off the blindfold over her eyes. She cast a glance around for the person who rescued Shiragiku herself, but didn't find anyone out of place.

It was a pity Yugi's back was to her-had she seen his eyes closely, she probably would have been suspicious of their crimson tinge. However, he was facing Shiragiku, who was giving him a calculating glance.

She should fear him-those crimson tainted eyes were staring at her with a small smirk that definitely wasn't gentle; it unsettled her. As he had just demonstrated with that criminal, Yugi could be quite a brutal person, if those screams were anything to go by. But he was such a…well, pushover, at school. Just who exactly was he? The pushover, or the harsh character?

"Yugi!" Anzu called. Yugi smirked at Shiragiku, and put a finger to his lips-don't tell what?-and blinked. When he opened his eyes, they were once again round, naïve and completely violet. Shiragiku noticed with some surprise that he seemed to lose some height-or was it just that his shoulders slumped now? Yugi stared back at Shiragiku with a bewildered expression on his face, before turning to respond to Anzu.

Shiragiku blinked, bewildered herself-what was that about? Shaking her head, she decided she had become far too involved with others. It was time to pull herself out. She slipped away back home, before anyone realised she had left the scene.


"Shiragiku!"

'This early in the morning…?' Shiragiku thought a little moodily. She was still a little confused with Yugi, and her confusion irritated her. She was in no mood to think about yesterday's incident.

"Hey! You left suddenly yesterday. Where'd you go?" Jounouchi asked. He, Anzu and Yugi caught up to her. She blinked, and regarded them with the same mild, calm expression she usually wore.

"I went home yesterday. I didn't want to get in the way of the inspector," she said.

"He was looking for you-said you should have gone to hospital, in case you went into sudden shock," Yugi said. He frowned, concerned. "You're okay right? We were worried, because we knew about each other, but we couldn't find you."

"I'm fine," Shiragiku said coolly. "There's no need for you to concern yourself over me. Thank you though, for asking. Excuse me…" She turned away, distant and somehow polite as always.

"You haven't changed at all!" Anzu shouted. Shiragiku stopped. Some of her irritation sprung out, though she said and expressed nothing. She turned back and stepped close to Yugi. Hesitantly, she put a hand to his forehead.

No brutal visions. Either her vision blindfold was refusing to slip now, or Yugi was going to stay out of trouble for a short while at least.

"Hm, you don't have a temperature," Shiragiku covered. "You seem alright-at least the shock didn't affect you too badly." She checked Anzu visually too, who seemed fine.

Jounouchi sprang up way too close to her for comfort. "What's this? Is that concern you're showing?!" he cried. "Finally the ice has melted! I didn't know you had it in you!"

Isn't that what a lot of people said…?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Shiragiku said, straight faced as ever. She nodded at them and walked away again. This time, she didn't turn back, or glance back even once.

"Jounouchi you idiot!" Anzu yelled, hitting him. Jounouchi ducked from her blows.

"What did I do?" he whined.

"She was being nice and going out of character, and you made things awkward for her!"

They continued bickering, and rapidly turned to the incident yesterday.

"What do you mean; you didn't see who rescued Anzu yesterday, Yugi!" Jounouchi yelled. "You were right there!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" Yugi defended himself.

Jounouchi and Anzu exchanged glances. "You do remember what happened yesterday, don't you?" Maybe Shiragiku was wrong with the assumption that Yugi was fine.

Yugi shook his head. "Not all of it. I remember the mess with Jirou, him blindfolding Anzu and forcing both her and Shiragiku to a table, but after that it gets kind of blurry…"

"That must be the shock kicking in," Anzu said decisively. "We were lucky to get out of that alive." Then her expression changed to one of surprise. "I forgot to thank Shiragiku for yesterday! She got pulled into it because of me. And I could have asked her about who rescued us…"

In the school counsellor's office, just down the corridor, Shiragiku pursed her lips slightly. Ranau-sensei, who was sitting right across from her, noticed. "Shiragiku, is something wrong?"

How could Yugi not remember what happened yesterday?! Shiragiku herself had also been scared-ten times more scared than she had let on-and she still had a distinct memory.

"Shiragiku!" Shiragiku barely controlled her jerk, as she focused on Ranau-sensei.

"Ah, sorry."

"Is something bothering you?"

"Maybe." She hesitated, and then admitted reluctantly, "I got involved in things I wasn't meant to."

She wouldn't say anything more for the rest of their hour, and her expression remained as closed and unreadable as ever. Ranau-sensei had to smile though. That little bit of information was a change from their routine of unanswered or rejected questions-Shiragiku had willingly given a small bit of information.

Yes, there were small changes happening in the school, and in the students. It remained to be seen whether they were changes for the better or worse.


Change had never symbolised a good thing for Shiragiku. Not that they symbolised extremely bad things for her-but most of the dramatic changes in her life had been…unpleasant.

Her first one occurred before she was six. It was when her precognitive blindfold first slipped.

"Mum, Uncle is going away."

Soon after, her Uncle died. And her blindfold to reality fell away, lost.


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