The morning had started badly with her alarm clock being replaced by the sounds of the fire alarm going off and the smell of something burning. That something had turned out to be Jou's attempt at making breakfast for the Mutous before he left for the day.
Things had only gotten worse as the morning had progressed, with six Duellists showing up while she was trying to serve customers and getting irritated when she would not drop everything to duel them despite the announcement on her website and three more customers who had not been able to get games they wanted, or in the right colour delivered before Christmas complaining that she should use her title for extra leverage with the games companies to get them what they wanted.
Which was why Yugi found herself, on her lunch break, staring at her mobile phone with her finger over the call button, seriously considering ringing Kaiba and possibly making his Christmas.
'I'm not sure he'd be happy if we called him.' Oneesan offered, fully aware of how very irritated her younger twin was and trying not to add to that ire.
'Oh I don't know.' Yugi huffed as she sat back and took a mouthful of her ramen, still contemplating her phone, 'I'd have thought he'd like to be King of Games. He's forever trying to win the title from us.'
'Win it. Not be given it.' The Pharaoh pointed out, noting that her light's mood was improving the more food she ate, 'I'm not sure he would be too happy if you quit and just handed him the title.'
Yugi did not reply until she had finished eating and when she did it was with a sigh, 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't let it irritate me. I just...'
'I know.' It had been the last one who had put her in a foul mood. Oneesan herself had nearly taken over to snap at him when he had asked the girl what the point was in her having a game shop if she was not going to use her title to get extra stock. 'And everyone who comes to the shop normally knows how hard you work to help your customers. We just seem to be having a run of bad luck with visitors today.'
'It's Christmas. It's the same every year.' Yugi grumbled. The Spirit of the Puzzle could feel her sister's dislike and disdain through the bond and was surprised by it. Considering Imoto did not normally hold a grudge against anyone, for her to dislike a holiday season meant there was probably more to this than she knew. 'Everyone gets crazy, the store gets manic, families get together to hang out but they run away as fast as they can afterwards and then you don't get to see them again...it's a bit of a joke really.'
Oneesan paused at that. There was definitely more to this story then just bad customers harassing her twin. 'Imoto? If you want to talk about something...?'
'What's there to talk about? The customers aren't being nice. I mean who needs bad guys when we have customers like the one this morning who called me several rude names when I wouldn't give her someone else's reserved copy of the new structure deck?' The girl huffed.
The Pharaoh sighed but did not push it, certain there was more to it but not wanting to push if Imoto really did not want to talk about it, 'You mean the woman you wouldn't let me deal with?'
'You can't Challenge someone for swearing at me.' Yugi's tone was both amused and weary as she let out a quiet laugh, 'No matter how tempting it is.'
Her Anesan considered it a win that she had gotten a chuckle from her twin though and she could feel her mood had lifted. 'Not even a little Challenge?'
'No!' Yugi's giggle was louder this time. 'It's time consuming.'
'Fine.' Yugi could feel Anesan's irritated resignation was entirely fake and she was teasing her, which made her smile. It was nice that her twin felt comfortable enough to tease. She was not a very social person so Yugi considered anything like that a sign that they were good friends.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and downed the broth from her ramen before standing up. She had ice skating to look forward to tonight and she was not going to let the bad mood of her customers wreck her excitement.
'Are you going to try to skate?' Yugi tried to recentre herself by asking. She could feel her dark twin thinking at that.
'I don't know if I'd be any good at it.' Anesan sounded hesitant as Yugi dumped her bowl in the sink and headed for the stairs down to the shop.
'Neither do I.' Yugi reassured her, aware the spirit of the Puzzle did not like looking silly in front of anyone. Not even her. 'But it'll be something new to experience, right?'
'Right...I guess I can give it a go.' She still sounded a little nervous about it but Yugi could sense that she felt a little better about not knowing how to ice skate since her sister did not either. 'You've never been?'
'Not since I was five.' Yugi paused, hesitating slightly to admit something, then decided there was no point hiding it when Anesan would pick it up across the bond anyway, 'It's one of the only things I remember doing with my parents.'
She felt her older twin mentally 'sit up' at that. She did not talk about her parents often. She did not remember them very well. She did not share any more though. She did not like talking about it and Jii-san was her family anyway. He had raised her and that was all that mattered. She would do her best to help him in whatever way he needed and today that meant stepping back into the mayhem that was the shop.
It was no less manic as she worked her way over to the Duel Monsters counter and found herself under a constant barrage of customers. She did not mind too much, with one of their part timers working the floor, she could concentrate on making sure people got exactly what they wanted for their decks, or the decks of friends and family. Her usual run of luck seemed to be holding true as well, meaning those who bought booster packs from her were getting good cards. She just hoped that held true for the ones who bought them as presents.
"Hey!" Yugi caught a customer reaching into her counter to try and fish something out and slammed the door shut, causing them to have to recoil quickly. "If you want something you'll need to wait your turn."
"I just wanted to look at the God Monsters." The customer complained, rubbing his hand despite the fact she knew full damn well that she had not touched him with the door.
"Looking does not involve touching." Yugi told him firmly, "You can see them in the case like everyone else."
"How much for the Winged Dragon of Ra?" The irritated customer demanded.
"He's not for sale." Yugi's firm tone went unheeded.
"Don't be ridiculous." The man scowled, getting angry, "It's in your sales cabinet, which means it's for sale."
"He's on display because I don't use him regularly." She could feel her older twin ready to take over if she needed her, "He's not for sale. There's no price on the God Monsters and never will be. They're mine."
"If they're in the shop, they're for sale." The man snapped at her.
"Please don't snap at me sir." She could feel Oneesan step into the corridor between their minds, ready to take over if she needed her to at her very flat, level tone that was her best attempt at maintaining good customer service while being seriously done with the customer she was serving. "I have already told you that the God Monsters are not and never will be for sale. Is there something else I can help you with today?"
"Five 'Nightmare Circus' booster packs and a pack of the clear deck protectors." The guy huffed. Yugi nodded and went to grab them out of the case. As she leaned into to the cabinet to reach the front where the last of the boosters in question were, she heard one of the other customers go, "I wouldn't..."
Suddenly she felt like she was being yanked backwards and she found herself tumbling into the corridor between her Soul Room and Anesan's. Anger flooded the bond as she managed to roll to her feet and reached out to her sister, wondering why she had suddenly switched them. 'Anesan?'
'Stay there a moment, Imoto.' Anesan's tone was sharp but Yugi could feel that the anger was not aimed at her. She reached out her senses, allowing her to watch through her sister's eyes and listen to what was happening.
The Spirit of the Puzzle felt her synch up with her but did not say a word as she accepted the hand to her feet from her rather worried looking grandfather.
"Are you okay, Yugi?" He asked, concerned as he looked her over.
"I'm fine." She told him with a shrug, trying to hide the sharp pain between her shoulder blades as she turned to look at the collapsed, partly smashed glass case. They had been lucky. If she had not been watching, she would not been able to react fast enough and she would not have been mostly out of the case when the customer who had been trying to steal from the cabinet before had lunged across it. His weight had jostled the loose panel that they had been going to fix after Christmas. The loose panel had slipped out of place and hit the shelf below, which had caused a cascade effect that had sent the shelves and the stock on them tumbling.
She had been far enough out avoid the worst of the breaking glass but she would need to check her back at some point because she was pretty sure a piece that had fallen down the back and gotten stuck had scratched her on her way out of the case.
At her reassurance Jii-san nodded and turned on the man who had caused the cabinet to collapse, looking angrier than Oneesan had ever seen him. The customer in question suddenly looked nervous. Between the angry customers and the glower Jii-san was giving him, he nervously shifted from foot to foot as the elderly man coldly stated, "Get out and don't come back. You're banned from my shop."
"But..."
"You heard him. Out." One of the other customers shoved the man towards the door.
Oneesan watched the man go, then fished out the God Monsters from the mess, just about managing to avoid cutting her hand on the broken glass as Jii-san asked, "Yugi? Can you handle this while I try and clear the crowds. Then we'll shut until we're sure we've got all the glass up."
"No problem, Jii-san." The Pharaoh promised her grandfather, who ruffled her hair and quickly flipped the 'Open' sign to 'Closed' before making his way to the till.
She slipped the God cards into her deck holster and started picking up the stock as Jii-san cleared out the remaining customers. Any that helped her while they were waiting, she gave a booster pack to at her Imoto's suggestion and it was not long before the front door was locked and they could focus on sorting out the mess.
"We're going to have to stay open a little later." Oneesan felt Imoto's heart sink at their grandfather's words as he helped them sweep up the glass. "We can't lose a couple of hours of trade and if we stay open till nine we'll hit the post-work trade as well."
"Jii-san..." Oneesan started, not too worried about the loss of ice skating for herself but fully aware Imoto had been looking forward to it.
'Don't, Anesan, I'll just text the others...they can go without me.' Yugi cut her older sister off from protesting on her behalf. The Spirit of the Puzzle could feel that she did not want to say it. In fact she was mentally kicking herself.
'Are you sure, Imoto?' The Pharaoh asked softly.
'The shop comes first. It has to.' Yugi sighed, her shoulders sinking as resignation started up, 'Jii-san gave up too much for me for me to bow out when he needs me.'
'He would understand.' Oneesan tried, 'You made plans.'
'It's fine, I'll go another time. We can't lose the profits. We need the money.' Her twin sister was right and the Pharaoh knew it. They did need the money. They always needed the money. The shop took a modest profit, just enough to cover their bills and give them a small pot of spending money. Ojiisan had mentioned that January and February were quiet months, so the Christmas rush covered those months. They would need to replace the cabinet too, which was more expense they could ill afford.
Oneesan let out a soft sigh and smiled at her grandfather, who had turned to look at her when she had called his name, "Let me sweep up? I don't want you to hurt your back."
He nodded and left them to it while he rearranged the stock on the shelves behind the till to ensure the Duel Monsters stock was not where anyone could just grab it. Yugi fired off a quick text message to her friends to apologise that here had been an issue in the shop, they would have to be open late and to go ice skating without her and then started sweeping up the scattered glass.
It was probably a good thing that the cabinet had finally broken. It was older than she was and it had been unsafe for a while. They had been putting replacing it off and off until it was absolutely necessary and now it was.
The broken glass from the floor went into a cardboard box and was joined by several more pieces as Yugi tried to fish the scattered stock out of the shelving unit without cutting herself.
She was midway through when there was a knock on the door and Yugi turned to look, only to see a customer knocking on it with a rather irritated look on their face. "I'm sorry we're closed."
"You can't be closed. You're never closed at this time!" The customer objected, his voice a little muffled through the glass. When Yugi pointed to the cabinet she was trying to recover stock from, he shrugged, "I can just walk around it. I only need one item."
"We'll be open again in an hour or ow!" Yugi withdrew her hand quickly and examined it, grimacing as she realised the sharp pain that had made her yelp had been from her cutting her hand on a piece of glass. Jii-san rushed over and examined it, ignoring the now worried looking customer entirely in his hurry.
"Go upstairs and wash it." He ordered as he examined the small gash across the back of her hand.
"But..." Yugi stopped as she saw how worried he was. "Yes, Jii-san."
She got to her feet and headed for the stairs up to the flat, feeling frustrated. The longer they were closed, the longer they would need to be open tonight. She kept having to remind herself that she did not mind. Everything that came in from the shop either went straight back in or paid things like their rent and food bills. She could not mind and spend what came in. It was not fair.
Still, she hurt, she was disappointed and she knew she was being unreasonable. As she headed into the bathroom, the first thing she did was use an antiseptic wipe on her hand and check the cut, relaxing when she saw it was not very large, just bleeding a lot. She fished out a plaster and stuck it over the small gash, then turned so her back was shown in the mirror and shifted her hair aside to see how bad her shoulders looked.
She could see it had bled a bit but she did not get a chance to see more before she heard her name being called. Yugi's eyes widened at the sound of Jii-san's voice and quickly dropped her hair. Not quickly enough, however, as he turned the corner in time to see the injury.
"Mutou Yugi, let me see." She did not resist. Not when he had 'full named' her. She moved her hair aside to let him examine the cut between her shoulders.
"Your friends are downstairs. They came by to check on us." Her grandfather sighed as he carefully examined the cut, "You told me you weren't hurt."
Yugi pouted and dragged Anesan into control, refusing to get lectured for something her older twin had said.
"Technically I said I was fine." The Pharaoh reiterated.
"Yugi no Oneesan, that's not what fine means and you know it." Jii-san scolded her. Oneesan blinked at him, realising technically he had just 'full named' her and that meant she was in trouble. She had learned that from watching Imoto. If Jii-san called them and he just used her given name it was fine, but the few times he had called "Mutou Yugi!" she had been able to feel the dread rising in her Imoto and they had normally been in for a scolding. "I'm going to get Anzu up."
"Anzu's here?" Oneesan asked, surprised.
"Your friends came to check on us." Jii-san nodded, "Jou and Honda are moving the broken cabinet, Bakura's keeping the customers by the doors from rioting and Shizuka's sorting the boosters by type for me so I could check on you."
Oneesan shook her head, amused, at that and she could feel Imoto was just as surprised. Their friends were awesome. Even with everything they had been through together, sometimes they forgot that a text like the one they had sent would cause the whole gang to pile in to make sure the Mutous were okay.
"Stay here, don't you dare hide that from her." Jii-san warned her as he headed down the corridor.
'Our friends are the best. I didn't mean to ruin their day though.' Her younger twin sounded a little worried as they waited.
'You probably didn't, they've still got time for shopping and they can get to skating.' The Pharaoh pointed out. 'Now get back out here. I've been told off enough for today.'
Yugi giggled as she retook control. 'I'm sorry but you're the one who lied to Jii-san, you're the one who deserved the lecture.'
The Pharaoh did not respond to that but Yugi did not have a chance to poke her before Anzu hurried in and started fussing at her.
"Mutou Yugi, what have you done to yourself?" Anzu scolded her, making Yugi giggle a little at the 'mother' tone in her voice.
"Not my fault." She defended herself, wincing a little at the sting of the cleansing wipe between her shoulder blades, "The cabinet kinda fell on me."
"At least it's not as bad as we thought it might be." Anzu sighed as she worked, "With the weirdness that follows you around we were worried you guys had been attacked or something."
"Sorry." Yugi apologised, shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot, "I should have given you more info. I've ruined your day."
"Stop moving. You haven't ruined the day. It's fine. It means we're here to help. The sooner everything's sorted, the sooner you can reopen the shop." Anzu paused as Yugi froze at her angry tone, not moving an inch, "Yugi? You okay?"
"J...just sore." Her friend's tone shook slightly which confused Anzu. She had seen Yugi go through much worse then this and keep herself together. This was not even the first thief the girl had dealt with in the time Anzu had known her.
"I'll be done in a minute, it's a little long but it's not deep, so you'll be fine." Anzu promised, finishing cleaning the cut before putting a couple of plasters on it. "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. Fine." Yugi turned around quickly and dropped her hair so it covered her back again, "Thank you."
"What're friends for?" Anzu grinned at her, pleased to see it helped her friend relax. "Now come and help organise the guys."
As Yugi nodded and scurried downstairs, Anzu frowned, wondering what was bothering the Puzzle barer. Something was wrong. Anzu knew Yugi well enough to know that. Yugi was a lot stronger than this. It took a lot more than a thief and a broken cabinet to get to her but she had been off kilter for a couple of weeks and this was just the icing on the cake.
Besides. Yugi only ever said she was 'fine' when she was hiding something. Anzu did not know whether it was that she was in pain or whether it was something more, but it bothered her how easily both Yugi and Oneesan could just tell them there was nothing wrong when clearly there was.
She headed downstairs, planning to talk to Ojiisan, only to find that he was busy organising Jou and Honda as they tried to move the broken glass case into the store room so no one could hurt themselves. While she waited, she helped Shizuka sort the booster packs into their correct boxes, ready to go on the shelves and watched Yugi sweep the floor where the cabinet had been.
She seemed okay. She was moving freely and easily so she was not hurt. That meant whatever was bothering her was mental, not physical.
Anzu paused to consider that she was thinking about that. This time last year she would not really have cared. Yugi had been someone she had stuck up for, but she had not truly been a proper friend. In fact Anzu had taken horrible advantage of the girl's good nature and allowed her to help her find a dance school in Domino. She still felt bad for it now occasionally but she did try to make up for it by being there when Yugi needed her now.
After everything she and the others had been through together she considered them more like family than just friends. It was hard to consider someone a friend when they had saved your life multiple times. Yugi was more like a sister to her and she found herself concerned that the other girl, who normally clung to Anzu, Jou and Honda like they were a lifeline, was standing back and looking a little nervous.
Thinking back she had been looking uncomfortable for a few weeks, ever since she had been reminded Christmas was coming up fast. The question was, what was so different about Christmas time that it turned their friend from her usual, bouncy self, into this quiet, unhappy mouse?
She doubted it was the increased customer load. There were two things her friend thrived in and that was gaming and the shop. Yugi loved the shop normally. It was always good to see her face light up when she talked about the new game that had come in or the newest deals the shop had managed to make that would increase their profits.
It had to be Christmas, which made no sense. Christmas was a time for friends and family to spend together and...
Anzu's eye widened as it hit her. Family.
None of them really talked much about their families. It was deliberate. They knew Jou's birth family weren't great. Shizuka was the only one he liked and the rest he ignored in favour of the Mutous who had taken him in. They did not talk about their own families so it did not seem like they were gloating about how great they had it.
However Anzu had never seen Yugi's parents. Jou probably knew more, but all Anzu knew was that her friend was an only child who lived with her grandfather. It was not that unusual for a child to be left with a relative while their parents had to work across the country, so Anzu wondered if her parents could not make it home for Christmas before the big day and that was what was bothering Yugi.
She edged over to Ojiisan once the cabinet was safely off of the shop floor and Yugi was distracted sweeping the floor where it had been, getting the last of the glass up, "Ojiisan? Can I talk to you?"
The elderly archaeologist, who treated them all like family, paused and looked at her. "You okay?"
"Yeah I just...when are Yugi's parents coming home for Christmas? Should we avoid the shop to give you guys more room or something?" Anzu asked him. His eyes widened briefly, then his shoulders sank and he glanced towards Yugi. He let out a relieved sigh when he saw she was distracted and nodded towards the stairwell to the flat.
Anzu followed him upstairs, away from the shop, and once they reached the kitchen Ojiisan turned to her. "Yugi never told you about her parents?"
Anzu shook her head, suddenly worried. "No?"
Sugoroku sighed. "Yugi's parents are no longer with us. They haven't been since Yugi was five years old."
The girl he was speaking to let out a soft, surprised noise and sat on the kitchen stool, watching him carefully, suddenly understanding why Yugi would have gone quiet when people had started talking about Christmas plans with their families. "What happened?"
"They were staying with me over Christmas to help me with the annual rush and went out for a drive after the store closed to pick up some groceries..." Ojiisan sighed, "Luckily for me Yugi was with me in the store room, organising things, or I'd have lost them all when the semi-truck hit their car."
"I'm sorry...Yugi never told me..." Anzu was not quite sure what to say to that. It explained Yugi's recent behaviour completely. She was not just irritated that her parents had to work through Christmas. She was upset because this time of year was when her world had been turned upside down.
"She wouldn't. She doesn't remember her parents well and the last time she saw her mother, she'd been scolded for something...I don't remember what. It's been a very long time." He huffed slightly, "I try not to let her think about it too much but this time of year...promise me you won't pressure her about this?"
"I promise." Anzu nodded, decided there and then that they were going to do something to help lift Yugi's mood. "But since you have to stay open late today, can we borrow her Christmas Eve? After the store closes?"
Ojiisan's own mood took an upswing at the scheming look on Anzu's face, realising she was formulating a plan to make Yugi smile, "Sure, but let me know how I can help whatever you're planning?"
"Oh don't worry, I will."