Yugi and Ryou have a little talk, while Anzu comes up with a plan to get Jonouchi through his ordeal.
House Party
Chapter 3
New Identity.
"I will make a pot of green tea," Ryou suggested, "It will help to calm everyone while we think about what to do."
"Go and help him Anzu." Honda ordered her. "We don't want him slipping anything into our tea."
"If I was going to do that, don't you think I would have put it in the pastries I made yesterday?" Ryou was feeling hurt by the lack of trust they had in him.
"Fair point," Honda conceded. "But go with him anyway."
"It's okay, I'll go," said Yugi, following Ryou into the kitchen. In truth, he was worried about Anzu being alone in the kitchen with him in case the Spirit of The Ring decided to hurt her.
Ryou looked ready to start crying again. "You know, I truly am sorry for what has happened to Jonouchi. I just wish I knew how to cure him."
Yugi was starting to feel sorry for him. "It's okay Bakura. I know it's not your fault. But I think you should try to avoid wearing the Ring. The spirit inside it is dangerous. He even scares the other me."
Ryou looked at him with sad eyes. "I tried to remove it, but..." He pushed the door closed and lowered his voice to a whisper so that the occupants of the sitting room could not hear, "Please don't be alarmed when I show you what happened." He undid the buttons on his pyjama shirt and revealed the ring embedded in his chest.
Yugi stumbled back against the counter and almost let out an audible gasp, but managed to put his hand over his mouth to stop himself. The other Yugi appeared beside him, looking just as horrified about it as Yugi. Neither of them knew what to say.
Ryou flinched at his shocked reaction and whispered. "I hate him. He's cruel and vicious and makes me hurt people." Tears welled up in Ryou's eyes. "And yet I am drawn to him in the same way that you are bonded to the spirit inside your Puzzle."
"Yeah, but the other Me would never do something like that to me!" Beside him, Yami Yugi felt shaken by what he saw. The Millennium Items certainly did have the potential to be evil. He shook his head solemnly as he remembered some of the punishments he had dished out to people, using Yugi as a vessel. If Yugi had been unnerved when he first started to suspect that something was amiss, and tried to stop him by removing the Puzzle, would he have done the same to Yugi?
He had not realised his thoughts were bleeding into Yugi's mind until Yugi scolded him. "Don't even think like that! I know you, and you would never do that to me."
"Yugi?!" Ryou was looking at him inquisitively. "Is something wrong?" He could see Yugi's facial muscles twitching and he had a slightly glazed look. Yugi had to be talking to his other Self.
"No! Nothing's wrong. I was just talking to the Other Me."
"Oh," he nodded knowingly, I thought you probably were. He has harmed other people too, hasn't he?" He sounded hopeful rather than accusing; as if he hoped to find some sort of kindred spirit.
Yugi became defensive. "I will admit, he has punished a few of our enemies. But it was only because he was protecting me. He was afraid that if something bad happened to me, he would be forced back into the darkness."
"My spirit also says he is protecting me from harm. We already know the items come from Egypt, but I wonder," said Ryou, wistfully. "Do you think they were once real people? Or are they dark entities that feed off our own low self esteem and negative emotions, in order to manifest themselves as reflections of ourselves? I mean, you and I are both similar, in that we are quiet and get picked on a lot."
"I used to think he was a much stronger version of me, that the Puzzle helped me to create, but I don't think that anymore. Since dueling Pegasus, I have been able to talk to the other Me, and we both think he is a real person, who was originally from Ancient Egypt, but somehow became trapped inside the Puzzle. Sadly, he has no recollection of how or why. Can you talk to your spirit, or remember anything after he takes over?" Yugi was intrigued to find out just how much his friend knew about who the souls residing inside their items once were.
"He sometimes whispers to me. But it is usually something evil or disgusting. He tries to make me do things I don't want to do, and when I refuse he causes me pain. I only remember the things he wants me to remember. One night, I woke up in an alley with blood on my hands, standing over a man who was dead on the ground with his heart ripped from his chest. The spirit whispered to me that I should thank him because I did not get raped. I don't even know how, or why, I was in the alley in the first place. But I had seen the man earlier. I had visited the gents toilets and had approached me and told me he thought I was 'pretty'. He must have followed me." His face was ashen and he looked terrified as he spoke.
Yugi tried not to show his horror at the admission and calmly asked. "Does your spirit know who he is?"
"I think he does but he won't say. I also think he knows who your spirit might be. But he says that the rules of the game state that he must not tell. I have no idea what he means by that!"
Yugi looked perplexed. "I guessed that he knows something when he interrupted my DDM game with Otogi. I don't know what he wants, or what he hopes to gain, but I don't think it's anything good."
Out in the sitting room, their friends were growing concerned at the length of time they had been gone.
Anzu anxiously chewed her finger nail. "I don't like it. They closed the door and I can't hear them talking."
Honda frowned. "I should go and check." He got up and strode over to the kitchen door. Pushing it open, he cautiously looked inside. "Hey! What's taking so long? Is everything alright in here?"
"Yes! We're almost done." Ryou smiled sweetly and picked up the pot of tea. "I was just waiting for it to brew."
"We were discussing how we might find a cure for Jonouchi," Yugi told him. Bending the truth always came easy to him.
"And did you think of anything?" Jonouchi called out from the sitting room.
"No. I am so sorry Jonouchi," said Ryou. His remorse was visible in the way he shakily carried the tray of drinks and placed it down on the coffee table. "I really wish I could help you but I don't have a clue how."
"But we will find a cure Jonouchi," Yugi stated positively. "Maybe we could ask Grandpa. He knows all sorts of stuff about Ancient Egypt. He might know some spells."
"No! I don't want anyone else to know about this!" Jonouchi retorted irritably.
::::::::::::
Since it appeared that they might be unable to find an immediate cure for Jonouchi's affliction, the group of teenagers decided to spend the morning trying to fathom a way of hiding his true identity and working out how he was going to get through the next month as a girl.
"Firstly, we need to think of a name for you," Anzu suggested. "How about Katsu?"
"Nah... sounds too much like Katsuya." Jonouchi shook his head. "People might get suspicious."
"I think it's as good name," Honda answered. "Easy to remember." Both Yugi and Ryou nodded that they thought so too.
"But even though I look like a girl, I'm still Me! Everyone's gonna know!" Jonouchi whined.
"I don't think they will know it's you Jonouchi," Ryou was certain. "How many people change into the opposite sex overnight? It's not possible. No one would believe it."
"Well, we know it's possible!" Jonouchi shrieked.
"That's because we know that shadow magic exists," Yugi explained. "Look at me?! Most people don't even notice when I change into the other Me! They just think I'm getting in the zone for when I duel"
"Yugi's right," Honda added. "Sure, you do resemble Jonouchi a bit, but that just means you could be a relative."
Jonouchi chewed her lip in thought. "Suppose I could be my cousin or something. I could use my mum's family name, Kawai."
"Isn't that your sisters last name?" Yugi was pretty sure he had heard Jonouchi refer to his sister as Shizuka Kawai.
"Yeah... Mum went back to using her own name after she and my old man split up. Ya know! It could work!" Jonouchi was suddenly sounding more positive about the whole situation.
"Okay, Katsu Kawai it is," Anzu concluded. "Now we need a cover story. I was thinking that you could be Jonouchi's cousin. You joined the student exchange programme and wanted to come to Domino because your cousin is here. I will tell my parents that you have nowhere to stay because Jonouchi's place is not suitable and your original family pulled out. I will say that as class representative, I stepped in. They will be proud of me for showing initiative and supporting the school's student exchange programme."
Jonouchi scowled. The story was getting more complicated by the minute. He would never remember all that!
Meanwhile, Yugi nodded his head enthusiastically. "That is a great idea Anzu."
"Meh... d'ya think it will work?" Jonouchi was sceptical. "Everyone will wonder where the real me is."
"It will have to work, otherwise you really will be screwed," said Honda, with a stern expression.
"Don't worry Jonouchi!" Said Yugi, supportively, "We'll think of something to explain your absence."
"In the meantime," Anzu added, "I need to make sure you know how girls should behave."
The scowl that Jonouchi gave her in response, dashed any hopes she was fostering about it being anything other than a nightmarish task.
"Just make sure you don't swear, fart, belch or behave like an untidy slob and you'll be fine." Unfortunately, Honda's attempt at humour failed to impress his distressed friend.
"Hey! I'm offended. I don't do any of them things!"
"I'm afraid you do man.. Oops!" Honda slapped his forehead. "Did I say man? I mean woman." Trying to inject some humour was his way of trying to deal with the situation.
"Fuck you! This ain't a joke!" Jonouchi swing a punch at Honda and the two started bickering like an old married couple.
Anzu sighed. What on earth was she taking on? If she was to make Jonouchi believable as Katsu, it looked like she was going to have her work cut out over the next month.
Apologies for this chapter being a bit short. It's just that it seemed a good place to end it.
Next chapter, Katsu ventures outside!
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