It was the dreams this time, clinging on even as he rushed through his morning routine. His experiences with the evil within the ring had given him a deep mistrust of dreams and he learned the best way to deal with dreams is to wake up and not think about them. But his dreams conspired with the thousands of Marik-memory-fragments littered around his dorm and refused to leave, and in response he rushed off looking like a panda with smudged mascara.

And in his hurry, of course he would almost sit in the same row as Marik (who on this deity-forsaken day decided to actually come to class for once, except oh why today). It didn't help that everything was in a miserable fog, that he can't even remember what he ate for lunch yesterday. Idly he wondered if he was losing his mind, but fortunately he comprehended some of the words on the blackboard.

All this, stacked with finals and apartment hunting, almost made Ryou wonder if there was some magic left in this world.

Not that anything supernatural would be out to get him. The Millennium Items were the only reserves of magic in his world (and it was them that made the decks come alive, heart of the cards and all that) and they are gone now. The world was a whole lot less magical with their disappearance, and even Dueling lost a lot of its mystique. Pegasus went on to print multiple Blue Eyes White Dragons, sold them in promotional tins, it was the same as the other powerful cards of his time. And why not, the cards hold no power now and the world was not going to end with the introduction of thousands of paper Slifers and so on. Then came other, stronger monsters with new functions, new archetypes to back them up, things like Mecha Phantom Beast Drassosack (it was mostly Marik who kept up with these things). So as far as Ryou is concerned, the magic haunting his previous years had gone and he was supremely grateful. Had Ryou known about the events of DOMA and Atlantis though, that would be another story...

More classes, more milling about on campus as he waited for them. The day eventually ended pretty uneventfully and Ryou made a beeline for his bed, telling himself that 4pm was really not too early for bed.

On the way, one of his suitmates remarked on the extensive bags under his eyes. Ryou thanked him for his concern.