When they'd told Anzu that Yugi was possessed by the spirit of a woman from Ancient Egypt, the brunette teenager had thought they were nuts. At least until she'd remembered the way Yugi's eyes and voice had changed. That and the casual way that 'Yugi' had challenged the death row inmate to a game, unconcerned about the fact that the loser of the game would die.
Then she'd been frightened. The spirit, who Jonouchi kept referring to as Oneesan and regularly took over her friend's body, was dangerous, and while she had sworn that she would seal herself away again if she ever hurt Yugi or her friends, she had proved that she was willing to kill to protect her host.
And that was what Yugi was to the ghost. A willing host, but a host none the less. Not friends, or partners, but a vessel to be taken over any time 'Oneesan' wanted. The spirit wasn't pushing her luck on that front, only taking over when Yugi was scared or hurt, but Anzu couldn't help wondering how much of that was self preservation on the spirit's part since without Yugi she wouldn't have a body.
However for all she was frightened of the Puzzle Spirit, she was also worried for Yugi. The girl knew that she was running a huge risk by letting the spirit of the Puzzle take control of her body but because the spirit had, if she was to be believed, been in pain and trapped in the dark for thousand years Yugi was willing to give the spirit a second chance considering the lengths 'Oneesan' was willing to go to to protect her.
'Oneesan's' attitude towards Yugi, that of a protective older sister (she could see where Jonouchi had gotten the nickname from) would have reassured Anzu except that for the woman to be sealed in the way she had for so many years wasn't a good sign.
It did help slightly that while Yugi was willing to take the risk and give the spirit free reign while she was in control of her body, Jonouchi was watching the spirit carefully to make sure there wasn't the possibility of another 'Burger World Incident' and had sworn to make sure that the spirit didn't get Yugi into trouble.
However, until she'd made up her own mind, she wasn't going to decide one way or the other what she was going to do. She had options, lots of them, and she knew that no matter what she decided, even if it hurt Yugi, her friend would understand and the spirit wouldn't be able to do anything about it without having to smash the Puzzle.
And Jonouchi had promised her, when he had walked her home, that if Oneesan didn't smash the Puzzle he would, though he had asked that she not tell Yugi that in case it was necessary. He had helped her work out what she was going to do for the time being and that would be to stick with Yugi until she'd seen for herself what Oneesan was like.
Yugi's surprised delight when Anzu arrived to collect them from the shop the following day only confirmed that, for now at least, she'd made the right decision.
The full complications of yesterday's events didn't hit her until the three of them walked onto school grounds, only for Honda to meet them at the gates with a warning.
"They found Kokurano on the floor of Classroom 7A." Honda informed them, "It turned out he was a fraud all along, had a ton of predictions tacked to his cloak. Somehow it's not surprising. I mean there's no such thing as real magic."
He frowned slightly when Jonouchi and Anzu gave each other an odd look and Yugi gained a small, amused smile, but continued on anyway, "Also," He looked at Yugi, "If your aim was to get…"
"Hey Mutou-Kun!" Honda trailed off as a couple of their classmates darted over to the four, "Is it true you're a girl?" One of them asked, giving Yugi the oddest expression.
"Y…Yes." Yugi nodded, confused as to why that was suddenly in question when most generally assumed she was a guy. Her confusion didn't wane any when the pair of students apologised and darted off to talk to another group of students, who turned to watch the group of friends as they passed to go and get ready for class.
"That was what I was about to tell you." Honda sighed, "About the time you threw your 'hissy fit' at Kokurano, where you told him you were a girl, the school's worst gossips were just outside, waiting to have a turn with him and they overheard everything."
"Oh." Yugi nodded her understanding as Honda's explanation cleared up some of her confusion, blushing when some of the other students went quiet when they walked into the locker room and she realised they'd been talking about her.
"This is a good thing though, right?" Jonouchi asked, "I mean people will finally stop mistaking Yuge for a guy."
Honda just snorted, noting the way Yugi was uncomfortable with all the attention that was being directed her way.
"Mazaki-Kun." Anzu jumped and wheeled around to face the speaker, only to find that one of the teachers wanted to have a word with her.
"I'll be back in a second." Anzu promised the guys, gesturing for them to go ahead before turning to the teacher.
"Interesting group of friends you have there, Mazaki." The teacher commented with a raised eyebrow, watching the three of them take off their shoes and disappear down the hallway before speaking again, "The draw for the school festival is tomorrow. Your class has come up with some ideas as to what you're going to be doing, hasn't it?"
Anzu nodded vigorously, even as she silently cursed the fact that she'd completely forgotten about it, and as class representative that wasn't good enough. Quietly, she thanked whoever was watching out for her, besides Oneesan obviously, that it wasn't Chono-Sensei doing the asking. She would have demanded to know what they were planning to do and Anzu hadn't even brought it up in front of the class yet.
"Good, good. I look forward to seeing your proposal tomorrow." Kenta-Sensei, one of the few decent teachers in their school and unfortunately one who never took their class since he taught the upper years, smiled at her before heading off to his own homeroom.
Anzu quickly changed into her indoor shoes and darted down the halls to her classroom where the students were abuzz with talk about the fake Fortune Teller and Yugi's apparent gender. She didn't spot Yugi until she stood at the front of the class and asked for attention, which was slow coming as everyone took their seats, and Yugi came out from behind Jonouchi, where she'd been hiding from her classmate's questions.
"As you all know," Anzu spoke up as the last of the class settled, "The school festival is coming up and every class will have a stall. We need to decide what we're going to do. If anyone has a good idea, raise your hand."
Hands shot up into the air and Anzu started writing down every suggestion, except for Jonouchi's 'Real High School Girl Cabaret' idea which got him shouted at from every angle. Half of the ideas she could cross off of the list right away, since other classes had taken them, but there were a few left when Anzu spotted Yugi biting her lip and looking as if she wasn't sure whether she wanted to offer her opinion. Since no one could agree on any of the options left on the board, Anzu prodded her friend.
"Yugi?" Everyone's heads turned in the girl's direction and Yugi went bright red in embarrassment. "Do you have a suggestion."
"Uhh…" Yugi started nervously, before gaining slightly more confidence and half asking, "Carnival Games? You know, like an Amusement Park?"
There was silence for a couple of moments then the class started discussing it enthusiastically, trying to work out which games to use. The class had 50,000 Yen as a budget that was given to them by the school, and if they did games like bottle toss, which wouldn't cost anything they could provide plenty of entertainment.
Finally they settled on four games, Bottle Toss, a Shooting Gallery, which Honda was happy to provide his air rifle for and as such only really required the cost of the prizes and the setup, 'Bluebeard's Attack!' which was a bit like Pop-Up Pirate and a 'Dunk the Punk' game which was simple enough to set up, especially when Miho was willing to provide the paddling pool and they managed to convince Jonouchi to play the part of the Punk, though, Anzu would learn later on, Honda had to bribe him with much food to get him to do it.
In theory they could do it, if they managed to pull the extras together themselves, just about on budget but it would be tight.
Yugi, who was assigned the task of making the Paper Mache head for the pirate, was just doodling some ideas for it, not really paying attention to what was going on around her when the bell went off. This was unfortunate because when Honda and Jonouchi at lunch time to get food, Yugi got swamped by people asking questions.
"Are you really a girl?"
"How come you never said anything?"
"Why are you wearing the boy's uniform?"
"How long have you been a girl?" The last question earned the speaker a rather odd look.
"Hey! Hey!" Anzu pushed her way through the crowd to Yugi's side Her friend shot her a grateful look as Anzu started shooing people away. "Just because you never bothered to notice Yugi's a girl, doesn't mean you can bother her now."
There was a lot of grumbling and people dispersed, slightly, allowing Yugi some breathing room.
"Thanks Anzu." Yugi gave her friend a watery smile, unnerved by the whispers going on around her as she pulled out her bento.
"Ignore them. This was going to happen sooner or later. Better now then when you catch up to the rest of us." Yugi just let out a soft snort, unsure she'd ever match up to the other girls. "Besides," Anzu continued, "If they hadn't worked it out by now, they're all idiots." The last was said loudly enough to earn herself some dirty looks from a few of the class, but was generally ignored.
Before Jonouchi and Honda returned from the canteen, Yugi slipped off to the bathroom, thoroughly sick of the whispering and thinking she could get away from it if she used the loo, only to find that a couple of girls walked in, gossiping about her there too.
"Of course the entire school is talking about the cross dresser." One of them was saying with a derogatory snort, "I even heard a couple of the guys discussing how cute she is."
"What they see in the freak is…" The second one trailed off as Yugi exited her stall and washed her hands, her face flushed with a combination of embarrassment and irritation. She'd kind of expected the bitchiness, it was a staple of the teenage girl's diet, but it would take some getting used to, considering that it hadn't been directly aimed her before. At least not in her hearing.
Still it made her wonder what other students were really thinking. It wasn't like she could deny the 'cross dresser' claims even if it was only because she couldn't afford a bespoke uniform and as for a couple of the guys thinking she was cute, they had to be thinking of the wrong girl. Honda had said she was cute, but he didn't count since he'd been trying to make up to her for bullying her, Anzu had to be nice to her since she was her friend and no one else had ever approached her except for Hirutani who had only kissed her to piss off Jonouchi. Not that she wanted Hirutani's interest. Ever.
The sick feeling returned briefly as the scene played over in her head, but it didn't last long as she was startled out of her thoughts by a hand slamming against the locker in front of her, causing her to jump a mile and turn to see who it was.
"Hey." Jonouchi gave her a concerned look as she calmed herself down, "You okay? You seem a bit out of it today."
Yugi just nodded and gave Jou a watery smile, causing him to frown slightly as he and Honda escorted her back to their tutor room. She wasn't really sure how she felt. She hadn't really been thinking when she'd snapped at Kokurano and she hadn't really thought about the repercussions of the entire school finally finding out she was a girl. As such she hadn't really been ready for the fallout from her outburst.
Still she had her friends and that had been enough when she'd been considered as a wimpy brat by the majority of the school and she would have to hope that it would be enough now, while her classmates adjusted to the fact that instead of a wimpy guy she was, in fact, a tiny girl. If anything it would stop the guys asking her to play things like basketball and football, she just hoped she wasn't going to be expected to join in the girls' conversations about guys and make up.
She was kind of hoping, once everything settled down, that things would go back to the way they had been, where she'd been ignored and left to her own devices, except by her friends, while the school continued on around her. Of course that would be a while, at least until the next big thing set of the rumour mill again.
If it was anything like normal the big stir about her being a girl would have gone down by tomorrow, probably replaced in everyone's mind by something about some big celebrity, or some stupid thing that one of the boys had done... On the other hand, her luck had never been that good.
Yugi followed the guys back to the classroom and took a seat just in time for the tutor, Chono-Sensei, to walk in. Yugi watched the woman warily. The Wicked Witch of Expel, as she was known, had gotten fifteen students kicked out of school in the last six months alone and, unfortunately, they had all been under achievers, like Jonouchi and Honda.
Not that Yugi or Anzu were safe either, Chono-Sensei was notorious for being one of the strictest teachers in the school, plus she had even, when Yugi had first come into her class, attempted to get Yugi expelled over her uniform until it had been categorically proved that it wasn't possible to get a female uniform in her size, so Yugi was concerned that anything they did that could be misconstrued as 'breaking school rules' would land them in a lot of trouble.
It was part of the reason why Yugi went back to her doodling of the Paper Mache pirate head rather than attract Chono-Sensei's attention by getting any of the answers wrong, but unfortunately it didn't seem to work as the teacher seemed to know that she wasn't really paying attention and swept up the aisle between desks, snatching the piece of paper off of Yugi's desk and holding it up.
"Mutou-Kun, this is the second time that I've caught you failing to pay attention in my class." Chono-Sensei gave Yugi a look that just spelt trouble.
"I…I'm sorry…" Yugi stammered, "It's for the festival…"
Chono-Sensei gave the piece of paper a brief glance, then snorted and crumpled it up into a ball before tossing it over her shoulder, "If I catch you distracted in my class again, Mutou-Kun, I'll have to take drastic measures."
Yugi swallowed nervously, something that appeared to please Chono-Sensei. The teacher returned to the front of the class, missing the fact that Honda swept the piece of paper Yugi had been drawing on off of the floor and into his backpack, earning himself a grateful look from Yugi.
Class dragged as Yugi tried to keep her attention on what was being said by the teacher while bored out of her mind. It wasn't that she didn't want to learn what was being taught, it was that she couldn't keep her mind on the subject matter, not when it was presented the way it was. She'd always found it easier to learn from her Grandfather, who made it a game or showed her something practical, than she had from teachers in school who had just spoken about it but never actually done anything interesting with it and unfortunately Chono-Sensei's classes were no different.
Still she managed to keep her mind on her lessons for the rest of the afternoon, though she wasn't sure how much of it she actually took in, and it was with a huge amount of relief that she escaped from the view of the Wicked Witch.
"I'm not sure that was the best idea you've ever come up with Yugi." Honda said as he passed her the piece of paper, "You know what Chono-Sensei's like."
"She was plastered in make up as usual." Jou snorted, having been in Chono-Sensei's bad books before and having only retained his place in the school because it would be bad for one of their 'work-placement students' to be kicked out of school when the student had to pay for the privilege of having a job. They didn't want to lose in income, even if it meant putting up with slackers like him. "I prefer my women more natural, you know?"
"Jonouchi!" Anzu snapped, having had quite enough of Jou's thoughts on women for the day, having not quite forgiven him for the 'Real High School Girl Cabaret' comment earlier. Especially considering that he'd wanted to dress up the girls in their class in different costumes for every guy's fetish and have them perform on stage.
Yugi just laughed, used to Jou's comments by now and relieved to be free from the classes of doom. "Do you need a hand getting some of the stuff up together?" She asked Anzu once she'd pulled on her trainers carefully, trying to hide a wince as she made the mistake of trying to put her backpack strap over the shoulder that had been bruised when Kokurano had dropped the bookcases on her and Jonouchi, and swiftly switching shoulders.
Anzu pursed her lips, not as oblivious to what Yugi was trying to pull as the girl would have liked, and shook her head. "Honda and a couple of the other guys have agreed to help. You head on home and start on that pirate head. It could take ages to dry."
It was logical reasoning, Yugi knew, but she couldn't help feeling a bit like she'd just been dismissed. However she didn't let those feelings show and instead headed home with Jonouchi in tow, well aware that she probably couldn't have helped much anyway considering that she still wasn't supposed be lifting anything particularly heavy.
She was glad for the spare time later on when she started covering the huge balloon she'd blown up in the sticky mess that was newspaper and wallpaper paste as she successfully managed to coat the kitchen floor and the table in the mixture, highly amusing Jonouchi, who helped her clean up.
"I don't know, Yuge." Jou chuckled as he helped her peel newspaper off of the table, "You don't half know how to make a mess, don't you?"
Yugi spared her friend an amused look as she managed to get the last piece off of the table, well aware that Jou was prodding her, trying to get a rise. That much hadn't changed since they'd become friends, but it didn't bother her any more. Mostly because she had worked out that he did it to all of his friends.
"Did you actually think Anzu was going to go for the cabaret?" She couldn't help asking as she binned the rest of the mess and moved the balloon somewhere safe to dry.
"No." Jou admitted as he slouched on the sofa, "I just wanted to see how big the explosion was."
"Jou!" Yugi's frustrated laugh got waved off by her blonde friend, who just grinned back at her.
"I'm sorry, Yuge, but it is far too much fun to prod Anzu. I just have to watch out for her right hook." Jonouchi half apologised and half explained. Yugi just gave him a look that clearly stated that she thought he was nuts, and slumped into a chair. "Hey, on the plus side we can start building tomorrow, once Anzu draws our space in the lots."
Yugi smiled at that. She was looking forward to the carnival games, even if it mean that poor Jou was going to get soaked, considering that there were a considerable amount of people who were going to be more than willing to get their own back on the teen who had, until he'd made friends with her, been a bit of a thug.
Of course she understood why he'd been like that now, but at the time he'd just come off as a jerk, even if he'd been claiming to be 'helping' her.
Of course she still wasn't certain that Jonouchi and Honda's friendships hadn't come her way because of the wish she'd made on the Millennium Puzzle, but she was trying not to think about that. They had been trying to help her before then after all, but they hadn't really been friends until the day after she'd solved the Puzzle and the problem of Ushio had gone away.
Of course it had only gone away because her Other Self had sent him insane, which was another thing she was trying not to think about. Especially since she couldn't, currently, talk to her Other Self to ask her to fix whatever it was she had done. Not that she wasn't grateful for the spirit's attempts to protect her but she didn't like the idea of people being sent crazy because of her.
"Hey Yuge?" Jou asked when Yugi went quiet.
"Huh?"
"Tomb Raider?"
Yugi nodded vigorously and turned on the PlayStation, more than willing to drown all the thoughts that were going around her head at high speed in a few hours of tomb raiding.
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
The next morning it was with a huge grin that Anzu was able to report to her class that she'd managed to draw the best spot in the lottery for spaces, meaning that they'd have the spot right next to the school's entrance, where they would attract the most attention as opposed to being tucked away in the corner where no one would see them and they wouldn't get many customers. It also meant that they'd raise the most from their customers as they would have more money when they spotted them at the entrance then they would do if they were on their way out.
For once everything seemed to be going right.
They got going rather quickly, taking the supplies that they had bought the night before into their spot and starting to build and paint everything they could and within a couple of days they were well underway. They were over budget too, even with the barrel they'd gotten for nothing from a local brewer and the tall plastic tank provided by Miho when the paddling pool had turned out to have a hole in. None of that mattered since they had everything they needed, they just needed to put it all together.
Unfortunately, with just three days left to go, Inogashira Goro, the class representative from 11D stomped over, demanding to know what they were doing in 'their' spot.
"This is our spot." Anzu protested, backed up by Jonouchi and Honda and wondering why he hadn't come and protested about this earlier, "I drew it in the raffle."
"This is where WE make okonomiyaki every year!" He was practically bellowing, making Yugi, who was stood on the Dunk the Punk's seat helping make a final adjustment to the game before it could be tested nervous, "Get your stuff out of our way!"
"No." Anzu stood up to him, refusing to back down when she was clearly in the right. "This is our spot." She said firmly, trying to ignore the way that he loomed over her and Jou and Honda shifted into recognisably offensive postures, preparing to defend her, "If you don't like it, take it up with the teachers."
"You have till school kicks out." Inogashira growled, "If your stupid games aren't out of our space by then, we'll move them ourselves." He gestured to the group of seniors who were hovering outside, all of whom were bigger than Jou and Honda before picking up a stone near the entrance and lobbing it at the target on the Dunk a Punk.
Yugi had just enough time to let out a squeak before the platform collapsed beneath her and she dropped into the water filled tank with a splash.
"If you want it to keep working that well," Inogashira snorted in amusement, as Miho helped Yugi out of the tub, "I suggest you move it before school's out." With that he turned and left.
Jou turned to look at Yugi, who had gone bright red in embarrassment as she took off her jacket only to find that her drenched top was clinging to her, and whistled appreciatively, "No mistaking your gender now Yuge."
Anzu, quite appropriately, hit him around the back of the head for that comment, which had only caused Yugi to go even redder, to the point where she resembled a tomato.
"So what do we do?" One of their classmates asked Anzu who, as Class Rep was expected to settle interclass disputes. "Are we going to need to move?"
"No. I'll settle this with Inogashira and a teacher. You lot keep building." Anzu darted off, leaving her classmates to continue their work, which, unfortunately slowed down as the afternoon dragged on and Anzu still didn't return.
Just half an hour from school ending a rather dejected looking Anzu returned to their booth with bad news. It had taken her all afternoon to get any of the teachers to make a ruling on it, but the spot was theirs as per the rules. However, if Inogashira and Anzu could come to an arrangement between them then the spaces could be swapped.
When Anzu had refused to do just that Inogashira had threatened to tear all of their work down unless it was moved and the teachers were refusing to do anything about it.
There was outrage amongst some of the students, but most had expected this outcome and they swiftly worked to clear as much of their area as they could. However it wasn't quickly enough for the senior students, who arrived five minutes behind Anzu with a huge grill.
"I told you to beat it." Inogashira growled at Anzu, who looked a little helpless.
"You're the ones who're gunna beat it." Jou snarled at the huge thug as he came to Anzu's aid.
"And what's a punk like you going to do?" Inogashira asked, roughly shoving Jou aside. The blonde didn't take to that well, and launched an attack on the huge teenager, who swept Jonouchi aside just as easily as Ushio had done to Yugi a couple of months ago, sending him crashing into the wall.
Before Jou could get up, Inogashira's classmates attempted to break the booth down with their grill, refusing to listen to the protests of Yugi's classmates.
"Stop it!" Yugi darted between the booth and the grill, acting where her classmates wouldn't, only for the older students to slam their grill into her so hard that there was an audible, sickening crack and the tiny teen went flying, crashing through the buckled wall and landing, unconscious, on the other side.
"Yugi!" Anzu darted to her side as Honda snarled and attacked Inogashira, who hadn't expected an attack to come from any other angle than the furious blonde, who was picking himself up while giving Inogashira a hate filled look, and was knocked off of his feet by the assault.
It didn't make much difference. While Honda and Inogashira brawled, the other seniors had set their grill up in the middle of the booth, only just waiting long enough for someone to move their fallen classmate before dropping the grill on a pile of bricks, ready to light.
They didn't get a chance to wreck any of the games that hadn't been trashed by the fall of the booth's wall as people rushed over to find out what the noise was, the teachers arriving just behind them and dispersing the crowds and breaking up the brawl between Inogashira and Honda.
Instead the teachers informed Anzu that THEY would have to move their things by the end of tomorrow, not Inogashira's class and vanished without saying a word to the senior students about the damage caused or the injuries to the other students.
Honda was taken inside by the teachers to get chewed out, while Anzu had to start organising the relocation of their games to another place, leaving it to Jou, who was furious at their lack of action and the way he'd been so easily swept aside, to scoop up Yugi and carry her to the infirmary.
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"They can't get away with this."
Yugi awoke to find herself in pain once again. It was something that was happening far too often recently and to start with she couldn't work out why it hurt to breathe too deeply, nor why Jou or Honda sounded so angry.
"But what can we do? They're seniors. And the teachers are on their side. Again."
"I don't care if I get expelled. We can't keep getting pushed around like this."
She took in a sharp gasp at Jou's words, only to follow it with a pained whimper that attracted the attention of her friends.
"Yugi?" Anzu asked, concerned as Yugi opened her eyes and carefully pushed herself into a sitting position, wincing at the pain from both her ribs and the remaining bruising from Kokurano's murder attempt, "I'm so glad you're awake."
"H…Hey." Yugi stumbled over her words, taking shallow breaths to avoid causing herself anymore discomfort, "Where…?"
"The school infirmary." Jonouchi answered for her, putting the Puzzle down on the cupboard at her side as he did so and watching, warily, as she put it on, half worried that Oneesan was going to go on a rampage, "You got knocked out by Inogashira and his thugs."
Considering how she felt, Yugi wasn't so certain that she'd just been knocked out, but she supposed that without a trip to hospital, which she really didn't want, there was no way to tell. "Are you alright?" She asked, far more concerned for Jonouchi's health than her own.
"Fine." Jou was shorter with her than he would be normally however, telling the girl volumes.
"That knucklehead is fine, don't worry about him." Honda snorted at her, "How're you feeling?"
"I'm ok." Yugi lied, earning herself a worried look from her friends, "What happened to the games?"
"We can try again next year." Anzu said, standing up and turning away from her, trying not to burst into tears at the sheer unfairness of it all.
"But… that's our space!" Yugi protested, shaking her head.
"You're right. We should get it back." Anzu sounded sad, "But it…"
"Yuge!" Jonouchi yelped.
Anzu wheeled around to find Yugi was getting out of bed except… red eyes flashed angrily as she struggled to get to her feet.
"No, O…" Anzu trailed off when she realised Honda was in the room, "No Yugi. Don't. You're hurt and I don't want… don't get yourself injured anymore. It's not worth it."
Oneesan hesitated. She wanted to go and teach Inogashira a lesson. Hell he'd already broken the rules multiple times, she was well within her rights to Penalty Game him on sight. However Anzu was right, she was in a lot of pain and she somehow doubted that Inogashira would play fair.
That didn't mean that she wasn't going to game him, it just meant that she had to think carefully about what game she was going to challenge him to. She somehow didn't think that Mind Crushing Inogashira like she had the thugs that she'd challenged on the warehouse roof would go down very well with her host's friends.
Jonouchi gently pushed her back towards the bed. To the others it looked like he was trying to get her to lie back down, however as he did so he muttered just loudly enough for Oneesan to hear. "Wait till they go home. If you can come up with a game that doesn't risk Yugi getting hurt any further and won't kill anyone, I'll help you out."
Oneesan's eyes caught Jou's for just a moment but it was enough for her to see just how sincere he was being. He was just as ticked off at the senior class as she was...
She nodded slightly and sat down again and listened to the conversation going on around her. Really, if she wasn't planning on gaming someone now, she should surrender control but Oneesan didn't want to. She didn't wake up very often and more often than not it was while her host was in danger.
It was nice to be able to just listen to the others talk, even if was just Jou and Honda discussing how they'd like to tear Inogashira limb from limb. However they weren't her friends, Oneesan wasn't sure they ever would be considering everything, and as such she was stealing time that rightfully belonged to her host.
She could take control again when it was time for the game, but for now she, regretfully, slipped back into the corridors of her mind to mull the problem over, relinquishing control to Yugi, who subtly looked around, slightly concerned until she saw that all her friends were fine.
Once the school nurse had looked her over and announced her fit to go home, though how she could really say that without looking her over properly was beyond Yugi, the four of them headed towards the lockers.
"Hey Yuge." Jonouchi said casually, "I left my bag in the booth, come with me?"
"We'll meet you tomorrow." Honda told the pair when Yugi nodded, "You coming Anzu?"
Anzu frowned as she looked Yugi and Jonouchi. She didn't suspect Yugi of anything, but Jonouchi wasn't exactly the type to let something like today pass without retribution and the Puzzle spirit was a great fan of vengeance. She'd already proved that.
"We're not gunna start anything." Jonouchi gestured to himself and Yugi, waving off her concern, "Promise." Anzu gave him a sharp look, wondering if he thought she was completely oblivious.
"Just try not to pick any more fights, Jonouchi." Honda snorted at his friend, before ushering Anzu away. Once the pair of them were out of sight, Yugi and Jou headed towards the wrecked booth.
Of course Jonouchi had no idea of what Oneesan's plan was and the problem was it wasn't like he could ask Yugi because she'd have no idea what her Other Self was planning and probably didn't want to know so somehow he had to get Oneesan's attention.
The problem was he quite liked living and every method he knew of of attracting the spirit's attention involved scaring his friend rotten, which would just end in a Shadow Game.
He finally made up his mind on what he was going to do when they passed the Dunk the Punk, which had had to be emptied to be moved out of the booth. It wasn't the smartest plan he'd ever picked, but since Oneesan didn't generally come out when he made Yugi jump, this would probably work much better.
He picked up the bucket of water which had been left at the side of the huge tank and tipped its entire contents on Yugi's head.
And then ducked behind the tank before he could be seen.
"Show yourself, whoever that was!" Jou winced at Oneesan's furious tone and it was definitely the spirit who was talking, he recognised the voice, "Now!"
He had two choices. He could come out of hiding and admit to what he'd done and possibly get Shadow Gamed or he could stay hiding, wait till she found him and then go through a Shadow Game. Either way he was toast… Why had he thought this was a good idea again?
"Mutou-Chan," Jonouchi got lucky, the arrival of Inogashira allowing him to shoot out of hiding without Oneesan questioning him, especially when he backed her up, offering the muscle that even if she hadn't been injured she could never have provided by herself, "I'm surprised you're walking around."
"Here to trash the rest of our games, Inogashira?" Oneesan's eyes narrowed as she asked her question, controlling herself only because Jonouchi was around.
"You were told to move them." He shrugged without a care.
"This is our booth." Oneesan snorted, "We drew it in the lottery. Not that you care."
"Why should I? This had always been our class's stomping ground."
"I have an idea." Oneesan stated, shifting her body just slightly, taking advantage of the fact she was drenched to distract the other teenager, only to gain a slight smirk when she realised she was distracting Jou too, "How about you and I play a game?"
"A game Mutou-Chan?" Inogashira asked, still semi-distracted.
"Sure, a round of Dunk the Punk, but with a difference." Oneesan said, stepping onto the ladder that would take her up to the platform as a second setup appeared out of thin air, startling Jonouchi, "We'll both sit on one platform and we each get three tries to dunk the other. The first one to dunk their opponent wins the right to this booth, but be warned, this is a Shadow Game, if you cheat there will be… unforeseen… consequences."
"And why would I play a game with you Mutou-Chan, when the booth is already mine?"
"Because I know you, Inogashira, you don't back down from a challenge. Do you really want me going around school tomorrow telling everyone you backed down from a challenge from me? The cross dressing freak who no one wants on their team since she can't throw to save her life?"
Jou winced, having heard those insults thrown around at one point or another since he'd known Yugi and noting the slightly angry way Oneesan said it. The speakers were probably lucky that she hadn't been awake at the time, or they probably would have been challenged by now.
The senior snorted and stepped onto the ladder as Oneesan found herself grabbed by Jonouchi. The confused spirit looked at Jou who shook his head at her before looking at Inogashira. "Oi." The senior turned to look at him, "I'm playing in Yugi's place. Got it?"
"Heh. Sure. I'll take on any challengers." Inogashira snorted before continuing up his ladder.
"Jonouchi!" Oneesan protested.
"You're injured and I said I'd help." Jou snorted, "Don't you trust me?"
Oneesan considered him for a moment, then nodded, slowly. "Just promise me you won't cheat, okay?" She asked as she stepped down.
"Don't worry. I heard your warning." Jou waved it off, "I'll be fine."
"So all I have to do is dunk that idiot and I win and you'll stop whining about the booth?" Inogashira double checked as Jou sat on the platform on the real Dunk the Punk and looked down only to see what looked like water.
"Uh, Yuge?" Jou asked as she nodded at Inogashira.
"Yes, Jonouchi?"
"Where'd the water come from?"
"It's an illusion but don't worry, it'll feel real enough if you hit it." Oneesan replied with a chuckle as she handed him three beanbag balls.
"An illusion?" Jou yelped, but Oneesan's attention had turned to Inogashira, handing him his share of beanbag balls.
"Ready boys?" She asked, "You'll take it in turns. Inogashira first, then Jou, then you take it from the top. However you may not throw anything at anyone, only at the targets. Got it?"
Inogashira's answer was to throw one of the balls, missing the target on Jou's dunk tank by inches.
"Ha!" Jou crowed, "That's one life lost, Inogashira!" His own beanbag missed by quite a bit more, causing him to let out a irritated snort, "And that's what I get for not concentrating."
The senior's second ball missed by a much larger margin, causing the older teen to cuss, where as Jou's was much closer, missing by centimetres.
"I'm not gunna miss next time." Jou promised with a smirk.
Inogashira, however, was much less confident. There was something wrong with the balls he'd been given. They felt heavy in his hand and just holding them made him shake. Jonouchi wasn't having the same trouble, so Mutou had to have given him different balls to the ones she'd given her friend. So much for playing fair.
Not that it would matter, he'd picked up a rock when the pair of them had been having their lover's tiff which he'd throw next, rather than the last ball.
"Last go, Inogashira." Mutou reminded him with a smug look, confident in her friend's victory.
The look changed his mind for him. He threw the rock at her rather than at the target.
The rock hit Oneesan just above her left eyebrow, grazing the skin and drawing blood, causing her to let out a pained yelp.
"Yuge!"
"Stay there!" Oneesan snapped at Jonouchi, who had been about to get up as Inogashira's last beanbag missed the target completely; "The door to darkness has opened." Jonouchi watched, shocked as a glowing eye appeared on Oneesan's forehead and she gave the senior the dirtiest look he had ever seen her give anyone, "For your crimes against my friends, my classmates and myself, my judgement is this." She raised her hand, fingers splayed wide, and pointed it at Inogashira, "Penalty Game, Exigency."
Inogashira shuddered as the spell settled.
"Until you learn what it means to do things the right way and work hard on something, you'll have to help everyone that needs help, no matter how hard the task." She informed him, "And you can start by…"
She trailed off, blinking as something hit the target on Inogashira's Dunk the Punk and the senior dropped into the dunk tank with a splash.
"Sorry Oneesan, but I wanted my turn." Jou told her. Oneesan just stared at him, her train of thoughts completely derailed by Jou's unexpected actions as the second Dunk the Punk vanished, leaving Inogashira on the ground, looking stunned.
"Should we go home?" Jou asked, looking amused by Oneesan's reaction to him dunking Inogashira.
"In a minute." Oneesan said, pulling some paper out of her bag and scribbling a note that stated that this booth was the stomping ground of her class and made Inogashira sign it, warning him that he wouldn't be able to tell anyone about what had transpired there and if he tried something worse would befall him.
"What the hell was that about the 'door to darkness' having opened?" Jonouchi asked as they left school grounds and headed for the Game Shop. "And the hell are these 'Shadow Games' you've been playing anyway?"
"The Shadow Games are part of my magic." Oneesan told him, frowning slightly, wishing she'd watched what she'd said and wondering how to explain what little she knew in a way that wouldn't have Jonouchi demanding answers she couldn't give, "And they're actually surprisingly basic in nature. There are the players, the game itself and the victory and loss conditions." She ticked them off on her fingers, "Those are all defined by 'The Rules'."
Jou nodded his understanding, surprised and pleased that she would actually give him the information he wanted.
"The trouble comes when someone cheats or breaks those Rules." She continued, "That's when the Shadows themselves come into it."
"The Shadows?"
"Don't ask me to explain them. I probably knew once but..." Oneesan shrugged helplessly, "Anyway, when someone cheats there HAS to be a Penalty Game and the Shadows draw out a person's true nature. They can claim that they're not going to cheat as much as they like, but if it's in their nature, they'll cheat. Once that happens if the Game's creator doesn't define one, then the Shadows themselves will pick one"
"Which is why you were worried about me standing in for you." Jou realised. "Hey," He grinned, "This means I wouldn't cheat."
Oneesan nodded, feeling slightly relieved by that. "Anyway, there's another thing you have to know about the Shadow Games. They have to be fair. If you bias the game against a player, the Shadows will find a way to swing just as much in that player's favour, they just have to find the out clause. Sometimes it can seem like they're bending the Rules, but it's actually the Rules bending around them. It's probably why the Shadows let you stand in for me earlier. Inogashira was uninjured and he's good at throwing, as are you."
"Whereas you're injured and, no offence to Yuge, but she throws like a girl."
"Uhh, Jonouchi?" Oneesan looked amused.
"I know. I know." Jou waved it off, "She is a girl." He gave Oneesan a curious look, "So what does this have to do with 'the door to darkness'?"
"The Shadows are sealed away and it can be difficult to utilise them sometimes. When someone cheats in a Shadow Game a door between this Realm and the Shadow one opens, just temporarily. It stays open long enough for the Penalty to be set and implemented, then it closes again." She tried not to shudder as she thought about the Shadow Realm, "When Inogashira threw that rock at me, it opened a door and well..." She looked at him, "You know the rest."
"And how long does a Penalty last?" Jou asked, warily, wondering why he wasn't as worried as he should have been.
"Don't know." Oneesan admitted, "It depends on how fast someone reforms from the ways that the Penalty Game was designed to stop. Could be anything from a few hours to never. It depends on the nature of the Penalty and how quickly someone can change."
"So basically until they learn their lesson." Jou nodded, thinking carefully.
"You're taking this rather well." Oneesan couldn't help commenting, with a small, amused smile.
"I figure if I've gone mad it's too interesting an illusion to give up. If I haven't then at least I know what I'm dealing with. I wouldn't want to break any of your 'Rules' by accident and get myself challenged."
"What? You mean like my rule on not tipping a bucket of water over my head?" Jonouchi froze at the look on Oneesan's face. "You thought I didn't know it was you." It was a statement rather than a question.
"I hoped." Jou said, backing up quickly as her Puzzle glowed, "Sorry. I won't do it again."
She considered him a few moments longer then smirked, her Puzzle's glow dying as she did so. She'd had no intention of challenging Jonouchi. Scaring him however was another matter.
"I suppose I can forgive you. This time." She told him, noting the way he relaxed slightly at her words, "But in the future if you need to get my attention, drenching Imotochan is not the way to..." She sneezed and yelped as the movement jolted her ribs.
"Shit, sorry Oneesan." Jou shrugged off his jacket and put it around her shoulders as he finally noticed her shivering, glad that they were only a couple of blocks from the shop.
"I don't think that Nurse knew what she was talking about." Oneesan complained, wincing as she took too deep a breath.
"Shame you don't have a spell that could just fix you right up." Jou commented, watching her with concern.
"If I knew it, I don't now. If I did I would have used it weeks ago." Oneesan sighed, her eyes lighting up in relief when the shop came into sight for just a moment, then…
Yugi wavered on her feet as she was dropped back in control, feeling a little dizzy from the pain. Jonouchi, noticed the sudden switch and supported his friend, grinning at her when she gave him a grateful look.
"Jou?" She asked, shivering underneath the jacket, "Why am I drenched?"
"Uhhh…" Jou looked embarrassed as he held the back door open for her, "Sorry."
Yugi paused for a moment, considering asking what had happened while she'd been 'away from home', but since Jou didn't seem all that concerned, or if he was he was hiding it well, she had just one thing to ask, "Is the booth ours again now?" She asked before sneezing and squeaking.
"How did you…?" Jonouchi stared at her, confused as to where the question had come from.
"Oneesan took control. She doesn't do that for fun." Yugi gave him a look that clearly stated that she could work out what had happened. "Is anyone hurt?"
"No." Jou shook his head, "The booth's ours and Inogashira will have to be nice to people for a while, but no, no one's hurt." He paused for a moment before sniggering at her, "Except for a certain hard headed girl who thinks it's a good idea to put herself in harm's way."
"I…Uhhh…" Yugi gave him an embarrassed look and darted inside.
Jou just shook his head in semi amused concern, still amused at how much Yugi had changed over the last couple of months. Considering that he'd considered her a complete pushover not that long ago, it was really quite amazing to see how much she'd come out of her shell in the last ten weeks.
Perhaps she'd just needed some real friends, as opposed to some idiots pushing her around the entire time.
"Hey Jou!" Yugi called down the stairs, her tone wavering as she did so, "Grandpa's left us some food in the microwave!"
Jonouchi frowned momentarily as he slipped inside and took off his shoes, remembering that Sugoroku had gone out to meet with an old friend of his who was curator at the local museum, then headed upstairs.
The beauty of Sugoroku being out was that they wouldn't be badgered to go to bed. They could stay up as late as they liked, as long as they got up for school tomorrow.
Jonouchi came upstairs just in time to hear Yugi sneeze and yelp, darting into the kitchen to find that she had been trying to reach into one of the upper cupboards when she'd sneezed, aggravating her ribs.
He quickly grabbed a glass of water and some painkillers out of the cupboard and passed them to her before kicking her out of the kitchen.
"Go sit." Jonouchi said as he shoved her out of the door, "I'll bring the food in once it's heated up."
"Thanks, Jou."
He heated up the food quickly and carried it through to the living room on trays only to find Yugi had already fallen asleep in a soggy lump on the sofa.
He put the trays down and quickly got a blanket out of the cupboard, not actually sure what to do.
Finally he made up his mind when he finished eating, only to find she was still shivering even under the blanket. He picked up the phone and called the one number he knew he could always get help for Yugi from.
"Hi, Anzu?" He asked, "Help."
LINE_RECOGNTION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
Author Note: - Soggy Yugi is soggy. At least when she's asleep she isn't hurting. Something I've noticed going though the anime and the manga is that Yugi seems to spend a lot of the time in Season Zero being beaten up. Probably why they can take the pounding they can later without keeling over. I'm not actually being meaner to Yugi then the cannon is, I'm just not neglecting the repercussions of everything that happens.
Sorry for the very very very long delay. This chapter has required a few rewrites. Plus I've moved house, plus I've graduated from University. Lots of things and little time.
Editor's Note: Exigency. Exigency. I'm a language nerd and I've never heard of it, but yes, that is a real word...
