Close to a week after his duel with Kaiba, Yugi hurried into the library situated between Domino University's Computer Science and Engineering buildings. Geared more towards technology than academic research or the arts, the library boasted almost as many computers as it did bookshelves, though Yugi paid attention to neither as he made for the back of the building. He found a single vacant private study room and darted inside, effectively stealing it from another group of students who'd been angling for the space. They glared at him as he kicked the door shut with his heel, but for once, Yugi didn't care. He spilled most of his textbooks onto the floor in his haste to remove his laptop from his backpack. This, too, he ignored; he left them lying on the dingy gray carpet in favor of placing his computer on the table in front of him, booting it up, and opening his favored video-chat program.

"C'mon, c'mon," he muttered, clicking furiously, "don't have gone out already, I need to talk to you..."

To his relief, Anzu's face appeared on his screen. "Yugi, you're late!" she scolded him. "I was about to leave and do some grocery shopping!"

"I know. I'm sorry. Class ran long," Yugi apologized, then greeted her as their tradition dictated: "Hello from tomorrow!"

"Hello from yesterday," replied Anzu. Even in a low-resolution image, she looked radiant as always; six months in a strange country hadn't dampened her spirit in the slightest, though if pressed, Yugi would have said Anzu had matured since the beginning of her journey. Thoughtfulness and self-confidence attended her more closely now, though energetic optimism remained at the forefront of her personality. She grinned at Yugi, and his stomach turned the little somersault it still tended to do whenever Anzu regarded him affectionately. The King of Games had mostly gotten over his crush on his childhood friend-his trials over the past few years had led Yugi to value Anzu infinitely more as a platonic companion than as a potential romantic partner-but years of pining had left a mark on his subconscious that wouldn't disappear anytime soon. Perhaps a part of him would always be a little in love with Anzu Mazaki, the same way a part of him would always love...

Yugi pushed that train of thought away; now wasn't the time.

"How are you? Were you up very late practicing last night?" he asked. "You and your classmates are still preparing that big routine, right?"

"Yeah, but Susan and Diego had to leave early to work on another project, so last night's session didn't last very long. Normally that would annoy me, but I was kinda grateful for the break this time." Absently, she twirled a strand of her hair around her index finger. Anzu had been letting it grow since she'd arrived in New York, and it fell just past her shoulders now. "What about you? Any more coding all-nighters?"

"Fewer now that midterms are over. School's been pretty stable compared to everything else."

Anzu's brows drew together with equal parts protectiveness and worry. "Has Kaiba challenged you again?"

"Not yet." Which surprised Yugi. He could only assume that fighting with Mokuba was currently claiming the bulk of the CEO's attention. Anzu must have been thinking along similar lines, because she asked after Mokuba next. "I haven't heard from him at all. I'm worried about him, but I think he'd push me away if I tried to reach out to him just now," said Yugi.

Anzu nodded. Then, eyes widening, she cried, "That girl! I completely forgot about her! How is she?"

"Did you get...?"

"The photo, yes! She really does look just like that woman we saw in Ancient Egypt. It's wild! And you said she has amnesia?"

"Yes, though the doctor couldn't find any neurological reason for it. Shirogane-chan's tests all came back fine."

"She's still living with your family, then?" Yugi nodded. "It was kind of your mother and grandfather to take her in..."

"It's weird, Anzu-chan. She's very grateful to us, but she acts like she expects us to kick her out any minute."

"Like she's...scared of you?" Anzu's facial expression went on an incredulous journey as she tried to imagine anyone feeling intimidated by the Mutou family.

"Not quite like that. It's hard to explain..." Yugi considered for a second. "For example, every morning, she hides her futon away before any of us get up. Okaa-san told her she could keep it in the living room, but she always puts it back in the linen closet. She never leaves anything lying around, not even dishes or a cup of water."

"She's just being neat and polite."

"Well, yes, but I think it goes beyond politeness. I haven't seen her sit down and take a moment to herself at all. I mean, she has tea with jii-chan every day, but that's the closest she gets to relaxing. She's always doing chores or helping at the game shop. She's almost frantic about it, like she thinks we'll throw her to the curb if she isn't useful to us."

"Maybe," said Anzu. "Or maybe it's not about you guys at all. Maybe she's just freaked out because she's alone and she can't remember anything. You remember all the weird stuff Atem did in the beginning, when he wasn't even sure if he was a part of you or not?"

Yugi paused, half taken aback at how casually Anzu could reference the Pharaoh, half skeptical of her connection between Atem and Aoi's respective behaviors. "...I don't think setting people on fire is quite the same as compulsively mopping floors, Anzu-chan."

Anzu did a double-take. "When did Atem set people on fire?!"

Oh, damn. Losing his other self also meant that Yugi had lost the voice in his head that would remind him which of his friends knew about what drastic actions Atem had taken in their name.

"No one died! ...I mean, I'm pretty sure no one died, and anyway, most of them were going to kill me or you or Jounouchi-kun first!" Yugi scrambled to explain.

"You are going to tell me more about this very soon," growled Anzu, pointing at Yugi with a flinty stare, "but because a homeless man took his pants off in front of me today, I'm not emotionally equipped to drag the information out of you just now."

"A homeless guy did what?"

"Relax, he was old and harmless and I would have scratched his face off if he'd tried anything." Anzu held up her French-manicured nails demonstratively. "Back to Shirogane-san. Have you told her anything yet?"

Yugi opened his mouth to press her for more details, but then he sighed and let it go in favor of reflecting on Anzu's query. He had witnessed firsthand the emotional toll amnesia had taken on Atem; he wanted to spare Aoi similar pain, but so far, he'd failed to confide in her about the Memory World RPG. His hesitance was partly due to the fact that he didn't have much to tell. Yugi had seen Aoi's ancient doppelganger a grand total of once, and though Atem had given Yugi summaries of the game's events and of his own memories, only the former had included the white-haired girl's sad story; the Pharaoh had known Kisara solely as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. There was also the more obvious problem:

"I don't know if she'll believe me about the whole magic-glimpse-into-the-past thing. Whether she's Kisara's reincarnation or not..."

"She must be! It's too much of a coincidence for her to be anything else." Anzu got a faraway look in her eye as she mused, "According to Atem, the Ancient Egyptian version of Kaiba saved Kisara, and then she saved him after she died. Now their souls have found each other again after thousands of years... It's actually very romantic when you think about it. And it makes Kaiba's fixation on the Blue-Eyes White Dragon seem almost sane."

"The situation would be more romantic if it didn't involve Kaiba," Yugi snorted dryly.

Anzu came back to her senses, making a face. "Point taken. But you should still tell Shirogane-san what you know, Yugi."

"I know I should. I'm just not sure of the best way to do it."

His friend recognized the plaintive note in Yugi's voice from their middle-school days; it was his help me, Anzu, people are difficult and I don't know how to talk to them tone. Younger Anzu might have rolled her eyes and acquiesced to his unspoken plea, enjoying the sense of altruism and superiority she gained from helping shy, dorky Yugi Mutou navigate the messy world of human relationships. Older Anzu realized that Yugi actually understood people quite well. One had only to watch him duel in order to see his insight at work: unlike Seto Kaiba, whose tactics involved powering through any curveballs his foes could throw at him, or even Atem, who had kept challengers off-balance through innovative combos delivered for maximum shock value, Yugi worked within his opponents' own strategies, maneuvering them inexorably towards defeat even as they thought they were steering themselves toward victory. He couldn't have dueled in such a manner without a bone-deep understanding of human psychology; he simply had a hard time translating that knowledge outside of a game's framework when it involved people he didn't know well.

But Anzu, too, understood people, and more than that, she understood Yugi better now than she ever had. So instead of giving him straightforward advice, she asked,

"Well, what would you do if this was a game?"

Yugi, who had been staring off into space and rubbing the back of his neck agitatedly, blinked at Anzu in surprise. "Huh?"

"Say this was a roleplaying game-the kind Bakura-kun likes-and Shirogane-san was an, uh," Anzu cast around for the proper jargon, "an NPC, a stranger, who you wanted to help. How would you approach her with unbelievable but necessary information if you weren't sure how she'd respond to it?"

Yugi frowned and crossed his arms. Most times, he looked like a child when he assumed that posture, his lower lip pushed out and his large eyes narrowing thoughtfully, but in that moment, Yugi reminded Anzu of Atem, calculating odds and pursuing victory conditions with single-minded determination. At length Yugi said,

"Well, I'd have to give her a reason to trust me, first off, in order to lower the DC for persuading her. So I'd probably try to build a relationship between our characters somehow-see if she needs me to go on a quest for her or something. Then after showing her I'm trustworthy, I'd give her a small piece of the information and see how she reacted. If she seemed willing to accept it, I'd feel better about sharing the rest."

A soft smile broke over Anzu's face, but she managed to keep her tone matter-of-fact as she concluded, "So you need to do what you do best: make friends. Show Shirogane-san your intentions are good, and she'll be more likely to believe what you tell her, especially if you break it to her gradually."

"Right...yes, of course!" Yugi's eyes widened as he made the connection between the hypothetical and reality. "Anzu, you're brilliant!"

"Uh, you realize you're the one who figured out what to do, right? I just summed it up."

"Still," said Yugi. Then he chuckled and rubbed at the back of his head. "Making friends isn't what I do best, though. I'm the King of Games, not of friendship."

"Are you kidding me? It absolutely is what you're best at! You make friends with playing cards, Yugi; who else can do that?"

"Atem," blurted Yugi without thinking. "Atem did, too."

"Well, yes," agreed Anzu hastily, "but he was also a three-thousand-year-old sorcerer-king. You make friends just by being Mutou Yugi. I call that more impressive."

Now it was Yugi's turn to smile softly at her. "Thank you, Anzu-chan," he said.

"Any time."

They spent the next half-hour taking about other, less consequential things (Anzu's immature roommates, Jounouchi's new part-time job, Otogi and Honda's continued rivalry for Shizuka's affections and whether or not it actually constituted an elaborate framework of flirtation between Otogi and Honda), and by the time Yugi bid Anzu farewell, his mind felt clearer and his heart fuller than it had in a while. He knew his next moves, now, he thought as he left the library and pulled out his cell phone. All that remained was to make them.

He dialed Jounouchi's number with a determined grin.


The middle-aged woman's impeccable makeup did nothing to soften her pinched, suspicious scowl. The corners of her mouth went tight with displeasure as she regarded the box Aoi had given her.

"You're certain you don't have any blue ones?" she asked.

Aoi straightened from her apologetic bow. "Yes, ma'am. Unfortunately, we've sold out of blue consoles."

"Because my son was very set on the blue. It's his favorite."

"I understand. I'm very sorry, but we don't have the blue in stock right now," said Aoi.

A part of her wished that the woman would order her to check in the back again, if only because it would give her an excuse to hide away for a minute. Kame Game Store had been enjoying an unusually busy afternoon; Sugoroku was helping some schoolchildren pick out booster packs in one corner of the store, while Omocha manned the cash register, ringing up a pierced, tattooed group of duelists who had dropped in hoping to get a glance at Yugi Mutou (contrary to their rebellious aesthetic, they'd proven polite enough to buy a few things even after being disappointed). That left Aoi the mother attempting to find a birthday gift for her son. Over her short time working in the store, Aoi had encountered far ruder customers, but a headache made her current situation feel more difficult to manage than normal. In her heart of hearts, Aoi just wanted the woman to go away, but losing business for her rescuers was out of the question. So instead she went on,

"If the silver isn't acceptable, we have black, red, and purple as well..."

The woman's distrustful gaze flicked from the box to Aoi herself. "You have all those colors, but not blue?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Ridiculous!" snorted the woman.

"I-It's a very popular color, so-"

"You should have ordered more of it, then, shouldn't you?"

Ignoring the rhetorical question, Aoi hazarded, "Perhaps I could take your number and call you when we get more in?"

"I came all the way here from the westernmost borough of the city, and I'm not eager to make that trip again," said the woman. "Clearly I should have just gone to the electronics superstore closer to my home."

"I'm very sorry for the inconvenience," Aoi told her, bowing again despite her head's protests. Inspiration hit her suddenly; she straightened, retrieved another product from an adjacent shelf, and showed it to the woman, explaining, "We do have blue protective cases for the consoles. Would one of them be acceptable?"

The woman didn't turn her nose up at her suggestion right away, which made Aoi's chest swell with hope. It deflated quickly, however, when the woman said, "I assume it's deeply discounted."

"Um..."

"Because otherwise, I'd have to question the business practices of a store that not only fails to supply its customers with what they need, but tries to hoodwink them into paying more to make up for its shortcomings."

Aoi felt nervous sweat gathering at the small of her back. "I'm not... That is, I can't promise any kind of-"

"Is everything all right over here?"

Aoi almost failed to recognize the overly-cheery voice as belonging to Yugi, who had materialized quite suddenly at her side; he must have just arrived home from university, but somehow, he'd managed to don a green Kame Game Shop apron and sneak into the store without anyone noticing him. He wore the most impeccable customer-service smile Aoi had ever seen. She envied him for it; she always wound up looking half crazy or vaguely pained whenever she practiced her own fake smile in the mirror.

Clearly the woman knew who Yugi was, or else she noticed the excited sussurus that had swept through Kame Game Shop when he'd spoken up, because she paused, her face reddening, before explaining the situation in far more subdued tones than she'd used with Aoi. Yugi listened attentively, and after the woman finished, he told her,

"I'm afraid we're not offering any discounts on the cases today, but-does your son play Duel Monsters, by any chance?" When the woman nodded, Yugi said, "I would be happy to sign something for him in order to make up for your trouble."

The whispers around them grew louder. Aoi knew from Sugoroku that Yugi almost never gave out autographs. He was doing so now in order to help her, she realized, abruptly understanding what Omocha had meant when she'd said Yugi had inherited his grandfather's kindness and then some.

Yugi steered the mollified woman to the cash register and personally rang up her purchase. He wound up signing the console case itself, using a metallic gold marker to draw a round, fuzzy creature with big eyes on the clamshell plastic. After that, the kids Sugoroku had been helping swarmed him, and Yugi good-naturedly autographed Duel Monsters cards for them and for every other customer in the store, though he politely declined requests for photos. The last to get his autograph, one of the punk duelists, asked him shyly,

"You used to draw an eye for your signature. Why the change?"

Yugi smiled; Aoi thought it looked a bit more like his customer-service grin than the previous few he'd given. "Kuriboh and I have been through a lot together, and he's more fun to draw."

The duelist bowed and thanked Yugi, then rejoined her group. They left the shop as one buzzing, excited mass. Sugoroku locked the door behind them.

"Once word gets out that you're handing out autographs, we'll have another mob on our hands. I can't afford to replace any more display cases, so we may as well close early," he grumbled. Yugi almost apologized, but then he noticed the proud twinkle in his grandfather's eye. "You made those kids' collective day, you know."

Sugoroku patted Yugi on the shoulder, then went into the back storeroom to begin the end-of-day organizing; Omocha followed after giving her son a kiss on the cheek. Stretching, Yugi stood, pushing the stool back from the check-out counter. Aoi approached him then.

"Yugi-kun, thank you. I apologize for not handling that woman better," she said.

"Do you know how many times I've had pushy customers walk all over me?" Yugi asked. "More times than I can count. I get how awful it feels, so please don't worry about it."

Aoi nodded after a long moment. She looked tired, thought Yugi; her shoulders drooped and livid dark circles stood out under her eyes.

"Have you not been sleeping well, Shirogane-san?"

"Oh, yes. I mean, no. I mean, the futon is very comfortable," Aoi assured him hastily. The last thing she wanted to convey was any dissatisfaction or ingratitude.

Sensing his misstep, Yugi amended, "I only meant that you seem a little tense. Have you relaxed at all since coming to Domino?"

"Um... I suppose not," said Aoi, doubting that her time spent passed out in the hospital counted.

"Would you be up for doing something fun tomorrow night, then?" asked Yugi. "A group of friends and I just made plans to visit this giant arcade near the business district. It's been around since we were kids, but none of us have gone there since junior high. I'd like it if you could come, too."

Aoi stared at him for a moment with a vaguely lost, hunted expression, like Jounouchi when presented with a Calculus problem. "You want me to spend time with you and your friends?" she whispered. She didn't sound reluctant or skeptical; merely bemused, as though she lacked fundamental context for the idea.

"If it wouldn't be a bother..."

"N-No. No bother. Of course-yes. I'd like to." Aoi nodded jerkily. "Thank you."

"What a wonderful idea!" cried Sugoroku. Both Yugi and Aoi jumped as the old man sailed back into the main shop, a huge grin stretching his face. He didn't even try to pretend he hadn't been eavesdropping as he exclaimed, "Aoi-chan, you'll like Yugi's friends. They're a good bunch. And the timing couldn't be more convenient!"

He took Aoi's right hand and pressed something into her palm. She nearly dropped it when she realized what it was. "Mutou-san, I can't accept-!"

"Pish-posh! Of course you can; you earned it, and I already factored room and board into your wages. We can formalize an agreement later if that will make you feel better, but this is the going family rate."

Family...

Any further protests died in Aoi's throat as she devoted all her available mental resources to not breaking down in tears right then and there. A part of her wanted to fling her arms around Sugoroku and hug him as tightly as she could, while another part of her, a darker part, wanted to throw the money back at him and run from the game shop, never to return. Because even now, in this moment of overwhleming gratitude and happiness, she could not forget her experiences in the hospital: the confusion, the sickness, the fear, and above all, the persistent suspicion that her lack of memory wasn't due to amnesia at all, but rather due to having nothing to remember in the first place.

"Your human mask is well-made, but fragile." The statement had returned to her in one of many troubled dreams she'd had following her hospitalization; it was the only recollection she'd been able to pull from her subconscious related to the time she'd lost there. Accompanying it was a certainty that she was not the 'you' to which the speaker had been referring. She, Aoi Shirogane, was the mask.

She wanted to warn Sugoroku and Yugi both: "You mustn't keep being nice to me. I'm not real. I'm like the layer of ice that covers the top of a leaf after a sleet storm-I only resemble what lives beneath me, and soon I'll probably melt or break. The more I value, the more it will hurt when I do." But she could not force the words through the writhing mass of emotion she was only barely managing to hold back. Instead she merely nodded, hoping that her feelings of love and appreciation showed more clearly than her sorrow and dread.

"Well, that settles that!" decided Sugoroku, clapping his hands together. "Now, with all of us working together, we should be able to get the shop closed up in no time. I'll reconcile the cash register balance; Aoi-chan and Yugi, you're on cleanup duty."

Cleaning was good; cleaning she knew. Aoi spent the next thirty minutes imagining that she was neatening her mind as well as the store. She straightened the disorganized shelves of her anxieties, swept crumbs of fear from the floor. She bagged up her anger and sadness and imagined removing it from herself the way she removed the trash from Kame Game Shop. She paused at the store's dumpster to gaze at the sky, which late afternoon had tinged pink and gold, and tried to let the beauty of it fill her in place of worry and despair.

Things will be better tomorrow, she promised herself, and held Yugi's invitation firmly in her thoughts: a small light to drive back the seemingly endless gloom inside her.