Anzu walked into the classroom that evening with a huge smile on her face. Students all around the classroom were chatting away with one and another discussing the usual topics like last night's television show or the coolest sport news. There were others, however, talking about the real reason as to why they had all stayed after school that Wednesday.
"Alright, does anyone have any ideas," Anzu shouted from the chalk board. Almost immediately after Anzu had asked, hands all around the room went up.
"How about you," Anzu said, pointing to a chubby kid with thick glasses.
"How 'bout an arcade," He asked.
Anzu smiled, "We all love to play games, but it has to be something in our budget."
She then turned to Yugi, but he wasn't there… just Yugi's body was. Yugi's mind was wandering around in his soul room having a chat with Atem.
"We're killing people," Yugi cried.
"It's necessary to protect you," Atem replied while half growling. "If anything happened to you Yugi, anything at all, I would never forgive myself for letting you get hurt!"
Yugi nodded, "I know, but…"
"But what," Atem questioned as he grabbed Yugi's hand, "Say what is on your mind, aibou."
"How many people are going to get hurt," Yugi shouted. He jumped away from Atem, turned so he didn't have to look at him and fell to pout on the floor. "How many people are going to die or get hurt for me? So far there hasn't been a single day that you haven't-"
Atem dropped to the ground so that he was beside Yugi, also silencing him in the process. He turned Yugi around so that their faces were mere inches from each other's. Yugi closed his eyes with fear. He worried that, if he saw his protector's face, Yugi would lose this battle immediately.
"Aibou," Atem began, "Do you really want me to leave you alone and defenceless. I can see it in your eyes everyday… I fear losing you just as you fear me leaving."
"No, I don't-"
"Don't lie to yourself," Atem interrupted. He pulled Yugi to his feet and Atem held him in his arms. "Tell the truth Yugi."
Yugi blink slowly and tried to swallow past the lump that had built up inside of his throat. When Yugi spoke next, it was with fear, "You're r- right… Plea- Please don't be mad at m- me."
Atem placed his chin just above Yugi's head. He rested his own head on Yugi's and stared off into the shadows with a wicked-evil smile. He gently rubbed Yugi's back and replied, "I'm not mad Yugi. I could never be mad with you."
"Yugi are you in there," Jounouchi cried as he gently shoved Yugi's head.
Yugi cracked open his eyes. As soon as the light entered through his eyes lids, Yugi jumped up and rubbed his eyes frantically. "Huh… wha-?"
"Hey Yugi," Anzu giggled, "We've all given an idea for our festival booth! Do you have any other ideas?"
Yugi blushed in embarrassment while he thought. Once he had an idea, it blurted out of his mouth before he was able to even realise that it did. "A Carnival Game," he shouted joyfully.
Soon the entire class was nodding in agreement and shouting, "That's a great idea!" This caused Yugi to blush even more.
"Alright, it's a Carnival Game then," Anzu informed. She wrote the idea down onto the board then smiled at Yugi with delight. Her smile soon disappeared as she watched Yugi's wrists slide forward out from under his jacket. All around his wrist in a perfect circle was burnt, cut and red. 'It was Yugi,' she gasped, 'Yugi saved me?'
"Nice choice," Atem whispered. Yugi's face turned red as Atem's voice sent chills up Yugi's back.
"Thank you," Yugi whispered back before returning his attention to the classroom.
"Alright everyone, take the rest of the day to think of Carnival Game ideas and let me know by then end of the day," Anzu ordered nicely. Everyone got up chatting and smiling and exited to class room. Well, everyone except for Yugi and Anzu.
"I'm so glad that today is Thursday," Yugi said with a long yawn.
"Why's that Yugi," Anzu asked. She walked over to the desk beside Yugi and sat down. "You seem really tired lately… are you getting enough sleep?"
Yugi raised his arms in the air and stretched his back. He smiled up at Anzu and replied, "I go to bed the same time every night Anzu… I think it's just all the studying we had to do this week."
"And it might also be that you're really excited," Anzu added.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you've completed the Millennium Puzzle, you were taking by Oriana and there's the Festival this week. All your excitement could be causing your body to work twice as hard and you could just be really tired because of that," Anzu informed.
"Oh," Was all that Yugi replied. He wrapped his hands around the Millennium Puzzle while his lips formed a straight line. "Umm… yeah, that could be it."
Anzu got down onto her knees so she could catch Yugi's eye. "Are you sure you're okay," she questioned.
Yugi nodded, "I've never felt better. I'm just really tired Anzu."
"Okay, do you want to go home and get some sleep? I'll walk you to the infirmary," Anzu suggested.
Yugi nodded as he felt another wave of tiredness wash over him. Atem grabbed Yugi under his arms, just as he started to fall, and helped him walk. Yugi smiled tiredly up at Atem before forcing himself to walk further down the hallway.
"Hey, what's that," Yugi questioned. He jumped up and ran over to the boy's washroom.
"What is it Yugi," Anzu asked.
"It's Horotoni," Yugi whispered, "Hanaski's cousin."
"I didn't know that Hanaski had a cousin."
"He does, but Hanaski doesn't talk to a lot of people so most of the school doesn't know about Horotoni," Yugi responded.
"What's going on," Anzu questioned.
Yugi gasped, "He's paying Tiogi! I think Tiogi is forcing Horotoni to pay him!"
Horotoni quickly trotted out of the bathroom and ran right into Anzu and Yugi. He looked at them with shock and quickly shouted, "Don't tell anyone!"
"We won't," Anzu promised.
"I don't want anyone to worry… Please don't tell anyone!"
Yugi backed up from Horotoni and replied quickly, "We won't! We won't!"
With that, Horotoni ran away. Yugi fell from exhaustion again and Anzu caught his arm. Atem grabbed Yugi under his arms again and helped Yugi the rest of the way down the hall. Once there, Atem helped Yugi onto the bed and gently laid him down. Yugi's eyes fell closed and he began to shiver from nightmares and lack of comfort.
Atem sat down beside Yugi, who could feel Atem sitting next to him. Yugi reached over and grabbed Atem's hand. He immediately stopped shaking and found comfort from the darkness' slightest touch.
Anzu turned her head over to look at Yugi. She sighed and bit her bottom lip in thought. 'Yugi,' she gaped inside of her head, 'What's going on with you? If you really are the person who saved me… then Jounouchi's story would be correct. He told me that you killed that criminal and you did it with some kind of magic. What has happened to you?'