Just a silly little one shot that I felt like sharing. It's set between chapters 5 and 6 of Kismet.
School had not been easy. There was so much to catch up on after her fire and Zorc induced hospital stay and the teachers were putting so much pressure on her to finish everything quickly that by the time Yugi got home, the last thing she had needed was a customer to lay into her about something being out of stock.
Seeing that his granddaughter was on the verge of tears, Sugoroku had sent her upstairs and she had not hesitated to go. Normally she would have pushed past it and stayed on, but today she was just done and just fled to the safety and security of the flat.
Once there she immediately snatched up her Walkman. It was an older model, one she had had for years and honestly it looked like it. The black case was cracked in a couple of places where it had hit the floor and the symbols on the buttons were close to worn off. She could have replaced it with a newer model, or even a discman, but there was a comfort to knowing exactly where she needed to put the volume for it to be perfect for her needs. That and the Walkman had helped her relax so often that she felt bad even considering replacing it.
'Anesan? You mind if I put on my music?'
She felt the spirit of the Puzzle pause for a moment and wondered if this was going to be the time that the ancient Pharaoh asked her not to blast her noise through their shared brain.
Then her twin sister let out a soft sigh that came across clearly over their soul bond, 'You don't have to ask Imoto. Go ahead.'
Yugi was aware she did not HAVE to ask, but as she put her earbuds in, she could not help but remember the one time she had turned on her music without warning the Pharaoh beforehand and that the sudden loud sound, which had practically vibrated the corridor between their soul rooms, had made Meisa startle badly. Asking prevented that from happening again and made it less likely that her twin would resent her need to sometimes just make the world go away by drowning it out with music.
Retreating to her bedroom as she hit the play button and adjusted the volume, she tried to pick out what she wanted to do while she listened.
She knew what she should do. There was a stack of homework that still needed to be finished but she was fully aware she was not in the right frame of mind to do it. In fact all she really wanted to do with it right now, was chuck it out the window, which was most definitely not the best way to approach it.
Instead she slumped down onto her bed, being careful not to pull on the cord of her headphones as she went, and just listened to the sounds of Shonen Knife's latest release, the tension in her frame slowly melting away as she let the music sweep her away.
Once she felt more like she could breathe again and less like she was an overstretched cord about to snap, a thought occurred to her. There was something she could do that would let the body rest AND be fun. She grinned as she quickly changed the tape in her Walkman for The Blue Hearts and dove into her soul room.
As the music bounced down the corridor, letting her hear it clearly, she snatched up a pad of paper and the pen that she had on her soul room's desk and flopped down onto a beanbag, tapping the pen against the pad in time to the beat. A quick scan reminded her of where she had been in planning out the game she was designing, though it would probably never leave this room and she was just about to start scribbling down more ideas when there was a knock on the door.
"Imoto?" The older soul hesitated, making Yugi's heart drop.
"Sorry, is it too loud? I can turn it down." The younger soul winced, worried she had upset her other self.
"No! No… I just… can I join you?"
The Puzzle Bearer stared at her twin for a moment, processing the words. Then she nodded vigorously, "Of course. You know you don't have to ask to come in here. Come, sit, sprawl…wherever you can find space."
The Pharaoh chuckled as she entered. Compared to the sparse, empty maze that made up her soul room, Yugi's was packed with things. It was not a bad thing though. Most of the objects within the room held memories of her twin's life and a full room meant a life full of experiences.
"I'll stop asking when you stop apologizing for your music." Meisa grinned at Yugi, who gave an amused smile back, as aware as her twin that it was not going to happen any time soon. The Pharaoh gracefully took a seat on the bed at the edge of the room and glanced around, making note of all the organizing that had taken place here since her last visit.
Some of the toys were still spread all over the floor, but Meisa could see where there had been an effort to at least organize them and the games into some form of coherent system. It was not a bad idea, as organizing the memories would allow Yugi to access them faster and help her think more coherently, rather than jumping from point A to point E and then returning to point B via C and H.
Not that Meisa had objected to her sister as she was, but if it made Yugi happier that was all she cared about.
She could not resist sprawling back on the bed as her twin's mind turned towards the game project she was working on. It was much softer than anything she had in her tomblike room and getting to enjoy the comfort while basking in the glow of her sister's soul and listening to music was almost heaven for the spirit.
Especially considering that at one time she had feared she would never see daylight or hear anything except silence or horrifying whispers ever again.
Her eyes closed and she let out a contented sigh, one that was echoed by her sister, as they both just let themselves enjoy the moment, in which there were no evil plans to worry about, no one who could yell and fuss and nothing stopping them from just relaxing.
It was something that needed to happen more often.