Tea sat in algebra, fighting to stay awake. The soporific effect of her teacher's voice was nearly impossible to resist. To distract herself, Tea let her mind wander to ponder her best friend, Yugi Mutou. They had always been friends, but he and Tea had become especially close after Duelists' Kingdom. Of course, one could not think of Yugi without also remembering the unusual object he constantly wore around his neck. Indeed, Yugi himself reminded her of the golden puzzle. At first glance, he appeared to be nothing more than a teenage duelist, albeit the world champion, but when Tea actually watched him duel, there was something distinctly odd about the boy. The change in Yugi had been a mystery to them both before the tournament, but they now knew that he had bonded with the ancient spirit that resided in his Millennium puzzle. Tea was both fascinated and frightened by Yugi's darker half.
No one knew where he came from, not even the spirit himself. According to Yugi, the puzzle had come from an Egyptian ruin, but anything beyond that was speculation. During Duelists' Kingdom, Tea had only interacted with the phantom briefly during duels while he trounced opponent after opponent. Nevertheless, his confidence and something else she couldn't name drew her to him. Tea suddenly felt vaguely uncomfortable, and she turned to find a pair of chocolate-brown eyes fixed on her. Ryou stared innocently back at her and smiled blandly. Forcing her mouth into a facsimile of her normally radiant grin, Tea turned back the teacher, still feeling uneasy.
Yugi was also having trouble paying attention to his work, but for an entirely different reason. He actually wanted to learn about ancient Egypt and perhaps find something out about his puzzle, but unfortunately so did the spirit within it. They compromised by mind shuffling every five minutes with the result that neither of them learned anything. Yugi was in control when a slip of paper was plopped down on his desk. "This is an opportunity for you people to actually enrich your minds instead of rotting them in front of the TV." the teacher droned, "Go see the Egyptian exhibit and write a two page paper on how it broadened your world view." Yugi, along with the rest of the class, rolled his eyes. Then it hit him. "He said Egyptian exhibit!" he thought excitedly to his other half. "Maybe we can learn something about the puzzle." The spirit agreed. "Maybe we should ask our friends to come with us." he said.
As it turned out, only Tea was free go to the museum that weekend. Joey and Tristan each had a mountain of homework that neither one of them could afford to skip, and Ryou was trying to catch up on a missed class with Yugi's borrowed history notes. Tea admitted to herself that she was glad of the opportunity to spend time with the spirit. Her thoughts were interrupted as Yugi rang the doorbell. "Hi!" he nearly shouted as he hugged her. "Hey Yu-" Tea began before a brief flash of light caused her to quickly cut off her greeting. Before her stood an almost exact duplicate of her best friend, but he was older and taller, and blonde streaks now extended into the black and magenta hair. "Hello Tea. Thank you for coming with us." the doppelganger said smoothly. Tea managed to choke out "Hi! No problem!" which was actually quite eloquent considering that her heart had dropped into her stomach.
As he walked, the spirit snuck glances at the girl walking beside him. She was beautiful, to be sure, but there was something else about her that warranted his attention. Shrugging mentally, he suddenly sensed amusement emanating from Yugi's soul room. At least the light one had the civility not to openly say anything. Suddenly he realized that Tea had asked him a question. "Excuse me?" he apologized. "I asked if you were nervous." she repeated. The spirit thought carefully before replying. "It is……. disturbing to not remember anything of your life. To be honest, I'm almost more afraid of knowing than I am of being ignorant. But I know that I could never forgive myself if I passed up an opportunity to find out who I am." Tea nodded solemnly, then rather gracelessly tripped on the museum steps. Her companion easily caught her and had to force himself to let the girl go. Tea forced back a wave of adrenaline, though from her near fall or being held by the mysterious young man she could not tell. "Come on" she breathed. He, feeling alternately apprehensive and excited, nodded mutely and followed Tea into the museum.
Ryou sat in his darkened room, still in a state of panic even though it had been nearly twenty-four hours. He had returned. Ryou had felt him take over at school the previous day, and the evil presence's sudden interest in Tea nauseated him. He fingered the golden ring that he thought he would be rid of forever and cried. The spirit of the ring merely laughed.