A couple of weeks had passed since the final duel between yami and hikari ended.

Yugi Muoto had defeated the pharaoh at his own game, and the king of games was finally free to move into the afterlife, to the realm of Osiris. It was a bittersweet moment. There was a rewarding sense of peace, watching someone finally complete the task he undertook three thousand years in the past, succeeding because of his faith in his friends. But for his closet companions, Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda, there were still tears of loss. At the same time, they were mourning the loss of a good friend. Yugi was mourning the loss of his other self, but at the same time, his victory had proven that he was finally able to stand on his own merits. Fate had decreed that they were ready to separate. And that was what was best.

Ryou Bakura, on the other hand, had no such awakenings. And his yami, the evil spirit of the millennium ring, received no such ceremonies.

He tried not to dwell on it, but while things were finally going back to normal in Domino City for everyone else, nothing felt normal to him.

He certainly tried, however, to fall back into a normal routine:

Wake up from a dreamless, restless sleep to the quiet chirping of crickets outside the window. No need to wonder what time it is, or what time his body was returned to him. No need to guess about what he did during the night besides toss and turn.

Walk hazily into the bathroom. Getting dressed for school moves a lot faster when there are no open wounds to tend to, and no new scars to ponder the origin of.

Sit down and eat breakfast. The concept was almost alien to Ryou at this point. For the past few years, he'd eaten as much as he could whenever he got the chance, knowing that it might be days before he'd have the opportunity again. A calm uninterrupted meal was once a treasure. But now, it only provided another opportunity to mentally catalogue the missing portions of his memory.

Walk to school. For the first few days after returning from Egypt, Yugi and his other friends stayed close. That interest, however, waned with the presence of the pharaoh's spirit. Now, even just a week later, not a word is spoken.

Sit through class. Being fully conscious and alert simply made the hours drag on. It was a feeling Ryou was so unaccustomed to. He felt uncomfortable in the cold metal chair for so long. He felt uncomfortable inside his own skin for so long. And the strange looks of the teachers and other students did not help. Those glances were no doubt a lasting result of his awkward personality and his frequent absences. At least those he had grown accustomed to.

Eat Lunch. Although, most of the time, Ryou wasn't very hungry. Instead, he simply sat and watched everyone else's interactions.

Sit through more classes. Nothing changed. He attempted to answer questions involving things he couldn't remember, and then tried to avoid the rolling of eyes and the turning of heads.

Go home. Just as before, Ryou watched how the loss of the pharaoh brought Yugi and his other friends closer together. On most days, his mind would wander back to the common phrase – 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Now that Ryou was no longer either of these, there was no reason to keep him close at all.

Fix dinner.

Write a letter to Amane. It was a practice Ryou had recently resumed. Even if there was little to write about, the thought that someone could hear his words was comforting. It didn't seem to matter whether that someone had been deceased for years.

Work on a Monster World figurine. This was another practice that Ryou had abandoned and then resumed. It was calming, but in an empty sense.

Shower. Again, the disappearance of old scars, without the mysterious appearance of new ones, sped this process considerably. Even the wound from Battle City, a scar that haunted his skin for years, had faded.

Go to bed, thinking about the only person who dared even speak to him. Just wait for another dreamless and restless sleep to begin.

This time, however, Ryou's sleep might have been restless, but it certainly not dreamless. Not dreamless at all.