"Hm. Nobody here today."

The lady sighed, looking to the lifeless doll.

"I hope I get to see you soon.."

Yugi walked down the street anxiously. He held onto Anzu's hand and listened to her chatting as they headed closer towards the school. He had decided to ignore all the bad things that happened on the previous night, only trying to focus on the good things that happened.

"You seem nervous." Anzu petted him like a kitten, chuckling as he nodded. "Don't be! You've already been there before, and we'll make sure you're okay!"

Yugi gave another nod, large eyes looking up at the girl as she hummed joyfully and stood by the door to the school.

She casually strolled in, stationing herself by the reception desk and explaining to the lady at the desk that Yugi was going to join for real.

Once the morning had came, his grandfather had decided to surprise Yugi with a new bag. Unlike his old, dirty rucksack, this one was new and clean. It was another rucksack, but was lighter in tone and shinier. He loved it very much, but hearing how he had to go to school made him highly nervous.

"We came early so we can chat for a bit!"

Anzu smiled, taking Yugi to the singular set of plush chairs in the corner that seemingly acted as a meeting room of sorts.

Yugi always enjoyed talking to Anzu. She was optimistic, cheerful and pretty.

"So, were you okay last night?"

Yugi gave a small nod, peering away from her and instead focusing on the interior, taking in all the small plants and highly open windows.

"I'm glad you decided to genuinely join us! You're nice to have around!"

Anzu cheered, looking deeply into Yugi's eyes, face dropping as she reached out her hand.

"Hey.." She started, "Could I look at something quick..?"

"Sure.."

Her long fingers brushed under his eye, whispering to herself;

"It's so purple.."

Yugi flinched. Each touch was painful, a pain like he hadn't experienced before. It lingered and stung sometimes throbbing as if there was something pushing at it from the inside.

"Was this from when you were.. Yesterday..?" Anzu asked, concern drenching her tone.

Yugi shook his head, "It wasn't like that this morning!"

"Oh..It's probably okay!"

They both met each other in the eyes and nodded approvingly. Yugi let out a small chortle, they were both in sync and he seemed to like that.

"Yo."

The two looked back to the door. The light bounced off the back of the person talking, not allowing them to fully see who it was.

They approached closer, allowing Yugi to tell that it was Yami - still wearing the pendant he had given him.

"Yami!" Anzu grinned, "Come! Sit down! You're early today!"

"Yep. I had something to do this morning and thought I'd drop by a lil' early!"

Yugi listened intently, not speaking unless addressed and allowing himself to feel calm in their presence.

"Do you lot want to go in, now?"

The lady at the desk kindly simpered, gesturing towards the corridor that led to Class A, an area he was familiar with as he had been there before.

Yugi was taken in, where the group sat near the window and chatted more as children started coming in.

"Hello there! It is but a fine day for-"

Honda proudly declared, being cut off by Jounouchi, who had walked into the room moments prior and chopped him playfully on the head to shut him up.

Yugi felt the blonde glaring coldly at him.

"Miho! Come sit with us!" Anzu called out.

Yugi observed as the girl she was calling to stood up and quietly walked over to the bundle of people. It was quite a large friend circle for such a small place, and Yugi was happy being included in it. The girl who was called had a neatly tied ponytail, held together with a cute bow. She seemingly carried a sketchbook with her at all times. He recognised her as one of the bunch drawing together the first time he had been in the school building.

He shuddered.

"I wanna do PE today!" Yami confidently smirked, slamming his hand on the table and flinching when it stung, "I can, right? I'm fine!!"

"Yami, you can't right now." Anzu stroked his hair gently, chuckling at his pouting, "Giving me those eyes won't change my opinion, you know!"

"I'm always lonely sitting there.."

Yugi perked up. He wasn't very into PE-type stuff. The boy offered to sit out with him, to which Yami appreciated.

"It's first lesson, right?" Honda casually commented, sounding calm and relaxed for once.

Anzu gave a small nod, cutely tying her short hair back into a tight ponytail. She looked at Yugi, intensely staring until he questioned her.

"I wanna tie your hair up.. Can I?"

She smiled cheekily as he gave a small, affirmative nod. The girl pulled the band around her fingers and gently grasped his hair in a bunch.

"You're such a good kid~" She giggled, "Yami never lets me play with his hair"

"I feel enough pain already." Yami groaned, "A hairband'd make me feel worse."

They both looked each other in the eyes before remaining quiet so Anzu could finish with his hair.

"It reminds me of a pineapple!" Miho, who was lost in her artwork while Anzu played around with Yugi, looked up and exclaimed. The group, including Yugi himself, all guffawed happily. He ignored the stares from the other children in the room and focused on himself.

It felt good.

The only one who didn't laugh in the group was Jounouchi, who continued to glare at Yugi darkly.

"Okay everyone!" The teacher clapped loudly, getting the attention of the people in the room, "Let's get ready for a new day!"

The chattering settled down, and everyone who wasn't at their seat sat down. Yugi was seated next to Yami again, attentively listening to the instructions that were said after the register was taken.

Leave class, go to the changing rooms, change, go to the hall then do the lesson.

Yugi internally repeated that sequence in his head. Even though he knew that he wouldn't need to get dressed as he was sitting out, he still wanted to remember it just in case.

The boy trailed Yami as he traversed through the corridor with the rest of the children. He held open the door for Yugi and sat on a bench that was placed in the middle of the changin rooms.

From what Yugi could tell, the building itself only had three to four rooms. The building, being the size that it was, barely had any facilities besides a small indoor hall, two classrooms and the possibility of a cafeteria - though Yugi wasn't aware if there was one or not. The changing rooms themselves were small, consisting of one large room being split up into two sections- the boys and the girls. He presumed they were both the same in interior.

The room he was in had a small set of lockers made of wood lining the walls, each with some small cubbies and gaps for the children to place their bags in. Some children folded their clothes neatly into the spaces, whereas others scrunched them into there messily. Yugi didn't need to change as he was sitting out; however he felt like he would fold his rather than the latter option.

"Oi!" Yami called out to Yugi, who at that point had been staring at the interior for way longer than he should have been, "C'mon!"

Yugi simply nodded and followed Yami into the hall where they sat together on a makeshift bench which was clearly just a longley-cut plank of wood that had been sanded down a little bit. Yami let out a small grumble.

"Damn..Wish they'd lemme play too.."Yami sighed deeply,"I'm,like, a hundred percent fine! I can run.. I can play Tennis..!"

Yugi could tell that he obviously couldn't. Just from walking a metre and holding a door open, he was completely out of breath. The boy doubted that playing a highly active sport would even be good for Yami in the slightest.

"So..How's your night yesterday? 'know..After our chat.."

"It was fine..!" Yugi grinned, taking one more moment to inspect his friend.

Despite not being able to see colour well, he could tell Yami was paler than he's ever really been (since Yugi got there, that is). He had heavy bags resting under his eyes, which seemed more dull and dark than before, They seemed close to being empty, like a glass of Cola slowly being filled until there was no more transparent glass left to see.Just dark grey nothingness.

"That's good. My nigh' twas fine too. I couldn't stop looking at the sword..!"

"I mean," Yugi started, "It is a really cool sword."

"Yep!"

The children taking part in the lesson enthusiastically chatted as they swung a ball backwards and forwards with a racquet.

"You ever play Tennis before?" Yami asked randomly. Yugi shook his head quietly.

Yami whimpered, "I wish I could play with them… I know I can play with them.. I'm strong enough.."

"..I'm sure you are too.."

Yugi didn't actually believe what he said, only speaking to make the boy feel better.

"I haven't been allowed to run for two years now.." Yami looked away, peering at the floor, "Ever since Ate'.."

He trailed off, leaving the conversation in shambles.

They watched the sport carry on - the teacher ordering a group of younger children to hold the racquets correctly and swing in a way that would hit the fast-moving ball. The hall itself was much larger than the classrooms, Yugi noticed. He assumed that it was also used for other purposes, as a hall so disproportionately big shouldn't be in a school with barely any children in it. The ceiling was high above everybody, hosting lines of unsteady-looking lights that swayed with the passing force of tennis balls just missing.

Creak..

Yugi felt the throbbing behind his eye again and soon, after pressing against the source with his finger, something in his mind clicked. He gasped, watching in horror as the creaking ceiling lamp dropped suddenly. It slammed onto the ground, crushing one of the children underneath its weight - Yugi couldn't see who was trapped under the shattered glass and loose, remaining shrapnel. He froze, every joint and muscle locked in place and his breathing stopped entirely for a moment.

"Hey? Oi? You good?"

The boy snapped out of the trance. The light was in-tact, no one was hurt and everyone was cheerfully and ignorantly playing their sport. He felt his mouth move on his own,whispering without knowing,

"2 minutes... "

"2 minutes 'till what?" Yami asked, seemingly unamused. Yugi shook his head, intensely staring at the light. He shook it off, understanding that he was imagining things.The throbbing of his eye continued,the ache grew worse and worse as time passed, until one half of his face was practically numb with pain.

His subconscious took over and, as 2 minutes passed, he immediately sprinted and pushed the child out of the way unwillingly.

Snap!

The light let go of its constraints that held itself up and shattered destructively on the floor, pieces of glass from the bulbs and covering crashing across the ground. The sound of children screaming filled Yugi's ears,shock filling the room as the child who was almost killed burst out into tears, following that was the cries of all the younger children.

The teacher immediately checked if the child Yugi saved was safe, pushing Yugi away to help pick up the shaken-up little one. Yugi felt a sting in his palm and, glancing down at it, realised that some of the glass gashed into his hand deeply, blood spewing out of the deep cut as the grainy shards of glass slowly seeped into the wound. He winced,shakily getting up.

The boy wasn't aware of why he had jumped in to intervene. He had imagined that scenario play out minutes before it had happened,and even though he had believed it to just be an overactive imagination he still jumped into save the person from an event that he didn't believe would happen. Why? And how did he know exactly when it would occur?

Something else he had noticed is that the numbness of his face has faded as soon as he jumped in. The pulsating had stopped and there was no more aching.

"Weird…"

"I think…" The teacher raised their voice on top of all the chatter and screams,"We should cancel the lesson for the time being…"

The older people in the group agreed, taking some of the younger ones and escorting them away from the scene so the adults could clean up. Anzu ran up to Yugi and helped him up.

"Are you okay?! Oh my god you're hurt..!"

"I'm fine.!" Yugi simply smiled, stumbling up and hiding away his hand, which was then taken by Anzu and looked at.

"It's deep.." she muttered, perking up,"You...If it weren't for you that kid would've died!"

Yugi silently dipped his head, looking to the ground and leaving the hall.

It had taken a while for everyone to recover. The group of friends had agreed to meet up behind the school building so they could hang out at their 'Secret Base' for the rest of the day. Yugi and Anzu slipped past all the passing people and sneaked behind the building to meet up with all the others.

And they were met with silence.

Everyone in the group ( being Yami, Jounouchi, Honda and Miho) cautiously scanned the two friends up and down.

"Hey.Sorry we're late." Anzu let out a deep breath,"I had to patch up his hand."

Yugi showed the tight bandaging wrapped around his palm, stained with icky blood.

"Let's go, then!" Yami grinned, standing up and turning away to start walking. However, another in the group had another plan.

Jounouchi grabbed Yugi's collar and rammed him into the brick wall. He clenched hs fist and rammed it into his chest. He yelled.

"You almost killed that innocent kid! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Everyone in the group stared in confusion at the boy. Honda, without hesitating, grabbed Jounouchi to pull him away,asking what was wrong. Jou shook his friend away, taking his fist and slamming it into their face immediately, causing Honda to fall on top of Miho, both landing on the floor.

"Jou, what're ya doing?!" Yami yelled, determinedly looking into the other's eyes as he spoke. Jounouchi looked back at Yugi and punched him once more.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!!" The light-haired teen shouted at Yami,"Dis cursed bastard'll kill ye de second he can!!"

Yami shakily cried out, "He's done nothing to you!! He isn't 'cursed', nor is he killing anyone!! If you keep this up don't even think about being around us anymore!!"

"Yami..! " The teen tightened his grip on Yug's collar, "Don't ye see dat I'm protecting ya?!"

Anzu, at this point, had run off to find an adult who would be willing to help.

Long, creeping shadows came up behind the cluster of people. Very familiar shadows, at least to Yugi they were familiar.

"Ushio..! I got'tem!" Jounohchi proudly declared, the silohutte laughed.

"We can end this now.!

They shoved Yami away, laughing loudly as he helplessly struggled. Yugi was familiar with this scenario. Being attacked by them was a regular thing at that point, so he closed his eyes to take it.

However it was different this time.

They had a weapon.

"You scared~? You scared~?"

One of them taunted,waving the unfamiliar metal box. They waved it in his face as they beat him up as usual, knowing that he wouldn't struggle. They continuously laughed, punched and made fun of Yugi as he took all the blows so Yami wouldn't have to suffer as well.

"You should just die, that way no one has ta suffer!"

Yami stood up, catching his balance and slowly approaching them,"You should die...Bastards.."

"Whad'dya say to me, you lil'shit?"

Yami looked up, revealing completely empty eyes brimming with anger.Almost soulless. Dark.The pendant resting around his neck flashed brightly as he smirked.

Yami purred, "You deserve death more than him~.."

The older boys gortled loudly, "What 'ya gonna do 'bout it?"

Yami snatched Ushio's collar and turned him around and away from Yugi. Strangely, he was strong,able to punch the well-toned bully, laughing maniacally as blood gushed from their mouth.

"What the.."

"Hm? What you gonna do 'bout it~?" Yami darkly mimicked, whispering something into their ear and proceeding to do the same things that they did to Yugi. Constant hitting, minutes on end being spent listening to Yami's laughter as blood spilled down the person's mouth, down their chin and onto the concrete ground.

"Yami..?" Yugi tried to get Yami's attention, "You..You can stop.."

"He deserves more than death. He deserves this. "

"S..stop.."

"Shut it." Yami glared at Yugi. It was clear from his expression that he wasn't in control anymore. Even with the pendant constantly glowing, Yami's face was gloomy and void-like. Empty.

The person underneath Yami - whom he was punching - weakly gasped for mercy.

"Ushio~? You scared~? You scared~?"

Another round of punches had ensued. Laugher screeching from Yami's lips as he continued to beat Ushio into the ground while taunting him sarcastically.

Grab.

A large hand grabbed Yami's wrist.

"Stop."

Their voice like a confident whisper, a heated knife smoothly cutting through a stick of butter. Yami dropped his fists, light returning to his eyes as he gawked in silence at who was holding him back.

Yugi nervously looked. Someone wearing a night black hood. Their face covered by the hood but a small, cool smile shining through.

Ushio struggled to free himself. His lackeys had already escaped- including Jounouhci - and he was the only one left. The hooded man pulled something out and pointed it at Ushio.

A gun.

The large cogs that sat on the back turned and clicked, loading something into the barrel.

BANG!

The hooded man shot at the wall, steam flowing out of the impact hole.

"Scram."

Ushio eagerly nodded,scrambling away from Yami in complete fear. Leaving only Yugi, the silent Yami and the stranger. Anzu came back, starting to declare how she couldn't find anyone when she had suddenly stopped as well.

"Atemu..? Is that really you?"