Yugi was tired and annoyed of the talk about the events the day prior spreading around the town. He didn't usually feel this way, the concept of being annoyed wasn't one Yugi was used to.

He sunk deeper into the sittee, fiddling with the remote that layed on a cushion next to him. His grandfather walked in with a little ceramic plate of biscuits and milk, smiling brightly as Yugi thanked him for the food.

"What does this do?" Yugi asked out of curiosity, showing the old man the remote.

His grandfather chuckled, "It turns this on."

He smacked the black box that sat on the glass table,

"It's the pique of technology here, it doesn't work well though because this's the only home that has it workin'."

Yugi played with the buttons, the black box springing to life and making noise, all whilst glowing brightly. There wasn't anything on the black box, apart from squared of different grey tones.

His grandfather switched it off and laughed awkwardly," Because we aren't in Automaton it doesn't really work, I just have it 'cause it looks cool."

Yugi laughed at that, knowing if he had his own home he'd probably do the same thing.

They chatted, his grandfather praising him for being a' bright child' as he started up a conversation about reading and working. They were interrupted by the loud sound of the door slamming open and a causal voice yelling out,

"Oi!"

Yugi's grandfather jumped, standing up from his space on the sittee to check out who was calling, though Yugi could already tell due to the voice.

"Pops, I brought ye some Focaccia bread! "

The old man smiled and slowly walked over to the boy. Despite Yugi knowing it was Yami, he was taken by surprise when he saw Atemu's black cloak as the person's attire. They looked extremely alike, so Yugi could only differentiate them by Yami's extremely pale complexion and the difference in voice - Yami's being loud and orotund whilst Atemu having a calm, polite demeanor to his voice.

"Yami!!" Atemu called, running over to the boy and scanning the situation with his clear grey eyes, "You shouldn't be out here! And please give me my hood back, it's important to me!"

Atemu seemed embarrassed, clad in his tight hoodie (hood tied up) with a printed on logo and chunky-heeled trainer boots.

Yami smirked, declaring how he looked cooler in the cloak than his brother which made both Yugi and his grandfather laugh.

"Will you attend the banquet tonight?" Atemu gave a small smile, still standing by the doorway in a polite manner.

Solomon nodded, "Of course! Yugi too, hoho!"

Yugi jumped, not knowing in full detail what the banquet entailed. He knew what Yami told him, a big meal that was in the 'name of the gods', or something.

He, regardless, accepted to attending and was pushed by his grandfather to find something good to wear for the festival. There wasn't much of anything in his closet - all the provided clothes were either too big or too uncomfortable to wear - so, on a whim, decided to ask Anzu for help as he'd found she had a better fashion sense than he ever would have.

"That's hard.. Why not try a basic jacket-top combo?" Anzu, deep in thought, suggested. She held his hand and led him to a local store, where she picked out a set of clothes he would be comfortable in. The store itself was extremely miniscule in size, with barely any choice of clothing. However, to a small town like Domino, it was the biggest shop in the world.

Yugi stared at the outfit he was handed. A basic, plain, pale-grey jacket with sleeves that ended in a large cuff, which also sported a large collar that pulled around the neck and frayed out at the ends, showing the ties for fastening the collar together. Underneath were a loose, plain tee that were a deep shade of grey, soft fabric that loosely hugged his chest felt warm and comfortable to him. His trousers were in similar taste, plain and comfy. Around his waist were strapped belts, two in total, which had a small, grey bag on the side.

"It's conventional!" Anzu giggled. Yugi looked in the mirror at the outfit, he hadn't worn anything different before, so even a normal set of clothes felt foreign and unusual. Usually he'd wear some oversized jumper, shorts and tight shoes.

Anzu left Yugi's side to pay, saying it was on her and allowing him to inspect the outfit closely.

"Are you excited?" She asked, suddenly appearing in the reflection, "This place doesn't have many events, unlike Automaton!"

Yugi nodded, taking her hand once more and allowing her to walk him around like a little puppy on a leash.

Automaton sounded like a fun, but scary place to be.

Big men carried supplies for the festival, some being ordered around by what appeared to be Mana, proudly seated on her pure white mare and yelling out what was in each crate.

"I hope nothing bad happens today!" Anzu casually smiled, "Not to foreshadow anything of course!"

Yugi chuckled, pulling away hair as he watched the largest table he'd ever seen being set up. Rows of little paper diamonds lay on the table in an orderly fashion, lights were being hung up and people built up stands that they used to sell foods and play games on. It looked so peaceful.

He hadn't done much after that, nor did he have the need to. Heading back home and falling asleep on the sittee, where his grandfather placed blankets on top of him for him to snuggle into, was the final thing he was going to do until the festival. The warmth made him feel safe and calm, happy and appreciative of the world he was in at the moment.

The sky would soon fall into darkness, but the town wouldn't obey the darkening world and instead glowed as bright as it could, with an array of dazzling lights and candles.

"So pretty.." Yugi felt a smile on his face as he walked slowly around the town's area. The stands had people behind them, and other people would be gathered around them to eat or play what they had on offer.

"Ate'! Ate'! Let's play that!!" Yami gleamed, giving a quick greeting to Yugi before dragging his hooded brother over to the stall that had a gun hoisted onto a stand. Anzu had run off with a boy Yugi didn't know to go eat candied apples and chat. Miho and Honda held hands and walked around, finding things to draw, though Miho had only really drawn Honda the entire time.

Yugi didn't really have anyone to walk with, idly taking some sweets from a stall nearby and sitting on a bench near the fountain, the same bench where he was when Yami was nearly run over.

"Need a par'ner?"

Yugi looked up, standing before him were a beautiful lady. The dress she wore was plain yet beautiful, attached to it were a hood that covered her face but allowed her hair to drape down like silk. Mana.

"Ah.. Uhm. I don't mind.." Yugi fidgeted, Mana reaching out and taking his hand. She walked him around and showed how incompetent she was at playing games by failing each one she played. Yugi ignored the burning question in his mind for as long as he could, but soon found himself asking the question anyways.

"Y.. You're a criminal.. Right??" Yugi looked up to the lady, gulping down the nervousness that followed the question.

"I guess." She laughed heartily, "Bizarre conversation choice got a festival, but I get it."

Yugi had asked why. He felt so incredibly rude for pushing on about the matter but he was curious and whenever the curiosity got to him he had to know.

Mana stopped walking, facing the ground,"If the guards are allowed to take the innocent lives of so many, how come we are not allowed to take the riches?"

She looked back to the boy, a sincere yet teary look in her eyes, and gave a small smile, catching up to him at a slow pace and changing the subject by showing him a cool stand with some jewelry.

She scooped up a chain-necklace with a small gem at the end and tied it around Yugi's neck.

"You'd suit these things!"

Yugi watched as she bought the item in pride and thought. This girl, who was obviously younger than he had initially thought based on her looks, had probably been through something awful to cause her to commit some - obviously - very taboo crime. She was most likely aware of the consequences but was ready to take those to show off a point. Her eyes held a lot of pain in them, he thought, so how do they smile so brightly?

Yugi peered down at the jewellery he had been given, he thanked her happily and soon he and all the other people wandering around were gathered to the town's centre, where they were supposedly hosting a pre-feast dance.

Yugi wasn't any good at dancing, most definitely he was not good with a partner. He sat down and watched the glittering lights and young couples and groups of friends twirling around to the sound of jingling bells and music.

Mana stood by Yugi. She turned to him and quietly said, backed by the sound of music,

"Atemu'd like you to come with us, y'know? I think I'd like it too. You're nice."

Atemu had found the girl and took Mana's hand, he charmingly simpered,

"Ah! Let's save that for later! We did this all the time back there, wanna join in?"

She nodded and ended up doing so.

The two looked so smooth in motion, like they were gliding gracefully on ice. Matching their steps to the music, they interlocked their fingers and twirled like ribbons in a soft breeze. Mana leaped, Atemu taking her by the waist and holding her up tango-styled, before lowering her down as the music slowed and chuckling as Mana struggled to bend her back far down with the gravity.

Out of all the people in the area those two had the most people's gazes.

"They're from Automaton, so they're probably used to doing this." A stranger watched as the two of them met each other's gazes and released their hands in an organised manner.

The music, reaching its final stretch, prompted the two to end on a long twirl from Mana, with Atemu's fingers touching gently. They stopped just before the music stopped, and received the loud, overpowering claps of the townspeople. Mana turned to Yugi and flashed him a cheeky peace sign with her spare hand. Yugi let out a small laugh, clapping along with the crowd and feeling one with the town.

The applause soon died down and all that was left was the call of one of the town's heads, who called for the banquet to start. There were a series of large tables stretched out on the open road, 5 of them which had the sheer size to be able to hold all the attendees. They each had huge amounts of food, drink and other things neatly placed on them, equally shared. Everyone in the area gathered to a table, sitting in groups of friends but not minding when another from a different group sat next to them. It was truly a tightly-knit town.

Yugi stayed with the group he was familiar with, Anzu, Miho, Yami, Honda and the other pair who were busy dealing with the teenaged boys who invited Mana for a 'dance' later on in the day. Atemu giving them one death-glare sorted them all out immediately and they all sprinted away to their groups.

"You two were amazing!!" Anzu's eyes glowed, the two laughed.

"We would do that all the time whenever a festival would happen in a place we were in." Atemu explained cheerfully. He reached out and poured a bottle of deep grey liquid into a thin glass.

Mana sighed, "I used to dance with another guy bu'.. He ain't wi' us anymore.. So we do it now as a respect thing!"

Atemu nodded, sipping the drink and enjoying the taste for a moment.

Anzu asked if Atemu was allowed to drink the drink he was having, which was named Wine.

"We'd drink this all the time back there!" Atemu let out a deep breath, "Royal associate things.."

"Don't drink too mu' though!!! You know how you get wi' these things, okay??" Mana insisted, feeling relieved when Atemu said he'd only have a glass.

Yugi didn't know what was wrong with drinking wine, but was encouraged against it.

Instead, he ate a platter of interesting foods he hadn't had before. Little balls of rice, bunches of new berries and some glorious fluffy white food named Meringue. He was completely full and happy.

After half an hour of people eating and chatting, everyone was told to put a small prayer in for the gods in order to wish for a decent harvest of the nearby farms. Yugi just copied what everyone else was doing, closing his eyes and pressing his palms together. They did so for a minute before opening them and then all said in harmony,

"Thank you for the food!!"

It would be around the time of the bell chiming that people would be permitted to leave when they wished.

Yami and Atemu had to leave soon later, Yami being physically exhausted and Atemu only half-conscious from, as Yugi was told, was an intake of alcohol (something about Atemu not reacting to alcohol well, Yugi didn't fully understand it ). Mana knelt down and gently kissed Atemu on the forehead, picking him up and placing him on her back.

"Hey, Mana?" Honda asked, sitting at his place on the table "How old are you?"

"It's rude to ask a lady for her age!" She laughed, "I'm 15! "

"Seriously?!" Honda gasped in surprise, Yugi would admit she did appear a tiny bit older.

Miho chimed in, "So are ya dating~?"

"Ah? Nah, we ain't." She pushed Atemu up higher so his head rested on her shoulder, "2 years travellin' together would get y'u close together like this tho'! He's too old for me anyways~"

"He's only 1 year above you-"

"Too old, I tell y'u!"

She let out one final bubble of laughter as she took the boy's - now passed out - body away and back home, Yami following as he was instructed to.

The night ended with Yugi staring out to the moon. His shadow extended to the now empty streets, uninterrupted by the obstacles and pure black in tone. His gaze perfectly focused on the moon's glow, he pondered,

' Should I go with Atemu and Mana on their journey, like he asked me to? Or should I stay here, where there's food, people and safety?'

He held his hands to his chest.

'Would my life have purpose if I merely stayed here all my life? In this small town in the middle of an isolated forest?'

He closed his eyes and turned away, wind clowning his hair away as he walked home. The footsteps sounded like little taps on a door.

Yugi took a deep breath.

By that moment, he had returned home. He had gotten dressed and had quietly walked upstairs so as to not wake his grandfather. Through the skylights window, he could see Yami's room. He was obviously in bed, the lights turned off and utter silence proved that.

Yami had probably been suffering for so long in his life. Yugi couldn't imagine how it felt not being able to run properly, or not being able to exist without feeling ill and knowing that there simply wasn't a cure.

"Atemu wants to cure him, doesn't he?" Yugi whispered, "If I could help with that.."

He shook his head. Biting his lip, he released one more sigh.

Yugi had made his decision.

And it was final.