Chapter 3

The next few days seem to drag past for Yugi, it was as though the world was determined to keep him from the kick-off of this tournament. Although the actual tournament didn't kick off for three weeks, at Kaiba's request he'd been asked to participate in advertising and promotional content for it. This coming Saturday he was expected at KaibaCorp for several press interviews, photos and more. It was all incredibly exciting for Yugi who found this part of his role as King of Games just as exciting as actually duelling. His excitement was starting to become a slight problem due to his thoughts being far from his schoolwork. It was becoming common during lessons that the teacher would have to call him out for gazing out the window or not doing work due to his gazing. Try as he might Yugi just couldn't keep his mind off the tournament. Despite there being no official advertising for the tournament yet the talk in school had turned to it but no one, aside from Yugi, could be sure that it was happening. At a guess Yugi would say that Kaiba had secretly leaked the news but in such a controlled way that it had become a rumour. Well if he had then it was certainly working and he would not put it past Kaiba to have done that. If there was one thing Kaiba enjoyed, it was having his company at the centre of gossip.

Yugi looked round at the table where he sat with his friends. The school's lunch hall was busy and getting busier, with the weather outside becoming colder more and more students were starting to take lunch inside. This sometimes made it hard for them to find an available table, but they'd been lucky this lunchtime. Their favourite table which was located in the corner of the room had been available, so they'd been quick to claim it. It was the best table by far, in their opinion, as they could have conversations about things the whole school didn't need to know about. It had come in very handy when Yugi had brought the Millennium Puzzle to school as they could have conversations about the Pharaoh or Yugi could relay messages from him without gaining odd looks from other students. When the Pharaoh had first been released from the puzzle they'd found it odd to sit at this table. It had been as though a member of their group was missing but they'd slowly got used to the new normal. It wasn't like they'd lost a friend, he just simply wasn't there. He was off doing his own thing but would always, without fail, meet them after school. He and Yugi would arrange a place in the morning and when the four of them arrived after school he was already there waiting for them. As Joey and Tristan engaged in their normal midday argument Yugi turned to Tea who was already rolling her eyes at the other two boys.

"Everyone seems to know about this new tournament although it's not been announced yet." He commented.

"I'm not sure everyone is talking about it."

"You sure about that?"

Yugi subtly indicated to the next table over where a group of boys a couple of years younger then themselves were in deep discussion. Some of the tricks Atem had taught Yugi over the years were not quite what might be expected. The former Pharaoh was an exceptionally good lip reader, a skill that had proved handy many times and over his years sharing a mind with Yugi he'd slowly taught Yugi. He could not claim to be the best or even in the same league as Atem, but he was good enough for it to be useful.

"How can you be sure they're talking about the tournament?" Tea asked, glancing over at the group.

"Because they're now considering whether they should ask me about it." Yugi said, his gaze still on the group.

Sure enough one of the boys in the group had got up and moved across to their table. At first he looked at little intimidated by them but with a reassuring smile from Yugi the boy asked his question.

"Hi.. Hi Yugi. My friends and I were wondering if you knew anything about this tournament that everyone is talking about. I mean you are the King of Games after all we… we thought you would know about it."

It seemed incredible but although the boy hadn't spoken loudly at all he had somehow managed to grab most of the room's attention, at least the attention of all those closest to hear or guess what was going on.

Glancing around Yugi smiled, "I'm afraid that even if I did know anything I couldn't tell you. I guess we'll all just have to wait until something if anything is announced."

The boy seemed a little deflated, he made to speak but thought better of it. Quietly thanking Yugi he moved back to his friends, the rest of the room shortly followed suit albeit with a couple of glances back from some. Tea looked between the boy and Yugi for a moment with a questioning look on her face.

"How did you know he was going to ask you about that?"

Yugi grinned, "Not all of Atem's lessons were about duel monsters."

This last statement caught the attention of the other two at the table who both turned to look at him.

"He can mind read Yug?" Joey asked, astounded.

"No!" Yugi laughed, "I can assure you Atem doesn't know how to read people's minds but he can lip read and he taught me how."

"That's pretty cool and also not surprising. Think he could teach me how?" Tristan asked.

"If he's teaching you then he's teaching me!" Joey said, "I could learn what people think about me without asking."

"Are you really sure you want to know what people say Joey?" Tea smirked.

His jaw fell, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Tea just mocked confusion before sharing a quick high five from Tristan. Yugi just smiled and shook his head, he'd never tire of his friends taking the micky out of each other. The school bell rang loudly above their heads making all four of them jump. It was amazing but somehow lunchtime always seemed to zoom by. As they stood and joined the bustling crowd of students heading down the corridors to their various classes Yugi caught little parts of conversations and noticed people glancing at him when they saw him. He didn't need to lip read to guess that everyone was still talking about the tournament. It was becoming clear that this would be a topic of conversation for a while at least until Kaiba formally announced it. Following Joey into the classroom Yugi took his seat, pulled out his books and at least attempted to follow what the teacher was saying but he too found the thought of this tournament too much and eventually his mind wondered away from the classroom and on to what was coming.

The remaining school hours dragged by and Yugi did get into trouble for daydreaming a few more times which meant it really shouldn't have been a surprise when his teacher made him stay behind while the others left. He very diligently sat and listened to the teacher lecture him on the importance of school and paying attention. Deep down he knew that he should have been listening, but it was too late to change that now.

"What do you have to say for yourself Mister Muto?" The teacher asked.

"I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again." Yugi said, sincerely.

The last thing he wanted was the school to contact his grandfather over this. The teacher seemed to consider him for a moment in such a way that Yugi thought for a moment he was going to be forced to sit through the lesson again but this time completely alone. But after a moment he heard a sigh.

"Make sure it doesn't Yugi."

Nodding he stood and excused himself from the room. Most of the students had already left so the corridors were almost empty except those staying late for extra classes or extra-curricular activities. Reaching his locker Yugi began to sort through his things, some of the textbooks did not need to be carried home whereas others did. As he sorted he kept glancing around hoping to spot one of his friends. They knew he'd been held back but surely they wouldn't just leave without him. It was a Friday afternoon! There were so many things they could do on a Friday before heading home. He closed the door of his locker a little harder then he meant making a nearby fellow student jump. Giving the boy a sheepish look Yugi hurried away, there was a possibility that his friends were waiting outside. Now that he thought on it further it was highly possible that's where they were as he remembered that there was someone else waiting for them outside the school. Resisting the urge to break into a run he made his way to the main entrance of the school and pushed the door open. It was a truly glorious autumn afternoon. The sky was bright with the occasional cloud dotted here and there, it was losing its blue colour and there were hints of orange as the sun began to set. The wind was not as strong as had been in previous days but it still had a bite to it. This was truly one of Yugi's favourite times of year.

As he descended the concrete steps he gazed round, when he reached the bottom step he smiled. His eyes had found a group standing by the gates of the school, sure enough it was his friends. Making his way over to him he had to give himself a mental kick, he'd forgotten that he'd told Atem to meet them by the school gates so they could all decide what to do with the remaining afternoon hours. As he drew closer he saw it wasn't just his friends waiting with Atem, a couple of students seemed to be in conversation with him. Just as Yugi drew level with the group the two younger students smiled and waved at Atem before hurrying away.

"What was that about?" Yugi asked, moving to stand in front of Atem.

"They were asking me about the tournament." Atem answered, smiling, "But were also confused about how I'd changed out of uniform so quickly. I believe they mistook me for you."

"Well that won't be the last time the two of us are mistaken." He replied, snorting in amusement.

"Might be time for you guys to come up with some sort of cover story." Tea said as the group began to walk away from the school, "Maybe you could say Atem is a cousin or something."

"Yeah you're right," Yugi replied, "I'll talk to Grandpa, he'll have ideas."

"Speaking of ideas." Joey interrupted, pushing his way in between Yugi and Tea, "Where are we five hooligans going to go on this Friday afternoon?"

"How about the arcade?" Yugi suggested, "We've not been there for a while."

Joey punched the air, "Yes! Then I can once again thrash Tristan at the… well all the games!"

Tristan, who was walking behind the three of them, didn't take the bait. Rolling his eyes at Joey he turned back to continue his conversation with Atem, who was walking next to him. Making their way through the city of Domino Joey continued to brag about his gaming skills to each of them until their ears were almost bleeding. None of them could doubt Joey's self-confidence, not that it was a bad thing. But they knew that sooner or later Tristan would thrash him on something and that's when trouble would start. As the arcade came into view Joey immediately sprinted away, intent on claiming his first victory over Tristan. The others followed shaking their heads amused. The arcade was fairly busy, it seemed a lot of Domino High students had come to let off some steam after a long week at school. As Joey and Tristan engaged in their first battle the other three members of their group circled the room for a moment trying to decide what game they should choose first. Spotting something that looked interesting Yugi challenged Atem but unfortunately it didn't quite turn out the way he'd hoped. He'd banked on Atem's naiveté with arcade games to bring him victory however the former King of Games lived up to that title by promptly thrashing Yugi much to the amusement of their other friend. Sulking away Yugi went off in search of something else, he heard the other two behind him sniggering at what had just happened. But rather then one of the boys choosing the next game it was Tea. Gasping suddenly, she stared at a rather large machine with many colours, it was currently blasting out a rather annoying tune.

"Oh my.." Tea said, "Atem do you remember this?"

Atem eyed up the machine, an unreadable expression on his face, "Yes… yes I remember this. I remember that day well."

The machine they were looking at was the Dance battle game. Atem could remember what happened here well. It hadn't been long after the Duellist Kingdom victory and Tea had brought Atem out, at Yugi's request, to cheer him up and give him perspective of his situation at the time. He had fond memories of that day, it had helped him to know that Yugi and his friends really did have his back.

"Isn't this the game where you thrashed that guy quite spectacularly Tea?" Joey asked, suddenly appearing beside them, "What was his name again?"

"Johnny Steps." Tea replied, a victorious smirk on her face.

"Yes! That guy."

As Tea turned back to the dance game Yugi looked around.

"Hey Joey, where's Tristan?"

Joey grinned, "Oh he's off licking his wounds, I've reclaimed my honour by beating him."

"Not for long." Tea smirked, "How about it Joey?"

The three boys all wore similar expressions of awkwardness, they knew that Tea was serious about challenging Joey or even one of the others and none of them fancied putting their pride at risk with something they knew they couldn't win. Not against Tea as least.

"I… er… Well, I'm not much of a dancer Tea." Joey said, awkwardly, "But I bet Yugi or even Atem will be a far more suitable opponent."

Eyes immediately turned to Yugi, who held his hands up in reluctance.

"No no don't look at me Tea I'm like Joey! I have two left feet it really wouldn't be a challenge for you." He spoke rather quickly with a slightly awkward grin on his face.

"But you're the only other one here Yugi, so it has to be you." Tea determined, a wicked grin on her face.

"What? Where –"

Yugi looked round for the other person who'd been with them just a second ago. Atem was nowhere to be seen. But he'd just been with them, he'd been standing next to them just a second ago. It would seem as soon as Tea had put the challenge out Atem had made himself scarce.

"How does he do that?" Yugi mused, feeling half annoyed half impressed.

"Oh enough chat Yugi. Come on."

Without warning Tea grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him up and onto the dance machine. Standing awkwardly across from Tea he looked round, people were watching them and people who knew exactly who both of them were. He looked back at Joey who was giving him a look of 'rather you then me' to which Yugi scowled. Letting out a sigh he resigned himself to it and began the humiliation.

Humiliation it was. Yugi had never been and never would be a champion at dance games, he was not graceful enough. Whereas Tea spun and moved with all the grace of a trained dancer, Yugi was rather like a bridge troll. He stomped around the machine with no grace at all. When he tried to make something look graceful it spectacularly failed. A small crowd gathered to watch as the number one duellist in the world made a fool out of himself. It seemed to take a long time for the game to finish but eventually, after what had felt like an hour, it did. The difference between Tea's score and Yugi's was ridiculous and not one that Yugi would be particularly proud of. Quickly congratulating Tea on her win he raced off the platform and disappeared into the crowd. Behind him he could hear Joey and Tea laughing. With a rather red face he went off in search of the former King, planning to hide with him which the other had done rather successfully. His search turned out to be rather quick, he spotted both Tristan and Atem on the racing machine. Tristan was hard at work with the game, he could see the screen full of activity and Tristan turning the steering wheel quickly. Whereas Atem was sat on the other seat but he was not playing, simply watching. He spotted Yugi approaching and gave him a sheepish smile, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Don't be angry Yugi."

"I'm not but you missed my humiliating defeat." Yugi replied, "How in the world did you manage to sneak off without us noticing?"

Atem shrugged, "I can disappear when I need to."

"You're going to have to teach me that one, I wish I could have done that."

"Part of me wanted to stay close by to watch it though." Atem smirked, "It certainly would have been a sight."

"Very funny but you'll never know now. You've missed that chance and I'm in no hurry to repeat it again."

"Guys!" Tristan suddenly cried, through gritted teeth, "Do you mind? I'm trying to win a race here."

Laughing the two look-a-likes turned to watch. Yugi took a moment to consider his friends. After all that had happened, they were being normal teenagers, doing what normal teenagers did on a Friday afternoon. It was nice for Yugi to see his closest friend looking the most relaxed he'd ever seen him. Free of the worry of saving the world or figuring out his destiny. He was glad Atem was still with them, that he could take time to experience the world and be his own person. Smiling to himself, Yugi settled next to his friend and watched. How nice it was, just to be normal teens. With more exciting things on the way, things for all for them were looking bright.