Ryou took a tentative first step into the Spirit's soulroom and looked around in wonder. The desert sand was soft and sparkly underneath his shoes, and the view of the civilization beyond the river was wonderful. He dug his hand into the ground and lifted up a handful of sand, letting it run through his fingers.
"Do you like it?" the Spirit said.
"It's beautiful," Ryou said.
"You haven't seen anything yet. Come back out here for a moment," the Spirit ordered.
After Ryou stepped back into the hallway, the Spirit briefly closed and reopened the soulroom door to reveal a new location. This time when Ryou entered, he was in the streets of a marketplace. Due to the fact that it was nighttime, the street was mostly empty except for a few beggars, street venders, and stray animals.
"Wow," Ryou breathed.
"Any time you want to travel to a different part of the soulroom, simply go back into the hallway and reopen the door while imagining the place you want to go. It'll work as long as you've been there before," the Spirit said.
Ryou was only half listening. "Wow. Look at all this!" He sprinted down the street like a child exploring a playground, taking in the details of his surroundings. "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh."
"Don't run off too far," the Spirit cautioned.
Ryou stopped in front of a street vendor selling cheap jewelry. "Excuse me, may I take a look at this?" he asked, pointing at once of the necklaces.
The street vendor didn't even look up.
"Hello?" Ryou waved his hand in front of the man's eyes.
"He can't hear you or see you," the Spirit said. "In this world, you and I are like ghosts, which means that nobody can perceive us at all. It also means we can't touch anything. Everything will fade right through us."
"Oh," Ryou said, crestfallen.
"Would you rather be gawked at like a zoo animal?" the Spirit said.
"No, it's better this way. It means I can study their society without being noticed." Ryou attempted to pick up a piece of jewelry, but faded right through his hand just as the Spirit said it would. At first Ryou was disappointed, but then an idea came to him. "If I'm a ghost, does this mean I can walk through walls?"
"Yes," said the Spirit.
Ryou immediately threw himself at the nearest wall to test it out. He entered a tavern where a group of jovial, drunken men were eating a meal and having a good time. Ryou laughed like a giddy schoolchild. "This is so cool! I can't believe this is actually happening."
Over by the corner, two men were shouting at each other in a language that Ryou couldn't understand. It was clear that they were arguing with one another. Suddenly, one of them lifted up a chair and smashed it down on the other person, knocking him out cold. Several angry men ran towards the one who was left standing, and soon a fistfight broke out.
"No! Don't fight!" Ryou said, forgetting that no one could hear him.
The Spirit grabbed Ryou's arm and pulled him towards the wall. "Come on."
"But what about– "
"The tavern-keeper will take care of it," the Spirit said. Sure enough, a woman was already at the scene, breaking up the fight and kicking the men out of her tavern.
The Spirit and Ryou returned outside into the streets. "So where do we go next?" Ryou asked.
"I'm going to sleep, so you need to leave. I don't want you wandering around in here without my supervision," the Spirit said.
"But I want to explore some more!" Ryou protested.
"Come back tomorrow. There are more people here during the day," the Spirit said.
Ryou reluctantly followed the Spirit out of the soulroom.
It was almost closing time at the Kame Game Shop. As Yugi's grandpa was sweeping the floor and getting ready to close up for the night, the phone suddenly rang.
"Hello, this is the Kame Game Shop. How may I help you?" Yugi's grandpa said into the phone.
"Hi, could I speak to Yugi please?" said the person on the other side.
"Sure thing, one sec." Yugi's grandpa covered the receiver and shouted up the staircase, "Yugi! There's someone on the phone for you!"
Yugi came running down the stairs in his pajamas, having just been getting ready for bed. He took the phone from his grandpa and said, "Hello?"
"Hi Yugi, it's Malik."
"Oh hey!" Yugi quickly took the phone with him into his bedroom and shut the door to make sure that they wouldn't be overheard. "How's the search for the Millennium Items going?"
"Semi-successful. We still haven't been able to locate the Millennium Eye, but the guy who has the Scales and Key just came in for a visit."
"Shadi came to visit you?"
"So you know him! It makes sense that you would. I actually really hate that guy! He didn't even have the courtesy to knock; he just barged right into my room by walking through the walls! Of all the disrespectful– " Malik stopped talking for a moment, realizing he had gotten off track. "Anyways, there's a message for the Pharaoh that I'm supposed to deliver. Is the Other You listening? It's really important for him to hear this."
"Yep he's listening," Yugi said as Yami Yugi manifested himself in transparent form.
"Good," said Malik. "So the Domino Museum is going to have a new exhibit on Ancient Egypt in about three months. Shadi said that in order to get his memories back, the Other You has to bring the God Cards to the stone slabs at the Museum sometime before the exhibit opens, and the closer to the opening day of the exhibition the better. In fact, it's recommended that you do it exactly a day or two before the opening day or else it might not work properly. Don't ask me why because I have no idea. That bastard left before I could ask him."
"Three months huh?" Yugi was quiet for a moment, thinking to himself. "Did Shadi say anything about the Millennium Items?"
"I'm afraid not. But I wouldn't worry about it for now. Shadi will probably give you the Key and Scales when the time is right, and the Eye should turn up eventually. Anyways, I don't want to keep you up any longer than I already have. It must be getting late where you live considering the time difference, so let's talk some other day."
"Wait Malik, I've actually been meaning to tell you something," Yugi said in an apologetic tone. "We lost the Millennium Ring."
"You what!?"
"We think Bakura took it. We were careless and left it out in the open. We haven't decided how to confront him about it though."
Malik breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case it's no big deal. Let him keep it."
"What do you mean no big deal?" Yugi's voice suddenly became angrier and deeper, indicating a switch in personalities.
"Hello Pharaoh," Malik greeted.
"Malik, this is serious! What if the Ring's evil personality comes back? What if he hurts the real Bakura?"
"The Spirit of the Millennium Ring won't hurt Bakura," Malik reassured. At least not more than necessary, he thought but didn't say aloud. "And even if he did, there's not much anyone can do about it. The Ring chose Bakura, which means he's stuck with it no matter what. Even if you try to take it away from him, it'll always make its way back to him somehow. That's just how destiny works. It's better to just accept it and move on."
"You really think I can just sit back and accept it? All of my friends could be in danger!"
"I'm really sorry but like it or not, Bakura was destined to own the Ring, just as Yugi was destined to own the Puzzle. There is a very specific set of events that need to take place and everyone who's involved has been assigned to a role that can't be changed. Bakura's role just happens to be less than desirable. I know that you want to help him but trust me; you might only make things worse."
Yami Yugi grumbled into the phone.
"Look," Malik said tiredly, "if it makes you feel any better, I can tell you for certain that Bakura's situation isn't as bad as you would think, based on what I saw when I looked into his mind. His life sure as heck isn't ideal, but he isn't suffering per se."
Malik crossed his fingers and prayed to the gods that Yami Yugi wouldn't ask for more details about Ryou's life. There were two important reasons why he couldn't divulge any more information: one, it would be impolite to talk about Ryou's family situation without his permission. And two, Malik would not dare to interfere with the Ring Spirit's planning.
Ryou's naivety blinded him from the truth, but Malik knew what was going on; he knew that the Spirit was deceiving Ryou. However he would not dare tell anyone about it; he just didn't have the courage to challenge destiny anymore after all of the crimes he committed during Battle City.
Luckily, Yami Yugi asked no questions and returned to the Puzzle. "We'll trust you for now," said the real Yugi.
"Thank you Yugi. I'll call you again in a couple of days to give you an update on how things are going."
"Okay. Goodbye Malik."
"Bye Yugi, bye Pharaoh."
While normal archeologists like Mr. Bakura had to rely on excavations and old documents to unlock the secrets to the past, Ryou had been handed the golden opportunity to study Ancient Egypt up close and in person. He got to see an ancient palace, the cities, the ruins of an abandoned village, and the burial sites of kings and queens all at the height of Egypt's glory. He was the luckiest kid in the world no doubt. This was every history enthusiast's dream come true!
At least, that's what Ryou thought at first. But he quickly learned that life wasn't all that glamorous during ancient times. People died in the streets all the time, slavery was common, and the penalties for committing crimes were often excruciatingly brutal. And the worst part of it was, Ryou couldn't do anything except watch from the sidelines.
Still, he persevered. He genuinely wanted to make the diorama and he wasn't going to give up no matter what. Whenever there was violence, he could simply leave until things settled down.
During the course of the next few days, Ryou produced over a hundred rough sketches of the people and their surroundings. Since he did not have a photographic memory, he often had to return to the Spirit's soulroom over and over in order to accurately render his drawings. To an outsider it would have looked like he was falling in and out of sleep sporadically. For once, he was grateful that his father was never home to observe what he was doing.
The process of building the diorama was not easy, as each and every individual piece had to be assembled in a total of four major steps. Step one was to draw a sketch. Step two was to make a model out of clay. Step three was to cover the clay model with silicone rubber and make a mold that would take one or two days to dry. Then finally, step four was to pour resin into the mold and create the plastic figure that would be used in the diorama. Each figure had to be sanded down and hand-painted as well, so it was all very time-consuming.
However Ryou never found the work boring and the hours passed away like a breeze. Whenever he did something related to art, he didn't know how to stop. Sometimes he was so absorbed in his work that he skipped meals and neglected to sleep, and the Spirit eventually had to step in to make sure his physical health didn't deteriorate too much.
One night, Mr. Bakura came home at two in the morning to see Ryou's bedroom in absolute shambles. Ryou was sitting at his desk and painting one of his figurines at the time, but the bedroom was so cluttered that it was a mystery as to how he was able to work at all. Evidently he had run out of desk space a long time ago, so the entire bedroom floor was covered with paper sketches, rubber molds, art supplies, tools, and models made of both resin and clay.
"Ryou, I appreciate your dedication but this is getting out of hand," Mr. Bakura said.
Glancing up at the clock, Ryou realized how late it was. "Sorry Dad, I'll go to bed now."
"That's not what I meant." Mr. Bakura gestured to the surroundings. "Look at this place! It's a mess."
Ryou looked around as if he were properly seeing things for the first time. "Huh. When did that happen?"
The following day, Mr. Bakura brought his son to the Domino Museum and showed him a hidden room behind the Tablet of Lost Memories.
"Since no one else is using this room, I'll let you borrow it. From now on you can build your diorama in here," said Mr. Bakura.
"This is perfect!" Ryou said gleefully. The room was wonderfully spacious and had a very high ceiling.
"I'm glad you like it. Now please clean your bedroom," said Mr. Bakura.
It took several trips home and back, but Ryou managed to move all of his supplies into the museum before it got dark out. All he needed now was a diorama table large enough for the display. Due to the uniqueness of the project, Ryou would have to get the table custom-made. He would worry about that later.
Ryou realized that he had forgotten to bring a few of his paintbrushes to the museum, so he went on one more trip back home. When he arrived in his dining room, he was shocked to see his father and Ms. Chono eating a meal together.
"Ryou! Come sit down. It's about time I introduced you two," Mr. Bakura said.
With his eyes lowered to the floor, Ryou pulled up a chair and sat down. He had no appetite to eat anything so he didn't bother to grab a plate or utensils. Neither his father nor Ms. Chono seemed to notice or care.
"This is my son Ryou," Mr. Bakura said to Ms. Chono.
"Oh yes, the quiet boy who sits in the back row. I remember him," Ms. Chono said indifferently as she dabbed make-up on her face.
"Right, I forgot that you teach at the same school Ryou goes to. That makes things a whole lot simpler, doesn't it?" said Mr. Bakura.
"Sure," Ms. Chono shrugged, putting away her make-up.
"What's Ryou like in school?" Mr. Bakura said.
"He's a good kid. Never speaks out, never causes trouble. Personally I like the quiet ones the best." Ms. Chono finally looked at Ryou. Smiling fakely, she reached out and stroked his long white hair in what was supposed to be an affectionate manner. Ryou cringed, and it took all of his willpower not to move away.
"In that case, I think you two will get along swimmingly well," said Mr. Bakura.
"I hear little Ryou is very popular with the ladies. He must have inherited your good looks," Mr. Chono smiled seductively. She and Mr. Bakura began to lean in towards each other.
At that, Ryou decided to excuse himself from the table. "I have to get back to work on the diorama," he said.
Ryou fled to his bedroom as fast as possible and slammed the door shut. Then he grabbed a spare blanket and used it to cover up the crack under his door to muffle out the sounds. He couldn't take much more of this.
Without bothering to change his clothes, he threw himself into bed and covered himself with the sheets to take a nap. Thanks to the power of the Millennium Ring, he fell asleep instantly.