It was another ordinary morning at Domino High School in which Yugi and Jounouchi were playing a game of Duel Monsters while the rest of the gang watched. Yugi won again as usual, and Jounouchi demanded another rematch.
"Maybe we should stop for now. I don't think we'll be able to get another game in before classes start," Yugi said.
"Fine, but later today I'm gonna duel you again and kick your butt. You can count on it," Jounouchi said.
"Ugh, could you give it a rest already? We're tired of watching you lose all the time," Anzu groaned.
"Good morning everyone!" Ryou said, entering the scene.
"Good morning!" all his friends greeted.
"You're later than usual today," Honda noted.
"Yeah, the girls held me back longer than normal. But anyways, I was thinking we should all do something fun together since it's the weekend tomorrow," Ryou said.
"Hey yeah! We haven't come over to play Monster World in a while," said Yugi excitedly.
Ryou cleared his throat and made a bow of apology. "Actually Yugi, I've been working so hard on other stuff that I've neglected to write any new RPG stories for Monster World. Sorry…"
"It's okay, don't worry about it," Yugi said.
"So what do we do instead? Burger World?" Jounouchi suggested.
Anzu grimaced. "Ew, no! I'm not showing my face around there ever again."
"Then how about the arcade?" Yugi volunteered.
"Good idea!" said Jounouchi.
"I'm in," said Anzu.
"Sure," shrugged Otogi.
"Actually guys, there's a place I've been wanting to go for a while," Ryou broke in shyly.
"Okay! Let's hear it," said Honda encouragingly.
"Kaiba Land!" Ryou beamed.
Yugi, Anzu, and Honda recoiled in absolute horror, and Jounouchi let out a high-pitched scream.
"NO! Absolutely not! Worst idea ever!" Jounouchi said.
"Why? What's so bad about it? It's just an amusement park," Ryou said, cocking his head.
Yugi, Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda exchanged knowing looks at one another, shuddering as they remembered their experiences.
"Let's just say Kaiba really screwed us over. He created a whole bunch of rides that were specifically designed to kill us and we're all horribly traumatized," Jounouchi said.
"Isn't that illegal? Why didn't you guys report him for it?" Otogi questioned.
"We did, but Kaiba probably bribed the cops or something," Jounouchi said.
However Ryou refused to give up. "But nobody actually died, right? Kaiba Land's just a regular amusement park now."
Honda shook his head, Jounouchi shuddered, and Anzu and Yugi both gave Ryou apologetic looks.
"Sorry Bakura, none of us want to go. But if you want, you two can go together," Yugi said, pointing to Ryou and Otogi.
"Do you want to, Otogi?" Ryou asked with wide open eyes in Otogi's direction.
Otogi looked into Ryou's innocent, imploring eyes and just couldn't say no. "All right, why not? I don't have anything better to do."
Ryou clapped his hands exuberantly. "Yay! I'll meet you at the entrance tomorrow, and we'll buy the tickets together. What time's good for you?"
Otogi shrugged. "Depends. Do you want to eat lunch there?"
"Definitely! I hear they have a really good food court," said Ryou.
"Alright then, 11am?" Otogi suggested.
"Sounds good! Now I'm going to head to the bathroom real quick before class starts. See you guys later!" Ryou said as he hurried out of the classroom.
There was a brief moment of silence after Ryou left. Then Jounouchi shook his head and sighed. "I like Ryou, but he creeps me out sometimes. I know he's just messing around half the time, but still."
The next day, the weather was gloomy and gray, and it looked like it would rain any minute. Luckily, Kaiba Land was an indoor amusement park, so the weather didn't matter.
When Ryou arrived, Otogi was already there standing at the entrance. "Sorry I'm late. How long did I make you wait?" said Ryou.
"Not too long. Let's go in," said Otogi.
The line was moderately long, and it took them ten minutes to get their tickets and drop off their coats. Once inside, they pondered on what to do first.
"Do you want to eat now or go on a ride?" said Otogi.
"Um, let's eat now. I didn't have breakfast," said Ryou.
At the food court, there was a wide selection of different types of fast food including sandwiches, burgers, and Japanese and Chinese takeout. In the end they both settled on Japanese food, going with what was the most familiar to them. As they were looking for a place to sit, Ryou suddenly spotted someone he knew. It was a teenager wearing green cargo pants and with black hair that was so long, it almost reached the floor while seated.
"Janin! Hey!" Ryou called out, waving. His old friend looked up, spotted Ryou, and waved back enthusiastically.
"Who's that?" Otogi questioned.
"A friend from my old school," said Ryou.
Ryou and his friend Janin greeted each other with a hug and then seated themselves across from each other at the table. "It's so nice to see you Ryou! How have you been?" said Janin.
"Pretty good! How about you?" said Ryou.
"Not too bad but it's been kind of boring since you left. None of the others want to play games anymore," said Janin.
Otogi took a seat next to Ryou and cleared his throat.
"Oh! Right! I should introduce you," said Ryou. "Otogi, this is Janin. Janin, this is Otogi."
Otogi and Janin bowed to one another, exchanging a "Nice to meet you."
"Not to be rude but…are you a girl or a boy?" Otogi said.
"Girl," said Janin.
"Okay. Sorry for asking," said Otogi.
"It's okay, I don't mind. I like to evoke that effect on purpose. You look a bit girly yourself by the way," said Janin.
Otogi shrugged and smiled. "Thanks, I try."
There was another girl sitting next to Janin whom Ryou had never met before. "Let me introduce both of you to my friend over here. This is Mei Fen," Janin said.
Mei Fen was a shy girl who wore large round glasses and a shirt that had the English words "WANT SO LALA EVEL" in bold font. None of them could read English, but the words looked cool so nobody questioned it.
"Hello," both boys greeted with a bow.
Mei Fen bowed back and then ducked her head low, hiding her eyes behind her bangs.
"Mei Fen grew up in China, so her Japanese isn't perfect. But she speaks it well enough to get by," explained Janin.
Mei Fen whispered something in Chinese into Janin's ear. Janin nodded and responded in Japanese, "I know right! I totally get what you mean."
"What did she say?" asked Otogi.
Mei Fen covered her mouth with two hands, embarrassed. Janin laughed and said, "Nothing! It's just that…um, well…"
"What is it? Tell me!" Ryou leaned forward curiously.
The girls looked at one another and giggled. "You're both so androgynous! You look really good together as a pair," said Janin.
"Ahh, so you two are that type of fangirl," Otogi nodded understandingly.
"What are you talking about?" Ryou said.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Ryou," Otogi teased. "Here, eat up. You must be hungry." Otogi used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of chicken and held it up against Ryou's mouth. Ryou was confused, but ate it anyway.
Janin and Mei Fen giggled with delight as Otogi picked up a napkin and tenderly wiped Ryou's face. When Otogi tried to feed Ryou a second piece of chicken, Ryou rejected it with a wave of his hand. "This is taking too long. I can feed myself."
The four teenagers ate their lunches without speaking for a while. Once every minute, Mei Fen stared up at Ryou and then quickly ducked her head down when he noticed her looking.
"We saw you on TV the other day. Mei Fen's your fan," Janin said to Ryou.
"I was on TV?" Ryou said astonished.
"You were in the Battle City tournament, remember?" Janin said, throwing up her hands.
"Oh yeah," said Ryou sheepishly. "I only made it to the quarterfinals though."
"The fact that you reached the finals at all is already impressive," said Janin. "Though I'm a little surprised. I knew you liked games, but I didn't think you took them seriously enough to actually enter a tournament. Games are supposed to be fun in my opinion, and if you go too hardcore then it just becomes work." Janin put down her chopsticks and pushed her empty tray away. "I'm finished eating. How about you guys?"
Mei Fen held up a finger and started to shove food in her mouth, trying to eat quicker.
"Take your time, I don't want you to start choking," said Janin.
Five minutes later, Mei Fen put down her chopsticks and started to gather up the trays. Otogi stepped up and took the plates in her stead, saying "I'll take care of it."
"Did you and Mei Fen go on any rides yet?" Ryou asked.
"Not really. We played a few carnival games, but that doesn't really count," said Janin.
"Oh good! Because I want to go to the Mine of Lost Souls," Ryou said excitedly.
"Why are you so predictable? I just knew you'd say that," said Janin.
The Mine of Lost Souls was a haunted house attraction in which holographic ghosts jumped out to scare the riders at every turn. This was pretty much the whole reason Ryou wanted to come to Kaiba Land in the first place. It took thirty minutes of waiting in line to get to the actual ride. Luckily Otogi always carried a pair of dice in his pocket and was able to entertain them all with some magic tricks while they were waiting.
Each cart held up to four people. The girls climbed into the front, and the boys sat in the back. Mei Fen wasn't the kind of person to enjoy this type of ride, so she hid her face against Janin's chest for the whole time. Ryou was predictably in awe of everything, applauding and laughing at the hyper-realistic ghosts popping out at him while everyone else screamed in fear.
They were getting closer to the end of the attraction when the biggest, most grotesque ghost of all would jump out at them while a hidden camera automatically snapped a photo. Ryou was very excited for it. However, Otogi suddenly placed his arm around Ryou's shoulders and pulled their bodies close together, surprising Ryou so much that he missed the moment that the giant ghost jumped out at them. The moment the photo was taken, Otogi looked directly into the hidden camera and smirked.
Later when they had gotten off the ride, Ryou complained, "Why did you do that? Because of you, I didn't get to see what the ghost looked like!"
"Take a look at our photo," Otogi said, pointing at one of the TV screens in the booth outside the ride's exit.
In the photo, Janin had her arms wrapped around Mei Fen, who was squeezing her eyes shut in fear. Behind them, Ryou was leaning against Otogi's chest with a look of surprise on his innocent face, and Otogi was smiling devilishly at the camera with his arm around Ryou in a protective manner.
Mei Fen and Janin let out a squeals of joy when they saw the photo. Janin said to the cashier, "We both want a large framed photo, an unframed medium photo, a keychain and a wallet photo. One for each of us individually, please."
"You see that, Bakura? That's how you make the fangirls happy. You gotta give them a performance," said Otogi.
"A performance? You mean like a puppet show?" Ryou said, not quite getting it.
Otogi laughed so hard he nearly choked. "You're so utterly clueless I love it! Keep it up!"
"Eh?" Ryou said.
Just then, Mei Fen shyly approached the boys with her head lowered to the ground. She held up one of her photos from the ride and spoke in a tiny, barely audible voice, "Can I get your autographs?"
"Do you have a pen by any chance?" Ryou said to Otogi.
"As a matter of fact I do," Otogi said, taking a pen out of his pocket. He signed the picture and then handed the pen to Ryou, who signed right underneath Otogi's signature. Mei Fen bowed her head in thanks.
The four teenagers went to several attractions after that, including a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, house of mirrors, spinning car ride, and laser tag. After that they were tired of waiting in lines, so they played carnival games and won prizes for themselves.
It was late afternoon when the teenagers picked up their coats and other belongings at the entrance and left the amusement park. Otogi was mildly surprised when Janin picked up a longboard and helmet, but shrugged it off.
The ground was wet outside because it had just finished raining recently, but most of the clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining. They came across an empty playground on their way home, and since there were still some hours left before the sun went down, they decided to hang around for a little bit.
Janin skated around the playground, showing off some tricks on her longboard while Mei Fen swung herself on the swings and the boys hung around casually on the roundabout. Janin skated down a railing, flipping her longboard as she jumped off. However, her landing was unsteady and she wobbled around a bit before catching herself. The others were impressed nevertheless and applauded her. Janin bowed her head at them but frowned to herself for making an error.
As Janin practiced the same trick over and over again in the background, Otogi started up a conversation with Ryou. "So I finally managed to get a lease on the property. Our café should be opening up soon."
"Congratulations!" Ryou said, genuinely happy for him.
"Thank you! I'm still a little short on cash though," Otogi said. "I'm thinking about getting another part-time job, but that'll increase the chances of me getting suspended. I mean, what if a teacher recognizes me?"
"I wish the school would change that rule," Ryou mused. "You, Anzu and Jounouchi are always working so hard."
Otogi nodded. "Yeah, seems like everyone's in need or a little money these days."
"If you're desperate for money, you can always sue KaibaCorp as a last resort," Janin said. She had finished practicing tricks and was joining Mei Fen on the swings.
"But why?" Ryou said.
Janin threw up her hands like it was obvious. "The duel disks! Duh! So many people were hospitalized during the Battle City finals thanks to those malfunctioning duel disks. I'm surprised that nobody sued KaibaCorp after what happened up there."
"It wasn't the duel disks' fault. The strength of the God Cards was just too much," Ryou said.
"But still, KaibaCorp should have put a limit on how much pain the duel disks could dish out, God Cards or not," Janin pointed out.
Ryou couldn't argue with that.
"Sheesh, gamers are really fucking crazy these days. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a game of cards," Janin quoted.
Otogi absentmindedly spun the roundabout in a circle. Ryou stood next to him, hanging on to the bars with a tight, nervous grip. "Stop spinning it Otogi! You're making me dizzy," Ryou said.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry," Otogi said, bringing the roundabout to a stop. Glancing at the girls to make sure they were watching, Otogi took Ryou's hand in his own and pulled him into a dance while humming a soft tune.
"What are you doing?" Ryou questioned.
"It's a performance, Ryou. Go along with it. Pretend you're on a stage," Otogi said.
"But I'm not an actor and I can't dance," Ryou said anxiously.
"No worries." Otogi grabbed Ryou's chin and tilted it up. "You're perfect just the way you are."
Their heads were so close together that Ryou could feel Otogi's breath against his face. For a moment the boys just stood there that way while the girls watched with fascination. And then two thugs showed up.
"Well well well, what do we have here? A couple of girly sea queens," said a deep, gruff voice.
"Oh crap," said Otogi, pushing Ryou away. He recognized these guys. Their names were Rosen and Guil, two of the most stereotypical and generic bullies from Domino High School.
"I don't know about this, Rosen. That the creepy transfer kid," said Guil, following a little ways behind the first bully.
"Aw, those stupid rumors don't scare me," bragged Rosen.
On a normal day, one or two bullies were no big deal for Otogi, but today he had a total of three people to protect. It wasn't going to be a fair fight.
"Ryou, listen to me. When I say go, you take the girls and run," Otogi whispered.
"But –" Ryou began.
"Just do it and don't ask questions," Otogi hissed.
"Dirty little queens like you make me sick. You shouldn't be allowed to exist," Rosen said, cracking his knuckles.
"GO!" Otogi shouted as he flicked a pair of dice into the air, one at each bully. The dice hit the bullies on their heads and knocked them backwards.
Janin sprang into action, grabbing both Mei Fen and Ryou by the arms and kicking up her longboard with her feet. Somehow she managed to fit all three of them together on the longboard and skated away.
Otogi stayed behind, placing himself between the bullies and the playground's exit. Rosen and Guil recovered from their initial shock of being pegged with dice and growled at him. "You think you can pick a fight with us? You're outnumbered," said Rosen.
"It shouldn't be too hard. You guys are all brawns and no brain," said Otogi.
"Yeah but your boyfriend over there seems to have neither brains nor brawn," Rosen chuckled, pointing to Ryou who had come running back.
"Ryou you idiot! I told you to run away!" Otogi shouted.
"But I wanted to help," said Ryou.
"You'll just be a hindrance! Get out!" Otogi said.
Too late. Guil grabbed Ryou and held him hostage.
Rosen and Otogi stared each other down. "If you don't want your idiot boyfriend to get hurt, you should come quietly with us," Rosen said.
Out of the corner of his eye, Otogi saw Janin approaching Guil from behind with her longboard raised over her shoulder. Otogi raised his hands in the air, feigning surrender.
All at once, Janin swung her longboard at Guil's head, making him howl in pain. This distracted Rosen long enough for Otogi to knock his feet out from under him. Meanwhile, Guil let go of Ryou and threw himself at Janin, grabbing onto her legs and causing her to trip and fall. After a brief moment of struggling, Janin fought the bully off and managed to slip away, but she lost her left shoe in the process and now everyone could see that one of her legs was prosthetic.
Guil started to go after Janin, but then Rosen said, "Leave her. It's the queens we want."
Otogi grabbed onto Ryou's hand and pulled him along. Both of the bullies started chasing after them. At this very moment, the Millennium Ring emitted a blinding white light, and everyone within a twenty-foot radius dropped unconscious to the ground, including Otogi and the two bullies.
Janin, on the other hand, had been standing far enough away to escape the power of the light. She watched in horror as Bakura grabbed the nearest fallen bully by the scruff of the shirt and raised his fist to beat up the unconscious body.
"Stop!" Janin shouted.
Bakura turned and glowered at Janin with cruel, empty eyes.
Janin shuddered. "You're not Ryou, are you?" she said.
Bakura dropped the bully's body to the ground and kicked it to the side.
"You're…that guy," Janin continued. "You're the reason I fell into a coma. None of the others remember you, but I do! I've had dreams about you."
"Che," was all Bakura had to say. He couldn't understand why mortals had a tendency to talk so much more than necessary. The following conversation was going really boring for him.
"Whoever you are, get lost! Leave Ryou alone!" Janin commanded.
Bakura crossed his arms and smiled in a way that was almost charming. "Oh please. You don't know anything about my relationship with my host. Ryou wants to have me around."
"Seriously?" Janin said with disbelief.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Yes, seriously. We made an agreement with each other. Ryou lets me live in his body since I don't have one of my own, and in exchange, I stay on my best behavior and help him out whenever he needs it."
Janin crinkled her nose in distaste. Bakura's words were innocuous for the most part, but the way he talked sort of gave off a creepy vibe. "So, what, is Ryou basically your keeper or something?"
"I prefer the term 'landlord.'"
Janin deadpanned. "You're a piece of work."
"Thanks for the compliment," Bakura teased with a delightful smirk.
"How do I know you're not lying though? You could taking Ryou by force for all I know," Janin said suspiciously.
Suddenly, Otogi groaned. The Millennium Ring's magic was wearing off on him and he was going to wake up any second.
"If you won't take my word for it, why don't you ask him yourself?" Bakura said. And then he returned to the Ring.
Ryou pressed his fingers against his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut with a groan. Whenever the Spirit shoved him back into control of his body, it was like being jolted awake from a deep sleep. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.
Otogi sat up and rubbed his eyes confusedly. "What just happened?" he wondered aloud.
Ryou held out his hand and helped Otogi to his feet. Meanwhile, Janin went to retrieve her fallen shoe.
"Hey Ryou," Janin said, slowly approaching the boys with her shoe clutched in her right hand. "Think fast!"
Janin threw her shoe at Ryou's forehead. It hit him dead center and left a footprint on his face.
"…ow," said Ryou.
"What do you think you're doing?" Otogi demanded angrily.
Janin nodded to herself. Yep, this was the real Ryou. No one else would just stand there and allow himself to be hit so passively.
"Explain something to me," Janin said sternly. "Let's pretend I'm in a relationship with some guy who a control freak. Say if this guy did something terrible to all of my friends and ruined my reputation at school. Give me five solid reasons why I would want to keep him around."
"Oh…right. There are plenty of reasons," Ryou said. Janin's phrasing was vague, but he understood what she meant.
Janin shifted her weight onto her artificial leg and tapped her real foot impatiently.
"Say if he's changed. Say if he's already done multiple things to prove to you that he's a better person than before," Ryou said.
"How many times has he proven himself?" Janin questioned.
Ryou started counting them in his head. The first time was during Duelist Kingdom when the Spirit had helped everyone get past the Meikyu brothers. The second time was when he had saved Honda and Mokuba from Pegasus's dungeon. And there were many times after that: more than Ryou could recall at the moment.
"More than five," Ryou answered.
Janin was silent for a few seconds as she contemplated what to do. "I wish I could trust your judgment Ryou, but you have a tendency to give people more second chances than they deserve."
"How would you know if you never tried? Maybe he just needs someone to support him because no one had ever given him a chance before," Ryou said.
Janin sighed defeatedly. "Fine. Have it your way. It's not like I've ever been able to stop you once you've made your decision."
Otogi had been trying to follow along with their conversation and failed miserably. "Are you having some kind of relationship problem with your boyfriend or something?" he directed the question at Janin.
"It's none of your concern," both Janin and Ryou said at the same time.
By now the sun was starting to set and they all decided it was time to go home. Mei Fen, who had overheard everything, came out from her hiding place behind a tree. The four friends said farewell to one another and promised to keep in touch.
Later on, a rumor would spread around Domino High that Ryou had single-handedly beat up two of the school's most notorious bullies, thereby enforcing his reputation as the creepy transfer student. But other than that, the events of the day didn't have much of an impact and Ryou mostly forgot about it in the long run.
Janin is pronounced JAYnin. Ja as in jaywalk, and nin as in ninja. The emphasis is on the first syllable. I wish I could've named her Janet, but I have to stay consistent with keeping the characters Japanese. If my fanfic were an anime, Janet would be her English dub name.