Yugi walked into school, his heart lighter now that he didn't have to worry about the devilish duo—Joey and Tristan—beating him into a bloody pulp at the end of the day. It almost made up for the fact that, aside from the parasitic fish in his abdomen, he didn't have any friends at school.

Yugi was listening to the math teacher explain about matrices when something hit the back of his head. He quickly ducked down and opened up ball of paper, which had apparently been the missile. It read:

I know you think we suck, but it was totally cool what you did earlier. We didn't think you had the guts. If you want to hang out later, we'd be game.

Yugi, perplexed, turned around to see who had thrown it. Much to his surprise, Joey smiled at him and Tristan gave him a brief thumbs-up. The people who had beaten him up wanted to be friends just because he had stood up to them?

"Some people can't be friends with others until they can respect them," Yami noted. "It seems that Joey and Tristan approve of your earlier actions, and were only beating you up because you took it willingly."

"Still, it's surprising," Yugi replied. "How am I supposed to know if we even have anything in common? They used to assault me!"

"The only way to find out is to talk to them, aibou," said Yami. He had taken to calling Yugi that over the last few days. So Yami considered them partners… equals in the same body. It was comforting to know that the Karish didn't think of himself as superior or inferior. What kind of relationship would that be to have with a friend?

Math class ended soon and Yugi walked off to lunch. He was hungry, and Yami was looking forward to eating. He even enjoyed school food. Yugi didn't feel the same way—the hamburgers were the only thing in the entire cafeteria that he could stomach, and he ate one nearly every day.

Yugi sat down at an empty table, eating by himself, as usual. But suddenly, another person sat down next to him. Yugi stared. It was the athletic, attractive brunette that sat at the table near the window with her friends. She was a dancer, and she was beautiful. Yugi had always had a small—okay, large—crush on her, and now that she was sitting next to him he could barely believe his eyes.

"Is this a female, Yugi?" Yami asked curiously. He had been told to recognize them by the expansion of the chest. "Your body temperature rose when you saw her. Is she your mate?"

Yugi blushed violently, and in the few moments that it took to finish the conversation Tea must have been somewhat confused. "She's not my mate!" he yelled back.

Tea took a bite of her salad. "Is everything alright? You look kind of flushed."

"Ev-everything's fine," Yugi replied. "Um… this might sound a little weird, but… why are you here?"

Tea laughed. "Straight to the point, got it. Well, I just wanted to ask you about the math earlier."

"The math? What about it?" Yugi asked. This was extremely odd—Tea was asking him about school? He was under the impression that she didn't really care about anything but her dancing. Her focus was inspiring, but it didn't do very well for her grades.

"Okay, well, my A's have turned to B's… and my B's to C's… and I know that you get these awesome test scores, so I wanted to know if you could… help me out," Tea said. "Besides, what you did about Joey and Tristan was really brave. I've never given you that much of a chance. I'm thinking that we could be friends."

"You and me… friends?" Yugi asked incredulously. "Like, with each other?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Tea said, a bit agitated. "What, do you think that since you have better grades you're better than me?"

"No, of course not!" Yugi said hastily. "I just thought… that you were better than me."

"Let's go with… equal, 'kay? I'll come over at five, if that's alright. You live in the Kame Game Shop, right?" Tea smiled. "Living in a game shop. That's kind of cool."

"I started making chili this morning, and we usually eat at five. You could join us, if you want. But I think I should warn you… you shouldn't talk to anyone up close afterward," Yugi offered, laughing.

"Chili sounds awesome. I didn't know you could cook." Tea finished eating and stood up. "It was nice finally meeting you, Yugi. It is Yugi, right?"

Yugi nodded, and Tea walked away. Then two other people walked up to him. "Dude, you just scored a dancer!" Joey exclaimed, patting Yugi on the back.

Tristan attacked some spaghetti. "I can't believe that she just walked up to you. What did you do?"

"I… I studied math," Yugi replied, disoriented.

Joey looked like he was thinking. The expression seemed foreign on him. "Maybe I should study math."

Tristan scoffed. "Like you could, man. You suck at logical thought."

Joey growled and nearly pounced on Tristan. "Like you're one ta talk! I don't see you doing much betta than me!

Yugi chuckled nervously. Those two seemed to have a strange, almost violent relationship toward each other. Maybe it was their way of expressing affection, but Yugi wondered if they were just wild at heart. Yugi could tell that Yami was studying Joey and Tristan earnestly—not only did he want to know more about human psychology, but he had become extremely protective of Yugi lately. He seemed to think that it was his personal duty to keep Yugi from harm.

Tristan pushed Joey off of him and casually kept eating. "So, Yugi," he said with his mouth full, "what do you think about our offer? I know we haven't been exactly been kind to you, but I figured that it's water under the bridge now."

"Um… it doesn't sound too bad…" Yugi said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I have plans with Tea tonight, but maybe we could hang out tomorrow. I live in a game shop—we could play Duel Monsters."

"Duel Monsters?" Joey asked. "It that that one thing wit' da cards that I see on da channel with poker?"

"It's really fun when you learn how. If you want, I could teach you."

"I don't know, man… from what I've seen, it's a little over Joey's head," Tristan teased.

Yugi walked home from school, wondering if his chili had turned out alright. It was one of the few things that his mother had taught him to cook before she passed on. It took many hours to get right and usually left you with breath that would slay a dragon, but it tasted so good when it was made correctly.

Yugi had told Yami all about it, and they were both looking forward to it. He was even willing to let Yami take over for a bit so that he could taste it—as long as he didn't act too suspiciously in front of Tea.

And then, for the second time, Yami's ex-pal Bakura walked up to them on their way home. "Yami," Bakura said seriously. He had gotten better control of his host. "This is important."

Yami took over and turned back to Bakura. "What is it?" Yami said coldly. He did not want to lose Yugi's loyalty, and any friendship with Bakura was going to accomplish just that.

Bakura sneered at him. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you went and started being friends with this host of yours instead of doing what you're supposed to. It's just like you to give up your longest companion for someone so weak!"

"Yugi is not weak!" Yami yelled. He became aware that he had just given himself away. "Aside from my own father, Yugi is the best person I've ever met."

"Humans aren't people! They don't deserve the rights they have. And that's why we're taking it from them," Bakura said deviously. "It's all going to end soon. Just a bit more research and we'll be there. For the sake of our previous friendship, I want to warn you. The Karish are starting our takeover. We've found a way to destroy human consciousness! And one by one we will devour them all, so that we can finally claim this world to be completely our own."

"You're going to kill them!?" Yami exclaimed. "What has happened to you, Bakura? Why can't you hear your host? He's innocent!"

"None of them are innocent!" Bakura roared. "And if you don't join us, you'll follow in the footsteps of your father, rotting on the Shore because you're such an imbecile!"

Bakura turned and stormed off. Yami stared after him. He was going to exterminate the human race. He was going to exterminate Yugi. Yami couldn't let that happen… even if it meant turning against his own kind.