After confronting his yami and making a deal, Ryou's life got much better. He got a part-time job at his favorite cafe as a barista, did the chores around their basement apartment on a regular basis, and he even got to run errands, like buying the groceries, which ensured that he got out of the house during his non-working hours. He was even starting to get used to Marik. His life was somewhat busy, and he liked it that way.

Of course, he had to hide all of his money and bank account information from his yami, but that had been successful so far. No breaches in security, as far as he could tell. He was able to see his friends every now and then, and Bakura had been fairly decent about not messing with him when he was working or doing anything in public. Of course, that meant that Ryou had to surrender any expectation of Bakura not messing with him when he was inside their apartment. For now, he was more of a nuisance than a serious threat, and Ryou was content with his life: he was happy, for the most part, and he even felt pretty normal at times.

Marik too was more of a nuisance than a threat; Bakura simply held a far greater potential for devastating violence than Marik did, especially since Marik's darker side had been sent to the Shadow Realm. Bakura was the evil genius, but Marik had resources that Bakura didn't have, which is why they were partners. At least, that was Ryou's theory, in addition to them just being friends. Well, maybe they were a little more than friends, but he didn't like to think about that.

He had even developed a crush on one of the regular customers at the cafe. He unfortunately had mixed feelings about the fact that he'd developed a crush, but nothing he felt for her was at all mixed: she was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually radiant, beautiful. Even her name was lovely: Amaya. He loved and respected her wholeheartedly. She made him feel more human than anything else.

But there was a problem: he didn't think it was possible to have anyone in his life like that while he had his yami, and he didn't know if he'd ever be free of Bakura. It was too great a risk to take.

A couple weeks after coming to this decision, he was working his shift when he noticed Amaya sitting at a table in the corner, textbooks and papers in front of her as she studied for her classes, but she looked incredibly distressed. He brought her the third mug of lavender tea she'd ordered in the past two hours.

"Thank you," she murmured, seeming very much unlike her normal self. Ryou hesitated. He wanted to say something to her, but he didn't know if it was really his place to do so. He quickly decided that her wellbeing was more important than his own reservations.

"Is everything alright?" he asked quietly.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," she responded unconvincingly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Ryou glanced around; business was slow at the moment, so he could afford to spare a minute for her without getting in trouble.

"Are you sure? Because you don't seem alright." He spoke hesitantly and gently, aware that it was entirely possible that he was asking things he had no right to ask. If she were to spurn his company now, he wouldn't blame her. Instead of sending him away, though, she burst into tears in that moment, pressing her hands to her face as she tried to hide it. Ryou, with a look of pity, sat in the chair across from her.

"Tell me what's wrong," he asked gently, wanting to do everything he could to make her feel better.

"There's just so much I have to do." She sounded both stressed and distressed as Ryou pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her. She accepted it with murmured thanks, drying her eyes as best she could as she continued to cry. "I have a paper due tomorrow that's only half written, and a a mid-term the day after, and I don't know how I'm going to get all of this reading done." She sighed heavily in despair, then let her head drop to rest on her textbook with a thud, her forehead pressed against the page. In different circumstances, it would have been more amusing.

"I think you underestimate yourself," he said after a moment. She didn't reply immediately, so he kept going. "I may not know you very well, but I can tell that you're intelligent and ambitious based on the amount of homework I see you do here. You work hard because you have big plans for your life, yes?" She nodded without lifting her head. "Sometimes things get harder for a while. A lot harder, and we may think that we can't get through it. But if we try to handle the problem one bit at a time, it becomes a lot easier to manage." He scratched his head nervously, feeling uncertain of himself. he'd never been in this position before, after all. Usually he kept to himself, neither receiving nor giving advice. "Does that make sense?"

She sniffled and blinked, then offered him a weak smile. "Yeah, it does. I'm sorry for falling apart like that."

"Don't be sorry." Ryou smiled back at her, hoping that his face wasn't as red as it felt. "We all have days like that every now and then. Just focus on one task at a time, and you'll get it all done, I'm sure."

They exchanged a few more words before he went back to work. On his break, though, he bought her a blueberry muffin and sat with her to check on her progress. She seemed to appreciate his concern as much as she enjoyed his company. Even after his break, he would check in on her every now and then to make sure she was doing alright. She stayed until closing, just like him, but before they parted ways, she gave him his handkerchief back. He looked down at it for a moment, then back at her.

"Are you free next Saturday?"