"And so," droned the maths teacher, Mr. Shirogane, "when finding the height of an equilateral triangle, you can split the triangle in half to make a right-angle triangle and use the Pythagoras Theorem to find the height."

How is any of this trollop useful in a real-life context? Yami grumped.

Well, you need to know this sort of stuff if we want to get a degree in engineering or computer science or programming.

I know that. However, how many of your peers are actually planning that sort of career? What about you? You already have a life ahead of you managing Grandpa's shop once he retires.

But this stuff kinda cool right? I mean, someone was able to spot a pattern with the lengths of a right-angle triangle and explain it with a simple formula. He made a strategy guide for how triangles worked.

"Mr. Mutou?" Mr. Shiro called.

"Uh, yes?" Yuugi replied. Crap.

Oh. We must have looked unfocused. I am sorry Yuugi.

It's okay, just, Yuugi gulped. Yami help!

"If I wanted to find the height of an equilateral triangle," said the teacher, "where each side has a length of five centimetres, what would the equation be?"

Hang on, said Yuugi. We haven't been shown the equation for that yet!

Calm down, Yuugi. You can do this. Mr. Shirogane would not ask the question if he thought it was impossible. He mentioned Pythagoras, perhaps that is the key.

Pythagoras, a squared plus b squared equals c squared, with c being the hypotenuse.

Now how does he want us to use it?

He split a triangle in half. Half of five is two point five. That's two numbers, but how do we use them?

Yami looked up at the blackboard which showed a diagram labelled diagram of a triangle with a dotted line in the middle. I have it! A is two point five and c is five.

So, if we rearrange a squared plus b squared equals c squared into c squared minus a squared equals b squared.

They answered together, "The height of the triangle is five squared minus two point five squared."

Mr. Shirogane blinked. "Close, Mr. Mutou. You forgot to square root the equation. You've given me the height of the triangle squared."

"Oh." Their cheeks heated up. "Right."

Damn, thought both Yami and Yuugi.

I now see the real-life application for all of this. Yami explained.

And what would that be? Yuugi prompted, despite already knowing his other self's answer.

To ensure we do not get caught off guard by slightly vindictive teachers and avoid public embarrassment in the process.

As the lunch bell rang and the class emptied itself of hungry teenagers, Yuugi habitually stayed in the classroom. He lifted his bag to pull out his lunch and game, only to suddenly realise that he had forgotten to bring one.

"Ah," exclaimed Yami. That would be my fault.

Eh, it doesn't matter. We can just talk or something instead.

I would guess Jounouchi has other plans in mind, said Yami, purposefully directing their eyes to look at their new friend.

Jounouchi stretched his back as he limped over to Yuugi's desk. "Hey, Yuugi. You got a game we can play?"

"Oh, uh," Yuugi rubbed the back of his head. "No, I don't, sorry. I was kind of distracted this morning, so I didn't get a chance to pack one."

"Nah, that's alright," he waved off. "I think there's some board games in the cupboards over there." Jounouchi pointed to the blackboard at the front of the class, which hung above a set of wooden cabinets. "Wanna take a look?"

"Sure!"

There was a very poor selection. The board game boxes were all torn and misshapen, a deck of playing cards they found in the back of the cabinet was missing half the cards while the rest were creased or torn, and most of the pieces of the chess set they found were cracked in half. Eventually, they settled with Snakes and Ladders, which was the game in the best shape, though Jounouchi discovered that the die was cracked.

Yami sighed.

"You alright there, Yuugi?" Jounouchi asked as he moved his piece five spaces and stopped on a square just before landing on a snake.

"I am fine," Yami replied. They rolled the cracked dice as it landed on a two. "It just saddens me to see so much disrespect for the games we play." Their piece landed at the bottom of a ladder, which put them up by two rows.

"Damn, nice roll. When'd you start talkin' so formal?"

Yuugi had to bite their cheek to stop himself from laughing.

Shut up! said Yami, as their cheeks heated up. "I-I was quoting Grandpa," he quickly lied, crossing his arms.

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment. He rolled the dice again. "Oh, yeah! Got a six!" He moved his piece, only to land on a snake. "Oh, c'mon!"

They continued to play, constantly changing who was in front. Jounouchi consistently rolled high but was just as prone to hitting snakes as he was ladders. Yuugi and Yami of the other hand did not roll high often, but never they never landed on a long snake.

"Whaddya reckon happened with Ushio?" Jounouchi asked after he slid down a particularly long snake. "Looked like he was on drugs or something."

"I don't know," Yuugi lied. "But at least he won't hurt any of us."

"Yeah, I thought for a moment I was dreamin' when I saw 'em. Student hall monitor covered in garbage rantin' about leaves thinking it was money. Damn, I wish I had a video camera."

Yami snorted, and Yuugi giggled.

They ended up beating Jounouchi, despite the chain of ladders that he landed on trying to catch up. There was still half an hour of lunch left, so they decided to play again.

The second game was frankly ridiculous. Yugi and Yami played just as well as in the previous game, but Jounouchi was rolling absolutely perfectly. The first roll was a six, the second a two, which allowed him to reach the first ladder, the third led him to another ladder, and then another. People walking outside would have sworn that someone was dying due to the screams coming from the two boys.

"Seriously, Jounouchi!" Yuugi shouted. "You must have made a pact with some sort of demon!"

"I swear, man!" Jounouchi replied, laughing his head off. "I don't know how the hell I'm doing this! You're the one messing with Ancient Egyptian puzzles."

"This must be some sort of penance!" jokingly said Yami. "The puzzle hath been solved, now thou art cursed with facing foes with endless fortune!"

Jounouchi burst into another fit of laughter. "Don't," he took a deep breath, "don't worry Yuugi, I haven't won yet!"

"But you just said 'yet!'"

"What's going on here!?" suddenly said a girl's voice. The boys turned to see Anzu storming towards them from the door, arms crossed and an incensed look on her face. "You aren't bullying Yuugi again, aren't you Jounouchi?"

"Uh, no! No!" he denied. "We're just playing Snakes and Ladders."

"Yeah, Jounouchi's on a roll!" Yuugi explained. "He just needs to roll a five and then he's made a perfect run."

"Yeah," Jounouchi grabbed and rolled the dice. "But I doubt I'm gonna get it."

It landed on a five.

The boys leapt out of their chairs and an explosion of Jounouchi's loud, reverent swearing and Yuugi's incoherent screams reverberated through the classroom. Anzu had to block her ears from all the noise.

Jounouchi moved his piece five spaces, harshly tapping it on all the spaces until it landed on space one hundred. "You seein' this, Mazaki!"

"I can certainly hear it," she deadpanned. "How many turns was that?"

"Uh..." he turned to Yuugi. "Was it five or six?"

"Six." Yami traced Jounouchi's path. "You rolled a six, two, six, six, one, and five."

"Man. What are the odds of that?"

"A one in six to the power of six chance," Anzu explained. "So," she pulled out a calculator from her tote bag and punched in a few numbers. "One in forty-six thousand, six hundred and fifty-six."

Jounouchi made a low whistle. "Damn."

Yuugi sat down and rearranged the board for the start of another game. "Would you like to join us, Anzu?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, Yuugi. I have to meet up with Miho in the library."

"O-oh, okay," he said dejectedly.

"Don't worry about it," she turned to leave. "If Jounouchi misbehaves, let me know and I'll come running."

"Oi!"

"Uh, T-Thanks Anzu," Yuugi stammered. Their face heated up again. "But that isn't really necessary."

"Still," she said, "I had to say it for my own peace of mind. See you in class," and then she was gone.

After he sat back down, Jounouchi asked, "Hey, Yuugi?"

"Yeah?"

There was a weird gleam in his eye. "Have ya got the hots for Mazaki?"

"What! I, I, I-" Had the incident that shall go unnamed not happened, their face reached its hottest temperature yet. But behind all that embarrassment, Yuugi could feel a hint of amusement.

I have to admit, Yami teased, she is rather attractive. You have good taste.

Yami!

"You totally do!" Jounouchi chuckled.

Yami took control, he could not resist the chance to tease Yuugi. "Yeah."

Yami!

"Hey man, I feel ya. She's a good lookin' girl. And she clearly has a soft spot for ya. Why don't ya ask her out?"

Yuugi stammered "W-well I..."

Yami sighed. I can articulate your thoughts if you wish.

Could you do that please, and not embarrass me?

Do not worry, I know when to be serious. "She and I have known each other for a long time. Asking her out in a romantic sense... it scares me that we might lose whatever friendship we have."

Thanks, Yami.

Anytime, Yuugi.

"Oh, yeah. I get it." Suddenly the odd gleam returned with a vengeance, coupled with a lopsided smirk. "Tell ya what. I'll hook ya up with something when I can."

Yuugi and Yami asked, "what do you mean by that?"

"Well, my dad has quite the video collection, if you know what I mean."

Yuugi did not know what to say. Yami however, did.

"You have my attention."

YAMI!