"Well, I'll see you tomorrow at school! Thanks again for walking me home, Bakura," Akia told her new friend.
"No problem, sorry again about what happened..." He said to her apologetically.
"Don't worry about it," she reassured him, "I'm just glad you're fine."
Bakura watched Akia as she went inside her house. He was confused as to why the Spirit of the Millennium Ring attacked her. Was it because of the Millennium Scale? He didn't want to put her in any danger and concluded that it was probably best to make sure they were never alone together again. He'd hate to see her hurt. He wanted to get to know her better, to get closer to her, but he knew that it would only harm her.
The Evil Spirit of the Ring was also watching her. He knew that she wasn't just some random girl. He felt strange around her, as if he'd already met her before, long ago. Akia did not get rid of him by banishing his soul with her Millennium Scale, since he was prepared for such dangers. He already had a fragment of myself inside the Millennium Ring so his soul would never die as long as the Ring was intact. He was impressed with her, though. Nobody had ever dared threaten him before, but she did. She also defied him. He relished in how fun it would be to mess with her a little more. She was starting to entertain him.
Akia went to the living room to find her grandfather and Yugi unpacking some sort of cards.
"What's that? A new game?" Akia asked as she got closer for a better look.
"Oh, Akia! You're back," Sugoroku welcomed his granddaughter.
"How was your studying session with Bakura-kun? Did you actually get any studying done?" Yugi smirked at his twin.
"What are you trying to say?" Akia retorted, "anyway, what are these cards?"
The girl got closer and took one of them.
"Kuriboh?" Akia read the name out loud.
"It's called Duel Monsters," Yugi started explaining, "this game has been around for a while overseas, but it's only recently that it came here to Japan."
"Interesting... How do you play?" The girl asked.
"Well," the boy kept going with his explanation, "basically two players face each other with the deck they created. Then, the one who succeeds in bringing his opponent's life points down to zero, wins."
"Sounds interesting. How do you construct your own deck? Any tips?" Akia inquired.
"You want to make one?" Yugi suggested.
"Maybe..." She pondered.
"Another distraction from schoolwork, right?" He joked with his sister.
"Hey, I'm actually interested in this!" Akia defended herself while chuckling.
"Hm... Well, if you want, I'll tell you a few tips. I'm still beginning myself, though," Yugi said.
"Well, you've been always really good at games, so you'll probably master this in no time," Akia stated.
"Yeah, I've been good at all games against everyone except you..." Yugi sighed.
"So," his twin inquired, "will you tell me how to make a deck or not?"
"I will... So first thing you have to know about duel monsters is that there are three main types of cards: Monsters, Spells, and Traps," Yugi showed her the different cards.
Yugi explained most of the rules to Akia, and, as always, she quickly grasped them. After going over them once more, she finally opened a few packs and tried to make her own deck.
"Well now... I should balance the Monsters, Spells, and Traps... Like this... This card looks good... Hey gramps, do you have any awesome rare cards?" Akia asked her grandfather, not taking her eyes off the cards she was using.
"Well, I have this," Sugoroku answered and took out a Monster card called the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"It has 3000 attack and 2500 defence? Can I have it in my deck? Please, grandpa!" Akia begged.
"No way," the twins' grandfather refused as he put away his card, "this was a gift from a very dear friend of mine, a few years ago. You have enough good cards here to make a decent deck. In the future, you'll be able to strengthen your deck, and have your own style of dueling."
"Fine... Even though the cards here aren't all that next to that dragon…" Akia whined.
After a while, she finally constructed a rather decent, basic deck, considering that her grandfather's shop only had beginner packs at the moment.
"So Yugi," Akia turned to her brother, "should we have a little duel? I want to see how effective this deck is."
"Sure thing. I mean we both have about the same chances of winning this so I guess it'll be fair, unlike most other games that you somehow manage to get advantages in," Yugi tried to convince mostly himself.
"Hehehe... Too bad, Yugi. I think I'm going to win this one too!" His twin sister chuckled confidently.
The twins duelled into the night, going to bed rather late, considering they had school the next day.
On their way to school, Akia and Yugi were given a headlock from Jounouchi.
"Ow, you idiot! Let go!" Akia yelled out, feeling grumpy from the lack of sleep.
"So Akia, how was your 'studying' session with Bakura? Any juicy details?" Jounouchi inquired with a smirk.
"What are you talking about?! Nothing happened!" Akia quickly retorted.
It hurt Akia a little to hear Jounouchi saying those kind of things about her with another guy so casually, as if he didn't care. She knew he didn't, but she always tried not to face it.
"Yeah, right. You just want to keep all the good parts for yourself…" Jounouchi pouted then turned to Yugi, "hey Yugi, did your grandpa get those Duel Monster cards? I was able to get my hands on a few and made my own deck! Wanna try and duel me?"
"Yeah, grandpa got them. In fact, Akia and I were able to make our own decks too. And we... played a little," Yugi hesitated to divulge any further details.
"She owned you didn't she," Jounouchi replied, matter-of-factly.
"You know it!" Akia cheered.
"Hey! It wasn't that bad! I was able to win once!" Her twin tried to defend himself.
"Out of seven games," Akia specified.
"It's still an accomplishment considering that you somehow manage to win every single game on this planet. But you know what, I'll challenge her to a duel today and I will win! My deck is unbeatable!" the blond bragged.
"Let's duel then," the red-eyed girl challenged him.
After they all arrived at the classroom, Akia and Jounouchi sat facing each other and started duelling. After a few turns, Akia had her Horn Imp (1300/1000) in attack position and her full life points. Jounouchi on the other hand, had no monsters on the field and only 300 life points left.
"I'll just set a card face down and I'll end my turn," Akia said as she placed her cards.
Bakura made his way to where the two were dueling.
"Is that the new Duel Monsters game?" He asked.
"Good morning, Bakura," Anzu greeted him, "yeah, those two have been playing for a few minutes now."
"Who's wining?" Bakura asked.
"Akia-chan, of course. I mean, do you really think Jounouchi stands any chance against her?" Honda stated.
"Akia-chan is good at a lot of things, isn't she?" Bakura pointed out while smiling.
"Oh, stop crushing all my hopes!" Jounouchi told his friends off, "anyway, it's my turn now. Draw! Aha! Finally! I summon Armoured Lizard (1500/1200) in attack mode and I attack your Horn Imp!"
"Too bad, I activate my trap card: Reinforcements," Akia stopped him.
"Whaa... What's that?" Jounouchi inquired, kind of afraid of knowing what it was.
"I can target one face up monster and it gains an extra 500 attack points until the end of this turn. Of course, I choose my Horn Imp," Akia explained with a smug smile.
"Wait... so... how strong is it now?" Jounouchi pondered as he tried counting on his fingers.
"Now, it has 1800 attack points," Anzu broke it down, "so it's exactly 300 attack points stronger than your monster. That means you lose 300 life points."
"But... Wait... That's all I have!" The blond yelled out as he realized what had just happened.
"Exactly. I win!" Akia cheered.
"Oh come on! I want a rematch!" Jounouchi whined.
"Too bad," Akia denied him as she got up, "I don't feel like it. Duel Yugi."
"Fine. Come on, Yugi. Let's do this!" Jounouchi told Yugi.
"Sure, Jounouchi-kun," Yugi agreed as he took Akia's previous seat.
While they were having their duel, Akia noticed the multimillionaire, Kaiba Seto, sitting a few seats away. He never really attended his classes regularly, because of the fact that he was the CEO of the biggest gaming company around. He was arrogant, cold, and unpleasant. Akia didn't like him very much.
"Hey, Akia," Bakura called out to the girl.
"Ah, Bakura," Akia jumped a little but responded, "how are you?"
"I'm good, thanks for asking. So, you're pretty good at Duel Monsters aren't you?" The white-haired boy asked.
"Yeah, you could say that I've got some kind of talent when it comes to games, just like Yugi has. Except that I almost always win against him too," she joked, "hey do you play Duel Monsters too?"
"I haven't actually thought of trying the game," he replied.
"You should," Akia told him, "it's really fun. Tell you what, I'll help you with the rules and…"
"Akia-chan," Bakura cut her off, "I don't think it's a good idea to be alone with me. I don't want what happened yesterday to happen again…"
"Bakura-kun, you worry too much!" She tried to dismiss his concerns.
"Akia-chan," Bakura firmly asserted, "please, I don't want to see you hurt."
"Fine…" She begrudgingly agreed.
"And Jounouchi loses again!" Honda's voice sounded.
Akia and Bakura focused their attention back to the game. Yugi completely wiped the floor with Jounouchi, just like Akia did.
"Aw, man! It's not fair!" Jounouchi whined, just like in his first duel, "you guys have like unlimited cards at your grandpa's shop!"
"Stop complaining," Akia teased the blond, "you just suck at the game, Jounouchi."
"Why, you!" Jounouchi retorted as got up and trapped Akia in a friendly headlock.
"Ow, ow! I told you not to do that! Let go!" She protested while laughing.
"As if I'll listen to you, shorty!" He replied jokingly.
"Hey guys," Yugi called out to his friends, "if you want, you can come over to our grandpa's place with us. He has this super rare card, too. Come check it out!"
"You serious, Yugi? I'm coming over!" Jounouchi jumped at the opportunity.
"Just let go of me first!" Akia complained, still stuck in the blond's chokehold.
"What if I don't wanna let go?" Jounouchi grinned.
Akia blushed a little at the remark, even though Jounouchi meant nothing by it. She didn't know how to answer, because she actually enjoyed being so close to Jounouchi, even though it was in a friendly manner.
"Come on, guys. No need to fight," Bakura told them with a smiled.
"Oh yeah, sorry Bakura! Take your girlfriend back," Jounouchi teased and then playfully shoved
Akia into Bakura's arms. Bakura felt his cheeks burning up.
"Sh... She's not…!" The brown-eyed boy stuttered in denial.
Akia was too confused to even say anything at that point. She was in Jounouchi's headlock for one second, then the second after she found herself in Bakura's arms. And she didn't hate it...
"Guys, the teacher is here," Anzu informed them.
Akia finally broke away from Bakura and went to take her seat. During the whole day until the end of classes, her mind kept thinking of Jounouchi, then Bakura... then Jounouchi again... then Bakura again... then that boy from Egypt that she'd probably never see again.