Chapter Two: Beware The Dark Game

When Yugi left his room, Sugoroku was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for him.

"So, how's the room?" Sugoroku asked.

"It's nice," Yugi said politely. "Bigger than my old one."

Sugoroku looked sympathetic. "I know this is going to be a big adjustment, for both of us. Just focus on recovering, and the rest should fall into place nice and easy. Now, sit down, this is a pretty long story."

Yugi slid into the chair his grandfather had pulled out for him.

"Your mother told you I picked that puzzle up for you from Egypt, right?"

Yugi nodded.

"Well, that was true. But it wasn't some trinket I picked up in a bazaar, no. I found this puzzle buried in the depths of an ancient Pharaoh's tomb."

"You… took this from a dig site, Jii-chan?" Yugi asked, gripping the gold pyramid tighter as a chill went up his spine. "But that must make it thousands of years old! Something that belongs to a museum!"

Sugoroku rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, a huge Egyptology craze was going on when I was a young man, Yugi. There wasn't really a system of museums to send the things we found to, and a lot of us took home the things we found as souvenirs. And I… well, considering how I found it, it almost felt like Fate that it should come home with me." He grinned. "Like I said, that puzzle is temperamental. If it didn't want me to take it, I wouldn't have been able to take it."

Yugi frowned, confused. Sugoroku almost talked as if this puzzle was a living thing.

"But… why was it in the tomb like that?"

Sugoroku frowned. "I was never able to figure that out. That tomb was an odd one, completely untouched after all this time. And the traps… they weren't like anything I'd ever seen. One of those traps is the reason my old back hasn't worked like it used to." He rubbed his back and winced.

Yugi bit his lip. "What do you mean, how you found it, Jii-chan?"

"That puzzle, the Millennium Puzzle, was the most protected thing in that tomb, Yugi. Even after it was removed from the tomb… things happened. Accidents. Illness. The old head of the excavation team was the last of them. Got sick, some type of fever he caught while down there. His last words were, 'Beware the dark game'."

Yugi felt a chill. "But… what does that mean?"

Sugoroku frowned at the table. "Do you still have the box the puzzle came in?"

Yugi nodded. "I keep some of my rare trading cards in it now."

"My team managed to translate the text on the outside of the box, Yugi."

"Really?" Yugi had always wondered what the hieroglyphs etched around the lid of the box had meant. Part of him always assumed it was something incredible, though. 'The one who solves me will gain one wish', or something. Like uniting the Dragon Balls.

Sugoroku nodded with a sly smile. "It said, 'The one who solves me will gain the powers and knowledge of darkness'."

"Power and knowledge of darkness?" Yugi repeated, turning the pendant over in his hands. A gleam raced across the gold surface. "Does that mean my wish will come true?"

Sugoroku looked confused. "Wish?"

Yugi blushed sheepishly, sweating. "Um, well… when I was younger, I always imagined that… if I solved that puzzle, then I could get a wish. It… sounds silly when I say it now, though."

Sugoroku smiled. "What did you wish for, Yugi?"

Yugi kicked his feet, looking at the table.

"Friends. I… I wished for friends. Friends who I could count on… and who could count on me - no matter what." He looked up. "Does that… sound crazy?"

Sugoroku's smile faded and he rubbed his eyes. "No. Of course not, not at all." His smile returned. "Well, knowing what the text says doesn't help in knowing what it means. It could be a wish, for all we know."

Yugi forced a smile. "That's something. But… did they ever figure out if there really was a curse?"

"They never found one," Sugoroku said. "For now it's just a good and spooky story to tell." He put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Anyway, I'm glad to see that you've taken a liking to it. Here I was convinced it wasn't going to be solved in my lifetime."

Yugi bit his lip and tightened his grip on the rope, guessing what his grandpa was going to ask and not wanting to be rude and refuse, but not wanting to ever let it go, either. This was a millennia-old artifact, literally priceless! Of course Yugi couldn't just keep it!

But… no! I can't give it up! I can't! A cold hand closed over his heart, and for a second it felt like the walls of the tiny kitchen were closing in on him.

Sugoroku chuckled, snapping Yugi out of his panic. "I'm not going to demand it back, Yugi," he said. "You solved it. It's yours now!"

Yugi couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him. "Well, it's… good to finally know more about it," he said. "Thank you for telling me."

Sugoroku smiled and nodded. "Are you all unpacked?"

"Just my clothes and overnight stuff," Yugi said. "I haven't opened any of my boxes yet."

"Do you want a hand?"

Yugi shook his head. "I think I've got it."

A few minutes later, Yugi was looking through his first box of things, trying to focus on it. However, his mind kept wandering to the puzzle around his neck. He gingerly removed it from his neck - forcing aside the surge of panic he felt shoot through him as he took it off - and dangled it in front of his face, inspecting the intricately carved surface.

"The power and knowledge of darkness, huh?" he asked. "A wish?"

Yugi wasn't as sure that the puzzle was going to grant him a wish as he used to be. So far, since he'd solved it, he'd been accused of nearly killing five people and was starting to wonder if he really had done it, he'd had to move homes and live with the grandfather he'd never met, and even Mom was afraid he was some kind of psycho.

That was a funny way of granting an innocent wish for friends.

"What are you trying to do?" he asked the puzzle under his breath.

Yugi saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his room and jumped up. It darted to the other side of the room, and he whirled around.

Yugi froze in horror as his reflection in the mirror slowly morphed. The person in the mirror still looked sort of like him, but their clothes and face were spattered with blood, their eyes were glowing blood red, and their face was twisted into a cold, cruel smile.

Well? This is what you wanted, isn't it?

You wanted them to stop, didn't you? You thought it would be wonderful if Ushio-senpai and his friends could never bully you again. You wanted them to just go away…

"NO!" Yugi screamed, staggering back into the pile of boxes he had yet to unpack, knocking them over on top of him with a loud CRASH.

"Yugi!"

Yugi heard footsteps up the stairs and down the hall, and Sugoroku burst in.

"Yugi, are you alright?!" he asked, moving the boxes from off of Yugi and grabbing his hand to help him up.

"Y-Yeah, Jii-chan," Yugi stammered. "I just… knocked my boxes down onto myself. Silly me."

"I heard you scream," Sugoroku asked, looking concerned.
"I… I think I saw a spider or something in the corner," Yugi lied. "I-It's gone now."

"Well, tell me if you see it again. We have joro spiders around here, and although they don't bite much it's better to be on the safe side."

He put his arm around Yugi. "Are you sure you're alright, Yugi?"

Yugi nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure."

Sugoroku looked unconvinced, but he didn't say so. "Right. Once you're done unpacking, do you want to walk around town? You won't get much of that good mountain air sitting indoors."

"Sure," Yugi said immediately. He didn't know how much of a cure-all clean air actually was, but he needed to get outside and clear his head.

That story Jii-chan told me is bothering me more than I thought.

When Yugi was done unpacking, sliding his last tabletop game onto the bookshelf, he went downstairs to find Sugoroku already waiting for him.

"Hope you have your walking shoes on, my boy," Sugoroku said with a grin. "It's not worth getting the old car to start just for in town, everything being so close and all. The only distance worth driving is to the train station."

Yugi nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I just realized we're out of a few things, so we're going to the grocery store, but we're also going to walk around town a bit so you can see where everything is. Don't worry - it's hard to get lost in a small town like this."

The wind wasn't as biting as before, but still chilly as they stepped outside. Yugi shivered and took a deep breath.

"The grocery store is just down the block, nice and convenient," Sugoroku explained. "That's the library across the street from us, and a little theater around the other side of the grocery store. That building beside the library is Kawai's, the clothing store."

Yugi looked around at the buildings Sugoroku had indicated, surprised by how small and spaced out they were. The grocery store was the biggest, and it was a quarter the size of the store Mom went to back home, if that. It had a sign mounted on the roof that read Sennen Family Market on it in blue block letters. The library was a tiny building built out of dark brown brick with Library painted on the front door. There was a window showing lines of bookshelves and the dark shapes of library patrons walking around looking at books. The theater had a block sign mounted on the roof - the kind with letters one could arrange like out front of a school - reading Town Theater followed by a list of movies being run. A poster of a popcorn bucket had been put up in the window. Kawai's was framed with the image of a cherry tree shedding blossoms painted on the front window, and a simple cherry blossom sketch decorated the sign below the letters "Kawai's Boutique". Behind the window were two mannequins - one modeling a sundress and the other modeling shorts and a t-shirt.

"Believe it or not, this is the middle of town!" Sugoroku said with a laugh. "The center of the hustle and bustle!"

Not much hustle and bustle going on right now. Yugi only saw a few people on the street right now, all walking like he and Sugoroku were, and the only car he could see was Sugoroku's blue stick-shift, a block away out front of the game shop.

"Most of the rest of town is just houses," Sugoroku explained as they walked up to the grocery store entrance. "I'll show you the Academy once we're done at the store, since that's a good walk away from here."

Yugi felt awkward and nervous following behind Sugoroku as he collected the groceries. It was the usual things - milk, eggs, cereal, bread-

"Do you want me to grab something from the convenience food section? I noticed you enjoyed the chicken you bought at the station."

Yugi snapped out of his thoughts. "Um… yes, that sounds good," he managed.

"Good morning, Muto-san!" the man behind the counter greeted cheerfully. "Or, afternoon, as it were."

"Hello, Tanaka-san!" Sugoroku replied, equally jovial. "This is my grandson, Yugi! He'll be staying at the shop for the school year."

"Oh, is that so?" Tanaka said, looking at Yugi curiously. "I'm glad to finally meet you, Yugi-kun. Your grandpa has told me a lot about you."

"Uh… thank you," Yugi said nervously.

Tanaka then seemed to catch sight of the Puzzle around Yugi's neck. "Where'd you find that trinket, Yugi-kun?"

"Oh… it was a… birthday present…" Yugi admitted shyly.

Sugoroku put his hand on Yugi's shoulder. "I gave it to him a while back. It was one of the things I brought home from my travels."

"Ah," Tanaka said. "I'm sorry, Yugi-kun, I didn't mean to be rude. But… it is a rather pretty piece of gold, isn't it?"

Yugi nodded, tightening his grip around the Puzzle's cord.

"Moving on to other subjects," Sugoroku said after a too-long and too-awkward pause. "I'm afraid Yugi and I must be going. I want to show him around town a bit."

"Oh, of course, of course," Tanaka said. "Hope to see you soon, Muto-san. Both of you," he added, giving Yugi an unreadable look.

Yugi was glad to be out of the store and away from the man's strangely prying eyes.

"So, is he…?" Yugi finally asked as they walked further down the street.

"Oh, Tanaka-san? Yes, he's… a character to be sure. Nice enough, but a bit nosy. You'll find a lot of interesting people wind up in a small town like this."

"Muto-san!"

Sugoroku grinned and hurried over to the other side of the street, where a tall, thin older man in a brown tweed jacket stood, waving to get Sugoroku's attention.

"Ah! Yoshimori-san!" Sugoroku greeted back. "I wasn't expecting to see you walking about today! Weren't you helping put together a new Egypt exhibit?"

"We got done with it a little early!" Yoshimori replied. "Then something told me I should take a stroll around the town square," he added with a wink. He turned. "And you must be Yugi! It's wonderful to finally meet you!" He grabbed Yugi's hand in a firm handshake.

"H-How did you know…?" Yugi stuttered as his arm was pumped up and down enthusiastically.

"You look just like old Sugoroku did at that age, that's how," a new voice cut in. An American man who looked about the same age as Sugoroku with short silver hair walked up behind Yoshimori.

Sugoroku laughed. "What's this? A class reunion? Hello, Arthur - you're looking well," he told the American as they shook hands.

"So are you, Sugoroku," Arthur replied with a smile. "I'm glad to see it. And, of course, meet you, Yugi-kun."

Yugi smiled nervously in response.

"When did you get here? If I'd have known you were going to be flying in I would have planned a visit!" Sugoroku asked.

"Yesterday, and I'm afraid I can't stay long. I was helping Yoshimori-san with the new museum exhibit and the reopening. I'll be flying home tomorrow evening," Arthur said, putting his arm around Yoshimori's shoulders. He rubbed his head in embarrassment. "You know how Rebecca gets about me traveling."

"A man's never had a more stubborn granddaughter," Sugoroku mused. "How old is she now?"

"Almost thirteen now, and let me tell you, Sugoroku-" He leaned in and stage-whispered, "Teenage attitude and a college education don't mix!"

All three of them chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad to see you, no matter how it happened, old friend. Today is a day of coincidences and minor miracles!" Sugoroku replied.

Arthur tilted his head to one side upon seeing the Puzzle Yugi wore around his neck. "Is that…?"

"It is, Arthur. Yugi showed me today that he put it together himself."

"The impossible Millennium Puzzle? You're a man after your grandpa's heart, Yugi-kun!" Arthur chuckled.

"How long did it take?" Yoshimori asked in interest.

"E-Eight years?" Yugi stammered out. Why are so many people interested in the Puzzle? Do they all know the story?

Yugi felt stupid when he realized it. Wait, these are all Jii-chan's archeology friends. Of course they'd know about the puzzle.

"Eight years. Well, it took Sugoroku twenty years to get two pieces to fit together!" Arthur said with a laugh.

"We had a bet going and everything, do you remember?" Yoshimori added. To Yugi, he stage-whispered, "Your grandpa still owes me 100,000 yen!"

"Now, look here, I thought we agreed-!" Sugoroku protested.

Yugi couldn't help but smile as he watched the three older men needle at and tease each other.

I'd love to have that. Friends you can laugh and joke around with even when you're old.

A beam of sunlight raced across the peaks and valleys of the Puzzle's gold surface, making the eye almost seem to blink.

"I never imagined we'd all meet up like this," Arthur said, prompting Yoshimori and Sugoroku to stop bickering over the 100,000 yen debt Sugoroku might have owed Yoshimori.

"After all these years," Yoshimori agreed. "It's like the stars have aligned."

"Really? I never took you to be the superstitious type," Arthur said.

Yoshimori smiled, but it looked forced. "Well, the field we work in tends to bring out the superstitious in us all, I think. I'm just surprised to see you two."

"I'm glad we could talk again, all three of us," Sugoroku said. "The only thing that would make it better would be if Akio-kun turned up."

The atmosphere turned solemn.

"You two have seen him around, right? I assume he still lives here," Arthur asked.

"He does. His sister-in-law moved in with him and Amane-chan and keeps things in order while he's away. But we haven't had a social call in ages. He's always out traveling."

"Getting that young wanderlust out?" Arthur asked.

"Or something," Sugoroku said. "That whole family… none of them have been the same since…"

Arthur's teasing look faded. "Oh. Oh."

"But that's hardly a subject to be talking about in the middle of the street," Sugoroku said quickly.

"Right. Of course. If you ever get the chance, can you tell him I asked how he was holding up?" Arthur asked.

Sugoroku nodded, looking grave.

Ten minutes after they said goodbye to Arthur and Yoshimori, Sugoroku had sort of returned to his previous jovial self. They were currently walking down the creatively named First Street, a long thoroughfare lined with quiet suburban houses. Most of them didn't have a car, and quite a few of them didn't even have a driveway.

"We're coming up on the Academy, Yugi," Sugoroku said. He pointed up the hill toward a large school building, built entirely out of sand-colored brick apart from the windows, which were outlined with dark wood sills like kohl-lined eyes. It was smaller than Domino High, but other than that it looked just like a regular high school. At first.

As they came up the hill, Yugi saw that the top floor of the building had fewer windows, and the windows had, unmistakably, bars mounted on them.

Sugoroku must have seen Yugi's eyes flicker to the barred windows, because he frowned. "I do wish they'd take those down. This isn't Bedlam House."

"Wh-Why are they up?"

Sugoroku frowned. "I told you that the Academy has mental health facilities, right?"

Yugi nodded. "Is that the mental hospital? The top floor?"

Sugoroku's frown deepened and he nodded. "They needed the space for patients who have to be monitored all the time. And it's convenient, allows the patients to attend school and still get the care they need. Anyway, about the bars on the windows… Some of the patients there have tried to jump out. The bars are a safety precaution. Again, I wish they'd install something a little less foreboding."

Yugi bit his lip. The Academy's top floor didn't look very friendly.

But Sugoroku heard good things about it. So did Mom.

Yugi had to give it a chance, then. Right?

That evening, Yugi sat on his bed, working on a jigsaw puzzle.

His phone beeped, and he scooped it up, finding a text from Mom.

'How are you settling in?'

Yugi frowned at his phone. He couldn't tell Mom about what Sugoroku had told him about the Puzzle. And bringing up the strange things he'd seen around town would just make her worry. He kept his reply brief and vague.

'Okay. Ran into some of Jii-chan's archeologist friends.'

After a moment, Mom texted back. 'Yoshimori-san and Arthur-san? Oh, it's been a while since I heard from those two. They used to come around for dinner all the time when I was little.'

'Yeah, them. They recognized my treasure and were impressed that I solved it.'

'Really? That sounds exciting.'

'Yeah. It was kind of awkward, though. Jii-chan's been nice.'

'That's good. Goodnight, Yugi.'

'Goodnight.'

Yugi frowned at his phone, debating whether to text Anzu tonight. They hadn't really talked since that day, and while Anzu said she believed him when he said he hadn't done it, she had seemed distant whenever they talked.

He opened and closed his text conversation with Anzu, composing a reply, shaking his head, then quickly backspacing it, before doing the same thing again a minute later.

Finally, he texted, 'Hi, Anzu.'

He set his phone down and sighed. He took off the Millennium Puzzle and held it up again.

"According to what Grandpa said, you're supposed to help me. All I'm asking for now is some good luck. I just want this year to go well."

He put the Puzzle down on his nightstand next to his phone. He felt a jolt of panic when his fingers let go of the rope it hung from.

Power and knowledge of darkness… What does that mean? I don't even think Jii-chan knows…

His phone buzzed, and he picked it up.

'Hey, Yugi! How're you settling in? What's your grandpa like?'

Yugi smiled slightly. 'He's nice, Yugi replied. 'He showed me around town today.'

'Oh, that's good! I'll have to come up to Sennen and visit sometime!'

'Really?'

'Of course! You think I'm going to let my best friend disappear to a tiny town in the countryside for an entire school year and not come see him sometimes?'

Yugi stared at the screen. Does she really mean that? He wanted to believe she meant it. But some small part of him wondered if Anzu thought he was crazy and dangerous like everybody else.

Finally, he texted back, 'Thanks, Anzu. Sorry, it's getting late. I should go to bed.'

After a minute, Anzu texted back. 'Okay. Good night, Yugi.'

After a moment, she added another text. 'Miss you.'

'Miss you too,' Yugi texted back. He then gathered up the jigsaw puzzle and put it away.

As Yugi put his phone back on the nightstand, he saw the Puzzle glint strangely in the light.

When he looked at it again, though, it simply sat innocently under his study lamp, nothing out of the ordinary about it at all.

Just my imagination, Yugi told himself firmly, before lying down and closing his eyes.