'Imoto.' Yugi mentally grumbled at the sound of her twin's voice calling her and the sensation of a spectral hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. 'Imoto.'

'Five more minutes, Anesan,' she mumbled back, too tired between recovering from Duelist Kingdom and trying to run the shop around school hours, to wonder why she was being woken.

'Imoto, your teacher…'

"Mutou Yugi!" Yugi jumped a mile as her English teacher snapped out her name and slammed a hand onto her desk next to her head. She sat up rather too quickly, making her head spin slightly, and looked up as the teacher asked, "Am I boring…?" The woman paused and looked at her properly. "Mutou, are you quite alright?"

"I…" Yugi was about to lie and say she felt fine when a gentle mental poke from the Spirit of the Puzzle reminded her that she would get into trouble if she did so. Still, she could not tell the full truth. People would not believe her if she told them she was exhausted from nearly dying during a magical duel to recover the souls of her friends and family. "I got ill at Duelist Kingdom, and I'm still recovering. Sorry."

The teacher paused to consider her as the girl pushed the ponytail of black hair that faded to red at the tips back over the shoulder it had fallen over during her nap. The official story was that the Japanese National Champion, Insector Haga, had dropped out of Duelist Kingdom due to a sudden illness, so as far as the teacher knew, it was possible that Yugi had caught something while she had been there. Still…

"Just try to stay awake, Mutou." The teacher sighed. "Your grades aren't high enough that you can afford to skip school, World Champion gamer or not." Yugi winced at the jab about her recent test scores. "If you fall asleep again, I'll be keeping you behind to catch up."

"Yes, Sensei." Yugi nodded her understanding, noting the sympathetic looks on the faces of most of her friends and the amused smirk on the last as she sat up straight, not wanting to miss being home when her grandfather got home from the hospital.

As the teacher stalked back towards the front of the class, Yugi glanced towards Bakura Amane, whose long white hair was unusually messy, so she was half-convinced that it was not actually her friend in control. She was not wrong. The Thief Queen, Ba-Khu-Ra, whose sharp red eyes were trained on her, gave her a vindictive smirk. She caught a glimpse of the Millennium Ring glowing dimly before it cut out and her actual friend gave her an apologetic look, sympathy and frustration in her brown eyes as her white hair settled back into its normal tidy style.

The Puzzle bearer sighed, tucked a few strands of her blonde fringe behind her ear, and shrugged. The actions of the Spirit of the Ring were not Amane's fault. A lot of information about the past had been thrown around while they had been on the island, and there was a lot they needed to talk to the Thief Queen about. Considering that Ba-Khu-Ra had been rather nasty since they had gotten back, Yugi was half afraid that something had been said or done to make the whole situation between Oneesan and Ba-Khu-Ra worse.

"As I was saying," the teacher huffed as she retook her place at the front of the class, "as of this term your grades will decide your future, so those of you who failed to attain the grades I know you're capable of had better start taking a serious look at yourselves and your studies. You won't be able to take the paths you want if you don't get the right grades."

'The scores she's sniping at you about aren't a fair representation of your knowledge. If you hadn't been so stressed, you would have done much better,' her darker twin grumbled irritably over their bond. 'If they were being fair, they would let you re-sit.'

Yugi could not bring herself to disagree with the Pharaoh as she leaned back in her chair. The last batch of exams had been while her Ojiisan's soul had been sealed away by Pegasus J. Crawford, the CEO of Industrial Illusions. Despite the fact her only living relative had been in a coma, which was a fully justified reason for her scores being awful, they would not let her re-sit the exams. Instead she had to put up with comments like that until she had a chance to make up the grades in classwork and future tests.

Still, it was only another few minutes until the bell rang for school's end, and then she could pick up her game and replacement Gameboy, and then head home. She had been opening the shop every evening after school, but it was not reopening till Monday morning so her Ojiisan could get his Doctor-ordered rest. She was planning to enjoy the weekend off and spend it sleeping and gaming. After she had seen her Ojiisan was home safely, of course.

"For your homework, I expect a two-thousand-word essay on your dreams for the future and your plan to get there." As the teacher started making notes on the board, several students shifted uncomfortably, not knowing how to answer the question. "I want to know what job you're aiming for and how you're planning to achieve it. I want to see where you have seriously considered your options. This is due in at the end of the month, so you have plenty of ti…"

The ringing bell cut off the teacher, and those who were not on classroom duty started rising to their feet. Yugi stood more quickly than was wise and felt herself sway, forcing her to grab onto the edge of her desk.

A hand on her back gave her something physical to lean on, and the spectral hands on her shoulders gave her something to support her mentally as her two closest friends tried to help her.

"Sorry…" she whispered as she closed her eyes briefly, trying to stop her world from spinning.

"Don't apologise." One of her best friends, a huge blonde by the name of Jonouchi Katsuya, sounded worried as he helped her sit. She opened her eyes to find the boy was watching her with concern.

'Jou's right, Imoto. You're allowed to be tired,' the Spirit of the Puzzle added as Bakura watched from a distance, worried but not getting close enough for the Ring Spirit to be a threat.

Yugi was not entirely sure her twin was correct. While she understood that she had not really rested properly since her return from Duelist Kingdom, she still felt like she was letting her Ojiisan and her friends down by still being so weak almost a week since the title match against Pegasus. She was certain her friends were probably fed up of her constant exhaustion by now.

Jonouchi was worried, not frustrated, though. He still remembered the feel of his friend's dying soul in his arms. How it had felt like he had been holding nothing at all when he had first scooped up her lifeless form to protect her. How slowly, as she had returned to them, there had been more weight and substance in the load he had borne, until she had been breathing evenly once more and was solid enough that he had no longer feared her fading away into the darkness forever.

He would more than happily help her through this weakness if it meant a full recovery, and he knew the others felt the same way.

As the class emptied and their other friends came over, he gave them all a worried nod. Honda Hiroto, a bulky brunette teen whose hair came to a point at the front of his head, just nodded back, a fixed look on his face that Jonouchi just knew was him trying to hide his concern. Mazaki Anzu, on the other hand, ran a hand through her shoulder-length mousy brown hair, apprehension apparent in her features.

"Yugi…" Anzu started, trailing off as the girl in question pushed herself to her feet more slowly this time and showed a sheepish smile to them all, including Amane, who gave her a slightly worried smile back.

"I'm okay. Kind of looking forward to this weekend," their friend replied to the unasked question as she shrugged on her backpack, her own gaze turning concerned as she looked at Anzu. "What about you?"

Anzu paused at the question. If she was honest, she did not really know how she felt. Things still felt like the world had tilted sideways a bit, and when she closed her eyes, she sometimes still heard the whispers of the Shadows in her ears. However, Oneesan had promised that would fade with time: The longer she spent out of the Shadows, the quieter and quieter those voices would get. She trusted the Pharaoh to know. After all, the Spirit of the Puzzle had suffered much longer than she and still managed to regain her sanity. Mostly.

"Better than yesterday." She decided on her reply. It was not a lie, and when the sheepish smile of her friend turned bright and happy, she considered it to be the right one. "Jii-san's home today, right?"

"Yeap." There was more of the usual bounce in Yugi's step as she headed for the door. "The doctors are finally done with the tests and are letting him out."

No one was entirely sure what the hospital had been testing for, or why they had insisted on keeping her grandfather in so long. Yugi's friends were half convinced it was because Kaiba Corp was footing the bill as a part of the brothers' repayment of what they owed Yugi, and the hospital wanted to make as much money as possible. Yugi, however, was pretty sure it was because her Jii-san, who had a pacemaker keeping his heart steady, had been comatose for no reason they could find. There was no way to test for a missing soul using modern medical science, after all. Because of that she had not begrudged the hospital the extra time, but she could not wait to see him.

"I just can't believe he arranged the meeting with Okaasan for tomorrow." Jou frowned, concerned for the man who had taken him in and not looking forward to seeing his mother. "You'd have thought he would want to rest."

"The Industrial Illusions check cleared a couple of days ago." Yugi shook her head with a slight grimace, trying not to think about how weird it had been to have her bank account suddenly jump up by three million yen overnight on Wednesday. "He wants to get this settled as quickly as possible, and so do I."

Jou nodded, grateful to her beyond words for being willing to surrender the prize money to help his little sister.

"The sooner we talk to your Okaasan and pay the doctors, the sooner they can help Shizuka, right?" Yugi asked him with a grin.

A group of senior students passed them, cutting off any reply. Yugi opened her mouth to say something else, only to get stopped by a trio of juniors stepping in front of them, two boys and a girl that Yugi recognised as "Eiko-chan?"

The girl in question nodded, pushing a strand of her long black hair over her shoulder as she grinned, green eyes dancing in her delight that Yugi remembered her. "Started Domino High this year. I'm a first year."

Anzu paused, trying to remember where she knew the girl from, then smiled as she asked, "Daisuki Eiko? You were in hospital with Yugi, right?"

Yugi flinched as a memory of why she had been in hospital hit her. Her Anesan stepped in, pushing back at the flashback of their kidnap and torture at the hands of Hirutani and his gang of thugs back during the early days of the Puzzle's completion. Once she could feel the tension in her twin's mind ease and her focus improve, she sent reassurance and strength and felt the Puzzle bearer send gratitude back.

"Yeah." The younger student nodded as she pulled something out of her bag and handed it to its former owner. "Yugi-sempai… I'd… we'd like to ask you a favour."

Yugi looked up from the completed rubix cube with a questioning look, surprised that Eiko had remembered it.

"We want to start a Duel Club at Domino High," one of the boys spoke up, looking hopeful, "but we've been told that we need an older student to act as club captain."

"We have a teacher backing us, Yamada-sensei. He's our form tutor," the other boy added, the pair of almost identical twins giving her the same almost pleading expression, "but he will only let us form an official club if we can get a club president who is good enough to convince the Headteacher the club isn't a waste of time, and well…"

"You're the Queen of Games," Eiko stated with a slight bow, the two boys following in her actions. "If you're not good enough, no one is."

Yugi paused to consider the suggestion. She had a lot on her plate after school as it was with the Kame Game Shop, but at the same time she had no clubs on her school records. She was fully aware that universities looked at students who could do extracurricular activities before they looked at anyone else because it showed a dedication to their work and their community. Plus if she was in a position of responsibility, it added towards her character reference. If she wanted to study after high school, and she was not yet sure she did, it would look good on her record to have been president of a school club.

That and she really did enjoy duelling.

"How many want to join?" the Queen of Games asked thoughtfully.

"Ten so far," the petitioner responded quickly as she passed the other duellist a folder. "Eight boys, two girls, including myself. All at various levels of skill."

Yugi flipped through quickly and recognized some of the kids in her year or higher, while others were new faces to her. She was impressed that the file had deck lists, grades, and other details for each student. She could not help but wonder if this was a copy of the file Eiko had petitioned the teacher with.

'Imoto, if I can make a suggestion? Perhaps it would be a good idea to discuss options with Ojiisan before we make a final call,' the Spirit of the Puzzle offered as Yugi turned over the idea in her head.

"Please, Mutou-san," one of the boys, the first one who had spoken, almost begged. "Other schools have Duel Clubs starting. It would be a shame for Domino High not to have one."

"And who are you?" Jou asked, moving so he was right next to Yugi on her right side, while Honda shifted around slightly to cover the girls from the left, in case the boys got aggressive if Yugi said no.

"I'm Kobayashi Koichi and this is Kobayashi Koji," the second answered, gesturing to them each in turn. "And our Imoto-chan, Maru, is the other girl who wants to be in the club."

"When do you need an answer by?" the Magician Duelist interrupted, looking at the trio of petitioners.

"End of school Monday," Eiko replied, biting her lower lip slightly, suddenly nervous that Yugi would not help them.

"Let me talk to my Jii-san over the weekend, and I'll have an answer for you Monday morning," Yugi decided. When she saw the dejected looks on the younger students' faces, she added, "I help run my family business after school, so I need to work out with Jii-san if he can spare me for an extra hour a day on meeting days."

"That's… fair," Eiko agreed with a sigh. "Sorry, Yugi-sempai. I forgot you might have the shop to worry about. The teacher said to be an official club we would need to meet at least three times a week. We've worked out the best days for everyone who wants to join are Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays."

The Queen of Games paused to think. "Mondays and Thursdays should be fine, but Saturdays might be a stretch because it's our busy day. I promise I'll have an answer for you Monday morning on whether it's possible."

She went to hand back the folder, but Eiko shook her head. "Keep it, so if you can help us you can see who you're going to be working with." She then turned to Jou and the others. "You're all welcome to join, too. The more, the merrier."

"It would be cool to have a quarter finalist in the club, too." Koji smiled at Jou, nodding respectfully.

"And there goes his ego." Honda's quiet grumble under his breath went unheard by the one it was about, thankfully, but Anzu quietly chuckled, having heard it.

"See you Monday, Mutou-san." Koichi bowed to Yugi and herded his brother and friend away, leaving Yugi with a lot to digest.

As the trio of first years fled and Yugi considered the folder in her hands, Anzu nudged her friend gently. "Yugi?"

"Hmm? Oh. Just thinking. It might be fun to start a Duel Club, but I have other commitments, too." The girl in question shrugged and started heading for the lockers. "And homework."

"Speaking of homework," Honda grimaced, "a two-thousand-word essay? Seriously. I swear the English teacher is evil."

"I don't even know two thousand English words," Jonouchi groaned.

"That's what our Japanese to English dictionary is for," Anzu tutted at him, though her grin made a lie of her irritated tone. "Besides, we have plenty of time as long as you don't leave it to the last moment."

"Like the math homework he copied off Yugi this morning?" Honda asked, teasing the other boy in their group. Yugi half-grimaced at the mention of it. She had not been awake last night to do her homework, so her Anesan had done it for her. That meant she was not one hundred percent sure how accurate the answers had been.

"I can help," Amane spoke up. "English is my first language, after all."

"Oh yeah!" Jou grinned, concern lifting as he pulled his shoes out of his locker. "You grew up over there."

"Yup, I'm half-English." Amane nodded, happy that she could help her friends with this, like they were helping her when she struggled in their Japanese classes. "I won't do all your translation for you, but if you need a word or two, or can't work out how to phrase a sentence, I'm happy to assist."

'Do we have to?' The Ring bearer paused in putting her outdoor shoes on as the spirit of her item grumbled.

The night they had gotten back from Duelist Kingdom, Ba-Khu-Ra had shown Amane what she had missed during the Shadow Game between the spirits of the Ring and the Eye. If what he had said was true, the Ring bearer could not blame the Thief Queen for her hatred of the Pharaoh. However, she could not help but think that Yugi was not responsible for the crimes of her past self, since she had not existed as a person back then.

Plus Amane was not entirely sure the man had been telling the truth. He could have told the Pharaoh an entirely different story and laid the entire blame for Egypt on Ba-Khu-Ra and by extension her. They could not know without talking to the Mutou twins, but the Thief Queen did not want to. She was too angry about what she had been told to even consider listening.

'I don't want my friends to fail class. Evil or not, if Yugi's held back a year, you can't keep an eye on her,' Amane tried, appealing to the Thief Queen's desires to keep the Pharaoh close until she had acquired all the other Millennium Items.

'Fine. But I want an extra night out.' Amane hesitated at that. The Thief Queen already went out three nights a week, and while she did not know what the spirit was up to on those nights, there was always more in both her bank account and the horde locked away in a magically sealed chest in her basement. Considering the title of the spirit of the Ring, she could guess where the extra cash was coming from, but at the same time, with no adults in her house to bring in an income, she had never said anything.

'One night per night I have the others over, but you can't take over until I've finished my time-critical homework.' Amane tried to bargain as she stepped out of the school building and leaned on the door frame while she waited for the others.

'I'll wait till you've finished your homework, but in exchange I want a weekend. A whole weekend. Daytime included. Starting when you finish your homework on Saturday and right through till school starts on Monday,' the Thief Queen demanded.

'Deal.' The Ring bearer could feel the Ring Spirit's surprise at her acceptance of the terms. 'Just give me advance warning on which weekend, so I don't make plans.'

'That's… fair,' Ba-Khu-Ra agreed slowly. 'You've never wanted me to have a weekend before. Why now?'

'Because Duelist Kingdom sucked and I know you need to blow off steam.' Her host sighed as the others joined her outside. 'I know now I can trust you to be relatively sensible and not get me horribly injured.'

There was a moment of surprise and a subtle relief, and then the spirit of the Ring backed off with a simple 'Thank you…'

"Amane?" Yugi asked, giving her a worried look.

"It's fine." She waved the Puzzle bearer off with a smile. "I was just talking to Voice. That's all."

"How is she?" The Ring bearer considered the question. From anyone else she would have suspected an ulterior motive, but with Yugi she was pretty sure it was just an honest question.

"About as okay as can be expected," the Dungeon Master told the Duelist, who sighed.

"If she feels like talking about Duelist Kingdom, Anesan and I… ack!" Yugi cut off in a yelp as suddenly the Thief Queen seized control, grabbed her collar, and slammed her against the corner of the wall of the school hard enough it dug into her back.

"I don't want to talk to you. I don't ever want to talk to you. Or your 'twin', got it? I am going to destroy you both," the Thief Queen snarled out, releasing the girl's collar the moment the Pharaoh emerged from the Puzzle and glared at her.

"I don't know what Akhenaden told you, but according to what he told ME, I should be the one pissed at you," Oneesan snapped back, fuming about the pain she could feel as she stepped forward. "We NEED to talk this out and work out whether the stories match up before we both let it twist us any further than it already has."

"Like I could trust you to share the truth," the spirit of the Ring snarled out. "You don't even remember your own damn name! How can I trust you to remember anything important?"

"I'm not going to lie to you," Oneesan hissed back, the jab about her name hitting hard, "and I don't remember my name because you went nuts in Egypt and I had to give it up!"

"I went nuts because you stabbed me in the back! It was your fault!" Bakura snapped, shoving Oneesan hard enough that she hit the wall again before beginning to weave the magic needed for a Challenge.

'Ba-Khu-Ra! Please don't!' Amane's mental yelp made her hesitate.

'Why shouldn't I?' the Thief hissed over the bond to her light, who she could feel was scrambling for an answer that was not 'because they're my friends.'

'Because you still need her.' The Thief Queen scowled but pulled up at her light's final response, and before anyone could say anything else, Shadows rose around her and she disappeared without a trace.

The hands of the spirit of the Puzzle balled into fists for a moment, then she took a deep breath as her younger twin sent worry, reassurance, and comfort, and retreated to her item.

Jou gave Yugi a worried look. "You okay?"

She shrugged, wincing slightly at the pain that spiked in her back where she had hit the wall. "I've had worse. We really need to learn that trick, though. It would make getting to school so much easier."

The comment made her friends laugh, which had been Yugi's aim, and helped the girl relax a little. She had not expected Ba-Khu-Ra to lash out like that. Whatever the spirit of the Eye had told her had clearly struck a nerve, and Oneesan's reaction to the fury had not helped matters.

"You alright picking up your game alone?" Jou asked Yugi as they headed towards the gates and Anzu and Honda headed off, Anzu to dance class and Honda shopping for his family.

"Go to work." Yugi waved him off, knowing that even with support from the Mutous, he needed his job to be able to afford school. "The store is two blocks over, and then I'll get a bus home. I'll be home in an hour, tops."

"Alright, see you later." He headed off, giving her one last concerned look over his shoulder.

Yugi sighed and shook her head, wondering when her friends had decided she could not handle a simple shopping trip on her own, and then headed for the store.