synthneon | YGO PSL | ❝ i forget why i stay, and wonder if they'd notice if i slipped away. ❞

			RAIN
		

( for once a post not continued from a meme!! we just continuing this hurt/comfort train down the way to hell. )

[ It was almost strange coming back home to Japan. It wasn't as if he had gotten used to being in America or their customs (or food - the size of the portions). More of it had to do with routine and getting back to normal day-to-day life. School work, tests, helping in the game shop. There were no tournaments, no life threatening situations. Strange is the word he guesses he'd put to it all if he had to find one. Somehow he had gotten used to the duels, the stakes, the adventure. Everything else is just... mundane.

That isn't the only issue, even though he'd like to point it to being the only one.

As the days go on and life returns to normal? The reality of time just becomes more apparent to him. Each day brings graduation closer. Graduation means the next step in their lives... and that means everyone will be going their separate ways. Usually Yugi can look past that. He can enjoy the time he has with everyone, but, it must be the combination of everything this particularly rainy autumn day. Graduation, what he'll do after school, and what he should do as the keeper of the Millennium Puzzle versus what he wants.

Autumn... graduation is in March. He'll be nineteen afterwards. It'll have been three years since he solved the Millennium Puzzle and woke the spirit that resides in it. Only three years. It feels like a lifetime, but, one he's glad to have had. A lifetime that he can't help but feel is going to be ending sooner rather than later despite what everyone around him says.

He knows everyone has noticed how quiet he has been the last few days. Atem still has been rather distant from everyone since they arrived back home. Yugi has decided not to bother his other self with what is going on in his head. Oh, he's sure Atem has sensed it and has even figured it out, but, he's still contending with his own issues left over from Dartz. Yugi doesn't plan to complicate that more with his own emotional battles. He'll have to rely on just himself if Atem ever leaves anyways...

Yugi steps into the entrance way of the school to grab his shoes. That is when he notices Anzu standing outside underneath the cover of the entryway. He looks down - making sure that she doesn't notice him - before trying to make the mental leaps on how to avoid her inevitable questions if he has been alright. He doesn't want to think about it. As far as he can tell, she has chosen which one of the two she likes, and he can't blame her for that. He knows she isn't going to take I'm fine as an answer too much longer. He doesn't want to think about how she'll be leaving shortly after graduation to study abroad - just like she has always wanted to.

Everyone has someplace and somewhere they plan to go but him. Even his other self has a destined path that moves him forward. Maybe all Yugi is meant to do is make sure each of them go where they're supposed to go. That might be his role in all of it. What is the point of all of it then? He finally makes the friends he wants and then has to see them all leave him behind?

He sighs and pushes down his frustration. It'll just bring more unwanted attention to himself. Especially from the spirit of the Pharaoh who is most likely worried but hasn't addressed it all.

Yugi closes the locker door and stares at the ground for a moment. With a sidelong glance at Anzu outside, he turns his back to the front doors. He supposes what he is about to ask is highly uncharacteristic, but, he's probably entitled to some alone time in his own soul room after everything.

'Other Me?' He gently calls out in their shared link. Part of him hates to ask this because it must seem spineless to a person that commanded armies and controlled a kingdom. 'Can you do me a favor?' ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It really does lighten Atem's own spirits to see Yugi smiling like that. As far as he's concerned, his partner deserves all the happiness in the world, and if he can help bring him even a litle bit of that, then there's very little that he wouldn't do for him. Yugi's always been adamant that as the keeper of the Puzzle, he has to take care of the spirit inside said Puzzle, but Atem also believes that that goes both ways. He has to take care of his partner as well, and he believes he hasn't done a very good job of that thus far. ]

But that's hardly fun for you, Yugi. He should play a match with both of us, if only to make it fair and to involve us both.

[ But then his smile returns, perhaps even wider than before. ]

To play against your grandfather would be the biggest honor, as is playing against you.

[ He doesn't want there to be any doubt in Yugi's mind: any opportunity that he gives him to engage with either his grandfather (something he hasn't done yet) or Yugi (always a privilege) is something he considers very special and values as such. ]

I suppose we'll need the help of Gentiana once more. I wonder if Luna will enjoy watching such a thing again. [ She might enjoy it more than she did their last one, at least. Something about that seemed to upset her, but perhaps he was reading too much into it. Part of him doubts that, however. ]

Well...

[ Yugi looks back at the shogi set sitting on the shelf. It takes a moment to find the words and put them in the right place. He may not be reeling from his own emotional state like his partner. That doesn't mean the feelings have banished entirely. Speaking with Anzu in the morning may help, but, he's not sure it will. There's a lot in life he's uncertain about now. ]

I found the Millennium Puzzle on one of these shelves.

[ He glances around, moving around the set of shelves until he finds the exact one. Supplies take up the place where the solid gold box once sat, but, Yugi knows which one it is. His hand raises and he rests it on the shelf.

He spent weeks... months... trying to figure out how to get it out of the storage room without his Grandpa noticing. Eventually his Grandpa did figure it out and made it a game to see if Yugi could solve it. Of course it worked. Now, though, there's a sudden realization of how many people have been tied to the Millennium Puzzle... just so he could solve it and help the spirit who might as well truly be his other self. ]

Luna said that her grandpa met mine because he was investigating the Shadow Games, remember? [ He wonders then if her grandmother ever saw the golden box. If so... wouldn't that make Lunafreya the third Oracle to have some sort of connection to it? ] Grandpa ended up keeping it from hers, and then he kept it hidden until I found it here. After all that time... Grandpa would probably want to really see the person inside the Puzzle.

[ And, it seems like the only way for people to really know Atem is to play him in a game.

Yugi finally looks up at his other self. ]

Luna really didn't like watching our duel. [ He frowns slightly. He wonders if it's just her natural dislike of the game or if there is more to it. ] We haven't been able to spend any time with her since we came home. I know she's busy with everything she has to do with being the Oracle, and her duties in England, but...

[ It just feels like she's put distance between herself and them. She texts now and again, and the pastries and leather notebook upstairs would imply that she wants to spend time with them. Why doesn't she? ]

Maybe Gentiana standing in for us will help bring us all back together.

[ For his part, Atem remains where he is, but he watches Yugi's movements carefully and closely, as though he might miss something important if he looks away for even one second. ]

Yes, I remember you mentioning that to me once. [ Clearly this room and these shelves hold a special meaning to Yugi, and because of that, they're important to Atem as well. If Yugi hadn't been so curious about that solid gold box, and so determined to sneak it out of the room, let alone so determined to solve the Puzzle, they might have never met. And that's a thought that Atem doesn't even want to think about. ]

Well, then, I suppose that it's time that we give him that chance, if you're certain that's what he'd want.

[ Perhaps if he weren't only a spirit residing in a mystical item, they might have more of a chance to meet him in other settings, but there's very little use in wishing for what doesn't seem possible at this time. His connection to the Puzzle can't be dislodged, so yes, in that sense, playing against him in a game or a duel is the only way for others to get to know him. ]

You're right, she didn't. [ There's a part of him that feels some measure of guilt or regret about that, even though he knows she'd tell him not to feel that way if she knew about his feelings. ] I would like to see her. [ He can admit that and be honest about it. ]

But as you said, she is the Oracle, and as such, she must be very busy. I wouldn't want to distract her.

[ At Yugi's words, Atem draws his arms in until they're crossed in front of him. ]

I suppose there's no harm in asking if she'd be willing. [ It may or may not be on purpose that he doesn't comment on the last part of Yugi's sentence. Of course seeing them all come back together is something he wants, but he won't force Luna into it either. ]

Grandpa didn't seem surprised at all when we met Luna for the first time. He already knew you were in the Puzzle--or at least thought something was. He may want to just talk to you, or the both of us, if it's not a game.

[ Of course, Yugi is just guessing based off of what he's observed of his grandpa. He puts up a good face, but, Yugi's learned to see how the older man watches him. It's glances out of the corner of his eye -- waiting to see if its Yugi or Atem he'll be talking to. He wonders if it was like that ever since he solved the Puzzle, or if Battle City really did give light to certain things. He'll ask his grandpa regardless though. There's no reason to hide the fact Atem is with him if everyone already knows.

He smiles just a bit at his other's self admittance. It's been hard for them to talk like this together - let alone getting him to talk about things he might want. Yugi knows its a process, but, he wonders how much he bears the responsibility for it all. Maybe that's something else to talk with Anzu about in the morning. She cares about both of them too.

There's a small sigh as he looks up at the ceiling. Well, at least his other self will admit to somethings now. It feels like there's a wall being put up slowly, even if Yugi isn't the one doing it. ]

I'll ask her tomorrow after I get back from hanging out with Anzu. [ He knows that if he didn't focus on Anzu, Atem would never let him hear the end of it. So, he forces a smile, and lowers his hand from the shelf. ] Which means I'll need to head to bed.

[ He'd mention again that he'd want Atem to look at the notebook when he's asleep if it weren't for how his other self crosses his arms. It seems like it might just be best to put the topic at rest for now. He'll focus on his meeting with Anzu in the morning and go from there.

He does grab the shogi box before leaving the room and heading back upstairs to his room. It sits on the desk next to the notebook, and he's careful not to disturb the sleeping Umbra on the floor at the foot of the bed. The Puzzle hangs on the bed post (as always) and Yugi wishes Atem goodnight--even though he knows the Pharaoh won't be "sleeping." ]

YGO PSL | ❝ i forget why i stay, and wonder if they'd notice if i slipped away. ❞

no subject

no subject

no subject

/wraps this up to move onto the next :3