Chapter Text
“Okay son, make sure to change out your bandage once a day, make sure it doesn’t get humid, and if you think it is, let it air out and apply a new bandage. Otherwise you're good to go back to school, don’t lift anything more than 10lbs until it is fully closed up, next month come back to get those stitches removed.”
The doctor listed off typical first aid jargon that Bakura already knew but didn’t care to say that he knew what he was to do.
“Thank you very much, I appreciate it, is there anything else I need?”
Bakura inquired.
“OH! That reminds me, we sent an antibiotic prescription to the pharmacy at 220-1389, it should be ready by Monday, your parents should receive the invoice in the mail by tonight.”
The doctor remembered the crucial detail.
“I’ll be sure to let them know, have a nice day!”
Bakura deluded the lack of parents or family as a matter of fact through a small smile.
He invisibly left the Domino City Hospital as he made his stroll back to his small apartment complex. He was happy to have left the small and boring hospital room but his incoming migraine said otherwise. He felt his arm pulse, as if his heart was there. Bakura’s arm felt strangled as he raised his arm to block the sun setting past the field of buildings. He looked at the white gauze on his arm, it looked like it was growing out of his skin. The heat of the day hadn’t subsided and Bakura's long shaggy white hair was bothering the back of his neck. He patted his jeans, only feeling his phone, wallet, and keys. He dug into his pocket and yet to no avail he can't find a hair tie. He let out a shrug and sigh as he lifted his hair from the back of his neck to let cool air relieve him from the late spring heat.
With hands in his pockets he walked into the lobby of his building. He eyes the small breakfast bar closed off by a flimsy black belt of a barrier. He looked at the glass door of the fridge of the bar, his stomach bubbling in hunger. He ducted underneath the black rope, looking around as he considered his options. He grabbed a box of strawberry yogurt, then looked around remembering he hadn’t bought any utensils and grabbed several of those pre-wrapped plastic sets, stuffing them into his pocket. The loud clicking of the door alerted him as he wasn’t alone anymore. He got out of the restricted breakfast bar as he glided over to the elevator and escaped quickly before he got caught. The breath he was holding winded him. With a small call tone of the elevator he walked out into the liminal hallway, fumbling with the keys in his pockets, the plastic wrapped utensils and his wallet fell out.
“Oh crud”
Bakura rolled his eyes as his voice echoed loudly through the corridor. He slowly crouched down to grab his things, one by one. He opened the door with full hands, poking the door shut with his foot, locking it soon after. He sat down on his kitchen island, peeling open the yogurt's seal, licking off the small amount of confection on it. He tore off the plastic wrap of the pack he stole and fished out the spork that it came with. He smiled with joy at the electric yet somehow sour first taste of the yogurt. He pulled out his phone to see what he missed while hospitalized. Not much was there to look at, he frowned slightly at the amount of assignments he had missed while in the hospital. He continued to scroll through the non important mobile game notifications that begged him to feed his virtual pets.
However one thing caught his eye, he noticed a new name added into the group chat that Anzu made for them all. Namu. He racked his brain on who that might be. Surely not someone from school, because however much of a recluse he was, he knew who everyone was in his short time there. Maybe it had been someone who traveled for the Battle City Tournament. Lots of people travel for tournaments all the time. He looked at the messages wishing him good health and gave each a little blue heart. He scrolled down to see that they had moved on quickly to whatever new topic interested the group. He threw away his finished confection into the trash, opening one of his virtual pet apps to appease the little creature as he prepared for bed. Bakura set an alarm for school, threw his snowy hair into a low pony-tail and fell back asleep as soon as he hit the covers.
The next day:_______________________________
Bakura yawned as he took a seat, the school bell chiming its familiar song. There was a lot of commotion today, more chatty, more noisy. He looked up to see what was written on the board that day to begin his notes but a familiar name was written with a large, sloppy katakana which was bizarre to him, but he isn’t one to judge, at least not out loud. A tan young man with ivory cream hair was the one who wrote it. Now it made sense, he wasn’t from japan or acquainted with it at the very least. Bakura noted that the boy’s lavender eyes nervously darted from each side of the room. It finally clicked for Bakura, who this was, it was the boy who had helped him when he had been stabbed. Bakura gave a small wave as the teacher came up and corrected the writing on the board.
“Good Morning class, I am glad to see everyone”
The Teacher suddenly looked at Bakura as she continued.
“Bakura I got your email, great to have you back in class. As we can all see we have a new student, would you like to introduce yourself, Namu?”
Marik, who was hiding behind his pseudonym of Namu, was thinking of what bullshit to come up with to tell the class.
“Hello, I am Namu Sato… I am transferring from Egypt to here for the spring semester because my sister’s job brought her to Japan this year. I hope we can have a productive year together!”
Marik didn’t exactly lie about why he was in Japan, but he had higher priorities than “school”.
“Where to put you, Mr. Sato…”
The teacher’s finger looked through her seating chart.
“How about you sit with Mr. Bakura, he’s a good student and he’ll help you catch up with the class’s curriculum.
Marik jumped slightly at the mention of Bakura’s name, the Spirit of the Ring.
He is going to be the one in the second row and fourth seat, right over there. Could you wave Mr. Sato over to you?”
Bakura raised his head as he was called on, he raised his good arm up with a gentle wave. He watched the skinny boy maneuver his way over to him. Marik dropped a dusty bag under his chair. Bakura gingerly tapped on Marik’s shoulder. Marik looked over expecting a glare of annoyance but instead was met with a bright face.
“I'm just making sure I'm not remembering wrong but aren’t you the ones who ummm got me to Yugi and the others when I got stabbed? Namu right?”
Marik didn’t know if he should have breathed a sigh of relief or rolled his eyes. Of course it was Baruka’s vessel, Bakura wouldn’t be caught dead like this. Marik still needed to play nice until he got to the finals of the Battle City Tournament. Marik held out his hand and tried his best to feign kindness.
“Oh it's you! I'm glad to see that you're uuh.. .Feeling better, yeah. I bet that must have been painful”
“It was, but I'm very grateful for helping me! Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
“Uuh there’s no need, Bakura, uuuh can I call you Ryou? I like to get to know people by their first name.”
Marik needed something to distinguish Spirit Ring Bakura vs Vessel Bakura. To make him less uncomfortable, why did it make him uncomfortable?
“Oh I only let really close friends of mine call me Ryou, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt, but right now I'd rather be called Bakura for now.”
“Yeah, no, I understand Bakura, say are you participating in the Battle City Tournament?”
“I was thinking about it but… I think I’ve had enough for tournaments for the meantime, I want to focus on making my Monster World Modules. You see I make modules online and sell them to people for some spare cash”
“Thats cool, but I’ve never heard of Monster World, what is it? Is it anything like Duel Monsters?”
Bakura chuckled lightly at Marik’s question, of course it was nothing like Duel Monsters. It's like comparing sheep to canaries. Yet when thinking about it Marik likely didn’t have access to the wider game market considering something like Duel Monsters and Monster World could be considered offensive, therefore banned. Bakura was surprised that Marik even knew what Duel Monsters was.
“Well it's a table top roleplaying game, we have figurines instead of cards. You make a character, give them a race, class and background. Then the Dark Master sends out monsters on the field but you don’t know where they are. Once all the monsters or the adventure ends you win, but if you and your party die the Dark Master wins.”
Bakura rattled off the basics of Monster World’s rules; he had been waiting for that very opportunity for years. Marik shook his head as he got the essential idea behind the game.
“So would you be interested in playing Namu? I haven’t had the chance to introduce anyone new into the game for a while. I've been wanting to test run a oneshot for a module I'm working on. Only if you want to of course.”
Marik was surprised at the immediate offer at playing a game together. He needed to talk to the Spirit of the Ring about going forward into the Battle City Tournament Finals at the end of the month. Marik smiled to himself as he gave an approving nod.
“Sure Bakura, let me know what works for you to play. I'm exited”
Marik was giddy at how smooth he was playing this goodie-two-shoes persona of Namu. He had to restrain himself from cackling maniacally at Ryou’s naivety and trust in him.
“Oh! Thank you so much! You don’t know how much this means to me! Does tonight work?”
“Tonight?! Umm sure I'd just have to let my sister know where I'm going.”
Marik panicked at how quickly things were moving forward, might work in his favor but he’s on his own as he had left the Millennium Rod at home to keep it from prying eyes, especially that of the pharaoh. The bell rang as he pulled out his phone to shoot Isis a small message, a good alibi if he decides to act with the Rare Hunters in the future. Bakura stood idle by the classroom door waiting for Marik to finish packing up. He followed Bakura past the crowded halls, slipping past the school gates.
“Do you live far from here?”
“Kinda”
“What do you mean kinda?”
Marik laughed at Bakura’s answer.
“I mean that it's in a weird inbetween, like sometimes there's construction or I may or may not cut across other apartments I don't live in to get home faster.”
“How?!”
“There are no locks on the lobbies, you just walk in and out.”
“And here i thought you were a honest guy”
“There’s nothing dishonest about it.”
“Are you sure”
“Yes Namu”
Bakura playfully rolled his eyes, holding the door open for Marik to go in. Marik walks into the bright green lobby, he stays behind Bakura as the white haired boy walks towards an exit. This continued until Bakura veered off towards a clay red building.
“Here we are, my beloved castle of doom and adventure!”
“Oooh scary”
Marik mused as he got a glimpse into the shabby lobby. Bakura led him to the elevator. Bakura pressed the button to the 13th floor.
“Fun fact, Most countries remove the button for the 13th floor because they believe it to be bad luck”
Bakura smirked as he continued
“But here in Japan, they remove the button to the fourth floor, because four, Shi, is a homophone for death. Don’t you find that neat?”
“I guess that's pretty interesting, I didn't know that Japan had its own version.”
“Wanna see something cool?”
“Sure, Bakura, what is-IT!?!”
Bakura proceeds to quickly crouch down as the elevator comes to a stop, making it shake. Marik glares at Bakura but can’t help but crack a smile.
“ …that's messed up. DON’T do that again.”
“Sorry I thought you might have found it funny…”
“Now that I'm on the ground I think it's funny.”
Bakura laughs out loud as he opens his apartment door and lets Marik in. The click of the lock could be heard. Marik turned around to see familiar angular eyes and messier white hair in front of him.
“Look who decides to show his face.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Marik. I’ll say you look awfully stupid in that uniform. Why did you come to Domino High?”
“To get closer to the pharaoh's circle, figure out what schemes he is up to in trying to defeat me, getting intel for my Rare Hunters to use against him.”
“Well, well, talk about a double edged sword. I guess that's a decent excuse, if there is anything I know about you is that you're a blabber mouth, Marik.”
“What does that mean Bakura?!
“The longer I keep Ryou under the impression that I've disappeared the more leeway I have for our plans. He knows what the Millenium Items are but anything else from our plan he’s clueless.”
“I'm not a frigging idiot Bakura! I know how to keep my mouth shut.”
“Here’s what I want you to do, registration is still open for the Battle City Tournament, get my landlord to enter and from there I can handle things on my end”
“Well that’s easy, I don't know why you're telling me all this?”
“Don’t let anything slip, he’s gotten troublesome to hide ever since the pharaoh beat me once.”
“Yeah yeah… just let me know what our next move is after this”
“Oh? What was the plan again?”
A softer voice spoke to Marik as he had only looked away for a second and there was Ryou back with his sad eyes. Marik bit the inside of his cheek as he realized Spirit Bakura swapped with his vessel.
“I was asking if we could errm hang out tomorrow if the game ends late. I haven’t exactly had time to really get a feel for Domino City.”
“Well I'm not sure what kind of homework we might get but I’d totally be up for it Namu. Here follow me to my game room”
“You have a whole game room?!”
“Yeah! I built it from cardboard and clay all by myself!”
Bakura opened the door to the immaculate table with forests and small town buildings. Marik let out a low whistle impressed with the amount of detail put into each tile. Bakura pulled out a seat for his guest as he walked over to a cabinet with his computer and rule book. Marik looked at the shelves full of figurines, some still in packaging while some looked a little bootleg-ish.
“Hey, Bakura, do you just grab anything in Monster World even if it's bootleg?
“Me? Buying bootlegs? Pssssh! Never! If you're talking about these”
Bakura grabbed a figurine from the glass case beside him and brought it over for marik to inspect
“I made them out of clay myself, that’s why they look a little funny. I'm still proud of how i got them to look, this one is a Birdtail Illusionist named Misty-Fly.”
Bakura smiled as marik took the blue humanoid bird into his hand and looked it over.
“I bet this took a lot of time to make”
“Ive wanted to remake her but I just haven’t gotten around to it, now im gonna let you go out and pick a figure to represent yourself in the game. And I guess I'll grab a DMPC to help you out since this is supposed to be a multiplayer game.”
"What's a DMPC?"
“Oh, it's a Dark Master Player Character, basically just a character to fill in whatever role needs to be fulfilled.”
Marik nodded in understanding as he looked at the variety of figures in front of him. It was overwhelming to see so many options. Yet the one that his eyes kept drifting to a blonde haired, regally robed elf. He picked it up, of which Bakura noticed right away.
“Oh that’s Mu the Diabolist Prince. He’s from the second launch of Monster World’s Dark Empire series. Is that who you're gonna play?”
“Oh do I need to come up with a backstory or does he already have one?”
“Technically he does but I like to let my players come up with whatever story they want to go for. A clean slate. This is a one-shot so I don't think you need a backstory unless you want to.”
“I guess ill just do what i’d do, ill pick uuhhh what’s his name again?”
“Mu, if you're gonna pick Mu then ill pick his trusted priest to be the DMPC, Loto.”
Bakura began to set up the board as he took the figurine from Marik. Picking up some other figurines that he kept in a drawer in the table in front of him. Bakura took his time setting up. Marik took a seat across the table, fidgeting with his bangles and earrings. The soft clicking of skin tight metal against itself gave him something to think of. He noted the lack of windows in the room, the room kind of started to seem smaller yet imposing with high shelves with eyes all looking at him. A voice in the background disappearing until…
“NAMU!!”
Bakura had to shout to get Marik’s attention.
“Oh sorry.. I just spaced out…”
“Are you good, you look upset?”
“It's nothing, really. I'm fine, are you good to go?”
“As the Dark Master I have to make sure my players are okay. Did you want something to drink before we start?”
“Just water if you have it.”
“I may be a high schooler but I'm no glutton.”
“Don’t worry we can all tell”
“Yeah, I'll be back, here’s your character sheet, look over it”
Bakura set down a piece of formatted paper in front of Marik on his way out of the room. Marik noted the chicken-scratchy cursive handwriting on the paper as he tried to decipher it. All he could make out from it is that he had two spells and a bonus.
“Here you go”
Bakura dropped off the water as he took his seat, now wearing a black trench coat. He got his papers straight, clearing his throat.
“Okay, you’re a traveller from afar looking for a place to stay the night, I give you five turns to find a town. You can move now.”
“Ummm do i just moved my piece to the town?”
“If that’s what you want to do, be careful there are monsters hidden in the squares so tread carefully, Mu!”
Bakura used a voice to interpret Loto the Loyal Dark Priest
“Eerm-ahem. Lets go south bound I can see uuuh the top of a cathedral”
Marik gave up on using the voice he had prepared in his head, Bakura was clearly a much more seasoned player. Marik moved his piece 5 squares, Bakura rolled dice, typed on his computer, then rolled again. Moving his piece besides Marik’s.
“I will have Loto use a spell to detect monsters within a 3 by 3 area.”
Bakura’s dice hit the table as he rolled a 14
“Is that good or is that bad?”
Marik questioned the roll in front of him.
“Good, you want to get as close as possible to 00 but the farther away you get you have less of a chance to succeed a roll and if you roll a 99. Hehehe”
Bakura chuckled dryly, keeping the latter to himself.
“What happens at 99?!”
“...”
“Bakura?”
“... ANYways Loto sees” more dice go down the dice tower “2 monsters in the area”
“Where are they?
“I just know there are two near by, my spell only tells me how close they are”
“Man what a terrible spell.”
‘He-hey! I'm trying Prince Mu!”
Bakura tried to continue the roleplay but Marik was more focused on getting to the town.
“Alright, I guess I'll walk my piece another five squares like this”
Marik counted as he moved his figurine towards the town.
“Stop, you’ve encountered a monster, it attacks with aaah….78, which is a miss”
The white-haired boy reached into his bag as he pulled out two d10’s for Marik to roll.
“Come on, give me a good roll!”
The dice jumped from Marik’s hand as they landed on 33.
“33, that’s a hit the monster is destroyed”
“Do we just keep walking now?”
“Yes, two more turns to make it to town”
“Okay…”
“Since Loto didn’t have a combat turn he will lead with five. The percentage for monsters to show up again is 40 percent. If either one of us rolls a 40 or lower a monster will appear. And there are no monsters nearby. So we pass to you”
“I guess I made it to town?”
“Mhm and Loto… encountered a monster as he took a slightly different path, would you like to aid him in combat?”
“Sure. I guess I jump between the two and shoot off uuuh”
Marik lifts up his character sheet and looks at the two spells he could use.
“ The Chain the Challenger spell against the monster attacking Loto”
“Roll”
Bakura and Marik roll their dice simultaneously, the room silent for the results, Bakura rolling a second pair. Bakura pursed his lips and covered his mouth in an attempt to not expose his expression. Marik was afraid of whatever Bakura had rolled, because he himself rolled a 79.
“Okay, as you run to aid your companion preparing to launch your formidable Chain the Challenger… it kinda errm explodes out of your staff before you reach Loto and the monster and…. Could roll one more for…damage.”
“25”
“It hits you… and you're only level 1.. Which means that you're dead..”
“That’s IT?!? I die?!”
“I rolled a super crit on the monster’s magic manipulation spell and it kinda didn’t help when you rolled a 79… at least it helped me out to tweak this first level. I can’t have players dying 5 moves into the game.”
“I guess it was fun while it lasted.. I see why you like this game Ba-”
Marik’s phone rings as he gets up from the table.
“It's Marik, oh Isis.. I'm at a friend’s place right now… he was showing me a new game… yes yes I know I’ll be on my way.. This is not a good time now… I'll be home soon.. Bye.”
“So, Namu, who’s Marik?”
Ryou’s voice was calm yet accusatory. Marik knew the better half of Ryou would have his head on a pike for slipping up this bad. Ryou tapped his foot, dice being played with in his hand
“Well?”
“I’m Marik… I just used Namu as a fake name because I was…”
Marik had to think about what kind of lie he would tell.
“It was because I was worried about getting bullied for my name… especially since I was bullied in other schools that I transferred into before coming here.”
Yeah, that sounded pathetic and somewhat reasonable enough.
“Im so sorry to hear that, you don’t need to hide your name from me. I think it's a nice name, Marik.”
Bakura apologized, giving a low bow. Marik’s heart fluttered strangely from hearing his name being said with such tenderness.
“I appreciate it Bakura”
“Please call me Ryou, it's only fair, let me give you my number really quick! I'd love to do this more often. I had lots of fun! Thank you so much!”
Ryou scribbled down his number in his notebook and ripped off the page, handing it to Marik.
“Of course Ryou, it was my pleasure, but I do have to get going, it's a lot later than what I told my sister I'd be back home by.”
Marik’s eyes widened as Ryou suddenly punched his own arm.
“Ryou are you okay?! Why did you…oh.. It's you..”
“Get out Marik.. You’re lucky I don't turn you into a hot pot with how bird brained you are!”
“Fine, screw off, I’ll see you at the finals”
Bakura slammed the door behind Marik, which echoed loudly as Marik mumbled back Yami Bakura’s insults.
“Meh meh meh I’m Bakura and I hate being nice. Turn me into a hotpot my ass. Psssh! At least I can fake being nice”
Marik stuffed his hands into his cargo pant’s pockets realizing there was a foreign object. Marik pulled out the figuring that he had used to play Monster World with Ryou. He turned back around to knock on Ryou’s door to return it.
“SOD OFF MARIK!”
“Tch rude, I didn’t even want to give back Ryou’s thingy anyways.”
Or did he?