Chapter 15: - Tried It Once
"Did I hear you right," Jou asked incredulously, making Yugi wish she hadn't said anything, "Anzu has a date?"
"Uh huh." Yugi replied, nodding as she did so, "Apparently Yoshida-san from class 4b finally talked her into one date, but it's this Sunday so she can't come to the theme park with us."
"Yoshida-san?" Jou tried to remember the guy and grimacing slightly, "You don't mean that stuck up jerk who I swear must be bribing his way into good grades and has been chasing Anzu's skirt for over a year?"
"She made a deal with him." His friend replied as she tried to fight with the toaster, "If she goes on this date with him and she doesn't enjoy it, he has to leave her alone. If she does, she'll go out with him."
"It helps if the toaster is plugged in, Yuge." Jou sniggered, before what she had said sunk in, "So basically she's putting up with him for this one date and then ditching him as fast as possible?"
"In theory." Yugi replied, blushing in embarrassment as she plugged the toaster in and started on their breakfast, "In practise I'm not sure it's going to work but..." She shrugged, "I know games, not people. So I could be wrong."
"We should follow her." Jou grinned at Yugi, an plan unfolding in his mind.
"Jou..." Disapproval crept into the girl's tone.
"No hear me out." Jou pleaded, placating, "Anzu doesn't even like the guy and from what I know of Yoshida, he's not one to take a 'no' lightly. She might need Oneesan to back her up when she ditches him."
"If Oneesan even comes out." Yugi frowned, concerned. It had been over a week since Oneesan had been challenged by the younger of the Kaiba brothers and nothing Jou had done to wind Yugi up had managed to drag Oneesan out of the Puzzle. His theory was that she needed a break from saving their rears. Yugi's was that it was just that Oneesan had decided that most of the day to day annoyances that had once resulted in repeated blackouts wasn't worth the effort anymore.
"She wouldn't leave a friend in the lurch, much like someone else I know." Grinning when Yugi blushed, something she often did when she got a compliment, Jou continued, "She'll come out."
"If she catches us, it was all your idea." Yugi warned him, still not certain this was a good idea but then she hadn't been certain about the date itself being one either.
"Of course." Jou postured, "All the best ideas are mine."
"Oh really? What about the time you mmph..." Yugi glowered at him over the hand covering her mouth.
"You agreed not to speak about that." Jou grumbled, embarrassment sinking in, making him wonder if Yugi had nearly brought it up as revenge for embarrassing her. If it was Oneesan maybe, Yugi was too nice to think about vengeance.
"No," Yugi pulled away from his hand, good natured mischief obvious on her features, causing him to wonder if she'd been hanging out with him too long, "I promised not to tell the others. Big difference."
"So about this date," Jou quickly changed the subject, "Any idea where it's going to be, or are we following Anzu from her house? 'Cause we can't follow her if she gets in a car."
"I'm not sure." Yugi shrugged, "She mentioned something about having fun even if the date was horrendous, but that could mean anywhere."
"You're no help." The blonde teen complained, watching as the toast popped with such force that it catapulted into the air. Through years of experience, Yugi managed to catch them on a plate and took them over to the side to butter, "You think anywhere that has games is fun."
Yugi just shrugged. She couldn't deny it. She had 'easily distracted: games' on her character sheet. Somehow, it didn't bother her as much as it used to now that she had someone who was willing to play alongside her. "Do you have any ideas?"
"I heard Yoshida talking about taking some girl to a haunted house ride at lunch yesterday." Jou shrugged after thinking for a few minutes while wolfing his breakfast down, "I thought it was at the same theme park we were going to but I didn't realise the 'girl' was Anzu."
Yugi just blinked at him, surprised, "Seriously?" Then she paused, "Anzu's female too, you know." She scolded him.
"You're not the only one with insane luck." Jou ignored her, "That and he was gloating about it in the canteen when I grabbed seconds."
Yugi wolfed down her breakfast before she replied, "So even if we don't follow her, we'll probably run into her anyway." She sighed, "You know Anzu isn't going to be happy if she thinks we're trying to chaperone?"
"But Yuuuuge..." Jou whined.
"I'm curious too." Yugi laughed as she went to fetch her backpack, only to find Ginka, who she had been allowed to keep at the end of the week since the kitten had grown as attached to her, was curled up on her school bag, "No you can't come to school with me."
"Oh good, does that mean I can avoid doing any homework too?" Jou asked, grinning as Yugi shooed the cat off of her bag.
"Not you." Yugi sighed, finally managing to put her bag on and shoot out the door, "You don't get away with not doing school work that easily."
"Damn." Jou jokingly sulked as he followed her.
"Anyway," Yugi chuckled, "What I was trying to say is maybe we shouldn't stalk Anzu. Doesn't mean we can't keep an eye out."
"But I want to see how long it takes her to want to deck Yoshida." Jou complained. "Please Yuge?"
Yugi let out a soft sigh. She should have known that Jou's concern was firmly based in wanting to watch someone else test Anzu's patience for a change. "Alright, alright." Jou whooped as Yugi surrendered finally, "But I'm still blaming you if things go wrong."
"That's fine. Anzu'll probably blame me anyway. She normally does." Jou shrugged, seemingly unphased by the fact. The pair walked in silence for a minute or so before, "Hey Yuge? You heard anything about that bomber that's been in the news?"
Yugi had to think for a minute. She'd stopped paying attention to the news since realising what was going on with her Puzzle. She hadn't wanted to know if anything that Oneesan had done had ended up in the local newspapers. She did remember something in passing though from earlier on in the week, when her grandfather had been watching the news on TV. "The Card Bomber? The one who sends a playing card with the time and date of his attack on as his calling card?"
"That's the one." Jou nodded, "I bet Oneesan could take him."
"I'd rather not test that, thanks." Yugi blanched slightly at the idea, "I mean..."
"I suppose." The blonde shrugged, "But you have to admit she could probably do it."
"Yeah." She admitted, her hand going to the Puzzle, confidence in her other self obvious, "She probably could."
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"There she is!" Jou pointed out as he, Honda and Yugi waited in line to get into the park.
Yugi couldn't see over the crowds but Honda caught sight of Anzu three queues over, looking most distinctly like she was irritated already. Something that didn't bode well for the rest of her date. "Yes she is and unless you want to get caught already, keep it down." Honda scolded as they moved to the front of the queue.
"So that's two high schoolers and a grade schooler." The woman at the ticket office said in a matter of fact tone, looking them over.
"I'm..."
"That's right." Jou loudly spoke over Yugi, drowning her out, "I thought I'd bring my little sister out here as a treat."
"That's sweet." The woman replied, dispensing the three tickets and taking the money from Jou, who pocketed them with a grin. "Have a good day."
"Thanks." Jou replied, still grinning brightly as he herded the group away from the booths, recognising that Yugi was put out and trying to get as far away as possible before she said anything that could get him trouble.
"Grade school!?" Yugi protested the moment they were out of earshot of the booths. "I don't look that young do I?"
"Sorry Yuge." Jou apologised even as Honda nodded. Yugi just sulked as they headed further into the park, her mood not upturned until they found a bunch of carnival games and she managed to win two adorable cuddly toys, which she got Jou to carry at Honda's suggestion. Grinning when Jou spluttered with embarrassment as having to carry the stuffed bears, Yugi finally relaxed.
Trying to ignore the fact she was basically being dragged around to spy on Anzu, she did enjoy the chance to spend some time just having fun, not having to worry about bullies or homework or any of her normal day to day problems. Plus she had the chance to go swimming, something she enjoyed but hadn't had the chance to do outside of school since before she had finished the Puzzle.
It was as she was getting changed back into her normal clothes in the women's locker room that Anzu finally spotted her. The much taller brunette hadn't changed out of her bikini yet when she caught sight of Yugi, who was just repacking her bag.
"Yugi!" Anzu grinned brightly, hugging her friend, "Hi."
"Hey." Yugi blinked at her as Anzu pulled away, confused by the sudden hug, "You alright?"
"Yeah. Just glad of a few minutes peace." Anzu replied, "Yoshida's a right pain. Doesn't help he spotted Jonouchi and Honda in the queue and is now being paranoid. He thinks they're stalking us."
"Uhhh..." Yugi hesitated, nerves obvious in her voice.
"Oh don't tell me..." Anzu groaned, bringing palm to face.
"Jou's idea." Yugi apologised.
"And of course it's easier to go along with Jou than dissuade him of anything." Anzu groaned, pulling her own stuff out of the locker next to Yugi's as she did so, "Does he have nothing better to do?"
"I think he's just worried about you." Yugi tried to reassure her, only for Anzu to scowl at her.
"I don't need a babysitter." She growled, making Yugi wince, "It was bad enough when..." Anzu trailed off, noting the look on Yugi's face, "Never mind."
"I'm sorry." Yugi apologised, watching Anzu dart into the shower and pull the curtain closed behind her.
"Not your fault." Anzu informed her over the sounds of the water as Yugi slipped the Puzzle back on, relaxing slightly when it's comforting weight fell into its traditional place. "As long as Jonouchi isn't jealous or some rubbish, I can put up with it."
"He wanted to see how long it took you to punch Yoshida-san." Yugi informed her, leaving out how he had basically implied that Anzu wouldn't be able to get shot of Yoshida once this was over.
"That sounds like him." Anzu sighed as she stepped out from behind the curtain, wrapped in her towel, "I don't plan on punching Yoshida, so he's wasting his time." Anzu glanced over to Yugi, who was picking up her bag, "And yours."
"I'm having fun anyway." Yugi shrugged in reply, "I've been playing the carnival games we've been passing and Jou's just missed out on all the water slides." She sent a reassuring smile Anzu's way and was pleased to see her friend smile back.
"Go, shoo." Anzu chuckled at her, "Jonouchi won't be happy if he realises I'm on to him." Anzu paused, glanced around, and then asked, "Before you go, has Oneesan been out at all today?"
"No." Yugi shook her head, still concerned about the fact it was now getting on for two weeks without sign of her darker self. "Why?"
"I saw a bunch of police officers running around and some of the park officials were panicking. Knowing Oneesan's track record I thought I'd check."
"Not Oneesan's fault." Yugi promised, "See you later?"
"When I finally lose Yoshida, I'll hunt you out." Anzu nodded, "It won't be hard if you're still putting up with Jonouchi's antics."
"True." Yugi allowed with a grin she didn't quite feel, Anzu's question about Oneesan bringing up the concerns she had been trying to push to the back of her mind in order to enjoy the day. "Bye."
"Bye."
Yugi slipped out of the changing room and rejoined the guys, who had been hovering around the entrance to the pool area.
"She see you?" Jou asked, worried when he noticed Yugi's mind was elsewhere.
"Of course she didn't." Honda didn't give Yugi a chance to answer, "If Anzu had seen Yugi she'd have followed her out."
"Yeah, you're right." Jou allowed, relaxing slightly, "She'd be giving us such an earful if she'd worked out what we're up to."
"We could give up, you know." Honda offered, "I doubt she's going to punch him if she didn't yet."
"You just don't want to have to hand me the hundred yen you're gunna owe me when she hits him." Jou snorted.
"You two are taking bets?" Yugi groaned at the boys. "Seriously?"
"Of course." Yugi just face palmed as Jou and Honda spoke at the same time, "No."
"Come on." Yugi dragged them away from the pool, where the boys attention had been drawn by yet another cute girl wearing almost nothing, trying not to feel upset that she couldn't draw that sort of attention from any member of the opposite sex. Instead they headed for the rollercoasters, having waited half an hour in the queue and seen Anzu boarding the ferris wheel when an announcement went out over the park's tannoy system.
"The police have received a bomb threat in the park. We can't go into detail for security reasons but...uh... please follow the instructions of the nearest police officer and quickly and calmly proceed to the nearest exit. You may also jump over the little fences."
The moment the announcement stopped all hell broke loose as everyone started screaming and shouting and rushing for the exit, nearly trampling Yugi in their haste. It was only the fact that Jou and Honda pulled her to one side, next to the ferris wheel, and protected her from the worst of the stampede that prevented her getting seriously hurt.
They were just poking their head out of their hiding place when a group of officers rushed by, stopping at the foot of the ferris wheel and staring up.
"This is bad," The trio heard the man who looked like he was in charge, speak, "There are people on that ferris wheel!"
"Excuse me?" Yugi pushed past her two friends, "But my friend's on that ride, is something wrong?"
"There's a bomb planted on it." The officer replied, causing her to blanch, fear coursing through her as the very real danger Anzu was in struck her. The officer's phone went and he moved away from Yugi, giving Jou and Honda a chance to catch up to her.
"Yuge..." Jou paused, seeing the look on her face and understanding instantly. "What should we do?" He asked, sizing up the ferris wheel as if the problem was something he could wrestle into submission, though she could hear the fear in his tone.
Before Yugi could reply that she didn't know if there was anything they could do, the officer was shouting, for a volunteer. "The bomber challenged us to a card game! Who's a good card player? Is there a gamer here?!"
Jou and Honda took a step away from Yugi as the Puzzle flashed in response to the question and suddenly Oneesan was in control and looking an odd mixture of furious and frightened that neither boy had seen from her before. "I'll do it!"
"You're the girl from before..." The detective looked her over as she held out her hand for the mobile phone. "Are you sure you can do this?"
"I don't lose." Oneesan promised, receiving the phone in reply to her declaration. "Hey," She spoke to the bomber on the other end of the phone, "I'm here, what're we playing?"
The voice on the other end of the phone laughed, a tone of vindictive amusement that just served to anger Oneesan further. Though she had no right to complain about someone playing games with people's lives, she had never risked the lives of someone innocent. Unless she counted Imoto-chan which wasn't something she could help.
"A kid." The voice spoke finally, "Very funny. Alright, the game we're playing is Clock Solitaire."
Oneesan quickly scanned Imoto-chan's memories for information on the game in question, finding the rules and a couple of memories of the game easily. The deck of cards that the officer had given her would be fine, she didn't need anything special for the game at hand.
"Here I go." She murmured as she dealt the deck out into thirteen different piles, one at each number on a clock and one for the centre, turning the first card over from the centre pile, finding that it was a three and placing it underneath the three o'clock pile before taking the top card from there. This continued for a few rapidly played out turns before she completed the four o'clock position by drawing all of the fours.
The number four carriage on the ferris wheel exploded.
"Anzu!" Oneesan paled slightly as she realised that there were bombs on each of the carriages, including the number three one which held her friend and she had already drawn three of them. Just one more and Anzu would...
"Focus Yuge." Jou knelt at her side, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "You can do it."
"I wouldn't listen to him if I were you." The bomber sniggered, having heard Jou talking via the phone, "You can't win this without people getting hurt. You can try though."
Oneesan pulled her attention back to the game at hand, her confidence shaken as she drew again, trying to work out where the bomber was stood that would allow him to see what cards she had drawn out of the scattered deck as she did so. She completed the eight position and winced when the number eight carriage exploded.
"It's only a matter of time before an occupied carriage explodes." One of the officers whispered, "How can she win?"
"I just need to finish collecting the kings." Oneesan replied, though her voice was low, just carrying to the boys who could hear the stress in her tone, all three of them flinching as the number two car exploded.
"Twenty seconds." One of the officers informed them, just adding to the pressure that Oneesan was already under, "Twenty seconds before ALL the bombs go off."
Oneesan sped up, trying to find the last king card for the centre pile before the bombs went off and Anzu was gone forever. She reached for one last card as the time ticked down past the five second mark, praying that it would be the right one, only for her prayers to be answered as she slammed the last king into place with less than a second to go.
"Officers," She spoke, realisation striking her as she remembered that the ferris wheel had thirteen carriages, while there was only twelve piles of cards in the clock face in the solitaire game, "The bomber's in carriage thirteen. There's no bomb there."
She would have taken more pleasure out of hearing the bomber's attempts at calling her every single rude name under the sun for that, except she was distracted by the sight of Jou and Honda helping Anzu down out of the number three carriage and she dropped the phone before darting over, hesitating to join the three teens who were talking rapidly and wondering if she should trade places with Imoto-chan.
"Oneesan." Anzu darted over, giving the shocked Puzzle spirit a hug, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She mumbled, still trembling slightly as she slowly came down from the terror of the last few minutes.
"It's okay." Oneesan responded, feeling awkward enough as it was and trying to sound reassuring as she rubbed Anzu's back. "It's okay."
"Anzu," The girl in question let go of Oneesan and turned to glower at the other person who had been in carriage three and was glowering at the two boys. "Come on. We've still got to finish our date."
"Finish our date?" Anzu demanded, "You want to me finish our date? When you spent that entire fiasco hiding under the seats and going 'I'm too pretty to die' and 'kill her not me?' I don't think so."
"You're coming with me." Yoshida went to grab Anzu's arm, only for Oneesan to superimpose herself between the pair and glower at him.
"Anzu told you that she would only take part in this experiment until she no longer enjoyed it. Since she no longer enjoys it, you can go away now." Oneesan snarled at him, getting the feeling that Jou and Honda were watching carefully in case they needed to step in. "Especially since you're a cowardly worm who would offer up someone else's life before your own."
"Shut up you little whor..." Yoshida moved to slap her but before Oneesan could call up anything that might get her into trouble with the police and Jou and Honda could make their move, one of the police officers had grabbed the boy's arm.
"That girl just saved your life." The detective in charge of the case informed the boy, still holding the limb firmly, "So I suggest you take her advice and go away before we take you in for harassing her and her friend."
"Whatever." The teen grouched, still glowering at the group of friends, "I don't want to hang around with these losers anyway." The detective let go and Yoshida stalked off, grumbling something under his breath that Oneesan didn't care enough to catch.
"I need your name, address and telephone number, in case we have to get in touch with you." He warned Oneesan, who gave him Yugi's name, number and address, before disappearing back into the park with Yugi's friends.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Jou worried at Anzu, checking the girl over.
"Yeah, thanks to Oneesan." Anzu nodded, sending a watery smile in Oneesan's direction. Oneesan just bowed and switched with Yugi, who took a moment to take in her surroundings, then grinned brightly at Anzu.
"I knew she could do it!" Yugi squealed and glomped Anzu, who responded with an amused chuckle and a hug of her own.
"Come on, Yuge." Jou smiled at the girl in question as she pulled away from her friend, relief still clear on her features. "Let's go queue up for the rides." Yugi went to protest that they probably weren't running when she heard the sounds of a cart moving along the tracks of the nearby rollercoaster.
"Coming." She said instead, glancing at Honda and Anzu.
"We'll be along in a minute." Honda promised. That was enough for Yugi, who followed Jou off to get first in line in the queues before the crowds re-entered the park. "Oneesan was really worried for you." He informed Anzu, who had watched the pair go. "If I ever had any doubts whether she actually cares about us..."
"I..." Anzu leant against the nearest railing, "I know," She admitted, adrenaline wearing off, "I used to think that she was only looking after us because Yugi cared about us, but I..." Anzu sighed, "I was looking out the window of the carriage when she shouted for me. I saw how frightened she was and how Jou had to reassure her." Anzu smiled slightly, "And I doubt she could fake the relief I saw when I stepped out of the carriage." She looked Honda straight in the eyes, "I think it's time we started trusting her."
"You're a little behind there." Honda snorted, "Bar that one incident in the restaurant, she's done nothing but try and help and protect us since she woke up. I figured that even if I thought she was doing it for Yugi, not for us, I could trust her because she was still protecting us."
"But you go out of your way to ignore her." Anzu looked confused, "So..."
"I have nothing against her." Honda shrugged, "I just prefer not to know when she's Challenged someone. Have you never heard of plausible deniability?"
Anzu smiled at that. "Okay, that I can understand." She glanced around, noting that the crowds were slowly building up again and brought up something that had been bothering her for a while, ever since Jou had nagged her about the fact Oneesan was convinced she and Honda hated her. "I was thinking...maybe we could do something nice for Oneesan."
"Like what?" Honda asked, confused, "She never comes out unless Yugi's stressed to breaking point so we don't know what she likes."
"Well," Anzu grinned, "Here's what I was thinking..."
LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN
"This way."
Oneesan was on edge as she followed Jou's voice down the hallway, running her hand along the wall to keep some sort of grip on her perception of the world around her, uncomfortable with the blindfold that Jou had insisted was necessary for her surprise.
"Getting there."
That was another thing she didn't understand. She had skimmed Imoto-chan's memories and her little sister had known nothing about the details of this surprise, just trusted Jou enough to fake the emotions that had drawn Oneesan out of her slumber. However when Oneesan had threatened to retreat back into the Puzzle, Jou had panicked and told her that she couldn't because it would spoil the surprise and Anzu would have his head if she didn't come because he'd been an idiot.
Why Anzu even wanted her there was beyond her. Today hadn't been the first time she had saved the girl from trouble and Yugi's friend had never shown any signs of warming up to her before now. Still she had promised Jou she would stay until the surprise had been revealed at least so she did.
She hesitated as she ran out of wall, not as confident without her sight to aid her. She felt someone take her hand in one hand and place the other on her shoulder, reassurance attempting to be conveyed in the action. "Just a few more steps, Oneesan." Jou spoke softly, as if to a skittish cat, something she wasn't sure if she appreciated. "I'm here."
She followed his directions. It was Jou after all, and while she did suspect this was all part of some elaborate prank, she did trust him not to let her get hurt.
"Wait here." Jou murmured, letting go of her and moving away. Oneesan barely resisted the desire to reach up and rip the blindfold off so she could see her surroundings. Instead she waited, easily able to hear the movement that surrounded her and wondering what the hell was going on.
"Alright." Jou sounded like he was grinning, as fingers fumbled with the knot tying the cloth over her eyes, "Now."
The blindfold fell away and Oneesan had to blink a couple of times to adjust her eyes to the light. When she could see clearly again, it was to find that Anzu, Honda and her grandfather were there too, along with a chocolate cake with three candles on and a couple of presents.
"Surprise." The trio of teens called, smiling brightly at her before bursting into giggles at her confusion.
"Not that I'm not grateful, but..." Oneesan hesitated midsentence, trying to understand what they were up to.
"You've been free for just over three months now." Anzu informed her, "We thought that that deserved celebrating."
"Anyone who can put up with that knucklehead constantly hovering," Honda gestured to Jou, "For that long deserves a medal, yet alone a cake."
"Jou's not that big a problem." Oneesan replied, getting her bearings and grinning slightly at the look on Jou's face, enjoying teasing him. "But I won't say no to cake." She glanced at the gifts on the table, wondering if those were hers too and what they could have possibly bought for her considering she didn't spend much time outside the Puzzle unless it was in Yugi's body.
"Gifts after cake." Anzu promised, having seen the look, "I've already had to save it from Jou twice."
"I'm hungry." Jou complained.
"That's nothing new." Honda snorted, passing Oneesan the knife so she could cut the cake. "You're always hungry."
"Don't forget to make a wish when you blow the candles out." Anzu reminded her as Oneesan wondered what she was supposed to do with the lit sticks of wax.
"Okay..." Confused as to why someone would put candles on a cake and light them if their only purpose was to be blown out again, Oneesan silently wished that she and Imoto-chan would get to talk soon without someone invading their mind or attempting to shred Imoto-chan's soul, before extinguishing them with one breath. Then she cut the cake into six pieces as evenly as she could, making sure not to forget Imoto-chan.
"This is yours." She warned Jou as she handed him a piece, "Eat Imoto-chan's and I'll make good on that threat from the other day."
"I'll be good." Jou blanched, remembering her threat about embarrassing him in front of the whole school.
The cake was demolished in short order, Imoto-chan's piece put somewhere safe for later and the presents were handed over. There were four of them in total, one from each of her friends and one from both her grandfather and Imoto-chan.
Opening the one from Jou first, she found he had given her what looked like a gift tag in a purple and black cloth bag with gold embroidery and she glanced over at him, confusion obvious.
"It's an omamori." Jou explained, "A good luck charm from the nearby temple. You don't open the bag or it loses its power. That one's a yaku-yoke, it's supposed to be charmed to ward off evil. I figured since you're supposed to be avoiding evil right now until you and Yuge can work together it might help."
Oneesan nodded her understanding, suddenly grateful for the odd little charm. "Thank you." She smiled at him, putting it in her blouse pocket before moving on to Honda's.
He'd purchased a pair of books on Egyptian history written by an I. Ishtar that Honda wasn't sure would help Oneesan work out who she was, but seemed more involved with the mythological side of Egyptian history rather than the more mundane part. She was actually looking forward to flicking through and learning some more of her own myths and legends.
Anzu's gift came in two parts. Part of it was a scarab amulet that supposedly aided towards the holder's courage and protection, while the other was a silver cartouche, a blank one with no hieroglyphs inside. "For later." She explained, "Pharaohs were supposed to have their name in one of those, but since you don't know what yours is, I figured you could add your name later once you knew it and then you couldn't lose it again."
Oneesan nodded gratefully, placing the amulet on the table and putting the cartouche back in its box for now before reaching for the final present.
"It's from both Yugi and I." Sugoroku explained as Oneesan opened it to reveal a goban, a game board for the highly strategic and tactical game of Go, along with a set of stones for playing on it. "Any time you want a game when the store's not open, feel free to ask. I find sometimes playing games helps me clear my mind."
There was a letter with the set that was addressed to 'Oneesan' in Yugi's handwriting too and she opened it with care.
'Dear Oneesan,
I know that to use this gift you'll have to borrow my body. I have no problems with this. I just hope you enjoy it. Also if you ever want to play against me set it up in the top right hand drawer of my desk and we'll play that way, even if we have to take turns over days rather than minutes. I would say leave it set up on the desk but Ginka might lose the pieces.
Looking forward to playing games with you soon,
Imoto-chan.'
Oneesan's hand ran over the smooth wooden surface, marvelling at the fact that Imoto-chan, who barely knew her beyond what she had been told about her, was willing to entrust her with her body for something as simple as playing games. Ordinary games, with nothing on the line. "Thank you. All of you."
"You're welcome, 'Neesan." Jou grinned, "It was Anzu's idea though so she should get the most brownie points. Hey!"
Oneesan turned to Anzu, a little surprised that the girl, who had seemed to dislike her thoroughly had put this little party together. Anzu had gone bright red and shoved Jou hard enough to cause him to fall off of the arm of the chair he had been balancing on and was now giving Oneesan an embarrassed smile.
"You're our friend. I thought, since we don't know when your birthday is we'd celebrate your freedom..." She trailed off, still looking embarrassed.
"I'm grateful." Oneesan tried to find the words, still surprised that they'd gone out of their way to do this for her, "I never expected anything like this." She hesitated for a moment, feeling a bit guilty for not wishing to say what she knew she should admit next, "But I should probably give Imoto-chan control back soon."
"Already?" Jou sulked, "But we were just about to pull out the multiplayer games and let you kick our butts!"
"Let me?" Jou's words set Oneesan's proud streak off at the thought that they would have to let her win. "Oh that's it. You're going down, Jonouchi."