Yugi and Anzu's Misaligned Love Comedy: The Millennium Puzzle Is a Source of Love Troubles!? - The Other One in the Mirror

Click. The sound of the final piece sliding into place was far quieter than he'd expected. Mutou Yuugi held his breath and gently lifted the Millennium Puzzle with both hands. The golden chain slipped between his fingers, and the completed puzzle caught the fluorescent light of his room, glinting dully. "…I did it." His voice was shaking. And no wonder. Eight years. He'd received the puzzle from his grandfather Sugoroku when he was eight. Every day since—sometimes setting it aside for months at a time—he'd worked at it, and today, at last, the day had come. Cradling the puzzle against his chest, Yuugi stepped over to the mirror on his desk. Outside the window, the evening sun of a break in the rainy season dyed the rooftops of the Yuugi-dori shopping arcade orange. A train crossing clattered somewhere in the distance. His face appeared in the mirror. Spiky black hair streaked with red. His bangs hung over his eyes, a little annoying. Big brown eyes. Slender shoulders. A white shirt and blue vest. The golden puzzle hanging from his neck. The usual him. The instant he thought that— The him in the mirror smiled. No—it didn't smile. The mouth hadn't moved. But the eyes were different. Not his eyes. Sharper, deeper, the eyes of someone who saw straight through everything. "Eh…?" Yuugi lurched backward. His back hit the edge of the bed. The him in the mirror didn't move. No—more precisely, even though Yuugi had recoiled, the him in the mirror hadn't. The him in the mirror opened his mouth. "Well done, completing it. My name is Atem." He heard the voice. Not through his ears. It echoed directly inside his head. Low, and yet somehow familiar. "Wh-who the hell are you…?" "I dwell within you. A soul that resides in the Millennium Puzzle." The Atem in the mirror had exactly the same face as Yuugi. Same hair, same clothes, same puzzle hanging from his neck. And yet he looked like a completely different person. It was the eyes. Those weren't the eyes of a timid high schooler. They were the eyes of someone who had seen something far, far greater. "Listen. Tell no one about me." The voice drew closer. Through the mirror, Atem reached a hand toward him. Yuugi couldn't move. As if paralyzed, his body wouldn't obey. "Not your friends, not your family, and—not Mazaki Anzu either." The moment Anzu's name came out, his heart jumped. "Wh-why would you say Anzu's name…?" Atem didn't answer. He simply gave a faint smile. And something about that smile seemed terribly lonely. The next instant, the figure in the mirror had returned to the usual him. For a while, Yuugi couldn't move from in front of the mirror. His heart was pounding in his chest. But it wasn't only fear. Strangely, it felt warm, too. As if he'd thought he was all alone this whole time, only to find someone had been beside him from the very start. "…Atem." He tried the name aloud. A strange sound, one his tongue took to easily. On the desk, the completed Millennium Puzzle glowed quietly. Yuugi picked it up and slipped the golden cord over his head. It was heavy. And yet, somehow, the weight was comforting. Outside the window, the lights of the shopping arcade were coming on one after another. The Suzukiya sign, the display window of Books Nakayama, the gaudy neon of the Arcade Warabe. The dusk of this town wore its usual face. But something had changed. Yuugi felt it. --- The next morning. Yuugi was short on sleep. He hadn't been able to drift off the night before, tossing and turning under his futon. Atem hadn't said anything since. But every so often, the puzzle against his chest seemed to grow faintly warm. He trudged along the route to Domino High. Domino Town was a bedroom community ninety minutes from the city center by train. Population a hundred and twenty thousand. Gentle hills spread to the north, and the Yuugi-dori shopping arcade lay to the south. Yuugi's house sat right in the middle of that arcade—the second floor of the Sugoroku Game Shop. Fifteen minutes on foot to school. Along the way, he crossed a small bridge over the Domino River. The water's surface caught the morning sun and sparkled. "Heeey, Yuugi!" A shout from behind. Before he could turn, something slammed into his shoulder. "Gweh!" "What's with you, spacing out again? What're you thinking about?" Jounouchi Katsuya, his blond pompadour perfectly set even this early, grinned and slung an arm around Yuugi's shoulders. Tall, with a fierce look in his eyes. A former delinquent, so most people were intimidated at first sight. But Yuugi knew better. Deep down, this guy was a genuinely good person. "Nothing. I'm not thinking about anything." "Liar. It's written all over your face—'I'm hiding something.'" Yuugi flinched. "Morning, you two." Another one from behind. A near-shaved head, a solid hundred-and-eighty-centimeter frame. Honda Hiroto. He and Jounouchi had been inseparable since middle school, always moving as a pair. "Hey, Hiroto. This guy's acting like he's got a secret." "That's just your gut again. Don't worry about it, Yuugi." Honda was levelheaded. As Jounouchi's straight man, it was a skill honed over years of friendship. "Hey, Yuugi, can we hit the game shop after school today? I wanna buy a new card pack." "Oh, sure. Gramps'll be happy too." "All right! After school, then! You coming too, Hiroto?" "Only if you've got money. Don't go asking to borrow from me again." "Heh, it's before allowance day. If you could just lend me five hundred yen…" "I knew it!" Listening to their back-and-forth, Yuugi smiled a little. The usual morning. Jounouchi's booming voice. Honda's cool retorts. The smell of the shopping arcade. The row of cherry trees along the school route. All of it the same as yesterday. And yet. The puzzle against his chest sat heavy. --- When he reached school and was changing his shoes at the cubbies— "Yuugi, a sec." Jounouchi grabbed his arm. The grin from earlier was gone. "…What?" "Rooftop. We need to talk." Honda nodded too, his face serious. Yuugi had a bad feeling. The rooftop was the usual lunchtime spot. Beyond the fence, the streets of Domino Town spread out in full view. Today was a break in the rainy season, and blue sky stretched wide. The wind was strong, ruffling Jounouchi's pompadour a little. "So, what is it?" Jounouchi crossed his arms and looked down at Yuugi. Jounouchi at a hundred seventy-five centimeters, Yuugi at a hundred sixty-five. Facing each other like this, the ten-centimeter gap felt surprisingly big. "Yuugi. You've been weird lately." "…Huh?" "Spacing out, muttering to yourself. Yesterday you suddenly yelled 'No!' in the middle of class." "That was… I mean…" He had far too good an idea what Jounouchi meant, and no words came. Yesterday during math, Atem's voice had suddenly echoed in his head, and he'd cried out before he could stop himself. "If something's bothering you, talk to us. If there's anything Hiroto and I can do, we'll do it." Jounouchi's eyes were fixed straight on Yuugi. This guy really cared about his friends. A former delinquent who'd once bullied Yuugi. But not anymore. If Yuugi was in trouble, he'd come running first. That was the kind of man he was. And that was exactly why Yuugi couldn't tell him. "…Sorry. I'm fine. Just a little short on sleep." Jounouchi studied his face for a while. Then he plopped a hand on Yuugi's head. "Well, all right then. Don't push yourself. We're friends, aren't we?" His chest tightened. Friends. Yeah, they were friends. And yet he was keeping a secret. About Atem. But he couldn't say it. That voice had told him not to. --- Lunch break. Yuugi sat alone at a seat in the corner of the classroom, opening his lunchbox. Tamagoyaki, cherry tomatoes, fried chicken. A lunch his grandfather Sugoroku had made. At seventy-two, Gramps handled both cooking and games without missing a beat. "Yuugi." He looked up at the voice. Chestnut-brown long hair swayed softly in the breeze from the window. Big amber eyes. A white blouse and navy skirt. Her bangs were pulled back with a hairband, and the eyes peeking out from beneath looked straight at him. Mazaki Anzu. His childhood friend, and the girl he cared about most in the world. "Ah, um, Anzu…" "Let's eat lunch together. The rooftop's free." "S-sure." His heart was so loud. It was always like this when he talked to Anzu. His mind went blank and he couldn't think of what to say. Out on the rooftop, the wind was strong. Anzu's hair fluttered up. "Wow, this feels great!" Anzu spread both arms and looked up at the blue sky. That profile burned itself into Yuugi's eyes. Anzu had always been this kind of girl. Strong-willed, a tomboy, but really more delicate than anyone. Back when Yuugi was being bullied by Jounouchi and the others, it was Anzu who'd jumped in first and shouted, "Cut it out!" That day, Anzu's back had looked so big. He still remembered it. "Yuugi, you haven't been yourself lately." Leaning against the fence, Anzu spoke. "Y-you think so?" "I do. I'm your childhood friend. I can tell." Anzu looked steadily into his eyes. Close. Not even fifty centimeters apart. His own face was reflected in her amber eyes. "…Hey, Yuugi. Is there something you can't tell me?" His heart jolted. "N-no, nothing like that…" Anzu's face fell, just a little, looking lonely. "I see. That's fine, then. But if anything happens, tell me, okay? I want to be there for you." He wanted to tell her. Wanted to tell her everything. That the puzzle was finished yesterday. That another him had appeared in the mirror. That the other him knew about her. But. 'Tell no one about me.' Atem's voice repeated in his head. "…Thanks, Anzu." In the end, that was all he could say. Anzu smiled. But was it just his imagination that, behind that smile, there seemed to be the faintest shadow? --- After school. Yuugi came home to the Sugoroku Game Shop with Jounouchi and Honda. "Gramps, I'm back." "Oh, Yuugi. Welcome home. Jounouchi and Honda too—come in, come in." A white-haired old man poked his head out from the back of the shop. Mutou Sugoroku. Yuugi's grandfather and the owner of the game shop. A carefree, good-natured old fellow who was always reading puzzle magazines. Jounouchi made a beeline for the card pack shelf. "Gramps, you got the new packs in?" "Ah, they just arrived yesterday. The latest Duel Monsters set." "For real?! All right!" Jounouchi pumped his fist. Honda watched with a look of exasperation. Yuugi dropped his bag in the game room at the back of the shop and was about to head upstairs. That was when— "Yuugi." His grandfather's voice. He turned, and Sugoroku was watching him from behind the counter. "…I hear you finished the puzzle?" "Eh? Oh, yeah. Yesterday." "I see. Took you eight years." Sugoroku studied Yuugi's face for a while. Then he smiled warmly. "Good for you. Gramps is happy." Yuugi gripped the puzzle at his chest. This puzzle was something Sugoroku had obtained in Egypt. He'd heard his grandfather bought it for a hundred and fifty thousand yen at a stall near a royal tomb. Sugoroku had entrusted it to Yuugi. But Sugoroku didn't know. That Atem was inside this puzzle. Or—did he know? "Gramps, this puzzle…" He started to speak, then stopped. "Hm? What is it?" "…Nothing. Never mind." Yuugi dashed up to the second floor. --- Night. Yuugi lay under his futon, staring at the ceiling. The day's events spun around and around in his head. Jounouchi's "We're friends, aren't we." Anzu's "I want to be there for you." Sugoroku's "Gramps is happy." Everyone was worried about him. And yet he was keeping a secret. "…Atem. You're there, aren't you." He called out in a small voice. No answer. "Hey, Atem, I'm talking to you." He called again. The window glass caught the moonlight and shone. Within that light, a figure surfaced. "You

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Episode 1

Name: Yugi and Anzu's Misaligned Love Comedy: The Millennium Puzzle Is a Source of Love Troubles!?
Author: Novelia

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