Ryoko Akane was an enigma. A beautiful seventeen year old who just recently moved to Domino City, Japan from America. A lethal duelist, cunning, sarcastic, and possessing a past shrouded in shadows that she keeps carefully hidden.
Seto Kaiba was the...
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Classes that day went by in a blur for Ryoko, she was successfully able to avoid Bakura relatively well during classes and the transition periods. Lunch however was a different story, Bakura was already sitting with Yugi and the others and Ryoko didn't feel like sitting at another table with people she didn't know. She had been about to give a resounding "screw it" and sit alone in a corner when Seto walked by her and gave her a look that roughly translated to 'wanna sit with me for the day?' needless to say Ryoko went with him to the main courtyard that - thankfully - was bare of any human life excluding them. This eventually became something of a routine for the pair, spending lunch together in the courtyard.
Neither of them ever said anything, Ryoko was generally too busy chowing down on her homemade lunches and Kaiba was typically too busy with his work at KaibaCorp or catching up on school work. Once lunch was over they both left for their shared math class with Tristan and went about their day in what Tristan dubbed as the "silent comradory" between the two. They never said much to each other, but always sat or stood near one another durring classes, they did assignments together and diverted unwanted attention away from each other with almost practiced ease. They never verbally indicated that they were anything close to "friends" but looking at them together they certainly gave off that impression to Tristan; though the brunette never said anything about it to the others. It was as if something within him didn't dare utter a word of what he saw, like whatever Seto Kaiba and Ryoko Akane had was sacred and should be kept secret. It sounded ludicrous but that was the only explanation that Tristan had for the unlikely pair's equally unlikely comradory.
Ryoko still talked to and hanged out with the others (only when Bakura wasn't around) and everyone considered her to be a part of the group. Téa especially took to Ryoko. The poor girl had been without a female friend for so long, and while she enjoyed watching duels she felt drained from how obsessed with the game her friends were. Ryoko was a duelist herself but she wasn't obsessed with the game like the boys.
She was happy to talk about things other than Duel Monsters, happy to shop and joke with Téa like two normal teenage girls. The two could talk and share things with each other that they didn't feel comfortable talking to the boys about, they revealed their after school jobs to each other and spoke of their dreams. With Ryoko, Téa felt normal. Téa was also the first person that Ryoko told about what happened with Bakura in the alleyway on Ryoko's first day, after the reveal Téa helped to meditate the distance between the two and Ryoko couldn't have been more greatful.
Yugi and Ryoko almost instantly bonded over their shared love of Duel Monsters. They swapped strategies and duel stories, spoke of their favorite cards and introduced one another to different cards the other had yet to see. In a way Yugi came to see Ryoko like a sister, she was equal parts protective and playful, and to Yugi it felt like she had always just been there.
