Destined to be Yours

Chapter 92: A Numbing Routine

"Akia, wake up, time for school," Yugi called out to his sister.

"Five more minutes..." She whined.

"You stayed up way too late again, didn't you?" The boy sighed.

No response. Akia had fallen back to sleep. Ever since Marik left, Akia had been staying up late talking to him. Considering the time difference of seven hours that Japan had in advance over Egypt, it was always her that sacrificed her sleeping time, since she had school in the morning. He had also shared with her that he had started attending school as well, which was a very exciting experience for him. This also meant that they could only start talking when it was 4PM in Egypt, which was 11PM in Japan. They would video chat into the late hours of the night for Akia, with Marik feeling extremely guilty about how tired she always looked. However, their little video dates every night were what was keeping her going. It was the one thing she looked forward to. It's only been a month since his departure and since the start of the new semester and Akia was already feeling the physical strain from not sleeping enough.

"Akia, I'll drag you out of bed if I have to. Our new homeroom teacher is not as nice as the last one. If you're late too often, he might make you repeat the year," Yugi warned Akia sternly.

The black-haired girl's eyes lazily opened. "Coming..." She mumbled as she got out of bed with a lot of difficulty. She got ready for school, applying a little bit of concealer under her eyes to hide her deepening dark circles. It didn't hide the drowsiness from her gaze.

"Good morning you two," their grandfather greeted them as they came down. "Nice to see that Akia hasn't been late once since the beginning of the new semester. Good job, Yugi!"

"What about congratulating me for getting out of bed?" Akia retorted.

"You look very tired, though, Akia. You should sleep earlier," Sugoroku commented. "Have a nice day you two."

The twins left home and joined with Anzu who was waiting for them outside as per their usual routine to walk to school together.

"Good morning, Yugi, Akia!" She greeted them cheerfully.

"Good morning, Anzu!" Yugi replied with the same enthusiasm.

"'Morning..." Akia mumbled, dazed from her lack of sleep.

"I know I've been saying this almost every day lately, but you should really get some sleep, Akia..." Anzu told her.

"I would if I didn't have school," the red-eyed girl joked.

"I meant at night," Anzu giggled at her joke.

"It's the only time I can talk with Marik. I'm not cutting that time with him. If it costs me a little sleep, then so be it," Akia stated.

Yugi sighed in resignation, knowing that nothing would change her mind about this. He was just really worried about how more and more exhausted she'd been every day. She'd drop things, forget what she was saying, leave stuff behind, do worse at school and many more things. He didn't know how far it would go or how long this was going to last, but he hoped something would happen before his sister got seriously hurt.

Jounouchi and Honda joined up with them on the way to school.

"Red Eyes, your eyes are more red than usual. Stop flirting with your boyfriend and get some sleep," Jounouchi reprimanded her.

"Not gonna happen," Akia retorted.

"Akia's more stubborn than you, Jounouchi. Don't expect her to actually listen," Honda teased.

The black-haired girl stuck out her tongue at his comment and smirked. When they arrived at school, Otogi said his good mornings to them before heading to his class. A lot of the other students would go up to them as well to greet both her and Yugi, considering how the latter was the winner of Battle City and how Akia was getting more and more popular among the boys at her school. Her display of skills that was shown all over the city got her a ton of fans. She couldn't be bothered to give them much attention though, considering how sleepy she was.