False Friend (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had to wonder if all police officers were this gullible. At the very least, this Yamada guy was. That Takahashi guy Atsuro had met before on Christmas sure hadn't been, Atsuro had gotten that kind of vibe from him, but Yamada? He hadn't even questioned him when he said he was here to see Bakura.

"You're a friend of Bakura-san's?" Yamada asked. Atsuro nodded.

"Yeah. I can't believe he's in jail..." Atsuro said. Yamada sighed.

"Alright, alright. Come on, follow me," Yamada said, leading Atsuro into the back where they kept the jail cells and leaving the front desk unattended. Atsuro resisted facepalming at Yamada's incompetence as he followed the detective down to the cells. Yamada allowed him into the room first, and the stepped in as well, guarding the door.

Atsuro looked toward Yamada before walking over to what was clearly Anpu's cell. "Bakura? Geez, what are you doing in here?"

[mugenginga]

Anpu had been sitting with his back to the cell doors, staring at the bars that served as a window. He had begun to wonder if they even intended on transferring him out of here. He admitted he didn't know as much about the modern legal system as he would have liked, but there weren't enough cells here to serve as a real prison. It wasn't just that, either. This era was a lot more advanced than his original had been. The things here didn't seem enough for a place they intended to keep prisoners long term. He didn't want to break out of here unless it became a necessity. Well, he could be patient.

He turned his head as the door opened, noting that it was the officer who was supposed to be guarding him. He rolled his eyes and turned back towards the window. He heard the footfall of another person, but didn't turn towards him. Because of the angle, Atsuro wouldn't see his face as he looked confused for a moment at the form of address. He traced the fragmented memories he'd gleaned over his time with Bakura's soul still present. That voice wasn't familiar. Bakura had never been good about concealing facts he tried to get from him. The lack of honorific indicated one of two things, and the voice sounded concerned, so... someone was trying to set something up.

"Have we met?" Anpu stated, his back remaining to Atsuro.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro looked almost insulted as Anpu asked him if they'd met. No, technically they hadn't. But Anpu didn't have Bakura's memories, so he wouldn't know that. Besides, even if he did have Bakura's memories, hadn't Bakura lived a lot of different places? He'd had to have a bunch of people he'd met before that he just didn't remember well.

"Come on, Bakura! It's me! Kihara Atsuro! We used to play Monster World together before, remember? We went to high school in Chiba together!" Atsuro said with a grin. "Come on, I know you've lived a bunch of different places, but you could at least remember me!"

[mugenginga]

Now there was something prominent in the memory's of his host. That game and the moving. Anpu frowned to himself. Was it possible he just hadn't delved into Bakura's memories enough before they split? He did have to make specific effort to get details such as that, and he'd only done so when he needed to. If Bakura did know this person, feigning ignorance had the potential to create problems with his facade. If he didn't, then the teenager was aware of the situation already. There was no disadvantage to playing along. Anpu relaxed his shoulders, taking the personality he faked so well.

Bakura seemed almost to flinch as a response to Atsuro. He turned towards Atsuro, his expression depressed. There seemed to be a glint of recognition upon seeing the teenager, and he quickly turned his head back. He pulled his legs forward and spoke.

"I'm sorry, Atsuro-kun..." Bakura said, "How did you find out I was here? I don't want to bother anyone..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro recognized that shift. The fact that Anpu didn't even have the Ring meant he was faking Bakura's personality, and was doing it rather well. Anpu wouldn't be able to see any of these thoughts, though. If Atsuro had gained any skills from his time with Abel (other than an increased fighting ability), it had been in his ability to deceive people.

"Oh, this Egyptian I met called... uh, Atemu I think, told me you were here!" Atsuro didn't even make an attempt to say Atem's name without an accent. Even with Atem's name being one of the easier ones to say in Japanese, it would still come out accented if the person hadn't heard it said near enough. Actually saying it correctly would mean he'd spent enough time around Atem to actually know how to say it right. "He had your necklace thing, too! He was just wearing it out in the open! Hey, he didn't steal it from you, did he?"

Yamada raised an eyebrow. That Atem kid had stolen something from Bakura? He thought they were friends. Friends typically didn't steal from friends.

[mugenginga]

Bakura tensed up at the mention of the name Atem, the pronunciation typical of the ability of the Japanese people to approximate the Ancient Egyptian language. It wasn't as if "Atem" or "Atemu" were either correct, the proper sounds didn't even exist in the Japanese or English languages to create the name. This person had met the Pharaoh, then?

Anpu listened carefully to Atsuro as he continued. The way he was breathing, the tonal differences, the pronunciations. If he was being untruthful, the delivery was flawless. If this person wasn't who he claimed to be, Anpu had difficulty believing he wasn't some kind of criminal. Those claiming to be on the side of the law rarely bluffed this well. Anpu's eyes flicked towards Yamada. It wasn't noticable, the only reason the Thief King could see the man's eyebrow was due to peripheal vision.

"It doesn't matter..." Bakura said, turning towards the window again, "Atsuro-kun, you don't know what's been going on with me. I don't need the Ring anymore, anyways."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro looked extremely concerned at that. He stepped a little closer.

"Why not? What's going on, Bakura?" Atsuro asked. His eyes widened in realization of something. "Are people going into comas again?"

[mugenginga]

Bakura's eyes widened, and had Atsuro had a clear shot of his face, he'd have seen the slight slip in Anpu's facade, including the scowl at the end. No, it was still possible that Atsuro had been told that by the Pharaoh or his friends. While those memories were very patchy due to how often Bakura had been aware then, there were still enough details for him to work from. With the knowledge of Dark Games gained from the encounter with that god, that had likely been what had occurring. Bakura hung his head.

"I-it's worse than that..." Bakura said, his voice hushed. He stopped to think for a moment and turned towards Atsuro, "Why aren't you mad at me for that? Why are you even here if you remember that?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had noticed the slight slip, not from seeing Bakura's face, but from how the muscles on the part he could see had moved. His own facade didn't slip a bit as he smiled at Bakura.

"'Cause... you're my friend, Bakura. No matter what you do, I'm gonna stick by you. I know it wasn't your fault I fell into a coma after that game... besides, I'm awake now, aren't I? Isn't that the important part?"

This was taking too long. If he couldn't get the subject back on the Ring soon, he wouldn't get a chance to boost Anpu's ego enough to make him go after the Ring. Yamada was already looking like he was about to usher him out.

[mugenginga]

"No matter what I do..."

Bakura sounded very pained at that. Anpu had regained his composure by the time Atsuro had begun to respond. As he understood Bakura's very patchy memories, he did blame himself for any of it he could remember. And while it wasn't his fault that demon had chosen to possess his reincarnation, Bakura had never seemed to have quite the understanding of that. It wasn't as if he knew the real identity of his former possesor, after all.

"You don't understand." Bakura finally said. It had a strong air of finality about it, but he continued anyways, "Atsuro-kun, I killed someone."

Bakura lifted his hands. It would be clear he was staring at them as he spoke.

"I don't even remember doing it. This isn't like those comas. Some girl died because of me!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"H-Holy..."

Atsuro ran forward and grabbed the bars. "When did this happen?! How did this happen!? Come on, Bakura, you have to tell me!"

[mugenginga]

That reaction wasn't the reaction of someone faking. Or at least Anpu had convinced himself of that. It seemed that there really as someone from Bakura's past that was foolish enough to remain a friend with a walking disaster. Bakura covered the top half of his face with his hands and shook his head.

"I don't remember... Sometimes I black out, it's the same as back then... and apparently I call myself 'Anpu' and do these things. That's why I have to stay here, and why none of that stuff you're talking about matters," Bakura lowered his hands and looked towards Atsuro, "I don't want to hurt anyone else!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro just looked shocked. His expression stated that he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Wh-When did this stuff with this Anpu guy start?" Atsuro asked. "Did he show up after you lost that necklace?"

[mugenginga]

Bakura quickly turned away from Atsuro. His posture didn't change, but he had a slight smirk. That could work rather well, couldn't it? He traced back the memories of his time on the Island. The only one who had seen him with the Ring was Adachi. That man was in the hospital, and even if he came back he had his own agenda. Hadn't he once promised he would kill him to save Bakura? And now this old friend of Bakura's was trying to associate the Ring with the "other personality"? Given Bakura's memories, he couldn't play this totally straight. However, perhaps he could turn this teenager against the Pharaoh... Atsuro had implied a suspicion towards him already, had he not?

"I... it doesn't matter," Bakura said. It was quite clear he'd changed what he was going to say, "It's too insane. Anyways, it was my body that killed that girl. I'm sure of that. I need to be locked up so my other self can't do anything else."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

And Anpu had made a mistake. Obviously, Atsuro was managing to fool him enough that he was making that kind of mistake. If it had been intentional, it would have been more obvious.

"Your other self can't do anything else if you have that necklace!" Atsuro cried. It would seem that he'd figured things out from how Bakura had hesitated. "Bakura, you can't just lock yourself up in here forever!"

He looked toward Yamada. "Can't you get that necklace thing for Bakura? You're a police officer, and that Atemu guy stole it from him!"

Yamada sighed. "Look, unless we have proof--"

"My friend is in here because he didn't have some magic necklace to keep him from killing people!" Atsuro cried. Yamada flinched.

"Calm down, please..." Yamada said. Atsuro still looked angry.