Akia kept following the strange Egyptian man named Shadi until he reached the city. When she arrived there, it was a little harder to follow him with all the people in the marketplace. After a few shoves and protests, she finally found the man standing still, his back facing her. When she got closer, she noticed that he was talking to two people, a young girl and a young boy.
When Akia reached Shadi, he turned his head and looked at her in shock.
"Why did you follow me? It's dangerous for you to wander off like this," He reprimanded her.
The two people that he was talking to also looked at Akia with surprised expressions and a little fear in their eyes. Akia looked more closely at the two of them. The girl looked like she was older than Akia, but the boy seemed to be around the same age. Akia couldn't quite understand why, but she felt as though she met the boy before.
"Marik, we have to go back," the older girl told the boy.
"But sis..." the boy named Marik whined.
Marik's sister seemed very worried about something. Akia obviously was completely clueless as to why that was. She just felt like she didn't want that boy to leave.
"So... your name is Marik?" Akia asked shyly.
Marik got away from his sister's grip and got closer to Akia. He smiled at her and rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his white hair. Lilac eyes met her red eyes.
"Yup... What's yours?" He asked her in return, genuinely interested in getting to know her.
"I'm Akia," she answered with a small smile and started fiddling with her feet.
"Marik, we're not supposed to talk to strangers. You know that!" Marik's older sister reproached his actions.
She then took his hand and dragged him away as he looked back at Akia. The latter started to follow them when Shadi stopped her.
"You'll see him again," he reassured her.
She waved at the boy, tears filling her eyes, feeling like a part of her heart was being ripped away. He waved back before both him and his sister disappeared in the crowd.
"Why... Why did he have to leave?" Akia asked Shadi.
"It is not the time for you to know," he replied, "just know that you will see him again."
"How are you so sure?" The little girl questioned further.
"Because," Shadi started explaining, "you two have a shared past, therefore you will have a shared future."
Akia didn't quite get what he meant. All she understood was that, someday, she was going to see Marik again. She promised herself that she wouldn't let him go that easily ever again and that she would never forget him.
"You should go back to your grandfather," Shadi reminded her, "he's starting to notice your absence."
"How do you know?" Akia asked him.
"I know many things," he smiled at her curiosity.
"Can you help me get back?" She requested, since she had no idea where she was.
"Of course," the man answered.
With that, she took Shadi's hand, much to his surprise, and let him lead the way.
As she reached the ruins site, her grandfather, worried sick about her, finally spotted her getting closer.
"Akia! Where were you all this time?" Sugoroku yelled out.
As soon as Shadi brought her back to the camp, he disappeared. Before she could wonder how he did that, her grandfather came running at her.
"I was looking around," Akia innocently replied.
Just then, her grandfather noticed the Millennium Scale that she was holding in her hands.
"Where did you get that?" he wondered out loud to her.
"A nice man gave it to me," Akia answered with a smile.
Akia started tracing with her finger the eye of Anubis that was carved on her Scale. She felt very attached to the item. Sugoroku recognized how the item was very similar to Yugi's Puzzle, even though Yugi didn't solve that one yet. At least now Akia also had her own souvenir.
"I'll forgive you this time, but don't wander off again like this," the elderly man patted his granddaughter's head while lecturing her.
"I won't, grandpa," Akia complied.
"Good girl," Sugoroku smiled, "now, it's getting late. Let's go sleep so that we can rest for the night. Tomorrow will be another long day."
They hopped into one of the cars at the expedition and went to the hotel that Mr. Mutou had reserved for the trip. In the room, Akia couldn't keep her eyes off her Millennium item. She wanted to try its powers, but she was too afraid of accidentally hurting someone. She'd have to be extremely careful. As she fell asleep, she started thinking about Marik. That boy felt somehow special to her. She didn't know why. She met so many other boys on a daily basis at school, but this time it was different. She couldn't wait to meet him again. She felt as though a part of her was missing without him.
Slowly, she began to fall asleep with Marik's face being the last thing she thought of.
The days went by and the expedition was coming to an end. Akia didn't see the boy again. She was starting to lose hope of ever seeing Marik again. Maybe Shadi was wrong. Maybe he just said that they'd see each other again to stop her from following him. Immediately, she regretted not doing so. Maybe if she had followed him, they would've had more time together.
"Let's go, Akia," Sugoroku told her, "we're all packed now. I bet Yugi missed you a lot."
It was their last day in Egypt and Akia did feel quite homesick by that point.
"I miss him a lot too," she replied to her grandfather.
They both headed for the airport and boarded the plane back to Japan.