Kaiba would have probably been satisfied to stay the way he was, letting the patchy redness fade from his cheeks before he ever turned back to face the world. But Yuugi...of course he finds the one thing that would draw Kaiba's attention.

A game.

Is he ready to play a game...? No. No, he really isn't, but his duelist's soul would never allow him to accept anything else. He yearned for challenge, for what constituted as normal in his mind.

"A game, huh?" he asks, and there's something to his voice, something raw and painful that hasn't quite abated. "You want to play a game with me?"

There really was nothing he could do to push these two completely away. Even his behavior the night prior had been overlooked, because they still wanted to welcome him back to this realm.

Make him feel as if he belonged again. Even when he'd landed broken and soulless. He'd been away for so little, but so long all the same.

"In a moment," he finally concedes, reaching a hand up to wipe at what moisture remained. "I'd never back down from a challenge."

Least of all from Yuugi. And least of all now. It's not just about the challenge, but who's offering it, and why, and when. Nothing's ever been more important than this moment, and balancing the need to acquiesce to repay a debt with accepting because he'd never turn down a true challenge.