... Nah, that's stupid as fuck. Forget it.
Apparently Yuugi didn't even notice that the peg existed until the next panel, because there's an exclamation point followed by Yuugi's astonished realization that there is indeed a peg holding his chain to the table so he can't get it off. Maybe smoke is clouding his vision, though unclear from the way this is drawn? I shrug in this page's general direction. Yuugi curses and huffs in pulling as hard as he can on the chain, but the peg just won't budge. Yuugi turns to find that flames are creeping toward him from behind and the side, and frets that the PUZZLE will be burned up if this goes on.
What are YOU, kid? Chopped liver?
Yuugi stares at the puzzle in distress, fiddling with it a bit before noticing a whimpering behind him. Clown!dad is still clawing that that secret door that just won't open for him, crying that he doesn't want to burn to death, and that's a real possibility, given that his giant ass is actually on fire. Yuugi actually looks kind of irritated as he rushes over, muttering that this is all really something that he trails off before he can name. Stupid? Ridiculous? Asinine? All of these are accurate descriptors. He urges clown!dad to stop, drop and roll to put the fire out, while clown!dad continues to cry. Yuugi assures him that the fire on his clothes is already out, and this indiscriminate kindness from him is enough to make clown!dad look genuinely quizzical at the "brat" he was such a piece of garbage to before.
Next, Yuugi wastes no time in telling clown!dad to hurry and open this door so he can call someone to put the fire out. Don't you think he would have if he COULD have by now, Yuugi? Apologetically, clown!dad admits that the door won't open, and Yuugi is all kind of flabbergasted by this information. I guess he DIDN'T think about that...
And after this... Uhhh, is it just me or are they missing page seven and replaced it with a duplicate of page five? Nope, that's not just me at all! And there's no complete copy of the chapter that I can find online either! Well isn't that just peachy! Meh, this is what I get for trying to find free copies online because I'm too cheap to buy them.
Anyway, Jonouchi presumably busts down that door with gusto and he and Yuugi share a passionate kiss as reunited lovers do. That's just a wild guess. On the next page, Jonouchi is telling Ryoji to hurry and get his clown!dad out of there, while Ryoji already has a guiding arm around clown!dad to lead him from the fire. Honda is telling Yuugi that the fire is spreading really fast, and he needs to leave too. Yuugi, however, twists to stare at his beloved puzzle, still pegged hopelessly to the table that's already surrounded by flames. Honda and Jonouchi ask Yuugi what the hell he's hesitating for and yell at him to get his ass in gear, but Yuugi hesitantly shouts back that he can't leave the puzzle.
Jonouchi gapes at the revelation that the puzzle is in here and presumably that Yuugi would risk burning alive to save it, but I recall a certain someone a while ago playing a deadly game to get it back himself. Yuugi runs for the table to grab the puzzle, against the desperate calls of his friends nearer the door, but almost immediately winces because, surprise surprise, metal is a GREAT conductor of heat and the puzzle its shaped into really burns now. Maybe if the teachers in his school showed up from time to time, he might have known that by now.
Yuugi is still clutching the chain of the puzzle though as Jonouchi comes over to try to pry it away from the table, realizing the same as Yuugi that the chain is stuck to the surface with a seriously sturdy peg. Yuugi decides that he has to reassemble the puzzle right then and there, trying to fit a piece into the top hanging off the chain as he says so. Jonouchi calls him stupid, yelling that if they don't get out of there right now, they'll burn to death. Gigantic tear in his eye, Yuugi shouts back that he would NEVER leave without his other soul, informing Jonouchi that Yami will never come back again if he leaves now.
Jonouchi, aghast and sweating, calls his name again, clearly not sure what to say otherwise. Yuugi begs Jonouchi and Honda to leave him there to reassemble the puzzle, if only to see Yami one last time. My eyes must be just as wide as Jonouchi's right now as he contemplates Yuugi's request.
Sugoroku has now entered the room, and comes armed with the reasonable suggestion that Yuugi can't possibly reassemble the puzzle in such a short period of time, so he should leave there with the rest of them. Anzu calls Yuugi's name, but Jonouchi is close enough to see that Yuugi isn't listening to ANYONE, too preoccupied with the puzzle to even pay attention to the fact that it's still burning him and he's shedding tears over it. After a moment of staring at Yuugi with what looks like a combination of pity and despair, he shouts at the others to get the hell out of there. They argue, saying that the fire will only put them in further danger, but as Yuugi continues to try pieces despite those creeping flames, Jonouchi knows how it has to be. He tells Honda that Yuugi is never going to let go of the puzzle right now, and they should leave the task of getting Yuugi out to him now. Honda says Jonouchi's name skeptically, pauses, then says he's going to do just that. He insists that Jonouchi has to bring Yuugi back out, and Jonouchi soberly agrees, telling him not to worry.
Honda urges an uncertain Sugoroku to leave, because Jonouchi will take care of Yuugi after all, pushing him out the door despite his reaching back for his grandson.
Yuugi coughs and huffs, continuing to work on the puzzle despite the flames licking all around him, and actually seems to be making some headway with it. A piece here and there clicks into place, while Yuugi is apologetic in his own head. He thinks it's his fault that the puzzle shattered into pieces, and asks Yami to wait for him to definitely reassemble the puzzle so they can see each other again and he can apologize properly. Jonouchi stares at the exit stoically, his own thoughts on what he'll have to do crowding his mind. He knows he'll have to leave Yami behind if he needs to save Yuugi, but he's also aware that the bond between Yuugi and Yami can't possibly break now that it's so strong. He questions what he should do.
Meanwhile, outside:
Ryoji takes this opportunity to shame his father, because this whole mess was caused by clown!dad's vengeful heart. Clown!dad actually looks broken up about this, and while I think he should be, this might not be the most... sensitive time to broach this discussion. It's like Ryoji is rubbing his giant dog's face in the lake of urine it just created while someone is literally DROWNING in it, which is a misplaced priority if you ask me.
Shortly after clown!dad has sads over how this whole mess is all his fault, a firefighter comes barreling between he and Ryoji to get at the fire, and clown!dad attempts to meekly tell him that there's a boy still inside that he should save. He and the rest of the firefighters assemble to try and drench those flames, but after a while it becomes clear that the fire has already reached the second floor and there's no way for the professionals to get inside. Honda is appalled and horrified as Anzu shouts Yuugi's name again, tears in the corners of her strangely angry (?) eyes. I think Takahashi might have been going for a devastated look here, but didn't quite pull it off?
Inside, a severely weakened and exhausted Yuugi has reassembled the puzzle to that same exact spot that he had the last time, with only that piece on the face with the Eye of Horus on it. Unlike last time, he has that piece in hand and is preparing to insert it into the final gap, but he's being super slow about it. A support beam above he and Jonouchi crackles dangerously, and this is the point at which Jonouchi realizes the room they're in has reached its limit. Flames at his feet, Jonouchi turns and sprints toward Yuugi, whose head is resting on the table now that he's passed out.
Jonouchi shouts at Yuugi to brace himself as he notices that Yuugi completed the puzzle again. Still, Jonouchi hoists Yuugi up to lean on his arm, realizing that they can't stay there any longer or it'll all be over for them. Yuugi's vice grip on the puzzle's chain doesn't release though, keeping the both of them tethered to the table even as Jonouchi tries to drag Yuugi from the room. Jonouchi tells Yuugi to let go of the puzzle, and goes to far as to pry Yuugi's fingers from the chain, but no dice (haha, you get it??? Speaking of insensitive timing...), Yuugi just won't let go. Panicked, Jonouchi begs Yuugi to let go of the damn thing or they'll both die. He curses Yuugi quietly, wondering what he should do, and weeping while he cradles Yuugi under his hunched back. Both the fire and the knowledge of impending death is getting to him now, as well as the notion that they'll be yet another couple of gaming teens that never QUITE made it to adulthood in Domino.
But all of a sudden, a vision of Yami flashes across Jonouchi's mind. He stands in shock a moment before having a revelation; seeing the board for the cursed game clown!dad was going to make Yuugi play before, he grabs it. There's a creepy hand attached to it, grasping the air, so Jonouchi sticks one of the curled fingers into the loop at the top of the peg holding down the puzzle. He intends to use it as a lever to pry the peg out when he kicks the face of the board back. The peg shoots up out of the table as Jonouchi yells that they CANNOT die there.
Outside again, pieces of the building are crumbling into ash within the fire and the firefighters are even shouting at each other to stand back as the building prepares to collapse. Yuugi's friends and grandfather all stand in various states of panic, or weird anger, in Anzu's case. When she's covering her mouth in the next panel, though, her expression looks a bit more like the others as they stare at the disintegrating Black Crown. Something is emerging from the doorway.
The rest of the gang rushes to greet Jonouchi while he staggers further from the building, trailing their sentences asking about the very unconscious Yuugi. Jonouchi assures them that he's fine, though doesn't call for an ambulance in order to ensure that Yuugi CONTINUES to be fine or anything. Instead, he tells everyone about how Yuugi managed to put back together the Millennium Puzzle in the midst of the fire, and not let go of it through the whole ordeal. In fact, Yuugi is still clutching the chain in his unconsciousness, and all of them note how Yuugi and Yami's bond is strong as a chain.
Or maybe the peg that holds the chain to the fucking table.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I felt like I should have been criticizing the characters for all their stupidity a lot more than I did during the chapter, and yet... this time, more than any other, I GET IT. Yuugi wasn't just hanging out in a fire to put back together some OBJECT that may have had a lot of sentimental value but ultimately meant nothing. He was saving a friend, a companion, and someone he wanted to spend his last moments with if need be. He was willing to risk his life to save that friend, and die with him upon failing. It spoke to just how much Yami really MEANS to Yuugi that he was willing to do all that, regardless of risk.
And that also speaks to the wider attachment that the puzzle has to Yuugi too, in a purely emotional sense. Other Bakura mentioned that Yuugi was the ONLY heir to the puzzle, the only person who could solve it, having been chosen long before he was born to carry that responsibility. There's something intrinsic to Yuugi that allows him to have and hold the puzzle, and the bond he and Yami share is definitely part of it, both as a cause and result of their shared experiences in the present time. The fact that Yuugi was willing to stay behind for a friend while Ryoji's father WASN'T willing to stay behind for a relic that would have given him power is telling. Yuugi's vision of the puzzle is far deeper than that of all the others who have coveted it because HE doesn't see it as a powerful object. He sees YAMI in the puzzle, his friendship with him and the others he's built relationships with over it. He sees a part of himself and another being he wants in his life, or he'll have no life at all.
It's no surprise to me that Jonouchi reflects this attitude when he stays behind with Yuugi to give him a chance to complete the puzzle. He doesn't want to leave either Yami OR Yuugi, but is able to distance himself from the puzzle as he doesn't recognize it as a BODY or human necessarily. He's one step removed from Yuugi's own issue in the chapter, creating another kind of chain of emotional support through the narrative of the chapter. Yuugi's the middle link, with Jonouchi on one end and Yami on the other. ALL of the links are strong, and NONE of them are going to break for any of them.
Although for not having much of a direct link to Yami, that flash of inspiration from Yami DID manage to allow Jonouchi to save all of them from the fire. I'm reminded of my silly little hypothesis from a while back again in which Jonouchi contributed a little something to the manifestation of Yami, and Yami is giving a little back now.
But, now I'm reminded of Other Bakura's little "contribution" of his own in the last chapter. Oh snap, hopefully that doesn't screw Yami up majorly...
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