A Heart to Duel For; Yu-Gi-Oh! Protagonists x Reader

Chapter 17: The Waiting Game

I soon found out there was a lot to occupy me during the days before the party. At school we were given a mock exam for history class, which was administered from Tuesday to Thursday to give us our three hours of testing to complete it. I finished nearly all of the multiple choice questions in the first day, leaving me plenty of time over the next two days to write my answers for the short response questions and do my essay.

Thankfully on Friday I was allowed to leave after lunch, another perk of being in the higher grades of the school. While the younger kids would be in school for another three hours, I'd be relaxing at home and eating a homemade lunch. If I had the option of eating school lunch or just waiting until I got home to make my own food, I'd choose the latter every time.

A light breeze was blowing and it ruffled my hair as I stood outside the school entrance. The weather was just as nice as it had been this morning, and I watched as some of my classmates went to the park nearby, one of them lazily dribbling a basketball.

It wouldn't hurt to stay out a while longer before going home, I thought. I could go to the library around the corner and see if there were any good books I could borrow. I skipped down the steps and started at a steady pace to my new destination.

The library was a small, old brick building and only contained one floor. My mother had taken me to a bigger library in the main city about an hour out of town but I preferred the coziness of this one and how I knew exactly where every single shelf was.

I walked in and was greeted with a gust of cold wind from the air conditioner, humming quietly to the side. I checked the holding shelf and couldn't help being disappointed that the books I ordered weren't ready to be picked up yet. Maybe next week.

Instead, I turned to the back of the library where the graphic novels and teen books were when I saw someone sitting at one of the tables. It was Yusaku, busily writing as he read through the thick book he had open. I stopped, surprised that he was here, but at the same time I wasn't. He did seem like the studious type of person from his serious attitude during the tournament. I wavered, wondering if I should greet him or leave him alone. He hadn't noticed me yet, too absorbed with what he was doing. I mulled over it for a few moments before my curiosity got the better of me, and I walked up to him.

"H-Hi Yusaku," I said.

His gaze flickered over to me and then back to his book. "(Y/n)." He then seemed to realize something and straightened up. "Er, hello."

"What are you doing?" I asked, then adding hastily, "If you don't mind me asking." Yusaku hadn't been too friendly before so I didn't want to interrupt him or invade his privacy.

"Working on something," he said, his shoulders relaxing as he looked back at his book.

Since he was talking to me, I took it as an invitation to step a bit closer to see what he was doing. "Is that math?"

"Calculus."

"You take calculus?" I looked at him in disbelief. "What grade are you in again?"

"I'm a first year in high school," he said. Before I could start to figure out what that converted to in my country's education system, he added, "That's tenth grade for you."

"That's impressive. I won't be taking that until my last semester."

Yusaku's lips curled into a small smile. He looked almost mischievous, and I racked my brain for why but couldn't think of anything. I looked back at his workspace more carefully and then it hit me. The books he was using weren't school textbooks; they were all from the library here. And he was taking notes in a large yellow notepad. There was no way he was doing homework. He was self-studying for a class he wasn't even taking yet.

"You're studying ahead, aren't you?" I voiced my observation out loud.

Yusaku nodded, his eyes still glued to the page he was reading as he jotted something down. "Yeah."

"But why?"

He just shrugged. "Because I want to." He turned the page of his book and I saw the top of it said 'Unit 6: Derivatives.' There was a graph under it and a string of equations that were foreign to me. How on earth could he comprehend this? But at the same time, I felt the all too familiar itch in my brain that I could only explain as the sudden urge to learn.

"Can you teach me some of it?" I asked before I could stop myself. I didn't love math, but I did find it interesting enough to want to learn and try to understand it.

Yusaku blinked and stared at me for a moment, his gaze calculating. I returned eye contact and was expecting him to say no but he surprised me yet again and said, "Alright."

I smiled and sat down in the empty chair next to him while he shuffled around with his notes and books.

"What do you want to know?" He asked.

"Anything really," I said. "Probably something easy first."

He nodded thoughtfully and flipped through his notes and began to explain the first topic in the textbook for me. There were times where he stuttered slightly or was awkward with his explanations, but overall he was a really good teacher and I understood the topics almost immediately. He seemed to know really well what information was useful and how to reiterate it in a way that could be easily understood, and even gave me practice problems to try out.

By the end of the unexpected study session, Yusaku seemed more comfortable around me, something I was very happy about. Maybe being friends with him wouldn't be so difficult after all.

I thanked him for teaching me and he gave me a smile and nodded. "You're welcome."

"Are you going to the party tomorrow?" I asked. Would someone like Yusaku even tolerate going to a party?

He turned back to his study material to organize his papers. "I'd rather not, but Takeru insists that I should go. We have some friends coming too."

"I look forward to seeing you there then." I gave him a reassuring smile.

He simply nodded and I said goodbye to him before I left the library. Once outside, my stomach growled and it was only then that I realized I had completely sidetracked from eating lunch.

Whoops, I thought with a chuckle as I began my walk home. But a fizz of energy put a bounce in my step. The party was tomorrow, and it would probably be the second most important day of my life.

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you so much for 2K reads! It means a lot to me that we reached it so soon after 1K. I've really been enjoying writing these bonding moments between (Y/n) and one of the Yu-Gi-Oh protagonists like in this chapter and the last one. I'm excited to write more soon. The party is finally happening next chapter! Any ideas how that will go?