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

Chapter 20: Something Strange in the Neighbourhood

A bell chimed as I entered the local card shop. It was the day after the party and I finally had an opportunity to buy a new deck box after the incident at the beginning of the week. My cards were currently stowed in an old Duel Monsters tin that was too big for me to take to school, so I had declined all duel offers from my classmates during the week since I couldn't play with them.

The shop wasn't that busy. There were only a few people around, mostly looking at the new products, if you could even call them new since they had been released a month ago. I noticed a familiar boy going through a rack of cards and in mild surprise I said, "Yugi?"

The short boy jumped and turned. "(Y/n), hi!" He said once he saw me. "How are you?"

"I'm good," I said, smiling at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh!" Yugi scratched the back of his neck and blushed, an embarrassed smile on his face. "I just. . . well this is kind of embarrassing. I miss my grandpa's card shop back in Domino City, so I thought I'd come here. It reminds me of home." He then looked at me earnestly. "What brings you here?"

"I came to buy a deck box," I explained. "My old one broke so I need a new one."

"I'll help you!" He said eagerly, and then hasility added, "If you don't mind of course."

"Sure! Thanks."

I led him over to the wall where all of the deck boxes were hanging, a bright array of different colours and sizes and we started going through them to find one that I would like.

"Which colour do you like?" Yugi asked as he looked through some shades of red.

"(Favourite/colour)," I answered, already scanning the shelves for it. A basic colour but one that I loved nonetheless.

"Huh. . . I don't see it."

"I don't either." I frowned. There was a different shade of the colour but it looked nowhere near the shade of my old deck box.

"Is there any other colour you like? Maybe this one?" Yugi began to reach for the one I had noticed.

'No,' I was about to say, because I had never had a deck box that wasn't (favourite/colour) when one of the deck boxes caught my eye and I picked it up to look at it. It was black, with jagged bolts of purple and white lightning all over it.

"This one," I said. Normally I would've wanted a plain coloured one but something about the pattern on this deck box was extremely appealing to me. It was the complete opposite of the Lightsworn theme of my yellow sleeved deck, but somehow that made it even better.

"That one?" Yugi repeated.

I looked over at him. His hand was resting on his strange pyramid necklace and I swore I saw a flash of light coming from it, but it was too brief to tell. It must have reflected light off of the glass cases when he turned, I'm sure.

"Is there something wrong with it?" I asked.

"N-No!" Yugi said quickly. "If you like it then you should get it!"

"Alright," I said. "Thanks for your help Yugi."

"No problem!" He said with a smile.

I took the box up to the counter to pay for it. The cashier rang it up and put it in a small paper bag for me along with my receipt and handed me my change.

"Bye Yugi." I turned back to him and gave him a smile after making my purchase. "It was nice seeing you."

"You too (Y/n)! See you around!" Yugi waved, and I walked out of the card shop and began my walk home. I had almost reached my street when a voice called out from behind me.

"(Y/n)?"

I turned to the masculine voice and my eyes lit up upon seeing the duelist who had been so kind to me during the semifinals of the tournament, an unfamiliar girl with dark magenta hair by his side. "Hello Yusei!"

"You remembered me today," he said, looking surprised. He and his friend walked up to me so we could talk properly.

"I what?" I furrowed my eyebrows but then the night's events came rushing back to me. Seeing Yusei at the refreshment table. Watching his dejected face as I said I didn't know who he was. Talking to Yuya to escape from him because I thought he was a stranger. My eyes widened in realization and guilt immediately overtook me. "I'm so sorry Yusei. I don't know what happened last night."

He offered me a smile, though I could see it was worried. "It's okay (Y/n). This is my friend Akiza." He then gestured to the girl with him. "I wanted to talk to you and I thought you'd be more comfortable with another girl around. She was at the party too."

"It's nice to meet you Akiza," I said to her politely. "I'm (Y/n), but you probably already knew that."

She smiled at me and instantly looked less intimidating. In fact, she looked quite pretty. "Yusei told me a lot about you. Your Lightsworn deck sounds impressive."

"Thanks," I said and then looked to Yusei. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"It's about yesterday," he said. "I mean. . . are you okay? I'm worried about what happened last night."

"Yusei's working to get a degree in biochemistry," Akiza added. "He dabbles in medical stuff as well."

"I thought you might have some kind of amnesia or something that makes you forget things," Yusei explained.

"Nope." I shook my head. "I don't have any medical issues like that."

"Huh. . . that's strange."

"Maybe she forgot she has amnesia," Akiza joked, making me and Yusei chuckle.

"I don't think that's it though," Yusei said, serious again.

Just then I remembered something. "Wait. My friend Sara forgot about the tournament last week when I saw her at school the day after. That was weird too. And I forgot Jaden's name when I saw him."

Yusei furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm assuming Sara doesn't have any medical conditions either?"

"Just a seafood allergy," I said with a shrug. Last time I checked, allergies didn't interfere with memories.

"Something strange is definitely going on," Yusei mused.

"You always get yourself in weird situations Yusei." Akiza sighed, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. She looked at me and offered a reassuring smile. "Don't worry though, I'm sure there's an explanation for this."

"Hopefully something that makes sense," I said. Why was this happening? And how? What if it was a disease? My head started to spin as different possibilities started to plague my thoughts, each one worse than the last.

It was Yusei's voice that pulled me out of it, his soothing voice calming my anxious mind. "We'll figure it out (Y/n). Why don't we ask some of the other duelists for help? Are you friends with any of them?"

"Yeah, I trust pretty much everyone," I said. "I haven't really talked to Yuma that much but I think we should ask him too if he knows anything."

"Great," Yusei said. "I'll ask them if they want to help out. What time works for you to meet up?"

I thought for a moment. "I have school tomorrow until three o' clock," I said. "Can we meet at the park at that time? The one near the school."

He nodded thoughtfully, his hand on his chin. "I know which one you mean. Alright, we'll see you then."

"Sounds good." I smiled. "See you there. And it was nice meeting you Akiza."

"Likewise," she said. "I look forward to dueling you one day."

"Me too."

We said goodbye to each other and I continued my walk home, still wondering what on earth could be going on in Adelfell.