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

Chapter 16: Touring Adelfell

Classes were tense after the false alarm. Most of the students were still rattled, including myself, but the teachers tried their best to make light of the situation. When it was clear that the chattering wouldn't die down twenty minutes into my science class, our teacher sighed and sat down, allowing us to talk as much as we wanted and take our classwork home to do as homework.

"Why did the sprinklers go off?" One of my classmates asked, the question pointed at nobody in particular. "That was really weird."

"I know right!" jumped in the girl next to him, fiddling with her ear. "My hearing aids could have been damaged."

As one, we all turned expectantly to our teacher for him to explain to us what happened. He lowered his book and adjusted his glasses. "From what Ms. Hendrix told us, it was a malfunction. The janitors are going to take a look at it later."

"But it's never happened before," pressed Benjamin Aarons, who was the one who asked the question in the first place.

"Malfunctions are unpredictable," our teacher said calmly. "This is an old building, but they're working on fixing everything."

Something seemed off about the explanation he gave but I wasn't sure what it was. I shrugged off the feeling and nodded. It did make sense, and no one else was questioning it. Benjamin turned to talk to his friends again and I looked back at Sara sitting next to me. She gave me a reassuring smile. "Here look at this," she said, showing me the screen of her phone.

Guess we're watching cat videos for the rest of class, I thought wryly, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. Laughing at cute and dumb cats was much better than thinking about the fire alarm.

The end of the day finally came and I took a moment to stretch before packing up my things. I said goodbye to Sara and the rest of my friends, and then began my walk back home. Just two blocks down, I saw a familiar looking boy with brown hair down the street. It was one of the duelists from yesterday!

"Hey! Um. . ." What was his name again?

I tried to recall it but my head felt fuzzy and I was drawing a blank on his name. It was like he never said it to me. How could I have forgotten?

Jason? I guessed, shrugging helplessly.

The boy turned when he heard my shout and he grinned and jogged over to me. "Hey, (Y/n)!  It's awesome to see you again!"

"Hi. . ." I said rather awkwardly.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"I uh. . . I'm sorry," I said, feeling heat rising to my cheeks. This was so embarrassing. "I forgot your name."

"Oh, it's cool. It's Jaden Yuki."

Jaden! Why on Earth did I think his name was Jason? That was definitely weird. I must have heard Jaden's name a few times throughout the tournament. So why wasn't I able to recall it?

"What are you doing around here?" Jaden asked curiously.

"Well." I gestured to my school bag on my back. "I was at school."

Jaden looked at my backpack and then back down the street where my school was. "Ohhh. . . that makes sense."

"What about you?"

He broke out into a broad smile. "I was exploring!" He said. "I've never been here before so I wanna see how cool this place is!"

"I can show you around if you like," I offered. I needed a good distraction from what happened earlier, and giving Jaden a tour sounded like the perfect thing.

"That would be great, thanks!"

"No problem!" I sent a quick text to my mother to let her know I'd be coming home late, and then I took Jaden around to see the sights of Adelfell. I showed him the park near school, the bakery that always had the best bread rolls and every other place I could think of.

It wasn't long until we had gone around the whole town since it was pretty small. We were approaching the outskirts now, more trees and greenery popping up as we got closer to the forest that surrounded the west side of Adelfell.

"Where are we going?" Jaden asked, looking around for clues on where I was taking him.

I just smiled. "You'll see," I promised him. "We're almost there."

We followed a small dirt path through the forest and ended up on the other side. There was a large, flat grassy clearing, and in the middle was a sparkling pool of water, rippling gently from the breeze. A water tower stood tall just past the lake on the far side, where there was also a dock tethered with a few fishing and sailing boats. A lazy river snaked past the water tower and out of sight on the horizon.

"This," I said, splaying my arms out proudly, "is Fallen Lake."

"It's awesome!" Jaden said, his voice filled with awe.

I smiled at his reaction. "There's a myth that a meteor made this lake," I explained. "The legend says that the meteor hit the earth so hard that the impact made water fall into it all the way from the ocean." I chuckled to myself, remembering how easily I believed the story as a kid when my parents first told it to me.

"That's so cool! Imagine if it was a real story," Jaden said excitedly. "We don't have anything like this back at Duel Academy. I mean we live on an island sure, but a lake made by a meteor? That's epic!"

"It is," I agreed, feeling a warm glow of pride at my home. I took a moment to stare at the glittering lake, memories of playing and swimming in the calm water as a kid replaying in my head. I turned to take Jaden back to Adelfell's streets when he said, "Hey wait. What's that?"

"What?" I asked, looking over my shoulder. He was pointing at a grey building to the left of the lake, close enough to see its silhouette but too far away that you couldn't see any distinctive features to tell what it was.

"Oh," I said, trying to remember what it was used for. It had been a while since I saw the building. I just unconsciously ignored it every time I came to the lake, too occupied with other things to take special note of it. "That's just some old laboratory I think. Or where they make sure the water is clean from the lake before it goes through the piping system."

"Oh cool," Jaden said. He joined me and we walked back to the main street in the middle of Adelfell. "Thanks a ton for showing me around!" He said once we neared the hotel he was staying at.

I smiled. "You're welcome. That was fun."

"It really was! I can't wait to tell my friends about this place!" He grinned. I said goodbye to him and he went to enter the hotel when he stopped and turned around. "Oh yeah! You're going to the party this Saturday, right?"

"Of course! Wouldn't miss it for the world." The party Jaden was referring to was the one that Mayor Ayub was hosting in honour of the tournament and the visiting duelists. Everyone would be looking forward to it now that the tournament was over.

"Great! You can meet my friends. They'll love you!" He said.

"Can't wait for it!" I replied. Jaden flashed me a two-fingered salute and then he disappeared into the hotel, and I went back home, already impatient for the party to come.

Five days to go, I thought as I unlocked my front door. How will I manage until then?