I sneezed, dust exploding in the air around me and settling onto the floor and boxes nearby. Then I sneezed again. And again. I sneezed five times in all when I finally stopped and caught my breath.

"I'm still alive!" I shouted to no one in particular, though mostly for my mother who no doubtedly heard my explosive sneezes downstairs. I sniffed, trying to inhale any fresh air but there was none; our attic hadn't been cleaned out or aired in years. For all I knew I could be breathing oxygen from the fifteenth century. But that was impossible considering my house hadn't even been built until about thirty years ago so the best I was getting was really old twenty-first century air.

I dusted myself off and got up to stretch, my muscles cramped from the sitting position I had been in for the past hour in the musty attic. I had been trying to find things to help with my history project my teacher had set. We had to write about a family member so I chose my grandfather on my mother's side of the family. A notebook lay at my feet, the open page littered with bullet-pointed notes and stray doodles.

I sighed and rubbed my watery eyes. "I hate allergies," I grumbled to myself, and then sneezed again.

Cardboard boxes surrounded me in a ragged circle, plenty of them open and several more still sealed shut. My grandfather was born here in Adelfell just like me, so a lot of his stuff had been preserved since it was easy to move around the small town.

Some of the things I found had been surprising, like a cat stuffed animal and notebooks with half written stories and ideas scribbled inside. I wasn't sure what kind of story 'The Hidden Power in Hidden Eyes' was since there were just a few vague notes but the characters sounded interesting from it. There was more too; things about sports and curses and whatever a Shinigami was. I'd have to look that up later.

I opened up the last box I wanted to look in before going down to breathe some good air. The lid was on tight and I struggled to take it off but it finally came off with a groan. Inside lay the things I least expected from my grandfather of all people: Duel Monsters cards. Tucked neatly inside was a faded grey fabric binder that probably was a rich black at one point, the edges frayed and moth bitten, and a white washed plastic deck box that had most likely been green on its best days.

Grandad was a duelist too? I wondered in awe. How was this possible? For years I thought I was the only duelist in my family, but these items in front of me clearly contradicted that.

I grabbed a cleaning wipe from the tub next to my notebook and wiped off the dust on the binder before picking it up carefully and setting it down on the floor to examine it properly. The protective pages felt flimsy under my touch; they were nothing like the firm, sturdy ones in my own binder.

There's a Blue Eyes in here. That must have been a rare card back in Grandad's time, I thought as I admired the shining white dragon, its head turned and poised to attack. I continued to leaf through the pages. Some of the cards glittered strangely with gold or silver borders. One even had stars on its surface when I moved the binder in the light. It was fascinating. What kind of technology made these cards?

I could've looked through the binder for hours but I forced myself to close it so I could check out the deck box. Maybe there was still a deck inside there, and that would be valuable information since it should be Grandad's main deck.

Putting the binder aside with the rest of things I wanted to take back to my room, I turned to grab the deck box—after sanitizing it too with a fresh cleaning wipe. But as I picked it up I realized there was something underneath it: a small chestnut leather diary.

All thoughts of going downstairs and concerns for my lungs vanished as I picked up the diary. The leather was smooth and it was bound together with a thin knotted strap that I undid easily. I made myself as comfortable as I could on the bare wood floor and began to read.

Some of the earlier entries sounded awkward and unnatural; they didn't flow quite as well as the snippets I read from Grandad's writing books. Most of them were about his daily activities and hobbies. Several entries were long rambles and others short, fleeting sentences that only spanned a page long. Each one was marked with the date on top in the same place as the last.

I came to another entry. The date was three weeks after the last one, an abnormally long amount of time compared to the gaps between the others which were only spaced out by mere days.

Today was the day of Adelfell's newest Duel Monsters tournament! I'll never get tired of them no matter how old I am. Eva was really excited too since it was her first time playing with her new deck. She used to play Cyber Dragons but now she's taken a liking to Ghostricks. They're rather TRICKY to deal with. My Impcantations are barely a match for her.

The tournament went well for the most part, but an accident occurred during the earlier rounds. Eleanor—Harri's fiancée—took a sudden illness during her match. I don't know exactly what happened but she sounded like she was in extreme pain. I hope she recovers soon. I'm going to ask how she is when we get more news. I feel really sorry for her. The tournament was the biggest one since the Winter Festival last year and everyone was looking forward to it. It's a shame this happened but I'm sure Eleanor will feel better soon. Eva's already making plans to visit when we're able to.

After the tournament, Eva and I were supposed to go out for a celebratory dinner. She won third place but we were too worried about Eleanor so we just came home instead.

I'm afraid that's all I have to write for now. I'm sorry about such a short entry. I hope tomorrow brings us better news about Eleanor's health. I best try to sleep now; it's getting late again. Goodnight.

This couldn't be right. There was no possible way. I reread the entry again but there it was in black ink. A dueling tournament happened in Adelfell years ago. But that was impossible since my tournament was the first one Adelfell ever had. So what was this? The name Harri sounded familiar too but I couldn't pinpoint it, my mind still reeling from what I just read. There had to be an explanation for this.

I should text Yusei! Somehow my thoughts slowly strung together into something coherent.

It took me a few minutes to actually get up though, dazed from all the information in the entry. My grandparents were duelists; Eva was my grandmother's name, and Adelfell apparently had a lot of tournaments before mine.

I grabbed my things and clambered down the ladder. After pushing the ladder back up and shutting the attic door firmly, I gathered everything up again and dashed for my room. My phone was on its charger and I snatched it up quickly, the wire yanking out of the charger hole as I quickly scrolled to Yusei's contact.

(Y/n): Hi Yusei, it's (Y/n). I found something weird while doing research for my history project. My grandfather had a diary and he was a duelist too. He wrote about a tournament happening here in Adelfell even though the exhibitional tournament was the first one we've ever had. Do you have any idea what's up with that? I've never heard about a tournament happening here before so I don't know how my grandparents could've gone to one.

Just as I pressed send, my mother called me from the living room. "(Y/n)! I'm going out, do you want to come?"

"Where?" I shouted back.

"The big store."

"Okay," I said. "Give me a minute."

I put on my shoes and grabbed a jacket. I definitely need real fresh air after all of that. I pocketed my phone and then we set off after my mother locked the front door behind us.

It was getting late and the evening was chilly. But I took in gulps of the sharp, cold air and could already feel my mind clearing.

"How's your project?" My mother asked after a few moments of silence.

"It's good. I found a lot of stuff to use." I smiled, but then I paused and glanced at her. "Why didn't you tell me Gran and Grandad were duelists?"

"What?"

"Duelists. They used to play Duel Monsters like me. That card game I play."

"Oh." She went silent at that for a while. "I didn't know. They might have stopped playing by the time I was born."

"Why though?" I couldn't help asking. Duel Monsters was an amazing game. Why didn't they ever tell their own daughter about it?

My mother only shrugged. "It's a kid's game. They had jobs and a house to look after," she replied.

I only nodded to that, frowning. Duel Monsters. . . was it really just a childish game? No, it was more than that. It's because of this game that I've made so many new friends, had amazing rivals and opponents to duel against and formed such a strong bond with my cards. It couldn't be just a game if it gave me so much.

We finally reached the hypermarket and went inside the brightly lit store. Thankfully it wasn't busy. The last thing I wanted to do was wait in a long line on a Tuesday night. My mother grabbed a shopping basket and we started going around getting what we needed.

"Can you go get the milk?" She asked, turning to me. "I'm just going to look here." She pointed to the cosmetics aisle next to her with a bright array of pink and beige coloured makeup.

"Sure," I said, and headed to the dairy aisle further back in the store. I shivered at the chill as I walked into the aisle and quickly began searching for the correct milk brand.

A shopping basket sat against one of the fridge doors near where I was looking. Along with a few normal groceries like bread and bananas, it was filled to the brim with medicines and ointments and other treatments for arthritis, aging joints and dry skin. Who on earth was so old they needed this much stuff?

I heard footsteps approaching as someone entered the aisle and I jumped away from the basket, only to see Dr. Davis walking over to me. Was this his shopping basket?

"Ah (Y/n), how has school been?" Dr. Davis asked, a pleasant smile on his face.

My cheeks burned. Guilt stabbed me at being nosey and almost getting caught doing so. "It-it's great!" I managed to stammer out, trying to control my racing heart rate. "Just been busy with projects. I have finals soon."

"That's very good to hear," he said. Then his face grew concerned. "I heard about the fire alarm at the school building. I take it no one was hurt?"

"Oh, no, thankfully," I said, recalling the incident. The only casualties I knew of were the ones mine and Vanessa's deck boxes had suffered. Everyone had come out unscathed. "It was just a false alarm. My teacher said it malfunctioned because the system was really old or something."

"Is that so?" Dr. Davis asked. His eyebrow raised questioningly and there seemed to be a glimmer of a smile on his lips.

"Yeah. Uh. . . Is that—is that all your stuff?" I asked bravely, glancing down at the shopping basket between us and then back at him.

"Well, I am an ageing man." He chuckled as he bent down to pick it up. The creases around his eyes and lips were more defined, more so than I remembered when I last saw him. Maybe he was under stress with his job? Being one of the few engineers, if not the only engineer in Adelfell must be a difficult job. But that did little to ease the growing anxiety in the pit of my stomach. Something was off about all of this, and if there was anything I had learned as a duelist, it was to trust my gut.

"Uhm. . . I'm just gonna grab this and go," I said, quickly grabbing the milk gallon I needed. "My mom's waiting for me."

"Of course. Stay safe," Dr. Davis said politely.

"Er, y-you too." I walked out of the aisle, every hair on the back of my neck on end. As soon as I was back in the main alleyway of the store, I ran the rest of the way back to my mother.

"There you are," she said once I handed the milk to her, a hint of irritation in her voice. "I thought you went to milk the cow yourself."

"Sorry. I couldn't find it." Honestly I was just glad to be out of that awkward conversation with Dr. Davis. It was a miracle my heart hadn't exploded by now.

"Let's go then, they're closing soon."

We quickly finished the rest of our shopping and used the self checkouts. Even now I still enjoyed scanning the groceries myself while my mother bagged them. It wasn't long until we were back home and it was only as I was taking off my jacket in my bedroom when I realized I never checked if Yusei responded. Now would be a good time to see. Sure enough, there was a notification banner across my phone's home screen.

Yusei: Hey, thanks for letting me know. That's definitely weird. I'll look into it and see if I can do any digging online about it. Think you can bring the journal with you when we meet up with the others? It could come in handy. Good luck on your project.

I smiled slightly, already feeling at ease after reading the message and I set my phone down on my bed so I could take my shoes off. Hopefully this weekend my friends and I will be able to get some answers.