A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AICHI, at least where I live

It's a Magical Girl AU, in which Cardfight! Vanguard still exists but it failed to become popular a long, long time ago. This affects A Lot of people Also everyone's in the same school because the plot would have been much, much harder to write otherwise.

Well, it's still very loosely based on the plot. Planning to incorporate season 3 somewhere in.

Been writing this nonstop since Monday. ENJOY

Disclaimer: DO NOT OWN.

Chapter 1: Believe It! First Encounter?!

Someone's Unknown Monologue, At An Unknown Time, In An Unknown Place:

It didn't work at all!? What a failure...

I'm going to have to go through desperate measures if Cray's going to be saved...

Reality intervenes, hmm? Card games aren't as popular as they used to be.

This is bad, Void's going to invade Earth at this rate.

Wait, what if...

I've got it!

Present Day, Some Street On The Way To School:

The sky was blue, the sun was shining, birds were chirping, and Sendou Aichi was running late. Another day, another story.

"Oh no! I'm lattteeee!" cried out our hero(ine), running to school with a piece of toast in his mouth. Ah, youth.

Of course, he made it to class just as the bell rang. News at 11. The bluenet collapsed on his desk, exhausted. And of course, the teacher was late to class for a few minutes, allowing Aichi's classmates to laugh at his misfortune and to show that Aichi was indeed a friendless loner. Which they did. However, two people caught his attention.

"Late?" murmured Ishida Naoki off to the side, Generic Classmate No. 1. Well, not so much generic as Aichi had never talked to him much, but still. He scared him, and for someone like him to just talk, was something wrong with today?

Probably not.

"Don't say that! Aichi was probably very busy last night." defended Komoi Shingo, Generic Classmate 2: Electric Boogaloo. Call him paranoid, but Aichi was pretty convinced that he was his stalker, for whatever reason. He probably was.

Unfortunately, Obligatory Female Character Misaki was in the year above them, so she did not get an introduction. Maybe later.

It was at the exact same time Aichi's friends had finished their friendship-filled dialogue of friendship that the teacher decided to walk in.

"Alright, class. We have a new transfer student today." he loudly announced. A blonde-haired girl walked into the classroom. Gasps filled the room.

Aichi recognized her instantly. That hairstyle(not that Aichi knew anything about hairstyles, I mean, it's not like the reason that he's always late is because he spends all of the time he can styling his hair before going out the door) and those eyes were obviously that of Kourin from the newly-formed idol group Ultra-Rare. He was surprisingly an acquaintance of hers, though Aichi was sure she didn't even remember his name.

He zoned out as (according to some people*cough*Morikawa) the pinnacle of womanly charm and grace introduced herself. He thought her hairstyle was pretty weird, and, although nice in their few coincidental meetings, he wasn't really sure that he wanted fanboys harassing him anytime soon. Maybe he could talk to her after school. He didn't like cryptic warnings and odd glares so early in the morning.

In an alternate universe called "Canon" where Kourin transferred a year later, everyone not named Morikawa and Izaki or Kai and Miwa went to different schools and people were playing card games instead of doing normal people things, Aichi and Kourin would have had a much friendlier, warmer relationship than what they had now. Aichi also would have had the confidence to talk to Kourin herself, but due to this universe not being set in Canon and Aichi having never played Vanguard, he was pretty much the definition of the shy archetype right now.

It wasn't a bad life. He still had Emi, and fate made it so that yes, he still had Naoki and Shingo as acquaintances in his class. His life was just boring and a little sad. He wished things were just a little more exciting, you know? Maybe if Cardfight! Vanguard had took off like people had been expecting it to things might've been different. The present was the present, and even though he still had the long-retired cards of Royal Paladin tucked within his jacket, the game long since given up on. Barely anybody played it nowadays, so he grew up with the deck unplayed and highly unlikely to ever play. Tsk. What a waste.

"Oh, forget this. How depressing." Aichi thought as he zoned out for the rest of the lesson.

The first half of the day zoomed through in the blink of an eye. Before Aichi knew it, it was lunchtime. While the time was appropriate for cheerful bonding with friends and improving relationships for the future, Aichi had no friends(which was just as well. He thought the people in his year were rather distant, not that he could say anything). So the bluenet having nothing to do found himself doing his most secret and favorite hobby: Kai Watching.

In a few minutes Aichi had managed to find him(he'd gotten good at the hidden art of Kai-searching. All he needed to do was look around the most isolated areas outside the school). Today the brunet was napping alone, his friend Miwa nowhere to be seen. Lucky! Aichi cheered to himself. Call him kind of creepy, but he always thought Kai looked so peaceful and relaxed when he was sleeping, but also still cool, because Kai was so amazing and he wanted him to notice him so badly—

Um.

Not that he was weird for thinking those thoughts! Kai Toshiki was the most sought-after guy in the entire school. He had a cold, antisocial attitude and poor relationships with anyone not named Miwa Taishi, but Aichi supposed that only made him even more popular with the girls. He was a good cook, too. And he was really nice when he wanted to! And he looked really, really good anytime anywhere and wow he was just awesome—

Uhhh.

Aichi admitted that he may have a bit of an obsession when it came to Kai Toshiki. But only a bit. He reckoned he was allowed to do this kind of thing, since he was fifteen and in middle school, and middle-schoolers had hormones and things and were allowed to experiment just like his mom had said, right?

Oh, no! Was Kai waking up? Yeah, he was.

WOW WHAT IF HE CATCHES YOU HE WOULD BE SO CREEPED OUT THIS IS TERRIBLE RUN LEGS RUN—

Oh well. Lunch was nearly over anyways.

Needless to say, Aichi panicked and scrambled away as fast as he could. But as he ran away back to his classroom, he heard a roar...

Aichi had never been so thankful for his cowardice as he ducked behind a nearby tree to hide.

Uh, what was that? Godzilla? Well, no, it was a magic portal. Which was...summoning monsters with...were those Cardfight! Vanguard cards?

"CALL! CALL! CALL! CALL! CALL!"

But

how do magical portals even talk

What he said earlier had totally jinxed things.

Someone with blonde hair was fighting him in a strange, flashy golden outfit that wouldn't look out of place in a magical girl anime. She looked familiar, for some reason. Where had he seen her before? He only knew one person with blonde hair, and that was

that was—

"...KOURIN!?"

Tatsunagi(ahahaaha, yeah, some parent he was) Kourin was pissed off.

First of all, she woke up to Takuto smiling down on her and shoving a uniform in her face, babbling about "making friends and bonds"(recruiting allies) and "finding some people who still have the cards"(who were so few Kourin wouldn't have been surprised if they could be counted on one hand)

What.

Second of all, she found out that Rekka and Suiko were transferring with her, and those two weren't exactly the most able-minded of people.

Third of all, the girly-boy (Ai?Aiki?Aichi! He was tiny!) that she knew had the cards(wow, what a coincidence! Naah, they had met once or twice before, he'd probably forgotten) had disappeared once she had managed to gather the courage to talk to him.

Combat with the cards, for the cards. It was almost ridiculous, but then again the original plan was for Cray's fate to be decided in card games, so she couldn't really say much on the matter. That and she wanted her memories back, no matter what.

It was all a little confusing. Change that to a lot confusing. The cards were obsolete, and nothing really mattered anymore, right? So why was Takuto still holding on to her, Suiko's, and Rekka's memories? She didn't get the recruiting Cardfight! Vanguard owners part, either.

Well, now she knew. She was fighting cards right now, in a flashy golden outfit, probably derived from the card that started glowing, Fang of Light, Garmore. She felt like a magical girl, which would not be that different.

Just as she was getting the hang of fighting with those weird golden tiger claw-like weapons connected to her fists, girly-boy just had to appear out of nowhere and call her name.

Punch. Punch. Duck.

"KOURIN!?"

Kourin snapped. "What is it?" Punch another card monster.

The timid boy flushed scarlet. "A-ah," he stuttered, "why i-is-um-cardfight-you-"

Screw. This.

"Listen, I don't—"

GYAAAAH. The blonde was sent flying a far distance away.

And that's the story of how she got sent flying into a tree. Wonderful day, isn't it?

Wait, Aichi! The cards would go after him now and he didn't have any means of defending himself. He was the only person she knew who still had the cards, and if he got killed somehow, her memories couldn't...

Damn you, tree. Damn you.

She could see Aichi from the area she was in, at least. The situation was exactly as she had imagined. Oh, Aichi. Kid needed some backbone.

There was nothing she could do but watch from the tree she was tangled up in. Well, there was something. She could make a motivational speech that might inspire him—yeah no. There was no way Tatsunagi Kourin was saying something that cheesy. She could find something else to do.

Okay

Well

She could

Uhh

Oh, fine.

Take a deep breath, aaannnnddd—

"AICHI, YOU CAN DO IT! JUST TAKE OUT YOUR CARDS AND ONE OF THEM WILL START TO GLOW. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN ME LIKE I BELIEVE IN YOU RIGHT NOW. GO! PICTURE IT!"

What has she done. Never again. Never again. Kourin would have facepalmed right there and then, but her hands were currently occupied with wielding those tiger claw-like—

DAMMIT.

Kourin sighed and slashed away what she was tangled in. She started to head over to rescue Aichi, but

but

Is he actually following what she said?

He's getting his deck out, oh good lord

"Stand up, my avatar! Blaster Blade!"

A glow.

Flash.

...

Kourin blinked. She blinked again. Then three more times after that.

No way. If her outfit was flashy, Aichi's outfit was...

A helmet that was supposed to be protection, yet looked horribly impractical, not even covering up half of the head, looking more decoration than not. A unusually ornate sword at his waist, looking like it was about to snap at any moment. Tall, sleek white boots with tiny buttons, about knee-high. A white-and-blue armor-plated dress, complete with ribbons and lace.

This was Blaster Blade?

Aichi was a very timid person. He would not speak up when people criticized him. He would normally run in a fight-or-flight situation. When someone told him to do something, he would probably do it. Hence why when Kourin told him to take out his cards, he took them out.

He should have ran away the first chance he had gotten.

Aichi did not openly freak out at many things, but this was something worth freaking out over.

"W-WHY AM I IN A SKIRT?!"

A/N: 1500-ish words.

Could be worse. This is more of an introductory part, like most magical girl anime?

There's a lot of magical girl anime tropes I'd like to play around with...

I can't believe I finished this, wow. There's something off with my writing in general, but I can't put my finger on it…

This has no pairings right now. I don't particularly mind about pairings and it really depends where the story goes. If it's Aichi Kai has to play a part in it in some way, though.

I'll try to update this within a month. Feedback would help.