The Scout
In which Tokoha accidentally becomes Shion's romance advisor.
Disclaimer: I don't own Cardfight! Vanguard, Bushiroad Inc. does.
It all started one day after school, when Tokoha was stopped by two girls on her way out of the classroom.
They were quiet but studious classmates, and frankly Tokoha had no idea what they could possibly want with her.
After a bit of nudging and shuffling among the two girls, one of them finally spoke.
"Anjou-san, would you please give us some advice?"
"Advice? Advice on what?"
"Well, since you've been dating Kiba-kun for so long, we just wanted to ask you… you know…"
Wait.
What.
Hold up.
They could not be serious, could they?
So, apparently people actually thought that she was dating Shion? Kiba Shion?
Ugh, why was her life like this. Was she not allowed to have a male best friend?
After her parents, Tokoha should have known that this would happen. But Shion, really? That proud, stubborn, manipulative, rich heir? Did her classmates think that she was the type to fall for his dazzling smiles?
Honestly, dating that guy would be as disgusting as dating her older brother. Except it would be worse, since Shion is guaranteed to be the type to smother his girlfriend with expensive gifts.
Tokoha cringed just thinking about it.
After that conversation was over, with the two girls leaving red-faced with embarrassment after Tokoha basically gawked at them, Tokoha hoped no one would ever talk to her about this ever again.
But that was wishful thinking. As long as Tokoha was friends with Shion, the rumours were going to continue.
Shion and her definitely needed to talk about this.
So then, when Tokoha strode into Card Capital 2 that afternoon, she dragged Shion from Chrono and Tsuneto's Fight into a corner of the shop.
A few minutes later, Tokoha learned that Shion apparently knew about this and did not bother telling her. Oh, Tokoha was itching for her baseball bat right about now.
"Trust me, Tokoha. It's useless. You don't think I've told all my friends who've asked about my 'girlfriend' the same thing?"
"But can't we at least, I don't know, try to tell people the truth?"
"By what, announcing how we're not dating to the world? As if that's going to make it more believable. I mean, the only real way to stop it is for both of us to date other people and be very public about it, but that's – "
" – not happening."
"Exactly. And it could easily backfire."
"So, Shion, you're okay with it continuing?"
"Well, no, but there isn't much we can do about it. And besides, once we graduate we'll be going to different schools. Everyone will forget about this after that."
"And one last check: you're not interested in dating me, are you?"
"Even if I were, I'm pretty sure Mamoru-san and your dad would have my head before I even made a move."
"That's true."
And so, life went on for Anjou Tokoha. That is, until the next day, where once again she was stopped on her way out of the classroom by two girls.
Tokoha hoped that this was not becoming a pattern.
"So, Anjou-san, you're not dating Shion-kun?"
"Nope. Never have, never will. I would appreciate it if you told everyone else too."
"Well, they'll all know soon, so there's no need for me to go through the trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"Well now, Anjou-san, tell me. What type of girl does Shion-kun like?"
Tokoha mentally grimaced. Well, that was the logical next step.
"What type of – uh…"
"No matter. Now that I know that I won't be looked at as the girl who stole Shion-kun from you, I don't have to worry. Shion-kun will be mine. After all, every guy in the school wants to date me!"
The girl smirked and flipped her very shiny brown hair, while her friend (or was it lackey?) nodded vigourously.
Tokoha really wanted to point out that no guy she knew, at least, would date her. That arrogance and clingy personality she was known to have was not going to work on Shion.
Not to mention, if you wanted to date someone, shouldn't you be trying to win their friends over?
Tokoha honestly felt a bit disgusted at that point.
Shouting at people like her was probably useless, since she would never listen. Even worse, it might make it seem like Tokoha was defending Shion, which would only strengthen the rumour.
Tokoha sighed. She should probably warn Shion about this. As soon as she got out of the conversation, she rushed out of the school gates and fished her phone out of her bag.
"So, in all, she'll probably confess to you soon."
"Mmm. Katagiri-san, right? I think a lot of boys in our grade are into her."
"What about you?"
"Not interested. She reminds me too much of those pampered girls at the private school I used to go to."
"So you're going to reject her then?"
"Of course."
"How are you planning to reject her?"
"The usual. You know, family responsibilities and what not."
"Okay. But if she is particularly annoying, could you perhaps be harsher?"
"Harsher?"
"You know. Let her know that she is not entitled to every guy she wants."
"Mm. I'll think about it."
A few days later, Tokoha walked into class to see Katagiri's seat empty and Shion's surrounded by more than half the class.
Apparently, a few lingering students from the day before had witnessed and filmed what they dubbed as "The Harshest but Fairest Rejection in Living History".
Unfortunately, the problem did not stop there.
A few weeks after Katagiri-san, another girl approached Tokoha after school.
"Anjou-san, you aren't, uh, with anyone right now, right?"
Tokoha barely resisted the urge to groan.
"If you're asking about whether or not Shion and I are dating, then no. No, we're not."
The girl breathed a sigh of relief.
Tokoha started wondering about when the universe decided to make her Shion's official romance agent.
"So, do you think that I have a chance…?"
Well, it was not like anyone really had a chance with Shion. That guy was far too dedicated to his family and Vanguard to have time for middle school romance.
But, you know what?
"Let's talk about this over some food," Tokoha said, picking up her bag from her desk, "I know a nice café down the street."
"Kurosawa Momoko-san?"
"Yeah. You know, pigtails, round glasses."
"Yeah, I know her. She's next?"
"Yep."
"Any requests this time?"
"Lightly. She's a really nice person. I'd hate to see her cry."
"Noted."
The girls kept coming.
At this point, Tokoha had been approached by a number of girls from her grade and far too many from the younger grades.
Shion must sure be popular on Valentine's Day.
Since it had basically become a normal activity for Tokoha, she had developed a standard plan. Generally, she took the girl to a café, had a nice conversation with her over rich hot chocolate and a few cream puffs, then called Shion to tell him about the newest annoyance and how to reject her. Shion would then reject her a few days later.
The funny thing was that even though every single girl who passed through her hands was still rejected by Shion, they still kept coming. And, they still opened with the same question. It was always something along the lines of:
"Anjou-san, are you and Kiba-kun dating?"
And then Tokoha would say something like:
"Nope."
But then, one day, the other girl replied with:
"Oh. Then are you dating anyone right now?"
"No, why?"
And that was how Tokoha managed to have one of the most interesting renditions of her Shion-girlfriend-scouting-adventures.
In fact, it was so interesting that Tokoha waited for lunch the next day to tell him in person.
"So, there's a new one," she said as she set her lunch down on the table.
Shion looked up from his lunch at Tokoha's offhanded statement.
"A new one?"
"Yep. But this one's pretty interesting."
"Is that so?"
Tokoha made a noncommittal noise and took a bite of her sandwich.
Poor Chrono, who was also sitting at the table, had never looked so confused in his life.
"Um, guys?"
Tokoha smiled.
"Hey Chrono, what do you think about Nakamura Misora-san? You know, that girl in Class C."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shion's blue eyes snap to her face, then turn away as he tried to muffle his laughter.
"What about her?"
"Well, she plans on confessing to you in about a week."
Thanks for reading, have a nice day!