Previously:

She looked up and stopped. Two boys that looked around her age stood in front of her. Both had on the same school uniform. But what caught her attention was the familiarity in the blond's eyes.

Miwa noticed the same thing, and soon it all came together. The teal hair, the pale green eyes, the scar on her forehead, that card; there was no doubt, this girl was-

"Deca?"

Her eyes widened.

"...Taishi?"

Deca's POV

I couldn't believe my eyes. And yet here he was, standing right in front of me. The crowd began to drift off to other battles that were beginning. Taishi and I stared a little longer before he broke it off, smiling wide. He pulled me into a side hug, startling me.

"It's been way too long Deca! How have you been?" He asked.

I cringed at the question, moving away from him.

"I-I've been okay, I guess." It wasn't a complete lie. Okay was probably the best I'd felt in a while.

He gave me another big smile, seemingly ignoring what I did. "Just okay? Well, as long as you've at least kept yourself out of trouble."

I sighed. Did he really have to bring that up?

"Well? Don't you have anything to say?"

I thought he was talking to me, but realized he was looking at the guy he came with. I recognized him, but I just couldn't place his name. I knew he was Taishi's best friend from all those years ago, but somehow his name was the only thing that slipped my mind. He looked at Taishi before closing his eyes, almost like he was ignoring him.

"Aw, come on Kai, you know her! Remember, when we were in the 5th grade and she came to visit?"

Kai? Wait...

"...Kai Toshiki."

It really had been a while, he had a few inches on me now compared to when we were younger, when it was the other way around.

He looked at me at the mention of his name, but there didn't seem to be any sign of realization from his end. Taishi started prodding him more.

"Oh come on, even Deca remembers you. You gotta at least remember how we all met?"

His expression didn't change at all. I almost couldn't believe it. The Kai I remembered was full of life, very sweet, and a great guy to be around. He used to smile all the time, but now, he looked so... unapproachable.

"Actually, this is perfect! We can all fight against each other! Maybe that'll ring a few bells."

"I'm out."

We both looked to Kai.

"What? But we just got here!"

He left without another word.

"Kai, wait!" Taishi started after him, but he was already gone. He looked back at me. "Don't take it too personally, that's just how he is."

I shrugged. "Whatever, it's not my problem. ...But he could have at least said hi." I grumbled the last part.

Miwa laughed, somehow picking up on what I said. "Well, he doesn't like to dwell on the past much anymore it seems."

But still... did I mean that little to him? Even after what he did for me?

I looked around the store again to try and forget about it, taking in the crowd that had increased noticeably since the time I had entered.

"Hey, I know what'll cheer you up, I'll introduce you to some of my other buds!" He looked over at one table, which had the grade school kid I beat battling another middle school student, the one who had blue hair. Again the weird vibe came back.

"After the performance you had today, I bet they're curious to find out who you are."

"It wasn't that much of a performance, I just pulled a lucky trigger," I insisted, hoping to get out of this situation. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. He pulled me over to where the battle was, and it looked like it was just ending.

"I'm checking the twin drive, bro." The kid checked for two triggers and got a draw trigger on the second card. "Yes! That's 5000 to Mr. Invincible, and I draw."

I looked over at the blue haired kid's side. He had a shield totaling 19000. The total power of Mr. Invincible, with the added trigger and Tough Boy's support, was now 23000. The attack would go through.

"I'm checking for a damage trigger." The blue haired kid drew a card, but there was no trigger. "Guess you beat me," he said sheepishly. The grade school kid stood up triumphantly.

"Alright! No figure ever beats The Great Kamui!" His friends also began to shower him with cheers and compliments.

The girl with the light lavender hair sighed, seemingly annoyed by the spectacle.

"First of all, it's nobody, and second, don't you remember you lost to that girl?" She reminded him.

I felt slightly relieved. Finally, someone sane in this place. I was beginning to think this store was filled with nothing but weirdos.

His glorious attitude drained out of him, leaving an empty shell of his former self.

"Don't remind me," he moaned gloomily.

I couldn't help but smirk. "You got what you deserved."

That brought all attention over to me.

"Hey! It's you again! Come to wrap it in my face that you beat me?"

I sighed. "It's 'rub', not 'wrap', and no, Taishi just brought me over to introduce me to you wackos."

Everyone looked confused. "Taishi?!"

Beside me, Taishi began to laugh. "Oh man, that was amazing! You all should have seen your faces, priceless!" He wiped a tear from his eye, sighing. "I should have probably mentioned that sooner. No one here calls me by my first name."

I suddenly felt self-conscious. "Oh, I see..."

He looked at me, surprised. "Oh no, I didn't mean- you can still call me Taishi if you want!"

I shook my head. "It'd be weird if I was the only one."

"But Deca-"

"It's fine."

I didn't want to make things more awkward than they already were.

"Miwa, you know her?" The girl came over to them. Miwa looked from me to her, admitting defeat.

"Yeah. This is December May. We go way back. She's from Canada."

"I see. It's nice to meet you, December." She smiled.

"This is Misaki Tokura. She works here with her uncle, Shin, who's also the manager." I nodded. "Over here is Morikawa Katsumi, and Izaki Yuta, who you probably already know, and over here is Sendou Aichi and Katsuragi Kamui. Those are Kamui's friends Uno Reji and Saga Eji." He gestured over to the loud boy, the boys next to him, and the blue haired kid. They nodded at me.

"So, are you American?" Loudmouth asked obnoxiously.

"Miwa literally just said I'm from Canada. So no, I'm Canadian."

"Isn't that the same thing though?"

I had just about had it with him. "Oh, so just because they're both located in North America and speak the same language means they're exactly the same. That's like saying Japanese and Chinese people are the same. Or Korean."

"But we're not! Those people are completely different from us!"

"And now you know how I feel. Learn to think before you open your mouth."

The entire store went dead silent. Like I cared. I could hear Taishi laughing weakly beside me.

"Um, excuse me."

I heard a small voice from behind. It turned out to be Sendou. He was fiddling with his card case and looking at the ground.

"Um, if it's not too much trouble, do you think, maybe...?" His voice trailed off. The fact that he had his card case told me that he wanted to card fight me, but he was just too scared to ask. I didn't blame him after I told off Loudmouth and silenced the whole room. But his shy nature was familiar to me in a nostalgic way.

"You wanna card fight?" I asked, prompting him.

"Uh, yeah!"

His face lit up, and I felt my heart begin to beat faster. The weird vibe had turned into something that made my heart pound. It wasn't love, definitely not! But it was something close...

"Sure."

"Hey man, are you sure about that? This girl is scary!" Morikawa interjected, Izaki nodding behind him.

"I-I'll be okay guys." He looked back at me, and I could see the determination in his eyes.

We sat down and did the pre-game routine.

"Stand up Vanguard!" Sendou's card was Barcgal, while mine was Battle Sister Eclair.

"Alright, rude girl against my bro! This'll be a great face down!" Loudmouth commented.

"Don't you mean showdown, or maybe face off?" Taishi smirked. He tripped over his words, pretending that he meant to say that, but he wasn't fooling anyone. I started to notice that he made a lot of grammatical errors when he talked. I rolled my eyes and brought my attention back to the game. He better be praying that he wasn't facing me again, otherwise, I'd kill him for that rude girl comment.

/skipbattle/

Third person

Aichi laid down his sixth damage. "You win."

Everyone was excited at how the battle played out. Both put up a good fight.

"That was a lot of fun!" He smiled cheerfully. December began collecting her cards, not making eye contact.

"I guess so. You still have a lot of work to do if you want to get better though."

He looked down at his lap, a bit discouraged at her words.

"But you definitely have potential."

"R-really?"

"Yeah, but I'm no expert. Besides, I haven't faced a Royal Paladin deck in a while, so I'm not too familiar with the mechanics."

"Well, when was the last time?" He asked out of curiosity.

She stopped part way in picking up Collette, as her mind began to flood with memories. She became so preoccupied that she didn't notice Miwa, who was tapping her shoulder.

"Deca? Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her daze. "Huh?"

"I was asking if you were okay. You zoned out."

"Oh." She looked away.

"Is something wrong?" Miwa looked worried.

"I'm fine, just stressed out from moving, that's all." She wasn't lying, but she wasn't telling the truth either.

"Well, don't stress out too much. If you need any help just call me. Where are you living anyway?" Miwa asked.

"Well, my aunt and I were supposed to move into an apartment together, but she had an emergency with work come up, so I came alone. Right now I'm staying at one of her friend's house until she can get here."

"I see." Then, his face lit up, which could only mean he had thought of something brilliant. Well, at least to him. "Until that happens, how about you stay at my place?"

She stared at him.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, it's cool. We can prep the guest room for you, and it won't cost you anything. Well, maybe a small room and board fee." He smiled goofily.

"I-I don't know..."

"Aah come on Deca. As nice as your aunt's friend probably is, they're not me. You'd get your own room, and someone to walk to school with every day. I'd say that's more than enough reason."

"And how do you know we'll be going to the same school?"

"We don't have to, I'd walk you to whatever school you're going to."

She wouldn't budge, especially since she actually knew she was going to his school; the uniform she got looked just like his.

He decided to try something else.

"Alright, I get it. Don't want to spend time with your old buddy Miwa, I see how it is. Time has separated us and there's nothing I can do to fix it. What did I do to deserve this?"

"Please stop."

"Gladly, if you'll agree to come stay with me," he smiled.

"Am I going to have to punch you?" She blatantly stated as she crossed her arms, a small blush forming on her cheeks. Miwa gave her another one of his goofy smiles.

"No need for violence, all you have to do is say no." She glared at him. He sighed; it seemed he wasn't going to get a straight answer. "At least I can walk you back."

"Fine." She began to get out of her seat, Miwa following.

"Oh, are you leaving?" Aichi asked.

"Yup. She's all tired out from the intense fights she's had today, huh Deca?" He looked at her. She looked away.

"Well it was nice to meet you," he said. Misaki nodded from the counter.

Just as she was about to reply, an arm wrapped itself around her shoulders.

"You know, you have the potential to be a great fighter. That's why for a limited time, I'll give you free Vanguard training sessions. That way you can become as strong as me, the Great Katsumi Morikawa!" Her irritation skyrocketed.

What the hell is his deal? I've seen him play, and he's the worst one of them all!

Luckily, Kamui stepped in, saying what a loser he was and him giving her lessons wouldn't help at all, which resulted in them starting a card fight of their own. The only time she was grateful that he spoke up.

"Let's get out of here," Miwa whispered, pointing to the door. She agreed, and they waved goodbye to everyone as they left the shop. When they got outside, December checked her phone to see what time it was. She was surprised to find it was already 6:30 pm. She had entered the store around 3:15 pm.

"Wow, time flies when you're having fun, huh?" Miwa nudged her arm.

"If that's what you want to call it, I guess." Then she sighed, thinking about what happened earlier. "Challenging Kai might have been interesting though. Maybe see how much better he's gotten."

She still didn't understand why he left- unless he felt the same way she did, then she completely understood. But that didn't mean it was okay.

"Hey, I wouldn't worry too much about it. He may not seem like it, but he's still the same guy from when we were kids. Like I said, he just doesn't like to think about the past. It has nothing to do with you."

She didn't respond.

"Don't take what he says too literally. Most of the time, when he sounds like he hates something, chances are he's just having trouble expressing himself. That's just the way he is now. But really, he just needs to be more honest with himself," he chuckled.

"And how exactly will I know?"

"Eh, after a while, you'll be able to read him. It just takes some time and patience with him."

December took that into consideration.

As they got to the station and waited for the train, Miwa interjected with something that he'd wanted to say all day.

"Not gonna lie, I never thought I'd see you again," he said. "I mean after you stopped replying-"

She tensed up. Noticing this, he moved on. "But hey, that's all in the past, no big deal!" He played it off, hoping to alleviate the tension. He looked at her, desperately wanting her to know how much this meant to him. She was looking at the ground.

"I really am glad to see you again," he whispered.

They caught the train and headed towards the neighbourhood where she was staying, silent the rest of the way. Miwa followed in tow until December came to a stop.

"We're here." She looked up at the small house that stood before them.

He waited for her to walk inside, but she stayed where she was.

"Deca?"

"...get my stuff."

"Huh?"

She looked at him, annoyed and embarrassed. "Get my stuff, I'm staying with you! Happy?"

He stood still for a few seconds, processing what she said before tackling her with a big hug.

"Deca!"

"W-whatever, just do it before I change my mind."

They walked in, spoke with the friend, and grabbed her things from her room, each taking half of the few things she had brought with her.

"All set?" He asked, taking two of her bags. She nodded, and they headed off to his house.

This new life of mine… Well, I'd better get used to it.

(Disclaimer: I do not own Cardfight! Vanguard or its characters. All I own are my OCs. Credit goes to Bushiroad)