Naoki knocked on the door of the Sendou residence, completely ignoring the doorbell. As he waited for someone to open the door, he shuffled through the numerous bags he had brought with him to make sure he had everything. Everyone in the Miyaji and Hitsue cardfight clubs as well as the top ranked fighters in the Fukuhara cardfight club had each given him something to try to cheer Aichi up.
The door creaked open.
"Hello?"
"E-Emi?!"
"You're that guy from Aichi's cardfight club, right?"
"Ye-yeah that's me!" At Naoki's words, Emi opened the door the rest of the way, allowing entry to the high school student. He entered the home and removed his shoes. "Where's your mother?" he asked. Surely Aichi's mother would want to support him now of all times.
"She's calling relatives… She thinks it would be best if big brother got away from here for a while," said the middle schooler, almost looking as if she was going to cry. Seeing this, Naoki decided to change the subject.
"Where is your brother anyway?"
"Oh! He's in his room over there!" Emi pointed down a long hallway. ""He hasn't come out since the funeral. He won't eat either… Please help him remember that it's okay to be happy!" Naoki stepped towards the hallway and mustered up a smile for the girl.
"That's what I'm here for!" In reality, he felt a heavy burden being placed on him by Emi. Before the funeral he wouldn't even talk. The Dragonic Overlord Kai had thrown at him was with him at all times. Even in school, Aichi held it obsessively, just staring at it as if he felt he could just somehow channel Kai through it!
Naoki walked down the hallway and stoped in front of a door with a colorful sign that read "Aichi." The cheerfulness of the sign was dissonant with the misery of the visit. He knocked on the door.
No answer.
He tried again.
No answer.
Naoki opened the door himself. He was greeted by a dark, cold room. After his eyes adjusted to the very little light, he made out an Aichi-shaped lump on the bed. He walked in the room and closed the door behind him before sitting on the bed, next to Aichi.
"Hey, Aichi…" he said his usual greeting without thinking. Aichi didn't respond, so Naoki kept talking. "Everyone misses you. Even the student council dropped by the club room to ask where you were. It was pretty funny. He claimed it was because of your attendance, but I know as well as anyone that they call home for that." He glanced at Aichi on the bed. He was awake, just not responsive. So, Naoki continued on talking about how Kourin disappeared, so they were trying to look for a new member to prevent the club from shutting down while they searched for her. He just rambled on and on about different events, hoping to just receive some response from the boy.
"I got presents for you from everyone." He reached into one bag and pulled out missed notes from Shingo, a group picture of the Miyaji Cardfight Club, and a new Vanguard trial deck from himself. He described every one of them with care and placed them in front of Aichi so he could see them. It was like talking to a wall at that point. He silently cursed Kai for reducing Aichi to his current state.
Naoki picked up the other bag. Morikawa had packed his finest grade 3s, Izaki gave him the latest Ultra Rare album, Miwa (who was at the opposite end of the extreme, smiling all the time and busying himself to the point where he had no time to think about Kai) selflessly gifted the remainders of Kai's Royal Paladin deck saying that it was "rightfully Aichi's." Naoki decided to omit describing that gift and Kamui's: a framed picture of team Q4.
Again, no response.
He tried again with the gifts from Fukuhara. Ren and Asaka made food for Aichi. Tons of it in order to try to get him to eat. The delicious scent filled the room. Surely that would persuade Aichi to respond!
Yet he lay still.
Naoki wasn't sure if he felt disappointed or frustrated.
"Aichi… you can't stay cooped up here forever…"
"…yes I can…"
Naoki jumped at the reply. The voice was hoarse, but he couldn't pick up if it was from crying or just not talking. He tried to get another response from Aichi.
"Aichi. There's still the rest of your life ahead of you."
"But Kai doesn't have that and it's my fault. If only I'd been stronger, I…"
"IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!" Naoki couldn't keep himself from shouting. He pulled Aichi over. "Look at me!" he demanded, forcing eye contact. "It is NOT your fault! He made his choice and you have to make yours! We need you! I need you! You are my Vanguard! Our Vanguard!" He slammed his fist on the wall and accidentally cracked it. "If he means that much to you, then you should know that he would want you to live out your life instead of becoming a-a NEET!"
Tears started forming in Aichi's eyes.
"I-I'm sorry…" Aichi whispered, sitting up. "You-you're right, Naoki… it's been over three weeks…" he sat up. There was something different about him. He had changed in a way that could only be caused by excessive grief. He seemed to be hardened, but extremely fragile.
He forced himself to eat Ren and Asaka's cooking. In the meanwhile Naoki did the best that he could to catch Aichi up using Shingo's notes. Eventually, Naoki decided he would sleep over, to make sure that Aichi would be okay.
"Aichi. We don't have class tomorrow, so I'm taking you to Card Capital tomorrow. Make a deck, okay?"
"Okay, Naoki…"