"I'm not that hungry right now. I think I'll go for a walk," I told my mom as I headed for the door.
"Don't be out too late sweetie!" I heard as I closed the door. My hand rested on the door nob for a few moments before I let go and began walking. Actually, it was more like pacing, except I wasn't walking back and forth. Though I did have a problem that I didn't really know how to solve. How was I supposed to learn how to play Vanguard? I'd search it up, but our house doesn't have Internet yet. Not to mention I'd have to get some cards. Man, why am I such an idiot, why didn't I buy any when I was at the store earlier? Oh I know, because my brain was a complete mess after that run in with those stupid boys. You know, this wouldn't be happening if we didn't move, mom! I was so angry, I didn't even realize that someone was calling out to me.
"Hey!"
Finally tuning in, I stopped and turned around. I recognized him, he was the boy from earlier, the one who ran into me on his way out of the store. I froze, and did what I usually did when meeting new people; look to my feet and hope they'd go away. That didn't happen.
"Finally I got your attention. I was kinda worried you might be hard of hearing or something." I just stood there, staring at our shoes. "You're the girl I ran into earlier right? I thought so. I wanna properly apologize for what happened, but I was kinda in a hurry."
I nodded. Then a hand came into my view. Startled, I backed away. That's when I got a good look at this boys face. He had silvery grey hair that stuck up all over the place, hazel eyes, and a surprised look on his face.
"Whoa, no need to be scared, I won't bite." Soon after he broke into a huge smile. I started to relax; this guy didn't seem all that bad.
"S-sorry about that... I... I'm not good at speaking... With people..."
He kept smiling. "Don't worry, it's fine! I'm Sou Akio. But I'm not one for formalities, so just call me Akio."
I grabbed his hand lightly and shook it. " Agumi Setsuna… Call me Setsuna."
"A moment."
"Huh?"
He laughed. "Sorry, sometimes I speak without context. I was referring to the meaning of your name."
He wasn't wrong, that was what it meant. Actually, I was given that name due to the fact that my mom said I was the most important moment of her and dad's life. I wish I could believe her like I did before.
"So, either you've been walking a long way, or you're the new people who just moved down the street."
"Yeah, h…how did you know?"
"I live just a few houses down, at the end of the street. Actually, this is my house right here." He motioned behind him. "I heard from my parents there was a small family moving in."
"I see."
That's when his face went all awry, almost like he was examining me.
"Uh…" My eyes widened slightly, since I was a bit freaked out at what he was doing.
"Hold on. Are you the same Setsuna who got challenged by Masahiro?"
"Who?"
"You know, tall, dark hair, violet eyes, bold presence, big ego. Actually, come to think of it you wouldn't really know who he is."
So that's his name. And he did seem to have that kind of air about him.
"Y…yeah, he challenged me. Though I have no idea why. I don't even play. Wait, how did you hear about it? You left the store."
"My friends told me about it-wait, seriously? You've never played before? Then what were you doing in there?"
I felt my cheeks burn, averting my gaze. "I-I just wanted to take a look, that's all!" I grasped my hands together, squeezing my palms.
"Well that's kinda tricky. How're you supposed to face him if you don't play?"
"Well, he told me to, um, learn it for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? That's way too soon! Jeez, that guy is way too full of himself."
I was starting to get the feeling that Akio wasn't too fond of Masahiro, but then again it didn't seem like anyone at the shop was.
"Well, if he's going to be like that, you're gonna need some help. And that's where I come in!" He smiled proudly.
"Wait. You, you want to help me?"
"Sure!"
"Why?"
He gave me a weird look. "Why? What do you mean why?"
"I-I mean, are you doing this for me? Or is this just some way to get back at Masahiro? Or is it to fuel your ego?"
"Say what? Sets where did this come from?"
I scrunched my brow. "Sets?"
"Yeah, I thought it'd be a cool nickname for ya. Sets and Aki. Has a nice ring don'tcha think?" His face broke out into a huge grin and scratched the back of his head.
I just stared at him. Who was this guy, and why was he acting like he actually cared about me? We'd only just met and he was already being so forward with me, acting like we were friends. Why? What did he have to gain? But then again, I was running out of time. The game was tomorrow, and backing down then would make me look worse than I already did. Besides, Akio really seemed down on helping me out. I guess I could give him the benefit of the doubt for today. But only today.
"… If you're really set on helping me out, then I won't stop you."
His face lit up. "You serious? Wahoo!" He pumped his fists in the air, cheering loudly in the middle of the street. I could have sworn the whole street heard him. I blushed.
"C-can we get going, please?"
"Haha, sure. Follow me." He led me to his house, which didn't take too long considering we were right in front of it as he pointed out earlier. He opened the door and held it open for me.
"After you."
I stepped inside, annoyed at how courteous he was being, when I noticed the inside of his house. It looked similar to mine, only it was covered in trophies and plaques and frames filled with what looked to be like signed cards and pictures. I was taken aback for a moment; this wasn't what I was expecting.
"You like? My parents are tournament veteran, they've even won a few local tournaments and placed at nationals. " Akio came up from behind me, taking off his shoes and shuffling into his house slippers. Then he went to a small shelf beside me and took off a pair of what looked to be guest slippers, and placed them in front of me. This guy was really pushing his luck. Quietly I put them on, no objections.
"There are wide scale tournaments for this game?"
"You bet! Not just in Japan, but the whole world! Quite something if you think about it, the whole world connected by a simple card game. Who would have thought?" He laughed quietly to himself. I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, enough blabbing from me. First things first, you need a deck. Follow me." He began walking further into his house. I quietly complied. I began to look closely at the pictures on the walls. Some of them looked quite old, probably about 10 years old at the least. But there was one that caught my eye. I stopped and took a step back. In this picture, there were three people as the focus, though there were a couple others that were cut from the frame. They looked happy, two men and one woman, all smiling and cheering. The man in the middle looked familiar to me for some reason.
"Sets? You okay?"
I looked over to se Akio beside me. His gaze shifted to the picture I was looking at.
"Oh, you were looking at this? This was a while back. My dad, and a couple buddies of his entered nationals. They made third place." He pointed to the woman in the picture. "That's my mom. Though at the time they were just dating. And that guy in the middle, he was their team captain. I can't remember his name, but from what I heard from my dad he let fame get to his head after they won nationals a few years later, abandoning their team and their friendship. Lousy jerk."
I shivered. Abandoning their friendship, something I knew all too well.
"But that was forever ago, so it doesn't really matter. Come on, we're almost there. I bet you're gonna like it!"
We walked until we reached a door at the end of the hall, which lead down into the basement. I didn't see anything worthwhile, until Akio pressed what I thought was to be a light switch, and suddenly one of the walls split and moved to the sides like sliding doors. And what was inside was something I never thought could exist.
(Disclaimer: I do not own Cardfight! Vangaurd. All I own are my OCs. Credit goes to Bushiroad)
