AN: I added a few lines to match a few parts of the story.
Turn 8 - Ryuga Vs Tokoha and Cupid search.
A few days went by since the Dragon Empire Festival, which was a huge success as everyone who participated left with a smile in their faces and right now I was at the Card Capital 2 shop watching Okazaki Kumi's fight against Tsuneto from Trinty Dragon and it was her turn now while Anjou Tokoha was buying a booster pack.
"A confident no guard!" Tsuneto said as he didn't saw a need to guard this attack.
"Are you sure of that, Tado?" I asked him. "If she gets a critical trigger, this might be it for you since you're at four damage."
'And to top it off, you could afford to guard right now because you will have more cards in your hand during your next turn.' Tsuneto just made a terrible mistake.
"I'm sure of it." He reaffirms his decision as Kumi went to perform her check. "Now go for it, Kumi-chan!"
"Drive trigger check!" Kumi smiled at the card that she revealed which was... "I got a critical trigger!"
"Seriously!?" Trinity Dragon couldn't believe in Kumi's luck, which could be crazy sometimes.
"You were asking for it." I say with a sweatdrop in my face as I recalled a few matches where I was forced to be on the edge despite being way stronger than her.
'Sometimes it's the luck of the trigger what really matters in the end.' During Vanguard fights, the most crucial moments are always depending on which cards are revealed in the drive and damage checks because it can determine the outcome. And this is such a case.
"Damage trigger check, I lost." Kumi won the fight.
"Nice going there, Okazaki." I praised Kumi as I gave a headpat to her peach-hair.
"Good..." She was liking it. "More..."
'See, it's not a bad thing after all.' I thought as I kept stroking her head.
"Stop doing that to Kumi-chan, Shindou!" Tokoha told me to stop headpatting her go as she was holding a card in her hand. "It's rude to stroke a girl's head."
"You don't have to be mad, Anjou." I said to her as I took notice that it was a G-unit. "Huh? Is that a new G-unit?"
"Oh, this?" She showed us the 'Flower Princess of Spring's Beginning, Primavera' unit she opened in her pack just now.
"Congratulations for getting a Generation Rare card that you can add to your G-Zone, Anjou." I congratulated her.
"Thanks, I guess." It wasn't the best way to thank someone, but I will let it slide.
"You've gotten stronger, Kumi-chan." Kamui congratulated Kumi. "Maybe it's thanks to Tokoha-chan's coaching?"
"It's because Kumi-chan works really hard." Tokoha says to Kamui.
"Tokoha-chan!" Kumi went to Tokoha, escaping from my headpat. "I won!"
"Congratulations! Look at this!" Tokoha showed her the unit as well. "I've got a new G-unit!"
"Amazing!" Kumi was impressed at Tokoha's new G-unit.
"That was a good warm up for the tournament." Tsuneto, who seemed to forgot that he just lost to Kumi, said.
"Is that what you say when you lose?" Tokoha said as me and Kumi gave Tsuneto a weird look as it saying 'sore loser' .
"I'll show you my true abilities at the regional preliminaries!" Tsuneto declares. "Prepare yourself! Because I won't show any mercy!"
"Like you showed Okazaki just now?" I asked with a hint of mockery.
"I'm not going to be in it." Tokoha admits that she was not participating in the regionals. "So, we won't fight each other there."
'As I thought.' I knew that she didn't had an interest in participating because of what happened at the festival. 'She really doesn't want to try because of the expectations that will be placed upon her if she does.'
"Are you serious? It's the regional preliminaries!?" Tsuneto started a commotion.
"Why!?" Tsuneto started to pester Tokoha. "Why aren't you going to participate in the tournament?"
"It makes no difference to me." Tokoha says. "Besides, I am not interested in participating in such event."
'She totally took that out of my book, didn't she?' I thought as I gave her the same line a few times.
"This is your chance to show your strengh!" Karl joined the pestering. "You should totally be in it!"
"As I said, I'm not interested in that kind of thing." Tokoha continued to refuse to participate.
"Eh? Let's aim for the top together!" Tsuneto selfishly tried to lure Tokoha into entering the regionals. "You're going to make the name 'Mamoru-san's little sister' weep!"
"You shouldn't have done that, Tsuneto." I said in front of Kamui, knowing that Tokoha was going to snap at the mention of the allias the she dislikes the most.
"Leave me alone already!" Tokoha snapped at the mention of 'Mamoru-san's little sister'.
"There you have it." I said to the surprised Trinity Dragon and shocked Kumi.
"Um. I am really not interested. Sorry." Tokoha apologized for snapping and turned to Kamui to do the same as well. "I apologize for causing a scene at the shop."
"It's not your fault." I reasured her and looked at Trinity Dragon. "The ones at fault should be the ones to apologize, don't you think, Tado Tsuneto and Yamaji Karl?"
"Sorry!" They stepped back without even walking through an after-image.
'How did they do that?' I wondered how those three managed to do that.
"Let's go, Kumi-chan." Tokoha and Kumi left the shop as I turned to Tsuneto.
"That was really selfish from your part, Tado." I said to Tsuneto, who turned to me.
"What do you mean by selfish, Shindou?" Tsuneto, who didn't understand what he just did, asked.
"Just now, did you really think that Anjou was being comfortable with being called 'Mamoru-san's little sister' ?" I asked him.
"Why? I think that she is lucky to be on the same family as a great fighter like Mamoru-san." Tsuneto answered. "I would gladly brag about it if he was my big brother."
"Tsuneto. There is no such thing as a sibling who completely likes to be compared to another in the family, I could tell that she wasn't happy at all when you said that." I told him, while facepalming myself at his ignorance.
"Ryuga's right, Tokoha-chan never seems to be comfortable when that subject comes up, so you should stop doing it." Kamui said as he was on the same page as me.
"Ok, I'll stop, happy now?" Tsuneto asks. "But was I that wrong about going for the top?"
"It's not like you were completely wrong about the going for the top part, but that was up to her, not you." I scolded him a bit. "The way you spoke to her just now, it was like you were giving her expectations to meet as 'Mamoru-san's litttle sister', instead of Anjou Tokoha herself."
"Isn't that the same?" Kei asked.
"How would you feel if someone says to your face that you are only a great fighter because your older sibling is a great one himself?" I pointed at the root of the problem.
"I would be mad because I was the one who won, not my sibling." Kei answers.
"Exactly." He got it right. "I know that I would be really mad if someone told me that I'm good at something because it runs in the family."
"And as long as she is trapped in that cage called 'Mamoru's little sister', she will never become a true fighter." I added. "It's a shame because she is wasting her potential as a fighter. With time she will surpass her brother and reach great heights." I said surprising them all.
"You really think that is going to be easy?" Kamui asks, thinking that I believe that doing such thing is a easy matter.
"Think? I know that she will. That is, if she breaks off her shell of doubts and gains the proper motivation to fight head on." I confidently finished as I was about to leave the shop.
"Wait, Ryuga!" Kamui told me to wait. "I have a favor to ask of you."
"A favor?" I asked, curious about what Kamui wanted. "What is it, Kamui-san?"
"You see..." Kamui told me about a certain bakery that sells the best croquette bread that were ever made in this country. "Here's the directions to the bakery , so good luck in getting some croquette bread."
"For real!?" I was surprised at this revelation. "Nishi Bakery, here I come!" I went running to the place on the map.
"He sure is really fast when it comes to food." Tsuneto said to Kamui, who nod in agreement.
Anjou Tokoha's P.O.V
"Sorry about that." I apologized to Kumi-chan for showing that unsightfull part of me. "Spoiling the mood, after you won..."
"Not at all." Kumi-chan reasures me that it was fine.
"But why was Shindou giving you a Headpat?" I asked her, feeling annoyed that Shindou treated Kumi-chan and me a lost child.
"It was because I won, so he was congratulating me." She answered.
"So he strokes the hair of a girl because of that!?" I was really annoyed by his antic.
"Didn't you feel confortable when he patted yours the other day?" Kumi-chan asked me since she saw Shindou doing the same to me at the Interleague Match and his grade up party the other day.
"Yes, it was very confortable, but that's not the problem here!" I dismissed the confortable feeling of getting your hair stroked like that. "It's just wrong for a boy to do that to a girl of the same age who is not a sibling if they're not in a relationship!"
"But isn't Shindou-kun our friend?" Kumi-chan misunderstood the degree of relationship that would be allowable to do something like that.
"Yes, despite the fact that he can be a bit arrogant sometimes, he's still our friend." I answered her. "But it's still wrong and he should know it!"
"Say, Tokoha-chan, are you free next Sunday?" Kumi-chan asked if I was free that day.
"Sunday?" I said. "Yeah. I don't have any plans."
"If you'd like, would you go with me on a quest?" Kumi-chan showed me a Quest in her FICA.
Quest Restriction - Open to girl fighters only!
Quest- Only open to girl fighters. Holding a social gathering/tea party. Let's have fun playing Vanguard together.
Sender - Machiko Tahara
Clan-Genesis
Reward- 150 points
Accept
Cancel
"That sounds fun." I said, looking a bit forward to it.
"I know, right?" Kumi-chan asked.
"Okay, I'll take the quest as well." I joined the Quest with Kumi-chan. "At this rate, you'll soon be a grade 2, Kumi-chan."
"And I have you to thank for teaching me everything that I know, Tokoha-chan." She thanked me for teaching her how to fight.
"I've got it!" I got an idea that will put both of us in heaven.
(Nishi Bakery)
"Here! The croquette bread at this place is freshly-baked and crisp." I began to describe how wonderfull the croquette bread of this bakery truly are. "The potatoes inside are piping hot."
"And the homemade sauce is out of this world!"
"Really!?" Kumi-chan asked with stars in her eyes.
"I always bring one to my brother when he is in a tournament as a charm. And he wins every time after he eats one! That's because it's the miraculous croquette bread!"
"Amazing!" Kumi-chan now wanted one like me.
We looked at the display to see that there were no croquette breads left.
Sold out for today. I'm sorry! Homemade Croquette Bread.
"Sold out!?" We couldn't believe that they were gone as we say the anouncement plate.
"I'm sorry Tokoha-chan, I just sold the last two." Nishi-san said that the last TWO were just sold out a few minutes ago.
"I see..." I was really frustrated now at this turn of events. "Who was it!?"
"Who was the responsible for getting in the way of my small happiness!?" I asked out loud as Shindou Ryuga, the responsible for her misery, was eating the delicious snack that Tokoha had failed to get with Katsuragi Kamui at Card Capital 2.
(Shindou Ryuga's P.O.V)
(Card Capital 2)
"These are amazing!" I couldn't help but compliment the croquettes divine flavour that was in my mouth while Kamui was taking a bite from his. "This sauce is truly out of this world! No, it's a gift from the gods!"
"Glad you liked it." Kamui said. "Thank you for going to buy them, even if it was all of a sudden, Ryuga."
"I can understand why you asked, these are worth every effort that I made to get there!" I said as I tasted the potatoes inside. "So crispy!"
"It sells out really quick, so I don't get the chance to buy them when I'm working." He said.
"I am amazed how I never learned about these before!" I still couldn't believe that such a simple snack as this could be so delicious, not aware that I gave despair to a certain green-haired girl and the her clumsy peach-haired friend. "It's my favorite snack from now on!"
"Could you buy more for us tomorrow?" Kamui asked. "I'm going to let Shin-san on to this secret as well."
"Sure." I agreed to buy. "The more, the merrier."
(Next Day)
Anjou Tokoha's P.O.V
(School's hallway)
"Excuse me!" I left the Teacher's Room, carrying a box filled with school material and saw Kiba Shion.
"Want some help?" He offered to help out, but I decided to refuse.
"No. That's okay." It was until I started having trouble with the box, that is.
"I had a lot of fun the other day at the festival." He said. "Even though it was an event, I learned a lot from Mamoru-san, so it was a good experience."
"Sorry that my brother never shows any mercy..." I felt bad about how we were crushed by my brother.
"He was the only one who won." Kiba was talking about the red-haired swirl know to us as Shindou Ryuga. "He just keeps getting stronger each time he fights."
"He already displays a fight that is on pair to a Clan Leader." He seemed to be frustated. "I want grab my own victory by surpassing him."
'True, Shindou was the only person that I ever saw defeating my brother, asides from Jaime Alcaraz, despite the fact that he began to play Vanguard only a few months ago and we technically should be more experient at Vanguard than what he is.' I thought as the swirl-haired boy's image appeared in my mind. 'How does he do it?'
"I wish to fight him someday." I spoke out my intention to have a fight against the swirl.
"You never fought him?" Kiba asked as I shook my head.
"There were a few times when we had the chance to fight, but it was always interrupted by unexpected circumstances." I told him about the events that always got in the way of our fight.
"That's too bad." He says, feeling bad for me. "He is a great fighter despite his looks."
"I know, I already saw him fighting opponent's that were too much for me to handle before." Like the Underworld King, The Dragon Empire Branch Chief, Jaime-san and now my brother was added to the list.
"He is a real genius when it comes to Vanguard." He said as I agreed. "From the way he fights, it's like he can see how the game's flow will work out just from seeing certain units on the field."
"Yeah. He is always paying attention to every detail of the fight, even when fighting the members of Trinity Dragon." I added.
"What kind of train he does to become as strong as he is right now?" Kiba asked as I wondered the same.
"I don't know. But we should leave Shindou's training method for another time." He agreed as we ended our talk about Shindou.
"I envy you." He said.
"For what?" I asked him.
"Being so close to an incredible fight like Mamoru-san." He talked about my brother once again. "I bet that you're lerning things all the time from him."
'Learning? What am I exactly learning?' I always avoid to fight him, except for the time that Shindou didn't gave me a choice but to fight, otherwise I would have just walked away from the stage instead.
"Sometimes it's a pain, though." I complained.
"Oh. I guess I can imagine that, with you being Mamoru-san's little sister." He just had to say the one thing that I don't truly like to be told.
'That nickname again.' Someone else called me that. 'It's always like that and I hate it.'
"See you tomorrow, Anjou." Kiba went ways as I delivered the items to the classroom.
"Same here." I said as I left the school afterwards.
I was walking outside looking at my new G-unit when a few memories came back to me. Memories of how I might have begun to give up on reaching my brother.
(A few years ago)
I managed to win a small Vanguard tournament for kids that took place in the local card shop. I was going to see my brother to tell him about my victory and show the mini-cup I got as a prize.
"My brother is going to be so proud of me when I show him this!" I was really looking forward to it, but life had other plans for me.
"Brother, I..." I saw my brother being handed another Vanguard trophy for winning a big tournament.
"Congratulations for a spendid Victory, Anjou Mamoru-kun." A group of people was gathered around my brother.
"Did you want to say something, Tokoha?" I hid my trophy behind my back.
"I-it's nothing." I couldn't say anything since his acomplishment completely overshadowed mine. 'And in front of so many people.'
"Congratulations for winning another tournament, big brother." I told him a bit sad that I couldn't even tell him about my own victory.
'It's always like this.' The small me that could only stare at my bother who was being praised around by several people.
I know that it's no one's fault, but... it really feels lonely sometimes.
I stopped walking as I recalled how big the distance between me and my brother was and still is today.
'He became a clan leader and I just keep watching him from the sidelines, without acomplishing anything.'
"Darn it!" I decided to buy some croquette bread at Nishi Bakery to calm down my frustration.
(Nishi Bakery)
"Excuse me!" I arrived at the bakery.
"Nishi-san!" I called out to him.
"I want two loafs of croquette bread!" I requested a few croquette bread. "No, make it three of them!"
"I-Im sorry." Nishi-san apologized. "I just sold out a few minutes ago."
"Eh!?" Who bought my croquette bread?
"Who was it!?" I pressed Nishi-san to know who bought my food and left me with nothing but misery. "Who bought my croquette bread!?"
"H-he was wearing the same middle school uniform as you." Nishi-san began to describe the person in question. "And his hair was like a chocolate cornet."
'Chocolate cornet...' I though as a certain red-haired swirled person came to mind, Shindou Ryuga.
"Chocolate Ryuga..." I said the swirl's name as my right eyebrow twitched as Shindou Ryuga took a bite of the croquette bread at Card Capital 2.
Shindou's Ryuga P.O.V
(Card Capital 2)
"This is quite tasty." Shin said as he was eating of of the croquette bread that I just bought a few minutes ago.
"Right? They sell out really fast, so it's been hard to get a hold of one." Kamui said to Shin as he stopped eating. "But thanks to Ryuga, we can now get them on time."
"Speaking of time. Next time that I get these, it will come out of both of your pockets if you want one." I told them as they nod.
"No complains." They said at the same time as we took another bite.
"Could you buy more for us tomorrow as well?" Shin and Kamui handed me some money. "We will cover yours as well."
"At the usual time?" They answered with a nod. "Got it."
(Next day)
Anjou Tokoha's P.O.V
(Nishi Bakery)
I was at Nishi's bakery with Kumi-chan to try to eat croquette bread, just to find that they were sold out again. I will give you a hint. His name starts with "R" and ends with "a".
"Not again!?" I yelled as Nishi-san bowed in apology.
"The same person as yesterday?" He nod his head as I sighed. "Shindou Ryuga?"
"Y-yes, it was Shindou Ryuga-kun who bought the last four." Nishi-san admited. "He even said that these were the best snacks that he had ever eaten in his entire life, so it's most likely that he will be a regular from now on."
"That Shindou!" I was getting really mad at him for getting in the way of my happiness, while he has an excellent taste for food, it was getting annoying after three days in a row. "He's really starting to get on my nerves."
"Kumi-chan!" I called out to her.
"Y-yes, Tokoha-chan?" Kumi-chan was surprised at my enthusiasm.
"We need to find a away to get a hold of the croquette bread tomorrow before Shindou does!" I began to make a plan to make sure that Shindou wouldn't buy any croquette bread before me tomorrow. "If we don't, we will never get a chance to eat the miraculous croquette bread ever again."
"But why not asking Shindou-kun to get us one or two?" Kumi-chan took out and pointed at her phone. "After all, we have his contact."
"Didn't you heard what Nishi-san said?" I asked Kumi-chan, who nod her head. "He's has become a regular and a big fan of them, just like me, so it is very unlikely that he will share them with us, because I wouldn't hand over mine neither."
"I don't think that Shindou-kun will say no." Kumi-chan says as she believes that Shindou might be willing to share.
"Anyways, let's start to plan our move!" We began to plan out how to get the croquette bread before the swirl does.
Okazaki Kumi's P.O.V
(Next Day)
(Classroom 2-B)
"Do you remeber the plan, Kumi-chan?" Tokoha-chan asked me if I remembered what we planned out yesterday.
"Yes!" I nod my head. "I will ask for Shindou-kun's help with my homework to buy some time while you go out and buy the croquette bread."
"He is tied up with Kiba Shion as the best students of this middle school, so this should be a piece of cake for him to solve them and this will probably stall him for a few minutes." Tokoha-chan said. "And as a bonus, you will have your homework finished earlier." She said as I kind of felt bad for doing something like this just to eat.
"Now, Kumi-chan!" Tokoha-chan told me to begin the plan as she quickly left the classroom after classes were over.
"Time for me to go for more croquette bread." Shindou-kun, who finished packing his school books said, confirming Tokoha-chan's fears.
"Shindou-Kun." I stood in front of him with the intention of getting in his way.
"Okazaki." He said my family name. "Do you need something?"
I showed him my notebook, which pretty much told him everything he needed to know.
"You need help with our homework asigment?" Shindou-kun asked to me and I nod my head. "In that case...can you show it to me?"
"Here." I handed him over the notebook alongside the exercice book.
"Let me see..." He began to explain to me how to solve the problem. "You do it like this..."
"...and it's done, now if you don't mind, I have to go." He left his seat and was heading to the door.
'I need to buy Tokoha-chan more time!" I thought as Shindou-kun was about to leave the classroom.
"Wait, there is a subject that I didn't not understand very well and I really need your help!" I made up an excuse to stall for more time.
"Ok. Show me the subject that you are struggling against." I showed him my English book. He patiently explained the subject while correcting any mistakes that I did during his tutoring, which lasted seven minutes. "Did you understood everything, or do you need me to explain it again, Okazaki?"
'Now I feel really terrible for doing something like this after all the time he took to explain everything to me.'
"Yes, thank you, Shindou-kun!" I thanked him for helping me out, although, I kind of felt bad for using that as an excuse for Tokoha-chan to be able to buy us the croquette bread before Shindou-kun could.
"Crap! I must hurry before the croquette bread solds out!" Shindou-kun realized as he saw the time on his phone.
"Okazaki." He suddenly grabbed my shoulders, surprising me.
"Yes, Shindou-kun?" I asked him.
"Please, don't tell anyone what you're about to see. I do not want this to become another rumor." He went to the window, opened and jumped from it to the ground level.
"W-What!?" I ran to the window and saw that Shindou-kun was perfectly fine after performing a jump like that from the second floor and he began to run at a crazy speed.
"He's running just like Sonic the Hedgehog." I was surprised at how fast he was running.
"Oh no, I failed to keep Shindou-kun here long enough!" I turned my phone on and called Tokoha-chan. "He'll caught up to Tokoha-chan soon enough."
"Is there something wrong, Kumi-chan?" Tokoha-chan answered the call.
"Have you already got the croquette bread?" I asked her.
"No. But I will be in the Nishi Bakery in 10 minutes, why do you ask?" She answered me and asked.
"Because Shindou-kun is on the way there at Sonic Speed." I told her.
"What happened?" Tokoha asked me for the details of how Shindou-kun left so fast. "And what do you mean by 'Sonic Speed'?"
Anjou Tokoha's P.O.V
"He jumped from the window!?" I asked, shocked that Shindou actually had managed to jump from the second floor just like that.
"Yes, I'm sorry for failing to stall him any further, Tokoha-chan." Kumi-chan apologized to me on the phone.
"It's ok, Kumi-chan, neither of us could have known that he could be this stubborn." I told Kumi-chan that it was fine. "Seriously, is he even human?"
"Shindou-kun always seemed to be in excelent physical shape during P.E classes." Kumi-chan said as I agreed since Shindou's is an excellent athlete that even Kiba Shion can't match.
"That guy is almost a monster." I said as Shindou's latest feat amazed me in many ways. "But seriously, Shndou is only running fast because of the fear of not being able to buy croquette bread?" It was not like I couldn't understand him, after all, I made this plan in order to get them before he had the chance to buy them out again.
'I will try to hurry up before he arrives there.' I began to run.
"I have to go now, see you later, Kumi-chan." I ended the call as I ran at the best I could.
(2 minutes later)
"Coming through, get out of the way!" I heard Shindou yelling as he quickly passed through me at a very high speed.
"Just as Kumi-chan said, he's running like Sonic." How could he be so fast?
"Oh no!" I began to run even faster, but I didn't managed to caught up to him.
(5 minutes later)
(Nishi Bakery)
"I'm sorry Tokoha-chan, I just sold the last four croquettes two minutes ago." The owner apologized as my head went down from disapointment again.
"Let me guess, a super fast red-haired swirl at Sonic Speed?" Ryuga sneezed as when he entered the cardshop.
"Yes, your super fast chocolate cornet friend." The owner answered. "Although, he seemed to be in a rush to get here and left as quick as he came."
"We failed to buy them again..." I fell on my knees and began to tremble in frustration. "This is so frustrating!"
'I hope that she can come here before the boy and buy them before I get hurt.' Nishi thought as he saw Tokoha's mood getting worse by the second.
"By the way, who's Sonic?" He asked me who Sonic was. "Is he somekind of mascot that you kids are into nowadays?"
"He is the fastest hedgehog in the world!" I yelled at Nishi-san. "And Shindou ran just like him in order to get in MY way!"
"I-I'm sorry." Nishi-san kept apologizing to me.
"I will confront the swirl about it tomorrow!" I made my decision to confront him at school. "I will get some answers out of him!"
Shindou Ryuga's P.O.V
(Card Capital 2)
"That was too close." I arrived upstairs a bit tired after the race that I made for the croquette bread. "I almost thought that they were all sold out."
"Hello, Ryuga." Kamui greeted me and saw me catching my breath. "Why are you so exausted?"
"I was a bit late in getting to the bakery and I almost thought that they were all sold out." I explained to Kamui about the delay that I had at school.
"I see, but I see that you managed to get them." He pointed at the bag I was carrying.
"Yup, I bought the last four ones." I said with a smile at the thought of eating one.
"We only needed three for us to enjoy." Kamui points out. "So why did you bought four of them?"
"I know, but it was for my dinner tonight." Kamui understood as we began to eat after Shin arrived.
"Did you say that Kumi-chan asked for your help with a homework assignment?" Kamui asked and I nod.
"Yeah. It was the first time that she asked for my help to complete an assignment, which it was a bit odd."
"How so?" Shin asked while eating his croquette bread.
"She usually asks Anjou to help her out instead of me, so I thought that something was up, but since it's Okazaki, I quickly dismissed it and helped her, but I still can't shake the feeling that it was intentional." I told them about my small suspicion.
"Could it be that you were on to something?" Kamui asks.
"It could be, but Okazaki Kumi doesn't scheme...at least on her own." Tokoha appeared in my mind as a possible suspect.
'But why would she try to stall me?' I couldn't find a reason for her to do something like that, so I dismissed all my suspicions on them.
"Who cares?" I dismissed the topic. "Let's just eat!" I continued to eat, unaware that a certain green-haired girl was fumming in anger as her peach-haired friend was calming her down.
Anjou Tokoha's P.O.V
(Classroom 2-B)
"Shindou!" I went to his table and started to yell at him, as usual. "Do you even know what you did this time!?"
"What are you talking about, Anjou?" Shindou, who was not aware of my reason to be angry at him, asked.
"You know very well what you've been doing for the past few days, so don't act innocent!" I insisted in making him realize his guilt.
"As I asked before, what are you even talking about?" He asked once again as I just decided to spill the beans since he wasn't getting there.
"Why have you have been buy-" I stopped myself in time, because everyone around us would think that I was a glutton if I even asked why he has been buying our croquette bread for the past few days.
"Buying what?" He asked, but I couldn't say it out loud.
"I-it's nothing." I left Shindou's table and returned to my seat. "Just forget it, ok?"
'She is so weird sometimes.' Ryuga though as Tokoha began to speak with Kumi. 'But why was she so mad?'
(A week later)
After we had failed in getting croquette bread before Shindou for an entire week, I had decided to give upon them since they were always taken by the swirl. But today this was going to be a good Sunday, because we were heading to the Community Center where the Quest that I and Kumi-chan decided to participate would take place.
"I'm nervous..." Kumi-chan said as she was a bit nervous.
"It's a quest for girls, right?" I reasured her that it would be fine. "So take it easy."
(Community Center)
We entered a room where girls were gathered, some eating snacks, chatting and even doing Vanguard fights.
"Oh!" Kumi like what she saw.
"See? It looks fun, doesn't it? I told her that it would be fine.
"Nice to meet you." A girl came to us. "I'm Tahara, the sponsor of this Quest. Thank you for coming." Tahara introduced herself to us.
"I'm Okazaki Kumi, nice to meet you." Kumi introduced herself to Tahara.
"I'm Anjou Tokoha." I introduced myself as well.
"Anjou?" Anjou... Don't tell me..." Tahara almost figured it out.
'Did she caught on it already?' I though, afraid of what would happen when they found out who's my brother.
"Are you related to Anjou Mamoru?" She said, suspecting that I was related to my brother.
"Oh come on! There's no way that Anjou Mamoru's sibling would be here!"
"I recognize her! They had a sibling showdown at the last festival held by the Dragon Empire Branch!"
'I've been found out!' This is going go be so awkward.
"Are really Anjou Mamoru's little sister?" They quickly surrounded me as Kumi-chan just watched.
'That nickname again!'
"No way! I am a big fan of your brother!"
'Why can't you leave my brother out of this?'
"Let's fight!"
"Forget it! I noticed her first, so I get to fight first!"
"Me too!"
"I'm so proud to say that I fought Mamoru-sama's little sister!"
'That has nothing to do with my brother!'
"Hey, let's be friends, little sister!"
'My name is not "little sister", it's Anjou Tokoha!'
"Stop!" I was tired of being bothered by them because they just kept mentioning my brother.
"This was supposed to be a fun quest!" I said out loud. "This has nothing to do with who is the little sister of whom !"
"But you are his little sister, right?"
'Yes, but that has nothing to do with why I am here!'
"Have you already organized the details of the tournament that was going to be made here?" I asked Tahara, who became a bit nervous by this question.
"Um... I thought that we could figure all that out when everyone got here..." She didn't had anything planned at all, hadn't she?
"So let's get started!" I managed to find an excuse to get away from the mini-crowd. "If you don't have a tournament bracket, I will make one!"
"Really? That would be great..." Tahara said with some relief.
"Leave it to me!" I boldly declared.
"So cool!"
"She's not the little sister of a clan leader for nothing!"
'Don't say something that has nothing to do with this!'
"I bet that she is a strong fighter, just like her brother!"
'I'm nothing like my brother!'
"There's no way that she'd be weak since she is Mamoru-sama's little sister."
'Why do you people keep comparing me to my brother!?' I completely gave up on that and began to work out the details for the tournament.
"T-Tokoha-chan..." Kumi couldn't help but to notice that Tokoha was really sad.
"Sorry Kumi-chan. Help me here a bit." I asked for her help.
"O-okay..." Kumi-chan accepted, althought, she wasn't much of a help.
'Tokoha-chan is really sad.' Kumi thought to herself as she saw her green-haired friend making the tournament bracket. 'I've never seen her like this before.'
(2 Hours later)
"Thank you, Anjou-san. The Quest was a major success thanks to you." Tahara thanked me for the Quest's success.
"As expected of Mamoru-sama's little sister."
'That again. Why placing expectations on "Mamoru's little sister", instead of Anjou Tokoha?'
"Give our brother our best regards." They left the entrance to go on their separate ways.
'My brother always comes out as a topic. But nothing about Anjou Tokoha.'
"Shall we go?" I asked Kumi-chan.
"Yeah." She agreed and we left.
(At the river)
"Sorry about that." I apologized to Kumi-chan for what happened at the Quest as we took a quick stop in the river. "It was supposed to be a quiet event."
"It's okay. I am the one who should be apologizing since I couldn't do anything to help you." Kumi-chan also apologized for being unable to help me.
"When did it start?" I asked, already knowing the answer from inside. "If I lose it's always, 'Even though she is Anjou Mamoru's little sister...', but when I win it changes to 'That's because she is Anjou Mamoru's little sister.' ."
"Tokoha-chan." Kumi-chan kept listening to my complains.
"I am fully aware that neither me or my brother are at fault for this, but..." I couldn't help but feel sad that nobody there even tried to acknowledge me as the Vanguard fighter, Anjou Tokoha instead of 'Anjou Mamoru's little sister'.
"So that's why you said that you weren't entering the tournament?" Kumi-chan finally understood why I wanted to avoid entering the event. Because if I entered, I would be treated as Anjou Mamoru's little sister instead of Anjou Tokoha and that would really mean that I don't really matter as a person instead of the image of being my brother's little sister. And I didn't want for that to happen.
"It used to about just having fun." I remembered the times when I just wanted to enjoy Vanguard with my brother and smile, despite of who won or lost. "How did things got to this point?" I looked at the sky, wondering if I could enjoy that kind of freedom someday.
"Darn it! There's no point in feeling bad for my self right now!" I said, not feeling any self pity anymore.
"I'm going to try again with Nishi Bakery's croquette bread!" I was determined to get them this time, because I had a feeling that I would succeed this time.
"Ok!" Kumi-chan nod her head as we went to Nishi's Bakery.
(Nishi Bakery)
"That's Shindou-kun over there, isn't he?" We saw Shindou was being given a large bag by Nishi-san.
'How long does he plan to get in my way ?' I won't let him get away with this! "Because this time I won't give up on them!"
"I won't let him get in my way today!" I began to run in his direction to claim my prize. "He will not ruin my chance to eat croquette bread again!"
"Wait Tokoha-chan!" Kumi called out, but I didn't listen as I kept running in his direction as a turned his head around and saw me.
'Prepare yourself, swirl head!' My eyes had a fire that didn't lit in a very long time. 'Because I won't give up this time.'
Shindou Ryuga's P.O.V
(Nishi Bakery)
"Thank you for buying." Nishi-san handed me a bag full of delicious looking croquette bread and I was about to leave until I saw a certain green-haired and peach-haired duo as the previous was running in my direction.
'Anjou?' I wondered why she was in such a rush. 'Wait a second...is she heading straight for me?'
"Shindou!" Tokoha rushed at me and tried to snatch the bag from me, but I took a step back and grabbed her wrist with my other hand without applying any strenght to prevent myself from hurting her.
"What's your problem?" I asked Tokoha as she kept her glare at me while trying to free herself from my grip passed that look to Nishi-san, then at the croquette bread display that was now empty thanks to me.
"I-I'm sorry, please don't hurt me." Nishi-san apologized to Tokoha as she turned her head and meet my gaze.
"Why do you keep buying our croquette bread?" Tokoha asked me with a distressed face as she was still struggling for freedom.
"When did it the croquette bread became your property?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as I let her go. "And the reason for why I keep buying them because they are now my new favorite snack, of course."
"And how many of them are in that bag?" Tokoha asked, knowing that it wasn't just 2 or 3 croquette bread that were inside the paper bag.
"Seven of them." I told them, making a tick mark appear on her hair.
"Why seven, Shindou-kun?" Kumi, who was curious of why I bought so many of them, asked. "You don't need to eat so many of them, do you?"
"Three of them are for my clients who asked me to get them, one for me and another three for my dinner." I answered Kumi's question with a proud face. However, Tokoha wasn't amused in the least by my answer.
"You could have least give 2 of them to us!" Tokoha yelled at me. "So, don't be greedy!"
"Why should I hand them over to a rude girl who clearly had the intent to steal?" I refused while scolding her actions, which lacked maturity.
"Why don't we settle this with a fight?" She proposed as I was about to refuse, until I saw the look of her eyes, which I never saw from her before.
'She's different from before.' I couldn't help but to feel jealous of the determination that her eyes were showing.
"I will accept your challenge, Anjou." I decided to fight her in order to find out what made her this deternimed as it was different from her usual look.
Anjou Tokoha's P.O.V
"If I win, I get the entire bag." I demanded him to hand over the bag if I won.
"Fine by me." Shindou agreed.
"The field is a forest in the green continent of Zoo. Is that okay with you?" I choose the battlefield, but I asked if he was fine with it.
"Yeah, I don't really care where we fight." He replied.
"Which one of us is the most deserving of the miraculous croquette breads?" I made a declaration. "This will decide it!"
"Yes, only the most deserving individuals can get their hands on this divine food and taste it!" Shindou declared as well.
"Good luck, Tokoha-chan, Shindou-kun." Kumi-chan wished us luck.
"Stand up, Vanguard!" I stood my Vanguard.
"Stand up, Owari no Vanguard!" Shindou stood his Vanguard as well.
"Spring-Heralding Maiden, Ozu (G0/ 5000)!" A small maiden appeared in the middle of the forest.
"Tick-Tock Dracokid (G0/ 5000)!" The green dragon appeared in front of Ozu in the same environment.
Turn 1 - Anjou Tokoha
"I ride Budding Maiden, Diane (G1/ 8000)!" Ozu became a maiden wielding a pink sword.
"I am moving Ozu to the back and I end my turn." Ozu appeard behind Diane.
Anjou Tokoha's Board - (Budding Maiden, Diane - (VC) ), (Spring-Heralding Maiden, Ozu - (RC) behind (VG))
Damage [] [] [] [] [] [] Hand:5 GB:0
Drop Zone:
Shindou Ryuga's Board- (Tick-Tock Dracokid - (VC) )
Damage [] [] [] [] [] [] Hand:5 GB:0
Drop Zone:
Turn 2 - Shindou Ryuga
"Draw, Ride! Masergear Dragon (G1/ 8000)!" Masergear took Tick-Tock's place as the Vanguard.
"I will move Tick-Tock behind my Vanguard and call another Masergear Dragon and attack with it (8000)." The Masergear that he just called fired a laser from it's chest.
"Guard! Maiden of Dimorphotheca (G0/ 5000)!" She took the hit in Diane's place.
"Boosted by Tick-Tock, my Masergear will attack your Vanguard (13000) !" His Vanguard and Tick-Tock fired at the same time.
"No guard." I didn't guard this attack.
"Drive trigger check, none [Glimmer Breath Dragon (G2/ 9000)]." The attack created an explosion.
"Damage check,none [Knight of Transience, Marehope (G1/ 7000)]." I placed my card in the damage.
"I end my turn." Shindou ended his turn and looked at me.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked me to my confusion.
"What are you talking about?" I asked back.
"It must have been my imagination." He muttered to himself.
Anjou Tokoha's Board - (Budding Maiden, Diane - (VC) ), (Spring-Heralding Maiden, Ozu - (RC) behind (VG))
Damage [Knight of Transience, Marehope] [] [] [] [] [] Hand:4 GB:0
Drop Zone: 1x Maiden of Dimorphotheca
Shindou Ryuga's Board- (Masergear Dragon - (VC) ), (Tick-Tock Dracokid - (RC) behind (VG) ), (Masergear Dragon - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row )
Damage [] [] [] [] [] [] Hand:5 GB:0
Drop Zone:
Turn 3 - Anjou Tokoha
"I ride Blossoming Maiden, Cela (G2/ 10000) !" Diane became Cela.
"I will be calling Grace Knight (G2/ 9000) and Valkyrie of Reclamation, Padmini (G1/ 7000)." Grace Knight and Padmini appeared by my side.
"Boosted by Ozu, I will attack your Vanguard (15000)!
"No guard." Shindou didn't guard.
"Drive trigger check,none [Full Bloom Dragon (G3/ 10000)]." Cela's staff hit his Vanguard.
"Damage check,none [Steam Striker,Workin (G1/ 7000)]."
"Boosted by Padmini, Grace attacks your Vanguard (16000)!" Grace fired an arrow.
"No guard." He didn't guard once again as the arrow connected.
"Damage Check,none [Smokegear Dragon (G2/ 10000)]." He placed his card in the damage zone.
"I end my turn." I ended my turn and a sudden realization came to me as I looked at him.
'Come to think of it, this is the first time that I am fighting him directly.' To think that our first Vanguard fight would be over food, it was really ironic because I always wanted to fight him ever since I saw that fight against the bully at school and now I got my wish.
Anjou Tokoha's Board - (Blossoming Maiden, Cela - (VC) ), (Spring-Heralding Maiden, Ozu - (RC) behind (VG)) , (Grace Knight - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row ), (Valkyrie of Reclamation, Padmini - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the back row )
Damage [Knight of Transience, Marehope] [] [] [] [] [] Hand:3 GB:0
Drop Zone: 1x Maiden of Dimorphotheca
Shindou Ryuga's Board- (Masergear Dragon - (VC) ), (Tick-Tock Dracokid - (RC) behind (VG) ), (Masergear Dragon - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row )
Damage [Steam Striker,Workin] [Smokegear Dragon] [] [] [] [] Hand:5 GB:0
Drop Zone:
Turn 4 - Shindou Ryuga
"Stand and Draw! Ride! Glimmer Breath Dragon (G2/ 9000) !" Glimmer Breath appeared on the field.
"I will call Steam Striker,Workin (G1/ 7000) behing Masergear and Glimmer Breath Dragon!" Workin and another Glimmer Breath appeared as well.
"Glimmer Breath attacks Grace Knight (9000)!" Glimmer Breath fired his laser at Grace.
'My hand is not good to handle his attacks right now.' I had no choice but to declare a no guard.
"No guard." Grace was destroyed.
"With a boost from Tick-Tock, I attack your Vanguard (14000)!
"No guard."
"Drive check,Get critical trigger[Heart Thump Worker (G0/4000)] ! I give the critical to my Vanguard (Crit 1-2) and the power goes to Masergear (8000-13000)!"
"Damage check. First check, none [Maiden of Passionflower (G1/ 6000/ Sentinel)]. Second Check, a heal trigger [Fairy Light Dragon (G0/ 5000)]. I heal one point of damage and give all effects to my Vanguard (10000-15000)."
'This is bad, because now he will...' I knew what was coming next.
"I activate Tick-Tock's skill to send Ozu to the bottom of your Deck." Ozu disappeared in a purple hole. "And I draw 1 card." He drew a card.
"Boosted by Workin, Masergear attacks your Vanguard (20000)!" Masergear fired his laser as Workin appeared behind Cela to cut any escape route.
"No guard."
"Damage check,none [Maiden of Gladiolus (G2/ 9000)]."
"Your move Anjou." Shindou ended his turn.
Anjou Tokoha's Board - (Blossoming Maiden, Cela - (VC) ),(Valkyrie of Reclamation, Padmini - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the back row )
Damage [Maiden of Passionflower] [Fairy Light Dragon] [Maiden of Gladiolus] [] [] [] Hand:3 GB:0
Drop Zone: 1x Maiden of Dimorphotheca ; 1x Knight of Transience, Marehope
Shindou Ryuga's Board- (Glimmer Breath Dragon - (VC) ), (Masergear Dragon - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row ) , (Steam Striker,Workin - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the back row ), (Glimmer Breath Dragon - (RC) to the right of the (VG) in the front row)
Damage [Steam Striker,Workin] (Facedown) [Smokegear Dragon] [] [] [] [] Hand:4 GB:0
Drop Zone:
Turn 5 - Anjou Tokoha
"Tokoha-chan..." Kumi-chan was worried about my current situation.
"As expected from the person who beat Jaime Alcaraz and my brother." I couldn't help but to feel jealous of him because he keeps on surpassing every obstacle that appears before him, unlike me, who just gives up.
What's wrong?" He asked out loud.
"What do you mean?" I'm fine, I'm absolutely fine...
"I have been feeling nothing but sadness from your fight." He points out. "Where is the fire that you had in your eyes a few minutes ago?"
"It's just your imagination!" I yelled at him for almost figuring it out.
"Tokoha-chan..."
"Twinkling bub, it's time to blossom! Ride! Ranunculus Flower Maiden, Ahsha (G3/ 11000)!" I tuned into my Avatar unit that is like a sister to me.
"I move Padmini to the front and attack your Vanguard with Ahsha (11000)!" Ahsha launched herself at his Glimmer Breath.
"No guard."
"Drive check,Get critical trigger [Maiden of Dimorphotheca[G0/ 5000)] ! Giving the critical to Ahsha (Crit 1-2) and the power goes to Padmini (7000-12000). Second Check, none [Ranunculus Flower Maiden, Ahsha(G3/ 11000)]" Ahsha's staff hit his Vanguard, making it fall.
"Damage check. First check, none [Steam Maiden, Arlim (G1/ 6000/ Sentinel)]. Second Check, get draw trigger [Luckypot Dracokid (G0/ 4000)]. I draw 1 card and give all effects to my Vanguard (9000-14000)."
"Padmini attacks the Glimmer Breath rear-guard (12000)!" Padmini aimed for his rear-guard.
"Guard!" Steam Breath Dragon blocked the attack.
"This is my Vanguard!" I declared.
"Is it?" He asked, confusing me once again. "It's full of doubts."
"What do you mean by that?" I was starting to get annoyed with this enigma of his.
Anjou Tokoha's Board - (Ranunculus Flower Maiden, Ahsha - (VC) ),(Valkyrie of Reclamation, Padmini - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row )
Damage [Maiden of Passionflower] [Fairy Light Dragon] [Maiden of Gladiolus] [] [] [] Hand:5 GB:0
Drop Zone: 1x Maiden of Dimorphotheca ; 1x Knight of Transience, Marehope
Shindou Ryuga's Board- (Glimmer Breath Dragon - (VC) ), (Masergear Dragon - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row ) , (Steam Striker,Workin - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the back row ), (Glimmer Breath Dragon - (RC) to the right of the (VG) in the front row)
Damage [Steam Striker,Workin](Facedown) [Smokegear Dragon] [Steam Maiden, Arlim] [Luckypot Dracokid] [] [] Hand:3 GB:0
Drop Zone:1x Steam Breath Dragon
Turn 6 - Shindou Ryuga
"I mean that you are sad for some reason." He said, surprising me and Kumi-chan.
"Just fight already!" I couldn't believe that he was figuring me out.
"If that is what you want. Bring me the Future that I seek to create! Ride! Chronojet Dragon(G3/11000) !" His avatar unit showed up as the forest's wind stopped in time.
"Generation Zone...Release!" He discarted another copy of Chronojet Dragon from his hand to pay the cost as Chronojet began his STRIDE.
"Come from the future and and bring a new tomorrow! Stride Generation! Interdimensional Dragon, Ragnaclock Dragon (G4/ 26000)!" This was really bad.
"I activate Chronojet's Stride skill to send Padmini to the bottom of your Deck." And like that, my last rear-guard was gone.
"Now I will call Heart Thump Worker (G0/4000) behind Glimmer Breath and attack your Vanguard with Glimmer (13000)."
"Guard! Maiden of Dimorphotheca (SD 21000) !"
"Ragnaclock attacks your Vanguard (26000)! Skill activate! By paying 1 counterblast and flipping one copy from the G-Zone face-up you can't normal call grade 0 cards from your hand to the GC during this battle." Ragnaclock fired it's attack. "And with Thump Worker's skill, I draw 1 card and add 5000 power (26000-31000)."
'There's no point to guard since I don't have any Sentinels in my hand.'
"No guard."
"Triple Drive check. First check,Get critical trigger[Steam Battler, Meshda (G0/ 5000)]! Giving the critical to Ragnaclock (Crit 1-2) and the power to Masergear (8000-13000)! Second Check,none [Steam Maiden, Arlim (G1/ 6000/ sentinel)]. Third check,none [Steam Maiden, Arlim (G1/ 6000/ sentinel)].
"Damage trigger check. First check,none [Maiden of Passionflower (G1/ 6000/ Sentinel)]. Second check,none Maiden of Passionflower (G1/ 6000/ Sentinel)."
"Since I am at least Generation Break 1, Workin gains 4000 power during my turn if my Vanguard is of the Gear Dragon race (7000-11000)."
"With a boost from Workin, Masergear goes in for the finisher (24000)."
"Guard! Fairy Light Dragon (SD 21000) and Knight of Transience, Marehope (SD 26000)!" That was too close.
"You're amazing Tokoha-chan."
"Do you respect me a bit now?" I asked as I barely managed to survive this turn.
"Yeah. As expected from Anjou Tokoha, the green-haired yeller." Shindou said, but from my point of view, I heard something different.
"As expected from Anjou Mamoru's little sister." That name again...
"Even you of all people say that..." My tone was empty. "When all I wanted was to have a fight with someone who doesn't treat me like that, asides from Kumi-chan..."
"Anjou?" I couldn't hear his voice "What's wrong?"
"My name is Anjou Tokoha! Not Anjou Mamoru's little sister!" The frustration that was accumulated inside of me finally went out as I snapped at him.
'What's gotten into...could it be that she thinks that I said the name she hates?' Ryuga though as Tokoha was snapping at him.
"Tokoha-chan, Shindou-kun didn't called you that." I was too angry to properly listen to anyone right now.
Anjou Tokoha's Board - (Ranunculus Flower Maiden, Ahsha - (VC) )
Damage [Maiden of Passionflower] [Fairy Light Dragon] [Maiden of Gladiolus] [Maiden of Passionflower] [Maiden of Passionflower] [] Hand:2 GB:0
Drop Zone: 1x Maiden of Dimorphotheca ; 1x Knight of Transience, Marehope
Shindou Ryuga's Board- (Chronojet Dragon - (VC) ), (Masergear Dragon - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row ) , (Steam Striker,Workin - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the back row ), (Glimmer Breath Dragon - (RC) to the right of the (VG) in the front row)
Damage [Steam Striker,Workin](Facedown) [Smokegear Dragon](Facedown) [Steam Maiden, Arlim](Facedown) [Luckypot Dracokid] [] [] Hand:5 GB:2
Generation Zone Face-up: 2x Interdimensional Dragon, Ragnaclock Dragon
Drop Zone:1x Steam Breath Dragon ; 1x Chronojet Dragon
Turn 7 - Anjou Tokoha
"Stride! Flower Princess of Spring, Arborea (G4/ 26000)!"
"What?" Shindou asked.
'She just did a misplay right now.' Ryuga though as he was aware that Tokoha had 'Flower Princess of Spring's Beginning, Primavera' as a better Stride option right now. 'If she had called one of the last cards, she could use Primavera's skilll to call two more copies of that unit and increase her odds of getting a trigger. But I guess that she is too clouded to reason properly.'
"I will attack your Vanguard (26000)!" I was out of control.
"Perfect Guard!" Ryuga discarted the other Arlim and countercharged.
I didn't got a single trigger or Sentinel and his turn was about to start, which means that it will be over when he strides Ragnaclock Dragon again. This going to be a "Even though she is Mamoru's little sister" from his part after I lose now.
Anjou Tokoha's Board - (Ranunculus Flower Maiden, Ahsha - (VC) )
Damage [Maiden of Passionflower] [Fairy Light Dragon] [Maiden of Gladiolus] [Maiden of Passionflower] [Maiden of Passionflower] [] Hand:5 GB:1
Generation Zone Face-up: 1x Flower Princess of Spring, Arborea
Drop Zone: 1x Maiden of Dimorphotheca ; 2x Knight of Transience, Marehope ; 1xFairy Light Dragon ; 1x Full Bloom Dragon
Shindou Ryuga's Board- (Chronojet Dragon - (VC) ), (Masergear Dragon - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the front row ) , (Steam Striker,Workin - (RC) to the left of the (VG) in the back row ), (Glimmer Breath Dragon - (RC) to the right of the (VG) in the front row)
Damage [Steam Striker,Workin](Facedown) [Smokegear Dragon] [Steam Maiden, Arlim](Facedown) [Luckypot Dracokid] [] [] Hand:3 GB:2
Generation Zone Face-up: 2x Interdimensional Dragon, Ragnaclock Dragon
Drop Zone:1x Steam Breath Dragon ; 1x Chronojet Dragon ; 2x Steam Maiden, Arlim
Turn 8 - Shindou Ryuga
"I think that you misunderstood something." What did I misunderstood?
"I didn't call you that 'Mamoru's little sister' because I know that you seemed to hate when that name is mentioned." He didn't?
"Sorry if you mistook my words for something like that." You didn't do anything wrong, I was the one who jumped to conclusions once again.
"But I was having fun, because this was the first time that I saw you doing your best, unlike in a few fights I've seen you taking part of." I used to think like that a long time ago.
"Don't let anyone's expectations to beat you down and don't quit." What do you mean by not quit?
"You shouldn't let what other people say about you." You mean the 'little sister' ?
"I don't know exactly what you have been through for the last days without getting a croquette bread." He believes that this is still about food? "But you shouldn't let your sadness consume you."
"Look at Okazaki there." He pointed a worried looking Kumi-chan. "She's been like that since you snapped, and I'm also concerned about it." I see, I was so centered in that for the last few days, that I was getting more and more angrier at myself and began to lash at the people around me, even he who had tolerated this attitude of mine just now and worried them.
He strided Ragnaclock Dragon and attacked me for the final damage as my mind was at finally at peace, rid of the worries that had me filled for the last week.
"Tokoha-chan."
'He's a real idiot, but... I don't hate it.'
"I lost!" I said that with a satisfied expression.
"Thank you for a good fight, Shindou." I thanked him for the fight and he said nothing.
"Hey...Shindou?" He just gave me the bag.
"Just keep them before I change my mind about it." He said as he went to his bike.
"Now I have to deal with Misaki-san's wrath." He muttered as I managed to hear what he said. "I am not looking forward to this at all." With that he took off in his bike.
"Poor Shindou-kun..." Kumi-chan said as I also felt pity for him after figuring about that his client was the rumored scary shop manager.
"We should return these." I and Kumi-chan went to cardcapital. "We didn't deserve them after all he said to me, and we can't eat all of them."
(30 minutes later...)
Shindou Ryuga's P.O.V
(Cardcapital 2)
"I am so dead." I arrived at the shop and locked my bike downstairs and went up and entered inside. "Misaki is going to murder all of us."
"Where are the croquette breads?" Shin asked me with a curious look as he noticed that I wasn't carrying anything with me.
"You see..." I told them that the croquette breads were sold out.
"What do you mean sold out!?" Kamui yelled at me with a small hint of fear. "We are doomed!" He held his head.
"This is bad." Shin was shaking in fear, not that I could blame him for it, after all we were in deep shit. "I promissed Misaki that I would get one for her to eat." His phone rang and we saw that it was Misaki's contact, Shin and Kamui shook in fear.
"I will pick it up." I took the phone as Shin and Kamui went back while making a no no sign to answer the call.
'You bunch of cowards.' I thought as I while answering the call, although I was scared as well. 'Sometimes, a man must take the fall in order to rise even stronger than ever.'
"Hello, Misaki-san?" I answered to see if anyone was on the line.
"Is that you Ryuga?" She asked me about the croquette bread while Kamui and Shin were shivering in pure fear as I was annoyed by their actions. "Did you managed to get the croquette bread? I'm looking forward to it."
"I will explain everything in a few moments, after Shin-san and Kamui-san stop hidding and come to hear it from you as well." I didn't gave them much of a choice, since if I was going to be killed, I might as well drag them down to hell with me.
"Did something happen?" Misaki asked as I placed the phone on speak mode so that everyone around the store could hear what she was saying."And why did you picked the call instead of Shin?"
"I picked up because Shin-san is over there with Kamui-san at the corner of the store shaking in fear for some reason." I told her as I hear a smack sound. I turned around and saw Kamui with his hand on his forehead.
Shin on the otherside was shaking his head while pinching the bridge of his nose.
'You two are pathetic.' I sneered at them in thought and shook my head.
"About the croquette breads, I gave them to Anjou and Okazaki." I admited that I gave them away to the girls.
"You know that you were given you the money to buy mine and Shin's right?" Misaki said a bit annoyed by this as Kamui and Shin almost fainted from fear. "But I will allow you to explain yourself since you admited what you did."
"Earlier when I saw Anjou at the Nishi's bakery, she seemed to be in a bad mood and challenged me to a fight." I began to tell her what transpired between us. "I was about to refuse when I saw something that I've never seen in her for the first time."
"I saw her passion to fight for something that she desired." I said as I recalled the look she had in her eyes. "It was a beautufill sight. So beautifull that I was jealous of her."
"But during our fight, I could sense that something was bothering her." I made a small pause. "It turned out that it had something to do with the fact that she is always refered as Mamoru-san's little sister instead of her own name."
"..." Misaki and the others kept listenning to my tale quietly.
"The reason for such pain was most likely because Anjou, who only wished to be called by her own name, get's treated as 'Anjou Mamoru's little sister' instead of 'Anjou Tokoha' due to being in the same family as a clan leader. so I can only imagine how lonely she must have felt each time that she was called like that." I recalled how lonely I felt when tragedy felt upon me in my previous life, so I could understand the feeling of not being needed as a person. "Because it must have made her feel like what only mattered was the 'little sister' instead of the person herself."
"Didn't you say something like that to us the other day?" Kamui, who was still on the corner, finally asked.
"Yes, but what I didn't said back then, is that Mamoru-san is aware that Tokoha avoids fighting him for some reason that he doesnt understand, specially why she even stopped fighting him." I remembered what we talked about the other day. "But deep inside I believe that he already knows what's really going on, but he can't find it in his heart to tell her because he doesn't want to hurt his precious little sister or he is still confused about it, despite being the person who he is."
"It's not anyone's fault, but the bitter feeling always remains even if it was unintentional." Misunderstandings can lead to sadness, distrust and worse of all, it creates a web of confusion that can never be completely recovered from unless it's solved, but that is still not enough to erase the feeling that was left behind.
"If someone is to have expectations on someone, that person will break at some point like it happened during our fight earlier." Tokoha's outburst has a clear proof of that.
"And the only one who can solve that is Anjou Tokoha herself, so it's not my place to decide for her."
"So even after I won, I couldn't help but wanting to give them the croquette bread." I said recalling my victory over her. "It was the first time that I saw her gaining a heart as a fighter instead of the usual boring person who is always yelling at me for almost no reason."
"Didn't you regret giving them up after you won?" Misaki finally spoke and asked.
"Nah. I don't regret doing that if it meant helping her out a bit, even if she's annoying sometimes." I said with a smile in my face. "After all she's the fighter, Anjou Tokoha." I finished giving my explanation and now I was awaiting for my sentence, which most likely be guilty, not aware that a certain pair was listenning to this conversation.
(A few minutes earlier...)
Anjou Tokoha's P.O.V
We arrived at the shop to hear Kamui-san yelling at Shindou as we stayed behind the door to listen to whatever they were saying when a phone rang.
"Hello, Misaki-san?" We overheard him speaking with Misaki-san as Shin-san and Kamui-san were shaking in fear with each word that was being said and even made a few pathetic reactions.
"About the croquette breads, I gave them to Anjou and Okazaki." We heard him describe what exactly happened between us during our fight and how much in a sour mood I was at the time, so much that I vented my anger at him during the fight.
"Earlier when I saw her at the Nishi's bakery, she seemed to be in a bad mood and challenged me to a fight." I began to tell her what transpired between us. "I was about to refuse when I saw something that I've never seen in her for the first time."
'What did he saw about me?' I was curious about what he was going to say.
"I saw her passion to fight for something that she desired." Shindou said as he kept talking. "It was a beautifull sight. So beautifull that I was jealous of her."
'Beautifull?' My face went red from his words, but returned to normal afterwards. 'Why was he jealous when he is strong?'
"But during our fight, I could sense that something was bothering her." He revealed the source of my sadness. "It turned out that it had something to do with the fact that she is always refered as Mamoru-san's little sister instead of her own name."
'So he noticed as well.' He managed to figure out what was actually bothering me.
"The reason for such pain was most likely because Anjou, who only wished to be called by her own name, get's treated as 'Anjou Mamoru's little sister' instead of 'Anjou Tokoha' due to being in the same family as a clan leader. so I can only imagine how lonely she must have felt each time that she was called like that." Shindou was making a perfect description of how I suffered because of who I am. "Because it must have made her feel like what only mattered was the 'little sister' instead of the person herself."
'He understands how I feel.' I couldn't believe that someone knew how I felt despite not telling him anything about me.
I kept listening to each word that he said about me and my brother, but I didn't had the courage to enter inside and say anything as we both knew that he was telling the truth.
"Nah. I don't regret doing that if it meant helping her out a bit, even if she's annoying sometimes." Shindou said with a smile. "After all she's the fighter, Anjou Tokoha." He had acknowledged me as Anjou Tokoha instead of the usual 'Mamoru's little sister' that everyone treats me as.
'What is this feeling?' My heart felt heavier for some reason. I was ashamed and yet, so happy that someone asides from my family and Kumi-chan didn't treat me as the little sister of a clan leader, but as Anjou Tokoha.
"Are you alright, Tokoha-chan?" Kumi-chan whispered to me. "Your face is red." she pointed that my face that was red as I couldn't understand why it was burning, but I was really happy because of his words.
Shindou Ryuga's P.O.V
"In that case, you are forgiven, but before I end the call...SHIN! KAMUI!" Misaki adressed to them as I was a bit afraid of what may happen to those cowards. "I know that you are listenning to this call, so pick this phone right now!" Shin and Kamui picked it up with tears as they were forced to get a lashing from Misaki.
I heard the sound of the door opening. "The store is about to close, you have to come...Anjou, Okazaki?" Tokoha, whose face was red for some reason and Kumi walked into the store with the bag of croquette bread that I gave them earlier.
"We came here to give this back to you." Tokoha softly shoved the bag into me." I am sorry for being so mean to you earlier."
"You didn't need to apologize, it's not like you did something wrong." I got an idea as they were about to leave the shop.
"Do the two of you want to join us and eat these?" I invited them to eat with us, pointing at the bag.
Misaki arrived a few minutes later and scolded Shin and Kamui even further for their cowardice and gave them the lecture of their lifes.
'Yikes.' I thought as mini-ghosts were coming out of Kamui and Shin's mouths. 'Remind me to never piss her off.'
"Delicious!" Kumi said with a happy look.
"Aren't these the best?" Tokoha asked me and Kumi she took another bite from her snack. "These are number one!"
"Couldn't agree more." I answered her as we made a lot of topics regarding this wonderfull snack.
"How does it feel to eat the miraculous croquette bread, after a whole week of failing to get them, Anjou? "I asked Tokoha who in turn avoided looking at me for some reason. "Are you feeling alright, Anjou?"
"Y-yeah, thank you for letting us eat with you despite what happened between us earlier, Shindou." The red faced Tokoha thanked me as I kept eating my croquete bread.
"No problem." I continued to eat mine. "I never get tired of eating them."
'I think that I will try to challenge myself once more...' Tokoha thought as she kept eating her snack and looked at Ryuga and smiled at him. 'And I won't lose to you the next time we fight because you acknowledged me.'
(Next day during break)
"Here." A red faced Tokoha handed me over some money.
"Money?" I asked. "I don't recall gambling with you."
"It's the money for the croquette bread that I and Kumi-chan ate, don't you dare to return it." Tokoha didn't gave me any opportunity to refuse. "And the extra we just gave you is to buy for all of us after classes are over!"
'That was weird.' I thought as she went back to her seat and talked with Kumi, who seemed to be amused for some reason. 'Who cares as long I can eat for free.'
(Four days later)
(Card Capital 2)
I was at Card Capital 2, listenning the tale of how this Lamb called Ogawa fell in love with a girl that he fought one day when he came here to the shop. The description wall so well done that I could see the entire scenario hapening from my mind...and now he made a weird pose.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked him with my mouth still opened because of his weird pose, the person in front of me quickly came to his senses.
"F-forget what you saw just now!" The lamb told me to forget his embarassing moment and I did so in order to forget the 'visual' .
"You're trying to tell me that you fell in love with this girl and you want me to find her, so that you can return the 'Battle Cupic, Nociel' card that she left behind here to her?" I asked him, holding the said card as he gave a shy nod. "I get it. I will find her for you, so leave it to me."
"Y-yeah, but..." He seemed that he wanted to ask me something as I was about to leave with the card.
"But what?" I asked since he wasn't saying out loud.
"You really are a brute, aren't you, Shindou?" Tokoha, who was with Shion, scolded me for no reason.
"What did I do this time?" I asked her, not understanding why I got scolded just now. "I just offered myself to find the girl that he likes, right?" The lamb blushed when I said that.
"Sheesh, you're so dense, Shindou." Tokoha admonished me.
"You still don't get it?" Shion also did the same.
"Get to the point already." I said, tired of their charade. "I've got to act like cupid and find this lamb's lost girlfriend, so be quick about it."
"G-girlfriend?" The lamb's muttered with a red face. "I'm not a lamb, am I?"
"The point is that this guy..." Tokoha began her explanation.
"I'm Ogawa." The lamb gave out his name since Tokoha didn't know, interrupting her.
"Ogawa-san fought that girl just once and fell in love with...huh? You knew that he fell in love?" Tokoha asked with a surprised face.
"I already knew that this guy fell in love with her from the way that he was acting around me just now, so thank you very much for telling me something that I already know, Anjou." I was really insulted by this right now. "Do you think that I'm stupid or something?"
"No, but I thought that you didn't realize that he fell in love with that girl." Tokoha said.
"Don't say that in front of everybody!" The red-faced Ogawa was now being stared by everyone around, who were making teasing grins.
"If you don't mind, we have a Quest to complete." Shion tried to grab the card from my hand, but I caught his wrist before that.
"You're the third person who assigned to this Quest." Tokoha also tried to grab the card from my hand, but I swep it away.
"What are you trying to do?" I asked them as she was still atempting to steal it from me and let Shion's wrist go. "And what do you mean by 'third person' ?"
"Nobody told me that 'extra' people were involved." I gave Ogawa a dangerous look. "So, would you mind to fill me in, Lamb?"
"To tell you the truth..." Ogawa explained that he also asked for reinforcements without letting me know. "...and so I decided to change it a few seconds after you accepted it."
"You doublebooked us!?" We stared at him for double-crossing us by not telliing me about them participating as well. "Why didn't you tell me that from the beginning?"
"Because I thought that you might agree regardless of the extra number of people." Ogawa said, not taking consideration about my opinion on the matter.
'You really think that I would agree to something that I didn't know of? This is no Under Quest and yet, this feels like one already.' I recalled what happened during one of the Under Quests that I took upon, which consisted of getting a certain card at a certain spot and it was supposed to be a solo quest. But when I got to the place in the marked spot, I found out that there were 59 others as well who didn't know that others were involved as well and only one person could get it, so we had to fight to decide who got it in the end through a Vanguard Battle Royale tournament, which I won after defeating the other 59 people. And when I met the guy who had organized the quest, he had the gall to say that it was enjoyable to watch the ants fighting amongst themselves for the prize like that when asked about the doublebooking, I on the other hand, got really pissed off and kicked his butt after he gave me out the points.
"Did you just decieve me?" I asked him with a dangerous tone.
"What's gotten into you?" Tokoha, who saw that I was mad, "You don't usually react like this."
"It's that someone did that to me once in a Under Quest that I took and it was a huge mess." I explained them what happened.
"A battle royale of 60 people!?" Kamui shouted as everyone in the store looked at him. "Why didn't you told me about this!? This Kamui would have joined that Under Quest!"
"I'm telling Misaki-san about this." I whispered to him with a amused tone. "You're not supposed to say anything about the Underquests in the shop."
"Please don't!" Kamui begged for me to not run my mouth. "I'll pay."
'I am not going to tell her because you already got it bad the other day because of the croquette bread.' I thought as I turned to the trio.
"Now, you get it why I wasn't amused by the double-booking that Lamb there did just now?" I asked them.
'Seriously, who employs 60 people, without letting them know, so that they will fight amongst each other?' Shion and Ogawa wondered as Tokoha was not surprised by this.
"But, now that is cleared, who will complete the Quest?" I looked at Ogawa, who was taken a bit back by my gaze.
"How about this." He proposed." Whoever finds her and brings us together will have completed the Quest."
"That's more like it." I nod in agreed and chuckled.
"This is a challenge for me." Tokoha accepted the challenge as she chuckled as well.
"With no hard feelings for when I win it." Shion declared that he would win with a chuckle as well.
"S-scary." Ogawa was scared by our combined chuckles.
"At any rate, all we have to go around with is the fact that she's the same age as us and uses Angel Feather." "Do you remember anything else about her?"
"C-come to think of it." Ogawa started to talk.
"Come to think of it..?" We asked at the same time.
"There was a Olivier Gaillard mascot doll attached to her bag." He mentioned the name of the most well known Gold Paladin user.
"Olivier Gaillard?" Shion asked as Tokoha also seem to not know who he was.
"He is a famous Euro League fighter who is on the same Team as Phillip Neve and Kai Toshiki and they are the best Team in the Euro League Circuit." I told them a bit about Gaillard. "He is know to be a Gold Paladin user that uses 'Liberator' units. Not to mention, he is one of the best fighters in the world."
I took a sit to think about all the possibilities of how to find this girl while looking at her 'Battle Cupid, Nociel' card.
'We don't have anything to go by, not even a single keyword that is relevant to serch for, except that she is a fan of Olivier Gaillard, but there are tons of them out there.'
"Hey!" Tokoha yelled at me as I turned to look at her. "Don't hog that card for yourself!"
"Shut up, I'm thinking." I told her to be quiet.
"We must move out as soon as possible." Move out?
'There's no need for us to move, we just need to make her come to us.' A idea came in a flash. 'And the bait is already here.'
"That's it!" I looked at Shion, the bait. "It's time for your popular face to be put to work once again!"
"What?" He asked.
"You're going to make a Angel Feather clan gathering for girls only in this shop Quest." I added. "And if it's you, they will come like an army of ants to take a good look at the display that will be present."
"I get it!" Shion took out his FICA and created the Quest. "It's done. All we have to do now is wait."
"Even if the girl we are looking for doesn't come, one of them will be bound to know something, good thinking, Shindou." He praised my idea.
"It's all for the sake of the Quest, so don't thank me yet." I told him as we were waiting for the girls to show up.
And as we expected, a large group of Angel Feather female fighters came here to see Shion and he and Tokoha began to ask around for any clues about the girl in question.
"Why are you not asking around?" Shion, who was acompanied by a group of girls who went away when they saw me, asked. "After all, this was your idea."
"It's not like I don't want to help out, but even if I tried to ask around, it would be pointless." I decided to enlighten him. "If I tried to speak with them, they would just either going to lie or avoid me completely." It was true, I failed a few quests because the girls that were involved in them always refused to help me when I needed the most, so as a result my trust in them was very short.
"You should have more faith in these girls." Shion didn't even noticed that they went away from the moment they saw me.
"Have you already forgotten how I got accused by the other girls at school during the voleyball ball's incident?" I asked, fully aware that he would know right away where I was going with this.
"I see..." Shion remembered the incident which the girls accused me only because I happened to be around, when it was obvious that I wasn't responsible, which meant that I wasn't very liked by the girls even if I didn't do anything wrong. "You really aren't popular with girls."
"Exactly." There was no need to say any further, but I decided to give him an example. "Just watch."
"Excuse me, there was something that I need to ask." I tried to talk a group of girls who just avoiding me instead of answering before turning back to Shion. "And this is why I don't even bother to try."
"I get your point." He quickly understood the futility of me even trying. "I'll just ask around."
"Guys!" Tokoha called us out, getting our attention. "I've got a clue." She explained to us that girl's father runs a clinic.
"A Hospital Clinic!?" I yelled, recalling a painfull experience with a special object at the Hospital.
"Is there something wrong?" Tokoha asked me when she saw that weird look in my face.
"No, it's nothing." I lied, knowing that she wasn't going to buy it.
"If you say so." She bought it.
We went to Kamui to ask him to lend us researching resources. Shion got a laptop and Tokoha got a map of the entire district. I on the other side...
"Here's your research material." Kamui handed me over a huge phonelist. "Start digging."
"Are you taking their side over mine?" I really felt betrayed by Kamui's good for nothing resource. "Because you just gave me the worst resource of them all."
"I just gave you the best resource of them all, so you should feel proud." Kamui says with pride in his face. "Besides you want to get points, right? So more research and less complaining."
"Bullshit!" I grabbed him by the collar and called off his scam. "There is no way that a fucking phonelist is going to help me find anything relevant in this search!"
"Language, Shindou!" Tokoha yelled with a smirk at the miserable resource that I got from Kamui as I groaned and let go of his collar.
"They get to use the internet, the maps and I'm struck with this..." The world indeed wasn't fair at all.
"I'm going." Shion left the shop.
"Let's follow him." Tokoha suggested as I did while leaving this good for nothing heavy book behind.
"Ryuga, the book!" Kamui's words were completely ignored.
We were following Shion around at the same rythm, which made an impression on him, since he had printed a full list of the hospitals around the districts.
"I don't mind you two following me around." Shion told us as we kept following him around. "But you could at least help me looking."
"I was the one who found the clue." Tokoha said while avoiding to look at us.
"You are the one who got a hold of the information resources, so I don't have any choice but to follow you." I admited the truth, unlike the green-haired girl that was walking by my side. "So if you want any help, share the info."
"I might as well do that since there is a lot of ground to cover." He showed us the charts, making us both sigh.
"You weren't joking." I said while taking a look at the sixth page.
"This might take a while." Tokoha said.
"I might have a way to cover most of the ground." He picked his phone and made a few calls.
"Who do you think he is calling?" Tokoha whispered to me.
"Probably another rich boy, who will inherit the family's hospital one day." I also whispered to her.
We could only watch as he spoke out with wealthy individuals and entered expensive places.
"With this we have covered most of the big Hospitals." Shion says with a satisfied expression as we gave him a deadpan look. "What?"
"You rich kids really are a big network, huh?" I asked.
"Let's just start our search, for real." Shion decided to ignore what I just said as we went to the first clinic.
A few minutes later we arrived at the first clinic, but instead of entering it, I stayed outside.
"Aren't you going to enter?" Shion asks.
"Nah, you can fetch the info out of the staff inside." I really didn't want to go inside.
"Don't complain if we find the girl's father before you." Tokoha says.
'Not that you can do anything without the card.' I thought. ' I'd rather be stalked by Ibuki than going inside.'
(After going throught three clinics)
"Why do you keep insisting on not going inside?" Shion, who's lack of cooperation from my part was starting to get on his nerves, asked. "I didn't paid real attention at the first time, but we are already at the fouth clinic and you are still refusing to go in, it's like you want to avoid them at any costs.
"That's because I don't want to enter one of those." I admited.
"That's it!" Tokoha, who was getting tired of my childish attitude, linked her arm with mine and started to drag me inside. "You're going in this time!"
"No, I am NOT going inside!" I yelled as I easily counterdragged Tokoha to the oposite side when I was about to step inside. I quickly released myself from the arm link and glued myself to the nearest tree so that they couldn't drag me inside.
"He's not budging at all." Shion complained as they were trying to get me inside the clinic as my arms were glued to the tree and they couldn't force me to let go despite their efforts to pull me out.
"Why are you acting like a baby, Shindou!?" Tokoha asked me as I refused to let go of the tree, turned and looked at them to answer.
"Look, doctors give shots and I hate shots, so I avoid doctors." Tokoha and Shion blinked twice before they started to laught at this revelation.
"Who knew that you had a childish weakness like that." Shion said as he was still laughting.
"I didn't think that you of all people would be afraid of taking a vaccine shot." Tokoha was still laughting as well.
'I want to see you two laugh when you get the needle.' I thought as the feeling of getting that sting hurted a lot.
"Yes, now can you just come with us?" Tokoha stopped laughing. "I will buy us a croquette bread tomorrow after school if you come."
"Let's go already!" I entered the hospital.
"Bought by food..." Shion couldn't help but sigh.
"That's Shindou for you." Tokoha couldn't help but smile.
We spended a few minutes searching from hospital until we came crossed the last one off the list.
(Card Capital 2)
"Why can't we find her?" I asked to nobody in particular as I was sitting on a bench with Tokoha and Shion right besides me.
'We seached every hospital in the district and we didn't get anything.' Did we missed on somthing?
"I don't know..." A tired Shion said.
"I'm exausted..." Tokoha wasn't doing any better than Shion.
"Come on guys." Kamui decided to motivate us. "Have you already given up?"
"Don't group me with them!" Tokoha says with closed eyes.
"For some reason, these two were following me around." Shion said with the 'I have no idea' sign.
"..." I didn't said anything because complaining wouldn't help us to find the girl, for now we should eat and recharge our batteries. "For now, we should go downstairs and eat some okonomiyaki, it's on me."
We went down to eat as I took the useless book with us this time to kill time while we rest.
Tokoha and I were making our okonomiyakis while Shion just kept looking at the food.
"Aren't you going to make yours?" I asked Shion, who was just watching us cook. "It's on me, so you can start making yours."
"I never eat this kind of thing at home. So I don't know how to make them." Shion admits.
"Just pay attention and you will learn how to make it." I told him to watch and learn.
'The keyword is clinic...could it be that we misunderstood the true meaning of the keyword?' I realized something while I was finishing making my okonomiyaki.
"Anjou." he turned her head to me as I turned my okonomiyaki around. "Are you sure that she said that it was a hospital clinic?"
"She only said clinic...wait, are you saying..." She realized it as well while turning her okonomiyaki around.
"We had assumed that she was talking about a hospital, but in fact she could have been talking about a hair clinic the whole time." Shion concluded as we nod.
"Let's investigate after our meal." We kept making my okonomiyaki while working on Shion's.
"Kiba, investigate the names of the owners of the hair clinics while I finish making your food." I ordered him as mine was finished and turned his around.
"Don't order me around." Shion rebutes as I finished his and we began to eat before heading on to investigate the hair clinics on the phone book.
'Well, Kamui, you resource was usefull after all.' I decided to apologize to him after this was over.
(A few minutes later)
We went to investigate all the places, and for my misfortune, my swirled hair became the main topic...until we got to another place.
"Hello!" Tokoha gave the first greeting.
"Welcome!" The owner greeted us.
"Excuse us, do you have a daughter who plays Vanguard?" I went straight to the topic this time.
"Vanguard?" The owner greeted us. "Oh, the card game that Hinako is into?"
'Finally!' We finally did it.
"Do you need something from Hinako?" He asked us.
"You see..." I explained him the entire situation with the lost card.
"I see." He understood what was going on. "I'm sorry that you came all this way, but she is at the cheer tournament today.
"Cheer?" We asked at the same time.
"You mean cheerleading?" I asked.
"Yes." He admits. "Hinako always liked to do that since elementary school."
"Did she participate near this area a month ago?" Tokoha pointed him the map of the district near Card Capital 2.
"It must have been a preliminarie qualification." He answers. "It was around the same area as that card shop."
"Now it makes sense why Ogawa encountered her, she must have been at the shop after returning from the cheer tournament at the time." I pointed out the truth of how Ogawa saw her that day as Tokoha and Shion nod in agreement.
"Ogawa?" He asks.
"The guy who-" Tokoha placed her hand in front of my mouth to cover it, in order to not let me finish what I was about to say.
"Are you mad?" She whispered to my ear once again. "If you let her father know, he will try to oppose their union."
"Didn't think about it." I admited to her while whispering. "My bad."
(In a certain school's entrance.)
"T-there she is!" Ogawa pointed out to a hazel-haired girl in a ponytail who was acompanied by four of her fellow cheerleaders.
"So that's her..." I had to give him a credit, he knew how to pick them alright. "You sure have excellent taste, congrats."
"You have a high-class taste!" Tokoha commented on the girl. "She's a fine match for you."
"Like they say, there's no accounting for taste, so you may have hope..." Shion said, not believing that Ogawa had a chance.
"Don't be like that, Kiba!" I scolded him for his lack of faith. "Good luck in giving her the card, Ogawa." I gave him a thumbs up as I didn't call him a lamb this time.
"I don't care who does it, just give her the card!" Ogawa just tells us to give her the card. "Here, please."
'Are you shitting me?' I thought. 'After all we went throught to find her.'
"After all, you're the one who wants to see her!" Tokoha said.
"If she finds out that I used a Quest to look for her just so I could return the card, she'll think that I am creepy, of course!" Ogawa was acting like a chicken.
"You have got to be kidding." I said, shaking my head for Ogawa's lack of courage. "You were the one who wanted her found., so get a grip!"
"A-anyways, if you give it to her for me, I will give you the points for the quest." Ogawa was using the completion of the quest as an excuse to avoid having to meet her. "You have no complains about that, right?"
"I can't do that." Shion says.
"There's no point to this quest, unless you give it back to her yourself." Tokoha says.
"If I could do that, I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble..." Ogawa was still hesitating.
"Fine." I snatched the card from him.
"Hey, Shindou!" Tokoha complained at my action.
"You're unbelivable." Shion also complained about what I did. "Is finishing this quest all you care about?"
"We are going to play a card game." I placed my FICA on table mode and took out sixteen cards from my jackpocket and began to make a perfect shuffle nine times after putting the 'Batle Cupid, Nociel' card on the top of the deck.
"All of them are different units, including the one I just placed here. If you manage to draw out 'Batle Cupid, Nociel' , you give it to her without any further complains." I explained how this game worked. "And to make sure that there are no cheats, each one of us will cut the deck twice, you will decide the first card cut and I will always do the second one. Is that ok with you?"
"I guess that's fine." Ogawa didn't see any problem with that.
"What is he thinking?" Tokoha asked Shion, who had an idea of what was going on. "Gambling like that again."
'Could it be that he set up this game, knowing that this could happen?' Shion thought. 'If so, we already won.'
"I will cut eight cards." Ogawa chose to cut eight cards as I placed the top eight cards on the bottom of the deck.
"In that case...I will cut seven cards." I moved seven cards to the bottom.
"This time I'm cutting six." I moved six cards to the bottom.
"For the last one, I will cut 14 cards." I did the final cut. "Now If this card is the right one, you will return it yourself. But if it's not, I will do it instead."
"B-but." Ogawa began to hesitate. "What if she doesn't like me?"
"Stop being a coward!" I yelled at Ogawa, who went to hide behind Tokoha. "If you don't chose now, when will you do it then!?"
"Be more delicate, Shindou!" Tokoha yelled at me again. "He is scared of being rejected."
'She's right, I have to be more pacient, otherwise he will just run away.' I decided to change my aproach to tempt him to draw the card.
"You like her, don't you?" I asked him as he got out of his hidding spot. "How much do you love her?"
"I don't know." Ogawa admits that he is unsure of himself. "I will most likelly fail to draw it."
"You don't know what you're going to draw until you try it." I encouraged him. " If you are meant for each other, you'll definetely draw it."
"Go for it, you can do it!" Ogawa looked at Tokoha who nod her head, then looked at Shion.
"Yeah." Shion also agreed as he nod his head.
"Okay!" Ogawa finally made up his mind and drew the card with his eyes closed and opened them slowly.
"B-B-B-Battle Cupid, Nociel!" He saw the card that decided his fate. "I'm going to give it back to her!" Ogawa went to her and handed the card, she looked happy.
"It looks like it ended well." Shion said.
"I hope it works out." Tokoha wished him good luck.
"Best regards, Lamb...no, Ogawa." I also wished him the best of luck in his relationship with that Hinako girl.
(A few minutes later)
"This is really vexing." I said as we walked in the street.
"What's wrong?" Shion asked.
"I feel that I should have gotten half of the points instead of a third of them." I complained about how the points got shared.
"You should be glad that you got anything, considering how useless you were today." Tokoha says as she recalls my embarassing moment in front of the hospital.
"It was me who realized that it was a hair clinic instead of a medical clinic in the first place, so I should have gotten most of the points at least." I rebuted her.
"That was just dumb luck." Shion says as he believes that he would have stood a chance on his own. "Sorry, the odds were in my favor from the beginning."
"From the beginning?" I gave him a teasing look.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked with a deadpan face.
"Luck or not, it happened regardless of what you two say from this point on." I rebuted back. "And I was the one who made him give her the card in the end, so that makes me the winner of this Quest."
"Okay, okay. Stop it." Tokoha stopped our argument.
"Althought to be honest, I have a new respect for you." Shion said that to me. "Despite the attitudes that you usually display, you're a real good guy."
"What are you talking about?" I asked raising my right eyebrow while pretendidng that I didn't do anything.
"You don't have to hide it." Shion told us his theory of what I did to the cards. "You set up the game so that he would have won regardless."
"Shindou did?" Tokoha asked. "How?"
"After all, they were all the same card, weren't they?" He concluded that I did something like that. "So no matter what he drew, it would be the right card."
"And the act you pulled to make the game sound real, it was an excellent performance." Shion praised me. "It sealed the deal in a way that no suspicions could be raised since we were there as well."
"Oh! You're really considerate!" Tokoha praised as she gave me a strong slap in the back, pushing me to the front a bit. "You've earned my respect once again."
'If you think that I would do something as childish as that, you really need to eat a lot of vegetables.' I thought as I decided to reveal the truth. 'And what does she mean by again?'
"There is no way I had 16 copies of the same card." I showed the rest of them being the spare Gear Chronicle cards that I didn't use anymore to their disapointment.
"Hey! What were you going to do if he drew the wrong card!?" Tokoha yelled at me.
"I never considered the possibility of failure." I answered her, disapointing them both.
"I feel that my expectations of you were completely betrayed." Shion said with a sigh as well.
'You shouldn't create expectations for others, it only leads you to disapointment, Shion'. I thought as they sighed and began to leave.
"I gave him too much credit." Shion criticized me.
"I feel like an idiot for being impressed by you, even for a moment." Tokoha did the same and whispered. "Even you were so cool the other day."
"It's not like I didn't made a trick for it, though." I told them as they stopped and turned to look at me.
"What do you mean?" They asked at the same time.
"During the Underquest that required me to go to a casino, I had to play a special variety of Poker against a few people in card games and believe me, my opponent's were really good at it, so I had to find a way to place the cards in the order I wished without raising suspicions and somehow it worked." I told them about the VERY close calls that I got using this method.
"Of course it goes all the way to the Under Quests." Tokoha sighed at the thought of them.
"How didn't they caught up to it if they were experts at this?" Shion asked since gamblers usually don't fall for the antics of a minor like us.
"No, they didn't because they didn't had enough of this to understand what I did." I pointed at my brain.
"What does your brain has anything to do with this?" Tokoha asked while Shion was starting to get what I was talking about.
"By systematically changing the cards through a perfect shuffle, certain results were always guaranteed to happen since they used a new Deck of cards each time a new round started. And since the order of the card's deck were always the same, all I had to do was track the location of all cards and it was done."
"But the most important part of those games, it was that my opponent's were experts at reading expressions, so I had to manipulate the deck in a way that I would always win." Let me tell you, those snakes may have the eyes to read a person, but they don't ever think of reading the cards.
"So if I did it a certain number of times, the order of the cards would go back to their original state." I continued my explanation of how I won those games.
"So I decided to apply the same trick that I used to win those games." I finished explaining them the systematic change that I did when the perfect shuffles ocurred as I used other cards to give them a demonstration, which left them both impressed.
"After all, only an idiot would have left something of this importance to chance." I said to them as Shindou Chrono in an parallel universe sneezed.
(In a different world)
"Did you caught a cold Chrono?" Kamui from the same parallel universe asked Chrono as they were in the middle of their fight.
"I don't think so Kamui-san, but I get the feeling that someone just made fun of me." Chrono answered him as he swore that he was mocked by someone from far away.
Chapter 9 Preview:
Turn 9 - The birth of a new team.
Ryuga is not having any success in creating a team, that is until Kamui cooks up one of his usual schemes. To improve their teamwork as a team, Shion decides to enter the team into a tournament in another area, but trouble will come during the final match.