Chapter 19: The Entire Crew Helps Out

Everyone turned their attention to Aichi, except Kai, who stood there wordlessly indifferent.

"Emi called us and told us you were ill so we all decided to come visit you, Big Bro!" Kamui explained all of their presence with a simple statement.

Emi walked closely to the bed and just as she was about to pass Aichi a glass of water, he hurriedly pulled her in closer and and whispered urgently to her, "Did you tell them I'm like this because of Psyqualia?"

After Aichi took the cup from Emi, she shook her head and smiled. Whew, Aichi thought as each of his friends were inquiring about the same all of a sudden, "How'd you get so ill?"

Of course, Kourin, Kamui, Neiji and Eiji somewhat guessed the reason but didn't say anything. Then a cheery voice emanated from the doorway. "Aichi! You feeling okay man?"

Everyone turned to see Ren standing there, with his usual warm smile. "Eh, I'm fine now I guess. Thanks for all your concern guys but I'm alright now. Really." Aichi smiled weakly.

"That's good! Now come on, get out of bed and let's play some Vanguard! It''ll help with your recovery!" Ren said with plenty of enthusiasm.

Everyone looked at Ren with disbelief and Aichi climbed out of his bed slowly. "C'mon, I'm feeling better now! Let's all go downstairs and play, huh." Aichi said as he stumbled out of his room.

Ren helped Aichi down the stairs and everyone else followed slowly. "Eh, what exactly happened to Aichi, Emi?" Miwa asked, curious to know how Aichi fell so sick.

"Well, you gotta ask him yourself. He doesn't want me to tell anyone." Emi explained shyly. Miwa cocked his eyebrows and kept silent. Well, I gotta respect his privacy then, he thought.

After two hours of non-stop Vanguard, Shizuka stopped all of them for lunch. "Mmm, smells nice!" Kamui exclaimed, saliva drooling from the corner of his mouth.

"That's kinda weird." Miwa said in slight disgust at the sight of Kamui drooling.

"Yay! Lunch time!" Ren squealed in delight and dragged Aichi to the dining room.

"Oh man I'm starving!" Morikawa exclaimed with a lot of exaggerated hand gestures.

Misaki heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that Aichi's Psyqualia didn't act up during their play session. Kourin was still wondering why Misaki had left with Aichi and Emi after the tournament yesterday. Emi was already setting up the table for everyone with Shizuka. Miwa was having a one-sided discussion with Kai about his play just now and how he used his cards. Neiji and Eiji were arguing about how Kamui should go about wooing Emi. Morikawa just kept ranting about how his Grade 3s should have won.

When everyone was finally having lunch, Kourin took a seat to the right of Aichi while Misaki took the seat to the left of Aichi. Shizuka sat with Emi on her left and Miwa on her right. Kai was seated beside Miwa while Morikawa sat himself beside Kourin and kept bugging her. Kamui sat beside Emi while Neiji and Eiji sat in the two seats beside Kamui. Ren then slotted himself between Neiji and Misaki. Misaki placed some vegetables in Aichi's bowl for him, to receive a glare from Kourin as she placed some meat in his plate bowl. Misaki decided to step down so things won't get too tense and Aichi won't feel too awkward. Kourin on the other hand, decided that until the mystery of why Misaki left with Aichi was solved, she wouldn't let up and placed some more vegetables in Aichi's bowl. Morikawa was irked that Kourin kept ignoring him while attending to Aichi and decided to place some vegetables in Kourin's bowl. Not only did Kourin not thank him, she placed the vegetables back in his and told him to stop irritating her. Morikawa got so insulted that he challenged Aichi to a cardfight for 'his' Kourin.

Just as Aichi was about to politely decline, his eyes burned bright pink and he grunted, "You'll regret this."

Everyone was so shocked at Aichi's sudden hostility and Emi, Misaki and Shizuka all got extremely worried. Why did I have to think his Psyqualia wouldn't come back to create trouble? Misaki though in vain frustration.

Aichi and Morikawa moved to the living room and everyone moved there to watch. Since everyone had also pretty much finished their meals, Shizuka decided to clear the table while Aichi played. From what she heard from Misaki about this 'Psyqualia', Morikawa was going to be badly embarrassed after playing Aichi in this state.

As the battle progressed, Aichi could not find a Grade 2 to ride to and was stuck with a field of Grade 1s and had already dealt 4 damage to Morikawa. Morikawa had a Grade 2 already but still could not deal more than 3 damage. And even as he rode his Grade 3, he only managed to deal another damage which placed Aichi at 3 damage and Morikawa at 4 damage.

"Final Turn!" Aichi declared and drew. He rode to 'Blaster Blade' and retired Morikawa's 'Intercept' unit. With that, he finished Morikawa off.

"Y-you… H-how… W-what?" Morikawa stuttered, unable to comprehend how Aichi had defeated him with only a Grade 2. Just as Aichi kept all of is cards, he collapsed.

~Enter Cray World Dreamscape~

A/N: And I'll leave the chapter at that for you guys to ponder what'll happen next! Once again thanks for all your support! What will happen now that Aichi's in Cray again? And some ideas for you guys to think about: would you guys want bonus chapters for an EmixKamui Fanfic? And could Morikawa actually get Kourin? XD And maybe you guys could contribute some ideas if you want some bonus EmixKamui chapters? C