Intro: So uhm… I worried some people and I am sorry about that, I am just very busy about school, but I promise I will continue this story even though most of the time I am having writer's block but I will do my best! So without further ado, here is the next chapter, hope you will like/love it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Touken Ranbu and Cardfight! Vanguard and other material which came from the said Game/Anime, they are owned by its original creators. The making of this story and this story is made for the fans and the writer XD. Although the plot and some changes in the story are from me ^_^.

Chapter 21: Friends?

Exactly a month has passed since Aichi celebrated his one month as a Saniwa, finished the regionals and is only waiting for the day of the Nationals, since it was a Saturday and Konnosuke and Mina told Aichi to not do anything and rest up the whole week and the only thing he did was sew… sew and… sew… well at least everyone has extra outfits to wear now although what surprised the others is that how was he able to make this plenty although Mina helped, it was still impossible. Everyone decided to not look onto it much and simply thanked Aichi for his efforts.

The day was still up and early, Aichi successfully finished off all his homework's and is not able to do that much chore, so he was silently sitting at the bridge on the pond sighing while looking at the koi that is swimming elegantly under the water. Aichi looked up at the sky and noticed that there was not that much cloud in the sky.

Aichi then had this trail of reminiscence while looking at the sky before as in before he accepted being a Saniwa, he will always just stay at his room or downstairs at the living room of their house spending the day doing nothing or cleaning the house, also before doing nothing was just enough for him and will be his escape through reality.

But looking back now he thought looking at the Tantous that are playing at the garden when their chores was finished Aichi thought that yeah this past months just this two months has changed a lot about him, while smiling.

Unbeknownst to Aichi there were people heading to his spot "What are you smiling about?" a voice called out to the dazed Aichi.

"Ah, Kiyomitsu and Yamanbagiri" Aichi called the people who caught his attention and the one that joined him in coming here "Just thinking how nice today's weather is" he said looking back at the sky.

After the short conversation Kiyomitsu held out a bucket full of feeds "Do you want to feed them?" he asked

Nodding to his offer Aichi took a handful and sprinkled little bits onto the water, seeing the fish frantically trying to get it first, other fish flail or get left behind by the crowd that was in front, but then he accidentally dropped some bits of feeds from his other hand and fell down below him making the koi frantic, swimming under him and splashing him with water in the process.

Because of this Aichi tried to shield himself from the splash of water but to only drop more "Uwa!" Aichi shouted when finally more and more came and Aichi became drenched by the second before being pulled up by both Yamanbagiri and Kiyomitsu with Aichi dropping all the food in the process making much bigger splashes that was able to soak their lower part of the body with Aichi being almost wet from what has happened to him first.

Kiyomitsu wasn't able to hold back anymore and left out a laugh that made Yamanbagiri smile in the process making Aichi blush.

"Alright, alright, you guys had your fun go and take Aichi back to his room and make sure he gets himself clean and dry!" Mina scolded from the veranda of the garden making sure that Aichi gets himself warm and to make sure he won't get sick.

After getting their order they headed to Aichi's room and make sure that Aichi is drying himself, Kiyomitsu helped dry Aichi's hair while Yamanbagiri helped with his clothes, but there is one thing that caught Yamanbagiri's eyes that made Kiyomitsu's happy expression fade even Yamanbagiri was saddened at what he saw.

"Oh yeah, you haven't been informed about that…" Kiyomitsu's voice dropped. Even though he knew he was to be blamed for it Aichi told him to not be since they were both at fault, remembering those words Kiyomitsu smiled and continued "It's kind of a trophy Aichi-sama got."

"Eh what do you mean?" Aichi unbeknownst to what the two were talking about moved his head to where Yamanbagiri was staring "Oh…" was all he could answer Yamanbagiri's worried and confused expression made Aichi to assure the latter that he is alright "Don't worry it doesn't hurt much than before."

After the three has finished what they were doing upstairs, Aichi was given a day off, and as a day off he decided to go outside and head to Card Capital, but he requested to be alone, to which Konnosuke was trying to make a tough decision until Aichi asked.

"Why do I even need someone to accompany me?"

Everyone was in the garden enjoying the scenery because of their day off suddenly stared at Konnosuke with weird expressions, why did Konnosuke make it essential for Aichi to not be alone outside.

"Yeah, it's not look the retrograde army can just burst out here since this is the present." Tsurumaru spoke that made everyone nod in unison that made Konnosuke sweat a little.

"And we know for sure that this area is safe." Nikkari noted that made everyone nod again in unison that made Konnosuke sweat more.

"Wouldn't even be weirder if we keep following too?" Horikawa pointed, that's it triple kill Konnosuke's soul flew out but then hastily came back to make his defense at this issue.

He coughed once while shaking a little "I-it's because" everyone was looking at him weirdly with somewhat you can imagine all of them saying yes all at once but then he found a good reason "I am worried about Aichi's clumsiness" was what Konnosuke spoke of.

"Come to think of it we kind of save him sometimes when we are outside from those accidents right?" Yasusada recalled, that made everyone snap and think that it is a good point but still...

"But shouldn't we still let him do his everyday life normally outside?" Yagen sighed after "I mean inside it's more on his duty so let's let him go out and have fun with others too and not keeping him from doing what he wants on his own. And before Aichi-sama has chosen being a Saniwa, I think his life has already been set as a Vanguard player before he met Konnosuke." Yagen opened everyone's eyes.

"Alright, all in favor of letting Aichi-kun go on his own raise your hands!" Mina initiated a majority vote to which everyone agreed to let Aichi go on his own from now on except for one.

"H-Hasebe…" Konnosuke has teary eyes from looking at Hasebe who didn't raise his hand in the process too. "You understood right?!" The two were about to make a scene but Mina cut it "Okay it's alright for you to go Aichi, enjoy!" Mina smiled waving at Aichi.

"Everyone thank you very much" Before Aichi left "Thank you very much Yagen." Aichi bowed slightly that made Yagen flush a little before saying that Aichi didn't need to bow just to say his thanks. After that Aichi left with a smile on his face while looking forward.

~Card Capital~

At the time of Aichi's arrival the people inside who were; Miwa, Kai, Misaki, Kamui, and Shin were a little surprised that he was alone, which is rare, that kind of made Aichi gulped form the stares "Y-yes?" he asked.

"You don't have anyone with you today which is rare" Miwa was the first one to point it out to which Aichi just gave an "Oh" as an answer and headed inside the shop.

Although yes he does come here directly from school alone but on weekends he always have someone with him, and even after school there will be someone to get him and accompany him back so either way he will still not be alone which surprised the group.

Until that is Kamui asked if it will be alright to visit the said card shop that the Ultra-rare girl asked to come and visit sometime, to which Kai disagreed to join, while Miwa followed Kai outside before saying goodbye. Shin thinking this as a great opportunity to learn about rival shops sends Misaki to investigate that ensured the three to be able to go to PSY shop although Misaki was opposed to the idea but Shin insisted. But alas they were not able to go in peace as Morikawa overheard the conversation and demands to join the group as he is a fan declared by him.

~Mall~

Upon arrival at the said mall, the group had a little trouble about finding where it was but because of Aichi, they were able to find it though he was surprised himself about how he found it. When the three had already entered, it seems Morikawa was forbidden to enter as the door was locked and he demands to let him inside.

After they entered the shop they noticed a person standing by a card hologram and asked for where is ultra-rare but there was something odd about this guy that ticked off Kamui, but then all the members of Ultra-rare showed up.

It seems they weren't supposed to be invited but Suiko decided it herself, after much introductions they found out that the person was Ren Suzugamori the last year's Vanguard Fight National Champion and leader of the Team Foo Fighters. Although Kamui has the hardest time believing it as he sees Ren as an absent-minded person.

As Kourin stepped forward to challenge Ren, his expression changes and surprised the group about the sudden change. As Kourin decided what deck, the Bermuda Triangle, they will use to start the cardfight she hands them over to Ren after giving it to him, Ren looks at the cards then as if something, Aichi was sucked into a vision that he does not understand what has just happened nor how it happened. After a short conversation between Ultra-rare, Kourin instructed to where they will held their cardfight while the whole group followed.

When the group has been seated and the fighters at their respective opposing positions, Aichi notices that Ren was staring at him before smiling and started a conversation with Kourin that seems to have some hidden meanings behind it.

When the battle has started, the group as usual teaches Aichi what is happening in the game, in the surface it seems as if Kourin is on the winning side, but Aichi wasn't as sure as he feels that something is oddly off and it seems by some time little by little it was coming as what he had felt, Ren seems to be on the winning side and Kourin seems to be having a hard time on her side and unbeknownst to Aichi Suiko was closely observing him too.

Near the end of the game as Aichi felt the sensation he felt before, once again he saw the same vision that he saw when Ren was looking through the deck they were using, then after Kourin's turn Ren smiled with a sinister look on his face while declaring final turn, and at the end Ren was declared the winner.

As Aichi tries to understand by analyzing everything that happened he closely looks at Ren while suddenly he felt as if his head started to ache and felt heavier, he winced at the pain while Misaki and Kamui supported him.

After the cardfight, Misaki, Kamui, and Aichi decided to leave the place and headed back to Card Capital, seeing as Aichi is still weak and in pain, Shin insisted that Misaki and Kamui accompany him to his home, to which since he was in pain he didn't even think twice about going back to the citadel instead.

~At the Citadel~

Near the short foothill to the citadel, Misaki and Kamui thought that they were lost since this place is barren and something they can see at the short hilltop is a really big house that can be said as a citadel, but then wait they thought; Aichi is living at a citadel, the two gulped, they finally have access to the home of the master the people with him calls him the two sweats a little and slowly accompanies Aichi.

When are successfully at the entrance of the citadel Misaki and Kamui was surprised at what they saw, this place is really huge, Aichi knocked on the gate and a voice was heard "Everyone, Aichi-sama is back!" was the two heard and they were more sure that Aichi is someone very rich or powerful person or something.

The gates opened slowly and showed Tsurumaru, Yasusada, and Hasebe welcoming Aichi back "Welcome home Aichi-sa… ma…" the three then shouted after "Ehh?!" that made Aichi wince more in pain and almost slumping to the ground but Misaki and Kamui thankfully was there at his side to support him.

"Tsurumaru!" Hasebe called.

"Yes!" Tsurumaru answered in a panic.

"Take Aichi-sama to his room" Tsurumaru nodded and then carried Aichi with his arms and then headed off inside "Yasusada call Yagen and ask him to head straight to Aichi-sama's room and inform him of what happened" Yasusada nodded and did what was ordered.

Misaki and Kamui doesn't understand what to do "What's with the noise?" Mina said slowly walking to the group and somewhat surprised at the people at the entrance to which she understood why they screamed then Hasebe turned around and explained the situation.

"I see, I'll take care of it, please make some tea and snacks for our guests." Mina instructed "Please follow me" she said to the two.

As instructed, Hasebe headed straight to the kitchen while Mina followed by Misaki and Kamui headed to the garden where the other Tantous are now playing.

Noticing the two, Midare commented on who are the guests "Ah! It's the clerk lady and spiky hair." But then the Tantous got surprised at why the two were there "Ehhh?!" was what they shouted same as the three from before them, although Gokotai didn't scream but more like surprised.

Seeing their reactions Misaki and Kamui has mixed feelings about the warm welcome of the people living here, or are they even welcome here. As if they were welcome at the same time not. Mina accompanied the two to the living room of the citadel which is near the garden.

Misaki and Kamui are indeed fascinated by how big and beautiful the whole place is, while walking to their destination, they look up, down, left, and right at the whole place. When they finally arrived, they were asked to be seated by Mina while they wait for the snacks.

While waiting they notice Konnosuke come in the room "Thank you for bringing Aichi-kun safely back here." Mina nodded her head as if bowing to them as thanks, Misaki flushed being shy and all while Kamui is the same "Please, we are not worthy of this" Misaki said.

Mina returns to her normal posture "Can you please tell me the full details on how this happened?"

Misaki and Kamui turned to look at each other and decided that Misaki tells the story, after telling the story at the shop they offered Aichi to help him go home, to which Mina understood the reason why Aichi went this way instead of going back to his home.

After that a short knock was heard "Mina-nee, we have brought the snacks and tea for the visitors" Shokudaikiri brought the tea while Horikawa brought the snacks.

"Please take your time here, I will be checking up Aichi and if ever you can see him if he is feeling better." Mina bowed her head a little then left the two with Shokudaikiri and Horikawa.

"Please don't tense up." Shokudaikiri smiled at the two trying to make them feel at ease.

~At Aichi's room~

Yagen, Tsurumaru, and Yasusada were all in Aichi's room, same as with Misaki and Mina, Yagen asked Aichi what had happened and Aichi honestly told what did happen although he didn't exactly tell them about the vision he was seeing "It's kind of odd when you think of it like that" Yagen said after checking up Aichi.

"I don't understand too, but uhm, can I go out now?" Aichi asked

"No!" the three said in unison with unamused eyes, Aichi sweat dropped after.

Three knocks were heard outside his room saying that it was Mina outside, Yasusada opened it to let Mina enter the room while thanking him in the process too.

"So Yagen, how is he?" She asked while taking a seat near Aichi.

"Aside from his headache and seems like his temperature got a little higher, he is doing fine, although we have to do something to prevent you from getting cold or something." Yagen explained.

"So what's up with the people Aichi-sama brought with him?" Tsurumaru smirked a little "It's kind of weird how tense they are though."

Mina and Aichi sweat dropped "It's because of you guys, you were giving off a vibe so I guess they will be more tense" Mina said understanding why Misaki and Kamui are feeling uncomfortable but it seems that Tsurumaru and Yasusada somewhat understand it.

"I don't want to blame Aichi, but I guess sooner or later they will find out, now I just don't know how much can we reveal to them?" Mina was thinking but actually she was waiting for Konnosuke to answer.

"Well we all know the part as a Saniwa is highly confidential but we can tell them the truth that Aichi is the master of this household." Konnosuke said since they practically must be expecting that because of how they call Aichi outside.

"W-what?!" Aichi seems to be opposed to the idea.

"Well if you think about it, I think they have already expected it so I think it's not bad about telling them about that part, makes thing easier too and the fact that it's obvious" Yagen added that made Aichi groan seeing that he sighed. "You can go and tell them yourself."

"Yeah you can think of other stuff but it will be much too complicated" Mina smiled actually it was trying to let them know the truth to not complicate things "And just tell them to not just talk about it too much since form now on you are laying low, cause it is causing too much attention to you." Aichi groaned even more at the idea.

"If you would tell them yourself you can go outside" Konnosuke added that made Aichi think twice, does he want to complicate things or does he want to at least come clean.

"Can we just tell them the same as what we explained to Mom and Emi?" Aichi said thinking that it might complicate things more.

"Oh yeah, that can actually complicate things especially since Emi sometimes comes to the shop?" Yasusada said.

The whole people from his room fell silent after that part.

~Back to the living room~

"Ah, Aichi-sama" Horikawa and Shokudaikiri said in unison smiled at seeing Aichi in front of the door looking well that made Misaki and Kamui turn to where they were looking at.

"Misaki-san, Kamui-kun" Aichi called the two inside that made the two feel at ease a little since they are still a little uncomfortable at the whole place.

"How are you faring?" Misaki asked.

"I'm doing fine, I drank some medicine so I walk around now." Misaki and Kamui looked at Aichi since his outfit was different from before.

He is wearing a white yukata with blue hakama noticing their looks "Ah, this is the usual outfit I wear here."

"We are glad you are doing okay then." Misaki said smiling at Aichi.

"Hey hey Onii-sama!" Kamui tries to catch Aichi's attention to which Aichi answered with a yes before he continues "What is your standing here at this place" Kamui's eyes glittered while Shokudaikiri and Horikawa became frozen stiff while Aichi flinched at the sudden question.

Surprised Aichi sighs, then breathes heavily and then "I-…" he notices the look of the two that seems to be waiting for his answer eagerly "I'm the…" He thinks twice but then "I'm the master of this place."

Misaki was surprised while Kamui seems to be enthusiastic "but…" Aichi seems to want to add something.

"This part is kind of a secret to my Mom and Emi." Misaki and Kamui both raised their eyebrows and waited for his explanation.

"Mom and Emi, doesn't know I am the official owner, and they only knew Mina-nee is the one running this place, they made it as that so that I can stay here…" he paused seeing as the two seem to not trust what he says.

Seeing the looks on their faces Aichi thinks twice "You weren't black mailed were you?" Kamui said

"There is no chance that we will do that to our dear master, Aichi-sama!" Hasebe shouted from outside the room, it seems he was listening to the conversation from the other side.

"Our dear Aichi-sama, only has to do that hardest thing for him, so that he can be with us 24/7, Aichi-sama did nothing but kindness and has taken care of us in this citadel, he is master by title and there is no one much worthy of it than him!" Hasebe was pumped up "Aichi-sama was unable to tell the truth that he accepted the role of being this citadel's master and our master because if he do so say that, Aichi-sama's dear mother and sister would have never allowed him to stay here and do something that he loves, and that is accepting a tough role as our master and head, but there will come a time that he will tell them this, but for now he must do everything so that when the time comes they can see all his hard work!" Hasebe cried tears of joy and sadness at the same time then wiped it off.

"Besides" It was Kiyomitsu's voice who was walking to them "It won't be our problem if you don't believe us."

"It's not like we will be forcing it onto you." Nikkari added who was with Kiyomitsu.

"But there may be a problem if you ever think or do something to him." Yamanbagiri said who was with Kiyomitsu and Nikkari, their eyes and aura are of hate, annoyance, and disgust.

The three feeling their utmost pity for them seemed like Misaki and Kamui can feel it as they felt somewhat ashamed and unable to look at Aichi "He-hey, calm down!" Aichi said looking down, he knew they will think he was lying if it comes to this.

"We don't care what people thinks, we love Aichi-sama!" Imanotsurugi shouted from the garden then Midare shouted "Yeah! Yeah!" while Gokotai nodded.

"At least from our part, we are true, how about you two?" Mina said, a little hurt for Aichi from what they told him it's as if they are thinking low of him so she can't help but be forward.

"Maybe it would be nice if you take your leave then." Shokudaikiri seemed somewhat disappointed at the two.

Still not knowing what to do, Misaki and Kamui wanted to apologize but it seems all of them are not pleased by their presence for now. So looking down at their feet Misaki and Kamui were escorted outside by Hasebe and Shokudaikiri to leave the citadel.

Outro: I kind of didn't want it to go that far, but hey maybe because I'm half sleepy trying to finish this it became like this, but thanks to this I'm actually excited for the next chapter.

Hope you like it, Thank you for your continuous support everyone!

Thank you for reading! Please review or pm for any suggestions or problems on the story.