Ten minutes has passed, since we stepped inside the card shop that Chihiri lead us to. I had to explain to Amateratsu, which she was completely lost that every single player in the shop wasn't a pioneer, nor a Psyqualia user.
[Oh... She's not a pioneer... Just a person who plays card games... And all these people are...]
"Yeah... I didn't know what to tell you. You looked really happy, and I didn't want to disappoint you."
[No, No. I'm not disappointed, master. Well... Maybe a little, I guess...]
The glitter in Amateratsu's eyes faded, when she found out that everyone inside the card shop were just normal card game players. It seems that she was really looking forward to meeting a different pioneer.
[Hm? Oh look, master! A child using our clan's deck! Let's go watch!]
"Ok, just give me a sec."
Luckily, Amateratsu got over the disappointment very fast, when seeing several matches where all sorts of clan's units being put to play on the table. While Amateratsu was having fun watching the fights, I explained to her the rules of the game. It was odd to explain her the game's rules, when she's a card that's present in the game. But she's an alien, so it's no surprise.
Where's Chihiri you ask?
"God damn it! Why's there no SPs in these packs?! One Sp! That's all I ask!"
She was in the corner ripping hundreds of booster packs, stacking a mountain of cards of all rarities and booster boxes on her side, while she was trying to find a unique version of a rare card, that would put a hole in a wallet if someone tried.
A high school girl wearing a male uniform. Ripping card packs and stacking it like an obsessive crazy person, was not a sight you could see everyday. I stayed away from Chihiri, and kept watching someone else's fight. To be a part of the attention that Chihiri was making, was too much for me. But that plan failed when Chihiri walked right next to me, looking all devastated.
"Haa... I completely lost... Still, I have more than enough cards to strengthen my deck. So there's that. Therefore, you and I are gonna have a match, Itou!"
"Ok! I'll do it, but please play it quietly! I don't want THIS much attention, all right?!"
I covered my blushed face with my hand and sat down. Chihiri sat at the opposite side and she changed the cards in her deck, with the new cards she got from the booster packs. There was so much cards left over, that her backpack where she put the rest of the cards, looked like it was going to explode.
I pulled out my recent oracle deck and shuffled it as well. Looking at Chihiri's bag, I just hope that it could hold until she gets home.
"Hm? Itou, what's that doing there?"
"Huh? What?"
While we were shuffling each others deck. Chihiri pointed out a card that was in front of me. I looked down, and immediately had butterflies in my stomach. It was Amateratsu's card. When I was shuffling my deck, I forgot to sort her out, and I put her on the table by accident. Amateratsu's card didn't look like any other vanguard card. First, the blue colored layouts on the card was gold. The 'Vanguard' letter on the back of the card was gone, and also the design of the symbol on the back looked completely different. The lines drawn around it were the same, but the round, six edged star symbol, was now a hexagon shaped door.
Do I know what it means? Hell no. But that wasn't the thing I should be focusing on right now.
"That's [CEO Amateratsu], isn't it? What are you doing, forgetting cards like that? Give it here, so I can put it in your deck."
"NoNoNo! I'll do it, so you don't have to..."
"Come on. I'm already shuffling your deck, I might as well put it in while I'm doing it."
When I reached for Amateratsu's card, Chihiri's hand swiftly came in and grabbed Amateratsu before I could.
"Wait. Isn't this supposed to be black and blue? Why is it gold colored?"
"Ah..."
[Ah!...]
Chihiri immediately found out the card's different design. Me and Amateratsu stood completely still. I was in trouble. The card's design wasn't the only thing that was different. At the front, Amateratsu's portrait was actually moving!
I have to make something up, before this whole thing gets worse...
"Y, Yeah! It's... A new sleeve for my ace card!"
[M, Master...]
Amateratsu's face blushed when she heard that I called her my ace card. I'm glad that she likes it, but it really doesn't help with the situation right now!
"A card sleeve? I haven't seen this kind of sleeve before. And why would you put a sleeve, on only one card?"
Oh, of course... Chihiri had all kinds of card game related merchandise, that she's basically an expert on it.
"I wonder if the owner knows about this? I'll borrow this for a second, ok? Hey, boss!"
"Stop!"
Adding one more person was a recipe for disaster. I had no time to explain. I jumped at Chihiri and wrestled her to get Amateratsu back. Chihiri obviously didn't understand what I was doing, but she suddenly became serious for some reason, and refused to give me back my card if I didn't explain.
And of course, we got kicked out of the card shop.
Ever since we got kicked out of the shop, the sun had faded a lot. Like adding color to a painting, the blue skies were gone, turning into a more warm orange color. A lot of time has passed since we came to Akihabara. It was already half past six, and we just started to leave Akihabara to head home.
"I can't believe we got kicked out. And that was my third favorite shop!"
"Chihiri, If you think about the mess we made, I'm surprised we didn't get banned."
Chihiri quietly looked up while blinking her eyes, like she was trying to recall what happened 5 minutes ago at the card shop. The faces she made while thinking about it said it all. We were the ones fighting, so both of us didn't know how bad we were. I realized it just now, and was so embarrassed that I just wanted to run to a hole and hide.
"Yeah, I guess you're right..."
Chihiri shrugged her shoulders and admitted. She sighed deeply like the world was going to end. I didn't say anything and just nodded. Truth be told, I really wasn't in the position to talk about it either. Technically speaking, the situation wasn't THAT bad. When I jumped at her to try to get my card back, we fell down at the floor and just happened to roll our bodies around while we were fighting. And when I say fighting, I mean flailing our arms on the ground like we were back in kindergarten.
I managed to get Amateratsu back before Chihiri could see it, but things didn't look so pretty. We knocked down couple of chairs and tables, but thankfully nobody in the shop was hurt because of us. The bad thing was, we caused quite a trouble to both the shop owner and the players. And that we acted more childish than the young kids playing there. The gazes of the kids looking at me all pathetic, really made me rethink my life.
Even after the fiasco, me and Chihiri were allowed to come back any other day. But I think I'll never go there unless I have a second identity.
"Come on, Itou! What's up with you and that card? Why aren't you letting me see it?!"
"Deal with it Chihiri! There's no way I'm going to show you, and that's final!"
After all the trouble, Chihiri still wanted to see my card. Chihiri swiftly moved around me to try to get a glimpse of Amateratsu. I covered Amateratsu with both of my hands, and turned the opposite way whenever Chihiri moved just in case. The safe thing to do was putting Amateratsu inside my pocket. Chihiri would definitely freak out if she sees a living vanguard card. She was already a handful. I can't imagine how annoying Chihiri will be if she figures it out.
"5 seconds! Give me only 5 seconds!"
"Sorry, not falling for that!"
Ugh... Constantly moving in circles are making me sick. That's it. Amateratsu's going inside my pocket. That'll make Chihiri give up.
[Uh... Master? Why didn't you recruit any Oracle think tank units?]
As I tried to put Amateratsu inside my pocket, she carefully and quietly asked me a question. It seemed like she really wanted to check out the new units from the boosters. Her eyes were shining with expectations. After finding out that Chihiri wasn't a pioneer. I guess she put her hopes up to the new oracle units, which did come out in today's booster.
But unfortunately, I had no new cards to show her. It was all Chihiri's cards, not mine.
"Sorry, I kinda forgot..."
[Oh. Well, that's okay. I'll have plenty of chances to see them.]
With a smile, Amateratsu said she was okay, but her voice sounded a little sad. I couldn't lie to her, but It was hard to see Amateratsu's expectations being shattered again. Now I wish I bought at least one booster pack from the store.
"Oh, fine. You win. You can keep your stupid card for yourself."
As if she grew tired of persuading me, Chihiri clicked her tongue as she looked at me with a frowning face. I think Chihiri's more angry because she was all tired and sweaty from all the moving around. Even if it's late afternoon. It was summer after all.
[S, Stupid?! Did I do something wrong to make her angry?]
"No, No! It's just a figure of speech, so don't be upset!"
I slid Amateratsu in my pocket to muffle her voice for a second, and immediately took her out when she was relaxed. I'm beginning to think Amateratsu has a tendency to over react.
It was too late for me to ask Chihiri for the Oracle think tank cards. Even if it was a promise she made, this wasn't the time to tell her.
"Uh... So, Chihiri. What're you going to eat for dinner today? Japanese? Chinese?"
"..."
"..Western food?.."
"..."
Chihiri didn't respond. She looked away from me, while putting both of her hands in her pants pocket and didn't say a word.
While heading back to the Akihabara train station, we stopped at the intersection to wait for the green light. We just missed the green light, so we had to wait a while. A lot of cars drove past us. The sounds of numbers of cars passing by was quite loud. We constantly heard it, while me and Chihiri stayed completely mute.
'Oh, man. I didn't know Chihiri would be this mad...'
The silence between us was killing me. It wasn't like her to be this quiet. Normally, when Chihiri was mad at me, she would just mess me around for a few seconds and be done with it. Seeing Chihiri act like this, made me unsettling. We always talked and joked around whenever we were together. I forgot how awkward it was if either one of us were upset.
I never wanted Chihiri to be upset. I wish I could just show Amateratsu to Chihiri right away. But it wasn't that easy to do.
Nearly two minutes has passed, and still neither of us talked. I was starting to get worried. I felt like I was suffocating from her silence. The mood was awkward beyond repair.
I had to do something. I still can't believe this whole thing started because of a card. I didn't do anything wrong to Chihiri, but right now that wasn't important. At this point, I don't even care. All I want is this ridiculous bickering to end. If she's not saying anything. I will.
"Hey, Chihiri. I'm... sorr"
"Oh right. I almost forgot."
Before I could apologize, Chihiri snapped her fingers and cut me off. My timing skills have done nothing but disappoint me today. Nevertheless, I was glad that Chihiri finally opened her mouth.
Chihiri turned her backpack to the front and opened it. Then she suddenly started to search through the stacks of cards that was inside.
"Ugh... I should have brought my trolley bag for this."
"Hey, Hey. You're dropping some cards."
Chihiri was too busy searching, that some of the cards fell through the open zipper. Chihiri looked like she needed some help. If she let me, I would help her find whatever she's looking for. But she wouldn't tell me anything.
"Aw, shit. Can you help with those?"
"Yeah, I'm on it."
I used both of my hands to quickly catch the cards before they got scratches on them. Then I picked up the cards that hit the floor. Luckily the pavement we were on wasn't so rough, and the fallen cards were unharmed. I couldn't figure out what Chihiri was trying to find. Even risking her valuable cards to go to waste.
After some searching, Chihiri seemed to find what she was looking for.
"Whew, that was deep... Where's the cards that I dropped?"
"Here. Don't worry, I didn't miss anything."
"Thanks. Be sure you don't spill them again, ok?"
"I know."
I carefully put the fallen cards back inside Chihiri's backpack. I was going to apologize to Chihiri, but she didn't seem to be upset anymore. Still, I had to check.
"Chihiri?"
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you um... angry at me?"
"At you? Not at all. Why would I be?"
Chihiri raised her eyebrows, as if she didn't understand what I was talking about. I was confused. I'm glad that she wasn't upset. But I couldn't understand why she kept her mouth shut.
"Huh? Then why did you stay quiet?"
"What? You were talking to me? Sorry, my mind was on something else. What did you say?"
My face became all hot, like it was going to blow up. I covered my face with my hand, and sighed out of sheer ridiculousness. I felt like a complete fool. I was the only one who was worried to death, when Chihiri wasn't even on the same page as me.
"What? What's wrong?"
Not knowing a thing, Chihiri asked me, but in no way am I going to tell her. I had to act like it was nothing. The sooner I forget this embarrassing memory, the better.
"Nothing... So, what did you find in your backpack?"
"Here."
Chihiri held out her right hand. I thought she was offering a handshake, but there was something inside her hand. I didn't know what it was, but I reached out my hand and took it. When I saw it in my hand, I immediately knew what it was. It was a deck of vanguard cards that was wrapped in clear thin plastic. Looking at the first card, it was definitely the new cards that came out of today's booster.
"This is... Did you, sort these out for me?"
"Well, I did say I was going to buy some for you. You did act like a cheapskate back there, but I wasn't going to back out on our agreement. What kind of bro am I, if I can't even keep a promise between bros? Just be sure to strengthen your deck. I want to test my deck with yours at lunchtime."
With a wink, a sweet smile shined on Chihiri's face. I didn't know what to say to her. It was so kind of her to do this for me. But I did know what I SHOULD tell her.
"T, Thanks."
"Don't mention it. In fact, your face already said it."
Chihiri giggled as she pointed my face. Then I realized my cheeks were slightly higher than usual. I didn't even know that I was smiling, until Chihiri pointed it out. I was kinda embarrassed about Chihiri laughing while pointing her finger at me. But Chihiri making me smile, wasn't such a bad thing.
A second ago, we didn't even talk to each other. But now, we were right back to our joking selves. And I was glad that we were.
[Master?]
"What is it?"
[I think it's not such a bad idea to reveal myself to her. I still think staying hidden is the right thing. But if it's master's close friend, I do not mind.]
I was surprised by Amateratsu's suggestion. It was so sudden, when she was the one that requested me to keep her hidden from others. But like she said, Chihiri was the few people that I could really trust. Chihiri would just love to know about this. She WOULD freak out, but she wasn't the type to tell secrets to others.
When Amateratsu was also agreeing with me. I saw no reason not to.
"If that's the case. All right..."
"So~~"
When I was about to lend Amateratsu, Chihiri's eyes suddenly sparked with greed. Twirling her body like a hyperactive salesman. Which translates to scammer.
"You're going to show me your card, right?~"
"Ah."
[Ah.]
Me and Amateratsu quickly figured out what Chihiri's real motives were. The warm feelings I've had for Chihiri, took a straight fall like diving into a pool of liquid nitrogen.
This whole time. She was plotting and waiting for the moment. Too bad she played her cards wrong.
"Yeah, right!"
"Wha?!... Come on! I wanna know what's on that freakin card! I wanna! I wanna, I wanna, I wannaaaa!"
Chihiri's face froze in shock at my rejection. She then grabbed my shoulders and swung me around like a giant rag doll. Chihiri begged to the verge of tears, but it was her own fault. Even if I feel sick from this, there was no way Chihiri would even set her eyes on Amateratsu.
Poor Amateratsu. She's heart broken from discovering Chihiri's black infested soul.
"Shoo."
"All right, that's it! No more Mr nice guy!"
Changing moods in a whim, Chihiri had enough and quickly leaped out and reached for my pockets.
If Chihiri thinks it'll go her way, then oh boy. She's got another thing waiting for her.
Chihiri was fast, but I was faster. I slightly hopped to the side and dodged her hand. Chihiri was leaning forward, and because of that she was full of openings. I easily grabbed on to Chihiri's helpless head, then gave a good squeeze like trying to make watermelon juice.
"Ow! Ow! Oww!"
"You gonna change your mind? Cause I have all day, until you do."
"Ark!... All right! I give up! Let me go!"
I sort of expected she would last a bit longer. She didn't even try to quote Napoleon. But it wasn't like I wanted her to keep going. Thanks to her swift surrender, I didn't have to make pure 100 percent Chihiri juice.
Following Chihiri's request, I stopped the headlock and let her go. Chihiri crouched down on the ground and wrapped her head with her arms. Groaning in pain, along with some sides of nausea. It looked like it really hurt. Which was the whole purpose why I did it.
"You okay?"
"Do I LOOK okay?! Damn it, you won't get away with this!"
"Whoa, Whoa! That's what generic evil guys say! Have some class, Chihiri!"
Chihiri stood up and grabbed me by my collar. Chihiri tried to shake me around, but she was too sick to muster any strength. She let go of my collar, then stumbled into my arms and fell weakly on my chest.
She was like a big baby. I'll even say she looks kinda cute like this.
"Whatcha doing?"
"Ugh... Give me a second, will ya?"
"Heh. You're really hopeless..."
I gently held her head for a couple of seconds. My chest tickled whenever she breathed. Chihiri looked up to my face and glared at me. But It was hard to be intimidated, when I'm basically hugging her.
"All right, that's enough. You're quite heavy, you know."
"Yeah, Yeah, I'll get off."
I gave Chihiri a slight push, and she stepped back on the ground with ease accordingly. Chihiri fixed the front side of her hair, which was a bit messy while she leaned on my chest. After some tinkering, she looked good as new. At least she didn't look sick.
"Feel better?"
"A little. But you're no pillow. Your chest is too hard. This is why breasts are always right. Soft, marshmellowy breasts... Yeah... Now THAT'S a pillow."
"I'll... take that as a compliment. Except for the breast part."
Maybe I should have put a little more effort on the headlock.
[FuFuFu.]
Looking down, Amateratsu was watching us, while being all relaxed. Smiling like a mother watching her kids playing with their friends.
We were totally a couple of kindergartens to her eyes. I can't believe she saw us doing all that childish things. It was easy to forget, that I had a set of eyes watching me, other than Chihiri's.
"D, Did you see all that?..."
[Why, yes. It was really heartwarming.]
Amateratsu nodded her head while answering with a smiling face.
"Ugh... This is embarrassing..."
[What do you mean, master? I'm just so glad that you have a friend like Chihiri sama. The friendship between you two was so passionate. At first, I didn't know anything about Chihiri sama, so I was skeptical about her. But now, I know that she's a good person. And that she cares about you, as you care about her. I'm happy that Chihiri sama is master's friend.]
It was weird how Amateratsu started to formally address Chihiri. I didn't know Amateratsu was constantly thinking about me while she was watching. Not only me, but Chihiri as well. It was good that Amateratsu was no longer suspicious about Chihiri. It would have been difficult if Amateratsu wasn't fond of Chihiri. Chihiri being my best friend and all(In Chihiri's term, Bro.).
"Passionate? You mean passionately try to annoy each other, right?"
[But you do like spending time with Chihiri sama, right master?]
"...Yeah."
Amateratsu gently giggled at my answer. I was sort of irritated by her reaction. Amateratsu didn't look like it, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she was toying with me.
[FuFu... Huh? W, What is this? The air is...]
Amateratsu's smile completely disappered from her face. She suddenly moved her head every which way, as if she was afraid of something. She wasn't kidding around. I could feel Amateratsu's urgency when looking at her nervous face.
"Hey, why are you looking so tense?"
I tried asking her, but she didn't answer me. I had no idea why she was acting this way. I couldn't see anything that looked like trouble. Everything was just normal...
Wait...
"Itou, why are you talking to yourself so much? Did you get another dose of puberty or something? Ugh... Jesus Christ, I think we waited for ten minutes already! Why is the traffic light still red?!"
Chihiri was frustrated by the traffic light not changing. right. She was right. The traffic light was still red for quite a while. If it was red, there should be bunch of cars that were moving past us.
But no. Not one car moved passed us. The traffic lights didn't change because of malfunction. It froze in place. In fact,
All of the cars, electronic display boards on the streets, didn't move.
But that wasn't the weirdest thing. I realized it when I saw the inside of the still cars.
"Ch, Chihiri..."
"Yeah?"
"Do you see any people?"
A few minutes ago, there was a number of people on the other side, waiting for the traffic light, just like us. But now there was no one on the other side. Including the rest of the hundreds of people in this area.
It was like everyone besides us vanished into thin air.
"H, Huh?! Holy shit! N, Now that you mention it. Where did everyone go?! I was looking at the traffic light the entire time. But then suddenly this?! What's going on?!"
"Hell if I know?! Why are we the only ones here?"
[! Master! Behind you!]
"What? Behind me?..."
At Amateratsu's urgent call, I turned my body and quickly looked back. But because I turned to quick, my footing was off, and I slightly wobbled. I never knew that mistake would save my life.
Shrt!-
At the blink of an eye, a sharp metallic sound rang in my ears. With a sudden draft, the sides of my hair was slightly cut. Before I knew it, a 40 centimeter long pincer, stabbed the empty space where I was standing just a second ago. The pincer looked sharp enough to impale a human's body with ease. While I was frozen in fear, I realized the pincer was connected to something.
A huge tail that was covered in a dark violet colored metal plating.
"Wh, Wh, What the hell is that?!"
Chihiri freaked out screaming. She stepped back trying to get away from the tail, even when a streetlight was blocking her back. While I tried to move my frozen legs, I saw a vision.
"Chihiri, move!"
I tried to go to her, but my legs still didn't move. As a last resort, I punched myself in the thigh. I gritted my teeth in pain, but I got my legs to move again. I immediately threw my body to Chihiri, and tackled her to the ground.
At the same time, the tail that attacked us quickly retreated back. Only to horizontally sweep everything that was taller than a meter.
BANG!
With a deafening roar, the thick tail crushed the two cars that was next to us. The car windows shattered. The small broken pieces of glass were scattered everywhere. The car's metal body bent and broke instantly, and flew in to the air like it was a softball. The crushed car flew into the empty store and trashed the whole place.
Luckily. We ducked out of the way, before the tail could reach us.
"Chihiri! You okay?!"
"I, I'm fine!"
While I was checking on Chihiri. The tail that swept the cars retreated back yet again. Me and Chihiri's body shook. That meant it was readying another attack. We both got up and ran to the streets. Covering more room was important, if we were going to dodge whatever is coming our way.
Swoosh!
Me and Chihiri stopped at our tracks, when another tail came flying and blocked the road ahead of us.
"I, Itou! Look!"
"What is it?!"
I looked to to the left, where Chihiri was pointing her finger while she was trembling. About fifty meters away from us, there was someone else besides me and Chihiri. It was a skinny man, wearing a long checked shirt and blue jeans, who was standing in the middle of the street. But something about him seemed off. The man's pupils were all white, and not only was his whole body twitching like crazy. His twitching face was black like he was covered in ink.
The tail that stopped us came from his side. But HE wasn't the owner of the tail.
The 'things' behind him was.
"G-G-Gick..."
Tens of giant centipedes came crawling out behind the man. Just like their tails, their whole bodies were covered in the same metal plating. The lines on their heads that seemed to be their eyes, glowed in dark red. Their two antennas twitched like crazy when they were pointing right at us. The most notable thing about them, was their size. Their long flexible bodies of the centipedes were over four meters long. They crawled towards us, while they shoved away the cars that were in their way with no effort.
Every single one of them were strong enough to break metal like it was nothing.
"T-T-Target... G-G-Gick... Confir-r-rmed. S-Suitable... P-Pioneer, confirme-e-ed. P-Pro-o-oceed to c-c-capture."
"Wh, What are you... things?!"
[Master, be careful! They are 'Tail Joe's! Units sent by 'Megacolony'!]
"Mega... colony?!"
Megacolony was a clan from the vanguard game. But, it was impossible. Those things were real. Not even cards like Amateratsu.
They existed, right here. And they were fully capable of killing us.
W, What is going on?!
Whew, finished! Thank you Lavillant, for giving my first review. It really helped. I fixed the typos that you mentioned before. So double thanks!
If anyone is confused why Amateratsu is acting differently. It's because I completely ignored the vanguard lore, and made my own in scratch. You could see it like the 'war of creation' in chapter 4. So the units in this story will act differently, and will have different backstories that I made.
The reason why I'm doing this, is because I really don't like the lore. If they had a full fledged story, I've got nothing to say. Following a few line of text in monthly Bushi that's considered the unit's 'story', is a complete waste of imagination to me.
I know it would be weird, but I hope it'll be a fun ride for you.
Because we have units that could kill, yo!
P.S:Would really love for some reviews. Please?