NOTE: Here ya go. This didn't take long to write, and I was bored.

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 2: Don't Hold My Hand

Grunts and sounds of flesh hitting flesh echoed at the back corners of the school. A familiar head of blue hair hit the ground as a round of feet continued to kick him while he was down. Aichi Sendou tried to protect himself by curling into a ball. His tormentors laughed like the little shitheads they were, enjoying the misery of their victim. "C'mon, Sendou, fight back already!"

"Yeah, why not show us how smart you are?!"

"Loser!"

Aichi didn't respond and just continued to take the abuse. None of his bullies were expecting a response and took it as a sign to keep beating down on him. However, their enjoyment would soon come to an end when a new addition joined the fray.

"HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE, JERKS!"

All of the bullies froze, recognizing the voice. Fear now consumed their hearts as they turned to see the familiar older sister of their victim, Asaka Sendou, sprinting towards them. "Aw, crud! It's Asaka!"

"L-let's get out of here!" All four of the bullies start running for the hills to avoid the girl's wrath.

"Yeah! Run away from a girl, you cowards!" Asaka shouted, bruising their egos even more. She looked around to see if any more were hiding around. Her eyes caught a flash of red hair, but the kid ran away before she could call out to them. Sighing to herself, the oldest Sendou turned to her little brother. "Aichi! Are you okay?!"

She helped him up off the ground, his body trembling slightly from the pain. As he lifted his face, Asaka could see dried tears along the scratches. Anger burned in her chest at the jerks that dared to hurt her little brother.

"T-thank you, Asaka…" Aichi muttered. He leaned on her for support until he could get some of his senses back.

"C'mon, let's get you to the nurses before picking up Emi, okay?" She held his hand tightly.

"Okay."

"...You can't keep letting them do this to you, Aichi."

He lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault, they're jerks." She continues leading them to the school nurse, ignoring any looks they may be getting. "The only way to deal with jerks is to stick it to them. You have to fight back."

"B-but… I… I have you to do that." He quietly mumbles. Aichi was hoping that she didn't hear that, but his luck wasn't always the best.

"I won't be able to help you forever, Aichi. Soon I'll be heading off to middle school, so you have to be strong enough to protect yourself." The only reason their mother had yet to pull him out of Miyaji was because she had always been here to protect him. It was her duty as a big sister to protect her little siblings. But that wouldn't be the case forever, she was a year older than him and four years older than Emi. It was getting harder and harder to keep watching his back as the years trickled by. His bullies were getting smarter as to when to avoid her getting involved in their schemes.

Aichi squeezed her hand. "Y-you said you'd always have my back."

"He remembered that?" Asaka blinked at the callback. Still, she shook her head to push the thoughts away. "I meant that when I said it, Aichi. Telling you to protect yourself is still me having your back. It's the only way those bullies are going to leave you alone."

He didn't respond as they neared the nurses' office.

Asaka turned to her little brother, still holding his hand. "Aichi, can you promise me something?"

"Huh?" He blinked.

"Promise me that you'll stand up to those bullies, okay? That you'll be strong." She waited for him to respond, watching the subtle shift in his eyes.

Aichi slowly nods his head. "O-okay… I'll stand up for myself."

Smiling at him, she ruffles his hair. "Thank you, Aichi." They entered the nurse's office and were greeted to the sight of a woman far too used to seeing them. As Asaka watched the older lady bandage up her little brother, she allowed a feeling of pride to bloom in her chest. It was going to be so sweet to watch those bullies falter when her brother stands up for himself.

That was until she found him curled up on the ground again, covered in several bruises.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Dark blue eyes stared down at the sight of her beaten up little brother sitting against the wall. Asaka didn't understand why this was still happening, why Aichi just couldn't stand up for himself? She told him time and time again that he needed to be stronger if he wanted to have a peaceful life. But the boy just couldn't follow her instructions or even throw a single punch. He just kept taking the abuse. Her little brother was too soft, too kind, too…too…

"Weak." She thought, darkly.

Aichi slowly reached up, waiting for her to take his hand. Asaka stared at the appendage, coming to a realization of why her brother struggled so much. Instead of taking his hand like she always would, the older sister pushed it away. "Get up."

"W-wha-" Aichi stared up at her with a mixture of confusion and pain. Asaka ignored the sisterly pain in her heart when she saw that look in his eyes.

"I said, get up. I'm done holding your hand, Aichi."

"A-Asaka-"

"Get up!" She increased her volume a bit, causing him to flinch. She stood there patiently as he struggled to stand to his feet. Aichi used the wall as support and winced at the bruises that lined his arms and legs. He stared at his sister with a bit of fear, not understanding why she was acting like this.

"Don't expect me to hold your hand. Go to the nurse's office, then meet me by the gates." Asaka ordered, then walked away from Aichi. He silently watched her leave with a heartbroken expression.

Asaka refused to turn around, because she knew that she'd go back on her own decision if she so much as glanced at his face at this moment. Her brother had to learn, before she graduated, that he had to stop being so weak.

This was the only way…right?

"Asaka!"

Back in the present, the assassin of Team Asteroid flinched from hearing her name called. She whipped around to yell at the one responsible for intruding on her daydream until she saw the crimson irises of her beloved star. "R-Ren?!"

"Yo, Asaka~!" The leader of Team Asteroid waved with a cute smile. Ren has long messy red hair with matching color eyes. He wears a black mantled trench coat paired with a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and black jeans. Ren also wears a black choker around his neck. Beneath his coat Ren wears a small half-skirt around the waist that serves to hold his deck. "You were spacing out, is everything okay?"

Asaka straightened her back quickly to look presentable in the face of her crush. "Y-yes, Ren! I apologize if I have caused you any trouble!"

Ren tilts his head, tapping his chin. "You didn't cause me any trouble, Asaka. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You came back looking troubled."

Not wishing to tell the truth behind her earlier episode, Asaka quickly fabricated a story. "O-oh, that? I was simply hungry and wanted to make sure that I had a full stomach before the matches began!"

Ren silently stared at her; his face showed not a single bit of emotion. Yet Asaka knew that he didn't buy her lie, especially when their eyes met. That power of his was far too incredible to be deceived by such a flimsy excuse. However, the leader just smiled at her goofily. "If you were just hungry, then you should have told me so! I would have shared my snacks, or we could have gone together!"

"My apologies, Ren!" Asaka bowed, feeling terrible. "Next time we can go out for ice cream if you feel like it?!"

"Certainly!" He agreed. "It's a date!"

"A date?!"

"We can invite Tetsu too!"

Asaka almost fell to the floor in despair. Comical tears streaming down her face at another ruined opportunity presented to her.

Ren found her reaction cute, but he didn't understand why she had done so. While she continued to wail over her personal matters, Ren skipped away to watch the fights happening in the tournament. Hopefully, there will be some interesting competition this time worthy of gaining his interest.

As the tournament trickled on, Asaka found herself finally being able to relax. She was able to put the thoughts of her little brother's team to the back of her mind to focus on her own matches. Though she did pay a bit attention to Team Q4's matches and frowned at the way her little brother fumbled against Team Jurassic Army's leader. For all the talk he threw at her earlier about being stronger, he was still heavily relying on the skills of his teammates. Toshiki Kai and that Misaki girl were the only reason they hadn't been knocked out of the tournament. She didn't know where that loudmouth kid went, but assumed he ran with his tail tucked between his legs.

And now Team Q4 was matched against Team Asteroid, meaning that they'll be going against one another.

Currently, she and her team (Minus Ren, who was resting up) were heading to a nearby restaurant to get something to eat.

Her teammate, Tetsu, wears a long, green trench coat, with vibrant teal accents. The coat itself is sleeveless, revealing a dark grey, long-sleeved shirt. His pants are a similar shade of grey, with his shoes being a few shades darker. He also wears a teal headband in his long, unkempt, purple hair.

Her other teammate, Kyou, wears a white, sleeveless button-up shirt, white arm sleeves, a black tie, and matching black pants and shoes. His hair is shoulder length and white, and his eyes are purple.

She promised her darling Ren that she'd bring him back something delicious since he wouldn't be able to join them. Asaka was hoping for this little excursion to be peaceful, even with the annoying little bug known as Kyou joining them.

However, fate never liked giving her exactly what she wanted. Not only were there a bunch of other teams (Even those that had been knocked out of the tournament) already eating there, but her brother's team and friends were present. Even worse was that Kyou decided to bring attention to them by opening his stupid fat mouth.

She stood there a bit awkwardly, trying to look anywhere but at her little brother. Aichi was doing the same since he was also listening to Kyou blabber on. The white-haired imp eventually revealed that Kai and Ren used to be teammates, something Tetsu had even warned the idiot to not do. Asaka was actually thankful for once since it tore Aichi's attention away from her and to Kai, who was now leaving the restaurant after having his past aired out.

Asaka took this chance to scamper off towards the register. The sooner she ordered some food for herself and Ren, the faster she could get out of here before anything else happened- "Oof!"

"Eep!" An adorable, yet familiar voice squeaked.

Asaka looked and grimaced at her baby sister, Emi Sendou. She is a young elementary school student with short sandy, orange hair and bright blue eyes. She's wearing a sleeveless bright pink dress with a yellow blouse underneath, blue jeans stopping above her ankles, and red shoes. In her arms is a big pink box, likely filled with food.

Emi shook her head to regain her senses. "O-oh, sorry about that. I should have been watching where…I was…" The youngest Sendou trailed off once she realized who it was that she had bumped into. Emi's eyes shined brighter than they already were as she looked upon her big sister. "Asaka!"

"E-Emi…!" Asaka stuttered, a behavior that was much unlike her usual. She was unaware that her teammates and the others had noticed their interaction. Aichi's eyes went wide with concern for his sister, and it wasn't Emi he was worried about.

"Thank goodness I ran into you! I was about to drop off this special lunch that mom and I made together for you and Aichi! I was going to give him his first before looking for-"

"I think you have me confused for someone else." Asaka interrupts her little sister. The assassin needed to disengage before Emi starts blabbering too much. "You should hurry off to your friends, I'm very busy."

Emi blinked, clearly concerned. "What do you mean? I know you don't like using our name but-"

"Emi!" Aichi hurried over to his sisters. He started pulling Emi away from Asaka. "I think we should stop bothering her, yes? C'mon, the others are waiting."

The Mermaid Heel user's face scrunched up. "Aichi, what are you…?" She looks between her siblings before realizing something. "Are you two still-"

"I think I've lost my appetite!" Asaka exclaimed, cutting off Emi again. She looks back to her teammates, struggling to keep her facade up. "Tetsu, I think it'll be best for you to order Ren's meal. I have to excuse myself." Asaka quickly leaves the restaurant before anyone could speak up more.

Kyou raised a brow at his teammate's behavior. "What the hell was that about? I knew she was weird but-" Tetsu puts a hand on his shoulder.

"I think it's best if you stop talking. You've already made a mess of things by speaking ill of our leader, so do your best to not irritate me further." Tetsu warns Kyou. The irritable fighter scoffs at him, clearly not taking his warning seriously. Kyou shrugs him off and storms out of the restaurant.

Tetsu stood there for a moment before releasing a deep sigh. "I apologize for his behavior." He gives a quick apology to Team Q4. "However, this doesn't change the fact that we will be the ones to defeat you." His eyes linger on Aichi and Emi for a moment before he walks off to order some food at the counter.

He hadn't thought much about Aichi Sendou at first, the kid was clearly a rookie when it came to this game. However, his and that little girl's reaction to Asaka were far too strange, familiar even. Something about it was burning at the tip of his tongue and he was determined to figure out what it was.

On their way to their friends' tables, Emi Sendou was less than pleased as she listened to her brother's explanation of the situation regarding their big sister. The rest of their friends listened carefully and were surprised by the second biggest revelation to hit their group in the last five minutes. She was thankful that Izaki stopped Morikawa from blurting the information out loudly to the rest of the patrons.

"...And that's what she said." Aichi finished, looking down at his hands.

The little sister was silent for a few moments before taking a deep breath. Her face shifted into a small scowl, surprising their friends that the normally sweet little girl was capable of making a face like that. "You need to talk to her, Aichi."

"I did-"

"I mean, actually talk!" Emi huffed. "Any time Asaka comes to visit, you two dance around each other awkwardly. I figured that since you both were competing that maybe you had already talked to her, but instead it's been made worse!"

Misaki intervened. "It's not his fault, Emi. It was Asaka who barged into our room to verbally attack Aichi."

"I'm going to talk with her too." Emi crossed her arms with a pout. "We're family, we should be happy to see each other even if she wants to keep secrets."

"Keep secrets?" Miwa, a blonde teenager, asked.

"Asaka uses "Narumi" to keep the press from hounding us, at least, that's what she told us." Emi explained. "But I've always felt like there was another reason…one she doesn't like to share." Aichi felt the same, acknowledging that there was something their sister was hiding underneath the words she'd share.

"Now that I think about it, if she's your sister then doesn't that mean you two knew about Vanguard before coming to Card Capital, yo?" Eiji asked.

"That's right!" Morikawa exclaimed. "Aichi was a complete novice when we met him!"

"With a sister like that, shouldn't you two be pretty experienced?" Izaki pressed.

The Sendous looked at each other before answering. "Well, we did know more about Vanguard than we initially presented. But, uh, well…" Aichi stuttered on his own words.

Emi decided to explain. "Asaka was very obsessed with the game, sometimes she'd look at us weirdly. It was around the time she had entered middle school…"

"And with this attack, I'll deal damage!" Asaka declared. She was currently playing the game with her little sister. They were using the living room table as their board while their mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"Oh man…" Emi muttered as she flipped over her final damage. There was no Heal Trigger, so it was her loss. This was her sixth loss in a row and she was starting to lose motivation to keep playing.

"Alright. Let's set up the board again for another round." Asaka ordered.

"I-I don't feel like playing anymore today." Emi said. "I should get started on homework."

"You have the weekend to get your homework done, Emi. Right now, we can keep playing. Giving up now isn't a strong mentality to have." Asaka responded, crossing her arms. The look in her eyes made the youngest Sendou think she was being judged critically just for giving up.

"Please!" Emi decided to whip out her greatest weapon, her puppy dog eyes!

"That's not going to work this time."

Emi pressed forward.

Asaka whips her head away. "Nope."

Emi twists around to stay in her line of sight.

"N-no, Emi! You can't worm your way-"

"Pretty please~!"

"Gah!" Asaka's strict demeanor crumbled under Emi's power. She fell back on the couch with an exhausted groan. "Fine… We're done for the day."

"Yay!" Emi gives her big sister a tight hug. Asaka returned it briefly, then allowed Emi to scurry off to her room.

Asaka started stacking the cards back together into separate decks. Teaching her little sister to have a strong disciple was going to be impossible if she kept folding from those darn eyes. But she can't be blamed for falling for it! Her baby sister was just super adorable!

Still, she needed something to do. Sure she could get started on her homework, but she had the evening after dinner to do that. Asaka still hasn't had her fill of Vanguard for the day, but playing by herself would be weird. Their mother was busy with dinner and wasn't interested in Vanguard. Which only left…

Asaka left the decks on the table and hurried up the stairs towards her brother's room. He had cooped himself in there all afternoon, likely doing his homework. Her knuckles were inches from the door as she thought about this decision. Sure, she and Aichi weren't on the best of terms since she distanced herself two years ago but that was for his own benefit. Her little brother was never going to get strong if she coddled him.

Strength is a vital component that everyone must be able to possess. Weaklings had to be culled…at least that's what she had learned recently when she discovered Vanguard. Her heart swooned a bit just thinking about that wondrous head of crimson hair.

Going through with her idea, Asaka knocked on the door.

"G-give me a moment!" She heard Aichi respond, along with some shuffling. This raised some concerns in her head, because why would there be so much shuffling. Aichi always kept his room clean and never hides anything from them. The more she thought about it, the more Asaka was getting worried. Aichi was getting to that age, the one where boys start asking questions about girls.

"W-what if he's hiding something he shouldn't?! Mom did recently give him an allowance! No way! No way! I refuse to let my little brother turn into a pervert!" Making up her mind, Asaka storms into her brother's room. "Aichi Sendou! Don't you dare read those dirty-huh?" She stopped when she saw Aichi trying to shove something into his desk.

"A-A-Asaka?!" Aichi squeaked.

"What are you hiding?" Her eyes narrowed.

"N-nothing!" He shuts the drawer louder than he liked.

"What did you just put into your drawer?" She slithers towards his desk, but Aichi jumps in the way to block her.

"N-nothing you need to w-worry about!" He exclaimed.

There was a period of silence between them. It was soon broken by Asaka pushing her little brother out of the way. He grabbed her legs in an attempt to stop her, causing her to fall onto the wooden floor. "Aichi!" She hissed.

"Y-you can't look, Asaka!"

"Of course, I can look! I'm your big sister!" She kicks out to make him release her. She crawls towards his desk, but Aichi wasn't willing to give in that quickly. He grabs onto her waist this time and tries to pull her back.

"I-I can't let you do that!"

"Aichi, you are nowhere strong enough to stop me!" She continues pushing forward, proving her words correct when he just ended up getting dragged along with her. "As your big sister it's my job to make sure you aren't looking at anything inappropriate!"

His face explodes in a red color. "I-inappropriate?! I wouldn't do that!"

"Then stop fighting against me if you have nothing to hide!" She whips her waist and throws Aichi off of her. With him still recovering, Asaka was able to reach his desk. She opens the drawer to see what was inside. "Haha! Now we'll see those dirty magazine-huh?" Asaka blinks owlishly at the Vanguard deck case sitting on top of notebooks. "A deck?"

Aichi just whines on the ground, covering his face in embarrassment.

She takes it out and stands back up. "You have a Vanguard deck?" She peeks at the cards to see what clan they were. "And it's Royal Paladin? Why were you trying to hide this?"

Sitting on his knees, he didn't meet his sister's eyes. Aichi pressed his hands together as he tried to think of an answer. Since he was taking too long to respond, Asaka came up with her own assumption. "I get it."

"W-what?"

"You saw all the fun Emi and I were having and finally decided to take part in the family fun." Asaka twirls the deck in her hand. "You used your allowance to buy some packs and put together this deck. Vanguard is an excellent way to improve yourself, so I'm proud to see you're finally taking the initiative on something."

"W-well, I wouldn't say-" She clearly wasn't listening to him since she was focused on taking the deck out of the case. Asaka's eyes widened when she took full notice of the first card stacked on top. "Holy crap! Is that Blaster Bla-"

"Don't touch that!" Like a rocket, Aichi shot up and yanked her wrist away from the card. The sudden jerk caused her to drop the deck, scattering the cards all over the floor. Aichi managed to pull Blaster Blade away from his sister and held it close to his chest. "Not this one! This card is too important!"

Asaka was frozen stiff, blown away by the brief act of aggression from her brother. She had never seen him behave in such a way, not even towards the bullies who tormented him constantly. She understood that the card was rare and expensive, but to think that her brother held it in such high value, enough to fight back against her, was baffling. "Okay, I won't touch the card if you don't want me to."

"Thank you…" Aichi muttered, clearly still upset.

She frowned at his attitude, understanding that he's upset about her barging into his room. She screwed up, so it was only fair that she fixed it. "Look! You have a deck and I have one as well, so we can have a cardfight! It'll be your first one!"

Aichi looked uncertain. "I don't know… I don't think I would stand a chance."

There he goes again with that weakling attitude. "Aichi, you won't accomplish anything in life if you keep backing down. C'mon, we'll play a few games." She bends down to pick up the dropped cards, stacking them back into a deck. Asaka handed the deck back to him. "Who knows, you might even be able to win one."

He didn't.

It wasn't even close.

They played ten games and Aichi lost each one.

The first few were excusable, because he was still getting used to the rules but her brother wasn't an idiot. He picked up the rules quickly enough to where he could make fast judgments in the heat of the game. But he was far too defensive and 2nd guessed himself a lot. In moments where he realistically should have dealt significant damage, Aichi instead chose to waste his attacks or fear her triggers.

At least Emi wasn't afraid to land attacks and even took some risks. She was proud to admit that her little sister cornered her a good couple of times. But Aichi feared conflict for some reason or he was purposely holding himself back. It was just…so…so…

"Weak." She muttered, irritably.

"W-what?" Aichi flinched.

Asaka covered her mouth, not intending to say it out loud. Instead of choosing to answer the question, Asaka scooped her cards up and earned a small gasp from Aichi. "A-Asaka, we're still playing-"

"No." She cuts him off. "There's no point in playing against someone who clearly doesn't enjoy the game." Asaka wanted to call him weak, but she couldn't do that. A good big sister shouldn't do that to her little brother. She was trying to make him stronger, so he needed to understand where they stood in a reinforcement way. "We won't play again unless you get over whatever it is that's bothering you."

Aichi was left to watch as Asaka stormed off to her room. His eyes looked back down to his avatar, the special gift that the kid Kai had given him two years ago. The impactful words Kai had imparted to him replayed in his mind.

Imagine yourself being just as strong as the knight in this card! If you can do that, then there's nothing you can't do! Image is power!

But what good was that image when he couldn't use it? He didn't want to fight his sister, but he didn't want to upset her either. He wanted his first fight to be against Kai, to show him that he's grown, but he couldn't even put up a good game against his sister.

Was he even capable of growing into someone as strong as Blaster Blade?

"Wow…that sounds pretty rough." Morikawa said before getting elbowed by Izaki.

"Dude!"

"It's fine, Izaki. There's no brushing away how hard our sister can be, especially towards Aichi." Emi rubbed the side of her arm.

"I'm not sure if I'd want a sibling like that." Reiji said.

"From the way you guys word it, sometimes it sounds like she bullies Aichi, yo." Eiji added.

Aichi quickly shook his head to deny the claim. "No way! Asaka isn't mean like that or anything! She just wants what's best for us-for me!"

"Aichi, she literally referred to you as a burden." Misaki clarifies to him. "Someone who she'd view as an embarrassment just for participating."

"She said what?!" Emi damn near screamed. While Aichi explained Asaka's rude introduction on their way to the table, she didn't know Asaka had said all of that. "Asaka has never said anything like that before!"

Aichi was quick to come to Asaka's defense. "I know it sounds bad, but I don't think she meant it in a way to belittle me!"

"Aichi, whether or not she meant it in that way does not excuse that she said those things to you." Shin clarifies, hoping for the boy to understand.

Emi stood up from her seat, pulling out her phone. "I'm telling mom, okay? I don't care if it makes Asaka upset."

"Wait, Emi!" Aichi reached for her arm, stopping her. "I get it, okay? But I don't need you or mom interfering with this. All I have to do is prove to her that I've changed, that I'm not weak anymore. If we can beat Team Asteroid, then I'm certain she'll change back to how she used to be."

Emi stared him in the eyes for a moment before putting her phone away. "Fine, but I still want to talk to Asaka."

"That's fine." He said as he let go of her arm. Though he sounded calm, the boy's heart was still beating pretty hard. "All I ask is for a chance to prove myself."

"You never had to prove yourself, Aichi." Emi responded softly.

If he believed her, he didn't show it. All the blueberry did was focus on the upcoming match against Team Asteroid.

It was finally time for the match between Team Asteroid and Team Q4, whoever wins would be moving onto the final day of the tournament. Asaka saw the order in which Team Q4 would be sending out their fighters, noting that her brother was the last to be seated. Kai would be going first. Right now, they were deciding on their order as well.

"I'm going first!" Kyou declared to Tetsu. "I'm going to show that punk Kai who the strongest really is!"

Tetsu knew of the astronomical difference between Kai and Kyou's levels, but the boy himself was horrendously ignorant. If the boy wanted to get himself humiliated in front of everyone, then who was he to stop him? Kyou wouldn't learn if he didn't fall on his face. "Fine. If you're going first then Asaka will go second-"

"No." Asaka interrupts, standing up from her seat. "I'll go third."

"Third?" Tetsu narrowed his eyes, finding that suspicious.

Kyou, on the other hand, laughed. "Going third? Are you sure? I mean, you won't get a chance to play in that case. I'll be beating Kai and if Tetsu wins his match, then that'll be the end."

"Quiet, insect!" Asaka hissed. "You don't have the right to look me in the eyes." She stomped forward, causing Kyou to flinch from her.

"W-who do you think you are?!" Kyou tried to bite back. Asaka didn't even have to verbally respond to him. She loomed over him, her glare pushing down on his fragile ego. His survival instincts eventually kicked in and he backed off. Kyou stormed out of the room to head for the field.

With him subdued, Asaka turned her attention back to Tetsu. "Is it a problem that I wish to go third? I simply don't feel like wasting my time against that lilac brat."

"I'm pretty sure she's the same age as you."

"Did I ask?"

Tetsu hummed slightly, coming to several conclusions about her actions. He looked back down at Aichi's image on the tablet then back to Asaka. "Fine, then. I'll be going second."

"As long as you understand." Asaka huffed. She turned away to take her leave as well, but the next words out of Tetsu's mouth froze her.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with your interest in Aichi Sendou, would it?"

"...What?" Asaka gasped.

"I was confused about it back at the restaurant, but I think it's starting to make sense. That little girl's familiarity with you, your awkward behavior at the restaurant, and your desire to go third. Obviously, Kyou has no chance against Toshiki Kai but that would have no effect on either of our orders." Each word out of Tetsu's mouth was like a furthering of the nail in her heart.

"What are you trying to say, Tetsu?" Asaka looks back with a fierce glare.

Tetsu meets her stare with his own calm expression. "Nothing. It would be best for you to focus on the match…"

"Hmph!" Asaka continues to the door.

"Asaka Sendou."

She stopped, only for a moment, but Tetsu could tell she was caught off guard. Her body trembled briefly as the chilling reality made itself known. She didn't turn around to face him as she spoke. "Do not mention that name around Ren."

He watched her leave the room quietly. Tetsu finished setting their team's order, then placed his tablet down on the table. "So, even you fear his power, Asaka. And here I thought you were blinded by that crush of yours."

The match between Team Asteroid and Team Q4 was off to a rousing start with Kai's victory over Kyou, giving Asteroid their first loss in the tournament. Even with the momentum being in Q4's favor, Misaki would taste defeat at Tetsu's hand in a hard fought match. The score was now even with one last match to decide the victor. And for the ones who knew the competitors personally, they knew just how much would be at stake here.

"THE FINAL MATCH WILL BE BETWEEN ASAKA "NARUMI" OF TEAM ASTEROID AND AICHI SENDOU OF TEAM Q4!" MC Miya announced to the audience.

From above in the stands, Emi watched as her siblings walked out into the field. Though she was upset at Asaka, she didn't want to watch her sister lose. But she wanted Aichi to beat her and prove all of her mean words wrong. She clasped her hands together, silently praying. "Please let this end peacefully!"

Standing a few feet away was Kamui Katsuragi, wearing a disguise to keep his face hidden. He had been spying on the others earlier back at the restaurant and heard everything the Sendou siblings had said. He clenched his fists, cursing himself for not being down there to fight in Aichi's place.

Misaki was cursing herself as well for losing her fight with Tetsu. But focusing on that now wouldn't help, what's done is done. All she could do was support her friend in taking down his bitch of an older sister.

Kai watched his teammate march off onto the field. After learning that Ren really was here at the tournament, he felt himself relating to Aichi even more. The two of them had personal matters at stake here in this tournament. Now whether or not Aichi was strong enough to make a difference remained to be seen.

Aichi tightened his gloves as he stood across from his sister. It had been a long time since the two of them had played against each other. However, unlike those times, this wasn't a friendly competition between siblings, but a battle to decide who would have a shot of being the champion.

And to show her that he really had changed. That he wasn't a burden to her or anyone else anymore.

For Asaka, this was something that she knew would have to happen sooner or later. As the older sister, she had no choice but to show her little brother that he isn't ready for this stage. He was still weak and needed others to save him. When it comes down to the wire, when it's just him left, Aichi doesn't have the strength to stand up on his own.

He can't expect to grow if he's too busy holding someone's hand.

Twins sets of blue met one another in the middle, the fight system coming to life. "STAND UP, VANGUARD!"

Chapter End

NOTE: I need to clean up the timeline a bit for those who might be confused.

The first flashback takes place two years before the second one. After Asaka decided to let her brother fight his own battles, Aichi would run into Kai and gain Blaster Blade.

There is a hint to a change in the timeline that I make in this chapter that will be fleshed out in the next one. It'll explain how Asaka got invested in Vanguard and how her mentality about strength got worse.

Aichi and Emi knew more about the game than they did at the start of canon. They pretended not to, because Asaka definitely tainted the game a bit for them.

We got to see how Emi feels about the strain between Aichi and Asaka. The little lady is doing her best to try and help. There will be Emi involvement compared to how she was in canon.

Ren is very much still the antagonist for now. Another hint layered as to why Asaka has been keeping her distance.

If Asaka seemed like a terrible sister, then good. She's supposed to look like one.

Have a great day!