“Aye man, fight me next!”
“No!
Fight me!”
A small crowd of children had formed around Katsumi.
Apparently, the kid he had beaten was pretty famous.
‘Fools!’
The roar of a dragon echoed within the mindscape of Katsumi.
‘Wishing to witness my true power with such insolence!’
Katsumi resisted the urge to rub his forehead.
‘Calm your temper.
They are merely hatchlings.’
Blue-Eyes snorted.
‘Then they should learn their place as hatchlings.’
‘And how exactly do you propose they do that?’
‘By kneeling.’
Katsumi chose not to continue.
During his inner monologue with Blue, the crowd around him continued bickering.
Until they were told to shut it.
“”Sorry, Manager!””
The children bowed slightly in the manager’s direction.
Katsumi popped back to reality.
“It almost escaped my mind.”
Slamming his fist into his palm, Katsumi turned toward the brooding dino kid.
It seemed the lack of victory had destroyed his will to respect their bet.
“Yo, I will be taking that Deathrex.”
Bringing his hand in front of the kid’s face, Katsumi reminded him of their little agreement.
The kid looked up with sad eyes before lowering his gaze once more.
His eyes lingered on the card he had bet away.
Then he looked at Katsumi’s hand.
Then at the card.
Then back at Katsumi.
Finally, he reluctantly placed the card into Katsumi’s childlike hands.
‘The lizard hatchling looks sad.’
‘Because he lost, Blue.’
‘Weak lizard!’
‘That’s not good to say, Blue.’
‘I am a Dragon of Truth.
I speak only reality.’
Katsumi couldn’t deal with the ‘son’ of his.
Being stubborn was apparently common between them.
“And thank you.
I will keep it well in my collection.
Buh-bye!”
Stuffing the card into his shirt pocket, he gathered his deck, magazines, and other belongings before turning to leave.
“But wait up!
What about our fight?”
“Yeah!
We wanted a fight!”
The children voiced their complaints as Katsumi slipped away.
‘Being treated like a superior…
it feels great.’
Instead of feeling guilty for not playing with them like a typical kid, Katsumi reveled in the attention.
“Yeah, about that.”
Without turning around, he raised a hand.
“I’ll come back later when I have time.”
And with that, he left the card shop.
“The kid really took the magazines with him…”
The manager watched as the newcomer gained fame and left like a legend.
Only to complain about the magazines he had secretly hoped would be returned.
“Well, I didn’t really need them anyway.”
Katsumi truly had fun with this new card game.
His mother was happy, though she constantly reminded him not to neglect his ‘grind.’
His father, meanwhile, was overwhelmingly excited over the realization that his son was no longer an unpopular bum.
Kind of rude.
From that day forward, Katsumi would slowly become part of the mysterious game known as Vanguard.
Unknowingly, he would also become a table-flipping character.
But right now, he was sitting in his room under his mother’s supervision, doing homework.
For months, Katsumi followed a fixed routine.
Wake up.
Do bathroom things.
Talk to Aika, his only friend.
Then go out card hunting.
Yes.
Card hunting.
Playing the game for fun seemed rather boring.
The idea of taking other people’s cards, however, was interesting.
Unfortunately, life had decided to pour cold water on that enthusiasm.
Because a bigger boy had taken his fucking deck which had all the card he had.
“How about it?
Give me ten thousand yen and I might consider giving it back.”
Katsumi stood on an uphill road.
After changing his hunting grounds several times, fate had apparently decided to reward him by introducing a professional idiot.
His deck had been stolen while he wasn’t looking.
‘Father!
Show this little shit the difference between heaven and earth!’
Blue’s cry echoed throughout the mindscape.
Unfortunately, Katsumi couldn’t directly take the deck back.
“What?”
The bully sneered.
“Don’t want the cards?”
He waved the deck in front of Katsumi.
Katsumi’s eye twitched.
“How about cardfighting me then?
If I lose, you can keep it.
If I win, you give my deck back.”
Anger wouldn’t solve anything.
So he opted for a much simpler solution.
“Aw, trying to get your hands on your deck without paying?”
The bully grinned.
“Unfortunately for you, I don’t give out decks for free.”
“You just said they were mine!”
“Did I?”
The bigger kid scratched his cheek.
“Maybe I did.”
Then he grinned wider.
“Doesn’t matter.”
The deck spun between his fingers.
“It’s in my hands now.”
‘Blue.’
‘Yes, Father?’
‘I am beginning to understand why dragons burn villages.’
‘I don’t know.
First time being a dragon.’
The bully laughed.
“Look at that face.”
He leaned forward.
“What are you gonna do?
Cry?”
Katsumi inhaled slowly.
Then exhaled.
Then inhaled again.
His mother always said violence wasn’t the answer.
Unfortunately, she had never explained what to do when violence looked so appealing.
“So that’s your final answer?”
“Yep.”
“No cardfight?”
“Nope.”
“No chance to win it back?”
“Not unless you’ve got ten thousand yen.”
The bully waved the deck again.
Several cards nearly slipped out.
Katsumi almost suffered a heart attack.
‘Careful!’
Blue-Eyes sounded more alarmed than when fighting Deathrex.
‘The fool handles sacred treasures like firewood!’
‘I can see that.’
His gaze never left the deck.
Every Blue-Eyes card.
Every card he had won.
Every card he had traded for.
All of them were currently in the hands of a complete idiot.
Then another voice spoke from behind them.
“What a pathetic display.”
The laughter stopped.
Katsumi turned.
A boy stood further up the hill.
Messy brown hair swayed gently in the wind.
Sharp emerald eyes stared down at the bully.
Even from a distance, his expression radiated superiority.
Walking down the hill, his gaze bore into the older boy.
“Stealing someone’s deck and asking for ransom.”
His voice remained calm.
“Pathetic.”
The bully flinched.
But he didn’t back down.
“Stealing?”
He scoffed.
“You’re assuming I stole from the kid.
In reality, he came here to buy my deck.”
Denying the allegations, the bully refused the truth.
Katsumi looked at the deck in the bully’s hand.
Then at the cards still scattered across the road.
Without waiting for permission, he crouched down and began picking them up.
“Aye!
Don’t touch my car-”
“Let’s not beat around the bush.”
The newcomer cut him off before he could finish.
His emerald eyes remained fixed on the older boy.
“Give the stolen deck back to the kid.”
The bully’s face darkened.
“And what if I don’t?”
A breeze swept through the hilltop.
The scattered cards fluttered slightly across the pavement.
Katsumi quietly continued gathering them.
The newcomer took another step forward.
“Then I will make you.”
Silence fell.
The bully laughed.
Loudly.
“You?”
He pointed at himself.
“And what exactly are you supposed to do?”
The newcomer didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he pulled a deck from his pocket.
“Cardfight me.”
Katsumi blinked.
The bully blinked.
Then the bully burst out laughing.
“You think you’re some hero or something?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
“I just don’t like thieves.”
The smile vanished from the bully’s face.
Tsk…
The newcomer brought his own deck out.
“If I lose you can keep the deck and take mine aswell…”
The eyes of the bully shined with a new intensity.
“And if I lose?”
“Return everything you stole.”
The newcomer spoke calmly without any hint of panic.
As if the outcome has long been decided.
The bully looked down at his pocket and back at the newcomer.
“Fine.
But don’t cry later when I take your deck as well.”
The newcomer simply smiled.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
While all this was happening, Katsumi looked from the side, thinking to himself.
‘Quite a arrogant fella.’
‘Hmm.’
After some time they changed their spot to a park.
The newcomer and the bully sat on a bench with their decks out.
Katsumi was on the monkey bars, training.
He wasn’t all that interested in viewing the fight, unlike the crowd of people who surrounded them.
The cardfighters on the bench, however began their fight.
“I stand up!
My Vanguard!”
“I stand up, my Vanguard!”