Cardfight!! Vanguard: Generations Volume 2 [Zyriot War]

Chapter 5: Claret Evening

Thursday morning.

I woke up extra early today so I could have ample time to find Tadokoro this morning. I was secretly hoping she was working in the garden to make things easier for me, but she wasn't there. Just Himeji checking the crops.

I took the train to school and entered class. The classroom was mostly empty aside from Nora, who was reading a book, and Ayano, who arrived at a similar time I did.

I waited patiently for Tadokoro to come to class in my seat. I watched as people came and left, settling in their seats or going out to buy breakfast before lessons started. This morning I had Japanese, huh?

Eventually, Tadokoro entered class. She came alone, so I decided to strike while the iron was hot and approached her directly myself.

"Morning, Tadokoro-san."

Tadokoro squeaked in surprise as I called out to her. Composing herself, she waved at me slightly.

"G'morning, Takanori-san..."

Tadokoro yawned as she said that. I guess she had some rough sleep last night. I decided to cut to the chase and ask for what I wanted from her.

"Can I borrow your deck during break time?"

"E-eh?"

Tadokoro snapped out of her sleepy daze as I asked that. She raised an eyebrow, unable to understand why I would need her deck.

"Please. I need it to do something."

"Um... I mean... if it's just for this break time... it should be fine..."

Tadokoro quietly mumbled to herself, rummaging around her bag to find her deck.

"Tadokoro-san, is everything alright?"

Interrupting me and Tadokoro was the vigilant Matsushita. Since she belonged to his group, I guess us conversing with each other did seem suspicious to him. It made sense that he wanted to check I wasn't doing anything bad to Tadokoro.

"E-eh? M-Matsushita-kun?"

"Is Takanori bothering you?"

Even now, Matsushita's hostility wouldn't stop.

"U-um... n-no, he isn't."

"What are you doing, talking to her then?"

He then sharply turned the question to me. I replied calmly, not letting his aggressive slights get on my nerves.

"I was just asking to borrow something from her."

"Is that true?"

She nodded her head reluctantly. Matsushita raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Tadokoro-san, don't feel pressured to give anything to him if you don't want to."

She shook her head, trying to explain the situation, but due to her shy personality, she had difficulty expressing it clearly.

"N-no, it's f-fine, Matsushita-kun... r-really, Takanori-san isn't d-doing anything..."

Matsushita, who took Tadokoro's stammering as a sign of fear, narrowed his eyes towards me. Seeing the tension grow between us, Tadokoro hurried to get her deck from her bag.

"H-here you go, T-T-Takanori-san! P-please return it by l-lunch! T-t-thank you!"

Tadokoro, wanting to escape the uncomfortable position she found herself in, shoved her deck in my hands, and ran away.

"Ah...?"

I couldn't even thank her before she whizzed back to her seat. Matsushita scoffed under his breath, his gaze never breaking away from me once.