Cardfight!! Vanguard: Heiwa - Volume II

-Part 2

"Why did I ran here, I have one of the worst cardios in the group..."

Turns out going to Heiwa for two years and sneaking into the school before doesn't mean having a perfect memory of the building's map, so Izuru spent a good ten minutes running around the entire school like an idiot before finding the stairs that lead to the rooftop's entrance, and when he got there, he sat down to catch his breath.

"More maps on the walls... Yeah, why would we need that, we know our school... Goddammit, past Izuru and Aimi...!" Izuru weakly yelled.

The extra maps idea had been suggested last year, but Izuru and Aimi's belief in the student body (and their own belief in themselves) was so big that they rejected the idea. 

And then it bit them in the ass because they can't run to save their lives half the time and never know what path takes where.

"Alright... I think that's enough resting..." Izuru sighed and got up.

Reaching for the door handle, he stopped when his hand began trembling. The closer he got to it, the more it shook, and the weaker it became.

"Oh, come on... W-we don't have time to waste, body." He chuckled and tried shrugged it off, but the moment he grabbed the handle, his knees gave out and he fell. "This is perfectly normal,  just need to work the nerves out!"

It's a miracle he didn't wet his pants from how nervous he actually was.

After some minutes to do some minimal exercise and do some shadow boxing, because yeah that'll work, he tried to open the door again... to the same result as before.

"T-that's right, this is my brain telling to review my deck to make sure no card has tiny bends and that the sleeves are clean!!"

And that's a perfectly fine excuse to not address the actual problem.

But yeah, Izuru went through the entire process of unsleeving and then resleeving his entire deck, just to arrive at the conlusion that his deck was completly fine and completly undamaged. His low value Aqua Force cards still had the same low value as before.

And then he tried to open the door for a third time, but he ended up sitting down at the bottom of the stairs and confront the actual problem.

And the solution for that was to call Ryuuga.

"Yo, what's up, little brother? You sacked that guy yet? Taira said he'll make lunch for us if you take care of that fast-"

"I'm scared." Izuru muttered, much against his will.

Izuru waited patiently for some words of wisdom from his brother, but instead all he got was a small laugh.

"This only proves you're any idiot, y'know?!"

"Hai, hai, hai, hai, hai!" Ryuuga chuckled. "And? What's making you so scared of fighting Endo? Haven't you been hyping this up for a good two months by now?"

"W-well... You see... The truth is that... What if I lose?"

"What if you lose? You just go to Hagiwara and life moves on."

"That's not what I meant, dumbass!" Izuru exclaimed. "What if after I leave Heiwa, you know... We all..."

"Say it."

"Y-you get the point!"

"No I don't, I'm a dumbass who gets cucked by someone who unironically has Blade as a last name."

"F-fine then!! What if we... What if we...!!"

Izuru swallowed all of his pride as he inhale and yelled it out for Ryuuga.

"WHAT IF WE ALL DRIFT APART BECAUSE I LOSE AND LEAVE HEIWA?!" He confessed. "I'M SCARED OF LOSING THEM BECAUSE I LOSE HERE! I DON'T TO GO BACK TO LIVING SOME BORING LIFE WITHOUT PEOPLE AROUND ME LIKE BEFORE!"

"Eh, you said it." Ryuuga chuckled again, but this time, Izuru was able to tell he did it out of being proud. "What do you believe in more? Them or the things you overthought?"

"W-well..."

"That's my- HEY HEY GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME TAIRA, THIS IS MY-!"

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEE YOU DAMN PROTAGONIST! DON'T GO ACTING LIKE A BITCH AFTER I GAVE YOU A FREE DECK AND FREE LESSONS, YOU GOT THAT PUNK?!"

Taira dropped in to give some nice and calm sensei advice. How kind of him.

"S-SHUT UP, THIS IS A COMPLETLY NORMAL FEAR! GO TO HELL, DUMBASS!"

"DON'T YOU 'GO TO HELL, DUMBASS' ME, I'M NOT YOUR DUMBASS BROTHER!"

"I'm right here..."

"W-what do you want me to then, huh?!"

"Easy! Stop believing in the you that believes he has any chance against that guy!"

Such great advice made Ryuuga spit out his iced tea and ruin the paperwork the two spent all morning worked on.

"THAT'S TERRBLE ADVICE, TAIRA!"

"HE HAS A POINT FOR ONCE!"

"I'M NOT FINISHED!" Taira yelled, and then sighed. "This is about to sound as shounen as it can get, so sit down and get ready to take it all in!"

"You're talking to my little bro, not Hinata!"

"Actually, she's the one who says that to me."

"...Izuru, Taira is being weird!"

"Yeah, I can hear that!" Izuru deadpanned.

"ANYWAY!" Taira coughed. "If you keep believing in the you that believes you'll win, you're not gonna go through that door anytime soon. So do something better. Believe in the people that believe in you. And if it all goes south, then fight for their tears with all you got. Get your ass up and go the nearest thing you can see yourself in."

"R-right."

Izuru got up and walked up to a nearby window. Though barelly, he could catch a glimpse of his reflection.

"Look at your eyes and tell me. Are those the eyes of a man in a showdown?"

"N-no..." Izuru muttered.

"I'll repeat myself! Are those the eyes of a man in a showdown?!"

"No... No!"

"Sawada Izuru, out of mercy for you, I'll only leave you half dead if you answer me something! ARE THOSE THE EYES OF A MAN IN A SHOWDOWN?!"

Izuru took a final look at his dim reflection and nodded, glaring at it.

"YEAH!"

"Holy crap, maybe you're not that bad of a mentor."

"Ryuzaki got nothin' on me, reee!"

(Media - Megalo Box Main Theme)

Izuru ended the call before those two could keep spatting dumb things and looked back at the stairway that lead to the rooftop. With a strong glare and a small but confident smile on his face, he slowly walked up those stairs.

As he grabbed the door's handle, he saw two versions of his life flashing by.

One where he loses and the gap between him and his friends grows faster than he can handle, ending in everyone going their separate ways.

And one where he wins and lives out his high school in Heiwa, in peace with those he cares for.

With a strong grip, he twisted the handle down and slammed the door open.

"ENDO!"