Cardfight!! Vanguard: Generations Volume 1.5 [Dr Yukimura]

- Part 4

Everyone got out of the pool and sat around the tables as Himeji began explaining the rules of the competition. He was offering his own private points as the prize of the competition, which made it more high-stakes and encouraged lazy people like Mitsuba to join.

"Alright, since there's fifteen of us here..."

"Actually, there should be sixteen. Where'd Mayuri-chan go off to?"

Fujimura, who was sitting next to Nora, looked around. Sakigamiya, who'd just noticed Suzuki was missing, also began looking around.

"Weird... I remember she left once she finished changing. Should I go look for her?"

Fujimura shook her head, then pointed at me.

"He should look for her."

It was obvious she chose me so I'd be out of her way for awhile. I didn't mind though, since I wanted to take a break from the action.

"Takanori-kun, is that okay with you? You can look for Suzuki-san after I explain the rules."

Himeji asked for my approval, and I nodded. Fujimura looked satisfied about it.

"Alright, since we have sixteen people, we'll do this elimination style! First, we'll have two races, with eight people each. We'll determine who goes in each race by drawing sticks."

Himeji placed a cup of numbered sticks in the centre of the table. He then removed the sticks labelled 15 and 16.

"These two will be for Takanori-kun and Suzuki-san. Afterwards, the top 4 of each race will go into the winner's race, and the bottom 4 of each race will go into the loser's race. After that race, it will let us determine the final ranking and who the winner is."

Obviously, the athletic students like Yukimura and Katsumi had an edge against the others, but everyone else was pretty much fair game.

"How many points you offering?"

Mitsuba asked a question that was only important to himself.

"Hmm... 1st place gets 100,000, 2nd place gets 50,000, and 3rd place gets 25,000. How does that sound?"

He was offering 175,000 private points altogether. The fact he even has that many points to spare is impressive, considering he's in E Class. The fact that 2nd and 3rd place could also get paid brought more competitive spirit.

"What kind of stroke do we use?"

Yukimura asked a good question. Himeji thought about it.

"Ah, forget any restrictions, just use whatever you're comfortable with. Freestyle it!"

That would give freedom over what style of swimming we could do. It'll be interesting to see everyone's preferred strokes.

"Alright, let's draw sticks!"

Instead of joining in like the rest of them, I took the two sticks Himeji removed. When the drawing finished, the students with stick numbers 1 to 8 would participate in race 1.

Stick 1: Demiza Taiga
Stick 2: Sakigamiya Alice
Stick 3: Himeji Kazuto
Stick 4: Nora Takayuki
Stick 5: Shinomiya Mai
Stick 6: Tanaka Houji
Stick 7: Katsumi Kou
Stick 8: Hono Ria

The remaining sticks, 9 to 14, would participate in race 2.

Stick 9: Yukimura Fudou
Stick 10: Sanou Nozomi
Stick 11: Nibiiro Suzui
Stick 12: Kazuraba Yukina
Stick 13: Mitsuba Jun
Stick 14: Fujimura Shouko
Stick 15: Suzuki Mayuri
Stick 16: Takanori Yuuto

Somehow, I ended up in the race with the heavyweight and most likely to win, Yukimura. As they began to prepare for race 1, I exited the pool area to find Suzuki, who had been missing this entire time. The first place I went to check were the changing rooms.