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

SS Machida Kouta: Nora Takayuki

On the start of this sweltering June, the 1st Years scores and grades were declassified on the 1st Year's notice board, which was in the hallway of the first floor. Posted was a large spreadsheet publicly showing this information, and on the school app there was a PDF file with the table that you could download.

During the weekend, me, Ritaka and Kasai went to the school facility to check it out for ourselves. I didn't bother going to look at it on Friday, the first day it was released, as too many students were crowding around the board, and I knew how well B Class did. Suffice to say, we didn't beat A Class at all.

It was frustrating that our tactics didn't work against them. Even though we went out of our way to trouble and harass them, they still kept their shit together and did better than any other class. Whatever, it doesn't matter. I got the best scores in B Class, even beating out that Ichinose. I wasn't going to lose just yet.

However, I did want to see how everyone in our year did. More particularly, the top ten, so I know who to target next time. The issue with the PDF was that it was ordered by gojuuon and class, while the board showed it in ranking order, based on grades, which gave students incentive to visit the board if they were competitive. Since the school facilities are open for students to use on the weekend, I went during that time since it would be peacefully quiet.

"Machida, you'll definitely be on the top 10!"

Ritaka was way too excited, skipping along and spinning around in the hallways like an idiot. Kasai followed quietly behind us. While their personalities were extremely different, both were extremely loyal to me.

I could tell Ritaka was loyal, because while he had a major crush on Ichinose, he chose to follow my cause rather than hers. Kasai is a loyal person because he calls me "boss", recognising my leadership, and follows all my orders without question. That's why I brought these two here with me today.

I was sure that other students would also be here to check out the board. Depending on the circumstances, things might turn ugly. I needed back up with me, like these two. I could've brought Koishi, but he spends his weekends doing financial work for his family back in Tokyo.

"No, no, boss will get top 5."

Kasai refuted Ritaka's claim. Well, the fact they were hyping me up this much was to be expected, but I wanted them to be reasonable about their presumption over my placing within the school.

"Don't try to kiss my ass. I hate when people do that."

It was an indirect threat not to do these sorts of things again. I might be a leader, but I hate suck-ups. While they are loyal, they become annoying real fast.

"But that's what I truly believe you'll get, boss."

While Kasai was loyal, being honest wasn't a thing he was good at. He had the ability to stand on his own two feet, but he relies on my confirmation far too often.

"I'm flattered, but you should think logically about this, Kasai. I'm competing against 124 other students. If you do the math, it's a 4% chance to get a score that high I'll be on there."

"Oh, right... well, top 20 then?"

Kasai was still hopeful. I shut him down quickly.

"16% chance."

Ritaka began walking backwards while looking at me weirdly.

"How'd you get those numbers?"

"Figuring out basic percentages in my head. You take the fraction and multiply by 100. 100 as a fraction is 100/1, and to multiply you just go across. Since fractions also mean divide, you can simplify the fraction and get a whole number through division. That'll give the final percentage."