Cardfight!! Vanguard: R

Episode One: About A Girl / Chapter 2

2 – Earth 1997

The Taiho Train Station is the third best train station in all of Japan, falling just short of Tokyo and Kyoto in the rankings. With a structure credited to foreign architects and adopting the eleven car 205-0 series trains for a local travel to smaller stations in Saidan city – similar to the Yamenote Trainline in Tokyo, offering long distance travel for those looking to go beyond the city's borders.

During its busiest hours, an assortment of commuters will each be making different journeys on the local line, office workers and students being the largest percent of passengers.

Workers would be sitting down clutching briefcases, savouring a few more minutes of sleep before their stop was called. A collection of high school girls crowded together in a circle, flipping through the pages of popular magazine, stopping to read an interview with a new young actor, talking at a low volume so not as to disturb other passengers.

Three elementary school boys were huddled in a corner by the door, the sound of crinkling plastic being opened slowly coming from them. One of them spoke up:

"Uwaah! Double Rare!"

"Shh" another started to glance around, "be quiet"

"I can't help it, besides" he held a trading card directly to the boy's face, "this one is super cool!"

The third boy chimed in with a light chuckle, "Yeah but its super weak."

"No way, you just don't see its potential"

As the boys slipped into a debate over the card in question, the girls began to speak in hushed voices:

"Akira is so handsome" the tallest of the group said, "did you hear that he's sponsoring that card game thing?"

"Yeah I heard about it, kind of strange for someone his age to be playing with cards, but its kind of cute too."

Further into the carriage was a male student of Fuyumi Highschool. He wore his uniform casually, the sleeves rolled up and his brass coloured buttons of his gakuran undone just below his chest revealing a crisp white shirt underneath. He stood reading a paperback book – folded so that he could read it with one hand. The characters at the top of the page read "The Prophecies", underneath were the various quatrains of the French seer Nostradamus.

The male student scratched the back of his tangled brown mess of hair, his eyes straining to stay open in the early hours of the morning and his brain trying to make sense of the writings in front of him. The look in his eyes suggested that he was trying to understand it but didn't really care if he did or not.

"The next stop will be Marino, next stop Marino"

As the announcement sounded throughout the train, some workers stirring from their sleep and like the other students on the carriage prepared their bags and belongings for disembark. The train slowly came pulled into the open station, and within a few short seconds the doors opened, and a good number of passengers spilled out and made their way to the stairs leading down onto the street.

The male student stepped out into the street, slipping his book back into his bag he took out a cassette player and small headphones, placing them over his head. He pressed in the play button and began his walk to school.

Along the way he finds the usual locations and sights, a stationary shop with a few students grabbing what they need before the day starts, a small café selling a small breakfast for those who didn't have time to eat before leaving the home, and oddly enough a game shop. Getting a good bit of foot traffic and sales despite being so early. Students, workers and younger children alike all dipping in and emerging with several card packs in hand, taking a bit of time outside the shop on benches or at the café's outdoor tables to open them and trade between their groups.

The cards and packs all being part of the same game, "Cardfight!! Vanguard."

He clicked his tongue, "Vanguard..." he muttered. He reached into his bag again and took out his student cap. After lowering his headphones around his neck, he pulled his cap down on his head so that the peak covered his eyes, "what a pointless game."