Despite how popular Vanguard is, the Vanguard shop wasn't as rampant as I thought. Part of it was probably because the room was pretty small and cramped and there were only a couple tables out. Most people had put their decks in their luggage like I did, so a lot of people were spectating.
Matsushita guided me towards a small table near the back with a couple people surrounding it. There were two people playing with the others watching. Smoothly inserting himself into the flow of things, Matsushita spoke with confidence.
"Hey guys. Who's playing?"
A boy next to him, who was a bit short for our age, excitedly responded. He had a red tie on. "The boy using Dark Irregulars is Ishima Akihiro-kun, and the girl using Royal Paladin is Ishima Tamaki-chan."
I positioned myself next to Matsushita who continued to speak to the boy. "Ah, they're siblings?"
"Yeah. Ishima-kun's deck is super interesting. He uses the Cuticle Killer, Mirche as his avatar. Ishima-chan's deck is more of a standard Soul Saver Dragon deck, though."
I watched the siblings play back and forth with each other. Ishima Akihiro had a scary looking face and a deep caucus laugh. Ishima Tamaki was the exact opposite, being a girl with gentle features and light feathery laugh. How on earth were they siblings?
On closer inspection, I noticed that their ties were also different colours. Certainly, it seemed the male Ishima was in my class too, since he wore a red tie. The female Ishima had a sparkling white one in comparison.
Being surrounded by my future classmates... put me at a strange ease.
"Stand and draw! This is the hand that vanishes all! I ride, No Life King, Death Anchor!" Ishima triumphantly put his trump card down on the field. His face turned arrogant in an instant. "Imaginary Gift: Protect II!"
"Protect II, huh?"
I unintentionally made a small comment. The smaller boy who Matsushita was talking to turned his attention to me.
"Over the game, he's collected three of them. This is his fourth one."
I see. There were two Protect IIs stacked on each front row rear-guard circle.
"Death Anchor's skill! I soulcharge, and add 30k to vanguard! (12000 > 42000) Then, I'll call Succubus of Worldly Affairs (12000 > 22000), Cuticle Breaker, Pavla and Prisoner Beast to rear-guard! Prisoner Beast soulcharges and gets 2k! (8000 > 10000) Boosted by Dimension Creeper, Awful Nail attacks! (19000 > 32000)"
It seems he plays a very aggressive variant.
"Lucius and Kay, aid me! (13000 > 33000)"
"Boosted by Prisoner Beast, Death Anchor attacks! (42000 > 52000) Breakdown Death Breath!"
"Iseult, perfect guard!"
Ishima clicked his tongue. "Twin Drive!! (Cuticle Breaker, Pavla, Werluchs Gefreiter) Critical trigger! All to Succubus of Worldly Affairs! (22000 > 32000/1 > 2)"
The female Ishima looked worried at what her brother had done. She kept her cards hidden close to her chest. The male Ishima however had a cocky grin on his face, even though she was only at three damage.
"Death Anchor's skill! I counterblast and place a card from my hand and three of my rear-guards to soul!" Akihiro spread out his now nineteen card soul. Picking up a grade 3 from among them, he smirked. "Queen of the lost night, march under the rose dyed moonlight! I ride my avatar, Cuticle Killer, Mirche!"
"Here's the exciting bit!" The smaller boy exclaimed.
"Mirche goes critical (1 > 2), and attacks! (12000/2) Her skill, I counterblast and discard a card from my hand! I call a Cuticle Assassin Sabina (9000 > 19000) and Cuticle Breaker, Pavla from my soul! Mirche gets 5k! (12000 > 17000/2) In addition, since my vanguard is Mirche, Sabina gets an extra critical (1 > 2) and both of my Pavla get 10k! (7000 > 17000) Take her down, Thorny Chapel!"
Matsushita was left thoroughly impressed. I felt quite sceptic however. The male Ishima had brought on a very powerful offence, but his defence was severely lacking. If he didn't clinch it this turn, the female Ishima would be able to strike back with even more force, considering her opponent was sitting at five damage.
"Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine, aid me! (13000 > 33000)"
Shut down by a single heal trigger. Unless Ishima could pull a double trigger, it seemed she would have just enough cards to stand against the attacks.
"Not yet... not until I'm dead!" As if he could read my mind, Ishima declared such a thing loudly. The crowd began cheering at this heated fight. "Twin Drive! First check! (Blitzritter) Power to vanguard (17000 > 27000), critical to Sabina! (2 > 3)"
He only needs one more trigger...
"Second check! (Prisoner Beast)"
And just like that, Ishima's attack had failed. The female Ishima breathed a sigh of relief, while the male one was in agony over his terrible luck. Channeling his frustration into motivation, he continued his critical filled attacks.
"Boosted by Pavla, Succubus of Worldly Affairs is next! (32000 > 50000/2)"
"No guard! (High Dog Breeder, Akane, Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes)"
Just like that, she was pushed from three to five damage. The male Ishima smirked, and begun his final assault.
"Now, boosted by Pavla, Sabina is next! (19000 > 37000/3)"
The smaller boy mumbled to himself. Ishima had a look of realisation on his face. It seems he just recognised how he's misplayed.
"Llew, Flogal, aid me! (13000 > 43000)"
"Ahh!" Ishima groaned, ruffling his hair. He grinned wryly, and sighed. "Your go."
Akihiro:
Hand: 3
Damage: 5
Soul: 17
XXX
XOX
Tamaki:
Hand: 2
Damage: 5
Soul: 4
XXX
OOX
"Stand and draw! The white wings that govern the world, gather the light of everyone in your hands! Soul Saver Dragon, Persona Ride!"
And that makes five soul. If she can call her last two cards to field, everyone will be receiving an incredible extra 15000 power.
"Imaginary Gift: Force I! To the rear-guard! I call Flogal and Lucius. Next, I soulblast five and give everyone 15k power! (20000 > 35000) (23000 > 38000) (20000 > 35000) (8000 > 23000) (5000 > 18000) (8000 > 23000) Heroic Blessing!"
The male Ishima was looking at his hand and cringing. Despite the female Ishima being the clear victor in this match, she never grew cocky or looked confident. Instead, she looked more wary than anything.
"Boosted by Flogal, Soul Saver Dragon attacks! (38000 > 56000) Holy Charging Roar! Skill, I soulcharge one!"
"Ah..." Ishima threw his cards onto the table. "No guard."
"Twin Drive! (Knight of Loyalty, Bedivere, Sage of the Arts, Jauron)"
"Damage check. (Dimension Creeper)"
The male Ishima had lost. They shook hands and cleared up the table, leaving the seats so another two people could play.
"I can't believe I did a stupid misplay like that. I should've passed the second critical to Succubus of Worldly Affairs since she had the most power. I should've also attacked with her last instead of Sabina."
It seems he was able to reflect on what he did wrong.
Immediately, the smaller boy hopped in one of them and began shuffling his deck excitedly. A stoic boy with a white tie took a seat across him, and they began greeting each other.
"I'm Mitsuba Jun." The smaller boy said.
"Yamamoto." The stoic boy said.
"I can't wait to see this match play out too!" Matsushita said.
I watched the Ishima siblings leave the store. Mitsuba's and Yamamoto's match had unfolded.It was a Kagero vs Shadow Paladin fight. Mitsuba looked to have an Overlord deck, while Yamamoto was using a Mordred deck.
It was during Yamamoto's grade 3 turn that the Ishima siblings come back. They had a couple drinks in their hands.
"Yo, who's thirsty?" The male Ishima said with a wide smile.
"Me!" Mitsuba shot his hand up.
Ishima and Ishima passed out some sodas and iced coffees around.
"By the way, you can call me Akihiro." Ishima said as he gave me an iced coffee.
"Oh... thanks."
I felt a bit strange, getting access to his first name so easily. But I bet he was used to it, since it would've been difficult to differentiate between him and his sister.
"Since we're gonna be in the same class, what's your name?" Akihiro said.
"I'm Takanori Yuuto."
"What clan do you use, Takanori?"
No honourifics, huh? This guy was pretty straight forward.
"I use Narukami."
"Just like me." Matsushita engaged in our little conversation. "Hi there. I'm Matsushita Isogai, but you can call me Isogai."
With all these first names being tossed around so casually, I started to feel like the odd one out. These guys seemed like riajuus, unlike me who rarely went outside the house unless absolutely necessary.
"Matsushita and Takanori. Cool cool."
"Damn it!" Mitsuba yelled loudly, which caught our attention. When we checked, it seemed he had reached six damage.
Despite looking mad about it, Mitsuba was cheerfully laughing. Yamamoto's face remained extremely plain as he began shuffling his deck once more. It looked like they were about to have another bout.
Well, that was until an announcement was resounded on the speakers dotted around the cruise ship. A stewardess' voice came from it.
"We shall be arriving to GEN Academy shortly, in approximately five minutes."
With that, I decided to go find Yukina.