Cardfight!! Vanguard: Generations Volume 4 [Ryouta Rival]

- Part 6

I spent the remaining hour of the grace period at the waterfall. When it had worn off, I began wandering around the forest, getting to grips with the terrain and the geographical layout.

As I made my way deeper, I saw Yamaguchi's group passing by me. I didn't expect to find other people so soon, especially in such a large amount, but it seemed that they were all heading back towards the school.

Strangely enough, all the members of their group were present, including their hiders. At the front, Yamaguchi, Shibata, and Sugiura were jovially talking and laughing with each other, and at the back were Shinra, Masamoto, and Ayano, all spaced out.

In particular, Masamoto and Ayano were furthest behind, with Masamoto looking most dejected. As usual, Ayano had an indifferent look on his face, but the moment our eyes met, a bit of discomfort leaked out.

While the other five went on ahead, Ayano lingered for a moment, before crossing over to greet me. On his watch's interface was a flashing red light.

"...Takanori-san."

"Ayano-san. Hey."

Ayano looked behind him, waiting for the rest of his group to be out of earshot before talking. Once they were gone, his unusually stiff face relaxed, revealing creases of regret under his eyes.

"Is something bothering you? You look a lot worse for wear."

To be honest, Ayano's entire demeanour had slowly deteriorated over the course of this week. Not only did his teammates beat him up on the first day, but they also isolated him during the challenges and excluded him from everyone else.

The only people who seemed to acknowledge him were Shigeru and Masamoto, but Shigeru had been retired, and not even Masamoto seemed to be well respected in the group despite being an A Class student.

In fact, both of them seemed to be having a noticeably rougher time now that Shigeru's gone. Especially after yesterday, where everyone else on their team threw the challenge on purpose.

"...I think it's pretty obvious what happened to our group."

Ayano showed me his watch. Accompanying the flashing light was a block of text saying "Eliminated". It seems their group was the first to be found.

"You guys are already out? How did this happen?"

"...Yamaguchi betrayed us. Or rather, he betrayed me and Masamoto-san."

A low sigh escaped his lips.

"In our group, he, along with the other four, forced us two to be hiders. Then, once the grace period was lifted, he sold us out to Handa-san's group by contacting Handa-san on his watch and telling him our locations. Afterwards, it wasn't long until their seekers found us and got our entire group eliminated."

Once again, Yamaguchi had sabotaged his group into losing. To everyone else, this behaviour seemed completely irrational, but behind it, a poisonous strategy had been brewing.

"When we confronted him about it, he completely ignored our words and refused to answer. He, along with everyone else, pretended like we didn't exist. Reasoning with those idiots is impossible, especially now that Shigeru-san's gone."

Despite the calm, monotone way Ayano was speaking, you could tell he was beyond frustrated and annoyed at them with his tone. It seems even he had enough of being pushed around and made fun out of by the people in his group.

"Before, we could at least get along with them because of him, but now everything's become a mess. Not only is Yamaguchi a grossly incompetent leader, but he's also gone completely off the deep end and started losing challenges on purpose to tank our score."