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

- Part 22

By the time I had returned to our room, it was already 7pm. When I entered, I wasn't expecting to see everyone in our room inside.

Kouji and Kishida were sitting on the edge of their beds, while Yamamoto and Nakajima were laying on theirs. Yamamoto was fast asleep while Nakajima was faced away from everyone else.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Seeing me enter, Kouji lifted his head and greeted me.

"Takanori-san... yo. Kishida-san pressed the give up button, so we were eliminated."

I glanced at Kishida. He looked at me, scratching his cheek and nodding with a weak smile.

"Sorry... I couldn't hold out any longer. I was starving and I couldn't get in contact with Shimada-san, so..."

Considering he broke his watch to fight me, it makes sense. I couldn't blame Kishida for choosing to do what he did.

"What about you? What the hell happened to your face?" Kouji said.

"I fell down a cliff. It doesn't hurt, so don't worry it."

Kouji and the others gave me a strange glance, but didn't question any further. I sat down on my bed, joining them.

The atmosphere was really awkward since no one was making any conversation. Since they hadn't brought up Shimada being missing yet, I thought it'd be a good chance to mention it to the others.

"So, about Shimada-san..."

However, before I could, Nakajima turned to the rest of us and interrupted me.

"He's been retired from this special exam."

Both Kouji and Kishida raised their eyebrows.

"What? Since when?!"

"I thought he was just late coming back... has he really been retired?"

"Yes. As of this evening."

As Nakajima scanned us with his eyes, he held his gaze on me for a few seconds longer than everyone else.

"When we came back to the school, Mikazuchi-sensei explained the situation to me. Due to an injury he suffered, Shimada-san was forced to retire. With him gone, we're now going to have to choose a new leader between the five of us before tomorrow's challenge begins."

"Damn, even Shimada-san can get hurt, huh...? I never thought I'd see the day."

Even though Kouji said that as a joke, his eyes flickered towards me, or more specifically, the injuries on my face.

"Even the great Achilles had a weakness. As strong as Shimada-san is, he's not invincible. He's just as susceptible to a nasty fall like anyone else."

"Guess he came tumbling down. Literally."

"But that's besides the point... the more important matter right now is figuring out who's going to be our leader moving forward. As much as I'd like to have Yamamoto-san be involved in this discussion, seeing as we're all from the lower classes, I think we can all agree that making an A Class student our leader would be detrimental to us. Especially since our group is in the lead."

"Yeah. Considering how many challenges we've won so far, our group is definitely at least in the top three. If we're going to get the most out of those leader bonuses, someone from the bottom rungs is better off taking the role." Kishida said.

"Sure, I agree with all the above. I just have one request." Kouji said.

"What is it?" Nakajima said.