Cardfight!! Vanguard SC: Defenders of the Gate

Chapter 12: Yudai's Troubles

Kiniro was watching TV while Roka worriedly paced back and forth in front of Yudai's room. She looked distraught, as if a loved one just died.
"Do you think he'll be okay, Kin?" Roka asked, temporarily ceasing her pacing.
"Honestly, I can't say for sure. I'm sure he'll be over soon, but I don't know what effect that'll have him later." He said with the same look of worry. Roka looked at the door of Yudai's room.
"Yudai..."
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It's was a few hours after their meeting the Spirit of Harmonics Messiah, and the apparent future heroes had just gotten of the train. Rei headed to his house leaving the three Defenders alone. Yudai was completely silent for the better part of twenty minutes, only giving short answers such as 'Yes' or 'No'. He bangs covered his eyes and his face was pale.
"Hey Kiniro, you're not from this timeline, are you?" Roka asked Kiniro.
"Oh, no, I not. I have to say, though, you're pretty cavalier after hearing that." Roka giggled.
"I'm guessing you don't have a place to stay."
"Huh, no that you mention it, I guess not. Seems I forgot to get that worked out between all the excitement," He said, while rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling.
"You can stay at my place." These were the first words Yudai had uttered for the better part of an hour, and even still, he didn't turn back to look at Kiniro, the one he was addressing.
"It's really okay, you don't have to..."
"I didn't stutter, did I? If you have nowhere else to go, stay at my house."
"For real? That's so cool of you. You're an awesome guy, Yudai." Kiniro praised. Yudai clammed up again, and continued to move ahead, his pace never slowing.
"Yudai, are you alright?" Roka asked worriedly. Again, there's was not such much as a hint of acknowledgement.
"Yudai?" She attempted to put her hand on his shoulder, but Yudai immediately smacked her hand away.
"Don't touch me!" He lashed out. It surprised everyone, including himself. When Yudai finally realised what he'd done, he started to tear up.
"I'm sorry, Roka. It's just that..." He took out his FiCa and threw it on the ground.
"I didn't sign up for this. I can't deal with this. I don't want to go through with this. I quit." He said and he walked away from them. Kiniro and Roka were frozen in shock, and stared at the FiCa currently lying on the ground. As he walked away they heard him say, albeit very silently was, "I already know I'm a failure. I don't need any reminders."
"Oh, Yudai..."
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"We have to do something." Roka started.
"I know, but there's only a few ways we can go about this and even less ways that'll work. Getting him out of this funk is going to be a challenge. Kind of reminds me when my friend Katashi was feeling down." Kiniro replied. Roka put a finger to her chin and put on her thinking face. Then she got an idea.
"I've got it! Let's ask Ms. Matsuro for advice."
"What, you mean Yudai's mom?"
"Yeah! Moms know everything about their kids. I'm sure if we tell here what the problem is, she'll know what to do." She chimed. Kiniro shrugged.
"That's a good idea. Sure, let's go with that. Any idea on how to contact her?"
"We can do a video chat using a laptop. Yudai says she never answers her cell."
"Alright. We'll give it a shot."

Kiniro set up a video chat with Yudai's mom. It started out a bit scratchy, but it got better and revealed a young looking woman with the same hair as Yudai. The only difference was it was longer and it was twisted in braid. You could tell just by looking at her that she was kind hearted.
"H-Hello, Ms. Matsuro. I'm R-Roka Mizuk-kami, Yudai's housemate. I-It's so nice to see you in person. Thank you so much for everything." Roka said, though she stammered nervously a bit.
"So, you're Roka? Yudai's told me so much about you! And your so pretty and sweet! Looks like my little boy has really good taste in women!" She said enthusiastically.
"Hello, Ms. I'm Kiniro Inazuma, Yudai friend and aspiring housemate. He said I could live with him for a little while, is that okay?"
"Of course! I'm not sure who you might be or what kind of past you have, but you have a kind smile and soft eyes, so I find it hard not to like you. You have the house to its full use. Just be safe, okay?"
"You got it, ma'am. By the way, we have a question for you, if you don't mind answering."
"Yes, go ahead. What is it?"
"Well, the thing is, Yudai seems to be a bit down and we don't know what wrong with him, but he said he'd stop playing Vanguard because of it. Do have any ideas on what Roka and I could do?" As Kiniro said this, her smiling expression was degraded into a crestfallen look.
"Tell me Kiniro, was he recently backed into seemingly hopeless situation? Given a major responsibility? Told that numerous people were counting on him?" She asked seriously. Kiniro thought back to their encounter with Harmonics Messiah's Spirit.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, he was. Why?" Kiniro and Roka were confused.
"I was afraid of this. Ever since 8 years ago, Yudai suffers from a psychological turmoil triggered when things like this happen, but it's really takes effect when he feels he's on the verge of causing someone great disappointment or when has someone's life in his hands. In other words he had a certain case of atychiphobia: a fear of failure. It causes him to doubt himself completely and question the usefulness of his existence. It's happened to him once before. It's like he not even in this world anymore, but he'll occasionally whisper horrible things about himself. It's breaks my heart." She said through tears. Roka also started to tear up and Kiniro just looked lost on thought.
"Please, Roka, Kiniro, as Yudai's friends do me a favour."
"Yes, what is it? Anything at all." Roka replied.
"My son has never had genuine enjoyment in his life since Yui. But when he told me about Vanguard and his first match with Reisuke, he was so happy and his eyes sparkled with a fire of passion. I'd never seen him smile so much ever. So please, don't let him quit Vanguard. I want to always see that sparkle in his eyes." She pleaded. Roka was genuinely touched.
"We'll do it! You can count on us Ms. Matsuro!" Yudai's mother's face returned to its smiling state.
"Thanks you two and please call me Keiko. I have to get back to work now, but promise you'll tell me when he gets better and then he can tell me what got him into that state. I'll miss the both of you and Yudai too." She logged out after that.

"So what now?" Roka asked.
"Well, Keiko didn't exactly tell us what to do, but that info she gave us helped more than anything. What we need is to make Yudai cardfight someone capable of snapping him back into his usual self. I'll contact Rei to see if he knows anyone who could do that. Be back in a sec." Kiniro then left to go contact Rei with the FiCa he registered for the day before. Roka looked at Yudai's door.
"I'm sorry, Yudai. All you wanted to do was play vanguard casually. But know you have to play for the sake of two worlds and it's inhabitants. But you're so much stronger than me, and I admire that about you. I know you'll be your old self again soon and you'll come back to us." She stared at her right hand, the one Yudai unwillingly slapped earlier.
"Because this definitely isn't like you."

Kiniro was talking to Rei via his FiCa.
"So that's the story. Do you know anyone like that?" Kiniro asked.
"Yeah, I guess. Yudai gave his contact info a while ago. Here I'll give it to you. A fight with this guy should really do the trick. His methods may be a little controversial, but he has a way with words."