Cardfight!! Vanguard: Generations Volume 5 [Yukina Sympathy]

- Part 7

In a blink of an eye, a week had passed by. Since then, my daily life had become a streamlined set of motions I repeated day in, day out.

A typical day would look like this: I would wake up early, dodge Shigaisoshi-sama insisting I should eat dog food for breakfast, have my driving lessons with Minamoto in the morning, play Vanguard with Nozomi in the afternoon, head to the tavern Stella worked at in the evening to be taught about Premium by Mamiko-sensei, and return to Kiri's place by midnight to crash out.

It was a gruelling schedule that pushed my social battery to its utmost limits. Even though I enjoyed the fact all I had to do was play Vanguard and learn how to drive, it was still exhausting running around all over the place to meet everyone and barely having any time for myself.

For an introvert like me, being obligated to interact with all these different people throughout the day was one of the toughest challenges I've ever had to face before, especially doing it back to back. In comparison, learning how to drive felt like a drop in the bucket.

Speaking of which, I had managed to gain my driver's license. Minamoto was shocked to learn I had passed both the theory and practical tests only after a week or so of lessons, but quickly chalked it up to her being that good of a teacher.

While that was true, I was also doing my own learning in my spare time, such as travelling in between places I had to be. It helped I could absorb information like a sponge, so it didn't take me very long to process the information and have it stick.

Either way, now that I was able to legally drive, Minamoto asked me to come with her today so she could show me a special place.

I hopped into my Panda Trueno and started up the engine, driving behind Minamoto's 86 GT as she led the way down a part of Gunma I had never been to before.

It was a set of roads that wrapped around the mountain pass that I first noticed when we arrived at Gunma— Mt. Akina.

As we climbed up the road, a few cars passed by us going the opposite direction every so often. They drove by so fast, I wasn't able to catch a glimpse of the vehicle model or the person who was driving.

The only thing I could glean was how skilled these people must have been to be driving downhill at such dangerous speeds. It was incredible seeing the depth of their control, especially now that I understood the beauty behind it from Minamoto's coaching.

"I guess that's the bare minimum I've got to reach if I want to be taken seriously at this tournament..."

I mumbled to myself, strangely excited for it. It had been a long time since I had felt fired up to do well like this. I think the last time was during the Test Shuffle, but that was so long ago now.

Honestly, the thought of my class made me wonder how everyone else was doing and what they were up to during their summer break. I know Nora, Mikitaka, Katsumi, and Alice all went to Paris, but I was also curious about the plans of people like Yukimura, Taiga, and even Matsushita.

...well, there's no point lamenting on it. Even if I did find out, it's not like I can join them right now. I've got the MF Tournament to focus on instead.

As I continued following Minamoto, we gradually made our way to the peak of the mountain, where a platform was. She pulled up, parking just off to the side of the road, adjacent to a small shack that seemed to be the only signs of civilisation here.