Cardfight!! Vanguard: Generations Volume 1.5 [Dr Yukimura]

- Part 2

I knocked on the door of C Class, and got a "come in" from their teacher, Akusa-sensei. She's a former pro-fighter who played on the Asia circuit. She's really popular in Korea, for some reason.

I don't know how, but she ended up becoming a math teacher for this school. I guess if Mikazuchi-sensei can teach sex-ed here, it shouldn't be weird that a celebrity like her is also teaching us as well.

"Oh, Takanori-san. What brings you to C Class?"

Akusa-sensei greeted me pleasantly.

Of course, I'm purposefully omitting the fact that she's dating one of my mom's friends, Blaze Inu. He works for Ryuzaki & Co... yeah, the connections go on and on, surprisingly.

C Class was busy chatting away and doing last minute revision. It was hard to find Suzune in the crowd of students, but she was the centre of attention for the girls.

"Uh... um... is it alright if... I use one of your class's lockers?"

"Go away, Drachma scum!"

"Akusa-sensei, tell him to disappear!"

"I'll become more stupid if he's here!"

"Guys, it's the dude who lost to Mikazuchi-senpai! Ha ha!"

"What an eyesore..."

You can stop rubbing it in... hearing all these people make fun out of me all at once made me feel worthless. I wish I never spoke in the first place now.

"Hmm. Is anyone willing to let Takanori-san use their locker?"

"I will."

Surprisingly, one boy with dark green hair raised his hand. Seeing his good looks and clean uniform, I deducted that he was a kind-hearted ikemen, like Matsushita.

"Ikeda-san, always being a model class representative."

Ikeda... Wait, this is the Ikeda Arata I've heard about. C Class's male leader who works... alongside Suzune.

For some reason, my chest started to feel funny.

Regardless, he's a foe... one day I'll have to beat him. But for now, keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.

"Really? You'd be willing to let me use your locker?"

Ikeda nodded and leaned in. He whispered to me.

"Kinoshita-san's told me all about you. Don't worry, I'm on your side."

I tightened my fist. For some reason, I don't trust his words. They sound troublesome.

"Alright, then."

I followed Ikeda to the back of the class, where the lockers were. C Class was definitely the most normal classroom I've seen so far. It was like a stock image for what a normal classroom should look like.

I placed my things into Ikeda's locker. Why am I putting so much faith into him... I looked at Suzune briefly, and she looked back at me. However, she looked away quickly to talk to her friends.

"Thanks. I'll wait here to get my stuff back at the end of the day."

"For sure. See you soon, Takanori-san."

I returned to E Class after making that short trip. It was a bizarre sight, as everyone had creatively put away their stuff in a... strange manner.

The solution to their problem? Sweep it under their chabudai and put their zabuton on it. Well, it temporarily works, I suppose. They managed to put away their stuff just in time too, as the bell rang, signalling homeroom was finished.

As a class, led by Chabashira-sensei, we went to the gymnasium. Standing at the front was our resident Japanese teacher, Hiden-sensei. He was as gleeful and playful as ever, skipping across the front and talking to the other faculty with a cheeky smile.

Once all five classes were present, he began the prep-talk. To boil it down, he gave us advice on what to do, some hints, and a good luck message. After it was over, the first years headed out to into the exam hall, which was located at the back of the school and guarded tightly by faculty members.

Separating us and the exam hall were large iron gates that slowly repelled each other open. The grand size of the exam hall from this far away made my spine shiver. It was beginning to sink in that this was the real thing, and there was no turning back.

A Class got special privileges and entered the exam hall first, followed by B, C and D Classes respectively. E Class headed in last, passing through the gates and being checked by the station guards there. They used item detectors to scan us, checking what we had in our pockets.

Since I was at the back of the line, I was able to watch everyone pass through the detector. While everyone from A to D Class got past smoothly, E Class had a hiccup.

Kouji Tenma passed through the item detector, and it went off. A beeping noise occurred, and one of the guards at the gate grabbed Kouji aside and started to pat him down. They found that Kouji had brought his phone with him to the exam. As such, the guards forcibly escorted him back to the gymnasium.

We watched in disbelief as Kouji had made a reckless and fatal mistake. He was disqualified, making his score zero, and failing the test before he could even attempt it.

I wonder how that'll go down on the S System. Without anymore delays, thankfully, I was able to pass through the gate smoothly. Before I entered the exam hall, the people administrating the gate gave me a specific number. It was my seat in the exam hall: F5.

As I walked in for the first time, a wave of icy air blew past me. People were sitting at their own desks, staring at the front of their paper with shaking eyes. Even some of the A Class students fell victim to the pressure.

Already, one student was pulled out to the side. Terasaka Soichiro, D Class, had been disqualified. As I took my seat near the front of the hall, another invigilator pulled out another student...

...and to no one's surprise, it was Mitsuba. What did he end up doing now?

Weirdly, he and an A Class student were forced out of their seats at the same time. I think the A Class student was Mitsumori Jiro. Considering they sat adjacent to each other, I'm guessing they somehow talked to each other, which was against the rules.

At least they were consistent about it, albeit ruthless. This was a public showing to all students that no matter which class you're in, you were still subject to disqualification if necessary, and without bias.

As I was the last one in, I filled in my information and waited for the invigilators to tell us when to start.

I tried to keep a cool appearance on the outside, but deep down... I was terrified. One wrong move and I could be disqualified from this exam like those four. Even though I disregarded the midterms as not being important, slowly I felt like I had the wrong idea.

My hands felt frigid as they held my barely warm pen. It'd been sitting in my pockets for awhile, but it was freezing in the exam hall. Even wearing this blazer wasn't enough, because it was too thin.

This sort of depraved battlefield was the perfect setting for our midterms. I couldn't expect anything less from the great GEN Academy.

I placed my bottle onto the table and gulped. My own fears were starting to get at me. I couldn't start doubting myself now at this crucial moment. I made a strategy. I was going to follow through with it.

I'll be fine. I just needed to reassure myself that.

All that's left is to concentrate and relax. This is our first midterm, Japanese. If I get a hand cramp from being nervous, it'd be the end of the line for me.

I'll cut through this one with the sharpened sword of my knowledge. This pen is my weapon. All I need to do is wield it and push on through to victory.

As the three disqualified students made their way out of the exam hall, the invigilators readied us.

At 10:30am sharp, our first midterm exam began.

I flipped open the page-