Cardfight!! Vanguard: Heiwa

#5: Preparation for Midterms

It was early in the morning, before any students and most of the teachers arrived at Heiwa. Nijimura entered headmaster Endo's office with a small tray carrying two cups, a sugar packet, a small plate with three sugar cubes over it and a kettle in her hands, which she set down on the headmaster's table.

"Ah, thank you, Nijimura-san. And good morning." Endo greeted, not deviating his gaze from the window. "It's rather unusual to see you bring me tea of your own volition. If I didn't knew you like I do, I'd be confused over your action. But I can see through this like it's clear glass." He looked at the grey woman from the corner of his eyes. "What do you want to ask, Nijimura-san?"

"If you allow me, sir." Nijimura cleared her throat. "I'd like to discuss with you the result of your plan against Ban Katsuhito-san. It's been over a week since his fight with Sawada Izuru and he still remains in this school. Not only that but he now is friends with him. How can you be so calm when your plan failed?"

"My plan?" Endo turned to face his assistant and tilted his head. "What plan? That could be considered difamation, Nijimura-san. I had no plan against one of my students. A rumour happened to spread out and some actions were caused because of that. I never stated I wanted Ban-kun out of the school, nor did I reject the idea of him and Sawada-kun becoming friends. What happened, well, happened."

"But sir, what if-!"

"Please be quiet, Nijimura-san. I'm yet to enter the mood that allows me to deal with your hate for Sawada-kun, so please dial down on the shouting." He commanded, glaring slightly at the woman.

"R-right... My apologies, Endo-sama. Allow me to remake my question in a more civilized manner."

"Go on."

"With Ban Katsuhito-san and Izuru on the same side, how can you be so calm knowing that you might lose your pawn because of what Ban-san knows?" Nijimura asked.

"Ah, so you've decided to bring that up. I don't find any particular issue with it. Nijimura-san, what is your explanation for the concept of cause and effect?" Endo asked, turning the two cups face up and pouring some of the tea in the kettle into them, filling the right one more than the left.

"Cause is an action being done, the effect is its result, correct?"

"Something on those lines. Let's say that me leaning the kettle forward is the cause. The effect would be the tea falling into the cups, correct?"

Nijimura nodded.

"But as you can see, one cup is more filled than the other. The same cause may lead to two different effects. My worries are nonexistent because of the opposite." Using his fingers, Endo dropped the three cubes of sugar into a cup, then opened the sugar packet and olaced its content in the other. He grabed two small spoons on the tray and began stirring the contents of each cup. "Should Ban-kun's exit of Heiwa a week ago be defenitive, it'd be a matter of time before Sawada-kun questioned the events that lead to that and figure out who's to blame for his and Ban's animalistic fistfight in the first place. The current route we're on will lead to the same conclusion eventually. Ban-kun may not tell Sawada-kun about Sachi-san now because he's aware of how close she and Sawada-kun are, but will sooner or later do it."

"And if he doesn't?"

"The same train of thought as the other route's conclusion is applied. He begins questioning the chain of events that lead to that on the back of his mind until a realization implodes within his head. I understand your distaste for Sawada-kun, but please don't underestimate his thinking. One day, he will rethink that day and question Ban-kun or Sachi-san, perhaps even both. He'll trace everything back to Sachi-san, giving us the same result the two routes would give us. In another words."

Endo stopped stirring the tea and remove the spoons from the cups, which he placed back on the tray. He lifted the left cup of tea and took a brief sip.

"Two different causes, but both sharing the same effect." He spoke, a small smile forming in his lips.