Joichi Toujou, a teenager with an unusual personality. He is the son of one of the richest businessman in Japan, and he has been living a lavish life since he was born.

The youngest of three siblings, Joichi might not be the next in line of succeeding the family business but he still acts highly of himself. Being the rich person he is, he boasts about his wealth and knowledge. This personality of his caused many people to go against him, but none ever won against him especially in cardfights.

During middle school, he was already possessing that much potential of becoming a Legendary Fighter in the future, and Joichi always proved that. No one could win against him; the boys despised or idolized him, while the girls would fall for his looks and charm.

This winning streak was always something that Joichi had…

But not until he met a certain blonde boy.

-

Op Sequence

-

A few years ago, Miyaji Middle School Department.

"Kouichi Sendou?" Joichi Toujou said as he raised his eyebrows. "I don't know him."

"He is a Sendou, so that probably means that he is either Aichi Sendou's son or a relative." One of his friends said.

"Ah, I see~" Joichi smirked. "Let's see then, where is his class?"

"The same as us, since this is our first day of school." His friend told him.

Joichi then let out a menacing look as he started to chuckle. "This first day of school will be good, I see."

Class had started, Joichi came in the classroom and found a certain blonde haired boy talking to a brunette girl.

Joichi kept looking at them and felt frustrated just by staring at the blonde boy. But he ignored them when some girls swooned over him.

-

It was afternoon, already the time to go home. Joichi stood up and saw that the blonde haired boy was about to leave the class, he chuckled before approaching him.

"Hey there, I've heard your name was Kouichi Sendou, right?" Joichi asked.

Kouichi gave a nod and smiled. "Y-yes, I am! I'm Kouichi Sendou, nice to meet you!" He said as he smiled brightly.

Joichi only scoffed. "I'm Joichi Toujou, if you don't know already. Anyways, If I'm correct, you are Aichi Sendou's son. Does this mean that you are playing Vanguard as well?"

"O-of course, my dad taught me how to play and I-"

"Then fight me." Joichi interrupted as he showed his own Vanguard deck in front of Kouichi's face.

"F-fight? Uh… s-sure, if you want to… I-I have my deck with me as well." Kouichi showed his.

"Perfect, now show me how a Sendou does their ways!" Joichi said.

The two of them set up a table with their Vanguard cards on there. They sat at a chair in front of each other and started to shuffle.

Kouichi's friend, Ayame Kai appeared when she heard that there was a cardfight happening in their classroom and she quickly suspected that it was Kouichi.

To Ayame, she knows that Kouichi likes to play Vanguard a lot. So him suddenly playing after class was expected of him, and she knows that Kouichi is somewhat of a good fighter who knows how to play his cards.

"Kouichi, there you are." Ayame said as she approached him. She saw Joichi and somehow noticed that he was giving off an arrogant aura, it made her feel uneasy.

Kouichi was unfazed by this, he glanced at Ayame and smiled at her. "Hey, Ayame. You're gonna watch us play?"

"Uh… yeah…" Ayame said and nodded, she noticed the smirk on Joichi's face and her eyes twitched.

"Let's start this game, Sendou-kun~" Joichi said.

"S-sure!" Kouichi gave a nod.

"Stand up, Vanguard!"

"Stand up, Vanguard!"

-

"No way…"

"A Sendou lost?!"

This chattering quickly rose right after the cardfight between Joichi and Kouichi. It was obvious that Joichi had won, but how? Everyone in the class were surprised, seeing that a Sendou had suddenly lost in a cardfight.

Joichi suddenly laughed, he saw how shocked Kouichi was and he couldn't help but to feel pride for himself. He can't believe that he fought someone who is a direct descendant of Aichi Sendou, and lost against him.

He let out an evil smirk as he looked at Kouichi. "What's your name again? Kouichi Sendou? If you're trying to live up to his name then why can't you be in the same level as him, hm?"

"T-that's not…" Kouichi tried to speak up but he saw how his classmates laughed at Joichi's statement.

"If you're really Aichi Sendou's son then why did you lose? Or does he not like his own son because he could already see that you're just a wimp who can't make him proud~?" Joichi taunted.

Kouichi suddenly trembled in fear, he was about to cry as he took his deck back. Joichi was just laughing alongside the others.

"How about you stop it, you bully?!" Ayame suddenly exclaimed as she approached Joichi.

"Oh?" Joichi looked up to Ayame with a sly grin, this just made Ayame give him a death glare that was totally terrifying already.

Ayame slapped Joichi's face and grabbed Kouichi's arm to drag him away from the scene. "Let's go, Kouichi."

"A-Ayame…" Kouichi muttered as he was dragged by Ayame.

Joichi was surprised, he couldn't believe that a girl would just slap him! How could she?! He touched his cheek that was reddened from the hit and he chuckled.

"Joichi, are you alright?" One of his friends asked.

"I'm alright~" Joichi said as he smiled. 'They're an interesting pair. Might as well try and play with them for a while~'

-

The next few days were like this: Kouichi would come to school only to be bothered by Joichi and his fellow friends who are bullying him as well. This gave Kouichi an inferiority complex. Little by little, Kouichi started to play Vanguard less than usual. It caused everyone in his family to worry about him.

Aichi quickly noticed this when he asked his son to play one game with him, but as soon as they were done, Kouichi just gave off an uninterested and gloomy aura.

Kouichi's twin brother, Eiichi, was aware of this as well. There could be times that when Eiichi would ask him to hang out at Card Capital or any other card shops, Kouichi would turn down and just lie down on his bed to sleep or if not, he will just play video games on the Computer.

Kourin asked Aichi and Eiichi about this situation, since she was worried that something might have been happening on Kouichi's school life, but the two doesn't even know that as well.

When Ai asked Kouichi to play Vanguard with her one time, Kouichi turned this down quickly, but Ai insisted. Kouichi suddenly snapped and made Ai scared.

"I TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT TO PLAY, AI!" He yelled out loud, and Ai cried. Kouichi quickly realized what he had done and tried to console his little sister. "I… Ai, I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"

Kourin and Aichi appeared before them with worry.

"What happened here?" Kourin asked as she went to Kouichi.

"Mom… dad…!" Ai ran up to Aichi and embraced him tightly, crying.

Kouichi didn't answer and just looked down with his hands turned to fists and trembled.

"Kouichi, answer me. What happened?" Kourin held Kouichi's shoulders and stared at her son. She was so worried, she had never seen him like this. Usually, Kouichi would be energetic and full of life. But now he's too quiet and out of himself.

Eiichi got out from his own room and approached Aichi and Ai.

"Eiichi-kun, can you please take care of your sister? Kouichi-kun needs some help right now." Aichi politely asked when he saw Eiichi.

"Y-yes, dad." Eiichi obliged and held Ai. "Come, Ai. You need to take a rest."

"Mm…" Ai rubbed her tears away and held Eiichi's hand as they left to Ai's room.

Aichi looked at Kourin and Kouichi, the atmosphere turned tense since Kouichi wouldn't answer what Kourin would ask him.

"Kouichi, answer me. I'm not mad, I'm worried. What happened?" Kourin touched her son's face.

Aichi couldn't help but to feel sad as well. He remembered what happened to him during his younger days, being bullied and all.

"Mom… I…" Kouichi finally broke down and cried a lot. Kourin pulled him into a hug and soothed him. She hasn't seen Kouichi like this for so many years, and seeing him crying made her heart break as she doesn't want any of her children to get sad.

Aichi went up to them and embraced Kouichi as well, he just couldn't help but to feel the same as Kourin does.

-

A few days later, during at school.

It was lunch time, and Kouichi was sitting by his desk. Ayame was looking at him and noticed that he wasn't touching his lunch box.

"Kouichi, are you alright?" Ayame asked.

"Ah… yeah." Kouichi just chuckled and took his lunch box out and started to eat. Ayame got worried and went to him, joining him to eat lunch.

"Oh? What do we have here? A Sendou and a Kai having a lunch date~?" Joichi appeared and he was already giving off a smug aura.

Ayame glared at the raven haired boy while Kouichi tried his best to ignore him. Joichi chuckled at this scene and then called out to Kouichi.

"Hey Kouichi, do you want to have a cardfight with me?" Joichi said and showed his deck. "Maybe you could do some… redemption arc?"

Then, Kouichi put down his lunch box and drank his water before standing up. "…Alright then. Let's fight." He said in a serious tone that baffled Joichi.

-

During their fight, Kouichi was acting strangely. He was like a different person and something had changed when he played.

Joichi didn't like how he's acting, and he got frustrated every time his attacks did not hit or barely did. It put him into a weird corner.

All of a sudden, Kouichi let out a chuckle. "Ixion, I was right about listening to you." He muttered as he was staring at his cards with an unusual grin.

"Hey, what's the deal? You're acting like a mad man." Joichi asked. "Or have you started to lose yourself?"

"Oh, I am not losing myself. Maybe you are." Kouichi said and he chuckled.

Joichi gave a glare on the blonde haired boy. "You're being too full of yourself, Kouichi Sendou. Just because you're getting better, it's only just a fluke."

"Let's see then, my turn!"

-

"What the…"

Joichi saw that he had 6 damage. It was unbelievable to see himself lost, and he trembled in shock. "But how…?"

Kouichi was chuckling, much like Joichi did whenever Kouichi loses a fight. "Did you get the taste of your own medicine, Mr. Toujou? Bet it was bitter."

"How dare you insult me like that?!" Joichi yelled and grabbed Kouichi's collar, he noticed how Kouichi's eyes glowed a bit and this scared him a little.

Kouichi blinked and he suddenly reverted back to his original self, whatever happened made him feel weird. "J-Joichi-"

All of a sudden, Joichi puched Kouichi's stomach and the latter coughed. Kouichi fell on the ground and groaned in pain.

"You acted like you're better than me just because you won a single fight, and that insulted me!" Joichi yelled. "I'll make sure you're never going to forget this!" He then went to beat up Kouichi until Ayame grabbed Joichi and smacked his face.

"Stop it! Joichi, how dare you?!" Ayame exclaimed and went to help Kouichi who was bruised up all over.

"How dare me? This guy grinds my gears and he thinks he's better just because he won one single fight! He's an insult!"

"And how about you?! You're just an arrogant person who does nothing but to bully those who are weaker than you!" Ayame yelled back.

"Why you-"

"Stop it, all of you!" A teacher had arrived and saw the scene, he gave a glare to the raven haired boy before speaking once again. "I will call both of your parents about this matter, I can't believe that such harassment is happening in this school!"

"Tch…" Joichi just clicked his tongue in annoyance.

-

A few days later

"Before our classes begin, one of your classmates, Kouichi Sendou had to transfer schools." The class's homeroom teacher said. "His parents have decided to do it because of the things that are happening. Joichi Toujou is currently suspended until further notice. That's all."

Ayame glanced at the seat where Kouichi was supposed to be, and she thought that maybe she could talk to him. But then at the same time, she thought that it would be best to leave him alone.

-

For the next few years of Middle School, Ayame rarely talked to Kouichi, only they did so during calls and messages. She was glad that Kouichi was returning to his normal life, but he didn't touch his Vanguard deck for a while.

Joichi Toujou still acted the same, with him being a usual bully that targets those who seem weaker than him. Ayame did her best to ignore him, and she was actually surprised that Joichi stopped noticing her except for a few glances. She hated his guts for hurting Kouichi.

-

Because of this event that happened, it was evidently shown that Joichi is the main reason for Kouichi to stop being enthusiastically about Vanguard. Joichi was the reason of Kouichi to stop playing the game, and did his best to avoid it.

But then one day during summer before High School started, Aichi approached Kouichi when he saw him watching an old video of Team Q4 fighting in the Asia Circuit.

"It's been a while since I saw you watching anything related to Vanguard, Kouichi-kun." Aichi said as he sat down on the sofa next to Kouichi.

"I… I don't know, dad… I still want to play but… I'm scared of not being able to live up to your name." Kouichi said.

"Live up to my name?" Aichi wondered. "Kouichi-kun, what do you mean?"

"Remember when I was bullied? That was because I lost to a fight, and I was told that I am not worthy of being your son because you're a Legendary Fighter, and I'm supposed to be as strong as you." Kouichi explained.

Aichi then sighed, he looked at his son and he replied. "Don't believe any of what they're saying, Kouichi-kun. They're just people trying to bring you down and humiliate you."

"I know, dad. It's just… I-I'm not strong enough, I'm a wimp and I give up too easily. I turn down every fight because I'm scared that if I lose, I will become a disgrace in this family."

"No, Kouichi-kun. You are not a disgrace! I don't care how many times you lose or back down, I will never think of you as a disgrace!" Aichi told him. "Remember this, Kouichi-kun. I lost so many times in fights, I was the same as you. I was on the verge of giving up, but I know that one day I will be as strong to be able to fight alongside Kai-kun. With that, I became who I am today."

"Dad…"

"I believe in you, Kouichi-kun. Please don't give up on yourself, I know you can become strong. And maybe even stronger than me in the future!" Aichi assured.

Kouichi let out a small chuckle at his father's words, Aichi smiled at him.

"Kouichi-kun, is it okay if we have a cardfight?" Aichi asked. "I want you to give this one more chance."

"Ah…" Kouichi glanced down on the floor. "S-sure…"

That fight had given Kouichi another chance to go back into playing Vanguard, Kouichi might've lost that but his father had given him a reason. And it was to never give up despite what everyone tells him, and that he should believe in himself.

-

Present Day, weekend.

Kouichi was sitting on the couch in his house, with his head against the couch's back. He was staring at the ceiling quietly.

His mother appeared from upstairs and she was standing against the doorway. Kouichi noticed her smiling and he blinked.

"Mom…?" He spoke.

"Your brother is coming home by next month." Kourin said happily.

"Really?" Kouichi sat up quickly.

"Yeah, so you better clean up your rooms. Don't worry, I'll help you with that." Kourin said and giggled, Kouichi couldn't help but to chuckle.

When Kourin left the living room, Kouichi looked back at the turned off TV and he stared at his own reflection.

He suddenly remembered about his agreement with Joichi, he felt a chill run down his spine but he slapped both his cheeks with hands.

"Phew… calm down, Kouichi… you can defeat him…" He mumbled to himself before letting out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling once again.

'Still… what was that thing that happened to me before? I heard voices, like… the cards are talking to me…'

=

To Be Continued