Taking off my disabled visor, I stared up at Kaido one last time.

He simply turned his back on me, and continued to gaze out to the ocean from the rooftop.

Unable to say anything else, I stood up and began walking towards the doorway.

As I unlocked the door, Kaido spoke.

"Become someone worthy enough to call my rival."

I looked at him over my shoulder.

"Just how much do you know about me?"

"You hate your father."

I left the rooftop.

Trudging down the hallway of the special wing, I stopped and looked out of the window. I could faintly see my own reflection on the glass.

Is this truly freedom?

I walked to the war preparation room, and opened the doors. Chabashira-sensei was inside, giving instructions while looking at a large screen and interacting with it. There was a map with blinkers and a few screens open depicting the live broadcast of the war.

In here was about half of my classmates. Most of which were defenders who was supporting Matsushita.

I took a seat near the back and watched what was going on.

"You did good out there." Yukina moved from her current seat to sit next to me.

I shook my head. "No... I completely failed. The King was right in our grasp, yet..."

"Don't worry, Yuu-kun. I didn't beat him either. He's a very strong opponent, that Kaido-san."

"Yeah... no wonder he used to be the former Ace. If that's what a non-Royalty is like, then I'm scared to find out the power level of the other 3rd Years."

"Though, Yuu-kun. What made you think of going to the rooftop first? It was like you knew Kaido-san would be there."

"I don't know, to be honest. Maybe some kind of precognition, or more likely, a stroke of luck or coincidence."

"Perhaps, Yuu-kun is someone truly amazing." Yukina giggled.

"Yeah right. I'm as average as they can get."

Right now, both Kings were engaged in a fight. Sakigamiya was fighting Kaido, while Matsushita was fighting a girl named Strelzia Bucciarati.

Matsushita was using a deck focused on Great Composure Dragon, while Strelzia used a deck that had Dailiner. A few minutes later, she had claimed victory over Matsushita, fulfilling the objective of the war, and ending it just after an hour and a half had passed.

Sakigamiya, who was about to be destroyed by Kaido's 42000 Power, 2 Critical Seabed Demon Beast, Scaredick, had her match suspended mid-battle as the wailing siren that cried at the start of the war was also used to signal the end of it.

The same announcement woman's voice resonated through the school.

"All students, War Time is over. The winner of this War is 3rd Year A Class Stark White. All students, please suspend any battles immediately, and return to your War Preparation Rooms."

Chabashira-sensei let out a soft sigh, and began turning off her device and the screen that was on display. Most of my classmates were devastated by the loss, despite the lack of interest in the war at first.

It turned out that many of my classmates had enjoyed the war when inside it. Of course, a few like Yamaguchi and Yukimura still had their own grievances, but generally, everyone else liked it.

The war prep room was being filled in slowly by everyone else who had survived in the war, with their statuses as alive. Those who had to stop fighting mid-battle, such as Sakigamiya, were considered injured. Injured students couldn't participate in any wars for two weeks, but could re-enter once their status wore off.

The last person to enter the room was Matsushita, who had a defeated face. Even though he looked sad, he was still stylish. Slumping his shoulders and weakly smiling, he looked at all of us while saying sincere words.

"Everyone... I'm sorry for not being able to hang on for a little bit longer."

"Don't apologise. You did nothing wrong. Right guys?" Sakigamiya was the first to speak out. With a warm smile, she welcomed Matsushita's return home.

"Yeah! Isogai-kun did his best to fight against those A Class senpais! You don't have to say those words to us." Hono said.

"Exactly. If anything, we should apologise. We never got to defeat Mikazuchi-senpai before they attacked you." Jomko said.

"You're not the only one at fault dude. I died by some guy who was too passionate about Vermillion. So, in my eyes, you're a hero, Matsushita-san." Mitsuba said.

"Who cares about the war anyways, sports is the only subject that matters." Yukimura said.

"You guys..." Matsushita looked down and chuckled a little. He scratched his reddened cheeks, which made almost all the girls in the room fall in love with that cute expression.

"The next war, we'll win for sure! But for now, let's celebrate Isogai-san, our hero!" Sakigamiya stood up and fist-pumped.

The class was in a collective cheer for Matsushita's brave performance.

Even though, as a class, we never felt all that close, somehow, this war had brought us together by quite a bit.

"Those 3rd Years are something else." Akihiro said.

"They're veterans after all, Aki-kun."

Aki-kun? Somehow, my heart stung a little when Yukina called him that.

"Still, I thought I was good at Vanguard. Ahh, damn it, this war just makes me more fired up to play a game. Hey, Masaru-san, want another fight?" Akihiro took out his deck.

"Yeah, count me in!" Kawaguchi sat across from him, and the two began playing on the table. It seemed these two could play Vanguard no matter the situation.

During this post-war time, Chabashira-sensei just left us be. We were just messing around and talking with our friends.

Well, not me. Yukina had went off to talk to her new friends, leaving me behind to sit at the back by myself. The only person I truly related to here was Nora, but he was off in another world, reading his book.

After about twenty minutes however, when everyone had calmed down, she lead us back to the classroom so we could be dismissed for the day.

We quickly returned, did one last roll-call, then were sent off to live our ordinary lives after such a large scale event. Clips, highlights and other media regarding the war was spreading on the school app like wildfire, and one of the highlights was my crushing loss against Kaido.

It was almost unanimously accepted that our fight was the best one on display.

It was embarrassing for me though, since I had lost in such a terrible manner.

I decided to board the bus home today, since I was tired from all the running around in the war. When I boarded, Kuwahara was sitting at the back of the bus.

As if expecting me, he waved and beckoned me over. After paying the bus driver, I sat down next to him.

"Talk about a close fight."

"There was nothing close about it. I got blown-out."

"I wouldn't say that." Kuwahara chuckled and slapped my back. "Even though you lost, my friend was quite happy with the results."

There it is again. What does X want with me?

"Is he happy enough that he's willing to reveal himself to me?"

"Nope. He's adamant on keeping his identity a secret."

"I see."

Even if you want to conceal your identity, I'm going to find out who you are sooner or later, X.

"So, what are you doing on the bus for?" I asked.

"I just finished basketball practice and I'm going home now." Kuwahara said.

"You're in the basketball club?"

"Yeah. One of your classmates, Ikesugi-kun, is in the club too. He's surprisingly good, but has terrible teamwork skills."

It seems even outside of the classroom, Ikesugi was still a loner through and through.

Considering I was closer with Kuwahara than some of my classmates, I felt like maybe I should just embrace the life I've been given. Being a loner isn't completely terrible. Who needs other people, when you have yourself?

Well, I was an extremely boring and plain person. I think only I could enjoy time with myself.

I decided that when I got home, I would treat myself to a nice dinner and pamper myself. Self-love, or something along those lines. Besides, it's not like I had anything better to do. I had zero hobbies after all.

The bus trip was about fifteen minutes. I left the bus while Kuwahara stayed on.

"By the way, I'm a bit late on this, but I'd save points if I were you. The end of the month is approaching very soon." Kuwahara said.

With those parting words, I left and headed to the dorms. Once again, someone was warning me about points.

Even though I've nearly been in this school for a month, I've yet to find out all of it's rules. Despite the mystery, it still felt unadulteratedly luxurious.

If it's the end of the month, then next month we'd get 100,000 points anyways.

When I entered the dormitories, Fumio greeted me with a wide smile. A little unusual, but it seemed she was buzzed up from watching the war.

"Welcome home, boy. Good work on the war today."

It felt strange being complimented by her. She was a scary old woman after all.

"Umm... thanks."

I boarded the elevator and went to my room.

I unlocked the door and noticed a sheet of paper on the floor at the entrance. I picked it up, and closed the door behind me.

I opened the contents of the paper, and read through it.

I tore it up and chucked it into the bin.