I returned to the living room from the kitchen, handing Yukina a cup of water. She took a sip and sighed refreshingly.

"That really hits the spot."

"Sorry for the wait." I sat down beside her.

"It's fine. I'm sorry as well... for coming on so strongly earlier. That was weird, even for me."

"Not really. It's refreshing to see you act assertive. It's honestly impressive."

Back in middle school, she would keep her head down and nod at anything she was asked to do. It was like she had no willpower to say "no". For some reason, Yukina seemed stronger than before.

"Is it though...? I feel sort of... embarrassed."

She buried her blushing face into her hands.

"It happens. I also feel that way. I never speak my inner thoughts."

Looking at me through the gaps in her fingers, she giggled and put her hands down. For some reason, Yukina smiled brighter than usual as she looked at me. There was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Oh, Yuu..."

"W-what?"

"You also seem different. I can't quite put my finger on it, but..."

As Yukina trailed off, I waited in anticipation for what she was about to say. Disappointingly, she followed up by shaking her head no, making her long hair shimmer like waves.

"No, there's a more pressing matter we need to deal with first."

"...are you seriously going to leave me hanging like that?"

"We can come back to it another time."

"If there is one, that is..."

"You're still as pessimistic as ever... I guess some things don't change."

That was true. I admit my view on the world was scummy, even for a teenager. It's not like I was proud of it, but I really started to notice just how terrible reality is.

It was better to indulge the negativity of everything, since if you're in writhing pain all the time, you won't ever get hurt again... or some twisted logic like that. I read it in a book once, probably. Perhaps it came to me in a nightmare. I have plenty of those.

"So, what's more important than your opinion on me?"

"I didn't realise you cared so much, fu fu."

Even though I was trying to be playful, Yukina decided to tease me like a succubus. Sakigamiya and the others really have tainted her purity.

"Just answer the question..."

"It's about the war. What are we going to do about it?"

While me and Yukina were rekindling our friendship earlier, I nearly forgot about this matter. It was a good thing she remembered.

"We'll prepare for it. I have a vague plan, but I'd like to get some more information before formulating a strategy."

With only four days until the war, we were going to have to pull our weight.

"I'm still shocked that you managed to find out about it."

"It's one huge coincidence, really. Have you told the others about it? I was banking on you and Nora-san on spreading the word, since no one would actually listen to what I have to say."

I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact all of this happened because Sakigamiya assigned me to go to D Class. The probability of all these events occurring in this order was less than 1%. That's why I can't tell if today's a blessing or a curse.

"Sorry, I haven't... I was too busy debating with myself over knocking on your door."

"I would've done the same thing."

Wow, that was a lame line.

"What's the idea you had then?"

"For starters, I'll dig up information on D Class so we know how to deal with them. After that, I'll start training people in our class to make them better in Vanguard. We don't need to make them pro level or anything, just good enough to beat D Class. I hope the gap between our class's abilities aren't that big."

Though, judging from Kai's abilities, D Class might be better than I first thought.

"Hmm, I see. Should we split up the tasks then? I can gather people to train."

Yukina's communication abilities would be really helpful for this situation, since I barely knew anyone. Her pre-established connections would speed up the process of convincing people to train with someone like me.

"Yeah, that'd be great. I can gather intel on D Class then. All I ever do is lurk anyways..."

"Lurk? More like observe. You don't blend in that much."

"It feels like that sometimes."

"Then, you stand out to me."

Even though it was a throwaway line, it still meant a lot to me. Why am I feeling this way over stupid words? This is ridiculous.

As I took out my phone, Yukina did as well. Unlike me, she was adept to technology, using her phone masterfully compared to my slow movements. I didn't understand half the functions on my phone, which made me feel old. It was the price I paid for using such an old model throughout middle school.

"I'll start telling the girls about it. Hopefully Alice-san will start thinking of something too."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but it'd be better if Sakigamiya-san didn't interfere."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, she's quite a domineering person in conversation. If she takes charge, she'd want full control, like in the last war. She shot down my idea immediately."

Yukina's face dropped.

"Ah... true. Sorry. I'll tell the others about it then."

"No, that's not what I meant... you can tell Sakigamiya-san about it. It's important for her to know about this too, since she's a class rep. I'm just... warning you, I guess."

The more I spoke, the stupider I felt. I should've kept quiet.

"Don't worry, I get what you mean. We can't really do our own thing if Alice-san decides to take charge again. In that case, we'll just have to go against her."

I raised my head unconsciously. I was surprised Yukina was being so bold.

"What? I believe in you more than I believe in her. I've seen your strength, Yuu. I honestly think... if we lead the class together, we can reach A Class."

"...yeah. If it's us, we can do it. Nobody else."

"Exactly!" Yukina nodded with a wide smile.

With her encouraging words, we started to get to work. As I checked my messages, I noticed Nora sent me a reply back, explaining his end of the situation. To put it simply, it wasn't good. I relayed it to Yukina.

"I have some good and bad news. Good news? Nora-san told me he tried telling the boys. Bad news? They all laughed at him and called him stupid for trusting me..."

"Ouch. We just left the starting line and there's already a hurdle..."

"You know, I'm not even that surprised. He probably would've had better luck with the girls."

"They really do like Nora-chan for some reason."

"Do you like him too?"

"Of course. He doesn't say much, but when he does, it's cute."

Yukina tilted her head.

"What's with that face?"

"What face?"

"The one you're making right now."

"I'm not making any face."

"You're staring quite intensely at me... perhaps, are you jealous?"

Jealous, huh? That's a ridiculous notion.

"I'll ask him if he wants to train with me."

"Good idea. If we gather people now, it'll make things easier in the long wrong."

I sent Nora a reply containing the next step. As soon as he received it, he gave an immediate response back. It startled me a little, but I guess he's the type of person who replies straightaway.

"Nora-san said yes."

He even said I could go to his place to start training straightaway. Nora seemed more excited than usual about the war. Naturally, I obliged, since the sooner we do this, the better results we'll get.

"That's perfect! If we start training with him, the others might get interested too, like Kou-san. She's become quite close with Nora-chan recently."

One of the benefits of having Yukina as a partner was her wide range of contacts. Since she wasn't an anti-social loner like me, she knew a lot about relationships within the class that I had no idea of.

"Yeah, I could convince people like Akihiro-san or Kawaguchi-san that way too."

They were arguably the best cardfighters in our class, so focusing on them would be a good investment. It'd take less time and they'd be more of a challenge to novices.

"I can try to get the girls involved too, if you want."

"That'd be great. By myself, I'd be limited to the boys, since I don't know many girls, but with you... I can expand my reach to everyone else."

"Seems like we have a plan then. I'll spread the word about the war, while you find information on D Class. Then, we'll convince our classmates to train with us as preparation. How about it?"

Yukina relayed the plan we formed together excitedly. To be honest, I was too. It was like small electric shocks jolted through my body as I thought about it.

"Let's do it then."

Yukina stood up, and extended her hand. I grabbed onto it, and stood up. Together, we left my room to put the plan into motion.