"...nori-san!"

My eyes fluttered slightly as I could hear someone's voice calling me from my left side.

"Takanori-san! Takanori-saaaaaan!"

I groaned, rubbing my eyes awake to see Minamoto, who had opened the car door on my side and poked her head through to wake me.

"Wake up, sleepyhead! We're here!"

Minamoto chopped the top of my head before pulling her head out of the car.

"Ow..."

I rubbed my head and unfastened my seatbelt, stepping out of the vehicle and taking in the view.

So, this is Gunma, huh?

I don't know what I was expecting, but it didn't seem all that different from Tokyo. Our destination Takasaki, which was the most densely populated city in Gunma, so the sense of hustle and bustle probably contributed to that feeling.

The most striking thing I could probably see here was, in the distance, there was a tall mountain pass. It reminded me of Mt. Fuji with how its high peaks covered the blue sky, turning the clouds into decorations that framed its huge volcanic presence.

It looks like we were parked at a residential area, since there were only houses as far as I could see lined up against the street we stopped at.

"Is that everyone then?"

Standing outside a house was Anjou-sensei standing with Minamoto and Shigaisoshi-sama. I joined the three of them, carrying my bag over my shoulder.

"It looks like it."

Minamoto confirmed it with Anjou-sensei. As he turned to greet me, a strange look appeared on his face.

"Hm? Is something wrong, Anjou-sensei?"

He then looked at Minamoto before scratching the back of his head.

"...so wearing that is a popular fashion style, huh?"

I tilted my head. What was he talking about?

"Ah, it's cool, you don't have to show it off to me. It's nice to meet you for real, Takanori-san."

Anjou-sensei smiled and stuck out his hand. I shook it gently.

"Yeah, you too."

"So this place is where we'll be staying at, huh? I can't help but feel that it leaves a lot to be desired..."

Shigaisoshi-sama looked up at the house with a sceptical face. Considering she and Minamoto lived in luxury for the past three months, this normal looking house would certainly be a downgrade for them.

"As long as the bed is good, it'll be fine!"

At least Minamoto seemed excited regardless of the circumstances.

"Oh, and dibs on the biggest room for BFF-sama!"

If you're going to pick dibs, shouldn't you be doing it for yourself? In any case, it didn't really matter what kind of room I got. I was used to living in small spaces and didn't have much stuff on me, so I wasn't particularly picky about size.

"Can we go in now?"

It seems Shigaisoshi-sama was getting impatient standing under the sun. She had a parasol leaning against her shoulder, covering her in the shade. Meanwhile, Minamoto was standing besides her, but not under the parasol, all while holding both their luggage.

"Hang on a second. The person living here said he'll be down in a moment."

Anjou-sensei was on his phone, presumably contacting said person via text message. It looks like we'll be sharing this space with somebody else.

"What did you just say?"

"That... the person living here—"

It was at that point Shigaisoshi-sama flipped her hair in disbelief.

"Huh? Excuse me? I thought you owned this property, not somebody else!"

"Hey now, don't judge before you try! Look, I know the person here, he's an old friend of mine from back in high school. We were tight as hell, and still are now. It was cheaper to ask if we could stay at his place than rent out a month or two of lodging."

"If money was an issue, why didn't you contact me? I would've been more than happy to fund everyone with a first class hotel for the summer! Living in a place like this... it may be too unbecoming for a young maiden like me..."

Shigaisoshi-sama sniffled, wiping away crocodile tears. Well, if her medical career ever falls through, at least she'll have pretty hopeful prospects in the acting industry...

"Oi, just how rich are you...?"

I felt that one, Anjou-sensei.

"Ehh? You didn't know, sensei? BFF-sama is loaded to the brim!"

"Oh, my dear Kumi-chan, please, you're praising me in far too crude terms! O ho ho ho!"

Minamoto popped up behind Shigaisoshi-sama as she did her signature ojou-sama laugh.

"Eh? Uhh, in that case... BFF-sama is super duper freaking wealthy!"

"That's more like it, o ho ho ho!"

"Oh... let me guess, your family's upper class?"

Shigaisoshi-sama nodded proudly.

"Indeed. The Shigaisoshi family is a leading force in the medical world! We design, research, create, make, and sell cutting edge medical technology and medicine all over the world!"

"Huh... how morally ethical is it to brag about being rich from healthcare...?"

Anjou-sensei muttered to himself. While it seemed the girls didn't overhear him, I did.

Considering how often Shigaisoshi-sama acts like an actual princess, her family is definitely near royalty levels of wealth. In all likelihood, they probably had more money than mine, Minamoto's, and Anjou-sensei's families combined.

I shuddered a little at that thought before casting it aside. Even though I found her personality too eccentric, I did appreciate that she was willing to offer paying for everyone's expenses for a luxury experience. However...

"Well, if you want to book a first class hotel, the closest one here is the one up on the mountain."

Anjou-sensei finally replied to Shigaisoshi-sama, throwing a thumb up towards the mountain pass I had been looking at earlier. Seeing that, Shigaisoshi-sama's face dropped.

"How ghastly. What is a hotel doing up on the mountain?"

Anjou-sensei shrugged, chuckling a little to ease the awkwardness of his suggestion.

"No clue. People tend to build stuff in weird places. It's like when that burly man carved Aurageyser Dragon into a mountain wall that one time, you know?"

I'm starting to see what Mikazuchi-sensei meant about Anjou-sensei being an old man... despite looking no older than us by a couple of years, the way he spoke reminded me of a grandpa trying to pass down their life experience to their grandkids.

Like, what even is an Aurageyser Dragon? Why does he know such obscure trivia? Plus, when he mentioned it, he looked genuinely excited, something I've never seen before on his face. Just how impressive is this mountain carving...?

"I don't."

Shigaisoshi-sama seemingly grew bored of Anjou-sensei's senile statements and turned away from him, flipping her hair. She crossed her arms and stared at the house before sighing.

"Well, since we're already here, I guess I'll be open minded and give this place a chance. You should all be grateful for that much, right? Although, the moment when things become unsuitable for a young maiden like me, I'll be leaving for that hotel. No ifs, no buts."

"Sure thing. I'm just glad you're giving it a chance. After all, it was my responsibility to organise this much. I'd feel pretty bad if I managed to somehow fail that."

As if on cue, the door to the house finally clicked open. Stepping outside to greet us all was a young man with slightly long black hair and a grumpy expression. In his left hand was a mug filled halfway with green tea.

"Nozomi..."

"Kiri!"

Their reactions could not have been any different. While Anjou-sensei's eyes lit up and he broke into a wide grin, the man rejected his gleeful aura and shot back a tired stare with his blunt eyes that had deep black bags underneath them.

It didn't help that his skin was super pale either, so the contrast made him look like a zombified panda or something. At the very least, he only seemed annoyed at Anjou-sensei, so hopefully he'll be nicer to the rest of us.

"It's been so long man, how have you—"

"Kiri tax."

Taking a sip of his green tea, the man held out the palm of his hand to Anjou-sensei. Anjou-sensei blinked before digging through his pockets. Realising what he needed wasn't there, he laughed awkwardly, and scratched the back of his head.

"Uh... hey, sorry kids, just give me a sec... or a few minutes... I've got an errand to run!"

Zipping out of our line of sight, Anjou-sensei got into his car, slammed the door and whirred off into the streets.

"...what was that all about?"

I mumbled that to myself, but the man didn't seem surprised by Anjou-sensei's behaviour. He sipped on his green tea again, before getting ready to head back inside.

"Hey, you!"

However, before he could, Minamoto called out to him. The man sighed and looked at her over his shoulder.

"What now? I've got important things to attend to."

"Can we get an explanation of what the heck is going on?! I thought we were supposed to be guests over the summer at this house! Why are you treating us like we're strangers staying for the night or something? And what the heck is a "Kiri tax"?!"

The man surveyed the three of us, glancing at me a minuscule bit longer than Minamoto and Shigaisoshi-sama. He rubbed the back of his neck and straightened his back, allowing us to hear his spine release it's tension with a crack.

"Ah... of course that dinosaur and cardboard obsessed idiot didn't even tell you guys that much... seriously, that dude's head is only capable of handling three thoughts at a time— no, I'm being way too generous, he can only handle two thoughts at most, and that's cardboard and dinosaurs! Damn it Nozomi, I thought after all this time, after you finally got a job, your head would be out of the prehistoric gutter, but no! Here I am, working down to the wire to complete this stupid god damn essay for my god damn university assignment, only for you to suddenly rock up and ask for a ridiculous request without a care for my own wellbeing! And you have the gall to further stress me out by making me waste my time giving out information you should've provided at least a week ago when I accepted your dumbass request out of the kindness of my own heart! Oh, my blood is boiling, my veins are full, this cannot be good for my health..."

Somehow, Minamoto's earnest questions spurned the man to raise his arms into the air and go on a giant tirade over Anjou-sensei's incompetence. Honestly, while I also wanted answers as to what was going on, I couldn't help but think this was maybe justified...

By the end of his rant, the man was dry heaving and clutching his chest, but soothed himself by drinking some of the tea in his hands. Minamoto was understandably freaked out by this, but Shigaisoshi-sama was off in her own little world, completely ignorant of what had just transpired.

I don't know what's more impressive, the fact this man went on a five minute rant on how Anjou-sensei might have Alzheimers, or the fact Shigaisoshi-sama couldn't care less that she had no idea what she was about to get herself into...

"Ahem... excuse me, and apologies for that. As you can tell by the bulging veins on my forehead, I've been under... a lot of stress for the past few months."

As if on reflex, the man tried pulling something out of his breast pocket, but there was nothing there. Even so, he put his fingers to his lips and breathed out, his lips twitching.

"A-a few months? S-sir, no offence, but it looks like you might have generational trauma..."

"...honestly, that could also be true too. To answer your questions, hi. I'm Kusakabe Kiriya, the renter of this place along with some other people, but they've gone home for the summer so I'm the only one here. Feel free to call me Kiri, I prefer it that way."

After getting all his pent up frustration out, Kiri was certainly a lot more laidback than I expected. His voice definitely had a cool quality to it that made it easy to listen to.

"Now note, the keyword here is renter. I don't own this house, I'm just using it over the summer to work on my research. And yes, before you kids say anything snarky or clever, as you can quite clearly tell by my clothes, I am broke."

Minamoto and Shigaisoshi-sama nodded in agreement, but to me, he looked fairly normal... it wasn't like he was wearing tattered clothes or anything either, he had a clean shirt and sweatpants on, things I would also wear.

Then again, I guess from the girl's perspective, this was cheap wear. Their wardrobes are probably filled to the brim with designer and fashionable clothing... the wardrobe of a guy like Kiri probably even wouldn't hold a candle to it.

"As such, to make a little bit of extra cash to sustain myself, I'm letting you all stay in this place for a price. But don't worry, since you guys are kids, Nozomi - or I guess, to you guys, Anjou-sensei - is paying it. So, consider this a free stay, but don't do anything that could get my deposit in trouble. That means don't make a mess or break anything - that's all I'm asking of you. This stuff isn't cheap, you know?! Those landlords are vultures, they'll—"

Before he was about to spiral into another long monologue about another problem he had with society, Kiri realised he would be soapboxing in front of a bunch of teens who wouldn't understand, so he sighed and just about managed to hold himself back.

"—pardon me. That's the long and short of it. Inside the room there's 4 bedrooms, but obviously, me and Nozomi are taking one each since there's no way in hell either of us are catching a case sleeping in the same place with minors. So, for the remaining two bedrooms, you three are gonna have to decide amongst yourselves on how you want to split it."

"Oh don't worry, that's very easy to decide, o ho ho ho!"

Shigaisoshi-sama laughed gleefully. For some reason, there was a burning anticipation in Minamoto's eyes.

"Kumi-chan and I will get a room each. Pochita can sleep outside in the kennel!"

Kiri spat out his tea and stared at me in disbelief. Minamoto fell to her knees and cried out to the heavens in shambles. I blinked and looked owlishly at Shigaisoshi-sama.

"Oi... what the hell kind of kinky couple are you two?"

Understandably, Kiri got the wrong impression of me and Shigaisoshi-sama. Actually, it probably doesn't help I'm calling her this ridiculous title in my head too, huh...?

"Couple? Huh? Couple?! Huuuuuuh?! Oh no, no, no, buster, you've got the wrong idea!"

Immediately, Minamoto stopped her screaming and jumped to her knees, grabbing Kiri by the scruff of his shirt.

"Hey, wha? Get off me—"

Kiri tried fighting her off, but Minamoto's grip hardened. Frightened, Kiri stumbled back, but this gave way for Minamoto to press him even further.

"My dear, respected, beautiful, beloved, adored, cosmic, out of this world, bombshell admired by everyone in the entire universe BFF-sama would never, ever, ever, in a million years go out with a low ranking, dirty, disgusting, vile dog like Takanori-san! You can clearly see the difference in status between the two of them, can't you? You can clearly see with your own dying eyes that Takanori-san is masculine presenting, can't you? You can clearly see with your eyes that have been blinded by her beauty that BFF-sama is only interested in women, can't you?! So you should understand that her eyes are for me, and me only!"

Now I'm also confused on their relationship status...

"Huh... how would I... but, I... who... where... what... since when... lesbians...? Bruh..."

At this point, Kiri's mind was spinning as Minamoto screeched in his face like a banshee. All the while, Shigaisoshi-sama was laughing like a princess in the background, enjoying the torment Minamoto was putting him through... poor guy.

"That collar you see on him? It's on me too! I am BFF-sama's one true pet! Not him! I am her real pochita, not that fraud! Now, you will acknowledge me as her dog, her partner, her darling for eternity, and not that scoundrel who she calls a pet out of the pity of her own heart, because BFF-sama is just that kind and gracious even to the worst scum of society!"

Where was all this slander coming from...? I thought me and Minamoto finally fixed our relationship...

"I love all my dogs equally! But I love some dogs more than others!"

Shigaisoshi-sama, you're not helping... you really didn't have to say that either...

"Exactly! Thank you, BFF-sama! You're the best!"

Minamoto let go of Kiri and rushed over to Shigaisoshi-sama and hugged her with a squeal. Then, Shigaisoshi-sama proceeded to give Minamoto lots of head pats, seemingly satisfying her.

I scratched the back of my head and extended my hand out to Kiri, who was sitting on the floor looking absolutely traumatised.

"Hey... are you alright?"

"...just what the hell kind of kids did Nozomi get put in charge of...?"

Kiri buried his face into his hand, lamenting over the possible mistake he made by accepting this request from Anjou-sensei. He probably wasn't expecting such an eccentric bunch of people...

Taking a deep sigh, Kiri removed his hand and lifted his head, looking up at me. He made a slightly concerned face before taking my hand and standing up.

"Thanks... I'm fine."

He sure didn't sound fine.

"Sorry about earlier... I haven't introduced myself yet, but I'm Takanori Yuuto. She might have been a bit rough with it, but what Minamoto-san said was all true. Me and Shigaisoshi-sama aren't a couple."

After I said that, Kiri didn't look like he believed me.

"Oh god, let me guess... you guys are the world's worst polycule. Which one of you three is the cuck then?"

"No, it's not that either... I think you're still misunderstanding the situation. How do I explain this... uh, Shigaisoshi-sama is a bit touchy when it comes to her name. She only wants to be called by her last name plus "sama", and rejects everything else. I'm not sure why, and at this point, I'm too scared to ask... when I call her that, I don't actually look at her that way or anything."

"Huh? But that Minamoto chick earlier called her BFF-sama and she didn't bat an eye."

"You've got to realise, Minamoto-san is the exception, not the rule."

Kiri looked over to the two girls who were still engaging in flirtatious head patting, before turning back to me and nodding in understanding.

"Huh... this new generation of kids sure are lively..."

Considering he was a friend of Nozomi, Kiri must've been pretty old himself. No wonder he seems so bewildered by their actions thus far.

"In any case, Shigaisoshi-sama thinks I'm a dog due to... circumstances at school. As such, she put a collar on me and calls me pochita. This is against my own will, for the record."

Once again, Kiri didn't look like he believed me.

"But... but if you don't like it, why are you still going along with it?! Just take that thing off, it makes you look stupid! I couldn't wrap my head around why you were wearing such a thing when I first saw you!"

So that's why his glance lingered on me back then, huh? Come to think of it, Anjou-sensei gave me the same weird look earlier too... don't tell me, was he was judging me for this?

"I wish I could, but... Shigaisoshi-sama is a very powerful person, you know. I can't exactly go against her or her whims..."

"Ah... so you too are a slave to the upper crust of society, huh? Finally, a kindred spirit..."

Kiri sniffled, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me in.

"You aight white boy, you aight."

I'm more surprised Kiri could tell I was a halfu.

"Seriously though, are you sure this Shigaisoshi-sama is alright in the head? Sounds like a case of undiagnosed schizophrenia to me if she thinks you're actually a dog."

"Trust me, she's much smarter than she lets on... believe it not, she's on the fast track to becoming a fully licensed brain surgeon at 18."

"...suddenly the urge to protect my brain no matter what has skyrocketed."

Kiri put his hands on his head and shivered. Maybe I didn't do the best job of selling Shigaisoshi-sama to him, but... maybe he'll change his mind when he actually interacts with her.

"By the way, if the girls take the last two rooms, if you have a couch, I don't mind sleeping in the living room."

"Eh? You sure? I could just get Nozomi to do that instead and you can have what would've been his room."

"Yeah. I'm fine with anywhere as long as it's not outside. While I do appreciate the offer, I can't help but feel like it's gonna be easier to convince Shigaisoshi-sama to let me sleep there rather than in a room."

"Oi, just how much of a grip does this girl have over your life...? What sort of messed up debt do you owe her...?!"

I've never thought about it until now, but Kiri does raise a good point... Shigaisoshi-sama does have a large portion of my life under her thumb right now, and I didn't even realise it. That's kind of concerning...

"Hey, now hear me out. Since you're her dog, you should just sleep in the same room as her under the pretence that—"

As if overhearing our conversation at that exact moment, Minamoto poked her head in between me and Kiri's heads. Kiri froze up, his jaw shivering his fear, unable to complete his sentence.

"Oh my, you boys seem to be having such a fun conversation! What were you just talking about?"

"Kiri tax."

I quickly changed the subject to save Kiri's life. It really did look like Minamoto was going to kill him there...

"K-Kiri tax."

He repeated after me, spluttering the words while nodding his head furiously. I couldn't tell if he was sweating due to Minamoto's presence or from bobbing his head so hard.

"Oh yeah, Kiri tax! What even is that?"

"Did somebody say tax, o ho ho?"

Next, it was Shigaisoshi-sama to pop her head in between me and Minamoto.

"Not the regular, boring, stinky kind of tax. It's the Kiri tax, a very special tax for me, and me only."

"Why do you get taxed more? Does that mean you're a war criminal, or something?"

I think Kiri might genuinely become one if Minamoto keeps hitting his nerves...

"No... it's actually for the people who meet me. They receive the Kiri tax."

"And that would be...?"

Minamoto raised an eyebrow.

"Here you go."

As if on cue, Anjou-sensei poked his head in between me and Shigaisoshi-sama's head. It seems he's finally returned from his side quest.

Kiri extended his palm out, letting Anjou-sensei place a small box in his hand. As Anjou-sensei let go of the item, Kiri snatched it by closing his hand, before clutching it to his chest and looking both ways sketchily.

Then, he finally checked what Anjou-sensei had given him.

"Huh, you actually managed to afford it... impressive. Thank you, Nozomi!"

For the first time since meeting him, it sounded like Kiri was genuinely happy. He smiled widely and flipped the box to the rest of use revealing what the Kiri tax was.

"These are Seven Star cigarettes! The best kind of cigarette out there on the market with a cleaner taste and less destructive waste! These puppies are expensive, but they're the absolute best at stress relief! Offering a box as tribute upon meeting me is a given! That's the Kiri tax!"

Oh... that would explain his strange movements earlier.

Kiri was a smoking addict.

He hummed a joyous tune and slid the packet of Seven Star cigarettes into his breast pocket.

"They're also the best at destroying your lungs, heart, and body... as a medical student, I simply cannot approve of this!"

"Tough, we all have our vices. Welcome to the adult world."

"But they're objectively bad for you!"

For once, I was on Shigaisoshi-sama's side. That stuff is going to put him in an early grave one day...

"Oh trust me, the stress I have every day is even worse... besides, I can't even afford them anyways, so it's not like I'm gonna be smoking them daily. Let me live a little, I haven't had one in ages! Going cold turkey is worse for my health too!"

Somehow, Kiri managed to hit every "addict looking for an excuse to indulge in their vice while trying to quit" line in the book with that sentence.

"Shigaisoshi-sama, let it go. It's not worth it, trust me..."

Anjou-sensei laughed awkwardly, consoling the pouting Shigaisoshi-sama by patting her on the shoulder. This earned him a devastating chop on the wrist by Minamoto.

"Ow..."

"Hey! No touching BFF-sama without permission!"

"Thank you Kumi-chan."

Shigaisoshi-sama flipped her hair at Anjou-sensei before checking the manicure on her nails with a small smile. Anjou-sensei stared at the two of them and sighed, nodding.

"B-but I was just trying to be a good teacher..."

He mumbled to himself, scratching the back of his neck while looking away depressingly. Huh, he really is an old man...

"Anyways! Enough about that, it's time for you all to get settled down! I'm sure you're all exhausted from driving all the way here from Tokyo, so everybody, welcome! Come in, kick back, and relax in your new humble abode for the next couple of months! This is the Kusakabe summer household!"

After loudly proclaiming to us, Kiri clapped his hands and spun towards the house. Then, he opened the front door and entered the house, gesturing for us to come in.

"Woohoo! I can't wait!"

"Dibs on the biggest bed, o ho ho ho!"

Minamoto rushed in first, followed by Shigaisoshi-sama.

"Wait, you guys can call dibs?"

Next was Anjou-sensei, leaving me as last to enter.

Inside, the house's layout was pretty simple. There was a long hallway that led into three rooms downstairs - the living room, kitchen, and Kiri's room. We weren't allowed to enter Kiri's room under any circumstance, unless he authorised us.

On the right of the hallway, there were a set of steps that led upstairs, where there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Each bathroom was labelled male and female in advance. I guess that means I'm sharing a toilet and shower with Anjou-sensei and Kiri.

Admittedly, I did feel kind of grossed out having to share it with two old men, but it couldn't be helped... I've cleaned under worse conditions before, so this wasn't the end of the world.

While Minamoto and Shigaisoshi-sama raced upstairs to check out the available rooms, I went into the living room to set up camp here. I was hoping Shigaisoshi-sama would grant me this much, since sleeping outside doesn't sound particularly appealing...

While I was unpacking, to my surprise, Anjou-sensei walked into the living room. Seeing me, he smiled a little and greeted me.

"Hey, Takanori-san."

"...Anjou-sensei, what are you doing here?"

"I was going to set out a little greeting gift for everyone on the table... ah, but since you're already here, I'll just hand it to you directly. Here you go, enjoy."

From his bag, Anjou-sensei took out a box of P Revive Festival and handed it to me.

"...P Revive Festival? What's this for?"

Anjou-sensei really is an old man... what was he thinking, giving us a set full of retro cards and nostalgia bait? While I was grateful to receive it, none of us grew up playing G era, so this set was basically worthless to us.

"Hm? Didn't you hear?"

"About...?"

"Premium format is back."

"...huh?"

"Mikazuchi-san really kept you in the dark, huh?"

Anjou-sensei chuckled before taking out his phone and sending me a video. On the thumbnail, there was Mikazuchi-sensei.

Wait, hang on a second, how does Anjou-sensei have my number? I never gave it to him or anything... that was strange.

Putting that aside, I clicked on the video, which turned out to be an official announcement from Mikazuchi-sensei.

I watched as he explained two things to us: the first was about his Dream Team challenge that was being held all across Tokyo. I guess that's what Kaido meant when we talked on the cruise ship... he must've been participating with his friends.

Part of me was glad that I'm participating in the MF Tournament now, since Mikazuchi-sensei would've probably forced me to do this over the summer instead. Being in Tokyo was far more dangerous than Gunma, so in some ways, I definitely lucked out...

The second thing Mikazuchi-sensei explained was... well, Premium format had officially returned. In other words...

"...don't tell me, is the MF Tournament is also being held in Premium too?"

"Yup, it sure is. But don't fret, because that's why I'm here Takanori-san."

Anjou-sensei put a hand on my shoulder before sitting next to me on the couch.

"I'm going to help you bring your deck up to scratch for this all important tournament. So, instead of a teacher, you can consider me your coach this summer!"

He grinned and pointed a thumb at himself. For a moment, the old man looked reliable.

"My coach, huh...?"

Cripes... looks like I've got two things I need to get the hang of before the MF Tournament. The first is learning how to drive from Minamoto, and the second is tuning my deck and learning more about Premium from Anjou-sensei.

Looks like this is gonna be a busy summer after all...

"...alright. I'll be in your care then, old man."

"Old man...?"

Anjou-sensei mumbled to himself, raising a brow before shaking it off.

"I'm glad to hear it. So, wanna start cracking packs?"

After setting out a box of P Revive Festival each for Minamoto and Shigaisoshi-sama, Anjou-sensei took out his own box and shook it with a grin.

"Shouldn't we do it with the girls...?"

"Ah, you're right... it's only manners."

Despite saying that, Anjou-sensei immediately ripped the plastic off his box and broke the seal.

"But... a few sneaky packs won't hurt anybody. Come on, let's see if we can get anything good!"

Ignoring the fact this was clearly supposed to be a group activity, Anjou-sensei took one pack from the box and shook it with great excitement. I sighed, mimicking him and taking the top pack of my box.

"...fine then. Just this once."

"Great! On the count of three... two... one... open!"

Anjou-sensei and I each opened our packs...

"Bust."

He sighed, tossing his cards on the table.

"I didn't get a single dinosaur..."

How was that a bust? He literally got a SP straight from the bat, what the hell...

In comparison, my pack was definitely bust.

"I got nothing either. My rare was... Ancient Dragon, Iguanogorg?"

Why are these called Ancient Dragons...? They're clearly dinosaurs, so it should be Ancient Dinos, right?

"Lucky bastard! I-I mean... can I have that card please...? I'll trade!"

"Huh...?"

"Thanks Takanori-san, you're a lifesaver!"

Without my consent, Anjou-sensei snatched the pack from my hand and replaced it with his pack.

"Wait, but I..."

I stared at the cards he had given me before sighing.

Ah, whatever... Anjou-sensei looked happy about it and there wasn't any Shadow Paladin units in there, so it's not like I'm losing anything.

Besides, considering he pulled an SP... if anything, I profited here. Speaking of which, I rifled through the cards to see what SP he got.

"Woah..."

I don't know why... but for whatever reason, I immediately fell in love with it.

It was a card called Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon.