Secret Hobby
Chapter 45: Secret Hobby
"Andrew's late again," Peter said.
"Yeah. Just what is going on with him?" Cindy asked.
"I don't know mom. All I know is that recently that he's been spending a lot more time with his friends over something. Not only that, but when school is over, he would tell me that he'll be a little late getting home because he had to stop by for something."
"Do you think he's doing something illegal?"
"Nah. We all know that he isn't like that."
Peter, Cindy, and Alice were thinking of what Andrew was up to these days. After hearing Alice's explanation, they were considering the options and possibilities of what he was doing with his friends this late.
Just then, Andrew came into the front door, panting as it was clearly shown that he ran all the way here.
"I'm home! Sorry that I was late, my friends seriously won't give up," he exclaimed, snapping Peter, Cindy, and Alice out of their thought thinking.
"Huh? Oh! Yeah..." Alice said.
"Anyway, dinner's ready Andrew," Cindy said as she tried to maintain the conversation while trying to hide what she, her husband, and her daughter were talking about earlier. During dinner, Peter and Cindy were giving each other secretive glances at each other, while Alice was staring at Andrew, wondering what was going on in his head now. Luckily, Andrew didn't notice as he was too busy focusing on eating the food in front of him.
After dinner was over, Andrew went into his room, followed by Alice who was having one thought in her mind...
"What are you up to brother?" she thought.
(The next day...)
As the last class was over, Andrew immediately left the classroom and headed towards the exit, not knowing that his sister was following him secretly.
"Today I'm going to find out what you've been up to these days..." she thought as she was following his brother while making sure that she doesn't get caught. She made sure that she was out of his range by standing way far back so that she doesn't get noticed. However, she was still able to see the back of his head.
The walking continued for a while until Andrew suddenly stopped in front of a building for a moment, turning his head to see if there was anything behind him, but there was no one there.
"Huh. Guess I must be imagining things..." he thought as he thought that there was someone stalking him, which was true...for the most part. He then went inside the building.
"Whew, that was close," Alice though as she hid behind a wall. She then continued following her brother, now knowing the building he just went into. As she got closer to the building her brother went into, she got a better look at it. The building her brother went into was small, and yet colorful. On some of the windows were posters and on display were some cards. At that point, Alice assumed that the building was a store of some kind.
As Alice went inside the store, the sight of the store was breathtaking. Inside of the store were children on tabletops playing either card games or board games. On the walls were posters of heroes and such and there were display cases with figurines inside of them. Not only that, but there were some toys on some shelves as well. On the counter was a few booster packs of cards along with a few displays of rare cards along with the back of the counter showing unopened booster boxes of cards.
"This is..." Alice muttered.
"Welcome to 316 Collectables young lady," a voice interrupted her.
Alice turned in surprise.
"I am the manager of this establishment, Alex. How may I help you today?" he asked.
"Um...I...um..." Alice stuttered as she did not expect this to happen.
"Could this be your first time in a card shop?"
"Yes."
"I see. This is a trading card game shop, or TCG for short. They're games where you collect different cards and then fight one-on-one. It's quite popular among children and teens these days."
"Huh..."
"Speaking of what's popular, this is what is on the marker now. Card-"
"Ah!" Alice exclaimed as she looked at a certain area of the room. Over there, she saw her brother and his friends at a table playing a card game.
Alex looked confused for a moment at what just happened until he saw what he was looking at. "Oh, that's the match area. That's where the card fighters have their card fights," Alex said while Alice continues to watch her brother.
"Hey, just what game are those guys playing?" Alice asked.
"Huh?" Alex then glared at the cards on the table Andrew and his friends were plating. "Judging by what the cards look like, it appears that they're playing Cardfight Vanguard."
"Cardfight Vanguard?"
"Yeah. It's really popular right now. You see the best part of Vanguard is that-" Alex said, but stopped after seeing that Alice was more interested in looking at the people in the corner.
"You ready Andrew?"
"Yeah!" he said with a grin.
Alice was in surprise as she never seen that grin on her brother's face before. In her entire life, she never seen her brother with that grin before. The grin he was wearing on his face right now was one full of eagerness and competitiveness. It looked like he was excited for something, like how a kid would be excited for getting a new toy.
And the grin looked good on him.
"Stand up, Vanguard!" the two shouted.
As the two started their card game, Alice was intrigued at her brother's development. Throughout her entire life growing up with him, she never saw him making that kind of competitive face before. The face he would always wear was one of a blank state. He wasn't selfish and didn't ask out of his way for something from his parents. As she continued watching with interest, Andrew was in a battle of his own.
"Twin drive check," Andrew said as he drew the top two cards from the top of the deck. "First check, no trigger. Second check, Critical trigger! All effects to Blaster Blade Exceed!"
"What?! Eh, damage check...!" his friend said as he checked the top two cards, but they were not heal triggers. "No heal triggers..." he said sadly.
Andrew let out a small breather, thinking this ordeal was over...until he heard a voice from the room.
"Andrew."
Andrew looked at the source of the room and was surprised that his sister was his. "A-Alice?!"
"Oh? You know him? A friend or..." Alex asked.
"Well...she's my..." Andrew stuttered.
"So is this the reason why you've been staying behind after school?" Alice asked as she came over him.
"Well..."
As Andrew was stuttering at what he should say, Alice got a better look at what was on the table and took a look at the cards. "So this vanguard...and this is Blaster Blade Exceed." Alice looked at the card in fascination. "This is what you have been doing?"
"Alice, um..."
"Andrew, you've changed a little."
"Eh?"
"Is it really that fun?"
Andrew was surprised at what Alice just asked and said, "Yeah."
As Andrew said his answer, Alice had a thought that was going through her head. "Which on is the real one. The quiet brother that I know, or the fighter that's here now?"
After a few seconds, Alice asked, "Would you play again for me?"
"Eh?!"
"It's fun, right? Do it again!"
"Ah...well..." Andrew said as he turned to his friends.
"I'm in."
"Me too. It's my turn next!"
Andrew let out a small sigh as now his sister knows what he was doing.
"Do it!" Alice said with a smile.
Andrew turned to Alice and said, "Yeah!"
Andrew and his friends picked up the cards and then started to play again, with Alice watching.
To this day, Alice learned a new side of Andrew she never knew of.