Your POV 

'Mexico?!'

'Why Mexico?'

'How about New York?'

'Mexico?!'

'Mexico, of all places?'

'Even Japan would've made sense.'

'Mexico?!!'

The room around me was utter chaos. Honcho and Valt were screaming at Wakiya, who was completely ignoring them, Daigo was talking to the pilot if Wakiya had been drunk when he had told the pilot the destination, the pilot was confused, and I was stuck in the middle of this mess, head pounding more and more from the noise level and my previous episode.

'Alright, enough!' I yelled harshly. They all dropped everything they were holding, turning their heads to me. I stood up and pushed Wakiya off his seat, ignoring his complaints and whines. 'Listen up! Our best friend Shu has gone missing, so why are we arguing like this when we should be out there, rescuing Shu! I, myself, are a little puzzled as to why we are heading to Mexico. So, Wakiya, explain yourself!'

'I-I-I-I,' Wakiya stuttered. He took a deep breath and stood up from the ground, pressing some buttons. A map of the worlds showed up on the TV. 'We in the Murasaki family have over a thousand sources across the globe. I have gotten in touch with them, and they all suggest that there is a three hundred percent chance that Shu's in Mexico.'

'Three hundred?'

'That's a lot.'

'But how about a thousand?'

'That's a lot as well.'

'But that's even more.'

'Yeah, Wakiya why don't you have a thousand percent chance?'

'Or a million?'

'Billion?'

'Trillion?'

'Gazillion?'

'That's not even a-'

'Shut up!' I shouted again at the squabbling children I was stuck with. 'Wakiya, continue.'

'You see they all think it's in Mexico, because there has been rumors of a secret underground lair for bladers to train,' Wakiya explained. 'Knowing Shu, he wasn't just going to rest after his loss against Lui so that would explain why he went there.' He pressed a button on the remote and an image of an ancient temple, taken at a bird's eye view, deep in the forest showed up. 'This is the mysterious temple where the training place is rumored to take place. It's been called Snake Pit.'

'Snake Pit?'

'Even the name sounds scary.'

'But that's not the scariest thing,' Wakiya interjected, preventing the argument from going further. 'People say once a blader goes in there, they never come out again.'

Silence echoed through the room, only the rumbling of the engine to be heard as we all let this sink in. 

'Well then, we're going to accomplish a first,' I said determinedly. 'We are going to rescue Shu, and that's final.'

'You have confidence. Good,' Wakiya nodded. 'Because we're here.'

------------------

The sun shone brightly in the blue backdrop, almost blinding me and adding to the extreme heat. I could hear loud, upbeat music coming from the bars and restaurants that were scattered around the plaza that laid out in front of us. In the middle of the plaza was a huge water fountain and some cactuses where a couple of crowds were gathered around some performers. A sweet aroma of spices and tacos floated out from almost all the buildings. It was lunch, after all. I took the red jacket off, stuffing it into my silver suitcase, revealing a ripped white shirt underneath, but it still didn't help with the heat.

'I-It's so hot,' I muttered to my companions who had just come out of the glass-paneled airport, each lugging a suitcase as well. 

'Seriously,' Honcho groaned. 'How do they survive in this heat?'

'It isn't that bad,' Wakiya scoffed, walking past holding an umbrella while a butler was fanning him. 'Tsujihara, sunglasses.'

'Well maybe all of us don't have butlers who fan us and carry our lugagges and give us sunglasses!' I snapped as the butler immediately gave Wakiya a pair of sunnies.

'Psh, you're just jealous,' smirked Wakiya, still walking.

'Am not!'

'Yeah, whatever,' Wakiya ignored me, turning back to the rest of us. 'The plan is to go straight to the hotel, do some research the about the local's knowledge about Snake Pit, and most importantly, do not get distra-'

'Cuza!' Valt suddenly shouted, waving his arms frantically. 'Cuza! Over here!'

I spotted what Valt was looking at. A slender figure was bounding on a trampoline, spinning and tumbling. High up in the air was a familiar bird, circling around his owner. Cuza jumped off the trampoline, grinning at us. 

'Cuza!' Valt and Honcho yelled simultaneously, rushing forward to give their friend a hug. 'It's been a while!'

I hung back with Daigo and a furious Wakiya, as I had never made friends with Cuza. I didn't see the point. He was on an enemy team, a really good one, and we almost lost to his team. I admit he's a good blader, it's just that we can't get too close to him, or allow him to get a snippet of our bey's secrets. 

'Oh, lighten up (y/n)!' Valt said cheerfully, coming back to us with one arm draped around Cuza. I blushed as Valt knew what was going on in my head. 'We're not even in a tournament. Oh man, that gives me an idea! Wakiya, can Cuza-'

'No,' Wakiya finished the sentence for him. 'Just no.'

'Puh-lease,' Valt, Honcho and Cuza chorused, dragging the word on with puppy eyes. I bit my lip, feeling myself wanting to give in. 

'Fine,' Wakiya sighed. 'But if your bird uses my jet as a toilet, you're jumping off without a parachute.'

'Yes, sir!' Cuza saluted. 'Wait, why are you guys here, anyways?'

'Well, why are you here?' I asked him. 'You come here for Snake Pit?'

'No, I came here because I was performing across America. Then what is Snake Pit?'

'It's an underground training center where bladers go to train,' I explained. 'But no one ever comes back. However, we have to go. Our good friend Shu Kurenai as gone missing, and we suspect he might've come here to improve his training. And I'm not going to faint again,' I added, seeing the nervous looks on their faces. 

'Alright then, let's go back to the hotel,' Wakiya declared. 

'Wait, can't we get some ice cream first?' Honcho, Valt, Daigo and Cuza all whined simultaneously.

I shook my head. 'Not when Shu's missing.'

-----------------------

'Wow, this place is huge!' Valt yelled gleefully, jumping on a couch.

We had arrived at our hotel room, finally escaping the heat. In front of us laid a wide kitchen/dining/living room. A tiny kitchen was tucked away in the left corner, and a polished wooden table was seated to the right of the kitchen. Directly in front of us laid two black couches parallel to each other, a coffee table in the middle and doors to the balcony in front of them. To the right was another lounge facing the TV on the wall and a couple of study desks and arm chairs. Two doors on the right and left wall lead to our bedrooms with ensuites, I presume. Each bedroom could hold three people, so Cuza had somewhere to stay. 

'It's really nothing,' Wakiya shrugged, sitting down on the couch parallel to Valt. 'I'm going to do some research about this Snake Pit.'

'I'll help you,' I volunteered, sitting next to him. He opened a laptop and showed me a photo he had taken in the forest. It was a direct bird's eye view of the building rumored to be Snake Pit. 'Woah, so that's it? It kinda looks like a temple.'

'A very ancient one,' Wakiya nodded. 'I'll pinpoint the coordinates.'

'Okay,' I yawned. Wakiya glanced at me, worry etched on his face.

'(y/n), you should get some sleep,' he suggested. I shook my head.

'I need to help look for Shu,' I said indignantly. 

'No, you need some rest,' Wakiya argued. 'You collapsed nearly twice today, you found out the love of your life is missing and we flew nearly half way across the world. You need rest.'

'He's not the love of my life!' I cried out. But nevertheless I obliged, going into the left bedroom which is where I would be staying with Daigo and Wakiya. I had barely any time to admire the bedroom's beauty when my head touched the pillow and I feel asleep, with only one thought in my head.

He's not the love of my life.

At least, not anymore.

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Sorry this chapter is kinda short, I've been away on a holiday + catching up with school + making more stories for you!

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Word count: 1442