"G'night, Kenny."

"'Night, Dad."

The door was closed, and the lamp was switched off. With that, Ken synced their earbuds to their phone and opened Spotify, deciding to put Japanese American musician Mitski on shuffle. They had just laid their head on the pillow when their phone started to ring, the music of Rabbitology permeating the silence.

Goddamnit, Ken cursed internally. Since Ryota's passing, Ken had come to dislike late night phone calls: why couldn't they just cry themselves to sleep in peace? But they hated denying people's calls, so they picked up.

"Hullo?" Ken yawned.

"Hello, Ken? This is Clio Delon."

Ken's eyes widened. Now being called after nine pm made sense.

"Oh - hey, dude," Ken answered as they sat up in bed. "What's going on?"

"I was getting worried." Clio answered. "I haven't heard from Daigo in quite a while, and you know him very well, so I thought I'd call you; I've been worried about Ryota, too."

Ken's face dropped. Daigo hadn't told him?

"Clio," Ken began, "Ryota's been dead for over a month now."

Silence.

"I beg your fucking pardon?" Clio's voice was a shaky, horrified whisper.

"Yeah," Ken sighed, voice shaking just as much. "He's dead. Bad seizure."

"Oh, my . . ." Clio's voice trailed off. Ken heard him mutter some sort of Romanian curse word.

Ken closed their eyes for a moment in quiet mourning. They hated having to keep breaking the news of Ryota's passing to people.

"I'm getting a plane ticket as soon as I can," Clio decided.

Ken was slightly taken aback. They knew that Clio was an affectionate and devoted soul, but they hadn't expected such a quick decision.

"You sure?" they asked.

"Positive," Clio answered. "We've all lost someone."

Ken repeated that phrase in their head: we've all lost someone. Boy, was that true.

"Are you doing alright?" Clio asked. "I know that boy meant a lot to you, too."

A lump formed in Ken's throat.

"No. I'm not."

"Well, hang in there," Clio reminded them. "You'll pull through, my friend."

A smile made itself known on Ken's face despite their watery eyes.

"Thank you."

"Anytime. Goodnight, now. Get some sleep."

~

Ken and their father had offered to pick Clio up from the airport in Tokyo before they all took the train back to Beigoma. It was strange to see Clio in casual clothes, and it nearly made Ken feel uneasy: they almost didn't recognize him until Clio hurried over to give them a hug. Either way, after an hour long train ride, the three arrived back in Beigoma safely.

"So I guess Cuza couldn't come with?" Ken guessed as they and Clio headed to the park after Suijin dropped them off at a street corner.

"Yes, he wanted to," Clio answered, "but after we visited a few months ago, we could only afford one plane ticket. So, we agreed that it should be me."

Ken nodded in response.

"Can't believe I haven't told you this already," they began, "but thanks a bunch for traveling all this way."

"Of course," Clio replied with a somber grin. "It's good to see you."

At last, the two arrived at the park, where Jin, Litsuko, and Asa were all gathered at the pavilion once again. Valt wasn't there, though: he had gone back to Spain a few days prior.

"Hi, Clio!" Litsuko greeted the foreigner with an enthusiastic wave.

"Yooo," Jin added from where he was squatted on the pavement, throwing up a peace sign.

Clio smiled widely and waved back, but his gleeful expression faltered a little. The reason why he had traveled here hung over the group ominously.

"Up for a battle before you head to your hotel?" Asa offered him. She and Clio had history together: they had once been teammates on AS Gallus, but this was after Daigo had left, so Asa and Daigo didn't officially meet until a few years later.

"Absolutely, my dear friend!" Clio agreed. He jogged up to the pavilion, set down his backpack, and pulled out his bey and launcher. Ken offered to referee.

"Ready . . . set!" they announced.

"Three! . . . Two! . . . One!"

"Let it . . . !"

"Hey, guys."

Asa was so startled that her launch was off, and her bey - Ultimate Antrophila - tink, tink, tink'ed into the stadium until it rolled to a stop right next to Clio's awkwardly spinning Caynox. Everyone looked up to find Daigo standing at the entrance to the park, hands in his hoodie pockets. He was smiling.

Clio immediately scooped up Caynox and hurried over to embrace Daigo as though he hadn't seen him in years. To Ken's surprise, Daigo hugged him back.

"Good to see you've left the apartment!" Litsuko told him encouragingly.

"Yeah, I figured I should spend some time with you guys, considering what you did for me a couple weeks ago." Daigo explained. He clapped his hands once. "How 'bout some practice, huh?"

"Hell yeah, cap," Jin answered with a grin.

Ken's face contorted with confusion. There was something . . . off about the way Daigo was acting. Maybe he was just in a good mood? They truly hoped that that was the case.

Either way, Asa and Clio resumed their battle. It was close, but Asa eventually won with a ring-out finish. Then Daigo battled Jin, which ended in a burst finish.

"Aw, goddamnit!" Jin cursed.

"That all you got, man?" Daigo teased him playfully. He had an uncharacteristically large smile on his face.

"I'm up next, I'm up next!" Litsuko cheered.

Ken watched on with growing concern as Daigo won battle after battle. It should've been filling them with joy to see him so excited, but they had a bad feeling that this wasn't exactly normal excitement. After three hours that felt like half an hour, Daigo finally looked like he was getting tuckered out. The sun was sinking lower and lower in the sky as evening set upon them, the sky growing darker and more colorful, like an oil painting.

"I should get home," Daigo said at last after picking up the still spinning Doomscizor. "I'm getting a bit tired."

"You don't wanna stay longer?" Litsuko asked, almost whining, despite it already having been a few hours.

"Wish I could," Daigo replied.

Ken caught Asa glancing at them out of the corner of their eye. She looked worried.

"I suppose I should be checking into my hotel," Clio admitted, palming the back of his neck. "See you tomorrow, Daigo?"

Daigo nodded at him, but Ken noticed that he didn't look him in the eye.

One by one, everyone departed until the only ones left were Ken, Asa, and Litsuko. Ken was about to leave too when they felt Asa grab their arm.

"Ken, wait," she said. "We need to talk to you."

"Uh, I-I'm listening," Ken reassured her. Asa let go of their arm in response.

"You said that you and Daigo've already confessed your feelings to each other, right?" Litsuko asked them, hands on her hips.

Ken felt the heat rising in their cheeks as they nodded yes. They looked between the two young women a couple times.

"Remind me how long've you two been together?" they requested.

"A little over a year now," Litsuko said proudly.

"I just wanted to say," Asa began, "don't believe everything Daigo says: he's in a dark state of mind. Even if he wants something, he might regret it later."

Ken felt their face grow redder still. Their eyes widened apprehensively.

"Are you talking about sex?" they asked with caution.

Asa and Litsuko exchanged awkward glances.

"I mean, we could be," Litsuko admitted.

"When I've been depressed, usually all I've wanted was to feel something, anything." Asa explained. "And most of what I wanted was, you know . . . the nasty. So, just be mindful."

Ken raised a palm to their own face as though to test their own warmth. They had been given the sex talk years before, and yes, they had thought about Daigo in that way. In truth, a part of Ken still felt ashamed for it, despite both of them being adults. Maybe it was partly because of the religion they followed, or the oppressive views that a large chunk of the Japanese population felt towards queer people.

Suddenly, Ken felt their phone vibrating in their pocket, and they took it out. It was a text from Daigo.

Hey, Ken. Meet me by the river?

Ken felt their heart begin to beat faster as they answered with a yes.

"I gotta go, ladies," they told their friends. "See you tomorrow."

As Ken left Asa and Litsuko's earshot, Litsuko turned to her sweet girlfriend.

"D'you think Ken's seen the signs?"

Asa heaved a deep sigh.

"I dunno, darling." she replied. "But they're the only person Daigo's gonna listen to."