Xhaka bolted upright in his bed, panting heavily. Sweat trickled down his skin, making his clothes hug tightly against his body. His hands shaking slightly, he put his aching forehead in his palm.

What...?

Very slowly, he started to lift his head and looked around. He was in his dojo bedroom. The curtains were down but light was peaking through the cracks. It was clearly morning. His room smelt of familiar bamboo and fresh grass. It was a nice shade of yellowish brown all around instead of blank white.

White...

Xhaka's head started aching sharply once again, accompanied by a faint pang of dizziness as memories started to fill his head quickly.

Or was it a dream? Xhaka frowned. Time travel, future selves were definitely not something you encounter every day.

The blader reached for his phone on his left side. Surprisingly, it was exactly where he put it before he... well, woke up.

He turned on his cellphone and the time and date popped out on the screen. It was the same day Heracles first came to the past, Xhaka realised. Just a few hours earlier.

Just as he blinked in confusion, he heard footsteps running towards his room.

Without even knocking, the door banged open. Ukyo and Quon sprinted in his room. Uncharacteristically, Ukyo knocked down a vase. Ukyo stopped abruptly, looking at the vase rolling on the floor. He sighed in relief as the vase stopped rolling, unharmed.

"Ukyo? ...and Quon? What are you doing here?" Xhaka asked.

"We asked him to stay the night at the dojo, remember?" Ukyo reminded. "You know, the night before... Heracles attacked. It's supposed to be yesterday but-"

Xhaka rubbed his temples. "Ah... so it wasn't a dream."

Quon bit his inner cheek, looking to the side. "Yeah... unfortunately."

"Are- are you guys okay?" Xhaka asked immediately. "Are you harmed anywhere?"

The two shook their heads. "We're fine," Ukyo assured. "How about you?"

"Other than shock, not much," Xhaka laughed. "A lot of crazy stuff has happened in these few days, yeah?"

Ukyo and Quon nodded. "Yeah," Ukyo agreed. "It has been a restless journey-"

Xhaka cut in suddenly. "Wait. What's this amazing smell?"

From the dojo kitchen, Yugo yelled, "I'm making egg and ramen for breakfast! Who wants some?!"

Suddenly, everyone's worries and angst were replaced by extreme hunger. Ukyo, putting all his ninja skills into use, bolted outside.

"I want two soft boiled eggs and a ramen!" Ukyo demanded.

"I want two bowls of ramen and an egg!" Quon shouted as well.

"I WANT TWO BOWLS OF RAMEN AND THREE EGGS!" Xhaka decided, getting up on his feet quickly.

Ignoring the disgusted grunt from Yugo, the group laughed joyously.

Breakfast sounds perfect, Xhaka smiled to himself.

~~~

Lui normally woke up at unholy hours like six. Or earlier. Today, he slept in until ten. There was school today, but screw it, Lui decided.

He turned on his phone and saw 20 missed called. He flinched.

Most of them were from his mom. She had also sent him some angry and worried texts.

Some of them were from Gou. Lui wasn't completely surprised.

One of them was from... Shu?

Lui raised an eyebrow.

After phoning both his mom and Gou to assure them his safety, he clicked on Shu's number. He waited for the line to connect.

...beep.

...beep.

"Lui? Hello, how have you been?"

Lui laughed at this. "Everything is just peachy. Except for the, you know, after the whole Heracles bullshit-"

Shu sighed on the other line. "Fair enough."

Lui quickly changed the topic. "Hey, why did you call me earlier this morning?"

"Hm?"

"'One missed call from Kurenai Shu'," Lui read aloud.

"Oh... right," Shu remembered. "I was wondering... if you have time today?"

"Yeah, I skipped school," Lui answered. "I've got plenty of free time. Why?"

"Remember when Heracles... no, Nymph, Triton, and Scythe first attacked us? We were hanging out and they ruined it completely," Shu said. "I was wondering if we could hang out once more? You know, to make up for last time?"

"Asking me out, eh? Kurenai?" Lui teased.

"Ew, shut the hell up. My friends already think this, now you?" Shu groaned on the other line.

"Well, it really seems like it-"

"No. Shut it," Shu snapped.

"Alright, alright," Lui stops teasing. "So... the sushi restaurant? Like last time?"

He heard Shu smile. "Yep. The sushi restaurant."

They don't actually like each other in that way that their friends like to scandalously gossip about, but it's still crazy, how they went from brothers in their past life, to enemies, then to friends who have been through life and death together.

~~~

Zac bolted upright when he heard his studio door bang open.

Orochi came stumbling in, tired and worn out. He dumped his backpack on the floor and fell onto Zac's couch with a thump.

"Orochi?!" Zac exclaimed. "Where on earth have you been?"

"School," Orochi murmured tiredly. "Not everyone is like you, superstar."

"Oi," Zac pouted.

"I forgot there was school, then forgot that my parents had sent me to another school two days ago, then ended up being late for two hours," Orochi groaned.

"How does one 'forget that your parents sent you to another school'?" Zac asked.

"I don't know," Orochi said. "If Heracles haven't shown up and screwed up my brain I would have remembered."

Zac didn't say anything.

"Hey... Zac?"

"Hm?"

"A lot has happened lately."

"Yeah..." Zac said. "I mean we've both seen our future selves die. What's next?"

"You know, we promised our future selves to live a good life," Orochi reminded. "We should put this behind and enjoy our lives now."

"You're right," Zac agreed.

Both of them fell in awkward silence after this. It was Zac's phone that broke the silence.

Zac almost jumped as his phone rang loudly.

Orochi moved closer to take a peek at Zac's phone. "Who's this?"

Zac looked confused. "It's Twinkle Toes."

"Twinkle what-"

"Hello?" Zac answered his phone. "Hey Valt! How are you doing? ...I'm fine as well, thanks for asking! ...What?"

Zac was laughing now. "Really. Shu and Lui... again? ...Okay. On it. I'll ask Orochi if he can come along too. Mm, 'kay. Bye, Twinkle Toes!"

He hung up.

Orochi blinked. "Ask me what?"

The was this glint in Zac's eyes, the glint Zac's eyes had when he's up to no good.

Oh no, Orochi gulped.

"Wanna go spy on two of our dear friends?" Zac grinned mischievously.

"...Who?"

~~~

"Shu!"

Shu looked to his right. Lui was coming towards him.

"Lui," he greeted back.

"Have you been waiting here for long?" Lui asked.

Shu checked his phone. "...Ah, no. I've just arrived three minutes before."

"That's great," Lui nodded. Then he raised an eyebrow at the drink in Shu's hand. "...Bubble milk tea?"

Shu took a sip. "Yeah, what about it?"

"You know it can contain as much as 50 grams of sugar and close to 500 calories?" Lui asked.

"Yeah," Shu took another sip. "I know. I don't care. Sugar is good for relieving stress sometimes... since Heracles and everything."

Lui chuckled and shook his head. "Excuses, excuses."

Shu swallowed a mouthful of boba. "Hey, have you brought  the sunglasses?"

"The what?"

"The Dior sunglasses," Shu said, emphasizing on the brand name. "You said it is important to keep paparazzi away."

"Are you sure you aren't just after my Dior sunglasses?" Lui mocked.

Shu glowered. Lui backed off.

"I didn't bring my Dior ones but I have Chanel," Lui said, pulling the two pairs out of his bag and handed Shu one of them.

"Brand-lover," Lui laughed as Shu grabbed the sunglasses as quickly as possible.

"Asshole," Shu shot back, putting on the sunglasses.

"This asshole gave you Chanel sunglasses," Lui retorted, purposely stressing the last two words.

Their pointless argument went on for a while until the two were cut off by the rustling of the bushes behind them, followed by whispers and giggles.

"W-Who's there?" Shu shouted at once.

Lui rolled his eyes. "I know you are in there. Come out."

One by one, a group of bladers started stumbling out of the bushes.

"-told you-"

"Oi that's my foot!"

"-we should have asked Ukyo to teach us ninja skills-"

"WATCH YOUR GODDAMN FOOT-"

"Fuck off, Wakiya-"

"Everyone shut up-"

The group of bladers blinked at Shu and Lui as if they totally weren't stalking them.

"Hi!" Valt chirped, leaves sticking out of his messy hair.

Shu looked annoyed. Lui looked amused.

Zac stepped out of the bushes as well, followed by Orochi.

"Hi!" Zac chirped like Valt.

Shu looked more annoyed. Lui burst out laughing.

"Stalking us, are you," Lui said.

"Nope, totally not," Zac reasurred.

"Totally," Daina repeated sarcastically. Then he held his hands up in defense. "This isn't my idea. It's Valt and Rantaro's."

"Daina, you traitor! We believed in you!" Rantaro gasped comically.

"Yeah!" Valt agreed. "You said you will not put the blame on us if we got caught!"

"You've made your bed so you have to lie in it," Daina said simply.

Ignoring all the ruckus, Shu rubbed the sides of his head and cut in, "We're getting sushi, wanna join?"

That shut them up.

"SUSHI?" Valt's eyes practically sparkled.

"SUSHI?" Rantaro repeated, eyes practically sparkling.

"Sushi?" The rest of the bladers asked, eyes not sparkling.

"Yes, sushi," Shu said. "Guys, it's not like you haven't had sushi in your whole life so calm down-"

"CALM DOWN? NEVER!" Valt shouted on top of his lungs.

"EYYY, THAT'S MA BOY," Rantaro high-fived Valt.

Everyone started to laugh. Shu lost his stoic expression and joined in the utter craziness as well, rocking his Chanel sunglasses fabulously.  Everyone had seemingly thrown all care into the wind.

After all, who cares about what the future brings when they can enjoy the present?

~~~

"Xhaka! Ukyo! Yugo! Quon!" Valt shouted, running towards his friends, sniffing. He was followed by his friends of the Beyclub. "I've missed you so much!"

Xhaka chortled. "It's only been a week!"

"Still...!" Valt said. His gaze turned towards the other side. Naoki and Jin were coming towards them.

"Naoki! Jin!" Valt greeted in enthusiasm.

Naoki waved back, while Jin smiled. Rantaro flinched automatically.

"Hey," Jin giggled.

"Long time no see!" Valt said.

"It's only been a week," Xhaka repeated, shaking his head in mirth.

"Whatever," Valt said, jumping up and down.

Naoki and Jin were followed by Zac's dramatic entrance, Akira's a-little-more-subtle entrance and Orochi's entrance of a normal human being. They all waved at the group.

"Twinkle Toes!" Zac greeted.

"Zac!" Valt replied happily.

Zac looked at the bag of chips in Valt's hands. "Ooh, I love Jagabee. Can I have one?"

"Sure!" Valt grinned.

Some other bladers joined in their conversation before the lights around them slowly dimmed.

"Guys! Guys!" Nika whispered excitedly. "Get back to your seats, the match is starting!"

Everyone did so. Soon, the battle hall fell completely silent as they anticipated the long-awaited final battle.

The announcer walked up to the stadium. "On the red side,  KURENAI SHU!"

Everyone applauded and cheered loudly. The fans were screaming excitedly as Shu walked onto the stage, confident and smiling.

"On the blue side, SHIRASAGIJO LUI!"

The thunderous applause and cheers continued. The fans never stopped screaming, only louder as Lui walked out, beyblade and launcher in hands.

The two looked at each other in the eye, hatred and pride now replaced with passion and determination.

Because now their opponents were not their enemy anymore. They were friends.

"Champion this year is mine," Lui grinned.

"Keep dreaming," Shu retorted, grinning back.

"Ready, set!" The announcer shouted.

The two stood in stance, gripping their launchers tightly.

"THREE!"

The audience was screaming and shouting with them.

"TWO!"

Spriggan and Longinus glinted red and blue. So did Shu and Lui's eyes.

"ONE!"

Because this is the present. Not the past. Not the future. This is now. And we are going to live it to the fullest.

"GO, SHOOT!"