Lily Xu Adachi's POV:

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to distract you from your training." I slightly apologised, keeping that constant smile among my features.

"What are you even doing out in the night here?" Free asked with a raised eyebrow as he kept Fafnir and his launcher into his side compartment which was attached around his waist.

"Nothing much, just came out to do some training, can't drag the team down now can I?" I simply replied with a nervous chuckle, scratching my head in embarrassment at the thought of happening to run into Free like this.

"Good, after all, you can't follow what everyone else is doing if you wanna be   champion." He said with a nod of approval, seemingly coming out from nowhere, at least when I think back to our previous conversations here and there.

An idea popping out from the depths of my thoughts, I retrieved Kunoichi from inside my pocket."Up for a friendly match? Between friends that is."

Free simply nodded in agreement before I happily beamed as I headed to the opposite side of the stadium from him, taking Shoot Kunoichi out, I attached her onto my launcher while he decided to once again go with his manual launch.

Again.

"3...."

"2...."

"1...."

"LET IT RIP!"

Both Fafnir and Kunoichi were launched into the stadium. Fafnir was slowly making its way into the centre while Kunoichi went in for the first strike but was futile due to Fafnir draining its stamina.

"When I first say your bey, I thought it was a balance type," Free commented from out of nowhere as Kunoichi skidded across the stadium in attempts to knock Fafnir over which only resulted in it bursting upon impact.

Time skip to Free continuously beating me in every single rematch.

"That's interesting, but one more battle!" I replied with a huff, showing the number one with my finger as I clicked Kunoichi back in place.

This was literally the twentieth match.

"You should work on your launch and aim, could really help you." Free advised."You got your strategy in-game but you haven't figured out the proper start-off."

"Makes sense, alright let's try that!" I enthusiastically exclaimed

Free De La Hoya's POV:

"She took that easily." I thought, leaning forward with Fafnir in hand while Lily slightly moved her launcher forward, not as much as Valt during his match with Silas but still forward.

"3...."

"2...."

"1...."

"LET IT RIP!"

With a flick of a wrist, Fafnir once again wobbly makes it's way to the centre position, however, this time Kunoichi did not go straight to the outer ring but towards the centre. Kinda unusual for an attack type.

That's when something surprising happened, the edge of Kunoichi's layer slammed itself downwards on the layer of Fafnir, differing from its usual attack patterns to go after the critical points between the disc and driver parts.

Still hitting the rubber slightly, Fafnir continued to drain from Kunoichi before sending it back to hit the side of the stadium's wall. Another surprising turn of event was when Kunoichi propelled itself against the wall to gain more speed as it raced around the stadium, it gaining more speed from every action.

Suddenly Kunoichi started attacking diagonally down, hitting Fafnir as it d dives downwards, reaching the utmost edge of the stadium before changing directions to head forward and doing the same thing but going up this time.

I slightly frown from the unexpected sight, Lily was gradually getting in sync with Shoot Kunoichi t the point they can change their direction of attacks so easily as if their chest pieces. The diagonal attacks are similar to the movement bishop piece, quick turn like the horse piece, the forward movement of the rook.

Deciding to look up, I saw Lily staring at Kunoichi, her eyes once again glowing from the amount of concentration she was putting it.

It was kinda stunning to see her try so hard.

"Fafnir's amazing ain't it?" The voice belonging to Lily spoke up, the glow in her eyes disappearing from the loss of concentration."It drains the stamina of beys like a vampire yet has a golden colour that shines like the daylight, incredibly don't you think?"

I stayed reserved not knowing how to respond from the random thought. Lily can seriously just pop out some random thoughts that would just somehow make sense. After Kunoichi continuous new attacks, Fafnir was hit out of the centre but I was determined to end this, after all, it's only fun to win.

Lily Xu Adachi's POV:

When Fafnir and Kunoichi had one final clash, Fafnir immediately won with a burst finish.

"Still couldn't get a dent!" I whined in slight frustration as I fall flat on the ground. Opening my eyes, I looked up at the night sky, mere words couldn't explain or describe how absolutely breath-taking the sight was."The sky tonight is indeed beautiful isn't it?" I idly asked with a large smile of satisfaction on my exterior.

A hand then appeared towards me to which I grab as it pulled me up, steadying me as I slightly wobbled from the large force of the tug.

"That was an improvement," Free said with a nod as he returned Kunoichi to me. I looked up towards him to say thanks to only see eyes similar to mine lazily stare back.

"Free? Is there something on my face?" I curiously asked, used my arm to try and wipe off whatever thing that might be in my face as I used the other hand to keep Kunoichi into my side pouch.

"Nothing, just finding it slightly amusing with your height." Free blankly expressed. Clearly rubbing it in that he was like fifteen centimetres taller than me.

A smile on my face with a slightly ticked off look, I looked right back at the taller male."Do you have a death wish?"

"No."

"I thought so."

"If you're angry just show it, no need to hide."

"Huh."

I started at Free with slightly widened eyes at his statement.

Free simply shrugged before sitting on the ground to which I followed in pursuit.

"You're weird." he began again

"Well isn't that not obvious." I sarcastically replied with a grin.

"See you did it again, others might think you're always happy like Aoi when in true fact."

"Your upset, angry over so many things."

Turning my head to escape from Free's gaze, I guiltily and sadly bowed my head down."Seriously, you're probably the only one who can see through me."

He indeed hit the nail on the head.

"You're right. I am upset over many things, my size, my disadvantages, my history. My dad, he always had that philosophy. He wanted everyone to have fun blading no matter what. For no one to be manipulated for someone's personal gain."

"I just wanted to continue that, no matter what he always had that smile on his face. I admired and loved him more than anything so I told myself than I'll do whatever it takes to continue his dream. No matter how difficult or painful it may be."

"No wonder you freaked earlier when Theodore Glass asked you to join The Raging Bulls. Free commented, remembering what he happened to saw earlier before their battles.

" Your spot on once again." I replied with a simple nod." wait, you saw?!"

He nodded.

"Nothing escapes your eyes now does it?" I snickered.

"Nothing"

Silence once again followed.

"I just want to see that real smile." Free went on.

Free De La Hoya's POV:

I then handed something to Lily. She opened it to see her jacket inside."Your jacket, I washed it before returning it."

"Thanks..." her voice trailed off.

All of a sudden, I felt a light weight on my shoulder, I looked down to see Lily leaning on it as she dozes off. The stress must have gotten in her with everything that's going in her life.

Not knowing what to do I just gazed forward, letting her rest there. My hand suddenly just moved as I tucked a strain of hair behind her ear. Her breathing light and calm as she slept.

All this time while I was busy pursuing my goals, Lily has been suffering so much in silence, I felt pity towards her but never showed it. Out of all females, I meant, she's probably the one with the strongest will, having to overcome so many obstacles.

Showing sympathy towards her wouldn't do her any good, she's not one who wants pity from others, Lily went through the storm and only came out stronger.

Her confidence was rising but her real battle was between her and her history.

The most I could do was be by her side, as a friend and teammate.

I really miss this...

A few hours passed and the sun rose, daylight breaking passes the leaves as it shone towards our direction.

I realised that Lily wasn't beside me anymore, my head was on top of her jacket while half of my body was covered by a red scarf.

Lily Xu Adachi's POV:

"Ah! You woke up, sorry for dozing off yesterday."I apologised, looking towards Free whose face was back to its constant poker look." I woke up like two hours ago and I happened to see you resting your head on mine."

"So I assumed you were exhausted from your training." I laughed.

Opening a small bag, I took an apple out and raised it in front of Free's face." here! Eat up, you wouldn't want to train on an empty stomach."

He simply took it and immediately took a bite from it. Free then took my scarf and tied it loosely around my neck.

"Don't bother bout me next time, think for yourself first. With your tiny size, you can easily just catch a cold." He said, again with my size.

"Well Mr De La Hoya, with your choice of clothing I believe you can catch one quicker than me," I replied with a matter of fact.

"Say, where did you get that scarf?" Free asked, looking at the crimson red clothing item I was wearing around my neck."I didn't think you were the shopping kind."

"No way, I would probably lose my way around the shopping area." I laughed. Most of my clothes I ever wore were altered clothes my father used to wear, it was to save money and keep as a momentum."The scarf was given to me by a boy I meant in a cave around ten years ago. I was kinda soaking wet after getting away from a storm."

My heart slightly fluttered from the thought.

"He was super nice! If it wasn't for him I probably would not have the courage to interact with you and Kris."

"A boy huh?" Free replied before taking another bite from the fruit in his hand. A moment of silence passed."You like him or something? Your eyes seem to have a sparkle when you mentioned him."

"Huh, like him?"

"Romantically, you're awfully hopeless with this."

"Says the one who's the king of roast."

Free De La Hoya's POV:

I wanted to continue explaining but at the same time, I thought it was not the right time for this kind of trivial stuff.

I probably shouldn't be the one who explains this kind of stuff, Kris should do it since she's kinda like our big sister.

"Free, you were saying?" Lily asked, waving her hand in front of his face as she snapped me out from my trance.

"Nothing, what I meant was that you might have feelings for that guy." I blurted out. I and my directness should seriously take the hint next time.

"What does that mean?" She asked to which I facepalmed my face on the inner. Obviously, Mentor Adachi probably never taught her about this kind of things.

"I'll tell you next time." I answered.

"Alright!" She smiled

Thx for reading! Sorry for the OOC Free and cringe you have once again just read^^; hope you enjoyed the chap and I'll see yall in the next one!Oh and any criticism and feedback  is appreciated!