(Y/n) (l/n) ~

After coming back from the dojo that day, I did my training as usual. But when I returned home at 6:30 p.m., Valt paid me a visit.

The Lord of cuteness told me about Ken leaving the next day. Because of their family's unstable occupation, they've always had to keep moving and changing places from time to time, and so Ken has to transfer schools. In the process of telling me all this, Valt cried a lot and I didn't even know what to do to get him feel better.

Thankfully, making him a lot of food and saying nice things like: 'But he'll always be your friend' and 'It's okay. He isn't going for ever' actually helped. I was also grateful that I didn't snap at Valt to shut up and get out. That would've been a whole lot other level of rudeness.

The next day, Ken left but I didn't go to bid him goodbye. That was simply unnecessary.

I don't even care if anyone judges.

The next day of that, Principal Shinoda called me in his office. I wondered if I'd done something wrong, but then I remembered that I always keep doing something wrong.

Bracing myself for getting expelled or shouted at, I entered the principal office only to find Wakiya and Hoji already there. Realisation dawned on me when the principal handed me the Regionals' invitation card.

Wakiya had been constantly glaring daggers at me and I was returning the kind favour with even more deadly glares. The whole time, Hoji was looking between us awkwardly.

When we were outside the office, Wakiya finally lost it. "You know, (Y/n). I had almost been hoping that you wouldn't even receive an invitation."

"You worry about yourself," I waved my hand dismissively.

Wakiya looked at me angrily. "You just pray we don't end up in the same block, otherwise I'll defeat you so badly that—"

"—that you wouldn't be able to show your spoiled face to anyone," I said and then added: "Yes, that's what I was about to say. Thanks for speaking from my side."

Wakiya's head literally exploded at that insult. He growled and raised his fist to hit me, but Hoji held him back. "Leave me," Wakiya let out through gritted teeth. "I'm gonna personally strangle her today."

"Come at me," I growled back. "I'm standing right here."

"(Y/n), not helping!" Hoji scolded, turning back to Wakiya.

"Let's go," he said and literally dragged the blondie away from where I was standing. I sighed and looked at the invitation again. I still couldn't get over the fact that I lost to Shu. I wonder who else from the Beyclub had gotten invitations. Maybe all.

That evening, when I was returning from training, I noticed Rantaro alone in the Beypark, launching Rocktavor. It was kinda surprising because he's always with Valt, Ken or Daigo.

Okay Ken is gone, so where's Valt and Daigo? Is something wrong with Rantaro? Is he missing Ken?

Wait...is it possible that he didn't get the invitation?

The thought made my eyes widen in surprise. How could it be that Rantaro wasn't chosen? If I know him properly, he's a very good blader.

Thinking that I'm standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, I quickly continued walking towards my house before Rantaro could notice. What if both Valt and Daigo had gotten an invitation, and Rantaro was the only one without it? That would've been so saddening. It must've been damn hard when the principal gave the two of them their invitations. How he couldn't have cried, but couldn't have celebrated either.

Ugh. Why do I even care? Am I even supposed to think about others that much? Why the heck is my mind playing tricks on me?

And now my head is aching from thinking so much.

Great. Just another normal day!

I was still walking towards my house when someone ran straight into me. Now, if I say that that someone was someone with spiky blue hair, childish manners, random blabbering, short height, pink hoodie and hazel eyes, would anyone be able to guess?

"Why is it always you?!" I snapped.

"Honcho-will-be-so-happy-to-see-this-I-already-knew-there-was-some-mistake-in-distributing-the-invitations-there-was-no-way-he-couldn't-have-been-chosen-for-the-tournament-I'm-so-happy-for-him-by-the-way-hi-to-you-gotta-go-see-him-and-tell-him-about-this!" Valt said in one breath, zooming past me and leaving a trail of smoke in his wake.

I stood there with widened eyes. My hair and shirt were still flowing a little because of the wind that zoomed past me. Two more seconds passed, and I finally recovered from my daze.

"What was that?" I muttered to myself before continuing walking. He spoke all that so fast that I couldn't get what he was trying to say. At most, I caught the words 'mistake', 'tournament' and 'gotta go'.

Does that even make any sense?

Most people get drained of their enthusiasm in the evenings but apparently, Valt is always like that. Must be the beybreads having side effects on him.

The next day was great. It was the beginning of the Regional Tournaments afterall, so I knew I was getting some opponents to beat the crap out of. I can't wait to defeat all of them and reach the Nationals.

There were bladers from all over the area that were selected for the matches. Valt and Daigo were selected, as expected. To my surprise, Rantaro was also there so my theory of him not getting the invitation was wrong. Maybe I was just overthinking back then.

Ukyo, Yugo, Orochi, Hoji and that blader whose name was Kuroshi Akana, whom I fought in the quarter finals of the District Tournaments. I think his bey was Attire Atrimon. They were all there.

Wait, does that even make any sense? Is it possible that his name starts with K, but his bey's name starts with A?

Whatever.

Valt and Rantaro were both in the first block, so only one of them has the chance to make it to the Nationals. Man, that's so cruel.

Me, Ukyo and Orochi were in Block B, so of course those two wouldn't be able to make it. There'll be only one winner and that would be me. Poor them, though.

Unfortunately, Wakiya was not in my block this time either. And that means I don't get to beat him in front of all these dazzling audience. He was in Block C with Daigo, Yugo and Hoji. Only one of these four will make it, so I think Daigo's situation is even more difficult than mine. Let's just hope he makes it.

I was standing alone near the registrations area, peacefully admiring the blue sky and glittering sunshine when the Beyclub walked up to me. Can't these people ever leave me alone? One day, I'd die of standing with too many people.

Hanami was constantly ranting things about the Regionals and the bladers who would be participating, but then something he said caught my attention.

"—a famous popstar and a member of the Supreme Four. He's a great blader with even greater skills and has been invited here as a special guest for the tournament. Make some noise for Zac the Sunrise!"

Ooh, Hanami's been doing poetry?

Man, why am I such a fangirl for this man? Then again, name someone who doesn't love Hanami.

The part of the stage in front of the stadium dramatically exploded in a poof of smoke. Glitters/Stars erupted from the floor, and the Supreme Four's member Zachary Kaneguro appeared from between them. His long, blonde hair with red streaks were looking perfect. He had a permanent sparkling smile on his face, and his turquoise eyes were scanning the audience happily.

"Sorry for the glare, my lovely fans, but I'm always this dazzling!" He did some rehearsed dance moves and smiled at the crowd. Lots of fangirls and fanboys screamed, showing their love for him.

"Zac the sunrise, huh?" Valt asked innocently. "Who's that?"

I turned my attention to the Beyclub, while Zachary kept blabbering something about all the stars being bright and shiny in the night, but when the Sun rises in the morning, it overshadows all of them.

"You don't know him?!" Rantaro asked with a shocked expression.

"Zachary Kaneguro," Daigo spoke. "He's a famous pop star and a member of the Supreme Four. His bey is Zillion Zeutron, a strong stamina ty—"

"An awesome blader?!" Valt's eyes lit up, and before it could happen, I knew what was on his mind.

I crossed my arms and watched amusingly as Valt walked up to the stage front where Zachary was raised up in the air with supposed-to-be invisible strings (that were pretty much visible to me).

"Hey, Zac the Sunrise!" Valt called out. Daigo and Rantaro facepalmed, while I actually smiled at the expression Zachary had on his face.

"Hey, my lovely fan!" He chirped. "If you're here to get my autograph, come to the backstage later!"

"Can we have a battle?" Valt asked.

For a moment, there was silence.

Zachary had a shocked expression on his face, but then he smiled. "I love the enthusiasm, Twinkle-toes! There are only a few people that dare to challenge me. We can't battle now, but we will definitely, later!"

"Thanks!" Valt jumped up and down. In the audience, I spotted the twins having a worried expression on their face, Shu smiling at Valt's stupidity, and Xander laughing like the Xander he is.

"I can't look," Rantaro slapped a hand over his eyes. "This is so embarrassing."

Valt returned to stand with us in a moment. While Rantaro scolded him for being so stupid, I noticed Zachary's eyes scan the audience until they landed on me.

Damn, I almost forgot that he'd recognize me. The great and famous Golden Blader.

Kill me now.

"Hey, tiny star!" He gave a smile. "Sorry if I blinded you from all the shine, but don't be jealous! To be honest, I think you'll be able to make it to the Nationals without any help but I'll cross my fingers for ya. I look forward to battling you there!"

Tiny star?

TINY STAR?!

Is this person for real?

"...um, are you gonna say something or what?" Zachary asked when I stayed silent. I snapped back to reality and looked around, only to notice all eyes on me. The Beyclub, the audience, the competitors, and the Hanami sitting in the announcement box up there.

Wait, why's there a throne placed beside it? And why so high in the air?

I didn't even realise that the others were still interested in hearing me say something. It was when Daigo nudged my side with his elbow, then I cleared my throat and thought about saying something nice and awesome.

I lost another five precious minutes of my life in figuring what to say and finally I ended up asking, "What if those strings break and you fall down?"

Rantaro beside me groaned and facepalmed. Daigo shook his head. Valt chuckled nervously.

Zachary sweatdropped. "Just because you were silent for so long, I was kinda hoping you'll say something too awesome. Talk about an anti-climax..."

"An insult," I corrected.

"Um, so," he eyed me once more and then turned towards the audience with an awkward smile. "Let's begin the tournament now?"

Hanami announced something about him being conflicted about the 'conversation' that just took place between Zachary and me. He would definitely wait for us to battle someday. Then he quickly changed the topic to the battles beginning soon, so I turned my attention to the screen above.

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

The first day of the regionals passed like that, without much important events (except the battles we totally won).

Valt was against Kuroshi Akana, the blader I fought in the Districts. When it turned out his name was actually Akiyoshi Tanaka, I started to question my whole existence.

Of course the initials of his name and his bey were same.

Only I was stupid.

Rantaro battled against some boy named Haruto Aota and actually beat him. Me, Ukyo, Orochi, Wakiya, Yugo, Daigo and Hoji also won our battles. But I was actually caught off guard when the announcement was made for the next matches.

Valt versus Rantaro.

Me against Ukyo.

Daigo versus Yugo.

Hoji versus Wakiya.

Honestly, I don't care about Wakiya so much, but him battling Hoji is as cruel as Valt against Rantaro. Daigo versus Yugo would be a whole lot other level of awesomeness so I personally can't wait to see that battle.

And then is me and Ukyo. The second it was announced, I practically started dancing with excitement. I finally get to battle the blue boy. This person thinks he's so much more great and awesome than me, huh?

Tomorrow, I'll show him who's the queen. He'd learn to not to insult my blading skills from next time.

But way to ruin my awesome mood, I got a call from Theodore as soon as I reached home.

It's like somehow he gets to know I'm in a good mood, so he calls right at that time. I could almost imagine him saying to himself, 'Oh yes! (Y/n) would be in a good mood now. Let's call her and ruin it!'

"Heya, (Y/n)!" he chirped as soon as I picked up the call. He greeted me so happily that I was starting to wonder if he had a brain damage. "How was your day?"

"Good," I replied. "Would've been better if you were dead."

"Tsk tsk. Are you always in such a bad mood?" He asked in frustration.

"Nah, it comes naturally when I hear your annoying voice," I said honestly.

"Ugh," he grumbled before returning back to his so-happy-that-it's-suspicious tone. "I wanted to congratulate you for making it to the Regionals and actually winning the first round!"

Did he call me just for that?

"And?" I asked.

"...I only wanted to say this—"

"Okay then, I'm hanging up."

"No, wait!" Ashtem screamed, making me smirk. Of course this person had some personal interest if he's calling me. He's so selfish. "I want to say something."

"Bark," I ordered.

"Look, child. I don't know how to put this. I don't know how you'll react to this, but I wanted to confess that—"

"Do not call me a child."

"—things have been going pretty...bad with the Snake Pit recently."

Wait, what?!

"What happened?" I panicked. As much as I don't like the ideas and principles of how the Snake Pit works, it's still a home and future for thousands of bladers. Please focus on the words: future of the bladers.

"Problems with the new recruits? Arrangements not proper? Financial conditions getting bad? The workers? Traitors? Secrecy of the organisation? Damn, the secrecy! Tell me if someone had been suspecting things about us," I said in one breath, quickly listing all the possibilities.

I personally don't care what happens to Theodore, but now as the conditions are, he's important for both the Raging Bulls and the Snake Pit to thrive.

If the wbba, the police or someone other were to suspect anything about our headquarters being in Mexico and found out about things that are happening in there, everything will crumble. The news of having a secret organisation training bladers, is not hidden. But the fact that it's in Mexico, or who controls it, or what purpose it holds, is unknown to the rest of the world.

Now we cannot afford that to be known, can we?

If anything happens to Theodore, the Snake Pit and the Raging Bulls are as good as closed. Ended forever. Both places are my life. Theodore can't die or turn away until I figure out something else for the organisations to work after him.

After that, even I'm planning to throw him out.

But not now.

"Yes, the secrecy," he said, making me start to scream profanities at him.

"Hey, stop! Where did you get those words?" He asked me.

"Don't even try to change the topic, you bastard. Do you even know how much important is the secrecy? Not even a month since I'm gone and you're already screwing things up. Can't manage a while without me?!"

"I'm just gonna ignore the fact that you called me a bastard," he sighed. "Look, I know my job. You don't tell me what to do."

"You know what? I'm not throwing my phone because it'll stop our conversation, but I swear I'll do it once you hang up."

"Calm down, kid."

"CaLm DoWn, KiD!" I shouted at him. "I don't want any more bad news than you've already given me."

"I promise there's no more bad news."

That calmed me down a little.

"Okay, tell me about the secrecy being at danger," I asked. If he was saying these things in front of me, I would've already bashed his head four times.

"It's the internet," he said. "I don't know who leaked the information, but I don't think the time is far from now when people would be able to visit our headquarters without facing much trouble."

"What can I say? Glad to know?"

"Stop mocking me. I'm trying to do something," he defended.

"Okay," I said skeptically. "Where are you right now?"

"There where I should be."

"Stop talking in riddles."

"Wait," he said. I heard a little shuffling from the other side of the phone and then came Norman's annoying voice. "I so hate her. Why are you making me talk?"

Oh, I almost forgot how much I despise him.

"What?" I mocked. "Goldy baby Normy misses the great (Y/n)?"

"Die," he replied.

"I hope the same for you."

Ashtem returned on the line again. "I still think you two can be good friends."

"She looks like a dinosaur," I heard Gold Eye's faint voice protest from the other side.

"Tell him he mistook the mirror for me," I said to Theodore.

"I'm not your messenger. Call him yourself, you have his number."

"And punch him from my side while you're at it."

"Um...I don't know."

"When I return, I'm so kicking him out of the Snake Pit."

"I'll be waiting," he said, ending the conversation there. Just as he was about to hang up, I stopped him. "And don't you dare mess up whatever the heck you're doing, or you'll get slapped for it later."

"Why do you hate me so much? Aren't you supposed to be, like, thankful to me for making up your blading career?"

"Thankful? As if."

"Ugh."

"And if you don't like getting shouted at by me, why did you call me in the first place?" I questioned. "It's not like I can help you in this situation from this far. You could've gotten away without informing me. I wouldn't have known a thing."

"I thought you had the right to know," Theodore laughed, taking me by surprise.

Yeah, I had the right but didn't know he could be so...thoughtful.

"A-And I thought you weren't so nice," I mumbled softly.

"Don't flatter yourself. I didn't call you because I wanted someone to talk to."

Silence.

"You just said that!" I almost squealed.

"No, wait!" He protested, somewhat embarassed. "I-I was being sarcastic! Focus on the words, kid. Don't you know the meaning of sarcasm?"

"Admit it," I said, returning back to my normal self. "It seems like only I understand you in the whole Snake Pit. You really wanted to talk to me. The truth came out."

"Okay, maybe," Theo said with difficulty. "But that doesn't end our animosities."

"You bet it doesn't," I said, ending the call. I took the phone away from my ear and stared at it, remembering what I had said about throwing the thing.

The phone looked back at me with puppy eyes.

Nope, I change my mind. The poor thing is not dying today because of that crappy owner of my beloved team.

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

In 3375 words.

Vote, comment and share.