Look, what's that in the sky!
It's a bird! It's a plane!
No, it's ✨ angst and drama ✨
coming right at you!

Trigger warning: (Y/n).

[kidding, of course] actual trigger warning: only SMALL MENTIONS of violence, homicide, kidnapping, torture, trafficking, bones, etc. etc. >>> all by our pretty girl (Y/n)!

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Training sessions with the Beyclub never actually reached the level of 'hardcore'. Important physical workouts with accurately choreographed repetition alongside the use of high quality equipment? Certainly not the kind of agenda the Beyclub was famous for.

Not until today, that was.

If backed into a corner, even a worm would fight back. Such was why the school rooftop of Beigoma Academy was scattered with expensive fitness devices on a shiny saturday morning.

Several bottles littered the terrace; some filled, some empty, some spilling streaks of water because of carelessness while closing the cap (probably Valt). Clean and dirty towels lined half of the bench; Toko and Nika chatting comfortably on the other half.

Wakiya had been nice enough to lend his private training equipment for the club's sake. This particular fact was hard to miss, primarily because he kept boasting about his kindness and richness every five minutes.

"Stop being a lazy slug, (Y/n), get here and pick up some weights!" Daigo ordered from the ground where he was doing leg stretches upon a neatly placed mat.

(Y/n) couldn't care less about the stupid training procession the Beyclub had come up with. To her, it was just another pathetic attempt that was bound to fail miserably. Rantaro, Wakiya and Shu were physically perfect already; and there's no way Valt or Daigo could expect to gain some miraculous muscle power by a single day of working out.

Even so, (Y/n)'s olden days with the Snake Pit had shaped her into a human physically capable of handling two people of her age and size. This stuff was easy, almost too easy for her. Compared to the Snake Pit's training schedules, this one seemed like a walk in the park.

(Y/n) yawned, further sinking against the boundary of the terrace. Half sitting, half lying on the ground; she was almost asleep by then. Her eyes were closed comfortably and there was an absolute display of laziness across her face. "I'm a silly little girl, Daigo, I can't lift those horrible dumbbells."

"Liar! You're stronger than I am!"

"Ugh," she threw back her head and groaned out of disgust. "And that stuff has Wakiya's name written all over it. I don't wanna go anywhere near his stupid — "

"ONE — ONE MORE WORD... A-ABOUT MY — " Wakiya panted from the treadmill, running as fast as he could, although that didn't stop him from throwing a glare in (Y/n)'s direction; only to be ignored because she was more busy staring at the sky.

"You know, Wakiya!" Her tone was teasing and arrogant, like that of a spoiled brat who wasn't satisfied even after ten birthday gifts. "I'm accustomed to being presented with actual high-quality and expensive equipment back at my father's mansion. Wakiyaaaa, your poverty is showing!" she sighed heavily for extra effect, shaking her head with fake disappointment.

"AAAARRGHHHH," Wakiya screamed out, and then promptly fell on the treadmill within the next ten seconds. (Y/n) looked away with a silly expression on her face, enjoying every minute of offending him.

Wakiya stood up and brushed his clothes with much frustration. Like a defensive penguin, he angrily stomped up to (Y/n), raising his fist for a hard and strong punch. (Y/n) looked up at him with a bored expression on her face. "You can't touch me, Wakiya."

"What are you, Gojou Satoru?" he countered sassily and rolled his eyes; however, retreated his fist anyway.

Wakiya was raised in an elite household; his moral values didn't let him raise his hand in violence against a girl. He thought about it for a second, and came to the conclusion that she wasn't just any normal girl — she was a pure menace to society. Probably just one, just once, just a single punch was justifiable...

"Domain Expansion," (Y/n) seriously said and crossed her index finger over the middle finger. Wakiya kept both hands on his waist like a mom and stared down with disapproval.

(Y/n) sighed and closed her eyes again, slouching back into her previous comfortable position. Wakiya narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I don't understand," he said, referring to how she insulted him earlier, "what do you even want from me!"

"Ideally, I would like to have your soul — "

"HUH — "

" — followed by your bones — "

"(Y/n), stop bothering him. It's not nice," Daigo came forward and stepped between Wakiya and (Y/n) before things could take a turn for the worse. Wakiya crossed his arms and huffed grumpily.

"Look at you, acting like a bratty little prince!" she taunted without missing.

"(Y/n)!" Daigo scolded once more. Rantaro, who had taken a water break, came up to check what the commotion was about. Valt crawled on the ground like a caterpillar, a sweaty towel spread over his head. Shu sighed and stopped his arm exercise, stepping towards the group as well. There was a dumbbell in his hand, which he gently tossed towards (Y/n) after reaching close enough.

(Y/n) caught the ten kilogram weight in one hand, barely sitting up to acknowledge the presence of the group gathered around her.

"Nice throw, Shu," she looked up at him. "Unfortunately, if I decide to show you my throwing skills, you wouldn't live to see the tournament finals, much less participate yourself."

Shu crossed his arms and stared down at her, mostly unbothered by the threat. "If you're not gonna exercise with us, then make yourself useful in other ways."

"I've already made myself useful in other ways," she insisted. "For example, I wrote a whole notebook summarizing all of our skills for the sake of better analysis and comparison! Truly a work of gods, if you ask me."

"You wrote babygirl under Wakiya's strengths," Shu pointed out.

"I don't see where's the problem?"

"What does 'babygirl' mean in battle?" Valt asked with big, curious eyes.

"I'm so glad you asked!" she excitedly pointed at Valt. "You see, Wakiya's babygirl-ism makes our opponents lose concentration, giving us the upper hand! Cool, right?"

"YOU'RE LITERALLY THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THAT WAY," Wakiya protested. Valt, who was about to say 'Yeah, that's so cool! It sounds really helpful!' shut himself up and realized that babygirl is probably supposed to be an insult here.

"Stop messing with me all the time! You also stole my chance of battling in the last match and registered yourself. That wasn't fair at all!" Wakiya aggressively yelled at (Y/n), who only yawned in response. "Why do you hate me so much?!"

"So she says," Daigo stated, putting his hands in the pocket. (Y/n) gave him a side eye. "I don't think she hates you."

"What?" Wakiya was surprised.

"WHAT?!" (Y/n) was even more surprised.

"Insulting you has changed into teasing you," Daigo put a hand to his chin, thinking hard. "Something's suspicious here..."

"Is this progress?" Valt asked.

"No way you guys think that. I absolutely hate Wakiya!" she insisted. "Hate!"

"I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU EITHER."

"This isn't getting anywhere," Shu frowned, then pointed towards the stadium with his index finger while maintaining eye contact with (Y/n). She watched him carefully. "As I earlier said, if you're not gonna work out, then make yourself useful by devising a strategy for tomorrow since you seem to be very good at it?"

It was true that (Y/n) was a professional strategist, a very skilled one at that, for she had experience strategizing hundreds of matches for the Raging Bulls; not that Shu would know any of that. But he had felt it, whenever she instructed him during their private sessions about the left handed launch; the way she was capable of observing the slightest flick of the wrist, the smallest stiffness in the muscles, even the amount of pressure Shu put in his feet — she noticed it all.

"I'm very bad at it," she said, in hopes that Shu will leave her alone.

"No, you're not. You're just being lazy," Shu pointed out. "Now get up, grab that chalkboard, and do your thing."

"I don't like your tone. I'm not doing it."

"Please do it?"

"No, you have to be nicer than that."

"SEE? THAT'S WHY I HATE HER!" Wakiya said. "She can't be normal and just share the strategy. She has to be bratty about it!"

"You seem to know all about being bratty, don't you, Wakiya?" (Y/n) retorted.

Rantaro sighed and crouched down on one knee in front of her, supporting himself on his hands for balance. (Y/n) turned silent by this sudden movement, cautiously watching him. Rantaro took a deep breath, closed his eyes and sincerely put a hand to his chest. "We'd really appreciate it if you come up with a plan to defeat Rideout. If Shu says you have a strategy that could help, please share it with us!" By the end of his little speech, Rantaro's hands were joined together in prayer; his coat hanging by his shoulders like a hero's cape.

(Y/n) was impressed in an unexpected way. She praised and appreciated Rantaro for his courageous effort, told Shu to take notes from him, then abandoned her lazy state to get up from the ground.

Toko and Nika took this as a hint and pulled out the club's chalkboard. Daigo set it up in front of the bench while Wakiya and Valt shifted the stadium to make space for everyone to sit. When all was arranged and the audience comfortably settled, (Y/n) cleared her throat and began writing on the board.

The rest of the Beyclub along with Toko and Nika were like kindergarten students watching their teacher draw new shapes in front of them. (Y/n) vertically divided the board in two sections and listed the names of team members of Rideout on one side, and the Beigoma Club on the other.

"I'll take two bladers at a time," she announced, turning back to face her audience. "One from the Rideout, whose abilities I'll share with you. And the other from our team, who I think will be the best at combating them. Questions?"

Nobody had anything to say, so she continued.

"First name I've written here: Gabe Brunai, their formidable leader," she pointed at his name with the chalk. "A level headed person, calm most of the time, prideful about his skills and hard-working in whatever he does. He is equally respectful towards others and respected among his own, so you don't need to watch out for any verbal tactics — like provocation — on the stage. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Rantaro raised his hand. "Wasn't he the one bothering you that day? Is he really that respectful?"

"When did that happen?" Nika turned to him.

"I wanna battle him!" Valt raised his fist with excitement.

"Moving on," (Y/n) continued, ignoring them. "His bey is called Giga Gaianon, type balance, clockwise spin. Special move: Swing Counter, you might wanna watch out for that one. The top layer has a low recoil surface, so head-on attacks will deal low damage. It has exceptional defensive properties, keep that in mind. Toko, show them."

Toko suddenly perked up, almost dropping his ipad in the process, but successfully showed everyone corresponding details about the bey (Y/n) was talking about. He also showed them its special move, upon (Y/n)'s order, which they closely watched and registered in their minds.

"I believe, out of everyone here, Shu and possibly Rantaro are best equipped to counter Gabe as their opponent; aside from myself, of course. Any questions?"

"Only one: why not me?!" Wakiya objected. (Y/n) naturally ignored him.

"Next is Katana Sakaki, the boy with brown hair. Confident, determined and likes being appreciated. A really sweet guy, if you want my personal opinion. He's sensitive and emotional, but also knows when to be serious and unyielding. Most verbal remarks mean nothing to him, so don't even bother trying to anger him — Wakiya, okay?"

Wakiya crossed his arms and looked away.

"I'm so excited about tomorrow!" Valt giggled.

"His bey is a defence type. From our team, I believe Valt and Daigo are best equipped to win against Katana; aside from Shu and myself, of course. Any questions?"

"Why not me?!" Wakiya objected again. (Y/n) ignored him.

"Next we have Shinki Mikuni, the green haired one. Nice guy again, personally would love to strangle him, but that could just be my opinion. He's tough, confident, but humble in his own way. He appreciates the strength of his opponents, and actually invests time in knowing more about them. You might wanna watch out for his analytical skills. There's a high chance he's already researched about each one of us. Any questions?"

"How do you know about all of them for sure?" Valt raised his hand. (Y/n) ignored him.

"His bey is a defence type, again, and I trust Wakiya and Daigo would be best equipped to score points against Shinki. Once more, other than Shu and myself. Any questions?"

"About time you mentioned me!" Wakiya scoffed. "I was starting to think you were avoiding my name just to annoy me."

"I wanna battle all of them!" Valt announced.

Daigo and Shu were the only ones who stayed quiet, never speaking, only taking in all the information (Y/n) supplied them with — a very sensible and intellectual approach to grasp all the details. It was the finals, afterall, somebody had to be serious about it.

"Next on the list, Kyo Sandai, the one with spikey hair. Now he's the stupid one, gets angry way too easily, is egotistic, and extremely short in height, making him an easy target. If this whole beybattle thing doesn't work out, we can also beat him up — "

"(Y/n), focus — "

"Yeah, er... anyway, degrading terms and more serious insults can be used against Kyo to throw him off, which means — Wakiya! It's your time to shine!" She mischievously slapped her hand on the board and looked at everyone. "This is what I meant when I said his babygirl-ism will help us win. Kyo will easily get annoyed and lose focus, bingo!"

"(Y/n), damn you — "

"Any questions?" she cut off Wakiya.

"Why do you keep asking if we have questions if you're just gonna ignore each one of them?" Rantaro raised his hand and asked politely. (Y/n) ignored him.

"Lastly," she took a deep breath and tightened her jaw, putting her finger beside the last name on the list. "There is Lui Shirosagi... the one who barely needs an explanation; his name speaks for itself. Each one of you is already familiar with him and has closely seen his behaviour at Zachary's party."

The air among the Beyclub had turned dark. Valt suddenly recalled how Lui insulted him on the stage after his battle against Zac. Shu recalled how Lui scarred his eye at the tournament finals last year. Wakiya, Rantaro and Daigo recalled how this was the guy who was on top even among the Supreme Four and had managed to defeat Shu. Not to mention, Lui's arrogant attitude that everyone had seen and already hated passionately.

"I can't even begin explaining his traits. He has too many accomplishments under his name," (Y/n) sighed at the Beyclub's gloomy faces. "Four times National champion, an internationally known celebrity, member of the Supreme Four, the topmost blader, and remains undefeated in the whole country. He's very impulsive; egotistic, in all fairness too, his achievements are impressive enough that being prideful makes sense."

(Y/n) paused and sighed again, a bitter taste of disgust in her mouth; the more she talked about Lui, the more her tongue seemed to recoil on its own.

"Besides throwing insults at the next person and mentally breaking them, he's a sadist too; in fact, a very reckless one. He wouldn't hesitate to hurt you physically, anywhere, at any time, but especially in the stadium... Your best bet will be to run away before you lose an eye or two," she explained slowly and seriously, briefly glancing at Shu, whose face displayed a permanent glare.

There was a grave silence, during which nobody moved at all. A few unsure glances were exchanged, until Rantaro hesitantly pulled out his fan in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Guys... don't worry too hard! There's a high chance he won't show up at all," he nervously suggested, trying to put everyone at ease.

"I mean, yeah," (Y/n) crossed her arms and nodded seriously. "Lui is a dumb stupid loser anyway, so there's always an option of kidnapping him, torturing, then homicide, and selling his orga — "

"For once, I won't stop her — "

"Daigo, no!" the twins screamed, clearly traumatized by the immoral conversation.

"Keep this child-friendly," Rantaro suggested.

"You're right..." (Y/n) sighed with a tired face, then suddenly raised her fist in the air like a hero of justice. "How about a Lui hate club?!"

There was silence. A warm breeze blew on the rooftop, everyone awkwardly staring at (Y/n)'s hero pose, wondering what the hell was suddenly wrong with her.

"This is so lame," Daigo decided.

"I'M IN!" Valt cheered enthusiastically, even though he had no idea what a 'hate club' actually was. "Where do I sign?"

"I haven't decided on the application forms yet," (Y/n) kept a hand on her chin, thinking hard.

"Why is this even a discussion?" Wakiya turned to Shu, who only shrugged in response.

"Then we'll kidnap Lui and — "

"Can we move on to his bey's informa — "

"But the hate clu — "

"WE HAVE THE FINALS TOMORROW."

"Right," (Y/n) professionally crossed her arms and coughed once, mentally scolding herself for losing concentration. "Lui Shirosagi's bey is called Lost Lúinor, a counterclockwise attack type," she signalled Toko to show a picture, then continued speaking. "It has no direct weaknesses, no visible flaws in defence, no escape routes in attack, no mistakes in spin, no faults in special moves, no disadvantages in launching techniques, no failure in — "

"O-Oh? I just remembered I had to water... my cat!" Rantaro quickly jumped up and flailed his hands in front of (Y/n). She looked at him, totally unimpressed.

"Yeah, let's uhh..." Valt started.

"Let's end this here..." Wakiya ended.

"Too much strategizing for today, don't you guys think...?" Valt sheepishly looked around at everyone, earning a curt nod from Daigo and a single blink from Shu.

"Hm?" (Y/n) looked at Valt with wide eyes. "Are we finishing already? But I haven't begun laying out everything about Lui Shiros — "

"H-He probably won't even come tomorrow," Valt nervously scratched his cheek. "Let's leave this thought hanging..."

The Beyclub, minus (Y/n), ended up continuing their training; with a proper goal this time. The fresh lecture on Rideout seemed to have motivated each one of them in a whole new direction. Unsurprisingly, not long after, they had pushed themselves too far, leaving them unable to launch their own beys properly. Shu had to fill in with a lecture about body safety, and suggested everyone to "rest for the whole day," which they sincerely objected against; but captain Valt agreed with Shu, leaving the rest of them with no choice but to follow the leader's order.

And thus, even though none of them want to, so began a long day of "resting" for the Beyclub...

"Not you, (Y/n)! You've already been resting this whole time."

"Shut up, Shu."

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

"You texted?"

"You came," Daigo bitterly sighed, hitting his back against the stone wall, eyes trained on the road in front of him. (Y/n) copied the gesture, leaning her shoulder against the wall beside him, intently looking at the unreadable expression on his face.

"You seem disappointed," she noticed. Daigo's eyes were focused straight ahead, refusing to spare a glance in her direction. "What's wrong?"

"Honestly, expected you to say something like'I'm very busy' and rather spend your time training with Shu," he shrugged plainly, throwing an unforgivable taunt at her. (Y/n) rolled her eyes and moved her body to fully lean against the wall herself, matching Daigo's posture. Now they were both looking at the road, refusing to face each other directly and talk like normal people.

Must've been a truly interesting road.

"Still holding onto that, I see."

"You have no idea."

There was silence for a few seconds. For some reason, this bickering didn't feel like their usual this-that fights. It felt much more serious; as if there were some misunderstandings left unresolved, perhaps some things left unsaid, maybe feelings left unattended... (Y/n) calculated all the chances; there were too many possibilities. She couldn't keep guessing like that.

"Ryota is getting released from the hospital soon," Daigo said, making (Y/n) look at him from the corner of her eyes — her attention had been caught. "He has asked you to stop by later."

She didn't miss the way he said 'Ryota has asked you to come' but never 'I want you to come'.

"Hm, I'll stop by," (Y/n) muttered mindlessly. Something was going on but she didn't know how to approach the matter — not that she was very good at talking about feelings in the first place.

There was another long silence. Both of them kept staring straight ahead, unmoving, not speaking, neither of them wanting to come off as insensitive towards the other. Daigo's thoughts were all over the place, while (Y/n)'s remained fixed in a single spot; both of them equally unsure what the other person's mind held.

"Alright, I guess I'll... go," Daigo finally said, announcing his leave. She carefully watched him push himself off the wall and turn away, without looking in her direction even once.

(Y/n) didn't say anything; specifically because she didn't know what to say at all. But the most crucial of moments require courage — courage to speak up while there was still time, or else the chance might slip away to never come back again.

So she did. Not in the kindest way, but at least she tried.

"If you have a question for me, I'll give you the opportunity to speak now," a raw and exact guess; she had hit the bull's eye on her first try. Yes, he had a question. And Daigo was relieved that she stopped him. It meant there was hope — it meant that she cared, right?

Expressionlessly, he turned around. (Y/n) pushed herself off the wall and proceeded to stand right in front of him, the two of them finally facing each other. The sun was high behind (Y/n), making the rays fall straight into Daigo's eyes that would've been otherwise hidden beneath the shadow of his bandana. The angle was oddly perfect and (Y/n) did not miss the rare opportunity to get a clear view of his black eyes.

"Was there truly a time when you associated yourself with the Rideout?" was the only answer Daigo needed, and (Y/n) didn't want to give.

"I'm not sure why it matters...?" she slowly spelled out, secretly hoping that the question would get lost somewhere with the blowing breeze and the direction of the conversation would change like the wind; although her mind warned her that this wasn't the right time to be dodging questions.

"It matters," Daigo wasn't sure himself how he was able to talk so calmly, for the topic he was referring to was anything but serene. "It matters because your past ties are impacting the relationships you have today. You might not notice it, but the people around you do. Tell me, what am I — what are we to you? What changed your mind that day when you decided to join the team? Are we the team you were forced into? Is Rideout the one you feel yourself attached to?"

"Daigo, Rideout means nothing to me."

"Funny coming from someone who has way too much knowledge about every single one of them," he scoffed and looked away. "I suppose a fairy came and told you about them in your dreams? Yeah, makes sense."

(Y/n) sighed, not sure how to address his statement from there. Does she answer truthfully? Does she dodge the question again? Does she... lie to him? This particular situation was the most important to ever demand answers from her, at some point she realised that — she realized that if she truly didn't communicate her past with Daigo today, she might as well have lost everything again.

"I don't have very particular feelings of love or hate towards Rideout," she started slowly, laying out pieces of information at the back of her mind and forming sentences to speak. "I met them a couple of years ago, and even that was not under normal circumstances. It is something... not very worth mentioning."

There she had done it again. She had tried, she had spoken; but in the end, she had dodged the question again. She hadn't told him anything. Why was it so damn hard to speak?

"I deserve to know."

"Why do you?" (Y/n)'s statement was cruel, but her voice cracked at the end of the sentence — the intensity of her question never reached Daigo. She steadied herself by taking the support of the wall again and swallowing a wave of sadness rising in her throat. Not now. Not now.

"I don't understand why you're bringing this up now," she said in a much more composed and stern tone this time. "We have the finals tomorrow."

"That's because you've been avoiding me so badly for the past week! You think I'm stupid? You think I don't see the change in behaviour?" Daigo's patience was close to reaching its limit now. He truly didn't deserve this treatment. "It makes so much more sense now when you've given that stupid strategy-talk about the whole Rideout today. This started when we saw you talking to Gabe in that corridor. I should've known sooner but I decided to put my trust in you! Tell me what changed that day. What did you talk about with Gabe?"

(Y/n) was surprised by Daigo's ability to put the pieces together. It was true that she had somewhat tried to avoid him... but there's no way she could tell him about her true feelings. No. She wasn't prepared for this scenario; she didn't think Daigo would actually be brave enough to confront her about it.

When she thought about her next move, four options came in front of her. First, she could run away at full speed and never look back. The only problem was that she had to meet him tomorrow. Second, she could say something stupid like 'boo, wrong question!' and try to escape. But no, that wouldn't work either. Third, she could lie to him and close the matter for good, which was quite immoral to do. And fourth...

She thought about it for a while, then took a deep breath and chose the fourth alternative.

"Daigo, it's not about Gabe or the Rideout... I wasn't even friends with Lui anymore when I met them," she started slowly, holding eye contact with the road below her feet. "They were sympathetic even though I didn't want any sympathy. I guess the only reason Gabe ever wanted to solve things between Lui and me was because he cares about Lui. It had nothing to do with me since the beginning..."

She briefly looked up at him, hoping he would connect the pieces again. She truly didn't feel like explaining further. "Do you get it now? Gabe isn't in it for me, he's doing this for Lui. You have nothing to be afraid of."

Daigo kept looking at the wall, taking all the information in. How much of it was true...? He couldn't say for sure. Not when she had been lying about almost anything and everything recently.

He had certainly not expected (Y/n)'s past to trace back to Lui of all people. But he had very little time to be surprised about it. Friend, she said? Not anymore, she said? What the hell was she even talking about? Without greater context, it felt like a senseless story with no head or tail.

But oh, he didn't need greater context...

It was too terrible of a nightmare for him; he who believed their friendship to be reasonless. He didn't know what to believe anymore. Did their friendship have some hidden purpose all along? Was it all superficial this whole time? Was he just...?

"Lui was your friend."

"The best," she whispered, too drowned in Lui's memories to notice Daigo in front of her. A mistake. "It's hard to imagine, but he was... the dearest friend I'd ever had, that is, until he changed for the worse."

The dearest? Of course Lui was. Daigo was never the best friend she always said. Probably another one of her lies he chose to believe. He was probably just...

"Were you sad?"

"Surely," she said a single word, even though it was everything other than that single word. Afterall, her downfall had started from the very day Lui left... following her vulnerable state, and ultimately, becoming an easy target for Theodore. No single word could explain it all.

"His affinity for power exceeded his friendship with mine," she said monotonously. "But Daigo, you don't have to worry about that... It'll be like clinging to the past if I — "

"Yeah, if you what? If you try to find a replacement for the empty space he left you with? Dearest friend ever, was he?! No wonder I was always at a loss when it came to you, why I always seemed to be left behind. You never wanted me for me, you needed me as a substitute; to fill that lonely hole in your heart!" All that bottled up frustration surrounding their friendship came crashing like a landslide. Daigo handled it so well, for so long, but not anymore. She had neglected him; she might not realize it, but it was the absolute truth.

"Are you going to shut up or should I slap you?" (Y/n) almost lost her temper, almost, at whatever the hell was coming out of Daigo's mouth. Where had he picked up those disgusting thoughts? Where? What did she do wrong?

"Slap me but I won't shut up! I deserve to know what's actually inside your mind. You're always so secretive and never addressing your feelings properly. You're not answering me even now! What should I make of it? Does this imply that my thoughts are correct? You aren't denying it even once!"

(Y/n) never thought Daigo could do this to her. It was getting harder and harder to hold back her anger. Why do her friendships always need to be so complicated? She had never meant to hurt his feelings, so why was he hurting hers? This wasn't fair at all. She wasn't going to let herself suffer alone.

"The thing I like most about you, Daigo, is your ability to anger me so easily," she finally turned to face him with an excitingly furious expression, chuckling at his naivety. Why must the flame be held at fault when the moth willingly burned itself?

"Thank you, really," she nodded and kept a hand on his shoulder. "I can't believe I was growing sad for a small second there! But you've helped me with that. I'm so grateful! Your kind words have washed away all my sadness and turned it into anger. It is easier to be angry than sad, don't you agree?"

"You're still not answering me," Daigo swatted her hand away. He had had enough — enough of her trying to change the subject. He couldn't care less about the meaningless things she was speaking at the moment. If they weren't the answer to his question, he didn't want to see them come out of her mouth.

"It makes me furious to know that you think so cheaply of me!" She screamed in response to his actions, grabbing the collar of his jacket for a small second, and then abruptly releasing it. "But no... that's okay, that's okay, that's okay," she quickly repeated a few times, stepping back. Daigo swallowed after hearing the anxiousness in her voice. This wasn't going in the right direction at all.

"You see... In a way, you're right, Daigo; to think that this friendship was built on such selfish intentions. It all started with meeting each other through Valt, me advising you to apologise to Yugo because of Shu, and ultimately discovering our common perspectives about roughly five percent of the things in my life," she described gleefully, tapping his shoulder a few times. "Oh, no, don't be put off by that small number! Five percent is the most somebody has understood me after Lui."

Daigo sighed and looked at the sky, feeling like a replacement all over again. Apparently, she was speaking the truth now, wasn't she? She was confirming the worst of his thoughts, but he didn't face it like he had expected himself to.

"It makes me laugh that you would think that way about Lui — because I didn't even try looking for him in you. Never. But now... your words have compelled me to rethink my decision. Maybe I should've done it since the first day. If I am accused of something I didn't do, I might as well do it and prove the both of us right! Who cares if you start hating me after this? You can't escape me; not like he was able to. I won't make the same mistakes as I did with him. I let him go, but I wouldn't let you."

Daigo shut his eyes in the face of defeat, shielding himself from (Y/n)'s invasive glare as she spoke to him; words that drilled regret and guilt into his mind. What had he done? He had angered her without reason; she said she didn't have any selfish intentions like he assumed. He should've put his faith in her, but his distrust had made her mad now. It was all his fault, but did he deserve all that neglect in the first place?

(Y/n) paused, sighing, and gently removed her hand from Daigo's shoulder. He turned his head to stare at her in surprise, when she sat down on the ground as if tired after a long day. "I was... kidding."

Daigo looked down at her with wide eyes, unable to speak, unable to comprehend what the hell was going on once again.

"You should've seen the look on your face," she leaned back her hands. "That was a one-minute trial of how it would feel if I were actually selfish in this friendship... scared the soul out of you, didn't I?"

At this point, Daigo had completely lost his ability to speak. What was this torture? Her way of justifying herself was so... unhinged, immoral and mentally abusive. If she was trying to prove her point, then she had succeeded; but her method was absolutely deranged. What does a person have to go through to become like her? He might need therapy after this had gone by.

"Good one, Daigo," she sighed monotonously and kept both hands on her knees, pushing herself to stand again with much difficulty. "You've done the easiest job of them all. You painted me the villain even though I wanted nothing but affection in this friendship," she shrugged calmly, pretending to be unbothered.

"Don't worry, I won't try to take revenge on you — be grateful I'm letting you get away with this. Consider yourself lucky. I just... don't want to make the same mistakes as I did with Lui — you're free to interpret this statement however you want to."

Without expecting or waiting for a reply, she looked down and walked past him. Daigo remained unmoving from his spot, aware of her figure walking away behind him but he didn't have the courage to turn around and say something.

"Text me when you're ready to apologise for jumping to conclusions," she stopped briefly and spelled out her final warning. "If you don't, you'll see what I do next."

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In 6151 words (I'm sorry, I'm embarrassed by this number too).

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NOTE: As mentioned before, this story requires six members in each team because of (Y/n) being extra, but I've described only five original Rideout members in this chapter. Ignore the plothole please, I can't keep making up new characters. It's too much trouble.