a/n story is taking place before the God Blader's tournament 

Your POV 

Things to do in Beigoma, Shinwa:

1. Go to a beyblade tournament and watch Shu in a match - it's when he's the happiest!!

2. At the tournament, meet as many of the Beyblade Burst characters as possible! Especially the Beigoma Academy Bey Club! And slap Lui in the face!!

3. Afterwards grab some beyblade bread from Valt's mum!

4. Get a beyblade!

5. Watch the Beigoma Academy Bey Club's training!

6. Learn to blade!

5. Eat Shu's carbonara!! Re-enact Lady and the Tramp scene!!!

"What're you writing?"

I hastily cover what I've written on a loose page when I realize that Shu is peeking over my shoulder, curiosity written all over his page. "J-Just a bucket list for things to do in Beigoma."

"Then you won't mind me looking," Shu laughs, and before I can stop him, he snatches the list and holds it high for him to see. His grin widens as he scans the page. "Nah, my happiest is when I'm with you. Meet the Beigoma Academy Bey Club? That wouldn't be a problem, all of them are coming over to Beigoma to meet you. 

"And please do slap Lui in the face. Grabbing beybread...a beyblade...watch us train...learn to blade...that can be arranged. There's a lot of exclamations on this list. And finally - oh."

His face reddens upon reading the last sentence and I bury my face in my hands to hide my own tomato face. I groan, "Please don't make fun of me."

"Why would I do that?" Shu's laugh is so gentle and kind that I slowly remove my hands. "I think it's cute.

"And as for the rest of the bucket list," he continues. "I promise I'll make that happen when we arrive in Beigoma tomorrow."

"Thank you," I smile, standing up to grab his hand. "But first, let's just enjoy being together alone in New York one last time."

With a matching smile, Shu leads me out of our joint bedrooms in the Raging Bulls building and into the streets of New York. My smile widens, not caring to think or remember how worried my parents might be. 

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"OMG, there's Shu Kurenai!"

"I missed him so much!"

"Where?"

"Over there, by the steps!"

"Oh, he looks so handsome!"

Squeals similar to these get louder as a horde of sparkly-eyed teenager girls, and some boys, practically become the Flash as their eyes land on Shu. In no time, they surround us, paying no attention to me, but only Shu, reaching out to touch him with their massive signs stating how Shu is the best person in the world or close-up photos of him that are weirdly personal bopping aggressively over their heads.

Hands reach out to lead Shu away from me, and I awkwardly stand there and look at the surroundings as the fans disregard me, patiently waiting for them to stop.

And even though the beyblade arena and its surroundings are beautiful, I grow tired of looking at it after a few minutes, especially when I now can't see Shu at all. Pissed, I yell, "Hey! All you lunatics - learn something about boundaries and shove off!"

All of them move in unison; the several fans turning their head to glance at me disdainfully with their glaring eyes. Some of them recognize me, but that makes no difference.

This time, I'm the alien.

"Don't tell me your the reason why Shu left us," a girl with pouty lips and Spryzen earrings scoffs. 

"Thought you'd be prettier," another girl squints at me over her glasses. "The editors of IREL must've airbrushed you."

Shu, somehow, manages to break free from the huddle caging him. He glances at me, concerned, his eyes asking me if I'm okay. I nod slightly and he relaxes visibly before tensing up again, opening his mouth say something. Whether it was meant for me or the psychopaths for fans, I'll never know as I hear a familiar voice shout instead.

"All you peasants better run as fast as your legs can take you before I use my bodyguards on you!"

There's shrieks, pushing and shoving until all of the fans are gone and it's just me, Shu and not only Wakiya freaking Murasaki but also the entire Beigoma Academy Bey Club, all with wide grins.

It takes me a moment to realize that they, like the fans, merely ignore my presence and run up to greet Shu. I smile softly, not minding at all as they all hug as one big group.

After all, the person they came to see is Shu, not me. 

"You're (y/n)!" Valt breaks away from the group to cheerfully wave to me. "From IREL! My sister loved watching your show."

"I guess Shu did too," Wakiya laughs.

Honcho scowls at the blonde. "Hey, I was going to say that!"

The two break off into a petty argument, slinging insults at each other. Daigo simply rolls his eyes, a small smile on his face and Ken nudges Shu slyly, "So, anything happening between you two?"

"Obviously they're dating," Daigo notes. "Otherwise (y/n) would still be at Earth."

"You caught us," I jokingly put my hands up. "We're dating."

"Wow!" Valt gasps, his eyes shining. "Shu, congrats, buddy!"

Shu chuckles. "Don't make it sound like we're about to get married, Valt."

The two best friends talk together in front of us as we, as a group, travel into the foyer of the beyblade arena. The others question me about life on Earth, and as I explain to them about the feuds between people and businesses over money, it doesn't take me long to realize how horrible Earth must seem to them. 

Shu must've sensed my discomfort at this realization and he waves them off into the foyer. "Alright, you can stop interrogating (y/n) and start registration for the tournament."

They oblige, chattering about their strategies as they walk off to join Valt. Again, Shu reads me like a book, and launches into an explanation for todays' tournament; a team-only tournament that Shu had set up just for me. 

Well, technically it's not a tournament since there's only enough people invited for two teams. They'll be splitting up by random order into two groups of six, and then made to battle in the system of the usual team tournament finals; the first team to five points being declared as the victor. 

Once we're in the foyer, Shu shows me a complete list of the bladers here today. On top of the Beigoma Academy Bey Club (including Ken), there's also Xander Shakadera, Zac the Sunrise, Hoji Konda, Ben Azuki, Gabe Brunai and of course, Lui Shirasagi. 

It's all of the characters I asked for to be here. I could've invited some other characters from Beyblade Burst Evolution, but if I'm being honest, I dropped it when they stopped showing Shu (because he was too busy with Ashtem) so I don't know the new characters that well.

It doesn't matter. 

The guest list is perfect.

And from the looks of it, Valt seems to think so too. He bounces up and down, grinning and exclaiming, "Rush it! Crush it! Rush it! Yeah!"

"I think I need to go take Valt to the blader waiting room before he goes too hyper," Shu smiles at his best friend in amusement.

"Keep smiling like that and I'm going to think you're gay for him," I joke before chastely pressing my lips against his. "Good luck out there. And have fun. I'll meet you here after the match."

"Thank you," Shu says. "Just follow the crowd and you'll be at the stadium in no time. Look for the seat reserved for you, it's on the front row."

I nod and we part ways, Shu to the blader waiting room and me to the crowd stands. As he said, I follow the horde of people also here for today's match and find my seat on the front row, labeled with my name in big letters. 

Some fries, a packet of chocolate and my favorite drink are on the seat too, with a note telling me to enjoy the match in Shu's handwriting gently placed on top. 

The excited whispers amongst the crowd only heightens my anticipation, and it seems like an awfully long time that I'm just waiting for the lights to dim and for the lights to be beaming down only onto the stadium. 

Hanami does his usual introduction, even going an extra length to mention my presence to the crowd, who welcomingly waves at me (except for the toxic fans who just groan).

After another rundown of the rules, they reveal the teams. The red team consists of Shu, Xander, Hoji, Ken, Daigo and Zac. The blue team consists of everyone else; Valt, Honcho, Wakiya, Gabe, Ben and Lui. 

I was hoping to see Shu and Valt on the same team, but it doesn't matter because now I can see them go against each other.

They get straight into the battles. I get the chance to see all of their signature moves in the flesh, from Upper Launch to Spring Boost. 

Over the match, I see all kind of match-ups. Random ones like Xander and Ben, Hoji and Gabe, but then there's also the match-ups I would've willingly died to have seen; Shu and Valt, and Shu and Lui.

Those two, without a doubt, were the highlight. All the animators of Beyblade Burst weren't exaggerating the matches at all, here, there really is strong gusts of wind and blinding flashes of yellow light as the beys collide. 

And despite being gone for a month, Shu easily slips back into his blading, Spryzen even stronger than last time I watched him battle and managing to win against Valt and has a battle with Lui that drags on for so long that it's declared a stalemate. 

Ultimately, the red team loses, but Shu doesn't stop smiling from happiness. His smile only falters when we meet up at the foyer once again. "(y/n), I'm sorry I couldn't win for you."

I shake my head. "Don't apologize. It was more than enough seeing you happy."

Then Shu grins and out of all the times I've seen him, he looks the happiest now. He grabs my hand, "C'mon, I'll take you to properly meet all the others!"

"Okay!" I laugh. "I still need to slap Lui, after all!"

And that's what I do. 

Meet the others who came today and slap Lui for scarring Shu physically and mentally. Slightly less harder than I had originally intended to though, because Lui seems even more stronger in person and his teeth really are similar to sharks'.

I make sure to talk to everyone at least once. They're all as I imagined them to be, literal sparkles occasionally emitting from Zac, Ben growling from time to time and Honcho's lollipop never running out. 

Sitting with everyone and talking with them in blader room, that's when, for the first time since I've arrived here, everything hits me. 

My dreams are coming true. 

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word count: 1850