Requiem.  A moment in my life I will never forget.  I made a decision I will forever regret, and will never be redeemed of.  I was desperate to get stronger because of that one blader who threatened to take my place as number one blader in Japan.  The thing is, I don't even remember his name.  It's so frustrating.  That moment was one of the most important and memorable ones ever, but I can't even remember a stupid name!!  Little did I know, the teacher has been calling me for like a minute already.

"-urenai..  -Kurenai.  Mr. Kurenai!" the teacher called to me.
     "H-huh?" I replied, internally scolding myself for stuttering like that.  The teacher looked at me with kind eyes, but a face saying that I totally missed out on what he was saying.  Yay me.  "Sorry principal Shinoda, what was that?" I asked him, as some students just snickered at me and I ducked my head back down in the crowd, trying (and failing) to avoid further embarrassment.  

Oh sorry, I believe I forgot to introduce myself.  My name is Kurenai Shu, Japanese, eleven years old, and number one blader in Japan.  I live in a small town called Beigoma, where practically nothing happens.  The only thing interesting that ever happens are the beyblade tournaments.  Lucky for me, that's the only interesting thing I do.  Beyblade.  I have many happy memories with beyblade, but some of them, I would much rather forget.  Heck, I would rather have not done them at all!!  You see, I joined a prestigious blading team in New York called the Raging Bulls with it's manager, Theodore glass.  Everything was going great until, the tournament to determine the top teams.  I didn't make it.  I was so frustrated, angry, and confused as to why I hardly improved during my time there. That's when Theodore Glass gave me an irrefutable offer.   Join his underground team the Snakepit and don the persona Red Eye.  Regrettably, I accepted.  

I became the top blader in a matter of days.  I became the strongest, most powerful, and most feared of the masked bladers to ever walk the halls of the Snakepit.  But while doing so, I became power-hungry.  All the training, all the wins, it was never enough.  I then joined his new experiment the Requiem project, and became the first successful subject.  After that, I joined the God Bladers cup, but lost in the final round to my best friend Valt Aoi.  He is the only one who came for me to try to bring me back from the darkness.  He came for me in Mexico to try to persuade me to return, but I had already fallen too far into the darkness at that time.  Or so we thought.  He never gave up on me and eventually brought me back.  Hhe showed me true resonance.  But one day, a little after that tournament, he just disappeared.  His parents took him and his siblings to a special summer camp in New York for children like them (because they were 'special' like me and we go to the same school).  A few days after his parents returned back to Japan from sending him and his siblings to the summer camp, something happened to Valt.  He went missing.  I was a nervous wreck, hoping that he would return.  Day and night, I would have this gnawing feeling at my gut, shouting at me and telling me something was wrong and that something happened to him.  I thought up the worst scenarios and what could've happened to him.  His siblings are unharmed and still go to that camp, but no trace of him now.  That was a month ago.  Up till this day, we are all still looking for him in the hopes that he is not dead.  Hopefully...  But enough of the depressing topics.

I looked to Principal Shinoda in his wheelchair.  He was an old man with a prominent face and white and gray hairs that littered his head.  He had a moustache of the same color, and a brown jacket.  He was on his usual mechanical wheelchair.  He gave me a smile and repeated the question. 

     "I asked you, Mr. Kurenai, who this person is." he said, pointing to a girl on a stone slab.  You see, we were in a museum in Beigoma and discussing Greek mythology.  And by we, I mean my class in Beigoma Academy.  This school is a boarding school for children with 'special needs' as the teachers put it.  I just think they're trying to sugar-coat the fact that we're kinda crazy.  Am I a troubled kid?  Yeah.  You could say that.  

The 'special needs' this school contains varies from physical comorbidities like paralysis, down syndrome, and other things.  It can also be for kids who are a bit mental like having kleptomania or something.  In my case, I have ADHD and Dyslexia.  If you're wondering what those are, ADHD is when you can't stay still, you're impulsive, and your attention span isn't so good while Dyslexia is when words look funny to you and can't read.  It's different for other people like you can see them moving, floating, or just plain old noodles.  In my case for these two, my ADHD isn't so noticeable aside from me playing with my fingers a lot or mostly fidgeting with my bey Legend Spryzen.  As for my Dyslexia, the words just move a little and it takes time for me to decipher them, but I can read.  I just get a migraine after that.  Yay.  I looked to who the principal was pointing to and saw Greek letters on the stone slab.  "I'll give you a hint," he said "you two have something in common".  You could clearly see the mischievous and knowing look in his old eyes as if they had seen the dawn of time themselves.  What he meant by that statement?  I haven't the foggiest.

It may have been Greek, but I could read them.  Normally, it would slightly alarm other people, but I assure you it's completely normal.  "Philophrosyne, sir."  I said,  He nodded to me and I smiled in relief, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.  I immediately felt a playful punch on my shoulder by my best friend, Poppy Woodstock.  Poppy was an exchange student from America and one of the nicest people to ever walk the Earth.  She had cedar-brown hair (which matches her surname) with pink and green highlights, hazel eyes, specks of freckles littering across her cheeks, and crutches since she had a problem with her leg-muscles.  But don't underestimate her, because I'm pretty sure you haven't seen her run to the cafeteria on enchilada day.  She ran as fast as an F1 Racecar if you're not paying attention to the wobble of her legs.  

"Man, you just received a miracle there, Shu.  I was terrified for you for a moment." she said playfully.  
     "She's quite right, honey.  You merely got lucky there." said a sickeningly-sweet voice behind us.  We turned around to see Ms. Kuroo looking at us (sorry, I've been watching Haikyuu recently and I can't think of anything else T-T).  She was our pre-algebra teacher with raven-black hair, onyx eyes, and her usual leather jacket she always wore which was a bit of a strange and bold fashion statement due to her being in her mid-30s.  
     "I'll do better next time, ma'am." I said, with a supposedly undetectable tone of annoyance in my voice.  You see, she always calls me out no matter what I do and blames me for almost everything.  She then just walked away, as we continued out lesson.

                                                                                              ~*-_-*~

Finally.  Recess, my favorite subject.  My whole class just sat outside the museum eating snacks, while Poppy and I just tried staying seven planets away from them so that the people won't say 'Oooooohh, they're from that school.' and think we're just as crazy as them.  Unfortunately, we were only able to stay seven feet away from them.  We tried eating in peace, but we failed as usual.  A group of people came up to us and started throwing annoying comments at us.  "Oooh, is Kurenai having a date with his girlfriend?" The head boy, Ryuko, taunted us.  Ryuko was a kleptomaniac boy with auburn hair and blue eyes.  His gang always picked on me and Poppy and keeps calling us a couple even though were just friends.  
     "Ryu, just leave us alone."  Poppy defended.  She knows that I'm his number one victim. He repeatedly taunts me of my time as Red Eye, losing the International Balders' Cup, and many more things out of pure jealousy.  She stood up and talked back at him, her fiery personality showing through her words.  Then it became a full-blown argument.  

Somehow, Principal Shinoda just sat on his wheelchair at the bottom of the stairs, reading The Iliad and snacking on carrot and celery sticks, not noticing a thing.
     "Oh what?  Trying to defend your boyfriend now?  Well it only makes sense since Kurenai's just weird and a loser. People of the same kind stick together, after all."  He taunted.  Now that did it.  I was already giving a horrible death-glare and was about to defend her when something remarkable happened.  Ryu's hair just burst into flames.  and somehow, I knew that I was the one who caused it.  You see, I'm not exactly very . . . 'Normal'.

He began panicking and running around the stairs when he reached the drinking fountain and put out the fire, leaving a burnt tuft of hair on his head.  At least, what used to be a tuft of his hair.  He started screaming and cursing at me blaming me for doing this, when there was no logical explanation for doing this.  Then Ms. Kuroo came along to help her favorite student, which was not me, mind you.  After consoling the drama-king, she turned to me and said in her toxic-honey voice "You did a bad thing honey."
     Yep, I was screwed for sure.  She led me in a small room in the museum filled with old Greek and Roman artifacts.  Finally, she halted and stood in front of me.  She just stared me down with a deep grovel in her throat, like growling.  The looks she gave me was like she wanted to pulverize me on the spot. 
       "You've been causing a lot of trouble, honey." she said.
       I was a smart kid so I said "Yes ma'am."
She tugged on her leather jacket and looked me directly in the eyes.  The look in her eyes was beyond, mad.  It was evil, and that set me into panic.  Don't panic, I assured my self. She's a teacher, she would never hurt me.

       "We aren't fools, Kurenai Shu.  Confess now, and we'll spare your life." She snarled.  A sound I'm pretty sure people can't make.  I just stood there frozen.  Well can you blame me?  It's not everyday you get a death-threat from your teacher.  I didn't understand why she was threatening me in the first place.  I never cheated in any exams, and I never copied off the internet for my homework, and I'm pretty sure she couldn't have known that I was the one who set Ryu's hair on fire because  literally no one else believed me (not that I told many people).  The two of us didn't even make physical contact!

       "Ma'am, I don't understa-"
       "Your time's up." she hissed.  Then the most peculiar thing happened.  her eyes began glowing like smoldering charcoal on a grill, her fingers elongated into talons, and her leather jacket morphed into leathery bat-wings.  She had a mouth full of teeth that made knives and daggers look like children's playtoys. 
       But then, the universe decided I haven't seen enough weird things yet today.

       The doors of the gallery burst open and then principal Shinoda in his ever-so-squeaky wheelchair rolled in with Poppy by his side and brought out... A beyblade launcher?
       "What ho, Shu!" he said.  He then threw the launcher to me. and told me to use it.  "Quick! Pull the string!" he ordered.  I was questioning his advice, but when a deadly old hag is trying to slash you to ribbons, you kind of become slightly desperate to stay alive.  I did as he told then the launcher morphed into an axe.  Huh, kind of looks like Optimus Prime turning from truck to robot...  I thought.  I then briefly cursed at my ADHD for letting my mind wander at a life-or-death crisis like this.
     

The axe's entire haft was silver and the pommel was solid gold with spikes that ringed it.  The head was the biggest and heaviest part and it was  shaped like a crown, or rather a flame.  It looked golden, but if you look closely, it had a bronze tint to it.  Ms. Kuroo then flew down to slash at me again, but when I instinctively slashed her shoulder, all that was left of her was a pile of golden sand, the smell of sulfur, the echo of a screech, and the chill of an evil presence lingering in the air.  When I looked around, I saw nobody.  No Principal Shinoda, no Poppy, and thankfully, no Ms. Kuroo.  When I looked to my hand, all I saw was a launcher.  It was pure red from the head to the grip. It looked liek any ordinary launcher you could buy at a store.  I walked outside and my class was in it's usual chaos.  You would think that relieved me, but that made me question my sanity even more.  I walked over to Poppy and asked "Hey, do you know where Ms. Kuroo went?".  

       She just stared at me with clear nervousness and fakely questioned, "Who...?"
       I questioned myself even more as I walked over to Principal Shinoda who was sitting in his wheelchair by the stairs as if he hadn't even moved.  He then looked up at me and said,
       "Ah that would be my launcher, Mr. Kurenai.  Thank you for finding it."
       That's when I asked him.  "Sir, do you know where Ms. Kuroo went?"
       He looked at me with a blank face and replied with concern "Mr. Kurenai, as far as I remember, there was no Ms. Kuroo that I know of in Beigoma Academy.  Are you alright?"

~*-_-*~

      
A whole year passed and nothing about Ms. Kuroo came up.  Apparently, our other chaperone on the field trip that day was a man named Mr. Haru.  And according to everyone else, he was our math teacher since the start of the school-year.  I was a much more on-edge those days.  My Bs turned to Cs and Ds and I even got a few Fs.  I got into more fights with Ryu and I even called our English teacher 'an old sot'.  I didn't know what that meant, but it sounded good.  Then it was official.  I was not invited to attend Beigoma Academy next year.  There were many things I would definitely not miss, but there are things that I would too.  Like Principal Shinoda who gave me countless second chances, the comfort found within the familiarity of the campus and dorms, and Poppy . . .

       But luckily I didn't have to say goodbye to her so soon because we were taking the same bus.  Then I decided it was the best time and my last chance to bring it up. 
       "So who are the Kindly Ones?" I asked.  The look of shock on her face was unmistakable.  She started being a little panicky and stuttery like she does when she's nervous.
       "I-I d-don't kn-know w-what you-you're t-talking ab-bout..." she sputtered.  I was tired of her playing pretend with this, it's clear she lies every time I bring up this topic.
       "Poppy, you're a horrible liar." I said.  She didn't say anything else.  she just handed me a little card with this written on it:

𝓟𝓸𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓦𝓸𝓸𝓭𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓬𝓴

𝐻𝒶𝓁𝒻-𝐵𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝐻𝒾𝓁𝓁
𝐿𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝐼𝓈𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹, 𝒩𝑒𝓌 𝒴𝑜𝓇𝓀
(𝟪𝟢𝟢) 𝟢𝟢𝟫-𝟢𝟢𝟢𝟫

       It took me a few seconds to decipher what it said because cursive is absolute torture to a dyslexic, but I eventually made out what it was. 
       "What's Half-"
       "Don't say it aloud!" she whisper-shouted.  The panic in her eyes was clear as day, and she eventually calmed down a bit.  "This is just my, uhm, summer address." she said.  I nodded hesitantly.
       "But this is in New York.  America.  I'm pretty sure you're aware that we're in Japan right now?" I said.  She didn't reply to that.  She just fidgeted with her hands.  
       "Well, just in case you wanna visit sometime or if you need me." I just nodded at that looking at her.  Then her nose scrunched up and then I saw black smoke coming out of the bus.  After a few minutes of the driver cranking levers, pushing pedals, and him cursing like sailor, we were eventually told to get off.  

       We were in a large open area without a single structure in sight.  but I did see three old ladies knitting.  They were on three rocking chairs in white silk nightgowns sitting by a fruit stall.  The stall had various fresh produce ranging from blood-red cherries, to golden-brown pieces of ginger, to fresh mushrooms.  I am very shocked that they don't have any customers from all that great looking produce.  And with the fresh summer breeze blowing towards me, I was able to smell how good they all must be.  

       The one thing that freaked me out was that they were knitting an oversized pair of socks.  I mean, the socks were as big as a sweater but they were clearly socks.  The one on the right knitted the right one, the one on the left knitted the left one, and the one in the middle was holding the largest and shiniest pair of pruning sheers.  It made me wonder who the socks were for.  Maybe Big Foot, or something...  

       I looked over to Poppy to see the blood drain from her face.  "We're getting on the bus." She squeaked, urgency seeping through her voice. She grabbed my wrist and began dragging me back to the bus.  
     "What? Why?" I asked. 
     "Because I said so." she replied.  I looked back to the old ladies as the middle one snipped the jet-black yarn.  I swear, I heard the snip all across the street.

       I then heard the bus driver shouting in triumph with a newly repaired bus.  Everyone then got on the bus to go to their respective destinations. 
       "Poppy, what are you not telling me?" I asked.  She just inhaled deeply, wiping the sweat off her paper-white face and said
       "Let's just hope we'll be okay." She then made a three-fingered claw on her chest then pushed it out.  I thought it was some sort of Tiktok trend, but it looked weirder.  Older.  
       "-lways sixth grade.  They never make it past sixth grade." She muttered to herself.  I squeezed her shoulder and asked
       "...Poppy?  What are you talking about?" I asked her because she was really starting to freak me out.  She turned to me with a sense of dread in her eyes, darkening them.
       "Promise me you'll let me walk you home?" She asked.  it seemed like a strange request so I just stayed silent, giving her a questioning look.  
       "Poppy, is this some kind of joke?" I asked.  No answer.  "Did the yarn snipping mean that someone is going... to die?" I asked with fear and dread of her answer.  She didn't answer which just left me even more on-edge.  She just stared at me like choosing what sort of flower I would like on my coffin.

Geez, this chapter was longer than my usual ones.  Hoped you liked it!!

Lemme warn you guys though.  This book is gonna have a lot of chapters because I'm fitting this whole book-series in here.

Welp, see ya in the next one!!

Word count: 3057 O-O