#mayblade after party

[darkened-storm]

Mayblade After Party 2:

A little take on what it might be like to have Tyson as your rival and best friend, from my fic No Sacrifice, No Victory

* this is a draft, so it’s mostly dialogue

—

“Then let me ask you something - if the Majestics had qualified for the World Championships, would you have competed with them?”

There was no point in lying to save face - not at this point anyway. “Yes,” she answered, wincing at his sharp intake of breath.

“I knew the moment that Mr Dickenson announced it would be a tag team tournament that I didn’t stand a hope of beating either you or Kai for a spot on the Japanese team,” she explained. “Becky and I discussed it - the plan was always to enter through the European competition. Entering through the Italian qualifiers guaranteed at least one of us second place against Enrique.

“But when Enrique lost to Miguel, I knew I didn’t have a hope of beating Barthez, so I pulled my entry to retain my seed and got on the next flight to Japan.”

“I didn’t know Ray and Max were planning to leave the Bladebreakers. By the time Becky and I returned, I didn’t see the point of adding insult to injury.”

“So you spared my feelings?” his voice rose sharply, accusingly. “Like I’m some sort of child that can’t handle rejection?”

“No - it wasn’t like that. I didn’t tell you because in the end I decided it didn’t matter - what mattered was that I was where I should be - with my teammate. With my friend.”

“Tyson - regardless of what Matt, or Becky or your brother thinks; our friendship is worth more to me that a beybattle or a championship title.”

He stared at the lake as silence settled between them. She couldn’t tell if he was mad or just disappointed in her - and she couldn’t decide which would be worse. When he finally spoke, his question threw her.

“You wanna know if you have what it takes to beat Enrique, right?”

“Yes - but…”

He shook his head. “So battle me - I’ve been Enrique before, so if you battle me and win, then you’ll know you have what it takes to face him again.”

“I don’t know, Tyson - winning against Enrique is important to me, but it’s not worth losing our friendship over.”

“You’re not losing anything,” he assured her. “You’re my friend - and you’re right, friendship does mean more than a beybattle. But if my history with Kai has taught me anything it’s that rivalries make the best friendships.”

She thought about it. Ultimately her desire to triumph over Enrique won out and she extended her hand.

“Only if you promise me to stay friends.”

“Promise,” he confirmed, shaking her hand. “But if you go off and join the Blitzkreig Boys I’m going to pretend I never knew you.”

She laughed at the thought, glad to hear him crack a joke, however bad it might be.

“Not a chance,” she promised. “Ian is too much of a smarmy little prick and Tala’s got too much of an ego.”

[may-blade]

MayBlade 2023 After Party

May has come to an end and first of all a huge thank you to all participants of this year's MayBlade event! So many amazing works have been created and you have no idea how happy it makes me! I managed to get so many people involved and you all did your absolute best, so thank you very much 💖

That being said, it is now time for the after party! If there is any work you didn't finish in time, or if you were too busy to participate earlier - or maybe you just want to create more - now is the time! The after party is happening between 1st and 14th of June, there are no new prompts - you can use any of the past prompts or just create whatever. Keep tagging posts as "mayblade 2023" and you can also add the tag "mayblade after party". I may be a little slow with reblogging, since irl life started to get hectic again, but I will do my best.

Thank you once again for participating, I hope to see you all next year and have fun during the after party!

Mod Akemi

[harudrawsanime]

Takao Kinomiya/Tyson Granger from "Bakuten Shoot Beyblade" series

[azikarue]

MayBlade 2023 : Day 19 : Tree

TyHil | FFN Rating: K+ | FFN Link ❖ Hilary knew something was off from the moment she set foot in Tyson’s front yard. The normally uplifting atmosphere had an undercurrent of tension that made everything feel way too quiet for a sunny, spring afternoon. And, when it came to Tyson, quiet wasn’t usually a good sign.

With a deep breath, Hilary followed the path to the front door, glancing surreptitiously around on her way. Nothing was visibly amiss, and she was beginning to think that maybe her intuition was wrong for once, until she walked into the dojo and Hiro said:

“Oh, good, Hilary’s here. Maybe she can talk some sense into him.”

“What?” Hilary asked to the room at large as Hiro brushed past her, evidently irritated, and out the door she’d just entered through. “What’s going on?”

“Nothin’ to get worked up about, Homegirl,” Gramps said, his eyes lighting up as they turned from Hiro’s retreating form to Hilary. He smiled at her, even though his knuckles were white from how hard he was clutching his sword. “Hiro and Tyson got into a little spat, that’s all.”

Hilary frowned. It wasn’t unheard of for Tyson and Hiro to bicker, especially after the damage their relationship took when Hiro joined BEGA behind his brother’s back, but any argument that interrupted Grampa’s training felt like more than a ‘little spat’.

“Where is Tyson?”

“Little dude’s out back,” Gramps said, nodding in that direction. They seemed to have an unspoken understanding between them that Hilary was going to go check on him, because he didn’t look at all surprised when she immediately backtracked out the front door and around to the rear of the dojo.

She found Tyson next to the koi pond. His back was to her, but he appeared to be watching the Snowbell blossoms blow in graceful arcs across the surface of the water. They’d had a few stormy nights recently, and the yard was covered in so many flowers that it looked like an actual snowfall. It was beautiful and relaxing, but there was no peace in the slump of Tyson’s shoulders.

Hilary closed the gap between them, careful not to approach too quietly and startle him, but also not wanting to disturb him.

“Hey, Hilary,” he muttered when she came to a stop at his side. He shot her a weak smile that only made her worry more.

“Are you okay?” she asked, looking him up and down curiously. He had a piece of paper clutched in his hands, blank side facing out, and the collar of his shirt was wrinkled, like his argument with his brother had gotten physical at some point.

“Did you see Hiro?” Tyson asked, answering her question with his own bitter inquiry.

Hilary nodded. Tyson wasn’t looking her way, so she also said, “Grampa said you two had an argument.”

Tyson scoffed. “It wasn’t really an argument,” he said with a scowl.

When he didn’t elaborate, Hilary probed further. “Okay? Well, is something wrong?”

Tyson’s only answer was a forlorn nod across the pond. Hilary followed his gaze and gasped.

She didn’t know how she’d missed it before, but The Grangers’ Snowbell tree was half collapsed. It looked like the wind and rain had become too much for it; one of the thickest branches had peeled away at the trunk and was dragging on the ground. Upon closer inspection, the wood inside looked almost like somebody had gouged big chunks of it out.

“Oh no!”

“Yeah,” Tyson said sullenly, staring at the tree with a frown.

The Snowbell had been a staple in his yard for longer than Hilary had known him. Judging by the size, it had probably been there for his whole life. What it had to do with Tyson and Hiro’s argument, she had no idea, but there had to be a connection. Like most things when it came to Tyson, she was going to have to be patient to find out.

“Do you think it can be saved?”

Tyson took a deep breath and let it out shakily. “No.”

“Are you sure?” she asked gently, inching closer as his brow furrowed.

“Grampa actually had an arborist come out and look at it.” He turned to her, a brief shadow of amusement flashing in his eyes before the sadness took over once again. “A tree surgeon – did you know that was a thing?”

Hilary nodded meekly.

“Of course you did.” Tyson gave a flimsy laugh and hung his head. “I guess it’s been sick and we didn’t know. They said it’s practically hollow inside and has to come down.”

“I’m sorry, Tyson.” She didn’t know what significance the tree held and it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was significant and Tyson was hurting.

Hilary moved slowly, so he could push her away if she was overstepping, and looped her arm through his. When he didn’t protest, she leaned her head on his shoulder, as close as she could get without outright hugging him. He seemed to deflate and rested his cheek on top of her hair.

She didn’t know how long they stood like that for, quietly letting the breeze toss fallen petals over their feet and breathing in unison, before she thought she should try to lighten the mood.

“What’s that?” she asked, motioning to the paper he was holding with her free hand.

Tyson’s breath hitched and Hilary felt a momentary panic in the handful of seconds it took him to pause, then tilt it enough for her to see. Relief that he wasn’t angry with her question turned to heartache when she realized he was holding a picture.

The photograph was obviously old, but in pristine condition; she could tell Tyson took really good care of it. And it was no wonder – the photo was of a young woman sitting under the Snowbell tree holding a little boy on her lap. They had matching, brown eyes. The little boy couldn’t be more than three years-old, but she’d know him anywhere. It wasn’t hard to guess who the woman holding him was.

“Is that your mom?” she asked anyway, because every ounce of brain power she had was going toward holding back her tears.

“Yeah,” Tyson rasped. When he cleared his throat, Hilary used the sound to mask her own sniffles. “She loved that tree. We used to spend hours out here. I don’t know if I really remember or if I just look at the picture and make the memories up.”

Hilary squeezed his arm, but didn’t say anything. She could sense he wasn’t finished.

“I asked Grampa if we could get a second opinion. I think he knew right away that I’d be upset.” Tyson took another quaking breath. “Hiro kept saying that it wouldn’t make a difference, that it was rotten and had to come down. He told me I’d have to get over it. I said some things back that I shouldn’t have and it just kept getting worse.”

“Hiro doesn’t always have the most tact,” Hilary said quietly, curling her other hand around his arm, too, and pressing so close that he could probably feel her heartbeat against his elbow.

The tension in the air made sense now that she knew what had happened right before she’d shown up. She could picture Tyson and Hiro shouting at each other, Hiro grabbing Tyson’s collar, and Grampa stepping in, kendo sword in hand, to break them up. If she wasn’t so concerned about Tyson, she’d probably be livid at Hiro right now.

“I know he only lashed out because he misses her, too.” Hilary thought that was a diplomatic thing to say – and surprisingly gracious of someone that Hiro thought needed some sense talked into them – but she didn’t comment. “He doesn’t want to have it cut down either, but it’s easier for him. He remembers her more than I do, has other memories. I… Hilary, I don’t have a lot of pieces of her left.”

Tyson’s voice wavered and Hilary felt her heart break. She sniffed again, willing herself not to cry. It was difficult when she could tell Tyson was on the brink of tears himself.

Suddenly, he was pulling away.

“Tyson?” Hilary tried not to sound too worried as he extricated himself from her hold. Instead of letting her arms fall limp, she wrung her hands together to keep from reaching back out.

“Anyway,” he said, like he hadn’t heard her, “they’re cutting it down tomorrow.” With those words, he turned his back on her and headed towards the dojo.

“Do you want me to come?”

“You don’t have to.”

Hilary showed up, bright and early, the next day. Something told her that Tyson would need a friend. She couldn’t, on good conscious, stay away and wait for him to admit it.

When Gramps met her at the door, he didn’t seem surprised to see her. Hiro wasn’t home, as far as Hilary could tell, probably off dealing with any grief he felt privately. She thought that was for the best; Tyson was so keyed up that one wrong word would spark another argument.

So Hilary didn’t say much. She sat outside and watched Tyson train. Facing, stubbornly, away from the tree, he launched Dragoon over and over, too distracted to keep it spinning for longer than it took to run a single drill. For once, she didn’t scold him for it.

In the quiet break after one of Dragoon’s slalom runs, they heard a truck pull up out front.

Tyson froze and Hilary sat forward. Both of them tuned their ears to the snatches of conversation drifting back from where Grampa was greeting the tree cutters. Immediately, Tyson whipped around to take a long, desperate look at the tree, as if he regretted training with his back to it all this time. Hilary ducked her head down; it felt appropriate to give him a minute of privacy.

When the voices started getting closer, Tyson retreated to her side and pretended to be very busy with his beyblade as Hilary nodded politely to the group of men rounding the corner.

After a series of brief introductions where Grampa did most of the talking, the workers circled the pond to inspect the tree.

“They’ve been doing this a long time, T-Dawg,” Grampa said, standing over them with a soft expression. “Said they’d tell us if the last guy was wack and the tree’ll keep kickin’.”

Hardly daring to hope, Hilary watched the workers examine the tree from every possible angle, before looking over, to where she, Tyson, and his grandpa were waiting with bated breath. One of the men shook his head. The other gave a reluctant thumbs down. Hilary’s heart fell.

Gramps patted Tyson on the shoulder on his way past.

Tyson slumped against the side of the dojo and slid down to sit beside Hilary.

Grampa returned a few minutes later with two lunch plates for her and Tyson, but neither of them felt like eating. Instead, they sat on the porch, watching as the Snowbell was methodically sawed into pieces and carried to the woodshed. Hilary snuck glances at Tyson the whole time. He sat stiff as a board with empty eyes watching as the tree was cut down.

“Is it really going to be used as firewood?” Hilary asked, sadness and concern mingling in her tone.

“We might as well use it for something,” Tyson said, sounding completely downtrodden and too much like Hiro for Hilary’s taste. “There’s probably not enough wood left to do anything else with.”

Hilary didn’t answer. An awful lot of the logs they were transferring were hollow inside.

Once the tree was reduced to a stump and sawdust, Tyson got wordlessly to his feet and went inside. She didn’t see hide nor hair of him while she tidied up the dishes from the lunch they didn’t eat. She cleaned up the handful of other dishes littered around the kitchen, too, as her heartache for Tyson and her desire to do anything to make him feel better chased each other around her mind.

“You didn’t have to do that, Homegirl,” Grampa said, appearing as she dried the last dish and put it away.

“I don’t mind,” she answered honestly. “Is there anything else I can do to help?”

Gramps fixed her with a kindly smile and said, “You’ve done plenty already. That was real groovy of you, keepin’ Tyson company out there today.”

Hilary nodded.

It felt like nothing to sit with Tyson and act as a silent supporter, especially when she couldn’t possibly understand what he was feeling right now and when she knew there wasn’t anything she could do to make him feel it any less. It hurt to see him hurting. She wished, more than anything, that she could preserve even a piece of the tree and its memories for him.

Suddenly, she got an idea.

“Grampa, would it be okay if I took a piece of the wood?”

It felt like a weighty ask. Hilary held her breath and Grampa’s curious stare, until he broke into a smile, nodded, and said, “Sure thing, Homegirl.”

When she left, she left through the back yard and purposefully ignored the lonely stump beside the pond. She crossed to the woodshed and took her time examining the wood she could see, until she found a piece of a branch that was still solid and strong-looking. As she left with it in her arms, she felt better knowing that she was saving at least one piece of Tyson’s mother’s favorite tree from flames.

It was almost a week later when Hilary showed up at the dojo next, with a wrapped parcel tucked under her arm. Tyson had been dodging her calls the whole time she was gone, but she had Grampa’s word that he was doing fine and keeping busy.

She found Tyson out back again, sitting by the pond with his back resting against the remnants of the Snowbell. It was weird seeing the ground covered in petals without the tree’s lush branches fanning out against the sky. It would be even weirder next springtime, when there were none at all.

Tyson was leisurely tossing food to the koi fish and looked up when he heard her approach. “Hey, Hilary.” The smile that accompanied his words was genuine, though, she suspected, out of practice.

“Can I sit down?” she asked, keeping the pond between them in case he said no.

Tyson nodded and scooted to the side a little, so Hilary had room to lean against the stump, too. It felt almost like she was intruding on something sacred, but Tyson patted the ground next to him expectantly, so she sat down.

“How are you?” she asked, studying him carefully, fingers digging nervously into the parcel in her lap.

“I’m all right.” He shrugged and tilted the bag of fish food in her direction, an offering. Hilary reached in and took a handful. “Sorry I didn’t answer your calls.”

“It’s okay, Tyson.” She knew he needed time to grieve. No matter what Hiro said, she’d never expected Tyson to simply get over it. She couldn't imagine what it was like to lose one of the few tangible lifelines you had to memories with a deceased loved one.

She tossed the food into the pond and watched the colorful fish bob up to the surface for it. She and Tyson continued to feed them, taking turns and pointing out their favorite color patterns and making up names for the ones they could tell apart most easily. It felt like a welcome, if not slightly forced, return to normalcy.

The next time Hilary went for the bag of food, Tyson pulled it out of her reach at the last second with a mischievous grin.

“Hey!” Hilary exclaimed and made to roll onto her knees so she could climb over him for it. Luckily, she remembered the parcel before she knelt on it and sat back where she was. Tyson was watching her curiously so, before she could lose her nerve, she held it out to him and said, “I almost forgot – I got this for you.”

“Is it edible?” Tyson asked, cracking another smile as he set the fish food off to the side and took the gift.

“No.” Hilary was blushing, suddenly feeling like maybe this wasn’t a good idea, but there was no turning back now.

“Gee, Hil, I hope you kept the receipt then,” he joked. Once he ripped the paper off, he went entirely silent.

When Hilary had left with her piece of the tree she’d taken it straight to a local woodworker her parents were friendly with. Something about her breathless explanation of what she was looking for, and the confusing story she told to express why, won him over – he said he was working on other commissions, but promised to make hers a priority.

The finished product had turned out better than she imagined.

“If you don’t like it, that’s okay,” Hilary said once Tyson had been quiet for longer than she anticipated. “You don’t even have to keep it. It just seemed like such a shame to let all that wood burn. If I crossed a line, I’m sorry!”

Tyson gently ran his hand over the picture frame, tracing the delicate floral pattern that was carved into it. Hilary was happy that, seeing it in his hands, it looked like it would be a perfect fit for the photo from the other day.

“Like I said, if you don’t like it—”

Tyson cut her off by surging to his knees and yanking her into his arms. Hilary squealed, momentarily afraid that they were going to overbalance and fall into the koi pond, but Tyson had just as tight of a hold on her as he did on the picture frame.

She wrapped her arms around his ribs, surprised and startled to feel them shake with a sob.

“Thank you,” he whispered into her hair.

Hilary’s only answer was to hold him tighter.

[aurorascarletantares]

A hero in a shining armor

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47867212

And yeeees, this was supposed to be ready at Mayblade 2023, but I got to finish it just now... 

And for a ship that needs more love, ueeeeeen ueeen ueeeeen

But don’t worry, maybe I can do a longer fic with those two

[darkened-storm]

My companion piece for this scene for our weekly challenge: an angsty kiss!!

“Why do you do that?” she demanded, wrenching her hands free of his grasp. “Every time I think that you’re finally going to open up to me you shut me out instead. Why won’t you let us be together?”

“Bec,” he said her name as though the very thought of it caused him pain.

“I don’t want to hurt you again.”

He didn’t what… Becky thought to herself, feeling her anger bubble to the service. What sort of logic was that? Didn’t he realise that the thought of not being with him was more hurtful than anything he’d done to her so far?

“Fine,” she said, and she stormed back towards the Jeep, fumbling for Steph’s keys in her pocket and then she stopped short.

“No,” she heard herself say. She turned around, lifting her chin to meet his gaze. “You don’t get to choose for me,” she told him. “If you walk away that’s your choice, but I know what I want.”

He said nothing, his expression a mixture of despair and disbelief, but she couldn’t stop now. If they were ever going to be something, then Becky had to go for it.

“Kai, I love you.”

The gravity of her words finally dawns on him he reached for her, taking her face in his hands and kissing her so fiercely the her whole world shook. She held onto his shoulders to steady herself and kissed him back.

“I love you,” she said again, knowing the words didn’t even begin to explain how much she needed him.

Resting his forehead against hers, he reached his hand up to brush a tear from her cheek before it could fall. “You are my everything,” he told her.

Art trade I did for @darkened-storm! Featuring her OC, Becky and Kai kithiing

[hellovivirose]

Mayblade day 30: The Future

LATE to the party but like father, like son.

[jollyrolls]

I wanted to draw the day 28 prompt of journey where Kai flies back to Japan to see Takao. But this is what I ended up drawing for the @may-blade afterparty.

They are supposed to be in their late forties or early fifties and have lost touch and gone their own ways. I like to also think Takao gave his cap to Hiromi and Kyojyuu's kid who will participate in the bey championships next year....

[boredcouchpotato]

So I have this scenario in my mind for quite some time now.

I think after Russian tournament when Voltaire and Boris got arrested, the police conducted a investigation in the abbey too (obviously). So that means all the abbey children which also includes demolition boys don't have a place to go.

Kai also don't have a home (assuming that his parents or any immediate family member are not in picture)but I will get to it later that if Voltaire is arrested.

All of them ( abbey kids not Kai) has only two options left that is either to be placed in either foster system and attend therapy which is mandatory for them because there is no way they will not need therapy or the other option is to run away and go back to streets.

So the children obvious will choose to stay in foster system because

1) that means they shelter to sleep and food

2) they can get proper education ( I don't believe that Boris was not in some way brainwashing them to believe that he is their saviour of sort and they should obey him without any complains) which can help them to improve their living condition.

Ofcourse their are exceptions (the kids who are brainwashed) but majority of them are smart ( no way Boris would keep academically weak kids because to him they (kids) are replaceable). So they just decided suck it up and go to foster system.

BUT BUT BUTTTT

It's a little different for demolition boys because they actually got pretty famous from the tournament and they are the most messed up kids of the bunch. But by the time they are in g- rev demolition boys attend therapy and it actually helps them a lot also maybe they have a loving guardian or mom or whatever, they gets adopted. I don't know who adopts them but they all get in adopted by same person which means they are basically living as brothers. And it creates their bond even stronger and they see each other as family.

They get the time to start to heal.

But what about Kai??? I don't think they were in contact this whole time, because d- boys and Kai acknowledge each other as someone they knew from the past sort of like an old friend which we don't talk anymore but we are polite with them. Except d- boys and kai don't do polite.💀 So how was he dealing with all this??? Where will he go??

What I think happened here was that Voltaire never gets jail time. Yes, he gets arrested. Yes, he was put on trial. But we also have to keep in mind that he has a lot of money and bribery is very common. What if he bribed the judge or if his lawyer somehow managed to prove that Voltaire did not know what was "actually" happening in abbey. That he (Voltaire) thought that he was just donating to an organisation that helps kids and not some organisation that do experiments on children. Otherwise why would he put his own grand child there. And he did not know this was happening because when Kai came back he has lost his memory in an fire accident. That Kai is lying about the physical abuse he received at his home in Japan because he has messed up memory because of that accident. So the court decides that Voltaire is not guilty and he still has Kai's guardianship.

And oh boy, Voltaire is LIVID. Because not only Kai has dared to go against his wishes by not using black dranzer he humiliated him as well by saying he was abusing him. So when they go back to Japan he starts different ways to punish Kai for this. It ranged from financial abuse to emotional abuse but never physical because 1) it will put Voltaire in the spotlight if anyone finds out, and he really wants to avoid that because the court case is still fresh in people's mind

2) he is an old man he really won't have the strength to do that to a teenager himself, ofcourse he can hire people but he had to be careful now

and because Kai never really got therapy he still kind of believes in "emotions are weakness" thing. So he just kind of tried to brush this off, thinking that this nothing and atleast Voltaire is not bothering him anymore.

So yeah, never gets the chance to truly start the process of healing. Yes, he might have opened up to his friends more in next season's but he never shared his personal life, so they never knew what happened to him after Russian tournament. You can't just "fix" his trauma with the power of friendship and his other issues that he might had. He needs professional help.

And he never told anyone about all these things.

So what happens when in g-rev he joins the blitzkrieg boys. He is treated as an outsiders of sort. Lan and Spencer don't really cares what he does as long as he don't get in their business. Tala keeps annoying him about joining team's training and stops going on his own. It's annoying but nothing he can't handle after all he was in a team with Tyson for years. And at first Kai is fine with all this arrangement he is here is win a tournament and then he will go his way. What irritates him the most is Bryan and his jabs. Bryan never trusted him especially after he Changed teams in russian tournament and just because tala chose him his partner in tournament doesn't mean he has to tolerate Kai as well.

At first he ignores him but they gets more and more annoying and personal with each try . Tala and Spencer of course breaks their fight before it gets physical or something serious happens.He knows that Bryan hates him and he has said that to his face multiple times and he has made sure that Bryan knows that the sentiments is same from his side too. It's just when someone is constantly getting into your face and trying to get a reaction out of you especially when you have to concentrate on winning a tournament it gets mentally and physically exhausting. And at first Kai is fine with all this arrangement he is here is win a tournament and then he will go his way. But now he is just tired. He is just so so tired that he feels like he can sleep for a eternity and he would still be sleepy.

(This incident happened sometime after Kai vs ray battle, so you know Kai is literally dead on his feet and he needs a nap before he can tolerate anyone.)

So when Bryan decided that this is the perfect time to poke Kai and call him "a spoilt brat" , "princess" or "someone who gets everything on silver platter" he snaps. And by snaps I mean this fight gets physical very quickly bitter words are thrown at each other. Tala and Spencer had to hold them back. Spencer only managed to hold back Bryan because of his massive muscle mass and tala is able to hold back Kai because Kai is exhausted from the match and tala is taller than him, so it's makes his task easier. You think the fight was done here but No. When I said Kai snapped I mean he *snapped* this guy was still swearing at him (Bryan) and screaming at him and his face was getting red from screaming too much. He (Kai) didn't even noticed that tala is holding him from punching the daylight out of Bryan. At first Bryan was also replying ( means fighting him verbally because he was still being held back), but he suddenly stoped. Because he noticed how Kai's voice cracked and then angry tears started to pour out from his eyes. But at that point Kai is just so angry he never noticed this he is even mixing up the languages like this guy is speaking russian and Japanese mix. And Bryan is shocked, the whole team is. He might be annoying bastard but he never meant to make him cry he then realised that he crossed the line with this one that he shouldn't have. But Kai is not done yet he is still speaking (screaming) in full Japanese now and he is full on sobbing and hiccups which was now starting to develop into a anxiety attack.

Spencer is the one to break out of shock first and he takes Bryan away from Kai's sight because if he is in Kai's sight he will continue to scream at him. And Bryan was is so shocked that he just complies without complain. Tala also breaks out of the shock with this and tries to calm down Kai but nothing works and kai basically cried himself to sleep. So after tucking Kai to bed tala goes straight to Bryan to scold him but when he gets there he sees that Bryan is already feeling guilty. So all three of them just decides to wait till the morning to resolve this matter. But when Kai wakes up the next morning he is absolutely mortified. He feels so embarrassed that he just wants to crawls into a hole and never come out again. And he was determined to do that , he was ignoring his teammates at first but then tala gets fed up (also because tala is the captain of this team and he wants this issue to resolve and he does care about Kai no matter what kai likes to believe) and somehow made him come to the team's practice.

Kai was prepared to be teased mercilessly but he gets surprised when Bryan apologized like he is actually speachless. And kai can tell that Bryan was genuine with his apology. So after some awkward moment he is just like "whatever. I don't care". And they just move on from there. The team practice like they normally would and nobody mentions his breakdown for which he is thankful.

But Bryan do get a little more tolerable after that because he is more mindful of what he is saying. And both of kind of develop a mutual respect for each other. They can actually tolerate each other now and Spencer is relieved too. Because he might not say anything but the hostile environment between the two of them was exhausting for him too. And because Kai isn't irritated now because of Bryan he gets better at practice and less exhausted by the end of the day which means tala can now drag Kai to actually train with team rather than him going alone. It annoys Kai but he doesn't say anything because he wants to avoid another fight if he can, but that doesn't mean he will make it easy for tala. And by the time his battle with takao comes he feels that he is prepared to face him.

I also want this being kind of like a turning point of their friendship. And when Kai becomes an adult he actually goes to therapy himself for better mental health also so that he can also start healing. At first he was hesitant of going there but after he saw how good blitzkrieg boys are doing he decides it about time. He also adopts 3cats and no one can tell me otherwise. Spencer and kai exchange photos of cute animals.

Please the ending got a little lame, but I am not a writer so don't come after me.

[blossommoonart]

→ MAYBLADE 2024 (After Party): Day 6 - Military

I am late to this as the Uni year has been very busy, and the vacation period was short too. And I couldn't go beyond the sixth day. Anyways, have a military unit 🪖🎖️

[beygrade]

Mayblade 2023 Day 16: Bouquet

Title: A Thorn in Your Side

@may-blade

***

"What are you doing?" Max asked Tyson and peered closer. His brows rose. "Wait, are you picking out a bouquet?"

Max's voice echoed through the silence in the flower shop, drawing the attention of the other customers and the owner. He gave them an apologetic shrug, making a mental note to keep a low voice. His gaze returned to the bouquet in Tyson's hands, which consisted mostly of roses. They emanated a faint, reddish afterglow that stood out from the peonies and orchids. A ribbon was knotted at the mid-section of the stem, holding the flowers together. It couldn't be more obvious that it was a bouquet, but Max hadn't been able to stop himself from voicing his disbelief. In what universe did Tyson buy anybody flowers?

Tyson shrugged and checked his watch. "Well, yes. What about it?"

Max stared at his friend for another second in mute incomprehension, and then realization struck him.

Max grinned. "Oh my god, you've finally decided to take my advice on something." He slapped Tyson on the shoulder. "Good choice. I think Hilary's gonna love them."

Tyson frowned. "Why would I be getting Hilary a bouquet? It's not her birthday. They're for Kai."

Max stared at Tyson, the sense of incomprehension returning. Kai didn't look like the type who liked flowers. For all they knew, the guy may even be allergic to them. But that wasn't the most pressing concern here. Why did Tyson want to give Kai a bouquet? He didn't even buy flowers for the girl he was trying to impress. It made no sense. Max shook his head. Tyson was probably messing with him, as usual. Or too embarrassed to admit he was finally taking Max's advice, after months of denial.

Max rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Tyson."

"No, I'm serious. He just became the new world champion. I should give him something."

In the finals that had taken place yesterday, Kai had bested Tyson. After so long, he'd won the title. It was a cause for celebration for sure, but flowers?

Max said. "He'll kick you out of his house even quicker than usual if you show up there with flowers."

"You're sure he'll hate a bouquet?"

"Yes, Tyson."

Before Max could suggest that they buy something more sensible- champagne, for instance, Tyson went on, "Great, that's what I was going for. It's been a long time since I annoyed him for the hell of it."

He grinned as he said the words, and Max sighed. He'd never ceased to admire the lengths to which the guy went to antagonize Kai. They really were like an old married couple, alright. Max imagined the two of them handing Kai flowers and the latter's bafflement. Who knew, maybe they'd even annoy Kai into throwing them a victory party afterwards. A smile touched Max's lips. This was going to be fun.

[darkened-storm]

Mayblade After Party #1: When the Bladebreakers decide to break into the Bladesharks hideout and chaos ensues …

They split up, with Becky flashing an eager smile as she hurried after Kai. Steph hoped her presence would be enough to stop Kai from doing anything foolish.

And who would to stop Becky from doing something just as foolish, the nagging voice in the back of her head wondered.

“This is a terrible plan,” she muttered under her breath as she rounded the corner to the back of the warehouse, Matt silently on her heels.

She ignored him and instead hunted for their entry point. She wasn’t the first teenager to commit such a felony, she reminded herself, but she wondered how many teenagers were adept at breaking and entering high tech Beyblade facilities.

The Bladesharks hideout, of course, wouldn’t be as complicated to break into as Balkov Abbey, or the Psychic’s Lair. A window (preferably already broken) would be ideal. In a pinch, she could make do with an air vent, although she didn’t fancy the jokes about her height that might invite from her smarmy companion.

But the only windows at the back of this warehouse were well above even Matt’s reach.

“Should we try the back door?” She suggested, certain that it couldn’t be that easy. Matt shrugged and reached for the handle.

“It’s unlocked,” he said, appropriately surprised.

“Rather convenient,” Steph observed, frowning at the door. “Which means that breaking in this way is exactly what Carlos wants us to do.”

His hand paused on the handle, awaiting instruction. “So what do you want to do?”

Steph hesitated. In the back of her mind, her spidey senses told her they were headed for trouble, but she also knew she couldn’t sent her teammates in there alone. They were committed now.

“Okay,” she said, nodding for him to continue. Wordlessly he pulled the door open and she followed him carefully inside.

“It’s pitch black in here,” he grumbled, rummaging in his pocket for his phone, but Steph had a better idea.

“I’ve got this,” she told him. She reached into pocket for her Beyblade and slipped it into her launcher.

3,2,1 …

Seraphina skimmed the concrete floor just ahead, the light from her bit chip illuminating the corridor before them.

“Much better,” she said. Pocketing her launcher and ripcord, she motioned for him to continue.

“Did you hear that?” Matt asked only moments later.

She had; the familiar click of metal and plastic of a beyblade being loaded into its launcher was unmistakable.

“Automated shooters,” she announced, glancing around and spotting the carefully disguised false panels in the walls either side of them. “I suppose it was too much to hope Carlos would let us just walk in here.”

“And here I thought he was being generous leaving the back door unlocked,” Matt muttered dryly.

The remark coaxed a smile from her. “We’ll take what we can get,” she said, stepping forward. “Stay behind me, I’ll handle this.”

He shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “If you say so.”

She sent Seraphina forward, triggering the automatic shooters. There was a synchronous whoosh from either side of them and a handful of beyblades shot through the air towards them.

Her reaction was instinctual, directing Seraphina into the wall and using the momentum to ricochet off of it and into the path of the oncoming beyblades, which shattered immediately on impact.

The sound of plastic falling to the ground was quickly followed by the click of the launchers reloading.

“No you don’t,” Steph muttered, redirecting her beyblade towards the launcher on their left. Electricity crackled as the launcher short-circuited, and seconds later, the remaining launcher meet the same fate.

Two for two, Steph thought and she turned around to look at Matt, grinning as though he might congratulate her efforts. Instead he shrugged. “They’re just a bunch of spinning tops,” he reminded her, stepping over the charred plastic to continue down the hall.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if I let one hit you in the face,” Steph muttered under her breath as she made to follow him, ignoring Seraphina’s amused chuckle.

They continued down the passageway, both a little more cautious than they had previously.

[may-blade]

MayBlade 2024 After Party!

As this year's MayBlade comes to an end, just like previous years it is time for the after party! Starting tomorrow, 01/06 and until 15/06 you can post drawings you didn't have time to post during actual MayBlade. Please, still tag your works as mayblade 2024 so I will be able to find them.

I wanted to thank everybody who participated this year - we had beautiful artworks and wonderful writings. I hope everybody had fun! Now enjoy the last day of MayBlade, the after party and after that - I will be back on this blog next year to host another MayBlade event.

Much love - Mod Akemi

[ashxketchum]

Sharing a TyHil snippet (that was originally supposed to be a collection of Mayblade 2023 prompts) for fun! This particular piece is far from over, I have at least three more scenes plotted out for this, but at the same time I think the current part is also very read-worthy so I'm just dropping it here until it's finished!

It's a sequel to a Rich GirlxPoor Boy AU oneshot I wrote earlier. So the premise you need to know is that Hilary is from a super duper rich family but she doesn't fit into her social circle very well. Tyson's mother runs a catering business and he often helps her out when she's understaffed, which is how the two end up meeting at a New Year's party. This snippet is based roughly 3 months after their first encounter.

Happy Reading!

[post divider by @/cafekitsune]

A typical birthday party in his circles involved a lot of dancing and eating, but here the guests were seated around tables in groups, reminding him more of a wedding reception. He figured the birthday girl was the one sitting at the table placed right at the centre, surrounded by a flock of other girls, presumably her friends. Of course, the girl in the centre was dressed the most glamorously out of everyone present, covered almost entirely in sequins. Even with all the shiny makeup on, she didn’t look younger than twenty to him and it put the whole changing the menu last minute thing into perspective, as Tyson was expecting it to be a little kid’s tantrum. No wonder Mariam’s mood had been soured. Quickly digging through the bowl of smooth gelato in his hands, he ran a bored eye across the rest of the hall, he’d expected to see more things he could make a mockery out of, but as far as rich people parties were concerned, this one was very conventional.

His brows furrowed when he watched the birthday girl receive a present from a newcomer, which she immediately handed over to a maid who was standing behind her to add onto the gift pile. The table that the gifts were arranged on was barely a few steps away from the girl and yet she couldn’t bother to get up and keep it herself. Privilege sure made people lazy, Tyson thought to himself, having licked the bowl clean from the gelato, he decided he’d had enough of watching the snoozefest. He’d make sure that his mother gave him written proof that she would pay him back for all the manual labour he did today and then head back to his dorm, maybe even think about preparing for an important match next week.

Just as he was about to turn his back to the view of the party, the maid behind the birthday girl moved yet again, this time farther than one table down, and a very familiar face came into view.

One that he’d been hoping to run into for a while now.

The bowl from his hand almost slipped as his eyes widened at the sight of the girl, the brunette he’d met while working for his mother on new year’s eve, three months ago.

Once he spotted her, it was hard for him to look away.

Unlike possibly every other girl in the room, she was the only one dressed in a plain top and skirt, which made her look more alluring between all the glitter and sequin that surrounded her. Her wavy brown hair was flowing freely behind her back, just a few strands falling loose in the front and framing her face perfectly. She wore a disinterested look on her face as she sat with one elbow resting on the table and another holding a glass of champagne still full to the brim, not bothering to speak to any of the other guests that were sharing the table with her.

But what made Tyson’s face break into a huge grin was the thick book that lay next to a plate with a half eaten cake slice on the table.

There was no doubt about it, she was the same girl Tyson had so boldly kissed at new year’s eve.

The memory of the kiss was etched into his minds for various reasons, but the one that ate away at him the most was how he should’ve apologised for his impulsive actions right away. That’s what one of his closest friends Rei, who was currently his mother’s number one sous chef, had given him a lecture about as soon as that party ended since he’d witnessed the whole thing go down. Rei had very cleverly pointed out that the girl could’ve raised a complaint against him, or even worse his mother’s company, which would not be good for their reputation in the business.

He’d sat and thought about his friend’s words carefully, and keeping in mind the girl’s shocked reaction, Tyson realised that he had indeed messed up pretty bad. But luckily for him as days and weeks passed without his mother every receiving a complaint from the hosts of the party, he felt relieved. He was still, however, concerned about finding the girl and apologizing to her. That was one of the reasons he found it hard to turn down his mother when she asked him to help with something she was working on this side of the town, a tiny hope igniting in his heart that he may just run into that girl again.

And while at the beginning of his day he had assumed that luck was not on his side, Tyson now understood that perhaps all of this had just been a grand scheme played by the forces of universe to get the two of them to reunite.

Having made up his mind, he quickly scanned the kitchen. His mother and Rei were very busy taste testing the main course and discussing improvements they could pull off before it needed to be served, Mariam was still busy taking into account all the dessert they had on hand and Mao was negotiating with the hotel staff about the broken cutlery. If Tyson was to slip out of the kitchen, now would be the perfect moment.

Positioning himself behind the door as he waited for the exact moment when one server would enter while another exited, Tyson looked over his clothes. Even if he did make it out of the kitchen unnoticed, he’d have trouble not being the odd one out since he wasn’t exactly dressed according to the theme. If Rei knew what he was doing, Tyson would surely get pulled aside and thrown out the back, but this was a risk he knew he needed to take today to not let this chance slip out of his hand. The consequences was something that he could deal with later.

Grabbing the perfect chance as the door opened, Tyson slipped in between the two servers, hiding behind the one heading out with the full tray and stepping into the event. A nervous excitement filled him as he made sure to not let himself get too far away from the guy he was using as a cover, and his mother’s employee did pass him a suspicious look but Tyson shrugged him off with a reassuring grin, motioning in the direction of the table where the girl was seated. The tall guy made an expression which clearly stated that he didn’t get paid enough to care about this as he took Tyson’s advice to move towards her table.

Tyson couldn’t completely avoid making eye-contact with a few guests who frowned at his appearance and whispered amongst themselves, but when the lights in the hall suddenly dimmed and the birthday girl took to the stage with a mic in her hand, he knew that he’d made the right decision by slipping out. The girl requested everyone to stand up for her performance, making it much easier for him to blend in, though he did not appreciate her grating voice blaring out of the speakers all around the room. The guests took their sweet time in getting up from their seats, but the birthday girl wouldn't be demotivated and she kept tapping her foot on the stage, refusing to start till everyone was standing up.

While his attention had been turned to the stage, the space around him became crowded as more and more people stood up and he lost sight of the server he had been following around. Cursing under his breath he widened his eyes as he searched the now dimly lit hall for the brunette, careful about not moving too much till his eyes adjusted to the dark lighting, He was able to spot her plain brown hair after a few minutes of searching and with a relieved yet nervous feeling in his chest, he made his way towards her just as the intro to a pop song begun to play.

The birthday girl began to sing, her loud and a little bit unpleasant voice filled the whole venue, drowning out any other sound that may serve as a relief to the audience’s ears. The only reason this made Tyson glad was because no one could hear the thumping of his heart as he neared the brunette, fists balled at his sides in an attempt to control his excitement. His plan was simple, he would tap on her shoulder, wait for her to recognise him before he apologised and then walk away. If things went well he might end up walking away with her number, if they didn’t she might call security to escort him out of this party he wasn’t invited to, either way Tyson felt he was playing a fair game. So when he arrived at the girl’s table, he just took one deep breath in preparation before he lightly tapped her shoulder, putting on his most confident smile as he watched her turn around in confusion.

To be honest, Tyson had expected her to take some time in recognising him since their encounter had happened almost three months ago. He was sure that she was the kind of girl who went to many such parties, who had a busy social life filled with new faces, who by now might even had made a boyfriend or two and had already forgotten all about the strange bartender who stole a kiss from her at new year’s eve.

But when she turned, startled by his sudden presence behind her, even in the dark her garnet eyes shined bright as they widened taking in his appearance. Her pink lips parted in a silent gasp of surprise and a cautious hand flew to cover her mouth as possibly the memory of their last meeting slipped into her mind. She tried to take a step back but bumped into the chair that she had been sitting in a while ago, deciding then to press herself against it as both hands clasped the chair’s top hilt tightly and her lips pursed together as fixed him with a look of dumbfounded surprise.

As grateful Tyson was for her being able to remember him right away, watching her reaction did make his heart flutter all the way to his throat and he had to swallow a loud gulp to keep himself from doing something stupid. The words for his apology had been on the tip of his tongue for days but now that the moment of truth was here, all his brain could think about was how pretty she looked in person and how his imagination over the last few months hadn’t done her looks any justice.

With the streak of luck he’d endured the whole day, of course in the next moment the birthday girl lost her breath a minute into the song and decided to end her performance abruptly, receiving a modest applause from the audience as the lights in the hall were suddenly switched back on.

A look of panic crossed both of their faces as they realised that now everyone on the brunette’s table and a few more people who sat around them were staring at Tyson with curious eyes, whispering among themselves wondering who he was and how he’d gotten in without following the glitter dress code for the party. Tyson tried to keep a calm expression on his face, he knew that if he got caught now it would hurt his mother’s business irreparably. He had to think of an escape route, if only he had thought about his plan more carefully and borrowed an apron and a tray from one of the servers, he would’ve saved himself the embarrassment of getting caught like this. Despite all of it, he was sure that if he could get just a few more minutes to canvas the area, he would be able to pull himself out of this mess just fine.

The girl, however, had different ideas.

He was almost impressed by how quickly she got over the panic of being seen with him, a complete stranger at this party, by people who were possibly her close friends. Her ruby eyes that had shined bright with surprise just a minute ago, now bore a triumphant sparkle as her lips curved up in a gloating smile. Tyson barely had any time to react as she reached forward and looped her arm with his and stood next to him with her shoulder pressed tightly against his arm.

“I told you guys he was just too busy to show up on time,” she said sweetly as she turned to face all of her friends. The birthday girl had stalked off the stage and joined the gang of onlookers, pushing her way to the front to get a better look at Tyson, since he had managed to steal the attention away from her for a few moments. The snivelling look on the birthday girl’s face didn’t seem to bother the brunette, her grip around Tyson’s arm only tightened as she spoke the next few words with such a vindicative tone that even he was ready to kneel down in front of her.

“I am so glad that I finally get to introduce my boyfriend in person to all of you.”

[azikarue]

MayBlade 2023 : Day 20 : Scars

Salima, Goki | FFN Rating: K+ | FFN Link ❖ Sometimes Salima spent her nights awake.

It was easier explaining it to Goki when they were somewhere new and exciting. Those times, he’d buy that she was thrown off by the timezone or the different constellations swimming in the sky above their heads. He’d lay awake with her on occasion, sketching the scenery and planning their travels, always tactful enough not to mention her clipped, one-word responses.

When she was home, it was different. There was no hiding when she had to throw open every window to feel like she wasn’t suffocating, choking on guilt and long-gone power and desperation. Goki was unerringly kind about it and so gifted with reading her that he knew when to step in and when to pretend like he didn’t notice a thing.

And those were just the nights Salima didn’t sleep at all. Others she started out asleep, only to be woken up by dreams of mechanical roars and sharp, gnashing teeth. Her heart would beat like she’d just run a marathon. When her eyes snapped open, her face would be wet from tears she remembered crying that day in the battle tower.

The taste of her tears would bring back memory after memory. To cope, she would call Kane and listen to his steady voice, unmarred by a crazed bitbeast. Or she would call Jim and get him to tell her all about his latest project until her heart rate returned to normal. Most often, she would sit outside and breathe in the clean air, trying to convince herself that she was whole without whatever pieces of her Cyber Driger kept.

Wielding a cyber bitbeast was like being shackled to a wild animal: scary, unpredictable, thrilling.

Life after one was the same, except Cyber Driger was heavier as a corpse than he’d ever been living. Back then he steered her from just behind her eyes, a driving force that quickly took her over. Now she had to find her own way and carry the weight of her actions on her own shoulders.

It was exhausting. And more than enough to keep her up at night.

“You need to let it go,” Goki advised one night while keeping her company on a hostel roof. He had his sketchpad out and was doodling the view across the street. “You can’t let it eat you up inside forever.”

“I can’t just forget what happened,” Salima snapped. She knew she should feel bad about it, but her head ached from lack of sleep and throbbed in time with her racing heart.

“I didn’t say to forget.” He looked just as concerned for her as she’d felt for him when they were locked up together in the battle tower. “It’s not normal to launch a beyblade and have the bitbeast inside hijack your brain. You didn’t know what would happen – you need to forgive yourself for it and let it go.”

Salima felt the overwhelming urge to cry, so she buried her face in her knees.

She’d had a pretty good idea what could happen by the time she’d picked up Cyber Driger. It was stupid to think that she would be any less susceptible to the power of the cyber bitbeasts than Jim and Goki. She wasn’t better than they were and the proof was in how the rest of her friends were already over the ordeal.

Goki didn’t wake up at night, fighting off invisible forces; sleep was the solace it should be, for him. As for Kane and Jim, when she’d spoken to them last, they’d asked if she and Goki were planning on returning for the World Championships because the two of them were competing together. Goki had given a firm no on Salima’s behalf, because she couldn’t get words past the sudden panic squeezing her throat shut.

She didn’t know how to forget and she didn’t know how to let it go or move on. All she knew was that returning to Japan to face the Bladebreakers and masquerade as an upstanding member of the beyblading community filled her with too much shame to bear.

“Salima?” She felt Goki’s hand on her back, gentle and reassuring. Patient, even. Like he wouldn’t press, but thought she needed to talk.

“How are you so okay?” she asked, voice wavering with bottled up emotion. “You, Kane, and Jim – how did you put it behind you so easily?”

She hadn’t planned on opening her mouth, but there was something about the anonymity she felt with her eyes screwed shut and a city where nobody knew her all around and Goki’s strong presence by her side, that forced her thoughts past the knot in her throat.

Goki let out a long sigh. “I wouldn’t call it easy. Some days I can’t even look at myself in the mirror,” he admitted, running his hand over her back in firm, slow strokes. “And I can’t speak for Kane and Jim. I couldn’t compete in a Championship right now, but maybe that’s what it takes for them to feel better – proving that they can compete honestly on the biggest platform there is.”

Put like that, Salima could kind of understand, even if the thought of standing in the spotlight right now made her feel sick.

“For me, it gets a little easier with every kid we teach,” Goki continued. “It feels like I’m helping them discover the true spirit of beyblading, maybe keeping them from making similar mistakes to the ones I made. You know what I mean?”

Salima turned her head toward Goki, resting her cheek on her knees.

“I do.” There was a reason she and Goki were the ones who’d headed straight for the open road. Teaching kids and seeing that spark of joy on their faces when they launched their beyblades – the same spark that the cyber bitbeasts did their best to replace with the hunger for domination – those were the moments that she felt closest to her old self. “But I still have nightmares. Sometimes I can even feel Cyber Driger’s claws, like it never left.”

She was almost whispering by the end of her admission.

Goki’s brow furrowed thoughtfully.

“Cyber Driger was holding on tight when it was ripped away.” She could feel him shiver as he thought back to that day. “Those power injections made it too strong to resist and you shouldn’t have been able to, but you did anyway.”

He was looking at her with something akin to admiration and she didn’t want it.

“Goki—”

“I heard the scientists talking – saw their readings,” he said, cutting her off. “Cyber Driger pushed you past your limits, Salima – it makes sense that your scars are deep. You should be proud of yourself for fighting.” He looked off into the middle distance, no longer willing to meet her eyes. “I wish I’d been able to.”

Salima’s chest ached at the shame in his voice. She sat up and said, “They weren’t designed to fight against.”

If she wasn’t allowed to beat herself up over it, then he wasn’t either. She remembered Dr. B and his scientists being so sure that she’d be hooked as soon as she got a taste of the power they had to offer. For all their talk of mental strength being necessary to wield the cyber bitbeasts, they were still counting on the fact that their reckless creations would be strong enough to bend her team’s will to their own. She and her friends were never meant to be in control.

“I’ll work on accepting that if you will.” Goki offered her a small smile and she realized, belatedly, that she’d played right into his hands. “Then maybe we can both move on.”

“I’ll try,” Salima sighed. “I think I feel a little better just talking about it.” Even as the words left her lips, she was surprised to find that they were true. Maybe healing had to come in baby steps.

“You’d feel even better with a good night’s sleep,” Goki pointed out.

She should’ve known he wouldn’t let her get away with the sleepless nights without commentary forever. Unfortunately, her nightmares came and went as they pleased, no matter how exhausted she was. Something about Kane and Jim competing had brought them back full force. If the nightmares didn’t disturb her, her brain buzzing, trying to figure out what it all meant, would.

When she told Goki as much, he simply shrugged out of his jacket and balled it up. “Here,” he said. “I’ll talk so you aren’t alone with your thoughts. You, try to get some sleep.” He set the makeshift pillow on his lap and motioned for her to lay down.

“What, right here?” Salima asked in disbelief.

Goki chuckled. “Does it make a difference if you can’t sleep anyway?”

“I guess not,” she admitted. If she hadn’t found solace back home, in her own bed, familiar and comfortable, maybe it wasn’t where that mattered. Without another word, she laid down on the rooftop, tucked her knees up under her sweater and pillowed her head on Goki’s jacket.

He went back to drawing, but this time he kept up a constant stream of one-way conversation. He told her what he was drawing, explained what he knew about the architecture, told her how frustrating it was when the light changed as the sun sunk lower.

Between the scratching of pencil on paper and the steady rhythm of his voice, Salima’s eyelids, finally, began to droop.

[misiwrites]

Mayblade Day 8

[previous: chapter 1 & 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5 | chapter 6 | chapter 7]

CHAPTER 8 prompt: glitter characters: hiromi, tsuki pairings: ---

The next day, an information newsletter about the bake sale event popped up in Hiromi’s school email. The message contained a tentative list of people to be involved in the preparations so far, not by names but with a mention of one vendor from each first-year class – the 1-A vendor being Hiromi, and she didn’t know who the rest were – as well as live performances by the circus and band clubs. There’s a circus club? she wondered. It’s not a euphemism for the Shell Killers, is it?

There was also a request, at the end of the message, for the event participants to drop by the crafts & cooking club for measurements.

Hiromi blinked. She re-read the line. Nope, didn’t make any more sense the second time. What measurements was this speaking of? And crafts & cooking club? Really? These clubs were starting to get weird at this point.

Nevertheless, this so-called C&C was operating in the textile crafts class, and the ever-so-diligent Hiromi made her way there first thing after classes. The classroom was in the cellar floor, and descending the stairs for the first time in weeks struck her with a momentary, fleeting yearning for all the times she’d gone down there for her and Emily’s paint-reeking astrology club sessions.

She sniffed. Then scrunched up her nose. Never mind – actually, she hadn’t missed the odors all that much.

When she entered the crafts class, she was greeted by a whopping crowd of one whole person. Calling it “greeting” was also a stretch, because this sole person was too engrossed in cutting some fabric on the floor, surrounded by a sea of pastel cloth oozing all around them, to notice her entering.

Hiromi cleared her throat, rousing the person from their concentration. She had most definitely never seen this one before: a wild hair of half blue, half purple; red, scar-like streaks across the eyes; and an outfit that she could only have described as reminiscent of edgy goth fashion from two decades ago. She had no idea what she was even looking at right now.

“Um,” she began. “I’m here for the bake sale preparations?” The intonation of her utterance turned into a question, the whole scene in front of her too absurd for absolutes.

The person on the floor raised their yellow eyes at her. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you!” They dropped the scissors and sprang up in all their J-rock-esque glory. “You came for the measurements, right?”

“I guess? What kind of measurements are we even talking about here? I was only asked to become a vendor yesterday.”

“That’s fine, I’ll just take your measurements for the costume. All the class vendors will wear matching clothing, that’s why.” With that, they grabbed a tape measure off the messy floor.

This was when it finally clicked for Hiromi. “Oh, your club is sewing outfits for the bake sale?” Frankly, it hadn’t even crossed her mind that it was going to be a costume party, let alone that the costumes would be made by students.

“Yeah – or, well, I am. Could you raise your arms? A bit higher, yes, that’s enough.”

“You are?” Hiromi repeated while this flamboyant gothic scarecrow was working the measure on her torso with the ease of someone who did this all day long.

“I do all the outfits.”

“All alone?!”

“Yeah, or with one other person – if he shows up. Either way, it will get a bit busy. But I’ll manage. The dress is going to look fantastic on you, you’re so small and cute. The name is Tsuki, by the way.” No more than a few quick rounds of tape measure around and along Hiromi’s upper body and they were already done, lightning fast. Tsuki proceeded to scribble the numbers down in a notebook from memory.

“I’m Hiromi. You’re seriously making outfits for all the bake sale participants? Isn’t there anyone else in this club?”

“Well, there is, but…” Tsuki screwed their neck right and looked across the classroom; Hiromi followed their gaze and saw a red velvet curtain partitioning the far back corner of the room. She hadn’t had any textile crafts classes yet, she’d picked the woodwork elective instead, so the space was unfamiliar to her. “We don’t really, um, get along, so he’s focusing on other things.”

“And that’s it? Are there only two people in this club?”

“Three, actually, though even that is a bit… I mean, I wanted to join a crafts club and this other guy wanted a cooking club, but there were no other members for either at the time, so we agreed to use a joint space. That over there is his part of the club.” While talking, Tsuki had swiftly begun working on the pattern for Hiromi’s up-coming outfit. She was beginning to see why producing all the outfits was no big deal for this person.

How absurd, to combine two completely random clubs because neither had any members. Hiromi was rather glad that no such thing had been suggested for the astrology club, for she couldn’t have imagined herself in charge of something like an astrology & acting club – or astrology & anime? Astrology & acroyoga?

“Sorry, but that sounds incredibly stupid,” she couldn’t help commenting. Promptly, she made her way across the room to see this mysterious curtain-clad corner. “And who is this douche refusing to cooperate with you, anyway?”

“Olivier Bohringer from 1-A.”

“Ah. That explains it.” The green-haired snob from her class. Knowing that this was the rich boy’s lair, tossing that curtain aside felt like a felony of some sort.

She did it anyway, indeed revealing a miniature kitchen hidden in the back of the textile crafts room. Well, it looked inoffensive enough, not very secretive at all; the strangest part was an unnecessarily large copy of the Raft of Medusa adorning a wall, a poster set in comically large, gilded frames next to the portable stove. This backdrop made no sense to her, but perhaps it made perfect sense to Olivier. To pretend that his make-shift kitchen in a random classroom was a miniature Louvre or whatever.

This corner was also inexplicably clean compared to the chaos of Tsuki’s side of the textiles room. The only thing out of order was a stack of something on the floor, and Hiromi quickly realized she knew what it was, for she’d seen these things in passing in the 1-A homeroom many times. They were bars of chocolate. She’d seen these square packages appear on Olivier’s desk seemingly out of nowhere, and now a whole stack of unopened ones sat here in the corner of this classroom. Knowing the boy’s tastes, it must have been some rare brand that cost a fortune, but for some god-forsaken reason, each and every bar came with a tacky sticker slapped on top. Obviously added after purchasing the chocolates, most of the stickers were all jazzy and colorful in all shades of the rainbow and featured random and mostly utterly idiotic words that Hiromi could only assume were intended to be pick-up lines.

The sticker gracing the otherwise dark square slab sitting atop the stack that she was now critically staring down at said: “Here I am! What are your other 2 wishes?”

Hiromi quietly pulled the curtain back in place. She felt a headache coming. This had been enough weird for one day; she chose to ignore having ever witnessed this nonsense.

“Do you want to know what the vendor’s outfits are going to look like once finished?” Tsuki asked her from the other side of the room. They’d calmly carried on working the patterns, not moving from their workstation.

“Yeah, of course.” Realizing only now how silly it had been to not inquire what she’d be putting on in the first place, she returned to the handicraft genius who whipped out a sketch of the costume to come.

Like most students, Hiromi had her own locker at school. It was located at the very end of the main corridor on the ground floor, behind a door that led to some bathrooms and a cleaning closet. It was a nook that nobody visited by accident.

One morning, as usual, she pushed the unnecessarily weighty door open to access her locker. She habitually carried library books in her backpack, and to avoid making the bag too heavy, she fetched the day’s school textbooks from the locker instead. She always finished her homework at school, rendering it unnecessary to carry any textbooks home at the end of the day – unless the exam week was coming up, which it would in a month’s time. Then she’d take her books to revise everything at home.

She pried the locker door open with the small key attached. She’d never bothered locking it; nothing worth stealing about the same old textbooks everyone else in the school used. Expecting nothing but the usual stack inside, what she saw first thing this time gave her pause. There was an envelope on top of her books.

What the…? She grabbed the intruding object, frowning. It was pink with a streak of glitter across and had nothing written on it. She pulled a piece of paper out.

The letter, if it could be called that, contained exactly one sentence. Come behind the minigolf booth at noon on Saturday. That’s it. She didn’t recognize the ugly handwriting, there was no signature anywhere, nothing.

She did know one minigolf booth, at the park she’d been walking her dog recently. This sounded like a vague threat, or maybe just an odd invitation – to do minigolf? Golf wasn’t very threatening. And who would leave such a message here?

Hiromi crumpled the paper and stuck it in her pocket, wondering whether it would be wise to tell anyone about it or not. Bored teenagers spread gossip like wildfire in this school.