Chapter Text
It had been a while since Takao had felt this restless with excitement, unable to sit still as he waited. He tried passing the time with some quick kendo training, but after realizing a few minutes into it that he was just repeating the same move, Takao decided to switch gears and turn his focus towards something a little more apropos. Freeing Dragoon from its place in Takao’s arm pouch, he quickly loaded his beyblade onto his launcher, standing above the practice beystadium in his backyard to ensure his grandfather wouldn’t have a reason to scold him later for scuffing up the dojo whenever Takao’s training got out of hand.
As Dragoon practically flew across the concave interior of the dish, however, Takao’s thoughts began drifting again, stomach churning with nerves. It had already been over a year since his clash with Brooklyn and the consequential damages that the city and Chairman Daitenji’s BBA suffered, but a lot had changed since then. Takao wasn’t able to see much of his old teammates these days, but they still kept in touch wherever they were with a few get-togethers now and then, some that other teams took turns hosting. The city had come to see steady but certain improvement from the destruction that had transpired, and the re-established BBA had begun working its way back up to its former glory. With that, however, also came some exciting news that had beyblade fans across the world buzzing with anticipation. It was news that left Takao restless with growing nerves and excitement that had increased with each passing day as the event drew nearer.
With only a few days to go, Takao was now anxiously waiting for his old BBA teammates’ arrivals. Chairman Daitenji, from what few tidbits he was willing to impart onto a very persistent Takao, had made a point of emphasizing a full team’s participation in the rumored beyblade tournament to come when the invitations had been sent out. It stated that further details would be shared once all the participating teams were gathered prior to the tournament’s official start, but Takao was already excited by the prospect of it—especially with that particular requirement outlined.
Of course, as most teams tended to consist of four members, Takao couldn’t help but feel bad and a little awkward breaking the news to Daichi of Takao reuniting with his original teammates for the event to come. After a lot of bickering and squabbling over the matter for a time, however, Daichi seemed reasonably content with being their back up player, in the chance something rendered Takao or the others unable to contend. He would at least be able to attend and spectate whatever was to come with Kyoujyu and Hiromi.
Takao took his eyes off of Dragoon as he looked around behind him. Speaking of them—it was unusual that neither of the three had arrived already, especially knowing that his old teammates were coming from outside Japan. Max had been spending a lot of time in America with his mom as of late, and Kai—well, Takao could only assume he was coming from out of the country. The guy wordlessly came and went wherever and whenever he pleased, so no one could blame Takao for not being able to keep tabs on him.
Last he heard, Rei had been visiting his home village in China with the rest of the White Tigers. Takao felt his stomach turn suddenly at the thought of the other blader, and Dragoon spun out at the bottom of the dish at that moment, having run out of stamina with Takao’s lack of focus certainly not helping. Takao stared down at his immobile beyblade with a sigh before stooping to pick it up, feeling annoyed with himself.
It had been a few months since he had last seen Rei; why were his emotions acting up like this again? Takao thought the distance between them—both figuratively and literally—would have quelled the aches in his chest whenever he let his mind become overrun with his former teammate. Of course, he had also thought the same thing after the BBA team had gone their separate ways after he won his first title as world champion, and then the same for the year after that, and then the year after that—well, Rei had decided to go off with the White Tigers for that world championship, and while it hurt Takao for his teammates to distance themselves, he had tried looking on the brighter side when it came to Rei’s separation. Yet here Takao was, the same flutter in his chest like back when he first realized his feelings towards Rei had changed into…something more.
“Takao? Are you there?”
His insides momentarily went cold when he recognized that voice. Swallowing thickly, Takao quickly placed Dragoon back into his pouch before turning to face Rei as the other blader made his way around to the backyard in search of him. Takao put on a characteristic jovial smile once their eyes met, but his nerves were shot. Why did Rei have to be the first one to arrive? Takao had been expecting Kyoujyu or Hiromi, Max or Daichi—maybe even Kai, as mysterious as his entrances and exits were.
“Hey, Rei! It’s been a while!” Takao walked up to the Chinese blader before they clasped hands in greeting. On the outside Takao was fine, grinning and nodding as Rei spoke of his travels to get there, but his insides were squirming. Takao felt annoyed with himself, exhaling sharply under his breath as he and Rei retired to the dojo’s interior to wait for the others.
Rei was his friend—his good friend, in spite of the distance that had grown between them all, so it made no sense for Takao to feel so uncharacteristically flustered around him. Maybe the distance was the reason, Takao thought to himself. He just needed time to get used to Rei again, and sure, every once in a while Takao might act a little squirrelly around him, but that would be much better than whatever was going on with him now.
“Are you okay?” Rei asked with a concerned furrow in his brow upon noticing Takao’s silence. “I’m not boring you, am I?”
Takao’s head quickly shot up to meet Rei’s eyes. “Huh? Oh—no! Not at all.” He let out a laugh. “You were saying you came with the White Tigers?”
“Yeah.” Rei nodded at this with a smile. “They’re participating as well, so it just made sense for them to come along with me.”
“Where are they now? Staying at a hotel?”
Rei nodded again. “They’ve gone ahead to where we’re all going to be staying once this tournament thing starts. Speaking of—heard anything more about it?”
“Noo!” Takao’s head flopped forward in a dejected manner before peeking up at Rei. “I’ve been asking and asking, but they finally told me I had to stop or I wouldn’t be able to participate!”
“Hah! How would the great Kinomiya Takao be able to come out on top then? Maybe I can become the champion with you on the bench.”
Takao gave him a little smirk. “Hey, I’d gladly give up winning more titles if it means I can still play on the same team as you.” Thinking his wording may have been too specifically geared towards Rei, Takao quickly added, “And Kai and Max, of course. The whole gang!”
“Yeah,” Rei smiled. “The whole gang. I’m surprised I’m the first one here.” He glanced around the empty dojo before looking back at Takao, who gave a small shrug as he averted his gaze. Secretly Takao wished Kyoujyu or Max would show up already to lighten things up a tad—not that he wasn’t enjoying Rei’s company, but Takao was just feeling hyperaware of everything he was doing and saying around the other blader.
“Eh, I’m sure the rest are on their way! If Daichi crosses paths with Hiromi on the way over, we’ll hear their bickering from miles away while Kyoujyu tries and fails to diffuse the situation.” Takao snickered at this.
“Max will be a little more subtle with his entrance, but I feel like we’ll still definitely be able to hear him when he gets here.” Rei joined in on the theorizing with a grin, appearing to recount some of Max’s more rambunctious tendencies depending on his mood.
Takao sat up a little straighter as his smile widened. “And once everyone’s already here, Kai will just appear out of nowhere without a word, being all moody in one of the corners. I swear, that guy can phase in and out of walls or something. Here one second, gone in the next!”
“No, yeah, that sounds like Kai.” Rei chuckled at this, leaning back a bit. “He’s definitely lightened up some though, huh? From when we first met him, at least.”
“I guess you’re right.” Takao thought about his last interactions with the aloof blader as he crossed his arms. “I mean, as much as a guy like Kai can lighten up.”
Rei, leaning back on his elbows now, didn’t say anything in response but acknowledged Takao with a smile and nod. Takao in turn scratched at his cheek, feeling a lull in the conversation creeping onto them as he wracked his brain for another topic. Just as he was about to ask Rei about the White Tigers, both paused as they heard the distant sounds of conversation around the front of Takao’s house. They looked at one another in pleasant surprise before quickly getting to their feet and heading out to see who all had arrived, soon spotting Kyoujyu, Hiromi, and Daichi crossing beneath the archway. Just as Takao had predicted, Hiromi and Daichi were squabbling as Kyoujyu could only awkwardly trail after them, soon perking once he noticed Takao and Rei.
“Guys!” The relief was evident in his voice, and Hiromi turned her attention away from Daichi to look, soon smiling as she waved at them. Just like that, the bickering had come to an end as the trio walked over to meet them.
“Hey! You finally made it.” Takao grinned around at them as Rei exchanged his greetings as well. “You guys didn’t happen to spot Maxie on the way over, did you? Maybe even Kai?”
“What, are we not good enough for you?” Hiromi teased with an arch of her brow.
“Besides, wouldn’t we have come along with them if we had seen them?” Daichi prompted as he crossed his arms behind his head.
“Max? Yes. Kai? Maybe not.” Rei tilted his head, catching Takao’s eyes and prompting the two of them to chuckle as they recalled their earlier conversation.
Daichi scrunched his nose. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” Takao waved a hand with a smile before addressing them fully. “Well, let’s go wait in the dojo for now. I can go grab us some tea or something.”
“I’ll come with you,” Rei said as the group began heading inside. Takao gave his teammate a look of appreciation, ignoring the flutter in his chest as he guided the rest inside. Once the trio was situated, Takao and Rei moved towards the main part of the house to fetch the refreshments while they waited.
“Is your grandpa out?” Rei asked, giving the place a onceover as he followed Takao into the kitchen.
“Yeah, he’s running some errands…I think.” Takao’s brow furrowed as he thought about it for a second before shrugging, soon moving around the kitchen to grab what he needed. Glancing over at Rei, he watched the other blader look around the kitchen with some familiarity, and Takao recalled once more how long it had been since he last had Rei or any of the BBA team members over.
“Need help?” Rei walked over to Takao as said blader finished placing the mugs of tea and plates of snacks onto a tray.
“Nah, I got it—” Takao had just gone to pick it up, but Rei swooped it out from under him, flashing him a cheeky grin as he started heading back towards the dojo with the tray in his hands. Takao blinked after him, feeling a bit of warmth in his cheeks before shaking it off and following Rei. Trust him to usurp Takao’s role as the hospitable host to play the gracious guest.
“Hey, guys!” Hiromi looked around at them as they re-entered the dojo. “Look who finally made it.”
Takao’s brows rose at her exclamation before noticing the familiar blond sitting among them, a grin erupting across Takao’s face that was mirrored on Max’s expression upon the two noticing one another.
“Maxie!” He was glad that Rei had taken the tray now, as the two of them quickly collided in a tight hug. “Geez, what took you so long?”
“Oh, a little of this, a little of that.” Max laughed before turning to greet Rei. “Hey! How were things back home?”
“Everything’s been great, honestly.” Rei smiled. “The White Tigers have been great, Mao’s been great—”
“Oh my gosh, Mao!” Hiromi perked at the sound of her friend’s name as Takao’s insides went a little cold as confusion took over. Why had Rei felt the need to single her out? “I haven’t been able to see her in a while. She’s gonna be in the tournament with the rest of her team, right?”
“For sure. Everyone’s looking forward to it…”
Takao involuntarily tuned out the rest of the conversation as he sat down, Max settling beside him. His heart was pounding as various thoughts and theories tumbled through his head. Were Rei and Mao together? That honestly shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but… Takao swallowed thickly, aware that Max was looking at him a little curiously. Takao smiled in what he hoped was a normal manner before looking back at him.
“What’s up, Max?”
“You doing okay?” His blond eyebrows rose a tad as he asked, concern evident in his eyes. Takao waved a hand as though it would wave the bad thoughts in his head away as well.
“I’m fine! How’ve you been? How was America?”
“Oh, good.” Takao could tell Max was still a little thrown by his abrupt change in attitude. “It’s kind of hard going back and forth between America and Japan, but it’s worth it to be able to see both of my parents, you know?”
“Totally.” Takao nodded a little too emphatically, still trying to tune out whatever it was that Rei and Hiromi were discussing. He hoped they still weren’t talking about Mao. Takao had nothing against her; he just didn’t want to know if she and Rei were finally together just yet.
“So…” Max leaned back on his hands, glancing around at the others in the misshapen circle they were all sitting in. Takao noticed Max had sit in such a way that left a spot open. “I take it Kai hasn’t shown up yet?”
“Nah.” Takao gave a small shrug, resting his elbow on his thigh so he could prop his chin onto his palm. “You know how he is, Max; the guy is an enigma.”
“Heh, yeah.” Max had put on a smile, but Takao thought he might have looked a little disappointed. His eyebrows knitted together, but he didn’t have further time to dwell on it before he realized Daichi was calling out to him.
“Hey! Are you even listening?”
“Huh?”
“I was asking about the tournament, you goof.”
“What about the tournament, squirt?”
Daichi gave a little sniff, arms crossing. “The details! What’s it all about? There’s no way this is replacing the world championships, right?”
“I know just as much about it as you, Daichi.” Takao crossed his arms in return. “Trust me, I’ve tried weaseling out all I can before they told me to lay off. I don’t need to remind you what we already discussed, do I?”
The younger blader, sitting cross-legged, began bouncing one of his knees up and down impatiently. “Geez, you’d think they would’ve told you more, of all people.”
Takao shrugged as he looked down at the floor. “I’ll be finding out when everyone else is, I guess. I know Chairman Daitenji isn’t replacing the world championships, though. This is probably something to commemorate how far the BBA’s come over the past year.”
This caused the others to launch into another conversation, one where they recounted all that had happened as well as theories about what the upcoming tournament would fully consist of with such an emphasis on teamsmanship. Takao was only partially listening to their exchange, glad that the topic was no longer revolving around Rei’s potential romantic relationship. Noticing that Max didn’t seem to be part of the conversation either, Takao chanced a glance at his friend.
Max only appeared to be half-listening as well. Occasionally he would smile and nod as one of the others prompted him for a response, otherwise Max toyed with one of his shoelaces while glancing around the dojo every now and then. In one of these instances, he caught Takao’s eyes. The two gave one another a brief smile before Takao shrugged one of his shoulders, Max’s smile widening a tad as he seemed to understand. Both were glad to be in the company of their friends, but it seemed like their thoughts were preoccupied with other things—things that might not have had to do with the special event.
Takao released a quiet sigh before trying to engage himself in the conversations taking place, taking a peek at Rei as he was listening to something Kyoujyu was saying. There was a tight feeling in his chest as he watched the other blader. Things were less than ideal now, sure, with Takao feeling like his secret pining for Rei was getting in the way of his focus and excitement for what lay ahead of them, but he knew from experience his surge of emotions would eventually settle after acclimating to Rei’s presence again.
Certainly, the potential news of him and Mao had, strangely, blindsided Takao, but he was determined to prevent that from putting a damper on things and getting in the way of his and Rei’s friendship. He couldn’t afford to lose his focus when a widely anticipated beyblading tournament was nearly upon them—one that Takao knew he needed to give his all if he didn’t want to let his teammates down.
Max was a little glad to see he wasn’t the only one feeling a little out of it within their group. Takao seemed strangely subdued for a moment there, and while eventually he regained his usual composure, Max still got the sense something was a little off with him. Of what, he couldn’t know for sure, but now certainly wasn’t the time to pester Takao about something he might not even want to talk about.
While Takao seemed to be working through his own issues, Max knew what his problem was. His decision to travel between America and Japan was definitely one that had cost him time with his good friends, but Max had come to make peace with that decision, knowing everyone else had their own stuff going on and that they would always remain friends. The problem was that while everyone else kept in contact with him without issue, Kai seemed to want to be left alone. Well, no—that wasn’t entirely true. Once in a blue moon Max would receive a response from Kai in the form of a letter or email, but their contents always divulged little of the ongoings of his former captain’s life.
Fed up with this, there had been one instant where Max had been able to get the number of Kai’s current place of residence at the time, thanks to a slightly irate Yuriy after a lot of persistence on Max’s end. When Kai had answered and realized who he was speaking with, Max had partially expected the older blader to immediately hang up after he got over the shock of actually speaking with Kai after so long. He, admittedly, had harbored a tiny suspicion that Yuriy might have fed him some made-up number to get Max off his back.
When Kai stayed on the line, however, Max had seized the opportunity to get what information he could—how Kai was doing, what all he was up to, where had he been… Things that Kai had no issue asking Max about the few times he responded, always careful to avoid sharing too much of his own life. It kind of hurt, like Kai thought Max wasn’t a good enough companion to speak to about personal stuff despite all they and the other BBA members had been through, and Max had unintentionally blurted this out during their phone call. Before Kai could even respond, however, Max had quickly brushed past it into another random discussion, hoping Kai would let it slide without acknowledging it.
He did, much to Max’s relief, but after their call finally ended with Kai reminding him of the difference in their time zones, Max felt frustrated with himself. Mostly because of his stupid and embarrassing confession about his bruised ego, but also because he forgot to ask Kai about the possibility of more phone conversations if he was going to remain brief in their written correspondence. With his former captain as aloof as he was, Max doubted the number Yuriy had given him was reliable for future use. He had tried calling it again a few days later, but all he got was an automated voice telling him it was no longer in service. It only brought him little comfort to know that Kai was just as stingy with the details of his personal life when it came to Takao and Rei as well, as he had brought this up to them last they saw each other, but Max didn’t understand why Kai always had to remain at arm’s length, never really letting anyone close.
It was something that Max had wanted to work his way up to talking about when he saw Kai in person, but it looked like he wasn’t going to get that chance. While Takao seemed distracted in his own right, Max knew what was troubling him, but he didn’t really know why. Why was it bugging him this much that Kai hadn’t bothered to show up? He had wanted to see Kai with the others, wanted to talk to him, but his absence shouldn’t be affecting Max as much as it was.
Maybe—and this was an extraordinarily embarrassing thing for him to consider—Max thought he had started to have something special with Kai the way the others had. Takao and Kai had their intense rivalry going on since the moment they met, going head-to-head and bringing out the best in each other during their beybattles, even if they often didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye on a personal level. Rei and Kai shared a common ground in their personalities, their ability to remain cool and levelheaded, and it didn’t hurt that Rei often gave him a run for his money in battle either. And what was Max to Kai compared to all of that? Some loud-mouthed kid that got lucky in one beybattle against him ages ago? He was stupid to think one phone conversation he got that Takao and Rei didn’t was going to change that.
“I think it’s time for us to start heading back,” Kyoujyu announced as he got to his feet, his beloved laptop clutched in his grip. Max blinked, pulled from his thoughts as he looked around and realized evening was already almost fully upon them.
“Yeah.” Hiromi got up in agreement, stretching her arms above her head before looking down at the rest. “What about you guys? Gonna stick around a little longer to discuss tournament strats?”
“Maybe,” Takao hummed after looking between Rei and Max.
“I’ll go ahead and excuse myself, then,” Daichi grumbled as he got to his feet as well. Max gave him a sympathetic smile as Takao reached out to him.
“Come on, Daichi, we talked about this!” He flashed the younger blader a grin. “You’re still a member of the team. You know—one of the guys!”
“Ugh, don’t start with that sap.” Daichi gave an exaggerated shudder before smirking at Takao. “Even if we don’t know what to expect, none of you guys better start slacking, or I might just be a playing member after all!”
Takao returned the look before waving his hand at them toward the door. “Yeah, yeah. Hurry and run along home now.”
Daichi stuck his tongue out at him before darting from the dojo, Hiromi and Kyoujyu giving their proper farewells before taking their leave. The original members of the BBA team remained where they sat, Takao flopping onto his back with a sigh as Rei spoke up.
“I wonder if maybe Daichi really will end up being our fourth member.” His eyebrows rose in a pointed manner, and both Max and Takao knew what he was referring to—or rather, who he was referring to.
“Hm.” Takao propped himself up a bit onto his elbows. “We never really did get a definite confirmation from Kai, huh?”
“He’ll be there,” Max found himself saying assuredly. “He might not have shown today, but Kai will be there.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time he’s crossed over, though.” Takao gave a wry smile at the memory of Kai’s ever-changing allegiance in the past. “What’s another stab in the back, huh?”
Max bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from blurting out the first thing that popped into his head in order to defend Kai, wary that he’ll end up embarrassing himself. Instead he said, “Hey, Kai’s different now! Besides, I thought the two of you were getting along pretty well these days—err, whenever it was you two saw each other last.”
Takao looked over at him with an apologetic smile, apparently having noticed Max’s initial reaction to his snark. “I was just kidding around, Max. And yeah, I guess… It’s just annoying that he keeps to himself most of the time, especially during times like these when it’d be really great if he’d get involved every once in a while!”
Max blinked at Takao’s suddenly very pointed tone of voice, both him and Rei following Takao’s line of sight and jumping upon noticing Kai lingering in the doorway, silent and his expression as impassive as ever.
“Kai!” Max exclaimed excitedly before he could help it. Beside him, Takao looked over at Rei with a grin and said, “What’d I tell ya?” Part of Max was a little confused at the apparently private exchange between the two of them, but he was mostly focused on Kai soundlessly moving over to join them on the floor, taking the spot on Max’s other side with his arm coming to rest on his elevated knee.
“Thank you for finally gracing us with your presence.” Takao gave an ironic little bow of his head and gesture of his hand as though Kai was royalty.
“We were starting to think you weren’t gonna make it.” Rei smiled across at him. “You just missed the others.”
“I’ll live,” Kai said at last, eyes closing briefly for a moment. Max took this as a quick opportunity to study him, wondering if Kai had just flown in from out of the country before making his way over. He thought he could see some dark circles beneath Kai’s eyes, but the shadows his long bangs were casting made it hard to tell.
“How have you been, Kai?” Max prompted, moving to cross his legs and lean towards him a little. “Did you just get back to Japan?”
Kai opened his eyes, meeting Max’s briefly before he looked elsewhere. “Fine,” he replied, apparently choosing to ignore Max’s second question as though even that much was too personal for him to know. Max felt a small pang of disappointment at how closed off he was being, but at least Kai had shown up after all, right?
“Good to see you too, old pal o’ mine,” Takao said a little sarcastically before sitting up a tad. “So, you haven’t heard much else about this upcoming tourney, have you?”
“Not more than what most people already know.”
“Hm…” Max could tell that maybe Takao had been thinking that somehow Kai would know more than they did, which wasn’t exactly farfetched of him. Max wouldn’t have been surprised if Kai did.
“Well, whatever it is, I’m sure all this mystery and suspense will be worth it,” Rei mused before looking over at Takao. “Didn’t you say something about some invite confirmations coming in today from other teams?”
Takao perked up. “Oh, yeah! That much the chairman could share with me, but…probably because the participating teams would be announced in the news anyway.” He rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle.
“Ooh!” Max’s brows shot upwards. “Who all are supposed to be coming? I haven’t really heard anything yet.” He had been a little preoccupied with other things to be paying much attention to the news.
“Let’s see… The White Tigers, of course, then there’s the PPB All Starz, F-Sangre… I’m pretty sure the Battalion is coming as well. I think Chairman Daitenji is still waiting to hear back from Neo Borg and the Euro Team, though.”
“Wow,” Rei grinned, “seems like we’ll have some pretty decent competition.”
“Hell yeah!” Takao smacked his palm with his fist. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a beybattle in an official setting… I can’t wait to see what this tournament’s gonna be all about.”
“Especially since it sounds like it’s really gonna be team-oriented.” Max glanced around at them all with a grin. “We’ve got this in the bag, right?” He involuntarily looked briefly at Kai, who he thought might have given him a twitch of a smile in encouragement before Max averted his gaze. He didn’t want it to seem like he was fixating on him.
“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, now.” Rei chuckled to indicate he was mostly joking rather than outright denying their abilities as a team. “We do know that the other teams we’ll be facing off against have a history as well, so we don’t necessarily have an advantage.”
“I say we do!”
“Rei’s right,” Kai interjected before Takao could launch into a spiel about love and friendship overcoming all obstacles. “We’re not going to be doing ourselves any favors by getting a big head and underestimating our opponents, even if this is some off-tournament.”
“Kai has a point,” Max piped up, having noticed the twitching in Takao’s eye. “Him and Rei both do. We can be cautious and have fun with the other teams! Right, Takao?”
Takao grumbled under his breath. “I guess…”
“Speaking of history among teams…” Rei pushed himself upright. “I’ll probably start heading back now. I’m staying with the White Tigers for the moment.”
“Oh, okay.” Max noticed Takao’s demeanor change slightly at this. Maybe he had imagined the slump in his friend’s shoulders.
“I guess I’ll head home, too.” Max got to his feet as well, as did Kai. “But we’ll be meeting up again soon, right? At the new BBA building?”
“Definitely.” Takao gave a firm nod of his head, but Max could still see a trace of lingering disappointment in his eyes. He frowned a little to himself as the four began heading out of the dojo and around to the front of the Kinomiya residence to bid their temporary farewells. Max hesitated, looking between Takao and his off mood and Kai’s steadily retreating back as his teammates were starting to go their separate ways.
“Something the matter, Max?” Takao had taken notice of his hesitance, an eyebrow raised.
“Um…” Max glanced between the two before angling his body away. “Nothing! I’ll—I’ll talk to you later, Takao!”
Max felt guilty as he jogged to catch up to Kai. He swore he would check in on Takao first thing the next day, but the opportunities to speak with Kai were far and few between. It didn’t help that he had shown up towards the end of it all.
“Kai!” Max called out as he caught up to him, surprised at how breathless he was from the distance he had to close. He just pegged it on Kai’s height; his longer legs definitely gave him an unfair advantage. “Wait up!”
Kai didn’t stop outright, but he slowed a little and looked out of the corner of his eyes down at Max in acknowledgement.
“Can I walk with you?” Max asked, giving him a smile. “I just—We didn’t really have a time to catch up back there.”
Kai looked forward again, his demeanor unchanged. “Okay,” he said simply, and he continued to walk at his original pace with Max cheerfully tagging along beside him.
“So…” Max fell into step with him. “How was the flight over?”
“Fine.”
“Anything interesting happen?”
“No.”
“Are you excited about the tournament?”
Max had to look up at him when he didn’t receive a verbal response. He thought Kai might have shrugged at the question, but if he did, the action had been as half-assed as the answers he was giving. Max couldn’t help but sigh a little to himself, wondering if Kai would be just as resistant had it been Rei or Takao talking to him. Still, Max remained undeterred. Kai was still one of his good friends, even if the feeling may not have exactly been mutual.
“How have you been, Max?”
The question momentarily threw him through a loop, having expected them to walk in silence from then on. Max quickly recovered, however; this is what Kai had done during their phone call and previous times they had spoken with one another: carefully evade prying questions about himself but lend a quiet ear to listen in return.
“Good! I’ve been good.” Max smiled, happy that the conversation hadn’t trailed off into silence. “Great, actually. It’s nice being back home, and I’m psyched about the tourney. Especially with the four of us back together again.”
He grinned up at Kai as he said this, and Kai glanced down at him with a slight tilt of his eyebrow as though amused by Max’s eagerness for camaraderie. Max took this as a good sign and considered his next question, wondering if it still might be too personal for Kai’s very specific taste.
“Do you think Neo Borg will end up participating?” He chanced another glance at Kai, who gave a low hum of consideration.
“Maybe. If they’ve been willing enough to show up to mingle at those little parties the other teams have hosted in the past, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be interested in this. Not when there’s competitive beyblading involved, at least.”
“That’s a good point.” Max had already assumed Kai was in regular contact with the Russian bladers what with Yuriy’s previous help getting his temporary number, and him being aware of Neo Borg’s presence at the get-togethers while Kai himself had been absent seemed to further confirm that. He wondered why the same couldn’t be applied to him and the rest of the BBA members.
Max blinked when he noticed Kai had come to a stop. He realized they had reached an intersection, and Kai seemed unwilling to go further as though he might end up revealing exactly where it was he was staying for the time being. Max wanted to talk for a while longer, but he decided not to push his luck.
“So, guess I’ll see you later?” His statement ended up hanging in the air as a question, the note of uncertainty indicative of Max’s doubt that Kai may or may not show up to the event after all.
“Yeah. At the new BBA building.”
Max smiled at this, pleasantly surprised when Kai gave a small one in return. “Yeah?”
Kai nodded before averting his gaze, his chin tucking further behind his trademark scarf so Max could no longer tell if he was still smiling or not. With his own grin still on his face, Max tucked his hands into his pockets.
“Then I’ll see you there.”
Kai gave another nod before turning to leave, Max watching him go for a little while longer. The ends of his scarf trailed after him, and they were the last things Max saw of the other blader as he turned the corner, out of sight. It wasn’t the deeply fulfilling conversation Max had hoped to have, but it was better than having gotten nothing at all. Besides, there would be more opportunities now that the original BBA team was back together, and if Kai really wanted Max to leave him alone and back off, he would have no trouble letting that be known.
Max turned to leave himself, his smile still lingering on his face, before he stopped short, just then realizing where he was.
“Ahh…dammit.”
In his haste to catch up with Kai, Max had let the other blader lead him in the exact opposite direction of where his dad’s house was.