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“Come on, pleaseeeee! Will you please wrap my present for me?”
“For the last time, Daichi, no,” Hiromi tutted as she continued to prepare the main room for the guests due to arrive in just a couple of hours. “I’ll help you hold everything in place as you tie the bow, but I won’t do the entire thing for you.”
“But I don’t know how to wrap presents!”
“Then I’ll teach you.”
“No, Max tried to teach me before. And it still looked butt-ugly.”
Hiromi set out a few more pillows for people to sit on near the holiday dragon. In place of a fir tree, the likes of which had recently become more common in public spaces in Japan around this time of year, Grandpa Ryu had suggested setting up something more… non-denominational. Although the team had been skeptical at first, with Takao actively lamenting how “uncool” the idea was, they were more taken by the concept once they laid eyes on the intricately carved skeletal wooden dragon. By the time the dragon had been fully decorated with glittering lights and tinsel and colorful temari, the team could not imagine having anything else to ring in the new year.
“I bet it looked much better than you think,” she reassured him as she carefully replaced one of the fallen pieces of tinsel on the dragon.
“No it didn’t!” Daichi fell backward to the floor, arms out wide as he stared at the ceiling in defeat, the triumphant wrapping paper still in a roll in front of him. “If I wrap it myself everyone is going to know it’s my present! And I want to keep it secret!”
“You don’t know that that’s true, Daichi,” Kyouju chimed in as he peered his head into the room. “People might confuse your present with Takao’s.”
“My gift wrapping isn’t as bad as his!” Daichi shouted just as Takao joined in unison from elsewhere in the dojo.
Hiromi chuckled as she came over to sit properly on her knees in front of Daichi and the devious wrapping paper.
“Alright, come on, up, up!” She clapped her hands twice, and the boy sprang up to sit like a jack-in-the-box. “Let’s get this done! We’ll have your gift looking better than Taka’s in no time.”
For the next twenty five minutes, while Kyouju, Takao, and Kai prepared the outdoor garden for the inevitable beybattles, Hiromi proceeded to give detailed instructions to Daichi as he wrestled — sometimes quite literally — with the wrapping paper around the gigantic stuffed plush that he had picked out as a gift for Mathilda. Despite his complaints, the final product came out better than either of them had expected, and Hiromi was only too happy to help.
Anything to distract her from her own gift and its intended recipient.
With the return of Grandfather Ryu, Mr. Dickinson, Max, and Rei with food, the group set to finalizing the preparations for the party. To Hiromi’s relief, time flew by without her even noticing. Soon guests began to arrive, either alone or in small groups. Given that the Beyblade Summit had taken place in Tokyo that year, they expected quite the full house.
The Saint Shields showed up first, even before the scheduled start time, with Ozuma explaining that they wanted to enjoy the garden and the holiday atmosphere “unspoiled”, before the other teams ruined it with their noisy presence. F-Sangre were not too far behind, the large mysterious bag that Raul had in tow an indication that the twins might showcase a new act once the party picked up. The Blitzkrieg Boys had brought two mysterious bags of their own. One was, to the delight of Takao and Max in particular, stuffed to the brim with Russian foods the team had packed with them. The other, much to Takao and Max’s horrified surprise, simply contained Ivan. And while the two boys, distracted, recovered from their near-heart attacks, with a wink Sergei slipped Hiromi a small neatly packed parcel that contained her own personal stash of her favorite zephyr desserts.
The White Tigers and the PPB All Starz rolled in together, all riled up and a little roughed up, suggesting they had run into each other on the way to the party and squeezed in a beybattle or two. The Majestics were the last to arrive, fashionably late to being fashionably late. But the tiered holiday cake made by Olivier — each layer featuring elements of everyone’s home countries and decorated with tiny chocolate replicas of their bit-beasts, with Mount Fuji crowning the very top — got everyone’s attention and made for a more than impressive entrance. And in-between all of the teams, their other friends from years of beyblading together, joined the party.
Hiromi, along with Max and eventually Mathilda and Raul, had assumed the role of greeters at the entrance, making sure everyone knew their way around the dojo before letting them loose at the party. It gave her something to do and kept her from stealing glances at her gift — although she still wondered if she should hide it or swap it out for something else at the last minute.
No, she tried to convince herself. It will be fine. He’ll like the gift. It wouldn’t have made sense to get him anything else.
But her stomach still twisted nervously when she answered the door to find Zeo Zagart standing outside.
“Hi, Hiromi! It’s been a while.” He greeted her with a nervous but nonetheless warm smile. “Thank you so much for inviting me.”
“Of course!” Hiromi quickly got her anxieties under control and ushered him inside. “It’s good to see you, Zeo, I’m so glad you could make it.”
Of course she was glad that he came out to the party. They had lost touch after that fateful world championship six years ago, until Zeo had reached out to the Bladebreakers after the BEGA incident. He had been worried that they would not want to speak to him at all, but in the end, his concerns about everyone’s well-being after the downright apocalyptic showdown between Takao and Brooklyn had prevailed. And Takao — true to his infinitely friendly nature — had been only too happy to reconnect. Although some of the team had taken a little more time to welcome him back, they had all come around to it eventually. And while they hadn’t seen much of each other over the last couple of years — university and work and responsibilities to the BBA gradually demanding more of their attention — Zeo had been one of the first people on Takao’s list of guests for tonight.
But Hiromi’s anxieties now did not stem from either some residual resentment of Zeo’s past mistakes or concerns about how well he would fit in with this rambunctious bunch.
They came from the fact that he was her giftee in the party’s secret gift exchange.
Well, it’s definitely too late to worry about it now, she told herself. Zeo’s present, along with the rest of them, rested under the watchful eye of the Holidragon, and it would be especially awkward for her to try to remove it now. There was nothing more for her to do than make sure he was having a good time — at least until it came to open the gifts.
“Welcome back to the dojo. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“It has! I was afraid it would feel a little awkward coming back here…”
“Did it?”
“It did, but…” He smiled as they both took off their shoes on the way into the house. “I am really excited to see everyone, too.”
As he took off his beanie, his long turquoise hair cascaded out from underneath. He had decided to grow it out again after all these years. He’d gotten taller, too. Hiromi wasn’t going to ask how all of that worked.
“Zeo! It’s so good to see you!” Max greeted. As he took care of Zeo’s coat and hat and scarf, the new guest exchanged introductions with Mathilda and Raul.
“Oh, is that a violin?” Raul asked as he pointed to the case Zeo was holding. “That’s not your present for the Kentucky Friend Challenge, is it? Dios mio, I thought we weren’t supposed to spend that much— Mattie, what do I do, it’s too late now to go get him something else—”
“No, no, you got it all wrong!” The boy chuckled, patting Raul’s shoulder. “It is a violin, but it’s not the present. Takao said in the invitation to ‘come ready to party and show off’. At the holiday parties I used to attend with my father, I sometimes entertained the guests with music. I’m… not really sure that this was what Takao meant, but I wanted to bring it just in case…”
“That’s amazing! You are so good at violin, I bet everyone would love to hear you play,” Max exclaimed before turning in the other direction of the hallway, toward the rest of the party. “Hey, everyone—!”
“Max!” Hiromi was quick to clamp her hand over the boy’s mouth. “Don’t just do it right now, let him at least get something to eat first and say hello to people!”
“No, no, that’s okay!” Zeo chuckled, although the nervous stammer did not escape Hiromi’s notice. “I am happy to play, but I don’t insist on it. This is just in case there is no other entertainment… I don’t need to be the main act or anything!”
“You know, I think I might have a better idea than a solo concert. If you’re up for it,” Raul offered with a playful twinkle in his eyes. “Can you play a song just by listening to it, without sheet music?”
“Yes, that’s no problem. What did you have in mind?”
“Let me show you,” Raul said as he hooked his arm around Zeo’s. As he lead the slightly bewildered boy inside the house, he shouted back to the others: “I’ll give him a tour of the place! Don’t wait for us!”
Hiromi waved after them. It’s okay, you don’t need to worry about anything, she thought. He’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. Your present will be fine. But despite her best attempts, worry she did.
By the time Hiromi and the rest of the Greeting Gang — which had expanded with the addition of Eddie and Moses and his little sister — had made their way back into the fray of the party, the singing had already started. Johnny and Boris were both playing guitar — because of course Johnny had brought two with him —, with Giancarlo and Ming-Ming leading the chorus. Mystel had even broken out his harmonica to add some extra flavor to the All Starz’ favorite “Jingle Bells”.
Hiromi was still enjoying the music and the festive atmosphere of the party, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to be in the thick of it, opting instead to sit by the slightly ajar doors to the porch and garden. The friendly matches had stopped — or at least paused for the time being — so all that drifted in from the outside was the chilled breeze of winter and a soothing silence.
As she took a sip of her drink, her gaze meandered around the room before finally settling on the Holidragon. The pile of presents underneath its immaculate claws seemed to mock her. There were gifts of all shapes and sizes, from a simple envelope to a box that was surely big enough to fit a person (she quickly glanced about to ascertain that Ivan was not, in fact, inside said box). Doing the “Kentucky Friend Challenge” — what they had decided to call the gift exchange in lieu of “Secret Santa”, in honor of a far more prominent white-haired jolly man and his franchise associated with the holiday in Japan (even though Takao still referred to it as “Kinomiya’s First-rate Christmas”) — had seemed like a good idea at the start. After they had confirmed who was coming, each person had been assigned another guest as their gift recipient, the entire process done randomly and secretly by Dizzy so that not even Kyouju knew what the final oroboros of gift-givers and their recipients looked like.
When she had received the name of her giftee, Hiromi had been excited to have a chance to pick out something special for Zeo. But thinking about the perfect present soon became an agonizing process to come up with something that he would like — or even just anything that he did not already have (and could actually use). She supposed that things could have been worse. She could have gotten Olivier “my tastes are too exquisite for you” Boulanger or someone she knew less well, like Gao.
Thankfully, she had only been tasked with finding a gift for a wealthy android boy that was supposed to let him know that, in spite of the distance and the time that had passed, they were genuinely glad to have him as their friend.
No big deal. Not at all.
Hiromi swallowed the last bit of her chicken nugget against the lump in her throat, chasing it down with the rest of her drink for good measure.
“Hey, Hiromi?”
The girl gave a startled yelp as Zeo’s voice drifted in through the open door from the outside.
“Zeo? What are you doing out there?”
“Ryu-ojiisan let us out through the other room. Can I ask you for a favor?”
“S—sure. Who is ‘us’, by the way?”
“Raul and Julia.”
Hiromi was starting to get a sense of what was about to happen.
“What do you need me to do?”
“The twins are going to start their act in a minute or so. Would you open the patio doors when you hear me start playing violin?”
“Yeah, of course— I can do that.”
In that moment, a head of vibrant turquoise hair appeared in the opening as Zeo peered around one of the doors.
“Don’t be nervous.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Even if you’re a little late, the exciting part of their act doesn’t start until about a third of the way through the song.”
Timing her queue to reveal the performers outside was not what made her nervous, but of course she couldn’t tell Zeo that. Instead, she smiled back and nodded her head resolutely, flexing her arm for him.
“You can count on me!”
“Thanks, Hiromi. I always knew I could.”
Before Hiromi’s face could get too red from his genuine compliment and her shame about how disappointing her present would surely be, Zeo disappeared back outside.
Sure enough, not even two minutes later, the girl heard an upbeat tune as Zeo began to play. Even with the doors almost closed, the volume was loud enough to catch the attention of the people in the vicinity. Hiromi slid one door open — with Miguel promptly assisting with the other — to reveal the twins, dressed in even more vibrant, elaborate costumes than she had ever seen them wear, starting out in an improbable balancing act, as Zeo accompanied them on violin on the grass nearby.
The crowd promptly arranged themselves for the show, some filing out onto the porch while others preferred to stay indoors to watch. As Hiromi found herself outside, ooh-ing and aah-ing and gasping with everyone else as Raul and Julia performed one trick after another, she couldn’t help but also steal glances at Zeo. He might have been made of metal and wires and circuit boards, but you would never be able to tell by his graceful movements. Slowly, as she was swept along with everyone’s excitement, and as she watched Zeo put his all into the song, the strokes of his bow in tandem with the twins’ movements, positively grinning with how much fun he was having, she felt her own heart lighten. And she couldn’t help but giggle when she realized that there were quite a few others watching Zeo even more intently than the twins.
Neither too soon nor too late, the circus duo finished their act with one final flurry of ribbons and beyblades, to the uproarious applause of the entire party. As soon as he was on the ground, Raul motioned for Zeo to join them, and the three took their bows.
By the time the bravos died down, Max was already on his feet, announcing the imminent start of the KFC. Hiromi did not think that her stomach could drop any lower.
“Hiromi, Hiromi!” Salima squeezed her way onto the porch next to the girl as others filed back inside to either offer their gifts to the dragon or get more refreshments. “Who is the violinist? You know him, right?”
Hiromi could barely keep focused on the conversation as Salima — and a few others — gushed about how amazing Zeo’s performance had been. And when Max had approached them with a little pile of gifts, handing off the ones that had been intended for the girls, her anxious thoughts only intensified.
With an excuse that she wanted to get more food, Hiromi quickly darted inside to try to find a quieter spot to calm down. Zeo had gone inside at some point, probably to put away his instrument, although with everyone up on their feet she could have easily missed him in the main room. Slipping into the hallway undeterred, she leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath in, then a long exhale out. Another deep breath. Another long exhale. She desperately wanted to peek back inside, to see if Zeo was there, if he had opened his present, if maybe he was actually excited about her gift — but she was also terrified to have her worst fears confirmed.
As a few people spilled out of the main room into the hallway, she did catch a glimpse of others with their spoils. Ralf was sternly ushering Johnny, who could not understand why he could not simply strip in front of everyone, toward the bathroom so that the latter could put on the limited edition band tee that Hiromi had seen Grandpa Ryu preparing the other day. On the other end, Yuriy was yelling at Ivan to go outside before he tried to fly his new drone. And when a sharp excited squeak pierced the dojo, followed by a wave of delighted laughter from everyone else, Hiromi knew that Mathilda must have opened her present.
As she took stock of people’s gifts, forgetting for a moment about her own, she felt even more put out. What had she been thinking? She should have just gotten him that book of modern pop songs arranged for violin or maybe something from her last trip to Europe—
“Hiromi!”
The girl spun around, clutching her present close to her chest, as she came face to face with Zeo. Zeo, who was currently holding an unwrapped box that she recognized only too well, in his hands.
“Hey, Zeo!” Act natural, ACT NATURAL— “How’s it going? How are you liking the party?”
“It’s been really fun,” he grinned as he scratched the back of his head. It was amazing how many of Takao’s habits he still had despite their years apart. “I really didn’t expect to perform with anyone tonight, but I am glad Raul invited me to.”
“That’s so great! You were really terrific out there, you know. A few people have been asking about you.”
“Oh…” he blinked twice. “Really?”
She nodded. “I think you have quite a few fans now. Ming-Ming better watch out.”
“Gosh, I am not sure I can compete with her.” He snuck a sideways glance at the pop singer before, with a comically horrified expression, leaning in to say in a stage whisper. “And I’m not sure I want to.”
Hiromi couldn’t help but giggle. She had missed hanging out with Zeo. At his core, he truly was a sweet and caring person, despite what a diagnostic run by Dizzy might say.
“But that wasn’t why I came over here,” he added more seriously, looking down at the present in his hands. “I actually wanted to ask you… This gift was from you, wasn’t it?”
Oh no. He hates it so much he came over to tell me in person.
“What? Me? That gift? No, no, don’t be silly—“ She started to deny it but broke off under Zeo’s knowing gaze. She fell silent for a few moments before sighing in defeat. “…Yes, it was me. How did you know?”
“Well, this was a good attempt at misdirection.” He held up the stylized drawing she’d done by hand of Zeo with Takao, Max, Rei, and Kai, all holding hands — well, with the exception of the latter — and clearly enjoying a day at an amusement park of sorts. “But not quite good enough.”
“Max can draw pretty well.”
“Yes, but I still knew it wasn’t from him.”
“But how, though?”
“First, you were always the best at origami, by far,” he counted off on the fingers of his free hand as he replaced the drawing in the box. “So I figured only you could have made such crisp lines in the folds of the paper.”
“Wow, you still remember that?” She stared at him in surprise. When the boys had been especially difficult back in the day, she would fold little animals out of colorful paper to help her de-stress. “That couldn’t have been it though, right?”
“Your handwriting on the gift tag and in the card was a pretty big clue.” He folded down another finger.
She had tried to alter her handwriting a bit, but maybe it still hadn’t been enough to fool Zeo’s ridiculously discerning eye.
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “What was three? I can tell there’s a third explanation.”
“There… might have also been a strand of your hair stuck in the tape.” This time, he looked awkwardly to the ceiling. “Aaaand I ran a bio analysis of it and—“
“Zeo!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” The boy was suddenly apologizing. Even if he couldn’t turn red, he still looked plenty ashamed. “I know it’s kind of cheating — and also weird and creepy — to use my capabilities like that, but— I just—“
“No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Immediately regretting her outburst, Hiromi spoke in a gentler tone. “I don’t think it’s weird for you to use your android powers. I just… wanted the gift to be about you and the rest of the boys. I thought it might be nice for you all to spend some time together while Max and Rei are still in the country for the Summit and Kai hasn’t taken off for his next big work engagement— But that’s of course if you even want to go to Whimsyland with them! I know they would love to go because at least Takao and Rei have been talking about it nonstop, and they would all love to hang out with you because it’s been so long since you’ve seen each other— but the tickets don’t have any names on them so you can actually invite anyone you want! Or just go by yourself five times. That’s if you want to go, of course, because if you hate it you don’t even have to go and you can totally forget that—“
Before Hiromi could get even more carried away, Zeo had pulled her into a snug one-armed hug. It was then that she remembered why they had never guessed Zeo’s physical nature until the very end — his hugs had always been the softest she’d ever experienced.
Of course he doesn’t hate it. Feeling genuine relief for the first time that evening, with tears prickling at the corners of her eyes, Hiromi reciprocated the gesture. Someone like Zeo could never hate it. And even if he didn’t like it, he would have still appreciated it for how much thought you put into it, you silly.
When he let go, he still kept his hand on her shoulder. “I love this gift. I honestly couldn’t ask for anything more than getting to spend more time with everyone. And you and Kyouju and Daichi should all come with us, too. In fact, I’ll buy your tickets for you.”
“Wait, no, that’s not how it works!” She protested. “You’re not supposed to spend money for your own holiday gift!”
“But it’s not my own holiday gift. It will be yours.”
She pouted at him but finally relented. “Only if you insist.”
“I do.” He looked at the box in her hands. “Are you going to open that?”
“Oh. I guess I should. I was honestly so worried about your gift that I hadn’t had time to be excited about mine…”
“Hiromi! Why do you still worry so much about everything? Come on.” He pulled her out of the hallway, scanning the room for someone. “You should open your present now. The person who got it for you really wanted to see your reaction.”
“You know who my giver is? Do you know what they got for me? How do you know this stuff? Do you have x-ray vision or something?” She asked as she carefully examined the wrapping, peeved as she came away with no hints as to the identity of the gift-giver. Even the label with her name had been printed on a computer. All she knew was that it couldn’t be Zeo because of how Dizzy had made the Kentucky Friend assignments.
“Now now, I’ve already told you how I figured out you were my gift-giver. I can’t share all of my secrets with you.”
“You’re so mean!”
“Stop stalling and open the gift!”
As both of them laughed, Hiromi took to unwrapping her present at last. Around them, the dojo was full of excited shouts, merry singing, and the celebratory clinking of glasses. Reunions like these were rare and would likely become even sparser the older they became. But for now, they could all enjoy the most precious gift of them all: reconnecting with old friends.