"Hey Rei!"
He turned, looking towards the voice. 'What now?' It was Eddy from the All Stars; probably the last person Rei wanted or expected to see in one of the generally disused alleyways around the back of the huge Glitterdome stadium.
"Oh. Hey." What was he doing here? Chances on just meeting like this were minimal. He stood with his arms crossed as the older teen swaggered over. Eddy clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Guess your team gave ya a bit of a hard time, huh?"
Rei shrugged. As far as he was concerned, he'd deserved it.
"Yeah. Go figure."
"Look, don't worry about it. You're just goin through a bad time. When we were battling earlier, you were playing me completely differently to how you were that Frankie girl. You weren't having fun at all. You forgot it's a game and concentrated too hard; Just chill a bit kid."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Hey look, now you're starting to sound like your captain. Not a good thing." He stood back, hands on hips, and grinned at the Neko-jin. When Rei let out a small half smile, his expression softened.
"I heard some pretty cool stories about you from the Asian tournament. You just gotta get that feeling back, you understand?"
"Sure. Yeah I get it."
"Sound. Come on then."
"Wha-?"
"Thought you wanted to get back into the zone, right? Well come on; lets go train some."
They caught a bus to the All Stars training centre; they had a couple of hours before they had to meet their teams back at the buses. Rei looked concerned as they walked through the whitewashed corridors.
"You sure I'm allowed here?"
"Nope. In fact I'm certain that you're not, even now we lost to you. But no biggie."
They reached a door on one of the higher floors which Eddy opened. Rei had no idea where he was; he'd lost all bearings ages ago.
As they stepped up to one of the Beydishes in the room, Rei realised that it was themed around a basketball court.
"Hey, don't you got a bit of an advantage?" Eddy grinned patronisingly.
"Yeah. Deal with it. Ok, just calm down and have fun; I'm not here to beat you I'm here to help."
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"Right, now comes the good part. Don't hold back Rei! Let it rip!"
A few minutes later, both Beybladers froze as Eddy's Trypio slowed and then stopped. Driger kept spinning a wobbly few seconds and then keeled over to join him. The boys jumped into the disk and pocketed their blades. Eddy nodded approvingly.
"You did good. Well done."
"Thanks. You've really helped me get back on track." Rei paused, a small frown creasing his forehead as they caught a bus back to the stadium.
"One thing I don't get though. Why bother? You knew you were better than me so what's the point?"
Eddy put his feet up on the seat in front. The bus was practically empty at this time on night.
"Your team have always said that science can't get in the way of spirit. I didn't agree with you and I still don't to a certain degree. But what the directors son said, about us not really playing at all but just our Beyblades, really struck a chord." He sat up and leant across the way between them. "If I hadn't had that special blade, you probably would have won fair and square, regardless of whether you were having a bad time of it. It wasn't a fair match at all, get what I'm saying? You know what, that's kinda noble in a way and I respect you for it."
"Respect me for it?"
"Yeah, sounds gooey doesn't it? Don't get any bright ideas though."
As they walked from the bus stop to the carpark where they would be meeting their teams, Eddy pulled Rei back slightly and pinned him against a nearby wall in shadow. Leaning down, he kissed him; just a touch of lips.
"See you around. Good luck, kid."