It was a hot June afternoon in Paris, France. It was close to the end of the month and a cool breeze was blowing into the hotel suite where five adult men sat, reading, tweaking their beyblades and looking forward to the European tournament they had flown in for that morning. Kai Hiwatari got up from reading his book and walked to the window. Ray Kon watched him as he pulled the curtain to the side and looked out over the City of Lights.
"What's the time, Kenny?" Kai asked the team engineer.
"One o' clock here." he replied, not looking up from his trusty laptop. Ray watched Kai a little longer and asked him what he was up to.
"I was thinking of getting out for a little. We've been here so many times, but we really haven't seen any part of the city but the beyblade stadium." He replied, getting something out of his rucksack. He pulled out his wallet and his beyblade. He walked to the door and turned back to his team.
"If I'm not back by sunset, come look for me." He said.
"Why, are you planning to get arrested?" Max asked him, looking up from his beyblade.
"No, I just might lose track of time." He said to them. He looked away and opened the door. "But you never know." He added, as he walked out the door.
"He's been really weird the past few days." Max said to the others.
"Ah, come on, he's about to turn 25, give him some slack. And it's Friday, maybe we should all go out a little." Tyson said to them. They all shrugged and agreed that it was a beautiful day.
"His birthday's only in August, that's no excuse." Ray said to Tyson, continuing working on his beyblade.
Kai caught the elevator going down. There was a small girl and her mom in there too. The little girl looked intensely at him. She was obviously a beyblading fan. The mother was too preoccupied to notice her child was reaching out for his leg. The elevator doors opened and he walked out a few steps, then turned around and smiled at the little girl and her mom. The girl burst out into fits of joy as the elevator doors closed. He smiled and walked to the hotel door. Even though he was an adult now, and had decided to ditch the blue war paint, he was still recognized in the streets. He knew he had done something right. He walked across the road into Martial Field where the Eiffel Tower stood intimidating over the green trees and well manicured lawns. June in France was magic. But Paris, Paris is where all the magic happened. The trees were getting into the swing of new foliage and the air was warm and the breeze was cool. The lawns were luminous green and a fair was going on in the park. There were people sitting on the lawns, music filled the air and was heard all over the park and children playing on the playground. But best of all, there were kids blading in the dishes in the playground. Kai smiled and thought that the next world champion might come from this playground. He stopped, leaned against a wall and watched these people, all going about their daily lives, relaxing, having fun. He had only ever seen this park from his fiftieth floor window. He vowed then to himself that whenever he had time to kill, he would come to Paris in June.