Part III
"Takao WAIT!" Max called as he hurried to catch up just in time to hold the blunette back from entering his house immediately. Takao feigned surprise, looking at his friend quizzically.
"Why?" he said.
"Err, let's go through the dojo's entrance," Max said hastily, with suspicions about Takao having guessed what was going on.
"Why?" Takao asked again, inwardly delighted when he saw the other squirm.
Maybe he doesn't know, yeah, he probably doesn't... Max decided with relief, then almost screeched when Takao began ploughing around the side ledge to the dojo with an airy, "Fiiiiiiine then."
He ran after him, whizzing through the door of the dojo mere seconds after the blunette. Takao raised an eyebrow—all the dojo's windows were shuttered and it seemed dark and uninviting inside. Out of the corner of his eyes he registered various furniture having been moved into the space. He walked, with Max striding ahead, to the sliding door connecting the main house to the training area. As he reached out his hand to throw it open, however, Max coughed, loudly and suddenly.
Everything seemed to happen at once. The door was thrown open, a surprised Takao being grabbed and hauled bodily into the dark room beyond. Before he could process what was going on and whether he should have been alarmed, the room suddenly lit up, blinding him into submission.
"Ah—" he said, squeezing his eyes against the onslaught of light as the place suddenly erupted into a deafening noise.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAKAO!"
There was clapping and hooting even before Takao managed to pry his eyes open. He watched, slightly stunned even though he had been somewhat expecting this. People filled the room—the All Stars, the White Tigers, the Majestics, the Blitzkrieg Boys, Barthez Battalion, F-Dynasty and Bega League, not to mention his own team, were all there. He gaped as the more friendly ones came at him, congratulating him and clapping his shoulder. Hilary, quite shockingly, came out of the crowd and threw her arms around him in a brief hug. As he returned greetings sheepishly and threw out his thanks, he noticed that some bladers looked bored; others seemed to have been harassed into this.
"Happy B-day, dude," Michael of the All Stars called, flipping his cap to the back and grinning charmingly.
"Yeah! Happy 18th!" Mariah said from where she was nestled contently in Ray's arms.
"Which is a thing in itself—you are an adult now, Takao," Robert from the Majestics told him, looking as posh and expensive as ever.
"Hope you know what that means," Johnny said from beside him, grinning wickedly.
From all around one word erupted, "BEER!"
"Yeah Yeah," a loud, annoying voice made itself known. Daichi walked into the room with his nose in the air, "It feels good to be back home."
Takao's mind immediately came up with retorts about how his house was NOT Daichi's home, but his heart was still racing from the sudden rush. "This is great, guys," he said instead, seeking out Max and throwing his arm around his neck in a light headlock. "Really—wow."
"This is boring," Tala, the Blitzkrieg's icy captain, commented, a smirking Bryan at his shoulder. "When's the party going to start?"
And Takao decided right then and there that he was going to do it.
"Well," he said, slowly, "This is all about the party, isn't it?"
There was a slight pause.
"What?" Hilary asked in confusion from beside him.
"Don't 'what' me," Takao replied quietly, his eyebrows storming together to form one solid line. He walked into the middle of his own living room, which seemed a lot larger due to furniture being cleared out and others being pushed against the wall. He threw his arms out in what he hoped was an obvious angry gesture.
"This is great," he began, under the scrutinization of those around him. Inside, he felt elated—everyone's eyes were trained on him! "You know, doing all this, and inviting everyone from other countries and having them actually come..."
He slowly walked in a circle, meeting everyone's eyes in a dramatic show while he was really only seeking out one person. He found him leaning against the wall at the back of the crowd in his famous Kai pose. Kai was frowning slightly, eyeing Takao with slight confusion and another emotion Takao couldn't decipher. "BUT," Takao spun with vigour and stared hard at the huddle of his own teammates and friends, minus Kai and plus Mariah who was still latched onto Rei. "All this time you've been ignoring me... for this?! You acted like I pretty much didn't exist just so you can surprise me?" He gave them a hurt look. "All week you've been acting weird, not talking to me, changing the subject whenever I mentioned my birthday."
He paced some more for some extra effect, revelling in the absolute silence of the room.
"Takao—" Rei began awkwardly, but Takao cut through him immediately. It was no good to have someone else speaking and ruining the atmosphere.
"And all this time I thought that you just didn't care!" he exclaimed, "What? Now I see it—YOU," he pointed at Rei, "And Hilary always running off to plan this, weren't you? Making plans and ignoring me while I thought I did something wrong—I thought you guys didn't want anything to do with me." He jerked his head and stared with sad, thundering eyes at Max and Kenny as well, the chief flinching at the gaze. Max, for his part, looked sad and stricken and kept opening and shutting his mouth. Takao's voice dropped to a whisper, "All of you."
When more silence rang in the room, and more stillness at the sudden outburst ensued, Takao decided to bring this to a close. He could barely withhold his serious expression any longer—any moment now he felt he would burst out laughing at his friends' expressions. "Do you know how that made me feel?" His words were impactful, absolute, and he watched with a lot of effort to stay in the act as Hilary's eyes watered. Mariah and Ray had separated now, Rei looking lost. Then Takao felt slightly guilty—it was enough for punishment.
"I—" he began in a sigh as though having given up not only hope, but on life itself. Then his face broke into a grin, "AM SUCH A GOOD ACTOR!"
He registered the shock on everyone's faces for only a second before he was no longer able to contain himself. He burst out laughing, hearing others doing the same with him. He clutched his stomach and howled as he heard someone exclaiming, "Man, I actually believed it!" amongst the laughter of the other players. He looked toward his friends. Rei was already laughing with Mariah while Hilary giggled, shaking her head. Kenny just rubbed the back of his head, still looking unsure. As for Max, he continued to look stricken by the situation until he met Takao's eyes and his face broke into a smile before he let out a chuckle and began laughing along.
Takao went over to his friends, rounding them up in a group hug, "Man," he told them, grinning, as the laughter died down, "You should've seen your own faces!"
Hilary pulled free and smacked him on the shoulder, "That was rather mean of you, I thought you really were mad!"
"We," Rei corrected, his fangs glinting in his wide smile, "We thought you were actually mad."
"Ahhh, Takao don't do that next time! I almost started freaking out!" Kenny said, straightening his glasses.
Takao shrugged with a smile, "Had to get back at you somehow."
"Never knew you were such a good actor, Takao!" Max said, rubbing his blonde hair sheepishly.
Takao was spared a reply when a "TAKAAAAOOOOOOOOO," filled the air and then Daichi's came flying at him and clung to his back.
"Ahhh, let go," he said, trying to get the little monkey off him.
"That was good," Daichi said, unrelenting, "Everyone's expressions were priceless!"
Takao turned to the room at large, the smaller boy still holding on to his neck and shoulders. "Thank you for coming here, everyone," he called out, pained, "I really appreciate it. Now where's the party?!"
There was a surge as everyone raced for various seats, some hauling food to the masses while someone turned on the stereo. Loud rock music filled the air as some filtered into the adjoined dojo, now lightened, to dance and hang out.
"Where's Grandpa," Takao shouted to his friends over the all the noise.
"Out," Hilary shouted back, gesturing toward the house's entrance.
Nodding, Takao struggled to un-latch the latched redhead from his back. "Get off!" he demanded. "Nu-uh," was Daichi's irritating response. Takao growled and began thrashing around and struggling some more. "Please, help me," he turned to the only member of his friends that was still around him—the others had all gone to enjoy the party. Kenny stared at him like he had gone mad. "ARGH, fine," Takao said angrily, wrestling more ferociously now with his attacker, now laughing madly. Finally, slightly out of breath, Takao came to an absolute halt, the other's added weight wearing him down.
"Man, Daichi," he called over the ongoing sound. "It's my birthday, please get off."
To his absolute shock, Daichi said, "Okay," simply like that and hopped down. He turned and pulled his tongue out at Takao, "Consider this your birthday present." Still cackling, he zoomed to the kitchen for food.
Takao huffed, massaging his neck and shoulders, "What a little runt," he murmured as he looked around for his ex-captain's form. Kai was nowhere to be found now. Sighing, he heard some calls over the noise for him to join the others in their activities and obliged with a grin.
Onto part IV!
