Chapter 10 - What's Happening To You

Zyro knew deep down that he shouldn't say anything, that he should just keep quiet and not worry Madoka any more than he had been meaning to.
But he knew that he needed to tell her, that he needed to tell someone so that he could find out exactly what was happening with Gingka that caused his actions and behavior lately. Madoka obviously wouldn't be able to answer that question, not by a long shot - but he knew that it may be best to follow his friends' advice and at least let her know.

The ginger-ravenette entered the B-Pit with the bell ringing, looking towards Madoka who was behind the counter, washing off a supposed picture from from with a cloth that looked like it had seen better days.
The brunette threw the younger blader a quick glance, smiling for a moment before going back to cleaning said picture frame.
"Hi Zyro." She greeted, squinting her eyes a bit and increasing the pressure on where she was rubbing to clean it better.
"Hey, Madoka.." Zyro replied, coming up to the counter and looking at the brunette, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
The maroon-haired woman looked over at him in curiosity, before setting down both the picture and the cloth, placing her hands on the counter.

"Sure." She said, "Talk to me."
Butterflies floated in Zyro's stomach, a feeling that made his heart beat faster than it ever had and almost made him fall to his knees.
"Um.." He started off awkwardly, trying not to look away or retreat. "Well.. How has Gingka been to you lately?.. Like, the way he's been acting and stuff.."
Madoka raised an eyebrow, shrugging her shoulders lightly with confusion. "Well, he's seemed normal to me." She said, "Why?"
Neither of them heard the small footsteps coming down the stairs, nor saw it as Maru sat down on one of them just out of their line of sight.
As quiet as a mouse did she open her laptop, straining her ears silently as she listened intently and pressed the 'record' button on the screen.
Zyro took a deep breath, looking up towards the Mechanic that had owned the B-Pit for several years now.

"Madoka.." Zyro said firmly, the usual tone in his voice having gone and replaced with something that Madoka had rarely heard from the boy, "I think something's really wrong with Gingka."

Maru narrowed her eyes, almost at the same time that Madoka's stature changed from leaning on the counter to standing upright with a concerned look.
"What you do mean?.." Madoka asked, "I know he isn't feeling well, but.. What do you mean something's wrong with him?"

"Well, he's been acting rather..." Zyro looked down, unsure of how to put the statement and just went with what came first, "Strange.."

"Strange how?" Madoka asked, looking at the younger blader intently and a now growig concern pooling in the pit of her stomach.
"I-I know he keeps saying he's sick, and he's coughing quite a bit..." Zyro explained, "But something just seems.. Off about it. Like there's something that he's not saying." He didn't need to tell Madoka what Gingka had said to him the day of his battle before it started, this would concern her enough as it was.
"Off how?" Madoka asked, concern growing in her with the need to know more.

"Sometimes when he coughs, it gets really bad." Zyro explained, "And then he always leaves right afterwords.. Like, he's been disappearing every now and then for awhile, and I don't know why... Like yesterday, he never came back here."
Madoka's eyes widened at that statement, suddenly cluing into the fact that Gingka had - indeed - been disappearing lately.
Though she had just simply known that as part of his nature to be adventurous, and he would wander off at certain times... But she hadn't thought of this.
"And his behavior been a bit off to every now and then." Zyro continued, "But besides that, he's been pretty okay... I'm just thought that I should tell you, so that one of you could know." Madoka stared at the Fire Blader for a moment, tryig to calculate all that he had just explained to her.

"O-okay.." She stuttered out, "I'll keep that in mind. I'll see if I can talk him into spilling it the next time I see him."
"Okay.." Zyro said quietly, looking at Madoka one last time before heading to the door and leaving the B-Pit.
Madoka was left in silence for what felt like an eternity, emotions now flooding her brain of which she had not expected to have that day.
The brunette leaned against the counter again, pulling herself together and tapping her fingers on the wooden surface.
"Gingka.." She thought to herself, "What could be wrong with him?" With nothing left to eavesdrop on, Maru headed back up the stairs with her laptop in her hands, the newly captured audio saved onto her computer for her and for her only - Madoka didn't hear her.

Gingka stood on the top of one of the buildings, a pained expression on his face as he had his fingertips pressed to his forehead as a small headache wracked his brain in silent agony.
Small sighs and grunts made their way from him, as if holding his breath and stopping every few moments to release it and breathe in again just to hold it.
His sleeves were down now compared to being rolled up to his elbows, despite the heat from the coming summer that would have most people in the coolest yet less revealing clothing that they could wear; he - however - was rather cold, almost like having ice cubes injected into his blood stream and left to freeze all over again.
In the heat, he was cold, and in the cold he was even colder.

"You'll understand, Zyro..." He thought to himself, the words echoing in his throbbing and almost empty mind like a canyon, "I promise you will... Just please.. Understand soon.."
He didn't have many selfish thoughts, and he hoped that that was one of the last of them.
Yet even from the great height that he stood, Zyro was the only one who noticed him standing near the edge of the building, just catching the shredded ends of his snow white scarf in the light of the sun.
"What's wrong with you?.." He thought to himself, the concern and worry that overwhelmed his soul almost becoming unbearable. Maybe there was something seriously wrong with Gingka...

"So you finally told her?" Shinobu asked as they all faced Zyro with interest, sitting in the middle of the Bey Park with each other.
"Yeah, but.." Zyro began, "I don't know if it was the right thing to do.. Like, I might just be overreacting or something..."

"I wouldn't say that so soon, Zyro." Ren said, placing her hands on her hips - she had gotten out of the hospital earlier that day, and they had come to get her.
She definitely seemed okay now.
"I mean, your goin' with your gut on this one, aren't you?" The blond questioned, raising an eyebrow at her friend.
"Well yeah, I am.." Zyro said in a slightly subdued voice, scratching the back of his head lightly.
"Then go with it." The blond said, "Besides, ya gotta figure out what he meant with those words, right?" That was right.
He had told his friends right after Gingka had said anything to him, maybe to calm himself down from the shock of Claustrophobia that he had.
Though he didn't dare admit that fear to any of his friends, save for Gingka that had already known.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said solemnly, averting his blue eyes away from Ren's brown ones.
"And we've been noticing it too, Zyro." Kite informed him, "Especially with what happened yesterday and the day before. Yesterday he ran out of the room, and I don't think you were the only one who thought it was weird that he hadn't come back."
"Then there's the day before," Shinobu said, his green eyes focusing on his black-and-ginger-haired, "I get the coughing and stuff, but I don't think anyone who has the common cold would almost lose balance because of it.."
Eight looked up to the dirty-blond with his deep green eyes.
"That happened to me once, but I had the flu.." The bluenette stated.

"Exactly." Shinobu said, using Eight's statement as an example, "If we can do anything to help you find out what he's not telling us, just give us the word." Zyro looked around at the 4 of his friends that stood around him, a smile creeping onto his face out of gratitude.
"Thanks guys.." He said with a sigh of relief, "But Gingka said that I needed to figure out what he meant on my own... I doubt that he'd ever tell me."
"And that - of course - would depend on whether you could actually find him or not." Ren said as she crossed her arms, scratching her left cheek from a small itch.
"Well, I did see him on top of a building when I was leaving the B-Pit.." Zyro noted, "But he'd gone before we'd get the chance to get on top of one of those."
"How does one even get on top one of those?" Kite said in a 'I-ask-the-real-questions' way, looking towards the skyscrapers that made up the near entirety of Metal Bey City with his glasses reflecting off the sun.
"And most of them are at least 10 stories high." Eight noted, looking up along with his big brother and trying to block out the sun with one of his hands.
"At this point, he could anywhere." Zyro said, a sickening feeling pooling in the bottom of his abdomen, like something terrible was about to happen and he didn't know what.
He just hoped that he was wrong about what he was beginning to suspect...

The bell to the door of the B-Pit rang as somewhere entered, drawing Madoka's attention away from cleaning the counter towards the door in a snap.
"Hello-" Her sentence immediately stopped when she saw who was at the door. A small smile was given from the redhead that stood there, the light coming to his golden-brown eyes that... Didn't seem to hold that same glow anymore - maybe this was the first time Madoka had noticed.
"Hey Madoka.." Gingka greeted in a slightly subdued voice, as if he had a sore throat of some sort.
"Um, hi, Gingka.." Madoka said awkwardly, rubbing her arm slightly - how exactly was she supposed to talk to Gingka now that she knew something may be wrong with him.
"Where did you go yesterday?" The brunette asked, trying to break the awkwardness between them. "Well, after I ran out I remembered something I had to do." The redhead explained, "I would've told you, but I was kind of scared to go back in, so..." Madoka chuckled softly, remembering yesterday very well.
"Yeah, I guess I can understand that." She said with a smile, "I'd be pretty freaked out too if I was in your shoes." Gingka chuckled, nervously at the fact of which he greatly tried to hide.

"Um, Gingka.." Madoka said, her smile fading from her face as she looked up at the Legendary Blader.
"Yeah?" He asked with curiosity, looking towards her with golden-brown eyes that had faded in the glow they once had.
"Umm.." Madoka hummed softly, trying to find the words. "Well, I talked to Zyro earlier, and... He told me something that concerns you.."
Gingka's smile faded, looking at his friend with a confused look. If they really were confused, that was.
"He said something about how you've been acting lately." Madoka went on, watching the redhead carefully, "He says that there's something you might not be saying about how you are and your health.. Is that true?"
A silence passed between the two for a moment, and Gingka managed to keep a solemn expression as she said this - though his feelings inside were different. The redhead smiled softly, tilting his head a bit with a reassuring look.
"Madoka, its okay." He said, "I'm fine, don't worry."
A concerned look made its way onto Madoka's face - somehow, she just couldn't buy those words as anything more than a mask.

"Are you sure?" She said, coming out from behind the counter and trying to face the Pegasus Blader, who wasn't too intent on doing the same.
"Gingka, you know you can tell me if your not okay. We're friends, remember." The smile upon Gingka's face became more of a saddened one, his body half-turned away from her.
"I'm okay, Madoka, honest." He said with that same reassuring tone, "You don't have to worry."
He was about to turn away, before Madoka reached out to place her hand on his shoulder.

"Gingka, I-" She never got to finish her sentence.
The moment her fingers touched his clothing just enough to feel his skin underneath, Gingka whipped around and slapped her hand away, a look of anger replacing the kind and sad one that had been there previously.
"I said I'm fine, alright?!"
Madoka stood there shocked, her hand suspended in mid-air at his tone of voice - Gingka had never yelled at her like that, to any one of his friends really.
She stood there, looking into the rage-filled eyes that burned with the flame of his soul as Zyro's often did, unable to move as she was afraid that he may do something else. What was this?... She had never been afraid of Gingka before...
Not since that one time when she witnessed him first face Ryuga.

Slowly did Gingka's eyes widen, the features on his face softening as he realized what he had just did. What he had just said.
Neither of them said anything, Madoka frozen where she was while Gingka backed away a few steps, as if afraid that he might hit her again, and harder.
"I... I..." Gingka was unable to form words as he stared into Madoka's fear-filled eyes, his own mimicking that fear with a genuine darkening.
The redhead averted his eyes, the bangs that hung over his headband covering part of his face in shame.
"I-I'm sorry..." He managed to stutter out, his voice shaky and breaking as if he were about to cry, "I-I should go..."
Before Madoka was able to respond, Gingka had hurried out the door and down the sidewalk, disappearing from her sight altogether. Still, she stood there, tears in her eyes.
"Gingka..." She whispered, a single tear making its way from the edges of her eyelashes and down her cheek, staining pale skin, "What's happening to you?.."...

The ex-DNA Bladers had remained planted in their waiting room at the Bey Arena, having not have many places to go since the incident at DNA headquarters.
"I hear you sent Ren Kurenai to the hospital, Genjuro.." Kira reflected as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed as he looked across the room to said blond, who was sitting on the bed silently.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure most people heard..." Genjuro said solemnly, chewing on the dandelion in his mouth.
"Well then, I'm sure everyone heard about her behavior the other day..." Kira said solemnly. It had been a wonder why Kira had not spoke to him about this before, on the day that he had actually beaten Ren - all he had done was give him a glance before walking away.
"What happened exactly?" Kira asked out of curiosity, looking towards his teammate in slight interest, "What did you do that caused her to act that way?"
Genjuro's blue eyes made their way up to his leader.
"I didn't do anything." He answered, "All I did was battle her until she started talking to something that wasn't there."

"Is that so?" Kira questioned.

"I'll admit it though.." Genjuro said, "I would've lost if that hadn't happened... So I guess none of us can really complain."
Kira smirked at the stone blader, his one eye closing. "That's true.." The silverette said with amusement, "Though I am gravely curious on how it happened in the first place... Someone who had the best chance at winning suddenly losing her mind in front of hundreds of people, is something that I find very interesting."
Genjuro said nothing, looking at is leader from across the room.
"But now, Ren Kurenai is fine, as I hear.." Kira continued on, "Yet it explains nothing of what happened.."
Kira solemnly stood upright from leaning against the wall, his spiked silver and tri-colored hair flowing along with his movements. "And be sure not to disappoint me on whoever you face next in the tournament.." Kira said, eyeing Genjuro with his one gold eye, "Am I clear on that?.."

"Yes, master Kira..." Genjuro said as he chewed on his dandelion.
The only response he got was a small smirk from Kira before said Blader left the room. All the blond did was grunt and cross his arms, closing his eyes as he occupied himself on chewing the stem of the flower.
He was the one of many who didn't think that Kira would be interested or concerned about something that had happened to one of the WBBA Bladers - least of all one of Zyro's friends.
But he himself did have to admit that most people were probably concerned about what had happened two days ago, about what had caused Ren to freak out so badly that she ultimately forgot she was in a battle at all.
It had had its advantages for him, but even so... What had happened to Ren exactly? And who had she been talking too?...

"So Ren's finally out of the hospital, huh?" Tsubasa asked as he walked alongside Hikaru through the halls of the WBBA, as she come to tell him about the newest preparations for the next battle - as it would, of course, not take as long to prepare as the previous one had.
"Yeah, she was released today." Hikaru said, looking over at her boss, "Though I didn't really the reason for her to be there another day either. She was doing okay yesterday.." Tsubasa chuckled softly.
"Yeah, but I don't the doctors might've kept her there for more than just her physical health.." He said, "I know we were all concerned about what happened to her the day before..." Hikaru looked away from the Director, looking towards the floor as they walked.
"Yeah, I'd probably keep her in if something might be wrong with her mental health, too." The bluenette admitted, "But at least she's okay now. That sure was weird about what happened.."

"Tell me about it..." Tsubasa said, looking up towards the ceiling slightly, "You weren't able to find anything around her that caused her to act that way?"
Hikaru shook her head sadly. "No... Me, Sichiro, and Ayano tried to find an explanation for hours and we turned up with nothing... I just don't understand who or what could've caused Ren to act that way."

"Hopefully the next battle won't end that way..." Tsubasa said with a sigh,

"The last thing we need is for Sakyo, Takanosuke, Eight or Shinobu freaking out and start talking to the air." Hikaru giggled at the Director's comment, bringing a hand up to her mouth so that she wouldn't burst out laughing - which she almost did.
"Well, we can only hope Director." The bluenette said through her chuckles, "By the way.. Did you see Gingka yesterday?"
"No, why?"
"Well, he apparently ran out of the hospital room after saying that Madoka sometimes scares him." Hikaru explained, "He was the gone by the time I got there, and Maru wasn't able to find him... I assumed he just left, so I was wondering if you saw him."
Tsubasa shook his head, looking into her blueish-purple eyes.

"I haven't seen him in awhile, Hikaru." The silverette explained, "And I definitely didn't see him yesterday. So I wouldn't know where he went.."
"Huh..." Blueish-purple eyes looked forward in the direction they were heading, "Well, I bet Madoka's probably seen him lately. But I wouldn't know."

"Director!"

Both of the old friends stopped at the voice, turning around to see one of the Co-Workers hurrying towards them.
"What is it?" Tsubasa asked, looking at the man who had come to alert him of something.
"There is a message in your office." The man said, "Its your friend, Madoka Amano. She wanted to speak to you."
The two of them took no time in hurrying to Tsubasa's office, as he knew that Madoka only really called him for more important matters that usually consisted of the tournament. But this time he would be wrong.
The two both entered through the sliding doors, seeing Madoka's face upon the screen as she waited silently.
Tsubasa couldn't help but notice the lone tear streak that had oh so gently stained her skin.

"Hey Madoka." He greeted, Hikaru standing near him, "I heard you wanted to talk to me."

"Yeah, I did.." Madoka said, her voice laced with a hint of sadness that Tsubasa could identify as the same type of sadness she had had the day of Zyro's battle - when she had feared Gingka may leave again without notice.
"Are you okay?" The silverette asked out of concern, "What happened?.."
"I saw Gingka.." Madoka said solemnly, "And I also saw Zyro earlier today.." Tsubasa sat down in his chair, listening intently to what Madoka had to say.

"Zyro said that... There might be something wrong with him, with the way he's been acting... So I asked him, and.. He got angry..."

Tsubasa's eyes widened as he put two and two together, listening to Madoka's words as he hoped he was wrong about what he suspected.
"Madoka, what did he do?" Tsubasa asked, looking into the brunette's turquoise eyes through the screen.
"I... I tried to tell him that he could say it if anything was wrong..." She said, tears forming on the edges of her eyelashes, "But he snapped at me... Then he said he was sorry, and he left.."

Tsubasa sighed in relief, leaning back in his chair as he was glad that what he had suspected was wrong.
"What caused him to act that way?" Hikaru asked out of curiosity, "I don't think I've ever heard of him behaving like that."
Madoka shook her head sadly.
"I don't know.." She answered, "I just tried tell him it was okay.. But he yelled at me when I kept asking what was wrong... Zyro said that there may be something that he's not saying."

"Like what?" Tsubasa asked.

"I don't know.." The brunette said, "But I figured that you should know... So that you know for when you see him next time. If you see him."
Tsubasa didn't press Madoka any further on the subject than he had to, and let her go after another minute or two of talking and asking questions.
The Director of the WBBA turned around in his chair and thought to himself, ignoring Hikaru's concerned looks as he pondered the subject for a few minutes.
What exactly could be wrong with Gingka?...

Maru sat there with her laptop on the couch, having already finished her work on repairing today's Beys and silently waiting for the Bladers to come pick them up. There was no reason that she couldn't have a bit of 'her' time.
Glancing towards the stairs, Maru pressed a few buttons until the distorted screen came up once more, possibly just from bad signal.
"Did you receive anything?.." The voice asked, the mostly shadowed figure looking at her through the screen.
"Yeah, I did." She said, opening up the tab for the recorded audio that she had gathered earlier that day.
She turned her volume all the way down, and then played the footage for him to hear. For many moments did he say nothing, and only when it was over did he open his mouth to speak.
"So I see..." He said, "They are starting to take notice of his behavior?" Maru simply nodded her head. "And are they taking notice of you at all?"
Maru shook her head again.
"No, I've been sure to keep it as secret as I can without anyone finding out..." She explained, her eyes making their way over to the stairs every and now and then from a sense of paranoia, "But its not easy..."

"I wouldn't expect it to be..." He said, his gaze falling intently on her through the screen, "But you have been keeping a close eye on him, yes?"
"Yes, I have." Maru said, "I went to find him at the hospital yesterday when he ran out of the room and didn't come back..."
"Did you find him?"
"To say the least.. Yes." Maru answered, swallowing from the memory that was somehow still fresh in her mind, plaguing her nightmares with the sight that she had seen before her.
She had never seen someone suffering that badly, so horridly that she might've made him turn up her lunch right then and there - it was a good thing that she didn't have a weak stomach.

"And what did you see, Maru?" He asked, the screen buzzing out for a moment and distorting his voice slightly.
For many moments, Maru did not speak, thinking back to what she had seen yesterday before looking up towards the screen.
"Something more disturbing than I can explain.." She said, swallowing once.
"Do tell..." He said, chilling her soul even more than it should have. To have to explain.. That.. She didn't know if she could handle that task. Describing something like that might be too much for her..

"I can try.." She said, looking up at the screen again, "But I don't know how much I'll be able to explain it that well.."
Swallowing hard, Maru began to talk, her eyes going to the stairs constantly as a way to try and detract herself from the words she was saying.
But her mind always kept pulling her back to the, over and over again in a never-ending cycle.
Her stomach lurched, and she did everything she could not to run up to the bathroom without notice on him, and even when she finished did she have trouble speaking.
"I see..." He said, and wasn't phased, "Very well then... You can go.."
Maru simply nodded a thank you, before closing both tabs out on her laptop, leaving her at the screen she was usually at when she collected data.
But instead of doing that, the pinkette quickly set her computer down, racing up the stairs, down the hall and into the bathroom, shutting the door quickly behind her and locking it.
Unable to hold it back anymore, Maru hurried over to the toilet and threw up - the words she had used to describe such suffering still racing through her mind freshly.