Wenling was watching the mask slowly falling from in front of Hiromi's face, which was prompting her to point out, "The mask…it's falling off!"
"Oh crap!" One of the girls from the Yuan bench boldly shouted once they processed exactly what just happened.
"Hiromi?" Takao shockingly mutters her name once his mind instantly recognizes the girl in front of him
"Hiromi, what are you doing here?!" He instantly questions the brunette with a shock expression on her face.
The only thought that ran through her mind was 'I need to get away.'
Takao unknowingly approaches Hiromi, which instantly leads her to scream, "Stay away from me!"
"Wait!" The bluenette then attempts to shout over the noisy crowd so he slowly draws closer to the brunette again.
However, she quickly dodges his hand while her teammates immediately leap to her rescue, "She said back up!"
"We need to go now!" Archimedes was nonchalantly ordering her fellow comrades during the impending chaos.
"What a shocking turn of events ladies and gentleman?! The fourth masked member of Yuan was none other than the former manager of the Bladebreakers themselves!" DJ Jazz announces the identity of the now unmask teenager.
"We have to head to the locker room now!" Kai loudly shouts at his teammates over the noise once he speedily stands from the bench.
Max foresaw the commotion that they were about to get caught in when he realized that one of them had yet to budge from their spot.
"Takao, let's go!" He piercingly yells, which earns a hesitant "…but," from the bluenette, whose eyes remain firmly hone in on the other side of the arena.
Rei instantly reacts so he physically tugs on Takao's collar to get him to move when he hollers, "We got to go! The reporters already climbed over the fence. Let's go!"
[In the stands]
"Wait…what just happened?" Joseph startlingly asked as he almost leapt out of his seat in order to get a better look.
Mariam swiftly faces Ozuma and astonishingly poses, "Was that really Hiromi?"
"Yo…this is really cray cray." Michael sincerely describes about the current chaotic situation at hand.
"Really Michael, cray cray?" Emily deliberately remarks about his use of words to explain the scenario at hand.
"Would you look at that?" Lee poses to his sister at the sight of the brunette, who stands in front of the bey-dish.
"It was Hiromi!" Mao nearly screams at the top of her lungs from pure exhilaration.
"I always knew from that training camp she would pick up blading." Julia casually comments with a wide smile on her face.
Raul simply nods his head before he agrees, "And she was doing pretty good too."
"She has some serious potential though." Tala sincerely gauges from what he was able to see for himself.
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[Bladebreakers]
Takao begrudgingly drags his feet while his mind repeatedly attempts to process the sudden revelation that Hiromi was right in front of him.
'It couldn't be…no way.' He inwardly thinks in complete disbelief at the sight of the brunette, who he just battles a few minutes ago.
"Should we?" Max softly whispers his question to his raven haired teammate as he watches Takao sadly slumps in the corner.
"The only person who can do something about this is in the other locker room." Hiro eventually breaks the silence in the locker room. "She has to take responsibility."
"Was that really her?" Kai quietly says to no one in particular.
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[Yuan]
"Hiromi…" Audrey calls out to Hiromi once they manage to escape the rabid and arrive within a temporary safe haven, their locker room.
"I can't believe he saw me." The brunette shockingly utters with her hands wildly tangle up in her hair.
"Hiromi," The dirty blonde repeats once again since the girl did not response at first.
"What am I going to do?" Hiromi mutters while she drags one of her hands down to the side of his chin.
"Snap out of it!" Audrey irritably snaps as she deliberately slaps her friend across the cheek with the palm of her hands.
"Audrey! You didn't have to slap her!" Wenling furiously yells at the dirty blonde, who presently stands in front of her.
She then places her hands on her hips and sternly defends her actions, "She wasn't even listening! Besides, that was just a love tap."
The brunette quickly faces her fellow brunette and lovingly questions, "Hiromi, are you alright?"
Hiromi tenderly rubs her slightly red cheek before she calmly mentions, "I'm fine. It stings a little though."
"A brute only knows how to use strength for a situation like this." Archimedes casually quips with her eyes in the pages of a book.
Audrey instantly cuts her eyes over to the raven haired teen and angrily snaps, "So says the chick with an icebox for a heart."
"Simmer down, you two." Wenling promptly interjects in order to cease a potential argument between the two teenagers.
"Psst, Meifeng...come here." Lanying quietly calls her name and signals for the powdery white haired woman to approach her.
"What's wrong?" She enquiringly poses when she catches the purple haired woman repeatedly peers at her and then the door.
Lanying finally reveals the reason why she was nervous, "The Bladebreakers' coach is demanding to see Hiromi."
'He's definitely not in a position to demand anything from anyone.' Meifeng inwardly deems before she calmly explains, "I'll go handle it. Just make sure Audrey and Archimedes don't kill each other."
She exited out of the locker room only to be rudely greeted by the bluenette on the other end, "I thought I requested for Hiromi?!"
The young woman inwardly rolls her eyes at his desperate attempt to scare her before she coolly advises, "First…watch your tone when a lady politely addresses you."
"She's still in a state of complete shock therefore any conversation with her is out of the question." Meifeng explains to him, who in turn shoots her an expression of ire.
"She's not the only one suffering!" Hiro retorts as he dramatically throws his hands up in the air from frustration.
"I never said she was." She simply remarks, which seems to unintentionally add more fuel to his fire.
"Takao, my brother, is probably in a far worse state of shock than she is." The young man immediately contests her previous statement.
"Look, I know you want her to take responsibility of her actions and that I will guarantee myself. So if you'll please leave now..." The powdery white haired woman sternly asserts.
"Ah Hiromi, what are you…" A feminine voice suddenly inserts herself in their conversation, which prompts them to peer in the direction of the noise.
"Hiro, I'll meet him at our old middle school at 7pm." She states when and where she would like to meet his brother.
Hiro irritatably exchange glances between the teenager and the older woman before he eventually gives in and declares, "Fine."
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[Hiro]
Hiro finally arrives back at their respective locker room and announces, "Gather up your gear. We're heading out."
He closely watches as they follow his instructions albeit a little slow but they eventually heed their coach's order and were ready to go.
The bluenette simply mulls over the agreement between him and Hiromi before he calls out to his younger brother to approach him, "Takao, come here,"
He then casually hooks his arm around his little brother's shoulders and softly whispers to him in his ear, "I talked to her and she decided to have a talk with you. I'll let you know more once we get back home."
The younger Kinoyama simply nods his head to show he understands the plan.
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[General POV]
Mr. Davidson was desperately attempting to do damage control as reporters were adamantly clamoring to receive an exclusive scoop on the unmasking of Hiromi during the latest battle.
"There will be no questions or comments about what occurred today." Mr. Dickerson firmly declares in front of bright bulbs that flash in his face.
Yet the reporters refused to yield and insisted on some type of verbal response, "Just a minute of your time, Director!"
"See if we can arrange a temporary cease and desist for these reporters?" He softly whispers to his secretary.
She silently nods her, breaks away from his side, and proceeds to work on her given assignment.
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Author's Note:
04.30.17 Major editing revisions