Sometimes Johannes wondered if ending up in Juvie would have been better…
And he is not exaggerating.
Even freaking prison sounded like a good time when you compare it to a damned beyblade youth group.
Akito, better known as Blader DJ, had this whole routine of excitedly asking each and one of them what they had done in the last couple of days, hoping that they had done something like help an old lady cross the road, give away the last slice of pizza, or just about anything that would contribute to their journey to become non-dangerous assholes in the future. Then, he would just praise them and claim he always believed there was good inside of them… That sappy weirdo.
"Before we begin with the sharing circle, I wanna say that I'm so happy everyone said yes to the karaoke party!" Blader DJ was grinning from ear to ear. "I'm so happy how this little support group became a total squad! I am so proud of how far everyone has come! I know it's been tough to get here, but I knew you all could do it!"
The cat boy groaned.
It was always the same.
Someone brags about making a "huge step" and suddenly becomes a saint.
Whenever they do not fight over something stupid, these meetings just turn into a dumb measuring contest.
Dammit… He could be locked up in a lonely cell….But no…He has to deal with these clowns instead.
Johannes decides to just turn his gaze at the window.
He wonders if a fall from the fourth floor would be enough to put him into a week-long coma.
Maybe he will just end up landing on his feet without any sort of injury, but one can dream.
As the conversation in the circle becomes loud enough to interrupt his thoughts, Johannes groans.
"Now, Dan." Blader DJ looked up from his notebook. "I want you to know that this relapse doesn't hurt your progress in the slightless. It happens to the best of us."
"Wait, no." Dan raised his hands to gesture to the other to stop talking. "I'm not saying you are wrong, but calling it a 'relapse' makes it sound like a way bigger deal than what it actually was."
"You didn't call for help after that guy fell down the stairs!" Reiki pointed his finger at his twin brother's face, he was clearly angry at him. "You just laughed!"
"Don't point your finger at me!" Dan shouted, slapping his brother's hand away from him. "Someone was already calling an ambulance, I didn't have to do anything!"
"Okay, guys. This doesn't need to turn into a fight. Come on." Blader DJ pleaded.
The Sodo brothers stopped arguing, they looked at each other, and grunted as they crossed their arms.
"I understand that seeing someone fall might have been funny to you, but think about it this way." The man put his notebook on his lap and glanced at the younger twin. "That guy was probably someone's brother. How would it make you feel if your brother fell down the stairs and someone laughed?"
Dan looked down for a couple of seconds.
"Well… I'm pretty sure the one laughing would be me- Ow!" He rubbed his head as he turned around and glared at his twin brother. "Jerk!"
"A-alright, enough of that." Blader DJ giggles awkwardly. "How about the next time you are about to laugh, stop and think if it's polite, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." The teenager mumbled and turned his gaze back to the floor.
After that, Blader DJ goes back to his notes.
"Alright, now that that's over with." He starts writing something. "Tetsuya? How have your apologies been going?"
Every head in the circle turns to the teenager that is wearing a cape and holding a small crab in his hand.
"Crabtastic." Tetsuya looks up with a smile. While his crab holds up a long piece of paper in its claw. "I'm almost halfway done, crabby."
The boy sitting next to him nodded with a soft smile that flashed his lilac lipstick.
"Johannes has been helping out with the apology shells." Ryutaro smirked. "The ones he paints are kind of ugly, but still good."
The cat boy's attention snaps back to the sharing circle. His throat goes dry and he unconsciously looks down to avoid everyone's glances and smirks.
How did he know they were smirking?
Easy. They always do it.
Those jerks…
Blader DJ's eyes start to lit up with absolute joy. Johannes can feel it.
As much as it hurts him to look at everyone in the room, he knows he has too.
"I-It's not what it looks like! Okay?!" His face goes red. "I just didn't have anything better to do and said yes!"
"You asked me to, crab." Tetsuya deadpanned, not really surprised by the other's reaction.
"I paid my debt!" Johannes pointed at him, screaming in anger. "Now you don't get to blame Naji for Lu's death!"
Despite sounding very tired before, Tetsuya jumped from his seat and pointed at the green haired boy sitting in front of him.
"It's still your cat's fault! Crabby!" He shouts. "You can't put a price on a friend's life!"
"She was starving!" Johannes argued. "You can't blame her for her instincts! Your crab was basically asking for it! It had too much meat!"
"How dare you?!" He gasped, cupping the tiny crab off his shoulder. "And in front of Phobos?!"
Johannes scoffed and sat down again.
"He doesn't have to worry about getting eaten. He's too small!"
"He's a growing boy for crab's sake!"
"Who are you trying to fool?! We all know that's not true! He's been alive far longer than the record time Tobio can keep a job!"
"Why are you bringing me into this?! What did I do?!"
"I don't know, but you suck too!"
Akito cleared his throat, his smile had grown more and more awkward each time the kids insulted each other.
"I'm afraid we went off topic again." He tried to laugh, but it came out completely forced. "So, Johannes? Even if you were trying to make up for one of your cat's mistakes, it still means a lot that you decided to make room in your routine to help a friend."
Ryutaro smirked again, this time he unfolded his fan and started waving it under his nose.
"Well, he has more time in his hands now." He laughed under his breath. "Since, you know…. He suddenly decided to start stalking his sister's workplace only twice a week now."
The young psychic didn't seem to be intimidated in the slightest as Johannes' eyes became as narrow as the one of a cat.
Before he can threaten to cram Ryutaro's fan down his throat, Johannes heard a squeal that was all too familiar to him by now.
"Oh my gosh! Really?!" Akito almost squealed from excitement. "Johannes, that's amazing! Reaching out to Motti is such a huge step! I knew you would come around!"
The young blader growled.
"Grr, meow!" He looks away, repressing the urge of baring his fangs at the other. "It's not like that! She just started working at the only cat cafe in the city! I was already going there before she even knew about the place!"
He didn't miss the way Blader DJ's smile morphed into an expression of worry, but he didn't care.
"She always does this! Every time I have something for myself, she just walks in and takes it!" Johannes shakes his head angrily.
"How? She's literally just working there." Ryutaro inquired, arching an eyebrow with doubt. "And it's not like she even knows you go there! You wear disguises every time you drag me along!"
"You are clearly an only child." Dan mumbled as his brother silently nodded. "Reiki is nowhere near allowed in my book club."
"It's not like I want to go anyways." Reiki crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at his twin. "I'm having WAY too much fun at improv!"
"Johannes, did you ever tell her how that makes you feel?" Blader DJ tried to smile again. "I'm sure she doesn't know that-"
"I'm going to stop you right there."Johannes raised his hand and sighed. "I know you are trying so hard to trick me into talking to her, but I don't wanna!"
Ever since Motti became Blader DJ's pupil (Because her new dream was to be a beyblade DJ someday), Akito had been like ten times more interested in mending the rift between the estranged siblings. It was a miracle that he hadn't said anything about Johannes being part of his "group of misguided bladers" to her, the last thing the young cat-boy needed was his sister knowing he became part of a group of weirdos with skeletons in their closets.
"Crabby, is this about the mission thing?" Tetsuya asked. "Because, crab, in my experience: you can't keep holding on to a bad thing forever and taking it out on people who did nothing wrong, crab."
"Oh, you mean that thing about Pluto wanting to give the legendary bladers mission to her?" Reiki asked and his friend nodded. "Man, who would have thought the fragment would land just as she went out to pick up his takeout?"
"Grr! This is not about that!" Johannes hissed at him. "Pluto was gonna make a stupid mistake anyway! She would have failed!"
"You literally failed the mission too." Dan pointed out. "Maybe if you had asked for her help-"
"I didn't NEED her help!" Johannes interrupted him. "In case you don't remember, I literally asked for her help once and she screwed it up, meow!"
"So, she lost a battle, big deal." Tobio joined his friend. "Why are you treating her like she stabbed you in the back? I feel like Benkei had more of a reason to be mad at her than you, and even they are friends now!"
The way Johannes pouted made the group immediately see that they were onto something.
"Wait, could it be that you are salty because she hangs out with Gingka's friends?" Reiki smirked.
"Didn't you hear the news, bro?" Dan elbowed his brother, his voice adopting a teasing flair. "She's dating the Mercury blader too."
"Sweet beyblade Moses, again with the tabloids, Dan?!" Tobio groaned. "Those things slander us every chance they get and you keep reading them?!"
"What?! No!" The young blader shook his head. "I saw it on Yu's blog! He was doing a surprise makeover segment with his friends, and you can clearly see how Johannes' sister and the Mercury blader were definitely about to kiss before those kids slammed the door open and tackled them."
"It's true." Ryutaro waves his fan over his face. "Those two are boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Woah." Dan turned to his friend. "Did you predict it would happen?"
"Huh? Oh, no." The boy with blue hair shook his head. "I've seen them at the cafe many times. I still remember when we found out, Johannes crushed his teacup with only his bare hand."
"So it bothers him!" Dan grins. "Then that must be why he is so angry at her!"
"Oh, it's definitely that. Look at his face." Reiki tapped his brother in the shoulder and then pointed at Johannes.
Everyone turned their heads and noticed how the green-haired boy's cheeks were flushed red with anger.
"I don't care about that either!" He shouted. "If she wants to suck faces with that four-eyes freak, then what do I care?! She does dumb things all the time, what's so different about this one?!"
"Yup. Salty." Reiki whispered.
Dan didn't say anything, just nodded slowly.
"Crab. Could it be that the real reason you hate your little sister is because you feel remorse, crabby?" Tetsuya asked, still looking at the little crustacean in his hands. "You said Pluto always let her do her own thing and was nice to her, but you did everything for the cult of Nemesis and he was still mean to you, crab."
Johannes' eyes, along with everyone else's, went wide.
"W-what?" Despite trying to talk normally, his voice still came out as a fragile whisper.
"Crab, it's obvious Pluto played favorites." Tetsuya shrugged. "And it made you mad, crabby, but that wasn't Motti's fault and you knew it. Crab, so even if you enjoyed taking it out on her, you still feel bad for doing it. And now, you feel like you need to stay away from her life so you don't mess up what she has now."
Johannes blinked.
"...Fuck you."
"Johannes!"
"Fuck you all too!"
Blader DJ sighed tiredly. His lips fought to move upwards and create a bright and semi-confident smile.
Then, he grabbed the green-haired boy by the shoulder to get his attention.
"Hey, Johannes." Akito tried to appease him once again. "There is no need for that. I… I really think you should reach out to your sister because you guys only have each other now, you know?… But if you are not ready to take that step yet, then none of us will force you to take it. And… I won't bring her up again, okay? I'm sorry."
Johanne's mouth shuts, his eyes go wide for a second but he looks down as fast as he can, so no one sees his face.
"...Meow, whatever." He crosses his arms again and looks away.
"I'm so glad the place isn't busy right now, I've been craving a calico crepe all day!" Ryutaro sighed in relief as he sat down. He opened the menu and let his eyes wander around the beverage options. "I wonder if they do big orders. I wanna bring a couple of strawberry tart-paws for the karaoke party. I was planning on going to the bakery later today, but I went the last time we got together and I don't wanna be predictable, you know?"
The young blader rolled his eyes when he saw that Johannes did not pay attention to anything he had just said.
The cat boy was frantically looking around the restaurant. Despite wearing the same costume every single time and not getting recognized even once, Johannes was so on the edge every time he stepped one foot inside the cafe.
And to an extent, Ryutaro gets it.
Or at least he used to back when the costume was new.
"Are you gonna stop fidgeting with that wig after I admit that black is a good color for you?" He asked, eliciting a reaction from his friend. "Because, seriously, anything to get you to stop doing that."
Johannes grumbled, Ryutaro could notice that he was about to meow, but a familiar voice stopped him.
"Meow! Welcome to The Friendly Feline Cafe! Are you ready to order, meow?"
Ryutaro smiled at the young waitress and nodded.
"Yes, of course. We would like two 'calico crepes' and two small 'whiskers n' whipped cream' cocoas, please!"
The young girl nodded as she wrote down the order as fast as she could.
"Meow, excellent choice! They will be ready in no time." She then looks down at the kitten rubbing its head against her foot. "Feel free to play with the little ones as you wait, they are extra happy today!"
Ryutaro answers with a giggle, but stops at seeing how Johannes answers in a nod.
The young blader blinks, Johannes normally ignores anything she says. But it seems that she didn't pay any mind to that as she walked away to continue tending the tables.
Ryutaro stares at Johannes for a good minute, the other doesn't say anything and just plays with the cat in his lap, his stare remains down as he swings the little toy mouse for the feline.
"Hey, are you-"
Ding!
"Motti guess what?!"
The high pitched scream startled them both. The two bladers turned their heads and saw a little pink haired kid hopping his way to the young cat girl, he was being followed by a guy in a blue jacket.
"Um… Tithi, please remember what we said about running in restaurants." He called to the little boy with a shy voice.
That's the legendary blader of Mercury, Ryutaro remembered as much. He also knew that the other kid, Tithi, was also a legendary blader.
"But Yuki, she needs to know!" The little boy grabs the brunette's hand and starts shaking it.
"Meow? Know what?" The young girl asked with a smile, this made Tithi turn around with the brightest of smiles.
"That your lucky charm worked!" He pulled something from the pocket in his poncho and showed it to her. "I passed my exam!"
Tithi held out a golden bell, it was the very same one Motti wore in her necklace. It had seemed that she had lent it to him as a good luck charm to help with his confidence.
"Meow, really? That's great!" The young girl grinned as she kneeled down. "I told you that everything would work out. Meow."
"Yeah! I didn't feel scared at all because I had a lucky charm with me!" Tithi exclaimed as he nodded. "It's like magic!"
"Well, maybe the long time you spent studying helped just a little." Yuki pointed out, smiling awkwardly.
"Hush, non-believer!" Tithi pointed at him as he pouted.
Motti lets out a giggle then stands back up.
"Meow, yeah, hush." She teases, something about her voice changes to sound a bit flirtatious as she pokes the bridge of his glasses to push them back just a little.
Yuki blushes, his throat makes a sound that he tries to stop abruptly by coughing into his hand a couple of times.
"I-I… I also did well on my placement exam." He mumbles while looking at his feet.
Motti laughs under her breath.
"Meow, I knew you could do it." She whispers, leaning close to place a kiss on his cheek.
"M-motti!"
"Meow, that's my name, little pup." She grins, sticking her tongue out playfully.
"Sh-shhh!" He shushes her as his blush gets brighter. "N-not in front of Tithi, please!"
"Meow, how about you two sit down and order something? My break starts in a couple of minutes."
Tithi nods and grabs Yuki's hand to guide him to a table. Of course, they ended up at a table where there were a bunch of cats sitting around.
Honestly, Ryutaro thought he had outgrown the habit of listening to other people's conversations. He surely believed that he did. However, at one point he had realized that his friends had the capability of bringing out the worst of him whenever they hung out.
At least he wasn't the only one, as Johannes was also using his feline-like hearing to listen to what the other table was saying. Since his costume included a facemask and sunglasses, Ryutaro was not able to read the boy's expressions to measure his reaction to the conversation. Nevertheless, the bluenette had realized a long time ago that Johannes has the habit of moving his fingers when something bothers him, which he had not done yet.
In fact, Johannes hasn't moved much at all, his food was probably cold by now since he hadn't even touched it.
"I wanna join the art club! Yu and Kenchi said that school clubs are fun!" Tithi chirped before taking a bite of his cake. "Kenchi said the art club is allowed to draw and paint a lot after class!"
"Meow, that sounds exciting!" Motti nods. Then, turns her gaze to her boyfriend. "Meow, what about you?"
Yuki, who was drinking a cup of tea when he heard the question, had once again blushed.
"W-well… I've been thinking a lot about extracurricular activities." He giggled awkwardly once again. "And… Well, the school has an astronomy club, a-and I heard a lot of great things about it, but…."
"But? Meow?" The young girl tilted her head.
"I've been thinking… This is kind of a new start for me so… M-maybe I should try something new as well. Before living here, I only focused on beyblade and astronomy and…. I should be more spontaneous, don't you think? P-put myself out there." The legendary blader of Mercury whispered the last part. He looked down for a second, but then gathered the courage to look up again in just a couple of seconds. "T-that's why I'm thinking of joining the drama club!"
"Meow, that's amazing!" Motti grinned at her boyfriend. "I didn't know you liked acting."
"I-I've read some old plays in the past… And it's not just acting, learning the mechanics of a stage, how to make props, and all the things I don't really know about theater sound… You know… Exciting." Yuki tried to relax, but his blush would not go away.
Motti lets out a giggle and places her hand on top of his.
"Meow, it does…. Meow, maybe I can help you practice too."
Yuki's head snaps back up again.
"R-really?"
"Meow, sure!" She nods. "I've been learning a lot about how to get around the stage with Blader DJ, meow! Not the same thing, but meow, it's close."
"Y-yes! I would-" Yuki stops talking after realizing how high pitched his voice sounded and clears his throat. "I would appreciate it… A lot."
Ryutaro takes another sip of his chocolate.
"I think he could use all the help he can get, if I'm honest." He whispers, hoping to elicit a reaction from his friend. "If he struggles talking to one person that much, he will cause an accidental fire on a stage at one point."
Johannes flinched ever so slightly, the way he silently choked had told Ryutaro that he wanted to laugh.
He smirked.
"Well, at least nothing he does will be worse than Reiji's "snake jazz" number at karaoke. That was the biggest shitshow I've ever seen."
Johannes had to cover his mouth to stop himself from snorting.
This made Ryutaro smile.
Honestly, he doesn't understand if Johannes plans on keeping this façade of ignoring his younger sister forever.
At least it means that Ryutaro will keep on having someone to make him company, have a drink, and gossip about people he barely even knows. Because despite trying their hardest to put their pasts behind them, these "villain kids" are just dumb, petty, and clueless kids deep down.
…Well, maybe not so deep down.
