[Kinoyama's Residence]
Three out of the four members all converged in the kitchen after they heard the proclamation, "Breakfast is ready!"
"Yesterday was awesome." Max excitingly quips once he settles down in order to delight in the meal in front of him,
Rei snaps apart the wooden chopsticks, grabs his bowl, and startlingly affirms, "Who would've though Yuan was a pretty decent team compared to their attitude at the press conference?"
"They're pretty alright." The blonde chimes as he chews and swallows a piece of fish before he reaches for his bowl of rice.
Takao was quietly eating the food in front of him while his mind was reflecting on yesterday, '"Takao?" She softly calls out to me, which I causally respond with a, "Hm?"
She suddenly draws closer to me, gently presses her lips against my cheeks and wishes me a "Good night".
"And thanks again for today," The girl included with her eyes closed and head slightly tilted before she waved me off.
"Yo, earth to Takao!" A hand along with a familiar voice snaps before they curiously needle, "Is anyone in there?"
The blunette focus in on the movement in front of him when he realizes that someone was no longer in the kitchen. "Where's the old man?"
"He went upstairs to wake Hiro." The raven haired teen provides an answer after he sips on the steamy Miso soup then breaks off a piece of fish with his chopsticks.
A thought flashes across the blonde face before he suddenly speaks up, "Do you think Hiro hooked up with Yuan's coach?"
"I mean…she's a total babe! You know in that nurturing nature kind of way." He was affectionately describing while tilting his head against the fist that is holding the chopsticks.
Golden eyes take note of each of their faces before he offers his opinion, "I don't know Max. Hiro's always in his head."
"Or he's just a scary cat," Takao ultimately surmises about his brother's behavior around women.
Light blue eyes cut in his direction when he deliberately declares, "I guess it runs in the family."
"What's that supposed to mean, Max?" He grills the blonde while he lightly chews then swallow a clump of rice.
"I'll spell it out for you captain oblivious…H-i-r-…." Max was pointing out a fact until their captain's voice was interrupting their conversation.
Kai finally enters the kitchen with his blade of grass in his mouth before he alleges, "It's awfully loud if you've done your morning run already."
"And here's the wet blanket…"
Upstairs…
"Hiro…" Grandpa calls to the young man on the other side before he pushes the door open only to find his grandson wide awake. "Oh, you're already up."
He rubs his eyes with the side of his hands while he wearily replies, "I didn't get much sleep last night."
"Why you sly dog you." Grandpa enthusiastically teases him with a raise of his eyebrow and a gentle nudge to his side.
Hiro physically stifles another yawn before he sternly advises, "Get your mind out of the gutter old man."
"Over time, I eventually grew to have feelings for you No Good Slacker Kinoyama." The silver haired woman straightforwardly decrees as she directly stares him in the face.
"How did your date go? And when can I expect my great grands?" His grandfather's voice breaks him out of his memories from yesterday evening.
"Never!" The blunette immediately rejects the notion of children, especially with the Silver Oni.
A clear scoff released from his elder before he was swiftly reprimanded, "You don't have to be so dramatic."
"We went to a ramen shop." His grandson soon reveals where they went for their "date".
He watches as his grandfather tosses up his hands while he appallingly scolds, "A ramen shop, Hiro?! You idiot!"
"It was her pick." The bluenette was calmly explaining to his elder as he was repeatedly twisting his pinkie finger in the ear where his grandfather was shouting in.
Ryu eases up on his eldest grandchild before a thought passes through his mind about the location of their date. 'Maybe she was being thoughtful?'
"She outright confessed to two things: she used to beat up the idiots that bullied me and that she has f…" He unintentionally catches himself, which earns an expression of, "Hm?"
"Feelings for me," Hiro concludes his previous thoughts while he knowingly covers his face with one of his hands out of embarrassment.
His eyes narrow in on the young man while he gives him the third degree, "So she just blatantly admitted that to you?"
Instead of a verbal response, he could only manage to physically nod his head.
"I didn't expect you to be so…off guard about her feelings." He genuinely proclaims while he stares up at the ceiling of his room.
A small smirk was stretching across his face before bringing up some fond memories of the past. "Her eyes lingered longer than usual whenever you taught her a lesson in kendo."
"She always spoke positive and adamantly defended you." He makes known before he chuckles at the naivety of Hiro even at his current age.
"It was then that I realized that she truly loves you." The gray haired male revealed all the clues he saw on his own that revealed Meifeng has authentic feelings toward him.
His grandfather straightens his posture and confidently reassures him, "But then again, no one is forcing you to accept her feelings."
"I didn't." He openly admits before he includes, "But I didn't exactly reject her either,"
Ryu slightly faces the young man, whose face expresses confusion, and advises, "It is quite the conundrum but if there's no solution now stressing over won't make it better."
"Besides, you all have a flight to catch."
[Yuan]
"I swear these runs are going to really kill me!" Audrey verbally grips once she accesses their hotel room via a key card.
"If only that was true, we could finally replace you." Archimedes claims once she steps pass the dirty blonde, who stands in the middle of the room.
The teen merely peels off her sweaty clothes, tosses it in the corner and retorts, "Whatever, frosty. I got dibs on shower first!"
"It's not all that bad." Wenling downplayed right before she took noticed of someone's clothes randomly scattered about on the floor.
"Audrey! Stop leaving your clothes in the middle of the floor." She scolds her teammate as she gestures for the girl to pick up her garments.
"But still, you have to build up your endurance in order to outlast your opponent, right Hiromi?" The lighter brunette directs her question to the other brunette once she emerges from the bathroom.
Ruby red eyes peered down at her palms when she broke her silence, "I used to think that this sport was pointless and a waste of time."
"I couldn't even see a bit beast so I chalked it up as a figment of someone's imagination." She honestly confesses about her inability to visualize the creatures that inhabit the blade.
The brunette was recalling her first experience with the world of beyblading, "It wasn't until Takao skipped out on yet another mandatory afternoon duty did I find myself on a hunt for the idiot."
"It didn't take long because he was battling someone." She giggles at the fact that the bluenette was pretty awful at the game of Hide and Seek.
Her giggles cease before a smile surfaces to her face when she vividly remembers, "It was at that moment did I first encounter a bit beast, albeit a bit blurry but nevertheless I saw glimpses of it."
"After that, I found myself hooked on to beyblading."
She then closed her eyes and softly mumbled, "I guess I was the stupid one."
"It's alright to have those moments of doubts and disbelief." Wenling confidently reassures her with a gentle pat on her shoulders.
"Audrey has them more often than others so you're good." Their raven haired captain stoically affirms while she rolls her luggage from within the closet.
"I heard that ice cube!" Audrey snaps at her teammate once she emerges from the bathroom with only a towel around her body.
She casually saunters in to the main area, picks up some of her clothes while she comments, "Besides, I never knew there was more to blading than just the idols you see on T.V."
"There's training, teamwork, losses and victories." The dirty blonde adds as she drops the first pile on the sofa before she includes, "And cute boys just so happen to be a plus in my books."
"Aud!" Hiromi and Wenling jokingly shout her name at her statement.
Audrey quickly faces them with another heap of clothing in her hands when she honestly expounds, "What?! Training can get dull if you don't have any eye candy to make it worth it."
The brunette merely watches her other teammates continue to converse about their travel plans. Her mind was elsewhere.
'I may not know your name yet but I plan on finding it out as I get stronger.' She inwardly vows after she removes her blade from her hip holder.
With the coaches…
"So how did your afternoon go?" Lin nosily poses to the silver haired woman while she occasionally dabs sweat droplets off her forehead with a fluffy white towel.
"You did seem a bit down yesterday night." Lanying utters while she softly brushes her purple tresses then pins her bangs from in front of her eyes.
Meifeng was briefly pausing during neatly folding her clothes before replying, "It went okay, I guess."
"He must've rejected you?" The goldenrod blonde with green tips instantly assumed since it was extremely rare to see her so despondent.
The young woman exhales a deep sigh while her hands now linger on a dress that lays inside of her suitcase, "It was far worse than rejection."
Her response prompts everything to cease any further action even a silent Akane diverts her sights from her bag and onto her.
"He didn't reject me nor did he accept." Meifeng solemnly divulges about the result of her confession during her date.
"That's terrible!" Lin genuinely remarks while Lanying extends her sympathy with a "Sorry to hear that, Mei."
The silver haired woman simply shakes her head before she demands, "So can we just drop the subject, please?"
"Mum's the word," Her friend agrees to the request as she fictitiously zips her lips with her fingers while the other two physically nod their head.
Sensing a furiously stirring of her emotions, Meifeng was quickly excusing herself while dropping everything before departing from the room.
"That jerk! How dare he treats Meifeng as if she's some regular girl?!" Lin angrily snaps while her fists physically shake from rage.
Charcoal grey eyes swiftly roam over toward the room's door when she states, "I hate to see her down like this."
"I ought to go give him a couple of shiners." The goldenrod blonde with green tips was suggesting while repeatedly jabbing the air with a one-two punch combination.
The seated young woman slightly narrowed her eyes right before she mentally wondered, 'Akane was just here. Where did she go?'
Outside…
Meifeng deeply sighs again and lazily slouches against the metallic circular rail of the balcony, which provides an excellent view of the urban landscape.
She was soon sensing another familiar aura steadily approaching right before grumbling aloud, "I thought I said I wanted to be…Akane? What are you doing?"
"I need to vent." The white haired woman immediately answers once she settles in next to her friend with her eyes on the scenery.
"I had a pretty crappy day yesterday, too." She reveals the reason behind her presence on the balcony.
Meifeng slowly straightens her posture when she initially predicts, "So you did go visit your family?"
A nod of her head confirms that her guess was right on the mark before she further presumes, "Let me take a wild guess…it's about the succession of the next head for your family?"
"My father feels that my older brother has completely forfeited his right to claim the position." Akane discloses about the recent updates on her current situation.
"He definitely doesn't want to turn it over to a student. It would mean we would lose our birthright if I don't wed this person, which is the worst case scenario."
"I've been there done that." She distinctly groaned aloud at the memory of being force into an arranged marriage.
"Trust me, those aren't pretty."
"But it wasn't so bad…I got to see my mom and little brother." Akane positively highlights about her trip back home, which prompts her friend to raise an eyebrow.
Grey eyes narrow in on the white haired woman when she promptly alleges, "Seems like something else happened too,"
"Your aura has added new colors…light pink and light purple." She was adding while attempting to get a better reading from her friend.
Scarlet red eyes observe her friend closely approaches until her hand was near her head when she opines, "And if I remember those two hues correctly, what they have in common is being romantic."
A smile stretches across Meifeng's face while she inquisitively wonders, "Did you by chance meet a guy?"
"It was the coach from F Dynasty." Akane dully explains after she tilts her head so she could properly face the woman.
"Oh…he did have this bright yet refreshing aura." The silver haired woman easily remembers his particular colorfully aura since it was extremely unique for a male. "Consider yourself lucky."
"Most men have primarily red instead of the vibrant light pink, purple, ivory, and white around them." She methodically clarifies why she claims that she should consider her lucky.
"It's about time we head in…we've got a flight to catch."
[Bladebreakers]
"I wonder whose traveling with us?" Max enquiringly ponders aloud as they presently wait to board their plane.
"If you checked your phone from time to time, you would've known it was us." A familiar feminine voice admonishes him, which prompts their eyes to follow in that direction.
The blonde rapidly bounds over the seat, dashes toward her, encloses her in a hug and merrily squeals, "Mom!"
An "ehm" emits from behind them when an orange haired teen soundly grips, "And what are we…chopped liver?"
"Don't be so jealous, Em. It's just his mom." Michael deliberately teases, which earns a retort, "Nobody's even talking to you."
He merely ignores her snarky remark when he greets the rest of the Bladebreakers, "Yo everyone!"
"It's you guys," Takao flatly expressed at the sight of the PPB Allstarz arrival at their gate, which meant they were flight buddies this go round.
Rick was physically pushing pass Emily and Eddy after realizing who they will be traveling with, "Looks like we got lucky…we're flying with the losers!"
'Of all teams, why did it have to be them?' Hiro mentally grumbles until he hears Judy's voice brings him out of his thoughts.
"You look like someone's stole your precious bey." She amusingly quips at the bluenette current facial expression.
"I don't want to talk about it!" He irritably asserts to the older woman before she could even sit down. The young man quickly places his ear buds within his ear and loudly cranks up his tunes.
She clearly airs, "Talk about a sour puss."
'Still I wonder what's got his undies in a knot…'
[Barthez Battalion]
"Just great…" Claude was abruptly speaking up after spotting familiar bobs of hair within the distance, which was appearing to head in their direction."
"Hey you guys!" Julia excitingly greeted them once they finally reached their designated wait spot only to discover Barthez Battalion is their traveling companion.
The light blue haired teen visibly rolls his eyes, folds his arms in front of his chest, and verbally groans, "And just when I thought I finally got rid of you diabolical twins last night,"
Raul opens his mouth to counter when his twin lifts her hand in front of his chest and shakes her head "no".
"The Fates say otherwise, right Miguel?" The orange head directs the question to the blonde instead of him, which earns their attention.
A nervous Miguel frequently exchange glances between the two hotheads before he basically concedes, "Uhm yeah,"
"Your leader has spoken." The teen cheekily affirmed with a smirk on her face at the victory she earned.
A "tsk" escapes his lips at the fact that they were once again force to deal with F Dyansty.
'This is about to be a long flight.' He inwardly assumes as he simply watches his teammates engage in friendly conversation with the enemy.
[Blitzkrieg Boys]
"Looks like we're traveling alone…again," Spencer stated after he closely observed the crowd of flyers yet not a single one of them was a beyblading team.
"What'd you expect? Boris is a freaking stick in the mud." Ian reminded him with his feet propped on an empty adjacent seat while his back rest against the seat.
"We're never going to get anywhere like this…" The silver haired male irritably grumbled with his eyes closed and arms folded.
"What do you think Capt?" He directs his question to the red head male that currently sits off to his left closest to the windows.
"About what?" Tala confusingly questions, which earns a remark, "You've been in a daze lately."
"I bet it's a girl. He's got that dumb love struck look on his face!" The purple haired teen automatically alleges once he pops up and faces the two.
Even Bryan directs his sights from the window and on to this captain.
Tala simply ignores them after he simply pronounces, "Whatever,"
[White Tiger X]
"Why are you still bothering me about that?" Lee irritably groans.
White Tiger X swiftly venture toward their assign gate after they successfully pass through security.
"Because you were completely rude to her at dinner yesterday," Mao immediately snaps at her brother for his behavior last night.
He simply repeats the same answer for the millionth time today, "How many times do I have to tell you that she's weird and creepy!"
"Not again," Gary wearily utters to no one in particular.
Kevin huffs while he annoyingly grumbles, "I wonder how long they're going to go at it this time."
"I can't believe you're really this dense or…" Mao astonishingly proclaims at her brother's indifference to a girl's feelings toward him. "Are you just too stubborn and oblivious to the fact at hand?!"
"I'm not saying you have to fal in love with her. All I'm saying is that you should at least give her a chance." The pink haired teen was openly explicating why she was presently giving me the third degree.
Master Tao silently agrees with the notion.
At the gate…
"Achoo!" Wenling continuously attempts to stifle yet another sneeze, which earns her another "Bless you," from those around her.
She nods and politely thanks them when she hears one of her coaches asks her, "Coming down with a cold?"
"Someone's talking about her." Akane colorlessly tosses in her opinion behind her recent sneeze fest.
Audrey eagerly peaks up at that comment before she broadcasts, "Hiromi said that back when we first met!"
"Well..it is a traditional belief that we hold even to this day." Meifeng enlightens the dirty blonde teen about their culture while she gestures during her explanation.
"Lookie at what we have here…" A feminine voice rudely interrupts their conversation when she adds, "the infamous all girl group, Yuan."
"Ozuma?!" Audrey inaudibly squeals at the sight of the Saint Shields captain, along with his team, presently at their gate with their carry-ons in tow.
"Aren't you going to say something to your girlfriend?" The navy blue haired teen teasingly reproaches her teammate as she jabs her thumb at the dirty blonde.
"Girlfriend?!" Everyone, except for Akane and Archimedes, piercingly shriek at the sudden change in Audrey's relationship status.
Ozuma deliberately ignores her childish taunts and proceeds to apologize, "Forgive my teammates coarse behavior. We are the Saint Shields."
"This is Joseph, Dunga, and the loud is mouth is Miriam." As he introduces them by their respective names, he physically points to each one of them.
He then easily avoids a smack to the back of the head from Miriam, who exclaims, "Hey! That wasn't nice of you."
"It's nice to finally meet you all. We're Yuan." "I'm Hiromi," Hiromi decides to mimic their captain's action and introduces them to the Saint Shields.
"My teammates Wenling, Archimedes, and our coaches Meifeng, Lanying, Lin and Akane,"
An "eh hm" audibly emits from the dirty blonde that sits off to her left with her fist in front of her mouth.
"I'm sure you've already met Audrey." The brunette automatically assumed since they seemed rather cordial with each other already.
"So Oz…" Audrey was about to strike up a conversation only to hear a feminine voice over the intercom, "We are now ready to board…"
She physically shakes her fist at the woman behind the counter while she inwardly snaps, 'Stupid announcer lady, now I missed my chance to say something!'
"That's our flight."
