Here is Chapter 4! I hope you are all enjoying the story as much as I am writing it 😊

Rei only had one thing on his mind the next morning, he had to call Mariah and speak to her about what's been going on. He hated the idea of losing her, but he couldn't let his mind play tricks on him at a time like this. He needed to get answers one way or another, even if it meant going through someone else. He managed to get up before everyone else, even Kai; walking out to a secluded part of the yard and dialing Mariah's phone number.

"hey you've reached me! Sorry I missed you, leave me a message!", her voicemail rung.

Sighing heavily, Rei waited for the beep.

"Hey its me, I haven't heard your voice in a long time. When you get the chance, call me. We need to discuss some stuff", his tone was very serious and to the point, hanging up as he heard footsteps behind him.

"Its not like you to be up this early", Kai said as he stood next to Rei, stretching his arms out as the sun started to creep over the dojo walls. "I just had a lot on my mind, needed to get some answers", Rei stated before sitting down on the porch, his face full of disappointment and uncertainty. Kai was never one to counsel his teammates about their personal problems; but he wasn't about to let something like this distract Rei from the upcoming tournament. "Just do what your gut tells you Rei, maybe now isn't the best time to be in a relationship with anyone for either of you. Don't let things like this get in the way of your game", Kai said as calmly and as caringly as he could, but that didn't help Rei feel any better.

Nothing more was said between them, Kai walked back inside to leave Rei with his thoughts.

Later, when practice started up, Hilary and Katy came with some lunches for everyone. When it came the time to eat lunch, Katy noticed Rei was sitting by himself; bringing a sandwich over to him before Tyson ate all of them.

Staring at his phone, Rei waited for Mariah to call him back; but she hasn't yet. "I can't take this anymore; why aren't you calling me back?", he thought to himself before he was snapped back to reality by a shadow looming over her. He was delighted to see it was Katy, giving her a small smile despite how horrible he was feeling. "Hey, thought you could use something to eat. You've been going at it a lot harder today, now eat before you destroy yourself", she said as she handed him a sandwich and a bottle of water; taking a seat in front of him to lean against the opposite pole. Rei took the sandwich, but it took him a moment to start eating; as he was checking out Katy.

"She's a lot prettier when she's not drowning in emotion", he thought with a smile, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was looking at her when she looked at him. "What?", she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing, It just seems like you're starting to come around", he commented before taking a bite of his sandwich. Katy had a gift for reading in between the lines, blushing a bit before clearing her throat, "I guess, but it looks to me like you're beginning to hide", Rei sighed at her words, jumping when he heard his phone ringing.

"Excuse me", he rushed before getting up and answering the phone. Katy took the hint, knowing who it might be as she got up and walked back over to the group. Hilary walked up to her, giving her the last flavored water before looking over at Rei. "Is he talking to Mariah?", she asked. Shrugging, Katy took a sip of her water before sitting down next to Max, "I don't know, but its none of our business anyways", she said before looking at Rei with concern. "I just hope he makes the right decision", she thought.

"Rei? Oh its so good to hear from you! How have you been?"

"I'm ok, just training hard. How about yourself?"

"Everything is fine, we have to go up the mountain for a week to do some spiritual training so I'm happy I was able to talk to you before I left this afternoon"

"You're going today? Usually spiritual training doesn't happen until a week before the tournament. Why is Lee taking you guys up there now?" his tone was obviously confused.

Mariah seemed hesitant to answer, as if she was thinking about what to say next.

"Uhm, I don't know. I guess he just wants all of us to be at the same level before we go"

Rei wasn't buying it, there was something fishy about this trip up to the mountains.

"You said you're training this new guy? How is he working out?"

"Oh um, he's doing ok. Not as good as you for sure!"

"Really? In your last email you said he was great, I was going to say I'm happy you guys found a good replacement"

"Yeah he's good, but like I said, not as good as you. Well I better get packing, it was nice to talk to you Rei! I'll call you as soon as I get back ok?"

"Yeah, sure. Be safe up there"

"I love you"

"Yep, love you too"

After hanging up, he decided to put his thoughts to rest after a little time of thinking too much. He then dialed Lee's number.

"Hey Rei! I thought you lost my number"

"Hey Lee, how are things going?"

"Oh we're doing alright, how about you?"

"I'm doing OK, Mariah said you guys were heading up to the mountain today so I thought I would give you a call before you all left"

There was a pause, like Lee was confused.

"Uhm..we're not going up to the mountains for another month. Mariah said she was going to do some extra training with Victor so she volunteered to take him up the mountains for a week; who told you we were all going?"

Rei was shocked, anger rising inside of his chest as he took in a deep breath.

"So, you mean she's going up the mountains by herself? With this Victor guy?"

"She said you were OK with it, so I didn't say much about it in our last email"

"Yeah OK. Well I better get back to training, I'll talk to you later"

"Ok buddy, bye"

Rei hung up the phone, feeling his chest boiling as he paced back and forth. He couldn't believe Mariah would lie to him, and everyone else on the team. Hilary and Katy were both watching the phone conversation like it was a reality TV show; but trying to be discreet about it. "Tyson might have been right for once", Hilary said in a whisper to Katy, who only nodded as she watched Rei mentally make his decision.

When Rei finally returned to the group, Tyson looked at him with a questionable look. "Was I right or wrong?", he asked, but he didn't need an answer by just looking at Rei's face. "I don't want to talk about it", he said before walking inside, slamming the door behind him. Shrugging, Tyson got his Beyblade out and put it in the launcher; "I told you", he said to Hilary along with sticking his tongue out at her. "Shut up Tyson, nobody knows what's going on OK? Just leave the subject and Rei alone", Hilary yelled before sitting down next to Kenny.

That night, Rei tapped his laptop key board; trying to think of what he could write to Mariah about this. He knew she wouldn't get the email until a week from now, but he couldn't get ahold of her due to no cell service in the mountains. He started to type, but everything he said sounded like it should be said over the phone, so she would know he was serious. Out of frustration, he slammed his laptop shut and shoved it off his lap, covering his eyes with his hands while resting his elbows on his knees.

"I can't take this anymore, I have to do something", he thought to himself before standing up and walking out of the dojo, watching Katy and Hilary start to leave. He then thought of something that would make him feel better. "Hey Katy, hold up", he yelled before running over to her. Katy didn't say anything as Rei got closer, just waited for him to ask her whatever it was that so important. "Can I get your advice on something?", he asked, nudging his head to the side to signal her to follow him. "Um, sure. Go on ahead Hilary, I'll be behind you", she said before following Rei.

"Ok, be safe coming home Katy'', she said calmly before leaving the dojo. Hilary wasn't too happy about leaving Katy behind; especially since Rei asked her about Katy.

"You better not be doing what I think you're doing Rei", she thought to herself before rounding the corner.

When Rei and Katy got inside, Rei opened his laptop again and paused at the empty email screen. "What is it Rei?", she asked as she sat down next to him. He was reluctant to say, he didn't like thinking about it, let alone talking about it. "Let's just say Tyson's suspicions were right. I just don't know what to do from this point on", he said while staring at the screen. After a few moments of silence, Katy took it upon herself to shut his laptop and give him the cell phone he had sitting next to his bed. "It's not something to be done through email", she stated, watching him shake his head. "No, I can't call her. She doesn't have cell service", he said as rejected the phone, opening his laptop again.

Without missing a beat, Katy took the laptop from Rei and put it behind her, so he couldn't get to it without going through her first. "Leave it on a voicemail, trust me. She will respect you more if you do it over the phone; email isn't going to get the point across", she said with a serious tone. "Go ahead, I'll wait for you here", she instructed him to go outside to make the phone call.

He thought about it for a bit, sitting in silence before he dialed Mariah's phone number. He didn't move from his spot, so Katy thought he wanted her to leave. Before she could fully stand up, Rei gently took her wrist to stop her. "You don't have to go", he said as he listened to her voicemail come on again. Katy blushed a bit as she looked down at the hand holding her wrist, slowly sitting back down.

"Mariah, I know what you're doing, and I don't appreciate being lied to. Under these circumstances, I think its best if we go our separate ways. Have fun with Victor"

With that, he hung up and let out a sigh of relief. His voice sounded mad but sad, Katy could see tears forming in his eyes. Patting his shoulder gently, she gave him a warm smile and nodded; "I know it hurts, but at least now your mind won't drive you crazy", she said as she watched him nod to her words. He then stood up, giving her a hand to help her up; which she took. "Come on, I'll walk you home", he said plainly before walking out the door, Katy followed. As they left the dojo, Kai watched them walk down the street while leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed; shaking his head slowly.

"What are you doing Rei?", he thought as the wind blew his hair out of his face, his eyes focused and hard on the two walking away.

Rei didn't speak much on the walk to Hilary's house, but he didn't make it awkward for Katy to speak if she wanted to. "Are you ok?", she asked, her voice carrying concern and worry for him. Rei shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'm just at a loss right now, I don't know what to think anymore", he said with a blank expression. Putting her hands in her pockets, she sighed heavily as she walked next to him. "Well at least you found out all of this before you went to the next level right?", she asked, noticing he went out of stride to her words.

"I was in love with her", he said boldly, his arms tensing from his blood rushing.

Katy didn't know what to say, afraid of saying something wrong and making him mad at her. She did say the only thing she could say; "I'm sorry", hoping that would at least ease the tension inside of him. Rei sighed heavily, stopping as he looked down at Katy. "What's to be sorry for? You said yourself if I had any doubt, I should deal with it. Were you sorry for what happened to you?", he asked, his eyes hard as he read her face.

"The only thing I was sorry about was not ending it earlier, I had to catch him in the act before I forced myself to move on. I just didn't want you to feel the same pain I did by finding out the hard way; but this isn't any better is it?", she asked, crossing her arms as the wind blew against her skin. Her hair danced behind her, her bangs going over her eyes as she locked eyes with Rei. Her words made sense to him, she was right; he doesn't know what he would've done if he caught Mariah kissing this other guy. "I was apologizing for what you're going through, not for helping you decide something before it destroyed you", she said as she continued to walk towards home. Rei didn't take long to catch up to her, eventually reaching her house but without further conversation.

"Thanks for walking me home, goodnight", she said as she started to open the door, but she heard him say her name again. "Katy?", she turned to look at him; "Thank you for your help", he said with a small smile. Katy smiled back at him sweetly, giving him a nod; "You're welcome, I'll see you tomorrow ok? Get back safely", she said before walking inside. Rei stood there for a moment, feeling a sense of warmth come over him before he started to walk back to the dojo.

When Katy got inside, Hilary was waiting for her in the bedroom. "So? What was that all about?", she asked curiously. Katy smirked, shaking her head; "If you must know, he left her; but you didn't hear it from me", she said before grabbing a change of clothes and heading towards the bathroom. Hilary was shocked, watching Katy leave with a surprised look on her face; "Is that it? What else happened?", she asked from a distance, stopping Katy in the doorway. "Nothing happened, he walked me back after he left Mariah a voicemail", she said before completely walking out of the room.

"Wow, I can't believe Tyson was right; What if she's innocent though? Rei would put himself through his pain for no reason", Hilary thought as she flopped down on her bed. "Oh well, I guess we will find out more later", she thought as she looked at the picture of herself and the team from the year before.

So Rei took one leap, now what about the other leap? What do you think should happen next? LEAVE YOUR ANSWER IN A REVIEW!