Switchblade Beta: Zero-Five.
X X X
The paint's old and flaking; the cold iron bites into his palms as he swings deftly from one bar to the next. It's a kid's playground and the ground is only a few centimetres from his feet, but Kai doesn't mind. He hasn't used monkey bars in years. He's caught a slight smile from Rei (it is, after all, a childish thing to be doing), but he chooses to ignore it.
"Will I see you in New York?"
It's a sudden question that makes him pause between bars; words thrust into the air like a cough in a theatre. It's blurted and a little lopsided - Kai's intuition tells him that halfway through the question, Rei's already begun to berate himself for saying it.
The old Rei didn't second-guess himself. He doesn't like it.
"Are you going to New York?" Kai asks, dropping from the bars. His feet hit the ground soundlessly, cushioned by the soft dirt. He dusts his hands off, then shoves them deep in his pockets. Winter is arriving early; the sun's rays haven't warmed him up yet.
Rei's sitting on the swing set not too far away, clinging to his polystyrene cup and the warmth that the coffee offers. Kai's noticed already that his jacket is too thin for this kind of weather, but refuses to act on it. It was Rei's decision to not wear something thicker, or a few more layers.
The Neko-jin swings back and forth idly in a steady rhythm, his feet dragging patterns. "I'm not sure yet," he replies. Those gold eyes slide in Kai's direction: Kai busies himself with watching a couple walk their dog because he doesn't want to meet the look. He realises vaguely that it's the same people as four days earlier, when he first encountered Rei here.
Since then, he's come to appreciate these early morning discussions. He's come to appreciate having Rei around and the routine it provides. In a way, he doesn't want the mornings to end.
"Then why ask?" Kai says, walking towards his friend.
He watches Rei look away, shrugging minutely. He frowns a little.
"Why ask?" This time, he puts more emphasis into the words: Kai wants an answer.
"I …" Rei's collecting his thoughts, giving off those slight fidgets that always seemed to come with a confession.
He waits.
"I do a lot of travelling, Kai. I've gone all over the world… and I'm tired of travelling alone."
He doesn't know how to answer that.
X X X
"So you haven't talked to Kai, yet?" Max leant forward, using his chopsticks to deftly swipe the last piece of okonomiyaki from a plate on the coffee table. He was seated on the plush carpet of the Chairman's office, shoes kicked off and legs splayed whilst the rest of his body leant against the leather sofa.
Hiro sat on the other side of the table in much the same fashion - though with his ankles crossed and without the back support. He scooped rice out of the plastic container in his hands and took a moment to eat it, all the while trying to think of the best way to phrase his answer. "No," he answered, "I haven't found a way to contact him."
The reply earned a blink from his companion - and a knowing sigh. "That's typical of Kai," Max agreed. "You really can't get hold of him?"
Hiro shook his head. "He's not listed staying in any hotel in the whole city. Dranzer hasn't turned up anywhere - not in practise gyms, not in parks, he's nowhere to be found. I don't know whether Kai's intentionally hiding or not, but he's damn good at it."
"Have you tried Rei? Maybe he knows."
"There's no guarantee that Rei is even around - he wasn't at the Ceremony."
"… Yeah. I really thought he'd be there, you know?" Max broke off the train of thought with a shake of his head. "Kai's around, but Rei isn't? It's weird."
Hiro's nod was one of agreement. "Even so, I bet we could contact Rei faster than we could Kai," he commented with a wan smile.
"Probably. Got a plan?"
"To get hold of Rei? Nah. I don't really want anyone more involved than what's necessary - if he finds out, it's gotta' be from Kai."
Both men lapsed into thought, here, with Hiro thinking over the situation (and mourning over the fact his 'graceful retirement' wasn't going the way it was supposed to); Max considering the odd paradox situation between Rei and Kai - maybe Rei was around, but just didn't want to see them? … Naw, that wasn't like his friend. They'd all changed over the years, but not that much.
Hiro was struck with a sudden thought. "You know, I've seen Kai in the stands at a few of the tournament matches. The last one for the Japan leg is at noon. That Blader - Tai - he's competing; he might be there."
Max considered it, a slight tilt to his head. "… Otherwise, we're going to have to rely on him being in New York, hm?"
"Yeah."
"Sounds like a plan, to me."
"It's not much of a plan," the elder remarked sardonically.
"Better than nothing," Max quipped. He used his chopsticks then to point at an unopened container between them. "Should we save Kenny's? It is getting cold."
Hiro considered the question, then shrugged. "If you eat it, then I was powerless to stop you," he told the scientist - who wasted no time in whipping it off the table and cracking the lid open. Watching, Hiro had to smile. Here they were, Chairman of the BBA and the BBA's Lead Researcher of the Asia District…sitting on the floor of an elite office … eating cheap takeaway for breakfast. There was something so remarkably unprofessional about it that the young adult had to snicker at the thought of what his Backers would say at the sight.
He preferred the risk of consequences over sitting in a restaurant, to say the least.
It didn't seem likely to be an issue, though - it was six in the morning, he and Max were finishing up an all-nighter. Kenny was due to join them soon, or else they would have packed up sooner.
"So what d'you plan to do?" Max asked, between his mouthfuls of steamed vegetables.
Hiro's answer was withheld by an odd sound - outside, someone was running down the hall. Just as he and Max both twisted to look at the door, the unlocked handle was tugged open by a hurried hand.
In a completely unceremonious fashion, Kenny tumbled into the room, armed with Dizzi and looking as dishevelled as his two former team mates. He had time to pull an indignant face at the sight of his 'breakfast' in Max's hands, but appeared to dismiss the thought quickly. He padded forward, the words tumbling from him at such a rate that Hiro found it difficult to get to his feet whilst still being able to understand what the scientist was saying.
"-- late but I was analysing the data from Black Dranzer in the lab and the levels it's exuding are absolutely phenomenal, it's far beyond the mean capacity for an ordinary Bitbeast - the fact that Tai has been able to control the Beyblade for this long is an incredible stroke of luck --"
It became apparent that Max was used to these 'hot streaks' that Kenny seemed to be barrelling down. He calmly swept the takeaway off of the table (Hiro was dismayed to see all that food go over his carpet), patting the cleared surface for Kenny to rest his laptop on. "Hang on a minute, chief. Get yourself settled and then you can show us what you've found."
Watching the two men assert themselves, Hiro was grateful to take a backseat for once. It wasn't often that he saw these two, nowadays - each of them was always so busy, so it came as a nice change to be around familiar faces… people who saw Hiro Kinomiya, not The Chairman.
When he thought about it, it seemed ironic that an investigation like this would bring them back together. They'd never be the team they were; with Daichi a wreck and Tyson gone, with the rest of them pursuing adulthood, but… dredging up the past always seemed to knit little pieces back together. It was always here or there, so subtle in nature that it was never noticeable until it was gone again.
Maybe it wasn't such a bad way to kickstart his retirement after all.
"Okay, Kenny. What did you find?" Max asked patiently. Hiro forced himself to pay attention, adopting a spot behind the pair. He stayed on his feet, able to see the screen comfortably.
"Well, it's really remarkable. Hiro's assumption about what we thought was Black Dranzer is correct. It has a dormant Bitbeast in it, an occurrence which is certainly not abnormal, but it's definitely not the Phoenix."
"So the real one -"
"That would be the logical thought, yes," Kenny nodded, tapping a few keys. "Black Dranzer is unmistakeably in their possession. This recording proves it."
Tai's latest match flicked onto the screen and into life, whilst an oscilloscope on the side of the screen measured the strength of Black Dranzer's movements. Watching, Hiro felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise - the results were a long way out of the range of an ordinary Bitbeast. Kenny was right - it was pure luck that Tai had been able to control the Beast; even now he'd lasted much longer than Kai. How long before he couldn't go any further? He glanced across the room to Dragoon - he doubted that even it could get that strong.
"If we compare that to an average Bitbeast…" the image of Tai re-sized to occupy a corner of Dizzi's screen. Hiro's grin was dry when Metal Driger appeared on the screen. As he expected, the ratings were, at best, a third of the earlier Blade. "It's completely out of league with anything else. Tai is winning this Tournament with one hand behind his back - which would appear to be what they are banking on."
"Isn't that against the rules somehow?" Max glanced upwards to Hiro. "They're using an illegal Beyblade!"
""There's no restrictions on how much power a Bitbeast has," the man replied slowly. "So on its own, Black Dranzer isn't against the rules. The BBA only took possession of Black Dranzer in order to prevent the use of it in Tournaments. We can't prove that they stole it; odds are high that they had it all along, that we only ever had a fake."
Max made an indignant noise - Hiro held up a hand.
"We still need to talk to Tai," he continued. "It might be possible to coerce him to surrender the Blade. We need to move quickly, too - there's a good chance that with the kind of power Black Dranzer has, Tai might reach a point where he won't be able to control it."
The blonde thought for a moment, then gathered his shoes and started slipping them on. "We can't afford that," Max said firmly, getting to his feet.
Hiro looked to him wearily, but with a small smile. Forty-nine days to go. "No, we can't," he agreed. "Kenny, Max, you should go home and get a bit of rest. When the two of you get back to the lab, see if you can dredge up some old footage of Kai's last battle with the Black Dranzer. We need to know how powerful it got before he couldn't hang on."
The youngest of the three nodded, closing Dizzi with a 'click'. "I'll get right on it."
"No, rest first," Hiro insisted. "I'll organise for the two of you to fly to New York."
Despite the Chairman's casual tone, both Kenny and Max paused. Their response was simultaneous.
" -- America?"
'Why there?' wasn't spoken, but it didn't need to be - Hiro had expected this kind of reaction. He planted both hands in his pockets, side-stepping the spilt breakfast to make his way across to Dragoon. Stopping in front of the Podium, he explained patiently, "It's the next leg of the Tournament. If we're going to keep tabs on the Blader, I need the two of you nearby."
"D'you need us to follow the whole thing?" Max asked, moving out of Kenny's way as the shorter man stood.
"We'll play it by ear," Hiro replied, turning to face them. "I know the two of you have work that needs to be done, but… I can't stand idle and let this danger continue in my Association. I'm going to need your help, though."
Apparently satisfied with the answer, Max straightened his shirt and pulled on his suit jacket. He held the door open as Kenny scurried out ahead and let it swing shut behind as he caught up. Only when they were out of earshot did the American allow himself to smile privately. "About time he started to behave like the head honcho."
X X X
I never got a proper answer out of Kai about going to New York. In the end, I took the plunge and followed my instincts. I couldn't say if it was hope or curiosity that made the call… because either way, I want to know more about the Blader. I want to follow him, find out his secrets and what it is that has my old captain so fascinated. Maybe, if I do, I'll run into Kai again.
If that happens, then this time, I won't be a disappointment for…or to him.
"It's worth a shot, right?" I asked myself in a mumble that's barely audible over the din of the people around me. I'm trying to elbow my backpack into an overhead compartment; grateful, not for the first time, that I travel lightly. With all the people coming in a steady stream down the aisle, it's always a scramble to get out of the way. The pressure never seems to alter, no matter how many plane flights I've been on or how good I've gotten at that awkward clambering to get in my window seat.
Sinking into it, I consciously make the effort to keep my head down: a flight like this is doubtlessly going to have plenty of Beyblade Fans on it, doing the pilgrimage from Japan to America the same as I am. Many of them, I've found, still regard the Blade Breakers as a semi-active team – I probably should think of it as flattering, but I have no interest in spending the next eight hours flying across the North Pacific accompanied by the awed stares of a hundred other people.
I find myself smiling slightly - it looks like a bit of Kai has rubbed off.
… Kai.
Sitting back in my seat, it's with a sigh that I close my eyes. I have no idea if I'm going to see him there - and I really hope that I do.
The noise of the people around me is one that prevents thoughts from becoming too sombre or deep. Luckily, I was able to be one of the first down the gangway, so I'm free to survey the passing figures on their way to their own seats.
It's a telltale flash of blue that catches my eye; sends my heart racing.
Tall, pale-skinned, lean, a stride that eats up the aisle and seems to clear a path around him, even when there's so many others all scrambling for their seats too. It can't be anyone but Kai.
There's a slide of those red eyes in my direction; I can't help but straighten eagerly. A greeting is on the tip of my tongue -- and then out of nowhere, a pillow and bag are dumped onto the previously empty seat next to me. Alarmed, I glance from the luggage to the offender: for a moment, the movement is so achingly familiar that I honestly expect it to be Tyson.
It's not him and my world crashes back to reality.
The newcomer is perfectly ordinary - brown hair, a cap (notoriously fashionable amongst midlevel Beybladers), jacket and jeans. It hits me that this person's going to be the one sitting next to me all the way to Las Angeles - maybe even New York - which means it won't be Kai. Anxiety gets the better of me; my glance up to the aisle says as much.
He's not looking in my direction anymore. He's waiting with limited patience as a mother stuffs her belongings into the overhead like I had - when the aisle's cleared he sweeps past and disappears down the back of the plane, out of sight. No greeting, not even a smile? I feel like wilting. Part of me is already critical about the fact I expected it in the first place - this is Kai. Our mornings in the park don't really mean anything - it was just the catching up of two old friends.
But if that's the case, a corner of my mind whispers, then don't friends say hello?
Around me, the passengers have settled and the cabin doors are closed. The hostesses are beginning their safety talk - after a quick glance around to figure out where exactly my nearest exit is, I ignore the rest of the speech. All of a sudden, going to New York doesn't seem like it was such a grand idea after all.
X X X
Two hours later, it's through the little portal window that the sky is dark, and thousands of miles below us, the ocean is gleaming with a reflection of the stars. Inside, the cabin lights are dim and most people are settled down for sleep. Ever a follower of the pack, I'm one of them. I'm curled up against the window with my small pillow, taking solace in the fact that even though Kai didn't say hello, no-one else has yet clued in on the fact that there are two former Blade Breakers onboard.
Confident that I can get some shut-eye without being disturbed, it's easy enough to doze off.
Some time later - a little or a lot, I don't really know - I'm woken by the heave of my neighbour standing from his seat. From the angle I'm at, it's easy to peer through a loose fringe and watch him shuffle out into the aisle. After a swift stretch of the legs, he turns and disappears off down the aisle. It's rather baffling, but then, it's also none of my business, as a sleepy mind declares. Keen to get back to sleep, I have to wriggle around a little before curling up afresh. Tucked up as I am, it's only a few minutes later when my seat is jarred by the weight of my neighbour returning to his seat.
Craning my neck to give him a good glare, my heart leaps into my throat in the same instant: that's not my neighbour.
"-- Kai?"
… Damn bastard's done it to me again.
"Wake you up?" he asks, settling into the chair like he's been there the whole flight. I can't think of an answer to that - until it occurs to me that all of a sudden, I'm on borrowed time. When my actual neighbour comes back, Kai'll have to move. A sense of 'forbidden fruit' doesn't escape my notice.
"You can go back to sleep, if you like," he adds, after giving me a good, solid look.
It occurs to me that he's mistaken mild shock for sleepiness.
"I…" the offer sounds nice - I'm always sleepy on aeroplane flights. But how do I know that he'll be there when I wake up? How does he know? A wary glance slides from a very smug Kai to the aisle, then back again.
That's when it clicks.
"--you swapped places," I accuse, sitting up a little.
Kai's smugness seems to grow with an airy shrug, as he tugs out a pair of earphones and slides them around his neck. "You should go back to sleep, Rei."
I'm not as tired as I was a few moments ago - which isn't greatly surprising, given that I'm now inclined to give Kai my best, I Can't Believe That look. An hour ago I was worried that I wouldn't see my friend in New York at all - then all of a sudden, here he was, sitting right next to me. Instead, I smile more genuinely than I have in a long time, and curl up in my seat again. "Thanks, Kai."
"Don't mention it," he replies, without looking at me. Through sleepy eyes I watch him pull the earphones up.
It's just like the Kai I've always known: he's the only person I've ever met who has had such a remarkable ability to show up out of nowhere, then completely destroy any expectations placed on him… only to act like it was nothing on his part.
I fell asleep dreaming of Russia, oceans, and warm kisses.
X X X
To be continued.