DISCLAIMER:
I don't own Beyblade: Metal Fight.
"Oo-oo-oo! Let's go on that one!" Believe it or not, it was Dad who said it. He was pointing at a very tall, very scary-looking roller coaster, complete with loops and twisting tracks, and cars made to look like black missiles. It was called Final Adrenaline.
Told you he was a nutcase...
"We just walked in!" Mom said.
"But... but... I never went to an amusement park before!" he whined.
I snorted. "Dad, you're acting like Isamu."
Speaking of Isamu, he was tugging at Dad's hair. "Want ice-cream!" he shrieked. Dad sighed, handed the guy some money, and let Isamu take the chocolate ice-cream. He also bought some vanilla ice-cream for Mom, and I think he was about to buy another one for himself, but Mom said, "I'll share with you." I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be a fun party for Isamu.
I didn't think about it that much because I was too busy stuffing barbeque-flavored potato chips into my mouth, which, by the way, were delicious, like any old potato chips.
"Thanks," Dad told the ice-cream dude, who dipped his head. Then, Isamu begged for cotton candy, so he bought that too.
"If he goes on sugar-high for the day, I'm gonna kill you," Mom said, licking her vanilla ice-cream. "And I'll probably never, ever marry you." She smirked and kissed him.
Yeah; it's weird, huh? My parents weren't married. It's kind of sad...
Please, don't judge me. I really am sad.
Dad pulled away, pouting playfully. "Meh. Meanie old lady."
Mom twisted his ear.
"OW OW OW!" Laughing, Dad pried my mother's vise-like grip from his ear, which was an amusing shade of red.
After throwing away my chips, I strolled lazily towards Final Adrenaline, planning to save a spot for myself and the rest of the doofuses. I glanced back and spotted my parents making goo-goo eyes at each other, as Isamu oh-so-desperately tried to get off Dad's shoulders by jumping onto the roof of an ice-cream cart. Well, he failed, since Dad was holding his legs for support. Am I the only mature person in my whole family? I asked myself.
My father leaned over to lick a drop of ice-cream off my mother's cheek before slurping another sliver off the cone. Isamu stuck his tongue out in disgust and closed his eyes, turning away from the happy couple. I smirked, amused by that scene. How I wished that I had a camera at that time...
My thoughts were interrupted when I bumped into someone. And fell on my butt.
"Sorry!" the stranger yelped. "Are you okay?" He reached out a hand to me.
I examined him. He had a mop of maroon-red hair that gleamed like copper in the sunlight. His clothes included a red T-shirt, a partly-zipped-up blue hoodie, black jeans, and black combat boots. His hands were clothed in red fingerless gloves, and he already had Beyblade equipment, unlike me.
But his most striking feature was his eyes; startingly a beautiful, deep ocean-blue. They made my heart race insanely.
Did I just fall onto my butt in front of this mega-hot guy? I wasn't the boy-crazy type, but he was just... wow. I suddenly felt self-conscious.
I accepted his hand, trying to cover up a blush. "I... I should've watched where I was going," I stammered.
"No need to apologize." He smiled at me sheepishly with perfect white teeth. "I was distracted too. Where are you going? To Final Adrenaline?" He gestured to the roller coaster. "I just went on it with my dad and his friends. It was pretty epic."
"Uh... um..." Suddenly, I was a loss for words. My mind was a blank space. "I had pancakes for breakfast," I blurted out. My blush deepened.
He just laughed. Is he making fun of me?
Surprisingly, his grin widened. "You're kidding! Me too! My mom's pancakes are the best!"
I felt my blush slowly slipping away as I started to get more comfortable talking to the guy. "My mom's usually too busy to make any, so I make them myself. For my brother Isamu, and me."
"My mom never allows me or my dad into the kitchen," he said. "She says that all we do is eat, and we don't know how to cook! But I guess that's true. Sometimes, Dad and I plan kitchen raids in the middle of the night, while Mom's asleep."
I giggled. "Really?"
The guy nodded. "Yup. But I guess it's kind of noticeable when half the food in the fridge is gone the next morning... Anyway, what's your name?"
"Yumiko Hasama," I immediately answered. "Today's my thirteenth birthday."
"Happy birthday, Yumiko," he said. "You know, I just turned thirteen last month."
"So you did, huh?"
He hesitated. "Yeah. I'm from the mountains. Name's Haruki Hagane."
Hagane... "No way!" I gasped. "Gingka's your dad?" I was crushing on Gingka Hagane's son?
Haruki looked disappointed. "Yeah... my dad's pretty popular, huh?" he muttered glumly.
"My mom used to be friends with him!" I said. "Her name's Hikaru Hasama!"
He seemed relieved. I realized that he wanted to be friends with someone who liked him for who he was, not for who his dad is. I found that kind of... cute? I have no words to describe it. Then, my happiness quickly evaporated at Haruki's next words. "Hikaru? The one who lost her Blader's Spirit?"
What? I felt a surge of anger and frustration boil inside of me. "What's that supposed to mean? Is that who all people see in my mother? 'The one who lost her Blader's Spirit?'" Is that all they talk about behind her back?
Haruki's eyes widened. "S-Sorry! I didn't mean to...!"
"Hey, son!" A red-haired man who looked a lot like Haruki appeared beside him. "What's up?" The blue Pegasus headband... he's Gingka Hagane - Pegasus' owner, I thought. And the brunette who appeared next to him was Madoka Amano, the Bey mechanic, with eyes that were identical to Haruki's, except for the shape.
"Mom, Dad; this is Yumiko," Haruki told them. "Hikaru Hasama's daughter."
"Hikaru's daughter, huh?" Gingka and Madoka each shook my hand. "Nice to meet you!" Madoka beamed. "How's your mother? I haven't heard from her in like, twenty years! I can't believe how much I've missed!"
I grinned. "She's fine! My dad talked her back into blading!"
"That's great!"
"Gingka?"
I turned around. Mom was holding a strawberry-banana smoothie in one hand, and grasping Dad's arm. Isamu must've finished his ice-cream (or dropped it on the ground), because he was sitting on Dad's shoulders, licking up his cotton candy. I just hoped that we were going to the beach, because I was worried that he'd get our father's hair sticky.
My dad was staring at Haruki's parents, yellow eyes signaling irritation. "Gingka Hagane." His voice contained mixed emotions - uncertainty, hostility.
"Ryuga." Gingka's voice seemed to hold the same feelings.
I gaped, open-mouthed. "You two know each other?"
Gingka nodded, too intent on winning a glaring contest with Dad.
"How do you know him?" Haruki asked me.
"Ryuga's my dad!" I exclaimed.
Gingka broke his gaze. "What? He can't be...!"
"But... your mom's Hikaru!" Madoka said, aghast.
"Yeah. My mom's Hikaru, and my dad's Ryuga. They're together." Dummies.
"Bu... But that's impossible!" Gingka snapped. "Hikaru, you're terrified of him!"
Mom sighed. "It's been twenty years, Gingka. Things change." I could tell that she didn't really like having this conversation. And what was that about Mom being scared of Dad? She loves the guy!
Huh. And I've always thought that it was Mom who scared Dad.
"We're happy together," my mother pointed out. "I'll even prove it!" she added all-too-eagerly, and started kissing Dad.
"That's... weird," Madoka said. "But congratulations! I'm so happy for both of you."
Of course, my parents didn't pay attention.
Isamu was begging me with his puppy-dog eyes to take him away. Since I felt so sorry for him, I sighed and lifted him off Dad's shoulders, who didn't even acknowledge us.
"Mom," I said through gritted teeth. "Dad. Please, no kissing in public. You're embarrassing me!"
"This'll look great on my Facebook page!" Madoka squealed, staring at the picture on her phone.
My mother and father rolled their eyes.
Suddenly, a dude with shaggy green hair and big brown eyes popped up behind Gingka. He was followed by a big guy with dark purple hair underneath a white and red beanie, and a tall man with spiky dark green hair and blue eyes.
"Ryuga?"
It was strange, how the three of them said it at the same time.
Oh, now I recognize them! Brown-Eyes is Kenta Yumiya, the one with purple hair is Benkei Hanawa, and the scary guy with the fang poking out of his mouth is Kyoya Tategami!
My heart almost stopped. I'm standing in front of the greatest bladers in the country! Not counting my dad.
Then, Kenta grinned and tackled my dad. "RYUGA!"
"Hi," he managed to choke out.
"Kenta," Benkei said in concern. "He's turning purple..."
"Sorry!" Kenta let go. "Ryuga, we thought you were dead. I mean, seriously; it's been... such a long time. Haven't heard a word from you since the rise of Nemesis." He grabbed my father's nose and started to move his head up and down. Dad frowned.
"Stop that."
Kenta held up his hands teasingly, smiling. "Just making sure you were real."
"Well," Dad began. "You hugged me, and I almost stopped breathing, so yeah - I think I'm real."
"Why didn't you tell us that youu were... I don't know... ALIVE?" Benkei yelled.
My dad snorted. "Didn't feel like it."
"WHAT? How could you just..."
Kyoya snickered (which was the first sound he had made in that meeting), focused intently on his phone. "Ryuga and Hikaru?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked at my mother and father. Benkei and Kenta looked over his shoulder and their jaws dropped until I was sure that they would fall off. "No...!" they gasped.
"Believe it, boys," Madoka said.
Benkei shook his head. "I find it hard to do so."
"Yeah," Gingka agreed. "I mean, well... it's Ryuga..."
"Oh," Dad growled. "You don't think I could love someone?"
"That's not what I meant!" Gingka Hagane seemed to shrink under my father's gaze.
Then, they perked up like they were old buddies sharing a joke. My father held up his Beyblade - L-Drago Guardian S130MB. "Wanna battle?"
Gingka smirked. "You got it."
In a flash of red lightning, they were gone. Well, Gingka and Dad were; the rest of us, including Kenta, Benkei, and yes, Kyoya, were left behind.
"Where...?" Mom shook her head. "Never mind."
Madoka looked slightly mystified, one hand on the laptop on her belt. "I'll never figure out how he does that."
"I'll never figure out how they switched to another subject so quickly," Mom scoffed, slurping her smoothie vigorously as Isamu dripped chocolate ice-cream onto her foot. "I guess it's true, then - men do have the attention spans of goldfish."
"HEY!" Kenta and Benkei snapped.
"I wanted to come with them..." Kyoya muttered under his breath.
"Never mind that!" Haruki put in. "Let's go on Final Adrenaline!" He grabbed my hand; I just hoped that he didn't notice my blush.
One thing was for sure, though - my mother saw it. She raised a blue eyebrow critically and gave Haruki a severely cold glare (her eyes added to the intensity). He slowly stepped away from me, putting some distance between us.
Mom nodded in approval, and Haruki sent her a nervous thumbs-up.
MO-THERRRR! I wanted to whine and pretty much throw a tantrum. Here was my first crush and she was already scaring him. Seriously, I think the guy was about to pee his pants. My mother had him cornered against a booth, growling at him.
Suddenly, a huge explosion lit up the sky ahead of us.
The adults sighed.
"Let's ignore them," Madoka suggested.
We all agreed.