Track for this chapter:

My Heart Will Go On, by Daniel Kobialka, from the album World on a String

By the way, there's a link on my profile to a YouTube playlist which has all the tracks on it from my stories. Enjoy.

Back to the sun streaming through the window and eyes focused on the candle before him, mesmerised and momentarily distracted, Tsubasa did not hear when the music on the corner stopped.

Nor did his mind register when Les's voice downstairs, yelling at the apartment bellboy, echoed up the steps.

Nor did he hear Les's boots coming up those same steps.

Only was his mind taken from the flickering flame when Les's pounding on his door became unbearable, shaking the flimsy apartment walls, and he jumped up to open the door, wondering whom it might be.

Les stormed into his apartment, knocking him backwards onto the couch, his eyes wild and arms flailing. "TSUBASA!" He turned to see the aforementioned (and admittedly terrified) boy sprawled across the couch, wide-eyed in surprised.

"Thank goodness. There ye are, boy, I thought you'da hightailed it or burnt yerself on that stove thar er somethin' when ye didn't come down ta the street corner this mornin. I went all 'round town lookin' fer ya cause ah never saw ye today."

"Oh, well, that's awfully thoughtful of you, Les, but - " Tsubasa sat up, rubbing his abused head where it had made contact with the couch arm a bit too hard. "I just decided to take a day off."

Les gave him a funny look.

"Day off? I thought you were runnin' tha company on yer own lately. Wha would ya take a day off?"

"I just...needed it, I guess."

"Day off, huh. DAY OFF! What were ya thinkin'? Didja even tell anybody you was takin' a day off? A-cos' there's tonsa people runnin' around tha city shoutin' yer name, and nobody ain't seen ya all mornin'!"

"Oh."

" 'Oh'? Is that all ya hafta say fer yerself? Look, son, ah know you's had a hard time've things lately, butchee can't just run off like that. People's gonna git worried an' that lil' yellow-haired boy's been cryin' imself ta death cos 'e don't know where ye are. First off, go tell 'im you ain't gone'n left 'im. Second, GIT BACK TA WORK. That comp'ny's goin' grazy without chee. Boss's asleep'n the secretary don't know what ta do."

"Well...all right."

"Make ye a deal. Ah got good people skills. If ya go back ta work and don't pull nothin' like that no more, ah'll speak ta yer boss 'bout uppin' 'is act, kay?"

"It's a deal."

So Les and Tsubasa walked side by side to the WBBA building, bumping into Yuu on the way. He fell into step beside them, babbling tearfully with worry, and was soon comforted by Les.

Finally they reached the building and Tsubasa opened the doors to total chaos.

The desk was turned over and Hikaru was on the phone, babbling hastily, her words slipping out and making no sense. Other agents rushed around, told one thing by somebody and the opposite by someone else, pushed back and forth and in and out.

Les stuck his fingers in his mouth and emitted a screeching whistle, then yelled, "EVERYBODY BE QUIET!"

At least 25 stunned agents turned towards the door, suits once pressed but now rumpled, hair uncombed. Tsubasa calmly walked over to Hikaru and took the phone from her, ending the call, and then turned back to the room full of people. But before he could say anything, Les stepped forward.

"Allaya git ta whatever fancy conf'rence room ye got nowadays in this buildin'. Ya gonna hafta wait thar awhile. And, uh..." Here he surveyed the agents' frazzled state. "Make a pass 'round te the restrooms on tha way. Yer hair look like it's gone through a tornado."

Slowly the agents filed through the halls, grateful to have someone in charge again. Tsubasa and Les helped Hikaru with the desk, and then Les looked around.

"Ye got any eskylavators here?"

"Elevators. Right there."

"Take me ta yer leader, son."

Tsubasa pressed the button for the top floor, feeling nervous. What was Les about to do?

Sure as day, Ryo slumped at the desk in his office, mouth wide open and snoring loudly. Behind Les, Hikaru shook her head at Tsubasa. Yuu bounced on one of the chair cushions impatiently and Les looked around for something.

Finding a lamp shade handy, he separated it from the lamp and shouted through it loudly into Ryo's ear.

"SEE HERE NAH! YOU WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"

Ryo jumped out of the chair, landing without grace on the floor. Yuu burst out laughing and Tsubasa shushed him with a quiet look.

Ryo squinted up at Les. "Who on earth are you and what are you doing in my office?" He got to his feet, towering his full height over Les.

Les was unfazed.

"Ah think tha question ta be asked here is, whatcha think YOU'RE doin in yer office? Ya got any idea whatcher front lobby looks like right nah? Like a tornado site, that's what."

Ryo looked towards the elevator. "Who is this guy?"

"Fergit that. It cain't even pass fer a tornado site! Ye done used yer office as a bedroom - an UGLY bedroom - and left yer secretary ta handle the company 'erself!"

"Now see here - "

"YOU see here, ya hooligan! You ain't takin' care o' tha people what works under ye! How's that fer labour management? It ain't! It jus' plain ain't. Siddown, ah ain't finished wit you yet. Dontche know ya left yer top agent te run yer company while yer secretary sits at the desk and wonders if "I don't know what I'm doin' wit mah life" counts as professional?"

"I - "

"No talkin' from ye. That's whatche call a rhetorical question, son", he added to Tsubasa. "You thrown away the biggest beyblade organisation in tha world and left an 18 year old and a 15 year old ta deal wit' it themselves. You ain't a boss. Yer a piece a' frunitcher. Stained-up frunitcher what needs ta rethink its life."

He stepped back towards Tsubasa. "Stop me before ah go too far. Ah think ah made mah point."

The flustered Ryo raised his eyebrows at Les and Les flashed him a holey grin and stepped into the elevator. You could hear him yelling "DING! DING! DING!" as it passed floor after floor. All the way down.

At last Ryo tore his eyes away from the elevator and focused on Tsubasa. "What was that all about?"

"Uh...don't pay attention to him. Ever."

Hikaru stepped forward, fuming. "I think he's right. I quit. That aside, there's a conference room full of agents that you should probably go sort out."

"You can't quit! You're fired!"

"You can't fire me, I already quit!"

"But you can't quit, I just said you're - "

"QUIET!"

Tsubasa found that Les's lampshade method worked quite satisfactorily.

Hikaru took off her WBBA badge and threw it out the window, kicked off her heels and jacket, and ran from the room down the fire exit.

Tsubasa wished he had the nerve to quit. But he had nowhere else to go.