This chapter is a bit more serious than the others. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Once again, thank you so much my dear reviewers. I love you all!

annoying talking animal : I'm so happy you enjoyed the 'romantic exchange of body fluids' haha. I also want to thank you for your patience in answering all my questions on Canada. You're the best!

vdalfredo: Oh weh, bei dir ist mir das mit dem kotzen ja auch passiert, wie peinlich! Haha. Jaja der Prater Aussflug. War aber trotzdem ein toller Tag! Ich hoffe wir koennen uns dieses Jahr wieder treffen^^

Dark Bia: I'm Glad you're enjoying this story too. And you were eating just as the puking started, oh dear, sorry for ruining your appetite.

khooxp: Hehe, yea, I enjoy shocking Takao and the others, it's so much fun. Comic duo, I like the way you put that!

Yoko Fujioka: Thank you for reviewing 3 chapters at once! You're a star :) By the way, I also enjoyed our little 'bitching about Kai sessions', XD

xxx xxx xxx

I woke up to Wyatt staring at me. It was freaky.

'Please don't tell me you've been doing this for the past few hours.' I begged him.

He broke out in laughter. 'No, no, I haven't, I swear, but you made funny sounds when you started waking up, that's why glanced over in your general direction.'

'Ah.' I replied. Still doubting it.

'No, look, I can prove it.' he pointed with a finger to a plate lying next to him. 'I went to get breakfast.'

The plate was still half filled with rice and some veggies. It smelled quite good and it was getting me hungry, so I reached for his chopsticks and the food, then started eating.

'Hey, get your own.' he protested.

'You puked all over me last night.' I reminded him.

He sunk his head and muttered. 'I'm really sorry.'

I handed the plate back to him. 'Listen, it's okay. I've already forgiven you for it, now stop moaning about it.'

Wyatt smiled.

I have to say, he did have a nice smile, even though it made him look like an innocent angel, -which was very misleading.

'How are you feeling?' I asked him.

He rolled his eyes. 'I'm not really hung over, luckily, but my stomach is being annoyingly sensitive.'

That explained why he hadn't really eaten much. He was sitting opposite of me with his legs arched and chin rested on his knees. He looked somewhat upset. I could tell he was embarrassed about the situation.

'I don't think your friends like me.' he concluded.

I wanted to cheer him up, but he was probably right, and I was not the type to tell lies. He hadn't exactly made the best first impression, that was a fact.

'They'll get over it.' I would make them!

He remained in that position, nothing changed, even with my crappy effort of cheering him up. I decided to do something I wouldn't normally do: I gave him a brief hug.

It was a crappy hug, he was in that 'hugging his knees position' after all, and it didn't last for very long. It was only me putting my arms around him for about a second and them letting go again, but it accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish. Wyatt reacted astonished at first but then he relaxed and smiled. I don't know what's up with me whenever he is around. I don't usually give out hugs readily, but he has been receiving quite a few.

'You don't happen to have any clothes I can borrow, do you? I kinda left in a hurry… and my other stuff is… you know… has puke on it!'

I nodded and got up to grab my bag. I handed him a pair of grey sweatpants, a plain black T-shirt and some boxer shorts.

'You can keep those.' I said, referring to the boxers. He just laughed.

'What? Are you that grossed out by me?'

'Knowing you, you won't go one day without a wank.'

Wyatt smirked. 'True.'

He stripped down naked and got changed into my clothes. I didn't bother turning my back to him, nothing I hadn't seen before after all… literally, since he had already flashed me that one time when we both compared our 'size'.

Finally I handed him back his denim jacket.

'But then you won't have a jacket.' he protested.

'It's okay, I don't get cold easily.' actually that was a lie. I did get cold very easily, I was just good at toughing it out.

Wyatt was all quirky and happy over the fact that he was finally wearing something (he had only been in his boxers until then), he giggled and then sat down next to me on the mattress and put his arm around me. 'So what are we doing today?'

'Don't ask me.'

I noticed how that jacket looked way better on him than on me, possibly because it was actually his size, -it had made me look like a kindergarten kid that had outgrown his clothes.

'Are you going to be training with Takao, that would be so cool, I've always wanted to watch you two battle and…'

'Wyatt.' I interrupted him.

'Huh?'

'What exactly happened in Switzerland?'

He looked at me somewhat disappointed, he had probably hoped I wouldn't bring it up. He sighed and brushed a hand through his hair.

'Dad elected a heir to the company. He choose Bryce.'

I hadn't know that he was that keen on that position actually. He had always appeared rather disinterested in it all, but he was quite secretive about things from time to time, I guess this was one of those things.

'I'm sorry.' I told him. It sounded silly but I didn't really know what else to say.

He waved it off.

'Oh it would've been fine if it were just the company, I never wanted it anyways. But well, I came home, I had just landed and they picked me up from the airport. Then they told me we were going straight to a restaurant to celebrate. 'Celebrate what?', I asked. 'Bryce is now officially the heir' , they told me. Well first of all, it was kind of awkward because I was supposed to have earned that position, me being the oldest one, if only by like 16 minutes, so I was pretty much going to a dinner party celebrating my failure.'

I could see how that was tough on him.

'So anyways, we got there, Dad had rented out the entire restaurant and there was my entire family there, including my Mom's side of the family, and they can't even stand my Dad ever since the divorce. And then there were another bunch of stupid family friends, all congratulating Bryce, talking about how good of a choice he was for this and …'

He sunk his head. '… how unfit of a choice I would have made.'

I put my arm around him, hoping that would make him feel better. He continued his story.

'That was pretty much all that stupid dinner party was about, Bryce being oh-so-great and me being an embarrassment to the family. Even Dad was going on about how I lacked the necessary maturity. I used to always think that I had him on my side, at last. That I was his favourite. I mean, that's only fair, isn't it, with everybody in my extended family loving my twin brother, that at least some body would actually like me more, but no, never mind that. Dad was bursting with pride, but not because of me. I didn't really say much. There were some annoying people questioning me on how I felt and if I wasn't somewhat ashamed. Seriously, fuckers! You know, I would have been able to ignore it all and come to terms with the situation, by staying in a corner, not faking happiness, but not being cranky either, …that is if Mr Perfect himself hadn't felt the urge to make a comment.'

Oh dear, I could already tell something bad was coming.

'-So Wyatt, jealous?-. I guess I just snapped. So okay, he had gotten what I was supposed to have. But he didn't need to be that bloody arrogant about it. So I slapped him.'

'Wait… you did what?'

'I slapped him.' he repeated. 'In front of absolutely everyone. You should have seen their faces, it was brilliant. But I couldn't stay of course, so I ran off, quickly grabbed my backpack with my passport from the reception, and took a cab to the airport. '

Wow. 'Are your parents going to be pissed?'

He nodded. 'Oh yes, they've been calling me about a billion times. I didn't pick up though, I'm going to wait until they calmed down.'

'That seems like an effective strategy.' I teased him.

'You have no idea what my parents are like. They can be damn scary. Mom is always scary, in general, and Dad can be a freak if he's really, really angry.'

I guess he had a point there. My Dad didn't get angry, ever. I don't know how he did it. Maybe he was just very rational. Or it could have been that growing up with my Grandfather kinda made him want to avoid conflict at any cost, but then again, I grew up with my grandfather as a father figure too, and I got aggressive way too easily. It was the one thing I was jealous of. My father's calmness. I was certain, my life would be a hell of a lot better if I had inherited it.

'They're probably worried.' I told Wyatt.

'They know I'm here. Bryce texted me. Apparently Dad called the airport.'

'At least your brother doesn't seem to be mad at you.'

He laughed. 'Oh he just really wants me to start talking to him again.'

'How do you mean?'

'Ever since he got me expelled, I refuse to speak to him. I figured that was the best revenge. So far it's been working really well. He is quite devastated.'

I didn't expect Wyatt to be that… cruel. It was very strange, okay, so he probably did feel betrayed by his twin brother, but this…

'Don't you think that's a bit extreme?'

He sighed. 'We used to be very close, you see. As corny as it may sound, he was my best friend. Well, he was my only real friend, to be frank. You may find this hard to believe, but I used to have trouble finding friends, probably because I would always cling to Bryce. With every secret I told him, there wasn't even a moment of doubt, I was convinced that I could trust him with everything. Never would I have expected that he would tell on me.'

'So he broke your trust and now you're giving him the silent treatment.'

'I got really, really upset after it happened. It hurt a lot, you see. And I figured the most effective way to hurt him in return was to ignore him.' he sighed. 'I spent my entire life being dependant on him, after our fight, I realised that I couldn't go on like that, the reason I chose to go to Japan, was that it was so far away from him. And he hates flying. It's kinda ironic because Dad owns multiple airlines, but Bryce prefers to take the train anywhere, even though it takes probably six times as long as by plane. I just wanted to be independent for once. I wanted it to be 'Wyatt', not 'the twins'.'

I didn't even know he had a twin. He would always refer to him as 'his brother'. The thought was kinda weird. Imagining two guys, looking like Wyatt. Very strange.

'Do you look alike?' I asked.

Wyatt shook his head. 'No, not at all.'

'That's what all twins say.'

'We're fraternal. We don't look any more alike than normal siblings do.'

That made sense.

'Please don't tell me you're the embarrassing kind, that dress the exact same and walk around holding hands.'

He laughed. 'No, we stopped doing the partner look thing when we were about six years old. Unless you count school uniforms. As for the holding hands… not in public.'

He lied down on the Mattress and commanded me to do the same. I did, I was kinda curious what he was about to do. He rolled flat on his back, then reached for my hand. I let him take it.

'This is what we'd to.' he told me. 'We would lie like this for hours, usually we would talk about things that upset us, sometimes we wouldn't even talk, we would just lie there.'

'Do you miss him?'

He flinched. 'I just wish that things could go back to the way they used to be.' he muttered. But I could tell by the bitter tone in his voice, that he doubted that it would ever happen.

xxx

He tagged along when I went to train with the Bladebreakers. They were still kinda weirded out by him, it seems. I ignored it. I was a lot more concerned about Wyatt. He was just sitting there, on the grass, hugging his knees. His mind was, once again, somewhere in the clouds. I couldn't help but worry. I just wish I knew what he was thinking about, and if he was upset or not. Sometimes it was really hard to tell with him. After about an hour I decided to interrupt the training.

'What's going on, Kai?' Max asked.

I didn't reply, instead I walked up to Wyatt and offered him something.

'Do you wanna have a go with Dranzer?'

I could hear Takao and Max gasp behind my back.

'He never lets anyone even touch Dranzer.' Takao whispered to Max.

While the those two were out of their minds with shock and surprise, I didn't get any reaction out of Wyatt. He was just staring blankly into space. I decided to poke him. He flinched. Seems I finally got him out of his reverie.

'What's the matter, Kai?' he asked me.

'Do you wanna have a go with Dranzer?' I repeated.

He blinked. 'Are you serious?'

'Always.' I reminded him.

Wyatt stood up and walked with me to the shore of the river. Neither of us said anything, which was normal in my case, but highly unusual for him. He was such a chatterbox usually. I handed him my precious blade. I was very protective of her, but at the moment I was more concerned about Wyatt's sanity. To be honest, I just wanted him to smile again. At least he wasn't the 'fake smile' type. He wouldn't pretend.

'Max.' I yelled out. Max stared at me somewhat distraught. 'You battle him.' I ordered.

I had picked Max for a reason, I knew he was a good-willed and empathic person. I needed someone like him for what I had planned.

'Could you take it easy on him? Give him the win.' I begged him. I spoke in Japanese of course. I didn't want Wyatt to know what I had in mind.

Takao and Max exchanged confused looks. They probably never expected to hear such a strange proposition coming from me, ever. But like I said, Max was a good-willed and empathic guy, so he agreed to it.

'If you think it will make him feel better, okay.' he told me in Japanese.

I nodded at him in appreciation.

Max and Wyatt positioned themselves at the beydish, opposite of each other.

'Let it rip.' Max yelled.

Wyatt didn't say anything. They released the blades at the same time. There was the usual action I'd observe in amateur battles. They blades were spinning by themselves in their own space, not touching. In more professional battles the Bladers would usually start attacking each other immediately, amateurs usually lacked the confidence and strategical know-how to do so. It was Max who attacked. He had ensured me he would lose and it seemed he intended to do so. Attacking was his weakness after all. His strength was in defence. Either way, I don't even think Wyatt realised that he was being attacked. I think his mind was off somewhere else again. Max repeatedly tried to go in offensive and I could tell that he really did do his best to lose this battle, but it appeared as if loosing against Wyatt was harder than beating him.

'Wyatt!' I yelled, hoping it would rip him out of his trance.

He flinched. Seems his mind finally returned and after carefully observing the situation he knocked out Max's blade in the span of a second.

'Hey, that was good.' Max claimed. He put on his usual happy grin.

'Thanks for the effort.' Wyatt said.

'Huh?'

'Losing on purpose, it was nice of you.'

Damn, the boy was sharper than I had expected.

Max smiled awkwardly. 'Umm… you're welcome… I guess.'

Wyatt handed me back Dranzer and sat back down on the grass.

Max sent me an strict look. 'This isn't something you can solve by blading.' he told me.

'What am I supposed to do?' I asked him. He just shrugged and smiled again. 'That's something you should be able to figure out.'

I sent an almost pleading look over to Takao but he was even more lost than me.

I felt that for now, I just wanted to blade, it was simple, and it didn't involve awkward spills of emotion. I decided to postpone coming up with a plan to help Wyatt. I'd do it later, in the evening maybe…

'Hey, tonight we're going back to school.' I informed Wyatt. 'I cannot expect Takao's family to host you. It's too much.'

'No, Kai it's no probl…'

I interrupted Takao using one of my death glares. He either didn't dare to finish his sentence, or he had figured out what my plan was. Both him and Max were now staring at me again. It was really awkward.

'Okay, back to blading!' I decided. I desperately needed this before my much feared emotional confrontation with Wyatt, planned for later that day.

xxx

It was 7 pm when I decided to take off with Wyatt. I declined Hiro's offer to drive us and instead opted to take the bus. Wyatt and I were walking next to each other without saying a single word. It was getting dark, so soon I wasn't even able to see his face clearly. Well, I doubted it had changed much since this afternoon. I was convinced that he was still rocking that empty look. It was pitch black once we had reached the bus station. Wyatt had to use the LCD light on his phone to be able to read the schedule.

'Next bus is in 50 minutes.' he announced.

'50 minutes?' I repeated in disbelief. 'Doesn't the bus go every 30 minutes.'

'It's a Sunday.' he reminded me.

'Oh.'

I sat down on the bench, prepared to wait those 50 minutes, but my friend had other plans.

'Let's take a walk.'

I agreed to it. It's not like we had anything better to do.

We strolled along the river channel. It was cold and kinda breezy. And I still didn't have a jacket, only wearing a long sleeved shirt.

'Are you cold?' he asked me.

'No.' I lied.

We continued walking along the river, not saying a word to each other. There was a tense atmosphere in the air. I felt like I should be discussing his issues with him, I mean, that's what friends were supposed to do, wasn't it? Oh man, I was no good at this.

I was so absorbed by my thoughts about how I should start the conversation that I, at first, didn't realise that he had stopped abruptly. Confused, I scanned my surroundings to figure out what would cause him to act like this… then my eyes fell on a liquor store a few meters away.

'No way!' I told him.

Wyatt cocked an eyebrow. 'You want me to talk, this will get me to talk.'

'This will make things worse.'

But he didn't listen, he was already running towards the store. 'You'll be able to ask me whatever you want to, and I'll answer your questions truthfully.'

Sure, it was a tempting offer, but was this the right thing to do? Of course not. But mind me, I was just a clueless teenager, I didn't really know how the world worked, yet. And Wyatt had insisted that it would help. And 'help' sounded very lucrative in that moment. So yes, I agreed.

xxx

It was disturbingly easy for two teens to buy a bottle of vodka at a liquor store. Once we got the 'booze' (as Wyatt called it), we moved on to find a good spot along the river to sit down and 'chill' (his words, once again). We decided on a spot under the bridge, the exact location where Takao and I had first met and would always train. In the distance, some student house was blasting music. But I didn't mind. Wyatt and I got comfortable on the grass. I still couldn't believe this was happening. Was I really allowing him to drink again? Yes, I was.

He unscrewed the cap and held the bottle to his lips. Then he closed his eyes and took at least 5 mouthfuls from it. He pulled a face once he was done.

'How does it taste?' I asked.

'Absolutely disgusting.'

Then he held the bottle in my direction.

I declined the offer. 'No thanks.'

'You won't feel as cold anymore.' he ensured me.

'I'm not cold.' I protested.

He grinned all-knowingly. Fine, fine, I was cold. I decided to give in. There was no harm in trying alcohol, was there? I was sixteen after all, surely most teens started drinking at a younger age. So I grabbed the bottle and took one large sip from it. I almost spat it right back out. This was disgusting. Wyatt wasn't just being a pussy, he was actually right. At first it had tasted somewhat sweet, and then the sharpness kicked in. I had trouble swallowing it down and even once I had done so, the taste remained in my mouth.

'How can you drink this?' I asked dazzled.

He sent me a sad smile. 'It will make you feel good afterwards.'

He reclaimed the bottle and took some more gulps from it. He could drink it almost like water. It was quite impressive.

'Okay Kai, question time.' he reminded me.

'Yes, question time, true.' I had to think of one first. 'Why were you expelled from your old boarding school?'

He snickered. 'I was hiding some Gin in my drawer, they would have never found it, hadn't Bryce given them a hint.'

'Why would he tell on you?'

I was sure there was more behind Bryce's actions than simple malignancy. He was his twin after all.

'Apparently it was for my own good.'

Wyatt took a few more sips from the bottle. He had already emptied a third of it.

'Why is that?' I hacked.

He shrugged. 'Seems my dear brother was starting to think that I was an alcoholic.'

In that moment I ripped the bottle out of his hand. He just giggled.

'Kai, chill out.'

'Are you?' I asked.

'No, of course not.'

I believed him. He had promised to answer truthfully after all. Before I handed the bottle back to him I decided to take another sip. I'm not sure why, maybe it was the excitement that tempted me. We handed the bottle between each other, taking sips alternatively. After about 4 mouthfuls I was starting to feel it have an effect on me.

'Hey, let's play a game.' Wyatt suggested.

'What kind of game?' I asked, giggling.

'Hey, you're a 'happy drunk'.' he observed , and started poking me. I tried to block him, but my reactions had become really slow.

'So what's this game?' I asked him.

'Think of a name, the perfect name. And for the rest of the evening, let's call each other by these names.'

Sounded fun, but there was one problem… I couldn't think of a name. Damn I had never been creative.

'I have one.' Wyatt announced.

'What name?'

'Bryce.'

Even though I was pretty damn tipsy, or drunk, I couldn't help but feeling disturbed by his choice. And suddenly, this game made sense to be. It was about who we wanted to be. And to be honest, I had been having quite a few self-doubts myself lately. Hell, I had a break-down in Hiro's car after all!

'Takao.' I said. 'I'll be Takao.'

Takao was a damn good blader. Unlike me, he had natural talent, he didn't need to train his ass off, like I had to. And he was obviously smart enough for Archaeology. Plus he had a caring family. Both his brother and Grandpa were very supportive. I wasn't quite sure what was up with his parents, but I was sure they were perfect too. Takao's whole damn life was perfect. He had no real problems. He had so many friends, he got on with people easily. He could always pull off his cocky smile, no matter what situation. And he could be silly, without being afraid of ruing his reputation. He had a lot of fans too. Hardly anyone liked me as a blader. The world called me 'sourpuss' or 'ice prince', and sometimes, when I would see kids role playing with Beyblades in the streets, they would always have me play 'the bad guy'.

I wanted to be like Takao. I wanted his damn perfect life.

'Okay then Takao, now that we don't need to worry about acting like our true selves, let's go on and trash our reputations.'

'Whose reputation.' I asked confused. 'Wyatt and Kai's or Bryce and Takao's.'

He smirked. 'Bryce and Takao's of course.' he laughed. 'This will be great, we won't need to worry about being a certain way, we can just act crazy and do whatever we want. And then, we'll never mention this night again and return to being boring Wyatt and Kai.'

'Okay.' I said. 'Let's do it, …Bryce.'

First thing 'Bryce' did was pulling down his pants and nonchalantly peeing into the river. First thing 'Takao' did was getting another sip of vodka, but only a tiny one this time, the taste was hard to bear after all.

'Let's dance.' Bryce asked. I, as Takao agreed. So we started our signature dance, which was to jump up and down randomly, yelling the lyrics of the song that the student were playing on their stereo from the top of our lungs. In didn't even know the lyrics, come to think of it… maybe I had just been yelling in general. But I must've really enjoyed myself, I was laughing like crazy. Maybe I really was a 'happy drunk'. Once we had exhausted ourselves, we lied down in the grass, Wyatt took a few more gulps, but I was good for the night. I felt so shaky already. It all kinda felt like a dream all of the sudden, not like it was taking place in the very moment at all. Wyatt took out a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and lit one. He took a drag and inhaled it deeply before he blew out the smoke.

'Bryce is smoking.' he proclaimed grinning. 'Isn't he just such a gangster.'

I laughed at what he was saying, even though I don't really see the humour in it now. Then I did something very out of character. I still don't know what had driven me to do so. Maybe it was that the forbidden was so damn tempting.

'Can I have one?'

Yup, that was me asking for a cigarette. It made Wyatt smirk.

'Kai wants a smoke… really?' he teased me.

'No.' I corrected him. 'Takao does.'

His face lit up and he sent me a cocky grin.

'Well, in that case…'

He held the pack in my direction and I took one out. He then handed me his lighter.

This was harder than I had expected. No matter how many times I tried, I didn't get it to light up. And my stupid friend just sat there next to me, laughing.

'Kai, you need to actually put it in your mouth and inhale.' he finally told me.

That made sense. I finally put it between my lips, but now the lighter didn't seem to work. I felt really stupid for a sec. However, Wyatt didn't seem to mind. He took the lighter and leaned in closer. 'I'll help you.' he said. His face was really close now and I found myself blushing like a little girl. Especially after I caught myself thinking that it actually felt quite nice to have him like this.

He lit my cigarette and backed off again. I felt oddly saddened by that.

'Okay, now inhale.' he ordered me.

I did as told. Strangely, I didn't find smoking as gross as I had first expected. I could hardly even taste the cigarette, and I didn't have to cough either. Maybe it was because of the alcohol. I copied Wyatt's actions and soon I was convinced, I did it like a pro. I smiled.

'This isn't bad at all.' I told him.

He nodded. 'It feels nice, doesn't it.'

Once I had finished the first one, I asked him for another. He handed me one and took out another one for himself, then again, he leaned in close to light both of our cigarettes simultaneously. I lied down on the grass. I realised that I enjoyed smoking a lot more than drinking, it was more relaxing. Being tipsy was fun surely, but it felt even better to lie in the grass with Wyatt, just like this. At some point I reached for his hand, and he let me.

'How are you feeling?' he asked.

'My head is kinda spinning from the alcohol.' I confessed.

He giggled. 'You're such a light weight. You took tiny sips, I swear, you only had the equivalent of maybe 3 shots.'

'I'm done for the night.'

I attempted to shrug as good as I possibly could do (I was still lying down after all) but I think he got what I meant to say anyways. He let go of my hand momentarily, to reach for the bottle.

'You know what I hate the most about Bryce?'

'You 'are' Bryce.' I reminded him, giggling.

'Oh, yea, true. Anyways, the thing I hate is that he is so damn perfect! I'm clumsy, I succumb to peer pressure and I always seem to find a way to leave a bad impression with anyone I meet, no matter how hard I try. Fuck Bryce.'

He held up the bottle. 'This is for my twin brother being the bloody, damn better half. Cheers!'

I expected him to take maybe one sip, but no. I watched in awe as he gulped down more and more and more until he finished up the entire bottle in one go. I had wanted to stop him, but I was drugged up with alcohol and nicotine, my body didn't respond to my commands.

'Wow.' that's all I could say.

Wyatt lied down next to me and took hold of my hand again.

'Are you okay?' I asked.

'I never felt better.' he insisted.

We lied there for a while, gazing up at the stars. It was nice. It was probably very cold by now, but I couldn't feel it because the alcohol had numbed me. What I could feel was Wyatt's hand in mine. Our fingers were intertwined and he was stroking his thumb over the back of my hand. I had never been the type to hold hands. Which is why it surprised me that I was so fond of it now. My Grandfather would never let me hold his hand. He always claimed that it was a girl's thing. My Dad had never been opposed by it, but I would refuse to let him, because of what my Grandfather had said.

I didn't notice how much time had passed with me just thinking about stuff. Then suddenly something brought me back to reality. It was Wyatt, he was making strange sounds. Gaging sounds. I probed his shoulder with my hand.

'Are you okay?'

He didn't reply and I couldn't see his face because he was lying with his back turned towards me so I sat straight up. I patted him again.

'Wyatt.'

He didn't say anything. He just continued making odd sounds. Then I noticed that his eyes were closed. Oh shit! Was he unconscious? I panicked and started shaking him

'Wyatt!' I yelled.

He opened his eyes briefly. 'Kai, let me sleep, I'm tired.'

There was no way I was going to let that happen. I pulled him up and made him stand upright.

'Let me sleep.' he protested.

It was really hard to keep him upright. He was just collapsing into my arms.

'Wyatt!' I yelled, once again, in despair.

I didn't get a reaction out of him. He needed to drink something, maybe, I figured. But what? I dragged him over to the river. Sure the water was dirty and all, but it was better than nothing. I cupped some water in my hand and held it to his mouth.

'Drink!' I commanded him.

But he didn't react. He was completely irresponsive. I started shaking him, but once again …no reaction. I was seriously worried now. What should I do? Call Hiro? Wyatt had a phone with him after all. But I didn't know the number. Should I carry him to Takao's place? But what if it would take too long, besides, what if him and Hiro were asleep. Then it struck me. There was one person who would know what to do, for sure. Somebody who had spent the majority of his college life partying. The one whose mobile phone number I had been staring at for hours after having called him the last time. I knew it by heart now, I was certain of it. I stripped off Wyatt's jacket and reached around his jacket pockets for his phone. Success, I found it. I flipped it open and dialled the number.

'Answer it you moron.' I whispered. 'Please, please answer it.'

'Hello?' It came from the other end.

I sighed in relief. Dad!'

'Kai?' he asked perplexed. 'What's the matter? You sound kinda out of it.'

I started sobbing. "Dad, I was drinking with a friend. Alcohol. And I think he had too much because he's unconscious. And I tried to make him drink some water, but he's not responding. And I'm scared Dad. What should I do?'

'Oh wow, okay, calm down Kai.' My father said with his usual, rational voice. 'You need to act reasonable now. Slap him, see if he responds to pain.'

I did as told and slapped Wyatt across his cheek. Nothing, he continued to lie in my arm like a lifeless creature.

'He doesn't respond.' I told my Dad.

'Okay, listen, it sounds like he has alcohol poison. Now get one of your friend's parents to drive him to the hospital as soon as possible.'

Alcohol poison. Oh no!

'We're not at Takao's place. I'm by the river, in Bakuten City.'

'Then call an ambulance! Hurry.'

'Okay, bye Dad.'

I hung up and quickly dialled 119, the emergency service number. I came through immediately.

'Hi, quickly send an Ambulance to the Bakuten Bridge by the river, hurry, I think my friend has alcohol poison.' I almost forgot to speak in Japanese, that's how wrought up I was,

'How much did your friend drink?' the emergency service guy asked.

'Almost an entire bottle of Vodka. He doesn't respond to anything, he's unconscious.'

'You sound young, how old is your friend?'

All these stupid questions.

'Seventeen.' I told him. 'Hurry!'

'Okay, what's is your name?'

'Does it really matter?' I yelled. Then I realised that it would probably go faster if I just told him. 'Kai Hiwatari.'

'Okay Kai, we're sending out an ambulance, stay by the road, don't go anywhere.'

I hung up and carried Wyatt up the dike towards the road. Once we reached it, I decided to stand by a streetlight, so that the paramedics could spot us more easily. Only now I realised how sickingly pale he was. It was scary. I went on to sob uncontrollably.

'Hold on Wyatt, please hold on, the ambulance will be there soon.'

I mentally slapped myself for allowing him to drink. This was all my fault. What if he died? There were always these stories about teens dying of alcohol poisoning. I started crying. Please don't die! I cared so much about him, it was crazy. He had become my closest friend, I didn't want to lose him. He was my best friend. I hugged him dearly as the tears went rolling down my cheeks.

The five minutes until the ambulance finally arrived were the longest five minutes of my life, you won't believe the relief I felt when I heard the shrill sound of the siren and saw the blue flashing light in the distance. The ambulance came rolling around the corner in high speed and then came to an abrupt stop next to us. The back door was ripped open and the paramedics climbed out, carrying a stretcher. One of them came up to me.

'Is that him.'

'Yes!'

He felt Wyatt's pulse with his hand.

'His pulse is regular.'

That was a relief to hear.

'You said he drank almost an entire bottle of Vodka.'

I nodded.

'We'll need to pump his stomach.'

He was a big guy, and he grabbed Wyatt under the arms and placed him onto a stretcher. One of his colleagues got out a rubber tube which they roughly shoved down Wyatt's throat. Wyatt was making some gagging sounds as his body was protesting against the tube being inserted through his mouth. A good thing I suppose, at least he was reacting to something. But I still felt appalled by it. Poor kid. They turned him over on his left side and attached the tube to some sort of bag. I couldn't really see what exactly was going on because he was turned away from me but it was horrifying nonetheless. His body kept on jerking, I'm not sure if he was in pain or if it was just his reflexes kicking in. The paramedics repeated the procedure for a while and each time I would cling onto Wyatt's denim jacket like crazy. I still held it, it was as if it was the only solid part I had left of him. They finally extracted the tube and lied him down on his back.

'Is he okay?' I asked in despair. I was shaking.

'Yes, he should be fine, but we need to take him back to the hospital for observation.'

I sighed in relief. Everything seemed a lot calmer and controlled now, they slowly carried him into the ambulance on his stretcher and secured him with straps.

'I'm coming too.' I announced.

'Are you family?' somebody asked me.

'Yes.' I claimed.

I climbed into the ambulance and they assigned me a spot to sit. Then they closed the doors and I could hear the engine ignite.

I brushed some hair strands out of Wyatt's eye region, I just really wanted to hold him in that moment. He looked awful. All pale, and now they were attaching all sorts of medical instruments to him. An IV bag, something to monitor his pulse rate… It was so scary, seeing him like this.

xxx xxx xxx

Wyatt is such a bad influence on Kai, hehe.