Chapter Text
The plane ride to Kenya was unbearable to a restless, claustrophobic Kyoya. He always preferred trekking the rolling hills and vast savannahs, but since the championships were more organised this year, he was on a time crunch and couldn’t afford to travel by foot.
A green-faced Benkei sat next to him, slowly sipping on his cup of water. Clearly, he was just as much of a fan of this as Kyoya was, but he had been insistent on joining him this time around to get to experience the twenty-four-hour challenge— and maybe even prove himself enough to be a main member of the team— so he had to put up with a little air sickness.
Once the plane had landed and Kyoya had waited outside the bathroom while Benkei emptied his stomach, the two of them hauled their luggage outside. As soon as the warm Kenyan wind hit him, Kyoya took a deep breath and sighed contently; it revitalised him in a way the frigid city air back home never could. He’d live and die here if it were up to him.
Just as expected, waiting for them in the parking lot were Nile and Demure, both leaning against Demure’s father’s semitruck. Kyoya hadn’t seen either of them in a long time, but they looked about the same; maybe Nile was a little taller, or maybe Demure’s hunch was less pronounced, it was hard to say.
The excitement of seeing his friends must’ve cured Benkei of his travel sickness, as he practically sprinted across the parking lot to get to them.
“Nile! Demure!” he called. “Hey, guys!”
Both boys jolted and looked around for the source of this noise, before they spotted Benkei just a little too late; he had already caught up to them and had enveloped them both tightly in his arms. Kyoya could hear them squabbling and complaining as he slowly caught up to them, unable to contain the tiny smirk it brought to his lips.
“Okay, Benkei, we missed you too!” Nile said, clearly exasperated. “Can you please let us go now?”
“Oh, come on, Nile! You know I need this!” Benkei cried— literally, as tears were now clearly forming in his eyes.
Nile sighed and pulled his head away from Benkei’s chest. Rolling his eyes, he stopped when he caught sight of Kyoya smirking at him from behind Benkei. “Are you too good to give us the same welcome?” he asked.
Benkei took notice that Kyoya had caught up and finally released Nile and Demure, quickly rubbing his face free of any stray tears. With Nile now free, Kyoya approached him and held his fist up to him. “Take it or leave it.” Nile smiled and bumped his own fist against it.
“Hah… so good to… see everyone… together!” Demure tried to say between breaths.
“How can you survive a twenty-four-hour deathmatch but not a hug?” Kyoya asked in disbelief.
“If you ever… let Benkei get… a hold of you… you’ll understand,” Demure replied.
Like he’d ever let that happen. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Demure took a few more moments to recover all the air that Benkei had squeezed out of his lungs before addressing the group. “Ehem… so, dad booked us in at a hotel about an hour away from Rock City, so tomorrow we should leave at around ten in the morning.” Everyone nodded in agreement.
“We’d better get going then,” Nile said. “Have to retire early tonight if the selection tournament is the same as last year.”
“Yeah… man, twenty-four hours of nonstop battle,” Benkei lamented. “Now that’s the challenge of a lifetime!”
“So you’d better be ready for it,” Kyoya chided.
They hauled themselves and their bags into the back of the truck, save for Demure, who sat in the front seat to give his father directions. Remaining silent for most of the drive, Kyoya enjoyed watching as the scenery slowly turned from a bustling city, to urban towns, to the rural savannah.
Unfortunately for a very excited Benkei and his camera, they didn’t see many animals on their drive. The climate surrounding Rock City was rather barren, so the only wild animals about were a few wild dogs and a small herd of migrating wildebeest. Kyoya wasn’t big on sight-seeing, but he quietly longed for time to explore the country before the championships started, so that he could see more of the wildlife… or maybe just the lions. That would be ideal.
Despite the bleak surroundings of a severely neglected town, the hotel they arrived at didn’t look half bad. When the truck had parked, Kyoya stretched his arms behind his back and yawned. “Man, all this sitting is getting to me,” he sighed. “I’ve gotta go for a run, or something.”
“One would think you’d treasure being able to relax before tomorrow,” Nile noted, standing with his foot up on the edge of the trailer. “Though I guess relaxing’s never been your speed.”
Once Kyoya was done stretching, he shrugged. “I can relax when I feel like I’ve trained enough for the day.”
Benkei, equally as drained by all the travelling but not at all sharing Kyoya’s sentiment, folded himself over the back of the trailer and flopped out, landing on the dirt below with a heavy thud and a groan.
Nile flinched at the impact. “You okay there, pal?” he asked, hesitantly.
Demure got out of the truck and crouched down next to Benkei’s limp corpse, patting him on the head. “I think we’d better get checked in so this guy can get out of the dirt,” he suggested with a sympathetic smile. “There’ll be plenty of time to get dirty tomorrow, anyway.”
After exchanging goodbyes and polite thanks with Demure’s father, the boys dragged their bags and Benkei into the hotel. Kyoya, after helping Demure dump Benkei onto one of the beds in their room, rummaged through his bag for Leone and his launcher, then chucked it onto his own bed in he and Nile’s room. Why he hadn’t been allowed to take his bey as carry-on on the plane, he… well, he knew, but he still didn’t like it.
While Nile and Demure did some last-minute maintenance on their beys and Benkei snored loud enough to shake the whole hotel, Kyoya trekked out into the plains, far enough from the town to not cause an emergency evacuation with his special moves. He kept his conditions gruelling as he always did, not letting up on himself for a second. He was so much stronger than he was the last time around, so he hoped that his opponents would match that energy, rather than resorting to dirty tricks again. Of course, their dirty tricks could just get dirtier, but he wasn’t going to fall for anything this time around— figuratively or literally. If that was really all that awaited him tomorrow, then at the very least he’d have a good time crushing all the rats.
Nile and Demure were also likely to be far less susceptible to foul play, though it did occur to Kyoya that Benkei may be easy to trick; he had been many times before, after all, and by far less dangerous competitors. He wasn’t stupid, but Kyoya only hoped he had his wits about him tomorrow, for his own sake.
The sun had almost completely set by the time Kyoya was finished training. Honestly, he may not have even noticed the time had Nile not found him to tell him to come back for dinner. Training was good, but fuelling his body at this point would be far better.
After everyone ate, it didn’t take long for them to retire, since it would be over a whole day before they could sleep again. Kyoya and Nile lay in their beds, the room illuminated by the reading light between them, when Nile asked, “You think the team will be the same as last time?”
Kyoya, who was previously struggling to pull his tightly tucked-in sheets up over his shoulders, stopped to answer. “If you and Demure have kept up with me and Benkei’s improvement, then sure.”
Nile smiled. “Ha! Like we haven’t…” he mocked. “Although… the order could be different this time around. What if Benkei got the third spot instead of Demure?”
Kyoya gave a low hum in thought. “I guess that’s a possibility…” He then felt his lips pull into a smile. “But it wouldn’t make much of a difference if you and I keep on flooring it with the teams upfront.”
Nile bowed his head as his face gained a faint crimson tint. “Heh, yeah…” But his smile then began to fade, and a small frown crossed his brow. “But… then there wouldn’t be any Kenyan bladers on the main team…”
Kyoya grew silent, staring at the roof above him like some ancient text he couldn’t decipher. “I guess so.”
“Does that feel wrong to you?” Nile’s voice was uncomfortably quiet, like he was trying to keep the dam of guilt from breaking. But the cracks in the walls were hard to cover at night; the best Kyoya could do was pretend they weren’t there.
“I’ve never really thought about it, to be honest.”
Surprisingly, there was a quiet chuckle from Nile as he shook his head. “I guessed as much.”
Kyoya sighed. Assessing his own morality was never his strong point. “Look, we’ve got a long road ahead of us. We’d better get some sleep.”
Nile nodded, agreeing to ignore the issue as Kyoya wished. “Alright. Goodnight, Kyoya.”
Kyoya reached his hand out to the reading light’s switch. “Goodnight.”
The air in the city was far more tense than last time around. As the boys walked through Rock City towards the centre stadium, everyone they passed glared daggers into Kyoya’s head, and their quiet, angry grumbles were the only sound to be heard within a mile. A normal person would feel threatened, scared even. But Kyoya? It filled him with pure glee. “Seems like I’m not the most welcomed guest here,” he noted, his head held high with pride.
Benkei was also looking around at the other bladers, occasionally returning their scowls to keep them in check. “It wasn’t like this before?”
“Oh, believe me, it was hostile. But I was just some nobody to these people before. Now, I’m the last captain of the team and a legendary blader.” A wide grin spread across Kyoya’s face. “I guess now I’ve got a bigger target on my back.”
“Maybe that means they’ll actually try against you instead of trying to drop you into the sewers this time,” Nile suggested.
“You’d hope so,” Kyoya replied. “Although I wouldn’t mind getting to teach a few cheaters a lesson again,” he added, with a nudge to Nile’s arm that made him snicker.
“God rest their souls,” Demure muttered.
The growls and intimidating stares only increased the closer to the stadium they got as more and more bladers appeared. Outnumbering last year’s crop by a mile, it quickly became apparent to all of them that this fight had levelled up with them.
“Man, fighting through these guys is gonna be a bull-bull-blast!”
“If any of them are any good, that is,” Kyoya snarked.
“I’m sure there has to be some worthy competitors in here somewhere,” Demure said, looking around as if actually searching for the worthy in question.
“Whether or not they’re worthy of Kyoya and Nile is the question!” Benkei gleamed, looking back around for the two boys’ reactions. “Right? Nile?”
But Nile wasn’t listening, nor was his mind with the group at all. He stood still as a statue a few paces behind them, his arms limp at his sides. His eyes were narrow and quizzical, focused across the rocky street on… someone.
“Nile?” Kyoya approached him. When he got no response, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of Nile’s face. “Hey! Nile!”
Immediately, Nile frowned and pushed his hand away. “Knock it off, I’m trying to… see…” he trailed off, keeping his focus on the stranger across the street.
Demure and Benkei backtracked to join them. “What’s up, Nile?” Benkei asked. “You know that guy?”
“I—”
“Nile!” Before he could answer, the stranger that took Nile’s attention called out to him and began approaching the group, his gait polite and slow. He was tall, around Demure’s height, with broad shoulders and tan skin. His red hair was pulled back in a bun save for the two gold-adorned locs that fell onto his shoulders. The way his mouth curled into a grin as he walked over to them felt forced, not extending to his gold-brown eyes. “Wow, it’s been so long! How have you been?” he asked, his deep voice lilting. He stared down at Nile with a slight squint. “You look great.”
Nile stared back up at him, eyes and unblinking. “What are you doing here?” he quietly asked, with threatening awe.
The boy’s eyes furrowed to a frown, though his smile remained. “I almost forgot how friendly you are,” he jeered, putting a hand on his hip. “I’ve been good, thanks for asking.”
“Excuse me?” Kyoya interjected. “Who are you supposed to be?”
As if he hadn’t noticed him, the stranger cocked his head up to look at the unimpressed Kyoya. “Hm? Ah, how rude of me.” He extended his hand out to him, invitingly. “Khadin Bitar. Pleasure.”
Kyoya did not move to take his hand; his arms stayed firmly crossed and his eyes continued to pierce the boy’s skull.
The stranger— Khadin— slowly lowered his hand back to his side with a slight scrunch in his nose. “And you all must be the rest of last year’s representative team,” he continued, his enthusiasm falling by the minute. “Quite the impressive run, I have to say.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re from Egypt?” Benkei chimed in, hand scratching his chin.
Taking the chance to stop his glaring contest with Kyoya, Khadin turned his head over to Benkei— but his gaze went back to Nile. “Oh, yeah. Nile and I go way back, don’t we?”
Nile tensed his jaw, as if forcing it shut. Kyoya let himself speculate aloud to fill the tense silence. “Funny… last time around, Nile said there wasn’t much talent up there in terms of blading. Had to come down here to find people more his speed.”
It was as if Khadin’s eyes began to glow as his eyes squinted at Nile. “Is that what he said?” he asked under his breath. After a tense moment of silence, he clapped his hands and finally tore his eyes away from Nile. “Well! I hope I can prove him wrong this time.” He turned away from the group with a quick smile and a wave. “I’ll see you all in the arena!”
Benkei, still scratching at his chin, slumped his shoulders down after the strange boy had left. “Huh. That sure was uncomfortable.”
“Nile?” Demure started, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder from behind. “Who is he?”
Nile was still, arms crossed and a blank expression. Only when Demure touched him did he finally move, pushing away his friend’s hand and turning to continue walking towards the arena. “Khadin Bitar. He told you already.”
Though the setup was the same, the first round of the tournament wasn’t quite as breezy as before. While Nile found himself without any familiar faces (and thus, no challenging opponents), Kyoya had Demure in his stadium, who had improved dramatically from the last championships. Not only did he have an upgraded spin track that gave him far more defence, but his strategies had also improved. His Scorpio weaved around the outskirts of the stadium, dodging other beys locked in their own battles until its momentum had built up enough to start taking them all out. Kyoya would’ve enjoyed the sight for longer if he wasn’t fighting his own battles as well. But he was. And he was going to win, no matter how good his companion had gotten.
With Kyoya working to eliminate competitors from the centre outwards, and Demure working his way from the outskirts in, they were bound to meet in the middle as the only ones left. True Lion Gale Force Wall met Scorpio’s own new special move, Aculeus Arrow Slash, and an explosion erupted in the arena. The other bladers still fighting in the third stadium were forced to shield their eyes, no doubt affecting the outcome of their own battles. But Kyoya didn’t care; when he saw his Leone spinning fiercely in the centre of the stadium as the last bey standing, courtesy to his fellow bladers was the last thing on his mind— though he did shoot Demure an affirming nod at his efforts.
As his victory was announced, he waltzed up to the President’s table, where Nile was already standing with a victor’s bracelet on his wrist. After he took his own and put it on, Kyoya gave his fellow victor a fist bump and joined him in watching the battle of the last remaining stadium.
Benkei’s Dark Bull was charging through, utterly annihilating the competition with its red-hot fury. Kyoya didn’t think it’d be long before he joined them up on the podium, but one glance at the look on Nile’s face told him he was thinking otherwise. For there was one competitor that Benkei had yet to run into: their new acquaintance, Khadin. And right when Benkei finished off the last of the lackies was when he decided to make his move.
With a cool demeanour, the boy closed his eyes and clapped his hands together, before opening his eyes with a sudden burst of intensity. “Settius!” he called. “End this rampage at once!”
His bey began to swerve in circles, dragging its fusion wheel along the concrete ground, creating sparks with the friction. It turned, faster and faster, the sparks growing bigger and brighter— until a great snap echoed in the stadium and the fusion wheel had gone up in flames.
Benkei gawked at the display, unable to tear his eyes away. “What the—?!”
Taking advantage of the distraction his spectacle provided, Settius sped directly into Bull and blew it away with a fiery punch. Benkei’s mouth gaped open as his bey flew up into the air and landed at his feet with a clang.
“And that’s it! The winner of the final battle royale is Khadin!” the President announced over the speakers.
Kyoya crossed his arms with an arrogant huff. “Is he gonna be a problem?”
Nile closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. “Not for you.”
Khadin sauntered up to his fellow winners, his eyes trained on Nile even as he accepted the last winner’s bracelet. “And now I’m in the winners’ circle. Still not gonna talk to me?” he asked as he took his place next to him.
Nile scowled. “If you honestly came here just for a chat, you’re wasting your time.”
“You’re absolutely right, Nile,” the President interjected loudly, making all three boys flinch, “Because it’s time for the second round!”
Khadin was the only one of them that reacted at the beeping that began to sound off from his bracelet, while Kyoya couldn’t help but grin in anticipation. The rules of the next round of qualifiers were the same as last time: keep the bracelet on for twenty-four hours, using the whole of Rock City and its surrounding area as your battleground.
The crowd of battle-hungry bladers began to swarm around them, hands all reaching for their beys and launchers.
And then, as if a gun had been fired in the air, Khadin sprinted out of the arena— and half of the crowd of angry bladers followed. Kyoya and Nile shared decisive glances, then followed behind the stampede. They passed Demure and Benkei, who had come together just outside.
“Whaddya say we go follow that Khadin guy and take him down together?” Benkei asked his friend, fists clenched in determination.
Demure nodded and put his own fists up. “Yeah! Let’s do it!”
They both glanced around to find Kyoya and Nile, threw them a quick thumbs-up, then hightailed it away with the rest of the herd.
“Uh— Demure! Benkei!” Nile tried to call out to them, reaching his hand out in their direction, to no avail. His panic almost made Kyoya falter, but before he could raise any questions, another portion of their competitors had begun to surround them.
“Don’t think your pretty star power will protect you here!” one of the rougher-looking ones spat. “That oh-so-holy jargon doesn’t fly around here!”
Kyoya dropped any concern he may have had for the sake of the battle. He smirked as he pulled out his Leone and launcher and locked the two together. “If you think my power is holy, then you’re about to go see God!”
Nile quickly loaded up his own launcher with Horuseus, not acknowledging any of the trash talk being thrown around. That much Kyoya expected, at least.
There weren’t any countdowns to these rogue battles on the outskirts; bladers just launched as hard as they could, as fast as they could, yelling as loud as they could. Kyoya, being a man of habit, couldn’t help but yell “Rip!” as he launched his bey; it simply felt like that was how you started a battle right.
Beys came flying from all directions, Kyoya and Nile’s defence-types tanking them all with no issues. Once the wave had washed over and the opponents all slowed to turn for another attack, Kyoya decided to act.
“End this quickly, Leone!” he ordered. “True King Lion Tearing Blast!” Five gusts of air swirled out of the bey, quickly forming into twisters. Half of the opponents’ beys were lifted off the ground and launched in all different directions, impacting the surrounding buildings and taking them out instantly. Kyoya smirked at his handiwork, only to drop at the sight beside him: Horuseus was stagnant, not faltering from any of the opponents’ attacks, but still being beaten on, nonetheless. Nile stood as still as his bey, eyes cloudy— were they even on the battle? “Nile! Hey!”
For the second time that day, Kyoya snapped Nile out of his thoughts. The boy flinched, blinked a few times, then finally looked down at the battle ahead of him. “Ah— Horuseus!” he called, rather unenthusiastically. “Vulcan Cannon, now!” The bey finally sprang into action, letting the wind bounce off its fusion wheel and shoot out like bullets at the rest of the opponents.
With their beys being flung at them like little meteors, the challenging bladers jumped out of the way to dodge them. They then scooped up the lifeless pieces of metal and scampered away like rats, all the while cursing at the two victors either under their breath or unabashedly loudly. The sight of it would’ve made Kyoya laugh, if something else wasn’t firmly on his mind.
He turned to his partner with an accusing glare. “What was that?” he scolded.
Nile looked away from him with a scowl on his face. “What was what?” he spat. “I beat them easily.”
“You beat them slowly,” Kyoya retorted. “You hate wasting time. What’s going on with you?”
Nile was quiet for a beat, his eyes flicking over to Kyoya for a split second before looking away again. “You’re not worried about Demure and Benkei, are you?”
Kyoya frowned. “What? Why would I be? If I didn’t think they could handle themselves, I wouldn’t want them on the team.”
“It’s not that they can’t, it’s just— I’m concerned,” Nile admitted, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. “That guy that I know— that I knew— he… I don’t think he’ll play fair here. Especially if there’s no officials keeping him in check.” He then turned to Kyoya, his eyes narrowing in worry. “If Demure and Benkei don’t end up on the team because he hurt them, I couldn’t live with myself.”
“Hurt them?” Kyoya echoed. “Nile, who is he?”
“He’s…” Nile inhaled deeply through his nose. “He’s not someone you’d be proud to be on the same team as. Just leave it at that.”
“Hmph, fine,” Kyoya grumbled, reluctantly. “But if you can’t keep your head in the game, I won’t be too proud having you there, either. Got it?”
“I’ve got it,” Nile confirmed, relaxing his arms back to his sides.
They had only just cleared a whole street clean of competitors and were about to call their beys back when a loud crash interrupted them. A building next to them suddenly collapsed, rubble and dust flying out everywhere. Both boys shielded their faces from the blast but still tried to peek into the chaos to stay vigilant.
Unsurprisingly, the cause of the destruction was revealed to be a large group of beys that had blasted their way through the building and were now lying motionless on the ground.
“Now!” a high voice cried from afar, summoning dozens of bladers from in-between the rest of the buildings on the street. They all launched their beys in Kyoya and Nile’s direction— not at their beys, but the boys themselves.
The two of them quickly dove out of the way as the beys flew between them and crashed into another building.
“These damn rats!” Kyoya huffed as he scrambled to get back onto his feet. “Go on, keep throwing yourselves at us! See what happens!” On cue, Leone began to pull in the air around it and whip it at the various beys being hurled at them.
A bright light shining in the corner of Kyoya’s eye told him that Horuseus was also ready to make a big move. Nile casually brushed the dust off his clothes, then closed his eyes and cracked his knuckles. “The ambush tactic is a little old,” he grumbled. “I thought they would’ve come up with something a little more creative by now.”
Kyoya clenched his fists and bore his sharp canines. “Maybe this’ll teach them to branch out a bit!” He extended his hand out to his bey. “Leone! Tear these suckers apart!”
“Horuseus!” Nile called in the opposite direction. “Show them a real attack!”
Both beys remained stationary, letting the power accumulating around them wipe out any attacker that came too close. Still, the sheer number of beys that kept coming through in droves was really starting to bug Kyoya; he didn’t think idiots like these were capable of coordinating such an attack. At least he was finally getting a challenge out of these qualifiers.
Beys began to rain in from above, only to be thrown away again by Leone’s strong winds. Any remaining bey that managed to withstand them were instantly obliterated by Horuseus’s blazing light. Between the two ruthless attacks kicking up sand and illuminating the gale, the bladers could barely see anything, yet alone the battle. Kyoya chose to rely on the continued sounds of beys clanking onto the ground and his disgruntled opponents yelling in anger to determine if he still had control, which seemed to work well for a while, since his Leone’s winds had not stopped. However, once the frustrated cries of his opponents started to turn into uncontrollable coughing fits, he decided to let up, not wanting to be liable for serious lung damage.
As he calmed down, so did the gale, and soon he could see his hand in front of his face again— as well as Leone, which was still spinning proudly on the ground with barely a scratch. What he could not see, however, was Horuseus’s light… or Horuseus… or Nile.
He looked around curiously, seeing only defeated metal and worn-down competitors strewn about the ground. “Nile?” he called, to no response.
Confused, he called Leone back into his hand and started walking, stepping over the competitors that didn’t have it in them to stay conscious after their brutal defeat. He began wandering outwards, perhaps hoping to meet some more competent bladers near the outskirts of the city. Then again, judging by the look of the mob that ran out at the beginning, it’d likely be just another batch of meatheads.
He also wondered how Benkei and Demure were holding up; surely they’d be tearing through the crowd with no issue. Though, it wasn’t the crowd they wanted to go after: it was Khadin.
That guy… he thought back to what Nile had said. How would he hurt them? All Kyoya could think of was being badly beaten in a battle, but that couldn’t be it, could it? Nile knew and accepted the dangers of an intense battle— especially in a tournament like this one— and he knew Demure and Benkei knew it too. So then what else could it be? Was he bringing a knife to his bey-battles or something?
Whatever it was, Kyoya knew he couldn’t be good news, and not just on Nile’s word. He remembered Marcus, the third winner of the last battle royale, running from the stadium with his tail between his legs when it was revealed he’d have to defend himself. And though Khadin’s reaction seemed more stoic, and maybe even calculated… he ran too. That was something Kyoya couldn’t ignore in a blader.
There were a few more opponents on the way, an ambush here and an honest challenge there, but it had mostly gotten quiet in the later hours of the day. The sky was burning orange, furthering Kyoya’s thoughts of Nile and where he’d gotten to. Occasionally he’d hear loud booms and defeated grunts in the distance, but the only thing he was met with when investigating was wreckage and more beaten bladers. Nile wouldn’t be going around trying to speedrun taking everyone out, would he? No, he never sought out trouble, he just let it come to him.
So where else could he be? And who else was taking out all those bladers…?
“Lost your partner, Kyoya?”
Kyoya swung around to the source of the voice, instinctively loading Leone into his launcher and taking aim. Khadin remained unphased, leaning up against one of the sandstone walls of an abandoned home, with a sly glint in his eye.
Kyoya lowered his launcher and relaxed his shoulders. “Oh, it’s you.” He fiddled with Leone, but didn’t unload it. “And I don’t have a partner,” he added.
Khadin narrowed his brow. “Really? Judging by the last championships, I thought you and Nile were the dynamic duo. Ride or die, you know?”
“We worked well together,” Kyoya grunted. “Something leads me to believe we don’t have that in common.”
“Why, because of a few tense words?”
“It’s more the lack of words that spoke to me.”
“Nile’s never been talkative,” Khadin muttered with a shrug.
Kyoya cocked his head to the side. “And has he always scowled at you like that?”
He put his hands up in surrender. “I will admit, that caught me off guard.”
Kyoya sighed, finally unlocking Leone and putting it back in its case. “Look, I don’t really care for the scorned-childhood-friend act. But if Nile doesn’t trust you, neither do I,” he affirmed, crossing his arms.
Khadin squinted at him, his gaze switching between each of Kyoya’s eyes. “You really don’t know anything about me, do you?” he asked, quietly.
“Should I?”
A smile grew on Khadin’s lips. He looked down at the ground, shaking his head slightly, before peeling himself off the wall. “I’m not just a scorned childhood friend; we were so much more than that,” he droned, walking closer to Kyoya. “But I’m not cut up about it. Really, I’m just surprised at the person he’s become.”
Kyoya held his ground, not moving an inch as Khadin circled him. “Yeah? Who’s he become?”
The boy’s eyes wandered up to the sky in reminiscence. “He used to be so good, reliable, and kind. Now he’s so… bitter, and angry, and deceitful.”
Kyoya frowned. “What? You’ve only just seen him again and he’s barely said a word to you. How could you possibly make that judgement?”
Khadin stopped moving and stared down at Kyoya, barely hiding a smirk. “Well, surely…” he started, “I mean, obviously he lied about why he came here, right?”
“Come again?”
He held his hands behind his back and started pacing again. “You said he told you there were no strong bladers in Egypt, but… I mean, not to brag, but you saw me in the arena,” he most definitely did brag. “Can’t help but wonder what else he’s been lying about…”
“This conversation is a waste of time!” Kyoya snapped, his last nerve firmly pressed. “You should be fighting to keep that bracelet, not hiding between buildings to stalk me.”
Khadin put his hand to his chest. “I have been fighting, same as you. Guess I’m just a little more discreet about it.” He turned away from Kyoya, facing the alleyway from whence he came. “But I suppose you’re right. I should leave you to your brooding, go prove myself worthy— again.”
And with that, he skulked back into the shadows.
Kyoya felt his heart beating heavily against his chest. The gall of that guy! A coward who hides in the shadows and only shows himself to disparage others— could he be any worse?
And yet… Kyoya couldn’t ignore what he’d heard. He certainly seemed like a talented blader from what little he’d seen of him, too talented to have not been at it for a long time. Sure, he could understand Nile’s hesitance to be on a team with someone of his personality, but that wasn’t what he said. He said there were no strong bladers. Could he really have lied about that? And why?
“Kyoya!” A rough, unfamiliar voice called. Kyoya turned in its direction, seeing more bladers approaching from up the street. “Hand over the bracelet, pal!”
Right. He had bigger fish to fry than a liar.
The full moon glowed brightly above him, so much so it almost looked like a cloudy day. Kyoya couldn’t admit he was tired in a challenge like this, but he could no longer ignore the ache in his legs. He’d spent the evening scouring the land surrounding the city for battles, allies, and whatever else there could be, and was now on his way back to the city. He figured he could find a hidden nook in the side of a partially destroyed building to rest up in for a little while, at least until he found another competitor.
He thought he’d spotted the perfect place, until a closer look revealed that someone else had had the same idea; he almost didn’t recognise him in the darkness, with barely any light reflecting off his orange bangs. “Nile?”
“Huh?” The boy turned his head, then the rest of his body when he saw Kyoya approaching. “Oh, hey. Where have you been hiding?”
“Where have I been hiding, he asks?” Kyoya gawked. “You’re the one curled up in the wall!” When Nile’s smile cracked and he failed to suppress his laughter, Kyoya rolled his eyes. “Okay, very funny. Seriously, have you been there the whole time?”
“God, no. How boring. I just needed to give my feet a break.”
“Well then… guess we had the same idea,” Kyoya admitted. “Move over.”
The two boys sat together in moderate silence, stretching out their tired muscles and picking dust from their beys’ energy wheels. All the while, Kyoya couldn’t get what Khadin had said out of his head. He shouldn’t have taken the word of such a dodgy blader so seriously, but… it couldn’t hurt to ask, could it?
“Hey, Nile,” he started, suddenly, “can I ask you something?”
Nile glanced up at him for just a moment before returning his attention to Horuseus. “Sure. Shoot.”
“Why are you here?”
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” he responded, dully.
“Why did you come to these qualifiers?”
Nile looked up at him again with a quizzical frown. “To make sure I can fight alongside my teammates again in the championships,” he answered, with a questioning tone. “Why else would I be here?”
Kyoya looked off into the distance. “I don’t know. Guess I’m just making sure your story holds up this time.”
“What’s that now?” Nile asked, his frown turning more offended than confused.
“Khadin is a very strong blader, from what I can tell. Strong enough for anyone in his home country to want to be on a team with him.”
“Strength alone does not make for a good teammate,” Nile pointed out. He crossed his arms and sat up straight. “Is that what this is? You think I lied about why I came to this country in the first place because one skilled guy from my country showed up?”
Kyoya turned back to look him in the eye. “Knowing why you left your country for this one was important to me. I just want to be sure I didn’t team up with a liar.”
“Well, you didn’t. And you need to stop interrogating me like I’m still a stranger to you.” When Kyoya looked away on instinct, Nile moved to catch his gaze. “Why are you doing this? What changed between now and last night?” A red flush of guilt fell over Kyoya’s face, though he tried his hardest to hide it from Nile. But the boy was onto him, just as he always had been. “It was him, wasn’t it?” Nile guessed, his whole demeanour growing tired. “He got to you; I should’ve known he would.”
“No one’s ever gotten to me,” Kyoya insisted. He stood up and took a few paces away, crossing his arms. “It was an idea worth looking into. And you can’t tell me to count him out completely if you won’t even tell me who he is.”
Nile stood up after him. “It doesn’t matter who he is. You should’ve just trusted me when I said he was bad news!”
Kyoya whipped around to face him again. “I did trust you, and I already put together that he’s no good for myself. But him being here is changing you, somehow. You’ve never lost focus like you have in your battles today, and I can’t get why!”
“That’s none of your business!”
“It is if it affects how you battle! I can’t have you dragging me down over one guy!”
“Dragging you down? I’ve won every battle I’ve had today! That’s why I still have this!” Nile shouted, holding up his arm to show off his bracelet.
“And how many battles has that really been? Because after your little disappearing act, for all I know you really could have been hiding all day!”
“I— oh, for heaven’s sake,” Nile groaned, running both his hands through his hair. “I lost you, Kyoya! Navigating those streets in that storm was a nightmare! And when I couldn’t find you again, I went to look for Benkei and Demure— who I would ask you about, if I thought you cared enough to try and find them!”
Kyoya rolled his eyes with a scoff. “I’m not a babysitter! If they can’t handle it out there on their own, then they shouldn’t be here!”
“Oh my god, you are so—” Nile cut himself off. He put his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground, shaking his head. “You know, I wanted to keep pretending that you considered me a friend after everything we’ve done together. I wanted to keep acting like you valued me for who I am as a person, and not just my bey’s strength. But I can’t…” He paused, rubbing a hand over his mouth before he burst. “I can’t do it anymore! You will always be you— self-serving, arrogant, apathetic you— and I was a fool for thinking you could ever change!”
Kyoya scowled at his former teammate. “And why would I ever change for you?!”
Nile pressed his lips together tightly for a just moment before letting out a deep sigh, his arms lowering down to his sides in a defeated manner. “You wouldn’t,” he conceded, quietly. “It’s never going to get better. I can’t do this again. I can’t deal with two of you.”
Kyoya’s scowl softened slightly to confusion. “What?” He watched as Nile moved one hand to his wrist and heard a loud click that echoed through the silent street. Before he knew it, Nile’s winner’s bracelet was off his wrist, thrown to the ground at Kyoya’s feet.
“Go find Demure,” he ordered. “I quit.”
“What—?” Before he could even question it, Nile had already turned away from him and started walking away. “Hey! Nile!” he called after him, anger rising in his chest. “Get back here! You can’t just quit!” He picked up the bracelet and shoved it in his pocket.
Nile only turned back halfway to face him. “I can,” he insisted, harshly. “And I do.”
“Why, because your feelings got hurt? You don’t get to bow out when things get tough; you grow up and stick it out!”
Nile stared back at him, his eyes drained of all energy. “Why, because that’s not what a real blader would do?” he mocked. “I think a real blader would appreciate his teammates, but sure, take the moral high ground here.”
Kyoya snarled. “Fine then,” he conceded, through his gritted teeth. “It’s not about being a real blader; it’s about having any integrity at all!” he ended in a shout.
“And you get to decide what that means?” Nile retorted, fulling turning back to face him. “Your moral code is nothing but an excuse for all the insane and hurtful things you put people through! I’d rather be seen as a coward than adhere to anything you say ever again!”
“It’s not just what I believe, and you know it! You believed it too before you got all butthurt!” On the instinct of his anger, Kyoya grabbed his bey and launcher and slammed them together out in front of him. “I’ll show you!”
Nile’s frown slighted in disbelief. “Seriously? I’m not going to fight you, Kyoya, I’m leaving!” Again, he turned to go, but Kyoya would not be deterred.
“We’ll see about that!” he exclaimed, suddenly ripping his bey in the boy’s direction.
Nile’s reflexes kicked in, wasting no time loading and launching his own bey to meet with Leone between the two of them. The beys met with a loud clang before falling to the ground, sliding past one another.
Nile grinded his teeth at the notion of being forced to engage with this. “This is the last time I let you drag me into anything! I’ll make sure of that!”
“Fine by me!” Kyoya retorted.
Both beys made a quick turn to clash in the middle again. Sparks flew as Leone hit Horuseus again and again, finding it difficult to get a solid hit in while the other bey’s winged fusion wheel kept knocking it away. But eventually, Leone managed to land a clean hit at its opponent’s centre— and then another, and then another, slowly forcing Horuseus backwards.
“I know you can’t outmatch my strength, Nile!” Kyoya taunted. “I’d switch it up if I were you!”
Nile only gritted his teeth harder. “Horuseus!” he called, ignoring Kyoya’s jeer. The bey responded to his plea in an instant, swerving smoothly out of its engagement with Leone. Both beys jerked away with the force they were applying to each other before coming to a quick halt. “Go, now!”
The slight movements of the stagnant bey were easily recognisable to Kyoya by now: it was preparing its Vulcan Cannon, which meant he had to act fast, for it wouldn’t take much longer. “Go on! You’ll never hit my Leone!” he gloated, as his bey began to swerve in wide circles.
But neither Nile nor Horuseus seemed phased by this taunt, as they carried on with the planned attack. Horuseus whipped the air around it in Leone’s direction, narrowly missing its opponent. But as Kyoya opened his mouth to gloat again, his wicked smile turned to a shocked gape when the bullets of air hit the rough ground behind Leone, launching jagged rocks back at the bey. Two large ones made impact before Kyoya could command it to move, throwing off its balance immensely as it swerved to dodge the rest of them.
Though his bey wavered, Kyoya did not. “Neat little trick, I’ll give you that! But it’ll take a lot more to stop me! Go, Lion Gale Force Wall!”
As the rest of the rocks came careening towards it, Leone began to swirl the gale force around itself, pulling the projectiles away from its own body and firing them back at Horuseus. The bey remained stagnant, tanking the hits.
“Giving up already?” Kyoya taunted again. “Maybe I should’ve just let you leave!”
“Save your awful trash talk for someone who cares!” Nile snapped back, immediately. “Horuseus! Mystic Zone!”
Kyoya jolted up in shock as Horuseus began to light up. He wasn’t that easy to provoke, was he? “What is this, some kind of joke?”
“You’re the joke, Kyoya!” Nile spat, his eyes wide with fury. “You think I want to have some kind of fair-game, fun battle with you? After everything you’ve said and done?!” Horuseus’s light began to expand, layering a forcefield around itself, panel by panel. “If this ends with me and my bey defeated on the ground, then so be it! As long as it ends quickly, I don’t care what happens!”
As taken aback as he was, Kyoya wasn’t about to let Nile get away with completing his classic finishing move. “If you think I’m going to lay back and let you blast me away just because you’re hurt, you’re dead wrong!” He outstretched his hand to his bey. “Leone! King Lion Reverse Wind Strike!”
Leone swerved backwards for momentum before rushing across the uneven ground towards the ever-growing Mystic Zone. It then launched itself into the air, just barely clearing the wall of light to make it into the safe zone. Once it was directly above Horuseus, it flipped over and began to gather wind, spinning even faster than before.
Yet still, Nile did not budge. “Higher, Horuseus! It needs to go higher!”
Even more panels of light were added to the top of the Mystic Zone. Kyoya scowled in confusion. “What do you think you’re doing? I’m already inside!”
Nile eyes flicked away from the battle to meet with Kyoya’s, a dangerous spark igniting them. “That was your mistake.”
Kyoya frowned for a second, before his eyes widened and his gaze shot back to the battle. The wall of solid light had now grown far above Leone’s vantage point; so far that it cut off its air flow, leaving the bey stagnant and struggling in the air. “Why, you—!”
“This is what you get when you turn on your teammates: you get enemies!”
Kyoya watched as his bey quickly lost its balance mid-air, swaying dangerously close to the forcefield walls. “You think I’m turning on my teammates?” he called. “You’re the one trying to quit on them! And when you could be giving them power like this!”
“I’m not turning on my teammates; I’m turning on you, and Khadin, and anyone else who thinks they can walk all over me and my friends!” As he shouted, the walls of the forcefield began to close in. “I did give you power like this! Time and time again, you called on me and I always gave it to you without question, because that’s what teammates do! But you’ve made it very clear that that meant nothing to you, so why bother anymore?!”
Kyoya’s gaze shifted frantically from the battle to Nile. “You’re being ridiculous! When did I ever say it meant no—?”
“Back on Mist Mountain!” Nile interrupted. “You said, for all the gods to hear, that you would never be so weak as to belong to a team! That you would never care about anything other than defeating your opponents! And that you would go through every one of us— me, Demure, and Benkei— just to make that happen!” Even closer now, the walls came in. “And I said nothing! And I begged Demure to say nothing! I begged him to put aside his rightful anger for me because I thought— I thought…” he trailed off, panting heavily as his tearful gaze lowered to the ground. “I thought I meant something to you.”
The sudden absence of yelling filled the air with sorrow in its place. Only the quiet hum of the tall pillar of light— oh no.
Kyoya only had time to glance back at the Mystic Zone before it closed in completely on the beys, sending both boys flying backwards in a great blast of light. There was only a split second to feel himself being swept off the ground before Kyoya smashed into a wall behind him, smacking any senses he had left away, except for pain.
Now covered in rubble, the black spots in his retinas and the ringing in his ears led him to believe he’d been buried alive somehow. However, as his senses slowly came to, he was able to recognise the light of the rising sun over the city, and all the carnage that they had caused in it. He scanned the wreckage for any sign of movement— and then he stopped.
The only sound he could register was his own ragged breathing echoing in his ears. Eyes wide, Kyoya stared down at the ground in front of him. Amidst all the rubble and ruin, there lay both beys, completely still.
His heart sank down deep into his stomach. It wasn’t supposed to be like this… none of this chaos and destruction was supposed to happen. He and Nile were supposed to be allies, but where were they now? Where… oh god, where was Nile now?
Carefully, he pushed himself off the wall, wincing at the pain in his neck. He shuffled his feet under him and pushed off the ground, letting rock and rubble fall off his back and pile up at his heels. “Nile—?” he tried to call, before interrupting himself with a harsh coughing fit.
When he’d hacked up what he thought was an old basement’s worth of dust from his lungs, he put his weight on his feet and trudged around the wreckage in search for signs of life, grabbing their two beaten beys on the way. It didn’t take long to catch the reflection of a gold bracelet out of the corner of his eye, the arm it was attached to sticking out from under a large pile of rocks.
Forcing his aching body to hurry, he tripped and skipped over the ruins between them before landing on his knees in front of Nile’s tomb. There, he frantically dug through the pile, slowly uncovering the boy piece by piece until he reached his face. Though his eyes were closed, once Kyoya pulled his body out of the rubble and lay him back against it, they fluttered open once more, squinting at the sun.
When they made eye contact, Kyoya glanced down to Horuseus and held it out for him. Nile put his hand over it, hesitating for a moment before taking it. “I… didn’t win, did I?” he sighed.
Kyoya looked down at his own Leone. “No… but neither did I.”
Nile’s frown deepened. “You don’t mean…” But a solitary glance from Kyoya confirmed it to be true. “Man… and for what? What were we trying to prove?”
“Well, you proved your point, that’s for sure.” He looked back down with a frown. “I came here to prove myself worthy of Gingka, captain to captain.”
“I know.”
“But a worthy captain doesn’t turn his back on his team members, and I did that the second I let Khadin get to me… and when I let Aguma get to me on Mist Mountain. I called on you to help me, then I cursed you out for it, all because of one guy’s taunts. I’m no worthy leader, not if I’m not worthy of you.” He pulled the spare winner’s bracelet out of his pocket. “We may have tied… but you bested me, truly. You more than deserve this, I’m sure you know that.”
Nile looked down at the bracelet with sad, tired eyes. “Kyoya…”
“I don’t need some team of lackies to carry me through the championships, only to stand aside when I get to Gingka. I need real, brave, grounded people, with their own goals and dreams, to be proud to stand at the top with. That was always you, Nile. I… I want you on the team. I’d like you to be on the team.” He gestured to the bracelet again. “Please.”
Nile’s eyes flickered up to meet his own. “Does that make us friends?”
Kyoya startled at the question, all his words sticking in his throat. “It…”
After a moment of quiet suffering, Nile broke their staring contest, staring down at his lap with a slight smile that disappeared as quickly as it came. “It doesn’t matter, anyway,” he murmured. “I can’t be on this team, Kyoya. Not anymore.”
“But—” He cut himself of at the look Nile gave him, utterly defeated. All this fighting, caused by one catalyst that he still didn’t know. “Nile… who is he?”
“He’s your new teammate, obviously!” The intrusion of another voice made both of them jump, but Khadin remained unphased by their shock. “Who else would I be?”
Using whatever strength he had left in him, Kyoya pushed himself off of his knees to stand and face Khadin. “You’re no good, that’s what!” he spat with a harsh scowl.
“No good?” Khadin asked, with a fake pout. “And what have I done to deserve this animosity, exactly?”
“You can’t play coy with me! You think I didn’t know what you were up to, trying to trash talk Nile to me?”
Khadin gave a nonchalant shrug. “I just thought you’d want all the facts, that’s all.”
“Facts,” Kyoya mocked. “Yeah, right. You should just be glad the other real team members weren’t there, or they would’ve kicked your—”
“Guys? Hey!” Right on queue, the two teammates neither of them had seen all day came running towards them. Demure and Benkei both stopped at the edge of the carnage, their mouths agape. “What… what did you—” Demure started, before his eyes settled on his dearest friend, still sitting injured in the rubble. “Nile? Kyoya, what did you do?!” he exclaimed, running past the other boys to get to him.
Kyoya took a step back at the accusation. “Huh? We—”
“He already has a bracelet!” Demure continued, his eyes wide with a fury Kyoya had never seen from him before. “What is wrong with you?!”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with you, Kyoya?” Khadin parroted, disingenuously.
Kyoya moved to retort, but his reaction was slowed by something else catching his attention. Now that he had a good look at Demure, furious as he was, he was also clearly something else: hurt. Fresh scratches and bruises littered what little skin he was showing, namely on his face. It was a lot more obvious on Benkei, whose forearms displayed all kinds of strange injuries. As he approached the rest of them, Kyoya asked, “Never mind that. What happened to you two? You look like hell.”
Benkei rubbed the back of his head, his eyes glancing off to the side. “Uhh… well—”
“We got caught in a wildfire out in the plains,” Demure answered, bluntly, focusing more of his attention on helping Nile up to his feet. “We were struggling to get past it all night.”
“What are the odds, right?” Benkei lamented. “A natural disaster, happening then and there, at that exact moment, to us. Funny, huh?”
Kyoya looked at Benkei. Benkei looked back at Kyoya.
“Wait— did you lose it?” Demure asked suddenly, as he held onto Nile’s arms to keep him upright. He was looking down at his wrist with sympathy and concern.
Nile opened his mouth to answer, but a loud beep that made everyone jump was all they heard; and then another, and another. Kyoya and Khadin both looked down at their wrists; there was less than a minute left on the timer, the beeps counting down each second.
The sound brought attention to the spare bracelet still clutched in Kyoya’s other hand. When Demure caught sight of it, anger returned to his eyes once more. “What is going on here?” he asked, accusingly. “Did you take that from him? You have no right to do that!”
“I didn’t! He gave it up!” Kyoya replied, though Nile’s immediate guilty expression made him regret being so rash about it.
“What? Why would he do that?”
“Yeah, why would he do that?” Khadin added, peaking over Kyoya’s shoulder at Nile with a devious glare. Kyoya turned back to him to fend him back with a scowl.
“Hello?! The timer!” Benkei shouted, suddenly.
Kyoya looked down at his wrist again— ten seconds on the clock.
Maybe the sudden boost of adrenaline in his body had immobilised him, or maybe he thought something else would come of it. But for half of those remaining seconds, all he could do was stand there as Nile grabbed the spare bracelet out of his hand, held onto it for just a moment, then locked it onto Demure’s wrist.
A final, resounding beep louder than the others sounded off. And then it was over.
Demure looked down at his wrist, astounded. “Why…” He then looked up at Nile, his face a mix of confused, sad… and something else. “Why would you give this up? This is supposed to be our year— our dream! I don’t understand…”
Though Nile’s eyes welled up a little, he shared a little smile. “Maybe that’s for the best… I hope you never understand.”
Either those winning bracelets had tracking devices inside them, or they’d followed the trail of Kyoya and Nile’s destruction, because the President and his team arrived on the scene in no time at all. The large man immediately noticed the changes to the original line up, and was not happy about it, to say the least. “What do you mean you’re not on the team?” he asked Nile. “Surely, this must be some kind of mistake! Tell me, boy, was there foul play at hand?”
Though Nile had geared up to answer, it was Khadin who got the President’s attention. “No foul play here, sir. Only a great compassion for others.” He strutted up to the man, his hands behind his back. “All three of us battle royale winners held onto our bracelets for nearly the whole challenge. But when it came close to the end, Nile lamented that, should the three of us win, there would be no Kenyan bladers representing Kenya on the main team.”
Though he held the president’s intrigue, Kyoya and Nile shared a look. This could hardly end well.
“So,” the boy continued, “when the time came, he valiantly gave up his spot to his dear friend Demure. I know it may seem strange, Mr. President, but you must understand that Nile is a good kid, who only ever wants the best for not only his friends, but the country he once represented as well.”
Kyoya gawked at the corny display. Surely, the leader of a country would know when he’s being buttered up, right?
“That…” the President started, rubbing his chin contemplatively. “That is… the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard!”
Apparently not.
“Why, if I knew he had so much love and care for this country, I would’ve skipped the damn qualifiers and brought him onto the team automatically!”
“Yeah… super touching…” Demure uttered, eyeing Nile with a dirty look.
Nile took a step towards him, his hand outstretched. “Wait, but that’s not what—”
“You know what I think?” Khadin interrupted, stepping in between Nile and his scorned friend. “I don’t think we can allow this kind act to be the end of Nile’s journey with us; it just wouldn’t be fair to him.”
“I know, I know,” the President agreed. “But rules are rules. Everyone who has a bracelet’s spot on the team is definitive; I won’t change that.”
“Oh, I’d never suggest changing the rules,” Khadin corrected. “It’s just that there’s one more spot available on the team… the sub spot.”
Seeing Nile flinch at the realisation, Kyoya stepped forward. “Sir, Nile doesn’t even want to be on the team anymore! He changed his mi—”
“Nonsense!” the President cut through. “If he didn’t want to be on the team, he wouldn’t have entered!” He turned to Nile, towering over him with a proud grin on his face. “Our team needs your power, boy! I won’t take no for an answer!”
Nile’s eyes darted between him, Kyoya, and Demure. “Uh… I—”
“Excellent!” the man boomed. “Now that the matter is officially settled, lets get these boys cleaned up and announce their victory to the country!”
Before any more objections could be raised, the officials began ushering off the new team: a smug Khadin, an irritated Demure, and a dejected Nile. What a great start, Kyoya thought to himself.
Shaking off the hands of anyone who tried to escort him away, he looked back at Benkei. The boy was staring back out into the plains, his eyes sombre and misty. Kyoya thought back to how he’d felt at the beginning of these trials: that he wouldn’t want anyone on the team that couldn’t keep up with him. But now…
“Listen, Benkei…”
“I’ll be okay,” he insisted, turning to face Kyoya. It was hard to believe it, judging by his expression, but Kyoya decided not to push it further. “But the others… I need you to promise me something, Kyoya,” he said, his sadness turning to a solemn seriousness.
Kyoya frowned. “What is it?”
“Promise me you’ll keep Khadin away from our buddies. I know you have bigger goals for these championships, and I support them all the way, but… well, how easy do you think it is for a wildfire to spread through rocky plains, y’know?”
“Yeah… I know.” He did know, because he’d been warned already. And he didn’t listen then, but he would now. “I promise.”