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"Morning!" Alexis yawned as she entered the eating hall where everyone was eating breakfast. She joined her friends at the table hear the window. "Hey...Ren" She whispered, leaning towards her best friend. He leaned towards her as well after hearing his name. "Do you know if Valt should be here yet?" She whispered to him. The boy blinked and shrugged. "Wasn't he supposed to have arrived yesterday?" He whispered back. "That's why I'm worried" The (h/c) haired girl continued. "What if something happened to him on the way here?" "Happen to who?" Allistor raised a brow making the two people jump in surprise. The boy was staring at them with a curious expression. "Oh, my friend who was also supposed to join this team, Valt Aoi" The name caught the rest of the DC member's attention. "Valt Aoi? What really energetic blader from Japan?" Ryu tilted his head. Ren nodded and sighed. "He was supposed to arrive yesterday, but he never did" Her friend frowned. "He's always late, even for important stuff such as tournaments" Ren turned towards Y/N. "that said, you shouldn't worry about it just yet, he's always late, remember?" She looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds, before admitting defeat. "I guess you're right" Y/N sighed. That Valt... he needs to take more reasonability. "Yeah, don't worry about anything" A new voice caught everyone off guard. They slowly turned towards the right, and a familiar blonde-haired blader appeared to be sitting at the end of the table. He yawned and continued eating like nothing is wrong. The rest of the group yelped in surprise, nearly falling off their chairs. "Free?!" Ren exclaimed. The boy raised his head at the sound of his name. "Hey Ren" He nodded in greeting. "Long time no talk" He replied in his normal, expressionless tone.
"Um.. hello.." Ren muttered back. "Tryouts are today" Free changed the subject, acting like he hadn't just appeared randomly like a dude with superpowers. Haru looked thoughtful. "Oh yeah, Kris told us yesterday, we should go watch" The group nodded in agreement as Y/N finished the last bite of her meal. "The bladers who want to tryout should already be arriving" Free replied, his face expressionless as always, the blonde continued to eat without another look at the bladers in front of him.
"I keep thinking about it, Ryu, that battle yesterday was sick!! We have to battle sometime" Y/N broke the awkward silence, the blonde boy next to her peacefully eating, ignoring everything else. "We should" The former DC Ruby member agreed, beaming. " I've never seen you battle up close, watching battles are so much better when you watch it in person" The bladers around him, except Free, nodded in agreement. "Maybe after tryouts when the training area is cleared, we can ask to use it for a bit longer for a battle" Ryu announced. "And plus, Tsunami got an upgrade, right? I haven't seen it in action yet" "Me neither," Ren admitted. "Well, not at it's full power, that is. Tsunami is still pretty sick even if it's not using it's full power" "Ryuga is sick as well, what do you call it again? Since you got that upgrade? Vortex Ryuga right?" Ren nodded, and stuffed himself with the waffles he was having for breakfast again. "Tsunami.." Free curiously whispered. Though no one could hear him. So you did get a new bey. He thought, continuing to eat his food. "Everyone seems to be going through upgrades recently" Alexis commented, drinking her orange juice. "Well, results from their region's nationals came out, and nationals just ended, so maybe everyone wants an upgrade now, to get stronger." Allistor suggested. "That's right" Free finally spoke up, his tone still the same. He seemed to have finished everything on his plate. "Bladers want to beat each other, the world league is approaching, after that we probably have internationals"
Oh yeah, the world league. After tryouts they hold a tournament to get an idea of the rankings within the team, and then they can make teams out of that.
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[ 15 minutes before tryouts ]
Y/N was looking through dorms and offices and down hallways. Where did Free go? She went to the outdoor area and found a familiar yellow-haired boy staring up at the sky, standing next to the stadium. He was surrounded by flowers, grass, and trees. "There you are! Tryouts are about to sta-" "I'm always late." Free responded, not even letting the (h/c) haired girl finish her sentence. "Yeah, but some of them might become your new teammates, shouldn't you at least see how they battle, so you can give them feedba-" "Nah, that's not how I do things" "But you're the captain!" "That can mean different things to different people." He replied. Not once has he set his gaze on the (e/c) eyed girl next to him. He continued to stare up at the sky, the gentle wind threw through his blonde hair. "What I think shouldn't matter to them, it's what they think they should improve on. And plus, what's the point if you don't win?" "Pardon?" Y/N raised a brow. He shifted his gaze at her. And for the first time in ages, he smiled. She saw him smile. It's been years since I've seen him like this.. She thought. "I'm smiling, yes? It's because I always win, victory is where it's at" Y/N blinked her (e/c) eyes. She tilted her head in confusion. "Let's put it this way" Free continued, catching her confused gaze. "Do you enjoy winning?" Y/N blinked again. "Well.. yeah, I guess so" "Do you enjoy the feeling whenever you win? Does it make you smile whenever you win against a tough opponent?" Her thoughts instantly went to her battle against a certain albino.
Shu..
She shook her head quickly, exiting her thoughts. She also thought of Lui, and how she wasn't able to beat him. "Losing against a tough opponent has a horrible feeling to it, but winning against one, is the best feeling in the world" Free spoke for her, like he was reading her thoughts or something. He continued smiling, no, he wasn't just smiling, he was beaming. "It's fun to win. So what's the point of blading if you don't win? If you don't have that feeling of victory? Instead, you have that feeling of loss and you keep thinking about things that could have happened. Things you could have done. No one likes those feelings, you know" Y/N balled up her fists. "The point of losing is the learn for the bladers you lost to, figure out how to improve, let me ask you this then, let's shift your question. What's the point of blading if you have nothing to work towards? If you keep winning, and if you are unstoppable, how will you learn?" There was silence for a minute. Free closed his eyes and reopened them, he continued staring at the sky with nothing to say. "Ren was pretty disappointed to have seen you like this, you were his best friend. It's like you burned those memories"
.
.
.
There was another moment of silence.
"I.. don't expect Mr. #1 blader to understand that. Of course you will never understand" She let out a light-hearted laugh.
"Cya around, De La Hoya" Y/N left without waiting for a reply from Free. The blonde boy continued to stare up at the sky. Once she left, he sighed.
