My short stories

Take a Break!

Note: The story idea was from Toga-Uchiha. Shu and Valt may be OOC.

Everyone knew that Shu was lying, even Shu himself. He had been under a lot of stress since he became the manager of the Raging Bulls.

However, nowadays Shu was plagued by headaches and exhaustion every single day. But he didn't really dare rest, as he still had a ton of paperwork to do. Honestly, he didn't remember feeling so stressed.

If that wasn't enough, Shu's shoulder was also hurting him. It had been a while since Shu had been beyblading, so he went to see a doctor to see what was wrong.

Shu almost fainted with shock when he learned about the results. It turned out that because he had not rested properly the first time he hurt his shoulder, it would never heal completely.

Some people had noticed that Shu seemed tired and asked him about it, but Shu always said that he was fine (fibber). But nobody was fooled. Shu's physical and mental health were rapidly declining, and it was super obvious. 

Fubuki knew that his mentor was in danger of making himself seriously ill, but he knew that Shu would lie through his teeth and say that he was fine. Fubuki didn't have the option to inform Shu's parents because, one, he had never met them, and two, they didn't care about Shu at all. Fubuki doubted that they even knew that Shu was in America. In the end, he decided to contact the only person Shu might listen to. 

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A few days later, Shu was still trying to get some work done and completely ignoring his health (as usual) when he heard someone knock on the door. "Who is it?" he asked.

The door opened to reveal a boy with blue hair and brown eyes. "Hi Shu," he said.

"Valt?" asked Shu.

"Shu, I was super worried about you," said Valt. "I have heard that you have been working nonstop and forgetting to take breaks."

"Who told you that?" asked Shu.

"I heard from Aiger, who was told by Fubuki," said Valt. "You look terrible."

"What do you mean?" asked Shu.

"Because you look super pale and tired like you are sick," said Valt.

"I'm not (yawn) sick," said Shu.

"You should rest," said Valt. "You look like you are about to pass out."

"That bad?" asked Shu, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Yeah," said Valt. "You're practically falling asleep standing up. Come on, let's get you to bed. You are in no condition to be working..."

Valt touched Shu's hurt shoulder and the latter winced. Valt suddenly realized that Shu was still injured.

"Shu, are you hurt again?"

Shu considered lying for a moment, but he knew that it would do no good. Valt knew him well and would see through the lie.

"Actually, I don't think my shoulder is ever going to heal completely. The doctors said that I strained it too much and I will be affected for life."

Valt sighed. "This wouldn't be happening if you had just listened to the doctor the first time and rested."

"Valt, can you stop nagging me? I was a stubborn eleven-year-old. I know that I should have listened."

Valt sighed. "You need to take care of yourself. How do you expect to do your best if you are too tired or sick to work or train?"

Shu suddenly felt weak and went to sit down on a couch. Valt noticed and realized that Shu's condition was more serious than he thought. "Shu, are you sure you are alright? This doesn't look like just exhaustion to me."

Shu, feeling overwhelmed by stress, suddenly burst into tears. The constant months of work, stress and anxiety combined with the lack of rest was too much for a fifteen-year-old to handle.

"No, I am not alright. My head hurts, I am so tired that I can hardly function, and I feel sick but I don't have a temperature. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Have you seen a doctor?"

"Yes, but only for my shoulder."

Valt frowned. Clearly Shu's problems were more mental than physical. "I think you need to see a therapist."

"A therapist?"

"Yeah. I can book a session tomorrow. For now, just concentrate on getting some sleep. You will feel better after some rest."

Shu nodded. "Okay. I will rest."

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The next day, Valt was the first one up, which was unusual for him. But the appointment was at nine in the morning.

Valt checked on Shu, who was still sleeping. After their conversation yesterday, Valt had taken Shu back home and tucked him in bed. Shu had been so exhausted that he passed out the moment his head hit the pillow. Valt now went to wake him.

Shu was still pretty groggy and opened his eyes tiredly. "What time is it?" he asked.

"It's almost seven. You have an appointment with the therapist, remember?"

"Oh, right," said Shu. He yawned as he got out of bed. He was still tired despite having slept for thirteen hours. Valt had tried to wake him up for dinner last night, but Shu had proved impossible to wake up, so Valt gave up and let his best friend sleep.

The therapist concluded that Shu was suffering from burnout and told him to not go back to work until he had recovered. Valt was determined to help him get better.

Shu found it pretty embarrassing for Valt to watch his every move. Valt wouldn't even let him train.

"But I will get out of practice," complained Shu.

"Sorry, but I can't let you do anything stressful," said Valt.

Shu was practically forced to relax, so when he wasn't sleeping, he was reading, watching movies or just chatting with his friends. It took three months for him to recover completely.

Valt made Shu promise to set some time aside for relaxation and to get eight hours of sleep, and Shu did exactly as was told as he didn't want Valt lecturing him about his health again.