𝓕𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓼 ~ Hikaru Hizashi x oc ~ Beyblade Burst

Chapter 21

The quiet in Suisei's apartment never lasted long. She and Hikaru had been talking in hushed voices, the weight of last night still clinging to the air like smoke. For the first time in hours, Suisei almost felt her heartbeat slowing—until she heard a knock.

The knock at the door was soft, but it cut through Suisei like a blade.

Her mother didn't storm in—she opened the door slowly, as though she owned the silence. She stepped inside, her heels clicking once, twice, and then stopping. Her eyes moved over Hikaru without surprise, settling on Suisei.

"So. This is where you've been." Her tone was even, detached. "Hiding."

Hikaru shifted, uneasy, but her gaze never left her daughter.

"You brought him into this again," she said, voice low, almost pitying. "Do you think that's fair? To drag him into a story he'll never truly understand?"

Suisei's throat tightened. "Don't talk like he isn't standing right here."

"I don't need to." Her mother's eyes flicked briefly toward Hikaru, then back. "He doesn't belong in this. He doesn't know what it means to bleed for someone, to carry that weight."

Suisei bristled. "And you think I don't?"

Her mother tilted her head, the faintest ghost of a smile touching her lips. "Oh, darling. You carry weight, yes. But not the kind you think. What you carry is... cause. You were the reason they came. You led them home."

The words sank like ice water through Suisei's veins.

Her voice cracked. "Stop."

"You know it's true." Her mother stepped closer, her voice soft, almost gentle, like she was consoling her. "They wanted you. And he—your father—paid the price. You froze, and he bled. That is the simple truth of it."

"I was a child!" Suisei's voice broke, but her mother's calm didn't falter.

"And yet children still leave footprints," she replied smoothly. "Yours led killers to our door."

Hikaru tried to intervene, stepping forward. "Enough. You don't have to talk to her like this."

Her mother's eyes flicked toward him, cool and cutting. "And you think you can protect her from it? How quaint." She looked back at Suisei, her voice softening again. "You don't need to run after shadows, Suisei. The truth is already written. You can claw at it all you want, but it will never change the fact that your weakness killed him."

Suisei's breath shattered, her chest collapsing under the weight of the words. "You're lying," she whispered, though her body shook. "You're lying because you want me to stop looking."

Her mother's expression was unreadable, polished smooth like glass. "Perhaps." She turned toward the door, her hand resting lightly on the handle. "But you'll see, soon enough. Sometimes silence is the only shield you have. And you've already broken yours."

Then she left, the door shutting softly, leaving the silence loud and suffocating.

Suisei dropped to her knees, shaking. Hikaru caught her, pulling her close.

"She's wrong," he whispered fiercely. "She wants you to drown in it. Don't let her."

But Suisei couldn't answer. Her mother's words had wrapped around her throat like chains.