My Star || Delta x Dante fanfic

☆ Chapter 32 - Missing and Waiting

Delta’s POV

The next day started like any other.

Training.

Launches snapped through the air in sharp, practiced motions. Beys clashed as they tore across the stadium floor, impacts echoing off the walls in familiar, rhythmic bursts.

Voices calling out timing, minor corrections, strategies shouted over spinning tops. Arman stood with his arms crossed, eyes sharp as he analyzed every movement. Ichika adjusted her stance with precise efficiency. Taka recorded the whole thing like a TV host. Pheng was… as usual, loud and unapologetically himself, laughing whenever a launch went slightly off.

The kind of routine that was supposed to be comforting.

But something felt… off.

I launched Devolos again, watching his movement carefully as he tore across the stadium floor. Stable, responsive, stronger than before. Exactly how he should be.

And yet.

My eyes drifted, almost involuntarily, toward the entrance.

Empty.

I frowned slightly and forced my focus back onto the stadium, tightening my grip as Devolos spun past.

Dante should’ve been here by now.

I told myself it didn’t matter. Dante didn’t owe us his presence. He was probably still resting after yesterday- physically, mentally. After everything he’d been carrying, skipping a morning of training made sense. He had his own pace. His own battles. I wasn’t-

Devolos veered too close to the wall.

I reacted instantly, reaching out and catching it just before it collided, stopping its spin with my palm. Luckily, nobody saw that.

Tch.

I straightened slowly, irritation crawling up my spine- not at Devolos. At myself.

Before I could stop it, my other hand was already reaching into my pocket, pulling out my phone.

You awake?

Sent.

I stared at the screen longer than I should have. No reply. I told myself not to overthink it.

I set the phone down, rejoined training, and launched again. My movements still controlled but something kept slipping. Like my attention was fraying at the edges, tugged away by a thought I couldn’t suppress.

Minutes passed.

Then more.

I checked my phone again.

Again nothing

My jaw tightened.

Pheng was the first to notice. “Okay,” he muttered, glancing between us. “This is weird.”

Ichika stopped adjusting her launcher. Arman’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.

We tried calling. Once. Twice.

Straight to unanswered silence.

That was when the unease finally settled in my chest- heavy, cold, and unwelcome. Not panic, not yet. But close.

“…Let’s go to his apartment,” Taka said quietly.

No one argued.

The walk there felt longer than it should have been. The city noise blurred into the background, every step too loud, too slow. I kept replaying last night in my head- Dante’s expression, the way his voice had gone distant, the way he’d held Dragon like letting go might shatter something important.