train to tokyo [shui]

Chapter 1

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm went off, nosily echoing throughout the apartment. I slammed my hand against the 'dismiss' button, not because I wanted to sleep more, but because I had already been awake for half an hour, reliving all the memories I had with Grandma. Not that I had much memories anyways. But now that was over. This was no time to mope and mourn around.

Now it was 6:30am, and my train was scheduled to leave at 8:10am. However, the trains are usually early by fifteen minutes at least. Grunting, I detached myself from the comforts of my bed and started packing things into my plain black backpack.

Some Naruto manga, strawberry-flavored pocky, some pastries from the Aoi bakery to give to my family, my phone, Spriggan and teriyaki sushi for lunch.

I know there was no point to bring Spriggan, as I wasn't going to blade once I got to Tokyo, but it's presence felt reassuring, even after it brainwashed me.

Then I got changed out of a pajamas into a casual outfit. It consisted of typical black trousers and shoes, and a light pink sweater with black vertical stripes on the sleeves and the beyblade logo imprinted in red. I started walking towards the train station, as it was nearby my apartment.

My phone beep with 27 messages from the concerned Beigoma Academy Bey Club. Even though the club had disbanded, we all were still close, and all of them were resting in Japan after the world leagues and God Blader's Cup.

Smiling, I shoved my phone back into my pocket without answering a single message. I'm fine, really. 

I then heard fits of laughter. I looked down, towards the riverbank and saw two young best friends chasing each other around the old tree, which swayed in the breeze.

Absent-mindedly, I grinned at their friendship, and the memories it had brought up from when I was a young child, chasing a certain bluenette round the tree. I continued walking before they could see me, and soon I had arrived at the train station. 

By the time I had walked in, the time was 7:55am, and sure enough, the train was rolling in. It had already stopped at some other cities along the way, including Osaka, so some passengers were already onboard. 

I was surprised to see nobody else besides me enter the train, but I guess Beigoma was rather small. And not much people want to wake up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning. 

I halted at the door.

There was only a few people onboard the train, about nine, maximum? Each one was sitting far away from each other, nobody trying to make contact with a fellow passenger. I didn't mind. This whole train ride I planned to read Naruto in silence.

I scanned the passengers. No one too dodgy. Two giggling teenagers, an old man, two foreigners who were European, a girl with murky green eyes about my age, a business man furiously typing on a laptop, an older teenage girl listening to music, and...Lui Shirasagi. The reason why I halted at the door. But somehow...he looked different.

It wasn't because he wasn't wearing his usual outfit, but rather denim ripped jeans and a black hoodie. Everything was somehow different.

His blue hair still stuck up, but it was moving in soft waves rather than fire patterns. His royal purple hues weren't swirling with hate and resentment, but rather glued to the book he was reading.

It took him about five seconds to realize I was standing at the door. His face contracted with shock, but there wasn't any hate in there. Before I could think of somewhere to sit, he beckoned me to sit next to him.

This was going to be interesting, I thought. Very.

He sat by the window seat, but was deep in his book rather than the beautiful scenery outside. It didn't bother me, though. But I wondered why he would beckon me to sit next to him, if he was just going to ignore me. Maybe he was just feeling lonely.