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ᴅᴇʟᴛᴀ × ᴏᴄ → ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғɪᴠᴇ
﹙𝚂𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚢┆𝟸:𝟹𝟺 𝙿𝙼 - 𝚂𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗﹚
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⋆ ☄︎.·˚ * 🔭
ೃ⁀➷ 𝐓he sun's shining bright light reflected on the cumulus-looking clouds that hung on the sky as it graced the earth's atmosphere with its rich golden color. Its luminous rays peeked through the dozens of open windows and touched every corner of BC-Sol's interior.
Since everyone was having lunch at the cafeteria, the hallways were empty and silent. That silence, however, was disrupted by the soft, quiet footsteps of two particular teens as they scampered on the brown, wooden floors.
"Akio—we're not even supposed to be here, idiot." The blue streak-haired male let his words flow out like harsh winds, rolling his dark brown eyes towards his shorter friend. Honestly, he would've left Akio and trained instead of whatever they were here for, but leaving the redhead on his own was never a good idea.
"Stop being a pussy, Tadashi." Being said this, Akio shook his head, his red strands swaying from side to side, and proceeded to run his fingers on the door of Kris' office as if it were made of glass, pressing his left ear against it.
"It's called being responsible, Akio." Argued Tadashi, who narrowed his face nearer to Akio's to assert his statement.
"Fuck you."
"You wish."
"Funny," Akio responded with his eyes away from Tadashi's as he was more focused on listening in to the meeting Kris, Valt, and the recruits were having, "Damnit, I can't hear anything." His yellow-orange eyes then drifted around the corridors with his eyebrows knit together, desperately trying to make out at least a word or two of what they were discussing.
Tadashi, on the other hand, sighed at the redhead. He wasn't one to join into Akio's shenanigans, but he couldn't deny that he had at least a pinch of curiosity about the recruits.
"Hanako's gonna kick your ass later for eavesdropping without her," The brown-eyed male uttered a faint laugh, but eventually came to a stop when he came to a realization, "Speaking of her, where'd she go?"
"She said she'd use the bathroom," As Akio reassured his friend of Hanako's whereabouts, he tilted his head, slowly fixing his stance and backing away from the office's door to face Tadashi, "It's been nearly 15 minutes though."
"Yeah. Is she alright?"
"Probably..?"
⋆ ☄︎.·˚ * 🔭
"Nope," The cinnamon brown-haired girl burst out chuckling, clutching her stomach to just the right tightness so she wouldn't get hurt. The more she looked at the unwanted scenario before her, the more she felt herself nearing the brink of insanity, "No, no, no—you have got to be fucking kidding me."
Burying her face in the palms of her hands, she gritted her teeth and let out a groan that gradually grew louder as she finally met with the misty grey eyes she dreaded to see ever again.
"This is...unexpected—uh, hey, Hanako." A hesitant sigh made its way out of the brunette's light pink lips, the statement before it being the only thing she could say as she didn't know how to react to this sudden reunion.
"Why the fuck are you here, Riyuki?" Hanako's blood red eyes fixated on the girl before her, the gears in her brain working to make sure her current predicament was really happening.
"What? Can't a girl enjoy blading like everyone else?" Riyuki countered and folded her arms across her chest, one eyebrow raised as she tapped her right hand's fingers on the bare skin of her left upper arm.
Hanako slightly parted her salmon pink lips to reply, but not a single word came out of them. She delicately places a finger on Riyuki's chest and inches closer to the brunette's face, her warm breath tickling the tip of Riyuki's nose.
"That's not my point and you know it," As the seconds pass, Riyuki starts to feel the hardness of the wall behind her only to find out she's cornered, "I know for a fact that your parents would never allow you and your sister to beyblade, much less join a beyblading team. That said, why are you here?"
Riyuki lifted her chin slightly, the corners of her lips extending into a smirk. Upon witnessing that expression from the brunette, Hanako curled her hands into fists as her fingers pierced into the flesh of her palms.
God, Riyuki—I fucking hate you.
"Well, long story short, my parents went out of the country for work purposes, so Kiyori and I ran away from Japan and headed here without them knowing."
"...What? You did—what??" Hanako stood there, slowly shaking her head as her eyebrows met.
Hums of laughter slipped out of Riyuki's lips followed by a deep exhale. She always loved surprising people—it didn't matter to her if it was in a good way, or a bad one; a huge issue, or not.
As long as it perfectly displayed what she was capable of.
"You're exaggerating, you know that? We'll only be here for a month or so anyway, then you won't have to deal with me ever again."
"I better not." Hanako growled lowly, quickly sealing her mouth shut once Riyuki moved her head forward.
"That's a promise, cherry."
...
That's it.
"Hanako..?"
Before the ruby-eyed girl could react to Riyuki's answer, a familiar masculine voice, that called out her name, ringed in her ears.
Both Hanako and Riyuki turned to trace the source of the voice and found themselves face to face with two other teens—Tadashi and Akio, whose faces wrinkled.
"Uh...are we um—are we interrupting something..?" Akio stuttered out, struggling to speak properly as he cleared his throat. He tried his best to smile (although crooked) through the millions of questions being concocted in his mind upon seeing Hanako in this unpredicted situation.
Hanako was not enjoying herself, and it was pretty obvious if you saw the forced smile that stitched itself onto her face, despite the internal screaming she had going on in her brain.
SHIT, WHAT AM I GONNA SAY—
"Hey, are these the friends you told me about?? Wow, I'm so glad you've made friends here too!" A seemingly welcoming tone laced Riyuki's little declaration, making Hanako and the other two teens fall silent.
Eyes wide and blinking, Hanako's face was masked with fear and confusion.
Riyuki only smiled towards Hanako, the corners of her lips stretching into a little grin with hidden intentions, as she clung onto the ruby-eyed girl, giving her a tight embrace to be a part of the little show she was putting on.
Hanako, however, was frozen.
"What the hell are you—"
"Quiet down. You don't want them finding out I'm your ex, do you?"
That one sentence silenced Hanako completely. She was well aware of what would happen if her friends found out about her past with Riyuki, but she also knew that Tadashi and Akio would never judge her on who she use to be with. Nonetheless, she decided not to fight Riyuki on this. Maybe not yet.
Riyuki, on the other hand, had her lips curved into a triumphant smirk, successful in deceiving Akio and Tadashi. She wasn't expecting them to get this far into her little charade, but it's not like she wanted to complain. Eventually, she let go of Hanako and continued to hide her intentions behind a friendly façade.
"Sorry you guys had to meet me like this—I'm Riyuki! I'm part of the bladers that Valt Aoi recruited," She smiled warmly, waving her right hand to greet the two males, "I'm not sure if Hanako's told you, but I used to be her neighbor in the old city she lived in before moving here!"
Unfortunately, Akio and Tadashi knew Hanako like the back of their hands, so they weren't quickly convinced by the story Riyuki told them. Not yet, at least.
"You must be close with Hanako then, huh?" A narrow-eyed Tadashi pointed at Riyuki, who simply nodded, "If you're that close, how come Hanako hasn't told us much about you?"
"Well that's—"
"—Because her parents uh...they um, they didn't want me to be Riyuki's friend. Her parents said I was a distraction and blah blah blah, so this is the first time in so long that we're talking again—yeah." Hanako pulled Riyuki to her side by yanking her arm while the two guys merely blinked confusedly when she suddenly continued Riyuki's statement for her, stammering as she did so.
Akio and Tadashi looked at each other, still quite skeptical on the description that Hanako gave, but they knew better than to think that she, their closest friend, would be lying to them. That said, they shrugged and finally let their guards down, revealing a friendlier bearing.
"Well alright, nice to meet you, Riyuki! I'm Akusake Techi, but I prefer Akio. This blueberry bitch over here is the number one pushover, Tadash—A-AH, HEY!" Akio winced in pain, cupping his left ear after Tadashi pinched it and pulled it to force his body to follow and move aside.
"I think I'm pretty capable of introducing myself, Akio," He reminded the redhead, who bitterly rolled his eyes. Tadashi only shook his head towards Akio's usual actions, a huff leaving his smile, "Anyway, I'm Tadashi Sasuke, I'm glad I'm meeting you, Riyuki."
"Same here!" The brunette giggled, to which Hanako rolled her eyes at discreetly, knowing Riyuki's true persona behind all of those "giggles". The more she looked at Riyuki, the more her gut grumbled with the sense that anything could happen at this point. Hanako had enough and intruded on their introductory messages.
"Hey uh guys, it's time for training. Let's head over to the gym, hm?" Although wanting to talk more, Tadashi and Akio were still in favor of Hanako's idea, seeing as they nodded, proceeding to walk along the hallways with the two girls following from behind.
Soon enough, Akio and Tadashi were far ahead, leaving Riyuki and Hanako alone with only the afternoon breeze to fill in the silence between them.
"Listen, Riyuki," the brunette came to a stop when her name was called as her eyes drifted to look at Hanako's. Riyuki remained composed, even as Hanako slowly approached her, "I still have no idea why you're here or what you plan to do, but knowing you, it's nothing good. So I'm telling you right now, do whatever you want, just keep your hands off my friends. I hope that's clear."
Satisfied with the words that left her mouth, Hanako walked away from Riyuki, leaving her standing all alone in the hallway.
"Don't worry Hanako, your friends aren't my target."
⋆ ☄︎.·˚ * 🔭
As the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes turned into hours, the meeting with Kris finally came to an end. The doors of the office flung open with Drum and Kiyori heading out of the room, millions of possibilities entering the vicinity of their minds now that the pressure was starting to rise upon them.
Drum, being the happy-go-lucky person he was, maintained a wide smile as he didn't really dwell on the deal with Kris too much.
A curtain of silence came in between him and Kiyori for a moment or so, until Drum made his way through it, remembering that training had already started a few minutes ago. He looked over to the brunette, biting his bottom lip as he didn't want to disturb her, but eventually ended up talking to her.
"Hey Kiyori, I'm heading over to the gym to train okay?? I'll seeya there!" Kiyori didn't pick up the information Drum stated, busy in her own world, but the blond went on and did what he wanted anyway.
With that, Kiyori was left walking alone, eyes glued to the floor with her right hand grasping the sleeve of her left upper arm.
Right now, everything was a blur to her. She and her sister came all the way here not expecting this deal to await them. Now, this is what they have to consider, and it's not like they can still turn back at this point.
Is this really worth it? Kiyori started to question, the grip she had on her sleeve tightening, Was coming here really the right decision? Are we selfish for doing what we wanted instead of what our parents wanted?
Kiyori, of course, knew there was no point in overthinking, since it wouldn't take her anywhere, but she did it anyway out of habit. All she could do was sigh, sliding her face into the palms of her hands with a silent groan.
"What am I gonna do now?"
"What do you mean?"
Hearing that question from out of nowhere, the brunette jumped slightly, the hands that were on her face moving to cover just her lips while a sigh followed through. As she turned to her side, she found that it was none other than her sea-green haired roommate, Delta, who asked her the question.
"Oh...it's just you," After seeing his figure, Kiyori shut her eyes, her feeling of relief carried on by an exhale, "Nothing, nothing," She then looked up at the male, reassuring him with the smallest of smiles, "Why're you here?"
Delta raised his chin slightly, eyes narrowing as he sensed some sort of discomfort from Kiyori once she recognized his presence. She wasn't the first to react this way, so he was pretty used to it by now.
"I came to bring you to the gym. It's time to train," He reminded, his dark red stare pouring onto Kiyori, although only meaning well, "You need to remember that. No one's allowed to be late."
"Right, right. I'm sorry, let's go."
Kiyori's cheeks light up in a bright shade of pink, still bothered by the thought that Delta had probably just been standing there, watching her overthink pathetically. She bit her lip while she walked with the other, trying her best to internalize her embarrassment.
Delta glanced at the girl behind him with the help of his peripheral vision and rolled his eyes, unbeknownst to her. After only a few hours of meeting Kiyori, Delta had already observed some things about her. However, they were mostly negative.
Late, distracted half the time, clumsy—why would Valt ever think of recruiting her? She can't help BC-Sol become stronger with those qualities. Much less, make herself stronger.
Even as his opinions on Kiyori were harsh, they were true. Kiyori herself, although not hearing Delta's thoughts on her, knew perfectly well that she also needed to improve.
And that's what she was here for.
Right now, she was fully aware that she was nowhere near being the blader she wanted herself to be, and that thought alone stuck to her like a leech, draining and sucking the energy out of her.
Kiyori didn't dare try to tear apart the silence that enveloped them, knowing it would take a literal miracle to get a single peep out of Delta. Thankfully, she eventually catches sight of the doors to the gym as her eyes twinkled. Oh how glad she was to finally escape this awkward tension with Delta.
As Kiyori went ahead and pushed the doors open, her ears were quickly filled by the sounds of beys colliding in the stadium. She let herself take in the fullness of being here, since it has been a while that she'd train with others. Her eyes wandered throughout the different parts of the gym, her mouth curving into a smile, although slightly agape.
It took a couple of seconds before she noticed she was standing in the middle of the room, backing up slowly once she was conscious of it. Quickly, her eyes travelled left and right and all around the gym. She was a ship, lost in what felt like a sea of people in search of the shore that was, in this case, her sister.
Like a wave coming in without a warning, someone snuck up on Kiyori from behind and didn't hesitate to cover her eyes with their hands.
"WH—"
"Guess who!" The voice snickered childishly, their eyes following Kiyori's fingers when they trail up to feel the other person's hands.
Kiyori's eyebrows furrow at first, carefully rubbing her palms on the back of the other's hands to really feel them. That's when a gasp left her beaming smile, swiftly taking the person's hands off her eyes to face them and see if her guess was right.
"Is it really—" As Kiyori whips around to face the other, the same excitement and energy that shined through her smile spread throughout her whole face. When she finally lets her gaze meet the person's eyes, she immediately tries to control herself from exploding into a bubbly fit of joyous squeals, "Hanako?? IT'S REALLY YOU!"
The shorter-haired female who was once using her hands to cover Kiyori's eyes, now attempted to make a more welcoming gesture towards the brunette. And what's more welcoming than a warm hug? Kiyori deserved one, after all.
"YEAH IT IS!" Hanako became too immersed in the moment of seeing an old friend, that she didn't care about how loud she was being. The other bladers even started giving her dirty looks with a desperate need for her to shut up.
"It's great to see you again!" Before Hanako could initiate it herself, Kiyori had already engulfed her into a tight, long embrace, both their smiles still imprinted on their faces, "You didn't tell me you were a part of BC-Sol! Since when have you been here?" Kiyori asked, her eagerness evident with how close she was to the other.
"Quite a while actually! Maybe around a few months ago," Hanako answered back as she smiled fondly, "Oh! My friends and...Riyuki are by the bleachers. Let's uh—let's head over to them." After hearing that, Kiyori mirrored the smile on Hanako's face and willingly followed her to the bleachers.
For Hanako to avoid making eye contact with Kiyori, she went ahead of her. Kiyori noticed how stiff she looked while walking, but chose not to question it. Little did she know that Hanako was silently praying and begging to every God out there to give her enough mental strength and patience to deal with Riyuki in the next few months.
When she finally meets eyes with her friends, Hanako buries all these thoughts in the deepest recesses of her mind and waves at them with a fixed smile—acting as if she wasn't just overthinking on the changes her life's gonna take with Riyuki in BC-Sol.
"Kiyori! There you are," Riyuki stood up from her seat and ran over to her sister with that "innocent" smile of hers (again) that Hanako despised so much, "Sorry I couldn't make it back to the meeting—I saw Hanako and we got a little too caught up in our reunion."
"Oh yeah, don't worry about it," Kiyori reassured and peeked over her sister's shoulder, catching a glimpse of two guys on the bleachers, "Say, are those Hanako's friends?"
"Hm?" Riyuki looked at where Kiyori's eyes pointed and followed their direction, which lead to the Akio and Tadashi, "Oh them—yep! Those are her friends. C'mon, I'll introduce you to them." Without waiting for Kiyori's response, Riyuki dragged her by the arm to meet Hanako's friends.
Hanako, not wanting to even breathe the same air as Riyuki, followed from behind, gritting her teeth with a low scowl seeping through it.
"Yo Riyuki, that your sister??" Akio couldn't contain his eagerness and greeted the brunette himself, "I'm Akio, nice to meet'cha. I like your hair, by the way." He smiles to tie his whole welcome message together and shakes Kiyori's hand.
"Hi! yeah, I'm Kiyori. Thanks for the compliment, Akio," Like what any person would do as an act of politeness, Kiyori returns Akio's smile, "Though, I like your hair better. I've always wanted to dye my hair, but I feel like I'll just regret it." She admits shyly, sheepishly scratching the back of her head as her eyebrows curve upwards.
"I mean, you never know unless you try, right? Plus, I'm sure it'll look great on you. You should try it!" Akio and everyone else chuckled at that. Although it wasn't necessarily funny, it was just great to have each other around. Tadashi's laughter soon died out faster than the others' and turned to Kiyori to continue the introductions.
"So you're Kiyori! I'm Tadashi," Kiyori simply smiles and nods to signal that his introduction was acknowledged. She doesn't bother to say her name once again, as Tadashi has already heard it from when she mentioned it to Akio earlier, "I heard you're roommates with Delta...how's that going for you?"
Kiyori didn't know what was behind the sudden change in Tadashi's tone and mood when he mentioned Delta's name, but because she was now interested, it wouldn't take her too long to figure it out.
"Oh uh, it's fine so far..? I mean, we um—we don't talk much, but he's okay," She explains, observing their reactions through their facial expressions, "Why do you ask?"
Tadashi, Akio and Hanako all looked at each other, communicating with just their eyes and bringing their attention back to Kiyori, their smiles now turning into a straight line, displaying their seriousness.
"Best to be careful with him." Tadashi warned with a sigh, his eyes trailing up to the mint-haired blader across the gym.
"Yeah, he's a huge pain in the ass if you ask me," Hanako spat out in absolute annoyance as she narrowed her eyes and kept them on Delta, "He hates it when you can't stoop up to his level. He's cold, distant, harsh—have I mentioned stuck up as fuck ?"
"Oh...yikes." Kiyori mimicked Tadashi and Hanako's movements and also took her own glance at Delta. She hasn't seen that side of Delta yet and wonders if he really is what they see him as.
To Kiyori, Delta was just another member of BC-Sol. Another obstacle, another challenge she needed to pass in order to become the blader she's dreamed of. His silent and distant demeanor could convey so many other things, so why would majority of the people immediately take him as some sort of villain? It didn't make sense to her, not right now.
She didn't know what drove her interest into Delta so much. They only met a few hours ago, yet she has so many questions for him. Maybe it was because he was a strong blader she could learn from? Or maybe because he didn't talk that much to share enough about himself?
It could even simply be that Kiyori's never met someone like him, as cliché as it seems.
He can't be that bad. He seems pretty fine to me.
It didn't take long before Delta noticed the group's eyes on him. However, that did no effect to how he trained. He stayed focused as usual, his stare and attention only on his moves and strategies. For a brief moment though, he subtly takes a glimpse of the first person in the group that catches his eye—Kiyori.
Out of all her friends, her sister included, Kiyori was the only one who didn't seem bothered by his personality. She's soft and fragile—while Delta was a beast, destroying everything in his way. He could easily demolish her, but at the back of his mind, he keeps reminding himself that Valt Aoi personally recruited her.
As someone who was recognized by the legend himself, Kiyori must have some sort of skill. And whatever that skill was, whatever was so astonishing about Kiyori that made Valt invite her here, Delta was going to find out.
He wants to be the best of the best. And with that, a memory of what Devolos told him a few hours ago plugged into his brain, reminding him of why he agreed to take such bladers under his wing: What better way is there to fulfill your goal other than finding out your opponents strengths and weaknesses?
Keep your enemies close, they say.
Unfortunately for our mint-haired friend, Riyuki couldn't let the fact that Delta was eyeing Kiyori from afar, slide. Her fingernails pinned themselves to her palms as she thought how much of a bad influence Delta was.
Based on the descriptions Hanako and Tadashi gave, Delta was someone to watch out for. With Kiyori being his roommate, Riyuki took it upon herself to observe Delta closely—a responsibility she would take on any day to protect Kiyori.
"So are we gonna train or continue dissing on some bitch who isn't worth our time?" Hanako, Tadashi, and the Natsume twins look back at the redhead, his statement catching their attention as he stood up with his launcher and bey in hand.
"For once, I agree with you," Tadashi confesses with a short exhale slipping out of his grin, "Let's just forget it and train."
The three other girls didn't even bother to say or show a sign that they agreed as they went ahead to their own selected stadiums.
It took Kiyori a while to position herself somewhere, but eventually, she finds a spot just for her. Coincidentally, the stadium she chose was right in front of Delta's, and she doesn't even notice until she sees his red, devilish eyes that are fixated on his bey as it glides perfectly across the stadium the moment it's launched.
Kiyori stares in awe for a minute or so—but that action didn't go unnoticed by Delta, who was, expectedly, observant as ever.
"What is it?" He finally quips, his voice ringing in Kiyori's ears, waking her up faster than her alarm ever could.
"O-oh, it's nothing, sorry. I was just watching, I'll get back to my own spot now..." Immediately, a red blush takes a hold of Kiyori's cheeks (for what seemed like the millionth time today) as she heads back. She's too flushed to repair her wobbling stance, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip as she was disappointed on how her first day training was going.
"Three, two, one, Let it...R—WOAH—AH!"
A loud thud filled the whole gym, everyone's attention now averting to Kiyori. Her face shriveled up when the pain crept up her body, so she made sure to rub her hip cautiously, being careful not to accidentally make it worse.
Great. Way to prove you deserve a spot in BC-Sol.
Delta reels his head back a bit as he was hesitant on approaching Kiyori, but seeing as he was technically in charge of helping her train, he had no choice other than to head over to the embarrassed brunette and help her out—no matter how much embarrassment would be transferred to him by just being seen with her.
Kiyori still tried assisting herself, a hand on the newly polished floors of the gym while the other supported her body. She came to no avail in the end, but a kind enough hand stretched out to help her up—Delta's hand—to her surprise.
"Get up." Delta commands, still unfazed as ever, showing that he wouldn't leave until Kiyori took a hold of his hand.
She lifted her left arm slowly, sliding her fingers one by one onto Delta's soft palm. Delta's fingers were equally slow to act when he took a hold of Kiyori's hand, and both of them would be lying if they said this action made them uncomfortable.
"Thanks." Grunting, Kiyori soon stands up and dusts of any dirt that might've gotten stuck on her clothes. Again, her eyes were anywhere but towards Delta as she was still ashamed of the scene she created.
Delta didn't like that.
"Come here."
Involuntarily, Kiyori's head snaps back up, staring directly towards Delta. His voice was like some sort of spell casted on her—and she couldn't even figure out if it's simply because Delta's voice is naturally intimidating, or if it's something else. Nevertheless, the brunette begins to walk over to the spot Delta pointed at, not daring enough to say something, anything.
Kiyori remains oblivious to what Delta's intentions were and bites her bottom lip once more, a habit she developed whenever she was nervous, if that wasn't obvious enough. She still obliged and positioned herself in front of him with her back facing him—shaking as they were only inches away from each other.
"You don't know how to launch properly, and that's one of the basics when it comes to beyblading. Remember what I'm about to say—I'll only ever say this once."
In a split second, a million shades of red painted every feature of her face, eyes taking the shape of saucers as her mouth stayed shut. Her palms started sweating along with her heart that went pounding uncontrollably in her chest.
And it was all because of Delta's touch.
Right now, at this very moment, Delta Akane had his hands neatly placed on Kiyori's hips. His head was on the left side of her own, close enough for Kiyori to feel his voice caress her ears and neck like a light, feathery touch of a finger tracing up and down her skin.
To Delta, it was just another way to help Kiyori train.
But to Kiyori...what was it? She didn't know herself.
It was outrageous, the way this made her feel. Delta was just some guy—Delta was just some guy! If that were ever to be true, then why was she so worked up about it? Was there a reason as to why he did this?
It gave her an unexplainable feeling that would for sure bother her until Delta would confess what it meant to him.
"Listen, you have to make sure your legs are..."
Delta's voice soon got blocked out of Kiyori's head, the brunette still intensely focused on the fact that she was letting someone touch her like this.
If it was any other person, she would have fled and never talked to them again.
But why was Delta different? How was Delta different?
She wasn't sure as of now, but all she knew was that Delta was giving her a feeling she never knew she needed.
⋆ ☄︎.·˚ * 🔭
║▌𝙁│█║▌&│ █║▌𝙁│█