"So, they're here to watch a movie?" Valt furrowed his eyebrows. Aiger hummed. "Must be a good one. Can we join?"
Nika looked at the Achilles blader skeptically. "No."
"What the fuck?"
"Language!" The Aoi siblings chorused, including Toko who was now sitting by the table, munching on a Beybread.
Delta and Hikaru, who had just finished their meal and were just sitting by the table with Toko, shared a knowing smile. They didn't say anything, but Nika swore to herself if they were thinking about being BadBoyHalo kinnies or something she'd punt them, even if they were friends.
"You two go ahead, I might as well help Valt clean up," she told them.
Hikaru stood up, "We can help. It's the best we could do for you inviting us over."
"It's alright. You guys are guests." Valt waved them off. "Oh, and Nika, you can join them. Me and Toko can handle this."
Hikaru watched as Delta pursed his lips. The green-haired boy wanted to make a comment but didn't say anything.
Nika let out a noise of confusion at her brother's words. "You sure? You're not pulling my leg right now?"
Valt chuckled. "Of course."
There was a pause, then Nika beamed. "You asked for it."
She gestured the two boys upstairs into the room that she once shared with Toko, but was now hers after he moved into the guest room. Once they entered, the pink-haired girl set her school bag on her bed and pulled out a silver-plated tablet with a Beyblade symbol, the very same tablet she always used when recording data about Beyblades.
Nika let out a hum of satisfaction and looked up, to the two boys who were now crowded by her study table, their backs turned. "What are you guys doing?"
Her harsh tone made them jump as they turned towards her, raising their hands. One of Delta's was holding a couple of notebook papers that were scribbled and sketched over with bey-shaped designs.
"W-We're really sorry, it was just-"
"Did you make these?" Delta saved the lime-eyed boy from embarrassment, gesturing to the bunch of papers in his hand.
Nika let out a breath, relieved. "Yeah, I did." She might not be as dedicated as the others as a blader, but when the lightning beys came out a few months ago, she couldn't help herself.
She let out a laugh, plucking the papers from Delta's hand. "For a moment, I thought you were reading my diary or something."
"They're really good." Hikaru recovered, giving her a smile. "It's a lightning bey, isn't it?"
Nika nodded. "I had a feeling I was doing it wrong. The only data I know about them was from the beys used in the Legend Festival."
"Valt can help you," Delta supplied. "Gwyn and Dante evolved Valtryek into the first lightning bey. He could've led you to them."
Hikaru gasped. "They did?"
Nika pursed her lips. "Yeah, but I wanna do this on my own. Without their help."
The raw emotion in her voice made them stop.
Nika's words were just like his brother's, who had refused Hikaru's help when he was about to face Valt in the semi-finals. While Hyuga eventually accepted it, it felt like the redhead did it out of pity. On Delta's side, Nika reminded him of himself, perceiving the act of accepting help from others a sign of weakness.
The Devolos blader had pushed everyone away from him. He was used to people leaving his side, after all. While some were persistent, they eventually left him alone.
All but one.
Knowing the pink-haired girl though, Delta guessed that she'd gotten used to doing things with other people and she wanted to change it.
Nika slot the tablet onto a wireless keyboard, the screen showing a paused video of a white smiley face against a pitch black background. The papers were gone. She had put them away while the two took off their jackets to be more comfortable.
Lying on her stomach, she placed the gadget in front of her. "What episode did you watch last time, Hikaru?"
The said boy sat on her bed, reaching out a hand to scroll over the screen while Delta made his way to the other side and sat there.
Hikaru let out a hum. "Not sure, but it was around when Techno was planning to escape Pandora's Vault."
The faint sound of a doorbell rang. Delta, being the closest to the window, stood up and looked over.
"It's Cap'n."
The front door swung open, courtesy of Valt. "Ah, Cap'n! I take it that you're here for Aiger?" He stepped to the side, making way for the tall blonde.
"Yep. Heard he was here so I just had to come," Ranjiro said, removing his shoes. As soon as he entered, the door clicked shut.
"Delta! C'mon, it's starting," Nika called. He averted his eyes from the window and sat back down.
The marathon moved on without a hitch. Next thing they knew they were bouncing off theories and analyzations of the show to each other, Delta even more so than the both of them. Hikaru refuted the moment the green-haired boy said he was a Wilbur apologist. His main guy Tommy might be the psycho's brother, but that didn't excuse him from his wrongdoings.
"Guys, this video isn't gonna watch itself you know, save the debate later." Nika was curious regarding their opinions, but she interrupted them in favor of the time. She didn't know if they would be able to do this again, so might as well make the most out of it. "Besides, I wanna see Bad's cameo."
They continue on with the fourth season, hearts racing the moment Dream, the main villain, had gotten out of Pandora's Vault with the resident anarchist's help, Technoblade. As soon as Ranboo was taken hostage by the prison's warden, Sam, and another guard, BadBoyHalo (to which Nika cheered), they waited with baited breaths.
Then Ranboo lost his last life and chaos broke.
Hikaru was screaming, tugging at his hair. The timid half-enderman was one of his favorite characters, after all, if not the most. "He had totems! What the hell was that?"
"Plot armor," Delta responded, voice a bit louder to reach Hikaru's ears, what with Nika between them laughing her head off. Call her heartless for not caring on any of the characters. These two were much more entertaining.
Day turned into night. It was already nearing nine PM when the three fifteen-year olds get to the most suspense-filled confrontation in the season - Tommy and Dream's encounter in Logshedstire.
Predator and prey. Abuser and abused. Hero and villain. Even Nika was wide-eyed the moment Dream appeared with the Axe of Peace in his hands.
"Welcome back!"
"Holy shit."
The three could feel the adrenaline pumping through the blonde hero's veins as he confronted the server's admin, stuttering in his words. But then he retaliated, voice firm and loud. Hikaru swelled with pride. As much as Tommy could get... overbearing, he was determined, like a true hero. He's like Hyuga in a way.
Even with a mask on, Dream was visibly mad. He started chasing Tommy around Logshedstire, swinging the Axe of Peace, taunting.
Then something happened.
As the axe's blade reached towards Tommy's back, the screen glitched. The two characters were unmoving, as if time froze and the only evidence of it was the constant onslaught of pixels and colors on Nika's tablet. It spread across the screen in such wide range it obscured the video.
Nika groaned, sitting up. "This again?" She reached out and paused the video. For now.
"Is it broken?" Hikaru asked, to which Nika shook her head. "It's part of the video. Even if the animators never included it, it still happens. Must be a glitch in their software."
"I don't know," Delta said. "The glitches were included in the manga too. Even if the production didn't, it somehow slipped its way through. What makes it eerie is that it happened during the exact same scenes as it did in the manga."
"What?" Hikaru breathed out.
"That's creepy as hell. Why would Siren include it in the manga anyways?" Nika spat. The glitches were bothersome as fuck, okay?
Delta shrugged. "They asked them once. He said it was for aesthetics and didn't elaborate further."
"I didn't know about the glitches at all," Hikaru shared with a look of concern. "I watched the earlier episodes from another website and they probably cut that..."
His face went blank, eyes darting towards the door. Nika noticed his abrupt silence and was about to ask when he continued.
"Still can't believe Dream's imprisonment was staged, though." Hikaru sat up, making way for Nika as he pointed a finger towards the door. She just looked at him confused as he continued further. "Punz really was all about the money, huh?"
"He's a mercenary. They're all about finishing a job in exchange of cash, without being influenced by bias," Delta quipped, catching up on what Hikaru was doing. Making eye contact with Nika he cocked his head, gesturing towards the door.
The pink-haired girl's mouth went agape and whipped her head towards it.
Someone's eavesdropping.
.
.
Word count: 1555 words