I was numb with shock. Shu was going to America? I already knew what would happen once he did.
'You can't leave!' I said. 'When are you going?'
'This summer,' said Shu. 'I have been scouted for the Raging Bulls. I was going to tell you earlier, but I forgot.'
'No, you can't leave!' I said again. 'Don't go, please.'
'Whoa there,' said Shu. 'You're acting like I am joining the army. I didn't know that you were this attached to me.'
I wanted to tell him about the Snake Pit, the International Blader's Cup, everything! But how would I explain all this without frightening him?
'Have you told anyone else yet?' I asked.
'I have told Valt earlier, but no one else,' said Shu.
'I... I will miss you,' I said.
'I'll miss you too,' said Shu. 'But I feel that this is something I have to do. But we still have two months before I go. We can just make the most of the time we have left.'
I knew that there was nothing I could do to change his mind. But I was scared. Scared that he might turn into Red Eye. Scared that he would lose himself. Scared that he would get emotionally scarred for life.
'You have to promise me something,' I said.
Shu looked scared. 'What's that?' he asked.
'You have to call me every night,' I said. 'I have to know that you are safe.'
'Oh,' said Shu. 'Okay, I can do that.'
I took a deep breath. As long as Shu called me, I would know at least that he was safe.
~🌹~🌹~🌹~🌹~🌹~🌹~🌹~🌹~🌹~🌹~
The next month passed in a blur. The whole Beyclub now knew that Shu would be going off to America. Shu even asked me what the US was like (I had forgotten that Rose grew up there).
I had to use what I knew from TV (which isn't the most reliable source of information). 'Well, just be careful. Apparently you can get kidnapped easily. For some reason American schools have gross lunches and people separate themselves in cliques. Or maybe that's just high school. Just avoid the mean kids and you should be fine.'
Valt suggested that Shu watch a bunch of movies with American settings. But as I had said, TV isn't very reliable. We watched Mean Girls, Hairspray, Clueless, and all three High School Musical movies.
I must admit, those movies were actually pretty good. Rantaro suggested Mean Girls 2, but I told him that it's not a proper Mean Girls sequel. Sure enough, the movie was switched off after five minutes, for everyone quickly agreed with me.
I think that my favourite was the first High School Musical movie. I had watched it since I was little. I had memorized all the songs by heart at a young age.
Valt was worried about Shu possibly getting bullied in America. Shu assured him that he wouldn't let bullies walk all over him.
Now that I think about it, I have absolutely zero idea how it was like for Shu in the Raging Bulls. Apart from a few scenes, I don't know how Shu coped being far away from his friends.