[Original] New Beginnings: Chapter Fourteen

[sunrises]

O-oh man. I'm so bad about my supposed hiatus, aren't I? DX In any case, I'll be fully back in two weeks once Ramadan's over (but I'll still be sorta inactive because school's a hassle with AP classes and a social life and all that good jazz), so look forward to even more good stuff? In any case, New Beginnings is getting a re-vamp in terms of storyline, so it should be somewhat... I don't know, maturer than it has been in the past? So look forward to it!

Title: Chapter Fourteen - Our Dinner Together
Summary: We met up at Sutori, but it felt weird. All that vibrant energy, all the people... it was gone. We were the only ones there.
Claimer: Nearly everything in this chapter is again mine. The only thing that doesn't belong to me is the idea of a beyblade, which belongs to Takao Aoki and whatever companies own Beyblade.

Under normal circumstances, this dinner would've been like any other the Star Six had shared over the past nine months. But since they had walked into an empty restaurant with only a drunkard and Kaijou for company... it was starting to feel awkward.

They tried to make it feel right, they really did! But how can you make the situation right in a restaurant normally teeming with customers and vibrant energy? Dai slumped in his seat, staring more intently at the menu than normal.

Shawn cleared his throat. "So, uh... you guys have any idea what happened?"

He was met with four shrugs. Glancing over at Dai, Shawn motioned for Minoru to poke him. Minoru gleefully accepted; Dai jumped in surprise.

"W-what?"

Minoru snickered. "Jeez. You're so out of it, Daisuke-san."

Daisuke sighed, setting the menu down. "I know, but... I don't really want to talk about it. We got interrupted before I could get a decent explanation out of Kai."

"Makes me wonder what happened," Kyr put a hand under his chin. "I mean, did you see those monsters on our way over? It was like a field day."

"Yeah," Ari chimed in. "It was bizarre, especially since monsters don't attack us that often. We've tried to live in harmony with them whenever we could, you know?"

Kaijou waltzed over at that moment, resting a hand on the table. "You mean, the monsters actually attacked of their own free will?"

"The adults aren't sure about that," Minoru admitted, making a face. "But the attacks were definitely uncharacteristic of monsters, if my textbook's correct."

"It is," Dai and Kaijou confirmed at the same time. There was a sudden, uneasy silence before anyone else dared to break the tension.

"I mean," Kaijou began, avoiding all eye contact with his friend, "Monsters are magical beings just like demons, elves, and the like. We've been trying to live in harmony with them for the past hundred years, but there's occasional clashes."

"Those occasional clashes tend to be every ten years or so," Kyr added. "So it's really weird to have all of these monsters loose within the town. It's... kinda like someone was controlling them, for lack of a better phrase."

"But the question then, is who," Shawn muttered. "Who'd want to wreck havoc on us?"

"There's been rumors," Kaijou admitted. "And I think that drunk guy knew more than he would tell me. At least, he didn't get enough time to tell me. I think he wanted to give me a whole monologue on how Sutori'd be destroyed."

Kyr chuckled. "Someone's been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons."

Kaijou couldn't help cracking a grin. "You do have to remember that he had alcohol. He might have not been sane."

"Alcohol?" Minoru stared at his friends. "What does that have to do with anything?"

They stared back at him.

"You haven't had--"

"No way! Minoru-san, I would've never guessed---"

"I'm so sorry, I thought you knew--"

Voices struggled against each other, trying to overpower each other and ultimately win the conversation. Minoru tilted his head to the side, watching (and wincing!) as each of his friends tried to be the center of the conversation.

"One at a time," He groaned. "Just tell me, okay?"

All eyes went to Kaijou. Nodding, Kaijou now put his notepad into his apron pocket. "Alcohol has a negative effect on magic. I'm not sure how you managed to go through a whole school year without learning this, but different races react differently to alcohol. You know how most humans become severally impaired when alcohol goes through their bloodstream, right? It's much, much worse for human mages."

Pausing, he ran his hand through his hair. "When a mage drinks alcohol, no matter the amount, their magic is lost for the next twenty four hours. There's some scientific mumbo jumbo about it, but that's for another time. Uh, let's see... demons and vampires - but they're pretty much stamped out - can drink alcohol with no consequences, while angels and other holy beings can be on the edge of death if they even have one sip of non-blessed alcohol."

Minoru blinked. "You mean... we lose our magic, and angels can die from alcohol?"

"Pretty much," Kaijou nodded. "We just avoid it whenever possible. Now and then there's the occasional mage who forgets and orders alcohol anyways, but it's pretty rare here. Most mages don't like to be on guard."

"I see," Minoru muttered. "No wonder I never see people having beer or wine around these parts. It could kill them."

"Exactly," Kyr said with a slight smile. "They think I have angel blood in me, so I've been straying away from alcohol as much as possible."

"And how about you, Kaijou?" Shawn interrupted, staring back at the bartender. "Can you have alcohol?"

"I'm a demon," Kaijou admitted. "So yeah. I can have wine without a problem."

Shawn and Minoru exchanged glances.

"You're a demon?" Minoru stared. "You look more like some Goth wannabe than an actual demon."

"Seriously," Shawn chorused. "I would've never guessed."

Kaijou clutched his fists tightly. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Hikari giggled, putting her hand to her mouth. Smiling at the three, she called, "Please don't upset Kaijou-san too much. His true form isn't too pretty to look at."

Kaijou slyly looked down at her. "Hm? Does that mean that I should change?"

"No way," Daisuke immediately blurted out.

The entire cafe (minus the drunkard, who'd left a while back) stared back at him. Daisuke slumped even further into his seat, blowing his crimson red bangs out of his face. "Wh-what?"

"Nothing," Kaijou blinked. "You know, if you like Hikari, you should just say so."

"Mm?" Hikari quizzically looked over at him. "Daisuke-san? Is that the truth?"

Daisuke didn't reply, choosing that moment to stare at his cell phone. Ari immediately cracked a grin and snorted. "Figures," She said. "Boys are the last people to admit their feelings about anything."

She immediately got five ruffled "HEY"'s and Hikari's muffled giggling. Satisfied, she returned to her menu. "Kagemori-san? Could you please come back soon? We haven't gotten a chance to look over our dinner."

"And put on the radio," Shawn added.

Kaijou chuckled, nodding as he headed to the back of the restaurant. True to his word, the soft song from the radio floated among the empty tabletops. Ari closed her eyes, squeezing Kyr's hand as she softly hummed along to the melody.

"You know," She softly said, "You can never hear the radio when everyone's in here. It's so noisy most of the time."

Kyr nodded, squeezing her hand too. Staring at the menu with his free hand, he looked up at Shawn on the other side. "You doing all right?"

Shawn pointed a finger at himself. "You mean me?"

"Yeah."

"I'm fine, yerf," The redhead insisted, tilting his head to the side. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Kyr replied. "You just... reminded me of someone I know."

Shawn made a face as he put the menu in front of him. "That person had better not be gross."

"Definitely not," Kyr laughed, setting the menu down in the middle of the table. "He's a pretty cool person, I promise."

"Good," Shawn cheerfully replied. "So, uh, Kyr? What've you been doing this past week?"

Kyr looked thoughtful as he tapped his fingers against the table. In the rhythm of his fingers, he said, "Not much, really. I guess I start working at my dad's work in a couple of days, but it's nothing big. How 'bout you?"

"My mom owns a flower shop," Shawn explained, "So I'll probably be helping out and doing odd jobs with them every now and then. How 'bout the rest of you guys? Daisuke? Minoru? Hikari? Shikari?"

Daisuke smiled. "I've been enjoying my time off. Mostly lazy days just lounging around the house."

"Lucky," Ari quipped. "I've been stuck with my cousin as a babysitter. He's a fun guy, but I've been dying to actually get out of the house and do something."

Hikari laughed. "I bet you will, Shikari-san. I mean, aren't you doing something by being out with us?"

Ari's smile instantly widened. "Oh yeah! It's just that being with you guys seems so natural that I can't think of it as anything more."

Daisuke and Minoru exchanged glances.

"Heh," Daisuke laughed. Minoru rolled his eyes, but put out a green spinning top on the table.

"This is what I've been doing," He said with a contagious grin. "You know that I'm a part of the Revivals, right? We've started off-season training, and it feels really weird since there's no international tournament this year. Just a minor regional one."

"Oh yeah," Kyr said, staring down at the spinning top. "I forgot you were a beyblading world champion. I'm not sure why. Maybe because you never talked about it that much."

"I couldn't forget," Shawn breathlessly said, his eyes never leaving the beyblade. "... Not after seeing Genbu and Seiryuu."

Hikari put her hands under her chin. "Genbu? Seiryuu?"

Minoru nodded. "Yeah. They're kinda like the beyblading world's equal of summon spirits or familiars. Mine's Genbu, while my friend Takeshi has Seiryuu."

"I see," She replied. "Sounds pretty cool."

Kaijou then came back at that moment, holding out a notepad and pen. "You guys finally ready to order?"

"Yeah," Daisuke answered, putting down the orders for the entire table. Almost as if he had forgotten, he then added, "Oh yeah. Put it all down for one check, okay?"

"Daisuke-san! Don't you even think--"

"Are you sure, Dai? I can pay for it---"

"Dude? Really?"

"This is a little over the top, you know--"

"Guys, guys," Daisuke immediately shut them up with a piercing whistle. His face flushing, he said, "Sorry. But seriously, this is a chance for us to have a night of fun, right? I don't want to screw it up with fights over the check. And besides, I've got enough money. It's not like this place is Le Poisson."

Five people looked embarrassed. Hikari clasped her hands together, not daring to look up at her friends; Kyr looked up at the ceiling. Shawn immediately stared at his open cell phone, and Minoru pretended to be as equally interested. Kaijou immediately seized the chance to leave, despite the awkwardness of it all. He waved nonchalantly at Dai as he headed to the back of the restaurant, as if to say, "Dude, this is your problem, so deal with it."

It was Ari who finally broke the silence and replied for them all, "Thank you. We... we appreciate it, Daisuke-san."

"You're welcome," He said. "So, what do you think about paying for next week?"

She glared at him. "Leader of our group say what?"

He laughed. "Come on, Ari! It'd be more fun if we met weekly like this, right? So don't tell me that you want us to drift apart so easily. Especially since Shawn's going back to Esori next year and all."

Shawn scratched his cheek nervously. "Y-yerf. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Hikari gently whispered. To Dai and the others, she said, "That sounds lovely. How about shopping trips too? It'll be more fun if we do more things together."

"I agree---" Kyr began.

And then it was Kaijou who came back with the drinks. Instead of being the cool, composed demon he normally was... he seemed somewhat frazzled. Handing Ari a glass of milk (she thought she'd ordered milk), he muttered, "He's gone."

Dai stared. "What."

Kaijou nodded, setting down a Sprite (Dai could've sworn he ordered a Coke). "Yeah! I don't even know what his problem was! I wanted to check him with my parents, to see if he was actually a threat when he wasn't off his rocker, but he's nowhere to be found."

"I knew we should've put him somewhere safe," Dai muttered.

Kyr seized the chance to take his glass of water (that was the only drink order Kaijou had right). "Him? What on earth are you talking about?"

"This guy came in demanding alcohol," Kaijou explained, his head motioning to the loop of wires on the other side of the restaurant. "And I gave it to him. Of course, he must've had other drinks, because he then went on to explain that he - or the people he was with - wanted Sutori to fall tonight while the other mages were busy dealing with the monster attacks. Dai and I totally kicked his butt, but... he sorta kinda vanished."

Kyr frowned slightly. "... That was the guy that I saw earlier, right? What was his name?"

Kaijou began to shrug. As if something hit him, his eyes widened. "Oh! I remember! Nakamura Sabure. Why--"

He didn't even get a chance to ask. Kyr growled (woah, who knew he could do that?), slamming both hands on the table.

"You had Nakamura Sabure," He hissed. "And you let him go?"

Kaijou and Daisuke exchanged worried glances. Speaking for everyone, Kaijou nervously muttered, "Unfortunately. Who is he?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he played easy just to get in," Kyr sighed. "But Nakamura Sabure is a member of the Black Soul. I'd avoid him at all costs and get the police involved instead."

"The Black Soul," Ari questioned. "What's that?"

Kyr's face turned a pale shade of red as he stared into his water glass. "I'm... not really sure," He admitted. "But from what I remember, they're up to no good. I'd say they're like a cult for mages, only ten times worse. They've definitely got power."

Silence lingered in the room. The Black Soul... this was the first time Dai had ever heard of them. Granted, he was only a sheltered eighth grader, but still. You'd think that he would have heard them on the news or on the net. Maybe.

"Kyr," Shawn demanded, looking his friend squarely in the eyes, "Tell us. How do you know about them?"

"It's a long story," Kyr immediately replied. "And it should be saved for another time. But for now. Kaijou-san, could you please get people to watch out for him? He'll easily fall through the cracks if we don't get a-hold of him now."

Kaijou stared at him, nodding intently. "Of course! Will do!" He immediately ran - no, flew! - to the back, and everyone could hear rushed orders to search for "that crazy drunk man".

"I'm glad that you told us," Dai sighed with relief. "Otherwise we would've never given him a second thought."

"You're welcome," Kyr faintly smiled.

"Well," Minoru remarked, "I'm glad at least one good thing came out of this. But you know, I was kinda hoping for one more thing."

"Oh?" Ari grinned. "And what would that be?"

"My raspberry lemonade. Everyone else here got their drink but poor ol' me."

Everyone immediately burst into laughter. "Come on," Daisuke urged Minoru, climbing out of their booth towards the back of the restaurant. "Let's go get your precious raspberry lemonade."

Minoru grinned. "Sure thing!"

As they both left, they almost missed Shawn's groan as he cried out, "GUYS! They forgot my drink toooooo!"

Laughing, they turned back and held out their hands for him. "Shawn," They called. "Hurry up or you'll be late!"

"Coming," Shawn happily called out as he followed his friends and out towards the door.