The information about Shu staying behind for the award ceremony was celebrated among the BC Sol, especially Valt who swung their hands in between them grinning ear to ear. "That's so great, Shu!" He said for the hundredth time as Shu gently tried to pry away his hands from the assault. Sure, his shoulder was almost healed, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Okay, okay," He chuckled.

"Who changed your mind?" Rickson asked, raising his brow. Shu pressed his lips together, shrugging. Free was not present in the gym that morning when he finally decided to break the news and he was glad. He knew he was catching feelings for the blonde and the last thing he wanted was a face to face confrontation after their conversation.

Sasha cleared her throat loud, holding a clipboard in his hand just when Free arrived, yawning to his hand. "Why did you ask me to come?" The blonde asked from Sasha, not spotting Shu standing in the corner, as the others gathered around her.

"Raul asked me to tell you guys we're starting training again." She waved the clipboard smugly, "And I am the supervisor."

"Bad choice," Silas grumbled.

Sasha's smug smile widened as Shu watched her guide them through stretching and Free sprawled across the floor, doing half hearted dips. Sasha clicked her tongue, "Free! Be serious about this, please."

Free sighed, "I do plenty of warm up on my own."

One the side, Valt was enthusiastically running over the windmill while Honcho started lifting weights. Shu hovered in the corner of the room before deciding it's high time he faded into the background when Sasha called him. "Shu, come over here." Shu frowned, he was not in this supposedly training regiment, was he?

Shu walked over, the heating system inside the gym didn't allow any of them heavy clothes. That was the only reason Shu was in a white t and blue jeans. "Uh.. Yes?"

"Get on his back," Sasha said, pointing at Free who was falling asleep on the carpeted floor of the gym.

Shu blinked, "Pardon?"

"You're helping around. Get on." Sasha grinned devilishly at Free tapping at her clipboard. "If you can't do it the easy way, we're going on the hard way."

"You're brutal," Kitt announced. He and Honey were playing with the tablet.

Free wasn't phased. He smiled, "You know, I'd be far more motivated if he was lying under me while I do dips."

Shu flushed, "Excuse me?" He spluttered.

Honcho sighed, "It's too early for this shit."

Before Shu had to surrender for Sasha's threats a high pitched young voice interrupted enthusiastically as a tiny copy of Kristian walked in. Bright sapphire eyes wide on his face with a glamorous smile painting his little face. The child looked no more than five. He put both his hands in the air and ran towards Free who was on the floor. "Free! Surprise!"

Free groaned as he jumped on his back and leaned down to hug his neck. "Get up, get up, get up." Free turned around, making the kid fall to the floor with a thud. The young one chuckled, pulling on his arms.

"Who's that?" Honcho asked, dropping the weights.

"Kristian?" Valt screamed. "What happened to him? Why's he so tiny?"

"It's...Kane." Sasha frowned, "Kristian's younger brother. I didn't know you were coming."

"Neither did I." A very unenthusiastic Kristian walked in, raking his fingers through his morning hair. He looked every bit of the tired older brother.

"It's a surprise," Kane explained, now occupied on grabbing Rickson's leg as the latter patted his messy magenta locks. "Are you guys surprised?"

"Well," Kitt grinned, "You can say we are pleasantly surprised."

He looked around, surveying the room as his gaze topped upon Valt then Silas finally at Shu with whom he looked quite shy. He looked at Sasha with widened eyes. "You guys got lots of famous people in here!"

Free sat down, "Miss the old days when I was the only celebrity?"

Kane smiled, jumping to his arms. "You're still my favourite, close to it, at least."

Sasha huffed out a laugh, "Who stole the spotlight away from Free?"

Kane averted his eyes to the ground, suddenly timid as he played with Free's yellow sleeveless shirt. Kristian yawned to his hand, "I'm going to go get breakfast," he said, waving at them. "Take care of him." He walked out of the room. Sasha's question still hung in the air.

"Let's phrase it differently," All the training was forgotten as she crouched in front of Kane, "Who's your favourite blader?"

"Oh no, she went there," Silas said as Kane looked up at Free and then had a quick glance at Shu. The albino was tuning out of the conversation because he knew he's not usually in the top of kids' favourite blader lists, especially after the Red Eye incident anyway.

"It's Red Eye," Kane whispered.

Free hummed thoughtfully behind him, "Interesting."

"Red Eye?" Kitt asked, glancing at Shu. When the name was mentioned casually in a conversation Shu would stiffen, his face freezing as he quietly excuses himself from the situation. But Shu kept standing there, blinking as Valt nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! Shu is awesome."

Kane, glad he had a fellow fan joined in eagerly. "Yes! His moves are so amazing. He goes whoosh this side and that side then poof, opponent defeated. You were awesome in the tournament!" He cheered, finally turning to Shu.

Free gave him an amused smile, resting his chin on his palm. "I'm not even mad that I've been replaced."

"Can I get your autograph?"

Shu chuckled nervously. Was this kid traumatised? "His name is Shu though," Honcho chimed in. "He prefers that over the other one."

Kane looked utterly confused. "Shoe? But that's footwear!"

Shu flushed deep crimson. "No. It's S-H-U." He shrunk to himself as several of them sniggered.

"Oh!" Kane nodded, enthusiastically. "Shu!"

"Uh huh," He looked to Valt for help, he always relied on him for social cues and interactions and this was beyond him. He was used to fans, but he wasn't sure what to do when a kid flat out stated his favourite blader was him.

Sasha clapped her hands loudly, "Okay, chitchat, surprises over, back to training."

"Can I join too?" Kane asked, grabbing Shu's hand.

"I'm not exactly training-" Shu started.

"You're babysitting," Sasha said with a friendly grin leaving a very gleeful Kane behind with him. Free grumbled something under his breath as he walked out. Sasha just sighed and continued with the others as Kane dragged him out of the gym along the corridors. The day was not cold like the previous week. The sun was out and the snow was melting on the BC Sol grounds. Shu stared at the glistening snow distractedly as Kane took him around BC Sol. He was enthusiastic to introduce him to every tree, every pillar and every piece of furniture. But thanks to him, Shu did visit several places he'd never got around to check out.

By noon, Shu was pleasantly exhausted and had made a new best friend who had the potential to replace Valt. Kane was a ray of sunshine, a total contrast from his grumpy brother and this chemistry of the two siblings reminded him of Lui and his sisters. Kane and he were sitting in the outside stadium, bathing in the soft sun rays as the former pulled out his beyblade. "Oh," Shu said, "That looks powerful."

Kane grinned, "Does it!? It's a balance type, just like yours! I'm still practising, one day I'll challenge you to a battle."

Shu reached out and ruffled his hair, "I'd be waiting for that one."

"Look who's bonding," Kristian walked up to them, his arms folded behind his head as he sat beside Kane. "Are you having fun?"

Kane nodded, turning Requiem in his hand, Shu had given it to him a moment ago before he pulled out his own bey. "This looks insane," He said , tripping over the word. "Doesn't it Kris?"

Kristian shrugged, "Doesn't look special to me," he glanced at Shu. "No offence."

Shu nodded, "None taken."

Kane huffed out loudly, taking full offence on Shu's behalf. "But this is so cool! It is insanely powerful."

"Stop saying insane."

Kane started muttering the word under his breath to piss Kristian off. Shu watched them, amused as Kristian spoke. "By the way, Shu-" He stopped, his eyes stopping over Free talking with Kristina in the distance. The blonde's shoulder sagged as Kristian explained something. He then looked over to where they sat. Despite Kristina's words, he walked over to Shu.

"You owe me a date," He flat-out stated.

Shu looked behind him, "Kristina is talking to you."

He crouched in front of him so that they were eye level," You owe me a date."

Kristian sighed, "You can't avoid him forever, Free." He watched Kristina crossing the garden to him.

"Free..." She started as he took Shu's wrist.

"We have something to do, I'm sorry."

"Free. You have to meet him. He's staying a couple of days. You can't just leave."

His face hardened. Shu saw a rare flare of anger rising up along his brows. "Oh, yes I can. Watch me."

Kane looked between them, "Are you guys going out? I want to go to the snow arcade!"

Free swivelled to him, "Good idea. Let's go."

"Wait, Free. I can't go out dressed like this." Shu gestured at him, wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans. The temperature might be fine now, but he knew it would get colder in the evening.

"You're fine," He said, gesturing to Kane. "Let's go, kid."

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay behind today Kane."

Kane pouted, "Why?" Kristian just took his hand with a stern look. The younger one huffed.

Kristian and Kristina shared a look as Free dragged him out of the BC Sol gates to the open road. They started walking along the path as Shu rubbed his elbows, repeating the conversation in his head. Who's coming? Why is Free avoiding him? Shu rolled the idea over his head, should he ask him? But it didn't feel fair. Free had been helping him through everything without a single question asked, or at least forced. He'd asked later, maybe now what he wanted was peace and distractions.

"Why's it called the snow arcade?" Shu asked.

Free didn't answer. "Because the whole place is pure white," Free answered after a beat. "Also, at this time of the year, they hold snow sculpting competitions. We might be able to see one."

"That's nice."

They waited by the main road and got on a bus. It was almost empty save for a few passengers, deeply engulfed in their own worlds that they barely noticed them. Free led them to one of the empty seats. Shu sat beside the window as Free sat beside him, still deep in thought. The tension was awkward, it seemed their usual flow of conversation was broken because Free is the one who usually initiates the conversation. "Are you-"

"Let's not talk about it," Free interrupted. "I don't want to talk about it." He leaned back, throwing one of his arms around the back of the seat. Shu felt his bicep grazing the back of his head. "Let's talk about something else."

"Like?"

"Like how everyone's coming by next week and it's going to be so crowded in BC Sol."

Shu dreaded it. One of the reasons he wanted to leave early was because he was reluctant to face all the negative attention. He didn't want to answer Xander's questions. He hadn't talked to him in months. He didn't want to answer any of his friends back home, all the unasked questions were already suffocating him. "Yeah," He muttered. "I guess."

Free glanced at him, "Don't you like it?"

"I'm not a people person, if you haven't noticed."

"Oh, I'm well aware."

Shu smiled, "Let's not talk about that either. How I'm going to have to socialise starting next week."

"Noted. Let's just talk about how we should get down by the next stop."

Shu raised his brow and looked out of the window. They had entered the snowy town. The rooftops were still blanketed with snow, but the people were out, bustling about in shops, teenager window shopping as kids crowded around the occasional street food stalls. They stepped down to the warm air and started walking along a well paved path, passing brick buildings with pyramidal turrets. Some of them had gable roofs with clear glass windows and balconies where couples sat, drinking afternoon tea. Potted plants decorated each railing with flowers tumbling down the pots. He tilted his head, it didn't seem like winter at all. It looked as if he stepped into the city on a summer afternoon.

Shu blinked back from his stupor when two teenage girls screamed Free's name. They started talking in Spanish as Shu watched. Their faces animated with excitement, arms flailing around to find their cellphones, probably for a selfie, Shu thought, occupying himself by staring around. Free awkwardly smiled for a selfie, and waved them away. "You're famous," Shu nudged him.

"They knew you too," Free said, guiding him to the huge entrance of the arcade. "But they weren't fans."

Shu smiled, "Most of them aren't."

"Good," Free took his hand, "I don't have to share you."

Shu flushed as they walked in, their hands intervened. They stopped by the ticket counter as Free pulled out his wallet from the denim jacket he was wearing. The receptionist grinned, "We have a couple discount," She chirped. "Should I add it to your ticket?"

Free looked at their intervened hands that probably gave her the misconception. He smiled warmly at Shu. "Of course. It's our date today."

She looked delighted handing over the tickets. "Have fun, lovebirds."

Shu was oblivious to the whole conversation. He frowned watching the foreign language pass out between the two people and was baffled when the receptionist winked at him. "What did she say?"

"Nothing," Free said, walking them towards the game stalls in the front.

Shu didn't believe him. But he was too entranced with the arcade to pose anymore questions. True to Free's words, the whole place was pure white, not blinding, but different shades of whites only coloured by the merchandise and the food in various shops. They walked along the path, littered with couples and families. "Tell me," Free said, his eyes searching each stall. "Do you know how to shoot?"

"At myself?" Shu joked, "I wish."

"No, I mean that," Free said, "Your humour is pretty dark."

Shu followed his line of vision to a small game stall with a shooting game. The prices for hitting the target surrounded it in colour. They walked over to it and paid the man. He handed them a black toy rifle endorned with so much detail that if it wasn't for its weight, Free would've thought it was real. He handed it over to Shu who took his stance, one eye closed. The tip of his tongue visible from his parted lips. Despite his Hollywood movie stance, he missed the first two shots. He huffed, looking over to Free. "I'm not good at all."

"Your hand shakes when you shoot," Free said, standing behind Shu. He took Shu's arms and steadied them, his face right beside Shus'. He glanced at the albino, eyes concentrated on the target, cheeks rose from the slightly chilled wind. He smiled, "Now shoot."

Shu did, and Free steadied his arms while he did as the bullet hit the target. Shu cheered, abruptly turning. Free blinked as his face knocked against his own, their foreheads clashing against each other. Shu winced, "Ow ow ow."

"I saw all the constellations just now," Free announced, rubbing the sore spot over his face. Shu rubbed his knuckle over his white skin. "You alright?"

"Went to heaven for a second there," Shu chuckled, turning back to the stall. Free stared at the back of his head as Shu pointed at two matching bracelets hanging by a hook to the left of the stall. The man grinned at him, uttering a common Spanish congratulation as he handed over Shu's desired gift. The albino looked over his shoulder for guidance. But Free was staring, mesmerised at his flushed cheeks, locks of hair escaping his ponytail. "Earth to, Free!"

Free snapped out of his trance, "Yeah?"

"Which one do you want?" He was holding up two bracelets in different shades of grey. He picked the darker one and slipped it into his wrist. Shu did the same and held out his hands. "Ah, this is gorgeous."

Free turned his hand and wondered what was gorgeous about it. It was a simple bead bracelet in grey. "I guess?" He said, starting to walk when Shu shouted gracias to the stall owner who tipped his hat with a smile. Free stuffed his hands deep into his jean pockets. "Since when did you start speaking Spanish?"

"A little," Shu said, still inspecting the bracelet. "This is my first ever date by the way, is it yours?"

Free shrugged, "I've come on dates twice with a girl. She said I was too boring for her."

Shu tore his gaze away from the beads to him. "Ouch. For the record, you're not that boring." Free nudged him.

"Oh, shut up."

They walked in silence for a minute. "Let's talk about something," Free suggested following a line of people towards a massive enclosed space in the middle of the arcade.

"About what?" Shu asked, playing along.

Free shrugged as they entered the white building. Shu shivered, wrapping his arms around himself as he stared at the sculptures in the dimmed light inside, glistening in all their glamour. "Wow," He breathed, rubbing the goosebumps off his arms. "This is huge."

Free tilted his head towards the start of the line. They started from the first sculpture of an angel folding onto himself, wings bursting from the back of his tattered cloth. "When I was seven," Shu started, his eyes never leaving the sculptures as they passed the angels and reached another. "I went to an event like this. It was majestic, held in Tokyo. It was supposed to be a treat, actually."

"A treat?" Free asked, inspecting the life sized sculpture of a tiger.

"Yeah," Shu snorted, "Do you want a picture with that?"

Free shook his head, "No. I just find tigers fascinating. What kind of treat was it?"

"I won that year's Olympiad. That's why." They passed the sculpt of a couple kissing under an umbrella, a replica of the eiffel tower behind them. "And right in the middle there was this massive sculpture of a mermaid," He said, opening his arms to indicate the sheer size of it. "They said a group of sculptors made it. It was simply perfection. Her eyes looked almost real to me though it was mostly like looking through distorted glass. I wanted a picture with it. I mean everyone was taking one."

Free tilted his head, urging him to continue. "It was silly, but my parents didn't want me to take one with it. Said it would do me no good taking pictures with mythical creatures. But I did take a picture with one of the sculptures."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it was Einstein I think," He chuckled, "My mom loved it."

Free blinked at him, "Wow."

Shu gave him half-a-smile. "It feels silly now that I think about it."

Free's eyes darted around the area but he didn't find a single one of a mermaid. He sighed, "Well, we don't have any mermaids here."

"Your turn," He said, ignoring him. "Tell me about something."

"I did so many exciting things with my parents, like we went watching tortoises on the beaches in the islands where we stayed. Their eggs look like tennis balls by the way."

Shu nudged at him, "Your life seemed so much less boring than mine."

"Up To a point," Free shrugged. They went through the sculptures talking about their childhoods. How Free had once almost became a prey to one of the Wild Elephants and how they survived one of the storms and was almost capsized. His life was exciting, brimming with adventures of his enthusiastic parents that Shu wondered why always bad things happened to good people. Free urged him to speak more of his memories and comparing to Free they were pretty bland. Like that one time he scraped his knee so badly he had to get stitches on it, he told Free how Valt was crying as if he was on his deathbed. How once in their field trip, the teacher forgot him in the resting stop because apparently he blended to the background well.

"Do you blend into the background?" Free asked, frowning. "Your features just make you stand out in a crowd."

"They do?" They had walked out of the building and were making their way to the Ferris Wheel.

Free nodded, "Pretty much. Red Eyes, white hair?"

Before Shu could answer they were ushered into one of the cabins. There was no line and the man beside it seemed eager to get it filled. Shu sat across from Free and peered out of the window at the arcade and the snow topped roofs in the city. "Let's play a game," Free suggested, drawing his attention. Shu crossed his legs and pressed his palms on the long seat.

"What game?"

"The confessions inside the cabin stay in the cabin. How about that? I'll go first."

Shu raised his brow, amused. "Go ahead."

"Confession," He started, leaning back and avoiding his gaze and looking out the cabin. "I'm still guilty about the way I left you back in the Raging Bulls. If I could go back, I would actually talk to you. I was an ass."

Shu blinked, taken aback about to console him when Free said. "Your turn."

"Confession?" He started unsure. "I..." He hesitated. "I didn't want to stay for the award ceremony because..." He paused. "Because I didn't want to face anyone." He looked out the window, feeling Free's gaze on him. The sun was still glistening in the sky, but dark clouds were creeping in, crowding the blue sky. "I don't want to face Xander or anyone else. I don't want to feel their hatred anymore," He huffed out a laugh. "The internet is doing it plenty."

Free didn't move as he leaned his head against the window and said, "Confession. The one who's coming is my grandfather. Kristina's and my mother's father." His eyes were distant when he said. "He hates me. He hated my father, their profession and when they died from an accident, well all he could hate was the child they left behind I guess."

Shu looked down at his shoes, they were coming down. He tightened his grip on the seat. "Confession," He murmured. "I'm so lonely," He said, his voice cracking as he finally voiced the thoughts that had been lingering in the back of my mind. "I'm so damn lonely."

For a long minute, neither said a word until Free stood and walked over to Shu's seat, sitting beside him. "Confession," He gave him a sad smile. "I could use a hug."

Shu opened his arms, not letting the moment break as Free leaned forward to his embrace, tucking his chin on the crook of his neck. Shu tangled his fingers through his blonde locks, whispering. "I'm sorry you have to go through all that with your grandfather. You deserve better."

Free tightened his hands around Shu. Shu could see Free's warm breath against his neck, his hands tight around his waist when the cabin came to a stop. They parted as the door opened, the man ushering him out. Shu stood and walked towards the door, before he stepped out he tossed a look over his shoulder with a smile. "Confession," He grinned. "You make it better. I'm not as lonely as I used to be." He stepped out of the cabin shooting a smile at the man who seemed oblivious. Free watched him, dumbstruck. The sunrays catching his hair and glowing his eyes like a rose with a sprinkle of dew.

Confession, he thought. I could kiss you right now.