A couple more days passed since the phantom thieves turned themselves in. Since rehabilitation took some time, Zac and Auguste had to wait for the outcome of their decision. Zac, in the meantime, was having a stroll with his friends Orochi, Akira, and the rest of his crew, the Super Stars. Each of them had a cone of ice cream and a smile.

"Thanks for taking us out for ice cream, Zac!" one of the crewmates beamed.

"No problem, Mick!" Zac replied joyfully. "I told you we would all have a hang out together."

"Strange," Akira thought out loud after taking a lick of his mint chocolate chip dessert. "I was expecting fans to crowd in on us, since there's more of us here."

"Guess that's a bright side of losing some fame!" another one of the Super Stars laughed. The other two stared at him.

Orochi, who had his headphones on the whole time, took them off. "Don't think that we're not being followed, though." He pointed off to the distance. There were two photographers hiding behind a nearby building, their cameras at the ready. Upon being spotted, however, they fled.

Akira blinked. "Some things never change, huh?"

Zac started to rapidly search in his pockets. Taking his hands out of them, he revealed a set of masquerade masks, one for each of them. "Put these on!" he handed them out. "If a crowd comes, they will never know it is us. Trust me."

"Masks?" Orochi questioned. "Wait... don't tell me we are..."

"Oh yes." Zac nodded seriously. He placed his own mask above his eyes. "We will now be known as..." He struck a pose. "The Masked Bladers!"

Five figures with masks walked down the street, passing by occasional groups of people. The mysterious crew started to turn heads. "Who are they?" "They seem familiar..." "Are they going to a party?"

"Told you it would work," Zac whispered to his friends.

"Unbelievable," Orochi sighed in relief, and disbelief.

"This is pretty cool," Akira chuckled.

Suddenly, a group of girls in the distance ran towards them at top speed. "You saw those photos on the Internet! It is them! The Super Stars! Akira! Orochi! ZAC THE SUNRISE!" The girls shrieked as they got closer.

Zac and his crew turned around. "Oh, and now we're exposed." Zac muttered. He quickly took off his mask. "Hello fans!"

"It really is Zac!" "Zac, we still love you!" "Your brother is so handsome!" "Can we please get an autograph?!"

And just like that, he throws in the towel, Akira thought. He, too, threw his mask off. "It won't hurt to sign some autographs and take some pictures!" He beamed. The girls screeched joyfully. The Super Stars also joined in and greeted the gradually-growing crowd of fans.

Still with his mask on, Orochi proceeded to slowly walk away. Someone grabbed his wrist. "You're not gonna abandon us, are you?" Zac raised an eyebrow at him, then sharply whispered. "Take off your mask! Use it to hide your identity some other time."

Defeated, Orochi rejoined the group as they signed autographs, posed for pictures, and gave bright remarks to their remaining loyal fans.

៳

"So you were the reason we suddenly lost a pint of our family fortune." A tall man with long, white hair and royal red clothes whacked the back of Hyde's head.

"Ow! Brother!" Hyde whined. "It was for a good cause!" He and his twin brother stood in Evel's laboratory at the Dread Tower. Evel had recently explained that Hyde used up some of the Dread Tower's money.

"Hopefully that 'good cause' is not for your demanding stomach." Phi frowned. "Last time you spent a lot of money on--what?" As Phi towered over his brother, his scleras turned as black as coals, glaring daggers into Hyde. "Millions of white chocolate cookies!" He yelled with the voice of a monster.

"That was in the past, Phi!" Hyde complained. "Anyways, haven't you been watching the news about Count Nightfell and Zac the Sunrise?!"

Phi's eyes went back to normal as he sat down on a nearby seat to play with his long hair. "Perhaps the news came my way every now and then."

"I helped with their reconciliation!" Hyde shouted.

"Is that so?"

Evel, who was typing away on his computer, momentarily joined in. "It is so. I actually suggested Hyde to contribute."

"And without my permission?" Phi scoffed playfully. "You two are impossible."

The strange doorway of the laboratory slid open, letting in another acquaintance. He had a jackal-like mask and spikey, green hair. "Were you guys talking about something?" his sly voice asked, muffled by his mask. "What did I miss?"

"Kyle! How's my favorite servant doing?" Hyde greeted merrily.

"I'm not your servant," Kyle retaliated (with a disgusted look behind his mask). He continued straight-up: "Anyway, I overheard your conversation, of course. And Auguste Kaneguro is here."

Coming from the doorway next was Auguste, Count Nightfell's daylight form. "Hello, Hyde."

"Yo, Count Nightfell!" Hyde cheered, then caught himself. He clasped both hands over his mouth. "Oops, sorry."

"It's fine!" Auguste laughed. "I just might keep the name when I become a secret agent!" He squealed in excitement.

"Secret agent?" Kyle sat down as well, his masked face turned to Auguste in interest. "Why didn't you become a hired Blader like me? You could've been able to work with Hyde for a living."

"Eh, I guess my calling is not exactly stalking others and gathering data on their Beys." Auguste raised an eyebrow at Kyle. Then his face brightened in excitement again. "My calling is to help others get justice!"

"Suit yourself." Kyle took off his mask, revealing a sharp face with red tattoos and unreal, piercing eyes of yellow, and fanned himself with it. "It can get suffocating in this mask sometimes," he sighed.

Phi grimaced at the sight of Kyle's real appearance. Noticing this, Auguste asked him, "From what I've seen from the Battleship Cruise, you've always acted coldly towards Kyle. Why's that?"

Phi narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "He's just... suspicious. I'd also call him 'creepy.'"

Kyle pointed at Phi in denial. "You're creepier! Remember your last battle with Aiger? You totally lost it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

While Kyle and Phi continued to shout at each other and point fingers, Auguste turned to Evel and Hyde. "Well, I'm only stopping by to check on you all."

"Nice of you to do that!" Hyde beamed.

"Heh, well, my first mission can start anytime now. Good day!" Auguste gave a single wave to everyone in the laboratory before heading out the doorway.

After watching him leave, Hyde and Evel slowly turned to the two arguing men. Kyle pointed at his phone with a rigid finger. "You even broke my phone! Do you know how much I had to pay for a new one?!"

Phi scoffed and crossed his arms. "Big deal, that toy costs nothing to me. Anyway, you need to escort the gentleman that just left."

"Oh, right!" Kyle quickly got up and dashed out after him. As Phi gave a raspberry at the direction of the doorway, Hyde and Evel gave each other awkward looks. "Sometimes, I feel like the older brother." Hyde groaned.

៳

Auguste's next stop was a humble, homey household. When he rang the doorbell, ex-Apprentice Cancer was standing there with casual clothes on.

"Uh, do I know you? Ohhh!--"

"Ah, bonjour! How is our little ex-apprentice?"

Aizen was given an embarrassing hair ruffle. "Stop it...!" he spat, flushed. "My parents are right behind me...!"

Two silhouettes made themselves visible behind their child. Realizing a potential mistake he just made, Auguste whipped his hand away and behind his back. "My bad..." he mumbled.

"It's alright, Mr. Kaneguro. We know you have nothing but good intentions," the mother smiled. She resembled Aizen almost perfectly--just more old, soft, and feminine.

"You are an ex-phantom thief, and we trust that the ex will stay." Aizen's father was the embodiment of Aizen's ego: tall, muscular, daunting. Auguste--anyone, at that--wouldn't dare get on his nerves.

"I could be assigned a mission anytime soon, so I came here to catch up a bit. How is school going for you, Aizen?" Auguste inquired.

"It's fine," Aizen and his mother responded in sync, rather uneasily.

"His temper isn't changing at all. He had detention today because he almost punched his bullies!" the father exclaimed, but with a proud laugh.

Auguste mumbled "ha ha ha" through a tight, uncomfortable grin. Then, respectfully, he took off the hat he was wearing (not his phantom feather hat) and began, "Aizen, I know our phantom thief phase wasn't all too good, but remember our code about not resorting to violence?"

"Is that really still a thing...?" Aizen whined.

"Yes. Even if those bullies punch you, don't punch back. Turn the other cheek, will ya?"

"How does turning the other cheek help with anything?!" Aizen fumed.

"I know, right?! When I was your age, Aizen, I would beat the--" Dad was interrupted with a slap on his muscular shoulder.

"You agreed to behave as well. Don't forget it!" Mom threatened through her clenched teeth.

"But--ugh, fine, honey..."

The other three couldn't help but share a laugh as Aizen's father hung his head in defeat.

"Despite all of this, things are going uphill slowly but surely. Aizen's being more honest to us, and all of us are slowly getting rid of our bad habits."

"Très bien! Keep it up, I'm right in with you," Auguste gave Aizen two last pats, which Aizen reluctantly accepted.

៳

"That young lady walking out just now looked very cheery."

"Helping people is my specialty, Auguste. Though not all of them leave my office with a smile on their face..." Auguste was now in a facility building, standing outside of one of its rooms with Zac's substitute therapist, the former Countess Cygnus.

She turned to Auguste with a smile. "You've been going places. Why don't we have some tea in my office?"

"That would be nice, uh..." Auguste waited for her to give her name.

"Camilla." She nodded confirmingly.

"Camilla? Nice name..." He looked down at his shoes, then looked up again. "Well, let's see your office, Camilla."

It was a small, cozy room, dimly lit by a lamp in one corner of the room and a glowing cool mist humidifier in another. On the far end was a wooden desk with a pen cup, and a computer with a battery-saving screen of bubbles. Of course, the room also had a couch where the client could sit down.

Auguste took a good look around with his hands behind his back. "So you work here? This place looks quite relaxing." He complimented.

"Yup, this is my workspace." Camilla beamed proudly, walking up to Auguste with two cups of tea and handing one to him.

"Thank you," Auguste took the tea cup and sipped from it. "So... you were saying? About your clients?"

"Well," former Countess Cygnus looked down at her tea. "I may have only started being a victim advocate, but I've already realized how much victims come here every day."

"Victims?"

"Yes. Those who have been involved in crimes. Most get traumatized and need victim advocates such as me to help them."

"Oh..."

She smiled sadly. "Some clients, in fact, don't want to get help sometimes. Perhaps they are afraid to face their fears, or they don't want to embarrass themselves with counseling or therapy. I've been in their shoes. My outlet used to be hiding away in the night as a phantom thief..." She gripped her tea cup slightly.

Auguste slowly put a hand over hers. "But look at you now. You can help others who are facing the same emotions and roadblocks. You've found strength in your weakness." He smiled. "I am proud of you, Camilla."

Camilla looked up at him in shock. A hint of blush colored her expression. "T-Thank you, Count Nightfell—I mean Auguste..." Looking down, she let the redness flood her face.

"Uh, Camilla?"

She quickly embraced him in a warm hug. Auguste sat there, his eyes wide in surprise. He, too, blushed slightly and slowly returned the hug. "Stay strong, Countess."

They let go of each other and sat in awkward silence.

After a long pause, Camilla spoke. "Auguste?"

"Yes?"

"Is it okay if I still call you... Moony?"

"Why of course! I-If that's alright with you...!"

"I was the one who asked, Moony!"

៳

Auguste felt humbled to walk through the hallways of Valt's middle school. Upon getting his visitor's name tag, he walked onto the playground, attracting the attention of many curious kids.

"Welcome to Beigoma Academy, how may I help you?" a police officer with silver hair and bright, violet eyes asked from his side.

"Hello sir, uh, what's your name?" Auguste questioned shyly.

"Well, I'm officer Chako, but the kids call me Chad. You must be Auguste Kaneguro, yes?"

"Why, yes! ... How did you know?"

"Oh, well..." Chad paused and his cheerful demeanor faded slightly. "I get it if you don't recognize me. My daytime mood's different from my nighttime mood."

Auguste's eyes lit up. "I knew it was you, Albus!—I mean, Chad."

"Bonjour, Nightfell," Chad greeted with a bow, then added jokingly, "I mean, Auguste."

"So how is your job so far? The kids call you Chad?" Auguste laughed.

"Yeah! I expected them to be scared of me because I'm a police officer, but the kids enjoy my company!"

"You do give off a safe aura, y'know."

"At least I don't work here at night. Without sunlight, I just feel solemn and quiet. Oh, hey guys!" Chad looked behind Auguste, where three little kids were running towards him.

"Hi, Officer Chad!" they greeted before bumping into Auguste, resulting in all of them falling on their bums—including Auguste.

"Oh no!" Chad gasped fakely. "What do you say, kids?"

"Sorry..." the youngsters answered in unison.

"It's quite alright!" Auguste rubbed his butt as he stood up, which made the kids burst into giggles until Chad glared down at them... and laughed along.

៳

"I admire your continued perseverance to work hard, Auguste."

"Same to you, uh..."

"Arthur. Arthur Lawrence."

"Wait..." Auguste blinked. "The Arthur Lawrence? From the English team Royals?"

The head and the count were back at the phantom thieves's former headquarters, which wasn't enshrouded in darkness this time. The afternoon sun shone through the drapeless windows, and the fancy cafe-restaurant gave off a radiant aura.

The restaurant owner—who was posing as a waiter—walked up to the men and asked, "Good afternoon, what can I get for you two?" With a knowing smile, he added, "The usual?"

"Yes, the usual, sir," Auguste returned the grin.

"Actually, I'd like one thai tea with boba, please," Arthur asked, much to Auguste's surprise.

With a confused look, the waiter nodded awkwardly and walked off.

"Lawrence, you do know this restaurant only gives hot tea, right?" Auguste laughed uneasily.

"Mhm. Thai tea is a tea, is it not?" Lawrence grinned, then laid himself back. "I thought I should find out for myself why our Apprentice likes it so much."

Both of them looked off at the direction of the waiter, who was happily giving food and drink to a big family at a table nearby.

"Is it just me, or is he running this restaurant himself?" Auguste mumbled. Then the two men burst into a fit of giggles.

"But look at him. I haven't ever seen him this joyful." Arthur beamed. "It must be because the government allowed him to keep his job, despite his past of helping to keep us in hiding."

Auguste looked down with a sharp pang of guilt in his gut. Seeing this, Arthur said gently, "Thanks to you and your brother's proposition, all of our lives have changed for the better. Thank you." Auguste lifted his head up again with a glimmer of joy in his eyes.

As they waited a few seconds more for their order, Auguste curiously questioned, "So, you'll do Beyblade for a living?"

"I do have a Beyblade team--and Ghasem's anger issues--to take care of."

"Well, you're lucky," Auguste sighed. "I had to give away my whole Beyblade collection, so I'm only left with Fusion Aether. But I'm used to battling with different Beys, so I've lost some of my motivation."

"Don't tell me you're quitting Beyblade, Auguste...!"

"What? Of course not! I'll still do battles with my brother often. And who knows? My busy schedule may spare me a tournament or two."

The waiter came back with some tea. "The usual for Auguste... and thai tea with boba for Arthur."

"Merci!" Auguste thanked as he sipped his cup. Arthur freed his straw from its plastic, put the straw into the unfamiliar tea, and took a cautious sip. After a second, his eyes lit up and he continued to drink. "Why haven't I tried this before?"

Suddenly, a ringtone blared from Auguste's pocket. Picking his phone up and looking at who was calling, Auguste sighed anxiously. "My time is up. My first mission is starting now."

"Oh, great! Well, bonne chance, Auguste!"

"Thank you, I'll need it...!" Auguste took a deep breath in an effort to relax himself, then answered the call.

"Count Nightfell, we just discovered the culprit for those missing crates!" Auguste's eyebrows furrowed as he turned around and walked away. His stroll then accelerated to a run as he pulled out a black a blue cape seemingly from nowhere. "He is on the run while we speak. You are experienced and agile, so here's your first mission: help us catch him." While still holding his phone to his ear, Auguste swiped the cape around him.

A fancy feather hat seemed to magically appear above his white hair, and he suddenly had his dark gloves and boots on. As he released his cape and let it fly behind him, one could see that he was now clad with his phantom thief clothes, except their shades of purple were replaced with a dark blue.

Another noticeable change in his outfit was the new badge he was wearing. It was a golden, shield-shaped badge with the Beyblade symbol engraved on it, except it looked more like a diamond. The former symbol of the Phantom Thieves of Beys.

"Just tell me the location and I'll be there, Monsieur." Count Nightfell leaped onto the roof of a nearby house and parkoured away.

៳

"Look for the white speeding truck. It is heading down the street I just mentioned." As he jumped roof by roof, Count Nightfell searched for the said truck from above. Indeed, his lilac eyes spotted a white transportation vehicle rushing past red traffic lights and endangering bystanding cars.

"Target spotted!" Count Nightfell replied, speeding up towards the edge of a tall building's rooftop. He seemed to throw a tiny object off towards the streets below, and then he, again, swiped his cape around him.

He teleported himself on top of the truck's big container of cargo. Without much worry about falling off a moving vehicle, Count Nightfell skillfully ran up to the front of the truck.

Inside was the culprit driver, sweating and desperately pressing his foot against the gas pedal. He didn't notice the former phantom thief swing into the seat besides him until he spoke after a brief pause: "You may have left your car windows open."

The driver darted his eyes and yelped in surprise at the sight of Count Nightfell, who took a moment to put on his seat belt and relax on the passenger seat. The suspect cannot see his eyes, which were shielded by his feather hat. "You might want to put on your seat belt, mon ami." Count Nightfell casually reminded the driver. "You're about to run into some road spikes."

The culprit turned back to the road ahead. Just as Count Nightfell predicted, a line of tire shredders blocked the way. The driver tried to use his break to stop the truck, but it only started drifting and veering off the road. The tires started screeching, as well as the driver, whom Count Nightfell quickly put a seat belt on.

Following the noise of tires deflating, the truck came to a sudden stop. Luckily, the driver and the former phantom thief were unharmed. The sound of sirens rushed close by after.

For a moment, Count Nightfell remembered the night of his arrest...

The sirens sounded in the background as the policeman walked up towards a stunned Count Nightfell. He tried to tell himself to get up and run, but it was no use. His body was too stiff from the taser attack.

"We don't catch phantom thieves often," the policeman admitted. "But now that we've got you, we can finally deal with you scum after two full years."

"S-Scum...?!" Count Nightfell grunted, struggling to loosen up and move.

But the policeman and a few others already picked him up and handcuffed him. "Oh, you have a right to remain silent."

The driver looked around in shock. He was already handcuffed and being led into one of the open police cars. He frantically turned to Count Nightfell before being urged inside. "You! Aren'cha Count Nightfell? You blasted phantom thief!!!"

"Not phantom thief... phantom agent." Auguste smirked as the car door closed.

"Nice job, Count Nightfell," one of the other policemen congratulated as the police car drove off. "How did you know about the road spikes? Who even put them there?"

"I did," Count Nightfell bragged. "Before landing on the truck I made sure to throw one on the road ahead."

"Wow," the policeman gaped. "I'm surprised that the culprit didn't get a single scratch. He wasn't wearing a seat belt."

"Oh, I fixed that for him."

"Hm? How come?"

"If things went worse and he got hurt, it would be much harder on everyone, right?"

"I guess you have a point. Anyways, congrats on finishing your first mission! We can take it from here." The policeman waved and got back into his police car. Count Nightfell gave a proud grin back. Well, now that that's done, gotta get back home before Zac beats me to it.

៳

"Scrumptious!"

At the kitchen counter sat the two brothers eating an early lunch of cup noodles. This time, the room was of a clear, sunny hue.

"Is it really, Zachary? I forgot to add the egg whites, salt, and black pepper today," Auguste admitted.

"It's always scrumptious when I'm eating it with you!" Zac beamed.

"Dawww, stop it..." Auguste chuckled.

The boys took a moment to slurp a few more noodles and some soup.

"You know... Without all of those spices and all, I'm starting to focus more on the real taste of these noodles, and to be honest, it still tastes very good!" Zac added with an impressed tone, raising his eyebrows at his cup.

"It does, huh?" Auguste agreed, pausing to taste the noodles in his mouth more thoroughly.

Zac put down his chopsticks and sighed. "If only people would look at it that way..."

"What do you mean? People don't like these cup noodles?"

"It's not about the noodles... You see, I've told my fans the truth. I've revealed my true colors. Yet, I'm better off forgotten in the music world." Zac smiled sadly.

Auguste placed his spoon on top of his cup and looked down without a word.

"But hey! I have you, Akira, Orochi, and my few loyal fans... oh, and maybe Evel and Hyde too. Oh, you should've seen me and my whole crew going out for ice cream the other day. Anyway, with all of your support, who needs fame? Hah!"

That didn't seem to bring Auguste's spirits up too much. "I still can't believe you'd give up your fame--the fame that you worked so hard to earn--for me."

Zac looked at his brother's slightly downcast posture with a concerned look. Pushing his cup away, he gave a grin to Auguste. "Brother, I know you've been so busy at work that you couldn't come to my concerts, and you'll likely be even busier than ever. I've already accepted that you likely won't see me live on stage again."

"Zaccy..."

"Hey, it's fine! Do you know why?" Zac dramatically put a hand over his heart. "The last time I performed, I felt a sort of void within. I had everything on that stage: love, money, attention... But without you in the crowd, it always felt a little worthless.

"I noticed that there's much more worth being with my family--that's you! And it's better being with you when I'm not in the spotlight. Because even when I'm not performing, when I'm without my stage make-up... and probably even after the time when I won't be able to sing anymore, at least you will stay by my side."

Auguste was astonished by Zac's words. He turned away to look out the window to hide his sudden rapid blinking.

Zac continued with his eyes shut, as if he were reciting a pledge. "Sharing the skies of life with you and our friends... If I can do that, then I don't need anything else."

Auguste looked deeper into the sky, trying to immerse himself in its beauty, trying to ignore the tears that started to roll down his face. Suddenly, something caught his eye, making him let out a tiny gasp.

Zac opened his eyes in confusion. "Huh? Were you even listening--"

"Zaccy, look!"

The blonde boy scootched his chair closer to the window until he was right next to his brother. After a few seconds of squinting at the fair afternoon sky, he too gasped.

"The moon is out today!" Zac pointed out.

"And it's right next to the sun!" Auguste added.

"Well, how convenient!"

"Hmm... something tells me it's no convenience..." Auguste commented with a warm smile towards Zac.

Noticing the streams of tears on Auguste's face, Zac widened his eyes. After a while, he let out a few teardrops of his own with a tiny laugh. He wiped Auguste's face with the cuff of his glove. Auguste returned Zac's laugh.

Putting an arm around the other's shoulder, the two brothers sat in silence and watched as the glorious sun and the dazzling moon made their way onto the blue, boundless stage.

the end