Kai sat in the quiet of his apartment, one hand resting on his phone, the other curled into a fist against his knee. His screen displayed a familiar app—one he checked far too often these days.

Dots blinked steadily on the map, marking each of his friends—Ray, Max, Tyson, Mariah, Cassie, Hillary. A habit. A precaution. A necessity.

Because as much as they joked, as much as they lived their normal, carefree lives, he knew better.

Kai had recently given Cassie and Hillary bracelets with built-in GPS trackers. Had previously made sure the others had watches or keychains laced with the same security. After the shootout, he'd started taking these things more seriously than ever before.

Because it wasn't paranoia if the threat was real.

He exhaled, eyes narrowing as he focused on Hillary's dot. Still at the Swim Centre. Then at Cassie's. She had just gotten home. Kai frowned as he checked the time.

8:07 PM.

That didn't sit right.

Their swim practice ended at seven. Even if Hillary took her time changing or chatting, she should've left by now.

He told himself she probably forgot her bracelet there. Cassie had done it last week—taken the bracelet off with the rest of her jewellry before swimming and left it behind without thinking.

He had rushed there the moment he saw her dot at the swim centre past eight, expecting something terrible, only to find it lying on a bench, untouched. The relief had hit him like a punch, sharp and frustrating.

Max had been just as careless. He'd left his watch in a taxi once, and Kai had panicked that he'd been abducted and had tracked it all the way to the outskirts of the city! Another dead end. Another unnecessary panic.

And Tyson—Tyson was the worst of them all.

Kai had no choice but to put a tracker on his house keys, because the idiot wore no accessories regularly. On top of that, he was constantly misplacing them. The number of times Kai had gotten an alert from Tyson's keys ending up in random places— the park, the bridge, the beach, the ramen shop down his street—was absolutely infuriating.

Kai huffed internally. At this point, he was seriously considering making Tyson swallow a tracker just so he wouldn't have to deal with this carelessness anymore.

He knew he should tell them. Tracking them without consent was a violation of trust and privacy. He knew all that. He knew he should just be honest instead of constantly running damage control behind the scenes.

The boys... they now understood the threat, at least to an extent. On the other hand, Hillary had experienced the worse of it. She'd chosen to put some distance between them for the very same reason, and he supported her decision. Anyone who was trying to target them would not think of getting to Hillary now. She was nothing more than someone who attended the same school as them.

She wouldn't have even been on his tracker list if his grandfather's butler hadn't made a passing comment on her safety to test his nerves at the Halloween party. He hated how much of an impression the girl had made on his grandfather's butler in literal minutes that he bothered to remember her by name.

But how was he supposed to explain all this mess to Cassie? How was he supposed to tell Tyson he couldn't just wake up in the middle of the night and just walk to the park for practice? How was he supposed to tell Max that he couldn't just gallivant to the abandoned amusement park to spend time with Mariam late in the evenings?

How was he supposed to tell them that he was terrified of something happening to them? That every second they were out of his sight, he worried?

Cassie was new to all of this, and was already wary of how deep she was getting involved with him. She knew of his family's shady reputation and still chose to give him a chance. Not the short, casual kind of relationships he'd had with numerous girls like Laura until then, but something more genuine. It was still new, but he didn't want to mess with that.

If she got to know that he was tracking her movements, it'd break her trust. She might just decide that he was exactly like everyone who'd warned her against him had told her about him. That he wasn't worth the trouble.

And the others—

Max, Ray, Tyson

They thought that whatever happened during the talk show was a one-time event. That it was all over. If he told them about all the measures he was taking, they'd either laugh and call him paranoid or would start looking over their shoulders at every step and stop enjoying their lives due to the constant fear.

And Kai—he couldn't do that to them.

So instead, he watched.

Tracked their movements in silence. Kept his worries buried deep.

And in moments like these—when he stared at the dot that wasn't moving, at a name he couldn't afford to lose—

He almost wished he hadn't made friends at all.

Hadn't let himself get attached.

Because no matter how much he tried to protect them, no matter how many precautions he took—

There was no denying the large target he'd placed on every single one of them.

Kai sighed, shutting off the screen and pushing himself to his feet. His stomach twisted, but whether it was from unease or actual hunger, he wasn't sure. He figured eating something would at least keep his mind occupied.

The kitchen was quiet as he pulled out whatever was easiest—rice, some leftover meat, something to keep his hands busy. The rhythmic chopping of vegetables filled the space, giving him something to focus on other than the nagging feeling at the back of his mind.

His gaze flickered to the file case on the counter.

He hesitated, then wiped his hands and picked it up.

If Voltaire didn't respond soon, he would have to go through with his threat—filing a case with the Foreign Affairs Court to secure his Japanese citizenship.

His claim was through his mother, who had been Japanese. But Voltaire had been steps ahead. He'd destroyed all places that could have had some information about his mom years ago, just after her death. Had made it look like there never had been a girl named 'Natalie' in Japan. No family, no occupational details, no properties, no education records... He'd erased her entire family from memory, if not from existence. Maybe they were hiding under different surnames, he wasn't sure, but someone did help him gather all the lost evidence.

Kai shook his head. It was more like they'd presented everything Kai would ever need to get a Japanese citizenship in one file and anonymously left it at Tyson's dojo for him. With no note. Kai hadn't tried to find them either, he respected their need for privacy. The fact that they bothered to help him was more than what he'd expected.

He didn't plan to put them under more risk for mere curiosity, even if it pained him to know that there was someone in this world who actually knew what he's been dealing with since childhood but couldn't. How he or she knew what he'd been planning, he had no idea, but seeing how extensive the proof material was, it seemed that they'd literally been waiting for him to do this.

Moreover, Voltaire had no sway inside the Japanese government. And now that he had numerous proofs that his mother was really Japanese, despite the best efforts of his grandfather, he was now sure that his case would be sanctioned.

But he didn't want to do this.

Didn't want to give up his Russian citizenship.

His father had been Russian. Kai had grown up there. The bitter cold, the language, the harsh history—it was in his blood as much as his scars. And despite all of it, despite the pain and the control he'd faced there, it was still home.

But staying tied to Russia meant staying tied to Voltaire.

And if his grandfather refused to succumb to his demands, Kai would cut the last thread himself.

Kai briefly wondered how the world would be affected from his decision. Though there may not be much changes in his beyblading persuits, the change in nationality would no doubt throw his grandfather's succession plan into turmoil. Voltaire dealt with the most sensitive Russian national security details, being their largest military manufacturer, and knowing that the company would further pass on to a Japanese would put it in a tough spot. He wondered how much Russia would loss and how much Japan would gain from just a small piece of paper.

Renouncing his Russian citizenship wasn't something he had ever thought he'd do, but if it meant securing his place in Japan—his real home now, amongst his friends and one of the few places in the world away from his grandfather's reach—then he would.

Even if it left something in him feeling hollow.

Kai clenched his jaw, tossing the file back onto the counter. He hated thinking about it all. His appetite was gone.

Instead, he grabbed his phone again. It was 9:05 pm, nearly an hour since he last checked. His thumb swiped instinctively to open the tracker.

His chest tightened.

Hillary's dot had moved.

But not towards home.

It was in an alley along her usual route, just behind the eastern arbour.

And it wasn't moving.

His blood turned to ice.

Hillary wouldn't just wander into an dark alley like that. She was sensible, responsible. She wouldn't just stop like that.

His chair scraped against the floor as he stood, heart hammering.

Maybe she had just paused to tie her shoelace. Maybe she'd seen a kitten stuck under a trash bin and was helping it out. Maybe she had dropped the bracelet and was trying to find it.

Or maybe—

He didn't let himself finish the thought.

Kai grabbed his coat and moved.

If this was nothing, then fine. But if it wasn't—

He wasn't going to sit around and find out too late.

*****

Hillary realised her body wasn't responding.

Everything felt sluggish, her limbs heavy, her thoughts hazy.

The tile beneath her knees was ice-cold, but it wasn't enough to ground her.

Laura crouched in front of her, grinning like a cat watching a trapped bird.

"How do you feel?"

Hillary tried to speak, but her throat was dry. Her tongue felt thick.

"Wh... what did you do?" she rasped.

Laura drummed her fingers against the rim of a bucket.

"Oh, nothing too dramatic," she said, voice dripping with false sweetness. "Just something to keep you weak. Makes things more interesting, don't you think?"

Hillary's heartbeat pounded in her ears. This wasn't just another one of Laura's petty grudges. This was wrong. This was getting out of hand.

She tried to push herself up—

Laura grabbed a fistful of her hair and shoved her down.

Before she could process it—

SPLASH.

The freezing water crashed over her, stealing the breath from her lungs.

Hillary gasped, sputtering, the icy cold water clinging to her skin, soaking through her clothes, making her shiver violently.

Laura laughed softly.

"Awake now?"

Hillary coughed, her breath coming in ragged, uneven gasps.

"You're insane," she rasped.

Laura's grip on her chin was sudden, rough.

"And you're pathetic."

Then—before she could react—

Laura shoved her head down.

Into the bucket.

The water swallowed her whole.

Cold. Tight. Suffocating.

Hillary's lungs burned. She thrashed, but her limbs were sluggish, weak, useless.

Just as the panic surged, just as the desperate need for air turned to agony—

Laura yanked her up.

Hillary barely had a second to gasp before Laura wrenched her up by the hair and dragged her toward the sinks.

"Still with me?" Laura murmured, voice still sickly sweet. "Good."

Hillary coughed, her chest heaving, water spilling from her lips. She was shivering violently, her limbs too weak to push back.

Laura reached for the tap. Water gushed out, clear and cold. She yanked Hillary forward, forcing her mouth under the steady stream.

"Drink."

Hillary twisted, tried to pull away—Laura's grip was like iron.

Her throat burned as the water rushed in, too much, too fast. She gagged, coughed, but Laura didn't let up.

She struggled, body jerking, her lungs screaming—

Then suddenly, she was yanked back.

Hillary barely had a second to register the air in her lungs, to recover before—

SPLASH.

The bucket. Again.

Cold. Tight. Suffocating.

The moment her head went under this time, a memory slammed into her.

The water rising. Kenny's panicked breathing. The walls of the tank pressing in on them. The time she and Kenny had been kidnapped and held hostage on an abandoned ship.

The fear. The helplessness. The terror.

But that time... she hadn't been alone.

That time, she knew, they both knew—

'Tyson will come for us.'

And he had.

She still remembered the way his voice had cut through their panic, the way he'd assured her that he'd get them out. It was only later that she got to know how much exhausted Tyson had been at that moment, after running around the whole city in record time.

She remembered how desperate he had sounded when he lost his chance against the beyblade launching machine and the walls had started closing in on them.

But now—

There was no voice calling her name.

No one looking out for her.

Laura yanked her up.

Hillary gasped, coughing violently—

And Laura shoved her mouth back under the running tap.

"Drink."

The cycle started again.

Drowning. Gasping. Gagging. Choking.

Over and over.

Somewhere in the middle, Hillary remembered herself begging. Laura had crouched in front of her, watching with an amused tilt of her head. "You look miserable," she noted, her tone almost casual, as if this were an observation about the weather.

Hillary's throat was raw from coughing up water, but she forced herself to speak. "P-please," she rasped."I'll do anything... just stop."

Laura's lips curled into a smirk."Anything?" she echoed, her voice dripping with mockery.

Hillary nodded weakly, swallowing down the humiliation burning in her chest. "Anything."

Hillary knew what she'd ask. Leave swimming. Give up the Amity club's presidency, call back all the changes she'd made that affected Laura and her friends. Maybe even resign from the student council prefect position. She'd do it all if only Laura would let her go. She wouldn't even tell anyone.

She just wanted it to stop.

She just wanted to go home...

Laura hummed, tapping a finger against her chin, pretending to think it over. For a brief, desperate second, hope flickered in her chest.

Then Laura's smirk widened. "Nah," she said, laughing cruelly.

Before Hillary could react, Laura grabbed her hair and shoved her head back into the bucket.

There was nothing left in Hillary now but pain, water, and the slow, creeping realization—

No one was coming for her.

And then she stopped fighting. Stopped breathing. Water filled her lungs and her vision went black.

*****

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