Hillary grumbled a half hearted salutation, waiting for Tyson to explain why he was there. When he didn't, she snapped. "What are you here for?"

"I have my beyblading club now." He stated, fidgeting slightly. As though that made everything clear. "What do you want me to do about it? Be your personal cheer girl? Sorry, Not Interested, but I'm sure Casey wouldn't mind." Tyson blinked at her in surprise and confusion, "No, you have my Beyblade. You took it on that day in the hospital, remember?" Tyson explained. 

Understanding dawned on Hillary quite late. Feeling slightly stupid, she dug around in her bag for their beyblades, and came up with two. "Take the one which is yours", she said. Tyson picked his up before asking, "Where's my dragoon?" "Wait for a minute, will ya?" She said, removing the necklace she was wearing. 

It was a simple heart shaped locket in which one could keep a picture of a loved one. Behind the family photo was dragoon and dranzer. "You guys may have the entire beyblade on you while you sleep, but I wasn't going for so much trouble. So I modified it a bit." She explained. "That's cool! Maybe I could try it sometime too!"  Tyson exclaimed. Hillary just shrugged in response. "I could give Kai his Beyblade too." Tyson offered. "I'm sure he can come and collect it himself if he wants to." Hillary snapped back in irritation. "Ugh, okay." Hillary took the opening and stormed ahead. 

It was after two flights of stairs did she realise that Tyson was still following her, keeping a bit of a distance. "What now?" She turned back in frustration. "Jeez Hillary, what is on with you today? Just so you know, the beyblading club and the swimming clubs are situated side by side." he cried out. "Just my luck" Hillary muttered under her breath, hurrying down.

******

The beyblading club was fun, thought Max, as he locked his locker before leaving. The coach had a knack fo than AJ Topper! Other than that, he was jovial. He segregated everyone into two batches; the professionals including everyone who had claimed any of the top three positions in any compitition at the city level or above; and the beginners, who would want to learn beyblading from the scratch.

 Their coach spent most of his time teaching the beginners. He had assigned them all an obstacle course, and to his joy, he was the first one to complete it. 

"Come on Maxy, hurry up!" cried Tyson, impatiently waiting near the main door. Every few moments, someone would yell him a 'See you soon' and Tyson would reply back with vigour. Tyson always had a knack for the spot light. "Hey, guys, you carry on. I promised I would help Aunt Rosa at the studio today. Don't get into too much trouble though." warned Ray as he hurried away. Kenny joined them soon after. 

"So, what do you plan to do now?" asked Max casually. "Will you be staying?" "Yep, I will, but only upto six." he informed. "It's still three thirty though. We could go straight to the playground under the bridge. It's sunny and warm and a perfect day to relax. We could do some beyblading too. And you will teach me how you taught drazel to do that summersault. A week's break and I already feel rusty." complained Tyson. 

******

So, you want me to sign these papers?" Mr Dickenson asked sceptically. "Yep. And buy the house for me." Kai added. " And remind me again, why do you plan to do so?" Kai tsked with impatience. "Because I don't plan on leaving to Russia." "And what's your gr-Voltaire's say in this regard?" "Why would I be hear if I had his permission and blessings?" Kai asked, sarcasm dripping in his tone.

Mr Dickenson sighed for the nth time since their discussion started. He sat back and removed his spectacles, wiping them with his hand kerchief.  Kai loosened his tie casually. He hadn't bothered to change out from his uniform before coming there. 

Kai had to remind himself that, by signing those papers, Mr Dickenson was getting himself a larger target on his back. And as far as he knew, Mr Dickenson wasn't really suicidal. "Look Mr Dickenson, I was leading a low life, a good life, a quite life. I hadn't come in anyone's radar for two years. It was you who first persuaded me to go public with beyblading again, you promised that you could keep me away from him. You couldn't keep up with the promise. The least you could do is help me fight my own battle."

Mr Dickenson looked upset now. "You think it's easy! I did mean to get you out of Russia Kai. But I couldn't get ahold of any evidence about your mother being japanese. It's as though her entire existence had been wiped out of record!"

That was news to Kai, but he wasn't really surprised. "That's besides the point. For all I know, Voltaire may just ignore that I'm going to stay in Japan. I only saw him twice the whole of last year, few days after I landed into Moscow and the day I left. It's not that I exactly stayed in Russia last year either. I was at a boarding school in Switzerland." 

"But still, have thought of this thoroughly? Kai, I have already bought you sixty days, nearly two months of extended visa due to your injury. We could think of a loophole in your visa guarenteer agreement or in the agreement I signed with Voltaire regarding your shared guardianship by then. You are rushing this, Kai. I don't know why, but you are being reckless." Kai hardened his gaze at this, "Will you or will you not be signing the papers, Mr Dickenson?" He demanded. Sadly, Mr Dickenson wasn't one to give in so easily either. "Two days. Take two days of time. I want you to go back and think of this thoroughly. If your mind doesn't change, I'll go through with this."

******

Hillary didn't go home right after school. She made her way back to the swimming pool to get some more practice. Since continuously swimming wasn't good either, she decided to do some stretching exercises and ran some laps around the pool. With still half an hour to spare before her evening coaching started, she took a break. She pulled on her jacket and ankle length skirt she had brought along, on top of her swimsuit and headed to the cafe across the road to relax, and have an hot chocolate. She was bone tired and hungry. 

While waiting for her coffe to arrive, Hillary quietly contemplated her day. "Though it hadn't started on a positive note, all in all, her day had been good, with a bit of ups and downs. She had found wonderful friends. She was able to keep up with her classes. On the other hand, she found out that Cassy and her sidekicks, Liz and Jude,  were in her school, thought thankfully not in her class. Laura was a year older, so she couldn't cause much of a problem either. 

Their coach there was quite implicative that she would tolerate no senses of supremity among students who were into professional swimming. Good for me, she thought. It would atleast keep Cassy and her three sidekicks in check. As it is, she had to tolerated their nonsense during her normal coaching, at least she was rid of it there.

Their coach had divided them into groups and and assigned their group to do fifty laps of the swimming pool. Two of Cassy's sidekicks, Liz and Jade's constant gossiping was nerve wrecking. If they really weren't ready for some hard workout, she didn't understand why they even bother to turn up for the club. Hillary was quite sure that it was only a matter of time before their professional memberships were terminated and they lost their titles of professionals. Yet, that didn't stop them from stuttering around and boasting to anyone who would listen.

Even though she wasn't in Cassy's  team for the day, that didn't stop her from getting back at her when they were in the changing room. Loura, Casey's best friend, enthusiastically continued egging her as Cassy commented about upstarts who couldn't stick to their goals, who should rather leave than shame themselves, and should learn their place soon, loud enough for her and many others to hear. 

Hillary had been so hungry that she even wolfed down a light sandwich before heading back to the indore stadium. Most of the students had arrived, and the class was about to start.

Hillary hated the evening sessions more and more with every passing day. At least the morning batches had Aubrey, and underneath all her liveliness, she did have a no nonsense policy. The girls there were polite enough to atleast wait till she was out of earshot to start with their gossips. Here, she was one of the social piranhas, with Cassy and her sidekicks having the sway over the crowd. Most turned a blind eye to their taunts, but none dared to cross them. 

****** 

It was seven already. Hillary had a lot of homework to do and a lot more to study. Her eyes prickled due to continuous exposure to chlorinated water. She took a quick shower, determined to leave before the other girls came in. Yet, as she went to her locker to grab her backpack, it was Laura, Casey's best friend, she came face to face with. She winced internally. It would have been so much easier if she had just waved a red flag over her head, drawing all their attention. Laura smirked, speaking loudly now. "Hey Cassy. Remind me again, what was your sprint speed?"

It had been their monthly progress check day. The entire session had been dedicated to  test everyone and record their speeds in different categories. The only good thing was that it was done privately, so as to not tip off other competitors. "Oh please, I don't want to boast," Cassy gushed, even though she was doing exactly that, talking so loudly that everyone in the changing room could hear her. "I'm pretty sure it was the highest. 88.56 seconds." She boasted. 

Hillary's heart sank. Cassy's speed was already under hundred, enough to qualify for the nationals. And Hillary knew that Cassy had a huge scope for improvement before the nationals. 

Laura wasn't done with her though, she thumped Cassy hard on the back, congratulating her. "I told you, its always the true champions who triumph in the fields they are passionate about. Upstarts may rise quickly, but they fall just as quickly." Hillary closed her locker, trying hard not to show them that they got into her head. But then, their coach came in, startling everyone by barking out, "Tachinbana, to my office, now!" The whispers that erupted suddenly silenced her thoughts. "Maybe she was so bad that coach decided to terminate her membership early." Jude snidely commented. A good number of girls giggled at her. Hillary quickly took her backpack and left.

It had been ages since thier coach called someone into her office. Sadly, it was usually when she had to terminate someone's membership. Their coach, Mrs Osaki was was a tall woman, with a stern face and had a lightly outgrown pixie hairstyle. She had won the nationals around fifteen years ago and had taken up the quite government job of being a coach to future aspirants. 

"Honestly, I'm not going to gobble you up! Sit down here." She said, indicating a chair in front of her. Hillary complied. "Why didn't you come around asking for your progress?"she demanded. Hillary stammerd, "I was-" She sighed before waving her off. "Don't bother with it. You've gotten yourself a104.02 seconds for sprint, 158.94 for the two hundred metres, 288.72 for the four hundred metres and 760.98 for eight hundred metres."she concluded, looking at her expectantly. 

Hillary wasn't sure what she should say. "Err-thats wonderful, I mean, better, because when I checked the day I started again, I had a sprint speed of 120 seconds though it isn't within qualification range. So thanks. If that's all-"

Her coach looked flabbergasted now. "You honestly don't get it? Why is this generation so fixated with thier sprint speed! Sure, it does matter a lot, but not completely. I want you to notice your endurance. Your endurance, stamina is mind blowing. 

You are slow in the beginning, but you progressively pick up speed, something that most people find difficulty in doing, with just a bit of speed strengthening, and you'll be ready just in time for the nationals, and not for sprint alone. 

Hillary was shocked by this sudden good news. It had been in sprint that she had defeated Cassy during the state championships. She had been so focused on it that she hadn't even bothered to check into the cut offs for other categories. Her workouts, day-in and day-out during the last bit of her holidays seemed to have been paying off after all. 

"That's-really wonderful news." She finally stammered. "Off with you now, I have better places to be." She replied, before adding, "And don't bother coming tomorrow in the morning. I'll be recording their progress as well." She informed. "Yes ma'am, thank you." she concluded. 

The enormity of the situation set into Hillary after she left the office. Her hopes of becoming the next swimming champion, which had been reduced to embers by then, ignited with new vigour. 

She did a silent victory pump into the air and on realising all the other girls had left, she steamed loudly in joy. When she was already writing the day off as average one, this news arrived and made it one of the best days of her life. She couldn't wait to inform her parents of this. They were going to be so happy, she thought, hurrying hack home.

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