The concrete tunnel leading back to the competitor waiting room was cool and blissfully quiet. The roar of the crowd faded into a muffled, rhythmic thumping the further Ryu walked from the main stage.
He slipped Eclipse Nidhogg into his pocket, his hand brushing against the cold metal. The match had required zero effort. Kento had essentially defeated himself by launching an Attack type against a stationary, heavy-mass defense without any strategy to destabilize it. It was basic cause and effect.
As Ryu turned the corner toward the main corridor, he stopped.
Leaning against the cinderblock wall, his arms crossed over a white feather boa, was Lui Shirasagijo. The monitors above him were displaying the replay of Ryu's match.
Lui's eyes flicked away from the screen and locked onto Ryu. A sharp, jagged smirk pulled at his face.
"Eight seconds," Lui said, his voice echoing slightly in the empty hallway. "You let him hit you twice before his driver gassed out. You're getting slow."
"He had a heavy launch," Ryu replied evenly, coming to a halt. "If I engaged the center lock early, it would have shattered his layer. I was trying to avoid the paperwork of a damaged Bey in the first round."
Lui scoffed, pushing off the wall. "That's your problem. You play too passive. If they bring a weak Bey to the stage, it deserves to get broken."
Lui walked past Ryu, stopping just for a second to look over his shoulder. The competitive fire in Lui's eyes was still burning, "Don't get too comfortable sleeping through these early matches. The roster gets thinner, and the hits get heavier. I'll see you in the finals."
Ryu watched Lui disappear down the hallway. He didn't doubt it. Lui was a force of nature, completely unbothered . He walked back into the waiting room, ignoring the stares of the other competitors who had just watched his eight-second victory on the screens.
He found his plastic folding chair in the back corner and sat down.
"Next up in Block C!" Hanami's voice boomed through the speakers. "We have a highly anticipated matchup! From Beigoma Academy, the energetic rookie Valt Aoi! Going up against the heavy-hitting defense of Taru Fukami!"
Ryu looked up at the monitor.
Valt was already practically vibrating on the stage. He was jumping from foot to foot, slapping his own cheeks to hype himself up. Across from him, a taller, much more composed boy with a dark green jacket stepped up to the stadium, holding a bulky Defense type.
Ryu leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. He had seen Valt completely ignore the logic in the park. Now, he wanted to see if it was a fluke or a consistent anomaly.
"First Battle!" the referee shouted. "Ready... Set!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Go Shoot!"
Valt ripped his cord, throwing his entire body into the motion. But his footing slipped. He launched at an awkward, tilted angle. Valkyrie hit the stadium floor hard, bounced erratically against the plastic, and immediately lost half its rotational speed before it even reached the lower slope.
Taru's Defense type, Shield Crash, landed perfectly in the center, anchoring itself with a heavy, stable spin.
The crowd let out a collective groan. It was a terrible launch.
Taru smirked. "Is that the best you've got? My Shield Crash won't even feel that."
Valkyrie wobbled dangerously, scraping its layer against the stadium floor. It tapped weakly against Shield Crash, doing absolutely no damage, before spinning out completely.
"Spin Finish! One point to Taru Fukami!"
In the waiting room, Rantaro slammed his hand against his forehead. "I told him to watch his footwork! He gets too excited and throws his balance off!"
Ryu watched the screen. Valt wasn't upset. In fact, he was grinning. He picked up Valkyrie, locked it back onto his launcher, and stepped back to the stadium. He took a deep breath, shaking out his arms.
"Second Battle!"
Valt shifted his stance. He lowered his center of gravity, gripping his launcher with both hands. His eyes narrowed, entirely focused on the blue Bey in his hand. The chaotic energy vanished, replaced by a sudden, intense sharpness.
"Go Shoot!"
This time, the launch was flawless.
Valkyrie hit the upper rim of the stadium perfectly on the jagged edge of its rubber driver. The grip caught the plastic instantly. Instead of dropping into the center, Valkyrie accelerated. It tore around the ridge, building up a terrifying amount of kinetic energy. A blue streak followed it, leaving a trail of sparks.
Taru's eyes widened. "What is that speed?!"
"Now!" Valt screamed, throwing his fist forward. "Rush Shoot!"
Valkyrie banked hard off the upper slope. It didn't just hit Shield Crash; it hit it, rebounded instantly off the stadium wall, and hit it again.
*Clash. Clash. Clash. Clash.*
It was a relentless, star-shaped pattern of high-speed attacks. Every time Valkyrie struck, it used the recoil to bounce back to the outer ridge, maintain its speed, and dive back in. Shield Crash was being hammered from every single direction. The heavy Defense type started to wobble, entirely unable to withstand the continuous kinetic transfer.
"Hold on, Shield!" Taru yelled, panicking.
"Tear it open, Valkyrie!" Valt roared.
Valkyrie hit the upper slope one last time, dropping straight down with maximum velocity. It slammed directly into the side of Shield Crash.
*Burst.*
The heavy green Beyblade exploded into three pieces. The crowd erupted into deafening cheers. Hanami was screaming into his microphone.
"A devastating Burst Finish! Valt Aoi takes the match with an unbelievable barrage of attacks!"
Ryu blinked slowly. He sat back in his chair.
It wasn't a fluke. The launch angle for the Rush Shoot required absolute precision, but Valt executed it through sheer instinct and willpower. It was completely unrefined, raw, and incredibly effective.
Ryu pulled his phone from his pocket, opened a blank note, and typed a single line.
*Valt Aoi. High-speed multi-directional impact. Needs to be caught off the rebound.*
"Match 5 is up next!" Hanami announced. "Block C's heavy favorite, Shu Kurenai, steps onto the stage!"
Ryu pocketed his phone and kept his eyes on the monitor.
Shu walked onto the stage. The contrast between him and Valt was staggering. Where Valt was a chaotic ball of energy, Shu was ice. He walked with perfect posture, his face completely devoid of emotion.
When Shu stepped up to the stadium, the crowd noise seemed to dial back. There was a level of respect there.
His opponent was already sweating.
"Ready... Set!"
"Three! Two! One! Go Shoot!"
Shu's launch was surgical. Storm Spriggan hit the stadium floor and immediately took the center, spinning with a fierce, aggressive hum.
His opponent's Bey charged in.
Shu didn't yell. He didn't strike a pose. He just watched the opposing Bey approach, his red eyes tracking the trajectory.
Spriggan didn't wait to be hit. It intercepted. It caught the opponent's layer on its heavy metal contact point, utilizing its own rotational force to completely shatter the opposing Bey's locking mechanism in a single, brutal clash.
*Burst.*
The match lasted three seconds.
"Burst Finish! Two points! Shu Kurenai advances!"
Shu caught Spriggan as it popped out of the stadium. He didn't celebrate. He just turned and walked away, his face cast in shadow.
Ryu watched him go. Shu was angry. The loss in the park yesterday had completely rattled him, and he was channeling that frustration into his matches. He was fighting with a terrifying efficiency, refusing to waste a single movement.
"Attention all competitors," the automated voice chimed over the PA system. "Block C and D first-round matches have concluded. We will now take a one-hour intermission. The food court on the second level is now open."
The waiting room immediately descended into chaos as a hundred hungry kids rushed the doors.
Ryu stood up, taking his time. He waited for the initial stampede to clear before walking out into the hallway. The sheer volume of people in the stadium was starting to become a nuisance, but he had a routine to maintain.
He took the escalator to the second level. The food court was massive, lined with vendors selling everything from burgers to takoyaki. Every single table was packed. The noise was a constant, overlapping drone of conversations, chewing, and scraping chairs.
Ryu walked up to a quiet vendor in the corner, ordered a simple cold soba noodle tray, and paid. He carried his tray through the crowd, his eyes scanning the area for an empty seat.
He found one. A small, circular table right next to a massive potted plant near the back windows. Perfect. Isolated.
He set his tray down, pulled out the chair, and broke apart his wooden chopsticks. He picked up a small portion of noodles, dipped it into the tsuyu broth, and raised it to his mouth.
"Ryu! Hey! Ryu!"
Ryu stopped. The noodles were halfway to his mouth. He didn't move his head. He just let out a breath.
A tray slammed down onto the table directly across from him. Valt Aoi dropped into the chair, holding a massive burger with both hands.
"Man, this place is packed!" Valt laughed, completely ignoring the fact that Ryu had specifically chosen this table to be alone. "I saw you sitting over here and figured I'd come say hi! Did you see my match? I totally messed up the first launch, but then I hit the Rush Shoot!"
Rantaro appeared a second later, carrying a tray loaded with curry rice. He sighed heavily, pulling up a chair on Ryu's left. "Valt, you can't just ambush people while they're eating. Give the guy some space."
Daigo quietly slipped into the remaining chair on Ryu's right, setting down a small bowl of rice. He gave Ryu a brief, apologetic nod.
Ryu looked at Valt. Then at Rantaro. Then at Daigo. He was completely surrounded.
He slowly lowered his chopsticks back onto the tray.
"I saw the match," Ryu said, his voice completely flat. "Your footwork on the first launch was abysmal."
Valt laughed, his mouth full of burger. "I know, right? I tripped over my own sneaker! But it worked out!"
"It shouldn't have," Ryu stated. "The Rush Shoot relies on the rubber driver catching the ridge at exactly forty-five degrees. The margin for error is almost zero. Doing it purely by feeling is highly inefficient."
"Inefficient?" Valt tilted his head, swallowing his food. "But it works! Valkyrie knows what to do. We just have to trust each other."
Ryu stared at him. He tried to process the statement. *Trusting a piece of polycarbonate and metal.* It was the same completely illogical concept he had seen on the island, but here, it actually produced results.
Rantaro pointed his spoon at Ryu. "Hey, I saw your match too. You literally just stood there. Is that your whole strategy? Just wait for the other guy to tire out?"
"It is the most practical method," Ryu answered, finally picking up his chopsticks again and taking a bite of his soba. "Why expend energy when your opponent is willing to defeat themselves?"
"That's boring," Valt said bluntly.
Rantaro choked on his curry. Daigo's eyes went wide. You didn't just tell the guy who obliterated Shu Kurenai that his blading style was boring.
Ryu chewed his noodles slowly. He swallowed. He looked at Valt, his mismatched eyes completely unreadable.
"It is," Ryu agreed quietly.
Valt beamed. "Right?! Battles are supposed to be fun! You have to clash, and sweat, and feel the impact! If you just stand there, you're missing the best part!"
Ryu looked down at his tray. He thought about the empty feeling he always had when a match ended. He thought about Lui, traveling halfway across the world just to find someone who could push back.
He looked back up at Valt. The blue-haired kid was completely genuine. There was no arrogance, no posturing. Just a pure, unadulterated love for the sport.
"Perhaps," Ryu said softly.
Before the conversation could continue, the chair next to Valt was pulled out.
Shu Kurenai sat down, holding a bottle of water. He didn't have any food. He looked at Rantaro, Daigo, and Valt, and then his eyes landed on Ryu.
The atmosphere at the table shifted instantly. The casual, chaotic energy was replaced by a sudden, heavy tension. Rantaro stopped eating. Daigo set his chopsticks down.
Shu unscrewed the cap of his water bottle. He took a sip, his red eyes never leaving Ryu's face.
"You're in Block C," Shu said, his voice calm, but laced with absolute intent. "If we both keep winning, we face each other in the quarter-finals."
Ryu met his gaze. The memory of Spriggan shattering in the park flashed in his mind. He remembered the force behind Shu's launch.
"I know the bracket," Ryu replied evenly.
"I won't launch the same way," Shu stated. He leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on the table. "Spriggan won't break next time."
Ryu held the stare. He didn't smirk, and he didn't try to intimidate him. He just processed the information. Shu was adapting. He was evolving. That meant things were changing.
A very faint, almost invisible light sparked in Ryu's pink and grey eyes.
"I look forward to the new match, Kurenai," Ryu said.
Valt looked back and forth between the two of them, the heavy tension completely flying over his head. He grinned, raising his burger.
"This is going to be the best tournament ever!" Valt cheered.
Ryu picked up his chopsticks again. The food court was loud, his table was crowded with chaotic strangers, and the strongest blader in the district had just promised to crush him.
For the first time since leaving the island, Ryu didn't feel bored.