#baihuzu

[iorihimee]

MAYBLADE 2023: DAY 24 - MEMORIES

[moonandblossoms]

I think Ray, Mariah, Lee, Kevin and Gary are so adorable as kids

They are!

[sultrybaby]

*gary talking to mariah abt his crush*

gary: I think there might be something there, like, between the two of us...

mariah: how? u just met...

gary: one, she likes anime

gary: two, she made some jokes...

gary:....

mariah:...

gary: ...I don't...I don't have a lot of boxes to check

mariah: oh my gOD-

[berserker-syndrome]

Unlisted Characters:

Berserker Syndrome: A Beyblade AU - Master Post

Bladebreakers/BBA: Takao, Max, Rei, Hiromi, Kyouju

Status: Alive

Takao, Max, Kyouju, & Hiromi will play a major role in Part 1: Strife

They will be absent for parts 2 - 3 and will return with Rei for either part 4 or 5 with a minor role.

BEGA/Justice 5 - Mystel, Garland, Moses, Ming-Ming

Status: Missing

Barthez Soldat

Status: Missing

Voltaire

Status: Deceased.

Killed in Prison by other inmates for the perpetration of child abuse.

Vladimir Volkov

Status: Alive

Plays a minor role in Part 1: Strife

Baihuzu/The White Tigers

Status: Alive

Unsure if they'll appear outside a mention or not yet.

PPB All Starz

Status: Alive

Unsure if they'll appear outside a mention or not yet.

Daichi Sumeragi

Status: Alive

Daichi left Takao's to travel the world and become a better Beyblader so that he can join Takao's growing list of major rivals and compete against him in the next world championships.

Unsure if he'll appear outside a mention or not yet.

The Adults

Daitenji will have a minor role in Part 1.

Judy Mizuhara will have a minor role in Part 1, maybe 4 & 5

Ryunosuke Kinomiya (Grandpa) is gonna get stuck with a very problematic Kai in the house for part 1. Send thoughts and prayers

Hitoshi Kinomiya will get a phone call in part 1

Tatsuya Kinomiya will get a phone call in part 1

All Other Characters

Not in the story at all aside from a mention or two at one point or another. Beware, some may be killed "off screen".

[meowstix]

ok so uh. here's my Big List Of Changes I'd Make To Bakuten Shoot Beyblade. off the top of my head.

s1:

be less 🤨 about some of the one-off teams. racism in beyblade is a whole can of worms that i don't feel super confident in talking about overall (seeing as how i am well. very much white) but at the very least there's a couple things that stand out as questionable and this is definitely the easiest fix in regards to that

that's about it

v-force/2002:

WHY THE HELL IS EVERYONE LIKE NOTICEABLY PALER. give them some fucking sun jfc (this also applies to g-rev)

this is one of the larger ones but include atleast an episode or two showing teams from s1. in particular i'm imagining neo-borg early on (see ozma defeating yuriy in the manga), the ppb team during the america eps, and. ok i'm admittedly not sure how you'd work baihuzu and the euro team in there but whatever

psykick should not exist. make zagart be responsible for everything from the start and call him out on all of the fucked up shit he's responsible for

instead of doing a bunch of random goon episodes make them do silly filler things with Maybe a goon thrown in at the end

g-revolution:

rubs hands together. there's a LOT to go over here for starters either treat daichi better or don't include him at all. if you were to opt to remove him then have kyojyu fight alongside takao instead

i don't actually know what to do with the world tournament but it definitely needs a full overhaul. on one hand the character balancing was doomed from the start but also i do kind of wish team cybers was there.

on the topic of the world tournament remove tao entirely. we did not fucking need the "pervy old man" archetype in beyblade. who the fuck thought that was not only okay but necessary

MAKE BARTHEZ SOLDAT MORE RELEVANT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THEY'RE ONE OF LIKE TWO INTERESTING THINGS HAPPENING.

speaking of which lean more into takao's struggles with fame

let kai and yuriy be anything more than Edgy. let them have depth. please. (i know yuriy did get to have depth for a bit but in his case i mean during the world tournament)

ideally i think takao vs kai, and really takao's battles with all of his teammates, would be a showcase of how far they've come since the start of the series. call back to their first encounters, show how they've changed, all of that stuff.

and speaking of kai. oh boy. time for the bega arc. for a long ass time i struggled to think of a reason for kai to join, but i think i've got it. after not only his loss to takao but possibly other fights during the world tournament, kai genuinely feels like he's falling behind. volkov takes advantage of this and while kai ultimately knows not to trust him, he's desperate.

this then ties into his conflict with brooklyn. brooklyn is in a similar position to how kai used to be at the start of the show, albeit less uh. Violent. so, kai not only learns how to deal with his own conflict, but also helps brooklyn deal with that same inevitability of burnout.

also, remove the whole aspect of brooklyn not enjoying beyblading because i can definitely see why the beyblade anime would be hesitant to have a character quit beyblading because they fucking hate it. this also fully allows the moral of brooklyn's story to change from "just work hard lol" to "you will never be perfect, and that's okay."

god dammit this could also tie into takao abandoning what the media and public expect of him i just now realized this one IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER I TELL YA.

you know the clip that's like "you're taking everything i say out of context to make it sound like i think coolsville sucks" and they cut it down to "i think coolsville sucks". i want more of that vibe

here's probably The most major change. the justice 5 matches? to hell with that. instead go for a hades city-style break in, allowing everyone to showcase their own unique strengths even outside of beyblading, and letting all of the main characters win their own respective fights.

and lastly, and this is the most crucial thing: cut it with that attitude of being Cool and Edgy. you are a fucking beyblade anime, embrace that! stop trying to act like you're Above power of friendship and silly spinning tops! have some fucking whimsy in your life.

oh also i guess like. acknowledge sacred beasts existing even if they're not really plot relevant. i kind of forgot about that

[the-stray-liger]

Baihuzu vs Neoborg lets gooooo

back at liveblogging beyblade and we're opening strong with Max being treated like Christ carrying the cross

[thepunkblader]

MARIAH WONG 💜🐆

this beautiful girl is amazing! 💜 What do you think?

Gifs by me :). enjoy !

[encb]

The monkey king!

[parfaitkiwi]

Not at all Beyblade related, but my cat got dental surgery today, and this picture of him holding up his little arm not at all sure what to do with his bandage is too cute not to share 😭. Kai to the kitty rescue? 👀

[misiwrites]

my beyblade fic masterpost

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

THE 4KINGDOMS-VERSE

the Tale of Four Kingdoms — A story about Takao, Kai, Rei, and Max being the four kings of a fantasy universe divided into four different kingdoms, named after cardinal directions. Each young and troubled in his own way, the four get to know each other little by little, delve deep into the secrets of the four kingdoms and their relations as they do, and form some secrets of their own as well. (WIP)

the Tale of Four Kingdoms: Other Tales — Oneshots written as a warm-up for the Beyblade Week fandom event in May 2021, one prompt-based oneshot of each kingdom to complement the 4kingdoms story/universe.

Springtime is upon us (firsts / childhood / spring)

Fired up by the sun (friendship / beach / summer)

The pleasure of a bountiful harvest (fashion / flowers / autumn)

In the harsh breath of a horrid wind (fears / animals / winter)

✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧

OTHER MULTICHAPTER STORIES

the Heart That I Love — A Max-centric story about him being a piano prodigy and the son of a world-famous pianist attending a competitive music school in New York - and the development of his relationship with Rei, a no-name violinist from China who turns out to have a surprising connection to Max's best friend, Mao. (WIP)

15 Fragments of Summer — One summer, Max and Rei decide to come up with a plan to get Kai and Takao together -- at any cost. However, it doesn't exactly work out the way they thought.

✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧    ✦    ✧

ONESHOTS

✦  AU oneshots junkyard — A collective of my (mostly Rei/Max) AU oneshots.

Eine Waldmär — Takao lives in a hut surrounded by a scary forest. One day he decides to leave on an adventure to find a silver-haired boy he once saw. (Fairy tale + monster AU)

Missgeschick — Rei goes to Judy's coffee shop in order to hit on her, as prompted by his classmates, but falls for her son instead. (Coffee shop AU)

Denk An Mich — Max learns about the concept of soulmates from a book he borrows from Hiromi. (Soulmate AU)

Das Spiel — Rei, the junior world champion in chess, has a fateful encounter in a tournament final. (Chess player AU)

Die Rosen — Yuriy is a judgmental flower shop worker who gets a couple of very puzzling customers. (Flower shop + fake dating AU)

Der Junge und der Tod — After a chain of strange occurrences, Max accepts the possibility that he's being haunted. (Bakeneko ghost AU)

Loreley — Rei is a starved vampire who finds his way to a forest lake. (Vampire + merboy AU)

Zauber der Nacht — Magical mayhem follows Takao, Max, and Manabu on a school trip in Okinawa. (Magical boy AU)

Dunkle Stunde — The consequences of a showdown on one fateful night. (Mafia AU → see below)  

✦  NSFW AU oneshots junkyard — A NSFW addition to the regular junkyard.

Haureutta, himoa ja valuuttaa — Max is a mafia boss, Rei is an assassin and Max's right-hand man, and they have a rather colorful history -- and a peculiar, steamy relationship. (Mafia AU)

Irstauden ilosanoma — Max, a chubby girl who’s lost her spark for blading, has very little motivation to participate in the world championships as part of the PPB All Starz until she finds out that Rei, a model that Max is a huge fan of, is also participating as a member of the Chinese team. (Genderbend AU)

✦  Miscellaneous oneshots set in canonverse

Mistletoe — A short, silly story about the BBA kids and a mistletoe.

Summer night ghost stories — Takao, Hiromi, Max, and Rei gather together one summer night to tell some scary stories - and Rei can't bring himself to admit how scared he actually is...

Double Date Dilemma — In desperation to improve her relations with Mao, Emily agrees to go on a PPB & Baihuzu double date.

By the ocean — Rei thinks he’s made a mistake.

Amaenbou —  The BBA Team does a summer trip to a quiet seaside town in Kyoto.

╚═══*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

[mach-speed-spin]

for sure i think a big thing with g-rev kind of. Not Really Using those returning characters is that it was kind of doomed from the start honestly. like i was talking about this the other day you have all these returning characters PLUS you have to establish new ones and this is all within an arc of like 30 episodes. combine that with a tournament format that actively screws over most of the members of these returning teams and it's honestly a miracle they even managed to make it out while still managing to land most of the newly introduced characters (f-sangrez in particular i genuinely did not expect to do anything but they made it to the semifinals somehow so i mean. good for them good for them)

out of the returning characters (excluding volkov) i'm.. not even sure who got it the best. yuriy had a brief but really good appearance in the latter half of the season before they put him in a coma for the rest of the show, i think rai got off relatively good too but also considering how much baihuzu got utterly screwed over i'm not really sure on that one. honestly in the end even volkov didn't make it out unscathed, dude's comeback was GREAT at the beginning but by the end it felt like he had kinda faded into the background (not that the finale was bad by any means, the bega arc really did begin and end with the best in the season it's just that it lost me between those)

They shouldn't have brought back everyone. Give us one or two episodes of minor characters (like Eddy, Boris, etc) losing in the tournaments and missing out on the world championships, then forget about them. Giving a character a good send off after one episode is better than keeping them around for the whole season if you don't do anything with them. Basically, the teams would be down to

BBA: Takao and Daichi (Kyojyu is a mechanic but not a blader. Hiromi is their manager, and Hitoshi is their coach)

Neo Borg: Kai and Yuriy. Maybe the rest show up to cheer them on in the finals and they train together or something, and they all help in the BEGA arc

PPB: Max and Rick, with Judy as the coach. The others can show up for the BEGA arc

Barthez: Michael and Mathilda, with Barthez as the coach. I thought of including Claude, but Mathilda had more of an arc. Maybe he and Aaron are shown losing in the qualifiers

F-Sangre: The team is already perfect when it comes to size

Bai Hu Zu: Rei and Rai. The rest lose in the qualifiers (maybe Mao accompanies them but is not on the team). Tao stays as their coach

They could also do what the metal saga did: give characters more importance in seasons after their introduction. Kenta is a side character in Fusion, barely present in Masters, and one of the main characters in Fury. Tsubasa is introduced in Fusion but gets more focus in Masters. Maybe if V-Force wasn't so disconnected from the other seasons they could do this. Introduce Barthez and F-Sangre (and maybe some of the BEGA bladers) in V-Force, thus skipping over their introductions in G-Rev, saving time (and V-Force has a lot of time to spare seeing as they made so many one-off mooks)

[gingericywolf]

Based a bit on how more feline they are in the manga, but if you are wondering if that pose is achievable.. the answer is yes, made my back crack like a glowstick but yes.

[meowstix]

For the ask, Mao/Mariah from bsb >:D

she's neat :3 love it when catpeople in beyblade

my brain is overall like. forgetting words here but there's def a lot of neat little things abt her and generally i think she was just pulled off pretty well overall

as with basically all of the returning characters in g-rev she kinda got shafted. not Quite as hard as some other characters (even when it comes to baihuzu, kiki in particular comes to mind) but it's still like, ya hate to see it

she's bi i think. i feel like her and emily got together after s1

(image source is same as before, albeit cropped cause the full image shows all of baihuzu's sacred beasts together) it's kind of a color mess but i like it other than that. too bad it's extremely difficult to find good images of it

i don't think there's a single other fight in the show that uses sacred beasts the way rei vs mao does so kudos to the writers on that fight

[wybored]

Baihuzu //  White Tigers

Pic credits: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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[parfaitkiwi]

Follow-Up Headcanon: Sergei the Olympic Texter

Back in December, I made a post about Sergei sending holiday well wishes to the BBA group chat for the most mundane holidays, which, if you're feeling frisky, is here.

My follow-up to this, now that we are in Olympic season, is that not only does the man have to diligently check his calendar for sundry international holidays, but he now also has to check the Olympic medal count:

"Congrats on the 3m men's synchronized diving even gold, Baihuzu!"

"Wow, PPB, Caeleb Dressler sure is a fast swimmer! Great job!"

"Wow, Robert! Great job on the bronze in mixed judo!"

Once again, no one answers.

But Sergei has a great time.

[misiwrites]

mayblade oneshot #1

prompts: bubbles; unpopular character; jewellery; rival; movie; lace; sleep characters: emily, hiromi, mao, max, rei pairings: emily/mao, max/rei word count: ~4,000

summary: In desperation to improve her relations with Mao, Emily agrees to go on a PPB & Baihuzu double date.

here’s a silly oneshot for mayblade about emily being an insecure baby lesbian. also like, an attempt to give her character development in 4k words, i guess. all prompts are questionably used, this required some "creative” patchwork to somehow combine them but i did it anyway because i love being weird. the “unpopular character” part is that this fandom doesn’t exactly have a surplus of fics about the girls and especially not f/f ships. idk if anyone even ships emily/mao but here you go anyway. this is the best i could do in 2 days, only marginally edited, also untitled so i’m posting only on tumblr first – i’ll put the mayblade oneshots on AO3 later once i know what i’m actually doing with the rest of the weeks (or if i do them)

☆ ☾ ☆ ☾ ☆ ☾ ☆

Although Emily has never been on a double date before, she has an inkling that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. And the only reason she finds herself in this situation, handcuffed to Mao in an escape room while wondering who’s even on a date with whom here, is a single idiotic suggestion made by Hiromi.

Technically, it had all started from a slumber party hosted by Mao. She had decided to throw an exclusive girls-only closing party once the world championship tournament was over, in the spirit of them no longer holding any animosity towards each other – supposedly, anyway. Emily hadn’t gone to said party, much to Hiromi’s confusion when they talked the next day.

“I’m not much of a party person. Besides, she obviously hates my guts,” Emily mumbled for explanation.

“Who? Mao? I don’t think so.”

“Well, I do.”

“What, because of the match the other day?”

Not just that, but it was the latest evidence of such. Part of the end-of-tournament celebrations had been the several ceremonial matches between the teams that hadn’t made it to the grand final, including a rematch between the PPB All Starz and the Baihuzu where, instead of the official tag teams, Mao and Emily had taken the places of Rai and Rick to spice things up a little and give the benched players an opportunity to join in on the fun. It hadn’t gone down particularly stellarly; their ferociously competitive personalities had clashed so hard that the match had turned into a catfight of taunts and insults tossed back and forth, it was far from a fun practice match for anyone included and ended with both girls storming out of the stadium, fuming, cursing each other.

Though Mao wasn’t the only one Emily had been cursing in that moment. She had also cursed herself, who had once again failed to contain her snarky temperament. For having once again let herself fall in the same mindset from two years prior, when she’d first met Mao and immediately framed her as a rival and her competition, just for being the only other girl in the main participating teams.

But she didn’t want to stay in that mindset. In fact, she’d intended to do the exact opposite, because the mere sight of Mao made her heart race in the queerest way and her legs feel suspiciously weak and her mind blossom with thoughts she could never, ever put into words for anyone to hear. Somewhere along the two years since they first met, Emily’s heart had undergone a drastic change. But the changes that Mao had undergone couldn’t be understated either; she’d grown to become so dazzling, so strong and blindingly gorgeous, those toned arms and muscular thighs combined with the impeccable feline cuteness; simply put, Emily had come to the horrific conclusion that she was falling for Mao, and hard.

The intensity of her own queerness had surprised Emily – although she’d already more or less come to terms with such inclinations within herself after having spent several formative years devoted to Mrs. Judy, recently admitting that her obsession with the PPB coach had, perhaps, slipped past platonic territory and into the realm of a puppy-like crush over time. (What could she say? Judy was a smoking hot lady.)

For some ungodly reason, however, Emily had found herself incapable of shedding the tough interior of a cold, lab coat-wearing bitch that she’d put on in front of everybody so successfully that, even now, she couldn’t really call anyone but Hiromi a friend; so, when the opportunity had risen to have a fun ceremonial match with Mao, she’d automatically played along the guidebook of being that bitchy, calculating nerd who only saw Mao as a rival. And Mao had responded accordingly. It had been a shitshow.

Hence, of course, when Mao had hosted a fun slumber party for the girls afterwards, Emily couldn’t bring herself to go. She’d wanted to, but she was too ashamed of her own behavior. The other girls were probably talking ill of her behind her back, anyway – except for Hiromi, whom Emily trusted to be the good friend she’d become to her. Honest almost to a fault, Hiromi always defended those who deserved it, and Emily wished she had even an ounce of Hiromi’s courage to be true to herself in front of others.

But Hiromi wasn’t just courageous; she was also alarmingly impulsive. And got a lot of very weird ideas that she then immediately jumped into executing. That’s why, before Emily could stop her, she’d come up with the bizarre idea of a double date that would allow the PPB and the Baihuzu to properly reconcile – and then voice-messaged Max about it. It was so instantaneous that Hiromi was already on the phone before Emily fully realized what she was even saying.

“Hey! So, I’ve been talking with Emily and she feels kinda crappy about that fight she had with Mao. I know she wants to make up with her but doesn’t know how. How about you take her and Mao and Rei on a double date to sort stuff out and have a good time? Sound good to you? Peace out!”

“I’m not going on a date with Max,” Emily immediately blurted out, scandalized by the idea alone. She never got over her distaste for the boy who bore such disturbing likeness to Judy but had none of her class nor style, and didn’t seem interested in inheriting any of it either. It was like being offered a Judy of her own age on a plate but worse, a pesky guy who wore bright orange overalls all day and didn’t even seem ashamed of it at all. Horrendous.

And, as per his response a minute later, Max thought the idea was “just great”. Therefore, despite Emily’s obvious disdain, this double date somehow came to being almost automatically without her input in any of it.

“Eh, you don’t need to think of it like that,” Hiromi assured her. “You do want to make up with Mao, right? I think it’s the best if you’re nowhere near a bey stadium to do it, honestly.”

Well. Emily did want to make up with Mao. She wanted more than to make up with her. So, in the end, she did agree to go on this date with Max and the Chinese pair… but only by summoning a whole different fantasy to go with it.

If I went on a date with Mao… What would I want it to be like? It was a tantalizing yet anxiety-inducing thought. After all, Emily had never gone on a date with anyone before, nor had she been so perfectly smitten with someone the way she now found herself smitten with Mao. It was a bit scary, a bit exciting, it was… nothing but a silly daydream. One that she clung onto wholeheartedly.

While getting ready for the date, she took a long, committed bubble bath. She thoroughly indulged in coconut-scented bubbly goodness and scrubbed herself squeaky clean.

She put on her favorite underwear, mint green with a bit of lace and cute little ribbons in the front – for confidence, not some absurd fever dream scenario of actually getting to show it off. Although… perhaps her thoughts did go in that direction, just a little. Enough to make her ears feel suspiciously warm while getting dressed.

She’d gone shopping for a whole new outfit for the occasion. A plaid shirt, ripped jeans, and a beanie that gave off a sufficiently sapphic vibe without being flashy. She even put on some jewelry, a rare sight on her that spoke of real committal for the cause. A couple of bracelets and a cute alligator necklace she’d gotten herself for a present before.

By the time she left her room to go meet up with Max, she’d almost forgotten she was supposed to go out with him instead of Mao. She’d gone in full girl-meets-girl mode while getting ready and now had to face the reality of… well, at least Max hadn’t put on the orange overalls for once. He was rather nicely clad in a button-up shirt and Capri shorts, in fact. Almost as if he’d put in an actual crumb of effort for the occasion as well, oddly enough.

The two of them went to fetch the Baihuzu pair from their lodging. She hardly paid attention to Rei (he sure existed, showing off his arms and wearing normal jeans that proved he had actual real legs despite habitually hiding them in weird, baggy yoga pants or whatever); she was only concerned with Mao’s adorable pink-and-white cat sweater and a pair of shorts, generous for her curves and thick thighs. Her hair was tied up on a couple of buns with red ribbons that bounced a little with each step as the four of them made their way downtown.

She was so cute, lovely, mesmerizing… bouncy. She looked so good that Emily almost didn’t mind her dismissive attitude towards her. Mao’s main interests seemed to lie in going to try out a bubble tea place near their lodging, to which the other two cheerfully obliged. To Emily’s dismay, Mao was annoyingly colloquial with Max who, as usual, got along with anyone with ease despite them not being friends of any sort for all she knew.

At this point, Emily didn’t notice anything off about the arrangement yet. She knew that the guys had known each other a long time, it wasn’t strange to her how easily they reconciled after a tournament of fighting against each other in rival teams. She figured they just slipped right back into their old acquaintance as if nothing had ever happened between them.

They had the bubble tea. Emily had something with mint, she didn’t pay much attention, she was more invested in watching how excited Mao was to try a “summer” tea with several fruit on it. Emily took the mental note that if she were to ever take Mao on a date, a bubble tea shop was the winner.

As if.

After the tea, they went to the infamous escape room – it was Max’s idea. Emily had never been to one before, but being a natural problem solver and engineering-minded, she rather liked the concept of a puzzle room. It wasn’t the worst way to spend a date she didn’t want to actually be on…

And now. Here is where she begins to wonder some. It’s not the fact that the two boys get along so well that puzzles her, but rather the lack of initiative of it feeling like Rei is on a date with Mao. The lack of similar intent from Max’s side doesn’t surprise Emily, he’s never shown any such interest in her (thank God), therefore the most of this double date’s premise hinged on Rei and Mao being a legitimate couple where she and Max were not…

but… how should she put it… something is just off about the mood as they proceed with solving the escape puzzles of the confined room.

Emily lets quite a lot of Max’s oddball behavior slide, having witnessed plenty of it by now as they’ve pretty much lived together as the PPB All Starz team for a couple of months now; but as she side-eyes the guys’ shenanigans as they solve a Tarot card-related puzzle together while Mao is preoccupied with a different task on the other side of the room, she’s becoming increasingly convinced that Max is flat-out flirting with Rei. Looks, gestures, touches, words. All the time. Constantly. It never ends.

Rei’s not doing anything to tell him off for it, either. If anything, he seems to be enjoying it.

And the intimate mood it has set in the room only grows stranger when Emily finds herself shackled to Mao a moment later, as part of solving a puzzle where they are instructed to create a literal chain across the room in order to get the final key. For the first time that day, she’s standing close enough to Mao to be able to catch the subtle smell of her sweet perfume. It’s a floral fragrance that Emily, with her limited knowledge of anything remotely related to cosmetics, cannot exactly accurately place but she’s guessing jasmine… With a hint of something potent, almost spicy… Saffron, perhaps…?

Shit. About time I should say something to her. It’s awkward, just standing there doing nothing. Moreover, the whole point of this outing was for her to make up with Mao, and so far she hasn’t said anything but a pathetic “hi” to her. Where to even start?

The flowery waft is so strong. She peers over at Mao, eyes drawn to the French pink of her painted nails. For someone so tomboyish, with the build of a martial artist, Mao sure is surprisingly feminine as well. She’s unbearably cute, really. Emily can feel the clamminess of sweat beginning to gather on her face just from the proximity. Would complimenting her work for reconciliation? Or would Mao just find it tacky? Or weird? Would it be insulting to focus on feminine stuff? Oh gosh—

“That’s a cute necklace,” Mao says.

Emily blinks. She intuitively looks down at the object hanging from her neck despite knowing perfectly well what it looks like. “Oh.”

Mao leans in a bit closer, to take a better look, and Emily is positively, utterly bewitched by the notion of just how long and dark Mao’s eyelashes are.

“It’s really original. Is that a crocodile?”

“An alligator,” Emily corrects. “For Trygator.”

Mao lets out a delighted shriek. “Of course! How stupid of me to not realize.”

The other end of the chain that’s connected to Emily’s left hand suddenly drops to the floor with a clutter. The puzzle has been solved, and Max comes over with a key to the handcuffs. Emily doesn’t know whether she’s more relieved or disappointed.

At least the ice is broken between them now. Emily is for once eager to push when they collectively wonder if they still wanted to go do something by the four of them. She definitely wants to keep going now, she’s finally getting comfortable with this mismatched party of four.

Since they’re in town anyway, they decide to head over to Max’s place to watch some movies, in continuation of a conversation they had over in the bubble tea shop where Rei admitted he’s never seen all the Lord of the Rings films. “How could someone not have seen them?!” – and Emily is inclined to agree, she’s seen each so many times that she’s lost count. But yet another Fellowship of the Ring re-watch always works.

Emily’s never been to Max’s house in Japan. Now, once she sees how ordinary and, well, Japanese the Mizuhara residence actually is, the thought occurs to her – possibly for the first time – how there’s more to the guy than being related to Judy. The mother and son look so alike, the fact that Max also has his Japanese roots easily slips Emily’s mind… but he does come from a different cultural background from her, after all.

As does Mao. Emily suddenly realizes, much to her embarrassment, that she never did put much thought into how different a place Mao or any of the other international bladers came from. It wasn’t something that she, as a white American, needed to be concerned with. All the different locations they toured during beyblade championships had felt like theme parks of some kind to her. The extent of her knowledge on China – well, she’d rather not even go there.

They get snacks from the kitchen and settle in the hobby shop part of the house to watch the movies. Mao chooses to sit on the floor while the rest make themselves comfortable on an enormous black corner sofa, the space is almost like an actual home theater despite hosting a bey stadium.

By the half-way mark of the Fellowship of the Ring, as dusk has begun to push against the windows from outside, they take a short break. Max goes to fix some more soda for them and Mao, stretching each of her limbs, climbs up to the couch to snatch some of the freed-up space. She’s still keeping a distance between her and Emily, though.

“This movie is too long, to be honest,” she says with a yawn and another stretch.

Emily couldn’t disagree more – but instead of stating so, she quickly bites back her tongue. Surely there’s something else she can say, something that’s not a potential spark for yet another squabble. That’s the last thing she needs now.

“What’s your favorite movie?” she decides to instead ask. It’s the first question she’s posed to Mao all day.

“Terminator,” Mao replies briskly.

Emily spits out her mouthful of soda.

“What? Seriously?”

“It was the first Hollywood movie I ever saw. Still the best! Classic!”

Wiping her chin on a shirtsleeve, Emily actually contemplates this answer for a bit. “So you did grow up watching American movies in your homeplace, then.”

“Well, not many,” Rei chimes in from his corner of the couch. “Not exactly many opportunities to watch movies in our village. Most places are lucky to have electricity…”

“But there’s been a conscious effort to bring the place up to speed in the last couple of years!” Mao insists, casting a mildly accusatory glare at him, as if he were at fault for leaving behind a village without televisions in the boonies.

Max returns with a new array of soda bottles. “My dad has a secret stash,” he explains, though nobody asked.

They carry on with the film, but Emily’s attention span is up, her thoughts scattered. She’s so very pleased to have been able to start a decent conversation with Mao. Up until now she’s had no idea what to even say to her, convinced that Mao’s avoiding talking to her in the first place; now she’s itching to ask more, even about their backwards Chinese village, maybe hear more about how she perceives American culture, suddenly the prospects of possible topics feel endless even without talking about blading.

Sam and Frodo take off, the first movie draws to an end. The Two Towers next? Hell yeah. But the boys leave to replenish the snack bowls first. Emily stifles a yawn that she catches from Mao; it’s not that late yet, not for a movie night, but Mao is starting to look like a sleepy kitten at this point.

“Are you and Rei actually dating?” Emily suddenly asks, emboldened by the girls-only moment – and perhaps the sugar high from too much orange soda as well.

The question earns an amused half-laugh, half-scoff from Mao. “Dating? Hah, I wish. I mean, I sure try, but Rei-nii basically said to my face that his head is too full of other shit for him to care. Eh, boys develop slow – I’ll give it a couple years and try again.”

“That’s commitment,” Emily mumbles, fiddling with her plaid sleeves. It stings, despite her having full well known how unlikely it was that Mao also liked girls. And even if she did, her commitment to eventually get through to Rei sounded like she had no plans to go and give someone else a try.

“Yeah, I’m probably just stupid,” Mao admits in a deceptively light-hearted tone.

So am I, Emily wants to say, but decides to instead get up to her feet for a bit, numb from all the sitting, and take a bathroom break.

So, it turns out, this so-called double date was actually a none-date, as neither couple is even seeing each other. No wonder it never felt like a proper date to begin with.

Or not like a boy-meets-girl date, at least. On her way to the bathroom, she walks right past the kitchen area of the house and, while at it, spots the guys engaged in their snack shenanigans – that is, snack shenanigans that are looking a whole lot like they are the snacks for each other.

She freezes, then sprints out of direct line of sight, feebly attempts to blend in with the wall behind her as she spies on the kitchen. She’s too far away to hear what the two are saying, speaking in low, hushed tones; but the way they’re pressed against each other by the kitchen counter, Max’s hand traveling up and down, up and down Rei’s muscular arm, and – whatever else they may be engaged in that Emily cannot see from her hiding spot – well, it doesn’t leave much for interpretation.

When they finally move away from the counter, she slips behind the bathroom door as quickly and quietly as she can, then peers through the narrow gap of the barely closed door. A few seconds go past, then Rei emerges into her view carrying a new bowl of the Cheetos that Emily herself has been snacking on all evening. He picks one from the bowl and is just about to eat it when Max’s hand appears from the side to snatch it from him; she sees Max, sporting a cheeky smile, toss the Cheeto in his own mouth, grab Rei by the collar, and pull him in for a mischievous little kiss before they move on.

Emily pulls the bathroom door closed. She takes a step back, her face glowing red hot with the warmth of stunned fluster.

Now, she thinks back, when Max agreed to this double date of him, Rei, Mao, and Emily – well, Hiromi never did specify that the one Max was going on a date with was her, not Rei. And Mao, too, is apparently in full understanding of not being in a dating type of relationship with Rei. So…

She returns to the movie room a moment later with her heart in her throat. And as Max puts the Two Towers on, she resolutely sits right next to Mao. The guys, too, seem to have seized the other corner of the couch together. They act civil in front of the girls but their games are so obvious to Emily now, it feels weird to even share the space and pretend she doesn’t know they’re itching to get into each other’s pants.

And she thinks of her own lacy panties that she put on this morning for a confidence boost. She shifts uncomfortably on the couch, feeling herself so silly all of a sudden.

Several quiet minutes of movie-watching drag by. Merry and Pippin meet the Ents, the approximately one hundred hours long battle of Helm’s Deep begins, all Emily cares for in this part of the movie is Legolas and Gimli, what else.

She feels a soft weight press against her left shoulder. Her heart jumps anew, her hands clutching the hem of her shirt in panic.

Mao, fast asleep, has slumped against her. The warm, steady puffs of her breath now tickle at the base of Emily’s neck.

A bead of nervous sweat rolling down her face, Emily side-eyes Rei and Max. To see if they noticed, if they care.

The guys aren’t paying them any attention whatsoever. She doesn’t care to pay them attention, either.

She straightens her glasses with a shaky hand. Then, slowly, she moves the same hand over to the back of Mao’s head. She gives the soft, pink hair a tentative stroke. Mao lets out a content murmur, so quiet, it’s more of a vibration that Emily feels on her skin than a sound.

And in the comforting darkness of the room, Emily allows herself a genuine smile for the first time that day. She relaxes her tense shoulders to better accommodate the sleeping girl leaning against her and smiles, she feels like she could keep smiling forever, she’s indeed never had less qualms about the length of the Lord of the Rings movies if it meant staying like this all night.

She cannot wait to let Hiromi know just how successful her double date scheme turned out to be.