B-DAMAN TOURNAMENT TAKING PLACE IN TOKYO, JAPAN! HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

That's what was written in an email sent to Samuru, Novu, Basara, Riki, Kamon, Jenta, Bakuga, Luna, and Zana.

But the question remained:

Should we really go?

•~•~•~•

"Are we going or......" Kamon let the words linger.

"I don't know," Jenta began, "It's just...." He stopped not bothering to finish his sentence. Everyone already knew exactly what he meant.

Riki stood up from the bench he was sitting on. The eight of them decided to go chat about the message at a nearby park. Yes, eight, Basara was god knows where. Riki's eyes stared straight into the sky, opening his mouth to say something when.....

"Why don't we take sometime out on our own?" Novu suggested, eyeing all of them. "We all need sometime to sort everything out."

"Yeah," Zana agreed as Samuru turned away from them, hands in his pockets.

"But what difference does it make?"

Everyone's eyes darted to the navy haired boy.

"It doesn't matter if we go or not, the road fight rules still exist. We can't exactly go to this tournament and act like absolutely nothing happened."

"Samuru....." Luna whispered softly.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm out," And with that he was off.

"Let's just think about it, alright?" Kamon turned to his friends.

"Yeah," They agreed. Then, they all turned their sperate ways. Only Riki stood there, alone. He had left Dracyon at Aona's restaurant, so he stood there staring at the sky in solitude.

•~•~•~•

"Novu, Basara, Samuru, Riki, Kamon, Jenta, Bakuga, Luna, and Zana?"

"Yeah, they're going to be the representatives of Crestland. That is, if they come."

"Hmm, I wonder....... What will Dia and Kanan do.....?"

•~•~•~•

"Hey, Riki?"

The blue haired boy turned around to see who had called his name. Sakura stood a few feet away from him with a smile plastered on her face.

"What are you doing here alone?" she said gently.

"Um, just getting some fresh air," he lied, his gave averted to his toes.

"You're a terrible lier," Sakura gave a short response. "So..... Spill." she demanded.

"Huh....." he sighed reluctantly (is that the right word? Eh, I don't really care at this point. School's out so.... Yeah.) "Fine!"

Time skip because y'all already know what's going on so I ain't explaining!

"Ah, so that's it," Sakura closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Samuru kinda tolded me about that."

"He tells you everything, doesn't he?"

Sakura smiled, "Yeah, I guess he does," She looked down at her lap. "I'm glad he had a friend like you."

"What does that mean?" Riki asked, curiosity taking hold of him.

The white haired girl shook her head, "N-never mind that," she stuttered, "are you going to go to the-"

"No." came a cold replie.

"Riki........." he turned his face away from her's. They both sat on the bench in comfortable silence.

"You really are just like Kamon, aren't you?" she said, almost to herself, as she looked up into the sky.

Riki turned his head around sharply, "What does that mean?"

"I'm the East area b-master and the cross-fire champion, I can't afford to look weak. I have to be strong, I can't lose," she faced him. "That's what you're thinking, right?"

He turned away from her, "Maybe....."

"If you think that your parents, your friends, everyone, if you think that they'll be disappointed then your wrong. They'll never be disappointed in you," She looked away. "At least, I won't."

Riki stared at her, shell shocked. Is that what she thinks? He thought. "Sakura, I......."

"I talk to much, don't I?" she asked, stifling a laugh. "I don't think you should let my opinion persuade you, I really don't. What I'm saying is that you should do what you think is best, not just for everyone but for you, and remember."

"Remember what?"

"Remember," She grabbed hold of his hand, the faintest trace of rose covered his face, "that I'll always be right by your side."

Riki smiled at the thought, "Thank you," he whispered, "so much."

Sakura returned that smile, " No problem."

She'll always be by my side, eh? Well, then I have nothing to fear.

•~•~•~•

Kamon was sitting down in the booth at Aona's restaurant, looking through the window. No one but himself was there, Aona was out buying ingredients, he left Gaurburn in his room along with everyone else's b-daman, and everyone else was just out.

The bell from the door sounded.

Kamon turned his head sharply. There stood Sakura, holding an envelope in her hand.

"Hey, Sakura."

"Hey, Kamon. Where's Aona?" she asked.

"She went to the store."

"Oh, well can you give this to her when she comes back?" she handed the envelope over.

"Will do." he replied.

"Well, I'll be on my way now." she turned to the door.

Suddenly, a strong urge took over him, he reached for Sakura's hand and pulled her into his embrace.

"Please, don't go. Not now," he whispered, the envelope fluttering to the ground.

"Kamon......."

His grip tightened.

"What's wrong?"

"........."

"Don't worry about it," she broke away from his embrace and hugged him. "It'll all be fine so there's nothing to worry about."

"How, how can you be so strong?" he began. "When everything is on the line, how can you be so strong?"

"Because I know," she replied, "that if I helped one person, my life was well spent. Helping that one person is all I'd need."

That one person. That was him.

Sakura pulled away, wiping her eyes.

"Sakura........" her tears transferring to his eyes.

"I'm alright," she assured, tears still in her eyes. "I'm alright. There's no need to worry about me."

"Okay. Then I'm alright, too."

She smiled at him, and he returned it.

The image of two people crossed his mind. A teen with green hair and blue eyes flashed in front of his eyes as well as a younger girl with red hair and aqua eyes.

He realized something that the three of them had in common. They were all the only ones who could dry away all his tears.

•~•~•~•

Standing in the middle of the Shira Corporation's lab, Jenta stood silently.

He sighed, "What should I do?"

"Jenta?" a familiar voice questioned, so familiar that Jenta didn't even need to turn around.

"What do you want, Bro?"

Bakuga walked up next to him, "I didn't expect you to be here."

"Neither did I."

Jenta peered into his best friend's face. He looked blank. It brought him nostalgia of when he had sealed away his emotions. Perhaps he hadn't completely destroyed that habit.

"I wish I knew how to help....." Bakuga exhaled.

"With what?" Jenta questioned.

Bakuga's eyes widened and then he immediately slapped himself in the face. "Darn, I said that out loud."

"What do you want to help with?" Jenta continued to question his best friend.

Bakuga removed his hand from his face and stared at his best friend with a somewhat cold glare that changed into a look of sorrow. "I wish I knew how to help you!"

Jenta stared at him. Help him? With what?

Bakuga averted his gaze forward, "With all the drama with your father." He shook his head. "You've been...... A great friend. And I wish I could help you."

A hand landed on his shoulder.

"You don't need to worry about me, alright?" Jenta smiled.

"That doesn't stop me from worrying." Bakuga replied. "Hey, Jenta?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think that we should enter the competition?" he said in a soft tone.

"I..... Don't know...." Jenta whispered.

"I wish we did."

The two of them stood in the lab silently after that.

"Mr. Shira," a girl's voice said softly, "thank you very much."

Jenta and Bakuga peeked outside of the lab to see what was going on.

Sakura was standing near the door way facing Bakuga's father, who was holding three letters in his left hand.

"Sakura, I-"

"Don't worry about it, okay?" she assured him, a smile plastered on her face. However, that didn't seem to assure him in the slightest.

"Father?" Bakuga stepped out of the lab.

"Bakuga?" Mr. Shira turned around to face his son.

Sakura smiled, "Hey."

"What's going on?" Bakuga questioned.

Mr. Shira opened his mouth to speak but Sakura beat him to it.

"I just came to deliver some letters. I'll be on my way now, " she opened the door and stepped out. "See ya!"

"Here," Mr. Shira handed one letter to Bakuga and one to Jenta, "they're for you."

The two friends looked at each other, confused, but then turned to open the letter.

Both were surprised by the content of their letters.

"Dad.........."

"Mother..........."

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Hey! I'm not dead! Yet.....

Yeah I should have updated this ages ago, but I've been having a tough time right now. But I'll try my best to keep this story going! Anyways! Luna, Zana, Nikki! Guess what I did! I drew your OCs! Nikki yours isn't finished yet but I'll probably put it in next time.

If you're wondering why you look deathly pale it's because I can't color for my life and if I did the world would end. I also realized that you drew your own OCs before but I was to lazy to change it. So yeah. It's really bad and I'm sorry.

Annyeong!