music recommended - pokemon's lavender town syndrome original (orchestral version)

valt simply ignored the comments he recieved upon the rest of the beyclub arriving and immediately masked his face and emotions with his trademark "forced" smile. he'd only realized being this false version of himself had become more difficult than before.

there was no reason for them to worry about his well-being, they wouldn't do so anyways. it's been a running gag since the beginning, a thought of, "why would Valt ever not be okay?"

valt snapped out of his thoughts and kept the cheeky grin plastered on his face. "as the beyclub's leader, i've come up with an excellent plan to defeat our upcoming opponents!"

everyone groaned and rolled their eyes at the blue haired male's usual antics. rantaro face plamed and shook his head. "Here we go again.."

something painful struck valt throughout his body, a wave of distraught emotions washing over him as the other members questioned both his leadership and enthusiasm. he frowned shortly before smiling once again.

"well?" wakiya retorted impatiently. "Get on with it, already!"

valt took a deep breath and demonstrated a running launch, each time he did so explaining how the run affects a bey's trajectory and how it can be a better advantage as certain runs correlate with certain bey types.

shu noticed something was off about his best friend. it was as if valt had been replaced with a somewhat lesser version of himself.. It was quite difficult to describe. he frowned for a little bit, but i know for a fact he only frowns when something is bothering him.

while shu became immersed in his thoughts, valt kept speaking about strategies he'd been working on for days, making him feel satisfaction to finally show the others what he'd come up with in isolation.

but to his dismay, it didn't stay that way for much longer.

after he finished his talk, he looked up and was met with bored faces, except ken, who clapped silently with his puppets. valt chuckled awkwardly, "y'know, maybe they're not that effective."

daigo began to point out the flaws in valt's plans while everyone else went back to either talking or blading. he mentioned his ideas not being useful, but in the nicest way possible.

"i'm sorry, but none of these will work with what we're up against. anyone could think of that." daigo stated flatly.

valt's heart shattered.

all that work...

time dedicated to thought...

re realized he was useless as well. no one would care if he left. how could something so small break his spirit?

he protested. "but I made these with careful precision!" at that moment, he was done. it was too much of a strain on his heart to handle.

valt wanted to go to a corner and cry.

"i don't feel okay, see you guys later."

and so he left, leaving the others suspicious, but they shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

shu knew immidiently that something was up. a pit in his stomach started forming, but it could be anything ..right?

no one else noticed that there was something wrong with valt, they thought it wasn't that big of a deal.

valt left the school and broke down on the spot. there's no point in being there. he is a loser. he is worthless.

he walked home feeling horribly on the inside.

『 later 』

valt arrived at his house to find that it empty. he then remembered the twins were still at school, and his mom was out grocery shopping like she stated yesterday.

he went back to his room and slid against the door tiredly. his eyes appeared bloodshot from crying excessivey, but then his gaze tilted to see a knife on the nightstand.

"why is that here?" he asked himself quietly as he got up with tears rolling down his cheek. he picked up the kitchen utensil and pressed against his finger to find that it was sharp, which caused him to smiled widely unknowingly.

he looked at his smooth, pale arm, a dark thought forming inside his mind. "maybe i could just..." his tears continued their path down his cheeks as he held a firm grip on the knife.

valt slid it across his skin.

he winced, as this was a new feeling to him, but it felt like a good one. it felt as if he's been released of his pain through a new, sick, unfamiliar pain.

although it stung like crazy, valt only focused on the pain and repeated his actions. the more he cut, the more he thought he should stop.

but poor valt wasn't in control anymore.

down on the floor were a few droplets of blood, which he could easily clean up so his mom and siblings won't have a clue about what he did.

he quickly got some wet towels and cleaned up his mistakes.

his flaws.

something was definitely wrong with the hedgehog boy.

valt suddenly realized he hadn't eaten in a while and opted for some food, but he stopped himself upon remembering the earlier events with the beyclub.

the landline suddenly rang, and so valt dragged himself out of his room to answer. he muttered, "right when it was so quiet." he looked down at the caller id and froze.

"shu."