Reincarnated in Beyblade Burst

Meeting With Principal Shinoda

Surprisingly, Shu wasn't too upset about the baby shower clashing with his birthday. He said that he wasn't expecting anything special anyway.

This was really concerning. A normal person would be upset about having their birthday be ruined by something else. Now that I think about it, Shu didn't seem very excited about his birthday.

Valt was pretty upset as he had already picked out Shu's present and was planning to spend the whole day with him. If only there was a way I could make it up to Shu...

Suddenly, I had an idea. The baby shower was starting at 11 am and ending at 2 pm. Maybe I could secretly plan something special for Shu in the evening. But I would need my friends' help.

Speaking of Shu, he was still being bullied. Sora kept trying to make his life miserable. Once she spilled lukewarm milk all over him just before Gym.

Another time she smacked his lunch to his face. I think that Shu wanted to cry, especially when half of the students started to laugh at him.

The students who were not bullying Shu seemed to be scared of him. They stared every time Shu came into the room. Honestly, I just felt so bad for him.

Shu is definitely much quieter than he used to be. I wanted to help him, but I didn't know how.

So I was glad about the Saturday meeting with Principal Shinoda and Valt, although it meant that I had to get up early. I had expected Valt to be late, but he was on time for once.

Principal Shinoda cut to the chase at once. "Now, I have been made aware that Shu is having a difficult time in school lately. Yet when I asked him to come to my office yesterday, he gave no complaints."

I didn't know that Shu had been called to Principal Shinoda's office yesterday. Why hadn't he reported the bullying?

"Actually, Shu has been picked on a lot, especially by a girl called Sora," said Valt. "She humiliates him and insults him. Shu tried to stand up to her at first, but now he just lets her do it. I think that his spirit is broken. He won't even have a battle with me anymore."

Hearing all this made my heart hurt. I wanted to help Shu somehow, but I didn't know how. Just then, I remembered the cyberbullying.

"Principal Shinoda, Shu has been receiving hate mail and nasty comments online. It's very upsetting to him, but I don't know how to stop it."

Valt was shocked when he saw some of the nasty comments. "Oh Shu," he said. "I had no idea."

"This situation looks very serious," said Principal Shinoda. "Obviously I can't help with the hate mail, but I can do something about the bullying at this school. I think that it would be essential for Shu to attend some counselling sessions and it would be best for one of you to accompany him."

"Shu will never agree to that," said Valt. "He won't even get therapy."

It was true. I had asked Shu to go and see the counsellor, but he told me that he wasn't ready yet. "To be honest, I don't think that I will ever be ready," he had told me.

"Valt, we have to figure out a way to get Shu to get some counselling," I said. "No matter how many times I remind Shu to be more open about his feelings, he still keeps everything to himself. I hate seeing him like this."

"I will have a talk with Sora Aizen on Monday to get to the bottom of this," said Principal Shinoda. "And I feel that I need to have a talk with Shu's parents. They need to know about what their son's going through so that they can help him."

Valt and I looked at each other in horror. They was absolutely no way Shu's parents would agree to have a meeting with Principal Shinoda, and they don't care about Shu! But I didn't dare mention that. It was Shu's secret.

But I was certain that Principal Shinoda would ask Shu for his parents' numbers so that he could talk to them. What would Shu say to that?

"I think that Shu really needs bodyguards this time," said Valt.

"Too bad bodyguards can't protect his feelings," I told Valt.

The meeting ended shortly after that, but just as Valt and I were exiting the school, Valt got a call.

"Hello?" he asked. "I think we have a bad connection Shu, you sound like you're crying... What? Don't move, I'm coming!"

I was stunned. "Valt, what's wrong?" I asked. "Is Shu okay?"

"He said... He said that he did something terrible," said Valt. He whispered in my ear, which made me horrified.

"No way," I said. "We have to check up on Shu now."

It wasn't long before Valt and I were rushing to Shu's apartment. For Shu had done something I had hoped that he wouldn't do.