Reincarnated in Beyblade Burst

During Lunch

Shu didn't return to school the following week as he wasn't ready to go back yet. I don't blame him. He doesn't want to be mocked and insulted everywhere he went.

What Shu didn't know was that I was making his birthday cake for him. Shu had already said that he didn't want a party (and to be honest, I wouldn't want a birthday party if I was in his situation either), so I had planned to surprise him with a picnic.

I went to the Aoi house to bake Shu's birthday cake. I had to buy twice the number of strawberries needed for the cake because I knew that Valt was going to sample some strawberries behind my back.

Fortunately, the strawberries only had to be added after the cake had finished baking, so I wasn't worried about wasting them if things went wrong. After baking two layers of sponge cake, I added some cream between the layers and placed blueberries and grapes on the cream. Then the second layer was placed on top and was topped with whipped cream and strawberries.

My decorating skills were messy, so there was more whipped cream than strawberries. But Chiharu told me that it was a good effort.

"Shu will love this," said Valt. "And save me a slice please? It looks so good."

"Don't worry," I promised. "If you like, I can bake another one. I just wanted to do this one at your place so that Shu will be surprised."

There was a surprise for everyone the day before the baby shower/Shu's birthday. Shu came back to school!

He appeared ten minutes before the first class and sat down next to Valt. I overheard Valt whispering to Shu.

"Are you alright now?"

"I'm okay. No need to panic."

"You still look a little pale."

"I'm an albino. I'm always pale."

People were still looking at Shu judgmentally, but he was ignoring them. It seemed that he had developed a new strategy of ignoring his haters.

It turned out that I didn't have to think of a plan to help Shu get back to blading. For Wakiya did it for me.

During lunch break, Kairi and I were sitting together talking about the coming weekend. Then Shu came by.

"Hi," he said. "I made you some spaghetti."

Kairi noticed that Shu's arms were bandaged. "Shu Kurenai! What happened to you? Don't tell me you have had another accident."

Shu turned red. "Of course not. I... I..." His voice went quiet.

I was worried. It seemed like Shu had stopped self-harming, but I was afraid that being reminded might upset him all over again.

Suddenly, Wakiya called out to Shu. "Shu, Valt told me that you haven't touched Spryzen since the International Blader's Cup. Is it true?"

Shu looked uncomfortable. "Yes," he said.  "I... I don't feel comfortable training or beyblading."

Wakiya gave Shu a funny look. "Are you going to quit Beyblade?"

"Er... I have considered it, but now I don't think I should do that."

Wakiya sighed. "Thank goodness..."

"But I'm not ready to Beyblade for a while."

"Shu, you love Beyblade," I told him.

"Shu, I'm sure that you are not going to get possessed again," said Kairi. I gave her a look. Did she have to mention that word?

"Come on. It's been ages since the last time we battled each other," Wakiya told Shu. "And that was at the Snake Pit."

Shu sighed. "You want to battle me that bad, don't you? Very well, let's battle."

So Kairi and I watched Shu and Wakiya battle. Shu was very rusty, so they tied in the first battle. Then Shu scored a point in the second battle.

"Who is Wakiya kidding?" Kairi whispered to me. "He's never going to beat Shu even if the latter has his hands tied behind his back."

"Kairi, you need your hands to launch," I told her.

But just before they launched for the third battle, Shu suddenly said, "What am I doing here?"

I forgot all about Shu's retrograde amnesia! He launched wildly two seconds too late and ended up losing a point as Spryzen stopped spinning quickly.

The rest of the Beyclub had started watching by now and they all looked concerned. "Shu, are you alright?" asked Valt.

Shu looked confused for a few moments before suddenly seeming to remember where he was and what he was doing. "Sorry. I don't know what got into me."

"Shu, are you sure you're okay?" I asked. "You acted like you had seen a dragon or a vampire."

Valt giggled nervously, and then I remembered that he once had a dream about a vampire, aka Clio Delon. I don't think the real Clio was a vampire, but...

Shu took a few deep breaths. "I'm good. One more battle."

So Wakiya and Shu launched again, and this time it was a tough battle. It lasted for five minutes before Shu succeeded at bursting Wyvron.

Although Wakiya seemed disappointed, he told Shu that it was a good match.

"I didn't realize how much I have missed blading," said Shu. "It feels good."

I wanted to respond to that, but before I could, we were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"VALT AOI!" called out Claire. "I want to talk to you!"

Valt looked so embarrassed. Having fangirls sure doesn't suit him at all.