Something had happened back then. Not generally bad, or even pleasant. It just ... happened.


oOoOoOFlashbackOoOoOo

It was just before the semi-finals were due to start. Hilary ran down a corridor. Not paying attention when she brought almost everything down with it. Why did this idiot have to know everything better? Although he wasn't right at all. And why was she even with such a lacquer monkey?
Shortly after she woke up, she immediately noticed the calm in Tyson's grandfather's dojo. It was just too quiet. It was only after she noticed a note on her dessert that she glanced at her watch.
She was still running through the long corridors. In her hand this scruffy piece of paper that upset her.

Tomorrow sweetie.So the sweetness could really be put somewhere else.
Are already in the stadium.Oh no? That's why everything is so quiet here.
The semi-finals are today. Just say I didn't think until next year.
[i]Wouldn't have any business there anyway.What does that mean? And now (!) He could really shove his sweetness into his ar… well….
Tyson.It was clear that he wrote that. Who else would write such an insensitive note?

How could the idiot throw something like that at her? Was it completely banana now? So deep in her thoughts about strangling Tyson as soon as she saw him, she ran into someone. She screwed up her eyes, threatening to fall back, but she couldn't feel the ground in any way.
Someone had caught her.When she was pulled back up and he pulled her into his, yes it was a he, arms, she looked her 'savior' straight in the eye.
"Not so stormy, little one.", Said her counterpart in a kind of seductive way.
But when she realized who was holding her there, she quickly freed herself from his grip and poisoned him as quickly as possible.
"Keep your fingers off me!"
"Should I have dropped you?", He asked and eyed her.
"Leave it!"
"What?"
"You know exactly what I mean, Tala."
"As you mean.", He finally said and wanted to walk past her, but first their eyes met again.


oOoOoOFlashback endOoOoOo


When she looked into his eyes that time, it had been wet. Could hardly escape this spell. For a long time when he turned his back on her, she watched him go.

Sighing, she leaned against a pillar. She had previously left her glass on an empty table. There was already a headache.
"Memo to myself: The next time you stay away from alcohol, Hil."
She narrowed her eyes slightly. She was tired. She had hardly taken time off lately. Always had work in mind. Especially now that she was in her senior year. But she noticed for a long time that stress shaped her current life. Just relax. To relax. Just enjoy. But…
"Hilary !!"
... it just didn't want to.
"Oh not again," she hissed softly.
And not a second passed when Tyson was already standing on the mat in front of her.
"Hey Hil, I've been looking for you. What are you doing?"
"Nothing and I would like to stay with that."
"Oh, do you want to ... uh dance?"
"Tyson, I just told you I just want to stand around here!" She snapped at him cynically.
"Oh. Shall I get you something to drink?" He beamed curiously again.


oOoOoO


A little to one side stood the young man with the pumpkin on his head.Oh how he'll finish them off as soon as they get back to Russia. Then he would chase them through the snow desert until they no longer saw the snow, but saw it as red!
Oh yeah. How he was looking forward to putting the two of them off.
"Just leave me alone!"
He looked up. A young woman in a white latino dress with white wings was yelling at a younger man. He knew immediately who he was. But with the woman there was a bit of a problem. When he took a closer look, however, a grin crept onto his thin lips.
Carefully and without anyone noticing, he walked up to the two of them.
"Tyson, how many times. Leave me alone."
"Oh come on Hilary. Just a dance."
"Sorry little one, but the young lady owes me one more."
Hilary was suddenly clutched around her waist with one hand and pulled lightly towards someone. She turned her head back slightly.
"Who are you?" Tyson asked rudely as always.
"Doesn't interest you. May I please?" He asked the brown-haired woman.
"Um. Gladly."
"Hilary! You are not serious?" He said indignantly.
"You can see that she is serious.", Grinned his competitor and pulled the Japanese to the dance floor.

They had been dancing for a quarter of an hour without saying anything.
The songs that were played were a bit quiet at the moment. The current song was'Walk away'by the band Aloha from Hell. Hilary thought it was nice to dance with.
Usually she wasn't at all the type of person who would just go into such a clumsy scam. But this was an emergency situation!
Something told her that she knew the stranger. So it wasn't a stranger, but an acquaintance. Although that sounds a bit strange.
Now and then she looked at her partner dancer out of the corner of her eye. There was something about him. Except that he had a huge pumpkin on his head.
"Not seen for a long time, huh?", he ripped her out of her thoughts.
"What?"
He laughed easily.
"Just say you didn't recognize me? Okay, a little more difficult with masking."
"Again please."
"You're not on the boat today, are you? Well, it doesn't matter."
Hilary looked him now directly into his bulging eyes of the pumpkin and tried seriously to consider who he was now.
After a while she still wondered who he was. Actually, nobody would be considered. Apparently he even knew who she was! But from where. She didn't know that many either. Maybe it was one of her old classmates too? No. Nobody had really known her then. Or maybe ...
Oh it was a tear in my hair !!
"Give me a tip."
"Hm?"
Now he was the one who felt a little taken by surprise. What was it about this girl, or now a young woman.
"A tip, yes? Hm ... let me think about it."
She waited eagerly for a tip from him about who he might be. Meanwhile, they kept dancing, this time to the song'Amarantine'by Enya.
"Beyblade."
"What?"
"You wanted a tip."
"Yes ... but not ... a word ... I was thinking of ... a ... sentence?"
"You are really weird, do you know that?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" She said suddenly, a bit bitchy.
"Forget it. Okay ... sentence ..."
"Just say who you-" she was interrupted.
"Shh- ..." he whispered to her, pulled her off the dance floor, only to pull her out onto the terrace afterwards.
When they were outside, he let go of his hand and, as Kai always did, leaned against a wall. Hilary watched cautiously.
"What do you want?"
"Will you help me?"
"At what?"
"To pull the pumpkin off my head, of course!"
"Are you stupid? I don't even touch this ... pumpkin. Who knows where you got it from!"
"Just do it, Hilary!"
"Forget ... wait ... how do you know my name?"
"Yes, you couldn't miss it earlier, from the lacquer monkey.", The pumpkin man hurled at her.Hilary still looked at him skeptically. Who the fuck was he?
"Damn it, I'll turn the gnome into charcoal," he suddenly hissed menacingly.
"Which 'gnome'?"
"What? Oh, not that important."
She took a step forward, but in the process she stumbled through a loose little pebble and fell forward. However, her unknown 'pumpkin hero' caught her fast enough to prevent worse.
"Are you okay, little one?"
"Yes, yes, thanks."
When she got back on her feet, a clue suddenly shot through her mind.
- Small -
Wait ... there ... was something. Same tone, same tone. Same words.
"Ta ... Tala?"
"Oh ... you didn't fall on your head after all.", He said astonished, but the sarcastic between tone came out clearly.
"Wait a minute. Then… Ian meant you!"
"You know him ... closer?"
"Yes ... he ... is doing his year abroad at the university where I'm also studying.", She said, still confused.
"Oh, then he kept referring to you when he called me on the phone. I think he wants something from you. Like him ... oh no matter."
He saw her suddenly start smiling.
"What? Do I have anything? Oh yes ... right ... I've got a pumpkin on my head." That sarcasm again.
"How did you come up with such a ... sorry ... shitty idea?"
"It's not my fault! You can thank Bryan, the idiot. Well ... can you ... help me out of here, please?" He asked lovingly.
She just nodded and tried to pull the pumpkin off him. After a while she made it too, with a little help that came from him.
"I just hope nobody recognized me."
"Well Tyson definitely didn't get anything!", She laughed as she sat down next to him, as Tala had meanwhile made herself comfortable on the floor.
"He's also stupid. What was going on?"
"Oh, long story."
"I have time."
"Well ... I ... but don't laugh, okay?"
He nodded briefly and she began to tell.When she finished there was a heavy silence. To…
"You ... weren't really with the idiot?" He asked and was about to laugh.
"Yes damn it. And believe me, it was the biggest mistake of my life."
"Well, you always came back down from the trip."
"Well. But after that it wasn't exactly good either. A bad trip, if you ask me."
"I believe you."
Another little silence.
"Do you know that you haven't gotten out of my head since then?" He said suddenly and didn't look at her, but stared into the air.
She looked at him abruptly. His red hair, which stood apart in two directions as usual, was kind of ... tousled. It was a miracle that the hair even fit into the little round pumpkin.
He turned his head to hers and tilted it a little further down to her.
"Tell me why," he whispered so softly that Hilary could just barely hear.
"I don't know ... but ...", her voice also decreased significantly, "... I feel the same way."
Without both of them noticing, their faces slowly came closer to each other. Not even thought about it, was this step and yet ... both wanted it - This meeting.