Russian Words and Phrases:

Nyet- No

Dobrayi ootro Kai- Good morning Kai

Shto?- What?

Prastitiyi! (prahs-TEE-tyee)- Excuse me!

Gdye Gaspadeen Mogilny? (gdyeh gah-spah-DEEN mo-gil-nee?)- Where is Mr. Mogilny? (literally, "Where Mr. Mogilny?"- there's no "is" or "are" in Russian).

Spasibo!- Thank you!

Kto tam?- Who is it?

Da- Yes

Spakoinai nochi Kaya- Good night Kaya

I woke up the next day with Ivan over me.

" What is it? " I asked.

" Papa wants you to come with him to the sports club, " Ivan said. I sat up, surprised.

" Did you ask why? " I asked.

" He's my Papa, " Ivan replied. I took that as a "nyet." I decided to get up and found out myself.

"Dobrayi ootro Kai" Mikhail said as I entered the dining area. I saw that Mama and Elena were there too.

" What do you want with me? " I asked. I sounded a lot ruder than I intended, but the man just smiled at me.

" I know that you're out of high school, so why don't you go with me to the sports club? " Mikhail said. " I think you could be helpful. "

" Or you can train for the Target Beyblading regimen, " Elena said.

" Or you can stand in line with Mama all afternoon for the groceries, " Ivan said. That did it for me.

" So when are you going? " I asked Mikhail.

" As soon as we finished breakfast, " Mikhail answered. We headed for the sports club once we finished eating.

" What do you do? " I asked as he drove us there.

" Tumbling, " he replied.

" You mean gymnastics? " I asked.

"Nyet" Mikhail said. " Just tumbling. " I was about to ask what he meant by that when we saw the sports club.

It definitely looked like an old sports club- like the ones that were built during the 1950s and the 1960s. We entered the front door and after Mikhail showed the receptionist his I.D. card and talked to her on my account, we were both accepted in. (I could've just shown her my passport, but I don't know whether that would satisfy her).

In any case, I followed him to a large gymnasium.

" This is where all of my students work at their tumbling " Mikhail said, stating the obvious. Still, I couldn't help but watch them do their work.

There were long stretches of gym mats on the floor. A bunch of boys and girls in outfits were stretching. I then heard Mikhail clap his hands.

" Attention! " Mikhail said. All of the students came to him at once. " I would like to introduce someone from Japan- Kai Hiwatari. He'll be our newest member. " I then became shocked and turned at him.

" I wasn't informed of this! " I protested.

" You really don't expect me to keep you in my home for nothing, don't you? " Mikhail said. I felt a bit sheepish all of a sudden. I then realized that it was never his intention that I'll be a freeloader in his home (not that I was planning to do that, but I didn't expect to get a job like this).

" But I don't have any experience with this! " I then said.

" You don't need much experience with the job I'm assigning you " Mikhail said.

"Shto?" I said. I was soon led to a room filled with papers, notebooks, bills and other important-looking papers.

" Your job is to sort all of this out, " Mikhail said. I was so taken aback that I didn't reply for a few seconds.

" But I don't have any training in bookkeeping! " I said.

" I don't need you to figure out anything, " Mikhail said. " All I want you to do is put in the required data into the spreadsheet. "

" Spreadsheet? " I didn't recognize the Russian word for it.

" A computer program that allows you to enter numbers and formulas," Mikhail said. It took a few more seconds to figure it out.

" I see, " I just said. I then looked at the papers in front of me. " But where is your bookkeeper? "

" She left a few days ago, " Mikhail replied. " I need someone to fill her position until we can replace her. "

" So I'm a temp? " I asked. I didn't know whether I should be insulted or not.

" Until we can find another bookkeeper, yes " Mikhail answered.

" When will that be? " I asked.

" I can't answer that " he replied. " Now if you want me to show you how to operate a computer, I can do so. "

" I already know how to do that, " I said. Where did he think I came from?

" I'm talking about our computers, " Mikhail said.

" I can do it myself, " I said. I just wanted him to go away.

" I got to go if you don't want any more instructions, " Mikhail said. He then went to the door. " If you need any help, don't be afraid to go out. Lunch is at twelve. " He then left, leaving me with a lot of paperwork to do.

'I might've as well get this over with,' I thought. As much as I hate him for tricking me like this, he did have a point. I couldn't rely on his family feeding me and keeping a bed for me without me doing anything in return. I had to get a job and I guess I could do this until I can get a better job.

I then spent the morning just organizing all of the papers. There were bills, invoices and letters that had to be sorted. I had lunch around noon (Mikhail paid for it thank god), and I went back to work.

As I put in the data into the spreadsheet, I came to the conclusion that the sports centre had to be privately owned. I didn't know what occurred after Russia became its own country in 1991, but if it was still government-owned, why was some guy's name so prominent in the billing?

'Vladimir Smirnov,' I thought. 'Just who is he?' I then put all the bills in a box after I typed in the required information. I did this all afternoon.

It was four o'clock when I decided to call it a day.

'I wonder how long they last had a bookkeeper,' I thought. 'Some of these bills are already a week old.' I then turned off the computer and left the room.

'I see that they're still at it' I thought as I saw the trainees still doing their exercises. Most of them were tumbling on the mats while a few others were stretching. I didn't see Mikhail anywhere.

"Prastityi!" I said to one of the girls. "Gdye Gaspadeen Mogilny?" She didn't say anything but simply pointed to the lobby. "Spasibo!" I then went to the lobby.

I saw him talking to a man in a black coat. I can't recall seeing him before but something inside me cringed. I walked cautiously to them.

"Mikhail?" I said. Both of them instantly looked at me.

" Kai, are you done? " Mikhail asked.

" For the day " I replied. I then looked at the man in the black coat. " Who's he? "

" Kai, this is Vladimir Smirnov " Mikhail said. " He's our accounts manager. " The man looked at me in surprise. I wondered if he saw me before or it was something else.

I was about to find out the truth.

" Kai? Are you Hiwatari's grandson? " Vladimir asked. My heart skipped a beat.

"Ah!" I said. I then did what I still can't believe that I did- I ran back to the room and shut the door. I then went down on the floor, putting myself next to the door so that no one else can open it.

I knew that if Grandfather knew where I was, Mikhail, Mama, Elena and Ivan could get in trouble. I still needed to develop the skills in order to find Pyotr and avenge Timofei's death. Still, if Grandfather knew where I was, it could get them involved with my own problems, and I didn't want that. In short, I was afraid. I felt like a little boy again, looking up at Grandfather. Back then, I hated him and I still hate him. Now, I got to face the possibility that he could be back in my life again.

Still, even though I didn't want to see him again, why did I go back to Moscow for? I knew there was a chance I could see him again.

I then heard- and felt because my back was right against it- a knock on the door. I got up.

"Kto tam?" I asked.

"Mikhail," he said. I then opened the door. " Is there a problem? " I hesitated. Could he really be trusted?

" Do you know anything about Vladimir Smirnov? " I questioned. I then told him about the bills.

" He's the accounts manager for this centre, " Mikhail told me. " I don't know about him outside the centre. I was going to tell him about you when you came. "

" I see, " I said. Now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing Vladimir in any of my memories. I've no idea whether I should be worried or not. It depends on how close they were.

" We should go now, " I said. I've had enough of this day. Plus, I wanted to talk to Elena.

" I see that you've been working very hard, " Mikhail said, looking at the computer. " I was hoping that we could save some money with you here- "

" Get a real bookkeeper! " I said. Mikhail laughed.

"Da da," Mikhail said. " We'll be leaving for real now. I think my wife will have a very good meal for us. "

He wasn't wrong, but for the first time since I've been there, I wasn't inclined to enjoy her food.

October 10, 2005

I'm still at the Mogilnys' home. It's been three days since Elena took me to her home. I learned a lot about this new beyblading sport called Target Beyblading since then. I think that the body I found was Timofei's body, a victim of an apparent gang attack. Anna was not happy about the news. I can't get it off my mind. My only option is to find what exactly happened, but to do that, I need to join one of the gangs. I also want to find out what happened to Pyotr. He could be in trouble too.

" What are you writing? " Elena's voice caused me to stop and look at her. She was staring down at me. I almost regretted taking the bottom hunk. The only thing that saved me was that I was writing in Japanese.

" Is that Japanese? " Elena then asked.

"Da," I replied. I was writing it horizontally, which meant from right to left. "I learned it at school in Japan." I then stopped. Why was I telling her this?

" I see that it doesn't have any alphabet, " Elena said. " Most of them don't look similar to each other. "

"Kanji, nyet," I said. " It's based from Chinese, but there are two other systems that is much easier to learn. Compared with Russian, it can be a pain to remember. "

" I suppose that's true " Elena said. She then went on the bed. " So how did your first day go? You didn't look happy when you came back. "

" I may be bringing trouble to your home " I said. I then told her about Vladimir.

" Did he just heard of him or does he know him personally? " Elena asked. " Beyblading is considered a sport in Russia, and people in the sports scene do generally know each other well. "

" I know, but… " I then stopped. It's hard to explain it in words to someone who appears to have a good family about what my own childhood was like.

" How old are you? " Elena asked.

" Eighteen, " I replied. I then realized what she meant. " Look, I know I'm not a kid anymore. But you don't know my grandfather. "

" I may have never met your grandfather, but I've heard of him, " Elena said. " Kids that go to Biovolt are never the same again, even if they don't get accepted. "

" Elena, why do you want me here? " I asked. I then saw her get on the bed and kissed me on the cheek.

" I think if you thought hard enough, then you should know the answer, " Elena said.

" What are you saying? " I asked.

" You'll see, " Elena said. She then got up. " Remember that we got practice tomorrow, so get yourself ready for a good night's sleep. Spakoinai nochi, Kaya."

"Spakoinai nochi, Elena," I said. She then smiled back at me and left the room. I went back on my bed, thinking about what she said.

All of a sudden I heard a sound above me.

"Ivan?" I said.

" What did you two just do? " I heard Ivan ask. I blushed, not knowing what to say.

" Nothing " I replied. I then heard a "Whatever" and a sound of Ivan rolling on his bed. I then got my journal and wrote something else. It reads in English:

I think that Elena would be the biggest mystery yet.

I then put down the pen and looked up again. I had to go to sleep now, but as for me, I had no idea what laid ahead of me- something that will change my life forever.

End of Chapter Five

Since only one person has been consistently reviewing my fic so far, there'll be no review replies. Beyblade was created by Takao Aoki and distributed by Hudson Soft. If anybody 's reading this, please don't forget to review!