CHILDHOOD
Amai's parents, Valentín Reyes and Marin Otomo, were both in their early twenties when they got married. They each had their own reasons for rushing their relationship, and that trend continued when they had Amai less than a year later. Valentín opted to take his wife's last name, doing the same for Amai in the hopes that the two of them wouldn't be seen as outsiders. The first four years of Amai's childhood were... rather average. Her father doted on her, though her mother couldn't quite get the hang of parenting. While Amai remembers her relationship with her mom as awkward and stilted, Marin would always feel a mix of frustration and guilt at not being able to truly connect with her new life. Eventually, Valentín and Marin divorced when Amai was four years old, and Valentín ended up with sole custody of her. With only one person to support the little family, life grew a bit more difficult. Valentín struggled to find a stable job that would also allow him to spend time with his daughter. Amai's memories of this time are more rose-tinted, and she doesn't seem to realize just how much her father sheltered her from the reality of the situation. It was actually Valentín who introduced Amai to Beyblade and who was the original owner of Amai's current Bey, Shining Vulpe. Though he didn't have much time for actually blading, he enjoyed teaching Amai the basics. The two of them would take trips to Metal Bey City every few months, mostly to visit the B-Pit and keep Vulpe maintained. Sometimes Amai would get to explore the city with her father while waiting for Vulpe's maintenance to be completed, and other times she'd play with the mechanic's daughter at the park or inside the B-Pit.IDOL CAREER
When Amai was nine years old, she decided that she wanted to be an idol. Idols are cool and cute and pretty and have tons of fans and friends! It'd be lots of fun, and plus she'd get a lot of money and her papí wouldn't have to work all the time! With money a bit too tight for professional lessons, Amai mostly had to practice her skills with the help of the Internet and performances on TV. She had a knack and a love for being on stage, practically throwing herself at every audition in her area. It took about two years for Amai to be scouted, and she was admittedly disappointed to learn that she'd have to go through another long training process before she'd get to actually debut. But she persevered and her efforts were eventually rewarded! (It was actually just a few months, but shhh, it felt like forever.) Amai debuted at twelve years old as a solo idol, performing under the stage name "Ai". Her manager was Satomi Kubou, a former idol who was involved in a scandal about a decade beforehand and eventually pivoted to the business aspect of the idol industry. Being an idol was... not like how Amai expected. The hours were long, and she'd often be overworked to the point of exhaustion for months on end. Satomi, admittedly affected by her own time and eventual disgrace as an idol, encouraged her to avoid any unnecessary interactions so that there'd be fewer opportunities to tarnish Ai's image. The list of people Amai spoke to regularly dwindled down to the employees of her talent agency, Satomi, and her father, when she was lucky... Well, and Ai's fans. Being even just a bit famous wasn't as fun as Amai imagined - she had to keep up a cheerful, energetic persona 24/7 lest she offend someone by being too tired for a picture or an autograph. People got to speak to her however they wanted, but she had to watch her every word, even when she was face to face with stalkers who forced her and her father to move to new apartments just to try and get some privacy. And worst of all, she wasn't earning nearly as much money as she hoped. Her father still had to work all the time. It wasn't what she expected, and it wasn't what she wanted. Amai wanted to make people happy, to sing for them, but she didn't want to completely give herself up for people's entertainment. Satomi would assure her that things would get easier as time passed. If she just worked harder, she'd get to where she wanted to be. So Amai worked harder. And harder. And harder. The breaking point was when Valentín died just a few weeks before her fifteenth birthday. "Karōshi", the police said. He worked himself to death. It shook Amai to her core - one of her main motives behind becoming an idol was to make her papí's life easier, but she ended up not able to lighten his load even a bit. He wanted her to enjoy her life, but Amai's life wasn't enjoyable anymore. So what was she doing? The only reason why Amai didn't outright quit was due to Satomi's insistence that she just go on an indefinite hiatus so that she could return when she was ready. Amai agreed, and so Ai vanished from the public eye.POST-HIATUS
After much consideration, Amai decided to move to Metal Bey City. His papí liked going there when he was younger, plus it was a major Beyblade hub. Truthfully, Amai never really had time to get into Beyblade, but his papí loved it, and so he always had an affection for the sport. However, Amai found himself faced with the horrifying possibility of being an absolute failure of a Blader and getting a bad grade in Beyblade, something that is normal to fear and possible to achieve. So instead of talking to people and engaging in his chosen hobby, he decided that the best move would be to practice by himself until his skills reached a level he deemed satisfactory. This entire routine lasted for maybe... a week and a half before before a certain mechanic threw a wrench into his entire plan (no pun intended). As it turned out, Amai wasn't nearly as sneaky as he thought he was, and he ended up getting caught by Madoka in the middle of one of his solo training sessions. Amai nearly had a heart attack when Madoka announced that she recognized him, thinking that she was talking about Ai, but then Madoka explained that they used to play together when Amai's dad would bring him to Metal Bey City and Amai had a moment of "oh I actually do remember that." Madoka offered to train with Amai since he seemed too shy to approach anybody, an offer that Amai hesitantly accepted. Huge win for the Amai community: making his first friend in like four years!METAL FUSION
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After a few months, Amai still only has one friend in Metal Bey City, and she's perfectly fine with that. Trying to keep several friends happy at once is a pain, anyways. Madoka still urges her to at least battle other Bladers and compete in smaller tournaments, and Amai (reluctantly) does so.
It's not too bad of a life. It's a bit annoying when she gets bothered by Face Hunters who want to use her for easy points, but at this point she's just starting refusing battles if they won't be any fun. She keeps getting threats about how their leader is going to come and straighten her out, but surprise, surpise - nobody's come to kick her ass yet. |