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He loved them.
Wasn’t that just the worst thing?
When he stumbled upon this planet, he had no such plans, obviously. He barely had any plans at all - what could he do, really? Stumbling out of his ship, disoriented, lost and terrified. He had to gather himself. He had to plan, and figure out a way to—
To what?
What else could a Young Master like him do?
A Young Master, almost a prince, without a place to rule was no one and nothing.
Just a procurer, lost in the universe.
He wondered sometimes, what pushed him in Taiya’s way that day.
Was it fate? Was it simply a coincidence? Was it the universe, throwing him a bone, after taking everything away from him?
Of course it would have been foolish to say, that one man alone could balance out everything that Genba had lost, but–
But it felt like Taiya still did his best to make him… forget, sometimes.
Taiya was—
Taiya was like a star - burning and shining and always on fire, and he grabbed people in his gravitational pull so easily, and Genba told himself he’ll leave soon. There was no reason for him to stay around.
He’d leave soon.
He’d—
He’d find himself procuring things for Taiya, and then other people heard of him, and asked for his services, and—
And then Boondorio crashed and got stuck in Taiya’s orbit as well, and they were talking about the Big Band Grand Prix, and planet Bureki used to be one of the main sponsors for that, and Genba just wanted to tell them all about it, but instead—
…he liked watching Taiya work.
He had the kind of focus and drive that he was unwilling and unable to back off.
It was mesmerising.
Genba wanted to watch him win.
Of course Genba wasn’t the only one stuck in Taiya’s orbit - and after Boondorio, the others came one by one.
Chasshiro was the first - a look in his eyes that was familiar for Genba, his eyes being of someone who was used to being on the run, always looking behind his shoulders. He viewed Genba with suspicion, but whatever happened when him and Taiya met, it made him more… palatable whenever Taiya told him we can trust our procurer, you know .
“I don’t trust people who I don’t know anything about.”
“Understandable,” Genba nodded, turning the lollipop in his mouth. “I’m not terribly interesting, though. I’m just a procurer.”
It was a lie, and it also wasn’t, and Genba figured Ishiro simply did not believe him, and yet—
And yet, he’d start asking him for anything he needed.
More and more, day by day, and he was always precise and thorough.
Genba figured if anyone had an idea about what Genba was hiding, it was these two.
Taiya who met him, when Genba was still falling apart, trying to find a road he could walk on, and Ishiro, with his neurotic precision, and they were both so clever.
It was easy to admire them.
And then of course, came Mira.
If Taiya was a force to be reckoned with, how could you describe Mira?
It was like Mira had no concept of a brake pedal, of slowing down, and she was always, constantly on the move, and once she decided on something, she’d keep going and going and going, and as dubious Ishiro always was, even he got swept up in Mira’s energy, and—
She was impossible to not like.
Because once she got something in her head, nothing and no one could dissuade her.
So that’s why—
…
And then there came Jou, and if Mira was a whirlwind, Jou was a steadfast rock, someone always ready to protect the others, to stand between trouble and them, and he was always earnest and he looked at that dinosaur that one time, and he cared, he always cared, and—
He just wanted to watch them, but—
He couldn’t let them get away.
Genba knew this was a bad idea.
Going with the Boonboomgers, getting involved with them fighting the Hasshiliens, was a bad idea, he wanted to see them fall more than any single one of them, and he wanted to see them fall, but if he were to join them, if they were to go out to join the Big Bang Grand Prix, then one day they would—
…
But he couldn’t let them get away.
So he became a Boonboomger, and—
They were all fascinating. They made each other better and faster, and Genba—
He was used to being an observer, but suddenly he found himself racing by the others’ side. He found himself running alongside them, fighting with them, and he didn’t even have to think.
He wanted them to be safe. He wanted them to succeed.
He loved them.
He didn’t understand Sakito.
He didn’t understand why would someone care so little about his own planet, to leave it behind and work with the Hasshiliens, but then—
Taiya trusted him.
And if Taiya trusted him, that pulled the rest of the team as well, and Genba also found himself wanting to believe.
Sakito was the fastest of them all, and just like everyone else, Sakito also fell into Taiya’s orbit, all of them, and it felt right.
It felt like everything was fine, and they had a chance at fighting the Hasshiliens, and they could have gotten everything they have ever wanted, but—
And then—
He didn’t remember much from the moment he had first seen Disrace.
He just remembered what happened to Bureki, and he screamed, and lashed out, and he just couldn’t reach him, and then couldn’t see him, and then Taiya pushed him to the ground, yelling, and—
And Sakito looked at him, rattled, and the other three on the ground, pained and injured.
It wasn’t Disrace who hurt them.
And they still—
“We’ll take Bureki back, then.”
Still—
“Come on, Genba. Boonboom curry is waiting for us.”
He loved them.
And he—
“Keep it,” Taiya said gently, even though his face was also pained. “You’ll need it.”
So Genba Bureki — Genbard De Livery III walked away.
He held his weapon in his hand, and his footsteps felt so, so heavy.
He remembered Taiya’s panicked voice, trying to reason with him, Sakito’s shaken expression, the other three injured, on the ground, rage burning from under his own skin, lashing out and wanting to burn, burn, burn, burn, burn.
This was his fight.
Even when he wanted just to race with the other Boonboomgers, even when he was letting himself get lost in the euphoria of fighting together, of knowing the others have your back, of their victories, he knew.
Deep down, he knew.
He couldn’t go with them to the Big Bang Grand Prix’s finish line.
His road… led elsewhere.
And he couldn’t, he shouldn’t drag the others there with him, not when Disrace was that powerful, and not when he himself couldn’t be trusted.
Not when his own rage was just as likely to hurt them, as Disrace himself was.
He won’t let Disrace destroy this planet.
He won’t let Disrace take away—
He won’t let Disrace push him into hurting the others again.
He just wished—
Wasn’t that selfish of him?
He wished he could have rejoined the others later.