6 hours earlier
In a large bed, in an even bigger room, a girl was lying on her belly, her feet kicking the air, as they hung loosely from the bed. She had her phone in front of her, some earbuds on, and was currently screeching loudly, and speaking excitedly in rushed Japanese.
"He finally asked!", she shouted, "This is the first phase, soon, you will be going out, and from there, it is only a matter of time until you marry and live happily ever after!"
From the other shouts and cheers, it was clear that she was in a group call with friends, and they all seemed as happy and excited as she did. In fact, the person that was the least excited was the girl their shrieks and shouts were directed at. She - even if they could not see it, was too flustered to say much, and was simply relishing the moment.
"Calm down, it is only a group thing, you are coming too…", she tried to appease the crowd, but they just laughed and booed.
"Bah! We all know what will happen as soon as you two are left alone, plus, I heard some of his cute older friends are coming, so we will have our hands full as well.", the last few words, were said in a lewd tone, that had all of the girls jeering and laughing.
"So, where are we going?"
"Oh, a bar one of his friends owns, he said that we would be able to go into a VIP room, and do whatever we wished."
"Wonderful", one of the girls said, "Now, what are we gonna wear?"
This question triggered an even greater number of shouts, and cheers.
***
The group of seven, three boys and four girls, all went into the bar, the large man at the front did not even stop them, and directly led them to a glass lift where they waited to be taken up.
"So, my friend - his name is Cho, is waiting upstairs for us. He is a nice guy, I just hope you can all enjoy yourselves.", one of the boys said, Nai, he had dyed chestnut hair, and a slim smile, next to him, was one of the girls, who had long brown hair. She was quite tall, not the tallest of the seven, but was only outdone by two of the boys, one of which being the one she was next to, and one of the girls.
They were all talking amongst themselves, and the atmosphere was clearly good. As they waited on the elevator, they were joking and laughing with each other. Once the elevator stopped, dinged, and the doors opened, another boy, who was of the same age as the other two Nai had introduced them to. He had a short-brimmed violet hat, and a semi-formal purple suit, with a thin tie that had designs of a Geisha in a pink kimono.
He was clearly good looking, but truthfully, so were the others, so he did not make too much impact. He had a smile, and hugged both the girls and the boys.
"I am Cho, truly pleased to meet you.", he smiled at them and asked them to follow him with his hand, "Please follow me, I will take us to the room."
They all went as a group, until he stopped at a closed door. There, he placed his finger on a scanner that was to the side, and the door opened with a nearly-silent "Woosh".
They all went in, to find an assortment of refreshments, food, snacks, and things to entertain themselves with. What caught their attention, however, was the wall of tinted glass that was directly opposite the door.
"What's that?", one of the girls asked, her eyes brimming with curiosity.
The boy, Cho, smiled widely, "That, is our entertainment, however, it is completely optional, to my understanding, and from what my friend Nai tells me, you will enjoy it."
As he spoke, he pressed a simple button on a remote that was on one of the tables, and the 'ink' on the windows seemed to implode, and disappear. Now, from the window, they had the perfect view of an arena, where two people seemed to be fighting. The fight seemed to be almost over, as one of the men wailed on the other.
As expected, the girls sat down, and with refreshments and snacks near, they enjoyed the show with the boys. All of them were fans of these tournaments or competitions, albeit for different reasons. Regardless, it did not stop them from enjoying them, especially with good food, drink and most importantly, company.
The fight ended soon after, and there was a short pause, before the next one would start. There was a loud buzz from Cho's phone, he picked it up quickly, and the others in the room looked at him.
"Oh…", a short pause, "Is that so? Well, then, that is wonderful.", he then had a huge grin on his face, as he looked at the others.
"Well, it seems that we are in for a treat, one of my 'Executives' will be fighting next, I assure you, this will be most interesting."
To the girls, this did not mean much, but the boys looked very excited, as he saw the girl's faces, Nai explained, "The 'Executives', are past winners of tournaments, usually, they only fight on special days. They are the best of the best, I assure you, it will be interesting."
They kept chattering away for about ten minutes, until the announcer did his job, amping up the leadway, and a woman came in through the tunnel, and into the arena. She stomped heavily, and the crowds cheered.
"She is Melissa,", Cho explained, "She won about two tournaments ago, she is quite skilled, I wonder who it is she will go against.", he seemed intrigued. He had not been told much, other than one of his Executives fighting with a new guy, he was unsure as to the reason, but it would be entertaining regardless.
For the next fighter, however, there was no announcement, and barely any cheering - when compared to Melissa, he just walked softly to the platform, wearing only the loose bottom part of a gi.
"Wait is that…", one of the girls said, whipping her head to look at her friends' reactions, they were all as confounded as she was.
"Huh?", Cho asked, "What's up?", he looked at Nai and the girls confused, and so did the other two boys.
"We, uhh, know him.", Rouka said, whilst nervously twirling her pink hair.
"Seriously?", Cho shouted, "Well, now there is nothing we can do, but do not worry too much, Melissa will not hurt him too bad, and no one can record anything in this place, so no one will know he was even here.
Rouka let out a nervous breath, but just nodded, "Ok, let's see what happens, maybe he will…"
Nai laughed, "Trust me, chances are nothing like that will happen, she is one of the best."
One of the girls just shrugged, and as the announcer called for the fight to commence, they all turned their eyes to the window.