Six years have passed since Kagami and Akasan left the orphanage.
They still stayed in the same small house as before, but they'd gotten used to it.
Akasan hopped through the window after being out all day. He shook his hair. It was raining outside.
"Akasan? That you?" Kagami called out.
"Yeah, it's me." he called back.
Kagami was behind the house taking a shower in the rain.
Akasan stayed in the front with his back against the wall reading a sheet of paper.
Kagami soon came back in wearing an old t-shirt and shorts, also stolen. "Whatcha got there?"
"It's a flyer. A tournament is being held tomorrow. The grand prize is one diamond coin and a guaranteed Delta Squadron invitation."
Kagami snatched the flyer and read it. "A diamond coin... that's a million credits!"
Akasan stood up. "For real? One million?!"
Kagami read the small print at the bottom and tossed the paper. "But it says girls aren't allowed to participate. Shame. There goes that."
Akasan stood there just staring at Kagami.
She looked up at him. "What?"
Akasan pointed two fingers at himself.
"You want to fight in the tournament?"
He nodded.
"You really think you've got a shot?"
Akasan nodded again.
"Alright then," She handed him the flyer, "Let's go win this thing."
The next day, Akasan and Kagami left Zetsubo for the first time ever.
The tournament was held at Arbok City's official tournament stage.
Akasan went to the clerk and applied to enter. He had to sign a waiver in case he died or got badly injured.
They instructed him to wait in a back room until his name was called.
Kagami went to sit in the crowd. She scoped out the people in the audience when she sat down. She noticed someone who looked strong sitting in front of her. She didn't know who it was, but it was Kyo, who was twenty years old now. He was the only Knight in attendance.
A few matches went on, none were too impressive.
Then it came, the announcer called out the next battle. "Our next matchup of the Grand Tournament is!! Akasan!! Versus!! Dai!!"
The crowd started going nuts when Dai entered the stage. He was pretty young, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old. He had orange hair and light brown eyes.
Akasan entered the stage next. The crowd started booing.
"It seems like Dai is pretty popular." Kagami thought.
Akasan looked at his opponent. He was a little nervous, but he kept his cool.
Dai was overconfident. He smiled at Akasan. "Are you nervous? It's alright, I have a lot of fans."
Akasan frowned. "I don't know who you are."
Dai chuckled. "Stop pulling my leg. You mean to tell me you've never heard of the Yamamoto Noble Family? What part of town are you even from?"
Akasan thought for a second. "The far west side? I think?"
Dai's eyes grew wide. He started laughing uncontrollably. "Zetsubo?! You came all the way from Zetsubo?! No wonder you don't know me! You don't even count as a proper human being!!"
He kept on laughing. The crowd started laughing with him.
Akasan started feeling embarrassed.
"Akasan!!!" Kagami's voice was heard over everyone else.
Akasan looked up at her.
"Don't listen to that jerk!! He's just a pampered rich boy!!"
Dai got triggered from hearing that.
Kyo smirked.
The announcer got back on the intercom. <"LET THE MATCH... BEGIN!!!">
Dai entered his fighting stance.
Akasan got in his. He bent his knees some.
Dai opened his hands. A stream of fire emitted from both hands.
The announcer did a play-by-play on the match. <"OHH!! THERE GOES DAI'S POWER; BLOWTORCH!! HE CREATES A HIGH POWERED STREAM OF FIRE FROM HIS HANDS!! THE YAMAMOTO FAMILY IS WELL KNOWN FOR THEIR FIRE ABILITIES!!!">
Dai then aimed at Akasan. The fire streamlined from his hands and hit the ground as Akasan moved. He then grabbed his own fire and started swinging them like whips. He started laughing. "Yes! Yes! Dance for me monkey! Dance!"
<"DAI HAS THE YOUNG AKASAN ON THE ROPES!! IF HE TOUCHES THOSE LASHES OF FIRE IT'S ALL OVER!!!">
The crowd started cheering.
Akasan had enough of this guy. The markings on his right arm started glowing red.
Akasan let out a short grunt and his entire body became engulfed in crimson flames.
<"WHAT'S THIS? IT SEEMS THAT AKASAN HAS A FIRE ABILITY HIMSELF!! WHAT ARE THESE MYSTERIOUS CRIMSON FLAMES?!!">
Kagami smiled. "Nice! There we go Akasan! Now he can't hurt you!!"
Dai smiled and swung his fire some more. "What's that gonna do? I'm a noble!! You're just a peasant!!"
When Dai's whips touched Akasan's cloak of fire, they went out as if they were sunk in water.
Dai's smile dropped immediately. "What? Where'd it go?"
Akasan ran up to Dai and punched him in the face. He got knocked down.
The crowd gasped dramatically.
<"WHAT A TURNAROUND!! DAI'S FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED BY AKASAN'S OWN FLAMES!! DAI HAS JUST BEEN KNOCKED DOWN ONCE, ANOTHER KNOCKDOWN WILL SECURE AKASAN'S VICTORY!!!">
Random girls in the crowd started calling for Dai to get up.
Kagami rolled her eyes. "Oh, gimme a break already."
Kyo was fascinated by Akasan's fire. He'd never heard of or seen a crimson flame. This was all new to him.
Dai got back up. "What trick did you pull? I bet you cheated!! Didn't you!!"
Akasan didn't talk. He was focusing. He held out his hand. A crimson fireball formed. He wound up and threw it.
"I'm Dai Yamamoto!! If you think this is going to work on me- OOOF!!!"
Dai tried to counter instead of dodging and got himself knocked out of the ring.
"Idiot." Kyo said flatly.
<"THE WINNER OF THIS MATCH IS AKASAN!!!!">
The people in the crowd that hated Dai started cheering. Surprisingly a lot of them.
Akasan smiled with relief. He'd won his first match. He also won his second match, putting him in the finals.
A man named Haru dominated his matches. He had also advanced to the finals.
He was Akasan's next matchup.
Haru and Akasan met on the stage.
Haru was known to be a martial arts master.
<"ALRIGHT EVERYBODY!!! LET THE FINAL MATCH!!! BEGINNNNN!!!">
Haru fought with open palms.
Kyo could tell he clearly knew how to fight.
Haru leapt at Akasan.
Not knowing much about the defensive side of fighting, Akasan got beat up. Badly.
<"THAT'S ONE KNOCKDOWN FOR HARU WITH AN ONSLAUGHT OF ATTACKS!!">
"I am sorry about doing this to you. It is against my ways. But I need the money from this tournament." Haru said.
Akasan was wobbling. "But... I need the money too."
Haru continued to hit Akasan with his open palm way of fighting.
Haru hit with his palms, fingertips, and knuckles.
Akasan was about to fall over again, until the markings on his arm started lighting up red again. Crimson fire exploded from his body.
Haru stepped back. "A wall of fire, eh? No matter. You will have lost sooner than later."
Haru bent his knees. He wheeled his arms around starting from the bottom.
A large wave of water appeared out of nowhere.
Haru wheeled his arms around once more and then thrust them towards Akasan.
VOOSH!!!
Steam engulfed the entire stage. When it cleared up, Akasan was still standing, fire still burning, half conscious.
<"NO WAY!!! AKASAN'S FIRE IS STRONG ENOUGH TO EVEN WITHSTAND HARU'S TOWERING WAVE OF WATER!!">
Haru frowned. "What is this? Some sort of defense mechanism?" He leapt at Akasan once more, this time hitting him through the fire anyway.
Haru was getting burned, but he was landing powerful strikes constantly.
Kagami held her hands together, praying that Akasan would get out of this.
Haru ran out of breath after a while. His hands were charred.
Akasan was bleeding everywhere on his face. He started limping towards Haru.
"I... can't... lose. Kagami... wants, to eat... fresh... fruit..."
Haru was scared now. "What kind of monster are you? Why are you still standing?!!"
Akasan raised his fist. "Because my entire life, is weighing on this tournament...!"
With a burst of everything he had left, Akasan punched Haru in the face, sending him all the way off the stage.
At the same time Akasan fell to the ground.
The crowd was silent.
The announcer spoke. <"WAIT!!!! HARU IS OFF THE STAGE, BUT AKASAN HAS FALLEN!!! ITS POSSIBLE THAT HARU STILL WON OFF OF TWO KNOCKDOWNS!!! LET'S CHECK THE REPLAY ON THE BIG SCREEN!!">
On the screen, it showed Akasan's punch, throwing Haru off the stage, while he fell afterwards.
As they slowed the video down, it showed Haru's heel hitting the grass just before Akasan hit the ground.
The crowd roared with enjoyment.
Kagami started crying tears of joy. "You really won! You did it!!"
Kyo smiled to himself and left the arena.
Akasan regained a portion of his consciousness and rolled over to catch his breath.
A woman stepped onto the stage and handed him a pillow with a diamond coin on top of it.
He took the coin off the pillow and stared at it. The sunlight beamed through the diamond gem in the center of the coin.
Akasan raised his fist in the air.
Kagami jumped out of the crowd to run over on the stage and give him a hug.
"Kagami... I did it... I won."
She was still crying. "Yeah... you did. You did win!"