"Just wait a bit more, it's not time yet..."
I put away my thoughts for later, reminding myself of my plans as I slowly exited the arena, my every step echoing in the now silent arena. The other members of the Chinese coalition made way, stepping aside as I exited the tunnels, their gazes filled with worry and even a hint of respect.
[5 minutes later]
The announcer waited a bit for the moment to settle in and pass, before continuing with the match moving forward.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Kaiou of Kaious, Kaiou Emperor Kaku has made a new announcement in consideration for his disciple's unruly behavior, disrupting his previous arrangement."
The speaker was certainly talented, able to spin the situation while reminding everyone of their 'pride and joy', the great 'tamer of beasts' Master Kaku. First his son, and now this savage, 'raising' them both since 'birth', it certainly put the audience at ease through the mere mention of his name.
"Fear not, folks, for the Grandmaster himself will be the one to take on the rest of the Japan-America 'winners' team!"
'So that's your decision, huh, Master Kaku? Such a truly selfish man you are, you know that's never gonna work...'
"What's this, folks! The captain of the opposing team is making his way to the center of the arena..."
"Yujiro Hanma has entered the arena!"
"HAHAHAHAHA, old man," the demonic man spoke while tilting his head down to face the small man in front of him, "why don't I go first?"
"First I'll have a little fun with you, then with that little chihuahua of yours?" his hair stood up on its ends as his eyes flashed with a red glint. "How about it?"
'Truly an unholy man, believing in nothing but himself, not even respecting his elders.'
We had a silent exchange between our eyes, before I finally relented and gave the old man the first go, pretending like that hadn't been my original intention from the start.
"Hop on," the man spoke with a fiendish smile, having gone through the trouble of fetching Master Kaku's seat for him.
I stared silently at the exchange, waiting for my opportunity to have some fun.
[Melissa POV]
[In the near future...]
"Come on Xiao Li, when are you gonna stop being mad at my brother? I wanna watch his match!"
I was trying desperately to convince my best friend to let go of her anger, despite her insistence to hold onto it.
"You know, my brother always said that holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." I continued to try and pull her arms forward, trying to "push" her to the arena stands.
Still, she would not budge, instead resting her arm from my hold before trying to deflect my advice, "Well, he's lying to you. The Buddha said that about hatred, your brother didn't come up with it first."
"Oh, so it's my brother now, but in all those talks he's 'your' Kuzan huh," I continued to dish it out with her, unpacking the 'argument' we had started when I first received that phone call from Diana that particular morning.
Although we had temporarily put it on pause when traveling to Colorado with my brother due to his worry about the situation, it had never been truly dissolved, instead continuing to be bottled up before it was finally unleashed.
'I wish I had never picked it up.' I had grown tired of becoming the referee between their little 'spats', taking Diana's side more often than not due to my anger at the other girl's behavior.
Although I had never gotten along super well with Diana since young, at least not as much as Kuzan, I still couldn't see her being bullied like that by Xiao Li.
"Don't try to deflect!" the usually 'quiet' girl finally blew her top and unleashed the anger I knew she had always carried within, "we're only having this argument because it's all your fault! Not his!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Why did you tell him about Shobun, huh? That was private information I told you under, as you said, the sanctity of 'girl talk', you betrayed me Melissa!" despite her bringing up century-old beef, thus telling me that she was running out of steam, her not even using my nickname definitely hurt.
'But as my brother says, always dish out more than you can receive.'
[Xiao Li POV]
"I already told you that I didn't tell him that!" my 'friend' in question continued lying to me despite knowing full well that I could tell.
"Oh yeah? Don't play dumb Melissa, I heard your conversation with him from the other room..."
"You were spying on me!" the girl screamed in indignation of my behavior as she continued to deflect. However, I had been with her long enough to see through her tactics, just like her brother.
"I wasn't trying to, believe me, but you're always so loud when you're on the phone! More importantly, why did you lie to me?" I spoke, getting the 'conversation' back on track.
"Fine, see I'm believing you," the girl continued her best attempts to try and manipulate the situation in her favor, despite being at a dead end, "and he really did find it out on his own. That was just him talking to me about it, I swear!"
"LIAR!" I wasn't about to be tricked by her sweet little act once again, despite how convincing it was.
"Sob, sob," why would you lie to me Melissa, I considered you my friend and you broke my trust.
[Melissa POV]
'Damn it,' perhaps for the first time in my life, I was unable to placate the situation as it went off the rails.
It felt awful, being helpless to the circumstance before me, not knowing how to resolve our fights. 'The last thing I wanted was to make her cry. But still, you have to hold strong Melissa, don't surrender!'
I continued to motivate myself to not give in, finding it harder every second to listen to the girl's crying, coming to a newfound appreciation of what I must have put my brother through all those times before.
Thankfully, before the last morsels of my willpower crumbled away, someone took my place in taking care of the girl.
"There, there, it's gonna be okay..." Diana pulled the girl into a hug as she too sat down on the edge of the bed, patting her back as a mother would to soothe her child.
'Chee,' I clicked my tongue at the display of motherly affection that was taking place in front of me, having picked up the bad habit from my brother.
'How's that fair huh? She's the one you should be upset at, but I get all the blame, where's the justice in that?' I continued to let out my frustrations silently within my mind, however, even it not being a safe haven from that witch's reach.
She seemed to have recognized the annoyed look on my face, through her tears, as she pulled Diana in closer into the hug, in an attempt to make me jealous. She even went as far as faking a blush onto her face just to spite me.
'Chee, see if I care.'
[Xiao Li]
'I am so angry at you right now Melissa, humph'. I continued to maintain my 'act' of crying, however before I knew it, it had turned into the real thing.
It was just too soft, her embrace, as if coddling me in a bed of feathers. It was certainly different, but it still couldn't match his, which was a notch above making me just feel comfortable.
'It made me feel protected.'
Still, despite how much I wanted to see his match, especially after his reminder that he has a 'surprise' there waiting for me, I knew better than to break my promise with my friend.
'At least I am a good friend.' I continued to bury my head deeper into her arms, completely forgetting even why I disliked this girl in the first place.
'So nice...'
[Diana POV]
"There, there, it's gonna be okay..." I comforted the girl as she quietly sobbed in my arms, after having her little spat with Melissa.
'So cute.' she looked like a little duckling, snuggling deeper and deeper.
'I can't believe it worked out so perfectly.'
I had initially been worried when Kuzan had mentioned a girl's name out of the blue when talking almost as if he was 'breaking-up' with me before we even had our second 'date'.
He had somehow been able to escape the conversation with dexterity unlike anything I had seen before, only matched by his sister's silver tongue.
Thus, the very next morning I called Melissa over the phone to determine the identity of this mysterious girl, and the more she talked about her, the more worried I became, especially after realizing how far behind the 'competition' I was.
Still, I wasn't naive enough to not expect other girls to try and latch onto him. After all of my rigorous training under Mr. Oliva, I was sure that I would be able to 'scare' away any competition that might try to seduce Kuzan.
Fortunately for me, I had only one girl to worry about. Unfortunately for me, she was no ordinary girl, similar to a modern-day ninja. I remember being taken aback by the types of girls Kuzan had somehow been able to attract—a literal ninja, of all things!
However, the more I talked with the girl, trying to extract information about her background and possible techniques that would become useful in our future fight, I came to the conclusion that I had nothing to worry about.
After I made that realization, we were able to get along just fine, even becoming friends despite never having met in person.
We even made a truce to wait and not try to win over Kuzan until the end of this tournament, as I'm sure she also understood the risks the alternative posed to both of us in that situation.
'He had certainly changed.' I could recognize it the first time we reunited in Japan at night. At the time, I had dismissed it as the passing of time, but I had only grown more worried going forward.
His passion for strength was something that increasingly confused me, especially considering how familiar it felt.
'Yes, it was his eyes that gave it away, the first time I got a clear look at them in the elevator after our first date.'
Despite the strong front he put up, I could see it, reflecting in his eyes, past all of his attempts to hide it.
'His desperation.'
I had even talked to Master Oliva about it out of concern. He was initially silent on the matter, constantly refusing to answer my questions.
However, finally, under my continued insistence and promise that I wouldn't 'take it the wrong way', he finally gave me his only piece of advice on the situation.
"Don't stand in his way, Princess. It'll do more harm than good to the both of you."
Although I didn't fully understand his words at the time, after much discussion and bonding with Xiao Li, one day I haphazardly let the words slip out of my mouth.
She went quiet, as if finally making a groundbreaking discovery, my words serving as the water that finally caused the dam to burst forth. Thankfully, despite how much it hurt, I was glad when she shared her 'truth' with me as well.
It was then that we made the silent pact to not move forward until the time was right.
'However, by the looks of things...' I thought while continuing to coddle the girl further, under the glaring eyes of my beloved sister.
'I would say I'm a bit ahead.'
[Aunt Elizabeth POV]
'Oh, looks like I walked in at a bad time...' Still, I continued to peek in at the unfolding situation.
'Ara, ara, what do I have here, my little swee-'
"BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP!"
My heart sank as I recognized that alarm ringing from both Melissa and my phones. I desperately pleaded to God that I had heard wrong or had recognized it as the wrong alarm.
'No, please n-'
"BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP!"