[Normal POV]
Male Black Rider brought in a cup with 8 popsicle sticks and put it atop the table. "Well then, each of you have to take a stick. The person who picks the popsicle stick with the same shape as yours will be your first opponents. Please come here one by one."
That being said, everyone started to take turns in getting popsicle sticks and turning them in to the referee for enlisting. They are very organized. The first one to take a stick is Kadota, followed by Kuronuma.
Aoba held his stomach tight after returning to his place and taking a good look at everyone. He mutters softly to himself. "Ow, oww, ouch... I'm so nervous alone, my stomach is aching..."
"Oh! The nee-san from earlier!" Mairu exclaimed upon seeing (F/n) on the waiting room, jumping on her. "I knew it! You'd be here!"
"I won't expect less from you as well," (F/n) happily retorted to her. The truth is, (F/n) is quite uncomfortable with Mairu's overly familiar personality towards her, but it is not that she'll push her away. (F/n) just finds the best things to say, though she's confused towards Mairu.
"You're really strong, nee-san!" Mairu complimented, gleaming at her. "That huge ball from earlier, that's your doing, right?"
"Yeah. You saw me do that?" says (F/n). Mairu nods twice, then she veers her attention to Varona. "You too, pretty miss. You we're awesome back there."
"Thanks," Varona flatly said. By that time, Chikage and Mikage have already taken their picks. (F/n) took her pick after Mairu stopped paying attention to her.
Mairu suddenly turned to Shizuo. "Shizuo-niisan! I didn't see you fight at all!" she told him, disappointed. Shizuo had just gotten his pick and Varona did as Mairu turned to Shizuo.
"You really had the time to watch others fight while people are fighting you off the stage, huh?" he commented to her because she is a busy one, multi-tasking in her fights.
"I wanted to see for myself how strong the person Iza-nii is bragging to us," she said to him. "Even I might piss myself."
"It's not something you want to see," Shizuo replied, pausing shortly to process what she just said, then he retorted to her statement, "Should a girl like you say something like that?"
"Um, young miss, it's your turn," the Male Black Rider called, but Mairu is so busy that she didn't notice him calling to her. He called louder, "Little miss!"
Finally, he reached Mairu. "Yes, yes! Sorry," she said as she hopped towards him and got the last stick, probably thinking that it should be fine even if she won't come since it's already the last. Then, she returned it to the referee for listing.
After Mairu got her pick, the referee announced the matches. "First match: Kuronuma Aoba-kun vs Orihara Mairu-san!"
"Aww, I wanna fight Shizuo-niisan or the new nee-san first," the girl wearing glasses mutters to herself, then rubbed her chin. "Wait! This is my chance to show Kuronuma-kun the better fit for Kuru-nee." Then, she grins.
Aoba stiffened. "Why is it like this?" he probably thought.
"Second match: Heiwajima Shizuo-san vs. Kadota Kyohei-san."
"Eh?!" Kadota and Chikage shrieked at the same time.
"Kyohei will be fighting me," Chikage boldly says, "We decided it together."
"Is it possible if I swap my position with someone else?" Kadota supported his friend. "The audience doesn't know yet and you don't mind, do you, Shizuo?" he said, facing the blonde man.
"No," the man he asked replied.
Male Black Rider looks like he's making a dark expression behind his helmet. "These are rules, strictly implemented... unless you want to be disqualified." Everyone became on guard towards him.
"Tch." Chikage snorted.
"Now, now. It's not like this is our last chance," Kadota tried to appease the leader of the Toramaru.
Male Black Rider cleared his throat after the unexpected response among the two qualifiers. "Now then, our third match will be: Varona vs Mikage Sharaku-san."
The two woman just looked at each other. Since they don't know each other, they didn't say a word or anything. They just met gazes for a short while.
"What the hell? Who will I fight then?" Chikage stormed by himself. "I haven't heard my name, yet."
(F/n) snapped on her trance due to Chikage's reaction. "Mine, either," she said and their gazes suddenly met.
"Last match: Leena Prestn-san vs Chikage Rokujo-kun!"
"A-a-a-a-aaa..." Chikage's voice was shaking. He didn't know how to react. "A woman?!" he exclaimed incredulously as he pointed a finger on her.
"Hmph! That's rude!" (F/n) huffed as she crossed her arms.
"D-Don't be ridiculous!" He demanded, still stammering. "No woman can hurl a lot of men out of the stage at once."
(F/n) though about it and remembered the time she kicked one man and many others got caught. Chikage must be referring to it. "I don't deny that it is my doing."
"Girl or not, let's prove it," Chikage challenged her. "You know, I like girls, but I hate cross-dressers and alike, so better be a girl."
(F/n) gulped. "Why isn't he believing me?" she muttered to herself.
Male Black Rider clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention. "With strong fighters like you, this year's festival will be full of surprises! Do your best and don't hurt each other too much, okay? Good luck to you all!" He then motioned towards the entrance door and exited.
Shortly, the microphone screeched once more, signaling that Male Black Rider has returned. He then began to announce the new set of rules, loud enough to be clearly heard inside the waiting room and by all the audiences.
"The quarter finals of this tournament will soon begin," Male Black Rider announced, "Rules are simple as ever: either your opponent gives up or becomes unconscious, you win; if you fall off the stage, you lose. Thirty minutes will be given to each set of players. The buzzer will ring when the time runs out. Whoever is in a better condition wins!"
"Now then, the first set match... Kuronuma Aoba-kun vs Orihara Mairu-san!"
-
[Omniscient POV]
The two fighters climbed the stage, sauntered across, and halted a few feet while facing each other.
"My first match is with Kuronuma-kun, how lucky!" Mairu said with a cheerful expression, giggling like a child.
Aoba sweat dropped. "Oh no..." he thought. As he turned his head to the audience, his eyes dilated as he saw the angry Blue Squares gang, starring daggers at him.
"Don't go suddenly disappearing on us, boss-kun!" they shouted at him.
Aoba shrugged abruptly. "You said you wanted me here so, here I am."
"You are our pride; don't lose!" they shouted their support once again. Aoba has become even more nervous. Mairu grinned at her advantage.
In the audience section, Kukuri kept herself busy by reading random How To... books.
"On your mark... go!" said the announcer as he rang the bell. The two players got alerted and stood on their combat positions.
Mairu attacked first, yelling along, "Let's see who'll go down first!" As she goes closer to Aoba, she sends him strong punches one after another while gritting her teeth.
Aoba skillfully evaded all her attacks, but was panicking while dodging her fire fists.
"Would you look at that! The young lady went on the attack first, sending barrage after barrage to her opponent!" Male Black Rider enthusiastically exclaimed. It earned another uproar from the audience.
Due to that noise and spirit, the other fighters waiting inside the waiting room decided to come out and watch the fight. (F/n) was the most amazed person in the group that she went cheering for Mairu as well. "Do it! Do it, Mairu-chan!"
Mairu winked at her, not breaking her chains of attacks. So far, she's only used her fist, but not a single hit landed on the enemy. The Blue Squares are frozen upon watching the fight. To see their most respectable founder driven to the edge certainly proves that his enemy is totally on a different level.
"Whoa! I have no idea you are this feisty," Aoba told her while dodging her tireless attacks, "There's no need to be so pumped up for the 'good luck' I got."
"You don't understand me and Kuru-nee!" she exclaimed as she surprised him with an attack. She used a 45 degrees right leg kick which Kuronuma failed to evade. He didn't see it coming.
As Aoba threw off his balance from that kick, he dove to his right and grabbed the ground with both hands to help him stand back on his feet.
"Whoa! Mairu-chan has landed her first hit! What a strong impact!" says the announcer.
Mairu got annoyed with what Male Black Rider said. Carelessly saying that among all her attacks, only one reached. That is quite embarrassing. Therefore, Mairu charged again. Aoba instinctively hopped backwards but Mairu caught up to him. This time, she is sending both fists and kicks. Aoba forcibly distances himself all the time, knowing that it's become harder to dodge her attack and that the blow from earlier is still excruciatingly painful. He's tolerating it.
"Stop dodging me, will you?" Mairu complained at him. "Why don't you attack me instead?"
"Fighting hand in hand is not my specialty, you know?" Kuronuma confessed. "I'm not the fighting type. I'm better when I have my gang and my weapons."
"Then, why are you even here?!"
"Money, and gang members' requests," he replied. "Anyway, I don't see myself winning against you, so can you just kick me to the corner?"
"No! I don't want to! Do you want to disappoint Kuru-nee after she gave you a 'good luck' charm?" Mairu says in between her attacks and mutters to herself, "...which she didn't give me."
Kururi is still busy reading her book, though. She never once paid attention to the current match no matter how noisy the audience around her becomes.
"I never asked for that!" Aoba exclaimed.
Mairu angrily retorted, "But she gave it to you!"
The girl decided to stop her attacks. She realized that she was going nowhere. The man was panting very hard, exhausted from dodging her and from tolerating his pain. He's still on his feet, though.
"What is this?! After all those barrage, neither of them are moving as if they're both spent up!" the announcer claims.
"Hey! You two! Finish off each other!" one man from the audience shouted.
"How long do you want to make us wait?!" Another angrily demanded.
"Get over it already!" Another yelled.
"What's going on? Why did they suddenly stop?" (F/n) asked, looking at the Shizuo and the others. They only gave her shrugs and vague responses.
"Boss..." the Blue Squares gang worriedly called.
The utter silence caught Kururi's attention and she stopped reading her book. She curiously watched the two frozen people on stage as she kept her book on her bag.
"Mairu," Aoba called his opponent between his heavy breathing. "Aren't you going to finish me?"
The girl is looking down to her feet. Her eyes are covered by her bangs as sweat tickles her body. She slowly raises her head and flashes a genuine smile at Kuronuma. He jolted as he felt a dangerous shock run down his spine.
In a split second, Mairu is already in front of him, so close that their physical distance is less than the size of a ruler. Aoba shut his eyes as he prepared himself to absorb the finishing blow.
"You know what, I feel lonely without Kuru-nee's good luck charm," she said in a soft voice. "She gave you one; it's been there the whole time."
Aoba opened his eyes slowly. Suddenly, Mairu looked so cute in his eyes that he gasped in surprised and blushed a little. "Wha-"
"And now, I'm taking all of that away." Mairu grasped his shoulders tightly and she smashed her lips hard over his, making an incredibly mind blowing kiss with all her skills. The audience was shocked. The girls among them turned red, disbelieving what they see.
"Ah, those brats are being carried away," Kadota commented, not wanting to look anymore.
"Must be nice to be in the prime of their age," Chikage added, seemingly supporting those two and wanting to make a similar scene later if he could.
(F/n) over there is very surprised as well. Her mouth is wide agape and she covers it with both hands. As her eyes dilated, her cheeks turned very red. Her heart pounded strongly as she suddenly reminisced the time when she was saved from death by a wonderful kisser. She blushed even more, unable to look at the people behind her. She has the feeling that her savior is near and she just doesn't want to think about it more.
"Whoa-ah! What an incredible display of affection!" Male Black Rider exclaimed. "A love has blossomed within the stage!"
"Get away from boss, you lady!" Neko shouted, but was not heard due to the loudness of the crowd.
Mairu is becoming more selfish. Her desire to get all of her sister's good luck kiss has turned into Aoba's misfortune. It's happened worse than before. Mairu is so skilled, Kuronuma couldn't push her away, also due to her strong grip.
Just as Kuronuma have started to become dizzy and out of breath, Mairu began to use her tongue to wipe away every bit of Kururi's kiss from her opponent. Sooner, Kuronuma couldn't take it anymore. As Mairu finally let go, Kuronuma fell unconsciously on the ground. It earned a louder uproar.
"Kuronuma Aoba-kun is down! What an incredible win! This fight is won by Orihara Mairu-san!" the referee concluded the battle. Mairu smiled at the audience as she waved energetically at them.
"How could you defile our boss like that?!" the Blue Squares yelled, but is again overthrown by the crowd's voices.
Mairu picked up the unconscious Aoba and hauled him over her shoulder as she walked back to the waiting room. Everyone else gave her way until she got inside, set Aoba on the couch, and sit down herself.
(F/n) was the first to approach her. She whispered, "Couldn't you've been gentler to him?" She's worried.
"Oh, I was," Mairu happily replied. "Our fight's getting nowhere, so I decided to finish it this way." She then gestured (F/n) to lend her ear to her and (F/n) did as told. "Your opponent is a man, too right, neesan? If you do it to him, it'll surely be your win," Mairu whispered mischievously.
(F/n) was taken aback. She put both her palms in front. "No way I can do that!"
Mairu giggled. "I thought so."
(F/n) sighed.
"For the next match... Heiwajima Shizuo vs Kadota Kyohei!" the referee announced. "Fighters, please be ready on stage."
"Kadota-san, Shizuo-niisan, fight!" Mairu happily cheered as the two men went out of the waiting room. As they walked to the stage, (F/n) went out of the room to watch them with anticipation. The rest followed after her.
Everyone is eager to watch the fight after the first match. How much more can they maintain their eagerness...?
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A/n: I hope to be clear with everyone about what I made Chikage say :) I respect all kinds of gender orientations. His speech is merely a substantial element in my fanfiction. If I have offended anyone, I apologize. I hope you guys are loving this story even more. Thank you for reading and more love for everyone <3