The Sign-ups

"Next, please," the voice called out to the next person in line. Yukiho clutched her best friend's hand feebly, looking around at the assembled people (and the occasional animal, like the huge grizzly bear not far away). She took a deep breath. The person in front of her, a tall woman with a blonde ponytail, turned and shot the idols behind her a glare. Yukiho whimpered and scooted behind Makoto, who met the woman's gaze with a frown. The woman sniffed and stalked off, leaving Yukiho face-to-face with the woman at the desk.

"Next," she ordered. Yukiho stepped forwards warily.

"Name?"

"H-Hagiwara Yukiho," Yukiho whispered, then more strongly, "Hagiwara Yukiho!"

The woman nodded. "Age."

"Seventeen," Yukiho answered, trying to sound confident. Behind her, Makoto smiled approvingly

"Height? Weight?"

"Height, 155 centimeters; weight, 42 kilograms." Yukiho tilted her chin. "…m-ma'am."

The woman smiled. "Alright, you're good to go, Hagiwara-chan. Go on and wait for your friend." She nodded to Makoto to step up. Yukiho watched her sign up.

"Name?" the woman prompted.

"Kikuchi Makoto, age 17, height 159 centimeters, weight 44 kilograms," Makoto related. She was practically oozing with confidence. "Anything else?"

The woman smiled. "No, you're good, Kikuchi-kun." Makoto frowned slightly at the sound of being referred to as a "-kun". "Go join your friend."

Makoto nodded and joined Yukiho. "See, this is easy!"

"A-all we did was sign up," Yukiho whimpered.

Makoto scratched her neck and giggled. "True," she murmured. "But, you know…as long as I'm by your side, the rest will be just as easy. See?"

Yukiho beamed and trapped her friend in a hug. "Thank you so much, Makoto-chan."

The two of them embraced for a while while they waited for the other idols (and the rest of the people gathered) to finish signing up. Then it was time to find a place to stay, make as many allies as possible, and just try to plan strategies.

"Newbies, am I correct?"

Makoto and Yukiho whirled to face the direction the voice had come from. Standing in front of them was a group of people. Three of them were girls. The last one seemed like a boy to Yukiho, but at the same time the person had a rather feminine face. She stared, then realized staring was impolite and instead examined the others.

One of the girls had black hair in pigtails and wore an orange kimono. She smiled brightly at the two girls, and equally bright at the other idols who joined them shortly after. The girl next to her had short pink hair and was gazing shyly at the idols. She caught Yukiho staring and offered a friendly wave. Yukiho returned it and looked at the last girl, the one who'd called out to them. She had long, bleach-blonde hair and wore a pretty white dress. She sniffed loudly.

"Welcome to the arena," she greeted somewhat coldly. "Just because you are new, do not expect me to go easy on you. I must win the tournament and make my father proud."

Makoto twitched. Yukiho could tell she was thinking of her own father and what he would think of this.

Iori stepped closer to the bleach-blonde girl. "Same to you," she huffed. "I will show my parents what their little girl can do. So don't get in my way."

The girl examined her. "Minase…right?"
"Yes…"

"Upon coming to this country, I learned all about your company. It was natural for a girl such as myself to want to know about the big conglomerates of my new home." The girl held out a hand daintily. "I am Lili Rochefort of Monoco. And you are…?"

"Minase Iori," Iori said, and then she corrected herself. "Iori Minase. I assume you are a wealthy lady like myself? You look the part, I must say."

"Indeed," Lili answered, holding her chin high. "A pleasure to meet you, Iori."

"Same to you, Lili."

Makoto rolled her eyes. "Great, now there're two spoiled brats," she muttered under her breath. Iori, occupied with Lili, didn't hear her. "Well, Yukiho? You should try to make some friends."

Yukiho nodded and detached herself from Makoto. After a moment, she approached the pink-haired girl, the one who'd waved. "H-hello."

"Hello," the girl replied. She smiled shyly.

Yukiho smiled back. "I am Hagiwara—Yukiho Hagiwara." She held out her hand tentatively.

"Alisa Bosconovitch," the pink-haired girl announced. "It is nice to meet you, Yukiho."

"Yes, you too." Yukiho turned back to look at Makoto, who smiled and nodded. Yukiho's smile grew wider. "Is this your first year in the tournament?"

"My third," answered Alisa. "Is it your first?"

"Yes," Yukiho said.

"I can show you some tips," Alisa offered. "I remember my first tournament. It's a little scary, isn't it?"

"Very," Yukiho agreed. "Th-there are so many more powerful people here…!"

"It's frightening, yes," Alisa murmured. "But I have a friend to help me, so it is not so bad." She glanced at the girl in the pigtails, who was chattering excitedly with Haruka and Yayoi. "Do you have a friend here?"

"Yes, my best friend, Makoto-chan. She's over—" Yukiho broke off. Her best friend wasn't where she'd left her. She turned and found the girl staring at the last person. She blinked and pointed. "Over there."

Alisa nodded. The two sat in silence and watched Makoto observe the person. Suddenly, the boyish girl pointed at the other and declared, "Girl."

The boy/girl/whatever it was blinked and then smiled. "Yeah, that's right," they said. "You too."

"Exactly!" Makoto gasped. "Really, does it have to be so hard for people to figure out?!"

"I know how you feel. I mean, I like to think I look like a perfectly good girl."

"Me too! It's annoying! I'm Makoto. Makoto Kikuchi."

The person (or rather, the girl) smiled and reached out a hand to grab Makoto's. "Leo. Leo Kliesen."

"Nice to meet you, Leo! Cute name."

"You think so? Well, yours is kinda cute too, y'know."

"Ehehe, thanks…"

Yukiho beamed upon seeing everyone make friends. She glanced over at Alisa, who was then joined by the girl in the orange kimono.

"Hey, Alisa!" she yelped. "Have you met Haruka and Yayoi?"

Alisa shook her head and looked over at the two grinning girls. "Hello, I am Alisa Bosconovitch."

"I'm Takatsuki Yayoi!" Yayoi exclaimed. "I mean…here, I would be Yayoi Takatsuki, right? U-uun! I'm so excited now!"

"And I'm Haruka Amami," Haruka greeted.

"I-I'm Yukiho Hagiwara," Yukiho told the orange-kimono girl.

"Xiaoyu Ling," she replied. "Nice to meet you, Yukiho!"

"You too," Yukiho commented.

"You guys."

Everyone turned to look at Ritsuko, who waved her hand and shook her head at the people who weren't her idols. "Not you guys. Yukiho, Haruka, Yayoi, Makoto, and Iori. You five."

The other four girls turned away and began their own conversations.

"Look, as sweet as this is, we really have to find a place to stay," Ritsuko sighed. "Iori…I hate to ask, but do you think you could use your connections and get us a free stay somewhere? We can't afford to rent an apartment or anything."

"Naturally." Iori flipped her hair. "Just tell me what to do."

Ritsuko nodded and gathered her idols about her. Then she led the girls away, towards a place where they could find shelter. The girls called some goodbyes to the others and then vanished from the site of the arena.

The older man watched the group of thirteen idols wander away from the arena and smirked.

"Heh," he muttered. "Newbies. What a bunch of naïve fools. They have no idea who—and what—they are up against." He cackled darkly and leaned against a post. "They'll be easy little bugs to squash. I can't wait to hear their screams as they beg for mercy from my crushing strength."

The man finally turned and left to go to the place where he would spend the night, cackling again in an evil way. The wind seemed to pass his name along as a warning to avoid this madman; a last warning to run while you still could. And Yukiho could just barely hear the wind's foreboding message:

Heihachi Mishima.

She shivered and moved closer to Makoto.

Heihachi Mishima.

Heihachi Mishima.

Again and again she repeated the name in her mind, trying not to forget it. "Heihachi Mishima."

"What was that?" Makoto asked, looking down at the shorter girl.

"Heihachi Mishima," Yukiho reported. "I…something tells me we should avoid him."

Makoto shrugged. "Well, I don't know who he is but—"

"Did you say Heihachi Mishima?" Ritsuko cut in.

Yukiho nodded. "Yes."

To her surprise (and slight irritation) Ritsuko started to laugh.

"Don't be ridiculous." She chuckled. "Heihachi Mishima is dead. He was killed over a year ago by his own grandson! He's not here."

"B-but…!" Yukiho protested.

"Trust me," Ritsuko insisted. "He's dead."

Despite her assurance, Yukiho couldn't relax. And she knew that no matter what, she would do everything she could to avoid the wrath of Heihachi Mishima.