It was déjà vu. Once again Aoi had woken up in a bright and white room. Her whole body was aching, but her face especially. She let out a groan as she started to come around and brought a hand to her cheek. There was bandage over it, along with the bandage on her forehead where she was cut. Both spots still stung as she sank into the nursing bed she was in. Her head was still pounding from the blows she took.

"Well good morning Miss Umenokoji." Aoi instantly sprang up and turned to the origin of the voice. It was Smith, sitting cross legged in a chair with a magazine in hand, her ever-present, salesman smile greeting her. Aoi let out a sigh.

"You scared me…" Aoi sighed.

"Sorry, didn't mean to." Smith closed the magazine and placed it aside. "Anyway, that quite the match, wasn't it? The audience ate it up." Aoi frowned, her mind going back to the match. She succumbed to Yuka's punches and was quickly knocked out. She had lost, again. That's what stung most. Her first official fight as a sponsored fighter and she let her sponsor down by losing. She was disappointed in her. She knew she could had done better if she was just had another chance.

"I… I didn't mean to lose." She tightly clenched her fists out of frustration.

"Nonsense, you did your best, right?" Aoi slowly turned her head to Smith with a slight glare in her eyes. It seemed Smith wasn't as upset with her performance as Aoi was. Then again, Aoi was also convince this woman's face was stuck in a permanent smile and a casual tone, so it was hard to take her words seriously.

"Yes…" She admitted reluctantly.

"And that's all we ask. For now, anyway." Smith reached behind her and pulled out a small stack of papers. "Here, take a look at these." Aoi took the stack and glanced through them. They were surveys and reviews of the match. Each paper gave a rating for Aoi and her opponent Yuka, then some commentary for each of them. "We handed these out to some of the audience before the match and asked for feedback. There were 500 people attending and we handed out 100 papers." Aoi read each of the surveys. Most had given Yuka the better rating of four or five stars with Aoi getting three to four stars. The commentary was surprisingly broad. It ranged from talking about how cute Aoi and Yuka were, to praising good Yuka's offense, to critiquing Aoi's defense, to expressing surprise at how aggressive Aoi was in nearly breaking her opponent's leg, and so on. "What do you think?" Aoi looked through the last of her small stack before handing it to Smith.

"It's… interesting. These kinds of critiques are a lot different than what I'm used to." Aoi admitted. "My father, the head of my dojo, is usually the one to judge and correct any fight or performance I'm in, and he's much stricter than this." That probably wasn't the right description for it. Every time she came back from a tournament her father would sit down with her and discuss how she performed, why she won or loss certain matches, critiques and improves that could be made for next time. His critique could be harsh, but never mean-spirited. There was always a hint of care and concern whenever he corrected her, even if it was hard to hear sometimes. It wasn't so much stricter as it was personal. To have strangers give their opinions and to be able to read them just felt foreign to Aoi. Especially when most of the comments were about how cute her outfit was or how she behaved in a match.

"I see," Smith put the papers away and continued. "I'd say overall averaging around 3.5 out of five isn't bad for a starting point. We just have to work a harder get your name out." Smith took out a notebook from her briefcase and started writing down some ideas. "Maybe a flashier outfit?" Aoi shuddered at the thought of fighting in something other than her dougi or the kimono attire she wore for her tournaments. "Or some interviews perhaps? Oh, I remember an old promo for your entry in the third World Fighting Tournament had you dancing with a fan, that certainly got our ratings up. Maybe another promo like that?" Smith's tone grew more excited as she frantically wrote. "I remember use having some old, Japanese styled costumes and accessories in J6's Tower division, maybe I can get them on board and-" Just then, there was a knock on the door that cut Smith off.

"Hello? May I come in?" A voice asked. Smith turned to Aoi, her face just as surprised as Aoi's. She wasn't even expecting Smith to visit her, let alone anyone else.

"Yes, come in." The door opened and revealed Aoi's opponent. She was still in her karate gi and walking in on crutches. Aoi's eyes instantly went to the girl's leg. The hold Aoi had on her must had did more did more damage than she thought. It wasn't in a cast, so it was safe to say it wasn't broken. I guess that's why people thought I broke her leg. Aoi felt a little bad, but a fight wasn't a place for mercy, especially a fight with no rules against breaking bones. She had no apology to give if that's what this girl expected.

"Thank you." The girl nodded and walked in. "Are you doing alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Aoi nodded gave the girl a smile to reassure her. "You gave me a good cut, but I'll recover." Aoi looked at the girl's right leg. "Will you be okay?" She asked this more out of fairness rather than sympathy and her tone reflected that, but the girl nodded.

"I'll be fine. They said I shouldn't put too much weight on it yet, but I'll be in fighting shape soon." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "I should introduce myself. I'm Yuka Takeuichi, a practitioner of Kyokushin Karate." She said with a bow. "Thank you for fighting me without reserve." Aoi nodded.

"Aoi Umenokoji, a practitioner of Aiki-jūjutsu, likewise." The two smiled at each other. Despite the intense match and brutal exchanges, it seemed there were no hard feelings between the two. And Yuka's fiery spirit didn't seem to die down after the fight either. Aoi could still see she was ablaze with passion and excitement even as the match had ended.

"Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Yuka finally said after a pause.

"Well I appreciate your concern. I'm glad you're alright too." Aoi moved to sit on the edge of her bed, a way to show she could still move well enough. "Actually, I'd like to have a rematch sometime in the near future." Yuka's eyes lit up after hearing this, and quickly moved to stand in front of Aoi.

"Yes, I'd love to fight you again! I think our match was pretty close, so hopefully the next one will bring out a clear victor." The fire in her was ignited, Aoi could tell. This girl much either like fighting or truly felt their match wasn't satisfying enough, a trait that actually worried Aoi a little. People with that mentality were either great warriors like Akira or fight-happy maniacs, especially with that fiery spirit Yuka had. It could be easily misdirected if left unchecked. Thankfully Yuka at least seemed like the former.

"Well…" Aoi then turned to Smith. "If that's possible of course." Yuka turned to Smith as well with a questioning look. "Yuka, this is my manager, Miss Smith." Smith smiled and gave Yuka a small wave, extending a hand for the girl to shake.

"Yes well, it's certainly possible. A rematch on stage I mean." Smith explained. "A few months away after our dear Miss Umenokoji has a bit more training in and finishes some of the other things we have planned for her this month, but I can definitely see a match in the future." Yuka looked deflated upon hearing this. Aoi could understand how she felt, the fact that she'd have to wait for a second chance. Aoi knew the feeling all too well. She had to wait a whole year to get another chance at defeating the muay thai fighter Brad in the World Fighting Tournament, but the wait had been worth it to come out on top.

"A few months…" She repeated, discouraged, something that didn't go unnoticed by Smith.

"Sorry dear, that's just business." Smith stated. "However, that's just an official rematch. If you two want to fight on your own time far be it from me to stop you."

"Really?" Yuka turned to Aoi. "Do you think we could have it this month?" Aoi thought it over for a moment, then looked to Smith. If she still had things to do as a fighter under J6 it would be difficult to get a rematch in. Smith seemed to be reading Aoi's mind and responded to her mental questions.

"I'll let you know our schedule in a bit, but you should have time." Both Aoi and Yuka nodded.

"Okay, thanks!" Yuka said, giving a nod to Smith, then turned to Aoi. The two then started doing a bit of planning on their own, mostly exchanging cellphone numbers and offering the location of their respective dojos to stay in touch. "I'll be sure to see you again Aoi. Thanks again for the information, I'll try calling you soon." Yuka gave a wave goodbye and soon left, leaving only Smith and Aoi in the room.

"Quite the spirited one." Smith commented.

"Yes, a very vibrant karateka." Aoi paused for a moment. "So… why chose her as my first opponent?"

"Miss Takeuichi is very well known in the karate world as a rising prodigy." Smith explained, taking a sheet of paper from her briefcase. "Originally there was another girl that had been dominating national tournaments and getting all the press named Satomi Yajima. Miss Takeuichi had defeated her in a national tournament and the two have had a friendly rivalry since with Miss Takeuichi becoming an undefeated champion in Miss Yajima's place. She's became the next rising star ever since, and such a rising star just seemed like a good opponent for you as a sponsored fighter." Aoi started reading through the paper she was given. It was an article that talked about Yuka's rise as a fighter and how this fight was going to be her first time fighting outside the karate world, as some information on Aoi being her opponent. The article was very recent too. "The press got a chance to see you both in action and now with the possibility of a rematch we might have a chance to really get some publicity out there."

"Ah, I see…" All this business and marketing talk was a bit over Aoi's head, but she got the idea.

"Admittedly, that could have gone better, but it worked out in the end. Just keep in mind that winning your fights will improve our reputation and we can get more money, which means more money for you as well." Money honestly didn't concern Aoi, but she nodded regardless. "Now, we just need you to rest up and get ready for our next event." Smith took back the article and placed it in her briefcase.

"Which is…?"

"We want to start moving you around like we said with would do. You know, take you to locations around the world and fight unique and skilled fighters from across the map." That's right, Smith talked about doing something like that when they first discussed the sponsorship. "The first stop is Korea. There's a dojang that has a very skilled taekwondo student trying to raise money to keep her family in business. Her name is Lee Won Hee, a college graduate and daughter of the master of the dojang." Smith paused and looked at Aoi, a playful smile on her face. "A lot like you really. But anyway, we want to send you to this dojang in a few weeks and fight her. It'll be a televised event. The press will help improve and spread her dojang's reputation, as well as our own. You know, build some of that good press by helping her bring in some business." Aoi honestly didn't like the tone Smith had explaining event. It sounded a lot more arrogant that Smith probably meant, but she didn't really have much room to complain or argue. If this Lee Won Hee was as good as Smith claimed, then it would be a good fight and a great chance for Aoi to improve her own skills regardless of the motive. That was all Aoi really wanted in the end.

"Alright then."

"Great, now you rest up and start preparing for the match. We'll pick you up from your dojo in four weeks." With that, Smith left the room.