Yutaka stared at him. She didn't know how to proceed. She barely noticed when Judd plopped a bag down beside her.

"Meow... (300 points inked. 500 points for winning...)"

Yutaka didn't pay attention.

"...bucket." She murmured.

"Mew (Hmm?)"

"IT'S A BUCKET!" She yelled. Sorui winced.

Yutaka scowled. "You...you SCRUB. I...I HAD THAT BATTLE and...and...you...you..."

She trailed off. The Inkling and cat stared. Sorui's gaze burrowed into her. She felt hot. So...she decided to run.

She hefted her Splatling in her arms. She almost lost her balance and fell over. Sorui held out a hand to catch her. She glared at him and ran.

It wasn't a fast run. Splatlings were, she thought as she tottered of, very heavy.

Sorui started after her, but Judd held up a paw.

"Mew (She looks like she wants to be alone.)"

"A-alright...I guess..."

Yutaka had been tottering for around 5 minutes near the depot. Around the one-minute mark she had transitioned from furious to sad, and around thirty seconds later she broke into a full out sob. She turned into an alley and slumped down. Her thoughts whirled.

A scrub...with a bucket.

On his first battle.

With a bucket.

And the only thing she had been useful for was delaying her eventual loss.

"I-it's not...it's not...f-fair." She sobbed.

"Dear? Are you alright?"

She glanced up into the eyes of an adult woman. She wore a plain, long, white dress that had no real discernable features. Her tentacles were green.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Yutaka's mouth opened and closed several times, trying to remember exactly how to make the sounds needed to speak.

She settled on crying instead.

"Oh! Oh...dear...here, come to my place, we'll get you some food."

Yutaka whimpered and stood up. She lugged her Splatling behind her.

Sorui sat down on the train home. His day had been good, he supposed. He won his first battle. That was good, right?

But he winced at the memory of the laughter he endured. He glanced down at his shirt. He had thought about replacing it, to stop people from laughing at him, but he decided that his money was better off being saved or something. And he probably didn't have enough for a good outfit anyway. Besides, it was his shirt.

So he bought himself lunch with his winnings and had that instead.

He wondered why he had done it. The girl had been so mean. He had asked Judd why they had been so cruel to him, but apparently the judge had been elsewhere before the battle.

"Where?" Sorui asked.

"Mew (Napping.)" Judd mewed.

Sorui's eyes fluttered as the train rocked back and forth.

"I don't know why I did it." He mused. "I think...if it happened again...I might...do it again."

Yutaka sat down at the table. It was a heavily scratched, wooden table. Very heavy, with just a small light hanging above it. Her Splatling was in the hall, which was probably a good thing, considering every step she took on the floor creaked, the floor would collapse if something that heavy landed on it. She looked around. It was an old house, but not run down. The nice woman, Shurui was her name, set down a small bowl of rice.

"Sorry, but that's all we have. The rest of the food is for my son. Today is his birthday, so I'm making his favorite."

Yutaka paused.

"I-it's my birthday too."

Shurui smiled and clapped her hands together.

"Well, happy birthday! I'm sure you'd like my son, if you met him."

Yutaka smiled weakly and started to eat the rice.

"So, about why you were crying...you have a weapon, I'm guessing you lost a turf war?"

Yutaka stiffened.

"Well, no...not...exactly..."

It was hard to force out the words. Putting it that way, she should be happy she won. But...

"I...thought I could do better myself. And then this..." She paused. Shurui had a smile on her face that warmed the whole room. She didn't exactly feel that she could call the scrub anything bad...

"...new kid..." She decided "won the battle by himself."

"Oh my...but, aren't teams made up of 4 people? Where were the other two?"

"They...jumped ship on us."

"Well, I hope Judd scolds them well for it. Drop their rankings." Shurui made a few weak punching motions in the air. "Turf wars are a team sport. Everyone plays together, and everyone has a good time."

Yutaka shrugged and glanced around. "You...live here with your son?"

"Yes. My husband passed away some time ago." Shurui sighed. "It's not much, but we're lucky to have something, right?"

Yutaka frowned. "Um...what was your son's name?"

"Oh! I never mentioned. My son's name is-"

"I'm home!" A voice sounded from the hall.

"Oh! He's here. Sorui! Welcome home!"