Chapter 9: Anji
The arena was immense. It never looked that big on pictures and brochures, but when one is actually standing on the top row of seats, the fighting platform looked light years away. Flein wondered what it would be like to be standing on the platform. She hoped she would be able to find out tomorrow.
Floating in the middle of the stadium, above the fighting platform, was a gigantic ball. It was being help up by thick cords tied to each side of the roof of the stadium. Flein hoped that that thing wasn't able to light up, and the opening ceremony wasn't just some elaborate disco party. Spaced out evenly around the stadium walls hung four large signs reading "Welcome To The Dark Tournament" in big, red letters.
Flein shook her head. She was getting distracted. Her eyes touched upon every corner of the arena, but it was mostly empty besides a few people making final adjustments to the banners and streamers hanging on the walls. Demons weren't punctual creatures. It was likely nobody thought to come this early to get a good seat.
Her stomach growled loudly. Food would sound like a good idea right about now, if it weren't for the feeling that it would be wasting valueable time. Flein couldn't remember the last time she ate. Yesterday was advantageous for her, considering she had simply been too busy to feel hungry.
Giving up on the stadium seats for now, Flein walked into the opening of the corridor just beside it. The smell of hot dogs or some other meaty substance wafted under her nose, and she almost drooled.
"No, I have to keep looking." she thought, but her feet were already heading towards the greasy smell. "Okay, maybe just a peek. Just to see what it is." She knew she was lying to herself. Once she saw it, she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about food all day. On top of that, she didn't have any money.
Her feet walked faster around the corner, and just as a food stand came into her line of vision, she collided with someone and almost toppled back onto the floor. The stranger made a short yelping noise and almost fell to the ground as well.
"Dammit." Flein thought. "How could I be so good at fighting but be so randomly clumsy in the worst situations?" Now she would have to apologize, and hope the other person wasn't a bullheaded demon who wouldn't let it go.
"S-sorry . ." Flein muttered, but then almost gasped as the person in front of her looked up and earnestly said "Sorry!" as well.
It was the girl. The one she kept seeing everywhere. The one with the bushy purple tail. Although now that she saw her up close, the purple of her hair and ears stood out even more.
"Oh!" the girl exclaimed, looking down at her feet. Some items had fallen out of her bag when they bumped into each other, and the girl bent down and started to pick them up. Flein felt obligated to help her, and hastily helped her pick up a wallet, a Dark Tournament brochure, and a silver necklace. Flein thought she took the necklace out of her hand a little too fast.
"Thank you." she said anyway, looking up at Flein's face. Her eyes met Flein's, and then started to drift up to her cat ears. Flein was used to it. In fact, she was already impressed that the girl at least made eye contact first before staring at her ears.
"Ah . . Ahhh!" the girl yelped, attempting to stand up but then tripping over the strap of her own purse and landing on her butt. She was lucky she was wearing black leggings under her plaid skirt that day, unless she wanted to reveal what was underneath.
"What's wrong?!" Flein stood up, thoroughly confused. Only humans reacted like this, and even then, most of them assumed her ears were fake in the first place.
"I can't believe I didn't notice it in the hotel . . you're one of them!" the girl said, attempting to cover her canine ears with her hands. It was a little too late for that.
"One of them?" Flein repeated, arching her eyebrow. She didn't like where this was going. Did she not like cats or something?
"Yeah! You . . you are a cat demon, right?" the girl said, pointing at Flein's ears. She had seemed so sure of herself before, and now she just looked as confused as Flein.
"Yesssssss . ." Flein said slowly. "And what's wrong with that?"
The other demon girl finally got back on her feet. "What do you mean, 'what's wrong'? You don't care that I'm a wolf demon?" she said, pointing at her own ears almost accusingly. She was still slowly backing away from Flein, as if Flein would just now realize what she was and would change her mind and start attacking her.
So that's what she was. A wolf demon. She thought she got pretty close with guessing that she was a fox demon, but she knew she shouldn't ever tell them that they were hard to tell apart. "Why should I care that you're a wolf demon?" Flein asked.
"Um, because, well . . your people attack our people all the time . ." the girl mumbled, looking away. "Oh but um, our people attack yours sometimes too . ." she added as an afterthought, as if apologizing for her first sentence.
"My people? I don't have a 'people'." Flein explained with an amused smile. "In fact I don't think I've ever personally known another cat demon in my whole life. Although now that I think about it, it would be interesting to meet one . ." She didn't know if she would like another cat demon or not, especially now since this stranger thought Flein was going to attack her.
"What?! But that's . . ." the girl squinted her eyes and looked at the ground, the gears turning in her head. "Wait a minute! Were you abandoned by your family or something?"
Flein tilted her head to the side and smiled. "You could say that, I guess."
"Oh . . I'm sorry . ." the girl apologized, seeming to regret just outright asking such a personal question. "No matter what you are, it would be sad to not have a family . ."
"It's okay." Flein assured her. "Don't think of me as just a cat demon. I'm just Flein. And . . . you are?" It was probably the smoothest transition into an introduction that Flein had ever given.
The wolf demon smiled. "I'm Anji." She realized she was still holding the wallet, brochure, and necklace in her hands, and quickly stuffed them into her black purse. Flein eyed her wallet hungrily.
"Don't. Don't ask her to pay for food. You just met her. Don't." Flein told herself, turning her gaze to the food stand. Her stomach growled dangerously loud. Anji followed her gaze behind her to the food stand and turned back to Flein.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"A little . ." Flein lied. It was more like she was starving.
"I was about to go get something to eat before I bumped into you . ." Anji explained. "Would you like to join me?"
"I would really like to but I don't have any money on me . ." Flein said, embarrassed. She would kill to have some of the leftover funds that Rei seems to waste on dresses right about now.
Anji smiled and held up her wallet. "Don't worry about it."
If Flein wasn't so introverted with new people, she surely would have hugged her right now.
"So what brings you here?" Flein asked, her mouth full of hot dog. She had ordered the smallest, cheapest kind with no toppings, so she wouldn't have to inconvenience her new friend. Still, it tasted divine on an empty stomach.
"Well . ." Anji began, after swallowing her bite. "I came here to look for someone."
"Ah." Flein said. She didn't know if she should dig deeper. After getting their food, they had sat on the empty seats of the stadium, which was still mostly empty. They had a good view of the giant, mysterious ball that was hanging above the fighting platform.
"He's a good friend from my village." Anji continued anyway after a momentary silence. "He's . . one of my best friends, actually. And well, after he left to go fight for our village, I realized it might be the last time I see him . . because you know, I heard people die in these tournaments . ." She stopped her story and looked at Flein as if asking for confirmation.
"Uh huh." Flein said, licking her fingers. Of course people die. You just have to make sure it's not you.
"Sooo . ." she continued. "Suddenly, I decided to come here and . . support him!" She shrugged bashfully, as if it were a stupid idea.
"That's understandable . ." Flein assured her. "So . . he's a fighter?"
"Yep!" Anji said proudly. "The whole team is from my village. Our goal, if our team wins the tournament, is to wish for our own big piece of land far away from the cat demons, so that we never have to fight each other for territory every again."
Flein finished her last piece of hot dog, and looked at her companion. "That's a good cause. In that case . . I hope I don't have to fight that team."
Anji stopped chewing. "You're . . you're a fighter too?"
"Yep. Well, I will be. Hopefully." Flein said, scratching her head. "We just need one more team member." Flein looked around for a clock anywhere, and couldn't find one. "I just hope that I'm not running out of time to find one. If I can't find one, then I'll have to go back home . ."
"Oh, I see . ." Anji said sympathetically. "To be completely honest, I'm kinda in a jam myself. I wanted to be a spectator in this tournament, so I could always keep an eye on my team and support them . . But all of the spectator tickets are sold out . . So all I can hope to do is try to catch him walking around somewhere . ." She sighed, crinkling up the greasy hot dog paper in her hands. "I'm starting to lose hope."
Flein remembered Anji then, arguing with the employee about sold out tickets. Then, suddenly an idea clicked in her mind. "Hey, why don't you join my team?!" Flein asked. "Then not only could you watch the fights, but you could stay in the same hotel he's staying in, maybe even go down into the area where he's preparing to fight . . you'll have a lot more freedom. And we'll have our last member!"
Anji frowned. This was not the response Flein was hoping for. "Oh, but . . I can't do that . ." she said.
"Why not?" Flein asked.
"Because well . . I don't fight."
Flein's heart plummeted. She could see her last chance, slipping away. There it was, right in front of her, but she couldn't grasp it. Flein wanted to respect her choice not to fight, but at the same time wanted to start shaking her and shout "WHY NOT?"
"Oh . . that's okay then . ." Flein said reluctantly.
"I'm sorry . ." Anji mumbled, realizing she let her new friend down.
"It's okay . . but . ." Flein said, trying to hide her disappointment. "I'm sure it's almost time to meet my other teammates and see if they found anyone we could use. It could still be okay. Don't worry about it."
"All right . . well . . I wish you all the luck!" Anji said, forcing a smile.
"Thank you. It was nice meeting you!" Flein said, standing up. "Thanks for the food." She walked towards the customer service desk, leaving Anji sitting on the stadium seats behind her. She knew it would be the last time she would ever see her, and she tried not to think of the possibilities that could have happened.
Flein was the first one to arrive at the meeting place. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She glanced at the clock behind the counter.
"Good, I'm 10 minutes early . ." she thought. "There could still be a chance they'll arrive with somebody . ."
A few minutes later, she saw Kirda walking toward her in the distance with someone behind her. Flein's heart lifted. "She found someone. Yes!" she thought, waving her over. As Kirda got closer and closer to Flein, she noticed the person was quite large, with muscles stretching through a thin T-shirt. Oh no.
It was only Gaou.
"Well, does finding our other teammate count?" Kirda said, smiling.
"How could she be so chipper at a time like this . ." Flein thought anxiously. "Please Rei, please pull through."
Just as their arranged meeting time arrived, Rei came at the last minute with . . . food. She was shoving popcorn into her mouth, and stood beside Flein and asked, "Did you find someone?" as if she couldn't see it herself.
"No . ." Flein responded, kicking herself for having thought she could rely on Rei.
"Crap." Rei simply said, shoving another handful of popcorn into her mouth.
"So that's it then . . we can't fight . ." Kirda said, finally losing her happy-go-lucky attitude. "So . . do we just go home then?"
"I don't know . ." Flein responded, her heart heavy. She felt angry that they would have to give up after all that they've done already.
Just as she was about to suggest going to get a strong drink with Chu, she heard a "Wait!" behind her. Flein turned to face the familiar voice behind her, and found Anji running towards her, hand up in the air.
"Flein! Wait!" she yelled, and skidded to a stop in front of her, trying to catch her breath. "I'll do it. I'll join your team."
"What?! But I thought you said you couldn't fight . ." Flein said, not wanting to jinx it but also wanting to know why she had a sudden change of heart.
"I said that I don't fight, not that I couldn't fight. It's just that I don't normally like to." Anji explained. "But this time . . I have a good reason!"
This time, Flein did hug her. "Yes! We can join the tournament now!" The group of five erupted into cheer, Kirda joining in on the hug.
"I don't know you, but welcome to the team!" she said jovially. Anji just smiled, looking at the friendly strangers around her.
Flein whirled around and unfolded the piece of paper on the desk behind her, grabbing the nearest pen and scribbling "ANJI" in sloppy letters on the last team member space. "We would like to join the Dark Tournament, please!" she told the nearest employee behind the desk.
"All right then." said the female demon politely. "Oh, but you need to fill in your team name . ."
"Oh yeah, that's right . ." Flein said. She couldn't believe she forgot. It didn't really seem important now that they just barely managed to scrape in their last teammate. She looked at the people around her for help.
Kirda, the girl she met on the boat ride here. Rei, who was found hiding behind a few boxes. Gaou, who found them. And Anji, having met her through fate literally pushing them together. She met them all by a complete and random coincidence. Yet somehow, she believed in her team.
"It's Team Musakui." Flein told the employee behind the counter.
The team was formed.
