Before the final, a little behind-the-scene moment.
This night, Koji couldn't get himself to sleep. His heart was too much on the edge as he knew tomorrow will be the hardest challenge he ever faced. After what happened yesterday, he decided to not get back to his room as he would probably have tried to kill Kuai in his sleep. So, he decided to stay at the infirmary with Toka for the night.
He looked at the still unconscious leopard laying on his bed and sighed. He then carefuly walked out of the infirmary as he decided to go on the arena's roof to watch the sky. On his way out, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about Kuai, his dirty ways of winning and his Fleetfoot technique. He also remembered how he defeated Toka without even taking one hit.
However, he shook his head. "Why am I worrying about that? I have the Demon Chi: I surely can beat him." Despite trying to convince himself, he still doubted for his victory.
He soon arrived on the top of the arena's circular wall. Above him, the sky was lightened up by the moon's light and showed-off the thousands of stars. When he looked down, he was surprised to see none other than Yin Bei also present, sitting on the edge of the roof and watching the sky. What was she doing here?
"Hey, Yin Bei." He called her and the snow hare immediately turned around in a defensive position, but calmed down upon seeing it was Koji.
"Oh, it's you, Koji. What are you doing here? Tomorrow's the last match. Shouldn't you be resting?" She shyly asked.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came here to watch the sky for a bit. I always used to do this, back in my world: it helps me relax." Koji answered as he walked forward.
"What do you mean?" The snow hare wondered curiously.
"It's not important." The beetle said and came to sit down on the edge. Right after doing so, Yin Bei looked all around nervously and he started feeling an awkward between them. So he decided to turn to another subject. "Say, this Kuai guy is from the same world as you, right?"
"Hum...yeah." Yin Bei simply answered.
"Is he so strong as everyone says?"
"Yes." She nodded before looking up at her beetle companion. "But I'm sure you can beat him, you know."
Koji smiled and putted his hands behind his head. "Yeah! That's true that I'm a though guy, ha, ha, ha!"
After he stopped laughing, silence came back and the awkward feeling too. Koji looked at her still bandaged shoulder.
"Does it feel better? I hope I didn't cut it too deep."
"This? D-Don't worry: the doctor told me it should heal very soon." Yin Bei assured. Koji could tell she was slowly but surely getting more comfortable around him.
The beetle then looked down and released his confident pose. "Yin Bei...You think it sincerely?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked, confused.
"I might look strong to your eyes, but the truth is that, back in my world, I fail nonstop at everything that I do. So I pretend to be though to give myself courage-"
"No! Don't say that!" The snow hare suddenly interrupted him, much to his surprise as she was always quiet. "From my point of view you are a proud looser! When I see you in action, I see someone who is far from being perfect, but very strong. No matter how many times you fall, you always get back up. From my point of view, this is what it means to be strong. And that's why you can win this tournament." Quickly, the young girl blushed and looked away as she realized the speech she just made.
However, Koji's face lightened up and a big smile formed on it. "You know what, Yin Bei? When I came here, I was super-afraid! But now, all of sudden, I feel like there's no doubt that I can win tomorrow! Thank you!" He said and got up as he was heading back to sleep.
However, he stopped himself to say something else. "Hey, Yin Bei, I wanted to tell you that, ever since the first time I saw you, I always though that you were..."
"Yes?" She curiously asked with looking at him.
"...a boring, shy and strange girl."
This caused the snow hare's long ears to drop down with a disapointed look. She was expecting some kind of compliment from him. Little did she knew was that he didn't finished.
"But you know, he, he," He chuckled before turning to look at her with a smile. "I actually like this kind of girl."
He then headed back to the infirmary, leaving a blushing Yin Bei alone.
(Before we go any further, I want to point out that I'm not trying to build a romance between them: it's just a friendship.)
The next day, the crowd that filled the arena was more on fire than at any previous match. It was the final and they were all expecting to see a great show before going back home. And they were going to be served.
The two opponents who made it to the final, Koji and Kuai, were already standing in the middle of the fighting zone as the former participants were gathered to the bar and watched with anticipation to see who will come out victorious of this encounter. One thing was for sure: it was going to be violent.
"Any objections, my friends?" Bindo asked, glancing back and forth between the fighters. Neither of them answered as koji looked both angry and excited while Kuai had a look that clearly indicated that he planned to win.
"Well, it's the biggest trash talker of the competition versus the people's underdog hero for the final round of the Power Struggle Tournament! Who will win our grand prize of 100,000,000 Yuan? Let's find out! Let the final round…BEGIN!"