This spins on not only the weird limbo the state of the Women's Team is in currently in the midst of the KoF XV reveals (not to mention Mai and Yuri themselves within that limbo as well), but the fact that the Secret Agent team is basically a 'Women's Team' of its own.
SLAM! "We're in trouble, Mai!"
The afternoon 'officially' started for the still-incomplete "Women's Fighters" when Yuri kicked in the door and nearly tackled into Mai in the middle of the Pao Pao.
Mai nearly choked from a combination of fright and her lunch midway down the throat, when her friend's body collided with the table.
"Mmph~! Y-Yuri, what are you—"
"Mai, look at this..."
Another SLAM as a laptop – Yuri's, specifically – slammed down onto the table, open on a browser tab.
"What do you see?"
Mai inspected the webpage that provided the latest update on the KoF tournament. "...Tournament news?"
"That's what you see..." Yuri grabbed Mai by the back of her neck and pulled her closer.
"I see a threat to our team's reputation...!"
The hands of the karate girl demanded her shinobi friend's attention towards the certain details – and Mai realized it only then.
"Oh – do you mean this new team Mary's working with this year?" Alongside Mary in the team Mai was referring to, were fellow agent Vanessa and former Kim Team associate Luong.
"Exactly!" Yuri closed her laptop shut (nearly crushing Mai's fingers) and climbed off the table. "The integrity of the 'Women's Team' is under fire already, and the tournament hasn't even started!"
"You're worried about that?"
"Why wouldn't I? You're on this team, too – it's not just me!"
"I think we're meeting on different wavelengths about what the 'threat level' really is on this."
"Oh god, do you not remember the appeal of the team, Mai!"
Yuri was leaning so far over to the other side of the table that she could almost kiss Mai if she wanted to.
"All these teams that mainly consist of testosterone and muscle; and then there's these three women just being tough and beautiful!"
Mai simply responded: "What's your point?"
"The point is, not only do we keep losing potential members to other teams, but there's another team just waiting in the wings to be the new queens – and we can't let that happen!"
Before she was allowed to go on much longer, the Kyokugen girl was silenced once Mai got a hold of her.
"Yuri – just take a deep breath." Mai's hands smooshed against Yuri's face, squishing it almost like a cartoon within her hands.
"Just tell me... are you just salty you aren't on the Art of Fighting team again?"
"I-I'm not salty – you're salty!" Right then and there, Yuri's foundation started crumbling.
"Yuri, please stop trying to assert yourself right now – people are looking this way; are you sure this is as serious as you think it is?"
"I'm sure that I'm sure! And I'm just as sure you're dry down there after Andy rejected you again—mmmhpp!"
Mai's hands shifted, as one slid over further in front of Yuri's face, muffling her mouth.
"First off, that's a total low blow: it's none of your business what goes on between me and Andy."
In Mai's eyes, the karate girl was getting really annoying, really quick – the frustration from this was as heavy as the buxomness she carried.
"Second: why do you keep acting like you're the leader here?"
Yuri muffled, "Hmm-phmm...?"
Translation: 'Too far?'
Before long, she felt her feet leave contact with the floor.
Mai was now lifting Yuri up onto a shoulder, carrying her off her feet; priority meant she was n longer focused on lunch.
"Let's just make things less awkward and take this somewhere less public, alright, kid?"
"I-I'm not a kid!" Yuri fussed.
Mai was barely fazed. "You're definitely acting like one..."
"I'm just trying to be a responsible teamm—" THUNK! "Owww!"
"Maybe watch out for the doors before you do that...?"
The two eventually vanished past the doors of the establishment and the crowd of eyes glancing in their direction slowly lingered back to their previous focus.
Among the witnesses to the 'scene' made in the middle of the cafe, included a young sumo girl at the bar-table.
"Gosh..." whimpered Hinako. "I've never seen this team get so tense before..."
On the next seat ahead, Hotaru almost couldn't dig her fork into her slice of cake for a moment – she had her glance pointed further down to the next person over. "Did you have to put up with that in the last tournament?"
A couple empty stools spaced off between those two and the next seated at the bar, as Alice awkwardly fiddled with the brim of her cap, almost feeling embarrassed by proxy.
"I'm with Yuri on this – I wish King was still on the team, too."
By the time this is posted, it'll be literally the day before the next KoF XV character reveal (unless they reveal something else tomorrow after they announced the platforms the game is on this morning), so whether or not the women's team is completed then will not be reflected in this chapter.
Though if one of two scenarios ends up happening – whether it be that Alice returns for the Women's Team, or that Mai and Yuri are not even teaming together this year – I'll at least be relieved that I got this chapter in before either of those scenarios happen. Though I'll still feel a little whomped because this isn't the first drabble at least semi-relevant towards the team.
