Iori lay back on the front desk so that he could stare at his crumbling ceilings and imagine the tenants above, hiding out from their real lives, perhaps, or sleeping with unscrupulous lovers.

"The queen of fairies caught me when from my horse I fell," he muttered.

"What?" Mai asked, looking over from the bar.

"Nothing," Iori said, sitting up and accidentally swallowing his gum. "Line from obscure british folk. Nothing to worry about."

He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

Mai sighed. "That's your fourth cigarette in, like, an hour, Iori," she said. "You're going to be blackened and twisted by the time the King of Fighters tournament comes around again."

He pulled it out, stared at it, then stamped it out. "Yeesh," he said. "I didn't even notice I had lit it."

"Yagami, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were nervous."

"Nonsense," Iori said. "No reason to be nervous. Kusanagi! If you want this janitor job, you'll have to mop better than that!"

Saisyu Kusanagi muttered under his breath, and increased his pace with the mop, slopping filthy suds over the dirty floor.

"The reason I'm nervous," Iori said, addressing Mai. "is because of that storm outside. That's it, of course. I always get nervous when it's stormy out. There, problem solved."

Mai lifted a single eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're actually afraid of Terry."

Though Iori hated to admit it, he wasn't so much fearing Terry, but rather he was anxious about the conflict ahead. Iori hated unnecessary violence. For him, punching through a man's jaw was slated only for tournaments and when he had to open up a can of "self defence" on miscreants.

Mai noticed that the sleeping form of Andy had rolled onto his back. She sighed and rolled him onto his side and leaned on him, so he couldn't roll back. "You know what I think your problem is?"

Iori unconsciously pulled from a pocket another cigarette. He caught himself at it and threw the cigarette across the room. "No," he said. "But I'm dying to find out."

"When was the last time you dated?"

"You can't possibly attribute my lack of behaviour to a lack of love interests, Mai."

"Not just now. You've been tenser than usual for the past week now, Iori. We've been fighting for ten years plus, pal - you're usually so loose and stupid. And you've had this hotel for a few months now, so it's not because of an onslaught of responsibility doing this. When was the last time you dated?"

Iori thought for a moment. "Hm... well, there was Bobby, the bitch from hell. Oh, yeah, it was Peter, the "bi"-sexual jackass from Toronto. I don't think I ever told you about him. Apparently, according to him, bisexuality means you can cheat on your current paramour."

"Gasp, if only I'd known."

"Yeah. First time I ever lost my temper, really. It was all very out of character for me, but, you know."

"Did..." Andy muttered, surprising them all. "Did you kick his ass?"

"No," Iori said, sticking a piece of gum in his mouth. "Burned down his house, though. Probably overreacted a little."

"And how long ago was this?" Mai asked, leaning painfully hard on Andy, who grunted.

"That would be a month ago."

"Well a month-long dry spell after consistent sex can sometimes give someone the jitters, Yagami."

"Wow, Shiramui-chan, I never knew you were such an expert when it came to relationships! Why, I could've sworn that your last relationship just fell apart and the one before that was a ten year long bout of lies and disillusionment!"

"Hey," Andy said. "I told her I'd try to be better."

"Shut up, Andy," Mai snapped.

"Wow, Mai," Iori continued, wildly. "Now that we know the cure, I'm sure that you'd be totally willing to offer your lithe body for the purpose of curing me. Shall we adjourn to the bedroom?"

"Flirt," Mai said. "But I'm afraid that even if you're flirtacious, you're still a flirtacious fag, so it won't work."

"One of the reasons I'm still friends with him," a voice said.

King appeared beside Iori, startling him by kissing him on the cheek. "Here, honey, I brought you this."

She deposited a full bottle of rye in his hands.

"Darling!" he cried. "How'd you know. Moreover, how'd you sneak in here without either of us noticing?"

"I noticed," Andy muttered.

"Shut up, Andy," Mai said. "To what do we owe the visit, King? I thought this was your and Ryo's night out."

"It was," King said. "But before we go on, is the guy with the mop who I think he is?"

"Back from the dead again, I'm afraid," Iori said.

"How awful. All right, lemme explain - now, Mai, since you're an unemancipated pawn on the patriarchal regime and a stereotypical woman, you're going to freak out at this news."

"I can't wait," Mai said.

"Ryo proposed to me tonight."

"No way!" Mai cried, stabbing her elbows hard into Andy's side in her surprise. He jerked with pain.

"On his knees."

"No way!"

Andy cried out again.

"With a ring with a rock the size of my fist."

"No WAY!"

Andy drunkenly jerked away this time, so that Mai only grazed him. He toppled off the bar with a crash.

"Stupid idiot," King said, staring wistfully into the distance. "I think I might've hurt him by refusing, but it was his own damn fault. He should know me well enough by now that I wouldn't have said yes."

"What? Why not?"

"Marriage, Mai? If I wanted to enter into such a partiarchal slave-institution as that, I'd have started wearing dresses and averting my eyes."

"So what you're trying to tell us," Iori said. "Is that you're crazy as syphilus."

"Hah," King said. "Mai, want to pour us a drink? See, the second reason is that I heard that Terry is heading this way to kick your ass, Iori, and I just have to see that."

"New travels fast, it seems," Iori replied, sitting down. "Ah, maybe I can talk him out of it. If not, his loss."

"Doubtful," King said, with a sly look in her eye.

"Argh!" Iori said, theatrically, clutching his chest. "My self-esteem! King, you've struck it in the heart. A very palpable hit!"

"King," Mai said. "What's this I hear about you working at a furniture store? I thought you owned a bar."

"I do," King replied. "But times are tough all around. Everyone needs a day job. Just like you two."

"Don't remind me," Iori said. "I'm afraid one day we'll all be living in trailers, and the highlight of our evenings is inviting Eiji and the guys over for beers in the backyard. Still, no one seems to be hiring pugilists anymore."

The door burst open and three junkies stumbled in, obviously only seconds after dropping.

Iori met them at the front desk and stared at them, wondering why they couldn't wait until they were in their rooms to do their thing. It took him six minutes to get the money from them and the room keys to them. He ordered Kusanagi to see them up.

"What... am I?" Kusanagi snapped. "Your... busboy?"

"Don't you take lip," Iori said. "How many people in this city'll hire zombies, huh? There ain't that many necromancers around anymore, pal. Thulsa Doom's not going to waltz in and cry 'That one!'. Get them up to their rooms."

Grumbling, Kusanagi complied.

As Iori turned back to the front desk, he froze. Terry Bogard had strode through the front door and was walking up to him. Iori stared at the man's gigantic biceps and wondered why he himself didn't work out that much.

"Iori Yagami?" Terry said. "I'm afraid, at the behest of Boss Takashi, whom you borrowed money and did not repay-"

"Jesus, Terry," Iori said. "Spare me the jargon. We've known each other for longer than I knew my parents, for Christ's sake. You're Terry, I'm Iori, and you're here to attempt to beat me up."

Terry nodded solemnly and said, "Nothing personal, Yagami, honest. This is just my day job."

Iori nodded. "At least it lets you fight, huh?"

Together, they walked out towards the center of the crumbling lobby and faced each other. King and Mai stared intently, and the air thickened as only anticipation can. Iori and Terry locked eyes, staring into each other, shaking out loose limbs and legs.

Kusanagi returned from his errand and saw them. He licked his lips with a tattered tongue and made a silent bet in his mind.

Lightning struck outside and the power went out. The room didn't so much plunge into darkness (the electrical system wasn't so dramatic as that), it kind've just lazily dissolved.

Iori saw his chance and went for Terry's face, leaping forwards in the darkness. Terry moved, and his fist connected with Iori's throat. The light came on for a few seconds, which gave Mai and King a dazzling view of Iori flying back, coughing and choking. The power fizzled out again and Terry moved forwards after Iori.

Iori landed his feet, and musted the strength to ignore the impression that his throat had just imploded. He skidded forwards, sending his strongest move onto Terry, energy powering through his arm.

Terry's fist got his face this time, and the light came on at the right time again, and Mai and King saw a stream of blood flying from Iori's face as he launched backwards.

The power went off again, but Terry heard where Iori landed. Iori was too distracted by the feeling that an explosion had gone off in his nose to hear Terry skitter up. Terry kicked him in the side, hard, and Iori cried out, spitting out blood and curling up.

The lights came on, for good this time, and Mai and King rushed forwards to restrain Terry as he kicked Iori in the chest again.

"Jesus, Terry!" Mai snapped, pulling him back. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Iori, for the love of God!" King said, concerned. "Man alive, are you all right?"

Iori mumbled something that might've sounded like a yes.

Terry shook the two of them off, saying "All right, all right! Off, ladies!"

He stood over Iori and pulled out a card. He read it mechanically aloud : "On behalf of Boss Takashi and Armistice Mercenary Ltd., you have now been roughed up considerably due to a past transgression. In this case (please write legibly the transgression) : Refusal to pay back loans and the systematic assault and destruction of several of my thugs sent to collect."

He put the card away and knelt down beside Iori. He took the fallen man's hand. At first the girls thought he was going to say something apologetic, or at the very least help Iori up, but before they knew it, Terry had broken one of Iori's fingers.

When a finger is broken, it goes into immediate shock. This does not mean that people don't notice it. Most people, in fact, scream as hard as they can. Iori, after decades of combat training, knew how to deal with pain magnificently. He, as Mai would describe it later, 'freaked' and punched Terry as hard as he could, which was considerable.

The next few seconds consisted of the two bleeding men crawling away from each other.

"Jesus Christ, Terry!" Iori screamed. "My Goddamn finger!"

"Just doing my job, you jerk!" Terry snapped. "Damn it! I think you broke my nose! What, you think I enjoyed beating you up like that! There has to be visible wounds or I lose my job!"

"Shut the hell up, Terry!" Iori said.

"You're such an asshole, Terry," Mai said, and walked behind the bar.

Kusanagi walked slowly over to Iori and stared down at him. "I won my bet," he said, and tried to muster enough spit to spit on him. He couldn't, but Iori recognized the action, and ripped off both of the zombie's arms.

Kusanagi stumbled back, a torso and head on legs, and stared at Iori with wide eyes.

Iori stared at the stumbling zombie and burst out into laughter.

He was laughing even as King was setting his finger.