It was just a couple of nights after the beach event. Dawn Sawyer had just left the supermarket with her latest purchase of home-cooked dinner. On her way back home, she stopped and took out a yen to examine it.

"Hard to believe this thing is worth less than a US dollar. I've been living in Japan for probably a month or so now, and I'm still trying to get used to things. I can understand and speak Japanese pretty well, but I'm not quite sure how to read it just yet. So note to self: whenever I'm eating out, I should bring a friend."

"Hey, Dawn!"

"Speaking of friends." Dawn looked on over to see Sakura Hagiwara waving at her from across the street. She stood there along with Elena and the rest of the girls from Sweet Diva.

Dawn made sure there were no cars coming in and walked on over to speak to them. "Hey, Sakura. Elena. And you must be Sweet Diva. You know, I've seen you perform over at the beach, but I've never quite spoken to you."

"Well, both Sakura and Elena told us about you." Said the one with blue hair.

"Yeah. They said you were tougher up close than how you looked from outside the ring." The one with red hair said.

I snicker proudly. "Yeah. That sounds like me."

"Right. I gotta introduce you." Sakura said. "The one with the blue hair is Aika, the redhead is Yuuho, the girl with the brown hair is Nanami, and the one with black hair is our manager, Makoto."

"So what brings you all out in town?" Dawn asked.

"Well, we have a free night," Makoto said, "So I thought I'd treat the girls for a karaoke night."

"Karaoke?" Dawn asked. "That sounds fun."

"You wanna join?" Aika asked.

"Are you kidding?" Dawn asked. "You girls are pop idols. You sing professionally. It's a bit of an unfair advantage."

Elena chuckled. "It's karaoke night, Dawn, not a competition. We sing here for fun."

"Even so, I…"

"Hola, Sakura." Everyone turned and smiled when two familiar men approached. One was Yoshi. The other was Kaito.

"Hey, Yoshi." Sakura waved.

"So that's Yoshi?" Aika whispered. "Sakura's right. He is pretty cute."

"Sakura's very lucky." Yuuho added.

"Kaito?" Dawn asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I heard Sakura was doing karaoke and I just had to see for myself." Yoshi said.

"And I've never actually been to a karaoke place." Kaito said. "When Yoshi brought it up, I figured it'd be fun to check it out."

Dawn smiled before turning to Sakura and the others. "So… the offer of singing with you still on the table?"

"Sure." Nanami said. "Hey, Makoto, is it okay to let the boys in on this too?"

"Yeah. I can afford it." Makoto replied. "Let's go."

The group just entered the karaoke bar and set up a session at the front desk. The clerk gave them thirty minutes in the nearest room with our selected songs. Although, when Dawn gazed at the list, she remembered something embarrassing.

"Uh, guys," Dawn called out, "I can't read this."

"Really?" Elena asked.

"I'm still learning to read Japanese, okay?" Dawn said.

"Here, let me help." Kaito offered. Dawn smiled thankful for his help and showed him the list. "Okay, we've got an assortment of songs to choose from. There are even some American songs as well such as I'm Still Standing. I'll Be There For You. Stronger…"

"Wait. Stronger?" Dawn asked. "As in the one sung by Kelly Clarkson?"

"Yeah. That's the one." Kaito confirmed.

Dawn exclaimed in glee. "Oh, man. I love that song. Pick that one."

"Okay." Kaito said.

After that, everyone met up in the karaoke suite. One by one, the Sweet Diva girls sang their selected songs. Then, Yoshi had his turn. He sang in Spanish, and Sakura clearly swooned. Eventually, it was Dawn's turn. She took the microphone and climbed up the stage waiting for the music to start. It began to build up, and right when the lyrics appeared on the screen, Dawn sang along for the nearly-four minutes.

At the end of the song, Dawn was nearly out of breath. She wiped the sweat from her brow before looking at the others. What she found, though, were shocked and irritated faces.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Uh… Dawn…" Sakura said, "I don't want to alarm you, but…"

Dawn quickly had on a disappointed, yet unsurprised face. "I sang terrible, didn't I?"

"What?" Sakura asked surprised. She seemed desperate to hide it. "No, no. It's not that. It's just… It might be a bit pitchy."

"Really?" Dawn asked. "'Cause I would've said that it might've been treason."

"Que?" Yoshi asked.

Dawn sighed. "I already knew I wasn't a good singer. I can't help it. I'm tone deaf. It always sounds better in my head."

"So… you're okay?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Dawn said. "Well, I better get going before animal control comes because someone misheard my singing."

And with that, Dawn left the room. Kaito looked strongly at her leaving and became concerned. He got up and quickly followed her. He caught her standing just outside of the front door.

"You okay?" Kaito asked.

"Hmm?" Dawn asked looking back at him. "Oh, yeah. I'm okay. Just a bit embarrassed, really."

"You sure? Because if someone told me that I had a terrible singing voice, I'd at least have my feelings hurt."

"I'm not exactly one to care about feelings. Besides, I'm already used to the fact that I'm tone deaf. Back at high school, we had a talent show and I was the opening act with my performance of the Circle of Life. Long story short, the talent show was canceled and banned after the first verse."

"Yikes."

"I know, right? After that, I just got used to the idea that I just wasn't meant to sing."

"If you knew that, then why did you agree to join our karaoke?" Kaito asked.

Dawn turned her head. "Well, I guess it's because I saw you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. After I saw you here, I didn't know what I was thinking. I guess I must have figured my singing would've gotten better or something. And after showing myself as a powerful wrestler, I figured I'd impress you better if I was suddenly a good singer too. But like I said, I wasn't thinking."

"You really care how I think?"

Dawn blushed a bit. "Maybe."

"Well, if you want me to be honest," Kaito said, "I think you were trying too hard to impress me. I don't really care whether or not you're a good singer. Seriously, I'm a jobber. I have absolutely no judgement."

"Really?" Dawn asked raising an eyebrow.

"Sure. Go ahead. Name other things you know you're bad at. I promise you, no judgement."

Dawn sighed. "All right. You already know that I can't sing and I used to be a terrible wrestler. I have a short fuse. I don't think things through when someone challenges me to an impossible match. I was a straight C student in school. I tried boxing once, but let's just say I was better at wrestling in my rookie days. I also can't do substance wrestling. Other than that, I know I'd make a terrible lawyer, which I can't get through my mom's skull. Should I go on?"

Kaito didn't laugh like she expected. Instead, she was surprised to just see his smile. "That's better."

"Really?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah. Like I said, you try to hard to put yourself up on a pedestal. To be perfectly honest, I like you better that you humble yourself like this. It makes you more human and relatable."

Dawn returned the smile with admiration in her eyes. "Thanks, Kaito." Her eyes caught the karaoke room opening and Sweet Diva and Yoshi walking out. She then leaned herself to Kaito's ear. "But if you tell anyone else what I said, I'll hit you with a swarm of Queen's Stings."

"Got it. Zip the lip." Kaito responded quickly.

Sakura and her old friends walked out and approached Dawn who removed herself from Kaito's ear.

"Hey, Dawn." Sakura said scratching the back of her head. "Sorry about the karaoke thing."

"Relax. I already told you, I'm fine with it."

"Well, let us still treat you." Yoshi said. "How's about pizza for everyone? My treat."

"Really?" Dawn asked. "I love pizza!"

"Me too!" Kaito responded. He and Dawn exchanged smiles at each other after that.

"Pizza sounds great." Makoto said.

"Good idea, Yoshi." Sakura said. "Thanks."

"De nada."

It was just about time for Berserk to close. The last to leave were Sayuri Rogue and Jackal Tojo. Sayuri carried a stack of papers that were filled with wrestling histories.

"What are you bringing all that for?" Jackal asked. "Trying to read up on my past?"

"Nah. I just wanted to see if there are any interesting match ideas I can pick up from them." Sayuri said. "So far, there's nothing of interest save for Sakura and Rio. They seemed to have an intense rivalry, but their tie-breaking match seems to have been interrupted."

"Yeah. It was part of Elena's plan to get Sakura to quit wrestling." Jackal said. "Since then, Sakura and Rio have been anticipating their real full match. So far, Inoba hasn't had the time to book it."

"Well, perhaps it's time to make time." Sayuri said. "And speaking of interrupted matches, I see the match between Queen Bee and Chocho hasn't been officially resolved."

"Not really." Jackal said. "The League of Evil intervened just when the match was starting to get good."

"In that case," Sayuri said rubbing her chin with her free hand, "I guess it's about time for some interrupted matches to finally be settled."

Author's Note: Well, the main story's back. Sorry for the long wait. I was trying to find out what to do next and how to start the continuation. I know this wasn't the most climatic of chapters, but I thought we'd start with a character depth before we move on. Hope you enjoyed it. Any and all comments are welcome.