Two weeks passed, with Yoh's training becoming more intense. Mine did, too, once I wasn't dealing with a nasty bruise or pain anymore. The two of us were going to cheer each other on at our respective matches, which meant I'd be witnessing Yoh's fight against Horohoro.
Anna would usually enter her sanctuary around noon, not coming out until dinner. The days she did this, she would give Yoh and I time off from training. I used the time to design battle outfit concepts. Taking elements from the outfits I remembered in my own time, I tried my best to design one that would go with Rozaria's staff.
I made weapon concepts for Snowbean and Lute as well. Getting an idea from Chocolove and Celestia Ludenberg, I made finger claw designs. Lute was harder to design a weapon for. Indigenous people had a variety of weapons for hunting and attacking people, but I couldn't decide which one. Finally, I just doodled a hatchet and called it good.
The designs had vanished from my room's table the next morning and I sulked about it.
But time flew by and it was time for my match. We stood outside of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, which was eerily empty and devoid of people.
"Are you nervous?" Yoh asked.
"A little. But I know what I can do!" I said, before Anna threw a package at me.
"Here. Put this on. Be grateful I found the time to do this." She remarked. I caught the package and nodded, going into the alley to quickly change. The outfit was a sleeveless turtleneck shirt, a yellow yukata top with flowing sleeves and a small red obi, an orange skirt that reached below my knees with a split on the left side, black shorts and red ankle boots. A red headband was in it too, which I replaced my usual teal one with and tied it in a bow.
There was a set of snowflake-design finger claws and a hatchet, too. I put the hatchet in my obi and the finger claws on my fingers. They didn't interfere with holding Rosaria's staff, either. So, I put my casual clothes into the bag and walked out to rejoin my friends.
"Anna, thank you…" I said. "It's lovely."
"You're welcome." Anna said, taking the bag from me. "Now, make sure to win."
"I will!"
We heard footsteps. A girl wearing a black and white mask much like the drama mask walked up. She wore a brown military beret, a black turtleneck with a brown overcoat, dark brown pants and black boots. Her red hair peeked out from either side of her head. This was my opponent, Kalis Inugami.
"The match starts soon." Kalis said. "Prepare your Over Soul, Renard. I will be winning this match."
"I'm sorry, but I'll be declining losing." I shrugged. "I made a promise I'd only leave the fight if I couldn't keep up with Anna's training. Sooo~ You'll have to try to intimidate someone else."
Getting ready, Kalis integrated her Guardian Ghost into her amulet. I integrated Rosaria into the staff I held, holding it with both hands. Readying myself, I let her run in towards me, going for a hit when I moved out of the way, smacking her in the chest with my staff. Twirling it, I rapidly struck, mimicking Ren's Vorpal Dance. It'd taken me a long time to get the timing down for it, and I wasn't happy that she deflected a good chunk of the strikes but… This was a fight, not a fighting game . I had to take into account what was going on, my opponent's Furyoku– everything that I could so I could win. I had to win.
"Your attacks are meaningless. I will be the one to win." Kalis said, starting to strike at me. I followed her movements as best as I could, with at least three hits getting in on me. It didn't hurt as much as it would've had I not trained so hard with Anna's guidance, which I had to give her credit for. I moved back, giving myself some space before going for Kalis' amulet to break her concentration on her Over Soul. It worked briefly, but her Over Soul flared up again almost immediately. As if she had infinite Furyoku.
She was an experiment– an artificial human who would be the vessel to a god. Of course she had infinite Furyoku if she-
I felt my strength start to leave me, noticing Kalis hadn't moved. Oh, crap. If memory served, she could drain away the Furyoku of her opponents. Immediately, I ran in to hit Kalis in the chest to break her concentration and save my Furyoku from being drained. It worked and I followed up with another attempt at Ren's Vorpal Dance to keep her concentration on the fight and not draining my Furyoku.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
The two of us traded blows until I landed the decisive hit that knocked her Over Soul clear off. That meant that she could no longer fight.
That I was the winner.
"You did it, Azalie!" Manta said, just as I started to feel my strength getting sapped again. No- nonononono –
I faced Kalis, who was staring at me through her mask. I couldn't see her face, but it was probably crunched up in concentration as she drained my Furyoku. She was trying to force me out of the fight by doing so, it seemed. Before she could do it for too long, Silva got involved. Interfering with a match was forbidden, but afterwards was fair game.
"Enough. You've lost." He said, breaking her concentration. I felt a little weary, so I had to use Silva to keep myself up. How much of my Furyoku had she drained? Or was it because of the fight? I didn't know, but it had affected me in the weirdest way. That meant that I had little to no Furyoku left, right..? Keeping ahold of Silva kept me from falling over. I had to be there for Yoh's next fight.
Kalis got up, but she went for another attack while I was weakened. Almost immediately, Silva defended me from the attack and told Kalis she was to leave the area immediately now that she lost. A sore loser, it seemed like. He looked back at me once Kalis had left, while Anna, Yoh and Manta headed over as well.
"It seems she can drain other's Furyoku, which is why I got involved." He pressed a part of the Oracle Bell and showed it to us. I only had about 50 Furyoku remaining out of…
That couldn't be right!
"Her Furyoku is three thousand?!" Manta shouted, surprised.
"Initially it was one thousand, seven hundred and nine but she must have raised it somehow." Silva said. "She used quite a bit in her technique mimicry, but her opponent drained the rest out of her. She'll need a lot of rest after this, but she should be good by morning."
"I'm staying up." I said, shaking my head. I had to. Yoh came to support me, so I had to do the same. "Yoh's match is soon, so I'm going to be there to cheer him on, like he was here for me. I'll rest afterwards."
"Stubborn, but I'll allow it just this once." Anna said. "Once we get home, you're resting and there's no backtalk about it."
I nodded. Silva would then take his leave after wishing Yoh luck in his fight. We would then make our way to the Sunshine Building, which wasn't too far from the theatre where my fight took place. While on our way there, we picked up some food from a food stand to eat while walking, since people were out at all sorts of hours.
Given the time, we sort of waited around. Anna, Yoh and Manta were talking amongst themselves while I tried to figure out why Kalis was in the tournament. From what I knew of the game, they basically erased her memory and had her thinking she was a girl named Meril Inugami and she was undergoing… "Wife training" or something like that. But here, she was in the fight… for what reason?
What did Force Millennium want in this world?
A laugh snapped me out of my thoughts, a familiar laugh that I'd heard while watching the anime– but it sounded more real and less like a voice actor was forcing himself to laugh. I looked up at the building, to see.. well, I couldn't see him but I knew he was there. It was like my heart had started to race upon hearing his laugh, and now that I was faced with the prospect of seeing him in the flesh , I was starting to falter.
I had the biggest crush on him when I was reading the manga and watching the anime, but… I didn't know it was still there . Until now, until I was faced with the prospect of actually meeting him. I didn't know how to deal with the emotions flooding me like the hormonal teenager I was. Covering my face and screaming was the best bet I had, which had everyone staring at me.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not sure what to do!" I said, nearly shouting it. My face was probably burning red at this point.
"Did you catch a cold on the way here?" Yoh asked. "Your face is pretty red."
Yup. I was blushing. That just confirmed it. I groaned and covered my face. It sucked.
After that embarrassing bit, our mystery fighter came down via snowboard and introduced himself as Horohoro, also introducing Kororo. A bit of back and forth banter had Anna and Yoh pointing out they were engaged, Horohoro becoming desolate but being cheered up by Kororo. There was a bit of a joke about Manta being a koropokkur due to his height, too. I slapped my face a couple times to knock myself out of my stupor and took a breath, marching myself over to Horohoro and holding out my hand.
"I'm Azalie, I'm not a Guardian Ghost or anything but hi." That sounded awkward. Horohoro looked at me before taking my hand and shaking it.
"Hey." He said in response, making my face burn up again. Damn my stupid emotions getting the better of me. I had steeled myself prior, knowing what was coming, but this was getting ridiculous!
"Your Guardian Ghost is cute." I held out my hand to Kororo. "Like, one of the most adorable spirits I've seen today."
"I'm your favourite though, right?" Snowbean appeared, lounging on my shoulder.
"Of course. You'll always be my favourite." I gave her chin scritches and she purred.
Kororo seemed apprehensive, but gave my hand a small little pat with one of her small little hands. I held back a squeal as that was too adorable and moved out of the way, back to where Anna and Manta were. I instead held Snowbean in my arms, her weightless ghost form giving me a sort of comfort. Like she always did when I was alone and hopeless back home.
"So, you like Yoh's opponent?" Anna asked. I nodded stiffly.
"I thought I was ready to put that part of my past aside. Guess it decided "oh, he's actually real. Well, here's your crush tenfold. Enjoy" and I do not know what to do about it." I responded before putting my face in my hands. "I had the biggest crush on him back home, thought I was over it. Turns out, nope. I am not."
"As long as it doesn't bother Yoh, I don't really care." Anna brushed it off. "But make sure it doesn't bring down your participation. If you lose without good reason, I will be cross with you."
"Heard loud and clear." I nodded.
"Wait wait wait. Azalie, what do you mean you 'had the biggest crush on him back home'? I thought you were from-" Manta began, but I shrugged.
"I am from America, just… there's secrets I don't like talking about." I buried my face in Snowbean's fur, keeping it hidden.
Everything seemed to go by pretty quickly, as I didn't pay much attention.
The exhaustion was slowly fading away as the fight continued.
But Yoh got his win, like he usually did.
It wasn't too long after that we were celebrating his victory in the morning. Although Anna told me to rest, I couldn't help but join in the festivities. Although I was a bit miffed we weren't celebrating mine, too, I didn't bring it up. No, Yoh deserved this. It was only when the cheeriness got too much that I headed outside, shutting the door behind me and sitting on the porch. I didn't bring anything with me, so I just stared at the open gate before getting up and going to change out my shoes.
Maybe a walk would clear my head, so that was what I would do. It was a form of rest, after all, at least for me.
Given the circumstances, I wondered if I was just overthinking things. Surely my victory also meant something?
Or was it just a fluke?
I noticed a girl heading up to the gate as I walked out, giving a short wave as I noticed her. "I'm guessing you're here for Horohoro?"
She stopped, frowning. "Yeah. He's skipping on his training! He won't be Shaman King if he-"
"-skips out on his training. And because he lost to Yoh, right?" I shook my head. "Listen, miss, with all due respect, let him have a little fun. Training all the time will cause him a lot of problems in the future. I nearly ran myself ragged training all the time where my mentor had to force me to rest because I was overdoing it… so maybe just let him have some peace and make friends."
"With the person who nearly stole his dream from him?!" She poked my chest. "He's going to need to work doubletime to make sure he makes it through the tournament!"
"Miss, with all due respect-" And I felt her slap me. Putting my hand to my cheek, I stared at her. She walked by me, anger apparent in her features, and bumped into me on purpose out of anger. I was only trying to give Horohoro time to relax, since she seemed to be worse than Anna in training someone. She called it "torture" in the manga, but quickly corrected herself and called it training. Which.. Honestly, I could see why Anna trained Yoh so hard but I couldn't understand why Pirka did it.
That was her name- Pirka.
I left the house behind, my feet taking me into town and wandering for what felt like forever. Even though night fell, I didn't really see the need to go back.
I kept walking, kept going even though I could hear Rozaria, Lute and Snowbean protest against it. It wasn't until there was a hand on my shoulder that I snapped out of it. Looking over, I noticed that it wasn't anyone I knew. In fact, it looked to be a taller man, about 30, who seemed to be leering at me. He started to lean in when I used the metal finger covers to scratch him so he'd let go and booked it out of there . Instead of going wherever my feet were taking me before, I made a beeline to the graveyard, where I'd first seen Yoh.
Vaulting over the gate without thinking, I made it as far as I could before hiding, trying to catch my breath and wiping off the metal finger covers. I didn't think I'd be accosted like that, but then again… This was Japan, albeit a different version from the one in my own reality. The thought of being touched by a lecherous old man made me feel like I needed to take about twenty showers and scrub myself raw until I felt clean again. Heading up to where Amidamaru's gravestone had been, I sat down nearby and curled up just a little.
"They're looking for you, you know." Snowbean said, nudging my leg. "You should go home."
"I don't think I can right now." I responded. "I…."
"Lady Azalie, there you are!" Came Amidamaru's voice. "Lord Yoh, I found her!"
"It's about time!" Came Anna's voice. "Really, did she have to run away like that?"
"It wasn't like that, she just didn't seem to have any perception of where she was." Came Rozaria's voice. Wait, Rozaria? "That's why Lute and I hurried to you all once she stopped at the graveyard. It was the prime time to tell you where she was."
I uncurled, slowly standing up. Snowbean jumped and I caught her in my arms. Walking up to where I was… was Anna, Yoh, Manta, Ryu and… Horohoro and Pirka?
They all had come looking?
"I can understand you four, but not you two. We just met and you slapped me." I said, backing up a little. Pirka huffed and looked away. Horohoro rubbed the back of his neck while Anna looked from me to Pirka.
"She came to apologize. Isn't that right?" Anna asked.
"No–!" Pirka said, before folding her arms against her chest. "...Maybe. Whatever, that's not the point! The point is that she's found, right?"
"I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble." I bowed to them all. "I just started walking and the next thing I knew, I was being creeped upon so I came here after attacking the creeper. I think I just lost track of everything. I'm sorry."
"Stand up." Anna said. "You're not in any trouble. Just don't run off like that again."
"Okay." I stood up straight and walked over to them. I looked over to Pirka.
"...No hard feelings?"
"Yeah, sure." She shrugged.
Laying in my futon afterwards, having finally made it home, I stared at the ceiling before sitting up and getting out of said futon. Heading to the kitchen, I figured I'd get a snack and then go back to bed. Turning on the light, I started to slightly rummage around to find where the snacks that weren't Anna's were. Finally finding some potato chips, I got them out and turned off the light before heading towards my room. Tonight had been… strange.
After the fights, the party and then what almost happened to me, I felt like the entire weight of the world was somehow on my shoulders. And I didn't even like it. Even with meeting Horohoro, who had been my crush in the anime and manga, had been great but… I guess Pirka's attitude towards me had been what was the catalyst to all of this. Maybe me trying to get her to go easy on Horohoro wasn't the best thing I could've done. I could've just ignored her, but…
I didn't know.
Sitting on the floor once I'd returned to my room, I opened the bag of chips and started to slowly eat one after the other, realizing that I wasn't hungry but I apparently just wanted something to do. At least half the bag was eaten as I contemplated what was to come. Silva would tell Anna to have Yoh forfeit his upcoming match but it wouldn't happen, leading to Yoh's first loss and his hospitalization. I didn't know how I would break this to Anna, but I supposed I didn't have to.
Closing the bag, I set it on my desk and headed back to bed. Pulling the cover over myself, I curled up into a ball and closed my eyes.
….I wondered if I would have a better day tomorrow.