"Ladies, Gentlemen, and all you in-between, outside, and every which way! It's time for the grand finale! What you've all been waiting for is here! Who will come out on top? On the left side, a well-known face in the fighting game community, she's using the iconic samurai character, Ronin, it's our perennial champion Yui!"

Cheers erupted as a dark-haired girl took a small, bashful bow before taking her seat by the cabinet.

"And her opponent, the upset that no one saw coming, using the newly released water fighter Mizucho and making a huge splash in his debut, Suiiki!"

Suiiki did a much more enthusiastic bow and took his spot beside her, preparing to bring home one final win.

"So, Ronin huh? Never got used to him myself, too limited in his options for me." He said making light conversation with her.

"She's a simpler character with a simple gameplan. She's got a lot of power, so they didn't give her much besides two special moves." She explained.

"Oh, I didn't know it was a girl?"

"The story gets complicated with it, she's actually a soul possessing a suit of armor. She's cursed to be inside it forever until her arch-nemesis, Master, is killed once and for all."

"Oh, wow! I should really get around to finishing the story mode."

"You're in for a wild ride, the story is crazy. Ready?" She asked, choosing her fighter.

"Ready."

"Round Start! Action!"

Out the gate, Ronin's first move was to throw a piece of paper across the screen. It was small and easily avoidable, and since Water Parry reacted to projectiles, he easily countered it and spread his water all over the place. An excellent start for him.

Suddenly, Mizucho flew back, and his health bar went down about a tenth without even knowing what happened until he saw Ronin sheath her sword. He'd never gotten a proper look, but her sword was actually twice as long as the character herself, who was one of the taller members of the game's roster. She had attacked from nearly full-screen using its length.

Damn, that hurt. I remember that move, it's a really good slash. If I remember right, I can't block it in mid-air, so jumping is a no-go. No matter, with the water, I'll be safe to get in close.

Using his slide, he closed the distance between them. Ronin tried to attack him midway through, and just like the others, she too found that his slide was invulnerable in the puddles. A strong combo was made off of the opening.

Couldn't have asked for a better situation than this! I also believe Ronin can't run like the other people. She can only walk, so in terms of mobility, I've got her beat! There's gotta be a catch though, they don't make characters like her lack in some departments for nothing.

While he was thinking, he lapsed in judgement and jumped in the air, and Ronin slashed him again, except this time he bounced off the wall and flew back towards her. Instead of attacking with a combo, she threw the piece of paper at him. It barely even made a dent in his health bar. The paper remained on Mizucho's forehead, waving about harmlessly.

…I'm scared. There's a reason she used that thing, what is it? I'm staying away and letting her come to me.

Using his Water Parry, he waited for her to approach him. Oddly enough, she backed away from him, far enough that even her sword couldn't reach him anymore. He didn't know what she was doing, but he didn't want to find out, so he remained in his water form.

"Sun Destroyer!" Ronin shouted, and she was behind Mizucho in an instant, in a pose where she was putting her sword inside its hilt. When she inserted it inside completely, the entirety of Mizucho's healthbar disappeared.

"K.O! Ronin, Wins!"

Oh. I see.

"Sun Destroyer is an insta-kill if you're fullscreen. I'm telling you so you don't make that mistake again." Yui said, smiling at him with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Oh, you didn't want to tell me that earlier?"

From behind, a familiar voice called out to them. "Yui-chan likes to use cheating characters that have filthy rotten moves."

Yui chuckled at the accusation. "Kyouko, she doesn't cheat, you just have to be careful when you-"

"Cheater, cheater, egg white beater!" Her friend said, sticking out her tongue.

"That isn't…okay then."

What an odd couple of friends.

"Round Start! Action!"

An immediate scramble began as Mizucho made an attack with his slide to get in close. Ronin jumped over, an easy decision to make, but the length that the slide ended put Mizucho directly beneath her. Instead of double-jumping away like most other characters, she fell back down towards him. Mizucho didn't bother attacking. This was done less for attacking and more for information gathering.

No run, no double jump, and no quick movements with good mobility. She's a tank character, that's for sure. But her moves make staying far away a real danger, and jumping around is gonna get me punished badly. She limits you in how you can move as well.

Learning as he went along, he decided to keep his finger away from the jump button for the rest of the matches. Ronin threw a piece of paper, and Mizucho easily parried it. Ronin attacked the ensuing wave with her sword, and the wave dissipated entirely, no puddles or pushback to be seen.

And it nullifies projectiles?! Damn it! What doesn't she have? She's actually one of the most suffocating opponents there is! She takes away so many options from you! Better not bother with a Water Ball.

Noticing his hesitation, Ronin got in a quick slash off of him. He tried to parry this, but since it wasn't a projectile, it still connected and sent him flying. As he got up, a piece of paper flew his way. Not having enough time, he instead blocked the parchment, which thankfully didn't leave it stuck to him.

Both of them being fullscreen, not one of them could do much to change the stalemate they found themselves in. They were now being careful of each other's attacks – Mizucho more so than Ronin – and committed to keeping their distance.

Owing to his own impatience, Suiiki tried to force a situation by jumping towards Ronin, then quickly double jumping in the opposite direction. This proved disastrous for him once Ronin's long sword sniped him out of the air, leading to the paper landing on his head, signifying a dangerous threat should he be full-screen.

Forced to engage now because of the danger, Suiiiki went into a slight panic and blindly slid in without so much as a thought of what to do next. Simply the idea of the instant kill made him act on its own. This worked to great effect, much to his surprise. Ronin blocked the slide easily, but she didn't retaliate at all, instead retreating away from him. Pushing his advantage, he threw out a few attacks, and still Ronin played defense. It was only when she gained a fair amount of distance that she renewed her efforts to slash him to death.

Making up his mind, he decided an all-out rush from the ground wouldn't hurt much, seeing as he only had a little less than half health to Ronin's still mostly full life. Acting on impulse, he ran in and started throwing attack after attack, certain that she would have a move to end him quickly.

But nothing came. Instead of cutting him to ribbons, she still maintained her defensive style even when his more risky moves missed their mark. Only when he did a random Water Ball did Ronin attack again, and he saw why she had never pushed back against his advance.

She's a turtle! Her fastest light attack is so slow! But shouldn't her slash be fast enough to hit me? To be fair, I've always been far away, so speed was never an issue before. Basically, she's got nothing for a rush!

He was relentless in his assault on her, not giving her a moment to breath at all. He even started putting in a couple of puddles here and there. Feeling satisfied with his work, he finally performed a simple grab on her, tossing her dead into the many puddles he had strewn about. A Slide and Water Ball later, and Ronin was in the same situation many of his previous opponents found themselves in: Mizucho's devastating Burning Assault. It completely destroyed her health bar, giving him the second round and his first win.

"Burning Assault K.O! Mizucho, Wins!"

"Whoo! Atta boy! Knock 'em dead, Suiiki!" Ranika shouted over the cheers of the crowd.

"Make her eat her sword!" Kyouko screamed alongside her.

"You're against me now?" Yui asked.

"Definitely not resentful of you never losing with her! Doesn't sound like me at all!" Kyouko continued.

"Admitting to your personal grudges?!"

"You could stand to let me win once!"

"Now you just sound pathetic…"

Suiiki was having a blast onstage. The previous matches were much more subdued, and the only crowd he'd gotten today was with his semi-final match with Runoso. Hearing the cheers of the audience gave him much more energy to keep going despite the slightly tiring second round.

"Round Start! Action!"

Running with the idea from the last fight, he went on the offense much earlier, giving him an out-the-gate advantage. The samurai was deadlocked into a battle of trying to keep him from hitting her, an almost impossible task against the slippery water user. Finding his rhythm, an opening from below was found, and a strong combo for Mizucho began. Knowing what he did now, he made sure it ended with Ronin right next to him, leaving her in the same position as before.

Attacking non-stop, it was much easier to do this because of the puddles on the ground granting him invincibility from Ronin's sword. No matter what attack she did, he always came out on top, racking up damage along the way. He repeated this process several more times into a routine fashion, and to his delight, Ronin found herself lying on the ground with yet another empty health bar.

"K.O! Mizucho Wins!"

Suiiki heard the crowd's cheers get louder, but he knew better than to let it get to him. He stayed focused and prepared himself for Yui's counter assault. He predicted a similar shift in her gameplan towards aggression.

I can almost hear Genso's voice in my head. When you have no reason to change your tactic, only then should you do so. Whatever he was talking about in history, it's coming in handy now.

"Round Start! Action!"

As he thought, a slash tore through the screen in a flash. He'd planned for it and blocked accordingly. He allowed her to make several more swipes at him before countering with his own attacks. This was something that was almost second nature to him; he'd used this playstyle many times against Soul in their practice bouts. Playing a game of wait and counter was what he'd trained to do for the past two weeks, and now he could finally put the skills he'd accumulated then to good use.

Yui was actually caught off-guard by the sudden shift in gameplay Suiiki was taking. So much so that she reverted to her cautious state once more, her rush being summarily struck down multiple times.

"You're really good at this." She complimented him, with a good amount of exasperation audible in the sentence.

Smiling at the acknowledgement, he gave his own praise of her in his gratitude. "Put in a lot of time, so thanks for that. I kind of have to be to stand a chance against you."

"I really am impressed since I'm a veteran of this game. Ronin has been in the game since the beginning, so I've known her moves and strategies for about eight years now. But Mizucho is so new to the game that even the pros haven't figured all his tricks out. The fact you made him work in such short time is amazing."

Ronin shot out the strip of paper at random. Mizucho easily parried it, and Ronin nullified the wave of water that came after just as quickly. She threw another, and the two had an identical interaction.

Then she did it again. And again. And again. Suiiki was starting to question whether she was getting an idea or getting desperate. He thought it was best to assume the former, so he kept his guard up. Anticipating more paper strips, he began taking his water forms preemptively.

It was soon shown to be a mistake to do so. He took his water form before she actually threw the paper, and instead she slashed him right into the wall, bouncing him off and crashing into his body with her sword two more times. The amount of health he lost was a little more than half, showing that even without the Sun Destroyer, her damage output was not lacking at all. In only three swings, she'd taken the advantage back from him.

Baited. I should've known with how repetitive she became. But at least there's no paper on me yet. Though she might not be going for that anymore considering I know how to avoid it. Or maybe she knows that I know she knows and she's tricking me! Perhaps she knows I know that I know she knows that I know. But what if she knows that I know that I …ugh, I hate mind games!

Not one to rest for long, Ronin went after him again with several more slices. They were blocked easily enough, though the damage they did even when blocked was still substantial.

She sure is throwing that out a lot. Wonder what her strategy is this time. Wow, those slices sure do cut through defense. If this keeps up, she might –

"K.O! Ronin, Wins!"

…yeah, that.

Her constant chipping away at him when he was blocking eventually drained his life. Apparently, blocking against her for an extended time was a war of attrition she could easily win.

"Yui, with the cheating tactics as always!" Kyouko shouted, and some members of the audience agreed with her.

"Kyouko! I promise to give you the biggest noogie of your life when I'm done here!"

"Of course, violence is your only response to being cornered!"

"…quick intermission please!" Yui requested from the announcer.

"Granted! You have one minute!"

Leaving temporarily to grind her arm into her friend's head, Suiiki took in the scene before his last match.

A full house! An arcade packed to the brim! For a game I've been playing since I could walk, and I'm actually doing well too! I feel like I'm on top of the world right now. And I've got some friends from school to watch me…two of them, I guess. Not many people really were into video games like me and – who's that? Late arrival?

Noticing a distinct movement inside the mob, it was hard to recognize him with all the people moving and passing by each other. He was steadily making his way through all the people towards the stage, looking slightly uncomfortable as he did. Even as he got closer, the lights on the stage somewhat shielded his face from recognition.

"To think I left my studies of the compound of potassium chloride and its reactions with sodium nitrate to see you press buttons."

The voice was unmistakable. Both him and Ranika instantly realized who it was.

"Genso? What are you doing here?" Ranika asked, dumbfounded. "I never expected to see you set foot in this place with how much you groan about it!"

"Well, Tsubame came by my house and informed me you could use some encouraging phrases and the like. I told her I wasn't much for participating in all the shouting, but I suppose up close, I won't have to yell. Speaking of which," He cleared his throat, preparing to unleash a cheer.

"Go, Suiiki, go…as they say." His voice remained in its steady, monotone sound.

"Hell yeah! Now I'm really pumped up! Thanks for the energy!"

"Alright, sorry about that." Yui said, returning to her spot. "Just dealing with a slight nuisance. Ready to end this?"

"Born ready!"

"Took the words out of my mouth!"

"Final Round! Action!"

Knowing her range, blocking her initial swipe was second nature by now. Using the distance her attacks pushed him back as a strength, he placed puddles down on the far side of the screen, an idea forming in his head.

Eager to stop his set-up, Ronin slowly made her way across the stage towards him. He tried to steal a hit in with his slide, but it didn't land, leaving him open to a couple slashes. Not the most damage, but it was a warning to be careful. Especially in the final match, he didn't want to mess up his last shot.

Ronin threw her Sun Destroyer paper out at him. Knowing how fruitless it would be to use his water parry, he chose to jump over it instead to avoid taking block damage as well. A sore mistake as he was rocketed into the wall and bounced back to Ronin, who had tossed the paper onto his face once more.

It's fine, I'm fine. I can deal with this. Just don't be too far away, and maintain a solid offense.

Mizucho was quite limited, but placing a puddle only took a second, even if he was left open. Ronin thankfully hadn't expected him to, so he wasn't punished for this besides a blocked slash. Now that he had a couple puddles around the stage, including at Ronin's feet, he figured he should time a slide to phase through her attacks.

It seemed she had forgotten about the water slide, because she soon tried to poke him with her sword, only for his slide to phase through her attack and pop her into the air. Creating a large water bubble that trapped her inside for a few seconds, he ran about and placed two more puddles for maximum coverage on the ground.

Beginning the round against her can be tough since she has many options to counter anyone with. But if you could set up a strong assault, she has an uphill battle trying to stop you.

And that was what Suiiki was betting on. His puddles made a world of difference, and now that they were everywhere, he felt it was time to do a few combos. He shot out a large water ball to give her a distraction from his slide. Although she didn't fall for it, she chose to block it, which gave him ample opportunity to do something he'd been unable to do for the longest time: jump. Right to the other side of her character, the water slightly obscured the vision of the screen, so that it was tricky to tell which side of the screen he was on as it popped against the block. He landed a strong uppercut that gave him time to shoot out yet another water ball to trap her inside.

Burning attack? I mean…maybe. I can't use it more than once, and she still has a lot of health. It might not do enough damage to end it. But I might not get another chance, and look at all the puddles on the ground! Screw it, I'm going for her now!

Activating his ultimate attack, the crowd was enraptured with the sight of his bubble absorbing water, yet getting smaller, compressing the samurai inside into a tiny ball, before exploding all over the screen and draining her health. The crowd roared at the spectacle, filling the entire arcade with cheers for Suiiki and his character Mizucho.

Underneath all that noise, Genso's voice suddenly became clear as day. And he said the same thing Suiiki was thinking.

"I didn't hear a K.O."

Ronin stood up, on one tiny sliver of life. If he breathed on her, she'd be down. The crowd stopped their celebrations and stood in silence as the ensuing scramble onscreen gave both players a heart attack. She was right next to him. He punched, and missed. He slid, right under her. Her block was just barely enough to keep her alive. Deciding to play it safe and place a puddle, she swiped and got him. Three huge sword sweeps and his health shot down, all the way to a pixel.

When he got back up, he mashed his light attack button, and she just barely backed away in time to avoid it. His heart was pounding, his fingers were getting sweaty. He chose not to back off anymore, since she would probably do it anyway. His prediction proved true when Ronin stopped swinging and put some distance between them.

That's fine by me. That was intense. Luckily, I fell back in the puddle I placed, so if she wants to back off and retreat, I'm kind of safe. Though, that's a good bit of distance even for her. I think that's the limit of her sword. Can she even attack from that range? What purpose would being that far away- Oh my god, the paper!

"SUN DESTROYER!"

Suiiki felt his hands move involuntarily. He almost was convinced someone else had done it for him if he wasn't the one holding the controller. He could barely process what was happening. All he knew was that the insta-kill was coming, and he had thrown a final gambit out there.

Ronin sliced through to the other side; a whirlwind being shown on screen as the force was audible. She prepared to do her sheathing animation as a sign of victory.

And Mizucho slid right through, the puddle making his slide invincible through even the insta-kill's slash, letting him slide again to get the final attack on Ronin, defenseless and stuck in her animation.

"K.O! Mizucho Wins!"

A deafening silence, followed by thunderous applause engulfed Suiiki, though it sounded muted to him since he was still trying to register the previous event. The same was said for Yui, who was also motionless in her seat. It took their friends running onstage and hugging them to break them out of their trance.

"You did it! You really went all the way and won it all, Suiiki!" Ranika screamed, picking him up with ease and holding him on her shoulders, a bit precariously, but made acceptable by the fact that Runoso was right behind to catch him if he fell.

"Nice job, water boy! Didn't expect to see you do it, but everyone loves a good surprise!"

Koji, the man who used Vicar, also came to his side. "You did me proud kid. Makes it a little easier to tell my friends I lost to the grand champion, Heheh! Still a little embarrassed it was a kid though…"

Looking at his opponent, he saw that she was also being hounded by people. Many had become fans of her over the course of the tournament, and they too lifted her up despite her loss and yelled her name, Kyouko being the loudest. Suiiki laughed at the sight of Yui being confused at Kyouko's constant side switching and seeing her steal a quick kiss, it seemed there was never any real bad blood, and it was cute seeing Yui blush from the action.

The announcer's PA system ringed out for a second, garnering everyone's attention. "Sorry folks, I was stunned from that electrifying final round! Our grand champion is Suiiki! Somehow overcoming the infamous Sun Destroyer from Ronin, he proved himself to be this tournament's most powerful fighter! Let's hear it for the runner up as well! Yui put up quite a fantastic fight, and even I thought she got him in the end! But then the slide! The Puddle! The reactions! Oh man! What a match! What a game! What an absolutely amazing tournament! Congratulations to our top competitors! Let's give it up one more time for them!"

The audience obliged as they filled the building, - and probably the street as well – with their cries and shouts. Ranika didn't feel like letting him off her shoulders anytime soon, so he made the most of the moment and joined in with them.

"Alright, listen up! I've got a Silver Fighter Edition of Burning Red 5 with my name on it! Who wants to try and take down the champion first?"

They screamed Yui's name in unison, her own little group bringing her back to the stage once more as she had been getting ready to leave.

"Ah, of course! Who else to help me warm-up but Yui, my greatest adversary?"

Yui seemed hesitant about doing another match. "I don't know, I don't think the managers would allow us to have one-"

"The managers are allowing them to have one! Let's give it up for the run baaaaaack!"

She stared suspensefully at the announcer. "Almost like they directly refuted my statement."

"The statements were purely coincidental and not refutative in any way!"

"You're clearly responding!"

"How about that final match!?"

"Don't ignore me!" Mulling it over, she was pushed lightly by Kyouko to sit back in her seat. A loving smile came from the excitable girl as she hugged her friend again, giving Yui herself a little more pep.

"Fine. Suiiki, I accept! Don't think you're going to get out of this easily!" She said, just as the managers put in Suiiki's version of the game in the Arcade cabinet's disc slot.

"Wouldn't have it any other way!" They went straight to the character select screen and chose their respective fighters, both Mizucho and Ronin getting applause from the crowd when they were selected.

"Round Start! Fight!"

Inside the meeting room of the stadium, Erina sat somewhat puzzled as Tsubame closed her argument in favor of Kisho's schedule to the board. It wasn't that she was unhappy with this. Rather, she was relieved they would finally have a solid plan going forward instead of disagreements on how it should be run plaguing the event. But Tsubame had never really shown a liking to anything the president had done prior to today. The members bickered back and forth over her endorsement of the roster.

"I'm not so sure we should be listening to a child-"

"Mr. Osida, if you have a problem with Tsubame's suggestions, then you aren't right in the head. She is an excellent student with a near perfect academic record and highly respectable conduct."

"Quite right. Anything with Tsubame's stamp of approval, I whole-heartedly support as well."

"I understand that all very well. And I myself have many less complaints about it with her support. But I'd just…I don't know, what do you think, Erina? She is your student, after all."

"Yes, Erina will be able to settle this! What is she thinking inside her head? Any weird thoughts or suspicious behaviour?"

Tsubame looked at Erina with worry. She had made an amazing case for Kisho's schedule and most of the board was in agreement. There was realistically no reason to refuse her. After all, Tsubame was a bit of an icon in the district, representing their tiny school with honor and dignity in student council events with other schools.

But Erina was well versed in body language due to her history as a detective, and it took merely half a second to know Tsubame was hiding something from them, even without reading her mind. Erina even ventured to guess it included Kisho himself and his vendetta against Suiiki that influenced her decision. No doubt the argument the two had at the demonstrations was a factor, and Tsubame was a tad heavy handed with her morals. If anything, she definitely knew there was some ulterior motive she had with helping Kisho.

"I see nothing wrong with her presented argument. Whatever Tsubame has decided to support, I stand behind." Erina said.

Some of the members still held off. "That's well and fine, but perhaps a little prodding inside-"

"I hope I've made clear that without reasonable evidence or a warrant, I won't be intruding on any of my students privacy, much less Tsubame Nonoka of all my best students."

"That's not what I was saying! I-" Another woman stopped him from saying anything else.

"You're digging yourself a hole, Osida."

Nodding in unison, the rest of the committee more or less was in agreement with her. "Well, seems it's decided. I personally would've enjoyed the random factor of drawing lots, but I'll trust in Erina and the girl's judgement. Thank you, Tsubame, for your time."

Tsubame's face visibly relaxed as she shook his hand. The rest of the board members took that as a sign the meeting was over and promptly dismissed themselves.

"That's a weight off our shoulders, isn't it?"

"Finally we don't have to stress over this every night. That's why she's the Vice President."

"Erina, you should consider switching those two's positions. Tsubame would make an absolutely extraordinary President!"

Erina smiled at the suggestion, but deflected rather than answered. "I believe any student can become the President, Vice President, or whatever they want to be. It's just a matter of effort."

"Haha! Right you are! That's why you're a teacher, I suppose."

Mr. Osida also took the time to speak to Erina on his way out. By the look on his face, he wasn't exactly thrilled with how things were playing out. "Now let me get something straight: I understand your position. I can't imagine what it would be like to know whatever someone was thinking whenever you wanted to. I'll take your word on Tsubame, she has been a tremendous help as a VP."

He lowered his voice to keep the others from listening to him. "But the fact of the matter is you have a quirk that can completely-"

"Infringe on someone else's rights?"

"Assure someone is acting in good faith. Prying Eye is a truly gifted quirk! Memory searching, thought recording; when you worked with the police, you even had a device that could visualize your findings! If there was a hidden truth, you could find it in an instant."

"Do you not find that a little bit Orwellian in nature? To show bare to the world the most intimate, naked thoughts a person can have? To deprive them of the one privacy they were guaranteed at birth?"

"This isn't about human rights. It's about doing what's right."

"To make such a distinction between those two."

"Would you let a murderer go free for the sake of his 'rights' which he has so readily stolen from others?"

Her response was cut-off when Tsubame came to her with the stack of papers. "Uhm, did you want me to send these out again? We passed out the line-up to the students, but I don't think we put it on the main schedule for everyone else in town."

Thankful for the interruption, Erina dismissed herself from the conversation. "Yes, I do believe we should. I'll take care of it though. You've been a big help already. Mr. Osida, I must take this to the copier room, we'll have to continue at another time. Pleasure speaking with you!"

"…very well. Thank you for your time."