You decide to check up on Ichigo. You were forced to rush your conversation with him, and he sounded semi-concussed at the time, so it might be a good idea to follow up and make sure he didn't think you were a dazed hallucination or something. It's not too difficult to find the boy, since the orange-ish shade of hair he and his mother have in common stands out in the predominantly brunet crowd; the family is over on one of the lower bleachers, Ichigo sitting next to his mother and not looking remotely embarrassed to have one of her arms draped about his shoulders in a loose hug.

Then he spots you. Unlike last time, he does not react to your appearance with fear, but grinning delight.

"That was awesome," he says, in the voice of an eight year old boy who has just seen the Coolest Thing Ever. "Is that something you can teach me to do?"

"I have no idea," you admit. "I sort of made it up on the spot."

"Wicked! A total tournament arc power-up!"

Kahlua giggles. Ichigo looks at her, hesitates, and then glances at you.

"Couldn't you have picked a cooler arch-rival, though?"

Kahlua frowns, as do Tatsuki and Ichigo's mother. His father looks wary.

"I'm not cool?" the tanned fighting princess wonders aloud.

"Well, you're a girl."

Oh, wow, that was dumb. Even the Goat-faced maniac winced.

"And you're way too pretty to be a serious rival," Ichigo continues.

Unlike when you said it, Ichigo's calling Kahlua pretty doesn't seem to earn her approval. It also visibly ticks off the scruffy tomboyish girl sitting next to him. Man, did you ever sound like that, before Cordelia, Briar, and Amy set you straight about how to talk to girls?

"I mean, I'm not saying you're not a good fighter, it's just that everybody knows the girly princess types are supposed to get saved by the heroes," the boy goes on, contriving to get his foot even further into his mouth. "The real fighters are supposed to look like Tatsuki."

No, you decide, you can't possibly have ever been that stupid about girls.

Goat-face has just buried his head in his hands, moaning about how his only son is too young to die, and too dumb to live. Ichigo's mother looks like she's torn between frowning in disapproval and bursting out laughing at the same time. Tatsuki has somehow surrounded herself with an Aura of Fiery Doom, and is trying to murder Ichigo with her brain and/or her eyes. And Kahlua...

"Nice to meet you," she says, stepping into the furious girl's line of sight. "My name's Kahlua. You're Tatsuki, right?"

"Yes?"

"Am I correct in assuming that you're still in the tournament?"

"...I am. Why do you ask?"

Kahlua smiles. "Because, I'm not."

And suddenly Ichigo is unconscious.

"You had that one coming, boy," Goat-face sighs. "I'll take him to the infirmary, Masaki."

"Thank you, dear." The parents pass their unconscious firstborn around, and the father ambles away, son hangling over his shoulder like a sack of rice.

You can't help but feel a little reponsible for this. "Um, sorry about that," you say to Ichigo's mother.

"I appreciate your apology, young man, but it's not your fault."

"I did sort of bring her over," you point out, glancing at Kahlua. She is chatting animatedly with Tatsuki - about martial arts, unsurprisingly - and has both of Ichigo's little sisters sitting next to her on the bleachers, the brunette playing at braiding that long, golden hair while her twin listens raptly to the older girls' conversation.

You feel a sting of inequity at the scene. Seriously, you threw some magic around, punched out a guy who actually looked like a monster, and then had a fair, clean fight with their brother, and the twins avoided you like you were some kind of child-eating beast. Then Kahlua punches their brother's lights out, and is unconditionally accepted because she looks like a fairy tale princess.

"True," Ichigo's mother agrees, "but she's the one who chose to hit my boy - just like he was the one who decided to spout a load of chauvinistic- er, nonsense."

You give the older woman a thoughtful look. "Do you happen to know how to fight, ma'am?"

She smiles. "I may have thrown a punch or two in my day." She gestures to her hair. "The number of people in this world who refuse to accept things that are different hasn't changed since I was your age. They just learned to keep their mouths shut around my family if they wanted to keep their teeth."

...okay, you like this lady.

Your stomach chooses that moment to growl. The assembled females look at you, and you cough once.

"You know how all those fantasy series show kung fu masters, wizards, and other people who throw around huge energy attacks eating like starving bears after battle?" you say. "Turns out, it's not that far removed from reality."

"Go on, then," the Kurosaki matron tells you, in tones of pure Mom. "Tatsuki still has a match to fight, but once that's over with and Ichigo has woken up, we'll come find you in the cafeteria."

You thank her, bowing politely, and head out in search of the cafeteria. You are not terribly surprised when Kahlua follows, shedding her new best friend and admiring little (stolen) sisters with a casual ease that suggests she's used to handling younger children. Considering the three small female shadows you saw in that vision, this makes sense.

You make your way through the halls, following the signs someone was considerate enough to set out in English, pointing the way to the cafeteria, the restrooms, the infirmary, and the exits. Kahlua makes no effort to speak, seeming content to trail after you, humming, the low heeled strappy shoes she slipped on after your bout clacking smartly on the floor. You, in turn, are not entirely sure how to begin a conversation with her - so you don't, and instead focus on finding food to appease the ravenous monster that has taken up residence in your stomach.

As it happens, the cafeteria staff are already at work, preparing a modest feast for the tournament's participants and guests. Your early arrival goes unremarked - as it happens, there are a number of people here already, disqualified fighters and friends and family thereof, soothing the sting of defeat with a free lunch. Several of them take one look at Kahlua and are so shocked that they drop their food or drinks.

"Friends of yours?" you ask her, taking a tray as you close in on the buffet tables.

"Hmmm?" Kahlua looks back. "Oh. I suppose you could say that. I beat him, and him, aaaand I don't see the other boy." She smiles and waves to the crowd, who collectively shudder and look away.

"I'm probably not going to be able to get any of these folks to talk to me while you're here, am I?" you guess.

"Probably not," Kahlua agrees cheerfully. "And just think! When people who saw the two of us fight start to arrive, you'll be just as much of a social outcast as I am!"

...okay, ow.