Hello everyone! I am back and doing really well! Just wanted to get this out of the way, but this story is a huge Xover with games, anime, and some manga related to the fighting genre. You will see more characters other than the main character Woo-Sol, and it'll be a bit before we get to see him entirely. However, I wanted you guys to enjoy this story for what it is!
Remember: I don't own any of the official content other than this fanfiction, please support the official release. Enjoy!
(Spring of 2022)
Two Years Later.
The cherry blossoms have begun to bloom, and along the way down a neighborhood is the scent of freshly baked goods. These freshly-baked goods were part of a quite popular, albeit locally produced bakery that proudly called itself 'Aino Confections'. Not much of a problem, considering the bakery itself was popular with the locals of this street. It's a small urban neighborhood, relatively safe and usually filled with other families and students that attended a really prestigious school.
In fact, one of those students lived at this exact same bakery upstairs...
"Have a lovely day everyone!"
And she was running out the door, ringing the bell above it as she exited and ran down the street. She wore a simple orange skirt, white uniform with a red tie and especially brown school shoes. However, her most notable characteristic was the red ribbon she had tied around her right wrist, and flowing behind her in a constant heart shape. Her golden eyes were wide and bright, almost excitably happy despite the fact she would be late in 10 minutes if she didn't make it to school.
Her pink hair ruffled a bit in the air, short-cut although it had a small heart-shaped ahoge as well. She had enough agility considering how fast she was going, almost like a pink blur. She took a shortcut along the street, jumping over the occasional gap in the floor, and waving at some other neighbors that she would always greet with a smile.
Most of them waved back with confusion, but pleasant smiles; and the others had seen her a lot growing up, so they became accustomed to her sight at this hour.
Of course, the pink-haired girl had 5 minutes running down the clock to get to school before she heard a fearful cry.
One that caused her to stop in her tracks, and she recognized anywhere. After all, that is Shiro! She turned to a very familiar tree with green leaves, and on the branch was a white cat with a few black spots along the back. It held onto the branch for life, although the pink-haired girl didn't hesitate as she took a deep breath.
Immediately, she dashed towards the tree, and with her agility and momentum manages to run up the tree and land on the branch. She crouched on it, sighing in relief. She hadn't done that every single day, and she didn't want to be late for school.
But she didn't want to leave the cat alone and scared. She had priorities after all!
"Hey Shiro! You got stuck here again?" The pink-haired girl smiled as she tried to hold a hand out for Shiro to grab onto. Albeit, Shiro hissed at her before she inched a bit further away.
Shiro didn't really...hate the girl too much, but the girl knew that Shiro had a bit of a fickle personality. He's probably just too prideful and stubborn to get help from her right now! Shiro's silly like that, but the girl didn't hesitate to slowly inch further.
"Whoa, Whoa! Stay there, Shiro...just let me grab you and we can get you down really fast, okay—Ouch!" The girl managed to grab Shiro quickly before it fell off the tree, but she did get a bit from the cat, who was trying to be stubborn and kept nipping at her arm. The girl pouted with no malice, simply a oddly friendly chiding. "Shiro! That is not very loving you know!"
Even so, the girl sighed with a smile, sitting on the branch and dropping down on to the floor with her feet. She managed to land with grace, and gently placed Shiro down on the ground. After letting him go, Shiro began to curl up close to the porch of the nearest house. He let out a meow, seemingly at peace and just staring at the pink-haired girl.
"Now don't be too feisty now! I'll see you on the way back home! Bye!" The Pink-haired girl smiled all the same, although she does feel a huge amount of nervousness as she looked down at her smartphone...and realized now she had only 2 minutes!
Admittedly, Aino Heart isn't entirely good with time management, but she did have to get to school before anything else happened!
Otherwise, Saki will give her yet another scolding...
Needless to say, Aino...does arrive at the National Academy of Metaphysics Junior High, albeit a few minutes late. This did earn her a small chiding from her teacher, but also a scathing scolding from her best friend, Saki Tsuzura. The morning passed by relatively quickly, although Aino did struggle with Japanese and English as subjects. However, Gym, Music and art; Extracurricular activities seemed to stick with her the best. While they are her favorite subjects, she always worked the hardest on them.
Right now, it was about lunch time, and Aino was eating a bento box her mother had made her that morning. Loveable, and cute in a pink box. It contained salad, some mini-hamburg steak as well as the usual hardboiled eggs and a sweet pastry. All set up and beautifully decorated to look like a heart.
The young Aino Heart smiled and beamed as she opened her bento box, while she sat at a bench on-campus along with Saki who opened her own more clean, but sleekly designed bento box.
"Thanks for the meal!/Thanks for the meal." Both Aino and Saki respectively spoke, with the former digging into the salad and eggs first, while Saki took her sweet time eating her own bento box.
"Mmmm~!" Aino giggles with delight with every bite, her loving smile genuine.
"Heart, must you giggle with every bite you make?" Saki referred to her by her first name, althought hat was to be expected since they were on a first name basis. The young girl had long blue-hair that reached down to her knees, although she wore a variant of the uniform Aino wore. This was a maroon and white-striped vest over her uniform, while wearing black tights on her legs. Needless to say, she had a different appearance from the usually pepper Aino Heart.
Tsuzura Saki is student council secretary after all, a position she earned due to her grades, skills as a secretary and especially due to her diligence.
"But Saki, my mother made this meal with all her heart and love for me! It would be rude of me to not enjoy it with the same amount of joy!" Aino pouts, but she smiles immediately after taking another bite. She giggles again, before just trying to eat the rest of her bento. "Besides, I just love the hamburg steak~!"
"And I still worry that you might be taking this a bit too seriously." Saki sighs, acting a bit harsh although Heart doesn't really mind. She knew that Saki meant well, and usually would always act well all the same. "It's just lunch...even if it is made with care."
"Everything must be taken seriously with 100% effort!" Aino pumped her right fist up into the air, beaming with a serious smile. "Besides, aren't you always serious too? You are part of the student council!"
"Because of due diligence, and because I excel and produce results. It's not enough to just take things 100% serious, as you put it." Saki spoke the truth, but that only made Aino pout sincerely at the same time. "Sometimes rest is important...and you can't push yourself too hard either."
"Hmmm...that is true, but I need to work hard as I can!" Aino nods with a smile, eating the rest of her bento slowly. Although she did have a slightly pensive expression. It makes sense she had to work hard. Aino is the eldest of three siblings in the Aino household, and her loving parents are amazing all the same as well. They run the bakery by themselves after all!
But ever since the bakery was founded by her grandma, it hasn't really expanded beyond that simple street, even with all the people constantly buying from them specifically and managing to keep it afloat! Aino admitted, her mother and father worked hard and always seemed happy. However, she always worried they worked a bit too hard for them.
And Aino, in all of her pure loving heart, wants to pay that kindness back with her own. She cares about them, but she doesn't really know where she would go to work. She may be 15 years old by now, but she still didn't have much expertise in finding a job that wasn't just bakery!
And there is no way she's going to switch bakeries for one that pays more. That's simply a betrayal of her own family bakery.
"Heart?" Snapping out of her thoughts, Aino turns to Saki, who had a neutral but curious expression. "Something on your mind?"
"Uhm...yeah, actually." Aino nods, but tries to keep her smile honest and there. "I just...was wondering something about what I should do for my family."
"...you mean you're bakery? What about it?"
"It's just that I want to help my parents, you know? They seem so happy running th ebakery all by themselves, but it doesn't really seem to get easier for them at all. Not that they complain, by the way!" She waved her hands to assure Saki with a sheepish smile. "They almost always keep their smiles on, but...I want to make it easier on them. I try to help them with the bakery every chance I get, but its almost always closing time by the time I come back home from school."
"And not to mention that little goal you have." Saki nods, almost in understanding despite her soft neutral frown.
"Aaaaaahhhhh, its so hard! I'm not much of a thinker, you know!" That was true. Although, Aino right now put aisde her bento box and just held her head in her hands with a pout and a deflated expression. "What should I do...?"
"...I assume you already have you're work permit?"
"Yeah..." Aino sighs.
"...have you considered finding another place to work at?"
"No!" Aino looked at Saki incredulously, pouting and shaking her head childishly. "No, no, no, no, No! Absolutely not!"
"...then I can't really help you without lending you money." Saki shrugs, finishing her bento before sharply remarking with the tip of her chopsticks. "Which I am not doing. You need to figure it out."
"Awww..." Aino deflated yet again, but she didn't seem discouraged all the same. "I'll still keep at it..."
"I know you will. You're stubborn like that." Saki had a brief smirk at that, but she turned to her smartphone and noticed the time. "That said, I suggest looking through some bulletin boards...or the internet."
Saki stands up, organizing her bento box back and putting it back in her bag. "I'll see you after school, Heart."
"Yeah...bye bye~!" Aino nods with a smile, waving Saki by as she is left to her own thoughts now. Or at least, to the thoughts of herself and her other passenger.
"That's unfortunate, Aino Heart. What do you plan on doing?" The voice in Aino's heart spoke, although it sounded mature and motherly at the same time. She didn't have a form right now, but that's to be expected of the contract Aino made with her.
"I dunno...I don't really think a lot of people pay for volunteering. Or for selling pamphlets..." Aino sighs again, almost exaggeratedly pouting as she scrolls through her smartphone and into the search bar.
"What about the pet store? I'm sure you can help there." The voice spoke once again, eager to help and patientin in her endeavor. "Or are you looking for a quicker approach?"
"Something like that...maybe I could do something to get my body moving..." Aino searches with focus, putting 'how to earn money quick with physical activity.' The search results were varied, although they also had something akin to making a fitness program...which she wasn't educated enough to even run. Then there is running, which while appealing, didn't pay nearly enough fro Aino. Or for the family! She needed to find a really quick way to earn cash!
And then when she went to search through the images...she found a photo of two people in an octagon-shaped arena. The interesting part was that it consisted of two fighters wearing odd clothing, and yet they were allowed to wear such things to...wait, fighters?
Aino had to double-take when she went to the source site. Apparently it was a promotion for a small tournament that's being hosted near Tokyo! A tournament that isn't too big to be considered national, but big enough to be considered important in the Kanto Region...
And it accepted all contestants...regardless of weightclass or gender?
All fighting styles welcome...and a fair fight for each and everyone of them?
Aino almost didn't believe it, but she gawked her eyes at the potential prize money that the tournament was offering to the winner.
150,000 yen.
Aino read that again.
150,000 yen.
...if any contestant made it to first place, they'd earn 150,000 yen...
If I enter...and win...I can earn 150,000 yen for the bakery! That's like...a lot of money to get a headstart on! Not to mention that she could do publicity for her bakery!
It sounded crazy, but Aino beamed with an immense starry look in her eyes. She committed the name of the tournament to memory.
"I see you found your answer." The voice in her heart spoke with an honest joy to it, although she followed with a giggle. "Just be sure not to forget what you're doing this for."
"It's for my family. For the love I have for my family, and the love they have shown me!" Aino nods, her voice slowly rising as she pumps her right fist up into the sky. She was excited and determined to make this work. "I'll make sure not to let them down!"
Aino beamed with a huge smile on her face, although she did have herself a bit of an excited look on her face. After all, what exactly could go wrong in a fighting match? It's not as if she was lacking in that department!
Aino packed her bento and bag, and went off to her next class before the bell rang. She did so with a pep in her step, and the entire day went smoothly by.
However, she wasn't the only one who'd be invested in this tournament. In fact, she's not the only one who's going to be participating.
And unlike what she thought, it wasn't going to be easy.
The Tokyo's Young Martial Arts Tournament is never a walk-in the park.
In the subway beneath Tokyo, there stood a young man with a reverse-cap on his blonde short hair. He wore sneakers, jeans that were ripped at the knee, and especially an orange-colored t-shirt that he felt comfortable wearing under a blue and white jacket. Right now he had a few cuts and bruises on his face, but nothing he couldn't shrug off.
After all, what would a bunch of thugs be able to do against him? Cowards picking on an innocent lady, they wouldn't be able to do anything against someone their own size.
Even so, the lady in question had already run away to safety after the fight began. Good, he didn't need that sort of attention all the time.
Lord knows, his family already has some shitty attention ever since what happened a year ago. That incident messed a lot of people up, but it certainly never made it easy for him or his mother...and especially not on his father. He still wondered where he was even to this day, but more than that, he needed to get stronger. That's exactly why he came to Tokyo, despite the fact that he didn't know a lot about the neighborhood.
He didn't need to worry about the language, considering his uncle had been more than happy to teach him some Japanese throughout the years.
Which lead him to come to Tokyo for a test-run against the local thugs. What did confuse him however, was the fact that none of them seemed all that strong.
Maybe problematic for people, but not strong.
His uncle and father? Now they were strong, official martial artists and warriors. The only issue was that the young man needed to try and keep his name off of the newspaper even in Japan. One good photo, and his name would be all over the news.
Not that it matters once I join the tournament.
The blond-haired fighter furrowed his brows together, but he remained serious and yet determined to find some answers. Some of his own, some hopefully from people who have heard of his father...and some that would be willing to help the son of a 'supposed' disgraced millionaire.
Even so, Mel Masters won't let this family name become a disgrace. However, even that wasn't his priority.
Mel Masters wanted to find his father, and fight with him all the same. But that means that Mel needed to be stronger. To reach his dad, and then surpass him.
Mel Masters needed to defeat Ken Masters.
In another side of Kanto, there was a young man with a hair of charcoal-black and fire-tipped bangs. In fact, this same young man had just pushed out a delinquent out of the sumo dojo of his new school. The entire situation itself had been a bit bitter for the young man, but he eventually managed to help his fellow classmate and sumo-practicioner to get the dojo back after two years without any members despite being captain of the Sumo Club.
By now, he was walking back to his own apartment with the intention of signing up for a tournament he has been wanting to test his might with. It wasn't exclusively sumo, and certainly not much of a restriction on weight classes as opposed to the sport he loves and holds dear to his spirit.
But I need to take this tournament all the same. The young man hd already signed up for that tournament a few days ago on the library's computer with some help from the staff. As the sun set behind him, his grin clear and plastered on his face. Needless to say, this middle-school Yokozuna from a few years ago decided to challenge himself against different warriors of different fighting styles.
And he can't wait to show his spirit.
Meanwhile, in a public gym, there was a single blue-haired young man taking his stance against a punching bag. HIs stance seemed orthodox, and yet he also felt an immense amount of focus as he took a few deep breaths.
Then he launched his strikes, roundhouse kicks, and especially his chopping attacks. All with his bare-legs, and bandaged arms. The young man let out a brief exclamation of sound with every combination of punches and kicks to the punching bag.
However, his arms were toned, sweating and bandaged despite the fact that they punched and kept moving with every strike landed. The exclamations grew louder, and even with some of the pain there, it only made the young man shout even more with a surprising amount of dedication.
And he didn't slow down at all. Not at all. Not once did he stop, before he finally reared his upper torso and launched a corckscrew punch to the middle of the punching bag...and tearing the leather with a splash of sand falling down to the floor.
The young man himself panted heavily, catching his breath after 10 seconds. Collecting his breathing and especially calming down his heart beat. However, he lets out a deep breath and smirks to himself as he tightens his fist and looks down on it.
The young man's beige-brown eyes glint with an excitement in his eyes. He was ready, and certainly hoping for more fighters in the tournament.
He didn't spend the last two years of his life training for them to go to waste.
The week passed by rather quickly, and by now it was the day of the tournament at the moment. Aino Heart had spent the rest of the week talking to her parents about the plan she had. To go to the Tokyo Young Martial Arts Tournament and earn the prize money so that the family cold have extra money in their deposit and savings.
The mother and father both got emotional, although they were to be expectedly loving family members. And Aino's younger siblings also seemed excited to see their eldest sister attempt something as exciting as fighting against other people. The parents did approve of Aino's sentiment, but they took most of the week before coming to a decision.
Aino's father wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt, but at the same time he was really familiar with how strong and powerful his eldest daughter is. After all, it was the mother who helped her as a person to see things that weren't seen to the common eye. In fact, the mother herself seemed cheerfully supportive of her daughter's want to participate in the tournament to help their bakery.
Needless to say, after a good amount of conversation between the two, Aino's parents had decided to take Aino to the tournament themselves. The support made Aino beam with happiness and love that day.
But, back to today, Aino smiled and sang to herself while her parents drove her to a huge gym center. It wasn't exactly big to be considered a stadium, but it did look big enough to have a crowd of people watching the fight.
Or the fights that would ensue regardless!
They pulled up to the sidewalk, and Aino smiled as she hugged her father's neck from behind the car seat. "Thank you so much! I'll be sure to win for the family!"
"Of course you will sweety." Aino Yoshiya nodded with a sage-like smile, although he does raise a finger. "Just be sure to not overdo it, okay? You don't want to hurt anybody too quickly, okay?"
"Dad, I know what I am doing! I'm not going to hurt anybody!" Aino pouts, but blushes in embarassment as she opens the door. "Mommy told me to make sure anyway."
"That's true, dear." Aino Umiya nods, but nevertheless pats her daughter on the head. "You should at least give most of them a fair chance. Assuming none of them are problematic. However, you should be very careful as well, Heart. You will be going up against people who can fight."
"Yeah, but so can I!" Aino beamed brightly, pumping her fist as she gets out of the car with her gym bag. She beams and hugs her mom through the window, although she gives both her parents a wave. "I'll be sure to make you proud!"
Both her parents wave goodbye as well, as they start to drive off to find parking.
Meanwhile, Aino turns to the building which would hold her own excitement for the tournament. What was kinda surprising is that she had managed to sign up for one of the 8 positions open for fighters in time back then.
She certainly wondered what kind of people she would get to meet in this tournament, and more importantly, as she walked with a pep in her step, she hummed and looked up at the sky with a beaming smile thinkingt hat nothing could stop her now. She walked up the steps, went inside the building, and decided to go to the front desk. She's having such a good time holding her bag, and especially when she's ready to take the prize money—
"Hya?" Aino bumped into some wall in front of her, and she almost tumbled backwards. "Wawawawa!?"
"Ohp!" Suddenly, she got caught by the wrist pulling her on her feet as she stumbled a bit and caught her hand on her knees. "Whoa, watch out, you don't wanna hurt your knee or anything!"
Aino let out a sigh of relief, but she gave a beaming smile as she turned to thank the person who helped her up. "Whew, no problem...thank you so much...Eh?"
Now, see, Aino is what you would consider to be 5'3'', or 160 cm tall and a bit below average in height. She wouldn't be surprised if children were shorter than her, and if teenagers her age were a bit taller or on the odd occassion a few centimers shorter.
What she didn't expect, was for this one person who helped her up before she fell onto the ground...to be shorter than her. By about 8 centimeters apparently, or 4'11'' considering this person looked to be a young man. A young man with unruly shoulder length charcoal-black hair with red flaming tips at the bangs. His skin looked tanned and his face had a square but roundish curvature to the chin, and a scar that covered half of his left-cheek. On top of that, he had red fiery eyes that were round and curious despite the fiery brows.
"What? You here to watch the tournament?" The flame-haired young man tilted his head, but he had a curious smirk.
"U-Uhm? Oh! N-No! I'm actually here to participate in the tournament!" Aino shook her head first, before scratching the back of her head. "I'm one of the contestants actually!"
"Huh? Really?" The flame-haired young man raised his brows in surprise, before giving off a small non-chalant chuckle and looking around the crowd that was buzzing with excitement even in the lobby. "Guess the tournament wasn't kidding when they said they'd take any contestant."
"Any 8 contestants they said, but yeah!" Aino nods fervently, but also excitedly as she is pretty much excited as well. "I dunno how this tournament would be, but it is my first time being here! Or being in a tournament at all!"
"And you signed up for the tournament regardless?" The flame-haired young man once again had wide eyes, but he gave off a sincere grin, almost unable to get mad at all, and already giving Aino a sincere feeling from the young man, who turned away and motioned for her to walk with him to the front desk. "That's surprising, but not a bad kind of surprising! What did you sign up for?"
"O-Oh?" Aino hums, but she also walks along with him to the front desk. "Uh, personal reasons!"
"Ah, yeah, that kind of reason. Well, don't tell me then." The young man waved it off, although they reached the front desk; Aino wasn't able to ask him about why she didn't have to tell the man anything yet. The young man turned to the female receptionist, who greeted them with a vibrant smile. "Hey, this is where we sign up don't we?"
"That depends, are you one of the contestants?" The receptionist oozes with a charismatic confidence.
"Oh, Oh, that would be me! I even have the ticket for it!" Aino jumps up and down, before pulling from her skirt pocket a particularly styled red ticket. This would actually differentiate her from the rest of the blue tickets. Red tickets for the contestants, and blue for the audience. And while a lot of people want to fight in the tournament at once, there is a reason why the system is randomized. Out of 20 people who can sign up with the red tickets, they randomize which 8 contestants out of 20 submissions actually get into the tournament for the day.
That's the reason why they had to sign up for the tournament a week in advance. At least that meant they would be able to have a better chance of entering a tournament this early, and that the contestants wouldn't have to wait for an entire month before the next tournament.
"Sign me up under, Aino Heart!" Aino cheerfully smiled a she bounced up and down.
"You're name is...'Aino Heart?'" The receptionist nearly snorted, but the flame-haired young man most certainly did snort outloud.
"H-Hey! That's not funny! It's a family name you know!" Aino pouted, stomping her feet in a huff. She puts her hands on her hips.
"I-It's...pfftt, its kinda funny!" The flame-haired young man kept snorting, but calmed down his mirth before he goes to pull out his...red ticket? "Now sign me up for the tournament."
"Wait, what?" Aino blinked at that, but she started putting the two and two together. "You...wait, you mean you're—"
"Signing up for the tournament as one of the contestants? Yeah!" The flame-haired young man smirked all the same, but he did tell the receptionist with a fiery grin on his face, "Oh, but if I may make a request."
"Oh, and what is it?" The receptionist tilted her head.
"My name his Ushio Hinomaru, but sign me up as Onimaru Kunitsuna." Hinomaru gives off a strong confident grin, pointing a thumb to himself. The receptionist raised a brow at first, before she nodded and put down both names. One under his real name, and one as an alias for the actual tournament.
"Well, you both are all signed up," The receptionist tapped away at her keyboard, before flashing her signature smile. "Make way to you're locker rooms backstage, and get ready to see which brackets you'll be in, okay? Wish you the best!"
"O-Oh, uh, thank you so much ma'am!" Aino nods with a smile, bowing freely.
"Same here." Hinomaru gave a hard, but casual bow as well.
With that being said, the two contestants looked at each other as they walked together to where their respective lockerooms would be in. However, along the way as they walked a hallway, Aino had a question in her mind.
Specifically regarding how exactly does Hinomaru intend to fight, although she doesn't know if that would be rude or not to ask. Even so, she asked and took a chance on it. "So, uh...Ushio-san?"
"Hm? What is it?" Hinomaru turned to see Aino, who had a curious expression on her face as she tilted her head.
"I don't know if this is rude to ask but, how exactly do you plan on fighting in the tournament?" Aino asked, as she looks up at the ceiling with her hands laced behind her back. "I mean, you are shorter than me so—n-not that that's a problem at all! I-I wasn't trying to insinuate you'd be bad at fighting because you're short—"
"Hey, Hey, its not that big of a deal, honestly!" Hinomaru put his hands up to placate her, considering how nervous AIno was being right now. But he took on a fiery smirk all the same. "I'm going to be fighting in the tournament the only way I know how, and that's with the Sumo I have developed to fight ever since Elementary School."
"...wait, Sumo?" Now that had Aino confused, if not outright imagining the wrong thing. Two large men fighting in underwear-like belts, pushing each other off of the ring. Her expression was that of innocent curiosity, as well as just in general innocent ignorance really. What was she supposed to know about Sumo? Plus, she didn't really know how Sumo Wrestlers fight.
"Yeah, Sumo!" Hinomaru smirked all the same, although he kept walking alongside her and he pumped a fist into his open palm. Aino could clearly tell that he was passionate about this sport. It was clear from the so-called Maiden of Love that even Hinomaru had a passionate love for the sport. She couldn't really deny that. "This may not be a Sumo tournament, but that's not an excuse to just use a diffferent martial art. Sumo is how I fight, and I intend on showing it in this tournament."
"W-Whoa...I can clearly tell you're passionate about this..." Aino seemed in awe, although she does have a bright smile about it. So much so that she can't help but bounce even after they arrived outside their respective locker rooms. "I wish you the best of luck in winning, Ushio-san!"
"Huh?" Hinomaru raised a brow, and for a moment Aino blinked in confusion at how Hinomaru looked at her. With confusion. "Aren't you here to win as well? There's no reason to wish me the best in winning."
He gave off a chuckle, but he does give a rather intense stare and a grin to go along with it. "The only thing you should be saying, is how you're going to be the one who wins in the ring...aren't I right?"
Aino almost widened her eyes, and began to cough at that. While the idea wasn't necessarily bad...she did almost flinch, although she didn't. That stare was...a bitt oo intense over something she considered friendly competition. Is this how most Sumo Wrestlers are? Either way, she didn't really mean to judge; so she brushes a lock behind her ear and just scratches the back of her head.
"R-Right...!" Aino stammered, before turning to her lockerroom and turning to bow a perfect 90 degrees towards Hinomaru. "I-I'll see you soon!"
"In the ring." Hinomaru smirked, but gave a wave as he turned to his own locker room. From there, he dissappeared into it along with AIno dissappearing into hers.
The lockeroom itself was standard issue, but it was personalized to be at least useable by one person. Aino turns to take in the atmosphere of the lockerroom, and then noticed the giant wide-screen TV in the middle of the blank space of the wall. She hummed, almost curiously at that, but she didn't pay it much mind.
Aino settled down her gym bag, and organized her water bottles, the red ribbon neatly folded, and even a pair of gym sneakers she brought for ease of use. She...admittedly forgot to bring her own gym uniform for the tournament, but that was mostly because she was much more familiar in her school uniform when fighting period! That was the only kind of outfit she ever wore when beating up thieves!
...maybe bloomers wouldn't be such a good idea... Aino had a bit of red from embarassment at the thought of fighting in bloomers. While it wasn't nearly as bad, she didn't have much embarassment about that before because it was always for sports and with trusted classmates.
Brushing that thought out of her head, she returns to the red ribbon that signified her passion. She ties the ribbon around her hand and wrist, before letting some extra length behind him so that she could let it flow behind her.
Aino blinked as she heard static, and then the sound of the TV turning on.
Once she turned to it, she was greeted with a bracket list. However, she didn't really end up reading the list because of her bouncing up and down with excitement and the giggles she had to herself.
Admittedly, she was a bit excited for some physical activity, and even if she wasn't gonna go all out period, she wanted to at least have some fun. Aino Heart herself is a young 15-year old after all, and so she is getting ready for her first opponent.
Once she finally looked at the bracket above, lo and behold, she found herself seeing 8 contestants. However, she focused on the first match of the day. Her match.
First Match: Aino Heart Vs. Mel Masters.
...
Huh... Aino blinked, but she tilted her head a she cheerfully got prepared and waited for the announcement to start. Who's Mel Masters...?
If only you knew. I'll say this, the story will have Aino as a POV character for now, but as a device for some characters to be introduced, and for the Main Character's eventual arrival to be a bit different. Needless to say, Aino is who we're going to follow for the first few chapters, but then eventually we'll get to see Woo-Sol's actions and pov.
Other than that, I am glad to those who read this story, and I hope you look forward to the next one. Feel Free to follow, and favorite the story if you wanna see more.
Have a wonderful day, and I'll see you on the horizon.