We're so close to the end now. Just a few more days of matches then the final. We've made it this far, and I think we actually have a pretty good shot at making it to at least Thursday. It would be really cool though if ether Lulubell or I won, but I won't get my hopes up.
I learned quite a few things last night too, I definitely will try to use the techniques Tadashi taught me yesterday.
I woke up this morning feeling really good. I don't know what it is, but I just feel really happy, like I could achieve anything. I'm ready for any match that's thrown my way today and I don't even feel worried. Lulubell and I have been doing great and if I do end up getting hurt again I could just have Tadashi fix me up...
Anyways I'm on my way, walking down one of the corridors to a stadium. I don't have a match till later and have nothing better to do so might as well watch some others.
As I'm walking though I hear raised voices as I come upon a corner. I can clearly hear the distinct French accent of Scarlet. When I come to the corner I poke my head around and indeed see Scarlet and some other guy. The other guy is much taller than her and is speaking in French. For the first time I see Scarlet look helpless and scared. Even though I don't like her it's still not a good look on her.
The man says one final phrase before turning to walk away. Scarlet slumps to the ground and begins to cry. Something in my chest tightens and without having to think I walk over to her.
She looks up when I approach. "What do you want?" She says trying to sound mean, but her voice comes out shaky.
"Can I sit here?" I ask.
Scarlet looks stunned. "Um I guess?"
I sit down beside her and close my eyes resting my head back against the wall. "Wanna talk about it?" I ask.
"Why do you care?" Scarlet snaps.
"Because, even though you can be really mean, you're still a person. So what's up?" I reply.
She takes this in, sitting quietly for a moment. I guess no ones ever talked to her like this before. This seems so out of her comfort zone. To be honest I don't know why I'm here asking her if shes okay. Maybe it's because I can gain an ally or because somewhere deep down I actually care.
Scarlet eyes me wearily. I don't think she thinks I'm being serious. We sit in silence, but it wasn't really an awkward silence. The quiet was still, but it felt nice.
"You know I don't like to fight." Scarlet suddenly speaks, her arms wrapping around her knees bringing them to her chest.
"You...don't like to fight? Then why participate in a fighting tournament?" I ask, glad to get a response from Scarlet.
Scarlet let out a low laugh. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the wall behind her. "My dad wants me to be more like my brother and my brother loves to fight. My brother is definitely the favorite child, or at least he is now, because my mom left..."
Scarlet trailed off, her voice getting lower as she kept her eyes close.
This is the first time I've seen Scarlet act in a way I could relate. I mean I can't about the whole family thing since my patented died when I was three, but I know what it's like to want attention and to want to make the people I look up to proud of me.
"What do you want to do then?" I asked her trying to start back up the conversation.
Scarlet sniffles wiping a tear from her eye. "I want to be a ballerina. For as long as I could remember I loved to dance. My dad however wants me to be a fighter, but to be honest I hate it. I hate fighting."
Was she joking? No she wasn't. This girl that is an incredible fighter and went all the way to finals last year, doesn't like to fight?
"Why a ballerina?" I ask.
She smiles and her eyes light up and sparkle. "Because there's no better feeling in the world then being on a stage and dancing. Nothing feels quite like it. When it's just me and the music I feel free and I feel more powerful than ever." Scarlet fiddles with the end of her shoe lace and she looks off into the distance. A small smile creeps onto her face as she becomes lost in thought.
Just when you think you know people they surprise you. Everyone has secrets and things that set them apart from everyone else. I should know better than to judge a book based on its cover. I hate it when people do it to me, so why should I do it to others? Scarlet is human just like the rest of us, so next time I'll remind myself to get to know the person before I assume I know them.
"I have to get going, I have a match soon, but if you don't mind I would really like to see you dance sometime." I say getting up from my spot next to Scarlet. "Hey, and don't let your dad tell you who to be. I know it's hard to stand up to someone like that in your life, but if you really want to dance don't let anything stop you."
I turn to walk down the hall. My next match was going to start soon and no way was I going to miss it with finals so close.
Lenna Kors
I know I said I shouldn't judge anyone anymore, but you know what? Sometimes I think you can make an exception.
I look up to the message board and see my opponent's name Lenna Kors and right next to her name is a picture of someone i've seen before. Tadashi's partner. Yep the same girl from before who was arguing with Tadashi and the girl who I know dislikes me with a firefly passion.
You know when someone hates you. They look at you with narrow glazed eyes. Their heads turned slightly to the side and the give off a sort of vibe. I know for sure Lenna hates me. For what reason, I have no idea. She stands poised with a reason. There's no doubt that this is going to be one of the toughest fights of my life. But no matter what I'm determined to win.
Lennas has a negative aura that makes my hair stand on end. She's wearing a sweet smelling perfume that tickles my nose and I try to not let it bug me.
What ever past she had with Tadashi didn't matter right here and right now. Here was the arena and the fight was now. I'm ready and I take my stance waiting for the starting bell to sound. On my shoulder is Megabot and in my right hand is my small dagger. It may not do me any good this round, but maybe I'll get lucky and it will save me.
The match starts and I dash forward trying to surprise her with an attack. As I rush towards her Lenna opens a small vile and black mist starts to curl out from it. I instantly stop my attack and move back away from her.
The mist grows surrounding Lenna in a curtain of black. Lenna raises her hand and point a finger at me and the black mist shoots out towards my detection. I doge and take my chances rushing in to try and get close. I have to arrow step every five seconded to get out of the way of her mist, but I slowly make my way to her.
I'm right by her side now and I take my dagger and slash at her face. She has a look of shock on her face as I leave a slash across her cheek. I then pivot and slash again this time to her leg I strike her again and just as I'm about to move out her black mist catches up to me and then all I see is darkness...
I wake up to bright lights and a splitting headache. My eyes take a while to adjust, there is a ringing in my ear and I wouldn't mind falling back into the deeps of unconscious, but I want to know where I am. I force my sight to become clear.
I'm..in a medical room?
I'm on a white bed hooked up to some monitors. There's an iv in my arm that feels really uncomfortable every time I flex or move, and there's annoying beeping coming from the heart monitor.
Damn what happened?
"Hiro!"
I look to the door of the room to see Tadashi come running in. He's sweaty and his hair's a bit messy. I guess he just came from a match.
He takes my face in his hands and runs his thumb over my cheek.
"Are you ok?" He asks.
There's so much worry in his voice and it makes my heart constrict. His eyes also shake slightly with an intensity that scares me.
I place my hand over his in attempt to calm him down. "I'm fine,but..."
Just then it clicked. I'm in the med bay because I lost...
"I-I lost." I say.
There's a disappointed feeling deep within my chest. It's like a guilty, sad, frustrated mess that's threatening to make me cry. I know it's childish and bad sportsmanship, but I really thought I was going to do better than I did. I was so close to the finals, so close to being able to impress my school and my aunt. I was so close.
"Hey, hey Hiro it's okay." Tadashi sits on the side of the bed and brings me into his arms. "You did such a good job making it this far. This tournament was no easy task. I'm proud of you for making it this far. Aside from that how are you feeling?"
Oh yeah I was in the med bay because I got the shit beat out off me. Way to go Hiro.
"I'm fine, but I don't think your partner likes me to much-."
"Wait Lenna did this?" Tadashi said, his eyes narrowing.
"Um yeah, she pulled out this little bottle thing and all this black mist came out." I explained.
Tadashi looked like he wanted to say something, but before he got the chance, someone else came into the room. She wore a white dress and apron.
"Sorry for the interruption, but mr. Hamada you have a match right now." She says in a soft voice.
"Tell them I forfeit." Tadashi says turning his attention back to me.
Wait forfeit?! No way in hell am I going to let him miss this just because of me.
"No way in hell are you going to miss your match." I say taking his hands off me.
"But Hiro-."
"I'll be fine now go!" I say giving him a smile.
Tadashi sighed and smiles back giving me a kiss on the forehead. "I'll be right back." He says before exiting the room.
He and the lady leave, leaving me all by myself. Not a moment after the door closes I feel a tear slide down my face. Once again I know it's stupid to cry and all, but I can't help it. I feel like I let Lulubell down. She was so excited at the end of each day when we both made it through to the next day. Not only that, but I feel like I let myself down as well. I could of done better, I know I could of. So why didn't I? I'm so frustrated right now. Frustrated and angry. All that extra training after school and on weekends and I didn't even make it to semifinals. All that hard work and I just go and lose? What the fuck!
I grip the blanket underneath me out of frustration. My knuckles hurt. whatever.
I look around the room and decide that I don't want to be here anymore. I lift the blanket off and slide my legs over the edge of the bed. They feel a little sore so I carefully try to put weight on them to stand. It takes a seconded to get the right feeling back in my legs before I can fully stand on them.
Standing up I get hit with a wave of dizziness. My vision blurs a bit and I wobble slightly. Standing still a moment till the wave passes, I finally start to make my way out of the med bay.
The halls are quiet and I pick a random direction and start walking down that way.
What floor am I even on? I don't think I've ever been down this way before. There's no gyms or stadiums on this level it's actually really creepy. My foot steps echo down the halls making me cringe, they sound out of place among the silence.
Where am I even going? I don't really know what to do now that I'm out of the tournament. I don't feel like talking to people or watching the other matches. Maybe I should just go back to the hotel? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But first I have to find a way out of this place.
It's strange. You would think that there would be an exit sign somewhere or at least some sort of map or label saying where you where. All the rooms don't have labels either, and from what I can see there's nothing in the rooms at all. How odd.
"Are you lost?"
I nearly jump out off my skin at the sudden question. I turn around to see a young girl with silver hair and gray eyes.
Wait, where did she-?
"Are you lost?" She repeats the question in an innocent voice.
"Um yeah I am." I said.
I don't know what, but something seems off about this girl. The air around her is cold leaving the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. And this girl she has no scent...
"Are you Hiro?"
Ok how the fuck does this girl know my name? And where did she come from?
"How do you-?"
"You are aren't you!" She says cutting me off. "Well kitty, I look forward to playing with you."
I wake up to bright lights and a splitting headache. My eyes take a while to adjust, there is a ringing in my ear and I wouldn't mind falling back into the deeps of unconscious, but I want to know where I am. I force my sight to become clear.
I'm..in a medical room?
I'm on a white bed hooked up to some monitors. There's an iv in my arm that feels really uncomfortable every time I flex or move, and there's annoying beeping coming from the heart monitor.
Damn what happened?
"Hiro!"
I look to the door of the room to see Tadashi come running in. He's sweaty and his hair's a bit messy. I guess he just came from a match.
He takes my face in his hands and runs his thumb over my cheek.
"Are you ok?" He asks.
I smile it was nice of Tadashi to come find me.
"Yeah I'm fine-."
Wait a second.
Am-am I having really bad déjà vu or something? Because I could of sworn all this happened already.
"Hiro what's wrong?" Tadashi asks.
"Nothing I'm fine. I just lost to Lenna is all."
Didn't I already tell you this?
"Lenna did this?!" Tadashi says angrily.
Yes I already told you this. And then someone comes in to tell Tadashi he has a match.
"Yeah she did." I reply.
Tadashi looked like he wanted to say something, but before he got the chance, someone else came into the room. She wore a white dress and apron.
"Sorry for the interruption, but you have a match right now." She says in a soft voice.
Now Tadashi's going to ask to forfeit.
"Tell them I forfeit." Tadashi says turning his attention back to me.
"No Tadashi you should go." I say taking his hand in mine.
"Hiro I don't think I should leave you." Tadashi says to me.
I smile and place a kiss to his forehead. "Please, for me?" I say.
Tadashi sighs getting up to leave.
"I'll be right back." He says exciting the room.
...
What the fuck just happened?
This all happened before. There was Tadashi and this room and the other nurse lady. I left this room and then, something happened. What happened?
I don't remember.