Chapter Text
Sie Kensou sat by himself on a wide couch, hunched over with his hands on his chin. Despite there being a good number of people milling about the fighters’ lounge, he was purposely sitting alone. It was the day of the finals of another King of Fighters tournament, one of the largest ever. The teams that had made it past a certain point had this special lounge to themselves plus a guest or two. They also had a special section of seats in the stands, but it was very loud out there and you could get a better view of the matches from the screens inside, so most of the fighters were in here.
The grand finals match was on now. Team China, comprised of two newcomers and legendary martial arts master Tung Fu Rue, faced off against the long-time KOF veterans of Team Japan. The fight was proving to be fierce, and the outcome unpredictable, despite Japan being the favorites.
But Kensou wasn’t paying attention to any of that. He was too busy brooding, silently beating himself up over losing in the match that put his team out of the tournament. “I had it all planned out. I would’ve won, and impressed Athena, and then I… I...” he mumbled to himself.
“What was that, Kensou?”
With a start, Kensou looked up, and there she was, sitting next to him, Athena Asamiya, training partner, singer, fighter, and the most beautiful girl he’d ever known. In her white shirt, red skirt, and trademark headband, she practically sparkled in his eyes… then again, she also actually sparkled due to the way she used her psychic powers. As always, he had been hoping that his performance in the tournament would’ve been good enough to give him a chance to tell her how he felt about her and sweep her off her feet. Now, though, that felt so far out of reach.
“Oh! N-n-nothing! I...” And there he went, getting nervous again. He took a breath to try and compose himself for a bit. “Sorry about losing our match for us, Athena.”
Athena looked puzzled. “Why are you sorry? You did your best, and besides, that team beat Master Chin and I, too. We’re all putting our all into this, and all our victories and losses are ours to bear together.” Athena gave him a patient smile. “We’re the Psycho Soldiers, and we can’t be stopped!”
Kensou tried to smile back, but his heart wasn’t in it. “Yeah… thanks. Hey, uh, I-”
“HEEEEY! KENSOU!!!”
An excitable, high-pitched voice completely obliterated Kensou’s pity party through sheer volume. The source was a girl dressed in a short, red, traditional Chinese-styled dress, with her hair up in a pair of round, almost Mickey Mouse-esque buns. Kensou racked his brain, trying to remember who the loud girl was, though he would soon be reminded anyway.
“It’s me, Mui Mui! Remember me? How’s it going?” Mui Mui beamed and ran over, leaving her teammates (a quiet girl with a hawk on her shoulder and a tall pirate woman) behind.
Kensou did remember her, but he wasn’t quite sure why she seemed to excited to see him. Still, he couldn’t exactly ignore her (both because it would be impolite and because she was really loud), so he turned to her and responded. “Hey there. It’s… nice to see you again,” he said.
Mui Mui noticed his attitude. “Why the long face? I hope you’re not sad about how you did in the tournament, because you fought REALLY well! I should know, you beat me! You can’t give up before I have my revenge!”
Kensou looked up at her face. Despite talking about revenge, she was nothing but smiles. Somehow, her boundless enthusiasm made him feel just the slightest bit better. “Thanks, Mui Mui.”
“No problem, but that’s not what I’m here for! Don’t you remember?” Seeing Kensou looking confused, she continued. “You said you were going to show me a really good meat bun place, so I came to get your cell number so we could go sometime after the tournament!”
Hearing mention of his favorite food got him to perk up. “Oh yeah! We were going to go to Kobe! Yeah, I remember what you said about a lot of them here tasting bland. A lot of chain restaurants use low-quality meat. I still get stuff from them, because it’s cheap and sometimes you just need a meat bun, but this place is the real deal.” As they took out their phones and added each other, Kensou went on. “I’m kinda surprised you have a cell phone. Didn’t you say that your world didn’t have them?”
“Yeah, but Love said we should have them so we can keep in touch when we’re apart. They’re not too hard to use, anyway.” They finished adding each others’ info. “Alright, I think Nakoruru wanted to go back to to our seats outside for her bird or whatever, so we gotta go. Stay on your toes, though! Nakoruru thinks something bad is gonna happen, and I think she knows everything. Stay safe, and I’ll text you later!” Mui Mui ran off, leaving as bombastically as she came in.
“Yeah, bye!” Kensou called after her. He found himself smiling somehow. He wasn’t sure why. He still had lost in front of Athena, he still wasn’t any closer to telling her how he felt about her. Everything that was bothering him was still there.
But somehow…
He felt better.
Elsewhere in the room, Chin Gentsai observed his students. Though he came off to others as a cheerful, silly, and regularly drunk old man, he nevertheless cared deeply about Athena and Kensou’s progress both as martial artists and as people. As he stood around, a shirtless, middle-aged man came up to his side and greeted him.
“Ah, Chin! It’s been a long time!”
“Oh, Gang-il! It sure has! You’ve been traveling the world, no? I’m surprised to see you enter a tournament again.”
Gang-il chuckled. “Well, I figured it was time to pay Kim a visit, and then one thing led to another, and here we are!” He followed Chin’s glance over to his students. “It’s been a while since I’ve had any long-term students. How are those kids you train coming along?”
Chin smiled. Though he’d never admit it to them, he liked talking about how well his students were doing. “Well, Athena’s doing great. She always surprises me with how well she does, and the spirit she puts into everything. Not only that, she does it all while also keeping up her singing career! Now, I’m not up with the hip music the kids are into, but I hear she’s a pretty big deal. I don’t know how she does it, honestly. I guess that’s just the energy of youth! Ha ha ha.”
“Yeah, she seemed real strong from your matches that I watched. How about the boy?” Gang-il asked.
“Well, Kensou’s an odd one. On the one hand, he’s definitely a capable fighter. He’s strong, he picks up techniques well, and he’s got massive dormant power. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always seem focused… He always seems like he’s trying really hard to prove himself, and that pushes his mind away from the situation. Still, I think if he gets over that he’ll truly be something special.”
Gang-il scratched his chin. “You know… he’d never let you know it, but Kim used to be like that. I mean, he still does his grandstanding about justice and all that, but when he was around Kensou’s age, he tended to try and show off more. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder about something.”
Chin cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What changed?”
Gang-il laughed. “He got married!”
Chin started laughing too. “Well, no wonder you’re STILL a show-off, then!”
“Oh, I walked right into that one!” Gang-il exclaimed, still laughing.