Aftermath

[What an odd girl], Ichisuda thought to himself as he watched Mika exit the dojo.

[What am I going to do about the admission? The other two finalists are in no condition to have another fight. I guess I have no choice]

He looked around the room, up at the announcers, then shook his head.

He went back up to the room where the announcers were and they had a lengthy discussion.

During that time, the contestants were debating amongst themselves what was going to happen next.

Dota and Yasuke and some others with more serious injuries had already been taken to the hospital.

Yashiro and Rani went to the room Rando was in and sat next to him. Both of his arms were bandaged tightly and he sat up on the bed, looking less angry than he was when he was carried off the stage.

"so, we all lost" Yashiro said, as he began to laugh.

Rani sighed as Rando began to laugh too.

"well, one good thing came from this tournament" Rando said, as he looked down at his arms again "I'm too reliant on my powers when it comes to protection"

"what do you mean?" Rani asked.

"when my steel skin is activated, I block any and every attack because I know not much can penetrate them. I tried doing that today and that's why my arms are like this"

"yeah, and another good thing is I now realise I need more combat training than I thought" Rani said as she smiled at Rando. "Speaking of, I heard she won"

Yashiro nodded, "Shihata should've won that fight. Mika fights so dirty, it's unreal. Then she just left the dojo without even taking the prize. She really pisses me off "

"so what's going to happen now?" Rani asked

Yashiro didn't get to respond before an announcement came from the speakers.

"Can I have the attention of all fighters here?" Ichisuda said, still in the announcers room.

"Due to unforseen circumstances, we have decided to crown Shihata Saki the winner of the flowing fist tournament, she will also recieve the admission into the Horizon Academy. This decision was made based on the fact that the other finalist, Rando Yukumi was injured and removed from the ring"

Shihata kept her head low as everyone's attention turned to her. She felt she didn't deserve the admission, or to be crowned the winner.

She was met with rounds of applause from the other fighters there and a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She turned around to see Yashiro, and Rando standing behind her with smiles on their faces.

"You were great out there Shihata. You deserve it" Rando said. Yashiro took his hands off her shoulders and nodded in agreement. "If she had fought fairly, you would've won"

"thank you guys" she said, "but I still feel like I cheated. My plan was to let you two fight it out and then I take on the winner"

"that's not cheating" Rando replied, "you made a strategic decision based on what fighting style you use."

"Don't beat yourself up too much, it was a good decision" Yashiro added.

Shihata smiled and nodded and went towards Ichisuda, who was waiting for her in one of the rings. This time, her head was held high.

*

It had been a few weeks since her encounter with Aihara and Yagita still thought about the things he said to her in the car park.

She was sitting on her bed thinking, [Fuhira hasn't been the same since that day. I really need to talk to him about it].

She looked down, and saw the large bag that Aihara had left her.

[Maybe it's time I see what's in the bag]

She got off, picked up the bag, brought it back to the bed and then opened it.

Inside was a disassembled sniper rifle and quad launcher, a pistol, a katana, a shotgun, what appeared to be some type of body armour and a bunch of bullets.

She picked up the pistol and inspected it.

[A bit heavier than normal. I wonder what's so special about it. Maybe Fuhira will be able to tell me]

She put the gun in a holster and got dressed.

[It's about time I go visit him]

She drove to Fuhira's house, a small and secluded detached house, partially hidden by trees. After the third knock, he opened the door. He was dressed in nothing but a robe and shorts.

"Yagita?" He said, with a very surprised look on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were doing, and ask you a few questions."

He laughed, teasing her. "Aw, you care about me."

"Don't flatter yourself Fuhira" she said, as she moved past him and walked towards a couch. The living room was well furnished, with fairly large television hanging on the wall, two couches opposite each other and a glass table in the middle.

"So, how are you doing?" She asked, as she sat and crossed her legs.

Fuhira walked towards the kitchen and asked, "would you like anything to drink?"

"water will be fine, thank you"

He brought back two bottles of water, threw one to her and sat opposite her.

"I'm doing okay. I just didn't expect my brother to show up that's all "

"what's happened?"

"It's a long story Yagita. One I would not like to get into right now. Maybe another time."

"Hmm, alright. I won't push further. " She removed the new gun from the holster. "This is the other reason I came today. Your brother gave me this and some other things. I was wondering if you knew what was so special about them"

"Well, it's hard to explain. It's easier to show you " He got up and walked towards the back of the house. "Follow me"

He opened the door and to Yahita's surprise, there was a shooting range of sorts at the back of the house.

"This is quite impressive" she said.

"Thanks. Fire the weapon at that target there" He pointed to a target that was about 30 metres away from them.

She took aim and fired. The recoil had enough force to make her stagger backwards.

"Woah" she said, with an excited smile on her face. "That is some crazy fire power"

Fuhira nodded and indicated to her to check the target she hit.

She walked towards it and was shocked to see only the charred remains of the target.

"They're called enchanted weapons." Fuhira said, as he walked towards her. "There are numerous types. I guess this weapon has as an incendiary enchantment on it."

"That's insane. These aren't meant for humans are they?"

Fuhira laughed. "I guess not. What other weapons did you get from him?"

"A sniper rifle, shotgun, armour, sword, launcher and ammo"

"that's pretty nice. By the way, have you had something to eat?"

Yagita shook her head as they both walked back inside the house.

"Alright, I'll cook something"