A Humiliating Homecoming
Tiffany was remarkably light.
What does she even eat normally?
Fair skin and shimmering blonde hair — she was so captivating that her looks, so utterly different from mine, felt almost alien to me all over again.
"Mmm, Si-in……"
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
Cradled in my arms, she curled up like a cat. I carried her straight into the bedroom of the camping bus.
"You can sleep here."
"What about you……?"
"I saw a separate bed up front."
"Sleep here."
"It's fine. Everyone else is around."
I took off the shoes and jacket of the completely plastered Tiffany for her.
"Can you get changed on your own?"
"Mm-hm……"
"Then I'll leave the door shut for you."
She was at least a little less drunk than the first time we'd drunk together, so she'd probably be fine.
With that thought, I moved to switch off the lamp above the bed.
Tiffany reached out her arm.
I was caught and pulled in, and her lips touched mine briefly — then drew away.
"Ah. Cherry."
"……What was that for?"
"A kiss that's not business. My heart's pounding more than I expected."
"Goodnight. Tiger."
With a wry smile, I pressed a kiss to Tiffany's forehead and stepped out of the room.
Then, after closing the door behind me, I said:
"……Why are you two hiding?"
Sina and Russell, who had been hiding behind the wall, came out with awkward grins.
"N-no, it's just — the atmosphere was so good it felt wrong to butt in."
"Very platonic of you two. Which reminds me — should we go work out at the gym or something?"
"……Sure."
That sounded like the better idea.
The next morning.
Once we'd finished breakfast, the four of us headed straight to the conference room at the arena.
Tiffany, who had been completely wasted, was now perfectly composed, running her presentation in front of Bart.
Watching the process closely from the side, I couldn't help but be impressed.
I hadn't realized it yesterday, but the sense that she had genuinely prepared for this was overwhelming.
Yesterday's viewership numbers had been the final piece needed to persuade Bart.
"Eighteen million. That's an enormous audience — the kind of number you only see when two main eventers kick off a fresh new rivalry."
"And why do you think that is?"
"Because all three of them have fresh images. And all three came out of GCW."
Throwing a chart up on the screen, Tiffany continued her explanation.
"If you look at merchandise sales trends, these three show the most eye-catching growth. In particular, SIN's products surged roughly eighteen times faster than Triple H's over the same period."
"Well, obviously — Hunter's baseline sales were high to begin with."
Bart furrowed his brow.
"Compared in absolute numbers, Hunter's sales are far ahead."
"That's why I prepared this."
The chart changed again.
"Hunter's sales in his first year after debut."
"The company was far smaller back then."
"And this is right after Hunter received the Champion Road storyline. In other words, after he'd started rising."
"……"
"By any measure, SIN's numbers are slightly higher. Here's the power comparison between the two, calculated by our finance team with the era differences taken into account."
My numbers came out higher.
I had far surpassed Hunter's merchandise sales from the year he got his mega push after debut.
"Well? What do you think?"
"And why do you think that is?"
"The script, as always."
Tiffany glanced back at me.
"I also believe that giving performers autonomy over their own acting played a major role."
Hearing that, I raised a hand lightly to claim the floor.
"What percentage of my character's total merchandise sales comes from the Kung-Fury character?"
"About thirty-seven percent."
"And that's from a single t-shirt? It really must have been a brilliant character."
Tiffany gave me a slightly puzzled look.
But my intention was to ease Bart's mind by saying what I said next.
"You could say, Chairman, that the fun character you created is what made such a great storyline possible."
"Is that so."
Bart let out a breath of relief.
"Yes. To put it precisely, I'd say it's a collaboration between the Chairman and myself."
"Right, and so……"
Accepting the obvious flattery without offense, Bart relaxed his shoulders and turned back to Tiffany.
"What's your proposal?"
"Have SIN and Sina appear in GCW. And in return, my team will draft next year's business plan."
"Next year?"
"Yes. Starting next year, our brand will participate regularly in the joint pay-per-views of the main shows."
"An interesting proposal."
"And one more thing."
Tiffany smiled sweetly.
"We'd like to hold more house shows and events for performers with room to grow."
"That all costs money."
"Yes, it will certainly make money."
Tiffany parried it beautifully.
Bart deliberated for a while, then finally nodded.
"Fine. Let's verify it first."
And so Sina's and my GCW appearances were approved as well.
The four of us hopped straight on a plane and headed for Georgia.
I was itching to try out the camping bus myself, but unfortunately the distance was simply too far.
A quick check told me it was about five hours by plane — or forty by car.
Still, a homecoming felt good, as it always did.
Atlanta International Airport.
After clearing customs and stepping outside, we were met with an unexpected situation.
Only one person had come to pick us up.
Baku.
The man with the charming bomb of an afro smiled at Tiffany first and asked,
"Did the meeting go well?"
"Of course. I think it'll work out. Staying up all night preparing was worth it."
"That's what I like to hear! Haha!"
"……"
Where the hell is everyone hiding?
With that thought, I looked around, feeling oddly puzzled.
"What's wrong, kid?"
"No, you came alone?"
"Of course I did. Everyone's busy preparing for the show right now."
"And I told them, 'If all of you come swarming out just because you miss SIN, nobody gets paid.'"
"……"
Right. Paychecks do matter.
"Um — what about me?"
"Oh, Sina. You came too?"
"……"
Sina and I both had to swallow our disappointment, each for our own reasons.
Anyway.
We climbed into the van Baku had brought around and headed straight for GCW.
The road was blurred through the haze of faint memories, and perhaps because of that, I felt strangely giddy.
That feeling only grew stronger once we arrived at GCW and met everyone.
The first to greet us as we entered the training facility were our old comrades.
"What's this belt now, you punk!"
"Is that a main show belt? Ha! Kid's really made it big!"
"And Sina too. Actually, isn't Sina the one who's climbed higher?"
"No kidding. Back in the GCW days he couldn't even get a line out under Wyatt."
"Come on, everyone, save the reunion for later. We've got a booking meeting first, so please clear the way."
Thanks to Tiffany, we barely managed to escape and headed to the office, where we met Harley and the department heads.
But nothing had changed.
Everyone welcomed us with a loud, boisterous ruckus, and Tiffany had to rein them in.
Seated amid that warm, cheerful atmosphere, Sina and I soon realized it had all been an illusion.
Tiffany, who had taken the head of the table alongside Harley, beamed and said the following:
"You two do realize this is our territory, don't you?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're going to have to take a little humiliation."
"What kind of humiliation?"
I asked with genuine interest.
"You two stormed into GCW all high and mighty — so we, who've been waiting here, strike back."
"Kind of like Home Alone?"
"That could work."
Hearing my suggestion, Harley nodded.
"Anything dangerous, we pull out and film safely on video. The funny, humiliating stuff goes on in the arena."
Sound reasoning.
Putting Russell over in 'their own territory' wasn't a bad call at all.
It would elevate GCW's image, and the crowd's reaction would be even better.
The build-up for Russell to face us on equal footing at Ring Survival.
That was the purpose driving this week's GCW show.
"That works for me."
"I think it'll be fun."
As Sina and I nodded, Harley let out a relieved laugh.
"Let's talk through the plan first, then go straight into filming."
Perhaps it's only natural — a wrestler who makes it to the main show looking down on the lower leagues he came up through is a tale as old as the business.
But I'd always thought that kind of thing was downright disrespectful.
For a performer to get over, the help of everyone around him is essential.
Because the work is done together.
I had always respected my fellow performers and pursued the path where everyone — myself included — wins in the end.
It was simply that the one taking the largest share of that win was me, the most skilled among them.
Besides, this gig wasn't bad for me either.
After all, the bigger GCW grew, the stronger the voice that Tiffany McMahon and I would hold in the company.
A situation where everyone won.
Even if we took our lumps on television, in the end, all of us came out ahead.
The GCW that had grown by leaps and bounds in the meantime was in far better shape than in my day.
The arena had moved to a ten-thousand-seat venue, and the overall quality had advanced well beyond what it used to be.
And in that setting, I looked like a man utterly out of another era.
The newly hired camera director shot my ring entrance beautifully.
[SIN! SIN! SIN! SIN! SIN!]
Ten thousand spectators gave the returning icon a welcome without reserve.
I loved every second of it — but unfortunately, my condition was an absolute shambles.
Pelted with eggs backstage, chased by fireworks, lost my shoes and stepped on a Lego brick.
After all those clips played between matches, the made-up me came sprinting out to the ring.
I grabbed the microphone and shouted.
"Russell!!"
The crowd burst out laughing.
"Damn it! You cowardly bastard! You dare set up a dirty scheme like this?!"
I peeled the Lego brick off the sole of my foot and tossed it away without ceremony.
"That hurt! ……Where the hell is Sina? Don't tell me he's dead?"
"……Who's dead? Nobody's dead."
"Sina!"
I whipped around in surprise at the sight of Sina making his way through the crowd.
He looked every bit as wrecked as I did.
"Hey! You've got an arrow in your—!"
"It's fake."
Sina yanked the toy arrow off his arm with a pop. As the crowd howled with laughter, he went on with a perfectly straight face.
"Listen, SIN. If you don't want it to get worse, you get out of here right now."
"You want me to run after everything they've done to us?! You go!"
"These traps are just child's play. The GCW guys have all banded together and gone into hiding to ambush us."
"Damn it……!"
I seethed with fury.
The GCW crowd watched the two of us with faces full of gleeful suspense.
Playing along, Sina and I warily scanned our surroundings and waited for the next beat.
Before long, music began to blare.
Russell Hart's theme.
[Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh!!]
The crowd rose to their feet with a thunderous ovation.
As expected, Sina's and my popularity here fell far short of Russell's.
Naturally so.
This was Georgia — and Georgia's champion was Russell.
Russell walked down to the ringside area leading a pack of GCW's roster.
Sina and I kept our guard up against them, and Russell smirked and spoke.
"I knew the two of you would come back home eventually."
"Is this some kind of kids' game to you?"
"I hoped you'd chicken out and run. But of course, that's not how it went."
The GCW wrestlers surrounded the ring.
"Then I suppose kicking you out on your asses is the better way."
The assault began.
Just like old times when we'd run the tags together — the wrestlers entered the ring one by one.
Sina and I, backs to each other, knocked them down one after another.
Once the brawl kicked off, the crowd roared like thunder.
Bobby, Sheamus — even Will.
Sina and I were far too busy dealing with them to notice Russell slipping in between.
"Hrk—?!"
After a vicious kick to my gut, Russell grabbed my doubled-over head.
CRACK—!
A picture-perfect DDT.
Having subdued Sina as well, Russell spent a long while stomping us into the mat alongside the GCW roster.
Then, apparently deciding we'd taken enough of a beating, he waved the wrestlers back.
"This is GCW! Did you really think I'd stand by and watch you run wild in our territory?!"
[YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!]
"At Ring Survival, the one left standing at the end will be Georgia's champion — Russell Hart! You'd better prepare yourselves to lose!"
Having declared this with all the bravado he could muster, he grabbed the microphone and descended from the ring.
The GCW wrestlers sneered at Sina and me as they retreated up the entrance ramp.
Gasping for breath, I bared my teeth at them once more.
"You're running……?!"
"Think whatever you like. If you want to fight more, go wash off the milk first."
What?
Confused by the sudden remark, I raised my head at the sound of something clunking above.
Above the lighting rigs.
Two staff members who had been lying in wait tipped the milk churns downward.
SPLASH—!!
Icy-cold milk crashed over every inch of my body.
Soaked head to toe, Sina and I rolled around the ring, bringing the show to a spectacular close.