The Opening Skirmish
There's a phrase for it—star power. Unpack the words and they mean a quality, a gift: the kind that can win enormous popularity from the public. Right now, that was me. An overwhelming gift.
Whatever Revia performed, I answered it at a sync rate finer in every detail, perfect enough to raise goosebumps. Ashe? Sona? Katarina? Talent of that caliber didn't even come close.
Revia's demonstration drew a light scatter of applause. When my turn came, the whole room went silent—the kind of level where you lose whatever you meant to say and can only listen, dazed.
The hosts had started out watching my impression duel with Revia with real interest. Somewhere around the middle they seemed to decide this wouldn't do, and cut in fast. Clowning it up, they mumbled that this was only a warm-up, and that the real game was something else entirely.
The hosts fussed over her—Revia had done plenty well, yes she had—and asked whether she had any other talents. With an awkward look, she said she'd studied gymnastics and would demonstrate a few moves.
"And you, Hani?"
"I'll show you a breaking demonstration, and some kicks."
"Oh! Now that I'm really looking forward to. Come to think of it, you were on the news, weren't you, Hani?"
"Ha! I saw that video too. Absolute insanity! That wasn't some video-game move, was it? A criminal who looked heavier than me just went flying."
In a single breath I pulled back the attention that had been sliding toward Revia. The hosts, and the viewers with them, were asking about the incident that had lately blown my YouTube through the roof.
Krrk. Teeth, grinding. The one doing it was Revia, smiling as if nothing at all were wrong, right there beside me. A thoroughly venomous style.
Once the hosts' barrage of questions ended, Revia's gymnastics demonstration followed. She showed off her flexibility in a split and drew gasps with her tumbling. A moment later she returned to her place amid applause, and on the way she slid me a sidelong, provocative look.
That look probably carried something along the lines of You can't do it like this, can you?Still a kid. The rule was simple: if you aren't sure, don't stake the match. I walked to center stage and set my stance. I'd dressed in something I could actually move in precisely because I'd known it would come to this.
"Unnieee, here!"
"Yeah. Thanks."
Mia came up onto the stage with my shopping bag, just as I'd asked. Time for the thing I'd kept sealed tight inside it—a secret even from my teammates—to show itself.
"Oh!"
"Talk about coming prepared. Now I'm even more excited."
Pine boards for breaking, readied in advance. I beckoned the hosts over and had one stand with a board at waist height, the other at face height.
"Th-this might be a little high, don't you think? I may not look it, but I'm over six feet."
"No, this is slander. I'm five-ten. Don't gang up on me!"
"Quiet."
"......"
One low word, and the noise folded. Mia, close enough to touch, murmured something with both eyes shining.
Charisma, my ass. Someone could actually get hurt. I waved her back with a small gesture, then traced the line I would take. Four steps to Life, the first target.
For a brief moment a mysterious energy coiled around my whole body. Nine hundred and ten points, spent because I'd run into a violent criminal no one could have seen coming. That power was with me now.
"Ha!"
A short kiai, and I shot off to the left. Life's eyes went round. Then the board he held at waist height swung into view.
Now.
I planted my pivot foot exactly on the spot I'd drawn in my head and spun. My hair scattered like the stroke of a brush. My right foot, heavy with centrifugal force, bit clean into the heart of the board.
Crack—!
"Whoa—wow!"
A spinning back kick, taken at a full run without shedding an ounce of speed, and it landed. The footwork and the pace were fiercer than anything he'd imagined, and Life could only stare, dumbstruck. Then he looked down at the board snapped in half in his own hands.
I carried the momentum straight on. Three quick steps. A leap that fed on all that speed.
The world's time stopped dead. Redback gaped at the sight of me hanging in empty air, and around us people screamed. Or were they cheering? Either was fine.
I angled the force obliquely downward and spun hard—a body kick thrown from midair.
Snap—!
The instant the impact brushed my toes, I set my center back upward and finished the turn. I lifted my head. In Redback's hands, nothing remained but one shattered half of the board.
Success.
And yet the air had gone strangely quiet, as if something had gone wrong.
"Um... did I fail?"
Waaaaaah—!
"Agh!"
A cheer loud enough to split eardrums. That was everyone's answer to my stage.
Everyone's stage was over. So was the viewers' vote, tallied in real time. The result was obvious, but our team took first. Second was Revia's team, which had put up a rare fight.
Beaming over the draft ceremony's surprise success, the hosts asked which team we wanted to name as our first-round opponent. After a brief huddle, we went with 19Sonyeo's suggestion and chose We're Taking That Win.
"Then next Saturday's opening match will be Fighting Girls versus We're Taking That Win!"
"Waaaaaah!"
Our team name borrowed fighting—one of the images that had lately come to represent me—and the girl in 19Sonyeo. We'd picked it without much thought, and I was satisfied now that the viewers had taken to it.
"All right, every team through fourth place has made their selection. Let's hear one word of resolve from each before we move on."
"We'll go in reverse. First, the team picked last—the Yodel Banquet team! A word, please."
"We'll make you regret naming us as your first opponent."
"Hmph! Your team's the biggest free win out there!"
The order came around in reverse, one team after another. A moment later, second place: We Won. Team captain Revia got to her feet and then, out of nowhere, pointed not at her first-round opponent but at me.
"I lost today's talent show, but... I'll make you realize the real game is a different matter."
"Ooh! Is that a declaration of war?"
"We've got a storyline on our hands. The vibe right now is incredible."
It wasn't only the hosts overacting. The tournament participants had begun to murmur, and the viewers watching the official broadcast were no exception.
Over on Shindaeryuk TV's official site, an event was underway: guess this tournament's winning team, and walk away with prizes. Thanks to that, each streamer's fandom was locked in an even hotter standoff.
"Seems like this answer ought to come from Hani, don't you think?"
"I feel the same."
Life came over, asked Captain 19Sonyeo's leave, and passed me the mic. What was all this fuss? I stood and took one look around. The participants' eyes were half wariness, half curiosity. There was another kind, too—the eyes of my teammates and the hosts, glittering with expectation.
Slowly I turned my head and met Revia's gaze. She was looking my way while pretending she couldn't care less. And I said it.
"......"
"......!"
A splendid finale to crown the Ladies' tournament draft.