I walked through the main street of the royal capital, Crown Prince Richie’s hand in mine. As it was late autumn, the skies were clear and it had grown a little cold. The roads were littered with fallen leaves. The prince and I, however, were warm in our winter clothes.
The royal capital had fully returned to its peaceful life, leaving no traces of the decay it had seen in early summer. Half a year after the period known as the Rebellion of Prince Jonas, the locals seemed to have calmed down. This cold late-autumn city certainly had its charm. I was window-shopping, buying roasted chestnuts at stalls, and otherwise enjoying my date with the crown prince.
“Look, Floortje! That girl we just passed has a mawashi on top of her dress! It’s all the rage, huh.”
“I guess so, Your Highness. Oh, look, there’s a street dohyō over there.”
It had been half a year since the rebellion. I had broken up my original stable into several, sharing my ten thousand students with stables led by Lord Clifton, Yustin, and General Maurilio. In autumn we held the very first proper tournament in the sumo hall—fifteen days of heated bouts. I was glad to see Crown Prince Richie score a winning record and significantly climb the ranks. The sumo hall was constantly full, and the tournament gave birth to a sumo fever that would sweep through the kingdom, but most of all the royal capital.
“I still can’t get over how exciting that last tournament was, Floortje.”
“I know how you feel. Yustin and Maurilio gave a good performance.”
Lord Clifton had more losses than wins, though. It appeared the main characters of The Rondo of Light and Darkness couldn’t gain or lose weight, so his slim build put him at a disadvantage in sumo. I had the same troubles myself, still unable to gain any weight or muscle whatsoever.
Thud! A young wrestler fell near us, having been thrown out of the ring by his opponent on the street dohyō.
“Ha ha ha! Is this the best you locals can do? Such a disappointment.”
“Screw you, amateur! How dare you?!”
“Ha ha ha, you alone are no match for me! Why don’t you all come at me at once?!”
“Don’t fuck with me!!!”
A small Asian-looking girl with bobbed hair was standing on the dohyō with her arms folded, staring down three hoodlums with a smug look on her face. I could even say she looked Japanese. Had she been reincarnated here too? Then again, your appearance in this world seemed to have little in common with how you had looked in your past life. Despite the current height of fashion, a dress with a mawashi on top, she had a mawashi on over a leotard. Clearly, she had given the matter some serious thought: a dress is pretty, but it’s not the best outfit for sumo bouts.
“Stop right there!”
Whoops. I couldn’t help calling out when I saw those three climbing back up the dohyō.
“Gah! It’s the yokozuna Floortje!”
“And His Highness is here too!”
“Wow, we’re so happy to meet you in person!”
The trio looked really happy when they saw me and the prince. Incidentally, I had had a perfect record last tournament, succeeding to the name of the first yokozuna.
“How cowardly do three wrestlers have to be to gang up on a lone girl?”
“B-But this Asian...”
“Sumo is a ritual performed one-on-one. Refrain from such contemptible actions in the future.”
The three thuggish wrestlers looked dejected after my harsh scolding.
“We will. Sorry.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We were in the wrong.”
They were surprisingly meek.
“Well, well! Isn’t that Floortje? What do you say to a bout?” uttered the girl.
She was a cheeky one, it seemed. Not that I didn’t approve.
“What?! Are you for real?!”
“Sure, you’re strong, but that’s a yokozuna you’re talking to!”
“And it’s rude to make her fight on a street dohyō!”
“Yeah, I guess professionals don’t fight in such places...”
The girl was snickering as she provoked me. Something was off about this...
“Are you going to fight her, Floortje?”
“I would never turn down a challenger.”
“I knew you wouldn’t. Okay, I’ll be the referee!”
The girl laughed as though I had fallen into her trap. She reminded me of Erhard. Or, more specifically...of demons? Oh well, I figured I would find out once we started. Using the dressing room, I put on a black mawashi on top of my dress.
“Holy crap, I get to see Floortje’s bout this close?!”
“And with His Highness as the referee!”
“All thanks to you, girl!”
These hoodlums were rather fickle.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Kukuri. I’m from the east.”
Kukuri? As in Kukurihime no Mikoto, the deity that in my past life was enshrined at Shirayama Hime Shrine in Hakusan City in Japan? I couldn’t sense anything divine about this girl, at least.
“Face each other.”
Crown Prince Richie stepped between the two of us, using the palm of his hand as a substitute for a war fan. His twitching cat ears were precious.
My breathing synchronized with that of Kukuri. We touched the ground with our fists at the same time and charged at each other.
“Hakkeyoi!”
Crash! One wouldn’t expect such a thunderous sound to come from two women coming into contact. I managed to push Kukuri at first, but she absorbed the impact and held her ground after that. We grabbed each other’s mawashi—I did it in a left-handed underarm grip, she did it in a right-handed one—then we both did an outside grip with the remaining arm, and we were locked up. She was really flexible and her center of mass was really low. Something struck me as odd about her fighting style. She was almost like a spider...
“Still in, still in!”
The way she moved and kept her center of mass low piqued my interest. But her sumo technique had a long way to go. I used my arm holding her mawashi in an outside grip to pull it towards myself and threw her out of the ring.
“Floortje!” Crown Prince Richie raised his palm towards me.
“Wow, that was an awesome overarm throw!”
“You pulled it off really well!”
“How you like that, you Asian girl?!”
Kukuri was looking up at me from below the dohyō with an expression of disbelief on her face. I extended a hand and helped her up.
“There’s a lot of depth to sumo, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I-I would! Th-Thank you so much!”
Kukuri bowed her head. It turned out this spider girl was meek too once she lost. She must’ve been sent from the Demon Lord’s army to steal the secrets of sumo.
“I see you have talent. Would you like to join a stable and get serious about sumo?”
“Huh? Um, uhh, is that okay?”
“Certainly. I think you’ll make a good wrestler.”
Now, which stable do I show her to...? In Yustin’s stable, they went all out. I figured she might like General Maurilio’s athletics-focused stable too. There was also the option of having her join my stable.
“On the west side of the Triumphal Square, you’ll find a place called ‘Clifton’s stable.’ Go there. I’ll talk to the owner for you later.”
“I-I’ll be on my way! Thank you so much!”
Lord Clifton was the accommodating type, so I was sure he would teach Kukuri even if he found out she was a demon. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Good for you, girl!”
“Clifton’s stable is weak. Full of handsome types, though.”
“It’s still a proper stable, anyway, so don’t worry about it.”
The three hoodlums encouraged the girl. This was the way of sumo: it forged friendships and put smiles on people’s faces.
“Thanks, guys. Sorry I was being an idiot earlier.”
“It’s fine, think nothing of it.”
“I’ll root for you if you make it to the pro scene.”
“Good luck, Kukuri!”
Seeing the four settle their differences, the crown prince let out a smile. It was precious. Dosukoi dosukoi!
Oh, but why was I doing sumo while we were out on a date? Naughty me.