Clap clap clap clap!—came the nostalgic warning sound of the table of rankings, and said table opened in front of me automatically. A square message box in its center said “alert” in red sumo calligraphy. Below, the text read A strong opponent has appeared (rank: ōzeki).
Ōzeki?! Which race did this opponent belong to? As I pondered the matter, the whole left side of the table of rankings, up to and including the pillar in the center, turned pitch black. The white-on-black part, which used to say “west,” now said “demonic realm,” and the black-on-white part said “Aryaka” instead of “east.” Wow, a combined table of rankings? Several names were glowing.
Ōzeki, greater demon: Arima
Maegashira 5, arachne: Kukuri
Maegashira 13, alraune: Uta
I glanced through the rest of the table and found Aikio in jūryō, the second-highest division, and Givun in makushita, the third-highest division. The competition appeared to be quite fierce in the demonic realm too.
Three shadows passed through the village square. Looking up, I saw monsters riding on gryphons high above.
“Floortje!”
“I know! It’s the Dark Sumo wrestlers!”
Of course, it had been easy to locate us since we had stuck to a highway.
The three gryphons landed in the village square without a sound. Their riders—a crimson greater demon, an alraune with flowers on her head whose entire lower half was that of a flower, and an arachne with the lower half of a spider.
“Oh, Kukuri? What brings you here, Kukuri? Is this a homecoming?”
“N-No, um... Y-You have me mixed up with someone else, Lady Floortje.”
“Oh please, I would never mistake you for someone else. How have you been? Are you staying in the Demon Lord’s army permanently? Lord Clifton will miss you.”
“Um, well, Coach and I, we, uh...”
Kukuri went red in the face. I shouldn’t tease her too much, I thought.
“Oh well. Come back to Aryagard once all this is over. You don’t want to miss the next tournament.”
“T-True... I-I mean, my name is Kukuri! I am a Dark Rikishi of the Demon Lord’s Army, and I am here to arrest the Aryakan Crown Prince Richie and Crown Princess Candidate Floortje!”
“So that’s the job they gave you, mm? You’re working hard, I see.”
As Kukuri and I had our friendly chat, the red demon took a big step forward.
“Sumo...”
“You want to settle this through sumo, Arima?”
The demon nodded. He was slow to speak, as would typically be expected from a sumo wrestler. I was quite fond of that.
“Come forth, black dohyō...”
“Come forth, dohyō!”
A yin-yang-shaped, black-and-white dohyō rose out of the ground at the village square.
“You’re here for team sumo, right, Arima?”
He nodded.
“But Floortje, we’re missing one,” warned the prince.
“Should we send Adela in?”
“P-Please no, milady!”
Arima looked at Uta, the alraune. She was humming a tune and staring at the sky.
“Uta... You’re...in reserve...”
“Huh? I don’t wanna be in reserve! I come all this way and I don’t even get to participate? And seriously, let’s just win by default!” said Uta, sticking out her tongue.
Monster rikishi were...quite unrestrained, it appeared. Arima grimaced, evidently unhappy with such a proposition.
“I-I’ll go!” announced Boorman, the best elven swordsman, and stepped forward.
For a few moments, silence enveloped the village square. Arima and I looked at the volunteer at the same time. Elves were beautiful, elegant, and slim. Not the type you would ever expect to do sumo.
“I wanna do sumo as a representative of the elves!”
“So you say, but...” I wasn’t very confident about him.
“Don’t underestimate...sumo...”
“I get it, I get it, y’all trained for this for a long time and all I have is this sword on my hip and my skill with it. But I just really wanna do sumo, y’know? My soul is screaming for it!”
I supposed it was only natural to have elves participate in sumo that was to take place in an elven forest. But Arima didn’t seem to like this idea. His devotion to sumo gave him the same aura as us—in other words, people obsessed with the sport. It brought me great relief.
“Milady, milady.”
Adela was pulling on the sleeve of my dress. Was she about to give more of her military advice?’
“Let’s accept Boorman’s offer.”
“To what end?”
“We currently don’t know the fighting styles of Uta the alraune and Kukuri the arachne. And as Kukuri is in the makuuchi division, you are highly likely to face her again in the future. Field Boorman against her and you’ll be able to observe what techniques a spider-type monster uses.”
“Hm...”
I looked at Boorman’s beautiful yet rough face. He appeared to have eked out a living as a bodyguard, using nothing but that sword of his. And apparently his swordsman’s soul craved sumo. Sumo is done with spirit, first and foremost. And if he was able to awaken his spirit of sumo, he might just defeat Kukuri. We wouldn’t know if we didn’t let him try.
“Very well, Boorman. Please join our team,” I said.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it!” replied Boorman with tears welling up in his eyes.
“So, here’s our fielding order: Boorman, then Prince Richie, then me.”
Arima looked slightly doubtful.
“Very well... Kukuri first...then Uta...then me...”
“Thanks,” I replied.
“Uta would...badly hurt...a beginner...”
As should be expected from someone ranked ōzeki, he was a good person. Or should I say a good demon? I was looking forward to my bout with him.
“Boorman, you will go first. Your opponent will be Kukuri, the arachne,” I explained.
“Gotcha. Thanks, for real!”
Adela brought Prince Richie’s spare mawashi from the coach, which the prince put on Boorman after stripping him stark naked. That’s elves for you—beautiful even when naked.
“For the time being, focus on keeping your stance low and moving by shuffling your feet. Since you’re used to wielding a sword, imagine holding one in your hands as you perform harite as your primary attack.”
The prince taught Boorman how to perform harite. It was only stopgap knowledge, but we didn’t have time to teach him how to execute throws.
“Your center of mass is surprisingly low. Keep it that way,” advised the prince.
“Gotcha. Thanks, man!”
His footwork was unexpectedly good, probably thanks to his ability as a swordsman. It was too bad he could only use harite.
His opponent, Kukuri, wore a leotard on the human part of her body, with a reddish-brown mawashi around her hips. She looked good. Her lower half, beneath her buttocks, had the trunk of a spider and six insectile legs. She had the rather intimidating form of a large spider. The abdomen of her spider part resembled that of a Joro spider, with stripes of black and yellow.
“Is magic allowed?” I asked the gray referee.
Attacks using one’s natural constitution should be allowed in sumo, but I couldn’t be certain about acquired forms of combat, such as magic.