“Fiery Dark Sumo.”
Having turned into a burning giant, he grew faster and stronger. The bout was a close one once more. The rikishi kept evolving as their strength, technique, and spirit clashed with those of their opponent. This was nice. It was a ritual, one that reminded me of life itself. Sumo was life.
“Keep it up, Your Highness!”
Hearing my cheer, the prince let out a faint smile.
Sumo doesn’t need things like logic. You fight your opponent, make your spirit clash with theirs, and grow through the process. It’s camaraderie, hard work, and victory that make up the essence of sumo.
Looking like the devil himself thanks to his cloak of flame, Arima towered over the prince as they continued grappling. Granted, he was a greater demon, so looking that way might only have been expected. However, as he was normally the courteous and mild-mannered type, this change made him extremely intimidating. The fire around him was no doubt hot, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on the prince, who was protected by an armor of wind which appeared to disperse the heat before it reached his skin.
The prince just barely endured the tall demon’s mighty push, relying on the buff of his sumo spirit and the propulsion granted by the Air Sumo Form. They were in a stalemate square in the center of the ring.
Arima made his move. He forced the prince to the left, throwing him off-balance, and attempted a hip throw, but the prince avoided it by nimbly adjusting his center of mass. Before the demon could regain his balance, the prince began pushing him and tripped his leg, but Arima was too immovable for this to work.
Arima’s breathing grew rough. His sweat evaporated the moment it reached the surface of his skin, thanks to the flames. Likewise, the prince’s sweat evaporated due to the armor of wind coursing around him. Arima seemed to be building more heat in his body than the prince, particularly because of his Fiery Dark Sumo form.
The prince closed the distance to Arima and pulled the demon’s right arm over his own shoulder. A one-armed shoulder throw! It’s a well-known move in judo, but it also exists in sumo.
The prince prepared to throw his opponent upwards using the strength of his hips. However, Arima lowered his stance and resisted, before proceeding to grab the prince’s mawashi from behind. The tables had been turned! Attempting a technique leaves you unsteady if your opponent manages to avoid it, exposing you to a counterattack. Of course, you can’t win without using techniques at all, so it’s difficult to know when to go for one and when not to.
Holding Prince Richie’s mawashi with his left hand alone, Arima was trying to throw him. The veins in the demon’s arm rose to the surface. The prince, meanwhile, kept holding on to the demon’s right arm and didn’t let go. He then tripped Arima’s pivot foot from its back side. A hooking backwards counterthrow! This technique involves moving your leg directly forward from behind the opponent’s leg to trip it and make your opponent fall on their back. Well done!
The prince was skilled with techniques, especially when it came to the speed and timing of leg techniques. The two wrestlers started falling as one. Did he do it?!
“S-Still in, still in!”
Arima flapped his little wings once more to avoid falling down. They were pretty powerful despite their size—enough to allow this giant to fight in midair. He was trying to switch positions with the prince—the latter would end up on the bottom!
“Take this!” shouted the prince.
He used his hips to launch himself upwards and pull the demon’s right arm over his shoulder to bring him down. Well done! He imitated Arima’s attempts to switch positions and added more spinning power to that of his one-armed shoulder throw. All of a sudden, the two wrestlers went from falling backwards to moving forwards.
“Throw him, Your Highness!”
“Nuooogh!!!” bellowed the prince in response to my voice.
Arima’s large frame stood in midair—then collapsed! He flapped his bat wings and spun midair, pivoting around his right arm to land with his feet on the ground. How tenacious!
The prince reacted in an instant. He pulled on the demon’s right arm, which he was still holding, and as Arima lost balance, the prince pressed his head against his opponent’s chest.
“Drilling Head Pivot Throw!!!”
A new skill! A drill-like rotational force spawned around the prince’s head, sending Arima flying through the air.
“Nuooogh!!!” bellowed the prince.
“Nooooo!!!”
Arima’s enormous body spun in the air. He tried to flap his wings to counter the force, but he was spinning too fast for that. And yet somehow, he managed to land on his feet at the edge of the ring. He would’ve landed outside of it, were it not for the bales set slightly back. So close!
While the demon was wobbly on his feet, Prince Richie made a fierce charge at him. All right! The demon had landed in the white part of the ring, so the prince was at an advantage. Slipping past the demon’s unsteady harite, the prince grabbed his mawashi and began to push. Arima lost his balance. We won!
Or so I thought for a moment, before Arima grabbed the prince by his mawashi, lifted him with something like a brainbuster, and fell from the dohyō together with him.
Who had fallen first? The gray referee came running over to them.
“Winner, Arima!”
Ah...
“Huh? Didn’t they fall at the same time?”
“Hard to say. That last throw had a lot of momentum behind it.”
Indeed, anyone could’ve come out of that as the winner. Arima had won through perseverance, never giving up despite the dire situation he found himself in at the end.
Prince Richie came back, slumping his shoulders.
“Sorry, Floortje. I lost.”
Seeing him shed bitter tears, I embraced him.
“It was a magnificent bout. Especially that head pivot throw.”
“I did amazing, and I still lost...”
“Arima was incredible for not giving up even after being on the receiving end of that technique.”
“Yeah, he’s a really amazing ōzeki.”
Arima had flapped his wings and, as luck would have it, landed in the ring and on his feet—and still managed to perform a throw on the charging prince. That throw wasn’t among the list of sumo’s winning techniques, so he must’ve thought of it on the spot. It resembled a brainbuster from professional wrestling.