Bachiko the Grappler Ch. 01

"Yes."

"Isn't she... pushing 80 by now, thereabouts?"

"78."

"How... how do you know her?"

Her eyes were staring into the mid-distance. "She's always been kind. She knows my mother."

"Your... mother?"

"Tachibana-san has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, since I was about... 2 or 3. She was the one who converted the Arena for its current purpose. It used to be a secret training facility for the military, but they sold it to the Omega Zaibatsu. Then I think Tachibana-san found that it was obsolete or something. So, just because she wanted to, she made it into a place where women fighters from all over the world come to see who the Strongest is."

Somehow, the way she stressed the word "Strongest" made it apparent that it was some kind of title. "The... Strongest?" Kaito said, dimly aware that he was starting to sound like a slow parrot.

She smiled humorlessly. "The champion of the Arena is unofficially the Strongest Woman in the World. The title used to keep on changing hands, up until about 12 years ago. Since then, it's been held by a single woman, the undefeated champion. The rest of the women still duel one another, but every now and then one of them gets brave or reckless enough to challenge the Empress. That's what they call her now. The Empress."

"And... they've all failed to dethrone her," Kaito said, his voice hushed.

"Of course." Bachiko stood up. "Because I'll be the one to do it. Come on, Kaito. Let's get going."

They walked together for some minutes in silence. Then Kaito said, "She's your mother, isn't she? This... this Empress."

Some moments passed, and he feared he'd upset his girlfriend. But she answered. "Hanma Yuriko. Formerly known as Yuriko Omega, when she was Tachibana-san's personal champion and special operative. Now, simply known by her name, or by her nickname of Empress, or by her full unofficial title: the Strongest Woman in the World."

She smiled that same humorless smile again. "And I have the honor to be her daughter."

When Bachiko pressed the hidden panel in a wall that caused a hidden elevator to open up, Kaito found that it didn't surprise him one bit. He did find it fascinating, though. "This is a really sturdy elevator!" he remarked, running a hand over the sleek control panels. "And so smoothly. We must be going really quickly! Where're we headed to first?"

"The fighters for each night have rooms backstage where we prepare. You'll accompany me there, and then afterwards I'll get some people to show you to your seat. It's ringside."

"You have special privileges, huh?"

She smiled, and winked at him. His heart melted to see the cheerful Bachiko show through, if even for a moment. "Mm. Yes."

Earlier, he had already asked her about whom she would be fighting that night, and the rules appertaining to the fight. He now mulled it over.

Her opponent was a girl called Hanayama Kaori, about the same age (19 going on 20). This young girl had already gained a degree of notoriety in the Japanese underworld. She was quite possibly the youngest girl ever to be a yakuza lieutenant!

The story Bachiko had told him was an astonishing one. Kaori was the daughter of a yakuza boss, who was a huge giant of a kingpin. Her father once began striking her mother for disrespect, because the mother had been trying to dissuade him from taking part in a vicious gang war with a daredevil rival group. Kaori, already known for showing astonishing strength for a girl her age, had grabbed hold of her father's forearm with one hand and coldly demanded that he stop hitting her mother.

Astounded by the amount of strength he could feel his daughter applying, which was immobilizing his arm, the man had instructed her to squeeze his forearm as hard as she could. She had complied and ended up giving her father a broken forearm. The big mountainous man had been helped away by his men, weeping with the pain but laughing with joy, shouting that the kami had blessed his seed and that he would have a powerful monster, a veritable youkai, for his successor.

She had then gone on to become a fearsome lieutenant in her father's private army, capable of choking a man to death with one hand. She reportedly took after her father's large build, but in physical strength she far outstripped him, and from all accounts he could not be prouder.

Now, as he contemplated this story, which Bachiko had told him dispassionately, almost as if she had been relating a news story from Facebook, he felt a chill run up his spine. He looked at Bachiko. His girlfriend was going to fight someone like that?!

Apparently Bachiko had fought a few girls already, and had handily defeated them all. The fighters got paid just for participating, but the winner of each match got a sizeable amount as a prize. She had told him that this was the first Arena fight she considered a truly serious one.

Just what kind of fight was he about to watch? The surreal nature of the situation suddenly hit him hard. This was his girlfriend right here, and she was about to fight someone like Hanayama Kaori... how?

The lift doors began to slide open.