When Koji Yuto awakened, he found himself in a dark room that seemed to stretch out endlessly. A green haze stuck to the ground, swallowing up his feet. Koji was still in his pyjamas, striped boxer shorts and a white shirt. He tried to make a run for it but noticed that his feet were bound to a grating metal chair. In front of him he noticed a bland looking fight pad and a TV screen. And just a few meters away from him, bound to a similar chair with a similar setup was another person which made the fact that Koji was in his pyjamas suddenly embarrassing.

  The person started to stir. He was a big, muscular African American man, even bigger than the chair he sat on. He started speaking to himself in a language Koji couldn’t understand until he took a good look at Koji.

  “You okay, kid?” he said in broken Japanese. “My name is Johnny. I was out, getting my friend ready for his big boxing match when I woke up here.”

  This Johnny sometimes mixed up his words and randomly put in some English words but Koji got the gist of what he was trying to say. The only problem was that it had been a long time since Koji had talked to anyone besides his mum. So, while Johnny was going on asking Koji questions in broken Japanese and expressing his relief that the language he was learning had finally come in handy, Koji was struggling to form a sentence.

  Johnny chuckled to ease the tension. “Sorry, I’m just bombarding you with questions. My boys always say I yap a lot. You must be just as shocked as I am.”

  Koji nodded timidly. Before Koji could muster up a sentence, the gas hissed. It started to gather in between their chairs, forming into what Koji could only describe as a cocoon. The TV in front of Koji and Johnny flashed to life, playing an intense, upbeat 8-bit tune as the letters F2C appeared in red lettering on the white screen. The smoke cocoon started to peel open and from it emerged a sleazy looking man in a black pinstriped suit with slicked back white hair, a wide grin and bright green eyes with a slit in the middle like that of a snake or a cat.

  “Welcome to the Fighting To Connect tournament!” said the man. “I’m your host, Ifrit!”

  He spoke in fluent Japanese but something told Koji that for Johnny he was speaking English. He didn’t know if it was a gut feeling or what, just the fact that there was something very familiar about this man.

  “Tournament?” Johnny scoffed. “You can kill me before I ever fight that kid! Now get me the hell outta here before I call the cops.”

  Ifrit laughed. “The cops have no power here. Besides you’re not going toe to toe with that kid, I’m not that insane.”

  He flicked his fingers and the TV turned on. On the screen was a character select screen with twelve characters arranged in a neat two by two grids. However, four of the characters were already blanked out, a black shadow blurring out their features. Only 8 were left.

  Johnny grinned. “A fighting game. That’s it. Used to play a bunch of them on the PlayStation with my cousins and sister back in high school.” He turned to Koji. “Sorry kid but I’m winning this.”

  “Yes,” Ifrit said. “You’ll find this fighting game is different, however.”

  Johnny scoffed. “I’m seeing Balrog, M. Bison and Chun Li. Ryu looks like a girl so this some shitty bootleg or…” he frowned. “Is that Makoto?”

  “Look closely at Balrog,” Ifrit said. “What do you see?”

  Johnny’s eyes widened in realization. “Yo, I train that kid at the gym. Darius! Shit. What’s he doing as a fighting game character?”

  It didn’t help that the only person Koji understood was Ifrit. He didn’t know what Johnny was saying, only that they were playing a fighting game.

  “You’ll see,” Ifrit said. He turned to Koji. “Pick your character.”

  Koji clicked on what looked like Ryu mainly because if this was a new fighting game it always paid to play as the character that was in the middle of the box art (unless it was Virtua Fighter) and she looked as if she was the Ryu equivalent in this game. As it zoomed in on the portrait, despite her face looking intense and covered with a bandana, Koji couldn’t help but feel as if he’d seen her before. That short brown hair was very familiar. When he clicked on her portrait the name Misaki was said by the announcer but it didn’t ring any bells.

  “You sure?” Ifrit asked. “Once you pick a character you can’t go back?”

  He looked at Johnny who said yes and he turned to Koji who just nodded.

  “LET THE BATTLES BEGIN!” Ifrit yelled as smoke hissed from the sides of the chairs, engulfing them in a green haze.

  …

  When Misaki woke up atop a wooden rooftop during sunrise with a massive shrine looming in the distance she thought she was dreaming about her family trip to Kyoto again. however, when she saw the African American waving in the distance talking to her in a language, she could barely understand, that was the first sign that it wasn’t a dream.

  “Hello,” he said. “My name is Darius. Was resting up for my big workout when I found myself here.”

  “Sorry… I… don’t… no English,” she shrugged, shaking her face and hands to convey that she didn’t understand what he was talking about. She knew enough to know that the boy’s name was Darius. They tried getting closer to each other but it was as if gravity kept them tethered to their spots.

  Darius sighed. Misaki found him pretty handsome. He had an angular face with slicked backed dreads and a muscular body trapped underneath his baggy vest and boxers. The only problem was that he seemed to be in his twenties and also the massive language barrier. She was really starting to regret not paying attention in her English classes.

  A cool breeze rustled through the air. Misaki covered rubbed her arms and noticed she was wearing a karate Gi with a black belt and fingerless red gloves. How she even got an outfit like this she didn’t know and as the breeze blew, she felt a bandana ruffle in her face. Another article of clothing she didn’t remember owning.

  Before she could even begin to wonder where these clothes came from, a voice echoed a countdown through the building’s rooftops.

  3

  “What’s happening?” Misaki asked herself. Darius didn’t seem to be phased.

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  2

  Darius cracked his neck, tap dancing on the shiny rooftop.

  1.

  Misaki gulped.

  FIGHT!

  Wait a second, fight. Misaki didn’t know how to fight, she was a volleyball player. She tried waving her hands in surrender but her body took up a stiff pose on its own volition as if she were just a puppet. Despite the concerned look on Darius’s face as he ran across the arena, it didn’t stop him from punching her across the face with the force of a sledgehammer causing the world around her to spin as more punches landed on her body.

  …

  Johnny took the first match. He pumped his fists in the air. “Hell yeah! How many more do I have to win?”

  Koji cursed. What type of fighting game was this? None of his inputs were working. As if reading his mind, Ifrit materialised from the smoke.

  “Good job, Johnny,” Ifrit said. “It’s best of 3, you need to win 3 matches to win this tourney. Matches are best of 2.” Ifrit turned to Koji and frowned. “What was that? You were barely blocking.”

  “None of the inputs I knew are working!” Koji yelled. “Hadouken, shoryuken, even Makoto’s inputs. None of them worked.”

  Ifrit sighed. “You should know by now that these are real life people. The inputs would only work if the person you’re playing as would do them.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know if they would?” Koji snapped.

  “In Street Fighter, M. Bison’s light jab has a surprisingly long range, allowing him to dominate the beginning of a match,” Ifrit said. “That’s because he’s a villain and it’s reflected in his design. Same with Balrog. Notice how he doesn’t have any kicks and only punches in his arsenal, that’s because he’s a boxer. The same way you can tell who someone is by what type of character they main, that is the design principle this game and by extension this tournament is based on.”

  “Hey,” Johnny yelled. “Stop overcoaching him otherwise I’m going to think you’re playing favourites.”

  “Well how am I supposed to know what she does!” Koji yelled. “I barely know her!”

  “Simple,” Ifrit said as smoke started to swallow him. Before it fully engulfed him, he leaned forward and whispered in Koji’s ear. “Recall your first day of school.”

  And he disappeared, leaving Johnny and Koji alone as the countdown for the second round started. Koji squinted, noticing that his glasses were on. He scrutinised Misaki’s face, the brown eyes and short hair and slowly, it started to feel more familiar to him.

  …

  Whenever she came to it was like being brought back with a defibrillator. She would feel Darius’s sledgehammer like blows on her face, blocking and crouching desperately but eventually he would break through her defences and the world around her would be pitch black. Then she would be brought back to this sorry state of affairs again.

  That was how each of the two rounds had ended, with Darius winning two matches. He always apologised when she came to but all Misaki could think about was how horrendous whoever was puppeteering her was. That all changed in the third round. When the round started Darius went in for the punch but instead of blocking, Misaki jumped back. Darius closed the gap but before he could throw one of his long punches, Misaki felt a ball of energy forming in her palms and she launched it, knocking Darius back.

  …

  Koji grinned. Misaki Haruki was one of the upcoming, best girl volleyball players, in his new school. They’d all done introductions and she was one of the few students who’d gotten a special sports scholarship. That was so many weeks ago and it’d been a long time since he attended any classes but there was no way he’d forget her face especially considering how popular she was.

  …

  The weird energy ball kept Darius at a distance. Misaki almost missed it but when she squinted, the energy ball looked like a volleyball wrapped in those blue auras she’d seen in some anime. That was how she took the first match, with the energy ball keeping Darius at a distance and before he could begin a counteroffensive, launch a volley of punches and kicks that knocked him down.

  The second match was when Darius started to switch up his strategy. Instead of his grounded punches, instead whoever was puppeteering him decided to go for punches in the air. Misaki didn’t have time to charge up her projectiles, slowly but surely those punches went through her blocks and she could feel her energy start to wane.

  …

  Misaki’s bright red health bar was starting to get empty. It was halfway through defeat and Koji’s loss in the tournament. No matter how much he tried to block, Johnny would eventually find an opening and land a combo. He seemed to know this Darius way more than he did Misaki.

  What else did he know about her? Koji’s thoughts off Misaki anxiously darted around his head until finally settling on one word. Volleyball. Koji decided to take a risk and jump.

  …

  Misaki leapt up in the air, much higher than she normally would when playing volleyball. Darius punched at empty space and Misaki was right behind. Before he could she launched an energy ball.

  …

  “A cross-up!” Johnny yelled.

  Koji took advantage of the opening and did a combo, low kick, middle punch and energy ball.

  …

  Darius tried to jump but Misaki’s jumps were much faster than the boxers, she landed two kicks mid-air that knocked him to the ground.

  …

  And with that, Koji breathed a sigh of relief. The round was taken. The score between Johnny and Koji was 2-1. Koji just needed one more match and they would be even. With his new tools he managed to take his second round.

  “Damn kid, you’re good,” Johnny said. Ifrit appeared out of the smoke.

  “You’re getting the hang of it, aren’t you?” Ifrit winked at Koji before turning to Johnny. “What happened Johnny?”

  Johnny frowned. “He’s a boxer, not an energy ball thrower.”

  Ifrit smiled. “Well better step up your game, we’re moving to the final round.”

  On screen the two fighters stood apart from each other and the countdown began.

  …

  Misaki launched an energy ball that Darius blocked. Misaki backed away, Darius this time did something different, he stood in one spot and before Misaki could even act launched himself halfway across the arena, knocking her all the way back.

  …

  Johnny grinned. “Back before I found Darius, he was out and about in the streets. Surrounded by bad influences and worse parents. A very angry kid. Took a while but with the help of some social workers we found a new outlet for him and all that anger, boxing. Turns out the kid was talented but let’s just say, the streets never really left him.”

  …

  Darius held Misaki in a grab, headbutting her. After a series of headbutts she crumpled on the ground. Her vision was blurry, her head pounding but despite all the pain her body was still moving. Before Darius could go for another grab Misaki launched a projectile, this time instead of going in for a kick or a punch, she went for a jump.

  A jumping kick. Before Darius could block, Misaki landed launching a bigger energy ball. Darius tried jumping away but Misaki jumped much higher, kicking him down. With a few kicks and punches, Misaki took the round.

  …

  Johnny cursed at his loss but he still smiled at Koji. “Ah good game, kid. Good game.”

  Ifrit appeared from the smoke. “And the winner of the first bracket is Misaki and Koji!” Koji felt his legs unclasp, Ifrit yanked him from the chair and raised his fist in the air. From the black space a wave of cheers filled the air and confetti fell from the sky.

  “What does he get if he wins?” Johnny asked.

  Ifrit wagged his fingers. “I don’t talk to losers.” With a snap of his fingers, green smoke engulfed Johnny and he disappeared.

  “How do I know when the next match is?” Koji asked.

  “I’ll be in touch,” Ifrit said. And with another snap of his fingers Koji was engulfed in a cocoon of smoke. He tried breaking out but the smoke was too dense and seemed to be sapping his strength. Before he knew it, it overwhelmed his entire body and everything went black.

  …

  Misaki jumped up in excitement. She won, hell yeah! In the distance, Darius was out cold. She expected him to get up so she could be a good sport and tell her that he played well, but he was eerily still.

  “Darius?” she said. “Are you okay?”

  She took a few tentative steps forward. When she got closer, she noticed that Darius was not breathing. Before she could do anything, green smoke started to sift through the ground of the arena. She tried fighting against it but it was too powerful, too dense and despite trying hard to resist it, she collapsed.

  …

  Koji leapt up, touching the space around him. He was glad to feel the soft texture of his bedsheets and his blankets and to see the moonlight flitter through his curtains. Koji breathed a sigh of relief. “That was one hell of a dream,” he muttered.

  From between his crotch appeared an all too familiar face phasing through his bedsheets like a ghost. “Peekaboo!” Ifrit yelled. Koji screamed.