I stood on one side of the ring, next to the salt bucket on the ground. Apparently, the crowd really liked the showmanship stuff, so I was trying to remember everything I had ever seen. We had just done our first shikos, and Hideo had opted to do just a tasting of salt. He looked like the salt bae guy just giving the ring a small tasting of the guy. I, on the other hand, wanted to be a salt champion and grabbed a whole heaping handful.

  The crowd cheered, all the and with all the illusion and everything, this seemed more WWE than traditional grand sumo, so I played into the crowd a little and motioned that I wanted them to make more noise. I flailed my arm around until the crowd really started to cheer before I threw the salt in my hand in a big overarching throw that made the salt sprinkle down all over the ring. The crowd went even wilder, and even Hideo cheered loudly. The guy seemed like he was gonna be my biggest fan.

  We both met in the middle of the ring once more and did a shiko. My form wasn’t great. I don’t think I had ever actually done shikos before, let alone in a sumo ring standing opposite an opponent. We each crouched down as low as we could, and for as big of a man as Hideo was, he could go low. He also looked like he was basically doing the splits when he raised his leg for his shiko. Another time back at the salt bucket and I made sure to get the crowd going once more before I threw my huge heaping handful of salt.

  I slapped my mawashi, and the sound echoed through the warehouse. Then it dawned on me. “Oh, shit.”

  I actually have to wrestle. I walked towards the lines in the middle of the ring and spared a moment to look at referee Yamagata. The noise from the surrounding crowd had been deafened in my nervousness, and I could feel my heart about to burst from my chest. I blinked and realized Hideo was already crouched down with his fists on the ground and grinning wildly.

  Yamagata stared at me expectantly and motioned down to the lines painted on the ground. I realized it wasn’t a proper dohyo, just a ring painted on the dirt floor of the warehouse, and I looked at him. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. Jesus man, what the fuck was wrong with me?

  I stared at him as the noise finally started to die down in my ears.

  “Are you an idiot? I thought you knew what you were doing. Get down in your starting spot!” Yamagata was yelling at me and still pointed down at the lines.

  All I could do was nod dumbly and step back a few feet. I realized now that the crowd, who were once on my side, were now laughing at me. Hideo stood and waved them down.

  “Enough, enough! It’s his first time! He’ll be fine. I have faith this will be a fun match once he gets his wits about him,” Hideo yelled at the crowd before he walked towards me and clapped a hand on my shoulder. It felt like a car struck me.

  “Are you alright, friend? Do we need to call it off?” He leaned in and asked me.

  Yamagata approached us both and spat. “We aren’t calling off anything. He’s here, you’re here. He’s supposed to be a cultivator, for the kami’s sake. He needs to stop being a pussy.”

  I blinked and frowned at him. “I’m not a pussy.”

  “Then prove it.”

  Hideo just laughed now and nodded his head. “That’s the spirit, Maikeru! Let’s do this!” The man had a booming laugh that, if I didn’t know better, could have been the laugh of a supervillain from a multiverse movie or something. It was deep and resonant and haunting sound to it. The guy was so nice, though.

  I watched him walk away from me and back over to his starting spot. He slapped his mawashi a few times, and the sound it made as it thundered throughout the warehouse helped me snap out of my daze. I shook out my arms and legs as I came to and slapped my mawashi with Hideo.

  “Yeah!” He shouted and laughed some more before he crouched down and put his fists into the dirt.

  I grinned and nodded and then waved my arms at the crowd again to try to pump them up once more. They cheered, and Hideo just grinned. I just had to remember what the brothers had told me earlier. Don’t let the giant man hug me. It made sense. The large, tall man hugging me would probably crush me. I doubted Sho had a pill that would cure that.

  Finally, I crouched down and put one fist on the ground. Taking a deep breath, I tried to ready myself. I had a feeling this tachi-ai was going to be rough. I opened my eyes and looked right into Hideo’s smiling, friendly yet menacing eyes. My fist had barely touched the dirt before Yamagata shouted the familiar “HAKKEYOI!”

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  I barely had time to stand back up before Hideo rushed me with his arms stretched wide and he laughed maniacally. Luckily for me, he wasn’t as freakishly fast as he was big, and I was able to knock an arm away and move to his side before he could wrap his arms around me.

  While I moved to his left and knocked that arm away, his right hand came swinging wide and slapped me in my chest. I grunted loudly and staggered back. It felt like I had been hit by Betsy. He followed up with his right hand, and before I could stagger too far away, he grabbed hold of my belt.

  “You’re not going anywhere yet!” he yelled.

  I heard the crowd cheer over the blood in my ears, and I was kind of scared about what was going to happen as the man reeled me in closer to him. I felt like a helpless guppie getting reeled in. I didn’t know what Yamagata was yelling, but he was yelling the various things the gyojis would yell during a match. Off the top of my head, I couldn’t even think of my own name at the moment, let alone something I watched back home. While he yelled, he danced around to make sure everything was on the up and up.

  Before I realized it, Hideo had both of his hands grasped on my mawashi and tried to throw me around so he’d get me out of the ring. I could drag my feet and, using my lower body strength, I was able to fight him off, so I didn’t get thrown out of the ring.

  My feet were right up on the little straw bales that outlined the out of bounds on the ring. This isn’t at all how I wanted this match to go, but I went to grab his mawashi now as well. I had an under-grip on the rear of his belt, and I was trying to get a better position with my feet so I could try to throw him over and out of the ring.

  Next thing I realized though his arms were tightening around me in a sort of hug while he held the rear of my belt.

  “Holy shit,” I groaned out as his grip around me tightened with his arms. I could feel my insides starting to crush, including my bones. I yelled out and dug into the dirt with my toes and pushed my legs up to hoist the much taller man up off the ground.

  I could feel my strength lessening, though. Less and less than he crushed me, and I realized this was what it must have been like to get crushed by an anaconda before they ate you. It didn’t take long before I felt all the fight leave me. I was panting heavily, struggling to breathe, as the man lifted me up and then dropped me on my side outside of the ring.

  ”You’re out!” Yamagata shouted and then pointed his hand at Hideo as the winner.

  It took me a few minutes to regain my breath and composure. The guy threw me down like I was a rag doll, and I was wheezing. While I was on the ground, everyone stayed silent, and even Hideo, the swell guy he was, came over to check on me. I gave him the thumbs up and then just said I needed a minute. Before I was done speaking, Sho was at my side to help me, and he slipped me a small pill.

  “Just something to help you get up to do your bow,” he explained and stuffed the pill in my mouth.

  I closed my eyes and thanked him as I felt the pill take effect. It didn’t do much, it just seemed to decompress my insides from the crushing Hideo gave me. Once I was able to catch my breath, I stood and went to my side of the ring. Hideo looked at me with concern, but I bowed deep to the big guy, and he returned the bow.

  When I stood back upright, I could see Hisai sitting high in the stands, and the young sect elder had a heavy frown at me. I shrugged, and it took a moment before he returned the gesture and mouthed. “It’ll be fine.”

  I nodded and then turned and walked back towards the double-door entryway and found Betsy, who stared at me with concern. I patted her head between her horns and nodded. “I’m okay. I’ll be alright. The young assistant gave me a pill.”

  It took her a minute, but eventually she nodded her head and gave me a bellow before I could feel her laughing at me mentally.

  “Thanks,” I said and shook my head as I walked back into the tent to get dressed. I went behind the same privacy screen they used to change me, and while I had help to get into my mawashi I was on my own to change back into my robes.

  It didn’t take me long, and when I was out of the mawashi, I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Surely they wouldn’t want it back, right? No one noticed if I kept it, right? Probably. Maybe. Either way, I kept it. I kept it as hidden as I could in my robes as I walked out of the screen and back out of the tent, where I found both Betsy and Hideo waiting for me.

  “No worries, my friend. I was hoping for a better fight, but it was your first, so I’ll forgive you! I expect better next time we meet though!”

  After that, the man literally wrapped an arm around my neck, pulled me in and gave me noogies. I tried to fight him off, but, fuck man, he was just too big and he was also a cultivator. I didn’t know how far I could go with my power before I hurt him, so I didn’t really try. Not as hard as I could have. Betsy laughed more and then Hisai walked up behind us.

  “Well, hopefully you'll do better next time. I’m in quite a bit now. I not only bet on you, but I ended up having to cover your entry fee with Mama Jun,” he said and still frowned at me.

  I looked at him. “You bet on me?”

  Hisai nodded. “Yes, I know betting on sumo is quite uh.. frowned upon and illegal, but all of this for the time being is illegal. So,” he trailed off and shrugged.

  “Go ahead now, get Betsy back to your wagon and get some rest,” he said and motioned to where I had parked.

  “Yeah,” I said and patted Betsy once more before I walked away with a sigh. Man, my one chance to make some extra coin and I lost. At least I didn’t lose any money, I guess, but I not only didn’t make any money but I would need to find a way to pay HIsai back the entry fee. Fuck.

  “Sorry girl, I tried. We’ll find work, no worries, and we have the option to find this little circuit and try again to make more,” I said, trying to placate her.

  Betsy just nodded her head but didn’t really say or think much as we made our way back to the wagon.

  Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!

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