"He pooped~"
Jaden looked up when Erina pushed open the door to the fighters' lounge and could only shrug helplessly.
"I saw..."
"But I really didn't expect a bonus round like this in a Kengan match. Then again... even with Kengan's long history, something like this probably never happened before."
Outside the fighter tunnel, the noise from the audience was still loud. Laughter mixed with shouting, spreading all the way inside.
Erina listened for a moment, then wasn't sure whether she should laugh or sigh.
"But Jaden... even if that incident made Takeshi want to lie there and play dead for a while, he's still Takeshi. I estimate that by the time he gets back into the ring, he'll be fully recovered."
"I know."
Jaden answered calmly, then glanced at her.
"Erina, if I hadn't spoken up just now, would this match have been counted as our win?"
"Probably not."
Erina shook her head.
"The stakes of this match are too high. The first shareholder of Toyo Electric only holds a single-digit percentage of shares. If Toyo Electric were forced to give up two percent because of something this ridiculous, they would never accept it quietly."
"You're right..."
Jaden replied without thinking.
Then he froze for a beat.
"Wait."
"How did it become two percent? I remember it being one percent."
Erina smiled faintly.
"Don't forget our division of labor. You're responsible for defeating the opponent. I'm responsible for maximizing the value of your victory."
"While you were training and fighting, I wasn't idle either."
"I see."
Jaden nodded, then glanced at the time and stood up.
"The arena should be cleaned up by now. Takeshi's condition should also be mostly recovered."
"An hour of rest would be ideal for me, but..."
"Half an hour will have to do."
With that, Jaden walked toward the fighter tunnel. Before entering, he waved at Erina without turning around.
"Wait just a bit, alright?"
"I'll go secure those two percent shares you worked so hard to get."
Under Erina's gaze, Jaden pushed open the lounge door and disappeared into the tunnel, heading back into the arena.
At the same time, Erina stepped out of the lounge as well.
"Are you sure you don't plan to tell him the details of this situation?"
A deep voice came from the corner of the tunnel.
Senzaemon Nakiri, who had been leaning there, slowly opened his eyes.
"What do you mean, Grandpa?"
"About you主动 approaching Toyo Electric and raising the stakes."
"You even put the entire Totsuki Group on the line just to secure that additional one percent of shares."
Originally, this Kengan match had been balanced in every sense.
Now, it wasn't.
Because Erina had taken the initiative to increase the stakes, placing nearly all of Totsuki's assets on the table, their wager far exceeded Toyo Electric's. Otherwise, Hayami Katsumasa would never have agreed to raise the bet again.
"You didn't stop me either, Grandpa."
Senzaemon Nakiri met her gaze and slowly shook his head.
"Because I knew you wouldn't act recklessly."
"But I didn't expect you wouldn't tell Jaden how important this match really is."
Erina smiled.
"Because there's nothing to tell."
She turned her gaze down the tunnel, all the way to the ring where Jaden had already returned.
"This is inherently a small matter."
"It doesn't matter how much we wager."
"It doesn't matter what we wager."
"Any extra amount the opponent puts up..."
"...is pure profit for us."
After all-
"Jaden would never lose to a mere Takeshi."
-
Jaden had no idea what Erina had done behind the scenes.
Right now, he was standing in the arena, facing Takeshi Wakatsuki, who had regained his expressionless look and was warming up across from him.
Seeing Takeshi like this, Jaden suddenly smiled.
"Takeshi."
"Did you clean everything up this time?"
Takeshi Wakatsuki's brow furrowed instinctively, then quickly relaxed.
"Yes. I cleaned up."
"That earlier incident was indeed a lapse in conduct on my part."
After saying that, Takeshi finished warming up and stepped forward, stopping directly in front of Jaden. With his taller frame, he looked down at him.
"Rest assured this time, Jaden."
"Even if my stomach turns inside out..."
"I'll still punch you, even if my intestines are hanging out."
That was right.
After calming down, Takeshi Wakatsuki no longer felt that having diarrhea in the ring was the real failure.
To him, the true lapse was losing the will to fight over something so trivial.
If it had been Hatsumi Sen, the Floating Cloud who defeated him...
Or Kanoh Agito, the Fang of Metsudo...
They would have kept fighting even if they had diarrhea in the ring.
After all-
A fighter is not a martial artist.
There is no need for martial virtue.
No need for sportsmanship.
No need for fairness.
The only thing that matters is-
Victory.
A fighter who fights dirty is still a fighter.
A fighter who commits fouls is still a fighter.
Even a fighter who kills maliciously is still a fighter.
Only one thing disqualifies you.
Giving up on victory.
That alone means you are no longer a fighter.
Jaden froze for a moment when he heard this.
Then he smiled.
"Takeshi..."
"You've got a surprisingly high 'Purity.'"
So-
"I absolutely won't give you a rematch this time~!"
Takeshi Wakatsuki didn't understand what "Purity" meant.
But he smiled back.
"Do your best if you can."
The referee standing nearby raised his hand high.
The match-
"Begin!"
Bang-!
Boom-!
Before the referee's words had even fully fallen, a cannon-like explosion erupted at the center of the arena.
A terrifying air current blasted outward, scattering dust across the ground. Every eye in the arena snapped toward the center.
If their first clash had been cautious and probing-
This one was not.
The moment the match began, Takeshi Wakatsuki's jab landed on Jaden.
At the same time, Jaden's fist slammed directly into Takeshi Wakatsuki's face.
The arena shook.
The air itself seemed to tremble under the collision of those two terrifying forces.
This-
To be honest, no one had expected this.
Because Takeshi Wakatsuki's punch was already considered the pinnacle of striking power among Kengan fighters.
A reinforced concrete wall would collapse under a single blow.
Even Hatsumi Sen and Kanoh Agito, who had defeated him before, had never dared to take his punch head-on.
Yet what no one had dared to do-
Jaden did it.
And more than that-
Takeshi Wakatsuki was pushed back several steps by Jaden's punch.
As for Jaden-
"How did this monster take Takeshi's punch and not get hurt!?"
Jun Sekibayashi, the Hell's Angel, the Master of Breakfalls, and arguably the toughest active fighter in the Kengan Association, exclaimed unconsciously from the audience.
Even Takeshi Wakatsuki himself was shocked.
If Jaden had blocked with his arm, he could have accepted it.
But-
He didn't block at all.
He took the punch directly on his sternum.
A vital point for any human.
A direct hit.
And Jaden's response was simply rolling his shoulder.
He didn't even take half a step back.
He looked at Takeshi as if nothing had happened.
"Come on."
"Keep going~!"
Takeshi Wakatsuki's pupils contracted sharply.
His gaze became firmer than ever.
Jaden-
A true monster.
But-
Even if he was a monster-
Takeshi Wakatsuki would still win.
Because-
He was a fighter.
The Wild Tiger.
Takeshi Wakatsuki.
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