Sasha takes the news quietly. The biggest reaction we get out of her are a few nods and silent tears. It's a bit unnerving, actually; I can't tell what she's thinking at all. Finally, she stands up.

"So," she says quietly, "Azumi is dead?" We nod quietly. She sighs. "Well, then. I guess it's up to me to run this place. After all, the children need someone to look after them. Since I'm the only other caretaker here, I suppose I must."

Takashi steps forward. "Thank you so much for taking care of Rin while we were gone. And thank you for your strength in this dark time. We'll never forget you, Sasha."

She just nods and goes into the back.

The three of us stand in the front of the room, none of us sure what to do next. "So... what now?" I ask.

Takashi thinks for a while. "Well, the whole reason we did this is to be ready to fight at the front, right?"

"Yeah," I say.

"So let's go to the front."

I look at Rin. "You think you're ready for that?

Rin jumps up and down, clapping her hands. "Yeah! Let's go kill some bad guys!"

"All right, then," I say, smiling. "Let's go kick some ass... don't repeat that, Rin." She just nods.

€---]---------

"Teleport! Grandzam!" I yell, and the three of us are thrown into... a duel? A large ring of people surrounds an open space, where two huge, burly guys are duking it out. My mind keeps saying, Okay, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go... but I don't. I don't know why I don't, but my body stands stock still and watches the fight happen.

"Haruko, what are you doing?!" Takashi yells. I can see he's taken Rin out of the ring. "Get out of there! You'll get hurt!" But I'm still watching this intricate dance before me. The two fighters are both clearly master swordsmen, and they're about evenly matched. Both have enormous muscles that ripple as their swords clash, and both look very, very angry with each other.

Some of the crowd has also begun to yell at me: "What're you doing, girl?" "Get out of the way!" "Do you want to get yourself killed?" "I can't see the fight!" But something prompts me to stay there as one of the men, wearing white armor and a red band around his hair, strikes his opponent and wins the duel. The crowd goes wild. The victor attempts to slick back his hair, but it stands straight up again. As he takes a victory lap around the ring, he notices me.

"What's the matter, little girl?" he asks. "You want a piece of the action, too?"

I realize what just happened and throw my hands up. "Oh, no," I say, "I was just leaving." And I try to walk away very quickly.

But I feel a tug on the back of my armor. A giant hand spins me around to face the still-angry victor. "Do you know who I am?"

I look at his health meter for his name. "Ryoko?"

"That's right," he says. "And no one leaves the ring with Ryoko without a few scratches." While he's still close to me, he whips out a duel invite and sends it to me. When I see my screen come up, I try to press the No button, but he's too fast. He hits Yes and the counter starts above my head.

Well, crap.