"Are you done in there?" Bodhi called out to Ritsu while he was trying on his tracksuit.

For those who were none the wiser, the monk seemed to be their regular, nonchalant self. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. It hadn't been even ten minutes since they left the pig and Bodhi was already sweating. They didn't want to have anything to do with this impending private chat with Sun Ritsu.

The monk paced the room, doing their best to suppress the mounting anxiety before Ritsu saw them like this.

"Yeah, I'm done." Ritsu said as he finally emerged from the bathroom. The sight of him in waxy lemon lime sweats stopped Bodhi in their tracks.

Had something happened while Ritsu was getting dressed, Bodhi wondered. Because the sun clone's skin was giving off a steady glow. Just like it did when he chugged that can of peach soda that one time.

Ritsu raised an eyebrow and scratched the back of his head. "How do I look?"

Before Bodhi could answer, the sun clone turned to study himself in the full-sized mirror. Bodhi fought the urge to stare too hard.

"Like a heaven born sage," they said with a shrug. It was a favorable term of flattery among sun clones, but this was Ritsu, so of course he didn't have much of a reaction.

"I'm glowing like the rest of the monkey spirits down there, but I don't know why. Maybe it's the clothes."

Bodhi couldn't take it anymore.

"Sun Ritsu, I'm sorry for what I did." They met Ritsu's gaze in the mirror. "I was being careless and got myself arrested when it didn't have to be that way. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have had to stay in the village. So that's why..."

So many feelings started bubbling at the surface. Especially now that Ritsu had stopped fiddling with his jacket zipper and turned around to face Bodhi without any barriers.

Bodhi steadied themself with a deep breath. "That's why if I relapse and get myself into trouble again... I want you to just leave me. Please."

Ritsu's glamour flickered. Bodhi watched in disbelief as their friend's tail broke through his glamour and coiled in agitation.

The sun clone came closer. "Don't." He seized Bodhi by their shoulders and drew them inside his golden shadow. "Bodhi, don't ever tell me to leave you behind again. If you want to go on ahead, that's one thing, but don't expect me to abandon you just because you asked!"

Bodhi couldn't move. Not from fear or any aggression on Ritsu's side. The monk was downright shocked. When had Ritsu started talking like this?

Dear Traveler, you must remember that it is Ham Song who, at this point in time, was the only one among Ritsu's companions who has seen the monkey's determination and show of heart when it comes to Bodhi's well-being. The human, however, wasn't ready for it. Not in the slightest.

It already killed Bodhi to know that Ritsu had locked himself into working off their debts to this insane Kawaii society. It made things worse now that they were caught in this face to face confrontation with an impassioned monkey spirit, who was baring his fangs – not in anger – but in pain. Pain as plain as his glowing, peachy aura.

So this is what Sun Ritsu was going through all this time?

The guilt wrecked Bodhi's heart as they processed their thoughts. Deep down they had known. Despite the easy-going smiles Ritsu wore as he delivered food to them every single afternoon after his shift, Bodhi could tell that the monkey king was hurting. For them.

How was selflessness of this sort possible?

In this broken spirit world, how could Sun Ritsu even stand to look at Bodhi let alone care about them like so?

Glamour still frayed, Ritsu's breath became shallow – a symptom of his proximity to the monk. His feral essence was becoming too intoxicated by the scent of Bodhi's humanness.

"Why," Bodhi grated, "why shouldn't I be allowed that?"

Didn't they have a right to their own boundaries?

"Why shouldn't I ask that you leave me alone if I'm just gonna go and fuck up your life again!"

Bodhi's eyes were wet. Their voice trembled as their bones shivered under Ritsu's hold. Finally, they wrenched themself away. Ritsu let them go, but he didn't drop that passionate glare.

"I'm a drunk and a liar and you're..." Bodhi felt so pathetic and angry for being here. For having to justify themself to their only friend in the world. They hung their head. "Equal to heaven."

Ritsu's glamour reassembled into place. He blinked and shook his head. "I'm not.... Just because I have a staff and my skin glows doesn't make me a sage."

Bodhi wanted to punch this monkey. He was so damn stupid.

"That's not what I mean, Ritsu."

You're too good to be looking after my well-being, is what the monk wished they could say aloud.

Ritsu, it seemed, had already moved on. "Anyway, you're sleeping in my room while we're here. Sorry, I hate to be on your case all the time, but I can't afford to lose this tournament."

Bodhi dropped their gaze. "Ritsu, you don't have to win. You didn't even have to stay here in this crazy town—"

"You're the one who stayed."

Once again, the words coming out of Ritsu's mouth made Bodhi go speechless.

Ritsu went on. "You don't care about amassing Luck and you don't need it. Not with the way you live. So the only reason you could have stayed was because of me or Anari. When Anari left, I was sure you would too. But you didn't. You made mistakes, but you didn't leave, did you? You didn't even try."

Bodhi stared wide-eyed, jaw clenched.

"That means," Ritsu let himself have the smallest of smiles, "you didn't want to leave me behind either. Isn't that reason enough for me to want to keep helping you? Because you stayed to help me when you didn't have to. So..." Ritsu turned to face himself in the mirror once again. "That's why I have to do my best to crush every single opponent over in that stadium."

Equal to heaven, that's what he was. Even if he was too dense to realize it.

The poor monk didn't want to fight anymore. They flopped down on the hotel bed and let go of a dry, delirious wheeze.

"Fine! You win, Sun Ritsu."

Bodhi didn't remember the last time they felt like this. Empty and satisfied at the same time.

"You win."

"Looks like our hero is finally getting serious," Seven said to Ham Song just as Ritsu and Bodhi emerged from the elevator and into the hotel lobby.

Ham Song gave a delightful oink. "Sweet immortal peaches, look at him glow!"

Seven waited for Ritsu to get close enough before slinging his arm around the tall clone's shoulder and saying, "The tracksuit looks great on you, but how does it feel?"

Ritsu absently dragged his tail between his hands, wondering why it hadn't sunk back inside his glamour with everything else.

"Fine, I guess."

As the spirits made their way across the parking lot to the stadium, Sun Ritsu wondered if he might have taken things too far with Bodhi. While the monk wasn't showing any signs of sullenness, they were more quiet than usual on the way back to the Divine Cave of Three Stars. Thankfully, Sun Seven had plenty of things to debrief the group on, making it impossible for any awkward silences to set in.

Seven's next question pulled Ritsu away from his concerning thoughts. "Have you thought about what your brand is going to be?"

The end of Ritsu's tail curled and flicked the air. "My brand?"

"Like your schtick. The thing that people will remember you for. See how Sun Terra over there is all about rocks and earth style wushu? You gotta have something simple and memorable going on to distinguish yourself among the competition."

Ham Song piped up. "In that case, isn't Lemon Lime his schtick?"

Seven replied, "Sort of. It's the brand of the company sponsoring him, which happens to me. Lemon Lime could be a part of Sun Ritsu's overall package, but you only see that when lots of athletes share the same sponsor. For small timers like him, it's important that Ritsu develops his own personal flavor that the audience can connect with."

A sudden yawn came from the side. "Ritsu, you flip burgers. Just use that."

Seven regarded Bodhi with wide eyes before bursting into a gold-toothed smile. "That'll work! Thank you kindly, Sifu Bodhi." Then he cleared his throat and painted the sky with his hand. "I can just see it now! Sun Ritsu the Fry Cook Sage!"

"All sun clones are to make their way to the central lawn. Please take your seats in the grass around the platform. I repeat, all sun clones are to report to the lawn."

Everyone filing into the stadium slowed down and lifted their heads at the voice booming above their heads.

Sun Ritsu's tail flicked again. He sniffed the air. Why does that voice sound so familiar?

"Move it!"

Ham Song squealed in protest as someone nearly bulldozed into Ritsu. Bodhi braced Ritsu against their chest as he stumbled into them.

"You all right?" the monk asked as they steadied their friend.

Ritsu pulled himself upright and turned to face the jerk that had pushed him out the way. Before him stood another sun clone with a powerful, pulsing aura.

"They'll let just any featherlight monkey king into the Sevenfold Peach these days, huh?" the jerk said with a sneer. He was broader in build than Ritsu and had about three times as much muscle.

This wasn't the sort that Ritsu wanted to pick a fight with, but he couldn't stop his canines from erupting as he shot the other a dirty look for shoving him aside.

The bigger Sun didn't back down from the silent challenge. He came closer and sized Ritsu up properly. Ritsu could feel the uncertain tension emanating off of his friends, but he didn't back down.

"What now?" The jerk looked pointedly at Ritsu's jade earring. "This is a staff-wielding competition, little brother. So you went and brought your embroidery needle? Better bow out now before you embarrass yourself."

Both Bodhi and Seven tried resting their hands on Ritsu's shoulders. Without thinking, his tail waved them off.

Ritsu angled his head. "What's your name?"

The jerk gave it.

"Okay, Sun Tie Quan. Here." Ritsu swiftly took out his earring and offered it up. "In that case, have a taste of my needle and save me from some embarrassment."

Sun Tie Quan narrowed his eyes at the sun clone opposite him with the outstretched fist.

"If you can catch it before it hits the ground, I'll bow out of the competition just like you want."

Ritsu dropped the jade earring before Sun Tie Quan could respond. It was just enough time to make him dive toward the challenge.

"Stop this."

Another presence swooped in and interrupted Sun Tie Quan, pulling him back before he could scoop up the staff.

Ritsu's earring created a small crater where it landed in the concrete. Smoke trailed up from the source of impact. With the exception of Ritsu and the newcomer, all the spirits in the huddle stared slack-jawed at the ground.

"Sun Tie Quan," the new sun clone growled, "how can you stand so close to that staff and be blind to its strength? You have eyes but no pupils."

Sun Tie Quan blinked rapidly and started backing away. He snarled one more time at Ritsu before turning away. "Arrogant bastard. I'll get you back later."

When he was gone, the newcomer gave Ritsu and his group a wary look. "Sorry about that. Tie Quan's not a very good sport. See you on the lawn."

He walked off without giving his name.

While Ritsu was shaking off the tension in his spine and picking his earring off the ground, Sun Seven exclaimed, "That was Sun Zhaoling, the Barefoot Sun. He's a pretty strong fighter with a level head. We need to watch out for him and short fuses like Sun Tie Quan."

Ham Song gave a hard oink from below. "Who cares about that? Benevolent monkey, what was that just now?"

Bodhi regarded Ritsu with a mixture of awe and confusion as well. "Yeah, Ritsu. Did you know your staff would have crushed his hand if Tie Quan had caught it?"

Ritsu had already begun massaging his temples. "Not until just now. My... my head hurts."

"I'm sure you're just tingling all over the place, but we need to get a move on!" Seven started shuffling Ritsu towards the green lawn at the center of the stadium. "Go, go."

Ritsu took the hint and started jogging away from his friends. He had so many questions and strange emotions taking root inside him. Why was he glowing with no immortal peaches in his system? Why was his tail rebelling against his glamour? And how did he know that his staff was too much for someone like Sun Tie Quan to hold?

Sun Ritsu took a seat in the grass among upwards to a hundred sun clones. All glowing. Some with their prehensile tails waving about and some without. Some with visible quarterstaves while others had theirs hidden. There were sporadic flashes of sharp simian teeth as they broke out into random laughter or bared their teeth at each other in silent challenge. Sideburns of almost any and every color framing a myriad of faces.

When the familiar announcer's voice rippled through the arena yet again, all heads turned to the platform in the center. Out of the floor came a sun clone riding on a trapdoor elevator.

"Good morninggggg brothers and sisterrrss!"

Kawaii Village's very own Sailor Sun emerged, charging her fist in the air, the hem of her uniform skirt lifting in time with her pink hair tassels.

"Who's ready for the annual Sevenfold Peach?"