The Moon and Polaris

Chapter 7: Beginning of a Rivalry

Kiki peeked inside the fridge, noting the scarce amount of food inside it. "Mr. Yagami!" she called out, "We're outta food!" It had been almost two weeks since Kiki moved in with Iori, and it turns out that fridges tend to get emptier when more people live with you. Hearing no response from Iori, Kiki walked over to the doorway and peeked into the living room. He was still fast asleep on the couch. His mouth gaped open as he snored. Sighing to herself, she went back to the bedroom, changed into her usual hoodie and jeans, slipped to the front door, and exited the apartment.

Once she was outside the complex, Kiki took a good look at her surroundings, trying to remember the route she took with Iori the last time they went to the convenience store together. While the two of them needed actual food in the fridge, the girl thought it would be better if Iori came along with her to a supermarket for actual grocery shopping. Right now, she needed food in her belly. She could probably pick something up for her teacher too. Might as well be a good student to him, right?

The girl wandered the city streets, turning at random street corners that seemed at least somewhat familiar. She kept walking along the sidewalk, slowly spinning in circles as she did so, trying to find landmarks to help her get her bearings. Continuing to meander, she turned at another corner--

"Watch out!"

Before Kiki could see who called out to her, she was knocked to the ground by a strong force. She found herself on her back with a huge mass on top of her. The mass pushed itself off of her and she realized it was a young man in a bright blue school uniform.

He looked down at her with wide eyes. "Wh-Whoa, sorry!" he cried. "I ran so fast, I couldn't stop myself!" Bringing himself up to his feet, he offered a hand to Kiki. She took it and he helped her to her feet. "Are you okay? You're not hurt?" he asked.

Kiki shook her head, "No, I'm alright, uh...."

"Oh, sorry! I haven't even introduced myself." He bowed to her, "I'm Shingo Yabuki! Nice to meet you! Sorry again about bumping into you like that. Anyway, I gotta..." Shingo looked down at his hands then down at the sidewalk. "Oh no!" Kiki traced his line of sight and saw two yakisoba breads on the pavement, sad and no longer appetizing. Shingo crouched and examined the two fallen sandwiches, "Aw jeez, I'm already running late, and this happens...."

Kiki piped up, "I can buy you two more to replace them."

Shingo sprung up to his feet and shook his head vigorously, "No, no, it's fine! It's my fault this happened, so I should take care of it."

"I insist," offered Kiki. "Besides, I was on my way to the convenience store anyway. But, uh," she rubbed the back of her neck and laughed at herself, "I'm actually lost." She smiled at Shingo, "If you show me the way there and back home, I'll call it even between us. What do you say?"

Shingo crossed his arms as he mulled it over, "Well, when you put it that way... Alright, I guess that's fine. I'm already late for my training session anyway. It won't matter too much if I'm more late."

"Alright, it's settled! By the way," Kiki bowed to him. "I'm Kiki Cruz. Thanks for helping me out, Shingo."

"It's no problem, Ms. Cruz," Shingo walked ahead and beckoned Kiki to follow him. "Well, let's go!"

"Coming!"

*****

The pair exited the convenience store together: Kiki munched on a rice ball and carried another rice ball in her hand while Shingo had two yakisoba breads in his. Kiki handed Shingo her other rice ball as she took out her notebook and flipped to one of the pages. On it, the address to Iori's apartment was written. Showing the page to Shingo, she asked, "You know how to get here?"

Shingo read the address and nodded to himself, "Yeah, I know that area. I can take you there real quick!"

"Awesome!" Kiki beamed as she took a pen out of her pocket. "Do you mind if you keep holding onto my rice ball until I get back? I just need to write down the directions."

"Yeah, sure," replied Shingo.

The two of them walked side by side as Shingo told Kiki the names of each street they were passing through. Kiki scribbled the directions down in her notebook.

As they proceeded back to the apartment complex, Kiki decided to make small talk, "So, you mentioned you were running late for a training session? What for?"

Shingo smiled wide and replied excitedly, "I'm actually training to get into the King of Fighters tournament! Kyo Kusanagi's my teacher!"

Kiki immediately stopped writing in her notebook and looked up at him with eyebrows raised and eyes wide, "Wait, wait, wait, you know Kyo Kusanagi?!"

"Yeah!" Shingo beamed. "Mr. Kusanagi is the best! He's been teaching me a lot of cool moves."

"Dude!" Kiki cried, "You gotta introduce me to him sometime. I got stuff to do today, but I really wanna meet him. That's why I came to Japan in the first place!"

"Wow, you're a fan of Mr. Kusanagi too?! Man, us meeting each other like this, it must be fate!" Shingo laughed to himself, "Just kidding. But yeah, we can set up a meeting whenever you're free. Do you mind if we exchange phone numbers? You can call me and let me know when you're available."

Kiki agreed and let Shingo write down his number in her notebook while he let her write down hers in his notebook. She jumped for joy and squealed, "I can't believe it! I'm finally gonna meet Kyo! Thank you so, so much, Shingo."

"You're welcome, Ms. Cruz. It's the least I can do." As they kept walking, Shingo began to ask, "Hey, just wondering. How long have you been in Japan, Ms. Cruz?"

Kiki lifted her head and thought back, "Let's see, I've been in Japan for about three weeks now, but I've been living in that apartment complex for two. Don't ask about that first week. You don't wanna know." Shingo listened intently as Kiki continued. "But anyway, I'm actually training to fight in KOF too."

"Wow, that's so cool!" Shingo cheered. "Hey, maybe we'll face off against each other one day!"

Kiki giggled, "That would be really cool. Mr. Yagami has been teaching me a lot, so--"

Shingo stopped in his tracks, "Wait. Did you say 'Yagami'? As in 'Iori Yagami'?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah." Kiki cocked her head at him. "Is something wrong?"

His brow furrowed, and he pointed at her face, "Ms. Cruz! You and I are now rivals!" He placed the rice ball he was holding for her back into her hand and ran off. "Just take a left at the next street corner and the apartment building should be on the right! And next time we meet, it'll be in the ring!"

As Shingo darted off, Kiki stood in the middle of the sidewalk, dumbfounded.

"... What just happened."