Makie Akamatsu vs. Armando 'Army' Rodriguez - Let's You and Him Fight, Part 2

That's what happens when you take on a Rodriguez. Army was tempted to say, but kept quiet. After all, you didn't win matches by 'coming close' to knocking people out. Kyo had won. Fair and square and clean as a sheet. Carmen had developed a strong respect for the man, and  had even started watching his older matches to pick up tips and improve her own style. Mildly creepy, at times.

"Haven't seen my matches, huh?" He raised an eyebrow. "Not missing much. Just me. Being awesome. And Hana wasn't really bigger than me. I mean, she had, like, an inch over my head, but when you look at the video, you can see she's got on a little extra padding with her boots, so you have to take that in account. Plus I'd say I'm a bit wider. Got a little more muscle going. Think horizontal, not just vertical." He folded his arms and faked a cocky look. Mostly faked. Maybe half. 

"And yeah, Carmen was walking funny for two weeks after that match. Hell, you can ask her yourself, I think that's her coming now..." He looked behind Makie and tried to get her to turn around, just so he could snatch a fry when she wasn't looking.

Makie gave Army a skeptical frown that made it look like she was seconds away from rolling her eyes. "Right, and I'm sure all of that extra muscle came into play when Hana pinned you," she said with a sly grin. "But, whatever, that win of hers was a total fluke, right? You would totally kick her ass the next time."

At that moment, Army pointed out that Carmen was coming up behind her. Surprised, Makie spun around...and saw no one there. She turned back just in time to see Army stealing one of her french fries. "Ass!" Makie shouted, grabbing another french fry and chucking it at Army in vengeance. "So what's your background? I'm guessing you're a boxer just like your sis?"

Army got his hands up just in time to deflect the deadly French fry, not able to hide the smirk on his face at all. At least Makie was fun enough outside the ring. Far too many people in the AFW seemed to never have an off switch. All serious or all crazy all the time. Makie was just a girl who liked to wrestler, it looked like.

"Not calling it a fluke, Hana had mad talent. But she caught me off guard. Now that I know what I'm dealing with? Different story entirely. You can never beat a Rodriguez the same way twice." He leaned back and crossed his fingers behind his head.

"And yeah, like my sister. Runs in the blood." He wobbled his head fom side to side. "Well, not just like Carmen. I hit harder,  take it harder, end my fights in straight knockout. But you get the idea." He shrugged and loked back her. "What about you? Thought I heard something about you Akamatsus being samurais or...something."

Makie gave Army a sour face. "Sort of, yeah. I mean, my family has a big history of combat sports. My dad was a regional judo champion at one point, and my mom was a word kendo champion. But that all gets glossed over by the fact that both of them come from very old samurai families...which I guess makes us old blood nobility."

She sighed and munched down another french fry. "Kyo takes that stuff really seriously. He thinks that because we come from such a proud heritage, that he has to excel at everything he does, and behave all chivalrously to everyone he meets, and blah blah blah. He can be a real headache sometimes." She shrugged. "Me...I don't want to be defined by whatever my ancestors were or were not. I just want to be me, and let that define me. You know what I mean?"

The fake out trick wouldn't work twice on Makie, so Army wasn't getting any more french fries to gnosh on. He settled for chewing a few scraps of lettuce that had fallen out of the sandwich, as she talked and gave her a quick rundown of her life. He had to say, it sounded oddly familiar.

"Yeah," He sat back and folded his arms. "Yeah, I think I do. Like, where I come from, it's not just a family thing. Boxing is in my blood, but it's a big part of Puerto Rico - we're, I think, #3 in the world when it comes to producing champions, and when you consider how small the island is? That's crazy.There are cities in Japan that have a high population than our whole country."

Army sighed and let his usual calm face get a bit more serious. "So, like, early on, it was pretty much decided that I was going to be a boxer. And I'm cool with that, no regrets. I'm bigood at breaking stuff, it makes sense. But my sister and everyone always acts like it's some sacred rite. I just want to hit people and win matches. What's wrong with it being simple?"

"Yeah, I get that." Slowly, Makie pushed her fries closer to the center of the table so that Army could take some. "No matter what we do, we always have our more uptight siblings questioning us or making us look bad. Honestly, if Carmen weren't batting for the other team, she and Kyo would practically be made for each other."

Sighing, Makie reclined a little in her seat. "So...what's a boxer like you doing here in the AFW, anyway? I would have thought you'd be in America by now, winning championships and turning Floyd Mayweather into hamburger meat. Why fight in a wrestling promotion?"

Army wiped his hands off on a napkin before he graciously accepted Makie's peace offering. This was actually going a lot smoother than he pictured. Makie had a little aggression to her, but that was healthy with their job. It was funny - he'd heard a lot of stuff about how Tension women were maneaters, but outside of the occasional Karam or Jackie, most of the girls he'd come across had been pleasant.

"Batting for the..." Took a moment for that one to sink in. Sayings didn't always make it past the language barrier. "Yeah, no, I'm fine with them being separate. No offense, but she gets gushy enough about Kyo when she's not attracted to the guy. It'd be too much to take if she had a thing for him, too."

He snagged a few fries and started nibbling. "Anyway, I'm here because..." He gave it some thought, then shrugged. "My sister was doing it, I wanted to travel, and I get paid better to wrestle around with hot girls. I get paid to do what most guys have to pay for." He kept his face placid the whole time. No harm in being honest. "That's about it. Wish I had something deep, I don't. Will say, though - thought I'd get a bunch of easy wins. That didn't turn out like I planned."

Makie blinked in surprise when Army let slip that Carmen was gushy over Kyo. True, she knew that her brother wasn't a bad looking guy, and that honourable and courteous personality of his was something a lot of girls found charming, but...she'd never imagined someone like Carmen would start to get a thing for him. She decided it would be better not to let Kyo know about this, and better still not to let Army know that Kyo sort of, kind of, had a repressed crush on Carmen as well. It wasn't like that last part was much of a surprise, anyway-- as much as Kyo always denied it, he had a growing list of former opponents who Makie knew he was attracted to, including Purin, Mindy Priest, and Haruka Tenou.

She sighed and focused back on the present. Not for the first time, she was really happy to see that Armando wasn't some towering jerk like Orin Black. Like John Mitchell and Mark Jagger, he was a surprisingly nice guy. "So you're here because of Carmen? I guess that makes sense. I never even dreamed of joining the AFW until Kyo did." She nibbled another french fry. "I hear you about it not being easy. It always takes a while, and even though I have a respectable number of wins under my belt now, they always feel small compared to the losses."

"Carmen's a big part of it, yeah." Army glanced over to an AFW poster on the far wall. He could just barely see it from where they sat, but he could make out enough to tell it was covered with scantily clad women in bikinis. The AFW knew who their target audience was."I'd be lying if I said the women weren't a big draw, too. Though that's kind of off-the-table, these days. Girlfriend." He had a little smile at the thought. Amy would be watching him tonight, always helped to boost morale.

Army reached for the last french fry, but hesitated for a moment, letting his hand hover. He wigggled his fingers like a gunslinger at high noon, daring Makie to make a move for it. "Yeah...no such thing as 'too many wins', I get that." He let that wild, competitive glint in his eyes flare up. "No hard feelings if I give you one more loss, right? On a decent role, trying to keep it that way."

Makie gave Armando a cheeky grin. "I don't mind, because I have no intention of losing," she replied, taking a long sip from her soda. "But if it means anything, I promise I won't go out of my way to brutalize or humiliate you. I'd hate to upset your fangirls after all, and besides...you're not the kind of guy who deserves it."

She set her cup of soda down and glanced at Army's smartphone. On it, the match came to a close, and her loss to John Mitchell finally played out. "It's stupid, though, the way the management is trying to make this a bigger deal than it is," she grumbled. "They think that just because Kyo won against Carmen in the ring, and that both of them have siblings, that this should trigger some sort of huge family rivalry. It's dumb, contrived, soap-opera bullshit."