Spar among fresh blood (for Sonsaku Hakufu)

As Kohaku charged she saw her opponent crouch down.  She couldn't stop, the only thing she could do was make a face of surprise, one could assume the though of 'Oh crap, this is going to hurt' would go through her head.  She felt a sudden impact hit her stomach causing her reel back as she gasp for air while her eyes widen.  The maid would place her hands over her stomach to cover it.  That being said she was vulnerable to an attack and could be easily setup for a throw or slam.

Akiha simply watch, taking notes alongside with Hisui.  Cheating was something that was hard to do at the start of the match without exiting the ring or having someone to distract the ref.  Thus Akiha knew that Kohaku was at a disadvantage here.

Karen had held her breath as she crouched and saw Kohaku approaching, but released it in a loud exhalation after she managed to punch Kohaku in the stomach, as she had planned to but did not expect to succeed. When Kohaku staggered a few steps backwards, she had been interrupted from the momentum she had built throughout the match, and now it seemed like Karen had a good opportunity to recover it.

Karen attempted to pry loose one of Kohaku's arms and grab hold of it. If all went according to plan, she would push Kohaku towards the ropes, setting up an armdrag toss.

As Kohaku double back, she would hold her stomach in pain as the maid counter attack failed.  Taking a punch to the guy hurt but running into one hurt a lot more.  In fact she felt like puking but managed to hold it in.  While she was focusing on keeping the content of her stomach inside of her, she found her arm being grabbed before being pushed to the ropes.  Yet instead of running, she would find herself being flip and landing on the mat as she held her back in pain.

It seemed her opponent had regained her momentum, thus Kohaku would need to break it again.  Thus she decided to try and roll out of the ring.  If successful she could take a moment to recover and set up a trap or something.  In fact she knew what to do, she would try to hide behind her sister and Akiha.  Seeing as they weren't wrestlers that meant her opponent couldn't attack them, making them a perfect shield.

The stomach punch she had managed to deliver to Kohaku had gotten Karen's hopes up that the match wouldn't end up being a complete wash. This could be a double-edged sword since it would on one hand increase her morale and make her last longer, but Vivienne had emphasised during their training together that she ran the risk of getting too blinded by a positive development and prone to rushing into her usual strategy of keeping up constant attacks in the hope of knocking out an opponent before she had worn herself out completely.

There was no risk of that here, however. Karen had accidentally lost her grip on Kohaku while tossing her towards the ropes, and Kohaku had managed to take the opportunity and roll right out of the ring. Karen ended up alone in the ring, staring dumbfounded as Kohaku rolled onto the floor and then smoothly got back up in a continuous motion and ran behind Akiha and Hisui. The sight of Kohaku crouching behind the two prompted Karen to start chuckling. This then became a full on laugh, as she crouched slightly and slapped her knee in amusement.

"Kohaku-san!", she exclaimed in between snorts of laughter. "I didn't realise this was now a hide-and-seek match, haha!"

Kohaku tactics had work, she had gotten some distance and had a moment to recover while breaking the momentum that Karen had build up.  It seemed that her opponent had not followed her out of the ring.  Thus she could take a bit more time to recover.  Yet while she hid behind Akiha and Hisui, the referee girl would start to count her out by yelling “One.”  Yet Kohaku didn't worry about it, she still had lots of time remaining.

It seemed her opponent had decided to make a comment about the match now being hide and seek.  “Well I thought it was a bit boring, so I decided to add a twist!” stated Kohaku as she then gave a small giggle while still remaining out of the ring.  Akiha and Hisui simply looked at Kohaku as Akiha raised an eye brow while Hisui covered her mouth.  Though the two didn't do anything else, as they were not part of the match and decided not to interfere.

As Karen's laughter died down, she initially chuckled and laughed again after hearing Kohaku's comment. "Quite the unexpected twist!", she quipped back in response. Then, as she gradually ran out of laughs, a cheerfully awkward silence descended upon the match. Karen looked more confused as she saw that Kohaku wasn't doing anything, and she didn't want to be the first to break the stalemate. So... this is a trick, maybe?, she thought. No idea what for.

She betrayed a hint of amused surprise. This is really how my first match with a heel ends?

Kohaku knew she couldn't stay out here for the rest of the match, well she could as long as she was fine with losing it but she wanted to win this practice match.  “TWO” yelled the referee as she continued to count out Kohaku.  She would take another moment to catch her breathe as her opponent said it was an unexpected twist and didn't do anything, perhaps Karen was confused or knew that Kohaku couldn't stay out of the ring for long.  “THREE” yelled the referee as she kept on counting.  Deciding that she had recovered enough the maid would attempt to slowly get back in the ring and watch Karen.

Karen truly hadn't expected this when going into the match. The longer the break went on, the more absurd and confusing it seemed. What was Kohaku planning? Was she even planning, or just as stumped as her? Karen couldn't know. If this was a video game, she could at least assume Kohaku had put it on pause to ponder, or perhaps have a toilet break.

There had to be a trick. With a shrug, Karen thought, Maybe two can play this game? But as she was about to try and go out of the ring as well to follow Kohaku, she realised that she wasn't sure if she would also start to get counted out. Before she could try to work that out, she saw Kohaku heading back towards the ring.

Not willing to let an opportunity go to waste, Karen tried to keep the initiative in her advantage by dashing towards Kohaku. She hoped to grab Kohaku into a facelock before she had a chance to completely enter the ring.

Now having recovered, Kohaku slip back into the ring.  Yet as she entered she found herself being placed in a face lock.  Yet such an attack truly was pointless, as Kohaku would just grab onto the ropes which were right beside her.  This meant she would get a rope break right away. “Karen, you do know that you can't attempt submission holds on me while I am holding onto the ropes.” stated Kohaku as she then waited for the referee to interfere.  Kohaku wondered if this was just a simple rookie mistake that Karen had done as she was still new to wrestling.  It would have been far better to attempt a kick or something.

The new information left Karen feeling nonplussed and confused. "Eh?", she said, loosening her hold on Kohaku's head. "I actually didn't...", she said sheepishly. "First proper match and all. Sorry."

She then exclaimed, "But, wait! That means..." before running off to the other side of the ring. When she reached it, she faced Kohaku, panting, and said, "... you can't submission hold me on the ropes either!"