Kawaii Crossroads

Ever since she had won the kawaii title, Claire kind of felt like she had the run of the whole AFW campus. As a champion, she obviously had responsibilities. She needed to put a good foot forward not only in the ring, but any time she was in public, representing AFW's brand and acting as an ambassador to the entire female wrestling world. She also got some say in the booking of matches. Only her own, but still, it was more input than she used to have, and she actually attended meetings now. Though she didn't actually have any say in the matches of anyone except herself—she was kind of working on that. She knew as well as anyone that the Kawaii League was not what it used to be, and Claire intended to be a proactive champion and do what she could to boost its prestige and generate interest.

Her meeting on the upper level of the AFW complex had been all about generating ideas to get the division for wrestlers of smaller...cuter stature active and thriving. She had suggested mixers, letting the girls get to know each other and generating more interest from the wrestlers first. Of course, though, the most efficient way to use AFW's resources was to generate wrestler engagement and audience interest at the same time: putting a bunch of kawaii girls in the ring and letting them go at it. The format was still being negotiated, but they had given Claire a say, and Claire had no shortage of ideas.

Of course, there was one other way to foster interest in kawaii fights which was just as efficient as a big event: a title match. The four-girl fight in which Claire had finally, finally claimed the title had been very well-received, and now, Claire was getting to the point where she had to choose her next opponent. She had gone through the roster online, scouted out the gym, asked for recommendations from some of the AFW management team. There were a lot of opinions, and there were so many factors to include in the decision...

Claire had been putting it off. She just hadn't found any girl who seemed like a perfect fit just yet. As she got onto the elevator heading down to the main level of the AFW complex, she let her eyes wander down the list of names she had printed out for her meeting. Kawaii girls new and old whom she had been considering for the proposed event...and, maybe, for a title shot.

It had been five months since Mikagami Arashio, preferred name Micca, first made her appearance in AFW, fighting in kawaii division. While her time here in AFW had been very enjoyable, seeing new people and learning new things, Micca didn't really have a good record here as a kawaii wrestler. She had lost most of her matches here, which put her rather low down the cards. Sure, she might be just a beginner, but she had yet to accomplish anything that she could really proud of here, and it made the brown-haired kawaii rather self-conscious.

Sighing, Micca almost didn't realize that the door of the elevator had already been opened. Shrugging her shoulders, she stepped into the elevator, finding it empty. Which was weird, considering the overabundance of girls here in AFW campus, but it's not something that Micca could complain. She was heading to the cafeteria anyways, so it's not like she's actively looking for people to talk to in the elevator.

DING!

The elevator door was closed after the ding, and Micca leaned against the wall, waiting for the elevator to reach the floor where the cafeteria was at. But, just a moment after the elevator moved, it stopped before another ding was heard, and the door was opened again. This time, someone entered the elevator, a girl who seemed to be busy reading something. Micca regarded her curiously as the door closed behind the girl.

When the elevator started moving again, Micca somehow recognized the girl. She had watched many matches involving kawaiis, and she recognized the girl to be the current kawaii champion. But, being a bit of a scatterbrain, she somehow forgot her name. "Anoo... a-aren't you the one who recently got the kawaii belt?" Micca asked tentatively, uncertain whether she got the fact right or not.

The girl had been leaning back into the corner of the elevator, and with such an unassuming posture the distracted Claire had almost missed her. The New England-born kawaii champion noticed the girl moving just a second before she spoke up, asking if Claire was the kawaii champion. Claire folded the top section of the paper over, covering up the list of names that she had been studying, and lifted her head to meet the girl's friendly brown eyes. She seemed like a very quiet sort of girl, but definitely sweet, and at right around Claire's size she was definitely a member of the kawaii roster.

"That's right. Finally got my hands on it," she replied, taking on a casual, conversational tone as the elevator doors closed and the two girls traveled downwards towards the building's ground floor. "I guess third time's the charm." She winked, and chuckled a little bit, before she stuck out her hand, offering it to the girl to shake. "I'm Claire. And you..."

Claire scrunched up her face as she stared for a few seconds into the stranger's eyes. This girl was a newbie, she was sure, but it was definitely a name that had come up when Claire was discussing the kawaii roster with the new general manager. "You're...Mikagami? I think I have that right. Sorry if I'm mistaking you for someone else, but...I've been watching a lot of the new girls lately."

It seemed that she was right about the girl being the kawaii champion, and Micca stared at Clair's outstretched hand for a moment before she shook it. For some reasons, Micca was feeling a little nervous, considering that she was talking to a champion, which meant they were on totally different levels altogether. And the most surprising thing was that Clair somehow recognized her.

"Y-you know me? Umm... yes! I'm Mikagami!" Micca nodded, smiling at the champion. "Mikagami Arashio, but people just call me Micca. Oh gosh! I never thought I'm gonna meet a champion here!" Actually, she was looking forward to meet someone like Clair. "B-but, umm... well, you see... I'm a newbie here, and my record here isn't all that good..." she bashfully scratched her cheek and looked away.

Well, it's about time to know the champion! "S-so! What are you doing here, Clair-san? You look like you're busy with stuff..." she said, eyeing the paper that Clair was reading. "If you don't mind me asking, of course. I don't mean to pry on your business, just telling you that," she clarified, smiling brightly at her fellow kawaii.

Claire hadn't always been the most social girl, but she felt like the adult in the room now when it came to the Kawaii League, and if anyone had to take charge and reach out to new girls in order to grow the brand, it would have to be her. This girl had been in a few matches, she knew that. Quite a number of close losses, if she remembered correctly. Claire wasn't exactly sure what kind of girl she was, but she was possibly the most active rookie the kawaii roster had seen in a long time!

The girl seemed surprised that Claire knew her, which only made sense. The dark-haired girl chuckled and waved the piece of paper she had been reading around. "Yeah, I've seen some of your matches. I'm trying to familiarize myself with as many of the kawaiis around here as I can now that I'm the champion." The girl seemed a little embarrassed about her record, but maybe Claire could do something to fix that. For now, the American girl would be happy to answer some of the girl's questions.

"Oh, I am busy. I was in a meeting, working with the general manager to plan out kawaii events for the near future," she explained. "That's what this paper is for. I have a bunch of names which I researched, since we're trying to expand the division. How about you? What are you doing on the upper floors?"

"Oooh..." Micca was curious. She never thought that being a champion would give someone this kind of responsibility and perks. "Wow... being a champion sounds tough. But it sounds cool too!" Micca perked up. "So, you're meeting up with grown-ups, huh?" Well, technically they were already grown-ups too, being eighteen and above, but enough with technicality.

Right after Claire asked Micca about what she was doing there, her slim stomach started rumbling. "Eh? Umm..." Sheepishly, she placed her hands on her tummy and blushed. "Umm... w-well, I was thinking of going to cafeteria. I... kinda forgot to eat my breakfast because I woke up pretty late this morning..."

Making a 'silly me' gesture, she added, "I kinda sorta pulled an all-nighter playing video game..." Micca admitted rather bashfully.

Claire snickered at the girl's use of the term "grown-ups" to describe management. True, even though they were both over the age of eighteen, it felt like they were kids by virtue of their small stature, and the kawaii league's dedication to dolling them up in cute, fluffy pink outfits and throwing them into tickle fights and wedgie wars. Not that Claire was complaining! She liked being small, and she liked matches like those a lot, including the sometimes silly, childish things they were obliged to wear and do. She was, after all, pretty much AFW's queen of wedgies, so she was not going to bite the hand that fed her.

Speaking of hands that fed people, it seemed Micca was going down to the cafeteria, too, which was serendipitous. It gave Claire more time to talk to one of her weight class's newest young stars. "Oh, I was just going to get something to eat, too. We could go together." She smiled, as the elevator doors opened on the first floor and she pressed herself against the wall to let Micca get out first. She would follow behind the younger girl.

"I tend to skip breakfast, myself, which really is terrible of me...but ever since I've been at AFW it's seemed like I'd rather just sleep through the morning." She shrugged. "What kind of video game were you playing?"

"Cool!" Micca exclaimed, feeling happy now that she got to hang out with a champ. She always wanted to befriend as many people here in AFW, and getting to know Claire was like a jackpot of friend-making! She knew the rather cutthroat nature within this wrestling industry, but the kawaii division had been nothinh but friendly, with small dash of competitiveness.

So, they were heading to cafeteria together. Eating while hanging out? Extra cool!

Then, Claire asked her about what video game that she played. "Well, I like JRPG like Final Fantasy and action RPG. Well... last night, I played the newest Legend of Zelda game. And I just bought Nintendo Switch, so I bought Legend of Zelda too." She looked at Claire. "Do you play video games too?" Micca asked curiously.

It seemed like Micca was excited to go to the cafeteria together, which made Claire glad. She could relax with this girl, be friendly and chat about all kinds of things, share with her some of the exciting developments which resulted from that meeting with the new general manager (a girl who, honestly, could have been a kawaii herself—Claire could mention that to Micca, too). Sometimes, competition got the better of girls in this division, like Tsukasa and to an extent Aoi, and they lost the whole sense of camaraderie which should always exist between kawaiis. They were tiny, teacup wrestlers, and it was them against the world! Micca, at least, seemed to get that, and Claire smiled as they walked out of the elevator and towards the cafeteria.

Claire had asked about the video games Micca had been playing, but when the girl asked her in return if she played, Claire had to grin a little sheepishly and shrug. "Well, not really. I'm more of a book girl...I read a lot. I did play Wii games with my friends in high school...and, well, recently I've been trying to play some more video games, just to have some fun." Claire had been a little stodgy when she was younger, and hadn't ever really given video games a chance. Because of that, she kind of had to start from the ground floor...

"I actually bought an NES...an old Famicom, you know. So I played the original Final Fantasy, and the original Zelda, too..." She hadn't finished either of them, but she wouldn't let Micca know that. "So I sort of know what you're talking about."

Micca walked out of the elevator alongside Claire. She didn't expect the current kawaii champion to be such... a personable person. After hearing that Claire had just recently started playing video games, she grinned at her and said, "Well, it's better late than never! I tell you, video games are fun!" Micca was excited as she spoke to Claire. She didn't get to be too friendly with other kawaiis, due to the competitiveness between them even though they should be together due to their smaller stature and cuter appearance. From what she had heard, there were some people who didn't like kawaii wrestlers. Some even considered them to be mere fodders who were brought into the ring just to be beaten by the stronger, bigger and meaner girls to make them look much better. Honestly, Micca didn't like such mistreatment.

"NES, huh? Wow, haven't played that for a long time now," Micca said, reminiscing the time when she played the old game system. Some relative of hers had shown her the old Famicom to her, and she was hooked despite the old, outdated graphic and audio. There was a little bit of charm in classic stuff. "I played the original Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda too, by the way. They weren't Ocarina of Time or Breath of the Wild, but still cool stuff..." she said, nodding rather sagely as she recalled the time when she played those games.

"Well, if you want to know more about video games, I'm your gal!" Micca declared. "I can show you all the fun stuff there is!" Then, she remembered that she shouldn't force someone to like things that she liked. "W-well, if you don't mind, o-of course," she added, stuttering a little.