Short People

”Kena Arisato.”

Did Halloween know that name? It sounded familiar, though she couldn’t quite place why. She probably saw it on the roster when they tried to lump her into the kawaii league, seemed like the most logical place. If it wasn’t for her insistence of being given full grown matches, there was a good chance they would’ve met in the ring already. But she hated that pigeonholing crap, didn’t like the thought of being forced to wear the kawaii label. She was a wrestler first, and her height shouldn’t have been a major factor in…

...wait, what was Kena doing?

Halloween’s eyebrows rose as she saw Kena kind of going above the call of duty with the thug. Beating them up, sure, she got that, but there was vomit bubbling out of her mouth. Gross and excessive.

”Hey, yeah, hardcore is cool, I’m all about that. I mean, duh.” She nodded her head towards the goonette she’d dropped with a trash can lid, groaning and rolling around nearby. ”Hey, uh...ease up a little, though. I know these guys are jackasses, but I think they’re kind of done for the day.”

Okay, this chick was kind of weird.

Halloween figured she wasn’t one to talk, there. She was a half-Latino, half-Japanese, half-sized wrestler with a holiday theme, after all. But that was ‘wrestling weird’, the sort of weird that just came with the business. The vibe that she was getting off this chick was more ‘I fry ants with a magnifying glass when I get bored’ weird. The kind of weird that she, as a veteran horror movie fan, knew damn well to stay away from.

...but free food. Halloween had a strict policy on never turning down free food. So.

”Uuuuuuuuh, sure. Meal sounds good.” She gave one last, wincing look towards the thugs and followed after. ”What kind of meal are we talking about? You cooking?”

For some reason, Halloween had expected Kena to be the type to make meals and stuff like that. Despite the royal ass-whipping she’d just handed that group of Beat-Em-Up villains, she had this kind of vibe to her. Neat and pristine. The kind that did things like clean houses and cook and whatnot. 100% could’ve been her prejudices, she could admit that.

Well, whatever. Free was free. ”Uh, sure. Hot fries are cool, just nothing too greasy. Gotta keep the figure.” She gave her a playful wink and threw her hips a bit for emphasis, though she was only playing so much about that. Picking up weight was way too easy for her, just a few bad meals always went to the wrong body parts.

”Lead the way.”

”Right behind you.”

Halloween trailed after Kena, staying nice and close - she knew from experience that it was all too easy for women their size to get lost in a city like Tokyo. Even at night, the streets were packed with people, this amorphous blob of humanity that would swallow you whole if it got half a chance. Being so short, she was easily unnoticed, bumped into, shifted around, and she often ended up far off from where she wanted to be.

”So,” She stuck close to Kena, but took care not to bump against her. ”You’re a transplant, right? Where you from? Been here long?”

”Sorry about your grandma.” Probably kind of a silly thing, but it was the first thing that occurred to her when Kena spoke about her grandmother dying and being left a dojo. It had been years ago, she was undoubtedly over it, but it felt like the natural thing to throw out there.

Still, that was a lot of responsibility to have on her shoulders. Made Halloween feel silly about her own petty reasons, but she’d asked, so she had to spill.

”Well, uh, my Dad’s here. I think. I was raised in Mexico, right, and I found my Mom had me by this guy who’s a small-time wrestler out here, Christmas.” Halloween paused, realizing how awkward that came out. ”Christmas Sonohara, that’s his name. So, like I came here to sort of get his attention. That’s my thing. Also, want to be the first person in our division to get a belt that’s not the Kawaii.” She wagged a finger Kena’s way. ”That’s a big thing.”