Talia Wilson vs Satoru Kido - Stakes match at the Cassino

Talia's eyes were locked in on Kido. He had already twisted his body around to kick her in the face once and she was not about to let that happen again. Of course, though, this time he didn't do it. Her back was still against the wall so she didn't have enough room to attempt the rolling flip she had planned to do earlier. She just stared back at Kido with an intense look. "Now I turn this match around!" she said back to him in a boast. It felt odd trying to act confident at someone else's expense.

With his leg still under her arm, Talia took a step closer to him while inching up his leg with her grip. If she could take a few more steps closer she would try to lift his leg up so he was off balance. Shed then leap at him to try and clothesline him with her right arm. "I'm not a pushover anymore!" she'd yell at him.

Kido crossed his arms in front of him to reduce the impact of Talia's clothesline, but he still flew a few meters backwards due to his crappy balance. Noticing the sudden change of attitude, the boy would then slowly got up before he'd stare blankly at Talia.

"Oh, okay," he'd say without all the care in the world.

As he got into his stance, the atmosphere around him since to changed a bit. Talia just declared that she's dead serious with this fight, or so Kido thought, so he would do the same. After a moment of silence the boy would ran towards his opponent, this time with a faster pace. When they were close, Kido would try to launch a straight with his right fist at Talia's face before following with a left punch to her gut.

Though Talia knocked Kido a few meters back it didn't knock him over like she had intended. It did still get a reaction from him like she wanted it to. Maybe, though, it was not the exact response she was hoping. If anything, Kido was now more serious than before. He didn't waste anytime in charging at her, but his sudden resolve caught her off guard. He didn't try anything fancy or subtle. Instead he swung his fist right at her face which made her take a few steps back. She brought her arms up defensively around her face. Kido then followed with another punch to her stomach which made her take another few steps back until she hit the wall. Her hands came back down to her stomach as she groaned in pain and slightly bent over. "Mmm..." she said trying to suppress the pained groan.

The boy wasted no time with his attacks, as he continued to charge at Talia as the girl hit the wall behind her. As his opponent's body was slightly bent over, Kido would try to grab her head with both arms and pushed it downwards so he could launch his knee at the girl's face. Afterwards he would jumped back to get a little distance from her.

He wished that he didn't have to hurt her face that much. However, Talia just showed him some determination to win the match, and he thought that he should respect her by fighting more seriously. Normally he wouldn't do that, not that often anyways. But he kinda wanted to know how serious was Talia about this fight, and how far she would push herself in order to win.

Talia only had a few seconds rest before Kido continued his assault. Talia felt the full force of Kido's knee right in her face. Her head shot up from the blow and her back laid flat on the wall as her hands came back up to her jaw. "Ugh!" she moaned in pain as she slid down the wall. "That...that hurt..." she muttered as she rebalanced herself and got her composure back.

Kido hadn't hit her like that before. She wasn't use to that feeling of getting hurt, but then again who was? After another moment she looked back at him and put her arms up defensively again. It felt uncomfortable to have her back against the wall but she didn't have much room to escape anyways.

Kido stared at Talia, almost glaring as he watched her get into a defensive stance. He already knew that she was stubborn, that she wouldn't give in a fight unless she couldn't move anymore. Then he let out a sigh as he dropped his stance and looked away while holding his waist with one hand.

"What are you fighting for?" Kido suddenly asked as he returned his blank gaze to her. "Is it the jacket? Or the prize money?"

Something told the boy that for some reason Talia really showed some determination to win. Of course it's only natural for her to do so, but somehow it felt kinda different. It's just a hunch but it felt like the girl had some kind of other motives. Despite his carefree appearance, observing his opponent was something Kido get used to through his years of fighting. Of course his usual attitude made it hard to tell whether he's being serious or just messing around.

Talia slowly eased her stance when Kido asked her a question. That question had been asked to her several times, and each time she felt less and less confident of her answer for it. After a few quiet seconds, Talia finally accepted that it wasn't a ruse to distract her. She stated at Kido, unsure of what to say. There was pride, sure, but even she felt that was a lame reason. Money was good too, but there were plenty of other ways to earn a living that didn't physically hurt, some that paid a LOT better. But here she was anyways, fighting and brawling with guys twice her size and strength. For a moment, she didn't have an answer, confused at herself.

But then she remembered. "I..." she took a deep breath. "I don't even want your jacket...I probably would've given it back to you anyways." She rubbed her face a few times, sore from the knee shot earlier. "I want to do this...I grew up watching wrestling on television and knew I wanted to do this...even though it can really...hurt sometimes." It may have come off as a dumb answer but the reality was that even if it meant getting beaten up every week, Talia wanted to be a wrestler. She wanted to be in that spotlight of competition. It was her dream. She sighed a little, it was a little embarrassing to admit that during a match. Now, surely, he wouldn't feel guilty hurting her. "Why...why are you fighting?"

Kido slowly crouched as he was listening to Talia's reasoning, and he would look away a few times, as if he wasn't really interested. As Talia finished her explanation, the boy looked back at her, still with his blank expression.

"Yeah, whatever," he'd say before slowly getting on his feet. "What you do in your life isn't my business anyways."

Kido once again get into his stance, but he just slowly stared at Talia with his usual look. The question of why he fought was something he used to ask himself a couple of times.

"I don't know," he'd say casually. "It seems that it's the only thing that connects me with other people." Because I am a failure, he added silently in his mind.

The boy would quickly lunge at his opponent with his left fist drawn back and he'd punch the wall besides Talia's head. His bandaged fist connected with the wall to produce a thumping sound, but Kido didn't seem like he was hurt or anything. He would then lean his face a bit closer to Talia without a change of expression.

"Having a dream is nice and all," he'd say before he backed away once again. "But a dream is only a dream when you're dreaming. When you wake up, what's left is reality." After a short pause he'd added casually, "I read that in a manga."

Talia tilted her head uncomfortably when Kido just casually looked away at her answer. It was a pretty stupid reason to admit in hindsight. Dreams were something little kids believed in until reality sets in and makes them be more realistic. The difference with Talia was that the dream still seemed within reach, even if she was just beaten up day in and day out. Sure the physical size and skill was limiting her, but it still seemed possible.

As Kido gave his own answer to the question, Talia almost felt guilty for him. If he really fought just to stay in touch with other people it must have been a lonely life. Especially since everyone he fought probably didn't like him much afterward; fighting was no way to make friends. Well, almost no way. "I'm sorry," Talia said in sympathy as she brushed her long hair away from her face. As she did so, she saw Kido winding up for a punch. It seemed like maybe it was all a ploy of some sort to catch her off guard. She barely had enough time to raise her hands up to catch Kido's fist if he tried to punch her in the face. She even closed her eyes to brace for the impact. The punch never came though.

Instead she opened her eyes to see Kido's fist in the hard wall immediately next to her face. She looked at him curiously and saw him keeping his stoic look. She wasn't sure what to say. He was right after all, dreams were dreams. But still, Talia felt a certain sadness for him. If he didn't believe in dreams, what did he believe in? From their very close proximity, Talia dropped her defensive stance and gazed at Kido. "So...you don't believe in hopes and dreams?" there was a hint of sorrow in her tone. If he didn't believe in such a thing, he probably thought she was crazy to be deluding herself with such thoughts. "Why do you never smile?" she asked suddenly. It was relevant, maybe, but it was also something Talia wanted to know. If he was never happy, it'd explain a lot of things.

Kido stared silently at Talia for a while as he heard her questions. It wasn't the first time he heard those kind of questions. Hopes, dreams, those are pretty things to say, but they're meaningless for him.

"No," he replied. "Like many other things, I think they're meaningless." The boy gave a long pause as he looked up to the ceilings, as if he was thinking of something. Letting out a sigh, Kido would once again returned his empty gaze to her. "I have no reason to smile," he'd say. "Not anymore."

Clenching his fist, Kido would dash towards Talia again to continue the fight. The boy wasn't sure if he's going to like her further questions, if she had any, and he had no interest in finding that out by himself. Kido would try to fake a right straight, only to pull it back and kick Talia's left leg with a low kick from his right foot. If becoming a wrestler was her dream and she was prepared to get hurt, then all he need to test her resolve.