You're the Real Protagonist, Aren't You?! (This Kitty Only Adds the Seasoning Packet to Instant Noodles)

As the tournament organizer, Shizuku naturally had access to information on every participant. She could even obtain some internal reference footage, including recordings of matches certain fighters had competed in before. Of course... it was all meant to be used for KOF promotional videos.

Naturally, Shizuku spotted plenty of familiar faces among them.

Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Terry, Robert, Mai Shiranui, Leona, Athena Asamiya—those went without saying. They were all familiar faces; the unfamiliar ones were the minority. Besides them, there were also Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li... Hmm, it reminded Shizuku of a game she had once played called SNK vs. CAPCOM.

Fortunately, the applicants were at least somewhat sensible. They had not gone so far as to bring Mega Man or the Demoness into this.

Of course, Shizuku had also discovered quite a few bosses among the registered contestants. Like a certain unscrupulous priest, a certain man in military uniform, and a certain Gouki...

Beyond that, some participants left even Shizuku unsure how to describe them.

For example, there was an elderly woman in her seventies or eighties who looked about the same age as Genkai. In the match footage, Shizuku saw the old woman hunched over before suddenly leaping into the air, grabbing her opponent, and planting a furious barrage of kisses on him. Once she was done, she spun around and instantly reverted to youth, becoming a beautiful young girl... Naturally, her opponent had completely collapsed.

The damage that move inflicted on the Mental Plane was simply absurd, okay?

There was also an old man with the same move. He rushed over, grabbed his opponent, and showered him with kisses before instantly bulking up into a huge, muscular man.

Shouldn't that count as forced molestation and get him hauled off to the station?

Not only that, the old