The morning's matches came to an end. The arena needed repairs again, so everyone else's matches would have to wait until the afternoon.
This left Guy, who had excitedly pulled out his tubes and rushed to the arena, speechless for quite some time.
Kitsuchi sighed. He did not know whether Gari had simply been unlucky enough to draw a powerful opponent or whether the overall caliber of this tournament was too high. Either way, having everyone from Iwagakure eliminated in the second round left him feeling embarrassed.
Fortunately, he was not the only one embarrassed. Everyone from Kirigakure had been eliminated too.
With the matches over, everyone went their separate ways.
At noon, in a room in Konoha Hospital, a man and a woman lay in separate beds, each hooked up to an IV.
"So, Ameyuri, you couldn't beat that little Xue Ge?"
Kisame's smile looked rather pleased with her misfortune. He only teased her because she had not really been hurt.
Ameyuri had woken up earlier and told Kisame about her fight. At his words, she could not help rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, and I embarrassed myself even more than you did. At least you forced your opponent to use his ultimate move. I doubt Xue Ge came anywhere close to going all out against me."
"...Well, just take it as proof you've got a good eye."
"Oh, shove off. I don't need comforting. Losing like that was embarrassing, but I'd already prepared myself for it."
Ameyuri waved impatiently, then grew a little melancholy.
What upset her was not losing the match, but how completely opposed her thinking and Xue Ge's seemed to have been during it.
She might have been wild and spoken without thinking, but that did not mean she was insensitive. On the contrary, she was