Aiden naturally knew that Kyo Kusanagi had a girlfriend, a girl named Yuki, who was also his classmate.
Speaking of which, Kyo Kusanagi was a guy who didn't study, had terrible grades, and liked getting into fights. But when it came to choosing a girlfriend, his taste was absolutely impeccable, he straight-up picked one of Orochi's most important sacrificial maidens, the reincarnation of Kushinadahime, as his girlfriend. You really had to say, this was probably fate.
After all, the three sacred treasure families, Orochi, the Eight Hakkesshu, and Kushinadahime, these four forces had always been entangled with one another. More than a thousand years had passed, yet nothing had changed much…
Well, you couldn't say nothing had changed. At least now, half of the Hakkesshu no longer wanted to continue bearing their destined roles. Even though they had become part of another organization that wanted to resurrect Orochi, it was possible they might not need Kushinadahime as a sacrifice anymore.
Thinking along those lines, Aiden continued watching the ring. The first matchup of the day had already begun.
The Women Fighters Team versus the Ikari Team.
The Women Fighters' first fighter this time was Kasumi, and the Ikari Team sent out Clark as their opener.
Speaking of which, maybe it was because of the influence of the manga, or maybe due to some rumors he'd heard, or maybe from reading other people's fanfics, Aiden had always thought Clark was blind, since he always wore sunglasses everywhere he went.
And last night at dinner, Aiden had even politely tried to help the "lonely" Clark find his way, leaving Clark completely baffled as he asked Aiden what he was doing.
When Aiden explained that he thought Clark was blind, Clark wordlessly removed his sunglasses and told him the reason he wore them was simply a habit left over from the battlefield. This left Aiden embarrassingly awkward.
So now, when he saw Clark step onto the stage and sternly adjust his sunglasses, Aiden's thoughts started spiraling into nonsense, "Are the sunglasses your true form? If they get knocked off later, are you going to just surrender on the spot?"
And in the end, things really did turn out pretty close to what Aiden imagined.
After exchanging more than ten rounds with Kasumi, Clark got kicked flying by one of her Hien Kyaku combos, and no one knew where his sunglasses went. The first thing he did after getting up was search for them, and once he found them, he raised his hand and surrendered.
It wasn't that he couldn't keep fighting, but rather that the ring restricted his performance. As a mercenary, he excelled at life-or-death combat.
Still, even though he was a mercenary, he was the virtuous kind, after all, he had been trained by Heidern. So he really couldn't bring himself to fight a cute girl like Kasumi seriously. But if the opponent had been a guy, he definitely wouldn't hold back.
Ralf and Heidern, who came on next, were about the same as Clark. But at least they weren't as passive, they started by exchanging flashy moves back and forth with Kasumi, then exposed an opening and got knocked off the stage by her, letting Kasumi easily achieve a one-versus-three victory and earn the applause of the entire audience.
Fighters could see the Ikari Team had no intention of fighting seriously, but the audience couldn't. All they saw was a cute teenage girl defeating three men who were far more muscular than she was. This kind of "the weak defeating the strong" moment was exactly what they loved seeing.
After the Women Fighters Team and the Ikari Team finished their match, next up were the Psycho Soldier Team and the Kim Team.
But this was basically a match with zero suspense. Athena was the first fighter for the Psycho Soldier Team, and Master Kim Kaphwan, being the embodiment of justice, was a complete gentleman. He absolutely would not strike a woman with full force. Naturally, the result needed no explanation, the Kim Team got swept by Athena one-versus-three…
Honestly, even if the Kim Team had fought seriously, beating the Psycho Soldier Team would've been difficult. Among the eight teams, their strength was practically at the bottom.
And next came the match between the Fatal Fury Team and the Art of Fighting Team.
You could say these two teams had the highest entertainment value. From the shouting of the crowd, you could tell just how fired-up the atmosphere was.
However, at this moment, Aiden's mind was completely off the ring. Because by this point, Kyo Kusanagi still hadn't arrived, and Aiden could now clearly see Benimaru Nikaido holding a phone, speaking anxiously about something.
At this moment, Chizuru speculated maliciously, "That guy Kyo Kusanagi… did he lose yesterday and now he's too embarrassed to show up?"
"He's not that kind of person. Maybe something came up and he couldn't get away… I'll make a call and ask." Maki took out her phone and dialed a number.
"Okamoto? Have the Intelligence Division check Kyo Kusanagi's current location…"
"What?"
"All right, I understand. Send more people to take a look. If necessary, assist the local police."
When she ended the call and saw everyone looking at her, Maki spoke with a rather serious expression, "I just got word, there was a missing-person case in Nagoya. The missing individual is a high school girl named Yuki… and she is Kyo Kusanagi's girlfriend."
"What?"
Hearing that, the one who reacted the most was naturally Aiden, he shot up to his feet instantly.
And seeing him react so strongly, the women's expressions suddenly became subtle.
"Aiden, don't tell me you know that high school girl named Yuki?" Shermie asked with a teasing smile. "A high school girl, you know… sailor uniform and all!"
Chizuru gritted her teeth, "Aiden, don't tell me you've got something going on with that high school girl too."
"Come on… what are you all thinking? And Shermie, if you just want to see a sailor uniform, I can ask Athena to, uh…"
All his nerves and tension were instantly swept away, Aiden was completely thrown off by their words, and ended up saying something he shouldn't have.
So he hurriedly changed the subject, "I just think it's strange… Kyo's girlfriend suddenly going missing like this."
"It is strange. Of all times to go missing, it had to be when he's competing… No, even if Kyo competes, he can't win the championship anymore. If someone wanted to target the team most likely to win, they should target us. Maybe she just got lost and temporarily lost contact?" Chizuru began analyzing.
"That's possible…" Maki nodded.
But at this moment, Aiden was already thinking. His gaze swept, intentionally or unintentionally, over Shermie.
Not because he suspected her, but because he suspected her teammate, Yashiro Nanakase, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi, the "Dry Earth."
After all, in the game's story, it was Yashiro who first discovered that Yuki was the reincarnation of Kushinadahime, and he wanted to use her as a sacrifice to summon Orochi.
However, if Yashiro were here, there was no reason Shermie wouldn't know. The Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi had a very good relationship, and they would absolutely share important information.
'So… could it really be that Yuki just wandered off?'