The following morning, Japan's sports media wakes to discover that yesterday's story has somehow found a second chapter.
No newspaper attempts to compete with the noise still echoing from London. There is little point. Instead, Japan simply pushes the same wave a little farther inland.
The front pages now ar filled with a photograph taken inside a gym in Osaka. Nakahara stands beside the ring apron, a contract resting between him and Umemoto.
The image captures the exact moment before Umemoto signs. One side extending the challenge. The other unable to refuse it. And by breakfast, the headlines are already everywhere.
RONIN RETURNS FIRE — NAKAHARA WALKS INTO OSAKA AND LEAVES WITH A SIGNED CONTRACT
"COWARDS?" NAKAHARA'S ¥4,000,000 ANSWER STUNS UMEMOTO'S CAMP
TOKYO VS OSAKA IS OFFICIAL AGAIN
LESS THAN 24 HOURS AFTER CONQUERING LONDON, RONIN IGNITES ANOTHER WAR AT HOME
THE REMATCH IS SIGNED. THIS TIME, SO ARE THE BETS.
NAKAHARA TO UMEMOTO: "IF YOU LOSE, APOLOGIZE! "
