Demon's Revelation (Reiko and...)

[dlamp]

Oh wow, Gil was honestly going to try and fight Reiko for a moment there. Her stance was absolutely pathetic, her face, as much as she had calmed down, was still a mess of tears, and the girl looked pretty hesitant to actually hurt Reiko. If her punching Hitomi earlier looked like a bullying scene, this would absolutely look like some kind of dark scenario of her Reiko about to take out her aggression on an emotionally fragile girl.

"Hehehe..." But... it got a laugh out of her. Through her own growing tears and urge at a near second collapse of emotions, Reiko laughed, her tears flowing down freely again as she smile. "Haha... thanks Gil-san... for everything." She walked over, wrapping her arms around the girl's waist as the tears flowed again as Gil offered her a second chance letting the emotions come out naturally. She was... so tall. Surprisingly so given everything. "Heh... I'm kind of jealous that you're so nice." She admitted. "There's way too many of us that just... act like assholes, y'know?" She tightened her grip around Gil. "But thanks, Gil-san..."

[Arista]

Gil's arms slumped down to her sides as Reiko pulled her back into a tight hug, her arms pinned to her sides, so she was unable to return the favor, instead, she just rested her head down on her shoulder. "...Of course... Thank you for telling me, and... Sorry for interrupting your walk..." Gil softly chuckled into Reiko's ear.

"...Don't beat yourself up about it, trust me, you're the furthest thing from a jerk..." Gil assured her, able to flop her hands to grab Reiko's back at-least, giving some semblance of a hug...! "...Please, if you ever want to talk about anything, or just hang out, I'll give you my number...!" Gil smiled. "...We can train together, or watch a movie, or go out to eat...!" Gil offered. "...And then of course, we can hit the ring and give each-other more hugs..." Gil laughed again.

[dlamp]

"Ah-" Reiko pulled away, her face turning red at Gil's suggestion. Honestly, having her number would be a good idea. It was nice to keep in touch with a few other wrestlers in LAW, and Reiko's own words reminded her how often bitter rivalries and feuds could happen. Hell, she had a few going herself with Kazikura and even people like Lorelei had something of a hit on her. Not to mention the actual hit on her during the whole Lightweight Bounty fiasco. But... Gil's suggestion also reminded Reiko of something else.

"I, uh... don't have my phone on me."

Reiko scratched the back of her head, looking away. Given how much her phone blew up after the match with twitter notifications and message, she left her phone at her hotel room. She didn't want to read anything or even think of it at the time, but now it felt pretty bad to walk out without one. "I think we're mutuals on Twitter, so I'll just DM it to you tonight." One of the few benefits of being in the hellhole known as LAW Twitter.

"But wow, you think I'm not a jerk?" Reiko couldn't help but give a teasing smirk. "Sure you wanna' say that to the girl that's a demon in the ring, Gil-chan?" Her tone shifted to her ring persona, speaking in a higher octave and slight gravel, as if a small, snarling dog. "I might put us in a strip match so I can take a bite out of that butt of yours~" She snickered to herself at this, but it almost immediately died down.

"But really, Gil-san..." She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm... not really a good person."

[Arista]

"...Oh, right, no worries! I'll check my phone as soon as I get back to my room...!" Gil smiled. Letting a brief moment of silence pass, the ocean breeze was enough to calm Gil emotions, or at-least tame them slightly, keeping her from bursting, she felt a relief in her chest, like she could finally breath again.

Gil chuckled at what came next! "...Of course you're a good person, and you know, I've been called something of a demon myself...! I prefer beast, it kind of fits with the goat horns better, I think...!" She chuckled again. "...Oh my, you are a demon, aren't you?" She nudged her playfully. "...If you want to take a bite, you'll have to work for it, I'm undefeated in bra and panties matches...!" She paused for a moment. "...Wait, I'm actually not... So that m-might work out for you...!" Gil stammered, remembering her first bra and panties match was against Rose, where she was given her own personal taste of the humiliation she could dish out...

"...Shush, you're great to me..." Gil placed her hand onto Reiko's shoulder. "...You've been nothing but kind to me, so why should I think of you as anything less than that of an angel... Or, a demon...?" Gil took the girls face into her hands, mashing her cheeks together, but gentle nonetheless...! "...Don't you go talking bad about yourself, you deserve better than that...!" Gil stuck her lip out and furrowed her brow, looking like she was trying to be stern, but was doing a pretty poor job at it...!

[dlamp]

"Gil-san, I'm nice to you because we aren't exactly in the ring thro- Fwmuph?!" Reiko's deadpan retort was cut off by Gil's sudden aggression. Well... calling it aggression might be a bit much, it was certainly unexpected. Forced to meet Gil's (honestly kind of cute) strict expression and lecture. And for a moment, Reiko paused, merely looking up at Gil's face. "... ... ..."

Had she... really been nice to Gil? She definitely wasn't mean to her, to any of the girls she had ran into so far. Even as frazzled as she was emotionally and slowly coming off the explosion she just had she didn't take her anger out on anyone. "... ..." Reiko took a step back, releasing herself from the girl's grasp. Honestly, she wasn't holding Reiko that hard to begin with, but at least she had control over her face again.

"Alright, alright..." Reiko said, raising her hands in mock-surrender. "I'm a good person and I'll stop beating myself up over it." As sarcastic as the words came out, she did give an earnest smile at Gil. "Just remember that you said that when we're ripping each other's clothes off and giving each other super-wedgies in our fight." She slammed a fist into her palm, giving Gil a smirk. "And you've seen how rough I get in the ring, Gil-chan~ Don't think I won't slam you with the Oni no Ono and make a meal out of you afterwards just because we're friends."

[Arista]

"...Ring or not, you're a good person, okay...?" She kept her voice stern and her look serious, piercing her eyes through Reiko's, never looking away or even blinking...! "...Please, just... If you feel like this, please reach out to me..." Her tone softened. "...Emotional scars can hurt just as bad as physically ones, so you need to give yourself time to heal..." Her lips curled into a kind smile.

Gil just smiled back. The sarcasm in her voice was clear as day, but she knew just telling her to be kinder to herself wasn't really going to do much, but if she could offer her support in anyway, maybe she could make some progress on that front.

She let out a giggle, Reiko was a competitor at heart, and she wouldn't back down from any challenge...! "...I won't make it easy...! You'll be getting smothered in ways you never knew possible...!" She chuckled. "...And I think I'll be giving you a different kind of meal, I-I think...!" She blushed, not really sure what Reiko was implying when she said she was going to 'make a meal out of her', the more she thought on it, the more her face heated up. "...Well, either way, I'm a booty kicking master...!" Gil mocked moves she never even attempted in the ring, throwing light punched and kicks in the air...!

[dlamp]

Reiko watched Gil's display with a cheeky grin on her lips. The punches and kicks were... honestly kind of pathetic. It was clear Gil was just going along with Reiko's taunt and playing around, but Reiko couldn't help but earnestly laugh at the girl's weak attempts at being intimidating. The girl was at least a head taller than Reiko and she couldn't find herself feeling any kind of killing intent from Gil. And the blush of Reiko's obvious sexual taunt made it a telltale sign the girl was either inexperience in that realm or unwilling to go for the more... direct humiliation tactics.

Whether that was just Gil earnestly being gentle in public or if she truly didn't have a mean bone in her body she didn't know. Reiko herself only saw a very small amount of Gil's matches and only knew her personality through Twitter, which wasn't exactly a good gauge of a person's demeanor in real life. Though seeing Gil up close like this, seeing just how kind and earnest she was... it was kind of surprisingly.

"Heh, butt-kicking master, huh?" But Reiko couldn't let Gil's little declaration and show of determination go unanswered, even if she was just doing it more for Reiko's sake. Taking a few sets back, Reiko took a breath settling herself into a stance, fists at her hips, feet apart. She paused, letting the ocean breeze blow for a moment, then-

"Hah!" Reiko brought up an arm, as if to block an incoming strike from above. She then quickly moving it down to a resting position, bring up for leg for a front kick and slamming the foot down into the sand. She followed with three straight punches in front of her, alternating arms in a mechanical fashion. "Seiya!" And finished her short kata with a high roundhouse kick, her foot arc just a little under the height of Gil's jaw before she settled into a resting position. "Osu." She exhaled, giving Gil and earnest rather cocky grin, as if silently daring the wrestler to outdo her performance before her face shifted to an earnest grin. As silly as it was, the short performance did settle her nerves a little.

"But... Thanks, Gil-san. I... needed that." She ran a hand through her hair. "A lot of the time I don't wanna' burden Onee-san or Ane-san with my problems, and Kiyo-chan's not really here in America for me to vent to. So... thanks... Really, I mean it."

[Arista]

Gil watched Reiko perform, and she knew from the get-go that it was ten-times more impressive than whatever she did...! Reiko moved with poise and power, she moved like she knew what she was doing, and that was probably because she did! "...A-alright, I think you win...!" Gil giggled, scratching the back of her head. "...But if we were in the ring, I would have more up my sleeve, I just don't think it's polite to smother someo0ne on the beach is all...!" She giggled all the way through.

"...Of course, anytime, Amano! I suppose I can only truly speak for myself, but you are far from a burden, so give me a call, or hell, even a visit, I'll text you my address...!" Gil offered any and all support she possibly could to her friend, she knew nothing could be enough to erase what had happened, but giving any aid possible was the best she could do.

She gave Reiko one last hug, softly resting her chin on her shoulder then pulling back, taking her hands into her own. "...Don't forget what I told you, okay? You're the toughest lady I know, don't let anyone convince you otherwise...!" The two shared one last tender moment before Gil pulled back away, yawning. "...It's been a long day, I had an early match and then sat through all of the main-card...!" She stretched. "...I think I'll head back to the hotel, do you want to walk with me, or do you need some time alone...?"

[dlamp]

"Hehe~" Reiko grinned, hugging Gil back at her embrace. The short release of emotions lightened her load a little. The hesitation and the forced front she gave to Hitomi and Lunar no longer felt like a struggle to keep up. It... wasn't all gone, but at least she could look forward with more clarity. This loss wasn't going to be the end of things. She was still able to stand up afterwards, still able to help encourage others in her own way, and still able to fight. "... ... ..." Yeah. I can still do this! She wasn't going to let this be the end of her journey as a wrestler. No, as a fighter. The second she got back to Japan she'd work her ass off in the dojo and-

"... -ck to the hotel, do you want to walk with me, or do you need some time alone...?"

"Huh-?" Reiko's head snapped up, looking up at Gil's yawning, tired face. Ah shit. I completely spaced out. It probably was pretty late now. She had been on the beach since sunset, and until she met Lunar her mind blanked out in keeping time. It was probably past midnight by now. "Haaaaa~" And Gil's yawn attached itself to Reiko too. "Y-Yeah... I'll head there with you. We can probably just exchange numbers and stuff too when we get to our rooms." And walking back with one of the safer of the three options she ran into tonight was probably a good call. Nanase had said America was a more dangerous at night than Japan, so walking back with a partner would be for the best.

"Alright, let's get going then." She moved a few steps ahead toward the hotel. "I'll lead the way."

End...