"Where is your base?"
Ryuji pointed toward a street not far away.
"The Shiranui-ryu dojo. You should know it."
"Shiranui-ryu? I think I've heard that name before. Are you the current successor of Shiranui-ryu?"
Chun-Li frowned upon hearing this. She knew of Shiranui-ryu, a second-rate dojo at best. Although the previous generation's master had decent strength, it wasn't considered a particularly powerful dojo. Could there be some kind of hidden base inside?
Her question left Ryuji a bit confused. He looked at Chun-Li with curiosity. The fusion of the King of Fighters and Street Fighter worlds already felt strange to him, but the two worlds' settings were extremely similar: comparable art styles, past crossovers, and nearly identical power systems—roughly like the relationship between DC and Marvel.
But given Chun-Li's status and Mai's status, the two of them not knowing each other at all was…
Quite strange.
After all, they were both martial artists. They should at least know of each other.
Ryuji tentatively asked.
"Hmm… have you heard of the Street Fighter tournament? Or the King of Fighters tournament?"
Chun-Li was also puzzled by Ryuji's question.
"Street Fighter tournament? What's that? I do know about the King of Fighters tournament, but isn't that just an American boxing competition? Sure, there are a few talented people, but most of them haven't even developed their qi yet. Would someone like you really be interested in that kind of competition?
Chun-Li's answer was casual, but Ryuji was completely bewildered.
I completely forgot to ask Mai about the details of her world earlier…
Ryuji sank into deep self-reproach. After all, intelligence was the most important thing.
Seriously, what was I even doing when I was with Mai?!
He started thinking about what what he'd done when he was with Mai, and recalled that most of the time he was either staring at her chest while chatting idly, messing around with Shinobu and the others, or fighting. There really hadn't been any chance to ask about information at all!
Looks like this one really wasn't his fault after all.
Who the hell could've imagined that the King of Fighters tournament hadn't even started yet?!And that the King of Fighters world had somehow merged with the Street Fighter world.
But then again… what was the Street Fighter storyline, anyway?
Ryuji paused, realizing that while he knew a bit about King of Fighters plot because of Mai, he knew almost nothing about Street Fighter storyline. All he remembered was that Chun-Li supposedly had two rumored girlfriends, Cammy and Juri, and that she became an international police officer to find out the truth behind her father's death.
So… what's the story of Street Fighter, exactly?
He racked his brain, trying hard to recall any useful information about Street Fighter, but no matter how much he thought about it, nothing came to mind. His pensive expression, however, made Chun-Li feel a little curious.
"What are you thinking about? You don't actually believe that 'King of Fighters' thing has real masters, do you? Or is that just another organization using it as a cover?"
Confident in her own strength, Chun-Li's question was quite bold.
The most important point was that Shiranui-ryu was basically an obscure, little-known minor school. Chun-Li felt that if they really fought, she would still have the advantage.
"Well… if we're talking about boxing," Ryuji replied casually, "then yeah, there really aren't any real 'martial artists' there."
He wasn't deliberately belittling boxing. After all, boxing was a combat sport specifically designed for performance and spectacle. Many of its rules existed purely to make matches more visually exciting.
In this martial arts world that placed far greater emphasis on real combat ability, boxing could probably only contribute certain concepts and techniques that could be incorporated into a martial artist's moves.
The most obvious flaw was its lack of leg usage, boxing barely used kicks at all. In real combat, that was a huge disadvantage, and an outright exploitable weakness.
Of course, that didn't mean this world lacked exceptional individuals who could compensate for such shortcomings through sheer talent and strength.
"You're a strange one," Chun-Li said, frowning.
She found herself growing more and more curious about Ryuji, because from the way he talked, the competitions he mentioned sounded impressive.
Yet in her eyes, they were nothing more than street-thug brawls.
As she looked at Ryuji, her eyes narrowed slightly, and she muttered to herself:
"Is he part of some secret organization or is his perspective just too narrow? Given his level of strength, it's probably the latter.… Could he be the type who's been training deep in the mountains all this time?"
Observing Ryuji's clothes, as well as the two swords on his back that carried a faint scent of blood, and found herself increasingly unable to read him.
Meanwhile, Tifa followed closely behind Ryuji, even subconsciously wanting to grab his arm. This made Ryuji even more curious about her situation.
Her body clearly showed signs of training, but her footwork and breathing lacked rhythm, one glance was enough to tell that she hadn't been practicing martial arts for long.
So… which point in the timeline is this Tifa from?
Completely unfamiliar with Final Fantasy VII's plot, Ryuji once again fell into confusion.
Never mind. I'll just ask when we get back.
The Shiranui dojo wasn't far, which was why Ryuji was able to reach the café almost instantly. But when the three of them arrived at the street where the dojo was located, Ryuji realized just how wealthy Shiranui-ryu really was.
Because standing in front of them was a mountain and at the foot of that mountain, there was only a single building—the Shiranui-ryu dojo.
To put it simply:
That entire mountain belonged to the Shiranui-ryu.
But for Chun-Li, who had been cautiously observing the surroundings the whole time, sharpened her gaze and began scanning the surroundings, trying to find traces of some secret organization. Yet she found nothing.
No… it wouldn't be accurate to say she found nothing.
A powerful surge of qi!
Her eyes sharpened instantly. She instinctively stepped in front of Tifa, remaining on guard against Ryuji while issuing a warning:
"Someone's charging over!"
As soon as her words fell, a woman dressed in traditional attire pushed open the dojo's gate and pounced on Ryuji like a leopard.
"Ryuji!!"
Mai slammed straight into him, catching the unprepared Ryuji so off guard that he almost fell over.
After barely managing to steady himself, he saw Mai, eyes reddened, yet smiling brightly, she gave him a hard kiss on the cheek. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her long legs locking firmly around his waist.
"Let's make a baby tonight!"
~~~~~~~~~~
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