Retraux

[NeoBiishikiGun]

It’s quite dark in the arena, causing some gasps from the crowd. Then, the big spotlight hits a certain spot in the entrance stage, illuminating a big chair that looks more like a throne. The throne is covered with a thick, pitch black veil and on the sides, there are green vines, which are also decorated with beautiful blooming roses proudly hanging from them.

When a former EBWF Women’s Champion is seen near that throne, the mystery becomes clearer. Utami, no longer Hayashishita, is wearing the maid dress she is often seen wearing whenever she accompanies her eternal mistress. Not keeping the EBWF faithful waiting any longer, she simply spins the big chair and reveals a very game-on looking Sakisama sitting on her throne of roses.

Sakisama: “Salutations, my dear children of EBWF. It has been a while since you got the opportunity to be in awe of my radiant beauty, hasn’t it? I’m sure you missed me so much, but I can’t say the feeling has been mutual. To me, you are as unremarkable as always. Don’t take this as an insult, being unremarkable is much better than being ugly.”

Of course, the crowd does take that as an insult and boo’s the matriarch of NEO Biishiki-Gun accordingly, causing Sakisama to sigh. It’s not really possible to educate the masses on this topic, at least.

Sakisama: “Keep in mind, your Lady is acutely aware of the fact that ignorance only breeds baseless speculations. This has been the theory of knowledge for years and years, before your and even my time. Of course, it would also not take an intelligence level like my old friend Albert Einstein to realize that it very much holds up in practice as well. Oh, that it does frighteningly well, doesn’t it?”

The claim that Sakisama knew Einstein notwithstanding, the beautiful smile of hers is equally confident. She seems very confident and chatty today.

Sakisama: “Therefore, some much needed enlightenment should be in order, so that we can get in front of another Miss Bliss incident before it gets the chance to even materialize a bit.”

She truly intends to create suspense for this. Always had a penchant for drama, and not appearing in the last batch of shows probably caused her to save up some dramaticsm for this exact moment.

Sakisama: “When other … more mediocre, let’s say … wrestlers are absent like I was, one could easily think that there might be a contract issue with the management. Some of those in absentia might even try to set a false narrative for themselves and claim that they are unused and those expensive suits simply hate them to let them succeed. ‘Oh, I am being held back!’ they would scream like banshees. Ah, it would be the perfect amount of amusing if it wasn’t simply too pathetic!”

A lady-like chuckle escapes her lips.

Sakisama: “I am not having any contract issues, nor do I butt heads with those white collar boys up above. Even they know not to cross the most beautiful and the most powerful of them all: Me, your eternal and ethereal Mademoiselle. I suffer from no afflictions, nor any of those who EBWF puts in front of me are strong enough to leave a substantial injury on my perfect body. With all those ‘reasons’ out of the way, we can now come to the most important question … ”

The fans don’t know if they should be relieved that their Lady isn’t having any issues with EBWF management or upset that she plans to be here still.

Sakisama: “Simply put, I was away because I wanted to be away. I can simply come and go to EBWF as I please. When you are a true goddess like me, you are afforded a lot of privileges like that. Like our shameless ‘champion’, I can tell you that you should try getting better if my aristocratic prerogatives really pisses you off. However, I am no country bumpkin girl and you can never get better enough to be even considered the same level as me, so, just learn to live with it, my sweeties.”

More boo’s rain down on her for that proclamation. That was quite a build up to a simple ‘because I wanted to’ answer, but as we stated before, Sakisama lives for the dramatics.

Sakisama: “Oh, by the way. Do not ever think that I was simply in my mansion and sipping my delicious tea with no thoughts about the landscape of the company I tasked myself with to beautify. Yes, I did much tea drinking and relaxing, yet, I have also been monitoring the happenings around this place quite closely. Don’t ever forget this, my children, beauty never sleeps, because the moment it does, ugliness will creep in with its hideous claws and rot everything to its ghastly level. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

The serious expression in her face displays that she really wouldn’t want that and neither should you.

Sakisama: “What I have been doing is simply observing the situation and planning my next steps accordingly. Because let’s be honest, I called this war before anyone else even had a clue what was about to go down. Despite my warnings, nobody decided to make preparations for the coming storm, so, it was only natural that the misfits of Oedo Tai would burn the ships with their unconventional ways of surprisingly effective guerrilla buffoonery. Even when this chicanery has started, the marauders could still be defeated from the very start if the other side of this war had simply heeded my advice instead of stupidly accusing me of attacks I hadn’t seen any point in committing in the first place.”

Her continuous digs at Bliss during this speech really highlights that she might have not gotten over her loss to Alexa. But she would not admit to that, for sure.

Sakisama: “The competence of EBWF’s women simply led me to believe that they lack the competence and elegance with this kind of situation and well, it is rather hard to help people who don’t want to be helped or can’t recognize if they are helped. They are, simply, unserious people.”

She says that last part in a very dismissive manner.

Sakisama: “Like I said, I have been open with my intentions to combat the ugliness of Oedo Tai even before they fully showed their faces. So, when you decide to finally get serious about handling that problem, give me a call. But until then, I will simply focus on my own journey of spreading beauty with every step that I take because I have no intention of dragging a worthless flock to a war victory and have them gain glory off my back. Leeches are ugly, so I shall not tolerate them or have them tolerated in my divine presence.”

This causes some mixed reaction amongst the crowd, while Utami beside her just innocently nods at that statement.

Sakisama: “Before you start frowning and sulking about that, I should also tell you that I still intend to combat Oedo Tai. I should herald the news that their downfall is sooner than you realise. And I should tell you that I have no intentions of losing allies left and right and then cry about it before pretending like a Halloween costume can make me more powerful than I already am. What stands before you is real power, the kind of power that flows within one’s veins from the very start, without needing to scrap or struggle to gain. If you think, for a single second, that any of those Oedo Tai freaks can bring me or my beautiful NEO Biishiki-Gun estate down, then I have a big tower in Paris to sell you.”

The prospect of Mademoiselle continuing to combat Oedo Tai draws a surprising amount of cheers from the crowd. Enemy of my enemy, she supposes.

Sakisama: “And for this war, I have simply decided to choose my own recruits rather than asking others to come and fight beside me because as we have all seen, most of the pathetic excuses for women backstage can’t do nothing but weep when the wild animals decide to act like wild animals and harm them as wild animals would. I am different. I do not submit to an army of beasts, I simply conquer them as a general. And any general would know the value of good men to fight for and fight with them. And I certainly know that at Fanniversary, the first bullet will be fired, hitting Oedo Tai straight in the heart.”

She seems very confident in that statement.

Sakisama: “How, you might ask? Real simple, I know that if dear Arisa Hoshiki shows half the heart she showed against me in her title match, that she can easily take the title from Tam’s cold, dead hands. Furthermore, the display she had put against me simply proves that she is not capable of not putting everything on the line every time she steps foot into that ring, because she wrestles her every match like her last. I find her drive to outgrow her station … more admirable than insolent.”

Now the cheers are getting better now that it is the fans’ beloved Shining Star that is getting some unlikely praise from Sakisama.

Sakisama: “You might try to remind me that she had turned down my rose before and for that, I might call you short-sighted. If Arisa had no intention to stand with me from the very beginning, then she would never come to my aid when I was facing the three-headed mutt of Oedo Tai by myself. It’s understandable that she is simply too scared to commit due to her own history with those who committed their hearts to me. But rest assured, The Shining Star is someone I’d rather see by my side than the enemy’s side and I’m sure she herself knows the value of having allies like me.”

The people seem willing to tolerate the idea of Arisa and Sakisama working together to fend off Oedo Tai, at least.

Sakisama: “And what better way to remind you and to Arisa especially, to make a grand return to in-ring competition and finally secure myself a pay-per-view win. You might think that my previous losses have diminished my power but I will simply tell you that they only served to open my eyes from this lethargic slumber. Both of my losses came from opponents who were willing to put everything, even their lives on the line in pursuit of defeating me. Don’t ever think that I am trying to understate my defeats here, but they are blatant facts. The sting I have felt after those defeats simply tells me that I should be prepared to take everything my opponents might throw at me, which includes those lives in question. I will let go of my amusement from watching their valiant struggles and simply finish the job like I should’ve been doing all along. At Fanniversary, I will be there to show everyone exactly that. The time to play is over, it’s time to take my mission here in EBWF more seriously as the only timeless woman your eyes will have the privilege to watch in the ring.”

Seriously, her previous losses really seem like they have gotten to Sakisama. A rather far cry from her invincible aura from the time she first made her appearance.

Sakisama: “What even is time anyway? You go through your days, weeks, months, years. Your mundane and monotone lives go in such a homogenous direction that everything blends in together in your eyes. You feel shock and surprise when learning an event that you feel like happened yesterday actually happened years ago. You only feel the effects of time when your back starts giving up or your knees can’t bend anymore. But as someone who lived for more time than any of you, I should proclaim that I take the passage of time rather seriously. You’ll find that I tend to be rather displeased when things are misplaced in time.”

This seems like just social commentary, but it is also getting obvious where Sakisama is going to take this.

Sakisama: “I witnessed the rise and fall of silent movies, where the people in the moving pictures couldn’t address us or each other with their direct voice. In the beginning, it was simply a lack of proper technology to make the jump to the talkies, but when times changed, the silent ones became relics of the past, a concept only unearthed for artful purposes. I, in my infinite wisdom, have always been an appreciator and even a patron of high arts. Why shouldn’t I be? I am living and breathing art myself, a perfect woman.”

And can you even deny her perfection?

Sakisama: “But when that art is tapped into by a woman who is also a relic of the past … despite claiming to be timeless … well, isn’t that just unsightly?”

Utami obediently nods at that, she, too, does that unsightly.

Sakisama: “What purpose would a performer serve if they simply come onto the stage and display themselves being what they actually are? Why do we need to see Toni Storm try and play a washed-up ‘starlet’ when we already know that she has been washed for a while. What is the ‘art’ in this situation, I feel the need to ask, when what Toni shows is a display of her reality, just without any colours and spoken words.”

She truly seems disgusted by how her opponent at Fanniversary seems to be carrying herself.

Sakisama: “A ‘starlet’ with her best years behind her, but let me tell you, her best years weren’t even great to begin with. If we are supposed to see and find value in how bad she has fallen from her prime, then I don’t get that either. Ah Toni, you’re simply a mess, aren’t you? You simply lost the plot at one stage and don’t really know what you are doing. There are many in EBWF that wander around like you but your case is simply pathetic. Maybe wrestling me and seeing just how out of depth your curious Vaudeville show really is will help you snap out of this pathetic excuse for ‘art project’ and stop cloaking your mediocrity with concepts that actually had a time and place to serve a true purpose, unlike you, who never filled in any important gaps anywhere or contributed to any company that hired you in a meaningful manner.”

The boo’s make their return, apparently the people are not too happy that Sakisama is being mayhaps extra critical of Storm.

Sakisama: “Maybe, just maybe, you are doing us all a favor by keeping your ‘movies’ silent so that we don’t get to hear your ugly voice but I digress, you aren’t even ugly enough to get the special treatment of ugliness. You, Toni Storm, your Lady is diagnosing you with a severe case of ‘mediocrity’ and ‘delirium induced by intense mediocrity’. If you want a second opinion, then my Dr. Yukio can easily attest to that as well.”

She crosses her legs on her throne, confidence oozes out from her speech.

Sakisama: “In Fanniversary, I will be there to send a message that Sakisama and her beauty is still here to fight the ugliness that wants to devour the intestines of EBWF. I will show that this is still my war and I will see Oedo Tai come to an end. And before I strike down on their farce, I will come and end yours too, so that we can see just how unremarkable you really are without that old-time glitz and glamour you try to cover yourself with.”

She gently plucks one of the roses from the sides of her throne and simply runs her hand through its peduncle, not paying any attention to its thorns. Looking at the rose, she continues to speak.

Sakisama: “Timeless. You are only timeless because no time is willing to accept you in the first place, Toni. But that’s okay, you can see the pain I will cause you as your rite of acceptance. I will acknowledge everything that you are and want to be. I will acknowledge your pain and suffering, and I will relieve you of that. Until then, continue to avert your eyes from modern times and city lights, I will bring you to reality all the same. Au revoir.”

After that last word, her theme song ‘Bara wa Utsukushiku Chiru’ hits and she confidently poses in her throne before Utami spins the throne again, making Sakisama no longer face the EBWF faithful. As her music continues, the spotlight go out again, leaving the arena once again in total darkness before things would go back to normal again with no throne or NEO Biishiki-Gun in sight.