The Date
Roppongi.
The live entertainment capital of Japan. Bright lights, bars, karaoke, dance clubs. You name it, this city has it. A sprawling epicenter in the district of Minato in Tokyo. An amazing place that tourists of all countries like to visit. But it is also a place that locals love to go to to unwind and blow steam. And this is where we find Aidan Reynolds. An orange cab moves along the sidewalk, coming to a stop, the back door opens, and Aiden steps out, taking in a deep breath before slowly, handing over a few bills. He gives a small nod, thanking the driver before looking up and down the sidewalk.
He smiled, happy with being back on the strip. His mind flashback to the mini late nights that he had here, with the rest of the crew from various wrestling organizations that he had worked for in Japan. They spilled some drinks, had some laughs, sung, plenty of songs at late night karaoke.
Life was good. And now, it was going to be better. A few months ago as Aidan worked for one of the bigger wrestling companies in Japan he met a girl. A beautiful young girl who is backstage at one of the events. To his surprise, she spoke English very well. And as they hit it off, Aidan came to realise that it was The daughter of the CEO and owner. And even as he was warned, even as everyone told him, it would be a bad idea to pursue her. Aidan didn’t care. In his mind, they were too consenting adults, and they could make their own decisions. He moved down the sidewalk towards the small karaoke bar, that they had agreed to meet. he paid the cover charge, walked in and looked around.
They had agreed to journey their separately. Traveling together would end up causing suspicion and raising eyebrows, especially since there were eyes and ears everywhere. He moved toward the back of the club, to a small VIP room. Karaoke bars in Japan, were always very popular, and VIP rooms were booked out. Luckily for him, his date had a certain amount of pull.
Akari Kiriyu.
The daughter of a Japanese business legend. Man who owned one of the most professional and popular wrestling companies in all of Japan. Maybe even the world. She was 24 years old, a recent graduate of college. A bachelors of business under her belt as she looked at getting into the administrative side of the family business.
And there she was. Sitting on the edge of a leather couch that stretched around the wall and toward the door. Wearing a glittery pink dress with matching shoes, she smiled, and stood up, stepping toward Aidan before to herself. ”You made it” Aiden smiled and let her lead him over to the couch before sitting down. Akari smiled and grabbed a drink handing it to Aiden before sitting down next to him ”I’m surprised…”
”Surprised? Why?”
She shook her head and sighed clearly not having any of it. ”You know who my father is. Everyone does. And they avoid me like the plague.” she laughed again, but this time it was to hide the sadness in her voice. Then it hit him, she was lonely. And he understood why. This girl was basically a Japanese fucking princess. And because of that she has felt isolated and locked away.
Aidan shook his head and took a sip of his drink. ”Aye I get it. You can be very intimidating. Smart, beautiful, funny. And ya speak English better than me and it’s my natural language.” She chuckled, her mood brightening as she started to realise that Aidan was telling the truth. He was intimidated. But not by her father, but by her. It made him seem more endearing, and maybe even a little bit more attractive to her.
”I guess studying overseas for six years has it’s positives. You probably know Tokyo better than me….” She took a sip of her drink, smiling as she did. Aiden shrugged, maybe she was right, maybe she was wrong. But right now, Aiden would help her enjoy what time she had free. ”What brought you here anyway? I know many foreigners want to work in Japan but why did you?” Aiden swallowed and shook his head. It was a loaded question.
He sat forward and smiled. ”I grew up watchin wrestling. It was an escape ya know? But a friend of mine, he had some bootleg DVDs of old Japanese stuff…I was hooked…and this was my dream. To see it all, to work here..”
There was a small pause, Akari gave a surefire nod, as if understanding. Her voice was calm, sweet and reassuring. ”That is probably the purest answer I have ever heard. Some want to come here to chase fame and fortune or to use it as a stepping stone..” She took another drink, slowly getting to her feet and backing up toward the screen and microphones. ”But, you have thrown yourself into our culture…” Aiden stood up with her moving close and looking over at the screen. ”Nihongo mo wakaru ndesu ne”(You understand Japanese too)
He chuckled ”Hai, demo sorehodode wa arimasen”(Yes, but not so much) Aiden took a deep breath, thinking a little to try and come up with something else to say. ”Uta o utattari, midoriiro no toriniku o tabete mo īdesu ka?”(Can I eat a song or eat green chicken?) Akari stopped mid step and bit her bottom lip trying not to laugh. She moved around and picked up a microphone, tossing it to Aiden and selecting a song.
”Come on…you’ve escaped singing long enough…”
”More like you have escaped hearin me sing love”
Akari shook her head and went to kick on the machine and select a son, however as she stepped closer the door to the room swung open and a group of men stepped in. All of them Japanese and all of them wearing black suits with small badges with insignias on them. One of them, obviously the leader, stepped forward and completely ignored Aiden, stepping up to Akari and bowing. ”Kiryuu-chan. Chūdan o go yōsha kudasai. Shikashi, anata no chichioya wa anata no shusseki o yōkyū shimashita.”(Miss Kiriyu, Please excuse the interruption, but your father requests your presence)
”Keii o arawashimasuga, chichi no negai wa watashi to wa nani no kankei mo arimasen.”(With all due respect, my fathers wishes have nothing to do with me) She ground her teeth together. Aiden raised an eyebrow feeling the tension in the air.
He cleared his throat and slowly moved between them. ”Matte matte. Minasan ochitsuite kudasai. Kiryuu-san wa mōsukoshi jikan o kureru to omoimasu.”(Wait, Wait. I think Mr Kiriyu can give us a little more time)
The mood changed. The other men standing behind the leader shuffled and started to move around Aiden. Akari swallowed, moving quickly she put her hands up. ”Matte!.... She turned and looked at Aiden shaking her head. ”It’s ok. Aiden I’ll go with them. I know my father and he gets what he wants….but thank you…for making me feel..free…for one night….” The sadness returned in her voice. Aiden went to reach out but Akari shook her head, he stepped back as the men followed her out of the room, the door closing behind them.
Bloodbath?
”Ya only get one chance to make a first impression. And boy did I ever make a fuckin first impression..”
Aiden smirks and moves across the room, he folds his large arms over his chest as Kallie pops in, bouncing happily.
”Yeah you went like..crash boom, bam…and kicked his butt.”
”Oh right…..I knew I forget to tell you something.”
”Forgot to tell me what?”
Aiden, who is only wearing a pair of gym shorts and running shoes, shuffles over and grabs a tie, putting it on…..yes…a tie with no shirt…
”Please…have a seat.”
Aiden motions to the chair near the kitchen table, Kallie raises an eyebrow and sits down.
”Shouldn’t we be…you know, doing the promo thing, you know, where you bounce ideas off me?”
Aiden clears his throat, sitting down across from her shaking his head.
”First off, I want to say that we have loved havin you at our organisation, you have been a shining light and leadership has nothin but lovely things to say about ya. However, corporate has decided to go in a different direction…”
”Corporate?...you don’t have a “corporate” Aiden.”
Aiden nods and gets to his feet moving toward the door.
”Please, if you need anything, a reference or paperwork let us know….”
Kallie blinks a few times, looking over at a book sitting to the side., reading over one of the habits of a successful people.
”Wait, are you standing up to get rid of me?...I AM NOT A TIME BANDIT AIDEN.”
”Aye I never said you were, but we need to maximize our dynamic growth and to do that we are going with a different tactic to reach our KPI’s. But hey…take a business card.”
Aiden hands a card to her, Kallie blinks a few times and shakes her head.
”This….is written in crayon……wait…what new tactic?”
The door opens, Finn Whelan steps inside, sunglasses on and a leather jacket over his shirt.
”Alright dingo dong, what did you want? I’m here?”
Kallies jaw drops, she looks at Finn then back to Aiden then to Finn again, she then stomps her foot and pouts before Aiden clears his throat. Finn looks over and realises Aiden is cutting a promo. He shakes his head and Aiden meekly smiles and shrugs. Finn then slowly nods and throws his hands in the air.
”Shit I’m bored…so fine…”
Aiden celebrates. Finally getting the promo started.
”So, after winnin my debut against Justin Smith I was wonderin where I was gonna go from there. Was it gonna be a match against a bigger name? Somethin to build myself up a little more and grab some attention? That would normally happen, but this time? Nah. This time I’m bein thrown head first into a fuckin bloodbath. And against a former world champion, a bloke who has been so close to being world champion….and Bill Barnhart…”
“Man what an uphill battle.”
“For starters, I ain’t into the whole deathmatch thing, in fact, I hate blood…”
”...Pussy”
Aiden scowls at Finn and shakes his head. ”You’re not helpin mate…”
“Now, as I was saying. This match is going to be absolutely brutal. After all, it’s called a bloodbath brawl. It doesn’t exactly sound like a walk in the park. In fact, it sounds rather for boating. And I’ll be entering into this match with Ben, Jordan, Alexander, Raven, and Billy bitch tits. . now, when it comes to Ben Jordan aside from the sharp jawline of a Hollywood movie star and the incredible physique. What does this guy really have going for him?”
”World title reigns and a great win loss record and amazing skillset?”
”Just whose fuckin side are you on anyway?”
Finn shrugs and nAiden rolls his eyes.
”Look, Benny boy, I know you’re real top shit in this company and you’re essentially a legend. But lately, goin up against people like Finn, well it’s shown how complacent you’ve become. You turn up and try hard but loss or win, it doesn’t matter. You just drift along in the same mindset over and over again. But I gotta wonder, where are tya goin Ben? See I know what I want to do.”
“I want to win this and go on to climb that ladder toward championship glory and to become the biggest bloody name in this company. But what is it YOU want? Do you want to continue taggin with that anchor strapped to ya leg in Sam Marlowe? Or do you want to remind the world you’re Ben Goddamn Jordan?”
“Cause I can already tell what ya want in the immediate time. Revenge.”
“Revenge on Alexander Raven, the bloke who cost ya, allegedly, the mixed tag team championship. So the little war between you two is spillin over into this match. And I’ll be there to watch in a front row seat….”
”I hope he cracks Ravens skull open, he sticks his nose in other peoples business too often.”
”That’s the spirit.”
“But you’re right, Raven did get in your shit just to get at Benny Boy Handsome Jordan. And ya have to question, why? Why are those two gonna get in each others shit all the time and can they or will they focus on others? Cause I gotta say, if Raven and Jordan forget I exist in that match they’ll have a bad time.”
”They might forget about Barnhart too..”
”Who?”
Finn just stares ahead before pushing his fingers onto the bridge of his nose as if he has a headache.
”Oh right, bitch tits. Well, before I get to him, I have to ask. Alexander Raven. Mate, buddy, pal. Tell your brother James to call me, he and I used to be friends then he just kind of walked away and disappeared after he stuck his dick in crazy. And I…”
”Wait…wait…Aiden…Alexander Raven and James Raven are not related…”
Aiden makes a face and screws his nose up.
”You sure?”
”Yes…”
”Oh..uh…my bad. “
”You know like…ninty percent of the people who watch this won’t get that reference right?”
”What? But James Raven is like, super popular and well known and relevant…”
”Pfft not anymore…”
Aiden tries not to laugh and clears his throat before continuing.
”So, kind of like ol Alex? Cause I have watched as this dude went from being hot shit, a guy who beat ol Austin and made the big fella his bitch. He was so close to being the world champion. Hell he even had people who used to hate his ass rooting for him. But now where are we Alex? What are we doin man? Here you are in a bloodbath brawl against a guy you hate, a guy you don’t know who just got here and then Bill Barnhart who is more of a running joke than a damn threat. Shit man you should be in the main event, you should be facing someone like this fucker” He points at Finn ”Or that weird Goth dude for the world title.”
“You have become a failure, you have watched as your career has fallen and failed. You have become everything you hated. You came into SCW with a bang, telling everyone here how there needed to be a changing of the guard and you wanted to break through instead of being like so many others and just existing. But shit, what has happened? Well?”
“Where did your balls go bird boy?”
“Cause from our point of view, attacking Ben Jordan during a mixed tag match makes you look a little desperate for attention. But hey, winnin a bloodbath?...it could get some attention on both you and Benji…”
Aiden laughs and shrugs before turning and grabbing a can of G fuel popping it open.
”Uh…Aiden…you’re forgetting someone…”
”Eh?”
”Barnhart…”
Aiden blinks a few times as if trying to remember weho it is that Finn is pointing out.
”Oh right! Yeah him. Man it’s hard to find things to say about Bill Barnhart. It’s usually the same old story. Everyone who faced Bill says the same things. He’s a fat old joke. He’s a fluke who stumbles into a few wins a year that keeps him employed. The best thing about him and his wife is their dog and everything else about him is boring, derivative and he has got an outdated borderline sexist and racist sense of humour.”
“But, hey enough about the positives. Lets talk about his negatives.”
“Bill, magte, buddy, pal, I have to ask. What exactly do you want out of professional wrestling? I mean I can see what Ben wants, he wants to keep proving he’s the best. I can see what Alexander wants, he wants to become a champion and validate all his claims from the last three years. And me? Hell I want to keep climbing that ladder.”
“But what is it you want Bill?”
“Do you want to prove everyone wrong? All the naysayers? Do you want to try and become a world champion in your aging career? Cause mate, while that might be some kind of noble pursuit that could help you in the long run and would definitely add to the small…tiny…miniscule legacy you have. But Bill, it just ain’t feasible. You’re not good enough….but ya know who is? Ya know who has a futute and who is going to be a star in this company?”
Aiden slowly points his thumbs at himself.
”Me, I will and the three of you….well…ya gotta stop me somehow…and oh boy…it’s gonna be a bloodbath.”