The King of Fighters Tournament

CYS team

Yashiro Nanakase went through his social media feed and stopped scrolling when he caught sight of a familiar band of fighters performing for a Funky Jazz party. The Band of Fighters. He frowned thoughtfully and double-tapped to like the picture. He turned towards his teammates, who lazily lounged about, staring at their devices.
"Shermie, what do you say we collaborate with the BOF again?" Yashiro suggested. "It was nice playing with them the last time. Why not we do it again?"
"Ask that Yagami fella," red-haired Shermie simply said, working her stylus pen across the screen of her tablet.
Yashiro rolled his eyes. "Of course... I can't just barge in and say 'Yo! I want a collab,' right?"
Chris started laughing, already able to imagine his teammate doing so. "You can't. Because if you do, they'll just trash you like last time."
Yashiro scowled at the reminder. Shermie smirked and looked up from her tablet. "Well, you asked for it, Mon Cheri."
Yashiro left the room, taking his phone out to directly call the redhead.
"Hello?" Iori said as soon as he picked up.
"Hi, Yagami," Yashiro began. "It's Yashiro. Wanna collab?"
"Hey, I was about to ask you that too, actually," the other man said, much to his surprise. "There's a KOF tournament coming up, so I thought maybe we could perform for the opening ceremony. I already informed Rugal about it and stuff, so you wanna join us?"
Yashiro stopped short, confused. "KOF...?"
"Yeah, Rugal's hosting another tournament," Iori explained. "Didn't you guys get the invite?"
Yashiro frowned. "No... I don't think we did... does he know that we survived?"
There was a snort on the other end. "The guy literally came to our concert with his whole family, Snowhead. But yeah. Just keep a lookout. Yours is probably due soon too. It might even hit you in the face, I'm not even kidding."
"For real?" Yashiro asked with a smirk. "Did this happen to you or what?"
"Nah, it happened to Beni," Iori replied. "For me and my sister, though..."
"Your sister is invited too?" Yashiro interrupted.
"She's a fighter too, ya know?"
"Sorry, I almost forgot," Yashiro quickly said. "Anyway, what were you saying?"
"Two ninjas confronted us when we were feeding cats, and we trashed them," Iori said smugly. "They wanted to see if we were worthy of the invitation. Well, they learned it the hard way. Kyo, on the other hand, received his invitation on a stick when buying shioyaki."
Yashiro snorted as he imagined that. "Okay, now that's funny."
Iori chuckled. "Yeah. So just keep a lookout. You might receive it when you least expect it."
Yashiro nodded even when the other man couldn't see him. "I'll inform you when I receive it."
"Aight," Iori said before hanging up.
Yashiro put the phone back into his pocket and went back to his teammates, frowning. Tatsuuru, Yashiro's pet hawk, flew towards him and perched itself on his shoulder, affectionately rubbing its head against his jaw. Yashiro gave his pet a small smile and turned back to his teammates, who looked at him with concern.
"What is it, did Yagami reject you?" Shermie asked, frowning too. "That's so mean of him!"
"I know right!" Chris's added. "If we didn't collab, they couldn't have played most of the songs!"
Yashiro shook his head, sinking into the armchair. "That's not it, Yagami actually liked the idea. But the thing is... there's a new KOF tournament coming up, but we haven't received our invitations."
Shermie snorted. "Yeah, like that's a problem. We'll just take those American guys' invitation like last time!"
Yashiro frowned. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea. But if we don't get 'em by next week, we're going to Rugal directly."
Chris nodded. "Yeah, I agree with Yash. Those poor guys have had their invitations stolen one too many times..."
"Yeah, that's right too," Yashiro laughed. "Yagami says that the invitation might come to us when we least expect it. Benimaru even received it by getting hit in the face!"
"What about Kyo?" Chris asked, leaning forward eagerly.
Yashiro smirked. "Came with his shioyaki?"
"Yagami?" Shermie asked.
"Two ninjas confronted him and his sister while they were feeding cats," Yashiro chuckled, imagining the red-haired man feeding cats. He never would've thought that Iori was a cat lover at first glance, but also remembered that one should not judge someone just by their looks. "And yeah, they trashed the ninjas, and turns out they came to give them their invitations. I hope ours are as cool as that."
Shermie started laughing. "I can already imagine you getting your invitation, all chopped up like Hosaki-Menma."
"Shermie!" The two guys exclaimed together.
"If Yashiro's invitation arrives like Menma, then how is he gonna be in our team?" Chris retorted. "Shermie!"
Shermie sighed. "Fine..." her gaze fell on the wall clock, making her gasp. "Guys! Better get ready! The event is starting soon!"
The two men nodded and got up, going over to their rooms to change. Shermie smiled as she looked forward to her first big fashion show in so long, with her performing with the rest of CYS too.

"And now, for the moment we have all been waiting for!" The host announced, stepping onto the stage in a purplish sequin dress. "Ladies and gentlemen, give a big hand for Bonjour La Sakura by Shermie!"
Shermie smiled as she proudly watched the models showcase the beautiful dresses she designed. Chris smiled too and took a candid photo of her. Yashiro grinned, checking if his guitar was in tune, leaning against the amplifier. Chris went back to him and sat down on the turn-stool next to the drum set.
"She looks so happy," Chris smiled, swiping through the photos he took of her. He looked up at Yashiro and sighed. "It's good to live our lives for ourselves instead of some stupid destiny, don't you think?"
Yashiro nodded, putting his guitar down on the stand. "It is... better than killing ourselves for something... not so great."
"That thing didn't do nothing for us," Chris scowled. "All it wants is power, power, and more power."
Shermie never left backstage, looking over the runway with a satisfied smile. The announcer eventually called for her and she wore a wide grin, stepping out from behind the wall. The host then handed her the mic.
"Hello everyone!" Shermie said happily. "Thank you so much for attending this event! But I would really really like to thank my teammates for supporting me. They were the ones that have been through thick and thin with me. And now... I give you... Yashiro and Chris!"
The two said people looked at each other in surprise. Shermie turned around slightly, beckoning to them. Yashiro and Chris shrugged, making their way towards the stage, smiling.
"These two are my amazing teammates," Shermie smiled, putting an arm around them each. "And as a treat, we are all gonna perform for you tonight!"
The stagehands immediately opened the curtains to reveal the instruments at one side. The CYS smiled and went towards their respective instruments to start playing.
They played their favourite tunes, even nodding and tapping their feet to the beat. They were thoroughly enjoying themselves, especially because of Shermie's newly released clothing line.
All of a sudden, a bunch of balloons flew towards them, going way above their heads. There was a popping sound, and before they knew it, confetti rained over them. They looked up just in time to see three envelopes descending towards them, tied to tiny parachutes.
The audience gasped, getting all of it on camera. Yashiro reached for the nearest envelope to see his name on one side, and a red seal with the letter R stamped onto the other. He smirked and showed it to his teammates, only to be responded to by them doing the same thing.
The CYS finished the song they were playing and went backstage with the crowd of spectators cheering them on. They read the letters they received, glad that Rugal didn't forget them after all.
"Looks like we're entering," Yashiro smirked. "Well, this is gonna be fun."
Shermie and Chris nodded in glee. Yashiro suddenly felt pocket when his phone vibrated. It was Iori.
"Hello?" Yashiro said as soon as he picked up.
"Hey, congratulations on receiving your invites," the other man's smiling voice said. "So, is the collab on?"
Yashiro grinned at his teammates before going back to his phone. "It's on."
They could hardly wait for the upcoming tournament.