Epilogue

As the morning of the day of the opening ceremony arrived, Okisato scowled as the pairings for the 1st round went live. Right out of the bat, the men's team would be facing Denmark, erasing any hope of a final round confrontation and the chance to try and save Yuusuke. 

"I guess even the chances of a final round confrontation would be slim unless both our teams played similarly. Damn that man. If it weren't for that added condition, I could challenge him whenever, but now, I'll have to rely on someone else to try and face him," he thought. 

"Tanabe-kun? Why are you brooding?" Mimoko asked as she approached him. 

"It's nothing. Just a little something I'll have to deal with on my own." 

"This tournament will be highly taxing on your mental state. If something's on your mind..." 

Okisato sighed as he realized he'd need to put Yuusuke in the back of his mind in order to focus on the tournament. "I wonder, was that encounter with Phil Ur truly unplanned? Ginji was the one that blocked off the other stall, forcing me into the one where Phil Ur was. I see, they want to rattle me mentally and make me the fool of the show. Fine, they want to poke and prod, I'll slash," he thought. 

[Volume 5 End]