Beach Episode

"Main-kun, Main-kun, look, it's the ocean!" Trash-Chan yelled with her face pressed up against the window of the train.

"Trash-Chan, you're disturbing the people around you," I said with my head hanging down.

She turned around and slid back into her seat with a smile. I just shook my head.

It had been only last week that Trash-Chan suddenly wanted to go to the beach. She had begged me for days on end until I gave in. So, here I was on a train with Trash-chan and my sister... and Shin-san, Junkers, Tanaka-san, Raphine, Osana-chan, and Estouls.... I looked around at the others.

"You know you didn't have to force yourselves to come; I would hate if you had to make a change in your schedules due to Trash-chan's whims."

"Don't mention it, Juyo-San. We are happy to tag along!" Tanaka-san said with a smile.

"Junkers wanted to go to the beach just as much, you know," Shin-san sighed.

"I can't wait to get out there!" Osana-chan added.

They all seemed to be okay with the trip, so I guess I would just leave it be. I leaned back against the train's seats. We were almost to our destination now that the ocean was in view; it would only be a matter of minutes. I looked over to Trash-chan, who was eagerly bobbing up and down.

As usual, she wore her green hair to the side and held it in place with a bread clip. She was dressed in her short, frilly dress that seemed to be made from plastic bags and candy wrappers. Some people down the way in the train car gave us odd looks on occasion. They had probably never seen a waifu quite like her after all.

The train came to a stop, and we jumped up and grabbed our bags. We stepped outside into the warm air.

"We're here! Let's get to the beach!" Raphine shouted.

"Hold on, Raphine, we still need to go to the hotel first," Tanaka-san said. Her ears on top of her head drooped, but she nodded to indicate that she understood.

"Don't vorry dear, ve vill get to the beach before ve know it," Junkers said with a smile.

She was right. It did not take us long to walk to our hotel and get our things in our rooms. We grabbed our swimsuits and headed down to the beach.

The beach we were visiting today is known as Waifu Beach. It used to be called something else, but after it became a popular spot that waifu's liked to visit, it got renamed. Naturally, when we got down to the beach, there were waifus all over the place. We divided up and went into the changing rooms. After we finished changing into our swimsuits, we went out onto the beach.

The guys were the first out of the changing room. Shin-san and I just wore simple plain swimming trunks. Tanaka-san wore swimming trunks with a waifu printed on them. Estouls wore a one-piece bathing suit with laces.

"Um, Estouls, couldn't you have just worn some trunks?" Shin-san asked.

"Milady said I'd be cuter in this," Estouls said with a sigh.

The girls were next to come out. Osana-chan wore a simple one-piece suit with golden trims. Junkers was in a red two-piece with a long skirt that ran down one side of her legs. Raphine was wearing a two-piece with the bottom resembling black shorts and the top looking like a short, green dress. Trash-chan wore a two-piece as well. The top half was a green piece with ribbons, and the bottom half was a frilly, white skirt. My sister just wore a simple one piece.

"The beach! Let's go!" Trash-chan yelled. She ran to the water and jumped in, making a reasonably large splash in the process.

"Trash-chan, wait for me!" Raphine yelled as she chased after her. She soon joined her in the water, and they began to splash each other.

"Come join us; the water is great!" Trash-chan yelled to us with a wave.

"Wait for me, Trash-chan!" My sister yelled as she ran out to join them.

"Estouls, I'm heading out there too," Osana-chan said as she ran out after my sister.

"Wait, Milady, you need to put on sunblock!" Estouls yelled, but he was ignored.

"Let's go out to the beach as well," Shin-san said to Junkers.

"Vait, Shin-kun. Look at that sign," Junkers pointed to a sign that said 'Sandcastle Contest. First Place Prize: Bragging Rights'.

"Junkers..."

"Let's vin sis sing!" Junkers said. She didn't give Shin-san a chance to reply before she started to pull him away.

"Hey, that looks pretty fun; I'll give it a go too," Estouls mused as he followed after Junkers and Shin-san.

Tanaka-san quickly threw down a towel and put up a large umbrella. Within a matter of seconds, he was sitting under it with his phone out.

"You brought your phone to the beach?"

"Of course," was all he said.

"I see," I sighed and sat down on the towel. The girls that went to water were happily running around without a care in the world. Meanwhile, Estouls and Junkers were beginning to push sand into piles. Shin-san was reluctantly moving sand with Junkers.

"Not going out there?" Tanaka-san asked me.

"Not yet; I am just here because Trash-chan and my sister wanted to come."

"Hey, look at that, the construction of the Waifu Tower starts tomorrow!" Tanaka-san said, having not listened to me."

I stood up and stretched.

"I guess I should find something to do, huh?" I said, but Tanaka-san was still not listening.

"Oh, and they're going to hold a new draft since that last one got messed up," he said out loud while looking at his phone.

I began my walk down the beach. There were people in every direction, no matter where you looked. I sighed as I continued my walk. I didn't have a direction in mind; I was just walking for no reason.

After a while, I found myself in some far corner of the beach. It seemed like it was about time to turn around and head back. I had ended up walking a bit farther than I needed to after all. I turned around and began my walk back.

"Um, excuse me," a voice said. I turned around to look. It was a waifu with long, orange hair that resembled tentacles. She was short and looked up at me.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"I'm looking for my little sister. Have you happened to see her?"

"I have not," I said, and I began to walk away.

"Wait!" the waifu started to run next to me to keep up with my pace, "She looks like me, but is a bit taller and has green hair!"

"I haven't seen her," I said while picking up my pace. I was unsure who she was or what was going on, but this was none of my business.

"Well, if you do, could you tell her I was looking for her?"

"Sure," I answered as I kept walking. The girl smiled at me.

"Thanks!" she said, then she stopped trying to keep up with me. I didn't bother to look back as I walked away. I kept walking at a fast pace until I could see our beach umbrella in the distance. I finally slowed down and casually walked up to it. I think I may have avoided getting into trouble back there.

The sandcastle contest was wrapping up as I walked up to everyone else. They were standing in a crowd in front of a stage that had been made from sand. Junkers, Estouls, and Shin-san were all missing, but the rest of the group was there.

"What's going on here?" I asked as I walked up.

"Oh, Tai-kun, they are about to announce the winners!" Osana-chan said excitedly. "My Estouls is going to win!" she added.

"I don't know, Junkers and Best friend-kun's wasn't too bad," Trash-chan said.

I looked around the beach. Off to the side of the stage, there was an assortment of sandcastles, or rather, sand sculptures. There were, of course, some traditional sandcastles. Still, among them, there was also a replica of a Gun-mecha, an Eiffel Tower, a 3D version of the Mona Lisa's hands, a catgirl idol (or maybe she was a fox), a scale version of ancient Rome, a battleship, and much more.

"What happened here?" I asked as a stared in disbelief at all the crazy sculptures.

"Hello everyone, how are you all doing?" An announcer came out on stage. The crowd roared. "Well, it's good to see everyone is excited. Now, we had a lot of unexpected talent show up for this event today. Can I get a round of applause for everyone who participated!" The crowd cheered along.

"Go, Estouls!" Osana-chan yelled as everyone cheered along.

"Very good, everyone, so I will go ahead and announce the winners! Starting in 3rd place, we have a wia- husbando named Estouls who made a ½ scale of the Effiel Tower. Can I get an applause for Estouls!" The crowd cheered along. Osana-chan wiped tears from her eyes.

"3rd place, I'm so proud of him," she commented.

Estouls came out onto the stage and awkwardly waved to the crowd.

"Now in 2nd place, we have a team of Junkers and Shin Naka, who made a scale replica of the city of Rome! Can I get an applause for them!" The crowd cheered once again.

"I would have thought it was the battleship," I said aloud.

Junkers and Shin-san came out onto the stage as well. Shin seemed uncomfortable on the stage, but Junkers happily waved to the crowd.

"And now for our 1st place winner. A husbando that didn't mean to enter and asked to remain anonymous. We just had to recognize him for his wonderful rendition of the Mona Lisa's hands. Come out on stage!"

The crowd cheered as a tall and slender man in a purple suit walked out on the stage. He had a tie on with skulls that draped over a green dress shirt and bright yellow hair. A black bar covered his eyes, apparently to protect his identity.

"Congratulations on winning," The announcer said to him.

"Um, thank you."

"Tell me, what was your inspiration for this wonderful piece?"

"Well, I just like hands."

"Amazing, now as someone who didn't mean to enter, do you know what you've won?"

"No, I don't."

"Nothing! Have a good day, everyone!"

With that, the competition came to a close. The contest officials quickly knocked down the sand stage, and the crowd dispersed.

The trio that competed joined us soon after.

"Good job, everyone!" Osana-chan said.

"Yes, your sculptures were impressive," Tanaka-san said.

Estouls slowly shook his head.

"I can understand the scale replica of Rome, but how did I lose to a pair of hands," he said solemnly.

"Man, that was fun, ve should do that again sometime, Shin-kun!" Junkers said while slapping Shin-san on the back.

"Ow, let's not...." Shin-san said while rubbing his back.

"Well, I am glad you all had fun," I said.

"It wasn't fun, Tai-san; we worked like crazy. My hands are still numb."

I didn't get a chance to reply. Immediately Raphine was pointing over at a volleyball net.

"Oh, look, there is a volleyball contest going on!" she said excitedly.

"I like the vay you think, Raphine," Junkers said. She grabbed Shin-san's arm and began pulling him to the contest.

"Come on, Shin-kun, let's vin this thing!"

"No, Junkers, I want to rest for a little bit!" Shin-san shouted.

"That looks fun, Main-Kun; we should enter too!" Trash-chan said to me.

"Um, I don't know if that's a good idea..." I answered.

"Wait! Junkers look! The sign says waifus only! That's a shame; I guess I can't enter with you." Shin-san quickly pointed out the details written on the sign. Junkers let go of his arm and sighed.

"vell, that's a shame," she said with her head hanging down.

"Yeah, a real shame, but maybe someone else will join you," Shin-san said after a sigh of relief.

"I'll join your team Junkers," Trash-chan said enthusiastically.

"Wait, If Trash-chan is playing, then I want to be on her team!" Raphine shouted.

"Estouls, why don't you give it a try as well?" Osana-chan said.

"Milady!" Estouls exclaimed, but he gave no resistance to joining the contest.

And so, the teams were formed for the competition. One team of Junkers and Estouls and one team of Trash-chan and Raphine. The battles they fought were fierce, but they were facing off against each other in the finals in no time flat.

"Vell, I expected ve vould face off against each other, but I'm glad ve could do it in the finals," Junkers shouted to the other side of the field.

"Indeed, but don't go expecting to win this thing, Junkers," Trash-chan shouted back.

The match started. Estouls was the first to serve the volleyball in the air. It flew over the net and was spiked back by Trash-chan. Junkers, however, was ready for that and was able to return the volleyball over the net. It flew over Trash-chan to Raphine, who was able to hit it back into the air to Trash-chan. She jumped and sent the ball to the back corner of the field. Estouls was not able to hit it back, and it crashed into the sand.

The game continued with an intense back and forth with the waifus. Those of us on the side watched as each side slowly gained points on each other.

"They are going at it, huh?" Shin-san said.

"My Estouls won't go down without a fight!" Osana-chan eagerly said.

"Hmm, Junkers and Estouls have the advantage of raw power, but both Trash-sensei and Raphine are quick on their feet. They are unbalanced teams for this, but that makes it more interesting who will win..." Tanaka-san muttered to himself.

I watched as Trash-chan and Raphine scored another point. The game was tied for the final point. Whoever scored next would be the winner.

Raphine served the ball. It flew over Junkers to Estouls. He sent it up in the air to Junkers, who delivered a spike so strong it seemed to shake the ground. Trash-chan was ready and slid on the sand to where the spike would hit. She deflected the ball back up in the air. It flew backward to Raphine, who sent it back over the net. Junkers didn't let it get far. She jumped in the air and spiked the ball back down. Trash-chan tried to return the ball but was just unable to get it. She dove to the sand to send the ball back up, but it hit just outside where her fingers were able to reach. It was over.

"Yeah! Ve did it!" Junkers yelled. She and Estouls high fived.

"No! Trash-chan, we lost," Raphine fell to her knees. Trash-chan pushed herself off the ground and wiped the sand off. She laughed.

"That was a good game, you two! Next time, we won't lose, though," she said with a smile.

With that, the competition was over. Junkers and Estouls were first place, though there was no reward for winning. We all headed back to the umbrella we had set up to relax.

"Um, excuse me," a voice said to us as we walked to the umbrella. We turned to look. It was a familiar face, for me at least. The octopus girl was standing there.

"Hello, how can we help you?" Osana-chan asked.

"I'm looking for my little sister, have you seen... oh, you're that guy," she stopped midsentence when she noticed me.

"Um, yeah. Sorry, I haven't seen your little sister around here," I awkwardly said. Her head hung down.

"Oh, I see, that is okay. I'm sure I'll find her. Thanks anyway." She began to walk away with her head slumped.

"Wait, Main-kun; there is a girl in trouble; surely we could help her look!" Trash-chan shouted. The orange-haired waifu turned around with a smile.

"Trash-chan, we can't just get wrapped up in some stranger's business," I said.

"We could look around for a little bit; it wouldn't hurt, right?" she answered.

"It is none of our concern, though. We don't need to get wrapped up in anything."

"So, you won't be able to help me?" the girl asked with a sad expression after hearing our exchange.

"Of course, we can help you! Just ignore this guy here." Trash-chan said. The girl smiled.

"That's great! So, you'll all help?" she asked everyone.

"Sure, I have no problem," Estouls said.

"If Trash-chan is helping, then so will I!" Raphine said.

"Ve can help too!" Junkers said while grabbing Shin-sans arm.

Everyone, except me, seemed to be on board.

"Hold on a minute," I said to everyone before turning to the waifu. "Tell me, where is the last place you saw your sister?" I asked. She thought for a moment before answering.

"In the ocean!"

"And how would you describe the area you lost her in?"

"Hmm, it was very blue."

I turned to the group.

"See, she doesn't even know if her sister was lost around here. How do we plan to find her?"

"So, there is no way to find her?" the waifu asked with tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry about him, Tako Musume; we will find her regardless," Tanaka-san said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mr.- wait, how do you know my name!" she suddenly backed up a few steps. Tanaka-san made a confident smile.

"I know the name of every waifu!" he shouted.

"You didn't know who Firestorm was," Raphine added.

"I know the name of every waifu from anime, manga, games, light novels, etc." Tanaka-san amended.

"Wow, you must be brilliant!" the waifu named Tako Musume said with a smile.

Tanaka-san made a confident smile. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted before he could say anything.

"Well, let's get searching, everyone!" Trash-chan yelled.

"Yeah," the others yelled.

 It was decided, we were going to help Tako Musume look for her little sister. Once everyone else was on the same page, I decided just to give in and start helping as well. We started our search by walking up and down the beach. It was the most logical way to go about this.

"K-chan, K-chan!" Tako Musume called out as we walked along the beach with her. We walked up and down the beach, but no K-chan answered her calls.

"We are getting nowhere at this rate," I said. "Let's split up and search separately."

"Ah, good idea Main-Kun," Trash-chan said to me. So, we split into two smaller groups. My sister, Tanaka-san, and Osana-chan would find a boat and sail along the beach with Raphine and Estouls. Meanwhile, Shin-san and I would continue looking around here with Junkers and Trash-chan. We said our goodbyes and split up. Tako Musume ended up coming along with my group.

"So, it is fine that we split up, but where are we going to look now?" Shin-san asked after the sea team had left.

"Shin-kun, there are plenty of places ve haven't looked," Junkers said as she looked around the sandy beach. "Or maybe not..." she added.

"Maybe her sister just went into town?" Trash-chan said.

"It doesn't seem likely, but we've checked everywhere else," I said. I suppose we could check out some of the locations near the beach. At this rate, we had no better ideas.

We walked off the beach and into town. The sun was beginning to set. We would have to hurry; I didn't want to spend too much longer looking for this waifu.

The town wasn't much better of a place to search. We walked down a couple of streets with Tako Musume calling for her sister before finally stopping in a restaurant. Our heads hung down as we waited for the food to arrive.

"Where could she have gone?" Tako Musume cried.

"Don't vorry dear. Ve will find her," Junkers comforted the crying waifu who was clinging tightly to her arm.

"I hate to admit it, but I don't think we will be able to find her?" Shin-san said quietly.

Trash-chan banged on the table.

"You're giving up too soon, best friend-kun; I'm sure we will find her! It's not like she could have gotten far!"

"Technically speaking, she could have gone to another dimension or a new timeline if she encountered the right waifu," I said before taking a sip of my drink.

"Main-kun, what kind of thinking is that? Why would she leave such a cute older sister behind?"

"I'm not saying she would have done it willingly, for all we know, we could be getting wrapped up in some crazy adventure by agreeing to this search."

"I don't think so, Tai-san. This seems more like a side quest sort of thing," Shin-san said. He was looking off into space and tapping his fingers on the table, not that he was aware of his actions. He was most certainly lost in thought.

Through the door, a crowd of shady-looking guys in black leather clothes walked in. They all had sunglasses on, even though the sun was setting, and had several brightly colored waifus behind them. I watched as they walked to the back of the restaurant to a poster. I turned away so that I was only watching them out of the corner of my eye. One of the guys looked around the restaurant for a moment as if to make sure no one was looking, then he lifted the poster and pressed a button. The wall suddenly slid open, and the crowd of guys and waifus stepped inside.

"Main-kun, did you see that? The wall slid open!" I had not realized Trash-chan was also watching until she blurted out for the whole restaurant to hear. Everyone turned to look our way; then they turned to look where Trash-chan was pointing.

"A sliding wall?" Shin-san asked, only now starting to pay attention.

"Oh, that seems fun," Junkers said with a devious smile. She got up and walked over to the wall with Tako Musume still hanging on her. The octopus waifu had stopped crying but was confused by what was going on. "Right here, Trash-gozen?" Junkers asked.

"Yep, under the poster," Trash-chan confirmed.

Junkers pushed the button under the poster, and once again, the wall slid open. She leaned into the doorway.

"Vow, there is a long staircase going down there!" She loudly told everyone. Shin-san stood up from the table while sighing. He walked across the room and pulled Junkers out from the doorway.

"Junkers, please. We don't have time."

"Vat if her sister is down there?"

"Junkers, we aren't going down the dark staircase," Shin-san said firmly.

"But," Junkers tried to argue.

"No, the last time we did that... I don't even want to remember it," Shin-san shuddered.

"Oh, Main-kun, there is a door down here!" Trash-chan's voice echoed up the stairs. I took my eyes off her for a second, and she was already down there.

"What are you doing? Come back up!" I yelled down the dark stairs. I was unable to see her at the bottom.

"There is a guy on the other side of the door asking for a password; what do you think it would be?" Trash-chan yelled back up.

"Just ignore him and come back upstairs."

There was a pause.

"' Just ignore him and come back upstairs ' was not the password, Main-kun!" she yelled after a moment.

"Why would you think it was!" I snapped back. I let my head hang down. First, we agreed to help some random waifu, and now we were looking at some secret area in the restaurant. I started to walk down the stairs.

"Wait, Tai-san, what are you doing?" Shin-san asked with a clear hint of concern.

"We might as well as go downstairs; I don't think our waifus intend to leave any time soon," I said before beginning my descent. The others soon joined me at the bottom of the stairs. Sure enough, there was a large door with a slit in it. A man's eyes on the other side peered through at us.

"What's the password?" he asked in a deep, gruff voice.

"Alright, Main-kun, I think we are almost out of password attempts; we need to be smart about what we say," Trash-chan said while rubbing her hand on her head.

"Is it password?" I asked. It was just a joke. I didn't care if we got into this room or not. It would just be better to pretend to attempt instead of trying to drag Trash-chan away.

The man behind the door slid the opening over his eyes shut. I made a sigh of relief; that guess must have annoyed him. Unfortunately, the next sound I heard was of the door unlocking, then of it creaking open.

"Good guess, come on in," he said in his gruff voice.

"Yeah! Way to go, Main-kun!"

"That's my Tai-kun!" Junkers added.

"Why did you have to guess right, Tai-san?" Shin-san asked while shaking his head.

"Honestly, I thought that would annoy them, not be correct," I sighed.

"This place seems scary," Tako Musume whispered.

We all walked through the door, and it snapped shut behind us. The room that greeted us was a sight to behold. It was a large, open, and dimly lit space. All was dim except a fighting arena that resembled a boxing ring in the middle. Except, it was floating in the air and didn't have ropes connecting between the poles in the corners. Large spotlights from the ceiling brightly lit up the arena, and a crowd of people, waifus, and husbandos surrounded it, cheering. Inside the arena, two waifus were currently duking it out in a match. Each had ears on top of their head and wore large boxing gloves.

"Shin-san, I think it's time we left," I said.

"I agree Tai-san, I don't see Tako Musume's sister anywhere," Shin replied. We both tried walking to the door, but Junkers grabbed us each by the back of our shirts.

"Vait, you two. This looks fun!" she said with sparkles in her eyes.

"She's hooked," I said with my head hanging down.

"We should have just walked away when we had the chance," Shin-san added.

A man in a proton purple cloak strode up to us. He had a slender build and wore a pair of dark sunglasses, even though the room was not well let. His hair was snow-white, despite his age not appearing to compliment the color, and combed to swirl up like ice cream.

"Welcome, gentlemen and ladies; I take it that this is your first night in Melee Club?" he politely asked with an exaggerated but small bow.

"Um, yes, but we were just leaving," I shouted before Junkers could answer; it didn't matter. She just ended up answering after me.

"How does one get into the ring?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, hold on a moment, I haven't even properly introduced you to the club!" he excitedly said.

"That won't be necessary; we were just leaving," Shin-san said. The man ignored him.

"This here is Melee Club, the only place where waifus and husbandos can duke it out without special abilities or world-ending powers mudding up the fights. No sir, just good old fashion brawls here!"

"That's nice, but we really should be-" I started but was cut off.

"Now, I'm sure you're wondering why anyone would want to watch a fight like that? Well, I'll tell you!"

"Just give up Tai-san, He's not stopping, and Junkers is interested," Shin-san said with a shrug. He had entirely given in to whatever was going to happen next.

"Let me ask you this, how many times have you seen a bland isekai protagonist sweep a competition? Tons of times! Or how about some OP S-tier waifu? If one is fighting in a war, we already know the outcome before it ends. Well, not here! In this club, abilities are stripped away, and the fighters must rely on their innate ability. Only the truly strong can make it here!" the man continued with his pitch, "and you came at the right time today, we just had a competitor from the deep sea enter, and she has been sweeping all the competition away!" the man finally ended his explanation of the club.

"As much as I want to leave, I'll ask anyway, do you think the competitor is Tako Musume's sister?" Shin-san begrudgingly asked.

"I hope not..." I answered.

"Ve vill just have to fight and see!" Junkers said happily.

"I don't think my sister would be in here," Tako Musume said in an uneasy voice.

"You don't think she's the champion he is talking about?" Shin-san asked.

"Well... if she were fighting, she would most certainly win... but-"

"So ve vont know until ve find out! Vere do I sign up!" Junkers was ready to go.

"Well, well, it seems your ready to enter the ring. First, let me tell you the rules of Melee Club. The first rule is you don't-"

"Please just skip ahead to where she enters the ring," I interrupted. If Junkers wanted to enter, it would be best just to move along and get it over with. The man sighed.

"Alright, please go to the back desk there; they will give you a number, gloves, and fox ears. After that, you have to wait until you are called to enter the ring. Fights are to knock the opponent out of the ring or make them unconscious."

Junkers strode across the room to the desk.

"Why the fox ears?" Trash-chan asked.

"At this club, we believe fights should be no abilities, fox ears only, and on our stage Final Terminus," the man said.

It wasn't long before Junkers came back to the group. She now wore a white shirt with the number 52 on it, two red boxing gloves, and two white fox ears on her head.

"I'm so excited, she said with sparkles in her eyes."

We watched the current brawl play out. Some blonde husbando was fighting a waifu with short, grey hair. Both had fox ears on their head that matched the color of their hair. They kept exchanging blows until the husbando was finally knocked out of the ring.

"Number 13 has knocked Number 90; it looks like she's on a roll to take on the champion!" An announcer said over some speakers. "Next up, it looks like we have a new competitor, Number 52!"

Junkers happily climbed into the ring with the grey-haired waifu. After she did, the poles on the stage flashed for a second.

"What was that?" I asked out loud.

"That was the Barrier System; it is the same kind of technology used in the Waifu Arena to protect the crowds. Except instead of a thin veil that prevents abilities from passing through, we extent the arena to take up the whole volume of the stage. This is how we prevent abilities from being used in fights." The man in the purple cloak said after suddenly appearing next to me.

"Your still here, huh?" I said with a mutter.

The fight began with a ring of the bell. Junkers and the other waifu began to bounce up and down before throwing a series of quick punches. Junkers took all the blows directly. When the grey-haired waifu realized her punches were not effective, she stopped and took a couple of steps back.

Junkers didn't hesitate; she delivered a punch directly into the other waifu. In an instant, the waifu was thrown from the stage to the outside, where the crowd caught her.

"She's out!" the announcer shouted. The crowd roared.

"Impressive, she's pretty tough," The purple-cloak man said.

"Junkers," Shin-san groaned while shaking his head.

The fights went on in much the same way. Junkers stayed on the stage while opponents came one after another to get knocked out in a single blow. Until, at last, it was time for the finals. The crowd began to cheer as a waifu stood up in the back of the room and slowly moved to the stage.

"Well, she did well before, but our champion will not be beaten so easily," the man in the cloak said.

"You can think that, but Junkers is going to get the victory here!"

"Yeah, Best Friend-kun, you tell him!"

Somewhere along the way, Shin-san had gone from not wanting Junkers to compete to being the loudest person cheering for her. Trash-chan naturally had gone along with him and cheered as well.

The man in the purple cloak laughed.

"We will see, but our current competitor has trained in the deepest parts of the ocean; she is strong."

The competitor jumped up onto the stage and landed in front of Junkers. She was a mermaid with long, green hair.

"Is that your sister," I whispered to Tako Musume.

"No, I told you she wouldn't be here," she answered.

The fight began between the finalists. The mermaid did not try to go for a quick blow and instead bounced around the stage. Junkers followed the mermaid's movements with her eyes. Then, in a flash, the mermaid was giving a punch to Junkers in her stomach. Junkers stumbled back until she was by the edge of the stage. She swayed by the edge until she regained her balance and took a couple of steps closer to the stage's center.

Junkers charged forward and tried to get the mermaid with a right-hand punch. The green-haired waifu simply swatted the punch out of the way with her left arm and gave Junkers three consecutive punches with her right.

Junkers gritted her teeth and used her left hand to give the mermaid a blow in the side. The mermaid began to fall over, but she caught herself on the ground with her hands. She started doing a handstand then spun around in a circle. Junkers was slapped with the mermaid's tail repeatedly until she stepped back.

The mermaid stopped spinning and flipped right side up. Both waifus were breathing heavily at this point, and the match could go either way.

"Go, Junkers!" Shin-san yelled.

"Knock her out!" Trash-chan added.

Junkers leaped high up in the air and focused a punch to the ground. The mermaid bounced out of the way before Junkers could hit her. The whole floating stage began to shake like a boat on the sea from Junkers' blow. The crowd cheered.

"Amazing everyone. Even with her abilities cut off, Number 52 still has so much raw power," the announcer shouted.

Junkers stood up from her ground pound attack and looked to the mermaid. She charged forward with her arm back for another blow. The mermaid prepared to block an impact to the head, but Junkers ducked down and punched her stomach. The mermaid, however, was unfazed and used the opportunity to give a downward strike on Junkers.

Junkers went to the stage floor, and the crowd yelled out in a chorus of cheers. Junkers wasn't done, though. She quickly got up and threw another punch at the mermaid. This time, the mermaid simply bounced to the side. Junkers went stumbling forward, and the mermaid took the opportunity to strike her back. Before we knew it, Junkers went flying out of the stage in our direction.

"She's out!" the announcer yelled as we caught Junkers. She was out cold with swirls in her eyes.

"Junkers, you did well," Trash-chan said with tears in her eyes.

"Come on guys, let's just get going," Shin-san added, also with tears in his eyes.

I sighed as we carried Junkers out of the underground Melee club.

We ended up back on the beach, where we finally sat down to take a rest.

"Well, we know where her sister is not at now," I said.

"Will we ever find my sister?" Tako Musume said with tears in her eyes.

I didn't reply. I already figured this was a lost cause.

Shin-san and Trash-chan didn't reply. They had laid Junkers on the beach and were now trying to wake her. I sat down on the sand. My phone began to ring. I looked at it to see that my sister was calling.

"Hello," I said while answering it.

"Big Brother, we have trouble! We need you to meet us at the beach!" she yelled over the line.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked while suddenly standing up.

"Well, it's a long story... but the boat is headed to the beach right now!"

In the distance, I could see a large shadow beginning to form. This certainly could not be good.