57.ii Nebula's Parting

~ Sun Ritsu ~

After Sun Yong Kid finished bowing before the judges and the audience, Ritsu simply couldn’t stay put. He had to say something to the poor kid. During Sun Tie Quan’s performance, Yong Kid’s nerves seemed to send him over the edge.

The words that the young sun clone spoke to the judges echoed in Ritsu’s head as he caught up to him.

You see, I don’t deserve to be standing here with these other champions. Their abilities far surpass my own, and I see that now. I cannot lie to myself any longer. Thank you for the opportunity, but I have to go now.

“Yong Kid! Yong Kid!” Ritsu shouted over and over as he got closer, but the young contender pretended like he couldn’t hear him.

Finally, Ritsu stopped to catch his breath. Yong Kid kept calmly walking away down the concrete corridor.

“Hey.” Ritsu tried one more time. “…Little Genius.”

Sun Yong Kid stopped. He turned slowly, his dome-cut hair rippling over skeptical eyebrows.

“What do you want, old man?”

Ritsu didn’t know why he felt so confident about what he said next.

“You shouldn’t give up. Not without showing them what you’re made of first.”

Yong Kid handed off his staff over to his red prehensile tail.

“Oh. Like you plan to?” He placed his hand on his hips, his staff doing rotations in the background. “You went really hard yesterday, you know. Was it all an accident or did you actually mean to embarrass me?”

Despite his defiant pose, there was some kind of battle playing out in Yong Kid’s expression. His unsettlement was clashing against his curiosity.

“Honestly,” Ritsu shrugged, “it just sort of slipped out.”

Our hero meant for that to ease Yong Kid’s insecurities, but it only seemed to annoy him further.

The young champion rolled his eyes. “Great. Well, I have nothing that can slip out of me so nice and easy, no matter how much I may want it to or how hard I’ve trained. I’m just not there yet.”

But then! Then — Dear Traveler — the Little Genius shot Sun Ritsu another defiant glare. This one was different from the ones before. The look in Yong Kid’s eyes told Ritsu that he had not lost his strength of will.

Checkmarks of light followed the swerve of the monkey’s eyes as he passed his staff over his shoulders with fresh zeal.

“And for the record…”

Somewhere in the background Ritsu heard the sound of sharp knives coming together with a clang.

“I am not giving up.” Sun Yong Kid was smiling now. “I’ll be back to fight all of you someday. When I’m ready.”

Ritsu, who was smiling as well, nodded. “Okay. One last thing?”

The Little Genius had already started walking away again. He called back over his shoulder, “What is it, old man?”

“My name is Sun Ritsu.”

Sunlight broke through the gaps in the hallway, using the monkey’s jade earring to cast fine lasers against the shadows. Somehow the lemon lime streaks on his jacket seemed more vibrant, more cool than when Yong Kid first took notice.

The young sun clone asked, “Where did you learn to make food like that, Sun Ritsu?”

Ritsu blinked. “You? You tried one of my burgers?”

“Yeah.” The younger monkey king’s gaze was far away and peacefully resigned. He whispered, “I wish I hadn’t.”

{{Otherwise he wouldn’t be walking away from the tournament, Ri-kun.}}

Ritsu didn’t need the Golden-Hooped Rod to clarify this. He got the gist of Yong Kid’s sense of defeat on his own.

Answering the boy’s initial question, Ritsu said, “I learned this past season at a place called the Lunch Hero.”

Yong Kid seemed satisfied with this. “Sun Ritsu of the Lunch Hero. Okay. See ya around.”

And that was the end of the Little Genius’s time at Sevenfold Peach. For now.