Teruchi looked around at the circle gathering in the field. There was the usual group. The… acquaintances he had met throughout the year. But there were also a few strangers he had never seen before. Guess two princes getting oiled up and, er, “wrestling” was just too good to pass up.

Zora walked toward him with a big barrel of clear oil. It almost looked too big for her to carry. Teruchi flinched.

“What?”

“That’s a ton of oil… Do we need that much?” he asked as she walked by. “I’ve never actually been oiled up before…”

“Liar.” She dumped the barrel’s contents over his back. She probably would have done it over his head if he weren’t a full two heads taller than her. The sudden cold oil made him cringe.

“There. Slather that all over. Don’t miss a spot, and don’t forget to get your pants all slippery too.”

Teruchi just groaned and scooped some of the remaining contents of the barrel onto himself. As he rubbed his arms and shoulders, he looked back into the crowd. This is your life, he thought. You blew a princess’ arm off. You ran away from home and lived off the streets. You successfully constrained yourself from trying to convince the most handsy asexual girl in the world that she was not in fact ace. All that and you’re still back at rock bottom in front of a bunch of onlookers, here to watch you flail around like an idiot. Truly an aspiring reason to live.

He looked over to Dante. Teruchi had a full four inches on him, but none of the musculature. Dante swung a large sword for fun, and it clearly showed in his biceps and shoulders. Teruchi did windy things. Windy things do not require much physical strength. Helping Dante get ready was Serafina, and their new bodyguard… Kip? Kent? Eh whatever. Wasn’t he a bit old for them?

“Done yet? Good. Just remember, the point of the game is to grab the other guy’s pants. Usually from the inside. But really, all you have to do is look sexy and put on a good show. Shouldn’t be too hard for you.”

Gods damn it there she goes again calling you attractive. That’s all it takes to get you to do these things huh?

Teruchi decided not to comment and walked out to the center of the circle of observers. Dante met him, and the two got into a ready stance. Dante was in perfect form, with his legs about… neh far apart and knees bent at… weh angle. Actually Teruchi had no idea what a proper fighting stance was, but it sure looked like Dante knew what he was doing. Teruchi just shifted his weight around a bit and put one leg forward. Close enough.

Zora too joined them in the middle, and put her arm straight into the air. “Round one… Start!” she shouted.

Immediately Dante lunged forward and grabbed Teruchi around the waist. The sudden force completely knocked him backwards, and he landed flat on his back with Dante pinning one shoulder to the ground. Teruchi began to flail for a moment, trying to get out of this unfavorable position, but thankfully for him Dante hesitated. They weren’t exactly experienced in this type of wrestling, and real world battle experience didn’t help much. Most people would not reach into their enemy’s pants after knocking them down. Most people.

The moment’s hesitation allowed Teruchi to get a hold of himself and tuck his knee into his chest, and then attempt to push Dante off of him with his foot. Unfortunately the oil made his foot slip, and his leg hung over Dante’s right shoulder. Dante tried to counter by grabbing Teruchi’s exposed leg, but again the oil made traditional fighting difficult. Teruchi easily pulled his leg from Dante’s grip, and threw his weight over his head. He rolled over his shoulder and landed back onto his feet, allowing him to stand once again.

This time, Teruchi lunged and grabbed Dante’s waist in the same way Dante had done to him. Unlike the previous strike, he was unable to knock Dante off balance, and was left in an awkward, low waist hug. Dante shifted his weight back, moving Teruchi’s weight a bit too far forward in the process. He once again slipped and fell forward, but in doing so instinctually grabbed for something to keep his balance. That thing being the rim of Dante’s pants. Due to positioning, Teruchi was only able to pull his pants down to his knees, but it was still enough to expose everything inside.

“Round one goes to… Mr. Ventureni!” Zora shouted. The crowd cheered and whistled. Probably not at Teruchi’s win.

Teruchi stood back up and punched the air. “Yes! Ha, take th-“

Dante hastily pulled his pants back up and shot Teruchi an ice cold glare, cutting short his celebration.

“Round two! Get ready…”

Oh shit, he’s going to kill me, Teruchi thought. Dante again regained a fighting stance, and Teruchi hesitantly resumed his position.

“Fight!”

Neither wrestler jumped at the other. Instead Dante took a cautious step towards Teruchi, who in turn stepped back. Dante stepped forward again, making Teruchi realize that, unless he wanted to look like a coward, he’d need to stand his ground. He let Dante take another two steps closer so that he was within arms reach. The two stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Then Dante pounced, grabbing the back of Teruchi’s neck and pulled him to the ground. It didn’t take much effort for Dante to slip his hand into the back of his trousers and pull up.

Well, at least he grabbed my pants and not my ass, Teruchi thought. He returned to his feet and looked at Zora. She was getting ready for a round three. Dammit this definitely wasn’t not worth a lay. She said she would. No take-backsies.

They continued their rounds until both of them could barely keep standing anymore. Dante had little in the way of cardiac endurance, but Teruchi could barely keep his arms up. By the time Zora took pity and called it a day, Teruchi had gotten another point and Dante got five.

The crowd dispersed and the Magmarnian crew walked over. The two princes decided to sit in the middle of the field to catch their breaths. Teruchi desperately wanted a bath.

“Well done you two! Good show!” Serafina said. “We should do this again!”

“No we shouldn’t,” Dante said.

“Oh come on. We’ll do it next time too! Won’t we?” She elbowed Keith in the side.

“Uh, if you want to.”

Seriously? Teruchi made a point to roll his eyes, but no one was looking.

“Just let me take a shower and put a shirt on,” Dante said before standing up and leaving with the other two. Teruchi watched them with his head in his hand and a frown on his face.

“You know, he’s bi,” Zora said with a grin.

“Wooow, so tempting,” Teruchi replied.

“But you did great today! A little practice and I think you could make a career for yourself. We’ll definitely need to get that Keith guy in on it too.”

“Yeah. Great. Keith.” Dropping his pants would be really counter productive.

“Oh don’t be like that. I’m sure your peener is just as pretty as his is.”

Sigh…