The big they had finally come and Rika forgot about him for a few minutes and tried to concentrate at the cards. Ryo on the other side was lying in bed thinking about today's day. Not just about the finals but about something that had to be done before the duel.
Kazu and Kenta made breakfast for the two finalist, which set even Rika in a better mood.
'This isn't bad,' she gave them a compliment and ate another crepe. She was constantly watching Ryo's bedroom doors, because he decided to eat there and she hadn't seen him that day.
'That journalist called,' Kazu mentioned.
'What, really? What did she want?'
'She wants another interview with both of you before the game. Ryo told me to invite her here. She'll come in an hour.'
'Thanks for telling me about it so soon!' Rika munched and left the kitchen to get ready for the interview. She was a bit afraid of what the woman might ask them.
The journalist came five minutes earlier and Rika went to the kitchen to meet her. Ryo was already there, shaking hands. He said 'hi' to Rika and they all sat at the table.
Her questions were more or less the same as the day before. Rika thought she's safe from the spicy ones but she was wrong. After an hour, the journalist became more personal and Rika had a feeling, that she might send these interviews to a tabloid.
'So where did you two met?'
'That was on a tournament a few years ago, am I right?' Ryo asked and Rika noded.
'Did you become friends right away?'
'Oh no .. I won the tournament that day and she didn't like me because of that,' Ryo said and gave Rika a smile. 'Am I right?'
'Yeah, I guess.'
'But you do like him now, don't you?'
Before answering that, Rika had to drink a whole glass of water to prevent her face to become red. 'He's my friend.'
'Which means you like him.'
'Is this an interview or an investigation about my feelings for him?!' Rika attacked the journalist and totally blushed when she thought about what she just said.
Ryo and the annoying woman were just looking at her and she felt like throwing something at journalist's head but that would make her sentence even more suspicious.
'Of course I like Ryo, he's a friend ..' she finally said and hoped she would believe her. The woman noded and didn't say anything about it anymore.
In the end she wanted to take a picture of them and Rika just smiled when Ryo put his hand on her shoulder. She could feel her heart in her throat and after the journalist left, she thought she was going to throw up. She went back to her room, because she felt Ryo's need to talk to her. She wasn't ready to do the talking now, she was afraid of what he might said. Did he overlook her plan?

Ryo tried to talk to Rika a few times before the tournament but she didn't answer his knocking. When she finally came out of her room, Kazu was always there again and he couldn't get rid of him. He kinda gave up and waited in his room until they finally had to go to the finals. Players were greeting them on their way to the tournament but everybody was lost in their thoughts and didn't pay much attention to the outer world.
They came early and Ryo suggested Kazu and Kenta to play some duels and kill some time. Somehow they didn't want to do it, they said they were too nervous. Ryo gave up. I guess I'll have to talk to her after the game ...' he thought and was watching her in secret. His eyes then spotted the host on the other side of the hall and he waved him. The host approached them and asked the two finalist to come to the backstage ten minutes before the finals.
'We'll be there,' Ryo said. Rika didn't say anything, she was looking through her deck and made some card changes. Ryo didn't peek at her cards, because he was hoping for a really interesting duel.
Ten minutes before the game, Rika and Ryo left their friends and went to meet the host. He was already waiting for them.
'I'm sorry if I took your precious time but I just wanted to tell you that there're some journalists in the crowd, who will probably take pictures of you. There should be a tv station too, but I didn't see it come so I'm not sure about it. So like before, I'll announce your names and you'll come to the stage and the game will begin. Good luck to you both!' he said and left them alone.
They were leaning at the wall and standing opposite each other. Rika was still mixing her cards, Ryo was standing still and looking at the ground. He was a little nervous and he could tell that she was too, since her hands seemed to be shaking.
'Are you nervous?' he finally broke the silence. She looked at him.
'A bit. I'll be fine. Are you ...? Nervous ..?'
'I guess so ...'
'Six more minutes before the game,' she said.
'That interview yesterday ...'
he started to say something.
'What about it ..?'
'It totally screwed up my plan.'
Rika stopped shuffling her deck.
'I - I wanted to talk to you about .. something.'
No, not now! Wait ..
He slowly approached her and put his cards into his pocket. He was already so close but he kept coming closer. Her deck fell to the ground when he leaned his hand on the wall next to her left ear.
'I like you,' he said and the distance between them could already be measured in centimetres. She didn't reply to his words and he put his left hand on her hip. She hold her breath when he kissed her and she thought her heart was going to explode. She didn't even remember the moment she closed her eyes but they were closed when he moved away for a little but he still didn't move his hands. Even worse, he didn't touch her hip anymore, he was holding her ice cold hand. 'You were acting weird the last few days and I couldn't tell how you feel. I'm sorry, if I did something wrong.'
Just a second later the host entered the room and Ryo was already crouching and picking up Rika's cards from the floor.
'Eerr, I'm just about to call you, so mmm don't forget to come, ok?'
'We won't!' Ryo gave him a big smile and put the cards into Rika's hands.
They waited for the host to leave. Rika finally reacted to what Ryo did.
'Why the hell did you do that just now?!' she yelled at him and grabbed his arm. 'That was so low from you! I'd never expect anything like that! Not from you! You're so going down now .. honey!!!' She left his arm and went away from him.
'What are you talking about??' he replied in confusion and she turned back to him, angry.
'Don't play dumb, Ryo! I've seen right through you the first moment you started with your sick plan!!'
'What plan? Hey, you're not saying that ...'
'You're a complete jerk,' she said and went on the stage, because the host yelled their names to the crowd. Ryo quickly followed her.
Rika went to her side of the table and almost broke her chair, when she aggressively pulled it away from table to sit down on it. Nobody noticed that but Kazu and Kenta.
'Damn, something happened at the backstage. I knew we shouldn't have let them there alone!' Kazu beefed and buried his head into his hands.
'Let the game BEGINN!!!' the host yelled again and the two finalist started to shuffle their decks.
'You were the one acting weird for the last few days not me, you know,' Ryo said to her after he shuffled his deck.
'I was just doing that because you were doing the same thing to me!' Rika whispered in anger.
'What the hell are you talking about?!' he whispered back and took her deck to shuffle it again. She did the same thing.
'I told you not to play dumb, Ryo!'
'I'm not! I didn't do anything I wouldn't do if it was for the tournament or not!'
'Yeah right!'
'Don't shuffle too much, guys!' the host faked a laughter and the crowd laughed with him.
Ryo returned her deck to Rika and pulled first five cards from his deck. 'Ladies first,' he said and Rika took one card more than him.
'You didn't honestly think, I was being nice to you to confuse you so that you'd lose the finals???' he said a bit louder than he intended to. The host's ears grew bigger and he made a small step closer to them.
'You weren't being nice, Ryo! You were ...' she said and attacked him with a four leveled Digimon. Ryo lost his first life points but the host was so curious about their conversation that he forgot to inform the crowd about it.
'Well, you've been so nice to me and that was a bit scary!' Ryo attacked her back and destroyed her Digimon.
'You kissed me you .. jerk!!' she yelled at him and the host held his breath.
Ryo was supposed to pull a card from his deck but he didn't. He put his cards down and looked at her.
'I did that because I like you. I didn't have any sick plans against you. And I couldn't say that for you!'
'I told you I just did what I thought you were doing to me! Plus you could have waited until the end of the finals and then .. do that!'
'You do know, that one of us is going to lose tonight, don't you?'
'What?'
'Do you remember how long I'd been trying to be your friend but you were pushing me away because of that tournament years ago?? If you lose tonight .. (Rika's eyes narrowed) I said IF! You won't talk to me for the next five or more years! I couldn't risk that.'
'What are you talking about?! That was years ago! I'm not that immature anymore! The better one will win. I'd rather see it was me but if you won, I'd be .. happy for you.'
'Oh c'mon!'
'Ok fine, not happy but I wouldn't resented you! At least not for five years.'
'Errr?' the host tried to say something but Rika shut him up with one look.
'Then stay.'
'What?'
'Stay with me in Kyushu for another week.'
'W-why?' she asked and blushed.
'Because. I like you and you like me and we can spend some extra time with each other.'
'I don't like you!' she yelled and threw a card at him. He cought it and showed her his teeth. 'Of course you don't. Just stay. Please.'
'I'll do that .. after I destroy you. It's your turn by the way.'
I've gone crazy and nobody can help me. Plus I've always wanted to see this city. One week can't hurt anyone, can it?