All I Want for Christmas

Vi eagerly followed Mamouru into the kitchen. She still remembered the first time they met. It was...well awkward. "Hey...it's uhh...it's fine." She honestly was surprised he was the first one to say that. The short blonde had been really skeptical about Aurora's sudden break from the group to marry him but...time had mended that train of thought. She seemed happy and at the very least he seemed to be trying to be better than he was. Her too.

"Yea. I think it'd be for the best." She started transferring the food into the dishes. It was easier to forget the past with neither of the couple wrestling anymore. "What have you been up to anyways? I'm sure taking care of Meg is a lot of work but you must be getting stir crazy and all."

Mamouru smiled. "Yeah, Megu-chan is a handful, but we still need to be able to take care of her. I'm working as a manager, right now but I only have one client and she's fairly independent. Most of my work with her is more as an agent than anything else. I wrestle every so often but.. I haven't had a match in a while."

Mamouru shrugged. "How about you? What keeps you in Japan? Still wrestling?" He asked, not having watched much of AFW outside of his own work and scouting prospective clients.

Vi nodded. She was actually sort of expecting him to be managing still, even if she had hoped he was available. "I just had a match actually. It was against that Gabbie girl in the dojo. It was going great, honestly." Right up until it ended. "That's umm...that's actually something I was hoping to talk to you about. I want to fight the girl again and Aurora said you were a great manager. If you're not too preoccupied I was hoping you could coach me for it." She lifted up the filled plates, about to head to the table.

"Oh?" Mamouru turned and looked at Vi. "Yes, Gabbie-san does have some skill." He said. He hadn't seen much of her, but he knew she was a boxing prodigy at the very least. His mother spoke of how she had been coming along at wrestling as well and would probably be undefeated if not for some cheating on one of her opponent's parts.

"It's not difficult or rare to have multiple clients." Mamouru explained. "However at the moment, I'm not really looking to train people who are explicitly interested in fighting against Dojo opponents. Maybe one day I'll need to do it, but right now, well..."

Mamouru paused. "I feel like it would just create problems that I don't need at the moment." He looked at Vi and bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Vi bit her tongue and nodded. "I...understand," she responded reluctantly as Aurora and her father returned from the bedroom. She suddenly felt reluctant to press the issue, and not entirely sure why. "Well...thanks anyways. If anything changes, I'll probably be open for it, alright?" Vi put the food on the table, drawing the attention of Rachel and Shauna who both got up.

"I think we'll be fine dad," Aurora said under her breath. "Okay! Who's hungry?" she asked with a clap of her hands. "We have fried chicken and all sorts of traditional goodies. Don't be shy." Vi seemed a little distant as they began to eat, clearly with something on her mind. Shauna didn't have the same reluctance, and, albeit politely, was eating as if she hadn't eaten all day.

"What's wrong Violet?" Aurora asked while wiping her hand with a napkin. "Did you need something?"

"Oh...it's nothing sorry. Just a little tired I guess," she lied, looking into her glass as she drank.

"If it was anyone outside of the dojo, then I wouldn't have an issue." Mamouru said seriously. It was a deal breaker for him, however. He finished serving the food and sat down to eat with the others.

He ate quietly until Violet spoke up. Mamouru tilted his head a bit. "Kaa-san has been looking for something to do." Mamouru said suddenly. "I don't think she has the time to get back into wrestling full time, but she's been talking about wanting to at least start training again." Mamouru paused and looked at Aurora.

Aurora gave a look back to Mamouru curiously. She wasn't sure what he was getting at. "Well," Vi interjected, looking up at Aurora. "I was thinking about training up to fight this...well refight this girl I lost to. Have you thought about managing before? It wouldn't take as much of your time as actually wrestling." She took another sip of water.

"Managing?" Aurora asked back and after a second realized what Vi was getting at. She turned back to Mamouru. "I'm not sure I know much about doing that, isn't that more your field?"

"Yea but...well I trust you Aury, and I'm sure he's done it enough to teach you the basics, right?"

Mamouru smiled. "Well, for what you're looking for, just think of it as having a training partner. It's not to much different that. It's not like you would have to escort her down the ramp during matches or anything like that. The basics are pretty simple."

Mamouru smiled. "It's the rest that's a bit tricky, but it's something you would need to pick up anyway. Otherwise..." Mamouru stopped and then lifted his head. He shook it and then took a bite, dismissing the thought. He had told Vi that he didn't want to get involved in any matches against the dojo and passively suggesting Aurora was already more than he wanted to do.

Aurora hesitated. She wasn't entirely sure what she would even do. Sparring and training was fine but...she had to do the ringside stuff too. And it wasn't just standing at ringside. Still, it wasn't all that bad of an idea. It'd get her back into the thick of things without actually committing her to nonstop training at the gym. And she wouldn't be in any immediate danger.

"Yea...sure why not. I'd like that to do that Violet. If you trust me then yea why not, sounds like it could be fun." Aurora genuinely grinned and nodded. It was different, and it'd still be exciting even if she wouldn't be fighting. "Guess we'll both be managers, huh?" she asked to Mamouru to her left. Richard casually nodded like it was a good idea. Seemed natural for the father to think so.


After dinner was finished, casual chit chat and all, Richard, Aurora, and Rachel went back to the bedroom to look at Megumi while Vi helped Mamouru clean up. Shauna, with more or less nothing to do, stood near the doorway between the dining room and kitchen. "So...any idea who you might be wrestling next?" she asked to Mamouru as he passed her. "Looking for a challenge I presume, not like your last two?"

Mamouru hadn't really noticed Shauna, so when she spoke, he stopped and looked up, turning his head towards her in thought. "Oh, well, yeah, I do prefer to have a bit of a challenge but these days, any fight would probably do." He said with a shrug. "I'm fine with easy money in the ring. Less training, less stress, more time for Megu-chan. I'd prefer to manage more these days."

He then looked Shauna up and down. "What about you? How are things going for you as far as getting matches?" As far as he knew of the Irish girl, she wasn't all that great of a wrestler but Mamouru would still be polite.