After a lot of preparation, when the calendar turned a new page and entered the spring of 1990, the KOF competition was officially announced to begin.

This year's KOF tournament received full support from the Japanese government. Not only did they prepare hotels for the players, they also provided special vehicles for pick-up and drop-off, and even closed roads for the start of the KOF tournament. Promotional advertisements for KOF were broadcast on television 24 hours a day.

To put it bluntly, the Japanese government has put in the same effort as it did in hosting the Olympic Games to host this KOF.

This is not because the Japanese government is so hospitable. In 1990, the bubble economy completely burst, the real estate market collapsed, and the Japanese stock market plummeted, entering the beginning of the lost twenty years. The Japanese government certainly did not want to sink, so they set their sights on this KOF International Fighting Tournament. For the Japanese government, if this tournament can be as successful as the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, then it may be able to pull the Japanese economy out of the quagmire.

Therefore, the Japanese government specially found Shizuku's company to lobby, and its attitude was so sincere that it was no different from that of domestic officials who attracted foreign investment during the reform and opening up.

If Shizuku was Japanese, she would have made it clear at this time, saying that she would serve the emperor with all her heart and soul until her death, etc. Unfortunately, Shizuku is not Japanese. She took advantage of the Japanese government's request to her and extorted a lot of money from them, and asked them to thank her profusely. After all, Shizuku also hopes to make KOF a regular event. Of course, it is not possible to hold it every year, but if it is held every two or three years, it can be made into a competition similar to the European Cup, Asian Cup or World Cup.

Moreover, given Japan's current economic difficulties, hosting international events here will only benefit them and not harm them. They can only beg me to do it, and I can also gain political influence...

In fact, the Japanese government itself knows that this is a short-term solution. If things go wrong, Japan may become a "banana republic" that relies on tourism to survive in ten years. But Shizuku doesn't care about the life and death of the Japanese government. At this time, she completely showed the coldness and ruthlessness of a capitalist. Taking advantage of the Japanese government's request for her, the collapse of the Japanese real estate market and the collapse of the bubble economy, Shizuku took the opportunity to acquire a large amount of land and high-tech companies, basically hollowing out half of Japan's technology industry.

Shizuku didn't want to dig the remaining half because it involved military and other sensitive facilities. She was not interested in strengthening Japan's military strength. In Shizuku's opinion, it would be good for Japan to be a banana republic that relies on tourism, right?

At least there are picturesque scenery with clear water and beautiful mountains all year round, and there are pretty JK girls... provided you don't have a nuclear leak.

The preliminaries were held for three days, and 32 teams were successfully shortlisted. The team formed by Shizuku also successfully defeated the opponents and advanced smoothly.

By the way, Shizuku didn't play in the whole match, and it was basically Mary Rose and Honoka who defeated the opponent. The KOF competition system is a round-robin battle, one by one, and the loser will win.

Among them, Mary Rose is the forward, Honoka is the vice admiral, Shizuku is the admiral, Fumizuki Rui is the substitute, and Setsuna is mainly responsible for providing them with treatment as an off-field logistics staff - as a snow girl, although her combat power is not very strong, Setsuna has also worked hard to practice spiritual healing techniques and can heal injuries quickly.

This was quickly welcomed by Mary Rose and Honoka. A real fighting match was not like a fighting game where you could just hit each other a few times and then compete to see who was cooler. Basically, once you face the enemy, it is not uncommon to be beaten up or covered in wounds. Even Honoka had been hit in the face several times by fists or elbows, and she was almost unable to face people.

Thanks to Setsuna's spiritual healing technique, the injuries of the two were easily healed, which was also one of the motivations that allowed them to persevere.

Another motivation is Shizuku.

After all, Shizuku had already told the two that she was going to use that stripping secret to wipe out the entire audience. Mary was happy to watch the fun, but Honoka felt very ashamed. She didn't want the audience to point at her and shout "That woman is a member of the stripping team" in the future... So in order to avoid letting Shizuku go on stage, she tried her best.

But unfortunately, Honoka's idea still failed.

“Wow!!!”

As the burning flames spread out, Honoka was immediately knocked off the stage. She looked at her opponent who was wearing strange clothes on the stage with a look of unwillingness.

After being shortlisted, Shizuku's team's first opponent was a female fighter team consisting of King, Mai Shiranui, and Yuri Sakazaki.

This was also the first powerful enemy they faced.

Mary Rose was a little girl of 1.4 meters in height, with short arms and legs, while her opponent King was proficient in Muay Thai and leg skills, and his long legs were incomparable. Facing such an opponent, poor little Mary was helpless even if she had counterattack skills, and was decisively knocked down.

Honoka successfully defeated King with her "Battle Star Shift", but the next Mai Shiranui made her a little nervous. Mai Shiranui is a ninja, not an ordinary fighter, which is different from the opponents Honoka had met before. In addition, Honoka herself was still exploring the skill of "Battle Star Shift" and was not proficient in it, so the opponent took the opportunity to knock her off the stage.

At this moment, Honoka was desperate.

Of course, she was not desperate because she lost the game, but because... Shizuku stood up!

Shizuku, who participated in the competition, did not wear her usual clothes, but wore ordinary sportswear and a fox mask on her face. According to Shizuku, she did not want to reveal her identity...

But Honoka doesn't want to either!

I wish I had worn a mask earlier.

Even if they are called the mask team, it is better than being called the strip team!

"Oh! Look everyone, Masked X is standing up! As a general, this is her first time to fight! I wonder how she will perform against Mai Shiranui of the Shiranui Style and Yuri Sakazaki of the Gokudo Style. Let's wait and see!!"

Hearing the host's call, Honoka wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it, but Maryrose next to her waved her hands vigorously to cheer Shizuku on.

"Come on, let them see how powerful you are!!"

Unlike ordinary high school students like Honoka, Maryrose is Helena's maid. Participating in this competition is just a mission. For Maryrose, she will go back to being a maid after the KOF competition is over, and she doesn't care about whether it will be embarrassing.

Therefore, Mary Rose's standard is to watch the fun without minding the big things.

As for Fumizuki Rui - she just huddled in the corner, watching the fight on the ring without saying a word, and she and Setsuna served as the background.

At the same time, Shizuku, wearing a fox mask, also walked onto the stage, looked at Mai Shiranui opposite her, and raised her hand.

"This is my advice to you. You'd better surrender."

"oh?"

Hearing what Shizuku said, Mai Shiranui's expression also changed.

"Then it depends on whether you have the ability to do it!"

At the same time, the sound of the game starting was heard from the loudspeaker.

"Ready—go!"

"clang."

With the sound of a gong, the competition officially began.

"Flower and Butterfly Fan!"

The moment the game started, Mai Shiranui suddenly swung her right hand and threw the fan in her hand towards Shizuku. Then she flashed and pounced directly towards Shizuku.

"It's just a trifle."

Facing Mai Shiranui's attack, Shizuku did not fight back. On the contrary, she just slightly turned sideways and easily avoided Mai Shiranui's flying fan. At the same time, Mai Shiranui came in front of Shizuku, holding the fan in both hands and spun around, hitting Shizuku.

Dance of the Flamingos!

Under Mai Shiranui's attack that was like a violent storm, Shizuku had no intention of fighting back. On the contrary, she shuttled through the opponent's attack like a ghost and did not suffer any harm at all.

"Oh, let's see. Masked X wasn't hit by Mai Shiranui at all. She seemed to be dodging the opponent's attacks with ease! But she didn't launch a counterattack. Could it be because she couldn't find the right time to attack?"

After several rounds of fighting, both sides retreated to the sides, and Mai Shiranui stared at Shizuku with dissatisfaction.

"Why don't you fight back?"

In response to Mai Shiranui's question, Shizuku just chuckled.

"I think you have discovered that there is a huge difference between your strength and mine. I advise you to surrender voluntarily to avoid embarrassment."

“Nonsense!”

Hearing this, Mai Shiranui was also furious. She shouted and waved her hands. Several fans immediately flew out and rushed towards Shizuku. At the same time, Mai Shiranui also lowered her body and rushed towards Shizuku. While Shizuku was dodging the flying fans, Mai Shiranui suddenly turned around, and a flame suddenly appeared, cutting through the sky with a trajectory, and blasted towards Shizuku!

"it's useless!"

Facing the flames, Shizuku lightly jumped back to avoid them, but - this was exactly what Mai Shiranui wanted! At the moment when Shizuku flew into the air, she suddenly flipped on the spot, then bit the fan, and suddenly burst into a ball of flames, rushing directly towards Shizuku!

"Watch out, the secret of the Shiranui style, the ultimate killer, Ninja Bee!"

"Hmph, it's useless."

Facing Mai Shiranui who was rushing towards her, Shizuku didn't care at all and sneered under the mask. Then Mai Shiranui saw her put her hands forward into claws, making a posture to fight back.

Does she want to use throwing skills?

This thought flashed through Mai Shiranui's mind, and at the same time, she had rushed to Shizuku. Through the flames, Mai Shiranui could even see the masked face - for some reason, at this moment, she seemed to see a cold smile on the fox mask.

Then, the world started spinning.

“Woo…”

Mai Shiranui didn't even know what happened. She only remembered that she rushed towards Shizuku and used her ultimate move. Then her eyes went dark. When she opened her eyes again, she felt soft soil instead of the cold arena. She looked around and saw that she had arrived at the bottom of the arena without knowing when, and the audience around her was cheering crazily.

"I, I lost?!!"

Mai Shiranui instinctively looked in the direction of her team, and then she found that King and Yuri Sakazaki were pale-faced, desperately waving and shouting at her, but in the noisy cheers, Mai Shiranui could not hear anything. Then she saw King pointing at himself, then at her, motioning her to look down, and then Mai Shiranui lowered her head, and then she saw...

"ah--!!"

Mai Shiranui quickly curled up her body to cover her figure. At this moment, King and Yuri Sakazaki also hurriedly ran over from the contestant seats, took out a piece of clothing and put it on Mai Shiranui.

"What the hell is going on!!!"

At this moment, Mai Shiranui was completely stunned.

On the other side, looking at Shizuku standing on the ring with a thin high-slit outerwear similar to a swimsuit in her hand, Honoka sighed helplessly, then covered her face with her hands.

She still did it!!!