The "I" in Idol Is For Inspiration

Masuyo took a moment to look Misaki’s way after she’d locked in the bodyscissors. It may have been a spar, even one that Sakura had outright asked for, but she was still feeling out her mentor. The MMA maven was used to harsh punishment, was always willing to take things to the next level and give an arm and leg if need be. She was ready to go at her opponent with everything, no matter who they were. But Misaki was still the professional here. If she thought things were going too far, she wouldn’t hesitate to stop it.

But if the look on her face was anything to go by, she wasn’t concerned in the slightest. Right. Misaki was a veteran. She knew what it took to reach the top and what her pupil was going to have to endure to make it that far. It was up to Sakura to turn things around, and it seemed the idol understood that all too well.

Masuyo grunted against the elbows digging into her side. A couple more, and her ribs were going to be feeling it for some time. Her first instinct was to release the former idol’s neck and give her the space she’d been working for, but Masuyo didn’t feel like making things that easy. It wasn’t the first time someone tried to punch their way out like this, and she’d come up with a few ways to deal with it. Sakura wanted a fight, and Masuyo promised a good one.

Instead, she relinquished the rear chokehold and snuck her arms underneath Sakura’s, wrapping them around the back of her head in a full nelson. Assuming she could get that locked, she’d unhook her legs and adjusted the hold, crossing her shin over her opponent’s midsection before hooking them back together, turning the body scissors into a more strict figure-four. The pressure wouldn’t be as bad as the combo she’d just worked with, but hopefully it would keep Sakura pinned long enough to figure out her next move.

It only took a few moments in Masuyo’s submission holds for Sakura to understand the difference in class between herself and the former MMA fighter. Misaki knew what Sakura was getting into from the get-go but said nothing to warn her pupil, if she was going to be that determined to go into a fight without knowing who she is wrestling- she was going to suffer the consequences. Knowing your opponent is half the battle and Sakura couldn’t ignore that otherwise she would get embarrassed just like she was getting embarrassed now.

Misaki would not interfere, she wanted to see if Sakura could find a way out or if she would withstand the pain. Eventually, Sakura would begin to fight back which prompted a smile from the corner of Misaki’s lips. Her elbows dug into Misaki’s ribs and slowly, Masuyo eased up on her submission.
The sleeper was first to let up and next was the scissors, however Sakura’s relief was only momentary as Masuyo transitioned the dual submission into an even more deadly duo submission. Her arms snaked under Sakura’s armpit and locked around the back of her head to trap her in a full-nelson, next- Masuyo would cross her shin over Sakura’s midsection before hooking them back together in a more tighter figure four scissors.

“AAAHHHHHHHH It…..it-hurts” she would yell. Her body was really being compressed as she felt a snake was constricting her body. Misaki would go down on her knee, “do you submit Hagiwara?” she would ask but Sakura would shake her head “NO” Hagiwara would yell.

Masuyo saw no reason to take it easy on Sakura just yet. She was Berserk’s rising ace, the center of the pro-wrestling scene for some time. Misaki didn’t seem concerned for her student, so she saw no reason to either. It was Sakura who initiated this fight, after all. The MMA maven couldn’t do her disservice now by taking it easy from the get-go. No one else in AFW was going to give her that kind of mercy. She could speak to that personally.

But this was a spar, a chance to learn. Masuyo couldn’t speak to Sakura’s experience with mixed martial artists, but she doubted it was extensive, and she doubted even more she’d be the last the former idol would run into. Maybe this was why she was so eager to fight. She couldn’t let her down now!

The corner of the Demon’s mouth curled into a deeper smirk, cranking the figure four a little tighter as she leaned further into the hold. It seemed brutal on the surface, tightening an already bad hold, but it wasn’t impossible. Sakura cried out, but Masuyo kept up, only adding more fuel to the fire to push her along.

“That’s right! The pain’s good!” Her hands pushed to the back of Sakura’s neck, forcing her head further down towards her chest. “If your body is reacting, it means you still have fight left in you! Use it. Work with it. Arms and legs are restrained all the time in MMA, but the trick is to not fight it too hard. Just enough to get your bearings. Control your breathing, channel your energy! Push with your spirit!”

Sakura's threshold to withstand pain was not always the greatest. Although she had improved massively since her early days, she was still considered to have a low threshold when it came to bearing pain from submissions. Sakura knew what she was getting into, when neither Masuyo nor Misaki was showing her any sort of remorse, Sakura knew it was up to her to escape the submission hold on her own.

Sakura could feel her body being constricted, she felt like if a snake was squeezing the life out of her. Worse off, her arms were trapped above her own head as Masuyo had her trapped in a full nelson and scissor combo. Her screams and moans started to grow louder, but she would not submit just yet.

Sakura felt her neck being pushed downwards against her own chest, "Nnnghh!" she would try to resist but Masuyo prevailed. The raven haired wrestler gave some encouraging words and Sakura would grit her teeth, trying to focus on what her opponent just said. With that, the former idol would rock her hips back and forth, trying to get the pair down on their sides first. If that worked, she would try to use her frame to jerk to one side, attempting to roll over towards the nearest ring ropes to get her foot on the bottom rope.

Masuyo knew that Sakura was hurting from this one. She’d lost count of the amount of times her opponent had gotten her in either of these moves. Having to deal with both of them at once would be nothing short of hellish. The way the figure-four crunched the ribs, the odd angle the full nelson torqued the spine and shoulders. There weren’t many positions that the former idol could find herself in than this one.

All the better to test her friend’s resilience. Masuyo may have been the newcomer to the ring, but she’d been training in aikido her whole life. Joints and body manipulation came as second nature to her as brushing her own teeth in the morning. To her, this was the best gauge to see what kind of challenge she could expect from the rising star.

She didn’t underestimate Sakura’s persistence and in no time at all the idol’s foot slipped underneath the bottom. The second she saw Misaki call for the break, Masuyo would unwrap her arms and legs, pushing away from the pro wrestler with a quick roll away and standing back up again. She leaned forward with her hands on her knees, taking a breath while she waited for her partner to get back up on her feet.

“Not bad, Sakura-san. I know that would have been too much for anyone else.” She smirked, brushing a bit of hair behind her left ear. “But I was expecting a little more from Berserk’s best.”

The figure four body scissors coupled with the full-nelson hold was something that Hagiwara never dealt with before in her Berserk wrestling career. Sure, she might have seen it being performed on television and on house shows but never had someone put her through it. She had to say that she really hated it and Masuyo had the perfect leg power to pull such a painful maneuver off.

Still, wanting to prove to her mentor and to Masuyo that she was not just a good-looking model who was here to job out to the real female wrestlers she withstood the pain, even though she wanted to tap out so badly. Masuyo was a new comer just like her but her background in MMA was a big factor to aid her while Hagiwara was just a pop idol.

Earning the rope break, Sakura felt relieved and curled up a bit with her arms wrapped around her body as she tried to relax and ease the pain. Hagiwara would soon push up on her hands and knees, panting in exhaustion as sweat dripped off her forehead onto the mats.

In a moment, Sakura would push up on her feet, adjusting her attire from the waist. "Hah..hah...I-I'm not Berserk's best" she would say whilst blushing, causing Misaki to giggle mischievously. With that, Sakura attempted to lunge at Masuyo hoping to catch the Demon off guard and go low, looking to wrap her arms around Masuyo's feet and attempt to take her down on her back.