Shanghai
 7 a.m.

 The streets are already bustling with activity while the steam and aromas from open-air shops and stands ascend into the sky.
 It is amply bright outside, but the sun has not completely risen; dark shadows dance on the ground in between the shops of the marketplace.
 Alone, a behemoth of a man stands out from the throng.
 "Nuts. That Ash. Calling me here at this time of the morning."
 Dressed in his usual ultra-casual style, a jacket slipped over his bare torso, anyone passing along the street would recognize him. In Shanghai he is the man called "Shen Woo." Shen means "god" and Woo the Chinese word for "battle." Naturally, this isn't his real name.
 "Ah, ha, ha, ha. You're here. Shen, long time no see! So, where is a place that will feed us some delicious crabs? You must know, right Shen?"
 "Ash...who'd eat crab at this ungodly morning hour?!"
 "Lighten up there, pal. Then how about a little dim sum before Duo Lon gets here?"
 The young Caucasian with platinum hair gathered up in a katyusha is Ash Crimson.
 Alabaster skinned with blue eyes. Freckles still remain on his cheeks positioned over the edges of a mouth contorted into an impertinent smirk.
 You could call him a handsome lad or not, but it is certain that he is enveloped in a strange sort of magnetism that garners glances. His body is slight but sinewy.
 "Crab, this early in the morning..."
 Thrusting forward through the crowd, Ash finds Shanghai crabs dumped into a wooden crate, wriggling gloriously in the display window of a shop.
 "Look, look. They look spunky. Your buying, right?"
 "Who's buying? Give it a rest. And in the first place, do you even eat crab? Tourists from Europe tend to shy away from our local delicacy, you know?"
 "I love crab. And after you hear what I got to tell you, I think you'll gladly foot the bill."
 Ash's mischievous expression is reflected in the window of the shop.
 "One guy said the clown who ate Shanghai crab for the first time was extremely courageous...or just amazingly intelligent. It's the truth, Ash. So what's your important story?"

 And then: the reflection of the figure of another tall man appears in the glass of the show window which would be difficult to be called polished.
 "......"
 Ash and Shen, without looking back, continue pretending to keep judging the quality of the crabs.
 Shen clicks his tongue slightly. Although distracted by the conversation, being snuck up on so easily...?
 "Ah, ha, ha, Duo Lon. It's been awhile. How have you been? How about we talk somewhere out of the way while we fill our bellies?"
 "This place looks good."
 Even the fresh air of morning becomes cold and gloomy around this guy.
 The figure of the tall man, dressed in a costume luxuriously embroidered, appears from the pallid shadows between the buildings. Duo Lon. All but the age of a young man, he is actually a member of the "Flying Brigands," a group of assassins who reside in the back regions of China.
 He is laconic with a presence that naturally overwhelms people, and bears a sad countenance.

 "Ta-dah! Can you believe it? This came to me in the mail. "

 What Ash produces is an envelope sealed archaically with wax.

 THE KING OF FIGHTERS.

 The world's largest tournament of varying fighting styles.
 Both Shen and Duo Lon are aware of this.
 And they both know it is a team event of teams consisting of three fighters each.
 Annually some sort of crisis accompanies it; in other words, an event with attitude.

 "I won't pull any punches. I want to join this thing. So, I'm hoping you'll feel the same. How about it? Will you enter with me?"
 "Sounds like fun. OK, I'm in! I've always wanted to be in KOF, at least once. I'll go anywhere where strong opponents can be found."

 "That's the ol' pepper, Shen. Happy to hear it. How about you, Duo Lon?"

 "...Yeah, OK."

 "Ah, ha, ha, ha. Then it's all decided!"

 "As a matter of fact, the application of we three has already been made. It would have been a real bummer if either of you had refused to accompany me."
 "Say what? You already entered us? ...Ah, whatever. I'm pumped up for this!"
 "...What are you scheming? Huh, Ash?"
 "Oh, come, come, Duo Lon. It's nothing of any consequence."
 "And if I had said I wouldn't do it...What would you have done?"
 "...Hmm. What would I have done?"
 Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Ash laces the invitation between the fingers of his left hand and plays with it.
 Supple fingers are they, which look like they have nothing to do with combat. And his nails are adorned with nail art.
 From the four corners of the invitation interlaced in Ash's fingers burst emerald flames.
 The entire invitation is swiftly consumed by flames, but the vigor of the flame does not abate and a pillar of flame bursts from Ash's left hand.
 A spiral of wind breaks out at his feet, blowing up Ash's platinum blond hair, and the flames burn even higher and stronger. He laughs. At the depths of his innocent and capricious giggle an inscrutable something certainly squirms. A few passers-by notice the green pillar of flame but are dumbstruck with astonishment.
 Ash shakes his left hand dramatically outward.
 The emerald flames jump from his arm. Drawing a gentle arc that slips between Shen and Duo Lon in an instant, it brushes by the face of a girl passing nearby and then disappears.
 The draft blows the girl's hair. Promptly thereafter at her side, the thing that was a bee a second before falls to the earth motionless, burnt to a crisp, in a pile of white ash.

 "That was close, young lady. Ah, ha, ha."

 "Uh, th-thank...you."
 "Il n'y a pas de quoi."
 Ash replies with an exaggeratedly old-fashioned bow

 "OK, playtime is over. To make things worse I'm totally whacked from being called out so early in the morning."
 "I love mornings in the spring. They say, 'The season is spring. The time of day is morning. The time of morning is seven.'"
 "Who says that?"
 "Hmph. For someone raised in France, you have strange tastes."
 Duo Lon breaks out in a rare wry smile. Although he feigns a cool, adult air, his youth is given away when he laughs.
 Ash continues.
 "As God makes evident in the sky. All in the world is nothing.

 Well, that's it. Take it easy. Just take it easy. Ah, ha, ha."

 ASH CRIMSON
 DUO LON
 SHEN WOO

 Their participation in the tournament had already been confirmed by the KOF Management Organization three days ago.