JPN
Sayaka Kurei and Saki Kashima have made a surprise reconciliation. In the first round of the spring festival "Cinderella Tournament 2026" (on the 7th at the Chunichi Hall in Aichi), she will face Kashima. Before the match that day, she visited world champion Saya Kamitani, who was attending a book signing event for her autobiography, with a bouquet of flowers in hand and once again pleaded for a challenge. However, she was hit with the bouquet that was taken from her and then made to clean up
He managed to change his mindset and face the match, but there was one more thing he needed to do: reconcile with Kashima. Last year, a singles match between Kashima and Bojira was arranged thanks to Kurei's efforts. However, Kashima, who had been thoroughly beaten, had continued to harbor resentment towards Kurei
During the match, Kurei suddenly extended her hand and said, "I'm really sorry about what happened back then. I want to make up," but she wasn't forgiven right away. Her opponent tried to turn the tables and continued to kick her even after she pleaded, "I really do want to make up."
Undeterred, Kurei continued to apply a body-lock sleeper hold, saying, "I'm really sorry. I didn't do it on purpose." After being choked for over a minute, Kashima was in a groggy state
Kurei asks, "Did you get my feelings across?" and attempts to deliver a heart-pounding spear, but Kashima collapses to her knees. Just as Kurei tries to help Kashima up with a bewildered expression, Kashima attempts a lightning-fast comeback, but Kurei sees through her "playing dead" strategy, switches positions, and spins around. She gets the three count
After the match, Kashima extended her left hand, and the two shared a warm embrace. Backstage, Kurei reflected, "I never expected my first match to be against Saki. I didn't want to retire with Saki hating me, so I'm glad we were able to make up in the ring."
Her opponent for the second round (March 8th, Korakuen Hall) has been decided as Tomoka Inaba. She vowed, "I have a Cinderella-style second consecutive victory, and even bigger dreams beyond that, so I will keep pushing forward without stopping."
Kashima, on the other hand, said, "Up until now I've felt hatred towards Kurei, or rather, that she had deceived me, but I realized that there are things you can only understand when you have a singles match. I didn't trust her until the very end of the match, but at the end, I don't know, when she looks at you with such a cute face, you can't help but forgive her," and left the backstage with a somewhat satisfied expression