A mad party in a forest clearing.

There was finally a light ahead, one separate from the strange spotlight that seemed to be following Lili's progress through the forest. Rather than the light, what Lili noticed was the smell; whatever was up ahead smelled almost as good as the assortment of bakery sweets her butler Sebastian would prepare for her at tea-time, and the fighter found herself stumbling towards its source as if possessed. "If that brawling buffoon was headed this way, there's no way she'll be able to avoid stuffing her face with something that smells so tantalizing..."

Covered with sweat, and with the flimsier sheer adornments to her outfit having largely been sacrificed to random branch snags on her trip, the young woman walked forward until she was in a well-lit clearing. Well-lit and well-stocked, actually; standing out in the forest, a large, round table had been prepared with an elegant red cloth and loaded with food and tea to serve. Rich recognized expensive, and Lili could tell the items on the table were the work of an artisan on the level of her own staff. If there was any flaw in the presentation, it was that there was just too much of the stuff; cookies had been piled on tarts, which had been piled on cakes, and beneath the raised trays of those cakes were further cakes still. It was a mountain of food, like manna from heaven for the hungry heiress, or...

"A trap," Lili scoffed, wiping her lips in spite of herself. "Well, Hunter? Do you fancy me a foolish Gretel who'll wander into your gumdrop house without being invited?!" She tried to show her poise in a battle-ready stance, although it was tough to make herself feel intimidating while wrapped in her soft-colored bunny suit.

There was no response, from either her imagined assailant or her would-be rival. Lili seemed to be alone.

To her frustration, her stomach let out another horrific growl. The only way Lili could stop herself from trying to sneak a scone from the plates in front of her was to continue talking. "That's right! You must have some idea of the enormous blunder you made, **** Emilie De Rochefort of the Rochefort oil dynasty, correct? Rich people have money, and well-connected rich people who participate in tournaments hosted by the Mishima Zaibatsu are very familiar with the illicit ways that money can be spent! Did you imagine that your ridiculous 'Bunny Hunt' was so clandestine that only those called to participate knew of it? Hardly. The rest of us are simply too busy to personally take it upon ourselves to end this demented, Lord-forsaken farce you hold here...

"... Until today." Lili banged her fist on an edge of the table to command attention (ignoring the fact that she'd been a good six feet from the table only a moment ago, drifting towards it as if magnetically drawn). "Make no mistake; The fate of your disgraceful hobby is the least of your concern. If you appear before me now with a proper outfit in hand, comfortable shoes for me to wear, and appropriate penitence, crawling on the ground to kiss my feet, I may see fit to grant you admission to a hospital instead of the morgue you so richly deserve for your..."

Lili tapered off. She was furious, but she wasn't deaf and blind: she could tell nobody was appearing in response to her threats. "Very well... You've sealed your fate. Do not beg me for mercy when my heels meet... My heels meet your... Tch!" Quickly, Lili struggled for a spot on the table where she could rest her elbows without placing them in a confectionary. Ranting after running turned out to be a bad combination, and she was now totally exhausted. She ground her teeth, realizing something had to give.

Swallowing her pride, but not yet any of the food or tea before her, Lili tumbled her half-exposed butt into the cushion of one of the three mismatched chairs circling the table, the one that looked most comfortable. "I'll simply rest here a moment to catch my breath... Asuka can't have gotten far. She's a monster, but even monsters have limits."

She'd been right on the money choosing this chair: the regal high-backed design and plush cushions felt so natural to her that if she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine she was back in her father's mansion with Sebastian waiting on her. If it wasn't for the foreign feeling of bare skin contacting that chair, she might actually be able to fall asleep. Well, that and the smell assaulting her; she felt that any minute now she'd be drooling uncontrollably over those hot pies in front of her.

"Hot," her brain reminded her, although it sounded as exhausted as she felt. "The tea and confectionaries are hot. That means they were placed here recently. That means the assailant must be nearby-"

Lili's sense as a fighter finally overcame her needs as a spoiled rich girl, but at this point, it was probably too late.