Runner-Up Survives Cup, Wall Unimpressed

Rasa Takahara ran second in the Crater Cup and is alive, which the league would like noted. Her name is not on the wall.

The four names that are there belong to the last four runners-up. The wall stands behind the Cup hall's pie counter. It has no plaque and no date, and the staff will not discuss it.

League officials confirmed Thursday that 'sudden death' overtime has been run as a literal clause since the rulebook was carried over from the old Earth text three centuries ago. The translator rendered a figure of speech as a procedure. Nobody checked it.

Rohan Lukasiewicz, who keeps the league's rules, agreed to speak after two refusals. 'The clause says the tied side dies suddenly,' he said. 'It does not say who. We have always used the runner-up, because they are present.'

Asked why no one raised it, he said the Cup's last three finals were not close. 'People assumed the wall was for sponsors.'

Kaveh Oyelaran, league spokesman, denied the account. 'No runner-up has been harmed,' he said. Asked about the wall, he said it was 'a feature of the building.'

Takahara was not available for comment Thursday. Her staff said she was at the hall, early, checking where the pie counter keeps its chairs, and had asked to be seated facing the door. The tie-break rota for Saturday's final is already printed, and the league confirmed that it lists the pie counter as the finish line.