Aalhya has spent weeks needling Ishikori Katzushita without ever using her name — “smiling is not a strategy” was aimed close enough that nobody needed the clarification. This week, for the first time, she stopped being coy.

“Katzushita,” Aalhya said, flat, like she was reading it off a list. “You want people to think the warmth is real. Maybe it is. It still won’t hold up a mountain.” She didn’t announce a match, didn’t need to — just let the name sit in the air where everyone could hear it. “I don’t say things twice. I said her name once. That’s enough for now.”

With DRC’s first night two weeks away and the Women’s Title still vacant, it’s the clearest signal yet of where Aalhya’s attention is — and who she considers the real conversation.