Well, this is what I'm going to do.

Zume is going to leave the tournament for the moment, which will allow Akiko to either follow him or stay behind to watch the tournament. I see no reason for him to remain (and neither would Zume for reasons that I'll reveal in my post). In fact, Limey, if you want Akiko to follow him you could retcon her joining the tournament (as she was late) or say that her battle was to be tomorrow or much later (or something).

Just an idea.

[quote=Xan the G]
So yeah, even by your own words interaction with GM characters outside of being a part of the tournament still needed collaboration so... I'm not sure how that could be interpreted as complete RP freedom.
[/quote]

Not entirely accurate Xan. Reason being that your example just now applies to [I]any[/I] character. You can't interact with someone's character unless they are around to reply. You can have your character initiate interaction, but the reply requires the other player, unless you plan to godmod their character by dictating their responses.

So it's not that any given character has been trapped because of the tournament. In fact, if they are [I]stuck[/I] it is their own fault for [I]entering[/I] the tournament as such was done via their own free will/choice, not because it was required as it wasn't,

Sooooo.