Ascension: Online

"We will now be taking a short break," the mayor, Zhen Yuhan, announced. "All of the currently-signed-up contestants have already battled once, thus eliminating half. The registration booth will remain open for another nine hours, until midnight today, at 12 AM. After that, no more contestants will be allowed to join."

"Remember, the final tournament will only have sixteen participants," he continued. "Everyone who has already battled once today will not have to battle again, so feel free to leave and rest up for tomorrow, at 6 AM once again."

Hearing this, many of the contestants in the audience dispersed. Hina-nee and I did as well, taking Aisa with us. The reason for this was simple - it was 3 PM right now, exactly when Ichigo, Horiya, and Furuwa would come on. I didn't know about Jim, but we haven't seen him all day, so he was probably busy with something in real life.

We decided to just chill out in an inn located very remotely, near the borders of the city. If we went back to our usual inn, the others would be able to find us easily. I wanted to avoid that. Our goal here was to hide, in order to prevent getting confronted by Ichigo, Horiya, and Furuwa, who now knew Hina-nee and I still weren't at school even after two weeks.

I could keep lying and say that we were still sick, but it was just unbelievable at this point. Therefore, this was the only method if we didn't want to get suspected. Of course, they were probably already wondering why we still weren't at school, but they probably hadn't made the link between us and the news article about two teens getting stuck in this game yet. But if they were to ask us directly… that would be a different story - hence why we were hiding from them.

On the way to the inn, we ended up running into Ming Hong, the friend we had made during the fight against the Phantoms. This was perfect… I could use him.

"Greetings, Brother Kaze, Lady Sakura," he said, then looked at Aisa with us. "Who is this?"

"Hi!" his two little siblings, Ming Kang and Ming An, exclaimed happily.

"Heya~" Hina-nee bent down and waved gently at the two little kids.

"Good afternoon," I replied politely, then patted Aisa's head as she cowered behind me. The perfect act. "She's my little sister."

"Ah, I see. You seemed like you were in a hurry…" Ming Hong murmured. "Is there something urgent you need to do? In that case, I am sorry to have disrupted y-"

I quickly shook my head. "No, it's okay. There was just… something troubling me, that's all."

I eyed him to see if he would take the bait, and indeed, he did.

"Oh, that is unfortunate. Do you wish to talk about it? If I can help, I definitely will."

Resisting the urge to smirk, I put up a distressed facade and scratched my cheek. "Actually, you see… it's like this…"

A few minutes later, I was finished with my expertly-woven story.

"I see…" Ming Hong muttered in thought. "So, you do not want those three to find you, correct?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Otherwise, they'll rob me again…"

"Worry not, Brother Kaze. I will report them to the authoriti-"

"A-Ah, no, there's no need for that," I quickly interrupted. This was slowly slipping out of my hands. I had to rear it back in before I lose control completely.

Ming Hong was confused. "Huh? But…"

"I just need you to keep an eye on their movements for me, if possible," I explained. "Let me know what they are doing, where they are at, and so on. That way, I won't accidentally run into them."

"Ah… I see… Brother Kaze, you are truly a benevolent man. Choosing to not report criminals who have been bothering you, and even go as far as to not fight back against their robbery since you do not wish to hurt them… I admire your personality."

I laughed awkwardly. "Ahaha… yeah…"

"I will do as you say, Brother Kaze. The moment I spot them, I will report back to you. However, my two younger siblings…"

"Don't worry, they can stay with us for the time being~" Hina-nee proposed happily.

"In that case, I am truly grateful," Ming Hong smiled. "Very well… where can I find you?"

"There's an inn near the east gates of Qilian, right? We'll be there," I said, pointing directly in front of us. "I'm going to need you to do this for the next week, so…let's see…"

I opened up my inventory and took out some gold. "Is this enough?"

Glancing at the heavy-looking pouch of money, Ming Hong's eyes widened as he quickly refused.

"T-There is no need, Brother Kaze! You saved all of Qilian by defeating that woman a while back and did not ask for any rewards. How can I receive compensation for something as trivial as this?"

Ah… truly a good man to the bitter end, he is.

"I see… in that case, we will repay you by taking good care of your little siblings in the time being."

"Yes, that would be more than enough for me."

Saying this, he turned to his two younger siblings and continued. "You two, be good with Brother Kaze and Lady Sakura, alright?"

The two nodded in unison as he smiled. Then, he let go of their hands and waved us off.

"Then, I will begin my observation," he said, walking away. "I will come around at nighttime to pick my two siblings up. Until then, they are in your care."

I nodded in response. "Thank you, Brother Ming."

As Ming Kang took my free hand not occupied by Aisa, and Ming An took Hina-nee's, we headed towards the inn together.

*****

When we finally arrived, we booked out a room for two and entered. Ming Kang and Ming An said they were tired, so we let them take a quick nap in our beds.

Once we made sure the two were well-asleep, we could finally talk about what was on our minds.

"Mou~ Kaze-kun, is it really good to use him like that?"

Hina-nee was, of course, referring to Ming Hong.

"Hey, I offered him compensation. He chose not to accept it," I shrugged.

"That's true, but… I can't believe he actually bought that wild story of yours, hehe~"

I smirked. "It's not 100% false. Ichigo and Horiya did bother me a lot in the past, and Furuwa is… well, you know how she is."

"Well, yeah, but going as far as to say they robbed you," Hina-nee giggled. "Still, I can't deny that was a good ploy."

I had told Ming Hong that Ichigo, Horiya, and Furuwa were a group of thugs who robbed me yesterday. Not wanting to create conflict, I didn't fight back and just gave them what I had on me - it wasn't much anyway. However, I am now afraid they will try it again, which is why I'm hiding. Naturally, I had also given him appearance descriptions of the three to make it easier for him to track them.

It was… a complete lie. But he seemed to buy it, somehow, so hey, it worked. I also unintentionally made myself seem like some sort of savior in his eyes, which wasn't exactly a bad thing, but he would treat me with lots of reverence from now on. That could turn awkward.

"Now... we just sit here, and await the good news," I snickered, looking out the window patiently, waiting for Ming Hong's return.

Aisa chuckled softly. "Human... it seems I was not wrong when making my decision. Your methods are truly amusing."

I grinned. "We're only just getting started."