Ascension: Online

After Hina-nee and I ordered room service food because we were too lazy to go out to eat, we suddenly heard a knock at our door. It had only been an hour since Koroth left.

I walked over to the door, peeked through the peephole, and after seeing who it was, opened it without any hesitation.

"Greetings, Brother Kaze, Lady Sakura," the visitor bowed deeply.

"Likewise, Brother Ming," I welcomed him inside and closed the door behind him. He walked inside, his two little siblings following behind.

"I am here to just drop off Ming An and Ming Kang. After spending the morning out doing quests with me, they are exhausted," Ming Hong said with a sigh. "I leave them in your care. I will head out now to continue observing the people you mentioned yesterday."

"I understand. I'll take good care of your younger siblings. And, once again, thank you for doing this for us."

He shook his head. "Don't mention it."

Then, turning to his two younger siblings, he gave them a gentle push on their backs. The two immediately ran past me towards Aisa and Hina-nee. I sighed. Did little kids just not like me or something?

"Then, I will leave now," Ming Hong said, giving a kung fu salute. "I will come to pick them up at 8, as usual."

I nodded briefly in return as he left, and I shut the door behind him.

*****

After he left, Ming Kang and Ming An got tired of playing after a while and decided to sleep. Aisa seemed relieved at this, since she wouldn't have to entertain them anymore.

I sat down on the couch, beside Hina-nee. "Aisa… how's the situation outside?"

"… Outside?" Hina-nee murmured.

"I mean, in the real world," I explained with a sigh. "Are the news about us spreading?"

Aisa shook her head, much to my surprise. "Contrary to what you may think, the news about you two was practically shut down within two days of when it first came out, labeled as nonsense. Your family is heartbroken, but they have not attempted anything further."

"Mother… father…" Hina-nee wore a crestfallen expression on her face as she pondered.

"Did you have anything to do with this?" I asked Aisa, narrowing my eyes.

"Naturally. The company of Ascentech is nothing but a puppet organization of mine. As long as nothing like the address or face is requested, everything will be fine."

"But won't the public become suspicious if you refuse to reveal the company's address or even the face of the CEO?"

Aisa scoffed. "For the address, I can simply say it is located extremely remotely to prevent anyone from finding and raiding it. But the face… if it truly comes down to it, I can easily fabricate a human face and animate it into a video. It is not a difficult task for me - I can even livestream it, if needed."

"Huh…" I murmured.

"However, you humans seem to be stupid. They are not questioning my words at all, instead labeling your family's complaints as mere balderdash."

"Humans are stupid… well, I can't deny that one, I guess," I sighed, scratching my hair, then turned to Hina-nee. "Are you… okay?"

She nodded slowly, looking out the window behind us. "It's… unfortunate, but there's nothing we can do. Besides, even if the people back on Earth did believe the news, Aisa probably would've done something to prevent them from investigating."

"Indeed. I would have cleansed the memories of anyone and everyone who knew about the news."

My eyes widened. "You have the power to do that?"

She scoffed. "My powers on Earth are far greater than they are here, due to certain circumstances you need not know about."

"I'll… just give you the benefit of the doubt, I suppose."

Hina-nee sighed, resting her chin on her hand as she gazed lazily out the window. "It's pretty fun, this new world. I still do want to return to Earth eventually, but for now…"

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she stood up.

"What is it, Hina-nee?"

She pointed out the window slowly. "Look… isn't that…?"

I looked out to see what she was talking about, and my gaze landed on a lone girl who had just entered the inn we were in.

"Damn… she's really staying here, huh?"

"That's the girl from this morning, right?" Hina-nee asked.

I nodded firmly. "No doubt about it. It's definitely her."

The girl I was talking about was, of course, the one who had brutally slaughtered that young man earlier today during their fight. She didn't have her enormous scythe out, but her long black hair, dazzling pink eyes, and perfect figure were enough to identify her.

"So that's why I saw her heading in this direction after her fight this morning…" I murmured, then sat back down on the couch. "She had probably checked in earlier, then went to do something, and now returned to rest for the rest of the day."

"What do you think, Kaze-kun? Is it a coincidence?"

"It could be… but I don't think so. There's no reason why anyone would come to stay at this inn, unless, like us, they are hiding from someone."

But that doesn't seem to be the case with this girl, given how confidently she was walking around.

"… Do you think she is here for us?" Aisa asked. The first time she has proactively asked a question.

"Oh? Why the sudden interest, Aisa?" I taunted, raising an eyebrow.

"You should make her join you," she responded briskly.

"What?"

"You should force her to join your ranks. She will be a powerful ally."

"Yeah, but knowing her, she'll kill us first, then slaughter the actual enemies," I said, rolling my eyes.

"To make it easier for you… I will trap her inside the game as well."

"Hm, oka- wait, what?!" I spun my head around in shock at what I just heard. "H-Hey, no! Why would you-"

"Already done. The action cannot be reversed."

My mouth hung open, as I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, slowly raising it up into the air.

"Y'know… I really want to punch you right now."

"Warning: inflicting damage to me is equivalent to inflicting damage to reality itself. I suggest you reconsider, human."

"Ahaha… hey, both of you calm down," Hina-nee interrupted, grabbing both of us by the shoulders and looking back and forth between our faces. "What's done is done… Aisa, next time, please give us more of a heads-up first, and Kaze-kun, remember, she's just a little girl. Don't hurt her, okay?"

"Little girl my ass! She's literally existed since the beginning of time! She said it herself!" I shouted in anger, then turned to the subject of my frustration. "Hey, Aisa, tell me. Did you choose this appearance on purpose, just to appeal to Hina-nee?"

"I cannot deny that was part of my calculations."

"See?"

I shook my head and placed my hand to my forehead, stressed out. "Great… what do we do now…"

"We can still avoid her, no?" Hina-nee frowned. "She has no way of connecting her not being able to log out to us."

"Oh yeah, that's true… I overreacted…"

"Oh yes, that is a good point. I will now broadcast a message to her-"

"Oh no you don't!" I put Aisa into a headlock, but she did not make any move to resist.

"Broadcast: complete."

"… You're kidding me, right?" I muttered, then let out a deep breath and swallowed back down the urge to strangle her right then and there.

Slowly letting go of Aisa, I calmed down and tried to think about things logically.

"Aisa… just what did you send her?"

"Relax, human. She has not received the message yet."

"What? So you were just playing me just now?"

"Not exactly," she replied, sending me an unamused glance. "I have already broadcast the message to her, but she will only receive it four days from now."

"Four days from now… that's the start of the main tournament," Hina-nee added softly.

"… Before that, why are you so insistent on having her join me as an ally?" I asked, slightly confused with Aisa's incentives.

"I believe it will provide high-quality entertainment for me. Nothing more," she replied stoically.

I sighed deeply. It looked like I needed to devise a plan to control this girl somehow, before Saturday. This was undoubtedly one of the 'dangerous situations' Aisa had mentioned she would toss me into, but I failed to see any benefits for me in this, even though she had promised me all the scenarios she would put me in would all have some kind of reward.

I could feel it: the following days were going to be a pain.