The Ascension Age

Aire was taken aback as he repeated those words. "Cra-Crazy Bitch Altina?"

It didn't matter how Aire wrapped his head around it. The last thing that would appear in his mind was calling Altina a crazy bitch. At the very least, she didn't give him any reason to think of her like that.

Not long after, the guy's communicator showed the news that was requested.

"Let's give a big thumbs up for our new hero, Aire Ruehnar! Even though he was a new student, he still tried to get along with Crazy Bitch Altina, almost losing his life in the process! Know that everyone is hoping for you to get better, brother."

"Crazy Bitch Altina attacks once again! This time, she tried to **** a new student who passed out because of the Roaming Stellar Light event. Can you believe that? However, everyone in the room noticed her actions, which prompted her to end her assault by kicking our fellow student. He hit his head, and up to the moment of this post, he is still unconscious."

"You won't believe what Crazy Bitch Altina did this time..."

More and more similar news appeared one after another. Not even a single article condemned Aire whatsoever, which he found ridiculous.

'In that kind of situation, aren't men the ones supposed to be criticized? What did she do for the entire school to hate her like this? Usually, I would try to say that it was an accident, and everyone would still think I'm a pervert or something. Well, I guess that would also be a cliche?'

Indeed, that was supposed to be the natural course of events. But what puzzled Aire more than anything else was that Altina didn't seem to be the type of person described in these school news outlets.

'Could it be that she was pretending to be a nice person? Oh! Maybe that's the reason why she didn't accuse me! She knew that it wouldn't work, so she decided to apologize instead...'

'...'

'Like hell it was!' Aire immediately discarded that possibility. If Altina was really just like the news pictured her, let alone apologizing, she wouldn't even care about him at all. She wouldn't even appear in front of him again. However, that was obviously not the case. Zule told Aire how Altina had spent her last three days in the clinic, worried that she might have seriously injured him. Is that the kind of behavior one would expect from someone called Crazy Bitch? Obviously, there was a lot more behind this story.

The guy then took his communicator back before saying, "Do you see, brother? You're a hero for trying to get involved with her. No one dares to do so. Of course, I know that many of these stories are probably distorted, but that shows just how dangerous that girl is. You should try and be careful to not get involved with her again."

Aire didn't know if he should feel relieved or not. After all, his face and name were all over the school's network. He could still fool others if he moved the bandage on his head, but it wouldn't work for long.

Suddenly, the expression of one of them changed as they said, "Ah, shit! The entrance ceremony is almost going to start! We need to go right now if we want to get good seats."

"Fuck, that's right! Anyway, Aire. It was nice meeting the school's new legend."

Aire felt like crying as he replied, "I don't want to be a legend at all!"

The two guys laughed in response as they prepared to leave. "Hahaha! Don't worry. As long as you don't get involved with her, everyone will probably forget about you in a week or two. This is the Ascencion Age School of Star City. Over 700 thousand students are trying to become Stellar Risers here. Believe me, your news will be buried under other news very soon."

Aire sighed in relief after that. He wanted to ask more about why Altina was treated like that, but those two were in a hurry to leave. He quickly thanked them for the information and fixed the bandage on his head. He made it as difficult as possible for anyone to see his face. Following that, he went to the street mentioned before and took the Student Transport Apparatus #01.

The school was incredibly enormous. The Student Transport Apparatus moved over 200 kilometers (125 miles) per hour. Even at that speed, it took ten minutes to arrive at the school's central region. Fortunately, Aire still had a few hours before the ceremony began, which should be enough for him to at least find out where he should go.

There, he asked another student passing by where the administration office was located while making sure his face was hidden. Sure enough, it was very easy to find it once one arrived at this place.

However, Aire couldn't help but feel impressed by Altina's fame. He wasn't able to check while he was in the transport. But now that he was walking, he passed by a few boards that showed the news circulating throughout the school. Although the news about him and Altina weren't the only ones being displayed, they were definitely at the top ranks.

'Oh well. It seems like those guys were right. With how much information is coming and going, everyone will forget about me soon enough.'

Aire soon arrived in the Administration Office after a few minutes of walking. There, he took a queue before he was attended by the staff at one of the counters. The staff was obviously surprised to see that Aire was the same guy on the news, but Aire made sure that he wouldn't open his mouth before he at least left the building.

Aire was then registered for this year's curriculum and received his Stellar Identification. He also found out where his luggage had been sent to, which was his room. The only thing he didn't like was that the students had to share rooms. Then again, that made sense since there were just way too many students. Unless Aire had some kind of background, his only option was to accept it or rent a room for himself inside the school. Of course, a private room in one of the three Stellar Riser Schools built in this world was anything but cheap, so he immediately gave up that idea. Yep, Aire was poor!

Aire put those thoughts behind since he knew he had to participate in the ceremony. He then took another transport and eventually arrived at his dormitory, which was, as one could imagine, far away from the school's central region. Fortunately, the dormitory was quite empty at the moment since everyone was heading to this year's opening ceremony. That being said, the few people Aire passed by didn't recognize him even though a few of them were discussing his story with Crazy Bitch Altina.

'Phew...finally. I'm in my room.' Aire took in a deep breath before using his Stellar Identification to open the door. His roommates were probably at the ceremony, but there was also a chance of meeting someone.

'According to the rules, rooms are shared between four people. There is also no division between genders either, which is a school policy. Those who don't like it for whatever reason would pay for a private room. Well, that's just an excuse for the rich princes and princesses. Even an entire year of income from my family's shop wouldn't be able to pay for a single week of a private room in this school.'

Aire then entered the room and noticed that at least one of his roommates was still there. However, just as he was about to introduce himself, his expression changed as he shouted.

"Kymei?!"

The man looked in Aire's direction, obviously shocked to see him.

"Aire?!"

They pointed at each other in dismay before asking at the same time, "What are you doing here?!"