ãAh, that reminds me. Both of you, under what names would you like to enter the tournament? If you donât have any particular request, Iâm just going to register you as Sanraku and Pencil Warrior.ã
Ahh, thatâs right. You need a name if youâre going to participate in a tournament. To be perfectly honest, I donât want to stand out too much, and I cannot hope to do that with a name âSanrakuâ.
ãRegister me as âAnonymous Alfaâ, thank you very much.ã
ãAh, then Iâll be âAnonymous Omegaâ.ã
Muu.
ãâ¦â¦ Well then, I guess Anonymous Type Zero has a nice ring to it as well.ã
ãThenâ¦â¦ Please register me as Anonymous Ghost Numberâ¦â¦ã
Muumuuuuh!!!
Five minutes later.
ãHaahâ¦â¦ Alright then. So Sanraku is fine with being called âAnonymous Prisoner from Beyond the Boundaryâ and Pencilgton with âMystic Ladyâ, right?ã
ããFinally.ãã
But honestly, if you start calling me by that name Iâm going to die from embarrassment.
ãâ¦â¦ And what do you say for simple âMysterious Helper No. 1â and âMysterious Helper No. 2â?ã
I wonder what people like Natsume-san think while seeing us being to our usual antics like that?
ãOkay, letâs leave it to professional gamers. Their naming sense is a whole lot better than ours, I think.ã
ãSure thing.ã
ãSanraku is going to be âGunballâ and Pencil Warrior-san will be âBlack Curtainâ.ã
ãWhatâs the deal with a ball thingy!?ã
ãWhy does this âBlack Curtainâ sounds so dull and ominous!?ã
ãShut up! Itâs your own fault that you canât decide! And if youâre not going to get a move on with it, weâll going to be here way past noon!!ã
Another thirty minutes later.
ãâ¦â¦ Right, this concludes the coming up with names. It was a long and ridiculous fight, but we did it.ã
Yes, thatâs right. After all, Sanraku is my private name. As for my tournament name, I shall be known asâ¦â¦
I know I will never forgive you for this, Katsu.
ãSay, Silvia? Was there someone with a name like that on Keiâs team?ã
ãHmm? Maybe they decided to add someone new just for the occasionâ¦â¦ Whatâs this? âNo Faceâ and âNo nameâ?ã
ãSh*tâ¦â¦ âYou donât want to show your faceâ and âYou donât want to reveal your nameâ my ass!ã
I was really angry because there was nothing I could say back about it. Also, it sounded a little bit cool, but still!
While I do think it was our own fault for being indecisive, thereâs no real reason to stay hung up on the past.
Just a little bit before noon Katsu was called to fill in some entry forms, Natsume-san had to pick up a phone call about some sort of unreasonable schedule adjustment, and Pencilgton went God knows where to do God knows whatâ¦â¦ And since I asked for a room delivery, I went back to pick it up.
After that, since I had time to spare I decided to go to the hotelâs restaurant. Of course, I had to go without my gas mask, because it would be hard to walk with this thing on in a public place. If someone saw me like thatâ¦â¦ I would get in a whole lot of trouble, right?
ãI ate a normal breakfast just before the meeting, so now a light snack would be more than appropriate.ã
Desserts, dessertsâ¦â¦ Well, shucks, none of them had any price tags. Does that mean that the accommodation fee also includes meals? Are you kidding me?
ãLetâs see, Iâm kind of curios about this rare cheesecake with midsummer fruit splashâ¦â¦ã
ãSteak, 900 grams, for four people. One medium, two rare, one well-done, one rare to well-done, with lots of garlic on the side.ã
What was that? Some kind of a spell that makes you feel like heartburn just by listening to it?
When I came here the restaurant was empty, so it must mean the order was placed by someone who came after me. I turned around to see who that someone might beâ¦â¦ and I immediately froze in place.
ãâ¦â¦ Oi, are you sh*tting me?ã
Machos, machos, machos everywhere you look.
Just by having these guys around I felt as though terrorist might storm the building at any moment, or that a fight with some sort of secret society might ensue, or that they start to flex their muscles and lift weights. Fortunately, none of that happened.
There was also someone else with them, someone who was not a macho. And maybe it was because she was the only woman among them, but her beauty seemed even more prominent because of that. She was talking to her friends in fluent English, so I wonder if sheâs some Hollywood star that came here to shoot a movie?
ãâ¦â¦ Passive skill of Japanese people, blend in.ã
Seeing as the members of Star Rain sat right next to the place where I was sitting, I was doing my very best to just blend into the landscape and not attract any attention.
Now I was praying that my Stealth skill as a real person was high enough to just get me through this meal without any major incident.
ãâ¦â¦ Ha?ã
He couldnât comprehend the words that were spoken to him. So naturally, Keiâs only reaction was a simple âHa?â muttered like an idiot. Were they perhaps speaking in a foreign language or something like that? It certainly was not Japanese, because he would understand otherwise.
ãâ¦â¦ Youâre kidding me, right?ã
ãI assure you itâs not a joke, Uomi. This is a direct order from the Cyber Battalionâ¦â¦ that is none other than our âsponsorâ.ã
ãBullsh*tâ¦â¦! What do you mean by that!?ã
Katsu shouted while slamming the tablet on the ground, glaring with anger on the person right in front of him, his boss.
However, seemingly unimpressed by this temper tantrum, the man repeated his words, this time so that Katsu could understand their meaning clearly.
ãPro Gamer Uomi Kei, tomorrow at GGC weâll have you participate in the final round of âRuin War Houndsâ as a member of âAssault Companyâ. Itâs full-time, so backing away from it is not possible and wonât be accepted.ã
Dark clouds started to gather.