Ascension: Online

- The Path Between Xiyang Village and Tianyin City -

(Hina's Perspsective)

It was a little past 10 PM. I had finally made my way to the western gates of Tianyin, after 3 hours of exploring Xiyang village and getting used to this world's combat system. I asked the NPCs around about the world, and had now gotten a good idea of what this game's setting was like. Fortunately, I haven't died a single time yet, though every battle with the sickleboars in this forest has been a close one. A blacksmith named Ming Ye had sold me a pair of black daggers that looked kind of like tridents, called 'Sai' back in Japan. They were my go-to weapon since I was already experienced with it from karate.

I had been a surprised to see that traditional Japanese weapons were available in this game, but I wasn't about to complain. Still, despite my skill with the weapon, I was only experienced with using it against other people, and… well, fighting beasts was a lot different from fighting people. The people I've fought against all had unpredictable movement patterns and fake attacks, so I was used to anticipating them. However, with wild Magic Beasts, doing so only served to do the opposite - the animals had extremely predictable and straightforward attack patterns. They were unable to adapt based on their opponent and also had a limited amount of strength and agility.

All these factors added together made it difficult to change my own way of fighting to suit battling against Magic Beasts rather than people. It took me a while to get it down, a couple hours to be exact, but once I did, killing the beasts were a breeze. And now, I had arrived at Tianyin City, the place Kaze-kun had went to, according to Ming Ye.

However, for some reason, the walls that should've been protecting the city were in ruins. I panicked a bit, thinking that the city had been destroyed or something. But as I got closer, I saw guards, and sighed in relief. When they saw me approach, they stopped me.

"Halt. What is your business here in Tianyin?"

"I'm… here to look for my little brother," I answered truthfully. "He has messy black hair and ocean-blue eyes, and is about my height. Have you seen him?"

"Black hair, blue eyes… didn't that guy who exposed Qin Yao have those features…?" one of the guards murmured to the other.

"Yeah… I think he did…"

"R-Really?! Do you know where he is?!" I hurriedly asked, eyes lighting up.

The guards, seeing my reaction, were at a loss of what to do. "W-Well, we don't know where exactly he is, but he should still be in the city, if that helps."

"That does! Thank you!" I exclaimed, before running into the city as fast as I could.

The two guards watched me go in awe, just like that.

*****

The first place I checked was the inn. It was already past 10 - that seemed like the most reasonable location to be. I walked up to the receptionist behind the counter and flashed a bright smile.

"Hi!"

"Hi! Are you searching for a room to stay?"

"Hm… no. Actually, I'm looking for someone," I replied. "My little brother."

"Ah, I see. What does he look like?"

"Black hair, blue eyes. About my height," I said. I must've repeated this line about fifty times already tonight, from Xiyang village to now here.

"Black hair, blue eyes… I do believe a boy who fits your description checked in here earlier, but…"

My eyes widened in surprise and excitement. "Can you please tell me where he is now?"

"Erm… that is a bit troublesome," the receptionist said after some hesitation. "I apologize, but I have no way to verify your identit-"

"That's fine. Just go and tell him 'Hina-nee is here', and he'll come running," I hurriedly interrupted, unable to hold back my eagerness to meet Kaze-kun again any longer.

"That's… alright, fine," the receptionist sighed. "If you would just wait outside for a brief moment…"

"No problem," I said, before exiting the inn as told.

Kaze-kun… it's only been a day, and yet why does it feel like we've been apart for years?

*****

(Kaze's Perspective)

"Alright, time to sleep and get a good night's res-"

Dong. Dong. Dong.

"Hello? Dear guest, are you still awake?" a female voice called. It sounded like the receptionist girl's.

I frowned in confusion, then went over to the door to see what was going on. I wonder… did that man from the room next to me complain about the noise I made or something? No way he's that sensitive, right?

"Uh, yeah, I was just about to sleep though," I replied uneasily. "What do you need?"

"Oh, um, sorry! You can sleep! I didn't mean to distur-"

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah, well… it's a bit too late to be saying that. I can't just go sleep now after knowing someone needs me for something. So? Spill."

"Er, in that case… well, a girl who called herself 'Hina-nee' is looking for you…"

I blinked, and froze.

"Um, hello?"

I shook my head and snapped out of it. "R-Right. Uh, I'll be there in a sec, just let me put on my clothes…"

"O-Oh, okay! Sure! I'll let her know you're coming."

I heard the shuffling sound of footsteps coming from outside my door, signaling that she had left. I took a deep breath, opened up my System, and equipped the armor set I had gotten from the Vault of Corruption - the 'Corruptor Set', as they called it. I put on every piece of the set, even the gloves and ring, then headed out of my room.

The moment I stepped out… I didn't. As soon as I opened the door, Hina-nee practically jumped on me and pulled me into a tight embrace I couldn't escape from even if I wanted to. Seeing this heartwarming scene, the receptionist closed the door for us and left.

"Kaze-kun…" Hina-nee whispered gently, though her hug was anything but gentle. Still, I welcomed it, and slowly hugged her back.

"Hina-nee… why are you here?"

"I could be asking you the same question."

She finally loosened her grip up a bit and looked me in the eyes as she was on the verge of tears. "How could you just leave me behind like that…?"

"I-It's not like I wanted to," I hurriedly said to prevent her from crying. "I ended up trapped in here, somehow…"

"That's… my fault."

"Huh?"

"I pulled out the AR helmet's plug while you were still in the game…"

Ah… so that's what severed my connection to the old reality plane.

"I see… but even if you hadn't done that, I still wouldn't have been able to return," I said quietly.

"Eh? How so?"

I sighed. "You see… before you pulled the plug, I tried logging out once already, since I knew that you would've finished making dinner by then. But it was greyed out - I couldn't log off, no matter what I tried."

"What…"

"Look," I said, opening up my System to show her what I meant. I pointed at the 'Log Out' tab, marked with a half-open door icon.

"See? It's still greyed out, even now."

"That's… but how?" Hina-nee frowned in confusion, before opening up her own System. "See, mine isn-"

But then, she froze.

"What happened?" I asked in puzzlement at her actions.

"K-Kaze-kun… um, I think…"

Her voice was quivering as she moved out of the way slightly so I could see what she was seeing on her System.

My eyes widened.

The 'Log Out' tab on her System had, just like mine, greyed out.