Chapter 159: Anonymous (Idiot) A Team, and the Storm Clouds Part 2

「Ah, that reminds me. Both of you, under what names would you like to enter the tournament? If you don’t have any particular request, I’m just going to register you as Sanraku and Pencil Warrior.」

Ahh, that’s right. You need a name if you’re going to participate in a tournament. To be perfectly honest, I don’t want to stand out too much, and I cannot hope to do that with a name “Sanraku”.

「Register me as “Anonymous Alfa”, thank you very much.」

「Ah, then I’ll be “Anonymous Omega”.」

Muu.

「…… Well then, I guess Anonymous Type Zero has a nice ring to it as well.」

「Then…… Please register me as Anonymous Ghost Number……」

Muumuuuuh!!!

Five minutes later.

「Haah…… Alright then. So Sanraku is fine with being called “Anonymous Prisoner from Beyond the Boundary” and Pencilgton with “Mystic Lady”, right?」

「「Finally.」」

But honestly, if you start calling me by that name I’m going to die from embarrassment.

「…… And what do you say for simple “Mysterious Helper No. 1” and “Mysterious Helper No. 2”?」

I wonder what people like Natsume-san think while seeing us being to our usual antics like that?

「Okay, let’s leave it to professional gamers. Their naming sense is a whole lot better than ours, I think.」

「Sure thing.」

「Sanraku is going to be “Gunball” and Pencil Warrior-san will be “Black Curtain”.」

「What’s the deal with a ball thingy!?」

「Why does this “Black Curtain” sounds so dull and ominous!?」

「Shut up! It’s your own fault that you can’t decide! And if you’re not going to get a move on with it, we’ll going to be here way past noon!!」

Another thirty minutes later.

「…… Right, this concludes the coming up with names. It was a long and ridiculous fight, but we did it.」

Yes, that’s right. After all, Sanraku is my private name. As for my tournament name, I shall be known as……

I know I will never forgive you for this, Katsu.

「Say, Silvia? Was there someone with a name like that on Kei’s team?」

「Hmm? Maybe they decided to add someone new just for the occasion…… What’s this? “No Face” and “No name”?」

「Sh*t…… “You don’t want to show your face” and “You don’t want to reveal your name” my ass!」

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, there’s 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 what…… 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 hotel’s 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 that…… I would get in a whole lot of trouble, right?

「I ate a normal breakfast just before the meeting, so now a light snack would be more than appropriate.」

Desserts, desserts…… Well, shucks, none of them had any price tags. Does that mean that the accommodation fee also includes meals? Are you kidding me?

「Let’s see, I’m kind of curios about this rare cheesecake with midsummer fruit splash……」

「Steak, 900 grams, for four people. One medium, two rare, one well-done, one rare to well-done, with lots of garlic on the side.」

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 be…… and I immediately froze in place.

「…… Oi, are you sh*tting me?」

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 she’s some Hollywood star that came here to shoot a movie?

「…… Passive skill of Japanese people, blend in.」

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.

「…… Ha?」

He couldn’t comprehend the words that were spoken to him. So naturally, Kei’s only reaction was a simple “Ha?” 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.

「…… You’re kidding me, right?」

「I assure you it’s not a joke, Uomi. This is a direct order from the Cyber Battalion…… that is none other than our “sponsor”.」

「Bullsh*t……! What do you mean by that!?」

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.

「Pro Gamer Uomi Kei, tomorrow at GGC we’ll have you participate in the final round of “Ruin War Hounds” as a member of “Assault Company”. It’s full-time, so backing away from it is not possible and won’t be accepted.」

Dark clouds started to gather.