Legends Rise - Chapter 25 Exposed

“Hey, you wanna get some bread from the cafeteria?”

~Yawwwn~

Li Ming wiped the drool off his face as he heard the lunch bell ring. His muscles sore from the morning of exercise and sparring with the old man had worn him out.

“Hello? Anyone in there?”

“Hey stop it, I’m sooo tired” Li Ming complained, “You don’t need to flick me, I’m up already.”
for visiting.

“Well I sure hope you’re awake, I’m starvin’. Let’s go~!”

Li Ming groaned as he dragged his aching body off his seat to follow his friend Ken to get lunch.

“This is a first,” Ken mused, “I’ve never seen you sleeping in class before…”

Li Ming was surprised too. “Yeah, I worked out for the first time in a while this morning, but I guess I’m just that out of shape.”

“Ehhh… That’s not good,” Ken pretended to be concerned, “Just a little bit of light jogging on the way to school tired you out that much?”

“Pffft, what do you mean light jogging?” Li Ming retorted, but before he could finish,

“Guess who~?” A pair of hands covered Ken’s eyes as a squeaky voice rang out.

“Ah! Kaori! I told you not to do that!” Ken stammered as he struggled to maintain balance from Kaori’s sudden attack.

“Tch.” Li Ming shot the annoying lovebirds a glare, “Flirting out in open daylight already, huh…”

“It’s not like that, bro, we’re just messing around!” Ken retorted.

“Ehh..?” Kaori pouted with puppy eyes, “you mean that you’re just messing around with me?”

“Wha-” Ken was taken aback, “No, Kaori look I can explain”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever mister playboy” Li Ming continued walking, “I’ll catch you later I guess.”

“Hey! Don’t leave me behind! I’m coming too!” Ken tried to chase after Li Ming.

“Eh? You sure you don’t want my handmade bento?” Kaori teased Ken.

Wanting to avoid any more of the stereotypical rom-com situation, Li Ming marched straight to the cafeteria without looking back.

—

Li Ming scanned the cafeteria looking for a place to sit as he struggled to carry his tray of Mapo Tofu and rice with his sore arms.

“Hey you!”

Li Ming was shoulder was suddenly grabbed.

“Eh?”

“Nee-Sama would like to speak with you!” a delinquent looking guy growled as he got closer to Li Ming to observe him closer. “You best not be startin’ sh*t, or I gonna beat you up”

Still in shock, Li Ming followed his rude guide to see this ‘Nee-Sama’ that wanted to speak with him, with his arms sore, still carrying the Mapo tofu.

—

*Rattle* *Rattle*

The door to the campus Kendo Club’s Dojo rattled open as Li Ming was roughly escorted inside.

“I knew it! It is you!” a girl called out happily as soon as she saw him.

“Eh?” Li Ming and the delinquent were both surprised to hear.

“You’re the boy who was at my grandpa’s place this morning, huh!” she insisted.

Unsure how to answer to her, Li Ming gave a slight affirmative nod while staring at the girl. Could she be the one who opened the door for him this morning? But that was clearly impossible. The sleepy girl he saw this morning was clearly not the definition of a ‘Gal girl’, or a ‘Gyaru’. However, the girl in front of him was the stereotypical Gyaru (within the school rules, of course). Just by looking up images of Gyarus on Go*gle, you would clearly find images of women looking similar to her.

Black hair Tied up in a Ponytail, shirt sleeves rolled up with the top 2 buttons unbuttoned, and a short skirt that barely did its job covering her bottom half.

“Uhuh, I knew it.” She confirmed smugly, “I’m surprised you’re still alive, it sounded like he was going all out this morning.”

“Eh? Yeah I guess.. haha…” Li Ming barely managed to reply to her.

“WHAT? HE SURVIVED AGAINST YOUR GRANDPA?” the delinquent was startled, “IT’S NOT POSSIBLE TO SURVIVE AGAINST THAT DEMON KING!”

“What are you still doing here?,” She said dismissively, clearly very annoyed by his sudden interjection, “Go on, you’re dismissed.”

“So who are you? Why are you training with my grandpa? How are you still alive?” she continued his interrogation.

“Wait, I’m sorry,” Li Ming cut in, “Who are you again? I’m sorry, but I’m sure I’ve never met you before…”

*Eeee…. You really don’t know?” She smiled slyly, “Well, my name is Kikyo, but you can call me Kiki. As to whether or not we’ve met before…”

She smirked at him, “Take a guess”

“Could you be… the girl who opened the door for me this morning?”

“Bingo~!”

“No way! You don’t look like her at all!”

“Hey that’s rude,” Kikyo shot back, “Is that really something an esports athlete should say?”

“I was just surprised that-” Li Ming started out, “Wait what”

“Here,” She continued smugly as she shoved her phone into his face, “This is you, yeah?”

On her phone screen was an article with the title “The Dawn opens a new path to Legends Rise!”. that article detailed his record breaking endeavors at the Try Outs event. It described everything in detail, and included multiple video clips of him during each stage of the event. It was written from the point of an analyst who tried to break down his moves and intents. Of course, a lot had been embellished, so much so that Li Ming could only admire the author of the article for their blind faith in the analyst’s analysis.

In truth, Li Ming was only testing out a theory he came up with, and was not a seasoned spell mage user. The article also failed to include the events of the next few days where he had a match against MeiChie. However, it did include him joining the Osaka Phoenixes.

Li Ming looked up at Kikyo again with surprise in his eyes. The article had shown a picture of him, but it wasn’t very clear. It was quite difficult to see that it was him, but she had singled him out in spite of that. Amazed by her skill, he quietly apologized.

“Sorry, yeah that’s me.”

“I knew it! You thought you were slick translating your actual name into english for a character name, but I caught on!” She declared.

Eh? That’s how she found out?

“Your spearmanship is also obviously from my family’s style, too!” She continued.

That too?

“And on top of that, my grandpa told me right as I got to school this morning through text!” She finished, with her arms crossed triumphantly.

Eh… So that’s how she found out.

“So mister celebrity, since you’ve already signed with the Osaka Phoenixes, how are you going to stay in school?”

!!!

Li Ming was in an unexpected predicament!

Without even bothering to say bye, Li Ming bolted out of the dojo and straight to his counselors office.

“Wait!” Kikyo called out, “Your Mapo Tofu!”

But Li Ming was already too far away to hear her.

—

Li Ming bursted into the Counselor’s room with a sense of panic in his eyes.

“Ms. Watanabe! I have a problem!”

But there was no one there. This wasn’t good, Li Ming needed to sign the official papers with the Osaka Phoenixes soon before the closing date of registration, but he didn’t know what to about his school situation yet!