Ian stood frozen to the spot as he stared back at the crowd. This was the first time he's had so many eyes on him that wasn't mocking, pitying or saying nasty stuff about him.
"They look... kinda amazed," he thought as he shifted backwards.
Stud's avatar soon respawned on the stage and he wasn't looking pleased. Ian took an instinctive step back as he saw the revived avatar.
"It was my loss," Stud said slowly with his head down. "Tell me, who are you?"
"I don't want to," Ian replied immediately. "Self-preservation comes first," he thought.
"Why not?" he asked. "I am one of the strongest among the third years and the best at close combat, and you defeated me so flawlessly. I should at least know your name."
"The best?" Ian thought, confused. "His moves were at most average and all he relied on was brute force."
"Ahem," Ian cleared his throat. He still had something to deal with. "You promised 100 coins if I defeated you, how do I get it?"
"I could just send it to you in-game, and it would be deposited in your watch," Stud replied. "I could make it 500 if you tell me your name."
"No," Ian shook his head. "100 is fine. Just send it."
"C'mon! Tell us your name!" the crowd booed him. "You are ruining the fun!"
"Yeah, you could make five times the original amount, what are you scared of when you are so strong?"
"That's the point!" Ian yelled in his head. "I'm not strong! Outside of here, I would have fainted already or been pummeled to death before I can even move like that!"
A hand was raised from among the front row seat and everyone quieted down immediately. There was dead silence in only a matter of seconds.
Soon the owner of the raised hand stood up and strolled calmly up to the stage. He was about six feet tall, almost as tall as Stud, but a lot less muscular. Unlike Stud who had proud big muscles to show, he was lean and only looked fit in his assassin outfit. He also had a mask with a smile covering his face.
There seemed to be a lot of tension from this person's movement that scared even the first years who knew nothing about him.
"That's Joker," Stud said, obviously unaffected by the tension.
"Joker?" Ian asked. "He tells jokes?"
"You could say so," he shrugged. "He can be quite eccentric sometimes, but make no mistake. Behind that awkward smile is the most twisted personality you'll ever see."
"Huh?" Ian's eyes widened. It seems he has attracted trouble to himself. His first instinct was to get out of there as soon as possible so he quickly started searching for the log-out option.
"It doesn't help the fact that he is the strongest ability user among the third years," Stud continued. "He's rich and influential too. The leader of the Student Council."
"Hi," Joker said waving with amusement in his voice. "That was a pretty good performance. You just knocked this muscle head down a peg or two. That too without am ability."
"Uhh, thanks?" Ian said moving backwards and still searching for the logout option.
"You don't have to run away from me," he laughed. "May I ask, who are you?"
"Found it!" Ian said as soon as he saw the logout button and immediately logged out.
"Oh," Joker said as he watched Ian disappear. He casually turned away and began walking back to his seat. "Someone, log out and bring me the first few people who come out of a pod."
"What are you doing?" Stud asked turning down the microphone feature. "Why are you making a big deal out of this? It's obvious the person doesn't want to be known."
"That's because it is a big deal," Joker said also turning his down, without looking back at him. "He beat you, who is our most physical fighter without using an ability, and it wasn't even a close match. You were simply outclassed. The whole idea of this tournament is to prove our strength and superiority to the coming new first years. We expect a few prodigies, but not one that can beat one of our top ten fighters. We need to find him fast and get him under our control."
Stud bit his lip in annoyance as he had no other words to say. He couldn't refute Joker's claim and even though he's hiding it well, he's extremely frustrated at how easily he was bested by the first year. To cool his head, he also decided to log out.
In the stands, one more person decided to log out to satisfy her curiosity. Bria immediately got out of the pod in a hurry to see the person with her own eyes when he is caught by the third years.
To her surprise though, a few third years were still standing in the pod area in confusion and fear while some others blocked the exit as others searched. They looked over at her pod when she came out, but turned away when they found out that it was a girl coming out
"What the hell is that Joker thinking, sending us out here to catch a guy who beat Stud up that badly?" One complained. "What if he roughs us up in a panic."
"I think that's what he wants," another said. "He hopes we get roughed up. At least, we'll have facial identification for him."
"Damn it," the other guy hissed. "Where the fuck is he by the way?! Come on out and beat us up!"
Bria scowled at the sight. "I understand that they are weak but isn't it disgraceful to yell something like that out loud?" she thought. Looking around, she was also wondering where the anonymous guy had gone. There was a really short window between him and these guys logging out. Too short for him to have escaped without these guys seeing him. There was only one explanation for his absence.
He was still in his pod.
After logging out, Ian remained in his pod for a little while as he cursed himself for accepting the match in the first place. He knew quite well that he shouldn't have accepted that match. Even though he cared about the money, he knew he didn't necessarily do it for the money either. That was also when he heard voices in the area looking for him. In a panic, he decided to remain in the pod until everything died down.
"That girl," he thought. "She pushed me into this! She was the one who encouraged me and I foolishly listened. Damn it!"
The search for him continued for almost an hour until Ian could hear the voices slowly die down and a couple more people exiting the pod. By now, the people sent to catch Ian resorted to picking out every blue-haired student, and students with an ability rating above 3.
Slowly and cautiously, Ian exited the pod along with the others and did his best to walk casually among the crowd of students coming out of their pods.
"Aw, damn it!" one guy complained. "That blue-haired guy ruined everything! Why did he have to run away like that? The tournament ended early because of him!"
It seems there were mixed opinions about him as some blamed him for cheating, others blamed him for making the tournament end early, but a lot of them were also amazed by his display.
"Did you see what that ninja guy did though?"
"Yeah, he completely obliterated a third-year student. Just how insane is that?!"
Ian didn't know how to react to these comments. He's always been in people's mouths but this was the first time they were cursing or pitying him. He wanted to enjoy this feeling, but knowing that he had just angered the top students in the school, he couldn't help but wish for this day to be over and forgotten.
He hurried back to his dorm immediately and made his way to his room.
He opened the door and walked in quickly, apprehensive of his situation. He didn't notice the presence of another person in the room until he saw from the corner of his eye that a redhead was looking at his watch.
"Saw something you like on me?" he asked sarcastically, causing Flint's frown to deepen.
"You sure can talk," Flint sighed and focused back on his workout. He was doing one-handed push-ups.
"350, 351, 352...,"
Ian stood there listening to the bizarre number of pushups his roommate was doing.
"What? Saw something you like on me?" Flint asked, returning the sarcasm.
"Nah," Ian waved as he walked past him and headed straight to his bed. "You just seem really stupid."
Flint chuckled lightly. "I guess weak people only have their mouth to fight for them."
Ian chose not to reply as he took off his shoes, got into his bed and closed his eyes. He had bigger things to think of.
"I hope this day passes quickly," he thought as he slowly drifted off to sleep.