In the "Fishy Fish" livestream, a top-tier streamer glanced at the team compositions on both sides.
"The enemy top laner's playing Kalista. This could get a bit tricky."
He muttered this to himself. Smurfing in lower ranks was one thing, but in the top tier, anyone playing an AD champion top lane usually knew what they were doing.
Of course, he couldn't say that on stream. "Alright folks, enemy top is a Thresh... I mean, a Kalista. Watch me smash this guy."
"Is that TheShy?"
"Are you kidding me? TheShy might occasionally play on the Super Server, but he's mostly on the Korean server. No way he'd be here in Ionia."
"It's just a copycat, 'TheSky'. Nothing to worry about."
Loading into Summoner's Rift, he controlled his Riven and headed to lane. Against a skilled Kalista, he'd need to play safe early.
After hitting level 3, he could look for trades or call for the jungler. It all depended on just how good this Kalista was.
Then he noticed the chat in the bottom-left corner.
--+--
Mid: Their Kalista is really good. You gonna be okay?
Riven: Just don't feed. I'll handle this.
--+--
Whether he actually could was another story, but he had to project confidence.
"Guess our mid laner misread it too, thought it was TheShy. As long as my team doesn't int, this is in the bag."
"This Kalista's mechanics are pretty clean."
"One more minion 'til level 3. Time to look for a trade."
"..."
"Okay, my bad. This Kalista's got some skills."
Walking his Riven out from the fountain, the streamer tried to lighten the mood. He'd lost the level 3 trade, got completely kited, burned his Flash, and she'd Flash-followed to dive him under tower. He was utterly dismantled.
--+--
Mid: Top, play safe. Stop feeding.
Jungle: Riven, I'll gank for you soon.
Riven: k
--+--
In a lower rank, even a death or two could be overcome with skill. But the way she'd kited him made it clear—until level 6, he was basically on babysitting duty, waiting for the jungler.
Otherwise, his lane was doomed.
Two minutes later, a sliver-of-health Riven was huddled behind his tier one tower, recalling and questioning his life choices. The Kalista named 'TheSky' was clearing the wave, preparing to feast on the tower's plating.
"This 'TheSky'... she couldn't actually be TheShy, could she?"
He couldn't help but wonder. Her mechanics were just so precise, finer than the slimmest of mushrooms!
"Holy crap! How did that Q even hit?!"
Just as his recall was about to finish, the Kalista, last-hitting a minion, landed a max-range Q, finishing him off. His screen faded to grayscale.
Three minutes later.
Kalista was at over half health. Riven, with a sliver of health, fled under his tier one tower.
Paranoid it wasn't safe enough, he beelined for the tier two tower without looking back.
He saw his team's jungler, "Red Kayn," heading his way on the minimap. He pinged two red danger signs on the map.
Even though Red Kayn had his ultimate and was full health, for some reason, he had a sinking feeling this would just be serving another kill to the Kalista.
"Almost there! Get inside him! Don't let her pop the rend!!"
His respawned Riven was still watching the jungler's fight. Both the "Red Kayn" and the Kalista were now at a sliver of health. Looks like the jungler was putting in the work, about to secure the kill on Kalista.
And then... he watched as the "Red Kayn" emerged from the Kalista, only to be instantly killed by a rend detonation.
--+--
Riven: So... surrender?
Jungle: gogogo.
Mid: What happened to 'I'll handle this'? FF.
--+--
An 8-minute Kalista with three kills? How are you supposed to play against that?!
--+--
[All]Riven: Kalista, are you TheShy?
[All]Mid: TheShy's smurf?
[All] Kalista: Do you people only know TheShy?
--+--
Seven minutes later, Barbatos watched the enemy Nexus explode, feeling a bit speechless. Why did everyone who saw her ID immediately think of TheShy?
This wouldn't do. Absolutely not.
She, Barbatos, wasn't going to take this lying down.
She had to climb the ranks on this account, show everyone that besides TheShy, there was also a TheSky!
"Thanks to 'Diligent Cat' for becoming a Captain~"
After thanking the new Captain, Barbatos thought for a moment, changed her position back to Top Lane, and continued her journey on the Rift.
For some reason, she had a feeling that the name "Diligent Cat" sounded an awful lot like someone from her dorm.
But she couldn't ask. If she asked, and it wasn't Seiun Sky, fine. But if it was...
Wouldn't that mean Seiun Sky knew she'd changed her name to TheSky? So, as long as she didn't ask, she could just pretend Seiun Sky didn't know.
--+--
Seiun Sky was curled up in bed, watching her phone.
The images on the phone screen changed, but no sound came out—she was wearing headphones, just like Barbatos.
For her, there were still many words scrolling across the phone screen she didn't recognize.
The voice coming through the headphones overlapped with the words Barbatos had spoken 30 seconds ago. The screen now showed TheSky's champion selection interface.
She'd started secretly watching Barbatos's streams a while ago, hoping to catch anything interesting, and also using the Chinese livestream to practice her language skills.
After all, Chinese was a required subject in Tracen Academy's exams.
"TheSky, huh..."
Seiun Sky glanced at the figure still making plays in the canyon and pursed her lips.
"I wonder when she'll figure it out."
In the corner of her phone screen was her username on the streaming site—Diligent Cat.
--+--
The school cultural festival came and went in a flash.
Barbatos, still wearing her weighted horseshoes, sat inside the Canopus team room for a strategy meeting about her upcoming race.
"Operation: Conquer the Artemis Stakes! Venue: Tokyo Racecourse. Turf track. Distance: 1600 meters."
The whiteboard displayed these details.
This was the G3 race Barbatos was scheduled to compete in next.
Nice Nature tapped the whiteboard listlessly. "So, any ideas on how to win the Artemis Stakes?"
Twin Turbo, Urara, Matikanetannhauser, and Ikuno Dictus looked at each other, unsure what to say.
They were all following their usual routine of holding a pre-race meeting, but this time, there didn't seem to be much to discuss.
"B-chan even beat Tamamo Cross. A G3 race should be a walk in the park for her, right?"
Twin Turbo voiced the most straightforward opinion.
Barbatos: "..."
If she let that flag stand, some kind of mishap was practically guaranteed in this G3.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.