Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

After Klaus touched the golden point to end the match, the scoreboard in their booth, which showed the score 36 to 30, displayed a large message congratulating Klaus on his victory. At the same time, the spectators who had been on their feet cheering for Ashley sat back in their chairs, dismayed at their leader's defeat. The boys seemed to be more upset than the girls because Ashley's defeat meant that she would be going on a date with this weird guy named Klaus.

When Ashley and Klaus came out of the booths and went to greet each other, she looked at him and smiled.

She reached out to shake his hand and said:

"Congratulations, Klaus! You played very well."

Klaus shook her hand. "Thank you. You played very well too. It was an exciting match."

They looked at each other for a moment, then walked away to greet the other members of the Dagger Dispute Society.

The crowd seemed disappointed with the outcome, but still applauded the two players for playing such an exciting and high level match. They approached Ashley and said things like:

"You played very well."

"That was a great match."

Ashley smiled at them, thanked them for their support, and apologized for not winning. At the same time, other spectators approached Klaus to question him, to find out who exactly he was and why he was not in the Dagger Dispute Society.

Klaus felt a little uncomfortable and shy with so many people around him. He was not used to so much attention. He tried to answer the curious people's questions as best he could, but he didn't want to reveal too much about himself. He only said that he didn't have much free time, so he didn't join any society. He did not mention that Ashley had told him about the game, nor did he mention that he did not use any tricks or strategies.

After a series of questions from other boys who liked Ashley, about where he came from, where he studied, Klaus looked at Ashley and saw that her situation was no different than his. She was surrounded by friends and admirers. She was very pretty and nice, so he wondered if she would really honor the bet and go out with him.  Klaus realized that he couldn't just stand there like he did when he met her in the middle of the campus and like he did on several nights when he felt the urge to kiss Emma. So he walked through the crowd that had formed between them to get closer to him.

As a boy was about to take Ashley's hand to greet her, Klaus stepped forward and took her hand.

Ashley was surprised at Klaus' attitude. In fact, everyone was surprised because Klaus was tall, muscular, and handsome.

Ashley felt another shiver run through her hand as he held it. His hand was so large that it practically hid hers. She looked at him in surprise and saw that he was looking determined and confident, but it seemed a little different from the calm look from before.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Ashley." Klaus said to the boy who was about to greet them.

"Oh, sure... No problem." The boy said and automatically backed away, since Klaus was even taller up close than he seemed from a distance.

Klaus and Ashley walked out of the room hand in hand as everyone commented on them. He led her to a quieter, darker corner of the Dagger Dispute Society building.

"What are you doing?" Ashley asked curiously. Her face was completely red.

"About the date..." Klaus said.

"The date...?" Ashley repeated.

"And? Will you keep the bet?" Klaus asked.

Ashley didn't hesitate for a moment this time. She was a woman of her word, and more than ever, she was curious about the great Dagger Disputation player who had defeated her. She knew nothing about his life, his tastes, his goals, and she wanted to find out. She didn't know if they had anything in common, nor did she know if they would get along, except that it was all part of the process of getting closer to a person. Besides, Klaus was handsome and mysterious, not to mention that he had a special charm that seemed to attract people. He had been kind and polite to her the whole time they had known each other, and he had been brave and bold to challenge her to a bet worth so much. There was something about him that intrigued and fascinated her.

She looked into his eyes and saw that he was waiting for an answer. So he answered:

"Yes, I will honor the wager."

Klaus was surprised, but tried to be fascinated for a second. "How about next Thursday?" He asked, looking away.

"Thursday? My only free night during the week is Wednesday because of the Dagger Dispute Society, if that's okay with you..." Ashley said.

"It's fine with me, but something unforeseen might happen. Why don't we exchange contact?"

"Good idea." Ashley said. She picked up her cell phone and handed it to Klaus. "Here, you can scan the QR CODE."

Klaus took the contact from her and handed the phone back to her. "There. Now we're connected." Klaus said.

"Yes. Now we can communicate better." Ashley said.

After Klaus Park returned to the dormitory late Friday night, it didn't take long for his classmates to arrive as well. And just as he had predicted, they all began to think that Klaus was some kind of god because he had won over the cold and beautiful Ashley Cox with seemingly little effort. Little did they know how long it took Klaus to arrange his first date with her.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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