After dinner, she went back to her room. She wasn't even in the mood to play even when her friend invited her, who even wants to play when they're on their 7th losing streak.
Seven losses.
Seven.
Who in their right mind would want to play after that? Even masochism had its limits.
She was watching some clips and videos on Douyin about Falling into your smile, when she saw a video about Onmyoji Arena.
"Tamamonomae in Onmyoji Arena will always be remembered as Tong Yao's (Smiling) Hero."
Her brows knitted together. "That's right. Onmyoji Arena is based on an actual MOBA, isn't it?"
So what should she do?
A dangerous glint appeared in her eyes, the kind that always preceded bad decisions and long nights.
Five minutes later, Onmyoji Arena was downloading on both her PC and her phone.
"If I'm switching games," she muttered, "I'm doing it properly."
The download bar crawled forward. Resources loaded. Models installed. Surprisingly smooth.
In less than an hour, she was already at the account creation screen.
Username: The moon never sleeps
Already taken.
She scoffed. "Figures."
She barely thought before typing the next one.
Username: Carry, if fate allows.
Perfect. A little arrogant. A little honest.
The first four games were a breeze, with her dominating in the mid lane with Momiji. It was going smoothly. Too smoothly.
Mid lane felt different here, cleaner, sharper, almost intuitive. She dominated with Momiji, her positioning crisp, her skill timing ruthless.
Enemy mages barely got to breathe before being forced back under tower.
Before the fifth match, a thought struck her.
"…Wait. Who did Tong Yao main again?"
She paused the queue, searched it up, and smiled when the answer popped up.
Tamamonomae.
She locked in Tamamonomae without hesitation.
A second later, another icon hovered over mid lane. They wanted to use Shiranui.
Someone else wanted it.
Too bad.
She was already locked.
The other player hesitated, then typed:
Mildly Competent: [Floor 2, can I play mid?]
Carry, if fate allows: [No]
Mildly Competent: [But I'm not confident playing bot lane.]
Carry, if fate allows: [one word, NO.]
That was that.
Mildly Competent retreated to Bot Lane and switched to Youko. The match loaded in.
At first, she didn't care. Everyone had to start somewhere. New game, new mechanics, unfamiliar heroes, it was normal to struggle.
But then Youko died.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Six deaths. In a span of five minutes.
She stared at the screen in disbelief.
Carry, if fate allows: [Marksman, are you missing some brain cells?]
Carry, if fate allows: [Why do you keep dying? I just went back to my lane and you're dead again.]
Mildly Competent: [I told you, I'm not familiar with Bot lane.]
Her patience cracked audibly
Carry, if fate allows: [What's so different between bot lane and mid lane? They're both long range.]
They got quiet.
When the time hit 12 minutes, the enemy started moving together, so they also started moving together.
The enemy jungle, Itsumade, first targeted the Marksman, Youku.
When the marksman Youku's KDA reached 4/9/7.
Xiao Yingyue got fired up again.
Carry, if fate allows: [What are you doing for you to die 9 times? Are you a cat with 9 lives or something?]
Mildly Competent: [I didn't know that Onmyoji Arena had a built-in dictator.]
By seventeen minutes, the enemy was already knocking at their base. As she desperately cleared waves, she typed furiously.
Carry, if fate allows: [Are you stupid or just pretending? You literally farmed like this was Harvest Moon. Get out of the bot lane if you don't know what you're doing.]
Carry, if fate allows: [And is your map just for display?]
Mildly Competent: [it's my first time using this hero and I just started playing today.]
Her fingers slammed the keyboard.
Carry, if fate allows: [Then maybe start with practice mode instead of donating my Soul Fire. We're not running a feeding program.]
[LOSE]
As expected the MVP was her, with her KDA 9/1/10. With a rating of 12.5. And the rest got 7.5 ratings below.
The one who got 7.5 rating was their Bot Lane.
She stared at the jungle's 6.0 rating and felt something inside her die a little.
"…Unbelievable."
Then she queued up again.
She picked Tomamonomae again.
Then the loading screen appeared.
Her eyes landed on a familiar username.
Mildly Competent.
This time, they were playing Shiranui.
She didn't know about Shiranui's kit. No clue about cooldowns, burst windows, or escape tools.
"Calm down," she muttered. "Play safe early."
Tamamonomae had range. Control. Poke.
Her plan was simple: clear waves fast, level up, and roam bot lane to salvage whatever disaster awaited down there.
As the match timer ticked down, she straightened in her chair.
"…Alright," she whispered. "Let's see if you're mildly competent, or just mildly annoying."
Shiranui played cautiously, surprisingly so. Around four minutes in, Xiao Yingyue unlocked her ultimate.
Her first rotation was straight to the bot lane.
She slipped into the nearby bush, watching patiently as the enemy marksman and support traded blows with her team.
Half health.
That was her cue.
Tamamonomae's ultimate was devastating, wide range, explosive damage, but with a 1.75-second delay before detonation.
She anticipated the enemy's retreat, placed the ultimate near their tower, and held her breath.
Boom.
And luckily, it hit both the support and marksman. One hit from their Marksman, Komatsu, and the enemy would die.
Komatsu reacted instantly. Flash, then first skill.
The screen lit up.
[Your team have slain an enemy]
[Double Kill]
[Savior] this flashed after. This title means that the player highly contributed to killing the enemy.
She then went back to her lane.