Just as Annie had expected, the Gift Game—which had gone off without a hitch—finally came to an end before dinnertime.
The final result, of course, had never been in much doubt.
So, after one bear had happily eaten several fresh, delicious sticks of "spicy strips," it won the Gift Game by an overwhelming margin, with "5" points. Then, quite naturally, Annie brought the matter to a decisive close by declaring that the Community's emblem would be Tibbers' fearsome bear-head logo, with its Cybertronian, metal-punk aesthetic. It would serve as their sole public symbol until the Community reclaimed its "name" and "flag."
From then on, the "Bear Head" brand "Nameless" Community would stand apart from the countless other nameless Communities in the Little Garden world.
And when Izayoi, Asuka, You, or any other Community member went out or took part in a Gift Game held elsewhere, they would no longer have to worry about being looked down on, mocked, or harassed for lacking an "identity."
Of course, that was for later. Now, after everything had ended, Izayoi was fretting over something else.
"Annie!"
"I just don't get it!"
"Why did it eat Kuro Usagi and Asuka and the others every which way—raw, sliced up, even cooked alive—and yet when it was my turn, it only stomped me flat and burned me to ash?"
"What the hell was that supposed to mean?!"
That's right!
Although the game was over, and he had placed second in the Community's high-ranking members' competition with an excellent record of four wins and one loss, earning "3" points—far better than Kuro Usagi's 1 point and some people's negative scores—he still couldn't stop dwelling on certain details. Thinking back to how he had been treated during the competition, Izayoi couldn't help feeling as though he had been rejected