Homebody Security Guard, Activate!

"Now that I have enough points, I'm thinking of buying a Reinforcement Suit and seeing how it works. What, are you planning to stay and watch me change?"

"Hehe~"

Sakayanagi Arisu chuckled lightly, not letting his words throw her off.

"Why don't you guess why I stayed?"

Su Wei rolled his eyes, too lazy to play riddles with her.

He asked the Black Sphere:

"GANTZ, how many points does it take to heal a congenital injury?"

[Just 30 points, meow~]

Sakayanagi Arisu's composed expression faltered, then the smile at the corners of her mouth deepened.

Su Wei didn't look at her again. He waved a hand.

"I'm off."

As the girl watched his back gradually disappear, she lowered her eyes and licked her dry lips.

"Kamuro."

"...What?"

"Don't you think..." Sakayanagi Arisu murmured softly, "we really are a perfect match?"

Kamuro Masumi: "..."

Someone was getting lovesick.

I'm not saying who.

Monster point values:

Evil Spirits were worth 1 point. The three-in-one Parasite was worth 10 points total, but since they weren't separate individuals, each one counted for 3 points. The person who landed the final kill got 4 points.

Also, there are too many Black Sphere weapons to post pictures of them all without making the page look cluttered. I'll put them in a separate chapter when I have time.

Chapter 16: Homebody Security Guard, Activate!

Back in his dorm, Su Wei casually tossed his bag into a corner.

"Phew..."

As his body sank into the soft bed, Su Wei, in a good mood, opened GANTZ's surveillance interface.

That was just how the Main God worked.

To make sure there was sweetness both now and later, he still couldn't rest. He was practically working himself to the bone!

"Now, it's time to begin my homebody security shift!"

A holographic surveillance display appeared before his eyes, showing the whole of Academy Island in real time.

To his surprise, aside from Kamuro Masumi, who was miserably running errands for Sakayanagi and buying her a late-night snack, everyone else was busy.

Katsuragi Kohei sat at his desk, reviewing something in his notes while looking at the group chat;

Ryuen Kakeru was in a karaoke room with a few of his trusted Class C followers, planning their next move;

Even Ichinose Honami, who seemed the most delicate, wasn't resting. She was in her dorm, writing things down with Shiranami Chihiro.

"Ding-dong, ding-dong."

His phone chimed several times in quick succession.

Su Wei checked it and saw a message Ichinose had posted in the group chat.

It ran to several hundred words, carefully summarizing everything they currently knew and their guesses about what might happen next. It seemed she'd mainly written it for those who came later.

They called it a vocational school free-for-all, but the students aren't that bad after all!

Su Wei mused.

Under extreme pressure, these students had shown an adaptability that was genuinely impressive.

The way Advanced Nurturing casually assigned students to roles was the real problem, though. It made them easy to exploit for anyone with ulterior motives besides him.

Come to think of it,

GANTZ had already gathered up most of the Ghouls, Parasites, and Evil Spirits. When would some new monsters show up?

They were still in the early stages.

Jumping straight to the strength of Ghouls would be too big a leap.

But if they kept using Parasites and Evil Spirits, things would get boring pretty soon!

"I can't just use GANTZ's Nurarihyon and Vampire data to make new monsters..."

"Ah, no killing for the sake of cruelty."

"Wouldn't that make me someone who deliberately kept the enemy around to make myself look important?"

The next day,

many people had gathered in the Class 1-D classroom.

"What the hell! Only nine thousand points?"

Yamauchi Haruki looked at the deposit notification on his phone and slapped the desk in annoyance.

"Didn't they say each point was worth a thousand? Is Horikita even any good? She went off and did all that, only to come back with nine points?"

"Yeah! Just nine points! That's way too little!"

"What can you even do with that much money? It'd be gone after buying a pair of shoes!"

Kanji Ike joined in the uproar. "If I'd gone, I'd have gotten more than that! This is our whole class's living expenses we're talking about!"

Complaints rose from all sides.

Even though the class had been rated at zero points the day before and none of them had any points, greed always came faster than gratitude.

Horikita Suzune sat in the back row with her back straight, her head lowered as she looked at her book.

But the fingers turning the pages had gone slightly white at the knuckles from gripping them too tightly.

She didn't care about the mockery.

What bothered her was... the score.

A mere two points.

Just as the Black Sphere had said, she hadn't done anything.

For someone with such a high opinion of herself, that hurt more than any insult.

"Everyone, you shouldn't look at it that way~"

Just as the atmosphere was growing awkward, Kushida Kikyo walked to the front of the classroom with her trademark, comforting smile.

"Our class had already lost all its Class Points. Horikita-san volunteered to step up and earn us these precious 90 points."

"And besides..."

Hirata Yosuke spoke up at just the right moment. As one of the class's central figures, his words carried more weight.

"I ran into someone from Class A this morning. I heard they only gained 90 points this time, too."

"That means Horikita-san's result is actually tied for first place with Class A."

"Really?!"

"Tied with Class A?!"

"So Horikita's actually amazing?"

At that, the complainers immediately changed their tune.

"Sorry, Horikita. I got a little loud just now."

"...Could we count on you for the next exam, too?"

Faced with everyone's sudden shift from scorn to praise, Horikita Suzune put down her book. Her expression didn't soften; if anything, it grew stiffer.

As for Kushida Kikyo at the front of the class, she smiled as she praised Horikita aloud, but inwardly she sneered.

What a performance, Horikita Suzune.

Someone died the day before yesterday. After all that effort, Su Wei only got three points. And she thinks she earned nine points all by herself?

She was an antisocial loner with no friends, yet she always acted so high and mighty... Kushida really wanted to see her crying and begging for mercy when faced with an Evil Spirit or Parasite.

As the leader of the Black Sphere Mutual Aid Society, Kushida knew the inside story of last night's Black Sphere Exam.

The credit could go to Su Wei, or they could say they had Ichinose to thank.

As for Horikita Suzune?

Just some nobody on the roadside!

Just then,

the classroom door opened.

Su Wei arrived with his shoulder bag, just as the last notes of the class bell rang.

Horikita Suzune's brows twitched.

Almost on reflex, she was about to stand up and set the record straight.

No matter how proud she was, she had no intention of taking credit for someone else's work.

"Actually..."

But she'd barely begun to speak

when Su Wei passed by her and, as if he'd anticipated what she was about to do, stopped her with a discreet wave.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he walked straight back to his seat.

Horikita Suzune froze.

She stared at his back as he leaned over his desk, ready to catch up on some sleep, her brows knitted tightly.

Why?

Is this guy... doing me a favor?

Or does he just think explaining things would be too much trouble?

The feeling of someone forcibly protecting her pride stuck in her throat.

At long last, class ended.

As soon as the teacher left, Su Wei got up to buy a bottle of Dr Pepper to wake himself up, but a slender figure had already blocked his way.

Horikita Suzune rested one hand on the desk and looked down at him with sharp, upturned eyes.

"Why did you stop me?"

Looking at the girl standing right in front of him, Su Wei sighed.

"Horikita-san, I thought I'd made myself pretty clear."

"I like peace and quiet. I don't want to get dragged into the class's troubles. So, since everyone already thinks you did it, please keep that misunderstanding going, all right?"

"Do me a favor. I'll owe you one."

Horikita Suzune pressed her lips together.

Seeing Su Wei's obvious reluctance to get involved stirred up an inexplicable irritation in her.

But in the end, reason won out.

After a brief silence, she spoke.