[00:38]
The pulsing blood-red numbers looked like a death sentence, enough to make anyone's heart race.
"Tch." Ryuen Kakeru spat in annoyance. "Even with just one blade, I can still clear this."
Su Wei sighed and strode forward.
"Here."
He tossed the X-GUN to Sakayanagi, who caught it one-handed with the ease of someone who had rehearsed it.
Then he shoved the two oddly shaped Y-GUNs into the hands of Ichinose and Kushida, who were still standing there in a daze.
"Take them. Better than being empty-handed."
As for himself, he naturally chose the classic X-GUN. It didn't matter which one he picked anyway.
"I don't know how to use a sword. Picking a blade would just hold me back... I'll take this."
Ryuen said nothing.
Sakayanagi Arisu praised his choice. "A reasonable decision."
"As a 'princess,' I'm not exactly suited to charging into battle, either."
Kushida Kikyo and Ichinose Honami gripped the heavy guns in their hands, their knuckles white. They exchanged a glance and saw the despair in each other's eyes.
[00:00]
[Weapon selection complete.]
[Commencing transfer of all participants.]
Note ①—Gantz Suits (enhancement suits): They can prevent one fatal injury and boost a fighter's abilities up to tenfold. If the ring on the suit is destroyed, the suit stops working.
Note ②—X-GUN (standard gun): It has a built-in X-ray screen and a targeting function, along with two triggers. The upper trigger locks on, and the lower one fires. Its bullets can pierce the outer skin and detonate inside the target, dealing so-called internal explosion damage. Its range is 9 meters.
Note ③—Y-GUN (capture gun): It fires capture ropes that can restrain an alien's movements. The alien can then be transported to an unknown world. There is no delay.
Note ④—Gantz Sword (combat blade): It extends by instantly changing the structure of its nanoparticles and can easily cut through any conventional metal.
Chapter 3: Accepting Reality
The moment the weightlessness faded, a cool night breeze brushed over them.
They opened their eyes. Instead of the moldy tatami room, a familiar shopping street stretched before them.
The streetlights glowed dimly.
A vending machine hummed nearby.
Farther down the street, a twenty-four-hour convenience store blazed with light.
"W-We're... back?"
Ichinose Honami looked around in confusion. Her tense shoulders relaxed a little. "Is this the school's shopping street? Are we... safe?"
She reached into her pocket, wanting to find her phone and call a teacher.
"Heh. Ichinose, I suggest you take a look at your right hand first."
A soft voice, tinged with amusement, spoke up.
Sakayanagi Arisu sat on the cold pavement.
Even without her cane, she remained composed.
She raised the X-GUN. Its futuristic metal body reflected the light with an icy sheen, utterly out of place against the surrounding scene.
"Since we still have these weapons that defy common sense, that means the test has already begun." Sakayanagi ran her fingers over the gun, her expression unreadable. "Or do you think Advanced Nurturing has mastered virtual reality technology so advanced that it can fool all five senses?"
"That kind of thing... is impossible."
Beside her, Kushida Kikyo pressed her lips together. Her voice trembled like a startled fawn's.
"Since we're back at school, shouldn't we call the police? Or find Chabashira-sensei... We can't possibly deal with creatures like that. That 'elimination' the Black Sphere talked about has to be an over-the-top prank, right?"
"Call the police?"
Ryuen stood in the shadow of a streetlight, gripping the black hilt in his hand. His expression was contemptuous. "Typical of Class D. Is your head full of mush?"
"If they can teleport us here in an instant, do you think those tax-wasting parasites at the police department can do anything?"
Kushida's eyes reddened after being snapped at. She instinctively edged closer to Su Wei, her soft warmth pressing against his arm.
Su Wei didn't push her away. He calmly looked into the distance.
A few ordinary students were walking past, carrying convenience-store bags and chatting about tomorrow's club activities. They passed just a few meters away.
"Calling the police is definitely an option," Su Wei said, picking up the thread. "But I think it's too risky to gamble with our lives. Maybe... we could ask those students over there to call the police for us?"
"After all, if there are more of us, our opponents might hesitate to act."
"I'll try!"
"Right, that's Hamaguchi from Class B! I'll call him!"
Ichinose Honami seemed to have found a lifeline. She hurried toward the edge of the sidewalk.
"Hamaguchi! Help us! There's..."
The instant she stepped toward the sidewalk, a visible blue ripple suddenly spread through the empty air.
Thud!
The tremendous force hurled Ichinose backward, and she hit the ground in a heap.
She reached out in disbelief. Her fingertips touched empty space, and a watery ripple appeared there once more.
"An invisible wall...?" Ichinose's face turned deathly pale. "Are we trapped in a box?"
"Hmph. Idiot."
Ryuen scoffed. He glanced at the nearest object and tried swinging his hand.
Like a hot knife through butter, the solid wooden bench split in two, its cut surface smooth as a mirror.
His eyelid twitched, but he forced himself to stay calm.
"If this is our 'test,' how could those idiots outside possibly be allowed to interfere?"
Ichinose returned to the group, resigned to reality. She tried to analyze the situation, forcing herself to stay composed. "Since we're at school... or rather, since the Black Sphere defines this as a test, they probably won't go as far as killing all the students."
"That's right!" Kushida Kikyo chimed in, trying to ease the oppressive atmosphere. "Didn't the Black Sphere say earlier that the points we earn afterward could be converted into class points? Maybe this test is actually a 'special project' arranged by the school's administrators. The format is just a little extreme."
"And... didn't the Black Sphere say we each had three chances?" Ichinose seemed to be trying to convince herself as she clutched her shirt over her chest. "Even if we fail, surely we won't actually die. At worst, we'll just be expelled, right?"
"What happens when all three chances are used up?"
Su Wei interjected without haste. "Would we really die, or... would we only be expelled?"
Everyone's breath caught.
According to the rules Su Wei had set, anyone who died three times or scored zero on three consecutive missions would trigger the Black Sphere's cleanup procedure.
And just as Ichinose Honami had said, the losers would have their relevant memories erased, their injuries healed, and then be expelled.
But at Advanced Nurturing, an isolated school on an island, in the minds of this group of players—
Once they were stripped of the right to exist on the island, expulsion and death were, in a sense, no different.
If anything, it was even more frightening than death alone.
"Tch." Ryuen glared at the distant shopping street. "You don't seriously think we have a choice, do you? We're facing a one-hour hunt. And our opponents... haven't even shown up yet."
"Ryuen may be crude, but his ability to react is worth acknowledging."
Sakayanagi Arisu rested her chin on one hand and raised the X-GUN, examining its intricate side screen.
"But instead of worrying about expulsion or death, aren't you going to examine the things in your hands?"
"If a Parasite suddenly jumps out, we might all get wiped out without being able to fight back."
At her words, everyone looked down at their weapons.
"What's this?" Ichinose Honami noticed the liquid crystal screen on the Y-GUN's stock. A red dot was blinking on it. "Is that our target?"
"Ha? So I'm the only one with a knife and no source of information?"
Ryuen furrowed his brow and eyed the Standard Gun in Su Wei's hand.
Sakayanagi Arisu didn't bother to hide it. She turned the gun around and showed Ryuen the screen. "For everyone's safety, I suggest you stay calm, Ryuen. Look at the screen. It's getting closer."
Ryuen glanced at the rapidly shrinking distance on the screen and spun around.
Almost at the same time, the convenience store's side door chimed as its automatic sensor went off.
"Welcome—"
A lean, ordinary-looking clerk in a green uniform emerged, carrying two bags of garbage.
He looked so unremarkable, and so tired from working overtime, that he was rubbing his neck.
But when he turned and saw Ryuen holding a blade in the dark and the others aiming their guns, the honest expression vanished from his face.
"That him?"
Ryuen raised the long blade. His muscles tensed in an instant, reacting with the instinct of a beast facing its natural enemy.
The clerk tilted his head. His voice sounded inhumanly low.
"So I've been exposed?"
"I was doing such a perfect job of hiding. I was going to wait until that girl who comes in to buy red bean buns all the time was alone."
"Oh well. Since you've found me..."
As everyone's pupils shrank, the clerk's entire face split horizontally at the eyes and bridge of his nose. Bloody tentacles writhed beneath the dim streetlight!
"Then you can all die here."
Whoosh!
Ryuen felt a chill against his cheek. A few strands of hair drifted through the air.
The vending machine behind him had been sliced in half.
Cans of drinks rolled across the ground with a piercing clatter.
The monster sounded regretful. "...I missed."
"How annoying."
Chapter 4: Ryuen's Death
At the sight of the gash in the ground, Kushida Kikyo's legs gave way. She nearly collapsed on the spot.
They could die.
They really could die!
There was no way they could fight a monster like that!
At the instant fear crawled up her spine and engulfed her—
"Don't just stand there!"
Sakayanagi Arisu, still seated on the ground, had somehow raised the X-GUN in both hands. Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger.
Vrrrr!
Before you continue