Crack. Crack. Crack.
Midday. The rooftop of the school building.
The sharp, muffled clatter of wooden blades rang out in rapid succession.
Facing Chris — Combat Suit layered beneath his uniform — Ichinose felt as though she were standing at the foot of an impassable mountain.
No matter how she searched for an opening, his defense was ironclad. Airtight. The sheer pressure of it made her feel utterly transparent, as if every move she considered had already been read.
Crack — SNAP!
With a sharp report, the wooden sword finally gave out under the brutal impact and splintered in two mid-clash.
Splinters flew.
Ichinose Honami stumbled back two steps, chest heaving.
"I can't believe it... you really meant everything you said, senpai. You're incredible. Yesterday I actually thought you were just brushing me off..."
"Rushing things never gets you anywhere," Chris said, bending down to pick up the broken blade from the ground, his tone unhurried.
"Beyond the pressure that forces you to keep pushing forward, what matters most is the sense of fulfillment — the feeling that you actually gained something. If someone gets completely crushed right from the start, nobody walks away happy."
Especially not when he was sitting at three hundred-plus stacks of Heart of Steel, with the Combat Suit on top of that — punching out Ghouls and Parasytes one-handed wasn't exactly a challenge.
Ichinose leaned against the sun-warmed rooftop wall and let out a long breath.
As if something had just come back to her, she gazed up at the clear blue sky, her voice edged with unease:
"Even someone as strong as you, senpai — against a twenty-point hidden boss, you could barely hold your own. So what happens if we run into a fifty-point creature next time? Or a hundred?"
"What chance would we even have?"
Ichinose's worry wasn't unfounded.
In the original setting of Gantz, the higher the score, the more grotesquely powerful the enemy. At the forty or fifty-point Nurarihyon tier, even the Y-GUN's laser wire could be snapped by brute force, and taking several shots from the gravity gun point-blank was hardly a setback.
In the later stages, the basic Combat Suit — which only boosted physical capacity tenfold at its limit — would start showing its cracks. The game would shift into something souls-like, where a single mistake meant death.
Chris thought for a moment, then spoke:
"It's perfectly normal to feel that way. But we're already here, so all we can do is give it everything we've got. Worrying for the sake of worrying is exactly like being afraid — it accomplishes nothing except making everything harder."
Ichinose gave a small nod, her gaze hardening back into resolve:
"You're right. For now, the priority is finding a way to get everyone who participates regularly their own Combat Suit as soon as possible."
"Speaking of which — this Preliminary Test requires four representatives from every class. One class will end up victorious and avoid the penalty, but three classes are still going to face consequences..."
Chris picked up where she trailed off: "So?"
Ichinose paused. She turned her head, and the look in her eyes was burning:
"Senpai... do you think there's any possibility — through negotiation, before the test even begins — that we could settle on a winner in advance? Or at least reach some kind of balance, to prevent infighting during the test itself?"
"No chance."
Chris shook his head without a shred of hesitation.
"As the leader of Class B, you can keep your own classmates in line. But Ryuuen's Class C, Sakayanagi's Class A, and my own Class D — none of them have a single person who can make a unilateral decision that everyone else will actually accept and follow."
"On top of that, once you're in the test arena, you, Sakayanagi, and Ryuuen — all fixed participants — won't even be there. Even if you all agree to something beforehand, keeping a lid on what actually happens afterward is a pipe dream."
Chris cut straight to the heart of it:
"More importantly — can you really guarantee that not a single person will be tempted by what the Preliminary Test is offering? That reward is a Miracle — the power to 'mend regrets, to cross through time.' Tell me, who in this world has absolutely nothing they regret?"
Ichinose went quiet.
She understood that truth better than anyone. Because she herself — including her own past — had something she desperately wanted the Black Sphere's Miracle to erase completely.
But the thought of everyone scheming and betraying each other in a life-or-death game, all chasing after something so intangible... it felt like a weight pressing down against her chest.
A long silence.
Ichinose Honami lifted her head. There was no retreat in those clear eyes.
"Senpai... I still want to try."
Chris made no move to talk her out of it. He simply looked at her:
"Want to give it a shot? Fair enough. Whether it works or not — you have to try. Otherwise, how could you ever make peace with yourself?"
"But what if it fails?"
Ichinose turned her face toward the morning sun. The shadows had left her features entirely.
"If that's what it takes... then I'll keep trying for the rest of my life."
Chris held her gaze.
"Go then. I'm behind you."
Unfortunately, ideals are generous things. Reality tends to be far less so.
Ichinose's plan collapsed before it ever truly got off the ground.
The reason was simple enough.
She'd gone to Class C first — the hardest group to deal with, Ryuuen's crowd.
But before she'd even finished laying out the framework of her peace proposal, the bell was already creeping up on them. And in a twist that defied all expectation, it was Class C's gang of delinquents — the ones who normally couldn't care less about rules — who ended up shooing Ichinose back to class, telling the model student who looked like a hall monitor from every conceivable angle that she really ought to head back.
All you could really say was: reality loves a good role reversal.
And just like that, the afternoon slipped away.
In the brief window after school, Ichinose had no room left to maneuver.
She could only watch helplessly as Amase Kazuna fell in beside Kanzaki Ryuuji, carried along with the crowd heading toward the school's central plaza for assembly.
The clock was pushing four in the afternoon.
The outer edges of the plaza had already filled with students who hadn't been selected — all whispering amongst themselves, eager to see with their own eyes how the school intended to run a "four versus four versus four versus four" test in broad daylight.
Of course, there were also those more cautious souls who hadn't come downstairs at all, and simply stood at their classroom windows to watch from above.
Chris was among those who hadn't come down.
He stood at the window, gazing down with a god's-eye view of everything below.
The representatives from each class were all in position. Enough of an audience had gathered around the edges.
The corner of Chris's mouth curled upward. Time to raise the curtain.
'Well then. Let the show begin.'
And so.
Down in the plaza, Ayanokoji and the others were still glancing around at the empty, completely unprepared-looking venue, puzzled at the lack of any setup whatsoever.
Then — beneath the stunned gaze of every student and teacher in the school —
Blazing columns of blue data-light erupted without warning from beneath the feet of all sixteen participants.
Like a materialized scanner, it swept rapidly upward from the ground.
In the span of a few breaths, sixteen living, breathing people vanished into thin air right before everyone's eyes.
"They disappeared?!"
"Is that... the power of the Sphere?"
"So the test isn't happening on school grounds this time? Does that mean no intruders?"
"Heh~ the damn Sphere's got a surprisingly human touch to it..."
When their vision reassembled.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and the others found themselves no longer standing on the school grounds.
What greeted them was a massive freight port.
Towering container stacks loomed all around them like a labyrinth, goods still waiting to be transferred. The tang of salt and sea carried in on the breeze, sharp enough to sting the nose.
Ayanokoji surveyed his surroundings with his usual composure and was the first to notice something off about everyone present.
Every student who had been transported here now had a metal bracelet on their wrist — appearing there at some point completely unnoticed.
Before anyone had a chance to process their new environment and begin asking about the bracelets, a cold electronic chime sounded in every participant's ear simultaneously.
[The format for this Preliminary Test is — "King of Clubs · Tally."]
[Each class will compete as a team of four. The winning side will receive all completion rewards.]
[All losing sides will each forfeit one life and become intruders in tonight's Black Sphere main exam. Any participant with insufficient remaining lives will die.]
[The rules are as follows:]
[Within the time limit, all teams must compete by any means necessary to accumulate points. When time expires, the team holding the highest total points wins.]
[Time Limit: 60 minutes.]
[Starting points per class: 10,000 points.]
[There are three methods to acquire points: Duels, Items, and Bases.]
[1. Duels: Any physical contact between players from different teams initiates a Duel. The bracelet will automatically compare point totals — the player with more points wins and steals 500 points from the loser.
Players may also combine with teammates to initiate a Duel. Any contact triggers this — all participating members' points are pooled together, allowing the group to overcome opponents they couldn't beat individually.
Note: Even in a group Duel, only 500 points are transferred per engagement. Gains and losses are split evenly among all participants on each side.]
[2. Items: Six point items are hidden throughout the venue. Each item has a different value ranging from 500 to 3,000 points, incrementing by 500. Locate and touch one to claim its points.]
[3. Bases: Each team has a glowing Base at their starting location, holding 'unlimited points.'
If an enemy player breaks through and touches your Base, they will steal up to 10,000 points directly from it.
Naturally, high risk comes with high reward: if your own team member is touching your Base while initiating a Duel, their point total is treated as infinite for that moment.
Any challenger who duels a defender holding infinite points will be severely punished — 10,000 points deducted instantly.]
[Those in negative points will be treated as losers.]
[Special Restrictions:]
[After initiating a Duel, a player's bracelet enters a "Locked" state. They must return to their team's Base and touch it once to unlock.
If a player in a Locked state makes contact with another player and triggers a Duel, the bracelet will register a violation and discharge a high-voltage current, penalizing both parties.]
[Finally, special supplementary information:]
[Due to the presence of a player who previously intruded upon an additional exam, the following intel is disclosed as compensation following negotiations with school administration:
1. There are six items worth 3,000 points. These are NOT counted among the standard items. If any player touches one of these items, they will be immediately transferred into the Black Sphere main exam.
2. The item worth 2,500 points is the 'Ghost.' No physical contact is required — simply making eye contact with it will earn the points. However... it will run.
3. Points earned from Items will carry a special property — they can be retained and used as currency when trading with the Mysterious Merchant.]
[You have five minutes to prepare.]
[The game will begin at exactly four o'clock this afternoon.]
As the rules finished playing out, four pillars of light in different colors blazed to life at four corners of the port — marking the starting bases of each class.
"The 3,000-point and 2,500-point items are special enough to be disclosed as compensation intel? They must be something extraordinary."
Hirata Yousuke's brow knitted tight.
Koenji Rokusuke was studying the metal bracelet on his wrist with leisurely curiosity. At Hirata's words, he let out a faint, amused laugh:
"Heh heh... does it really need guessing?"
"They specifically flagged that touching a 3,000-point item triggers the main exam immediately. Isn't that just openly telling us that those six 3,000-point items are the monster targets that Chris and the others will have to deal with tonight — just currently in an unactivated state?"
"Going for top scores means gambling your life on everything except Base warfare."
Matsushita Chiaki's eyes flickered:
"Compared to those monsters, I'm actually more curious about what the 'Ghost' representing 2,500 points is supposed to mean. No physical contact required... that sounds like something alive?"
Hirata Yousuke turned to look at the silent Ayanokoji:
"Either way, I still think the safest call is to discuss it with everyone first — for now, nobody should touch any items. If someone accidentally triggers the main exam early, our Preliminary Test becomes pointless and we'd be thrown straight into a death trap."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said nothing.
He simply watched the countdown ticking away on the bracelet, and the distant column of light marking Class D's base color.
Just then.
Class A's representative, Katsuragi Kohei, walked over to Class D's group alone.
He got straight to the point:
"I'm sure you've already worked out what the 3,000-point items represent.
I've already reached a temporary agreement with Class C's Kaneda and Class B's Kanzaki. Until we've fully identified every item's details, for the safety of all parties, none of the four classes should touch any items for the time being."
Katsuragi looked at Hirata:
"Right now, Class D is the only one that hasn't given a response."
Hirata Yousuke barely hesitated before nodding in agreement:
"I think that's entirely reasonable — it's exactly what we'd want as well. That said, let's be clear upfront: if anyone deliberately breaks the agreement and goes after a high-point item, don't expect us to keep holding to our end of it."
Katsuragi Kohei gave a single nod: "Naturally."
With both sides' leaders reaching a preliminary ceasefire, it seemed as though everything was drifting toward a peaceful, calculated opening phase.
Then — "Hirata."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka spoke up without warning, his gaze sweeping across Hirata, Matsushita, and Koenji.
"We're short on time. We need to head to our Base first and make sure no one pulls a backdoor rush on us."
"But before the game starts..."
He raised the bracelet on his wrist.
"Our initial 10,000 points — has anyone actually thought about how to distribute them across the four bracelets?"
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