4. Jamboree Ship (93rd Time) ── Act III

（０／24）

"Decks 1" through "3"—the areas corresponding to the ship's engine room. Located below the water level, if a hole were to open, seawater would naturally pour in, just like in that famous movie.

Even by some mistake, such a thing must never happen; nevertheless, its structural strength was surprisingly weak. The steel plates forming the hull possessed excellent flexibility, meant to dent rather than rupture easily, and reinforced with horizontal and vertical framing, the structure was highly resistant to surface pressure. However, against the act of maliciously piercing a single point from the inside, it could offer very little resistance.

That said, it was a steel plate tens of millimeters thick, so it couldn't be destroyed by a peashooter or a hand grenade. Doing so required a proper methodology, but the current Yuki was perfectly equipped with it. She knew exactly what needed to be done, as clear as day. Furthermore, though Yuki had no way of knowing, the fact that this ship was secondhand also worked to her advantage. It was a surplus vessel purchased from a certain country's billionaire, and the hull was worn down; about fifteen percent of the wall thickness had already been stripped away without her even needing to break it.

The conclusion would not take long.

（１／24）

"Calm down!"

Shiro shouted.

Her initial response time in situations like this is truly impressive, Busutake thought.

"It's not a breach! There is no way the ship's inner walls could be destroyed by guns and hand grenades!"

"T-Then what is this!? This water," one of the players panicked.

"...It's the watermaker! She's just causing a leak from there!"

She likely said it on the spur of the moment, but it was a remarkably good guess. A watermaker is a machine that converts seawater into freshwater, installed to supply the ship with water for daily use. Since it handles seawater, it was a natural providence that destroying it would cause a leak. And doing so was far easier than piercing the tens of millimeters of steel plate forming the ship's outer shell.

"I wonder about that."

Takami said. He maintained his usual nihilistic attitude, but there was a hint of panic in his demeanor.

"There's a workshop on 'Deck 1'. Procuring tools wouldn't be impossible."

"A workshop?" Shiro asked.

"Look, once a ship heads out to open sea, you can't just call for help anymore, right? If a breakdown occurs, you have to fix it yourself. There's a complete set of equipment meant for exactly that."

From the sleeve of his sailor uniform—much like a skilled assassin or a magician—Takami slid out a silver object.

It was a spanner. Toying with it in the palm of his hand, he continued,

"You brought a massive amount of spanners and hammers into the lounge this morning, didn't you? This is the room where all of that was hung up. Since it was off-limits until yesterday, besides taking out some small items, we barely touched the place. If I recall, there should have been a cutting torch in there too. Handled well, it might just be possible to blow a hole straight through the ship's wall."

"Why didn't you secure it when you found it!" Shiro said, her voice sharp.

"I didn't anticipate anything this crazy!" Takami yelled back. "Besides, including the fuel tank, that thing weighs over ten kilos! Do you think I could just carry it around 'just in case'!?"

"N-Now, now. This isn't the time to be fighting."

Busutake stamped her feet in place. The puddle had expanded its territory since earlier, and everyone's shoes were now soaked.

"While we're standing here doing this, Yuki-san might be opening a new hole, you know. We need to hurry up, take her down, and close the watertight doors to stop the flooding... Or else, never mind one hundred and forty people, every single one of us is going to die."

Busutake looked around at the twenty-two players.

Twenty-two people. She hadn't excluded herself from the count; there were only twenty-two of them present.

They were short one person.

Airi had disappeared.

（２／24）

Airi sprinted through "Deck 1".

（３／24）

She was sprinting with everything she had. She had injured her left leg and didn't want to put too much strain on it, but she ran anyway. Every second, every fraction of a second, was precious right now.

Right now, it could still be managed. A ship wasn't the sort of thing that would instantly be ruined just because a single hole was opened. Watertight doors—doors with excellent waterproof capabilities—were installed throughout the engine room, and by closing them, the punctured area could be isolated. The flooding would be confined to that section, preventing the ship from sinking.

However, executing this was impossible as long as Yuki was alive—no matter how many watertight doors they closed, she would just open them again, or she would create a new hole in a different area. They had to eliminate her. To put it another way, if they could just kill her, dealing with the rest would be easy. The game would end in the first place, and even if they couldn't stop the flooding, the administration would surely send rescue. Airi and the others would be saved.

In other words, the roles of offense and defense had swapped. Up until now, although Airi and her group had acted offensively, according to the rules, they were strictly the ones running away. Now, they were the ones who had to go on the attack. Conversely, all Yuki had to do was focus on her sabotage while fleeing. If the ship sank, she wouldn't have to worry about a petty number like one hundred and forty—everyone would die. The question of whether Yuki herself wouldn't suffer the same fate arose here, but given that it was her, she surely had some sort of countermeasure prepared. She wouldn't have executed this plan otherwise.

A confrontation was unavoidable.

She had to kill her.

Can I do it? Really? Even though I just lost about an hour ago. She knew she had to do it, and that was exactly why her feet weren't hesitating, but she just couldn't bring herself to feel confident.

This isn't like me, Airi thought. Wasn't I the kind of person who didn't have complicated feelings like whether I had confidence or not? When she first stepped into this world, and during the countless grueling situations she had experienced, she had simply accepted it with a detached So this is how it is. Wasn't that exactly why she had survived to see this day? She felt strange emotions budding in her heart. Even in such a crucial moment—.

What in the world is wrong with me?

（４／24）

There was a slight hope that it might just be a bluff. As Shiro had said, maybe she had only destroyed the watermaker—but that hope was mercilessly shattered to pieces. After running through "Deck 1" for a while, Airi witnessed a square hole opened in a section of the wall. Like a bad joke, it was spewing a flash flood, pouring more and more seawater into the water level that had already reached Airi's ankles.

Where is Yuki? She couldn't have gone far yet. Airi darted her gaze in every direction, but the figure of the lifeless ghost girl was nowhere to be found. There was no presence, nor was there any bloodlust.

Then, at that moment, another explosion echoed.

Was she trying to open a second hole? Airi ran toward the direction of the sound—it was the sound of a hand grenade, but it was hard to imagine that alone could blow a hole in the wall. The engine room's workshop was supposed to have a cutting torch, so she must have used that to make incisions before blowing it away. Judging by the fact that no sounds resembling a cutting torch could be heard, it seemed she had already finished that part of the work beforehand.

Along the way, she passed by a watertight door. Hearing the term "watertight door" might bring to mind the round-cornered doors with steering wheels often seen in submarines or spaceships. However, the ones installed on this ship were sliding doors made of steel that gave the impression of a fusuma sliding panel. They had a lever that could open and close them with just a slight manipulation. She wanted to close it immediately, but doing so would block Shiro and the others trailing behind from passing through, so Airi intentionally left the lever untouched and passed through the watertight door.

Shortly after, she managed to find the second hole—it was about the same size as the first, square-shaped, and spewing a roaring torrent of water as if refusing to lose to its predecessor.

Once again, there was no sign of Yuki.

"............"

Airi strained her ears.

There had to be footsteps. Veteran players like Yuki and Airi, without exception, possessed stealth skills—but in this situation where the floor was flooded, it was impossible. If Yuki was moving nearby, no matter how stealthily she tried to tread, or how much she tried to mask it with the sound of the flooding, it would definitely reach Airi's ears.

Deeply, deeply, Airi concentrated her consciousness on her internal senses—

—I hear it.

Like a released spring, she dashed in that direction.

It happened immediately after. As if waiting for her to catch on—bloodlust shot forward from dead ahead of Airi's sprinting path, from the exact direction she had picked up the footsteps. Fortunately, it happened at the exact moment her uninjured right leg hit the ground. Airi leaped to the side and hid behind cover.

She watched a ripple go tatata across the surface of the water exactly where she had been standing moments before.

"——We meet again, Airi."

A voice echoed out.

Even amidst the roaring sound of the flooding, it was a voice that carried surprisingly well.

"Is your left leg injury holding up okay?"

"...I could ask you the same, Yuki-san!"

Airi replied. She didn't possess vocal cords that miraculously carried well, so she had to project her voice loudly.

"What are you thinking? Are you planning to sink the ship and take us all down with you!?"

"No way. I wouldn't do something like that."

There was no pretense in her way of speaking, nor was there any sarcasm. There was only a calm that felt entirely out of place.

"I am going to live. I am acting strictly for that purpose."

"Are you serious?"

Naturally, Airi wasn't just standing there talking. Just as she had done in the food court on "Deck 16", she was running a simulation of the impending battle in her head.

"In a few dozen seconds, twenty players will arrive here. That includes several capable members of the Secret Society. Even more reinforcements will continue to pour in. This is the end of the line for you."

"Maybe so. Well, I'll just do what I can."

"..., are you—"

Are you out of your mind? she initially tried to say.

But that would be a bit strange. Surviving in a world of murder games meant you couldn't possibly be in your right mind to begin with.

Instead, she asked this:

"Are you broken, now?"

"............"

After a beat, with a tone of voice holding just a hint of something resembling affection,

"What do you think?"

Yuki answered.

With that, Airi understood the conversation was over.

She moved.

（５／24）

Intermittent gunshots could be heard, so there was no hesitation about which direction to head.

When Busutake and the others rushed to the scene, they were first greeted by a massive hole fiercely spewing water. Then, they caught fleeting glimpses of Airi and Yuki's figures darting between the cover in the area. They were fighting.

Busutake and the others moved to support her. Their numbers were twenty-two—no, slightly fewer. Some had run off to close the watertight doors or report to the passenger decks. But it was close to twenty people. A number large enough that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a mob.

Against them, Yuki—.

Swung her rifle from left to right, and fired a rapid burst of tatatata.

A five-shot burst. A warning shot? Busutake thought. It wasn't properly aimed. Seeing Busutake and the group closing in, she had just fired a suppressive burst for the time being. From any angle, that's what the action looked like.

Despite this, Busutake watched as her comrades collapsed with a thud all around her—no, it wasn't just someone else's problem; one of those bullets had hit Busutake herself. Pressing down on her right flank where she had been shot, she cast her gaze around and saw four other girls crawling on the ground in the exact same way. Five people, including Busutake. That matched the exact number of bullets fired. With such a haphazard action, she had managed to land every single shot without missing once.

That fact terrified Busutake to the point where the damage to her right flank ceased to matter. Was she... was she always this nonsensical of a person? During the "Phantom Thief" game a while back, she had handled almost all the tasks by herself, but she surely hadn't been this abnormal. In fact, even in this very game, they had managed to corner her until she was the last one remaining—. Had she unlocked some new door upon reaching this point?

After finishing her attack, Yuki swiftly retreated back into cover. Needless to say, the five who were shot, but even the girls who weren't, faltered in their steps—.

"Do not falter!" Shiro issued a command.

"Overwhelm her with numbers! Utilize the advantage of the group!"

Indeed, faltering would play right into the enemy's hands. Given the gap in raw ability, their only path to victory was a chaotic melee. To run her over with a rain of bullets so dense that a human body could do nothing against it. That was the better option. Attacking tentatively, one by one in turn like sword fighting in a movie, would just make it Yuki's one-woman show. The desecration of Maya's corpse was likely aimed at achieving precisely that effect.

Well, Shiro excelled at this kind of momentary charisma. Having their lost morale injected back into them, the girls sprang into action. Busutake also forced her aching body up and joined the legion.

They valiantly charged the cover Yuki had dived into—however, she was long gone, having escaped further into the distance. Busutake and the others aimed their guns, and Yuki did the same as she turned around. The bullets crossed paths—and a glaringly unfair result was brought about. Not a single one of their bullets hit Yuki, while every single bullet she fired found its mark, forcing several girls to crawl on the ground.

After that, the battle progressed in much the same rhythm. Yuki fled deeper into "Deck 1", Busutake and the others gave chase, and occasionally they exchanged fire, but only Yuki's bullets unilaterally hit, steadily reducing Busutake's group. Why aren't we hitting her at all? Busutake wondered. It wasn't just amateurs gathered here. They were supposed to be a collection of the cream of the crop out of the over four hundred players. It wasn't like Yuki was moving her body all that violently, but it truly felt as if they were shooting at a ghost—she simply wouldn't be hit. It was so completely unreasonable that Busutake almost felt as if she was being discriminated against. By whom? By the god of war, perhaps.

Despite having their numbers comfortably whittled down one by one, Busutake and the rest continued the pursuit, and right around the time their numbers dropped below ten, they succeeded in cornering Yuki against a wall. A wall towered directly behind her, and large pieces of machinery blocked the path to both her right and left; however, Yuki firmly leapt onto the machine to her left and began climbing at a speed akin to a movie on fast-forward. The machine pierced through the ceiling, leaving a gap just wide enough for a person to pass through—she intended to escape to the floor above.

It went without saying that the bullets from Busutake and the others trying to stop her missed as if by magic, and right on the verge of disappearing into "Deck 2", she even delivered a parting gift—with a casual motion as if dropping something from her pocket, she rolled two hand grenades down, scattering explosive flames and shrapnel across "Deck 1". When Busutake, who had barely managed to evacuate behind cover, peeked out, she saw Airi's figure through the drifting grayish-white smoke, scrambling up the machine exactly as Yuki had just done.

（６／24）

Passing through the smoke, Airi emerged onto "Deck 2".

This was a slightly dangerous maneuver. Because the moment she poked her head out, there was a possibility she would be shot. Ideally, she would have wanted to toss a hand grenade ahead to clear the way, but Airi spared the effort for that. If she hesitated for even a second, she felt like she would let Yuki get away. She felt like they would never meet again.

If that happens, the opportunity will be lost forever, she thought.

Of what?

No answer came to mind.

Am I moving without even understanding it myself? How ridiculous. This is so unlike me. Nothing like this has ever happened before.

—No, is it really true that it has never happened? Then why do I continue being a player? Isn't it because I think there's something in this world? Rather, hasn't it always been that way?

Ever since she was born, her heart had never truly been moved. When she ended up quitting high school to work, when she was scouted to be a player there, and even when that game spiraled in unexpected directions, she had simply brushed it off with a So this is how it is. If you quickly give up and accept things, everything will pass you by sooner or later. She had thought she was fine with that.

However, there was one thing that simply wouldn't pass her by easily. During the final stages of "Candle Woods", she asked Yuki, who had survived alongside her: What is so fun about participating in a game like this?

"It's not fun at all."

Yuki had answered.

"That's why I'm here."

It was the incomprehensibility of that answer that had made Airi stay.

Thinking back, she might have wanted to do this ever since that moment.

（７／24）

The flooding hadn't reached "Deck 2", so it was somewhat easier to walk. Yuki's figure was gone, but droplets of water dotted the floor, so tracking her footprints wasn't difficult.

She quickly found her, and they exchanged fire.

Both were aiming precisely, but not a single bullet hit either Airi or Yuki. There was no particular surprise in this. It had consistently been this way in their battles up to now. Was the principle similar to evading punches in boxing? Visually tracking the attack itself and dodging it was absolutely impossible, but from the preceding information—namely, the movement of the finger on the trigger and the direction of the muzzle—one could work out a prediction and move their body outside the line of fire. Once you learned the trick, you could evade consistently.

She had known that for a long time.

So, what was the standard tactic against such an opponent? Close-quarters combat. Airi closed the distance—holding her rifle horizontally like a shield, she crashed into Yuki with fierce momentum. The two of them fell to the floor, breaking into a grappling brawl.

However, this too was a losing battle. A fistfight was her opponent's domain—Airi knew this very well. She had encountered Yuki several times in past games and had even gotten into direct skirmishes. Airi deemed her unbeatable. They were clearly in different leagues. Rather than a matter of technique, it was the speed of her reactions, the emergent nature of her responses; it was the impression that an overwhelmingly superior sense was the difference between them. She had talent. And I am ordinary. She quickly confirmed that this hierarchy hadn't been overturned—she was getting hit about three times as often as she was landing blows. At this rate, she would be knocked out in less than a minute.

Therefore, that wasn't what Airi had been aiming for from the start. Not to win, but to endure. If she could just buy some time, that alone would create a chance to finish her off.

Seeing Shiro and the others continuously coming up to "Deck 2", Airi screamed.

"Shoot!"

she screamed.

"Shoot through me! Don't worry about it!"

There's no other way. Even if they shot normally, she would dodge. In that case, they had no choice but to grab her and then shoot. It was Shoot through me. One of the standard tactics against a formidable enemy.

Airi could see Yuki's expression change. Visibly, she was surprised. Does she think this kind of suicidal tactic is out of character for me? If so, I agree. I'm surprised myself. Yuki couldn't possibly know about these unexpected feelings budding inside me.

"Do not shoot!"

Restraining the other players with her hand, Shiro shouted.

"You'll hit her! Support her in close combat!"

Airi recalled her own position within the Secret Society. That's right—from Shiro's perspective, she couldn't let me die. But was there any other way? Even though losing the game would ruin everything.

Shiro and the others stupidly ran toward them with their guns dangling. "No! If you do that—" Airi tried to reprimand them, but Yuki punched her in the face mid-sentence. She clung to Yuki with both arms so as not to be peeled off, but she couldn't contain her squirming. I won't make it in time, she thought. She'll escape before Shiro and the others arrive—.

At that moment, she sensed a presence from above.

From the atrium located directly above Airi and the others—namely, from "Deck 3"—several players were looking down. It was another team. They had rushed over.

Among them was the figure of Maguma, readying her gun.

She didn't know if they had heard her scream from earlier.

But the eyes of the cold-hearted yet unrefined woman said,

—I'll grant your wish.

Silently, she pulled the trigger.

（８／24）

"Wai... Maguma-san!?"

Paying no mind to the other girls' astonishment, Maguma continued to fire.

She ran out of ammo. Ejecting the magazine, Maguma answered, "That meant to shoot, right?"

"She grabbed Yuki so the rest of us could shoot her. Is there any other way to interpret that?"

That's a reckless tactic, so unlike Airi, Maguma thought, but well, she must have had some sort of change of heart. Just like I have recently.

Having received the report from the messenger, Maguma and her team largely understood the situation in the engine room. It was flooding, and they needed to quickly finish Yuki off and seal the bulkheads.

That Yuki, it seemed, was not dead yet. Down on the checkered aluminum plate of "Deck 2", both she and Airi were writhing in pain. Even though she could barely move, she had somehow managed to deftly avoid a fatal blow. Re-readying her rifle with a fresh magazine, Maguma prepared to fire again, but—.

She caught the scent of bloodlust from a direction different from Yuki's.

She immediately hid herself. A barrage of gunshots followed, sparking as they hit the ceiling of "Deck 3". Imagining the firing point based on the position of those sparks, she turned her eyes and saw Shiro glaring in her direction with a face that looked as if she were looking at an enemy.

"What's the big idea!"

Maguma yelled out.

"Have you forgotten who's friend and who's foe!? You idiot!"

"That's my line!" Shiro replied. "Do not shoot your allies! Are you trying to kill her too!?"

Come to think of it, Airi has become her comrade now, huh. I guess she can't let her die. Damn it. Even though this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

While they were squabbling over this, there was movement on Yuki's end. Slipping through the gap in the fall-prevention railing right beside them, she dropped down to "Deck 1", taking the clinging Airi with her. Clicking her tongue, Maguma leaped down to "Deck 2" and looked down at the floor below.

The flooding seemed to have progressed significantly, to the point where the striped pattern on the floor was almost invisible. The water level was one thing, but there was also a current. Because it was pouring in fiercely from a specific point, a water current was created, and its force was violent enough to bring to mind a river during a torrential downpour. It was enough to make even the robust Maguma hesitate a little to jump in.

Neither Airi nor Yuki was in sight. Maguma also vaulted over the railing and jumped down to "Deck 1", but while she was in mid-air—already far, far off in the distance—she saw two silhouettes being swept away by the raging rapids.

（９／24）

Immediately upon hitting the water, Airi thought, It's deep.

Deep enough that it should have been described as "landing in water" rather than "landing". The current was also substantial, and Airi struggled for a while, blowing bubbles from her nose and mouth. Grabbing onto some pipe her hand happened to catch, she used every ounce of strength her battered body could muster to pull herself up above the water.

From the surrounding scenery, she quickly realized she had been swept quite a distance. Where is Yuki? As she swept her gaze left and right, she spotted her swimming along with the current even further downstream from Airi—she was trying to escape using the water current. Naturally, Airi had dropped her gun long ago, so she had no means of attacking from a distance. To chase Yuki, she surrendered herself once again to the current she had just escaped.

The water level was up to Airi's chest. Most of the numerous gunshot wounds inflicted by Maguma earlier would be submerged in the water. Keep in mind that this is seawater—the word painful didn't even begin to cover it anymore. It was a sensation of pain pushing the absolute upper limits of what a human body could feel, like being burned alive, or having one's skull violently knocked from the inside. Still, her body moved. Humans can move surprisingly well even when injured. If they simply stiffened up from pain, they wouldn't have been able to survive in the natural world. If anything, they had to be able to act nimbly.

While being swept along, the current began to calm down. They had reached a wall—more accurately, not a wall, but a bulkhead. A watertight door. It should have been open when Airi passed through it earlier, but Shiro and the others had likely closed it when they came through. Was this also the cause for the water level rising so drastically?

Since she had completely lost her propulsion, Airi paddled the water and closed in on Yuki. The object she had been secretly gripping tight underwater—

She thrust it at her.

Yuki's face twitched, just as if an electric current had passed through it for a split second.

And the next moment, the same happened to Airi. Something hot spread around her navel. They had stabbed each other with knives. Both Airi and Yuki seemed to have dropped their guns, but they had kept the army knives sheathed in their holsters on them.

Airi felt the flesh of her stomach pressing against the blade of the knife. She didn't know about the pain. Her pain receptors had already been stimulated to their absolute limit, so taking a new wound didn't really register. However, there was a definite sensation that something had been lost—a strange feeling, like her hit points had decreased, or she had taken one step closer to death.

In this situation where they were both submerged in water up to their chests, they couldn't execute high-level maneuvers that could be called a proper fight. Attacks, defenses, and evasive maneuvers could only be performed sluggishly, and what's more, both of them were severely wounded. Whether it was Airi or Yuki, the only tactic they could employ was blindly swinging their knives and stabbing wherever they could reach, a fighting style they would be incredibly embarrassed for anyone to see.

Stabbed relentlessly, pumped full of bullets, she no longer knew how many holes were in her body. Amidst accumulating fatigue, chronic lack of oxygen, and a fading consciousness, Airi vaguely thought this felt like a brawl from an old-school manga. A riverbank with a setting sun in the background. Clumsily trading punches one by one in turns.

What happens next?

Airi met Yuki's eyes.

Her eyes,

Were not the eyes looking at a hated enemy,

Nor were they the sparkling eyes directed at a worthy rival,

Nor were they the eyes of a person enjoying the slaughter,

Nor were they cold eyes completely devoid of emotion.

What is this? Airi was instead bewildered. She had prepared herself for the possibility that she might be broken, and if she had retained her usual aloof demeanor, she would have been fine with that too. But this state of being was completely outside the realm of her expectations.

Yuki raised both arms high. Raised high while scattering spray, the object was cylindrical in shape, with a long, thin tube extending from its zenith. Airi immediately recognized its true identity.

It was the cutting torch's fuel tank.

Takami had said it weighed something like over ten kilos.

Weighed down by the water, she couldn't dodge in time. Taking the tank straight to the crown of her head as Yuki brought it down, Airi's consciousness was shut away.

（10／24）

Surrendering herself to the current, Maguma advanced through "Deck 1".

Before long, Maguma noticed that the water level was gradually dropping. Arriving at the scene, sure enough, a watertight door was wide open, and the water was leaking into the adjacent section. Yuki must have opened it—these doors could be sealed watertight, but they couldn't be locked. They could be easily opened and closed with a single lever.

Nearby lay the figure of Airi, collapsed lifelessly. Her chest was rising and falling, so it seemed she wasn't dead yet, but in addition to the gunshot wounds from earlier, she had also sustained countless slash wounds. It was definitely a retirement for her.

Yuki was gone. Her figure and her presence had both vanished. Thanks to her exceptionally excellent stealth abilities, rediscovering her once sight of her was lost would be difficult.

She could perform an exhaustive search, but—I shouldn't do that, Maguma's intuition told her. There was no firm basis for it. It was a super-logical intuition brought about by her long years of experience as a player.

"...This is a good time to pull out."

she muttered.

Then, she hoisted Airi onto her left shoulder.

（11／24）

Busutake and the others descended to "Deck 1" to search for Yuki. The watertight door seemed to have been opened, and the water level had dropped, making it easier to walk.

Busutake had the realization that We're really dragging our feet. At this rate, even if they managed to kill Yuki, they might not be able to avoid sinking.

Should I start thinking about the future? Busutake thought. She had said At this rate, everyone's going to die earlier, but that was just a convenient excuse to stir up a sense of crisis. In reality, it probably wouldn't lead to a total wipeout. Busutake was mapping out several routes in her head regarding future developments.

The best outcome would be to kill Yuki. The nuisance would be gone from the engine room, and since the game would end, there was a high probability of receiving rescue from the administration. Even if they couldn't do that, driving Yuki out of the engine room and stopping the flooding would also be fine. The game would continue, but they would survive this situation.

The problem was if they couldn't stop the flooding—what would happen if the water reached the passenger decks and sinking became unavoidable? If they could find and kill Yuki, there still shouldn't be an issue. Since the ship would be sinking, the area where Yuki could run around would gradually narrow. Eventually, they should be able to crush her with the sheer violence of numbers.

Yuki herself should be well aware of that fact—.

—In that case, wouldn't she plot to escape the ship?

There were several administration ships accompanying this cruise ship. Was it possible she might swim to one of them and evacuate?

In principle, that was not supposed to be possible. She had once asked an administration staff member on the ship before the game got into full swing. Those were not facilities meant for the game, and even if someone tried to swim to them, they would just move the ships to evade. Crossing over by swimming normally should be impossible.

However, she knew all too well by now that she wasn't dealing with someone to whom such common sense applied. She might employ another utterly unconventional method. If she had a way to approach the ship undetected—if she evacuated to a place beyond our reach—

If that happens, what should we do?

From afar, the sound of an explosion was heard.

Yuki had opened a new hole again. Heading in the direction of the sound, it was just as expected. Near the hole spewing the now somewhat-familiar fountain of water, Yuki was nowhere to be found.

"She must be nearby! Search for her!"

Shiro fired them up, and the girls scattered in small groups.

However, Is that really the case? Busutake harbored doubts. In this situation where she was being chased by a vastly superior force, would she really go out of her way to open a new hole and broadcast her location? She had already destroyed two locations, so the force of the flooding should be sufficient. Well, if she could add more, she might as well, but was there another purpose behind it?

In other words—to create an escape route.

Busutake looked at the hole once more.

It was fiercely spewing water.

She wasn't a salmon in spawning season; swimming against this raging rapid was impossible. However, if she supported herself on the edge of the hole and pushed her body forward, it should be possible to slip through to the other side—namely, into the ocean. If she then shifted slightly to the side, the influence of the water current would disappear. There shouldn't be an issue with water pressure, either. Even for a large vessel like this, the draft is less than ten meters. It's a depth suitable for free diving. The water pressure exerted on the body wouldn't be anywhere near fatal.

Blowing a hole in the ship's wall and escaping by swimming through the ocean.

It was an act straight out of a cartoon, but by no means impossible. No, rather, it was truly a brilliant move. It was practically the only way to escape the engine room—since the regular entrances and exits were firmly guarded, and reinforcements were continuously rushing in.

She had no proof. But she had absolute certainty. Without a shred of hesitation, Busutake plunged her body into the raging rapid. It was quite a struggle, but as expected, pushing her body forward wasn't completely impossible.

Taking about fifteen seconds, Busutake emerged into the ocean. Once she had escaped into the sea, her buoyancy automatically carried Busutake to the surface. Busutake even had the luxury of running a quick calculation in her head to estimate how many seconds it would take to surface—she broke the surface and bathed in the sunlight in exactly the calculated time.

The ship was currently stationary. She didn't have to worry about being caught in the waves created by the hull. Busutake turned her neck upward, searching for Yuki's figure.

Then—.

"...Oh my god,"

Busutake let out a voice.

On the upper deck, she discovered Yuki in a posture aiming a gun straight at her.

（12／24）

On "Deck 4".

Suspicion was spreading among the players.

（13／24）

It was one of the entrances leading to the engine room.

Several players were on standby around it. Since there was a possibility that Yuki might successfully evade pursuit and come up here, guards had been placed. There were several entrances to the engine room, and all were firmly secured in this manner.

One of the guard players racked the slide of her handgun, ejecting a single bullet.

She placed it on the floor.

Roll, roll, it rolled away on its own.

It was a scene straight out of that famous movie. Rolling without being given any momentum. It meant the floor was slanted.

The ship was listing. Most likely due to the flooding.

"Hey, is this going to be okay...?"

Catching the bullet with her palm, the player asked the others.

"I wouldn't know," she answered. "We just have to trust that the people in the engine room will sort it out and wait. Abandoning our post in a panic would be a foolish move."

Despite stating such a perfectly reasonable argument, anxiety was spreading across her face. Not just her, but everyone present wore similar expressions. They were starting to faintly, vaguely sense a bad atmosphere.

Before long, waterlogged footsteps were heard coming from "Deck 3". The several guards readied their weapons. The figure that eventually appeared was—

—The player with a massive, bear-like physique, Maguma.

She was carrying a rifle in one arm, and a person under the other. If memory served, that was the powerhouse player named Airi. She was covered in wounds all over her body and appeared to be unconscious.

"Good work," the guard girls said one after another.

"Yeah," Maguma replied.

"Um, what is the situation down there? Has the flooding been stopped already?"

"Do I have to share every little detail with you?"

It was a terribly blunt voice. Coupled with the difference in their physiques, the girls were momentarily intimidated, but one of them managed to retort, "Well... yes, you should! Please tell us."

"Hmph. Then I'll just tell you one thing." Maguma let out a snort. "It seems about time you're better off acting on your own judgment. That leader is unreliable. Protect yourselves on your own responsibility."

Leaving behind those ambiguous, yet anxiety-inducing words, Maguma walked away. The worries in the girls' chests grew even stronger.

After a while, more people came up. This time, it was Shiro and a dozen or so other players. "What is the situation!?" they pressed her again.

"...Yuki got away,"

Shiro answered.

"It seems she opened a hole in the ship's wall and escaped into the sea. The game is not over yet. Right now, they are closing the watertight doors to stem the flooding."

"It's not going to sink, right?"

"It's looking a bit dicey,"

Takami was the one who answered.

"Right now, there are three holes open. The engine room is divided into a total of eight watertight compartments, but three of them are going to be swallowed by water. I don't know how resistant this ship is to flooding, but generally speaking, I'd say it's going to be tough..."

"Wh..." The girls suddenly grew noisy. "What are you doing!?" "No way!"

"Stop your chirping!"

Shiro snapped sharply.

"If we just eliminate Yuki, we can manage somehow. She must definitely have returned to the ship. If we strike her—"

Before she could finish, hurried footsteps were heard from afar. A player looking completely out of breath appeared. It seemed she had come down from the upper decks.

"Good work!" Even though she was likely far more exhausted herself, she offered that greeting before saying, "I have something to report to the people from the engine room..."

"What happened?" Shiro asked.

"Yuki came to the upper deck! She came up from the sea."

"Ah, just as I thought. We were just discussing that exact—"

"And then, she jumped back into the sea again!"

Shiro's eyes went round. "...Huh?"

（14／24）

On the observation ship, an administration staff member was gazing at a tablet.

（15／24）

The cruise ship serving as the stage for the game—this was one of the observation vessels meant for it. On the deck of that ship, about two sizes smaller than the target of observation, stood a lone person with her hair fluttering in the sea breeze, leaning against the railing.

She was an administration staff member. Everyone on this ship, down to the crew members, fell under that category. She did not belong to any specific player as an exclusive agent, but was part of the game's management division. She was watching the live feed of the game on her tablet so she could respond immediately if an irregularity occurred.

Right now, her sense of tension was particularly high—after all, the stage of the game was taking on water. While it wasn't an entirely unanticipated scenario, it was still a major emergency. Please don't sink, the staff member prayed. If it sank, she couldn't even imagine the grueling amount of work they would be subjected to for the aftermath.

On the tablet, a dedicated administration app was open. It allowed her to view all at once the footage from the numerous surveillance cameras planted on the cruise ship, as well as the cameras mounted on the drones flying around the vessel. Things were convenient nowadays; the AI's automatic judgment would pick up areas where movement was occurring and display them prominently.

At this time, the majority of the screen was occupied by footage of the engine room and the upper deck. The engine room went without saying, and on the upper deck, Yuki was running rampant—shockingly, it seemed she had swam out of a hole in the engine room wall to escape. A player named Busutake, who had noticed the situation, had chased after her, but Yuki had shrewdly ambushed her on the upper deck and shot her dead.

And even after that, she was wreaking havoc against the players of the Survivor faction. Guards had been stationed on the upper deck as well, but their numbers were few, and since the players in the engine room held most of the firearms, they seemed to be at a loss.

Well then, what happens next?

While fixing her gaze on the tablet for observation purposes, but also out of pure interest—

A part of the screen went dark.

"Oh,"

The staff member muttered.

The camera had been destroyed.

It was the surveillance camera near the entrance of the locker room provided for the upper deck's pool. Yuki had been fighting other players there, and a stray bullet had flown in during the battle.

These kinds of things happened quite often, given that it was a killing game. There were many other cameras in the vicinity, but none of them were capturing Yuki. It seemed she had entered a blind spot.

Even though she couldn't be seen, the sounds of battle—gunshots and the screams of shot players—could be heard. Eventually, that too concluded, and silence returned to the locker room.

However, Yuki's figure remained unseen.

"...?"

What was wrong? She was severely wounded, so had she finally become unable to move? The staff member tapped away at her tablet. She didn't have to rely solely on the automatic pick-up; she could also operate it manually to view footage from specific cameras. She checked the camera footage around the locker room—the hallways, outdoors, etc.—but there was no one who looked like Yuki.

While she was doing this, movement was seen in the engine room. A messenger player was talking to Shiro and the others, seemingly saying something along the lines of "Yuki jumped into the sea."

The sea? Since when? She checked the cameras of the drones flying around the cruise ship, but Yuki wasn't there. She looked toward the ship with her naked eyes, but she still wasn't there. Or rather, after going through the trouble of getting up onto the ship, why would she jump back into the sea? What in the world was she doing?

As if to answer that question, a splashing sound was heard from behind her.

She turned around.

There stood a soaking wet Yuki.

（16／24）

"Huh...!?"

"Ah, hello."

Yuki greeted her as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

The staff member closed her eyes once, and opened them again. It wasn't a hallucination. She was definitely standing right there. Not dressed in the sailor uniform serving as her in-game outfit, but wearing a swimsuit and goggles. They must have been from the ship's locker room. Supplies meant for the pool on the upper deck.

There was only one logical explanation for how she could be here. —She had swam.

"I'd like to borrow a towel, is there one anywhere?"

Slicking her hair back, Yuki started walking toward the bow of the ship.

"...Wai... Wait just a minute!"

Reflexively, the staff member called her to a halt.

"Players are not permitted to board! Please return to the cruise ship immediately!"

"Is that so?" However, Yuki said with an innocent face. "Is there a rule like that? It wasn't in the preliminary explanation."

She couldn't answer. Because no such rule existed.

It had never even been anticipated to begin with. The scenario of a player going out into the sea had naturally been considered, but even if they tried to swim to an administration observation ship, the standard operation was to move the ship away to deny them.

"How did you get here...? We didn't see anyone swimming."

"I bet. Because I traveled underwater."

Yuki lightly kicked away a crumpled object at her feet. It was made of vinyl material. It appeared to be a large floatation ring. This too must have been from the cruise ship.

"Did you ever think about it when you were a kid? Using the air in a floatie like an oxygen tank. Turns out you can actually do it surprisingly well. The inside of the ocean was beautiful."

Saying that, Yuki began walking toward the bow again. Her left leg and right arm seemed completely immobilized, and her way of walking looked like the very picture of being battered and exhausted.

"Wait...!" she called her to a halt again, but this time she was ignored. Having no other choice, she followed behind her.

"Oxygen aside, what about the buoyancy of the floatie? How did you manage that?"

It probably wasn't the right time to ask, but she couldn't help herself. When Yuki left the cruise ship, that floatie should have been plump with air. Even if she could stay submerged, wouldn't the floatie bob to the surface?

"For something like that, you just bring enough weights to counteract the buoyancy."

Yuki answered as if stating common sense.

"There were plenty of things that could act as weights, like guns and bags, right? Just carrying those cancels out the buoyancy. If I breathe air from the floatie, the buoyancy drops accordingly, but I can just adjust it by gradually tossing the weights. I figured if I just casually poked my head out and swam over, you'd run away, so I tried coming up with a little trick."

While having this conversation, Yuki and the staff member had arrived at the wheelhouse. Also known as the bridge, it corresponds to the cockpit of an airplane. There were several crew members present, but all of them focused their gazes on the sudden intruder.

Those faces, uniformly, were dyed in surprise.

In contrast, appearing terribly composed,

"Who is the person in charge here?"

Yuki asked.

At that, the crew members' gazes shifted to a different direction. In the corner of the wheelhouse, there was a girl around ten years old sitting on a folding chair.

"That would be me."

The child raised her hand.

Her tone of voice was calm, unfitting for her age.

"...You are?"

"Do you have a problem with it?"

"No, anyone is fine as long as they can hand down a ruling, but..."

Scratching her head with her left hand, Yuki said,

"I'd like a guarantee on this, but this isn't a rule violation, right? In games like this, the surrounding waters should also be considered the game area. Everything within the area is a tool, and we're free to use them however we please. Administration ships are no exception to this application. That's how it was actually handled in a game called 'Cloudy Beach', but how about this time?"

"............"

The girl closed her eyes and fell silent for a few seconds before saying,

"That is exactly right."

"However, if I acknowledge it for you, I must acknowledge the same right for the other players. From now on, even if players approach the ships, we will not refuse them under any circumstances. We will become mere fixtures for the game. In exchange for that, we acknowledge your boarding. How does that sound?"

"I don't mind."

Yuki answered.

"I'll be in your care for a while, then. Well, for starters..."

Yuki dropped her gaze to her feet. Since she hadn't dried off, water droplets were scattering on the floor.

"A towel, a change of clothes, and... you guys have guns anyway, right? Hand over a complete set."

（17／24）

Airi opened her eyes.

（18／24）

She saw the sky. She was outdoors. Not in the engine room.

As she sat up—an intense pain shot through her entire body. The memories of her fierce battle with Yuki were rudely awakened. Where am I? —"Deck 17". The observation deck she had visited the night before as well.

"You're awake, huh."

A voice called out.

Right next to her, Maguma was sitting down.

"...Good morning."

"Yeah."

"Um, did you happen to save me? Surely not."

"Did you just call me an idiot? You bastard."

Maguma glared right at her.

"...You've got me all wrong. Despite how I look, I'm actually the type to take good care of my comrades. I even used to be the leader of a delinquent gang back in the day. Got tedious, so I tossed it all away, though."

"Oh..."

"We go way back. So I showed you a little mercy."

Even so, it was an act the Maguma that Airi knew would absolutely never do. She truly felt that this person was changing.

—Well, I'm hardly one to talk.

"Besides, looks like we can form a cooperative relationship. You can at least pull a trigger, right? Even with that body."

"Well, I think I can manage somehow... But where is Yuki-san? Or rather, what is the situation of the game?"

Airi stared at the wooden plank floor. It was horizontal enough to lie down on, but slanted enough that she could tell It's tilting. It must be the effects of the flooding, but what happened with that?

"We aren't shooting Yuki," Maguma answered.

"It's the girls in the sailor uniforms. We're repelling them. Let me tell you, both you and I are seriously hated by those guys right now."

"Hated? Why?"

"They're calling us incompetents who let Yuki get away. They're taking it out on us."

"She got away?"

"Yeah. Apparently, she slipped her body through the hole she opened for the flooding and escaped. Can't believe she actually pulled that off."

So that route was an option, Airi thought. What an unprecedented person.

"But if Yuki-san is gone, they can stop the flooding, right? What about that?"

"Unfortunately, looks like it's too late. If you can move, poke your head out over the railing and take a look. About half the ship is already sunk."

Since she announced it so casually, Airi was startled—and because of that, she hurt her body again. Writhing in agony, she crawled across the floor, made her way to the railing, and looked down at the world below.

How should she describe it; it was a half-body bath.

"Whoa... Ah."

"Looks like CG, right? What are they going to do about this? I bet even the administration is going to have a hard time cleaning this up..."

"This is really bad, isn't it? If we don't finish Yuki-san off, we're all going to be thrown into the sea together, right? Where did she go?"

"Who knows. The players are out in full force frantically searching for her, but they can't seem to find her. If you were Yuki, where would you hide?"

"...If it were me..."

Airi adjusted her gaze slightly toward the horizon. She looked at the administration ships watching them from a distance.

"I'd attempt to evacuate to the surrounding ships. If I swam underwater, I think I could reach them undetected."

"Actually, I've got my eye on that possibility too."

"If you know, why aren't you acting on it?"

"It's way too high-risk."

Just like Airi, Maguma answered while looking down at the world below through the gaps in the railing.

"Yuki is probably on guard for pursuers, too. She'll be keeping a sharp eye on the ocean. No matter how much you hide underwater, the risk of being spotted is high. The administration ships probably have a rifle or two, and bullets can reach you even in the ocean. You'd just be unilaterally shot to death. Even if you somehow managed to reach the ship, you're completely defenseless the moment you pull yourself onto the deck... It's a job a bit too heavy for an incompetent."

A hint of sarcasm laced Maguma's words. Taking it out on them—was it?

"Anyway, the point is we can't touch Yuki. So here is the second question—in order to survive this situation, what should we do?"

"We have no choice but to fulfill the other end condition, right...? Namely, the deaths of over one hundred and forty players."

Airi said the other, but this was actually the original end condition. Cause the deaths of one hundred and forty or more Survivors within one week. That was the original rule.

She had also extracted the more precise conditions from the captured Killer girls. What was required was purely death, not murder. The count would go up not just from being murdered by a Killer, but also through infighting, suicide, or accidental death. The deaths of players seemed to be determined comprehensively using the sensors implanted in their bodies and the footage from surveillance cameras.

The only remaining Killer faction member, Yuki, had escaped far away.

If that was the case—.

"The players here will have no choice but to kill each other."

"That's what it will come down to," Maguma said. "Right now, there's no movement. But, as the flooding spreads, the space narrows, and they witness the roaring currents with their own eyes, eventually all the players will understand what must be done. When that happens, the very first place the hate will be directed is at us. Shiro and the dozens of guys from her active combat unit."

"So even though we risked our lives to fight, they're going to pin the responsibility on us?"

"That's just how groups are. A selfish bunch."

Her tone contained neither pessimism nor pretense, it simply laid out her viewpoint. It was the attitude of someone entirely accustomed to it. She used to be the leader of a delinquent gang back in the day.

"Oh."

Maguma's eyes widened slightly.

"Look at that. Seems someone sharp has made a move."

Maguma's eyes were directed toward the sea.

Tracing her gaze, she spotted a mat-type floatie drifting on the ocean. On top of it, a player was riding, rowing with something like an oar, heading toward the administration ship. There shouldn't be any oars on this ship, so she must have fashioned one by stretching cloth over a crutch or something—but did she really think she could make the crossing with equipment like that?

Sure enough, when she had made it about thirty percent of the way, a gunshot echoed. The girl's hands stopped rowing the oar, her body swayed unsteadily, and she plunged into the sea, sending up a spray of water. When Airi scanned the area, she confirmed the smoke of gunpowder wavering at the window of the bridge on one of the administration ships.

And—the figure of the shooter, as well.

Even with this much distance, she could identify her immediately.

It was Yuki. She had escaped there, after all.

Even from that distance, rifle bullets could reach them. Both Airi and Maguma moved toward the back of "Deck 17" to break the line of sight.

"She really was there, huh," Maguma said.

"Those guys will probably try their hands at killing Yuki for a while, but nine times out of ten, they'll fail. A shootout at that distance heavily relies on pure skill... It'll start in just a little while. The ugly game of pulling each other down."

"Right..."

Maguma must have foreseen this situation and come to "Deck 17". She was determined to hold up a siege. There was only one proper entrance, and climbing up the walls would be extremely difficult.

Airi closed her eyes. She looked at the afterimage of Yuki burned into the back of her eyelids.

She was so far away. Did she really swim with that heavily wounded body? What an incredible story.

Having faced her up close, she clearly understood it now. She hadn't been broken at all—no, quite the opposite. She had been perfected as a player.

She didn't know what had elevated her to that point. Was it the goal of ninety-nine times, after all? Or was it the suffering caused by her cybernetics? What kind of hardships and conflicts had she experienced, or perhaps hadn't experienced—Airi couldn't even begin to guess. Because in continuing to survive as a player, she had never once experienced such obstacles. It was like witnessing a massive structure like a pyramid or the Sagrada Familia, but lacking the knowledge of history or architecture, one could only muster a half-baked impression like, It must have been really hard to build.

Strong, beautiful, standing up again even when wounded.

She had become a resilient human being.

Even if I continue playing the game like this, I probably won't become like that, she thought.

Do I want to become like that? She didn't know. But, somehow, she felt like she had reached a stopping point.

Let's quit. Being a player.

（19／24）

Takami was standing on the upper deck, lost in the twilight.

（20／24）

He looked at the sea.

A corpse was bobbing on the surface of the water. It was Busutake. Fluffy white tufts were spilling from her head.

She's definitely dead this time, right? Takami thought. Harboring such a doubt was inherently strange in itself, but in her case, that sort of thing wasn't entirely certain. She had modified her body completely, so her criteria for a fatal wound vastly differed from an ordinary human's. Is it really okay to do that in a murder game? It was a back-alley method that made you question things, but according to Busutake, As long as you choose your methods, it's safe.

Within the Secret Society, despite everything, she was the one he got along with best.

—Was, is a strange way to put it. Almost as if to say the Secret Society is coming to an end. The game is still ongoing, and there should be a path to survival for Takami and the others, too. And yet, has he already given up?

No, that's not it.

He wasn't giving up. He was satisfied, himself.

（21／24）

Takami was born to a mother known as a prepper.

Written as prep (readying) + er (person who does), it makes "prepper". Just as the name implies, it refers to a person preparing for the end of the world—anticipating every kind of catastrophe, from natural disasters and nuclear war, all the way to alien invasions, and making preparations for them. Building expansive underground shelters, gathering abundant stockpiles of supplies, and becoming deeply proficient in survival skills. Even within the umbrella term "prepper", the level of intensity varies from person to person. Some do it as a hobby with practical benefits, while others are anxious individuals who genuinely anticipate the possibility of human extinction.

In the case of Takami's mother, she was absolutely the latter. Wars have been going on since long ago, media blackouts keep it from the ears of lower-class citizens, the peace-addled Japanese haven't realized a thing yet, and well, that sort of spiel. In a sense, it's a common story. Takami didn't know his father's face. He figured the guy ran away because his mother was like this.

Setting aside whether her worries hit the mark on the truth, the long-awaited emergency did happen. A massive earthquake struck the region where Takami lived, and the shelves of stockpiled supplies, packed tightly right up to the ceiling, collapsed. Takami's mother, who happened to be doing organizing work at that exact moment, was crushed to death underneath them. Not a single piece of hardtack, not a single drop of stockpiled water was ever consumed; instead, they ended up claiming the life of their owner.

At his mother's funeral, Takami didn't shed a single tear. It was a truly idiotic story. What exactly was her life for? That became Takami's image of "life", and by extension, "death". The fact that he had developed such a cynical personality was undoubtedly because of this.

And so, while wandering aimlessly, making a mockery of life, he was scouted by an agent and became a player. Thanks to the survival skills pounded into him by his mother, clearing the games was no hurdle, and there were plenty of idiots on par with his mother running around; watching them scamper about in a panic was amusing. It felt like watching a goofy movie.

But maybe I've had enough, he had started to think recently.

I've finally figured it out. Just how foolish humans are. I even got to see our pal Yuki's grand performance, so I'm completely satisfied. I don't mind if this is the curtain call.

What should I do now? No, well, as a member of the "Secret Society," I suppose I should continue to go along with the plan, but honestly, I've lost interest in that too. Should I just bail? Actually, it might be amusing to quit being a player altogether and live a serious life from now on.

It was while he was pondering such things.

He felt the presence of multiple people approaching.

The girls in sailor uniforms appeared. They were mostly unfamiliar faces. Likely players who had been doing guard duty or patrols in the background. Every single one of them had a face that clearly didn't look friendly.

"What's wrong?"

Takami tried asking. "Did you find Yuki?"

"No."

One of the girls shook her head.

"It seems she escaped to the administration ship. We can't touch her anymore."

"Oh... And?"

"Before the ship sinks, the policy is to kill one hundred and forty players and bring the game to an end."

"And?"

"Takami-san. We believe you should take responsibility for letting Yuki get away. You should yield your spot for survival to the other players."

"What do you mean, 'should'?" Takami scoffed. "Are you telling me to commit suicide?"

The girls said neither yes nor no.

That slimy attitude ticked him off.

"Don't try to cut corners," Takami said.

"Holding a trial as you please is fine. Sentencing me to death is fine too. But listen, the execution has to be carried out by your own hands. Don't leave it to others, try killing me yourselves—ah, is it because you couldn't do that that you stayed in the background?"

Takami took the safety off his rifle, making it ready to fire.

At that moment, suddenly, the sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him.

He looked back.

Before he knew it, several players were standing a short distance behind Takami.

A spanner, likely thrown by them, was already closing in right before his eyes.

（22／24）

Shiro was running through the ship.

（23／24）

"...Damn it..."

she groaned.

There was no vigor in her voice.

There was no lightness in her steps.

She was wounded. Not by Yuki, but by injuries sustained from the players of the Survivor faction, who were supposed to be her allies.

They weren't gunshot wounds. Those guys didn't have guns. They were bruising injuries caused by having spanners and wrenches thrown at her. Throwing objects was, surprisingly, an offensive method not to be underestimated. The most primitive, yet reasonably efficient way of delivering force.

"There she is!"

a voice yelled out.

Looking back, there was a group of players at the end of the hallway.

Shiro was being hunted. According to them, she needed to take responsibility for the failure of letting Yuki escape.

Shiro pointed her gun at them and fired. The girls hid behind cover.

"What responsibility!" Shiro screamed.

"Thanks to whose efforts were we able to reduce the enemies down to the last one!? Is this the reward for my labor!?"

"But you let that last one get away! You should have finished the job all the way to the end!"

Ungrateful wretches, Shiro thought. I want to massacre every last one of them right now.

However, in truth, that shot just now had been her last bullet. She was being chased by far too many people, and she simply didn't have enough ammo. She had no spare magazines, either.

Just for appearances, Shiro continued running while clutching the gun, but since there was no gunfire, the fact that she had run out of ammo was quickly exposed—to escape the girls who were now chasing her without even trying to hide, Shiro dove into a room and locked the door.

A spirited shout came from the other side of the door, and with a heavy thud, it shook. They were ramming a sofa or something into the door. After the shouts and impacts alternated a few times, Shiro saw the hinges of the door loosen. It wouldn't be long before it was breached.

And after that, an unbearably humiliating time would surely await her.

What Shiro did next was something even she couldn't explain to herself. Screaming wordless things like a beast, she swung the rifle, which had now been reduced to a mere blunt instrument, recklessly smashing it around the room. The room was the infirmary, and the beds were knocked over, the glass of the cabinets was completely shattered, and the curtains were torn by the shards of glass and ripped from their rails.

After exercising for a while, as if a fire had been put out, Shiro lost all her energy. Only a cruel feeling, cold as a kitchen knife in the dead of winter, remained.

She sat down right there.

She picked up the hand grenade. The only weapon she had left.

She pulled the pin and gently hugged it close.

She looked up at the ceiling. She thought she might see a so-called flashing of her life before her eyes, but there was nothing.

She remembered nothing. No one's face came to mind.

（24／24）