5. Machine Head

（０／３）

Yuki heard the blast of a ship's whistle.

（１／３）

A long blast, three times. Judging by the volume, it came from this ship, but there were also slightly off-tempo and fainter sounds mixed in. The other ships were sounding the exact same whistle.

What this meant was, in other words—.

"Good work."

A voice called out.

Standing at the entrance of the room was the young girl from earlier.

At this time, Yuki had her gun readied in one of the ship's cabins. Continuing to fire from a single spot carried the risk of a counterattack, so she had been constantly changing her location—had she been tailing her, erasing her presence so completely that not even Yuki could notice? Or did this ship also have cameras, meaning Yuki's movements were being completely tracked?

Regardless, the girl was there. With the same unnatural composure that betrayed her age as before,

"As I'm sure you've guessed, the game is over."

she said.

"Congratulations on your survival."

"...Thank you very much."

Through the window, Yuki looked at the cruise ship that was about seventy percent submerged. One hundred and forty people had died inside it. Yuki had killed twenty at most, so the rest must have taken each other out.

Just as planned.

"Ah... thank goodness."

Yuki let out a sigh of relief.

That was the trigger. As if the plug had been pulled from a bathtub filled with hot water, the vitality began to relentlessly drain from Yuki's body. Her body rapidly grew cold and heavy, while her heart rate and breathing accelerated at an eerie pace.

With a loud thud, she collapsed.

Even with Yuki in such a state, the girl remained thoroughly composed. Taking out her smartphone, she made a call to somewhere.

"Yes, it's me. Yes..."

She recited the standard phrases, before saying,

"Please send a medical team. Right this instant."

（２／３）

"Jamboree Ship" had ended. Out of a total of four hundred and seventy players, the death toll reached one hundred and eighty-seven. The remaining two hundred and eighty-three survivors were rescued from the sinking ship—and those who did not require rescue were left as they were—and transported to land.

Near the harbor was a medical facility under the administration's influence, and the injured were transported there. The agents of each player had also been on standby at the harbor to welcome their respective clients, but Yuki's agent moved straight to the hospital. Having watched the game's broadcast, he already knew that she had sustained severe injuries.

That being said, it wasn't as if he could do anything just by going there. He was assigned to a waiting room by a nurse and could do nothing but wait there.

After a while, a middle-aged man entered the waiting room. He was the cybernetics artisan. He had also come to the hospital, but because he was the person involved with roughly half of Yuki's physical body, he had been called into the examination rooms.

"Mornin',"

the artisan said.

"Good work today,"

the agent replied.

"How is Yuki?"

"She's quite something."

The artisan sat in the seat next to the agent.

"Apparently, her life isn't in danger. Even though her injuries make her look practically like a corpse... Her vitality is bottomless."

The agent let out a massive sigh.

"Thank goodness..."

"But, it looks like she'll be getting more cybernetic parts. All the ones she has now need to be completely rebuilt, too."

"Do you think she can still continue being a player?"

"I don't know. She took a whole magazine's worth of rifle bullets from point-blank range, after all. A full recovery will probably be tough... We might have no choice but to do for her what was done for her master."

"...A full cybernetic body, you mean?"

That was the procedure that had been performed on Hakushi, the player who had been Yuki's master. With her flesh-and-blood body completely ruined, they had forcefully prolonged her life by extensively modifying her entire body. The price for this was exceptionally high; her skills as a player deteriorated to a tragic degree, and her pace of participation had reportedly plummeted drastically.

It was an unavoidable matter, but—.

"Don't make such a depressed face,"

the artisan said.

"Anyway, let's go see her for ourselves. Sounds like she's already been moved to a hospital room."

The agent and the artisan headed for the hospital room. The artisan seemed to know the way, and the agent walked following his lead.

—It was right in the middle of that.

Several people came walking from the other end of the hallway.

Judging by how they were bunched together, they were likely a group belonging to the same circle. They didn't look like doctors or nurses, but they didn't look like patients, either. Nor did they appear to be administration staff. There were men and women, and even some foreigners mixed in. If there was any common trait among them, it was simply that they were all young people in their teens or twenties. They were a group of unclear origins, but if one had to force a comparison for the impression they gave off—it felt something like a university's rakugo club.

The agent recognized the girl wearing a hat who was leading the group. If he recalled correctly, she was the player who was shot by Yuki in the final stages of the game. She was supposed to have taken a headshot, but she was still alive?

"Hey. Dad."

The girl flutteringly waved her hand toward them.

"You were here too, huh?"

the cybernetics artisan replied.

Dad? Is she his daughter?

"Yeah. To get my injuries treated."

Saying so, the girl took off her hat.

Her head was covered in bandages and gauze, telling the story of her injury.

"You came to support Yuki-shi, right, Dad?"

"Yeah. Gotta make sure she can move again."

"Can you do it? You, I mean."

"What was that?"

"With your skills, Dad, you can't save her as she is now."

In stark contrast to her harmless-looking appearance, she spoke with a defiant tone.

"Because your cybernetics are only meant to compensate. That's no good. It's not enough just to keep her alive; she needs to be able to fight as a player. For that, what she needs is my ephemeral power."

"...You, don't tell me...!"

"I'll be taking her in. Leave her to me."

The girl lightly raised her hand, and swung it down.

That was the signal. The several people standing behind her lunged forward.

（３／３）