"Yo. Congrats on making it to the main tournament."
"Shana! And everyone!"
"I only caught a glimpse, but I never expected you two to end it by shooting each other through the head."
"That was intended as a declaration of war against each other, but was it no good?"
"No, it's fine. It's not like that final match had any meaning anyway."
"Oh, good."
Rosalia joined them, and under the pretext of a victory celebration, the seven of them headed to a high-class restaurant they had visited once before.
Unusually, XeXeed and his group were there, exuding an air of prosperity.
"Oho! If it isn't Shana-san, the non-participant of this BoB! How about it? I've finally risen in the world enough to use this establishment normally!"
Behind XeXeed, who suddenly started spouting such things, Yukko and Haruka were bowing their heads repeatedly to Shana's group. It seemed even they couldn't find any meaning in picking a fight with Shana anymore; unlike before, they seemed accustomed to the power dynamics within GGO.
Surprisingly, Shana addressed XeXeed with a gentle smile.
"Oh, XeXeed. That was some fine fighting, just as expected of a veteran. Keep up that momentum tomorrow."
"Eh? Ah... Y-Yeah..."
Perhaps reading the atmosphere, XeXeed obediently backed down. Incidentally, if he had continued his provocation, the NPC staff would have thrown him out and banned him permanently for behavior unbecoming of the establishment. The other customers around them, who were secretly hoping for exactly that outcome, looked disappointed before returning to their own conversations, and the calm atmosphere returned to the place.
"So, how are you two feeling?"
After taking their seats and ordering, Shana asked Sinon and Pitohui.
"Great!"
"In top form!"
"I see. In that case, you might even be able to aim for the championship. But remember, no matter how strong someone is, they can lose easily if they let their guard down for even a second. So, both of you, don't get careless. Especially you, Pito."
"Ehh~? Just me?"
"I saw your fight. Your language and attitude were like a completely different person. You definitely have weird tension levels when I'm not around."
Hearing this, Pitohui blushed slightly and said,
"Oh my, Shana saw so many of my cute sides."
"I didn't think it was cute at all, though..."
Shana spoke in exasperation, but Pitohui covered her face and squirmed bashfully.
At that moment, XeXeed and his group seemed to finish their meal and got up to leave. As XeXeed passed by Shana's table, he glanced toward Nyangoro. Even afterward, he kept glancing back at Nyangoro with a lingering look until he left the store.
Incidentally, the fact that his gaze seemed concentrated around Nyangoro's chest area was probably just imagination.
"Sensei, it seems XeXeed has taken quite a liking to you."
"What is it, Shana? Are you jealous?"
"Where in my words just now was there any element of that?"
"Well, what he liked was probably mostly my chest, though."
"Sensei, don't you feel empty saying that yourself?"
"S-Silence! This is a dream world for me! Is it not fine to get a little carried away in a dream at least!?"
"Well, if you're fine with it, Sensei, I have no complaints..."
Once things settled down, Benkei asked Shana a question.
"By the way, Onii-chan, who do you think we need to watch out for among the finalists this time?"
"Let's see... Aside from Sinon and Pito, there's that idiot from earlier, Yamikaze, and Musketeer X."
"I get XeXeed-san and Yamikaze-san, but Musketeer X-san too? What's the reasoning?"
"They were all finalists in the 1st BoB."
"...That's it? That sounds too obvious; it's not like you, Onii-chan."
"Well, this is something only those who participated would understand."
Four of the group members, excluding Nyangoro and Rosalia, looked blankly at his words. Only those two, perhaps because they had zero combat experience in GGO and could view things objectively, seemed to realize the meaning behind his words.
"Of course, I understand."
"I think I get it, too."
"Oh, as expected of Sensei. And Rosalia too, huh? What's the reason?"
"They have all seen that man, Satellizer, with their own eyes, correct?"
"In other words, those three faced Satellizer and didn't have their spirits broken."
"That's exactly it. They must have strong hearts. Guys like that are tough."
Hearing this, the remaining four seemed to accept the explanation, even if they couldn't say they completely understood it.
"I see... wait, does that mean XeXeed-san, who also faced Onii-chan..."
"Honestly, that guy's mental fortitude is in another dimension. It's no exaggeration to call it inhuman."
"That is definitely not a compliment..."
"Well, I don't particularly hate the guy. He's just annoying and troublesome."
"You definitely hate him, don't you?"
"Your imagination."
"No, no, you absolutely hate him, right?"
".....A little bit."
After a long silence, Shana muttered the admission.
In preparation for tomorrow, Sinon and Pitohui decided to log out early, and the gathering disbanded there for the day.
"Alright then, you two. I'll be watching properly tomorrow, so do your best."
"Yeah!"
"Don't just watch Musketeer X, okay?"
"Why does that name come up there...? Forget being acquaintances, I've never even exchanged a word with her."
"Because I saw that girl in the waiting room earlier. She's cute, isn't she?"
"Is she? I only got a vague look."
"You remembered that she was in the 1st BoB."
"You're the one who said that... If I hadn't heard that, I wouldn't have brought up her name. Yamikaze is famous, but not Musketeer X."
"Fufu, I'm joking. See you later."
"See you~!"
"Yeah. See you later, you two."
Everyone else logged out in turn, leaving the place empty.
Elsa, who had been lying completely naked on her bed, hugged the Hachiman body pillow in front of her tightly the moment she logged out, muttering to herself.
"Mufufufufu, I absolutely must seize this chance... No matter what, I have to rank higher than Shinonon, go on a date with Hachiman, and then...
'Elsa, today I'm going to have you show me everything.'
'Oh my, I'm not mentally prepared yet...'
'Why say that? Your body is already prepared, isn't it?'
'Ah, the M82 is... not the M82! Noooooo!'
'Today, I'm going to snipe you with this!'
'Aah! M-Muzzle flash!!!!'
Oops, bad. My Hachiman is getting dirty again. Slurp."
immersed in her delusion of unbridled desire, Elsa hurriedly wiped up her drool. Given the "again," this seemed to be a daily occurrence for her.
"Ah, come to think of it..."
Remembering something, Elsa pulled out her cell phone and made a call.
"Bonjour? How are you doing?"
"...Umm, this is America, not France."
"Don't worry about the small details, M. So, how is it? Are you able to hit the target properly now?"
"Yes. The results from the first day were quite good. It's still early morning here, so I'm going to go practice again in a bit."
The person on the other end of Elsa's call was M.
Taking advantage of the two-day gap in his schedule while Elsa participated in the BoB, M had traveled to America to fire real guns, just as Hachiman had instructed. Judging by his tone, he seemed to be getting the hang of shooting without the Bullet Circle.
"I have good news for someone like you. Shana finally gave permission. When you get back, show your face at Shana's base."
"Uhh..."
"Uhh?"
"UOOOOOOOH! I'm so happy! Thank you very much!"
"I-I see..."
Elsa was a little overwhelmed by M's intense reaction.
Because he had been busy with work due to the talk of Elsa's independence, M hadn't been able to log into GGO much recently. Apparently, he had spent his free time watching various videos of Shana and had become a complete Shana believer. Though, the fact that Elsa was the most important existence to him remained unshakable.
"Alright then, I'm going to go practice with enthusiasm!"
"By the way, I made it to the BoB main tournament."
"Ohh! Congratulations!"
"Thanks. See you later, M."
"Yes."
Meanwhile, immediately after logging out, Shino headed straight for the shower room.
"Phew. I was pretty nervous today, but I'm glad I got good results."
Shino muttered to herself as she washed away the healthy sweat. Even though she was equally naked, she was a far cry from a certain pervert.
After finishing her shower, Shino returned to her room and spoke to Hachiman-kun.
"Hachiman-kun."
'What is it? ...Hey, put some clothes on first.'
"Ah, s-sorry."
Seeing Hachiman-kun hurriedly look away as he spoke, Shino felt a little embarrassed and apologized.
'Well, this is your house, so I guess it doesn't matter. So, didn't you have something to say?'
"Ah, yeah. Hachiman-kun, do you know GGO?"
'Of course I know it.'
"Then, what about the tournament called BoB?"
'The tournament where I played an active role, right? Tsk. Satellizer... next time, I'll definitely take him down.'
"Pfft..."
'What...'
Because Shino suddenly burst out laughing, Hachiman-kun glared at her as he spoke.
"No, just thinking that the real one said something similar."
'Well, I only know it as knowledge data.'
"So, the preliminaries for the second tournament were today, and I safely secured a spot in the main tournament."
'Oh, is that right? Congratulations.'
"Thanks, Hachiman-kun!"
Shino said this very happily.
'By the way, did I participate?'
"Me? Ah, Hachiman didn't participate this time."
'I see. That means Satellizer didn't show up in the end, huh.'
"Yeah, that's right. Tomorrow is the real deal, so I'll do my best, Hachiman-kun."
'Yeah. I'll connect directly to the line and watch, so do your best. I'm rooting for you.'
"You can do something like that... Yeah, cheer for me."
'Yeah.'
Thus, the night deepened for Shino and Elsa.
Tomorrow, finally, is the main tournament of the 2nd Bullet of Bullets.
(Note: The main tournament is planned to go by quickly. It is merely a stepping stone to the 3rd tournament!)
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