"Tsk."
Sakayanagi Arisu had barely brought her gaze into focus before Ryuuen Kakeru's voice cut through the air like sandpaper.
"They said the exam was tonight, and it's only three in the afternoon — what kind of broken time management does this thing run on? Did it feed its schedule to a dog?"
Ichinose Honami stood a short distance away, visibly tense — though considerably calmer than she'd been the very first time.
She ran through it coolly: "I confirmed the enrollment slot with Hoshimiya-sensei last night. And the latest participants really did just arrive."
"I'd guess the moment the roster is finalized, it starts immediately."
"Heehee. Ichinose-san's reasoning sounds perfectly logical."
Sakayanagi Arisu leaned lightly against Chris's side, tilting her chin up with practiced ease.
"Though I'm afraid Chris-kun and I didn't actually register for this exam~"
"Eh?" Ichinose blinked, caught off guard. "You didn't register? Then why are you—"
"Because we're special, naturally."
Sakayanagi said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
And as it happened, Ichinose's guess wasn't wrong at all — the transfer had indeed triggered the instant the roster was confirmed. The early-access veterans had simply earned themselves a small perk, that was all.
"Didn't register?"
Ryuuen Kakeru's eyes narrowed, and something dark and calculating flickered behind them.
"Getting dragged in without registering..." He let the thought hang. "So the rest of us — the first batch — we've already been locked on by this black sphere, is that it?"
Sakayanagi's smile deepened. "That's exactly why I said we're special~"
Ryuuen clicked his tongue — but he didn't lose composure. He was already pivoting, running the current situation through his head at speed.
Resistance was off the table. Which meant the only option was to fight with everything he had and survive. Simple as that.
No way around it.
He swept the room with a glance.
"Since you two didn't register — who's your class rep for this exam?"
"Katsuragi-kun," Sakayanagi answered without hesitation.
"Katsuragi?"
Before Ryuuen could fully process that, the air crackled with several pulses of fluorescent light — and then five figures materialized from nothing.
Katsuragi Kohei, the shaved-headed representative of Class A.
Shiranami Chihiro, Ichinose's closest friend from Class B.
Horikita Suzune, the standout academic from Class D.
From Ryuuen's own Class C — Shiina Hiyori.
And then... Kamuro Masumi? Sakayanagi's own shadow?
Ryuuen's gaze locked onto the girl who was currently wearing a perfect where am I and who am I expression, and his mind shifted into high gear.
Chris, Sakayanagi, Ichinose, me — we're the permanent core. Always present.
The class slots for B and C are taken, which means the auto-fill substitutes would be Shiina and Shiranami.
And Kushida's not here... so Kamuro replaced her? Outside of the fixed group and the registered slots, there's still one purely random wildcard pick?
While Ryuuen was busy reverse-engineering the sphere's selection logic, the newly arrived group was beginning to find their footing.
Shiina Hiyori, who had been quietly taking everything in, clocked Ryuuen and Sakayanagi — two names she definitely recognized. Her eyes brightened faintly, as though she'd spotted something reassuring. But one look at Ryuuen's don't come near me aura was enough to make her think better of approaching. She stayed where she was, standing still and peering around the room with open curiosity.
On the other side of the room:
"Chihiro!" Ichinose Honami had already broken into a run. She caught her friend by the arms and steadied her.
"Ichinose?! You're here too? Thank god..." Shiranami Chihiro clung to her like she'd found solid ground in the middle of a flood. "Where is this? I was just on the staircase — I was literally about to come look for you—"
"Good afternoon, Kamuro-san~"
Sakayanagi glanced over at Kamuro Masumi, who looked about as lost as a person could look, and offered a light, pleasant greeting.
"This..."
Kamuro Masumi registered Sakayanagi — arm still looped snugly through Chris's — and her expression twitched.
These two again?
And this weird place again... Is this ever going to end?
"Here. Your backup."
Chris gave Sakayanagi a pointed nudge with his elbow, nodding toward Kamuro.
"Kamuro-san would be happy to assist you, I'm sure."
"That's not going to work~"
Not only did Sakayanagi not let go — she tightened her grip.
"On a battlefield where death can come at any second, Kamuro-san is useful, yes — but she obviously doesn't make me feel as safe as Chris-kun does."
She tilted her head, peering up at him with an expression that was equal parts reproachful and theatrical:
"Besides — didn't I already pay you? How can you still be giving me that attitude?"
Chris kept his face completely blank.
"Since you already paid me, why should I keep giving you service? Can't have it both ways, can you?"
"..."
Sakayanagi blinked, momentarily stumped by that brazen piece of logic.
But when she noticed that Chris had no real intention of actually pushing her away, she couldn't help it — a laugh tried to escape. She pressed it down. Complains with his mouth. Body tells a completely different story.
She gave him a withering look.
Men.
Kamuro Masumi watched this completely shameless display of mutual teasing play out as if neither of them had noticed there were other people in the room — and genuinely felt like she was about to bring up her breakfast. Not even a little bit joking.
She clicked her tongue quietly, decided to pretend the two of them didn't exist, and turned her attention to the black sphere sitting in the center of the room.
At that moment — the only genuinely decent person among the veterans stepped forward.
Ichinose Honami, having settled Shiranami Chihiro, set her expression into something grave and deliberate.
"I know this is hard to believe. But I have to warn all of you who just arrived —"
"This exam. People actually die in it."
"Please take it seriously. This is not a prank. Not even close."
"Die?"
The word landed hard.
Katsuragi Kohei and Horikita Suzune both reacted at the same time — a flash of genuine surprise crossing their faces.
Katsuragi's gaze moved to the perfectly smooth black sphere at the center of the room. Something settled behind his eyes.
Horikita, however, furrowed her brow and spoke with her usual cutting frost:
"What is that supposed to mean? Trying to scare people should at least have some limits."
"If you're trying to make us give up and hand over the points, that's an awfully cheap trick."
Ichinose opened her mouth.
As if answering on her behalf, the black sphere's surface rippled — and the familiar white text materialized.
[Welcome to the real world...]
[Effective immediately, you will participate in the trials as eligible candidates...]
[S-Points can be exchanged at a 1:10 ratio for real Class Points — or used to purchase equipment, and to buy back your own life.]
"Alright, save the arguing. Mission's here."
Ryuuen Kakeru's voice cut through the noise.
The display shifted. A photograph bloomed across the surface of the black sphere — the kind of image that would send any trypophobe into a full breakdown on the spot.
Packed into the narrow frame: dozens upon dozens of semi-transparent, warped human faces, layered and crushed together, overlapping and pressing against each other as though they'd clawed their way up from the very bottom of Hell.
[Go hunt the spirits.]
[Target: Malevolent Spirits · Visible Class × 20]
[Characteristics: Wanders the mortal realm. Extremely persistent. Invisible to ordinary people.]
[Likes: Human weeping. Fresh brains. The obsessions they carried into death.]
[Catchphrase: "Can you see me?"]
[Penalty for Failure: Total annihilation of all participants.]
[Time Limit: 120:00]
[Friendly Reminder: Killing hidden monsters earns bonus rewards. As newcomers, each of you may use one item for free per session. Each person is granted one extra life — use it wisely.]
[Additionally, from this point forward, exam scores will contribute directly to class evaluations.]
"Only... one life?"
As Ichinose read through the text, the color drained from her face. She found herself unconsciously tightening her grip around Shiranami Chihiro's hand.
"What happened? Last time we had three..."
"Did the rules change?"
"Not quite. I don't think that's referring to us." Sakayanagi spoke up.
Chris picked up the thread at exactly the right moment. "As the pioneers, we're probably going to be present for every exam from here on out. A little preferential treatment makes sense."
That was actually something he'd worked out the night before during his post-exam review.
If everyone had three lives, the whole group would just spend half their time gaming the system and brute-forcing their way through on trial and error.
Too much margin for error killed the tension entirely. Where was the sense of danger in that?
It was like the ending of Futa Koi — from the developer's perspective, maybe forgetting everything wasn't so bad. But for players who'd followed the story for years, it was unacceptable.
If the game ended there, what was the point of playing?
Right — if everyone was having a comfortable, consequence-free ride, what exactly was he supposed to be watching?
No choice. Policy changed mid-stream. Small indie dev energy. Don't like it, don't play.
"Worrying about that seems less useful right now than worrying about the twenty malevolent spirits we're about to face." Ryuuen crossed his arms.
Katsuragi Kohei had more or less sized up the situation.
He turned to Ichinose. "So you've already been through one of these?"
"Yes."
Ichinose gave a quick nod and stepped toward the open black sphere:
"No time to explain everything — the sphere only gives us three minutes to prepare. Everyone grab your gear, now!"
She lifted an X-GUN and held it up for the group to see.
"This gun can fire in bursts, but there's a charge delay before each shot. You have to read ahead and aim where the target is going to be—"
Katsuragi Kohei considered for a moment. He watched Ryuuen Kakeru pick up a standard pistol, then reached for one himself.
"Kamuro-san."
Sakayanagi lightly poked the still-dazed Kamuro Masumi in the side.
"Go pick up two guns. One of each type."
"This exam... it's real? People actually die?"
Kamuro Masumi's whole face was resistance personified. "Can I opt out? Expulsion, whatever — I'll take it. I don't want to die..."
"Don't be ridiculous."
Sakayanagi let out a soft, almost gentle laugh.
"If opting out were an option — do you really think someone who can barely walk would choose to stay in here?"
"Well..."
With her last slim hope of escape officially crushed, Kamuro let out a long, defeated sigh and resigned herself to fate.
Sakayanagi, meanwhile, followed Chris's gaze — to where Horikita Suzune was crouched in front of the black sphere's armory, expression tied in a knot.
Sakayanagi's eyes glimmered. She let go of Chris's arm.
"She's from your Class D, isn't she?" Sakayanagi tilted her chin toward Horikita with a faint, mischievous smile. "I heard your class scored zero this month. She looks like she's carrying the whole class on her shoulders."
"You know — given that it's already a complete ruin over there, why not just join my camp instead?"
"I'll earn the points. You can just come along for the ride~"
Chris didn't bother engaging with Sakayanagi's brand of entertainment.
He walked straight over to the weapon rack, picked out a combat blade for himself, then turned and held out an X-GUN toward Horikita.
Horikita Suzune pulled back.
"I don't need it."
"Take it." Chris cut her off. "This is the only weapon we've actually confirmed works on those things."
"Unless you're planning to take on ghosts with your bare hands."
Bare hands?
Horikita Suzune paused.
She looked up at Chris with an expression caught somewhere between the urge to argue and the urge to ask — then why did you pick the blade?
But she didn't get the chance.
...
[00:00]
[Weapon Selection Complete.]
[Initiating Full-Party Teleportation.]
____
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