"So, I queried your identity through Zaskar and handed that info over to the government. Thanks to that, we tracked down the hospital where you were dumped, pulled you out, and brought you to a facility under my control. And that brings us to right now."
XeXeed stared, utterly stunned.
"Shana... what are you?"
"Does it matter? Just an upstart."
"I mean, still..."
Aware that Shana was the future president of Soleil, Yukko and Haruka chimed in.
"That's just how he is, XeXeed-san."
"Yeah, yeah. It's a waste of brainpower to overthink it."
"I-Is that so? Well, fine then."
XeXeed shrugged it off casually. Though inwardly filled with anxiety, having Yukko and Haruka present eased his mind immensely. For that, he felt a genuine flicker of gratitude toward Shana.
"Thanks for going out of your way to bring Yukko and Haruka here."
"Nah, I figured you wouldn't take my word for it alone. Call it a courtesy service."
"..."
XeXeed stared intently at Shana.
"Since it's my own body... is there anything I can do to help?"
"We're still investigating the cause of your collapse, so I can't say for sure, but my intention is to treat you. There might be lingering side effects, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you don't die. So I need you to hold onto a strong will to live."
"A strong will, huh..."
XeXeed glanced over at Yukko and Haruka.
"With these two coming all this way... and since I haven't beaten you yet, there's no way in hell I'm dying like this."
"That's right! Since we came all this way, let me and Haruka work hard alongside you again!"
"Yeah, yeah! We still want to make way more money!"
"Haha, honest as always."
Far from being offended, XeXeed laughed with genuine amusement. Shana spoke up again.
"Well, not like I'm ever losing to you anyway."
"Dammit, I'm definitely going to beat you one of these days."
"I'll take your challenge anytime."
Shana pointed toward a house visible in the distance.
"You'll be staying in this space for a while. I had that house prepared for you over there—feel free to use it however you want."
"A house?!"
"Seriously, Shana, who are you...?!"
"It's just a VR house. It's not like I built a real one."
"Well, yeah, but still..."
"I'll show you around. Come on, let me guide you."
The four stepped inside the house, marveling at how lavishly equipped it was.
"Whoa, hold on. This place is way nicer than my actual apartment!"
"You can browse the web like normal using this terminal. You can even use it to watch the BoB."
"Just watch?"
"Sorry. The rig you're hooked up to is still a prototype. You can surf the net, but you can't engage in actual combat or full avatar actions."
"I see... Man, I really wanted to enter the BoB."
"...There's always next time."
"Hope so."
XeXeed's face clouded with a brief shadow of loneliness before brightening up again.
"Ah, well. Guess I'll just have to let Spiegel avenge me."
The unexpected name caught Shana off guard.
"Spiegel? Are you close with him?"
"Well, we talked occasionally before, but recently we applied for the BoB together and promised to do our best."
"Is that so."
"Come to think of it, I even ordered a model gun on his recommendation..."
"A model gun?"
"Yeah, modeled after my current main firearm. Dammit, if I had made it to the main tournament, I would've received it..."
"...Well, I'm sure that would've made quite the keepsake. A lifelong memory, even."
Shana decided it would be distasteful to bring up safety risks right now and kept his mouth shut.
"Anyway, I'll set it up so these two can drop by whenever they want. Make sure to entertain him once in a while."
"We're not that free, but we'll definitely come here when we watch the BoB!"
"Yeah!"
"Don't worry, I can handle being alone until then just fine. I'll just chill out and watch videos."
"By the way, cooking is functional here too, so that should help kill some time."
After wrapping that up, Shana asked one final question before leaving.
"Did you notice anything unusual right before you collapsed?"
"No, nothing at all... It just got painfully tight out of nowhere, and the next thing I knew, I was here."
"I see..."
"Sorry I couldn't be of more help."
"Don't sweat it. Once you're back on your feet, let's clash in GGO again."
"Yeah."
And with that, Shana and XeXeed ended up slightly closer than before.
As the three logged out, leaving XeXeed alone in the room, he quietly muttered to himself:
"Ahhh, damn it... Having a guy I thought was an enemy act nice to me totally throws off my groove... Tch... Thanks, man."
"Um, thanks for everything today."
"Yeah, thank you."
"Don't mention it. I'm just doing what I want to do."
"We can't be best friends or anything, but we won't throw baseless insults at you anymore."
"We're still rivals, after all."
"Yeah. No need to force a friendly act. Just make sure to keep this place a secret."
"Yeah, we promise."
"Thanks for arranging a taxi for us, too."
"Sorry I couldn't drive you back myself. I still have a few things to wrap up here."
Expressing their thanks to Hachiman, the two stepped into the taxi—the fare for which, naturally, was billed directly to Kikuoka.
"Old man, how's it looking?"
"Nothing definitive yet, but there is a possibility that some kind of drug was involved."
"A drug, huh..."
"Leave the pharmaceutical side of things to me, Hachiman-kun."
"I'm counting on you, Megurin."
"Rest easy while we conduct a proper investigation. I used to be a renowned physician, after all!"
"Don't brag about yourself, old man..."
By securing XeXeed and fully leveraging his built-up network of contacts, Hachiman was steadily closing in on the truth.
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