"To think an incident like that was happening..."
"Is this man the culprit?"
"I think he's one of them, at least... There are a few things I can deduce, but I'm still lacking various pieces of evidence."
"On the flip side, what do you know for sure?"
At Ai's question, Hachiman listed off the confirmed facts.
"This guy's name is Death Gun. The weapon he uses is a Type 54 Black Star—a Tokarev. This avatar is almost certainly being operated by multiple people, which is clear from the voiceprint analysis. When he shoots a player inside the game, that player dies in the real world. Though in reality, someone else is likely administering drugs to kill them on a synchronized timeline. But the real bottleneck is how they're figuring out the players' real-world addresses."
"Did they ask them directly?"
Hachiman shook his head at the question.
"No way anyone would give out info like that."
"Well, that's true."
"Maybe they peeked over their shoulder in real life?"
"If someone did that, they'd be reported immediately. Or rather, the person being peeked at would notice right away."
"Right..."
Naturally, none of them could have realized that this guess was actually the closest to the truth.
"Even if I were to make an inquiry with Zaskar... requesting information disclosure based on mere suspicion alone is pushing it. Since I already made a rather forceful request when bringing in that patient earlier, doing it twice in a row is a bit much."
"So our hands are tied, then."
"Looks like it."
The three crossed their arms, groaning in thought.
"Let's change our perspective. Hachiman, do you have any idea who the culprit might be?"
"Not entirely clueless."
"Who?"
"Laughing Coffin."
Saying so, Hachiman explained the history of Laughing Coffin to the two of them.
"There really are crazy people out there in the world, aren't there?"
"How disgusting..."
"Are you doing anything to deal with Laughing Coffin, Hachiman?"
"What I'm doing right now is trying to identify the enemy's player names. Also, since they likely already know I'm Shana, it might not be super effective, but I was thinking of luring them out just in case..."
Hachiman revealed a certain detail to them. Upon hearing it, Ai made a specific suggestion.
"In that case... how about doing this?"
"Are you actually serious?"
"Of course. Why would I joke about something like this in a situation like this?"
"...It's true that doing that might lure them out. Alright, let me give it a shot."
"Yes."
Thus, Hachiman and the others initiated a new plan—the full picture of which would only become clear a little further down the road.
"My, you look much livelier now."
"Sorry, Rinko-san. I'd like to go see XeXeed—Tamotsu Shigemura, was it?—one more time."
"I don't mind, but did something come up?"
"Yeah, I've got a little request for him."
"Well, there shouldn't be any problem. I'll get things ready, so wait a moment."
"Thanks. I still have various other preparations to make on my end anyway, so take your time."
Next, Hachiman contacted Argo.
"What's up, Ha-bou? Missed my charming presence already?"
"Out of nowhere, huh? Want me to make you cry again?" Hachiman shot back—referring, of course, to the time he carried her all the way to her apartment for several days straight.
"...N-No way, spare me from that again. So, did something happen?"
"Actually, I've got a troublesome request to ask of you."
"That's literally every time. So, what is it?"
"Well, the thing is..."
Hachiman explained his request to Argo.
"...And that's the gist of it. How's it looking?"
"That's not troublesome at all. Besides, Daru and Yve are still here."
"How long will it take to prepare?"
"I'd say about three hours."
Hearing that, Hachiman couldn't help but blurt out, "For real?! Are you a god?!"
"To spill the secret, since you were playing GGO, Ha-bou, I figured something like this might happen eventually, so I'd already made some light preparations."
Impressed by her usual thorough foresight, Hachiman spoke with genuine admiration.
"As expected of you, or rather..."
"Yeah! Praise me more! Don't just praise me, give me a reward once in a while!"
"...Well, I'll think of something."
"Make it an erogenous one if possible!"
Caught off guard by her words, Hachiman pictured a certain friend's face as he responded.
"...Have you actually been getting heavily influenced by Daru lately?"
"Shut up! Even I drop jokes like that once in a while, you know!"
"That wasn't a joke, was it? You're definitely gonna say later, 'You promised me back then!' aren't you?"
"A maiden's secrets shouldn't be pried into so much, Ha-bou."
Just then, Rinko called out to Hachiman.
"Preparations are complete. I've set up an appointment with him, too."
"Ah, sorry! I'm coming right now! Sorry, Argo, I'm gonna go talk to XeXeed for a bit."
"Gotcha. I'll keep moving things along on my end."
"Thanks, I'm counting on you."
"What is it this time?"
"Yeah, actually..."
Hachiman laid out a certain favor to XeXeed.
"Well, I'm the one indebted to you here, and I've got nothing but free time, so I don't really mind."
"Appreciate it. I'll leave it to you, then."
Seeing Hachiman's relieved expression, XeXeed spoke up, looking slightly hesitant.
"...Hey."
"Hm?"
"...Nah, it's nothing."
"Got it. I'll be back in three hours."
"Alright."
(There's no way I can bring myself to say 'thank you' to his face this late in the game...)
Logging out, Hachiman explained the situation to Ai and Yuu before deciding to take a quick nap.
"Since you're here, why not sleep in this room?"
"Nah, I might get contacted in the real world."
"I see. Shame."
Hachiman logged out completely, informed Keiko, and promptly drifted off to sleep in his bed.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"