Three hours later, Hachiman woke up to the ringing of his phone. It was Argo.
"Is it really that time already? I was completely out."
"Head clear now, key?"
"Yeah, sharp as a tack."
"Glad to hear it. In times like these, catchin' z's whenever you can is part of the job, Haru-bo."
Appreciating Argo's thoughtfulness, Hachiman logged back in to join the twins.
"Hachiman!"
"Welcome back."
"Yeah. What were you two up to while I was out? I was sleeping."
As Hachiman declared this with unearned pride, the two answered with bright smiles.
"We took a nap together too!"
"Yuu just can't break his clingy habit. It's so exhausting."
"How rude! Ai, you're the one who keeps hugging me the second you get distracted!"
"Right, right. As long as you two are getting along, that's fine."
Hachiman brushed off their squabbling and began laying out the upcoming plan.
"The field you two are logging into next has a real piece-of-work running around. Guy's got a spine of steel, but he's a show-off who's obsessed with looking cool. So here are your ground rules: never, under any circumstances, take off your masks in front of him. Form-fitting clothes or showing even a sliver of skin are strictly forbidden. And if he tries anything funny, beat him within an inch of his life. Got it?"
"...Isn't that a little overprotective?"
"It sounds hard to move around in..."
"Objections denied. Consider this an emergency safety protocol—it's not like I enjoy doing this either."
Exchanging glances, the two nodded in realization.
"In other words, you don't want his eyes anywhere near us because of how cute we are."
"Geez, Hachiman, you're so jealous!"
"N-No! This is purely for your own safety! And, in a way, for his safety too!"
The twins blinked, baffled.
"...What do you mean?"
"I told you to beat him senseless, but that's strictly a last resort. If you actually hit him, he'll probably die instantly. He's completely unaccustomed to close-quarters combat. One blow from your weapons and he's done for. I'm just taking precautions so he doesn't do something stupid and end up dead."
"He's that weak?"
"No, you two are the abnormal ones. Even from my perspective, your combat specs are absurd."
Delighted by his assessment, the twins high-fived each other.
"He called us abnormal!"
"Yay!"
"Is that really something to celebrate?! Whatever, let's establish the link. Call Argo."
"Ok~ay!"
Following Argo's instructions on screen, the two changed into equipment designed for the new field.
"This..."
"Is totally uncute..."
"Well, yeah. What were you listening to earlier?"
What they had been handed was a set of rugged bulletproof armor and full masks.
"We only have a day left. I need both of you to get reasonably comfortable moving in that gear by tomorrow. Though Ai is still the main focus this time."
"Yeah, I understand."
"I'll do my best to help too!"
"One last thing. He's probably going to call me 'Shana,' so you two need to call me that as well."
"Got it."
"Yup!"
"I'm counting on you two. Alright, Argo, lead him to the temporary staging area."
"Roger-dodger. Passin' the word now."
A short moment later, a door materialized before them, and the three stepped inside. Standing in the room was XaXeeD, looking around with deep curiosity.
"Oh, Shana. So I just need to teach these two the basics of combat?"
"Yeah. But let me make one thing clear: if you try anything funny with them, I will physically end your life on the spot."
"O-Oh... I'll pass on that, so I'll keep it engraved in my mind..."
Turning to the twins, XaXeeD gave a polite bow and introduced himself.
"Name's XaXeeD. I pride myself on being the second strongest guy in GGO."
"I'm Yuu! Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Ai. By the way, who's number one?"
"I hate to admit it, but it's Shana over there. I really, really hate admitting it, but I've never beaten him once."
"Look at you, being all humble," Hachiman said in genuine surprise. "Did you eat something bad?"
"Hey... Even I know better than to run my mouth at the guy who saved my life."
"Is that so? Then make sure you stay indebted to me forever."
"Hmph. One day I'm gonna beat you and wipe that smirk off your face!"
The two got right up in each other's faces, glaring furiously. Watching them, Ai and Yuu let out soft chuckles.
"My, are they actually good friends?"
"Yeah, they're super close."
""WE ARE NOT!"" they barked in unison, leaving Ai and Yuu to shake their heads in amusement.
XaXeeD then turned to Hachiman. "Still, I'm amazed you put together a field like this so quickly. It captures the atmosphere of GGO really well."
"Well, my staff is top-notch."
"Honestly, the fact that I'm standing here having a conversation when I should be unconscious is mind-boggling on its own. Who the hell are you really, Shana?"
"It's a secret."
"Tch, fine, keep your secrets. Anyway, nice to meet you two, even if it's just for a short while."
Hachiman brought up one final technical constraint with XaXeeD.
"Oh, sorry XaXeeD. We got the trajectory lines—the Bullet Lines—working, but there wasn't enough time to implement the Bullet Circles. I'll figure something out by tomorrow, but you'll have to coach them without it today."
"Are you serious? Direct manual aiming? Great, now I'm gonna get even stronger."
"Sorry about that, but I'm leaving them in your hands. I have things to handle on my end so I'm logging out for now. If you need anything, press this button and someone will answer. Call for extra hands whenever you need them for training."
"Got it. I'll take this seriously to pay you back."
XaXeeD turned and pointed toward the target range set up ahead.
"Alright! First, we're gonna do some target practice to get you used to handling guns."
"Yes, instructor!"
"Roger that!"
Checking that everything was under control, Hachiman left the twins with XaXeeD—still slightly worried—and logged out.
"Alright, time to log into GGO and get a situation report from Rosalia."
"You're really busy today, aren't you?"
Meguri called out as she noticed Hachiman sitting up.
"Yeah. People have died, after all."
"Please don't push yourself too hard, Hachiman-kun."
"I won't. I'm off."
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