Back in his dorm room, Chris dropped the hard case carelessly into the corner.
"Phew..."
He sank into the soft mattress, mood reasonably good, and pulled up GANTZ's monitoring interface.
Well. That was just the nature of being the GM.
For the sake of pacing the rewards — keeping the sweetness coming in manageable doses — he still couldn't actually rest. His heart was being worked to the bone over here.
"Alright then. Commencing Home Security Officer hours!"
A holographic surveillance display bloomed in front of him, the entire campus island laid out in real time.
What he saw was mildly surprising. Setting aside Kamuro Masumi, who was currently suffering through an errand run to pick up Sakayanagi's late-night snacks, everyone else was busy.
Katsuragi Kohei sat at his desk, cross-referencing the group chat while reviewing notes in his journal, working through what had happened that night.
Ryuuen Kakeru had gathered a few of his most trusted Class C lieutenants in a karaoke private room, mapping out their next moves.
And even Ichinose Honami — who looked, on the surface, like she'd be the first to collapse — wasn't resting at all. She'd pulled Shiranami Chihiro into their dorm room and the two of them were writing things down together.
Ding. Ding.
His phone chimed twice in quick succession.
Chris opened it. A long message from Ichinose had just dropped into the group chat — several hundred characters, a thorough summary of all the information they currently had, followed by her best guesses about what came next. Clearly intended primarily for future participants who'd need to catch up fast.
'Call it a remedial school brawl all you want — the quality of these students isn't actually that bad.'
Chris had to admit, he was a little impressed.
Under extreme pressure, this group had adapted with remarkable speed. The real issue was the school itself — Advanced Nurturing High School's habit of randomly slotting students into these trials was a liability. Easy for someone other than him to exploit, if they were paying attention.
Come to think of it.
The ghouls, the Parasytes, the malevolent spirits — GANTZ had collected most of them by now. When was it time to introduce something new?
They were still in the early stages. Jumping straight to ghouls had already been a big leap in difficulty. But if he kept recycling Parasytes and spirits, things would get stale in no time — and that was just unacceptable.
"Can't exactly fabricate new monsters from scratch using GANTZ's Sliders or vampire data..."
"Though, well. There's a difference between culling a threat and being cruel about it."
"If I start manufacturing my own enemies just to keep the show going, that's basically playing kingmaker with a leash..."
He stared at the ceiling for a moment.
...
The next day.
In Class D's homeroom, a small storm had broken out.
"What is this?! Only nine thousand points?!"
Yamauchi Haruki glared at the deposit notification on his phone and slapped the desk in indignation.
"Weren't we told one point equals a thousand?! What the hell has Horikita been doing?! She went out there and only brought back nine points?!"
"Nine points! That's nothing!"
"What are we supposed to do with that?! A pair of shoes and it's gone!"
Ike Kanji piled on: "If I'd gone, we'd have way more than that! This is our whole class's living expenses we're talking about!"
The complaints came from every direction, overlapping and escalating.
Their class score had been zero just yesterday. Nobody had a single point. And yet — greed always outruns gratitude.
At the back of the room, Horikita Suzune sat with her spine perfectly straight, eyes on her book as always.
But the fingers turning the pages were pressed just a little too hard. Her knuckles had gone pale.
The mockery didn't bother her.
What bothered her was the score.
Two points. Her score, per the Black Sphere's own evaluation.
The system had said it plainly: she hadn't accomplished anything.
For someone who thought as highly of herself as Horikita Suzune did, that truth cut deeper than any insult.
"Everyone, let's not look at it that way~"
As the atmosphere tilted toward ugly, Kushida Kikyo stepped forward to the front of the room, her signature warm smile in place.
"Our class points were already wiped to zero before any of this. Horikita-san voluntarily stepped up and earned those precious 90 points back for us."
"And besides..."
Hirata Yousuke added his voice at just the right moment — as the class's emotional center of gravity, his words carried weight:
"I ran into some Class A students this morning. Apparently their bonus this round was also 90 points."
"Which means Horikita-san's result is effectively tied with Class A for top performance."
"Wait, seriously?!"
"Tied with Class A?!"
"So Horikita's actually incredible?"
The mood inverted in an instant.
"Sorry about that, Horikita. I was being too loud earlier."
"...Hey, next time, could you do it again?"
Faced with this abrupt about-face, Horikita Suzune set down her book. Her expression didn't soften — if anything, it went more rigid.
And at the front of the room, Kushida Kikyo kept smiling for the audience while a cold laugh ran beneath the surface.
What a performance, Horikita Suzune.
Someone died two days ago. Everyone nearly got killed. Chris barely managed to scrape together three points with everything he had — and she thinks she could have come back with nine all by herself?
A loner with no social skills, always wearing that high-and-mighty expression... Kushida found herself genuinely curious what Horikita's face would look like, begging for mercy in front of a spirit or a Parasyte.
As the group chat's admin, Kushida knew exactly how last night's trial had gone.
The credit belonged to Chris. The assist went to Ichinose.
Horikita Suzune?
Decorative. At best.
At that exact moment, the classroom door swung open.
Chris walked in, bag over one shoulder, slipping through just as the last echo of the bell faded.
Horikita Suzune's brow moved — barely.
Almost by reflex, she started to rise. Whatever her pride, she wasn't about to sit there and let someone else take credit for what wasn't hers.
"Actually—"
But she'd barely gotten the word out.
Chris passed right by her desk. Without slowing down, without even looking at her, he gave a small, unhurried wave of his hand.
Drop it.
Then he walked straight to his own seat and put his head down on the desk, clearly intending to sleep off whatever he'd lost last night.
Horikita Suzune froze.
She stared at that slouched, completely unbothered back and felt something knot up behind her eyes.
Why?
Is he... doing me a favor? Out of pity?
*Or does he just not want the trouble of explaining?
The sensation of having her pride forcibly protected by someone else sat in her chest like a fishbone stuck sideways.
...
The bell finally rang.
The moment the teacher stepped out, Chris pushed himself upright, ready to go grab a Dr. Pepper to wake himself up — and nearly walked directly into a slender figure blocking his path.
Horikita Suzune had one hand braced on the edge of the desk, her sharp eyes angled down at him with an intensity that made the question land before she even asked it:
"Why did you stop me?"
Chris looked at the girl standing less than an arm's length away and sighed quietly.
"Horikita-san, I think I've made it pretty obvious, haven't I?"
"I like peace and quiet. I have zero interest in getting tangled up in this class's drama. So since everyone's already running with the assumption that you did it — I'd like to ask you to just... let them keep thinking that. Okay?"
"Call it a favor. I'll owe you one."
Horikita Suzune pressed her lips together.
Looking at the way he was already halfway eager to be somewhere else, a vague, nameless irritation stirred in her chest.
But in the end, reason won.
She was quiet for a moment. Then she spoke.
"Fine. I'll agree to that."
"However..."
Horikita Suzune's tone shifted — a strange, slightly stilted magnanimity creeping into her words:
"I don't like owing people."
"Since you've handed the credit over to me... in exchange, I'll help you with your studies."
"Huh?" Chris blinked, genuinely wondering if he'd heard wrong. "Help with my studies?"
"That's right."
Horikita Suzune said it like it was the most natural conclusion in the world:
"I've seen your entrance exam scores. You passed by a margin of two points. Two points. That is a dangerously thin margin."
"If we're going to keep cooperating in the Black Sphere Space long-term, I cannot afford to have my partner get expelled over failed academics."
"I'm organizing a study group for the struggling students in this class. You should come."
Chris looked at her — at that you should be grateful expression she was wearing without apparently realizing it — and couldn't help it. A short laugh escaped him.
"Horikita. You're something else, you know that?"
"Have you ever considered... saying things differently?"
"What?" She looked briefly thrown.
"You mean well. I can tell. But the way it comes out of your mouth sounds like charity." He stepped around her and headed for the door. "Try inviting Sudou and the others using that tone and see what you get. A door in your face, I'd guess."
"Instead of worrying about my grades — maybe take a look at your own social skills first."
He walked out.
Horikita Suzune was left standing there alone, frowning at the empty doorway.
My tone? What's wrong with my tone?
...
Out in the hallway.
Chris had barely taken a few steps from the classroom when a faint trace of citrus drifted up from behind him.
He didn't need to turn around. Anyone who'd thought to spritz perfume before a casual hallway catch-up — that was a signature move straight from the veteran green-tea playbook.
"Chris-kun~"
Kushida Kikyo fell into step behind him, hands clasped behind her back, her pace light and easy, that signature angelic smile in full deployment.
"Horikita-san has been like that since middle school, you know. Harsh words, soft heart — just completely oblivious to the room. Don't take it personally, Chris-kun."
Chris slowed, glancing back at her with mild surprise.
"You two went to the same middle school?"
"We did."
Kushida's step faltered — just for a fraction of a second. Something dark flickered behind her eyes, then was swallowed immediately beneath the perfect smile.
"Though it seems she doesn't remember me at all~"
She didn't linger on it. Smoothly, naturally, she pivoted — reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone, holding it up with a little wave.
"Oh, by the way, Chris-kun. Yesterday, following your suggestion, I paid a visit to Vice President Nagumo of the Student Council."
"That piece of intel? Sold for exactly one point five million points!"
Kushida leaned in slightly, dropping her voice:
"I split five hundred thousand with Ichinose-san as an introduction fee. That leaves one million. What if we go fifty-fifty?"
"After all, the credit for both last time's and this time's Black Sphere trial really does belong to you. All I did was run the errand..."
Faced with Kushida's earnest, sincere-looking expression, Chris didn't refuse.
Five hundred thousand points.
By this school's standards, that was no small amount.
Not that he needed it — as the GM, he could adjust the numbers whenever he wanted. But doing that for personal gain felt cheap. Unless it was genuinely necessary, he wasn't going to bend his own rules.
Seeing him agree, Kushida's eyes curved into happy crescents.
She dipped her head, fingers working through the transfer on her phone — and then, with the practiced ease of someone who'd done this a hundred times, she dropped it casually:
"Oh, right. Chris-kun."
"I heard from Ike and a few others — apparently they saw you carrying a black hard case back to your room last night?"
Chris nodded immediately.
"Yeah. Gantz Suit."
"The reinforcement suit."
"Eh?!" Kushida's head snapped up, eyes wide with something that looked very much like genuine shock. "You actually redeemed it?!"
Chris didn't bother hiding it.
The thing had been designed to be bait in the first place. If he didn't let it catch their eyes, what was going to drive them to work harder, push further, want more?
"So what's it like?! Is it as incredible as it looks in sci-fi? Does it really do everything they show?"
Kushida pressed closer, questions spilling out, her body language edging another inch toward him without quite looking like it was.
"The effect is..."
Before Chris could finish, a bright, full-of-life voice rang out from down the hall.
"Yahallo~ Chris-kun! And Kushida-san!"
They both looked up.
Ichinose Honami was walking toward them from the far end of the corridor, already waving from a distance.
"I was just looking for you two!"
____
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