"Chihiro... are you really, truly not going to reconsider?"
Class B's homeroom. The evening sun stretched the shadows of the desks long across the floor.
Ichinose Honami looked at her friend — smiling that easy, unbothered smile — and felt something complicated twist in her chest.
She knew, rationally, that something like this couldn't be hidden. It needed to be discussed with everyone.
But the Black Sphere trials were nothing like an ordinary exam. She couldn't just let rumors run wild through the class and spark a panic that didn't need to exist.
She'd planned to quietly pull aside a few people and work through a strategy together — but before she could, Shiranami Chihiro had already volunteered herself.
"Have you really thought this through?"
Ichinose reached out and pressed her hand over Chihiro's, eyes full of quiet urgency.
"You don't have any room for error right now!"
"If something goes wrong — there's no coming back from it!"
"Ichinose, it's okay."
Chihiro gave her a playful little wink. "Even if we went back now to change the slot — who else in the class do you think is actually suited to replace me?"
Ichinose fell silent.
Chihiro wasn't wrong. Only a handful of people in the class — Kanzaki Ryuji, Amikura Mako, and a few others — even knew about the Black Sphere, and none of them were fully convinced it was real.
And even if they were...
With their lives genuinely on the line — would anyone actually step forward?
Or would Ichinose end up drafting some unsuspecting person who had no idea what they were walking into?
Chihiro knew perfectly well that Ichinose would go to bat for her. She'd ask her classmates, appeal to them, do whatever it took.
But that wasn't the kind of person Ichinose Honami was supposed to be. Even for the sake of someone she cared about — she shouldn't have to strong-arm anyone into anything.
"It's fine. Even if I fail..."
Chihiro turned her palm over and wrapped her fingers around Ichinose's hand — cool to the touch. "I still believe in you. I know you'll save up enough points to bring me back. Right?"
"But..."
Ichinose still wanted to find a solution that didn't cost anyone anything.
"Since Chihiro has already made up her mind, this really is the best available option right now."
Amikura Mako, who had been quiet until then, spoke up gently from the side.
"Though it's not a permanent fix."
"You can't keep a lid on something like this forever. Maybe... we should start thinking about letting everyone in on the truth, gradually."
She paused, then added:
"For this exam — if it's possible, could someone try to photograph the monsters? There's no signal in there, but phones still function, right?"
"People won't believe any of this until they see proof. If they can see with their own eyes just how brutal that world is — that's the only thing that might actually pull everyone together."
"...Understood."
Ichinose conceded, though reluctantly.
Deep down, though, she had her doubts.
It was hard to imagine many people risking their lives for the sake of class points. When it came down to it, they were probably going to have to lean on the Black Sphere's equipment again — same as before.
At the thought of equipment, the memory of that "borrowing test" floated unbidden into her mind, and her cheeks went faintly warm.
The body heat still clinging to that compression suit. That ghost of a scent, barely there...
This is not the time for that!
She shook her head sharply, forced herself back to the present, and fell in step with Amikura Mako as they both turned to the map of the Advanced Nurturing High School pulled up on her phone.
The three of them turned down every invitation from classmates for the rest of the evening. In the fading amber light of the classroom, they sat together and ran through scenario after scenario — terrain, chokepoints, how to use the layout to hold the monsters back.
Without noticing, the sky darkened.
Ding-dong.
A priority notification chimed.
Ichinose opened the [Black Sphere Mutual Aid Society] group chat and saw that both Class A and Class D had confirmed their participants — no new members had joined.
What did catch her eye was Ryuuen Kakeru — usually lurking silently — suddenly adding someone new to the group.
The contact name read: Yamada Albert.
That big guy from Class C?
"Is the exam about to start?" Chihiro asked softly.
Ichinose was just about to answer when a sharp, piercing scream split the air.
"AAAHH——!!"
All three of them startled. They rushed to the corridor railing and scanned below for the source.
Down in the main hall of the academic building — a cluster of students who hadn't made it out yet were beating their hands against empty air, trapped and surrounded by a group of creatures in tattered Edo-period clothing, their chests pulsing with sickly crimson light.
And on the second-floor walkway not far away, Class D's Hirata Yousuke was leaning half over the railing, screaming himself hoarse at the monsters below, desperately trying to draw their attention.
"That's..."
Ichinose's face went pale. Her pupils contracted.
"How — wait — is this exam taking place inside the academic building?!"
Old School Building, she could accept. That place was already isolated.
But the main academic building — a building full of students who had nothing to defend themselves with — releasing monsters here...
Fury and fear flooded through her chest all at once.
"What is this supposed to be? An indiscriminate massacre?"
"Does this school even value human life?!"
"Stay calm! Honami!"
Amikura Mako watched the blue luminescence beginning to bloom across Ichinose's and Chihiro's skin and spoke at speed:
"I'll find somewhere to hide — don't worry about me."
"It's up to you two now!"
"Mako..."
"Make sure you stay hidden...!"
Ichinose reached out — but before she could touch her friend, the blue light swallowed her whole and she vanished.
...
Scene shift.
She'd barely landed when the disorientation hit.
She didn't even wait for the vertigo to pass. Ichinose crossed the room in three strides and slammed both palms flat against the smooth surface of the sphere.
"GANTZ!!"
"Why is the exam being held in the academic building?! And those students — the ones who had nothing to do with any of this — are you just going to let them die in there?!"
The Black Sphere room went dead silent.
Yamada Albert — who had been staring at his phone trying to make sense of where he was — looked up at the sound, bewilderment written all over his face behind his sunglasses. He glanced instinctively toward Ryuuen Kakeru and Shiina Hiyori.
Ryuuen's brow furrowed hard. The hell is going on?
Shiina Hiyori, for her part, had already shaken off the shock of being randomly selected and slotted smoothly into the situation.
"What Ichinose means is..."
"This trial's arena — is it the academic building we're all in?"
Chihriro followed up:
"Students are already getting cornered by the monsters. When we teleported in, we saw Hirata-kun from Class D trying to draw them away..."
The moment those words landed, every face in the room darkened.
If innocent students got caught in the crossfire — the entire nature of this exam changed.
Kamuro Masumi glanced at Sakayanagi Arisu, who was quietly turning something over in her mind, then at the fury simmering on Ichinose's face. She couldn't hold back.
"GANTZ — that's your name, right?"
"Did you pick the wrong venue, or did something go wrong?"
"At least give us an explanation."
The Black Sphere activated as if responding to a direct command.
Light rippled across its surface. White text materialized, line by line:
[This is not an error.]
[This trial has launched with weighted scoring enabled: in addition to hidden targets, surviving 'friendly units' will count as bonus objectives.]
[For each survivor kept alive until the trial concludes, all participants will receive bonus points at settlement.]
[Conversely, if a target dies, points will be deducted accordingly.]
"Deducted?"
Horikita Suzune's eyes sharpened. She caught the implication immediately.
"So — if one of those students who got dragged into this dies... what happens? Is it counted as an actual death?"
[Naturally, it is logged by the system.]
[Life and death are governed by fate. At the very least — this time — you don't need to worry about that.]
"See? I said it was never going to be simple."
Sakayanagi Arisu let out a quiet sigh and tilted her head toward Kamuro.
"This is the true face of 'survival of the fittest.' People who wanted to stay safely out of it — they were always going to get pulled in eventually. There's no hiding from this."
Chris observed the heavy expressions around the room. On the surface, his face matched theirs.
Inside — he was perfectly calm.
Because the truth was: those 'bystander students' who'd been caught up in this — aside from a handful of named characters like Amikura Mako and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka — most of them were NPCs. Background actors he'd seeded in using his GANTZ administrator access. Set dressing, essentially, there to give the trial some atmosphere.
He'd admit there was a trace of indulgent mischief in the design.
But come on — Kabane were basically zombies with a rebrand. Pure monster-hunting on its own was boring.
Looking at the reactions in the room — it seemed to be working out pretty well.
Chris considered quietly whether now was a good time to produce the [MC Milk] he'd rolled a couple of days ago and see if anyone would bite.
If someone got bitten, one sip of that stuff would handle detoxification and throw in a calcium boost for free. Good deal.
"Enough talking!"
Ichinose had already resumed slamming her palms against the sphere. "Send us the mission already! Give us the targets! I need to get those people out!"
GANTZ went silent for exactly three seconds.
[As you wish.]
The display shifted. A photo appeared — grotesque figures with glowing hearts, moving with the lurching wrongness of the undead.
[TARGET DESIGNATION: KABANE ×20]
[CHARACTERISTICS: Iron-encased hearts / Tireless / Infectious]
[LIKES: The living. The living. Still the living.]
[CATCHPHRASE: Ugh... RAUGH!]
[FAILURE PENALTY: Full school infection]
[TIME LIMIT: 90:00]
[FRIENDLY REMINDER: Hidden targets are in play again this round (＾▽＾)]
The failure condition was unlike anything they'd seen before.
Ichinose Honami's pupils shrank.
"Infectious..."
Shiina Hiyori pressed her lips together.
"Meaning it works like a zombie virus... we can't let ourselves get bitten?"
Chris nodded. "Iron-cased hearts. No idea whether a Gantz Sword can actually cut through that."
"Only one way to find out."
Ryuuen Kakeru picked up the Gantz Sword he'd chosen at the very beginning.
Shiina Hiyori's addition to the group had given him the chance to re-select — and he'd gone right back to his first pick without hesitation.
Ichinose took a slow, deep breath.
She forced the anger back down, steadied herself, and turned to face the room — every face wearing a different shade of grim.
They came from different classes. They had different goals, different loyalties, different reasons for being here.
But right now — she didn't have any other choice.
"Everyone."
"This time, we're not just here to pass an exam."
"We're here to protect our school."
"So please — I'm asking all of you — give everything you have."
"We're bringing everyone out of this alive."
——End of Chapter——
P.S. Recommendation: "Hand-Crafting a New Moon: Whoever Wins is the Real Deal"
[Multi-fandom / Harem / World Reconstruction / Mastermind-behind-the-scenes]
"When you've already got cheat codes, obviously you do whatever you want."
"FGO's dream ending? Yours is the knockoff. Mine is the real thing — yeah, the one in the pocket dimension, the peaceful and prosperous Human Empire timeline. Would the God-Emperor lie to you?"
"Yeah, I am Tiga. As long as you believe, anyone can be Tiga. Here, Lina — take this Guts Spark."
"Kind? I'm already invincible, and I'm still willing to condescend to rule over you — how is that not kind enough?"
Crossing over into Tokyo, looking at neighbor Yotsuya Miko, landlady Kayako-san, Rosé fell into deep thought — is this crossover slice-of-life even remotely normal?
Wait. Cheat codes. Words become reality?
O vast multiverse — your Emperor, the Embers King, and your Savior have arrived.
And so...
Zoffy: "King of the Land of Light — Tiga's lost it. He wants to build a New Land of Light."
Arash the War God: "You're calling Tiga one of the human species?"
Gudako: "Mash, I've confirmed it — they're the real canonical Fate timeline."
Ken Kaneki, Shinji Ikari: "Homeland — your divinely chosen Emperor has returned. Ahh, praise the Emperor."
Iwanaga Kotoko: "He didn't treat me like someone disabled. He also didn't treat me like a person."
____
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