There's an old saying — 'In the apocalypse, shoot the saint first.'
But what people actually despise isn't true selflessness. It's the kind of performative virtue that throws other people's sacrifices around like spare change, all while perching on a moral high ground and pointing fingers. The real thing — genuine willingness to burn yourself down for someone else — is something else entirely.
At least, for people like Shiina Hiyori and Shiranami Chihiro — high schoolers who still had a conscience — that distinction mattered.
What Ichinose was doing right now could not be called hypocrisy. She was simply stating facts.
...
Once everyone had chosen their equipment, blue light flashed — and they were warped back into the academic building.
The motion-sensor lights in the corridor flickered like they were running on a dying generator, casting an appropriately grim strobe over the scene. On the radar screens of their Gantz Guns, vivid red blips packed the display — and scattered among them, the pitifully few green dots were blinking out one by one, or quietly shifting to red before vanishing entirely.
"Damn. It's ugly out there."
Ryuuen Kakeru clicked his tongue at the carnage on his screen.
"That said — the friendly-unit markers are actually saving us the trouble of hunting blind."
"Ninety minutes..."
Sakayanagi Arisu exhaled softly.
"We have to clear the Kabane and protect classmates who are running around with no idea what's happening... if we just charge in without a plan, we're going to end up spending more points than we earn."
Ichinose Honami wasn't participating in the discussion. She'd already scanned the radar and made her call.
"Survivors are concentrated in two main locations — the first-floor main hall and the empty classrooms on the third floor."
"Aside from Ryuuen-kun and Chris-kun, each of our groups is running one standard gun and one capture gun. For efficiency and safety, we should split up — same as before."
She looked between Chris and Ryuuen Kakeru.
"Same split as last time?"
"Fine by me," Chris said.
No one objected. Even Ryuuen Kakeru only offered a shrug.
In fact — it suited him perfectly.
Because this time, fate had dealt him a genuinely good hand.
Shiina Hiyori as his tactician. Yamada Albert as his muscle — and not someone who'd embarrass him in a fight, either.
Three people. And for the first time, an opening like this.
"Then — good luck, everyone."
Ryuuen dropped those words without ceremony and led his Class C pair toward the stairwell without a backward glance.
Ichinose watched them go, gave Chris a nod, then headed off with Shiranami Chihiro in tow.
In seconds, the packed corridor had emptied down to Chris's group alone.
"Chris-kun."
Sakayanagi Arisu turned to face him, her smile perfectly in place.
"Our only capture gun is in Kamuro-san's hands. Which means everyone's physical safety..."
She tilted her head.
"...rests entirely with you~"
She paused, as if something had just occurred to her.
"Oh, right — are you wearing the Gantz Suit? We got warped in too late and I missed watching Chris-kun change. Such a shame~"
Chris glanced over at her.
"Don't ask questions when you already know the answer."
"Besides — the Black Sphere Space had two doors with male and female signs on them. Anyone with half a brain can figure out those were changing rooms."
Sakayanagi smiled but said nothing, shifting her gaze sideways to Horikita Suzune — who was standing apart from them, jaw set, eyes locked on her radar screen.
"My, my. The two of you seem to be having a disagreement."
"Mm — I don't know what happened, but I'm absolutely certain it wasn't Chris-kun's fault."
She gave a small, thoughtful tilt of her head.
"If it isn't Horikita-san's fault either — then I suppose the world itself must be the problem~"
Chris: ...
What exactly are you playing at, you spectator.
For her part, Horikita Suzune didn't dignify Sakayanagi's pointed commentary with so much as a glance. It wasn't just that she didn't want to waste time on pointless bickering — her attention had been completely seized by the radar in her hand.
"Enough talk."
Horikita Suzune's voice came out flat and clipped. She raised one hand and pointed toward the corner at the far end of the corridor.
"Three hostiles in the classroom on the left. One green blip right beside them — a student's trapped in there. And at the far end of the right corridor — five more wandering."
She made her decision without hesitation.
"We besiege to draw the relief. Left side first — extract the student, then use the noise and the blood scent from the Kabane to pull the other five to us. We use the terrain and wait them out. Any objections?"
"None from me," Chris said.
Kamuro Masumi tightened her grip on the X-GUN.
"I'll watch the radar and cover the rear — make sure nothing slips around to flank us."
"Sound reasoning."
Sakayanagi gave an approving nod — then turned her gaze to Chris with something that looked almost like anticipation.
Chris didn't bother holding back.
He stepped forward and took the lead.
"Stay close."
The corridor lights buzzed and stuttered overhead.
They rounded the fire door — and walked straight into something brutal.
Two Kabane had a student pinned in the corner, and his throat had already been torn open.
Then — just as the Kabane moved in to tear further — the student's body dissolved into a streak of blue light and vanished into nothing.
"He just... disappeared?"
"...Without getting infected?"
Horikita Suzune's step faltered, surprise threading through her voice.
"Everyone gets one second chance."
Sakayanagi watched the dissipating light and offered her conclusion quietly.
"He simply used it now rather than later. We've lost the protection points and one kill target — but it may not be entirely a loss."
"At least we don't have to face the particular horror of watching a classmate turn into a Kabane and come at us with blades."
Horikita Suzune and Kamuro Masumi both went silent.
They could accept the logic. But watching a living person dissolve in front of them still left a hollow ache — the quiet grief of the fox mourning the hare.
"GRAAAUGH."
Perhaps sensing that their prey had vanished, the three feeding Kabane lurched to a halt. As one, they swung their heads toward the sound — dull crimson eyes locking onto the figures standing at the corridor entrance. Dead. Unblinking. Hungry.
"ROOOOAR——!!"
They erupted into motion. One hit all fours and surged forward at terrifying speed. Another planted a foot against the wall and launched itself high — trajectories that violated everything a human body was supposed to do — all three converging on the intruders in a frenzy.
They were met by gun barrels already trained and waiting.
BANG. BANG.
Two muted, heavy cracks.
Even a Parasyte with full intelligence could be caught off guard by the X-GUN's unique properties if they'd never encountered it before — let alone creatures running on nothing but raw predatory instinct. Two Kabane took direct hits from the gravity blasts mid-leap and detonated from the waist up, their bodies shredding apart in the air.
The third — using its companions as cover — got through.
"HRAAAUGH——!!"
It screamed and lunged straight for Chris at the front.
Chris's expression didn't change. He raised his Gantz Sword and swung.
No technique. No flourish. Just raw, absolute numerical superiority converted into kinetic force.
SHINK.
Black steel described a flawless arc. The Kabane separated at the neck — a kite with its string cut, head and body parting cleanly. The headless torso stumbled forward on sheer momentum for two more steps before crumpling at Chris's feet.
"Iron-encased heart..."
Horikita Suzune studied the corpse — intact from the shoulders down, heart still glowing faintly through the ruined chest — and turned it over in her mind.
"But decapitation still kills them. That's a second exploitable weakness."
Sakayanagi's lips curved.
"Consider — even if we were turned into Kabane ourselves, with no arms or legs, our threat level would drop to essentially zero. Same principle."
"Ugh..."
Kamuro Masumi suppressed a shudder, then lifted the capture gun screen to get everyone's attention.
"Um — they're... coming."
Chris's eyebrows rose slightly.
"The X-GUN shots are almost silent. We're two full walls away — and they can still pick up on us?"
"Heightened senses," Horikita said, shifting her gun into a ready guard position. The tension in her eyes had eased slightly from before. "Still — they're nowhere near a Parasyte's level."
"Kabane are probably on par with those ghost-type enemies we've seen before. The point value won't be anything impressive."
"For a real lead — it's going to come down to the hidden target."
"The score per Kabane is definitely low," Sakayanagi agreed, unhurried as ever.
"But if we don't sweep these grunts out fast, the survivors still trapped out there are going to run into them... and all the points we earn won't cover what we'd lose in deductions~"
Kamuro Masumi: ...
We are literally talking about human lives here, and this is what you two are focused on?
Classic score-slave mindset. You've been completely warped by this insane grading system.
Chris, for his part, nodded along without comment.
Fair point, actually.
Aside from the one variant — the one with a weapon, the one that moved like it still remembered how to fight — the rest of the Kabane really were just filler. Warm bodies padding out the mob count.
The real threat...
...was the nest of creatures you forgot the moment you looked away.
The Silence.
____
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