The familiar sensation of weightlessness washed over them, intertwined with flashes of blue light.
The moment Chris and the others materialized inside the Black Sphere Space, Ryuuen Kakeru and Horikita Suzune — who had apparently been waiting in the room for some time — immediately strode over.
"So?" Ryuuen's eyes were sharp and predatory, barely concealing a flicker of urgency.
"Did you finish off that big brute at the end?"
It made sense that he was anxious. This time, once again, he'd been knocked out early. By his count, he had zero margin for error left — no matter how you looked at it, that wasn't a situation anyone could stay calm about.
Chris didn't answer. He simply gave a single nod.
"A magnificent haul, I'd say."
Sakayanagi Arisu, leaning on Kamuro Masumi's arm, let out a light laugh and picked up where Chris left off. "Not only did we complete the extermination mission flawlessly — nearly every one of the intruders who got swept up in the brawl made it out without a scratch."
The moment those words landed, Ryuuen clenched his fist so hard his knuckles went white. Horikita Suzune couldn't suppress the way her eyebrows shot upward.
Sixteen surviving intruders.
Under the Black Sphere's weighted scoring rules, that translated into a staggering pile of points — the kind that could genuinely change a person's fate.
Watching the two of them react with barely-concealed excitement, Ichinose Honami found herself drifting.
Unbidden, the faces of her teammates surfaced in her mind — and the image of everyone on that exam floor fighting tooth and nail just to stay alive.
In that moment, Ichinose Honami understood something.
In this brutal Black Sphere Space, there was no room to retreat.
Because retreating meant every important vow she'd made, every promise to protect the people she cared about — all of it would crumble into nothing.
She couldn't afford to keep tearing herself apart in here. Not anymore.
The girl drew a slow, deep breath, then walked straight up to the silent black sphere sitting at the center of the room.
"GANTZ."
"Since we guaranteed that all sixteen intruders survived inside the exam zone when the test ended — I'd argue that your final tally shouldn't only count the people who were still there in the last few moments of the preliminary test!"
She was trying to negotiate.
This was partly about the points that mattered so desperately. But it was also about something she needed to sear into her own heart — to finally burn away that shameful shadow of someone who stands by and watches others die.
I'll take your points. And in return, I'll fight with everything I have to bring you back.
That was the creed she had set for herself.
Two seconds of silence.
The surface of the Black Sphere shimmered with a pulse of light, and several lines of white text materialized:
[Please do not question GANTZ's integrity (→_→)]
[This sphere's credibility is considerably more reliable than most of the capitalists and bloodsucking bosses in your world who talk big and deliver nothing.]
A roast. Delivered without hesitation.
Ichinose's charged, impassioned momentum deflated immediately. She scratched her cheek with a somewhat embarrassed look on her face.
After all, she was still just a high schooler who hadn't seen much of the world. When faced with a comeback like that, she had absolutely nothing to work with.
The Black Sphere seemed to sigh inwardly at her reaction. Its screen flickered:
[Fine. Let's get to the scoring.]
[This time, a total of sixteen friendly units invaded. Despite the preliminary test not yet having concluded when the main match was forcibly triggered, all sixteen survived.]
[As a result, all participating members receive a base bonus: +16 points.]
[The following is your contribution breakdown for this mission——]
[1. Sakayanagi Arisu: 76 points (cumulative total: 82 points)]
[2. Chris: 63 points (cumulative total: 65 points)]
[3. Ichinose Honami: 38 points (cumulative total: 60 points)]
[4. Horikita Suzune, Ryuuen Kakeru, Yamada Albert, Koenji Rokusuke, Kamuro Masumi, Karuizawa Kei: 16 points each (cumulative totals: Horikita 20, Ryuuen 15, Yamada 17, Kamuro 15...)]
Dead silence fell over the room. The only sound was the heavy breathing of everyone present.
Then came the class bonus scores — the numbers that would determine each class's economic standing:
[Class Rankings and Bonus Points:]
[Class A: 1,725 points (base 1,035 + 92 × 750%) — every student receives a bonus of 69,000 consumer points]
[Class D: 1,160 points (base 210 + 95 × 1,000%) — every student receives a bonus of 95,000 consumer points]
[Class B: 1,102.4 points (base 832.4 + 54 × 500%) — every student receives a bonus of 27,000 consumer points]
[Class C: 590 points (base 510 + 32 × 250%) — every student receives a bonus of 8,000 consumer points]
Before anyone could even begin to process those absurd, inflation-defying numbers, the Black Sphere's signature brand of scathing commentary arrived right on schedule:
[Exam Evaluation:]
[You basically got lucky — benefiting from two factions of monsters who weren't particularly bright to begin with and happened to be impulsive enough to tear each other apart. That kind of luck doesn't last.]
[And furthermore... you, you, and you. Yes, you three — Ryuuen Kakeru, Yamada Albert, Horikita Suzune.]
[Aside from your contributions at the very start, you spent the entire second half coasting on everyone else's momentum. You're supposed to be the elite of your respective classes. When exactly are you planning to actually carry something yourselves?]
Ryuuen's eyelid twitched. He snorted and turned his head away. Horikita Suzune bit down hard on her lower lip — but had no comeback.
The Black Sphere's indiscriminate barrage continued:
[As for Kamuro Masumi, Karuizawa Kei, Amikura Mako...]
[A crutch, a hanger-on, and a wallflower. Not much to say. Just pray your big daddy keeps carrying you forever.]
[Finally — Sakayanagi Arisu, Chris, Ichinose Honami. You three were passable. Barely. As a reward, I will bestow upon you my highest honor: I won't roast you. That IS the reward.]
[Additionally, as a bonus for being the first exam where all intruders survived, we're gifting you one free piece of intel:]
[S-Points can be exchanged for item points at a ratio of 1:500. In future exam zones, should you encounter a 'Mysterious Merchant,' you may use those item points to purchase special items.]
After reading the evaluation, Karuizawa Kei's face had gone bone-white.
"A hanger-on..."
Having the disguise she wore so carefully stripped away in front of everyone — without mercy, without hesitation — she felt a surge of instinctive panic, as if every sordid little thought she'd ever harbored had been torn open and laid bare for the whole room to see.
Just as the anxiety was threatening to swallow her whole —
A warm, steady hand came to rest lightly on her shoulder.
Karuizawa Kei snapped back to herself. Following Chris's line of sight, she glanced around the room.
Only then did she realize — nobody seemed to have noticed her reaction at all.
When you thought about it, it made sense. In a space already saturated with pressure like this, Karuizawa's little secret barely registered.
Ichinose Honami was too kindhearted to care about things like that. Ryuuen Kakeru, with no margin for error left, was already deep in calculations about how to claw his way back. Horikita Suzune was still drowning in the sting of being called out for "coasting" and the lingering weight of her earlier conversation with Horikita Manabu.
As for Sakayanagi Arisu — who, as a veteran with legacy system access, did cast one of her signature ambiguous, knowing glances in their direction — it stopped at that. A glance, and nothing more.
Besides, Sakayanagi Arisu had something far more important to attend to right now.
She slipped her arm free from Kamuro Masumi's and walked up to the Black Sphere on her own.
"GANTZ."
The girl's voice trembled ever so slightly. "Deduct 30 points and heal my body. Then I'd like to purchase a Combat Suit and an enhanced weapon."
"One more question — when I meet the Mysterious Merchant, will I be able to exchange S-Points for item points on the spot?"
[My answer: yes.]
[Though this isn't really something I should be disclosing.]
[Sigh... there I go being generous again. I truly am a sphere of impeccable integrity and good faith!]
The Black Sphere's screen flickered.
A gentle wave of soft blue light swept over Sakayanagi Arisu from head to toe. At the same moment, a black briefcase engraved with her name materialized out of thin air at her feet.
Sakayanagi Arisu stood perfectly still.
Slowly, she lowered her gaze and pressed one hand lightly over her left chest.
"Thump... thump..."
Strong. Steady.
Gone was that old sensation — that wringing, twisting ache that seized her heart whenever she so much as walked a little too fast, as if someone were wringing out a wet towel inside her chest. Her heart now felt as though it had been fitted with a powerful new engine, pumping vitality in an unbroken current through every corner of her body.
And her legs — so long atrophied from years without proper use — finally sent back the kind of solid, grounded sensation she had almost forgotten existed.
It worked... I'm whole. Complete.
A wave of pure, overwhelming joy surged through her. Almost on pure instinct, Sakayanagi Arisu pulled free from Kamuro Masumi's supporting arm and tried to stand straight and take a step forward entirely on her own.
But —
"Ah!"
The graceful, effortless stride she'd imagined never came.
Years of compensating with a cane had utterly dismantled her muscle memory and sense of balance. The moment she took half a step, her entire center of gravity gave way and she pitched forward.
Fortunately, Kamuro Masumi's reflexes were sharp enough — she shot out a hand and caught her.
"What's the rush?" Kamuro asked, somewhere between baffled and exasperated. "Isn't the Black Sphere still in the middle of treating you?"
"She is healed."
Chris spoke from behind them, his tone even. "But years of walking with a cane have conditioned her body to rely on three points of support. The physical defect has been corrected, but her brain's sense of balance and her muscle memory are still absent. If she wants to move like a normal person — to actually run — she'll have to rebuild that from the ground up through rehabilitation. That part only she can do, slowly, over time."
Hearing that, Sakayanagi Arisu steadied herself — and felt not even a flicker of embarrassment or irritation at having stumbled in front of everyone.
On the contrary.
The girl's delicate face was lit up with a smile unlike anything anyone had seen from her before — radiant and unguarded, the kind of smile that simply belonged to someone her age.
"It's alright... I have time."
She turned to look at everyone in the room. "Well then — I've made my requests. Who's next?"
Chris thought for a moment, then stepped forward.
"GANTZ, get me a radar controller."
Ryuuen Kakeru raised an eyebrow at that, genuinely caught off guard.
"You're not holding back some points to use when you run into this so-called Mysterious Merchant later?"
"Intel always needs someone to verify it."
Chris shook his head. "We have no idea yet how valuable the Mysterious Merchant's inventory actually is, but the gear we can get right now has proven results. Someone has to be first to test the waters, don't they?"
Ryuuen considered that for a moment, then dropped the argument.
He simply turned, pulled Yamada Albert along with him, walked up to the Black Sphere, and without a second's hesitation, spent the freshly-acquired points on the Combat Suit he'd had his eye on.
The other students who had enough points — Horikita Suzune among them — followed suit one by one.
Because after witnessing today's completely overpowered battle firsthand, everyone had reached the same conclusion:
Without a Combat Suit, going up against the increasingly grotesque monsters the Black Sphere threw at them with nothing but flesh and blood was simply reaching the limit of what was humanly possible.
Once the equipment exchanges were complete, people began filtering out of the room one by one.
By the time the space was nearly empty, Chris had just turned to leave —
A small, slightly cool hand abruptly seized his sleeve and held tight.
"Um..."
Karuizawa Kei kept her head down, eyes fixed stubbornly on the tips of her shoes, her voice barely above a whisper. "The Black Sphere... if it can even cure congenital conditions... then..."
Her voice faltered, as if the words refused to come.
But Chris had already understood what she meant.
He didn't rush her. He simply stopped walking, and stood quietly beside her in the vast, empty Black Sphere Space, giving her the time she needed.
When the girl's breathing had steadied a little, Chris walked with her to stand before the Black Sphere.
"GANTZ — how many points would it cost to remove a scar on the abdomen?"
GANTZ's screen responded almost immediately:
[Just 6 points, meow~]
[However, if you also wish to alter your tragic past (erasing the causality), that would require 100 points.]
Staring at the numbers on the screen, Karuizawa Kei bit down on her lip, conflict flickering behind her eyes.
Six points. She had more than enough to erase that mark of shame.
But if she spent those six points, and then bought a Combat Suit on top of that, she'd have nothing left — no shot at any of the Mysterious Merchant's future offerings.
In a game where death could come at any moment, sacrificing your ability to survive for the sake of beauty was, objectively speaking, spectacularly stupid.
"I'd suggest thinking it over."
Seeing her hesitate, Chris chose his moment and offered quietly:
"Points in the Black Sphere are precious. Since it's hidden under your clothes anyway and no one can see it in daily life, those points might end up saving your life someday."
But then —
At those words, Karuizawa Kei suddenly lifted her head.
Those beautiful eyes fixed themselves on Chris's profile and stayed there, unblinking, for a long moment.
"I know points are precious. And I know this isn't rational."
The girl released her grip on his sleeve, her voice soft and quiet.
"But..."
"I want to give you a more perfect version of myself."
"A Karuizawa Kei that doesn't carry the ugliness of the past. One that belongs to you, completely."
Chris looked at the stubborn resolve sitting in the depths of her eyes.
He blinked, faintly startled. Then he looked away and said nothing more.
"Do as you like."
He sighed inwardly.
When someone says something like that, there really is nothing left to argue.
I have to say, Karuizawa Kei is something else — anyone who's been following along knows exactly what I mean.
——End of Chapter——
Monster point values: Decepticon soldiers 6 points, Barricade 20 points, Gecko 25 points, Frenzy 35 points, Rampage 3 points, Zaku Giant 15 points. (Minor discrepancies are perfectly normal — these are the protagonist's subjective point assignments, after all.)
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👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: COTE: Confessing to Sakayanagi From the Start
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