Faced with the girl's resolve — one that had cast aside every last shred of her pride — Chris didn't answer right away. He didn't refuse, either.
He simply looked down at Horikita Suzune from above.
In Chris's assessment, Horikita Suzune had spent so long trying to copy her brother Horikita Manabu that she'd absorbed a bit of his "survival of the fittest, might makes right" worldview. She'd grown so accustomed to wearing a mask of cold arrogance that the only person who could ever make her go soft was Horikita Manabu himself.
After coasting to victory a few times in the Black Sphere exams, then getting blown apart face-first while wearing a Combat Suit in the real world — and on top of that, the crushing psychological weight of Horikita Manabu's "entrust her to you" parting words stacking on top of everything else...
The Horikita Suzune standing before him right now was like some ojou-sama named Toyokawa Shoko who'd just learned her father had racked up a ¥16.8 billion debt and been thrown out on the street.
Plummeted from the clouds in an instant — reduced to a soft, helpless creature who could do nothing but depend on others.
But Chris was in no hurry.
Breaking someone in was like eating a meal or savoring fine wine — he never had any intention of being polite about it. But a meal had to be eaten one bite at a time, and a good vintage deserved a wide cup and a slow, deliberate pour before it could truly be appreciated.
"Get up."
Chris set the wooden sword casually on the nearby equipment rack. "I'll do it."
Horikita Suzune pressed one hand against the floor and slowly rose to her feet.
Her usually immaculate black hair was disheveled now, strands clinging to her sweat-dampened cheeks — but in those eyes, faintly threaded with red, a flicker of hope had rekindled itself.
"My teaching style might be a little different from what you'd expect, though."
Chris turned around. "As it happens, I've been guiding Ichinose in swordsmanship lately too. Since you both have Combat Suits now, starting tomorrow after school, go find her and spar. It'll help build some cross-class rapport, and she can serve as your training partner."
At least in the early-to-mid stages of a Black Sphere exam — before a game-changer like the gravity gun came into play — the close-quarters margin for error with a Combat Suit and a Black Sphere battle sword was, in terms of pure cost-effectiveness, far superior to any of those ranged weapons that needed time to charge.
Still... Chris had always maintained that without cheating,
Even a genius forged in the White Room like Ayanokoji couldn't fully master a fighting discipline in just one or two weeks. It was simply impossible.
Swordsmanship — combat — it wasn't like mathematics. At its core, it ran on muscle memory. There were no shortcuts.
Looks like sooner or later I'll have to figure out how to build something like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber from Dragon Ball — a dedicated annex to the Black Sphere setup.
Maybe I could use Doraemon's magnificent intellect to knock together a rough prototype as a stopgap first?
He reined in his thoughts, letting his gaze settle back on Horikita Suzune.
"Before any of that, there's one thing I need you to promise me. Can you do it?"
Horikita Suzune answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Whatever the price — as long as you're willing to teach me, I'll pay it!"
But Chris suddenly smiled.
He reached out his hand — and, under the girl's slightly startled gaze — gave her shoulder a gentle pat.
"Nothing that heavy. All I'm asking is —"
"Treasure the people still alive. Treasure every single day you have."
Horikita Suzune froze.
She had braced herself for some harsh condition of submission — not a line that sounded like final words from someone on their deathbed.
It left her with a strange, unsettled feeling she couldn't quite name.
Horikita looked away, her voice still sharp as ever:
"Something that obvious doesn't need you to remind me."
"My life — it belongs to me now."
— — —
Inside the Director's office of the Sakayanagi family.
On the heavy velvet carpet, Sakayanagi Arisu leaned on her ever-present cane and walked unhurriedly toward her father's desk.
She met his gaze — a look that mingled fatigue with concern.
The girl smiled faintly.
The next second.
In the midst of her father's sharply contracting pupils, she simply let go — and casually tossed aside the cane she had treated as a second half of herself.
"Arisu — what are you doing?!"
Sakayanagi Seiichi shot to his feet, both hands slamming onto the desktop.
He stared at his daughter in disbelief.
Sakayanagi Arisu, without her cane, didn't buckle and collapse as she always had before — instead, she slowly raised her right foot.
Her steps were still a little unsteady, like an infant just learning to walk.
But she was doing it — truly, genuinely doing it — stepping forward on her own, without any outside support whatsoever.
"You did it?!"
"Arisu..."
Sakayanagi Seiichi — a man who had always kept his emotions perfectly composed — found his voice trembling now, just faintly:
"You actually did it?!"
"Indeed."
Sakayanagi Arisu nodded with a smile, feeling the solid ground beneath her feet — feeling the heart inside her chest, no longer twisted in pain, beating strong and steady.
She spread her arms wide, like a queen reborn:
"Father — my body... there isn't a single thing missing from it anymore!"
Sakayanagi Seiichi's eyes grew faintly red. This had been the greatest wish of his life for years beyond counting.
But as the light kindled in his gaze, it dimmed again just as quickly.
"And yet — you were chosen by that Black Sphere."
The man let out a long, heavy sigh. "If it hadn't marked you, perhaps even now I could have tried to leverage the family's influence and quietly moved you off this island..."
But Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head.
She bent down and calmly picked her cane back up from the floor.
Her body had healed — but her sense of balance still needed the old friend as a transitional aid.
She moved to the leather sofa nearby and sat, her bearing as graceful as ever:
"Even the politicians and financial powers above us have absolutely no recourse against that thing. We can't even perform deep-level monitoring on the students' phones anymore. There's no point entertaining hypotheticals."
"And besides..."
A sharp gleam crossed the girl's eyes:
"My remaining inside — for the Sakayanagi family — is actually a tremendous advantage. After all, a player who holds first-hand intelligence will always have the initiative over a spectator sitting outside the arena, groping blindly in the dark."
As she spoke, Sakayanagi Arisu seemed to recall something, and abruptly shifted course:
"By the way, Father — regarding Shiranami Chihiro from Class B, who was eliminated during the exam... what is the situation with her family right now?"
At the mention of business, Sakayanagi Seiichi recovered the gravitas of the Director.
He rested his chin on one hand, his tone heavy:
"In the memories of her parents, her relatives, and even her middle school classmates, Shiranami Chihiro... passed away in a traffic accident on the eve of entering Advanced Nurturing High School. The local police station even has a complete and detailed accident report on file."
Sakayanagi Arisu drew in a sharp breath.
"Direct cognitive alteration and causal erasure from the source itself..."
The girl's fingers absently traced the curved head of her cane:
"If a power like that were turned against senior government officials or politicians... no one would be able to escape it."
"I truly cannot fathom where the White Room people find the nerve — after witnessing something like this — to still deliberately walk into the jaws of death themselves."
Sakayanagi Seiichi gave a wry smile:
"Ayanokoji-sensei's greatest masterpiece is still in our hands, after all. And faced with a power capable of upending the entire world order, even if he didn't come seeking it, there are plenty of greedy, ambitious men who would. We — are simply the board this game happens to be played on."
Sakayanagi Arisu smiled and shook her head:
"What's amusing is that neither of those two White Room-bred geniuses was chosen as a fixed player by the Black Sphere from the start. And that Amase who was shoved in just yesterday nearly got wiped out on the spot during the preliminary test."
"I'm growing more and more eager to see the looks on their faces going forward."
Hearing his daughter's dry amusement, Sakayanagi Seiichi did not smile.
He turned the laptop on his desk around so it faced Sakayanagi Arisu.
On the screen, a slightly shaky high-definition video was playing.
In the footage, an enormous armed helicopter shuddered — metal screeching, parts spinning — and transformed into a terrifying iron behemoth.
Then, seamlessly, a second video began.
The lighthouse where she had first been stationed — drilled down by the Zaku giant's bore — was pinned hard against the translucent dome that covered the entire port.
"This is..."
Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes widened in sudden realization, every thread of information in her mind linking together at once:
"Amase Kazuna — that transfer student sent by the White Room — volunteered to take Class B's slot in the preliminary test... and it was all for this?!"
"So that's it. She never had any intention of winning that test from the very beginning."
But just as quickly, the girl's brow furrowed again:
"But why would she..."
"Because they're getting desperate."
Sakayanagi Seiichi's voice was low and measured as he explained: "You already know — ever since GANTZ descended, actual control of this school has long since slipped out of our hands. Whether it's the school administration or the upper echelons outside, everyone is nothing more than a messenger now, relaying the rules."
"We don't even have permission to monitor footage from inside the exam."
"Under those circumstances, the powerful figures on the outside are naturally going to have objections. Amase Kazuna — she's the 'eye' they sent in."
Sakayanagi Arisu pressed her lips together, then pushed back:
"In that case, why didn't we simply have the Qualifiers wear an action camera during the exam? It would serve as a record, stabilize morale internally, and give the outside world something to answer to."
Sakayanagi Seiichi shook his head.
"No need."
"We were never the ones who should be anxious about this. Since the White Room and Tsukishiro are so eager to play with fire, let them probe the Black Sphere's limits. That's their affair."
Sakayanagi Arisu laughed in quiet agreement. "Fair enough~"
— — —
At that very same moment.
Amase Kazuna tossed her custom phone lightly in one hand, her crimson twin-tails swaying in rhythm with her steps.
She had just transmitted the footage she'd risked her life to capture inside the exam to Tsukishiro Tsunenari — using it as a bargaining chip to secure considerably more freedom of movement within the school. The girl was in an excellent mood.
True, during the preliminary test, the interference from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and the others had cost her the win.
But she felt no frustration about that.
The core objective had been achieved. And she currently held the single highest reserve item score of anyone on the field.
When that so-called "Mysterious Merchant" appeared, she'd surely be able to convert that into some kind of edge.
So then — next up, time to secure her entry ticket to the next official Black Sphere exam.
She'd even prepared her justification in advance:
I feel unbearably guilty over Kanzaki-senpai's sacrifice. For Class B's sake, I want to shoulder some of the risk myself — please let me do what I can to make it right!
What a perfect excuse.
Even as Amase Kazuna was quietly rehearsing her two-faced damsel script in her head, a thought suddenly flashed across her mind.
Come to think of it — this resurrection mechanic the Black Sphere mentioned in its announcement... what exactly does it bring back?
Given that it could conjure something as absurd as a Combat Suit out of thin air, if I saved up enough points... could I resurrect Napoleon from the history books? Or Einstein? Just to see what they're like?
The girl's thoughts drifted wildly in all directions.
But then her eyes caught Ichinose Honami — walking alone not far ahead.
All those scattered, meandering questions were pressed back down to the bottom of her mind.
'There she is. The perfect opening.'
Amase Kazuna rapidly rearranged her expression — the cunning glint in her eyes snuffed out in an instant — shoulders curling inward, posture drooping, as though she'd lost her very soul.
She walked toward Ichinose in a daze of feigned grief and met her just as their paths were about to cross.
"Class Rep..."
Amase Kazuna stopped at precisely the right moment.
"I'm sorry... it's all my fault. If I hadn't touched that high-scoring item yesterday, Kanzaki-senpai wouldn't have..."
Ichinose Honami stopped.
Looking at the tearful Amase Kazuna before her, something complicated moved through Ichinose's eyes.
"I already know what happened during the test."
"I'm heartbroken too — but we can't blame you for any of this. It was your first time being thrown into something like that, and your original intention was to help Class B win, wasn't it?"
Ichinose let out a soft sigh and took the burden onto herself:
"If anything, part of why Class B lost probably falls on me for not briefing everyone clearly beforehand... but don't worry. I will absolutely save up enough points to bring everyone back!"
Watching Ichinose deliver a performance of saintly selflessness so flawless there wasn't a single crack to exploit,
Amase Kazuna hesitated for just a moment, then looked up — biting her lip, eyes full of hope:
"Class Rep, you really don't have to carry all of this alone..."
"I can share some of the burden! Let me come with you to the next official exam! I promise I'll be useful!"
And yet.
Faced with what amounted to cannon fodder voluntarily throwing itself at her feet,
Ichinose Honami shook her head without a moment's hesitation.
"No."
"Amase-san — after losing in the preliminary test, you have no more room for error. If anything goes wrong in the main exam, you'll be gone for real. Gone completely, with nothing left."
Ichinose looked at her steadily.
"I know you feel guilty about Kanzaki-san. But as Class B's representative..."
"I will do everything in my power to keep every one of you safe. I will not let any of you take risks again."
With that, Ichinose Honami gave a small nod of farewell — not leaving Amase Kazuna any room to press further — and turned to walk away.
Leaving Amase Kazuna standing alone, one hand still outstretched, frozen in the air.
A breeze swept through her crimson twin-tails. The girl's expression shifted into something caught between laughter and tears.
What was this... tried to steal a chicken and lost the bait instead?
Or had she simply met her natural predator?
This habit of sheltering everyone under her wings — playing the great protector — was, from the perspective of someone raised in the White Room, laughably naive.
But she had to admit: for ordinary students, Ichinose's approach was probably the single most effective thing for keeping hearts steady and morale intact.
Not that Amase Kazuna had any intention of being grateful to Ichinose for it.
She had come to this place — was facing the threat of an anomalous existence like the Black Sphere — and there was no standing still. Like rowing upstream, the moment you stopped pushing forward, you were already falling behind.
Hiding in the safety zone would never let her touch the truth of this world.
Besides — from everything she had learned before coming here — the outside world was anything but peaceful right now.
Ghouls, Parasytes, even those enormous silicon-based mechanical lifeforms... if those things ever fully broke loose in the real world, Tokyo would already be hell on earth.
Perhaps the reason society could still maintain its surface-level stability and prosperity... was precisely because the Black Sphere's intervention had forcibly corralled all those monsters into this arena called Advanced Nurturing High School.
Honestly, Amase Kazuna suddenly realized — she kind of liked the Black Sphere's style.
Ruthless elimination, wrapped in a quiet tenderness that protected the world from the shadows... not bad at all.
She glanced over at the ordinary students on the school grounds, still fretting over the Black Sphere exams.
Ungrateful fools who don't know how good they have it...
You have absolutely no idea — being chosen as a player under the Black Sphere's rules — just how enviable a privilege that is to the oblivious masses outside, who don't know a single thing about any of this.
____
👻🔥Whant more?: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: COTE: Confessing to Sakayanagi From the Start
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