Chapter 60 – The peerless Sousuke Party
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As the event had started, we moved hurriedly. After having my body strengthened, I sprinted beside Mashiro. Weaving our way between the trees, we headed for the landing point of the light sphere. And as we did, we quickly spotted other participants.
“I’m gonna quickly get out of this shithole!”
“No, it’s gonna be me! I’ll kill anyone getting in my way!”
“Hey, we promised to wait for another 『Right to Return』, no matter who of us gets this one. Are you going to break that promise now!?”
“Right back at you, asshole…!”
I found two boys in tattered uniforms. From their conversation, it seemed they had formed a party, but they certainly didn’t look like they could work well together. Once I looked in Shion’s direction, she shook her head.
In short, the talk about cooperating so that they could go back to Earth together was bogus, as neither of them meant it. Well, when it came to the question of whether they’d be able to stay back for their friend at a time of being able to escape the harsh life on this uninhabited island, every person approached it in their own way. I think it’s acceptable to lie about cooperating as a strategy, but if asked whether I’d want to invite someone like that into our party, it’d be a different matter.
“Migi-san, Hidari-san…,” I could hear Minori muttering (T/N: Their names mean right and left).
If I remember correctly, such people were in our class. Given that not much time has passed since I started the school year, I haven’t managed to memorize everyone’s names. It’s all well and good that our class president, Minori, remembers their names, but I’m bothered by her reaction. She looks almost as if she’s remembering something bad…don’t tell me…are these the guys from the story she told me about before?
“Are those two the ones you encountered in the beginning, Minori?”
She nodded. She managed to escape danger since she was capable of using magic, but it was still true that the two guys had tried to assault a female student.
I believe Minori. And even if not, we could easily check whether they’re lying through Shion’s ability. Those two are clearly guilty.
“I won’t let guys like these get their hands on the sphere.”
I temporarily left my friends.
“Hey!”
And then I positioned myself in front of them. I was grasping a spear for show, but ultimately it was just a threat.
“What!? A spear!?”
“Tsk…it’s just a bluff anyway! Hurry up and get out of the way!”
The two came to a halt, vigilant, probably because of the spear.
――With this, it’s my victory. I won’t miss my mark if it stands around like that for me.
I dropped a 『Stone Cage』made out of 『Building Stones』from atop their heads. It fell so quickly that I easily managed to lock in those two. This stone cage had no bars, as you’d imagine for ordinary cages. It was entirely made out of stone, with the five sides, except for the ground, being stone walls. I did add ventilation holes so that they wouldn’t suffocate, but they won’t be able to check what’s going on outside anymore. Given that the weight of the whole thing is nothing to scoff at, they can’t escape by their own power. And I don’t believe you will find many people who would save those two with a larger group during the event. They’ll drop out of the competition here.
“It’s lenient as a punishment for assaulting Minori, but stay there until the event is over.”
Even though I called it assault, they got cold feet and ran away as soon as they saw Minori’s magic, so she suffered no harm from them. Even so, I still got angry, but I don’t have any more time to bother with them.
The rules state that we will be teleported back to our original location once the event finishes, so I won’t need to spend any time on rescuing them from there afterward, and it’s also a big help that it won’t be necessary to look at their faces any longer.
“Well, if everyone is like these guys, it’s going to be a piece of cake.”
Leaving the two boys behind, I joined up with my friends. It was fine to leave them like that since they were both criminals, who wouldn’t weigh on my heart, even if left confined like this, but if I were to imprison a female student, who was fairly aiming for the light sphere, it might burden me mentally and emotionally. Then again, since we couldn’t afford to yield the light sphere to someone else, I must find a clean solution to deal with them in some way.
My friends are calling me gentle, but if I acted too softly and philanthropically here, I’d expose those very friends to danger. And I wanted to avoid that by all means.
“Sou…Red-san!” Minori called out to me.
Since it’d bear no meaning if we called each other by name after going out of our way to cover our faces, we decided to call each other by colors. I’m red, Chiyu is platinum, Shouko is yellow, Shion is blue, and Minori is black.
“It’s fine! I won’t allow anyone to injure us!”
Sporadically, I could see other participants, but many of them ran away when they saw Mashiro. I didn’t chase after those people. After all, I was okay with it if they lost their will to fight and got away from the light sphere.
Right now, going after the sphere is our priority.
Eventually, we arrived at the spot that seemed to be the landing point of the sphere, but it had apparently started to move as we couldn’t see it anywhere.
“Chiyu, please keep up the healing and reinforcement.”
“Roger.”
After recasting Strength Up on me, she cast Second Heal to alleviate my exhaustion.
“Sousuke! Mashiro says he knows where the sphere went!”
“Alright. Please lead us there, Mashiro.”
Mashiro barked and immediately started to dash. I went after him with my strengthened legs.
“Shit! That damn light sphere is too fast!”
“What are you telling me to do with nothing but a single knife!”
“Having a knife is still better than what I’ve got! Look at this blasted fork!”
“That’s right! If you’re going to make fun of us, I’m gonna crush that head of yours with my pot!”
I don’t know whether they’re a party, but I spotted a group of boys quarreling as they chased after the light. It’s probably challenging to stay calm in this situation, but openly exposing your rage while glaring like a bloodthirsty beast isn’t good either.
“Ah, I saw a light!”
I could see the light sphere moving between the trees in the direction Shouko pointed at. It was definitely fast, but probably because of the rule that it must always stay within a participant’s visual field, it maintained a reasonable distance.
“Whoa!? What’s this!? A-A monster!”
“…A-A w-w-wolf?”
“Wasn’t someone riding on it…?”
“N-No way…the people who were talking about abilities during the dream? Were they able to get those abilities just like that…? Isn’t that totally cheating…!?”
…I can relate to his feelings, but getting begrudged for it would be a pain, too. I mean, we were all given time to think and could hear what the others took with them during the dream.
We quickly passed through, but Mashiro stood out among the other transferees.
“Hey, let me ride with you! Please allow me to join your group!
“You cunning piece of shit! Listen, this guy only got an empty plastic bottle after drinking all the cola in it! He’s a useless wimp! I, on the other hand, got a survival knife, so I’m gonna be a lot more useful to you! Let’s work together!”
“Shut up, asshole! My sick grandma is waiting at home, so please!”
Two boys were yelling at us while arguing with each other. Just in case, I looked in Shion’s direction, but she shook her head, looking disappointed.
“『Let’s work together』 and 『sick grandma』 are lies. …It’s an ability I wanted to have, but it’s excruciating to see through such lies.”
“If that’s the case…”
The two boys had started to grapple. I locked them both up in a Stone Cage in passing.
“…You sure? I could be lying, too.”
“It’s fine. I believe you.”
“gh….hehe thanks.”
She probably realized that I was speaking the truth thanks to her ability. Shion widened her eyes in surprise before giggling happily.
“Stop with the flirting now. The light sphere is close,” Chiyu admonished us while looking in front of her.
It was definitely true that the distance was gradually shrinking.
“Okay! If it looks like you can secure it, use your abilities whenever you can! Just be careful not to drag in the others!”
“Mmh.”
“Ayes!”
“I understand…!”
“Everyone, let’s do our best…”
The four girls answered.
In the next instant, I heard a bam――the sound of air exploding reverberated through the forest.
“This is――a gunshot?”
There are likely few high school students in Japan who have heard the sound of a real gun, but it wasn’t all that unusual in fictional movies and anime. The sound just now closely resembled those gunshots. Besides, one of the students in our class had chosen Gun. And the gunshots continued.
“Ah, I saw him! Though he’s randomly shooting at the light sphere!? Isn’t that dangerous!?” Shouko yelled.
I spotted a boy holding something that looked like a handgun ahead of me.
It’s indeed dangerous, but his having no hesitation whatsoever is weird. This obviously applies to the usage of precious bullets, but he’s barraging away even though he should be a lot more careful about his shooting.
“…He can very likely restock his bullets.”
“Abilities seem to be influenced by your imagination, so he could have imagined a 『gun capable of shooting indefinitely』 or something like that,” Shion added to Minori’s deliberations.
“When it comes to Japanese high school students and guns…he might have learned about them in FPS games. In that case, it wouldn’t be strange even if he had imagined the bullet stock to be enormous with a fast reload function.”
Maybe he reloads the bullets through random drops on the ground, or he can loot new magazines from defeated enemies. Seeing how we were given abilities and magic, it’s reasonable for him to have received a dreamlike gun. The question, though, is the user’s skill.
“Haha, I’m gonna hit you! Give up, light sphere…!”
The gun owner was a male student with an evil look. He was rapidly firing his gun as he ran.
――Considering the shooting range, wouldn’t it be better to go with another type of gun…? Or is it fixed to being that handgun?
If he can summon any gun, other gun types would suit this situation better or be more extreme. But, he’s really terrible. He probably knows that other students are chasing the sphere, yet he fires away without a care, huh? Of course, he could have been smart enough to at least keep the other students away through warning shots, so that he could calmly aim at the sphere. If he were to injure anyone while firing his gun with the conviction to not give a damn, even if he hits another participant, he would have 100 points deducted. So even if he obtains the 『Right to Return』, a hundred days of coma will be added for each person he injured. He looks like a total nutcase, but he should have considered at least that much.
“We’ve got healing magic on our side. So it’d not be impossible to force the situation, but…,” Chiyu said, looking hesitant.
If this were a game, her suggestion would be a viable tactic, but it’s probably difficult to implement in reality. It’s possible, but mentally grueling.
“We will deal with him, but we won’t force our way through. Minori and I will incapacitate him.”
“Yes, please leave it to me…!”
There are ability holders and people with effective tools other than us, but although I’m fully aware of that, the ones who will take control of this event will be us.
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