November 5.
11:23.
"What took you so long? What were you doing?"
"The fight club has to keep running even if I’m not around. I handed things off to my successor."
Hakari, with dark circles under his eyes from apparently not sleeping properly, let out a huge yawn.
Junpei watched him with a slightly doubtful look, then shook his head and hurried his steps.
When the two men stood before the colony and touched the barrier, Kogane popped out.
"Hello! I’m Kogane! [Culling Game] is taking place inside here! The moment you step in, you’re a player too! Even so, will you enter?"
"No problem."
When Hakari nodded, entry into the [Culling Game] was approved, and the hard surface of the barrier softened, opening a path.
Darkness so deep they couldn’t see an inch ahead beckoned them inside.
And yet, there was no hesitation in that advance.
No matter what chaos waited beyond.
We do not stop.
We do not yield.
We do not break.
We are jujutsushi.
"Let’s go."
"Yes!"
They had steeled themselves enough.
As if no further pleasantries were needed, the two of them threw themselves toward the barrier without hesitation.
Darkness wrapped around their bodies, and their forms could no longer be seen.
Hakari Kinji, Yoshino Junpei.
Entering the [Culling Game].
-------------------------------------
Gulp
With a sickening sensation, Junpei entered the barrier and a new landscape spread out before his eyes.
At a slightly different height than he had expected, a spotless, clear sky welcomed him.
Half-ruined buildings, messy streets, and almost no sign of life.
And above it all, Junpei was falling.
Whirr!
Junpei quickly twisted his body and summoned [Yellow Spot] beneath his feet to steady himself.
Slowly turning his head to look around, he soon realized Hakari was nowhere to be seen.
'Hakari-senpai isn’t here? Is there another rule not stated in the rules?'
Junpei had only just entered the colony, so there was no way for him to know, but the [Culling Game] had its own separate set of barrier rules.
The first was that when an invading player answered Kogane’s question, they were transported to one of nine random points.
It was a measure Kenjaku had taken in advance to prevent players from colluding before entering.
Pure chaos.
Inside this enormous barrier, expanded even larger than before and now with a radius of 7.5 kilometers, it was almost impossible to land in the same place as an ally by luck.
"This is bad...."
Junpei clicked his tongue and thought of the comrades who had entered the barrier three days earlier.
Could the people divided into groups of 3-3-3, excluding himself, really regroup properly inside this vast barrier?
If he had known the barrier’s characteristics in advance, he would have at least set up a signal.
His plans were already twisted from the very start, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Brrring...
Even when he called the leaders of each group, Okkotsu and Megumi, there was no signal.
It was clearly just like Shibuya, with electronic devices rendered useless.
Unless he solved the communication problem with cursed energy like Mechamaru, contacting them looked difficult.
"Kogane, show me the player ranking."
"Understood!"
Junpei decided to check whether his comrades were alive first.
From the moment they entered the [Culling Game], they would have become players too, so if they were alive, their names should be on the list.
Kogane’s mouth opened wide as it displayed the player list in score order, and Junpei scrolled down through it, finding familiar names and letting out a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness... they’re all alive."
He had worried they might have been unlucky enough to run into higher-ranked players and gotten hurt, but thankfully everyone had survived.
The only striking thing was that Megumi and Okkotsu’s scores were higher than expected.
[Okkotsu Yuta: 15 points]
[Fushiguro Megumi: 10 points]
He didn’t know whether they had each killed three and two people, or whether they had hunted sorcerers who already had points, but at least this eased his worry that they might die after having their techniques stripped away.
They seemed to be doing well in their own way.
He considered going around to check whether they were safe, but decided against it.
If you can’t trust your comrades, then who can you trust? He had no doubt they would do well in their own places.
They were comrades who had grown stronger through doing many things together.
He didn’t need to keep protecting them forever, and he shouldn’t.
"I should take care of my own business first."
What mattered more right now was this side.
Today was the fifth day since the [Culling Game] began.
Within two weeks, he had to hunt players and gather 1,000 points.
Junpei scrolled back up and scanned the rankings from the top.
1st. [Kashimo Hajime - 360 points]
2nd. [Ishigori Ryu - 185 points]
3rd. [Higuruma Hiromi - 117 points]
4th. [Druv Lakdawalla - 104 points]
5th. [Uro Takako - 95 points]
.
.
.
.
.
"How many people have they killed....?"
He had already checked the rankings before entering, but seeing them again still made his head spin.
It had only been five days since the game started, yet they had roamed this vast barrier and hunted more than twenty people.
And Kashimo, in first place, had already recorded an absurd 360 points.
Even in moments like that, the scores of several people in the upper ranks kept climbing without end.
-You don’t need to feel too guilty. They’re all basically murderers anyway.
Now he kind of understood what Yaga had meant that day.
From here on out, they had to [hunt] those human butchers.
-I’m afraid life’s value will become blurry.
Yuji had said that.
When he heard it, he had inwardly agreed, and even now he didn’t think that righteous feeling was wrong.
He had simply grown a spine strong enough to endure even that kind of pain.
Shaking off his stray thoughts, Junpei headed toward what looked like the center of the area.
"Where am I supposed to find these guys?"
He had to find them before he could hunt anyone.
He didn’t even know how things were moving inside.
If the comrades who had entered earlier were here, they would have explained it, but since they were scattered, he had to handle it alone.
Going to the center was itself a calculated choice.
The barrier allowed entry and exit, but forbade leaving.
Since supplies were limited, there were probably only a few places where higher-ranked players would gather.
The atmosphere changed after he entered an alley near the subway station.
Slash!
Something sharp flew out of the darkness toward Junpei’s back.
Even as a surprise attack, it was terribly slow and weak.
'A small fry.'
He grabbed it barehanded and yanked hard, revealing the figure of the opponent hiding in the darkness.
"Eek!"
"A woman?"
The woman in a flashy dress was thrown to the ground by the force.
What Junpei had been holding all that time was the woman’s transformed hair.
The ends looked a little sharp, but even if it hit him, it would probably only leave a scratch at most.
"Y-you...!"
Smack!
Junpei’s blazing slap landed on the woman as she lunged at him with a vicious expression.
The other side attacked first, so there was no reason to go easy on her. She should be grateful he hadn’t punched her.
Having practiced true gender equality, Junpei looked down at the whining woman with sharp eyes.
"Ow... that hurts.... Why are you doing this~?"
"You attacked first."
With a face completely different from before, the woman shamelessly acted cute.
Her fake act was a little irritating, but Junpei approached her with patience.
From the fact that she had launched a surprise attack, she seemed fairly used to the ecology of the [Culling Game], and at the very least she knew more than he did.
Not just the geography of this area, but maybe even the residence of a higher-ranked player.
"I have something I want to ask."
"Will you not kill me if I tell you?"
"I’ll decide after I hear your answer. Is there anyone especially strong around here?"
"...Why?"
"I need points."
"You’re confident. I like that you’re manly, but at that rate you won’t survive long here."
"That’s not for you to worry about."
The woman pretended to think for a moment, then grinned and answered.
"You want to find where that person is, right? I can tell you, but there’s a condition."
"What is it."
"Be my knight!"
What the hell was this woman talking about.
"I already have a girlfriend."
"Aaaah~ I said a girlfriend and a knight are different things! You can do that much for me!"
"What exactly does your so-called knight do?"
"Just protect me with your life!"
"I’ll just find them on my own. See you."
It would be convenient to get this woman’s guidance, but he had no intention of dragging around a troublesome burden.
From the look of it, she was a small fry, and she probably didn’t have many points either.
As Junpei coldly turned away, the woman clung to his pant leg.
"W-wait!! Don’t go!"
"Seriously."
"I’ll take you directly to that person! So could you at least stay with me until then? Please?"
That would be fine.
Until the job was done, he could just receive this woman’s guidance and then part ways cleanly.
Junpei shoved the clingy woman off him and put her in front.
"Hehe, please take care of me."
"If you’re lying about taking me there, you know what happens."
"Violent men aren’t popular, you know."
"Quit saying useless things. What’s your name?"
"Call me Remi."
Junpei immediately opened the list and checked Remi’s name.
[Kazama Remi - 7 points]
7 people?
If she had beaten sorcerers, that meant at least 3 people.
In any case, it was certain that the strange woman in front of him had committed murder several times.
"How many people have you killed like this?"
"I-I didn’t do it because I wanted to, okay? The more those higher-ranked players run wild, the more fierce it gets for the rest of us at the bottom!"
"Yeah, I’m sure."
Once this was over, he would never have to see her again anyway, so there was no need to press her about her crimes.
Junpei scrolled up to display the top five names on the screen, then grabbed Kogane’s head and shoved it in front of Remi’s eyes.
"Hey, let go of me!"
"Is the guy you know among these five?"
Kashimo Hajime, Ishigori Ryu, Higuruma Hiromi, Druv Lakdawalla, Uro Takako.
If he found even one of the five, that would be a harvest.
Remi’s eyes rolled wildly as she scanned the screen, then her gaze stopped dead on one spot.
"It’s this person."
The name she pointed to was....
----------------------------------
The tallest building in Shinjuku.
In the suite on the top floor, a man was smoking a cigarette.
Haaah...
Even after exhaling smoke, the heaviness in his chest didn’t go away.
He had expected a lot from the second chance he finally got, but it was still not enough.
The man absentmindedly fiddled with his hair and sighed.
"When are you coming?"
My sweet dessert, the one who will bring about another upheaval.
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