By the time I finally dropped into the school, most of the weapons had already been stripped clean. No ammo left, either....
All I’d been able to bring down from the rooftop was one pistol and fifteen rounds.
On the way down, I heard our team screaming, so I hurried down the stairs. Enemy players were there, and when I fired—bang—they died with a little grunt. That was it.
After that, I followed Fujiwara’s instructions and revived all of our teammates.
"What kind of gun was that just now...?"
"It says P92."
"What...? That’s a pistol, isn’t it? You wiped a squad with a pistol?"
"A few shots to the head and they went down pretty easily...."
"Good grief...."
Makiwara, the club president, clicked her tongue. Was it really that hard?
Figuring I should at least pick up some items, I wandered around and spotted a big, massive weapon.
[Crossbow]
I’d thought this was a gun game, but apparently weapons like this existed too.
I had no idea what was good, so I figured it needed verification first.
"I found a crossbow. How’s this?"
"Suzuki-kun, that’s total rubb—"
"Lucky you, admin guy. You found the best weapon in Battlegrounding."
Makiwara cut Fujiwara off and jumped in.
"...This is the best weapon?"
"Highest damage, silent for perfect stealth, that beautiful arc, and the satisfying feel of it in your hands... There’s no weapon in this game better than the crossbow!"
"Hmm...."
If an experienced player said so, then I guess that was that. I picked it up without a second thought.
I think Fujiwara sighed, but that was probably just my imagination.
While we were moving together as a group, something seemed to appear far away on the mountain.
"I think there’s an enemy on the north mountain. Can you see them?"
"...Where? I can’t see anything."
"Looks like there’s nothing there to me..."
"Then let’s shoot it and see."
Pew!
The crossbow bolt flew toward the spot I’d aimed at—
Whoooosh....
—and dropped weakly to the ground.
"Pfft! Suzuki-kun! You actually believed that...!"
"Something like this, huh."
"......Huh?"
I raised my aim much higher than before. Then the bolt I fired—
Pew!
[ShuchiinDeer’s crossbow headshot knocked out Hwancho-bi]
—landed directly on the enemy’s head I’d been aiming for. Seeing the enemy team panic and run around in confusion, it seemed they couldn’t even tell where the bolt had come from.
They were probably trying to revive their teammate quickly and escape, but no chance.
Pew!
[ShuchiinDeer’s crossbow headshot knocked out Piasinseu]
That made two. Two left. They were moving around all over the place, but there was no need to rush. Their movement was simple, straight-line—right now...!
Pew! Pew!
[ShuchiinDeer’s crossbow headshot...]
[ShuchiinDeer’s crossbow...]
And with that, I completely wiped the squad. Just like the president said, the crossbow really was a pretty good weapon.
One shot to the head and they go down. Nice and simple.
"".........""
".........?"
The three of them were always noisy, so seeing them this quiet made me wonder why. I looked over, and they were all staring at me with half-lidded eyes.
"...Did I do something wrong?"
"I’m asking this because I’m genuinely curious, but... are you even human?"
"...I am, though?"
"Then that’s fine...."
Leaving that incomprehensible question behind, we all ran into the safe zone.
There were several fights along the way, but everyone did their part.
When Fujiwara and the club president charged in, Gigako-senpai and I provided cover from behind.
With me consistently picking off one or two people with the crossbow, the team members all pulled their weight.
And after about ten minutes—
1/25
[We won! Tonight’s dinner is chicken!]
There was no one left on the field except our team.
"...Was this game always this easy?"
"No way. The enemies started out dying two at a time to the crossbow...."
"Suzuki-kun, how many kills did you get?"
"It says 18 kills."
Was that a lot? I think I got about ten with the crossbow and the rest with the pistol.
"Are you secretly a game prodigy or something? Seriously, what a talent monster...."
"I don’t even have the energy to be surprised anymore...."
"Now, now. Suzuki-kun passed the test splendidly. You can take Chika with you now."
It seemed like they weren’t going to keep holding me back anymore. If I didn’t get out fast now, who knew when I’d get another chance?
"Fujiwara, let’s go."
"...Yes."
Fujiwara and I stood up. After giving the seniors a light bow, we left the TG Club and started walking toward the student council room.
Then I suddenly felt like something was missing, so I looked down at my arm and realized I’d left the coat I’d taken off because it was hot back at the TG Club.
"Ah, I left my coat on the chair. I’ll be right back."
"Okay, I’ll head on ahead then~"
I turned around and had only taken about ten steps when I heard a strange impact sound from far away, and a bad feeling hit me. This was definitely...
"—Fujiwara!"
I spun around and sprinted toward her.
"...Y-yes!?"
Fujiwara looked bewildered, not understanding why I was suddenly running at her like a madman.
There was no time to explain. It was too late for words. In that case—
Crash!!
The glass window shattered with a huge noise, and I threw myself to the floor while hugging her.
Even then, just before we scraped against the ground, I twisted my body so I’d take the bottom. The result was...
"——Ugh!"
My back got dragged across the broken glass.
That actually hurt.
"Ow, ow, what was that all of a sudden—? A-are you okay!?"
Still dazed from being suddenly yanked around, Fujiwara spotted the scattered glass shards and the baseball lying around, then asked me in alarm how I was doing.
"I’m fine, more or less. What about you, Fujiwara?"
"I’m okay thanks to you! Thank you...."
"It’s nothing. It’s not like I did anything amazing. More importantly, get off me so I can stand up."
"Ah! Sorry...!"
Fujiwara hurriedly got off me. Was she really okay? Her face was bright red.
"Are you sure you’re fine? You don’t look so good."
"...I’m really fine, kyah!"
"What, are you hurt somewhere after all—!"
"Suzuki-kun, your back, your back...!"
What Fujiwara was pointing at was my back.
At her words, I reached back and ran my hand over it—
"...Huh, it really is."
I hadn’t even noticed I was bleeding from the impact of hitting the floor.
While I was thinking, ‘This is no big deal,’ Fujiwara was even more frantic than I was. Since I was only wearing a white shirt, it probably stood out more.
"Let’s hurry! The infirmary!"
"This kind of thing just needs a few bandages...."
"Don’t say ridiculous things and follow me right now!"
Fujiwara snapped at me, grabbed my hand, and started running toward the first floor where the infirmary was.
We passed a lot of people on the way, and for some reason they all stared at us. It’s not like a little blood on my back was such a big deal.
We reached the infirmary and pulled on the door. But—
Click, click!
The infirmary was locked. And on the door was a note:
‘I’m out on business for a while. It’ll take a few hours, so I can’t be reached right away...’
"Ugh, we don’t have time to wait!"
Bang!
Fujiwara kicked the door hard. The lock inside the infirmary shattered, and the door flew open.
What was that force? Could she even control that...?
"I’ll go get disinfectant, so sit down for now!"
"...Okay."
I sat on the nearest bed. Fujiwara was rummaging through the medicine shelf with all her might, but it didn’t seem like she could find what she wanted easily.
She kept digging around, muttering, ‘Ugh, where is it?’ After a few minutes, she must have found everything she needed, because she came over carrying the supplies.
"Okay, Suzuki-kun! Take it off quickly!"
".........?!"
There are things a grown woman should and shouldn’t say. They say men and women should not sit together once they’re seven years old, and this was definitely one of those things.
I couldn’t give in on this.
"...No."
"If you’re going to cross your arms like that, it makes me look like the weird one...! Why are you being so shy!?"
"No, really, I’m fine. So..."
"I’m already sorry and grateful, so there’s no way I can let this go! If I say take it off, then take it off already!"
"Absolutely not."
"Take it off!"
"I said no!"
Fujiwara and I started a tug-of-war over my shirt.
How much time had passed? The shirt, already damaged from scraping the ground earlier, screamed in protest before—
Riiip!
—tearing clean in half.
Just like that, my upper body was left with not a single thread on it. We were both stunned by the sudden turn of events when the door abruptly flew open.
"Hotaro, Fujiwara secretary, are you here—!?"
After not seeing us for a while, Miyuki had come looking for us. He stepped inside, saw the two of us, and froze.
Me, bare-chested, and Fujiwara holding the torn remains of my shirt.
"Hey, Miyuki. There’s a reason for this..."
"President—!? This is a misunderstanding...!"
"I never would have imagined it. So you two were that kind of relationship. Ahem, sorry for interrupting. Have a good time."
"Hey, hey! Wait a second!"
Bang!
Miyuki slammed the door shut and left like a bolt of lightning.
It felt like we’d just been saddled with an utterly absurd misunderstanding...
Fujiwara and I could only sit there speechless for a while.
*
After Miyuki left, the atmosphere had turned strangely awkward.
Fujiwara looked deeply apologetic, on the verge of tears over the shirt, the misunderstanding she’d caused with Miyuki, and the fact that she’d made it hard for me to go home.
"Waaah, I’m really, really sorry...! I’ll even take off my own clothes and give them to you instead..."
"No...! Please, I’m begging you, don’t do that!"
Were you trying to turn me into a criminal, Fujiwara...?
If she actually did something that insane, the next day it would be plastered across the front page.
[Perverted high school boy H steals a girl’s uniform and sends her home in her underwear...]
That kind of article would hit the whole country like a bombshell.
If I didn’t offer the dejected girl some other solution, she’d come up with some equally unhinged one. In that case...
"...If you really feel that bad, then buy me a new one."
"Would that really be enough?"
"Yeah. I’d been wearing the old one for a long time anyway."
I wasn’t angry about the shirt being torn.
She’d been trying to treat my injury, after all, and my own stubbornness in insisting I was fine had probably been the bigger problem.
Honestly, I felt more guilty about how apologetic she looked.
I cleared my throat once and said to her,
"Ahem. Could you take care of my back?"
"Ah! Leave it to me!"
Fujiwara brightened at my words and soaked a cotton pad with disinfectant. Then I turned my back toward her so she could clean the wound, and I could feel her hesitate.
"What’s wrong?"
When I looked back, her face was oddly red. Was she sick or something?
"Ah, um, so... it’s nothing!"
Fujiwara carefully applied the disinfectant all over. Looking at how wide the area was, it really had been worth worrying about.
"Suzuki-kun’s back is a lot broader than I expected...."
"...Is that so."
I’d gotten used to a hunched posture, so it didn’t show much, but the years I’d spent exercising hadn’t gone anywhere.
I still did basic bodyweight training from time to time, too.
"Suzuki-kun, are you really bad at sports?"
She asked that out of nowhere while disinfecting me. Come to think of it, aside from Miyuki, I’d never talked to the student council members about this topic.
"You can tell just by looking, can’t you? And you’ve probably heard the rumors."
"...What I saw was the athleticism that saved me in that split second, and this back here. A wide, sturdy back that shows the traces of effort."
"......"
She really was perceptive in strange ways.
When she finished disinfecting me and put a wide bandage over my back, her hand felt strangely warm.
"Sorry if that was sensitive."
"No, it’s just..."
"......?"
"It’s just something I’m not ready to talk about yet. If you’re okay with it, I’ll tell you all someday."
"...Really?"
"Yeah, really."
Maybe I should trust these guys a little, too.
After treatment was over, I barely managed to stop Fujiwara from insisting on driving me home in her family’s car.
How was I supposed to get into someone else’s car dressed like a pervert, with only a gakuran jacket on and no shirt?
I ran all the way home, doing my best to maintain stealth.
When I finally arrived, it’s a secret that my little brother, who was watching TV at home, looked at me like, ‘What the hell is wrong with this guy...?’
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register