Chapter 14 (1/2)
SECT.14 - Later Developments
Having been engulfed in light, the placed that they were transferred to was the initial standbyarea.
The characters 『Winners!』 was flas.h.i.+ng in the small s.p.a.ce. As for the match results, the time of each team’s annihilation or resignation was listed.
The topmost was, of course, themselves, ≪LM≫.
Below was ≪ＳＨＩＮＣ≫. ‘s.h.i.+nku?’ LLENN couldn’t make sense of it, but they were terrifying opponents in any case.
And below them were——
LLENN stopped following the remaining results, and looked at her own figure.
Her combat uniform, which had been covered in dust just moments ago, became sparkling clean, and her dropped knit cap was placed right next to her.
However,
“P-chan……”
The figure of her beloved gun, which was acknowledged to have be destroyed, was nowhere to be found. As if it was even confirmed that no usable parts remained, the gun’s fragments were not present either.
“ Bye-bye……”
As she muttered, to her right,
“Aah……”
The large man sat down with a thump as he sighed. It didn’t really happen, but LLENN felt as if the earth shook at that moment.
“Nice work, M-san. We survived, right?”
“A-ah, yeah…….”
M raised his head as he took off his bush hat.
The stern face that looked like an RL brown bear’s when they had met now looked like that of a teddy bear to LLENN.
M operated with his left hand, brought out a window, and took off most of his equipment in an instant. The M14 EBR that had slaughtered who knows how many targets, the backpack that had protected him from who knows how many bullets, and the HK45 that was fired at LLENN, all of them disappeared one after the other.
What remained was a macho man dressed in the bottom half of his combat uniform and a T-s.h.i.+rt.
LLENN followed him as well; first, she materialised a robe, and under it she took off all of her equipment and changed to her green clothes.
There was a huge numeral countdown in the s.p.a.ce in front of them, and, 110, 109, 108, it continued to decrease. Underneath it,
『The Squad Jam has ended. Would you like to log out? Or would you like to return to the bar? In case neither is chosen, you will be returned to the bar.』
Were these characters.
If she returned to the bar, LLENN would be treated as the victor. She would undoubtedly get befitting praise from the audience that watched the broadcast, and she would be caught in a barrage of questions,
“I’ve…… had enough going wild and am really tired.”
LLENN operated the log out option, and she only needed to press the „Ｙｅｓ“ b.u.t.ton.
“MeBoku ……too…… I dislike clapping and cheering too, so I’ll be going off too.”
Hearing M’s answer,
“You use „boku“ in RL, huh. M-san.”
“Huh? Ah, yeah…… Honestly speaking, using „ore“ in this world is very exhausting…… Boku is, better.”
“Well, either way, we survived, right?”
“A-ah, yeah…… Hey, erm…… you see……”
Seeing M looking up at her apologetically,
“Why did you come to save me in the end?”
LLENN impishly asked.
M answered.
“Because it was safer for me.”
At his blunt and frank words, LLENN unintentionally gave a wry smile.
And then,
“The scary Pito-san in RL will also approve of this! All’s well that ends well!”
LLENN said as if trying to take the initiative, and smiled sweetly.
“Th-that would be nice……”
LLENN didn’t know what kind of relations.h.i.+p the two had, or how serious that usual „I’m going to kill you in RL“ letter was.
She didn’t know, but seeing as they survived this far, even Pitohui probably couldn’t complain. It was a great result.
Speaking of results——
“That reminds me, we ended up winning but…… it seems we could get something for it, right?”
She remembered something that was written in SJ’s rule book.
That the top three teams would get a prize. She did not know what that would be though.
It wasn’t a grand tournament like the BoB, and it was sponsored by an individual, so LLENN didn’t think that it would be something that was worth looking forward to, and moreover, she didn’t think that she would get into the top three, so LLENN hadn’t cared about it.
“Huh? Ah…… Victory prize, huh……”
M answered with absolutely no interest as well,
“Seeing as we survived…… I don’t really care if we do get one.”
Looking down on M who seemed to be honestly thinking that,
“True, there’s no better prize than that.”
LLENN said.
“Though probably…… we’ll probably be sent a catalogue later on, like in the BoB.”
“Like a hikidemono(1) in weddings, huh. ——Speaking of which, I wonder if Pito is receiving one at this moment?”
“Possibly.”
“I wonder if there will be a P90 in that catalogue……?”
To LLENN, who muttered knowing the answer,
“Probably not. ——In either of them.”
M answered honestly.
“Right……”
And with this, their conversation was over, and after a few seconds of silence,
“Well, I’m going off then. See you for the review meeting.”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Send my regards to Pito-san!”
LLENN pressed the „Ｙｅｓ“ b.u.t.ton as she said thus.
The next thing that entered Karen’s five senses as she was looking at the ceiling through theclear part of her AmuSphere was——
The smell of ample sweat.
And, the sense of the weight of her body that had sunk in the bed, and her pyjamas drenched in sweat.
“Unaaa……”
While giving an expression that did not make sense, she abruptly got up, taking off herAmuSphere at the same time,
“…………”
And she saw a room with n.o.body else in it.
Tokyo’s evening sky was probably as red as it was in GGO. It was dimly s.h.i.+ning from the opening of the curtain.
Karen stood up sluggishly, took several steps, and caught sight of the black P90 that was adorning the living room corner.
“…………”
Taking it into her hands, she held it in front of her stomach. And then, she looked at the mirror.
The black P90 wasn’t sufficient in size to cover her abdomen, thus pale yellow(2) jut out both from the sides and from above.
“…………”
Karen lifted the P90 and,
“…………”
Silently fixed it to her shoulder,
“…………”
She aimed at the huge woman with long, black hair in the mirror.
And then, she breathed in,
“Bam!”
And breathed out in a plosive sound.
Holding the P90 in her right hand, Karen turned back and went to the side of her bed. By squatting down, she lifted up her smartphone that was placed in a charging station, and immediately turned it on.
And then, picked out one of the numbers registered in it, and immediately dialled.
When she was connected,
“Good day, this is Kohiruimaki.”
Without hesitation, she enquired.
“Can I make a reservation for tomorrow?”
『However, what went wrong?”』
『Uh huh. What went wrong?』
『Stop saying the same thing. Well, something did go wrong.』
『You guys, are you idiots! Have a sincere conversation. ——It’s true that we l-lost. Let’s admit it.』
『Uh huh. ‘ven so, we got to shoot like crazy, huh.』
『Yeah, we did. Being able to shoot with a machine gun exhilaratingly like that was so awesome.』
『Are we going to partic.i.p.ate in the next SJ if there’s going to be one?』
『We will!』
『’course!』
『Obviously. But, I would want to survive and move up the rank a bit more next time. I want to shoot more.』
『Same.』
『No objection.』
『Alright! We’ll be training for that occasion until then!』
『Training, huh…… Well, it can’t be helped. Shall we do it?』
『Oh? What are we going to do?』
『It’s pretty obvious. Every one of us will be raising our strength!』
『And then?』
『We raise it to the limit, and hold machine guns in both hands! Like dual wielding pistols, but with machine guns! That will instantly double our firepower! Double!』
2nd of February 2026. Monday. Past 9AM.
Ibaraki prefecture, Hyakuri Air Self-Defence Force Base. In one of the rooms there, two men had met face-to-face.
One of them was a man in his forties, wearing an Air Self-Defence Force uniform with a ‘sansa’ (corresponds to ‘major’)(3) rank insignia.
He was sitting in a chair with his elbow on the desk,
“Although that is only the gist of it, that is the end of the report that I can present today.”
And listening to the words of the man standing in front of him.