Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)

SECT.1 - Soldiers' Tea Party

15th of February, 2026. Sunday. Around 1.5 hours past noon.

In a room of a metropolitan high-rise apartment house in Tokyo on a very cloudy day,

“Wow!”

“Yay yay!”

“Nice moves!”

“As expected.”

“How amazing!”

“That was fast!”

Several high-pitched cheers flew about.

It was a tranquil, ten jō(1)-sized living room surrounded by white walls.

There were six high-school girls dressed in uniforms, sitting on a cream-coloured carpet, and excitedly watching a 42-inch liquid crystal TV placed in a corner of the room.

Of those six, five were black-haired girls with a skin colour typical to the j.a.panese. A single one of them was blonde and white-skinned.

There was a slightly older, and outstandingly tall for a j.a.panese female, girl behind these six. While sitting with her long legs bent at the knees,

“I have a mixed feeling about you cheering like that again……”

She let out those words as she looked at the swaying of the girls’ hair.

And, she added this.

“Even though our gunfight has yet to make an appearance on the video……”

The computer graphics were so detailed that the scene depicted on the large liquid crystal TVscreen barely differed from a scenery of the real world.

The sun was still up, yet the skies were dyed in red as if it was sunset; and an SF movie-like s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p lodged in a swamp could be seen from a bird’s-eye view.

“I want to see that battle again! Can we rewind it? Karen-san.”

One of the uniformed high-school girls turned around, with her black braid swaying.

“By all means. As many times as you like.”

The tall woman who was the owner of the room, Kohiruimaki Karen, answered with a smile.

Having received consent, the high-school girl repeatedly hit the 〝slight rewind〟 b.u.t.ton on theTV remote in her hands. Each time, the scene would change completely, until it finally stopped at the part that the girl sought.

The scene reflected in the CG video was an open location that looked like a foreign, high-cla.s.s residential area. A crossroad on a broad street.

The video overlooked a quiet intersection from several metres above ground, where a cracked pavement, with various junk such as tyres, shopping carts, a small suitcase lying around could be seen.

Eventually, four men, dressed in camouflage and with black rifles in their hands, appeared on the screen. Of course, they were characters visualised with CG.

The men entered the crossroads and vigilantly surveyed the area. They were all wearing masks, thus it was impossible to tell their expressions. Their voices could not be heard either.

“Here it comes……”

A moment after one of the high-school girls muttered this, the on-screen suitcase cracked. It suddenly opened on its own like a baked hamaguri(2), and what came out was...

“There!”

A pink girl.

A small girl who wasn’t even 150 cm tall. Her combat uniform, boots, gloves, cap, magazine, and even the strangely-shaped device in her hands were all pink.

Then, the device spewed fire and a series of high-pitched gunshots came from the TV’s monitor, demonstrating that the device was a gun.

The face and body of the man closest to the pink girl was showered with in bullets, parts of his body that were hit shone in red, and small particles of light scattered from them. It wasn’t a depiction of fresh blood, only a CG 〝hit effect〟 created from light.

Then, the man lost his strength, collapsed on the spot, and a 【Ｄｅａｄ】── in other words, a red marker denoting 〝deaths.h.i.+bou〟, lit up with a *pikon* sound. He was dead.

The pink girl then fired at the next man closest to her while charging towards him. The man did return fire with his rifle, but not a single bullet hit the pink girl. Conversely, the man was turned into a beehive.

Thus, the second person was also killed in the time it takes to say ‘ah’, then the pink girl leapt to the side of his corpse to hide.

The surviving two men trained their rifles at the girl, but one of them obviously hesitated to fire, while the other fired, but could not hit the small target that was using the corpse as a s.h.i.+eld. Like the ones before, he was shot and died.

The pink girl then rolled on the ground like a spinning top, and drenched the last man in a bloodbath of hit effects.

Having killed all of them in several seconds, the pink girl ran away from her current position with an extreme dash. She disappeared outside the screen at an unimaginable speed.

Having pressed the stop b.u.t.ton on the remote, the high school girl,

“Yep, not matter how many times I see it, it’s still amazing! Karen-san!”

Said as she turned around once again, and Karen answered with a bitter smile.

“That was── I was able to do it because it was 〝LLENN〟.”

At that moment, she heard a strong reply from that small body.

“That’s the same thing! It’s the player who controls the avatar! That’s why, LLENN, the victor of the Squad Jam, is Karen-san right here!”

By 2026 AD, games had achieved tremendous evolution.

It was the prosperity of 〝FullDive-type〟virtual reality (VR) games, which cut off all sensations of the body, and instead sent new senses to the brain, allowing the player to enjoy the illusion that they were actually in the game.

Anyone in the possession of a computer, the game software, and a large, goggle-type device called the 《AmuSphere》 could easily take a trip to a different world.

The AmuSphere cut off the senses of the body, and sent fake sensations directly to the brain.

Because of this, players would enter a state that felt like 〝a dream where one knew that it is a dream〟, and could manipulate one’s alter ego in a VR world ── an 〝avatar〟, as if controlling one’s own body.

Being able to control another self, just like a 〝dream〟game.

A great variety of VR games, having blossomed simultaneously like flowers, were available──

But among them was a VR-MMORPG (Ma.s.sively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) that specialised in battles with guns.

Its name was── 《Gun Gale Online》. Abbreviated to GGO.

Set on an Earth that was laid to ruin during the last war, mankind unexpectedly returned via a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p and began rampaging with guns in their hands. Sometimes fighting against monstersand the like, sometimes against other player characters.

The weapons used were guns.

Both optical guns fitting for an SF setting, and live ammunition guns as they appeared in reality, were available. It was a game where it was possible to fight relentlessly with guns in a virtualworld, and where gun maniacs could let loose.

Moreover, exchanging in-game currency to electronic money was officially not prohibited in GGO. Because of that, it became a place rampant with professional players who were in a frenzy to earn a living through playing── no, it could already be called 〝working〟.

In this game called GGO, a battle royale tournament to 〝decide the strongest player〟 is held. It’s called the 《Bullet of Bullets》. Abbreviated to BoB.

The BoB is an event that raises a wave of excitement throughout GGO. The tournament had been held thrice thus far, and its scale continued to increase.

Having seen one such BoB tournament, a certain person was struck with an idea. 〝I want to see a team battle royale rather than a one on one fight〟.

That person sent a request to GGO’s management company, an organisation, known as 《Zaskar》, that is registered in the United States. And it decided to organise a game tournament with him as the sponsor.

It was a battle royale tournament, like the BoB, that consisted of teams up to six members──

And it was called 〝Squad Jam〟. Abbreviated to SJ. In the army, squad was the term for 〝teambuntai〟. Jam had the meaning of 〝being cramped〟.

As an individual-sponsored mini tournament, the SJ was held two weeks earlier on the 1st of February. It could not be compared to the level of the BoB, which had a live broadcast on a net broadcaster, but it was considerably exciting nonetheless.

The battles were only given a live broadcast in an in-game bar that became the main venue for the event. A fierce gun battle among twenty three teams unfolded in a special field that was 10km wide in all four directions.

The audience watched the broadcast, while enjoying drinks, to see which team would survive, and──

To everyone's great surprise, the winners of the battle, which took 1 hour 28 minutes and totaled 49,810 bullets spent, was a team that partic.i.p.ated with only two players, the bare minimum.

One of the two was a rough-looking giant who excelled in shooting and whose character namewas 〝M〟.

The other was──

A tiny girl, dressed entirely in pink, controlled by Kohiruimaki Karen.

A truck advancing along the road of a residential district was displayed on the screen.

It was a rustic military truck that had numerous armour plates attached to the side of the cab and hood. Crus.h.i.+ng the scattered trash on the cracked, paved road with its large tyres, the truck drove at a considerable speed until it stopped in front of a mansion.

“So Saki-chan and the others managed to get there from the edge of the map that fast because you had that truck, huh.”

Karen said to the braided girl.

“Yep!”

The girl quickly turned around and answered in a cheerful voice.

Her name was 〝Nitobe Saki〟. She was a second-year at a school affiliated with the prestigious women’s university that Karen attended, and the head of the rhythmic gymnastics club.

At that moment, the TV screen showed a rough-looking, huge female character being the first to get off the pa.s.senger seat.

Being at least 180 cm-tall, having well-developed muscles and a ma.s.sive chest, the woman looked like a female pro wrestler. If it weren’t for the three brown braids hanging down from her right and left, it would probably be hard to even tell her gender. Age-wise, she looked like she was in her mid-thirties… or more like easily older than that.

She was wearing camouflage clothes, with small green dots, from top to bottom. And she was holding a large backpack in her hands.

This strong-looking female soldier, whose character name was 〝Eva〟, was Saki’s GGO avatar.

“Hmm, no matter how many times I see it, it still looks sca── strong……”

Saki quickly reacted to Karen’s voice. Cutely puffing her cheeks,

“Hey! Karen-san, you were just about to say 〝scary〟!”

“Sorry sorry. Yeah, but, it does look scary.”

Karen apologised with a smile and then affirmed it, after which, one of the girls, who had ashortcut hairstyle, followed up.

“ Boss is the strongest of us after all!”

The name of the girl who said that with a carefree smile was 〝Fujisawa Kana〟. She was a girl with shoulder-length hair and a determined expression.

Like Saki, Kana was a second-year at the attached high school, and she was Saki’s childhood bosom friend who also supported the rhythmic gymnastics club as its vice-president.

Saki, who was called by the name 〝Boss〟 in both RL and VR, said,

“Kana-cchi’s avatar is the same! ──There, please look at it, Karen-san! 〝Sophie’s〟burly figure!”

With her small hand, she pointed at the screen.

On it, a character jumped off the load-carrying tray. It was a short, and appropriately wide, woman with a grim expression. Her name was Sophie.

Her small but wide outfit made her look like a fantasy world dwarf. Her long, brown hair was tied together at the back of her head.

The weapon in Sophie’s hand was a Russian-made 《PKM Machine Gun》 that looked considerably heavy.

“Ahaha. ──You both look really strong.”

Smiling carefreely, Karen…

Remembered the time she tried to 〝kill〟 them.

She arbitrally imagined that they were insulting her, and thus she was driven by the urge to find a gun──

And as a result, that was deciding factor for her partic.i.p.ation in SJ; it was foreshadowed.

‘I don’t know how my life will change.’

Karen thought.

“Okay! Next up is me(3)!”

One of the girls raised her white hand.

She was a Caucasian girl with transparent, golden, shoulder-length, wavy hair and blue pupils.

Her height was about the same as the other girls’, but for a Caucasian girl, she was considerably short. Her j.a.panese was very good, and her p.r.o.nunciation did not feel out of place at all.

“Okay, Milana-chan.”

Karen responded by calling her name.

The first-year girl was 〝Milana Sidorova〟. Her parents were Russian traders. Milana had traveled back and forth between Tokyo and Moscow since she was a child, but starting with her second year in middle school, she had continuously attended their school.

A character holding a long and narrow gun stepped out of the driver’s seat on the screen.

The character, who was Milana’s other self, was named 〝Tohma〟. The at least 175 cm tall figure had a matching slender body. Underneath her green knit cap, was glossy, black short-cut hair. Her garments were camouflage clothes, similar to her companions’. And as for her weapon, she had a famous, Russian-made semi-auto sniper rifle, the 《Dragunov》.

Saki halted the footage, and explained to Karen.

“You see, surprisingly, Milana-chan can operate a manual transmission car! She was taught that by her car-loving father in Russia.”

“Oh. So that’s how……”

Karen expressed her understanding. If one was able to do something in RL, they would be able to do it in GGO too.

“Now for the next one!”

With Saki’s words and her press of the b.u.t.ton, the video resumed. The next character quickly stepped down from the load-carrying tray.

It was a female character that looked considerably old, had red hair and a freckled face. She was tall, had broad shoulders and gave off the feeling of a strong mother. Her armament was a PKMmachine gun. She had a rucksack with spare gun barrels and spare ammunition cases. On the sides of the rucksack hung three plasma grenades on each side.

“Yeah yeah! That’s me~e!”

A girl, sitting at the side of the table full of sweets and bearing absolutely no resemblance to the old lady on the screen, raised her voice. She was a beautiful j.a.panese girl with a cute, j.a.panese-style bob cut.

Her real world name was 〝Noguchi s.h.i.+ori〟. A second-year high school student. Her name in GGO was 〝Rosa〟.

While looking at both the scary face of Rosa whom she had seen in SJ, and the face of the cute girl who had been controlling the avatar, Karen,

“I see, so that was s.h.i.+ori-chan……”

Said seriously.

“Hehehe!”

Seeing the genuinely shy and smiling s.h.i.+ori, Karen also squinted her eyes.

On the screen, the fifth member descended.

It was a character with golden hair waving underneath her green knit hat, and from her appearance, she looked younger than the other members, around her early twenties. She was wearing sungla.s.ses and had a beautiful appearance, as if she was a foreign actress. She was holding a Dragunov sniper rifle.

“Ehm, that, is me……”

The one who had moderately raised her hand was the girl with the longest black hair in the group, tied at the back of her head, who wore a gentle expression. She was a first-year named 〝Annaka Moe〟. Her character name was 〝Anna〟, so she was the one in the group whose in-game name was closest to her real name.

Karen had not even said a word, but...

“Ehm, sorry…… that my avatar looks, kinda stuck up.”

Moe shrunk even more than she had until now, and abruptly began apologising.

“Huh?”

Karen was unable to understand her, so Saki cut in.

“Moe-chan is ashamed that her avatar is far too similar to a cool Hollywood actress. Even though I said that there’s no need to worry about that!”

“Ah, I see…”

Finally, the shortest, though she was still at the very least 160 cm tall, character got off the truck on the screen.

Her hair was silver and very short. Her sharp eyes and face made her look like a fox. Her camouflaged clothes and equipment matched the other members, but she also had a pistolholster identical to Boss’s on her waist. The weapon in her hands was the Russian-madesubmachine gun 《PP-19 Bizon》.

“Yeah yeah! That’s meboku! Iboku am the person inside 〝Tanya〟!”

The one who raised her hand was a girl who used the ‘boku’(4) first person p.r.o.noun.

She had short, outstanding hair, and had an appearance that could be described as a crossdressing bishounen. Of course, she was really a girl and a first-year member of the rhythmic gymnastics club. Her name was 〝Kusunoki Risa〟.

“Risa’s RL appearance resembles her avatar the most!”

Just as Saki had declared, aside from the black-silver colour difference, they both had identicalvery short hair. Though avatar Tanya’s eyes were probably a bit sharper.

“And that’s it! That’s the end of the attached high’s rhythmic gymnastics club’s full memberGGO-self introduction!”

After Karen replied with ‘Yes, thanks’ to Saki’s words,

“Ehm…… Are we really, going to watch it now?”

She asked Saki and the other five, reluctant to continue.

‘Naturally Of course Obviously That’s what we came for We are!’

They answered simultaneously, like the rapid-fire of a machine gun, and Saki calmed her club members with her hand,

“We are, of course! Karen-san, please explain in detail how you 〝killed〟 us! Since we will reflect on it and study to become the victors of the next SJ!”

In the Squad Jam tournament that took place two weeks before, Karen’s, no, her avatar LLENN’s final──

And most formidable enemies were these girls.

Having their 〝RL leaked〟unexpectedly, in other words, their real world ident.i.ty discovered 2 days after the tournament, Karen and the six members of the attached high’s rhythmic gymnastics club began exchanging greetings every time they pa.s.sed each other by.

Eventually, this turned into short conversations, which became somewhat long conversations, then even longer chit-chats; however, they did not have the free time for these conversations then and there, thus...

“So, why don’t you come over to my place on a day off from school? It’s just one stop by subway from here, and it shouldn’t take long to walk either……”

Karen said without putting much thought into her words.

And just after she finished,

‘When did I become so proactive to invite someone over!”

At first, she was surprised.

And at the same time,

‘Ah, did I say something that I shouldn’t have by going with the flow?’

Karen felt pain in her heart.

‘We haven’t known each other for that long yet, and, moreover, if I say 〝Then come to my place〟, wouldn’t the girls be cautious? Moreover, wouldn’t it be difficult to refuse?’

‘Shouldn’t I have suggested going to a cafe first?’

‘I have been feeling strangely proactive ever since the SJ, but has it gone too far, leading to me ending up reckless?’

She thought of such things in her mind while frowning, but then──

The reaction came like a storm.

‘Wha, can we We will come We’re definitely coming We’ll come(5) Yay, please do let us come!’