Dim light. The murky haze of an escalator landing.
Two pairs of bright eyes, watching without blinking.
From Goto's desperate self-amputation to the frenzied assault that followed — to Ichinose losing herself entirely and crushing it with a single punch... it had all happened too fast.
Kamuro Masumi pressed a hand to her chest, her heart still hammering.
Not melodrama. She'd simply watched Ryuuen Kakeru, Kanzaki Ryuuji, and the others — alive and standing one second ago — collapse like wheat under a scythe.
The primal fear of watching life snuffed out made her instincts recoil.
Sakayanagi Arisu, standing beside her, had a very different reaction.
So this is... the power of the combat suit?
Even Ichinose — who clearly never exercised a day in her life — could unleash that kind of force when her emotions hit a breaking point.
Which meant...
Sakayanagi's hand moved without thinking, fingertips brushing lightly over her own thigh.
If it were me — a healthy me — a me who had fully mastered that power...
Just imagining it — running freely, controlling everything — was enough to make something flutter in her chest.
"Hah..."
She caught herself breathing too quickly. Sakayanagi bit down lightly on the tip of her tongue.
Not yet. This isn't the time.
She turned her head, gaze shifting to the other side of the corridor.
Over there, Chris was finishing off the last two Parasytes — both desperately begging for their lives as his blade came down.
Charlie, the Chimpanzee-Man, had curled into a ball in the corner of the wall. Head bowed, shaking violently, making a sound like hiccupping sobs.
"Heheh..."
Sakayanagi murmured softly:
"As expected."
"No matter how arrogant they act in everyday life, no matter how rational they pretend to be — the moment they truly face death, fear takes over."
"In the face of the instinct called 'survival,' no living creature is exempt..."
Beside her, Kamuro Masumi's lip twitched.
...Says the person who dragged me behind the wall and refused to let go.
As the two of them helped each other up from the shadows —
At the center of the corridor.
The moment Goto went still, Ichinose Honami stood there gasping for breath — no time to savor any kind of victory. She spun on her heel and lunged toward where Shiranami Chihiro had fallen, arm outstretched.
"Chihiro!!"
Her fingertips swept through air. She touched nothing but the faint chill of it.
Just like last time — reaching for Amikura Mako's hand before the previous exam ended.
Even with the combat suit granting her speed beyond human limits, she still couldn't outrun the Black Sphere's merciless rules.
That time, at least, she'd known there was still hope.
This time...
A single warm droplet fell through the air and came to rest in her open palm.
Ichinose stared at it. And in her mind, unbidden, rose the image of Shiranami Chihiro's face in the instant she disappeared — mouth open, as if she'd been trying to say something, but no sound had made it out. Only this. One small tear, heavy with everything left unsaid.
"How did it...."
Grief lodged itself in her throat, sharp and aching.
She'd promised to protect everyone. She'd gotten the combat suit. She'd done everything right.
So why — why did it still end like this?
"...Cough."
Katsuragi Kohei braced himself against the wall and managed, barely, to pull himself upright.
From the shadows not far away, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka — who had slipped away the moment things turned critical — quietly returned, now that the coast was clear.
Chris followed close behind him. He took one look at Ichinose standing there, hollow-eyed and adrift, and let out a quiet breath.
"I'm sorry."
"I didn't expect Parasytes to retain that level of combat capability after separating from a host. That one's on me."
He paused, and when he spoke again, his tone carried something more deliberate:
"But don't give up just yet."
"According to what the Black Sphere told us, collect 100 points and you can resurrect a fallen teammate."
"One Parasyte alone is worth 20 points. This fight was brutal — but a lot of that came down to inexperience and getting our weapons ambushed out of our hands. Once we get more practice in, with the combat suits on our side... 100 points isn't as far away as it sounds."
At those words, Ichinose's shoulders gave a small shudder.
She didn't turn around. She just shook her head, voice muffled:
"This isn't your fault, Chris-kun."
"If you hadn't stepped in when you did, we'd have ended this with a full wipe... There wouldn't even be time for me to stand here feeling sorry for myself."
She said it — then blinked hard, once, forcing back the tears that were threatening to spill over.
When she turned around again, her face carried a smile. A little bitter, a little strained, but not entirely broken.
She walked to where Shiina Hiyori had collapsed and extended her hand:
"Shiina-san, can you stand?"
"You're still in the negatives from last time, aren't you? We're probably not getting any bonus this round. You should..." Ichinose glanced toward the wall where Charlie still huddled. "...you're almost at the limit. Go ahead and finish it off."
Shiina Hiyori blinked.
She looked at Ichinose — at the faint redness rimming her eyes — and something stirred quietly inside her.
She didn't refuse the kindness.
Because honestly, if she owed points into another exam, she had no guarantee she'd survive the next one either.
"Thank you, Ichinose-san."
Shiina Hiyori took her hand and let herself be pulled upright. Rather than press on that soft, vulnerable place in Ichinose's chest, she opted for practicality:
"But — before we do that, we should ask it some questions. It might have information about GANTZ."
Ichinose nodded.
Together, they made their way to where Charlie sat.
The Chimpanzee-Man was still shaking, still hiccupping helplessly from sheer terror.
Ichinose looked down at it with cold, flat eyes.
"Charlie-san."
"Would you like to tell us... about your world?"
"Hic... hic..." Charlie curled tighter into itself, still hiccupping.
Bang.
Before Ichinose could even frown, Chris drove a kick straight into Charlie's back and sent it spinning like a top.
"Someone's talking to you."
"We're all on a clock here. Nobody has time to wait for you to 'collect yourself.'"
The pain of bones grinding out of place — combined with the ice-cold gazes closing in from every direction — finally made something click for Charlie.
This world was nothing like the one it had come from. No unconditional tolerance waiting to cushion its falls. No special status to hide behind.
It curled up and spoke in broken, halting fragments:
"I... I don't really know what happened either..."
"One day I went to sleep and woke up and the world didn't match my memories anymore. After comparing notes with my brother — we're both lab-engineered half-human, half-chimpanzee hybrids — we concluded we'd crossed over somehow."
"While we were still disoriented, a group of people came to us..."
Charlie swallowed.
"They said they wanted to protect us. To fight for our rights. I didn't fully agree with their... radical methods, but I didn't oppose them either."
"So I went on television. And then after that... I somehow ended up in this mall. I have no idea how."
"Looks like it has absolutely no idea about the Black Sphere."
Katsuragi Kohei rubbed his bald head, brow creasing.
"If you're really as innocent as you claim..."
Ichinose bit down. "Then why did the Black Sphere flag you as a target? Why label you an 'enemy of humanity'?"
"Every target we've faced before has been evil spirits, or creatures that feed on human lives!"
"Well, as for that..."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka spoke up at exactly the right moment:
"I caught some of its news coverage on Sudou's phone earlier."
"The short version: a self-centered creature. One that views itself as unique — superior to humanity. That kind of naive arrogance can cause enormous damage precisely because it doesn't know any better. It hurts people without realizing it, and never once thinks it's in the wrong."
Chris silently gave him credit.
Exactly.
In the original story, Charlie's adoptive mother had been a saintly defense attorney who'd treated Charlie like it mattered more than any human life — fighting tooth and nail for its special privileges. Add in a useless female lead, a horde of radical animal rights activists, a crowd of background extras whose collective IQ had been mysteriously lobotomized by fate...
The result: Charlie could spout world-ending nonsense at will, put counter-terrorism units in the hospital with clearly hostile intent, and never once face a single consequence.
It had even decided — after the brother who'd killed its adoptive parents walked away — that it deserved to live.
Pure animal behavior, dressed up in a suit.
Perhaps it felt the shift in the air. Perhaps it was remembering its old "privileges."
Still pinned to the floor in the capture net, Charlie suddenly lifted its head.
"You... you're going to kill me, aren't you?"
"I'm not a human being, fine — but my legal guardian is a lawyer! I know human law makes it illegal to kill a person! As a sapient being, even if I attacked you, that was self-defense — instinct! You have no right as private individuals to execute me!"
"Pfft—"
Sakayanagi Arisu, just arriving on the scene, heard that and barely managed not to burst out laughing.
"My, my... you really do know how to pick the worst possible moment to say exactly the wrong thing."
And Ichinose Honami — for the first time — was actually laughed out of her grief by sheer disbelief.
"You enjoy all the conveniences of human society, then casually treat human lives as worthless. You want the protection of human law, but you refuse to live by human rules?"
She looked at Charlie one last time. When she spoke, it was calm. Sincere.
"I'm sorry, Charlie-san."
"Human beings built modern civilization and the laws that govern it — to protect the environment, to preserve ecological diversity — but when you strip it all the way back, the reason we did any of that was to protect our own kind."
"Not to provide a safety net for creatures like you to exploit."
She said what she had to say. No more words after that.
She held the X-GUN out to Shiina Hiyori.
"I have nothing left to add. Please go ahead, Shiina-san."
Chris watched.
Am I the only one who finds this genuinely cathartic?
This is exactly the kind of response a normal, sane person should have.
Shiina Hiyori — who hadn't picked up on what Chris was thinking — quietly sighed.
She didn't enjoy conflict. But she could tell right from wrong.
She raised the muzzle toward Charlie's still-startled face.
No hesitation.
One.
Two.
Three.
Bang.
[Target Eliminated.]
[Mission Complete.]
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan in "P" for more!🔥👻
🔥 New history: Group chat of the Dead
✅ Get immediate access to 40 early chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive material and special announcements!
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters across ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnut-chan