"...No. I wasn't paying attention to any of that."
Amikura Mako shook her head and turned to the girl beside her.
"What about you two? Do either of you know the layout of this mall?"
Shinaa Hiyori blinked her pale violet eyes, the picture of innocence.
"Sorry."
"Same as Chris — I'm really not much of a shopper. I don't have any feel for the geography here."
Amikura Mako turned to Kamuro Masumi.
"Don't look at me, I don't know either!" Kamuro waved her off immediately.
Perhaps because bad luck had become her default setting, she was — aside from Chris — the calmest person in the group right now.
"We are so dead..."
Amikura Mako pressed a hand to her forehead in anguish. "No map, no idea where the exits are — are we seriously just supposed to sit here and wait for the upperclassmen to come rescue us?"
"Probably."
Shinaa Hiyori hugged her book to her chest and pulled a pained face as she glanced at Chris — standing there completely empty-handed.
"Without the combat suits and weapons the Black Sphere provides, the odds of any of us ordinary people surviving a direct encounter with those creatures... is approximately zero. Running would just mean dying faster."
A heavy silence fell over the group.
"Running blind without knowing our position would be a mistake," Chris said, breaking the quiet as he scanned their surroundings. "But sitting around waiting to die has never been the optimal play either. You have to assume the worst first — like the upperclassmen being in over their heads, or the fighting spilling into this area."
He clapped his hands together — not loud, but clear enough for everyone to hear.
"You two."
"Yes — yes sir!" Amikura Mako snapped to attention, startled by the shift in his bearing.
Even Shiina Hiyori instinctively sat up straight, like a grade schooler called on by the teacher.
Chris pointed toward the floor-to-ceiling windows and the ornate double doors on the right side.
"Go pull every curtain closed. While you're at it, find some tables and chairs to barricade the main entrance. Keep us hidden."
"A place this size will have its own back-of-house storage. There'll be a service exit somewhere too. I'll go find it — and set up some traps while I'm at it. See what I can improvise for self-defense."
Amikura Mako nodded vigorously. "Those creatures don't have Black Sphere radar — as long as we stay hidden well enough, we might actually be able to ride this out!"
"We're counting on you, Chris-kun," Shiina Hiyori added obediently.
"Guess I'll be your backup then..." Kamuro Masumi sighed and fell into step behind him.
Chris gave a small wave — not a refusal, just a wordless no need to say more.
Honestly, he'd originally planned to do exactly what Ichinose did — keep the combat suit on him at all times.
But right before heading out, he'd had a second thought.
Wait. This run was specifically arranged as a training exercise for the upperclassmen — and for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. What am I doing, suiting up? Old habits die hard. I need to stop thinking like a foot soldier and start thinking like the one pulling the strings.
Between his trap cards, the Horse Talisman, and the Heart of Steel he'd just unlocked yesterday — the combat suit's one-time damage immunity wasn't actually doing much for him anyway.
And besides, right before leaving the dorm, he'd taken one NZT-48.
From Limitless — the ultimate cognitive enhancer, capable of unlocking one hundred percent of the human brain's potential.
Right now, his mind was running like a freshly oiled machine — spinning at a rate he couldn't even count, wisdom practically saturating the air around him, so thick you could reach out and grab a fistful.
Wow. Look at me. I'm absolutely brilliant.
It'd be a waste not to show off a little, wouldn't it?
——
While Chris and the others set to work on their end of the mall —
At the opposite end of the building.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had just turned away from a convenience store shelf when he saw it — the same eerie phenomenon Ichinose Honami had described.
The crowds that had been filling the mall moments before — vanishing. As if an invisible eraser had swept through them. A faint flicker, and then nothing. Gone without a sound.
He took half a step back and looked toward the register.
The cashier who had been smiling and scanning his items was no longer there. Just an empty counter and a machine that was still running.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka observed it all with an expression that gave away nothing.
In almost the same instant, he had already pieced it together.
Pulled in again...
But this time there had been no phone notification. No preliminary test.
Which meant — had the Black Sphere started bypassing the school's notification system entirely? Or was this simply not an exam targeting his year group in the first place?
Ayanokoji turned it over in his mind without rushing to move.
He walked to the household goods aisle and stopped in front of a display of knives — a full row of them, handles gleaming under fluorescent light. His gaze moved along the selection, and he settled on one: a fruit knife with a Damascus-patterned blade and a solid, comfortable grip.
He carried it back to the empty register, pulled out his phone, and calmly tapped his card to pay.
Then he walked out through the storefront and stood in the middle of the deserted street.
As the sole survivor of the White Room's fourth generation — the only student to complete the full curriculum — the so-called "ultimate demon" — he had come to this school in large part because the White Room had nothing left to teach him.
What he was looking for here was something worth striving for. Something that could make him feel alive.
The Black Sphere — technology that clearly exceeded anything this era should have been capable of — seemed like it might be that answer.
Not that he was eager to get involved. At his core, he was someone who preferred to stay in the shadows, observe, and move only when the conditions were right. A thorough avoider of unnecessary conflict.
But...
"Selected again and again — and every time, as an uninvited outsider crashing someone else's exam..."
Ayanokoji turned the fruit knife over slowly in his hand, his gaze distant and measured.
"Is this really just coincidence?"
"Or has whatever is behind the Black Sphere already started paying attention to me specifically?"
If it was the latter — then hiding indefinitely might already be a pointless strategy.
He slipped the blade into his sleeve.
If he was already inside the game, then for his own survival — for the sake of whatever victory waited at the end — no amount of sacrifice would be too much.
Good.
Since I'm here as an uninvited participant with no Black Sphere rules protecting me — I want to see what happens. If I take down the exam target myself... what kind of response will the Black Sphere give?
He was still mapping out his next move when —
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Rapid footsteps. Heavy breathing. From somewhere around the corner, not far off.
Ayanokoji's focus snapped back in an instant.
Nine people. Seven male, two female. Footsteps unsteady — breathing ragged — but their formation is holding. These are qualified exam participants.
A few seconds later, a group in Advanced Nurturing High School uniforms came around the corner.
The one at the front wore glasses. His expression was cold and composed. Behind him trailed a flashy-looking guy with dyed blond hair, and a handful of others with varying degrees of panic written on their faces.
The leader's gaze swept the area — and landed almost immediately on Ayanokoji, half-obscured in the shadows.
His pace faltered. He glanced at the black weapon in his hand, confirmed the green dot marking an uninvited participant, and made his way over.
When he got close enough to see that Ayanokoji's face held none of the wide-eyed panic a normal student should have — something clicked behind his eyes.
"Hey."
"The way you're reacting — you already know about the Black Sphere exams, don't you?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at the face in front of him — seven or eight parts identical to Horikita Suzune's — and gave a single nod, his tone even.
"I'm in Class D, first year. Someone in our class printed up a handout with intel on the Black Sphere exams and distributed it to the whole class."
"Class D..."
Horikita Manabu pushed his glasses up and seemed to file that away thoughtfully.
But before he could follow the thought any further, the blond guy behind him pushed forward impatiently, cutting in:
"Hey, President Horikita. Now is really not the time to be fixating on some random nobody who has nothing to do with us."
"Don't forget — we've completely lost our mental impression of the exam target. If we don't find it and finish the mission within an hour, everyone here is getting a GAME OVER."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's eyebrow ticked up slightly at that.
Lost their impression of the target?
That... feels very familiar...
"Everyone losing their memory of the target at once — that's almost certainly the creature's own ability interfering with our perception," Horikita Manabu said. Still visibly tense, but keeping it reined in. "That said — we still have the Black Sphere radar. As long as we follow the red dot, we'll find it."
He glanced at Ayanokoji, gave him a brief pat on the shoulder, and said:
"It's dangerous here, underclassman. While things are still calm — find somewhere safe and stay put. Don't go wandering."
He turned to lead his group away.
Ayanokoji shook his head.
"Actually — I think I'm better off coming with you."
"I've been dragged into the exam space as an outsider several times now."
He tapped the side of his head.
"A creature that can interfere with perception — that makes people forget — I think I might actually have some recollection of it. I may be able to help you later."
Several members of the group turned to look at him.
Nagumo Miyabi stopped fidgeting with his gun and looked Ayanokoji up and down with open curiosity.
"Crashed the exam multiple times — and Class D of all places..."
"You're Ayanokoji Kiyotaka?"
Horikita Manabu blinked. Then something seemed to surface in his memory.
"Ayanokoji... the one who scored exactly fifty points on every subject at enrollment."
A moment of quiet appraisal.
Horikita Manabu removed the hand he'd placed on Ayanokoji's shoulder. He didn't refuse.
"Alright."
"Fall in, Ayanokoji. There's a target near the café not far from here — good chance to test the water. See if what you remember lines up with what we find."
——End of Chapter——
Note ① — NZT-48: The drug works by stimulating the brain's neural pathways to unlock latent human potential — dramatically boosting memory, language acquisition, and complex processing ability within thirty seconds, while also enhancing physical agility and personal magnetism. The catch: prolonged use creates severe dependency, and withdrawal symptoms upon cessation are debilitating.
Note ② — Heart of Steel:
Colossal Consumption: When there is one enemy champion within 700 units, charges up over 3 seconds for a powerful strike against that champion. The charged attack deals 70 (+ 3% maximum health) bonus physical damage, and permanently grants you maximum health equal to 8% of the damage dealt (30-second cooldown per target).
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Group chat of the Dead
✅ New releases are dropping, plus get exclusive content & updates.
✅ Help us unlock community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!