Student Council Office.
Nagumo Miyabi set a freshly brewed cup of instant black coffee in front of Horikita Manabu.
Then, with practiced ease, he draped a hand over Manabu's shoulder.
"It's already come to this, and you're still holed up in the Student Council room reading paperwork?" Nagumo leaned in slightly. "Not even going to take a break and try your hand at Ripple Breathing? You spent 3,000 item points to get that manual — then turned around and shared it with the whole school out of the goodness of your heart. And now you're telling me you're not even going to practice it yourself?"
Horikita Manabu's expression remained blank as he reached up and swatted Nagumo's hand away.
"There's no need."
Far from being offended, Nagumo looked almost like he'd found a kindred spirit. He nodded with exaggerated sincerity and settled into the chair across the desk.
"Can't quiet your mind, can you?" He rested his chin in his hand. "We're in the same boat, Mr. President. The moment I close my eyes, my head fills up with all sorts of noise. I can't settle down either."
Watching Nagumo put on that overwrought performance, Horikita Manabu's eye twitched.
He suppressed the very strong urge to pour the coffee directly into the other man's face, and ultimately settled for a long, deep sigh.
Honestly, he really did have a headache right now.
Nagumo, irritating as he was, had always been a genuinely capable officer — someone Manabu recognized as rare talent when it came to Student Council work. Their philosophies clashed, yes, but there had always been a mutual respect between rivals who acknowledged each other's worth.
And yet — who could have predicted this?
It had started with the last Black Sphere exam. The moment Manabu had pulled Nagumo out from under those two Abyssal creatures and saved his life…
The man's entire behavior had shifted into something utterly inexplicable.
No — to be more precise about it.
Nagumo had always harbored an almost obsessive competitive drive where Manabu was concerned.
It was just that after that little "hero saves the day" moment, Nagumo seemed to have found himself a perfectly legitimate excuse to act on it.
But if Manabu was being honest with himself…
Even though Nagumo had been wearing a Combat Suit and was capable of holding his own to some degree — in that examination environment, the only two people who could truly watch each other's backs while both running dangerously low on extra lives had been the two of them.
Given the circumstances, if Horikita Manabu wasn't going to save Nagumo Miyabi — who exactly was he supposed to save?
Just stand there and watch him get torn apart by the Abyssal creatures?
"Haah…" What was done was done. No point dwelling on it.
Just as Manabu was rubbing his temples, casting around for some excuse to send Nagumo away and reclaim a moment of peace —
The office door was pushed open from outside.
Chris strolled in at his usual unhurried pace.
The moment he stepped through the door, his feet came to an abrupt stop.
He took in the two of them and their subtly charged positions in the room.
Quietly, he stepped back half a pace, hand returning to the door handle.
"Pardon the intrusion. Have I… come at a bad time?"
"No." Horikita Manabu looked like a man reprieved from the gallows.
He was on his feet almost instantly — with a speed that had absolutely nothing in common with his usual measured composure.
"You've come at exactly the right time." Manabu stepped around the desk and moved to meet him. "Is something urgent?"
Chris scratched the back of his head, choosing his words a little awkwardly.
"Ah, nothing too serious, really. I just wanted to confirm something with you, President."
"As I'm sure you know, the school arranged a lot of extra courses this weekend. During one of the survival skills classes, I used my phone to photograph the map that Vice Director Tsukishiro put up as an example…"
Chris reached toward his pocket as he spoke.
"I wanted to check with you whether that map is actually…"
"No need to take it out."
Before Chris could even get his hand in his pocket, Nagumo cut in without warning.
"If you're talking about the uninhabited island map that Director Tsukishiro put on public display — then I'll tell you straight, junior: your guess is correct."
"We did, in fact, hold an exam on that island before."
Nagumo paused, glancing toward Chris.
"That said… the school actually controls a fairly large archipelago. Every year, the uninhabited island exam rotates between different islands as the grade level advances."
"Now that the Black Sphere has gotten involved, the original rules have long since been thrown out the window. No one can say for certain which location will actually be designated as the exam site."
"Maybe it is the map they showed. Maybe it's something else entirely. Who knows?"
Perhaps because Chris had interrupted what had been a rare moment of one-on-one time with Horikita Manabu, the Vice President's answer had taken on a distinctly cryptic quality.
Fortunately, Horikita Manabu — the indirect beneficiary of Chris's timely arrival — still gave the boy the consideration he deserved.
He cleared his throat lightly and took over the explanation.
"What Nagumo said is correct. But since the school's higher-ups specifically chose that map as their example, you can treat it as a useful point of reference for now."
"If and when the Director produces a different example showing another location, that will be the time to revise your plans. Until then, preparing with that uninhabited island as your hypothetical battlefield is the safest approach."
With that question resolved, Horikita Manabu — clearly terrified Chris might leave — pressed on immediately.
"Is there anything else? Feel free to ask."
Taking in Manabu's barely-concealed desperation — the look of a man who wanted nothing more than to grab him and talk for hours — Chris swallowed his amusement and kept a perfectly straight face.
"Actually, there is one more thing. I'd like to exchange monster intelligence with you — information on the Black Sphere creatures we've each encountered."
"The types we've run into aren't entirely the same, but there's some overlap in situations. If we pool what we know, then when either side faces a creature the other has already dealt with — one that we happen to know the weakness of — we'll at least have a fighting chance going in prepared."
"An intelligence exchange, is it…"
Horikita Manabu pressed his lips together and adopted a contemplative expression.
After a long pause, he gave a slow nod.
"You make a fair point. This concerns everyone's lives."
"But we can't rush this. Monster characteristics don't translate neatly between encounters — we'll need to sit down, go through each case individually, and analyze the specifics carefully. The last thing we want is for something to get lost in translation and end up getting people killed."
"Come, sit down. Let's take our time. Start with the Parasytes you've encountered…"
Watching Horikita Manabu draw out every single word with deliberate, excruciating patience — the living portrait of a man stalling for all he was worth —
Nagumo Miyabi made no move to stop him. He simply propped his cheek against one hand and studied Manabu's profile with evident amusement.
He would have preferred to have Manabu to himself, of course.
But watching this Student Council President — someone who could face a collapsing mountain without so much as a flicker of expression — now dragging his feet and spinning his wheels with all the enthusiasm of a man trying to avoid going home…
Well. That was, in its own way, quite entertaining.
It was simply what happened when the way you looked at someone began to change.
Even the most mundane of their habits could become something you found yourself watching with genuine pleasure.
Chris noted all of this privately.
Ryuuen. Ayanokoji.
You two are in for a treat.
---
First floor of the school building. In front of the bulletin board.
Since it was the middle of the afternoon class period, most students were either in their classrooms attending lectures or had retreated to their dorms to grind away at Ripple Breathing behind closed doors.
As a result, the bulletin board — which had been packed with students not long ago — now stood almost completely deserted.
Katsuragi Kohei and Ryuuen Kakeru happened to be two of the very few still lingering there.
"Though I doubt it'll be much use, I'll thank Class C for sharing those midterm exam elimination rules all the same." Katsuragi kept his eyes fixed on the midterm exam schedule posted on the board as he spoke, not bothering to turn around.
"In return, I'll share with Class C the uninhabited island map information that Sakayanagi just sent me."
"I've already looked into it privately — the Director of this Advanced Nurturing High School also carries the name Sakayanagi. I think information provided directly by Sakayanagi Arisu is well worth treating as a solid reference."
At that, Ryuuen Kakeru turned to glance at Katsuragi sideways, his gaze appraising.
"Appreciated. But…"
"Weren't you and that wheelchair princess constantly at each other's throats?"
Ryuuen raised an eyebrow. "So what — are you telling me that you've been quietly letting that idiot girl Kamuro Masumi take the Class A slot in the Black Sphere exams this whole time just to get on Sakayanagi's good side?"
"You've got it wrong."
Katsuragi shook his head at Ryuuen's provocation, his tone level and unbothered.
"I never had any burning ambition to lead Class A."
"The reason I wanted to challenge her for control of the class back then was simply because I could feel that Sakayanagi didn't actually care about the class's future. She was looking down at all of us with the attitude of someone playing a game for amusement."
"If she held the reins, Class A would eventually tear itself apart."
Katsuragi exhaled slowly, his gaze distant.
"But then the Black Sphere arrived. And everything changed."
"With life and death on the table, she no longer has the luxury of treating this like a game. Given that she was born with a physical condition that limits her — and yet the Black Sphere singled her out as a fixed participant all the same — I have no desire to kick her while she's down and drive her toward death in a moment like this."
"That said…" Katsuragi's tone shifted. "She's already used the Black Sphere's miracle to heal her condition. If the exam rules don't change drastically after this, I may well apply to rotate into the main roster myself."
"'Don't change drastically'?"
Ryuuen blinked — and then let out a sharp, merciless laugh.
"Heh. Don't be naive, baldy."
"I can tell you with absolute certainty — from every Black Sphere exam we've been through so far, not a single one has played out the same way twice. There's always some last-minute curveball here, some unexpected wrinkle there."
Ryuuen stepped forward, fixing Katsuragi with an unblinking stare.
"You think this upcoming midterm is going to be any different? You think the Black Sphere is going to sit quietly and play nice?"
"I'll bet you anything — the second the midterm exams are done, it's going to sweep every last one of us into the next examination without exception."
Faced with what amounted to a declaration from Ryuuen.
Katsuragi Kohei didn't argue. He just irritably rubbed the back of his shaved head and said in a low voice:
"Seems like… everyone's already arrived at the same conclusion."
"What choice do we have?"
Ryuuen let out a cold snort.
"You think those people who've given up on the future and spent every day just coasting and waiting to die — you think they're being model students out of the goodness of their hearts?"
"They're simply out of options."
"In front of the Black Sphere, they don't even have the right to lie down and do nothing."
Katsuragi fell silent.
After a long moment, he turned his head and looked at Ryuuen's face — young, yet somehow already worn with the weight of hard experience — and asked quietly:
"Then, Ryuuen."
"If that day really comes. How many people do you think will still be alive at the end — in this school of ours?"
Ryuuen followed Katsuragi's gaze upward, tilting his head back to look at the patch of vivid blue sky framed in neat rectangles by the corridor windows.
"Who knows."
"All I know is — no one gets to keep their hands clean. And no one can guarantee they'll make it out alive."
In a move that was entirely out of character, he reached out and gave Katsuragi Kohei a pat on the shoulder.
"So. While you still can — cherish the people in front of you. If there's a hand you can lend someone, lend it."
"Because this might very well be the last time you ever see them."
"The extra life the Black Sphere gives everyone at the start… it looks like mercy. But in the end — it's still one too many."
Katsuragi's expression turned a little strange.
Those were exactly the kind of words he'd expect to be coming out of his own mouth.
Had a near-death experience actually managed to enlighten Ryuuen Kakeru?
He didn't feel like ruining the moment, though. He just breathed out a long sigh.
The two of them stood side by side before the bulletin board, gazing up at a sky that was slowly being swallowed by dark clouds, each lost in thoughts they kept to themselves.
---
Time, as it always does, moved on without waiting for anyone.
The day of the midterm exams arrived.
In the lead-up, Horikita Suzune had issued reminders again and again — had even swallowed her pride and personally supervised the study sessions.
Under the genuine threat of death, Sudou Ken, Yamauchi Haruto, and the other problem students in Class D had, for once, actually put in some real effort.
But lacking confidence in their own academic ability, and unable to resist the temptation of a shortcut, this group ultimately couldn't help themselves. They quietly pooled their money and bought last year's midterm answers from an upperclassman, intending to use them as a cheat sheet.
Unfortunately for them.
When the actual exam papers were handed out, they stared at them in blank horror.
Exactly as Horikita Suzune had predicted.
Due to the exceptional circumstances surrounding this exam, the school had not followed its usual practice of recycling questions from previous years.
The moment those papers landed on their desks, Ikebe Koji and Yamauchi Haruto felt their hearts drop straight through the floor at the sight of entirely unfamiliar questions.
When the bell ending the exam finally rang.
The handful of students who had gambled on a shortcut shuffled out of the exam hall looking like they'd had their souls slowly drained out through their feet.
"We're done for… every subject was different. We're actually dead this time."
Yamauchi Haruto wailed miserably, his legs barely holding him up as he slumped against the wall.
Ikebe Koji looked no better, his face the color of ash. The two exchanged a single wordless glance.
Before they even had the chance to huddle together and lick their wounds —
Hmmmm —!
Something changed. Without any warning at all.
"What is that?! My feet—!"
A girl's startled cry rang out from somewhere nearby.
Sudou Ken — who had been so preoccupied worrying about his own performance that he'd barely noticed anything around him — snapped to attention and instinctively looked toward the sound.
And what he saw was this:
Every single person — whether they had just stepped out through the classroom doorway or were still sitting at their desks packing up their things — was being engulfed, from the feet upward, in a sweep of glowing blue data-light.
"What the hell?! No way — !"
Sudou Ken looked down and saw it happening to him too, and let out a shout.
You couldn't even give us five minutes to breathe? To check our scores?!
The blue light pulsed across the entire building in a massive wave, and in an instant, the whole first-year school block was completely empty.
When vision returned to normal —
Sudou Ken found that he had not materialized in the familiar, musty Black Sphere room.
Instead, he was standing in an enormous, brilliantly lit grand hall — all gleaming gold and polished surfaces.
He spun around. Every direction, packed wall to wall with people — every single one of them wearing the same school uniform.
All four first-year classes. Not one person missing.
"What — where is this?!"
"Ichinose! Ichinose, where are you?! What's happening?!"
Panic began spreading through the crowd like wildfire.
Sudou Ken was up on his toes, craning his neck over the mass of students trying to spot Hirata Yousuke, when —
"Everyone, quiet."
Ayanokoji spoke.
"The Black Sphere is here."
Those words hit Sudou Ken and Yamauchi Haruto like ice water. They shut up immediately.
The crowd followed Ayanokoji's gaze.
There, suspended in the air directly ahead of where everyone stood — the GANTZ Black Sphere, the one that had previously only ever appeared in small enclosed rooms — was floating in open space, hovering silently in midair as if it had always been there.
"A new morning has come." "A morning full of hope."
The bizarre, upbeat melody of a radio calisthenics broadcast filled the grand hall.
Gradually, the chorus of frightened voices fell quiet, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing and muffled, suppressed sobbing.
Those who had never encountered the Black Sphere in person — Ibuki Mio, Yamauchi Haruto, and others — went pale and instinctively pressed toward the veterans around them, desperate for any information about what they were facing.
Ryuuen Kakeru crossed his arms, his glare fixed on the Black Sphere with cold, sharp eyes.
"So I was right after all…"
"This damn thing was never going to let us figure things out at our own pace."
The moment the midterm exams ended — an instant reshuffling of every single one of them.
The strange music cut out abruptly.
Perhaps because students in the back rows wouldn't be able to read text on its surface, the Black Sphere this time didn't display anything on itself directly. Instead, it projected an enormous holographic display screen into the air above it.
Accompanied by a flat, cold synthetic voice.
Line after line of stark white text materialized across the glowing screen:
[We are pleased to inform everyone that during this academic midterm examination, no student engaged in any form of cheating. Therefore, no one will be penalized with a life deduction.]
[However, in accordance with Advanced Nurturing High School's original regulations, students who scored below their class average will be judged as failing.]
[As a penalty, these students will have one Black Sphere extra life deducted.]
[The following is the penalty list for this midterm examination:]
[Class D: Yamauchi Haruto, Ikebe Koji.]
[We are pleased to report that no one on this penalty list has had their life count reach zero, meaning there are no actual deaths to announce. How wonderful.~]
The moment Sudou Ken saw that his own name was not on the list —
He clenched his fist so hard his knuckles cracked, nearly launching off the ground with relief.
"Yes — ! I'm not on it! I passed, I didn't die!"
But for his classmates — Yamauchi Haruto and Ikebe Koji, whose names were displayed in full on the holographic screen — the blood drained from their faces, and their legs gave out. They crumpled to the floor right where they stood.
"How is this happening — how are we the only two who failed?!" Ikebe Koji clutched his head in despair.
Standing not far away, Horikita Suzune stared at the names on the screen, struggling to find words.
She genuinely did not understand.
Truly could not comprehend it.
These three had been at the absolute bottom of the class. She had given all three of them the exact same tutoring sessions, the exact same study notes as everyone else in the study group.
And yet the one who had the weakest academic foundation to begin with — the one who was most hotheaded on a regular basis — Sudou Ken was the only one who passed?
Were those two so incapable that they genuinely hadn't spent even ten minutes reviewing? Was it truly all down to blind guessing?!
What kind of reckless, incurable, beyond-all-hope wishful thinking led someone to that decision?
But at this moment, inside the hall, no one had the mental space to spare for the academic misfortunes of a few struggling students.
The penalty had only affected a small handful of people, and there had been no mass casualties to trigger widespread panic.
Clearly, there were more important things that needed to be confirmed from GANTZ right now.
And so.
Beneath the collective gaze of over a hundred students, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stepped forward from the crowd.
He looked directly up at the Black Sphere floating in the air and — in an unusual display of initiative — spoke first.
"GANTZ."
"Now that the scores have been tallied — can you explain directly why you've gathered the entire first-year class here at once? What exactly is the purpose?"
Hearing someone actually address the Black Sphere directly, quite a few students swallowed nervously.
The light on the surface of the Black Sphere flickered twice — as if it had momentarily stalled, or perhaps was thinking.
[Awfully impatient.]
[Though I suppose that's understandable. Very well — there's no harm in granting your request early.]
[Before the official announcement of the upcoming large-scale examination rules —]
[To liven things up a little, let's first reveal the top three scorers from your midterm examination! As promised, they will each receive a 'Resurrection Count +1' bonus!]
[And please, everyone, set aside any hard feelings and give them your most sincere applause and congratulations! Clap clap clap~]
The room met this invitation with complete silence.
With survival hanging over their heads, who had any energy left to clap for someone else?
The holographic screen paused for two seconds — as if expressing resignation.
[…Why does no one ever appreciate my sense of humor.]
[Fine. This generation of humans is truly exhausting to deal with.]
[The following are the first-year midterm examination rankings:]
[1. Sakayanagi Arisu (Class A)]
[2. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka (Class D)]
[3. Horikita Suzune (Class D)]
[4. Ichinose Honami (Class B)]
[5. Koenji Rokusuke (Class D)]
[6. Katsuragi Kohei (Class A)]
[7. Amatsu Kazuna (Class B)]
[…]
[30. Chris (Class D)]
"Hold on — !!"
Sudou Ken — who had just been quietly celebrating his own survival — caught sight of Ayanokoji's name at number two, and his eyes went wide.
"Who does that say?! Ayanokoji — second in the whole year?!"
"You're kidding me! Wasn't he supposed to be some mediocre guy who could only score fifty points?!"
A wave of shock and noise rolled through the crowd.
Chris waved a hand impatiently and lowered his voice.
"Quiet down."
"His ranking doesn't matter right now. The rules they're about to announce — those are what actually count."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood at the very front of the group.
The stares of everyone around him were completely lost on him.
He simply gave a slight nod, his gaze drifting past the crowd to where, in the Class B cluster, Ichinose Honami was surrounded by Amikura Mako and the others — all of them commiserating about how close she'd come to claiming the bonus.
And standing beside Ichinose — Amatsu Kazuna, ranked sixth.
'Ranked sixth, is it…'
She had come out of the White Room. Knowing full well that she had no extra life as a safety net — that she was living on borrowed time — and she still hadn't seized the opportunity.
Was she hiding her true ability? Or — like Chris — did she have a more important objective that meant she couldn't afford to draw attention to herself right now?
Though, if she genuinely was holding back, there was no real reason to settle for sixth. It was also entirely possible that sixth place simply represented her actual ceiling.
'After all — she is an incomplete product.'
Ayanokoji turned the thought over quietly in his mind.
____
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