'This should be the place...'
Deep within the darkened jungle, Karuizawa Kei pressed herself behind the thick trunk of a coconut palm.
She glanced down at the radar screen built into the grip of her X-GUN, watching a cluster of green dots slowly converging toward the coastline.
Before the teleportation, Chris had already given her her orders.
Find a way to survive. Move toward the center of the island. Regroup at the highest point.
But...
Karuizawa Kei looked at the screen again.
The closer to the island's center, the denser the angry red dots — the ones that meant danger — became on the radar. The suffocating pressure they radiated, as if they might swallow her whole, made it impossible to steel herself into moving.
It wasn't that she didn't want to go, or that she had any doubts about Chris's instructions.
Karuizawa Kei knew herself well enough.
She knew that with her half-baked marksmanship, there was absolutely no way she could cut through the gauntlet alone.
So, Karuizawa Kei changed her plan.
'I need to find a group first. Safety in numbers.'
She intended to use the cover of a larger team to gradually push toward the island's center.
Luck, at least, had been on her side. Not long after landing, she'd gotten fortunate and found a universal capsule lying right at her feet — one containing an X-GUN.
Combined with the Combat Suit she'd exchanged for after the previous exam, Karuizawa was confident that no group would turn down the firepower she brought to the table.
But just as she was about to pick up her pace and catch up to the cluster of green dots ahead —
A single red dot suddenly blipped onto the radar, closing in on the cluster of green dots at a terrifying speed.
The green dots — her classmates — seemed to sense the danger too. They began scattering in a frantic sprint toward the shoreline.
Karuizawa Kei's steps faltered. Hesitation flickered in her eyes.
Turn around and look for another group — or keep following?
After confirming once more that there was only a single hostile unit on the radar, Karuizawa bit her lip and broke into a run.
Not out of any noble impulse to play the hero and save her classmates.
It was pure calculation.
With so many people drawing the monster's attention, her odds of landing a successful ambush from the shadows were excellent. On an island where people could die at any moment, every person you saved was another shield between you and the next disaster.
Compared to wandering the island like a headless fly, she'd rather bet her chips here and take the gamble.
And yet —
When she finally pushed through the undergrowth and reached the edge of the silver-white beach, what greeted her sent ice flooding through her veins.
There, bathed in the amber glow of the setting sun on the golden sand — what was chasing her classmates was not a Parasyte. It was not some malevolent spirit.
It was a giant. Towering over the surrounding coconut palms.
Its massive, malformed body was bare, a vacant, drooling grin plastered across its face.
Crack.
Karuizawa Kei pressed herself behind a tree, clamping her hand over her mouth in horror.
The giant had already reached out and snatched up two boys as if they were toys.
Amid their desperate, wretched screams, the giant opened its enormous maw and began stuffing them inside without a moment's hesitation.
Mercilfully, at the instant its teeth snapped shut, both boys dissolved into blue light — forcibly teleported out of the area — leaving behind nothing but two vivid, glaring bloodstains in the sand.
Meanwhile, among the fleeing group ahead —
Three or four of the faster boys had already plunged into the sea and were swimming desperately toward a cruise ship moored in the distance.
But at the very back of the fleeing pack, two girls with slightly less stamina had fallen hopelessly behind.
Having lost its prey, the Pure Titan grew agitated again. It swung its arm and lunged straight for the slowest one — the girl with purple hair.
"No — help! Someone help me!"
Tachibana Akane collapsed onto the sand in despair. She stared up at the enormous hand sweeping down toward her, her mind going completely blank.
With Tachibana on the verge of being seized, Karuizawa Kei — lurking at the treeline — hurriedly raised her X-GUN and tried to line up a shot.
But the X-GUN's effective range was only nine meters.
Gritting her teeth, Karuizawa carefully edged out from behind the tree, trying to close the distance.
The giant paid her no mind. Its hand had already closed around Tachibana's waist, lifting her toward its open mouth.
"Stop it!!"
Karuizawa Kei threw caution to the wind. Breaking into a run, she instinctively screamed at the top of her lungs.
It worked.
The giant paused. It turned its head, that vacant grin still hanging on its face, and lumbered toward Karuizawa.
On her screen, the targeting frame that had stubbornly stayed red finally shifted to blue. A surge of relief shot through her chest.
'Three seconds... come on, come on!'
Cold sweat beaded at Karuizawa Kei's temple.
Just as the giant reached out for her —
Whoosh —
A sharp, tearing sound ripped past her ear.
An invisible gravity wave slammed into the giant's wrist.
The arm — thick as a tree trunk — exploded. Flesh and blood erupted in every direction.
Before the stunned giant could even begin to rage —
Bang.
A second shot. Direct hit to the cheekbone.
Rancid crimson cascaded down like a waterfall.
The headless titan crashed to the ground, its massive body slamming into the sand hard enough to send tremors rippling through the earth.
Not far away, Amikura Mako — who had nearly made it to the water's edge — was jolted to a standstill by the sudden turn of events.
She turned around. Staring at Karuizawa Kei, who still held her aiming posture, Amikura gasped for breath and called out with genuine relief:
"Th-thank you... thank you so much! You really saved us..."
Karuizawa Kei just shook her head blankly and lowered the X-GUN, which was still emitting soft beeping sounds.
"It wasn't me."
"My gun... never fired."
Just as Karuizawa was puzzling over this and about to open her radar to figure out who had stepped in, Tachibana — having struggled and clawed her way free from the giant's severed hand — didn't even bother to wipe the filth from her clothes before letting out a sharp cry:
"Ch-Chris?!"
At those words, Karuizawa Kei felt a full-body jolt. She spun toward the sound.
There, in the dying light of the setting sun —
Chris walked out from the shadows of the forest at an unhurried pace, reinforced gun in one hand, Shiina Hiyori walking quietly at his side.
"Chris..."
Karuizawa Kei's eyes went red.
Without even glancing at Amikura Mako, who was trying to sidle up to her, she broke into a run straight toward Chris.
Like a fledgling bird finally finding its way back to the nest, the brightest smile she'd worn since landing bloomed across her face.
Found him!
We're going to be okay!
Seeing Karuizawa barreling toward him with such naked urgency, Chris looked slightly surprised:
"Weren't you with them? How did things get this messy?"
"I'm not with them. I don't really know them."
Karuizawa shook her head quickly and distanced herself from the association. "I just heard the commotion and came running."
By then, Amikura Mako had helped Tachibana Akane hobble over to them.
Amikura wiped the sweat from her face with a slightly awkward expression, offering both an explanation and an attempt to smooth things over:
"Actually... when I got teleported in, I happened to respawn right next to those guys."
"The moment they heard the foghorn from that cruise ship out on the water, they went absolutely crazy — kept insisting it was a rescue ship sent by the school, and nothing could stop them from sprinting to the shore to call for help..."
Amikura Mako let out a tired sigh. "And then all their shouting and screaming attracted that titan. During the chase, we happened to run into Tachibana-senpai and Karuizawa-san, who'd gotten separated."
"Thank goodness you showed up when you did. Otherwise I'd probably be racking up a death count right about now."
Chris gave a small nod.
He had a thought — that the Pure Titan was really only scary because of its sheer size. In terms of actual threat level, if you actually looked at the score values on the wristwatch, it was barely stronger than your average Parasyte.
For that matter, with a Combat Suit on, if the thing actually managed to bite down on you, there was a decent chance you'd chip its teeth.
But then again, Amikura Mako had no real combat experience, and she didn't have any Black Sphere weapons on her. It made sense that raw fear would override rational thought in the heat of the moment.
Chris let it go without comment.
He turned his gaze to Tachibana Akane instead, who was still crouched on the sand, dry-heaving from the shock.
"Senpai, what are you doing in our exam zone?"
"If I remember right, the upperclassmen were supposed to have their own exam today, weren't they?"
Tachibana pulled out a handkerchief and scrubbed at the blood smeared across her face, looking so aggrieved she was nearly in tears:
"Yes, we did have our own exam... I genuinely cannot understand why I got teleported over to your side."
"If the Student Council President were here, I definitely wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state..."
Then, as if something critical suddenly snapped back into her mind, Tachibana jolted upright — ignoring the sharp pain in her twisted ankle — and stumbled in a frantic half-limp toward the water's edge.
"Hey — come back!! Get out of the water!!"
"Stop swimming! That's the school's cruise ship — it's not a rescue vessel! You're wasting your energy, just turn around and swim back!!"
Amikura Mako also turned to look.
As she watched, her brow slowly furrowed:
"The school's cruise ship... wait. Hold on — doesn't it look like there are fewer people in the water than before?"
"There were five of them out there a moment ago... did some of them get too exhausted and drown?"
Shiina Hiyori, who had been standing quietly at Chris's side, narrowed her eyes.
She stared hard at the churning surface of the sea.
Out at the edge of her vision, the students bobbing through the waves didn't look like they were drowning or struggling.
Instead, when each one swam past a certain invisible boundary — their entire body simply vanished. No splash. No ripple. As though something had reached up from the water and quietly erased them.
Karuizawa Kei instinctively glanced at the Black Sphere wristwatch on her wrist.
"Huh?!"
She couldn't help the startled noise that escaped her. "The remaining headcount in the exam zone... it just dropped by two?!"
"Ah — there's another one just now! We're down to 143!"
Shiina Hiyori spoke carefully, her tone grave:
"Could it be... that those are the 'spacetime rifts' GANTZ mentioned?"
"Whether they died, or whether they got swept up in the spacetime current and thrown to some unknown world..."
Amikura Mako murmured to herself, a belated chill running down her spine.
As the last few students winked out one by one on the horizon —
Chris looked away.
"Looks like there's nothing to be done for them. What's your plan now?"
Karuizawa Kei thought for a moment and offered:
"Maybe... staying here for now is fine?"
"Looking at the radar, the nearest red dot is still a fair distance away. It feels like the monsters get thinner the closer you are to the island's edge."
The instinct of the weak.
Chris rubbed his chin, his expression noncommittal, and turned the question back on her:
"If we don't push forward — how long do you think this peace is actually going to last?"
Before Karuizawa could argue back —
Shiina Hiyori stepped forward and spoke gently:
"Chris, it's getting late."
"The beach here is completely open — no cover at all."
"But once it gets dark, if there are capsules around, this wide-open terrain actually works in our favor for spotting supplies."
"Why don't we do a quick sweep of the area first, and take a moment to regroup?"
Chris furrowed his brow, turning it over in his mind for a few seconds.
Finally, he gave a small nod.
"...Sure."
Besides, an airdrop was coming soon.
May as well use the wait to give any students still clinging to their 'stay-safe-on-the-edges' strategy a live demonstration of what the shrinking zone actually felt like.
...Still, even with the zone-shrink warning, were there really people naive enough to sit on the outer ring and hope for the best? If so, he might as well rig up a few traps nearby and wait for the lucky audience to wander in.
——
"Looks like the best we're going to pull from the capsules around here are standard reinforced guns."
Deep in the dense jungle.
Horikita Suzune stared at the modest pile of universal capsules the group had collected, a troubled look on her face:
"For anything actually strong enough to keep us alive, we're probably going to have to count on the airdrops GANTZ mentioned — or that so-called 'Mystery Merchant.'"
Ichinose Honami's brow was furrowed, but she knew Horikita wasn't wrong.
Honestly, their group had been remarkably lucky.
Not long after Ichinose had landed, she'd discovered a Y-GUN capsule sitting right inside a hollow tree nearby.
With the radar function active, she'd quickly located allies — and had the good fortune of running straight into Horikita Suzune, who was searching for the exact same thing.
Now their numbers had grown considerably.
Beyond the two of them, they'd gathered Amase Kazuna, Matsushita Chiaki, Kushida Kikyo, Sato Maya, and several other girls.
With Ichinose and Horikita on perimeter watch, the group had conducted a near-exhaustive sweep of the surrounding area.
And yet, even so —
Aside from just barely managing to get one Black Sphere weapon into each person's hands, everything else they'd cracked out of the capsules was survival supplies: Fruit Rations, MC Milk, Solo Shelters, and other similar odds and ends.
At this point, continuing to scour the area felt like a waste of precious time.
Night was closing in.
While the darkness would help them spot glowing capsules, something was stirring uneasily in the pit of Ichinose Honami's chest — an inexplicable sense of dread.
As if something in the dark was waking up.
Before she could figure out what was nagging at her —
"Class rep."
Amase Kazuna, who had been trailing quietly at the back of the group, suddenly stepped forward.
She pulled a card from her pocket, and with an unusually serious expression, spoke:
"Class rep, there's something I need to ask you."
Ichinose Honami looked at this classmate who always managed to catch people off guard:
"Go ahead. I'm listening."
Amase Kazuna held up the card and explained:
"You remember how I got pulled into the upperclassmen's exam zone by the Black Sphere? I actually did manage to find that so-called Mystery Black Market Merchant."
"Unfortunately, I didn't have enough Item Points to buy anything decent for self-defense."
She wrinkled her nose. "But everything in the shop was at a fifty-percent discount at the time, and I figured I couldn't walk away empty-handed — so I spent what I had on the two things I could actually afford."
"One was a Golden Apple — something that can save your life in a pinch. And the other one... is this: a Parasyte Fusion Card."
At the words on the card, Kushida Kikyo — who had been resting nearby — shot to her feet, covering her mouth in shock:
"Wait — Amase-san... you're planning to fuse with a Parasyte?!"
Matsushita Chiaki rushed forward as well:
"Amase, don't do anything rash! Parasytes are dangerous — they might take over your brain!"
Sato Maya chimed in, her voice urgent:
"Exactly! Even if you don't care about your own safety, think about the rest of us! What if the monster takes control of you and you turn on us?!"
Faced with the wave of concern and objections, Amase Kazuna remained strangely calm.
She gave a small nod:
"I know it's risky."
"But the fact that GANTZ put it on sale means successful fusion is possible!"
She turned and looked Ichinose Honami directly in the eyes:
"Class rep, you know my situation. I could die at any moment out here."
"I don't want to die."
"So I'm going to roll the dice."
"Without a Combat Suit, relying only on these conventional weapons — the moment we run into anything a step above the weakest monsters, half our group is going to end up dead or worse."
"I need strength to protect myself!"
Ichinose Honami's brow knitted tightly. She was just about to open her mouth and talk Amase out of this madness —
When suddenly —
The mechanical, synthesized voice of the Black Sphere rang out across the entire island.
[Attention, all survivors!]
[Exam zone survival progress update: For every 30 examinees eliminated, a high-grade equipment airdrop will be deployed at a random location on the island.]
[Current survivor count in the exam zone: 127.]
[Therefore, the first airdrop supply is about to land.]
[Additionally, please take note.]
[Due to the special nature of this exam, and to prevent any anomalies from escaping, the outer safe zone will continuously contract toward the central point. Any personnel outside the shrinking boundary will be directly exposed to the 'spacetime anomaly.']
[This mechanism will continue operating until all anomalous creatures on the island have been eliminated.]
[Everyone — watch your step. And run."
When the announcement finished, none of the girls present looked particularly thrilled.
Amase Kazuna, however, suddenly laughed.
She turned to Ichinose Honami and held up the card:
"You see, class rep?"
"GANTZ isn't going to give us a moment to breathe. I don't have any other option now — this is the only gamble I've got!"
Ichinose Honami let out a long, deep breath.
She raised her head and looked at Horikita Suzune standing nearby — who was already staring up at the sky with barely contained anticipation, eyes fixed on the airdrop supply descending through the air trailing a vivid streak of red smoke.
Finally, she made her call.
"Horikita-san."
"The airdrop landing site is going to draw monsters. You take Kushida and Matsushita and the others to find high ground or a safe zone and set up a defensive line."
"I'll stay here and watch over Amase."
Horikita Suzune looked down at her, frown deepening:
"How exactly do you plan to 'watch over' her? If the Parasyte possesses Amase and you're standing right next to her, you won't even have time to react."
Ichinose Honami shook her head and tightened her grip on the reinforced gun:
"I don't know yet. But I have my Combat Suit, a Black Sphere combat blade, and this gun."
"I'll keep my aim on wherever Amase decides to fuse. The moment I see any sign of the Parasyte trying to move toward her brain —"
Ichinose looked at Amase Kazuna:
"I'll fire immediately. Or I'll sever whatever part of your body gets infected. That okay with you?"
Rather than looking frightened, Amase Kazuna just smiled even brighter.
"Of course."
"From the moment I pulled this card out, I'd already made my peace with it."
——
Meanwhile.
On Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's side, having successfully regrouped with Ryuuen Kakeru, Koenji Rokusuke, and the others —
When the Black Sphere's broadcast filtered down from the sky above, Ayanokoji instinctively looked up, trying to spot the airdrop.
"An airdrop?"
"And a shrinking zone... is this a battle royale?"
Ryuuen Kakeru held his reinforced gun loosely and let out a cold, contemptuous scoff:
"An obvious play."
"Herd everyone toward the middle. And they'll definitely start releasing harder enemies in waves as we go."
"Otherwise, with the scattered stragglers that are on this island right now, how could we still be sitting at 130-plus survivors after all this time?"
Ryuuen clicked his tongue with grudging admiration:
"What we're going to be facing next... is probably going to be Decepticon-tier."
Hirata Yousuke stood off to one side, his expression tight with worry:
"But... even if we regroup, our current equipment level is nowhere near enough to go head-to-head with enemies of that caliber!"
"Which is why GANTZ just dropped an airdrop on your doorstep, wasn't it?"
Koenji Rokusuke ran a hand through his golden hair as though the act of doing so supplied him with confidence:
"Want to survive? Go take it. Want better gear? Go take it."
"Ha... it even crossed my mind — I wonder if that so-called 'Mystery Black Market Merchant' happens to respawn right near the airdrop landing zone..."
"That's entirely possible."
Katsuragi Kohei rubbed his close-shaved head and put forward his recommendation in a measured tone:
"Regardless, we need to get to that location. It's not just the only reliable way to get new equipment — that drop zone is going to become the single convergence point for the majority of survivors across the island. Anyone who keeps hugging the outer edges will only get erased by the shrinking zone."
"Agreed."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka gave a quiet nod.
But just as the group was about to move out, he suddenly stopped:
"Before we leave... I need you to do something for me."
As he spoke, Ayanokoji reached into his pocket and produced a card.
Ryuuen Kakeru looked at the Parasyte Fusion Card in Ayanokoji's hand. For a split second he looked taken aback — and then he understood:
"I thought it was something worth getting excited about. Turns out you've got one of those death-wish toys too... where'd you get it?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka explained simply:
"I cracked it out of one of the capsules when I first landed."
"Originally I didn't plan to use it — the risk variables felt uncontrollable. But now... with this many people here as a safety net, I want to try."
Koenji Rokusuke and Ryuuen Kakeru exchanged a glance.
With wordless synchronicity, both raised their weapons — and leveled the pitch-black muzzles squarely at Ayanokoji's head. One on each side.
"Bold move, Boy."
Koenji Rokusuke let the smile fade from his face: "Then let's see what you've got. Fair warning, though —"
Ryuuen Kakeru finished the sentence in his ice-cold drawl:
"The moment something goes sideways during that fusion... I will not hesitate to let you watch your own brain matter hit the floor."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stared down the two gun barrels without so much as a flicker of expression.
He simply gave a calm nod:
"That's reasonable."
He turned to Hirata Yousuke and the others: "Ryuuen and Koenji, stay. Hirata, Katsuragi — take the rest of them and fall back a good distance."
"None of you have Combat Suits. If the Parasyte goes berserk, you won't be able to defend against a surprise attack."
——
At that same moment.
Back with Ichinose Honami — through sheer, brute force of will —
The juvenile Parasyte that had burrowed into Amase Kazuna's left arm, and was making its way through her bloodstream toward her brain in an attempt to seize control —
Was stopped dead at the shoulder joint.
Ichinose Honami grabbed Amase's wrist with one hand to help, while the other stayed primed and ready to strike at a moment's notice.
"Ssss——!"
With a stifled cry of pain, Amase Kazuna bit down hard on her lower lip.
As if it had exhausted itself fighting against a will it couldn't overcome, the Parasyte — yielding to some primal instinct — finally gave up its drive toward the brain and settled into Amase Kazuna's arm, going dormant.
Honestly, watching the whole thing unfold, Ichinose Honami found it almost unbelievable herself.
She had fully steeled herself to sever Amase's arm at a moment's notice.
And it... just... worked out that smoothly?
'Could it be... that Parasytes pulled from Item Cards are ones that GANTZ has already had their aggression dialed down — a more docile, modified strain?'
Ichinose quietly turned the thought over in her head.
But then — watching Amase run alongside her, left hand now fully mutated into a bizarre, tentacle-like shape, which was currently propping up a phone and browsing data as nonchalantly as if nothing had happened...
Ichinose allowed herself a small exhale of relief.
For now at least, Amase Kazuna's mind was clearly still her own. No signs of possession.
Then — Amase's left hand suddenly split open a small mouth.
"A large number of my own kind are approaching... more than one."
Ichinose immediately activated the radar function on her reinforced gun.
The screen was a mess of densely packed, overlapping red and green dots blinking in and out of each other. Her heart sank:
"So many people... and so many monsters!"
"All converging on the airdrop!"
Amase Kazuna, however, licked her dry lips with a look of keen excitement.
"It seems the airdrop landing didn't just draw us in — it's pulled every single monster in the vicinity along with it."
She glanced down at her left hand — which had already completed its initial learning phase.
"Hey, Lefty."
"You finished reading everything I left for you on the phone just now, right?"
"On this island, the relationship between humans and Parasytes isn't predator and prey..."
"We're both prey — the kind that gets culled at any moment."
Lefty's eye swiveled:
"If the data you provided is accurate, then within this space, as a symbiont, my survival is directly tied to your life."
"Therefore, in order to maximize my own probability of survival..."
Lefty's tentacles hardened into razor-sharp blades in an instant.
"I'll fight alongside you, Amase."
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Samsara Game: Starting in The Long Dark with My Waifus
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