Chapter 3: Shower or Cigarette

〈TIPS〉The strength of a "Fictional Invader" basically depends on the strength of the creature it was based on. However, some creatures are enhanced by their portrayal in folklore, mythology, and works of entertainment. (Examples: snakes, sharks)

A few days had passed since I finished my secret strategy meeting with the protagonist.

We were dealing with "Fictional Invaders."

As usual, I took up position toward the rear, firing bullets while keeping an eye on the overall situation.

"—Hazuki! Three o'clock!"

"Got it!"

Her body, clad in her usual martial-arts uniform, spun around. It was an attack from her blind spot, but she sliced the bird-type "Fictional Invader" that had swooped in from the side cleanly in two, as if she'd seen it coming.

Seeing that, I shot another enemy that was trying to get around behind Hazuki.

The crow-based "Fictional Invader" died instantly from a single small-caliber round.

Today's enemies were quick, but their durability was low. That meant I could probably handle them with just handguns, which were easy on the ammo consumption.

With the situation in front of me under control, I quickly scanned my surroundings. As the provisional leader, keeping track of the entire Fox Squad was my job.

Mana, fighting farther away from us, was as unshakable as ever. The fact that her explosions were obnoxiously loud was probably proof that she was in top form.

Hibari and Victoria were... having a bit more trouble. Hibari's Magic Blade and Victoria's magical attacks were both being cleanly dodged by the fast-moving enemies.

When dealing with small enemies like these, precise attacks were necessary. The two of them were better at relatively broad attacks, so this kind of enemy wasn't really their specialty.

"Hazuki, go help Hibari! I'll keep an eye on the surroundings while dealing with these guys!"

"Leave it to me!"

I watched her ponytail sway as she dashed away in an instant, then took a quick look at the protagonist.

"...Usobuki, is something wrong?"

He looked much calmer than before, but maybe he was still a little tense.

His voice was higher than usual. He sounded like a fresh graduate on his third day at his first job.

"Nakatsuka, relax your shoulders. If you keep your body stiff, you won't be able to move when it matters."

"...Ha, I guess you really can see right through me, Usobuki. How old are you, anyway?"

"How classy of you to ask a woman her age. Doesn't exactly sound like something a guy who's about to get friendly with girls should be saying."

You have to conquer countless social-game heroines from here on out. Say things like that and the internet will tear you apart.

"You were the one who said you were around thirty."

"Well, maybe I was lying."

I gave him a sly grin, and he responded with a slightly irritated expression.

"If you're really fourteen, then I have to call you out for smoking."

"Ah, this? It's actually a cocoa cigarette."

"That thing was producing a ridiculous amount of smoke, though!?"

Judging from how loudly he'd shouted, I figured I'd managed to get him to loosen up a little.

"Oops. Look, multiple enemies at nine o'clock. Same bird types as before. We can't let them reach Hazuki and the others while they're engaged. We'll stop them here."

I raised the handgun already in my hand—a Phantom Armament created based on a Beretta.

What I could see in the distance was a large bird.

"You got that defensive shield for a reason, right? Get it ready."

Once the enemies entered firing range, I pulled the trigger. A light kick ran through my hand as the bullet shot out. The projectile, modeled after a 9mm round, cut straight through the air and pierced the bird's body. The "Fictional Invader" plummeted to the ground, already dead.

The enemies were only slightly larger than ordinary birds, so their durability was nothing special.

However, even while I was taking down one, more and more birds were closing in on us.

"Tch... That's a lot of them."

I didn't have enough firepower. I freed my left hand and manifested another handgun.

Shooting one-handed lowered my accuracy somewhat. I rapidly pulled the trigger of the semiautomatic handgun.

Should I bring out a submachine gun with a higher rate of fire? ...No. Since we're here, I might as well have him help.

"Hey! You're an Anchor, so you can use "Bluffer Wearing," right!? Use my power!"

"...Okay!"

"Bluffer Wearing" was a power granted exclusively to Anchors.

They could borrow the Phantom Armament of a Manifestor and use its power to a limited extent.

By borrowing my power, he could fire guns; by borrowing Hazuki's power, he could wield a sword.

The weapon and a portion of its wielder's proficiency were inherited as well, so an Anchor wouldn't have to struggle with handling an unfamiliar weapon.

However, this required a relationship of trust with the Manifestor. The deeper the relationship, the more power they could draw out.

In game terms, the higher the affinity, the more powerful the protagonist's signature move, "Bluffer Wearing," would become.

Since he and I hadn't interacted much yet, the amount of power he could draw out was limited. And since he barely knew any of the others, borrowing my power was probably his best option.

He thrust his right hand forward and invoked the power.

"That which is the dream of girls—Phantom Requisition."

A handgun identical to mine appeared in his hand.

At the same time, he grimaced in discomfort.

"...Why does this feel so disgusting?"

"Because you and I haven't built up much trust yet. Still, it's not as bad as I expected. Honestly, I thought you were going to puke your guts out right there."

"You were making me do something like that!?"

To be honest, I had the impression that he'd trusted me more than I'd expected. I didn't exactly trust him all that much myself, so I guess his affinity with me must've been pretty high.

The protagonist raised the handgun awkwardly. That said, my experience with shooting was also reflected in him, so I wasn't too worried about his skills.

"Aim to the right. Don't worry about precise shots. Just reduce their numbers."

As I spoke, I fired bullet after bullet. The birds clad in "Fictional Material" weren't particularly strong enemies. I shot them down one after another with single small-caliber rounds.

Even with the protagonist's level of skill, he seemed to be able to repel them without any trouble.

"Wait... Isn't your power ridiculously inefficient!? I'm way more exhausted than I was during training!"

"Of course I am. I'm putting power into every single bullet."

"Then how can you keep fighting with this power for so long?"

"When it comes to handling Phantom Armaments, I'm pretty high-level. You should learn to use them properly, too."

Though really, I'd simply had more experience than most people at lying.

A Phantom Armament was something you envisioned yourself. In other words, a lie. "Bluff" might be a more accurate description, but to me, there wasn't much difference between the two.

For a filthy, jaded office worker like me, handling something like that was ridiculously easy.

There were plenty of Manifestors who used Armaments more powerful than mine, but when it came to energy efficiency, I was the best.

"What an annoying bastard..."

Even as he muttered under his breath, the protagonist continued firing bullet after bullet. Using my power should have been quite taxing, but he showed no sign of hesitating.

That's our protagonist for you. His attitude of throwing himself wholeheartedly into whatever was right in front of him was almost painfully dazzling to someone like me. I was jealous of it.

"You're getting better! Now if only you could shoot girls down that easily!"

"Don't ask the impossible! Those are completely different things!"

At last, the number of enemies began to settle down. After shooting down the flock of birds in front of us with a barrage of bullets, it seemed that there were no more enemies attacking us.

The protagonist let out a huge sigh of relief.

But moments like this were always the most dangerous. I scanned our surroundings, and a small shadow appeared at the edge of my vision.

"Hey, behind you!"

I forcibly knocked his body to the ground. What I manifested in my now-free left hand wasn't the handgun from before, but a sawed-off shotgun.

I thrust the shortened barrel out along the shortest possible path and blasted a giant bee that had been approaching from behind the protagonist.

Two barrels lined up horizontally fired simultaneously.

The giant bee took the full force of the buckshot and was blown to pieces in an instant.

There were no more signs of enemies nearby.

Finally, we could relax. I straddled the protagonist's stomach and caught my breath.

"Phew... I thought they were nothing but cannon fodder, but you really can't let your guard down for a second..."

"Sorry. Thanks for saving me."

A slightly awkward-looking protagonist was looking up at me from below.

"Um... Sorry, but could you get off me?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

From an objective point of view, it really did look like I'd pinned the protagonist down.

I was just about to hop off him when I heard Hazuki's voice coming from a distance.

"Hey! Are you okay—R-Raika, what are you doing!? That's indecent!"

Ah, she's worked herself into a tizzy again. Business as usual.

"There is no way it's appropriate for a woman to straddle a man's stomach like that! What if the man gets the wrong idea!?"

"Well, I don't exactly seem like much of a woman..."

"You're far too careless! With your small body, it wouldn't be strange at all for you to be easily pinned down!"

She's as rigid as ever when it comes to relationships between men and women. Well, that's one of the cute, heroine-like things about her.

From behind Hazuki, who had been lecturing me, a girl dressed like a magical girl popped her head out.

Hibari Nozomigaoka. An incredibly cheerful girl.

"Come on! If the Anchor who still hadn't managed to fit in after a whole week has gotten close to Raika-chan, that's a good thing!"

"I-I still hadn't managed to fit in...? So it really was that obvious..."

The protagonist's shoulders slumped as he took the words rather hard. Poor guy.

Hibari's words were basically never malicious, but every now and then, she managed to hurt people. Even so, she had more than enough charm to draw people in despite that.

"Oh, so you were worried about not fitting in. I thought you just didn't want to get close to us. Sorry!"

"Urgh..."

"Hey, Hibari, he's already taken critical damage."

I'd gone out of my way to protect him from the "Fictional Invaders," only for his own allies to kill him. What a pathetic protagonist.

"Sorry, sorry! Then, since we're all here, why don't we have some kind of get-together? We can all hang out after this."

"Hibari, we're all sweaty. Are you really planning to surround Shota while we stink?"

The one who spoke was Mana, standing beside Hibari. She spoke with an expressionless face, having somehow already removed her imposing Phantom Armament.

As the only childhood-friend type among them, she could safely be called the person currently closest to the protagonist.

She's probably the one with the deepest relationship with him out of everyone here.

Yet since he'd arrived here, I hadn't seen him talk with Mana very much.

...Well, it's not like they disliked each other. They were just slightly out of sync.

At Mana's words, Hibari reacted with exaggerated surprise. Incidentally, she was still wearing that cosplay-like magical-girl outfit.

"Ahhh! That's a huge problem from a maiden's perspective. I completely forgot because I've gotten so used to being in an environment without any boys!"

"Is that really something you need to worry about?"

"Raika-chan! Your awareness is way too low! That's exactly the problem with you!"

When I casually grumbled, Hibari pointed a finger sharply at me.

"So, everyone meet up after your showers. Our room is... maybe a little difficult. We've got laundry lying around and stuff. Let's meet in the lounge!"

The self-proclaimed maidens nodded enthusiastically.

Listening to such innocent conversation somehow made me want to smoke.

"...I've got something I need to do."

"Raika-chan, you're coming too!"

"Ah, wait—"

I tried to slip away and head behind the school building for a cigarette, but Hibari caught me.

With no way out, I was dragged along to the showers.

〈TIPS〉 The "Phantom High School" where the Manifestors live is a boarding school, with facilities funded by taxes to allow the girls and Anchors to live there together.

There are only girls in the communal bath I'm about to enter.

Which, when you think about it, is only natural.

I'm a girl now, too. After living like this for more than ten years, I've gotten at least somewhat used to having a female body. ...Even so, that doesn't make it any less embarrassing.

"All right. I've washed my body, so I'm getting out first."

"Wait, Raika. You haven't washed your hair properly. Come here. I'll do it for you."

I tried to make a quick escape, but Hazuki grabbed me by the arm.

"I don't need it. Manifestors don't suffer hair damage. That's what a professor from the old Imperial University said the other day."

"Don't be ridiculous. Damage you suffer when you're young will catch up with you later. You should take care of it while you can."

"You sound like an old lady, Hazuki."

"Oh? Is this the mouth that can't resist provoking people?"

She grabbed my cheek and pulled it with considerable force.

"Oww. Hazuki, that hurts."

"Damn, for someone who acts like she's older than me, your cheeks are softer than mine."

My cheek continued to be squished and prodded.

"Hmph. That is quite an appropriate appearance for you, Comrade Old Liar. Now suffer the consequences of your lies."

"Well, I guess Raika-chan is kind of at fault for that joke..."

"Raika is displaying signs of embarrassment. I cannot determine the cause of such an emotion in this situation. Please explain."

Hey, Mana, don't say anything unnecessary!

Needless to say, all of them were naked in the bath.

Which meant that... well, if they got too close, I could see quite a lot.

Hazuki's toned body, Hibari's surprisingly curvy figure, Victoria's voluptuous body, Mana's slender figure...

The longer I watched them, the more my face started turning red again.

While I was busy with all that, Hazuki finally released my cheek and started shampooing my hair.

The sensation of someone else's fingers vigorously scrubbing my scalp felt really good. If I ignored the embarrassment, that was.

"Raika, your hair is surprisingly fine despite how careless you are."

"Is it?"

Honestly, I didn't care much. Fine hair wasn't exactly necessary for my purposes.

"This is about all I can do for you. Let me take care of the few things you're bad at."

For someone in her thirties, this was a pretty embarrassing situation. Having a girl in her mid-teens wash my hair.

Still, Hazuki looked quite satisfied when I saw her through the mirror, so I decided to quietly accept her care.

"...You're not bad at all."

"Hm? ...Raika, I'm going to rinse it now, so close your eyes."

I closed both eyes, but the water never came.

When I cautiously opened them, I saw Hazuki grinning at me through the mirror.

"You're really cute when your eyes are closed. You look like an ordinary girl."

"...So what you're saying is that I'm not cute when my eyes are open?"

"That's right. You have no charm. You're smarter than me, more cunning, better at getting by in the world, and yet you have those eyes that look like you've already given up. You really have no charm at all."

Despite confirming that I had opened my eyes, Hazuki suddenly poured water over my head with considerable force.

I hurriedly shut my eyes.

Then she rinsed the shampoo away with the shower before speaking to me.

"Done, Raika. That's all."

Her voice was filled with immense satisfaction as she said it to me.

R[The Liar Gunner] Usobuki Raika

Basic Stats

ATK — High
HP — Slightly Low
IP (Special Gauge) — Efficient (due to her proficiency with Phantom Armaments)
Type — Ranged / Physical

Normal Attack: Handgun Fire — Hits enemies up to 2 squares away.
"The caliber is small, but the power packed into each round is more than enough to take down weaker enemies in a single shot."

Passive: Covering Fire — When an enemy within 3 squares engages in combat, increases allied characters' ATK by 20% of her own ATK.
"With her broad field of vision and wide attack range, she actively provides support fire for her allies."

Skill 1: Switching — Rifle Fire — Hits an enemy 3 squares away. Has an armor-piercing effect.

Skill 3: Switching — Sawed-Off Shotgun — Deals heavy damage to an enemy in an adjacent square.

Phantom Release: Switching — Anti-Materiel Rifle — Deals powerful damage to an enemy up to 10 squares away.
"A trump card that uses 'Phantom Bullets.' Its power is high, but because it is consuming, she doesn't like using it very often."