Ch 284: A mysterious black sphere.

Rin opened her eyes when the Rayshift ended, finding herself in an empty apartment. No, almost empty. There was a strange black sphere near the far wall, about 150 centimeters in radius. She turned to see her companions. Her sister Sakura, and two girls that Sakura, Medea and Medusa had seduced from another timeline, Tsugumi and Ayase.

Rin didn't know them all that well yet, but they seemed easy to get along with. Both were honest and outgoing, and while Tsugumi had a sharp tongue sometimes, Rin wouldn't hold it against her, as she was the same.

"Looks like we're in a modern world." said Ayase as she walked to one of the large windows. "Japan, from the street signs and ads."

"Yes, I recognize the Tokyo tower over there. We're in the capital." nodded Rin.

"Good." nodded Tsugumi, already examining the black sphere from close. She knocked on it and searched for an opening. "I can see some thin lines. The sphere definitely has panels that can open up, but I don't see any lever or mechanism… Oh, we got quests!"

Rin nodded as she removed the notification and opened the quest panel on her interface. She really liked this System thing, giving her tangible benefits after only a few days of daily quests.

"Quest 1: Participate in the Gantz hunting missions to gain points. Protect Kayo Sugimoto, Riota Sugimoto, and Takeshi Koumoto and pay 300 points to buy their freedom. Deal with the boyfriend of Takeshi's mother. Reward: Doll-05 'Haruka', Infinity (sealed)."

"Quest 2: Significantly contribute to the success of the Tanaka Alien Mission. Reward: Unohana, Jormungand (sealed)."

"Quest 3: Significantly contribute to the success of the Buddhist Temple Mission. Reward: 5% completion toward unlocking the Grand Quest's special reward. Its nature will be revealed after reaching 50% completion. Currently: 5%."

"Quest 4: Significantly contribute to the success of the Dinosaur Alien Mission. Reward: Angela Balzac, Hel (sealed)."

"Quest 5: Kill the vampires. Reward: Archduchess Rhea, Ullr (sealed)."

"Quest 6: Significantly contribute to the success of the Ring Alien Mission. Reward: Nureha, Paimon (sealed)."

"Quest 7: Significantly contribute to the success of the Oni Alien Mission. Reward: Violet, Hraesvelgr (sealed)."

"Quest 8: Significantly contribute to the success of the Nurarihyon Alien Mission. Reward: Teresa, Deer Stalker RxR. All previous special equipments unsealed."

"Quest 9: Kill Giant Aliens until they run with their tails between their legs. Reward: All the humans with positive karma values who died during a Hunting Mission will be resurrected."

"Well, that's a lot of quests." said Rin.

"Indeed, although it seems we do not really have to run around to fulfill them. They look both similar and sequential to each other." nodded Ayase.

"And we're getting more people." said Sakura. "What do you think are those sealed equipment, Nee-san?"

"…Considering they each have different names, and that they'll be unlocked before we face giant aliens, I suspect them to be mechs of some sort." guessed Sakura.

"Yes, it would make sense." nodded Tsugumi.

Suddenly, blue beams burst out from the black sphere, aiming at the ground in the room's center.

Tsugumi flinched and stepped back, surprised.

"Did you do something?" asked Ayase.

"No, I… What is it doing?"

The beams on the ground were creating two lumps made of different kinds of materials, like a scanner or 3D printer. In seconds, flesh and blood human feet wearing black shoes made of some kind of thick, mate rubber were on the ground, and the laser beams kept working.

"It's creating or teleporting a person." realized Tsugumi.

"This is interesting and disturbing in equal parts." frowned Ayase.

Sakura had taken her smartphone out and was recording. "I will send this to Da Vinci later. I am sure she will be interested.

"…Still, the choice of clothes is a bit strange." said Rin as the person was now created or transported to waist level. "Some kind of thick rubber bodysuit with those metallic caps, but he wears jeans and other clothes over them."

"It must mean that he wears it not for fashion, but either because he likes it, or the suit is more than it seems." nodded Sakura. "Maybe some ballistic protection?"

"I guess we can always ask him." nodded Tsugumi.

The girls waited with bated breath as the process finished, and a young Japanese man with short black hair and black eyes stared back at them.

He didn't say anything and walked to a wall, then leaned his back on it, arms crossed, watching them with arrogance in his eyes.

"Hello? I am Ayase Shinomiya. Can you…"

"Don't bother." cut in the young man. "I have no interest in socializing with people who are about to die."

"So fucking rude. You want your ass kicked?" exclaimed Tsugumi, her fists clenched.

"Calm down, Tsugumi." shrugged Sakura. "If he wants to be left alone, that is his right. Of course, he won't get to complain if he needs help later and we ignore him."

The young man only snorted, and the black sphere started printing another human being.

"No black suit this time." observed Tsugumi, and the girls nodded.

The man who opened his eyes after the black sphere was done was a middle-aged salaryman dressed in suit and tie, with short black hair, black eyes and glasses.

"Huh? How did I get there?" asked the man, warily looking around.

"We aren't certain." said Sakura. "I am Sakura Tohsaka. What do you remember last?"

"I am Masashi Yamada. I was commuting to work, and all of a sudden the left side of my chest started to hurt. I…"

His words trailed off as the sphere started bringing in another human, and he stared with wide eyes.

The newcomer was a large man in his thirties, very fit, with a buzz cut and wearing a purple sweater and pants. his sweater had a cut on the right side, and the man stared down at it for a few seconds, feeling around, before looking at everyone with narrow eyes, seeming both condescending and calculating.

It didn't take a genius to understand that he had 'died' from a stab in the liver, and Rin and the others had to restrain their killing intent when they saw the way he was looking at them. Sakura in particular had to turn away.

"Huh, hello?" said Masashi. "Maybe we should introduce…"

The man ignored him and moved to examine the black sphere more closely. Then he tried the windows, but was unable to open them. He moved further back into the apartment to try the door, but couldn't open it either, and returned to the main room.

"Anyone has the key to leave?" he asked with a gruff, slightly threatening voice.

"We don't." replied Ayase with a frown, and the others shook their heads.

The sphere started bringing in someone else. The girls' eyebrows rose as they saw four paws surrounded by a coat of white fur.

"A dog?" exclaimed Tsugumi.

"Seems so."

When the transfer was complete, the dog, a male, looking like a small, black and white border collie, started taking in the various smells as she looked around.

"Hey, aren’t you a cute little guy?" smiled Ayase as she crouched, and the dog wagged its tail as it approached her, sniffing her, and letting her rub behind its ears for a few seconds before going to sniff the others.

The dog did stay away from the sitting man, though, likely his instincts telling it not to get close. Its inspection done, it returned near Ayase, and the girls took turns petting it.

"There's no collar. Maybe it's a stray?" wondered Tsugumi.

The sphere started another cycle, with two people this time. A tall young man wearing a student uniform, his black hair slicked back, and another of normal size, with black eyes and short black hair, wearing the same uniform.

"Huh… Is this heaven?" asked the tall young man with hesitation.

"Far from it." snorted the first guy, his arms still crossed.

"It seems that this black sphere is reviving people who died in various circumstances." shrugged Rin as she pointed at the sphere in question. "And dogs, I guess."

"Ah… I'm Kato Masaru." said the tall man awkwardly.

"…Kei Kurono." replied the smaller one.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rin Tohsaka. I think we should wait until the sphere stops bringing in people, or introductions will become a pain."

Kato stared at the sphere for a few seconds, than nodded and chose to sit in a corner of the room, giving the dog a quick pat when it came to sniff him.

The sphere started its cycle again, and another large man with a buzz cut appeared. The white suit he wore had three round holes on its front, obviously bullet wounds. He immediately recognized the one with the purple sweater, as they both sat near each other and started whispering.

After a minute, another man appeared, wearing a white hospital gown. A man in his sixties with white hair.

"Hum… Greeting." said the man, obviously embarrassed by his current attire. "Can anyone tell me who I got there?"

"It seems people get transported to this place when they die. The windows and door are locked." said Masashi, adjusting his glasses.

"I… see. I am Goro Suzuki." said the old man. "I don't suppose you have heard of me?"

"Aren't you a politician?" asked Masashi. "I vaguely remember seeing your face on a signboard."

"Yes, I am…"

His voice trailed off and he looked in surprise as the sphere brought in yet another person. A woman, judging from the feet. Very naked, wet feet. As the person gradually appeared, Rin realized that the person must have died in her bathtub. A case of electrocution? Or maybe she had banged her head and drowned?

The response to her musing came soon enough, as she spotted a bit of blood on the inner sides of the girl's wrists. A suicide attempt, then. Or a success? it was hard to say.

Either way, the girl, who had dark brown eyes and brown hair in a short boyish cut, and was groggy when the transfer stopped. She looked around with eyes opening and closing, and awkwardly sat on the ground, not trying to hide her large breasts. She seemed to be unable to decide if she was dreaming and to be barely hanging on to consciousness.

Rin was already removing her jacket, intending to lend it to the girl, when the two buzz-cut men stood and walked to the naked girl. The one with the purple sweater unceremoniously grabbed the girl's right wrist, forced her to stand awkwardly, and dragged her deeper into the apartment, closing the door behind him. The one with the white suit planted himself beside the door and faced everyone, who were still frozen in disbelief.

"All of you stay here quietly, or we'll have issues."

"The sheer fucking audacity!" gasped Rin, dropping her jacket on the ground and cracking her knuckles.

"You deal with him, Nee-san. I will crush the other one." growled Sakura, and Rin nodded.

"Looks like you're volunteering yourselves to be next, girlies." smiled the man as they advanced on him.

He moved to grab Rin by the throat, but she seized his wrist and planted her left foot in his guts, making him gasp. Not only that, but she pulled on his arm while pushing upward on her left leg, using her waist as a pivot, and making him rotate above her like a fulcrum. She slammed him hard on the hard floorboard with another strangled gasp. A gasp that turned into a scream when Rin, still having a grip on his wrist, twisted it sharply and broke his right arm.

"You're fucking dead, bitch!" screamed the man, his face twisting in mixed pain and hatred.

"Only a fool would threaten someone who just stomped him into the ground. Just try. Give me a good justification to finish what I started." snorted Rin, releasing him and returning to Tsugumi and Ayase.

Meanwhile, howls of pain and sounds of flesh hitting flesh were heard from the hallway. The howls turned into moans of pain, and Sakura returned, minus her jacket, dragging the badly bruised man behind her. He too clearly had a broken arm. And a few broken ribs.

Sakura dumped him into a corner of the room, and looked at him and his friend.

"If I ever catch any of you pigs touching a girl without her consent again..." declared Sakura with a matter-of-fact flat tone that was all the more ominous because it wasn't showing any emotion. "…I will take a broom's handle, superglue razor blades, fishing hooks and barbed wire to it, and sink it into your buttholes so deep the surgeons will need to remove half of your shredded guts to extract it."

The two men stared at her in charisma-amplified fear, and they weren't the only ones.

"That's my sister!" grinned Rin, and Sakura flashed her a quick smile before returning into the hallway. Rin followed her.

The girl, now wearing Sakura's jacket, was much more alert, and looked at Sakura with relief. And a bit of wariness. She had obviously heard Sakura's threat.

"You'll be safe with us." said Sakura. "I am Sakura Tohsaka, and this is my elder sister Rin."

Rin smiled and nodded in greeting.

"I… I am Kei Kishimoto. Thank you, for earlier, and for this." replied Kei as she touched the jacket. "What is going on? I should be…"

"Dead?" replied Rin. "The black sphere is somehow resurrecting people who were about to die, or have just died, we're not sure."

"You too?"

"Yes." lied Sakura, not wanting to have to provide lengthy explanations now. "I, Rin and two of our friends in this room were in my car, and we had an accident. Another driver who ran a red light. And then we woke up in this place."

Rin neither confirmed nor denied, and before Kei could ask another question, a loud music came from the main room.

"We need to return to the room. Maybe we'll get some answers." said Sakura, and Kei nodded, following them hesitantly.

The music, a cheerful tune that sounded like if was from half-a-century ago, came from the black sphere.

The people present, minus the two wannabe-rapists nursing their broken arms, gathered into a loose semi-circle around the sphere.

Even the arrogant guy who had first appeared after them moved closer, and looked at Rin and Sakura with a calculative gaze.

"Maybe you'll survive after all…" muttered the young man, and Rin gave him a side glance.

Then the music abruptly stopped, and white text appeared on the sphere's surface.

"Your lives and ended.

How you use your new lives is entirely up to me.

That's the theory, anyways."

The text was in Japanese, but some of the characters were inversed as if they were looking at their reflections in a mirror, making it somewhat hard to read.

"What is that supposed to mean? What the hell is this crap?" asked Masashi.

The lines disappeared and were replaced by the drawing of the face of a young man that looked almost human, although in an uncanny valley sort of way, with the top of his skull flaring out abnormally, and accompanying text.

"You shmucks will now go out and defeat this person.

Onion Alien

Characteristics:

Strong

Smelly

Likes:

Onions, friendship.

Quote:

Onions are enough for me!!"

"What is this crap? Sounds like a video game." said Masashi.

"Is this a new reality TV thing? Maybe there are cameras hidden in the walls?" mused Goro, scanning the room meticulously.

Three large panels on each side and on the rear of the sphere suddenly opened, revealing racks to strange-looking weapons.

The rear compartment had small, thin white suitcases, and Tsugumi took one to examine it.

"Those cases have our names on it." frowned Tsugumi, quickly locating the one meant for her, and opening it. Inside was a folded garment, and she took it out of the case, revealing a thick, black bodysuit made of the same style and material as the one the other man already wore under his clothes.

Without a word, she grabbed the suitcases for Ayase, Rin and Sakura, and the girls moved into the hallway to change.

"Kei Kishimoto, take your suitcase and come change with us." said Sakura before leaving the room, and the girl nodded.

"it goes without saying that this door stays closed until we're done." warned Sakura before closing it.

Rin's relatively recent but plentiful experience with putting on latex bodysuits served her well, and she changed in less than three minutes. The black suit, made of several pieces connecting to each other with those metal caps, was tight and fairly heavy, but fitted well on her body and didn't impair her movements.

Looking at her folded clothes, she wondered if she should put them on above the suit, but ultimately decided not to. They might get damaged, and she didn't want to display her ability to create new clothes out of thin air at this time.

After Akeno has told them about her latest chat with Noah before their departure, the girls had decided not to expose their abilities as long as lives didn't depend on it.

When they were ready, they returned to the room.

Rin was the first to open the door, and when she saw the barrel of a weapon pointed at her head, she instinctively ducked and dashed, keeping her body close to the ground as she sprinted. She batted the weapon out of the hand of the thug in a white suit and broke his other arm with a knee strike on the outside of his elbow.

The man man's expression changed from hatred to fear and pain, and he screamed again, both of his arms now unusable.

It all had been too fast for the other men in the room to react to him pointing one of the futuristic-looking guns at her.

"Some guys never learn." sighed Rin, kicking his crotch once for good measure.

She approached the sphere and took from the racks one of the strange rifles, noting it had two triggers as well as a scope, and a handle with a round guard and a narrow slit on the other side.

"Is this supposed to be some kind of laser sword?" asked Rin with a raised eyebrow.

She found a rotating ring between the handle and the guard, and she carefully turned it.

Nothing happened.

Rin returned the ring to its original position and tied the handle to an attachment point around the waist of her bodysuit.

Sakura, Ayase and Tsugumi were also arming themselves. Sakura also took a handle, as well as two different pistols. One, identical to the gun the thug had pointed at her, seemed to be a smaller version of the rifle in Rin's hands.

The other one was strange as it had three barrels arranged in a triangular formation around a smaller, fourth barrel, and wires connected the three barrels to a small screen at the back of the weapon.

Kei hesitated, then took a single mono-barrel gun, holding it with obvious inexperience.

"Rin, your body!" suddenly exclaimed Ayase, and Rin turned her head to look at her, then down at herself. But by the time she did, the scenery around her had changed, and she was now standing in the middle of a narrow street, alone.

She didn't see her body at first, and then saw it slowly expanding from her neck.

She understood that she was in the process of being transferred from the apartment to… wherever she was.

"Slow…" muttered Rin, counting fifteen seconds before her body was fully there. A lot of things could happen in fifteen seconds.

As soon as she was done, it was Sakura who started appearing, down from the crown of her head.

"Nee-san, a countdown appeared on the black sphere." said Sakura as soon as her mouth was visible. "We have one hour."

"I see." nodded Rin, vigilantly watching her surroundings. She pointed her rifle to a distant signpost, squeezed the upper trigger, and a view of the signpost appeared in the small screen serving as a scope. Nothing else happened.

Frowning, Rin pressed the lower trigger, and the rifle made a soft noise, but again, nothing happened.

Rin frowned more, wondering if her rifle was defective, until two seconds later, when part of the signpost was suddenly torn off with a great noise, leaving an irregular hole about fifty centimeters in diameter.

"There's a significant delay between firing and the damage happening. frowned Rin, testing on a closer target.

"And the delay doesn't seem to depend on the distance."

"We need to inform the others. This delay could be troublesome if they are caught unaware." nodded Sakura.

While the others were still being transferred in, Rin made a few more tests.

The last to be transferred in was a red-faced Kei Kurono, and he was… naked, holding his black bodysuit in front of him. He had apparently decided to change into it at the last minute and didn't have time.

"Awkward." quipped Ayase, looking away.

"So awkward." replied Tsugumi as Kurono hurriedly disappeared behind a street corner.

"Alright!" nodded Rin while they were waiting for him. "Those rifles have two triggers. The upper one is to lock targets. You can lock several targets at the same time. The lower one is to make the weapon fire at all the locked targets, and the rifle doesn't need to be pointed at them. But there is a two seconds delay before the trigger being pressed and the target being hit, who doesn't depend on the distance."

"How could such weapons exist?" frowned Goro, the politician. "This is far beyond what science can explain."

"So is being revived and transported here. If we are supposed to fight an alien, this is likely alien technology." shrugged Ayase.

"More strangely, the civilians do not seem to be able to see us." Said Sakura, pointing to a handful of people who had left their homes to stare at the torn signboards. Rin, Sakura and the others were standing in plain sight, weapons in hand, but no one looking in their general direction was reacting to their presence.

"How is it possible?" asked Goro. "No, it must be some kind of game, and they are actors."

"I won't try to convince you." sighed Ayase. "Believe what you want. But now would be a good time to introduce ourselves properly while we have time. I am Ayase Shinomiya." said Ayase.

One by one, they introduced themselves to each other. Aside from the first guy with the suit, who had already disappeared somewhere without anyone noticing, and the two thugs who were walking away.

"Are they just leaving?" asked Tsugumi with a raised eyebrow.

"I think we should do the same." said Masashi, and Boro nodded. "We haven't signed up for this."

"I don't think it will be so easy." frowned Sakura. "That sphere is surely observing us. What if it decides to teleport us into the middle of the ocean if we do not do as it asks?"

"I have a map of the area and a marker that seems to be out target." announced Tsugumi, her eyes fixed on a small device with a screen. Rin had seen several of those in the sphere's equipment and suddenly regrated not having taken one. "There are also markers for each of us, and those two guys are getting close to the border of what I assume is our mission's area."

"Do you guys feel like warning them?" asked Rin to the others.

"No. They are definitely a liability. We do not need rapists and criminals behind our backs while we fight, and they have a grudge against us." immediately said Tsugumi. "Besides, if they are so willingly volunteering to show us what happens if you exit the area, we shouldn't interrupt them."

"You are quite ruthless." said Kato with an uneasy tone.

"Only to those who deserve it." shrugged Tsugumi.

Rin and the others quietly followed the two thugs, keeping almost a hundred meters between them. Sounds carried well at night inside the sleeping neighborhood, and Rin heard the thugs start complaining about a ringing just before Tsugumi informed them they were reaching the red line.

The thugs kept walking away, shaking their heads and talking about finding a hospital, and about ten seconds later, their heads exploded. The two corpses collapsed among the gore.

"Okay, trying to leave is not a good idea. Let's find that onion alien." sighed Tsugumi.

Goro, Masashi and the others looked like they wanted to vomit, but they followed Tsugumi nonetheless.

"H-How can you be so calm?" asked Kato, clearly disturbed.

"I have seen a lot of crap in my time." replied Tsugumi, barely taking her eyes off the detector's screen or the road ahead. "It's not the first time I see someone die, and it won't be the last."

As they walked, Rin tried the handle again, and this time, a black blade burst from the slit, turning the weapon into a large katana. Moreover, the blade could extend if Rin turned the ring more, and she stared at the ten-meter-long blade. Such length would be unpractical, unless she fought against giant targets, and she retracted it completely.

Sakura tried the multi-barrel gun as well on a signpost, using the upper trigger, and three miniature missiles or rockets linked to each other by glowing blue wires were launched, repeatedly turning around the signpost and wrapping it with the wires before burying themselves into the ground, acting like anchors.

When Sakura pulled the lower trigger, a beam came from the sky and slowly transferred the signpost away, in the same manner as they had come in.

"So this gun is for capturing, not killing." nodded Sakura. And judging from the icons on the screen, I can fire it another two times before it runs out of ammo."

"We'll primarily use this on the aliens if they do not attack us in sight." declared Rin, and everyone nodded.

"Come to think of it, where's the dog?" asked Kato.

"A few streets on our right, according to the scanner." replied Tsugumi. "And the arrogant guy who was already suited up is following us from a distance. We're getting pretty close, but I do not have an exact position. Stay vigilant, everyone."

For a few minutes, they explored their surroundings, but didn't find their target.

"We should split into teams." suggested Masashi. "We'll cover more ground this way. I do not want to find out what happens when the countdown reach zero."

"Two groups, then? Girls and Boys?" suggested Rin, frowning. To her, separating was asking for trouble, but at the same time, overly coddling her allies would hamper their growth.

Since she was confident that they would fulfill all the quests they had been given, she didn't really care if some of the guys didn't make it. They would be revived if they had a good karma, and if they didn't, it wouldn't be a big loss.

No one objected, although Rin guessed that Kurono wanted to. She had noticed how he looked at them when he thought they weren't looking, but he also seemed to be the cowardly type, keeping to the background.

"Let's continue." frowned Tsugumi when the group of men walked away. "We can keep searching the streets for a while, but if we don't quickly find this onion alien, we'll have to start checking inside the homes."

"Yes. Hopefully it won't come to that... Is that antisocial guy still following us?" asked Ayase.

"Seems so. His marker indicates he's about 50 meters away." replied Tsugumi as she glared at the seemingly empty street.

"Let's ignore him for now." sighed Sakura.

They resumed their search, only finding more empty streets.

But after a few minutes, they stopped as they heard the sounds of people running.

Kato Masaru and Kei Kurono both burst out of a side-street fifty meters in front of them, and they separated, Kato running toward them while Kurono veered away.

"Help us! He's coming!" immediately yelled Kato as he spotted them.

A third man wearing a long brown coat appeared behind them and ran after Kato.

No, not a man. Rin frowned as she took in his face, having this uncanny feeling, his size easily reaching two meters or more, and his left hand, with five short, curved blades protruding from his fingers. Not just from the tips of his fingers, but from their entire length. He looked like a buffier and angrier Freddy Krueger.

Tsugumi was already moving, sprinting toward the alien. At the last instant, as the onion alien was lifting his left hand to slash at her without slowing down, Tsugumi pivoted as she jumped, and executed a perfect drop kick, both of her feet impacting his upper torso and killing his momentum.

The Onion Alien grunted as she staggered back, and Tsugumi got out of Ayase's line of fire. Ayase fired her multi-barreled gun, and the alien failed to evade. Two seconds later, the micro-missiles anchored themselves into the ground, immobilizing him.

He screamed in a language only Rin, Sakura, Tsugumi and Ayase could understand, showering them with invectives and about killing his son, and Ayase sighed sadly as she pressed the second trigger. The Onion Alien started being sent to an unknown destination.

"What happened? Where are the others? This one doesn't really look like the picture we were shown." asked Rin to the panting Kato.

"He's… He's the father… We found the Onion Alien and cornered him... He tried to flee, and he shoved Masashi aside... Masashi panicked, and he fired. It was only after that he noticed… that he had used the wrong gun. And then his father came… He killed Masashi Yamada and Goro Suzuki."

Kato started to cry, feeling deep regret.

"I see." sighed Rin. Kurono was coming back toward them, watching the side street warily. Before he reached them, the top of his head started to disappear.

"We're being sent back." realized Rin.

One by one, they returned to the apartment, standing in front of the sphere. Even the dog was back. But their number had gone from twelve, to eight.

Rin felt that to be quite ominous. This mission must have been some sort of tutorial. The adult Onion Alien was alone, and surely those the quest referred to as Dinosaur Aliens or Oni Aliens would be much more dangerous.

The Sphere displayed a new message.

"Time to share the points."

"Gantz is going to start handing our points." said the anti-social young man on the side. He had revealed himself just as they were being sent out, deactivating his invisibility.

"Gantz? That's the name of the sphere?" frowned Tsugumi.

"Yeah."

"Did you choose that name for it?"

"No, is was those who came before me."

"You're being more communicative." nodded Sakura, and he shrugged.

"The four of you seem able to pull their own weight. You didn't run scared and got yourselves killed. Hopefully, you won't disappoint me."

"I see. You want to use us. Well, it's fine, as long as you tell us what you know." smiled Sakura.

The sphere displayed a rough, caricatural drawing of Rin's face, and she raised an eyebrow at the name beside it.

"Violent Girl – 0 points.

+00 mvch f1r1ng 4t s1gnp05t5 (lol)"

"Violent Girl, eh?" snickered Tsugumi.

"Well, fair enough, I don't care." snorted Rin.

Next was Sakura's face, with the comment "Scary Girl – 0 points."

Tsugumi got the "Catgirl" nickname, undoubtedly due to the metallic cat hairband she wore, as well as one point. And she burst into laughter at the next one on the sphere's list.

Ayase's drawing was displayed, along with…

"Titz – 2 points.

+00 mvch t1tty"

"The hell! I'll kick the crap out of you!" growled Ayase, about to put her threat into reality, and her name changed. "Scary Girl 2 – 2 Points."

"…Better." glared Ayase.

One by one, the others got their turns.

"Dog – 0 points

n0 5killz

+00 mvch t0ngv3-w4gg1ng

+00 mvch t41l-w4gg1ng"

The dog whined and lowered its head pitifully as if it could understand the words.

"Naked Girl – 0 points

+00 mvch t1tty

+00 mvch w4nd3r1ng 4r0und w/0 p4nt135"

Kei Kishimoto sighed and lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Kato-chan (lol) – 0 points

G0dd4mn Kato-chan (lol), j00 4lm05t d13d 4g41n!"

"Mr Nishi – 0 points

+0+4l 87 pts.

13 m0re +1ll y00r d0n3"

The most awkward result was for Kei Kurono.

"Bitch – 0 points.

+00 m4ny b0n3rz fr0m st4r1ng 4t T1tz 4nd n4k3d g1rl."

"Huh?!" exclaimed Kurono, his face going red. He suddenly didn't dare turn his head to see how the others were staring at him. Kei Kishimoto moved to put Sakura between her and him.

Tsugumi and Ayase were the only ones who received any points.

"87 points, huh?" said Rin as she looked at 'Mr Nishi'. "You've been at it for a while, it seems. What are those points for?"

"…Gantz, display the rewards." asked Nishi, and three lines of text replaced Kurono's assessment, written in normal Japanese this time.

"Option 1: 100 points - Stronger weapon.

Option 2: 100 points - Freedom.

Option 3: 100 points - Revive one person."

"I guess the first option is self-explanatory." said Sakura. "So you're aiming for the second one?"

"Yes." nodded Nishi. "Those who choose it lose their memories about Gantz and aliens, but they aren't summoned anymore, and they can live normally."

"And the last option? Can you revive anyone?" asked Sakura with a raised eyebrow.

"Anyone who died during a mission. The door is unlocked now, so I'm leaving, and you should too. Just make sure not to speak about Gantz to anyone who isn't part of this, or your heads will explode."

With this ominous warning delivered, Nishi turned away and left the room. They heard him open the apartment door and leave.

"Should we try to revive Masashi or…" hesitated Kato.

"Sadly, by the time any of us get to 100 points, I think we will have plenty of other names to choose from, of people more worthy of a second chance." replied Ayase as she shook her head.

"Yeah. With only a single significant enemy, this mission was probably just something for us to familiarize ourselves with the equipment." nodded Sakura. "I expect the difficulty to ramp up. It wouldn't make sense for Gantz to gather twelve of us just to send us after only two aliens otherwise… Rather, we probably got an easy one because all of us save Nishi are new at this. Which makes me wonder what his previous mission was like, if he was the sole survivor... Anyway, it's time to leave. We have lives to return to, until the next time we are sent here. Should we exchange phone numbers before we go?"

They all nodded.