C-Rank Ranked Match — Shiki And Shiina

Tsubasa’s gone, and now it’s just Shiina and me, the two of us alone.

“…Um, that is, well…”

I have to say something. But I can’t find the words…

She seems kind of down, and at a time like this, the thing to do is—right, some comforting words!

“Please, don’t let it get to you!”

“…? Let what get to me?”

“Um… the whole ‘no friends’ thing, or whatever. I don’t have any either, so—! It’s fine, honestly, don’t worry about it!”

“…I do not particularly mind. I choose solitude of my own accord.”

A dark, negative aura comes rising off Shiina’s back.

Huh? Did I just make her angry instead?!

I’d been so certain the only thing capable of getting Shiina down was Tsubasa’s whole “you’ve got no friends” jab, but apparently that wasn’t it. So what was she so down about?

“Even now, I regret it from time to time. Disbanding the team.”

“Yggdrasil, was it? B-but wasn’t it unavoidable? If everyone wanted to be leader…”

“I did not particularly want to be leader myself.”

Shiina went on, a wistful look on her face.

“Tsubasa—that person was truly suited to lead. She had charisma, and she was no fool, either. Had I possessed the breadth of mind and the wit to accept turning the team into an idol act, I might have thrown my support behind her, made her the leader, and perhaps spared the team from falling apart.”

“So you really hated the idol idea that much… b-but, if you became an idol, Shiina, I bet you’d be really popular… I think.”

For once, Shiina’s eyes wander uneasily.

“F-flattery is unnecessary.”

“I-it’s not flattery! Your voice is cute, Shiina… and that avatar of yours is cute, too.”

There’s a certain gap when a cool-type girl like her throws on a frilly outfit and dances, and the destructive power of that gap is off the charts. In both looks and personality she’s the polar opposite of Tsubasa, so honestly, I think the two of them would have incredible synergy.

“The truth is… being an idol is the one and only thing I simply cannot do. There is a reason I could never, ever be an idol.”

Shiina’s face has gone red. Ngh… cute. With an expression like that, she somehow looks so young. Could she actually be younger than me? …No, surely not.

“This reason of yours—would it be all right if I asked what it is?”

“…Well. If it is you, Shiki, I doubt you would poke fun at it… so there should be no harm in telling you. Only—do keep it to yourself, if you would.”

“Y-yes.”

It’s not as if I have anyone to tell in the first place.

“—I am tone-deaf.”

“Eh?”

“I am a poor singer. After Tsubasa first floated the idol route, I practiced at karaoke any number of times, yet I could never manage to score above 70…”

Shiina has an unexpected weak point! And here I’d gone and assumed she was the type who could do anything.

“And you, Shiki? Singing, and the like—are you any good at it?”

“Ah, um, I don’t think I’m bad at it. When I went to karaoke with my little sister a while back, I scored over 90 on every song.”

“Is that not quite impressive…?”

“It’s just, my singing voice is dead-on for pitch and everything, but apparently it has no human warmth to it. My sister told me it ‘sounds like a machine voice.’”

In a way, maybe that makes me worse off than someone who can’t hit the notes at all. Is a singing voice with no passion in it even worth anything?

“A machine voice, you say. If anything, that makes me want to hear it all the more.”

“It’s a dull voice to listen to.”

“That, I cannot know without hearing it for myself.”

Shiina lowered her face in thought, then lifted it again, her cheeks tinged faintly red.

“Shiki—if you would not mind, would you go to karaoke with me?”

“Wh—whaaat?!”

K-k-karaoke?! ME—I just got invited to karaoke?!

“Of course, if it is no good, then that is quite all right. I, too… find it embarrassing to go to karaoke with other people.”

“Th-then why me…?”

“—How shall I put it… with you, Shiki, I feel I would not mind being seen at my most embarrassing. I wonder why that is. Perhaps because we are both loners.”

My heart gave a sudden thump.

Is this the fabled tsundere I keep hearing about? No—this isn’t quite tsundere either. That’s it: a cool girl letting her dere show. A kuudere¹!

“B-both loners… you say?”

“You said as much a moment ago, did you not—that you are a loner. I am the same. I, too, have no friends in real life. I eat my lunch alone, and I have never once walked home from school alongside a friend.”

In terms of personality, Shiina and I are nothing alike. I’m timid, and I get nervous the moment I have to talk to anyone. Shiina, on the other hand, may speak politely, but she’s assertive and forward, the type who never gets nervous at all. And yet she’s a loner too…

So even if you don’t get nervous, even if you aren’t timid, you can still end up a loner. It’s hard… communication really is so hard…

“I have always been the rational sort—I put the rules of the moment and practical gain ahead of other people’s feelings. It is a dated bit of slang by now, but I am what one would call a ‘KY².’ It is only natural that I am not well liked.”

“…”

“Shiki…?”

Before I knew it, tears were spilling over.

“Ngh, uuh…”

“Eh? U-um, is something the matter? Do you really dislike the idea of going to karaoke with me that much…”

“That’s not it! It’s just, being invited to karaoke for the very first time made me so happy…”

Being invited out to have fun by someone other than my little sister was, in itself, a first for me.

“And besides… I really like you, Shiina…!”

“?!”

“It’s true, there are times you’re short on words and don’t quite pick up on how people feel, but…”

“You do put it plainly…”

“But you, Shiina—you never once give up on talking to me. I-I’m bad at conversation, I choke up on my words in no time… I get down over things that make no sense and end up crying… and faced with someone like me, everyone gets exasperated, or stops talking to me, or makes fun of me… but you, Shiina—no matter how weird I am, you treat me as a person, as an ordinary human being like anyone else. And that makes me so, so happy… so please, don’t put yourself down like that…”

“…”

Shiina placed a hand on my head.

“You really are a crybaby, are you not, Shiki. From now on, I shall make a point of carrying a handkerchief whenever I am to meet you.”

There’s something relieved in her voice as she says it.

“…Disbanding the team—perhaps, in the end, it was for the best.”

“Eh?”

“No, this is my own matter. Well then, will you go? With me… to karaoke.”

“Y-yes! ‘Someday’!”

“Yes. ‘Someday.’”

In that moment, without either of us realizing it, we both understood the same thing.

That a promise of ‘someday’ made between two loners is one that will never, ever be kept.

“And, this is belated, but, Shiki: I am sorry.”

“F-for what?”

“Player-hunting has run rampant in these parts for ages, but the number of hunters has swelled to more than four times what it was in the days I knew it. Had I known things had grown this lawless, I would never have invited you out here. I am sorry—this whole predicament was brought about by my own lack of knowledge.”

“Please, don’t apologize! If you didn’t know, then it couldn’t be helped.”

“It is a relief to hear you say so. In any case, let us find a different hunting ground. It is dangerous here.”

I shake my head.

“No. We’ll head back to the station for now, but I’m not changing hunting grounds.”

It’d be a waste. There’s nowhere better suited to hunting than right here.

“…You seem to have something in mind.”

“Yes. This place is the ‘best.’ As a training ground for the Ranked Match, there’s simply nowhere better.”

“?! Don’t tell me…”

Shiina seems to have caught on. To what I’m scheming.

“Ricochets to my heart’s content, plenty of Space Girls I’m free to take down, and on top of that, taking them down nets me a fortune. Everything I want right now—it’s all right here.”

Shiina lets out a small laugh. But in that smile, I catch a hint of fear, too.

“So you mean to become a hunter yourself.”

“Yes. I’m going to become—a hunter who hunts hunters.”

The bandits have been kind enough to mark themselves with an easy-to-spot sign. There’s no chance of my shooting an innocent player by mistake.

I’ve already taken the measure of how the bandits operate. I won’t be so careless as to let them get near me again.

—A hunt for the Konpeitou.