C-Rank Ranked Match — Sniper Is A Loner

We reached the shipyard. No enemy contacts.

“The factory or the ships — which would you prefer?”

“Ah, um… if it’s up to me… the ships are taller than I expected, so I’d like to hole up on one of them. The factory rooftops have a good view, but with no cover up there at all, you’re easy to spot. And there are entrances to the shipyard on the east, west, and north sides, so there’s a real risk of getting surrounded.”

“Understood. To the ships, then.”

Three factories ran along a harbor built up right beside them, and three big vessels sat docked there. Shiina and I tucked the car into the shadow of one factory, then climbed to the very top of the middle ship of the three, a luxury liner. I cracked a window on the harbor side of the top floor and put my eye to my sniper scope.

“Good. This is a perfect position.”

The view was wide open, and I was hard to spot in return. Shiina kept watch at my back, which freed me to give the lookout my full attention. I could hole up here a good long while. Position-wise, the advantage was firmly mine.

The fifth area shrink came to an end. Then the sixth zone was laid out, and both the shipyard and the sea of trees fell inside it. In fact, those two spots and the roughly one-kilometer road linking them were all the safe zone that was left.

Sixteen Space Girls remaining. Now then… how would this play out?

Here it comes!

— Ping. An enemy unit’s icon lit up on my map.

“Contact on radar! Count of three!”

“So they have come. If it is only three, then a sniper shot—”

“W-wait, please!”

Three more on the radar. No, six!

“Nine! Nine of them just came into the shipyard all at once!! They’re closing in on this ship from separate routes!! They’re clustered in threes, so I make it three teams!”

“Let us hold here. If we snipe, we will draw concentrated fire. If those three teams devour one another, so much the better for us.”

“No! Both of you, get away from there!!”

ChaCha’s voice came in with an order.

“Why is that, ChaCha?”

Shiina asked.

“One team’s climbed up onto a factory roof! They’re turned toward the ships, so they’ve gotta be—”

Sniping? No, that’s not it. Don’t tell me—?!

“This is bad—!!”

I cried out, my eyes snapping to the factory at the far end. A swarm of rockets was already climbing into the sky, nine in all, splitting into volleys of three that each locked onto one of the three big ships.

All three luxury liners make superb bases. That team gave up on seizing the prime ground and chose to smash it instead! Enemies aboard or not, it makes no difference to them. They’re erasing these ships from the map to force the fight into the factories… to wipe out any edge, for anyone…!

Do I fire? No — from their trajectories, not one of the rockets will strike us head-on. Sniping and giving my position away would be the greater danger, wouldn’t it—?!

And while I’m busy thinking this through, one’s already right overhead—?! No intercepting that—!!

A rocket slammed into the big ship we were on. Two struck the bridge, one the ceiling of our top floor.

“Whoa?! Wawah—?!!”

The ship pitched hard. Twenty meters behind us the ceiling caved and came crashing down. Shiina and I threw ourselves forward on our Thrusters, punched through the wall, and burst outside.

“Here comes the sniping!!”

As if they’d been lying in wait for exactly this, two sniper rounds came streaking in. I twisted in midair to slip them and landed on the deck.

The footing’s terrible—!!

I’d only just touched down, Thrusters still firing, and the deck under me was still rocking. There was no dodging the shot that came next. Out of options, I lined up my Shield Pieces to soak it, and eight of them shattered. Then came another salvo. Shiina knocked the rockets down with her handgun, but several still hit the ship, rocking our footing harder than ever.

One more contact just appeared. That makes twelve units in the shipyard now, us included!

At this rate the ship’s going to sink! I have to get clear, and fast…!

?!

Just as I made to leap out toward the harbor, a stare stabbed into my back.

This gaze — it isn’t Shiina’s!

Before I could even turn, Shiina shoved me forward from behind.

“Go on, just as you are.”

When I looked back, Shiina’s whole body had been riddled with holes. Behind her stood two Space Girls, assault rifles in hand. Ninja-like garb, and a Stealth rating that never once surfaced on radar…

Reiwa Kunoichi…!

Their suits were soaked through. They must have come up out of the sea, climbed aboard, and slipped in behind us…?!

“Shiina…!”

“I leave the rest to you.”

Shiina was deleted. I gunned my Thrusters, tore off the ship, and dove straight into the factory ahead.

“…Again… I’ve gone and done it again…!”

Dead weight, all over again. Shiina had surely picked up on the Reiwa Kunoichi before I did. On her own, she’d have dodged them without fail…!

“Shiki.”

Shiina’s voice came through the comm.

“My apologies for leaving you on your own. But now, there is nothing left to bind you.”

“Bind me…?”

“I had ChaCha analyze your combat data. As it turns out, the fewer allies you have, the stronger you become. You are stronger when neither I nor Niko is with you.”

That much was true. With the tension gone, I did get stronger. But… I wished she wouldn’t put it that way.

“Th-that’s not true! I’m sure that without you and Niko, I never would’ve lasted this long!”

“That is so. It is plain that the three of us as a team are stronger than you alone. But your own strength, purely as an individual, is greater when you are by yourself. That is all it is. A player who cannot bring their full power to bear in a team battle, yet fights at full throttle on their own, is nothing so unusual. What I mean to say is…”

“The fight’s only just getting started — that’s what!”

Niko cut in.

“You’ve finally got yourself a spot where you can cut loose at full throttle, Shikki, so don’t go slapping a debuff on yourself over some weird sense of responsibility~.”

“Whether the team wins or loses, whether you got saved or whatever, the fact that we’re all watching you — forget aaall of it!”

“Show us everything you have.”

The trembling in my body stopped. The clutter cleared out of my head.

“…Yes… Thank you. All of you.”

The comm went dead. I set my back against the factory wall and looked up at the rough, bare ceiling.

Without seeing, without hearing, the whole scene around me rises up in my mind. The feeling in my fingertips sharpens; a thin thread of drool gathers at the corner of my mouth. My body forgets to blink, and the far distance stands right before my eyes.

Something Tsukigami had told me once rose up in my mind.

“If, at the next Ranked Match, a moment comes when your heart leaps, I want you not to hold it back. Throw yourself into that pulse, that surge. Pay no mind to the eyes of others — just give yourself over to the pleasure. Do that, and a boundless sense of omnipotence will surely wrap itself around you.”

So this is that moment, then.

Tsukigami… may I do as you told me? May I forget it all and give myself over to the pleasure right before my eyes?

No Shiina. No Niko. Not one ally left on this map.

Sniper is a loner (I’m all alone).

“…All I have to do is play, same as always.”

Toys? Well, there’s no shortage of those, scattered all around me.