CHAPTER 1
Fifth Time’s the Charm
September 12th, 2026.
Just seven minutes before twenty hundred hours, meaning eight o’clock on this Saturday evening, Llenn heard Pitohui give her a greeting that was so abbreviated, she couldn’t tell what was being said: “Geev!”
In fact, it might not have been a greeting at all. Pitohui may have simply decided to make a silly sound with her mouth upon seeing Llenn.
They were, of course, inside Gun Gale Online, the full-dive VR game that employed all the bodily senses. They were located in the entirely digital city of SBC Glocken, in a private room contained within what looked like a western saloon.
Llenn, whose diminutive avatar was no more than five feet tall and clad in her usual faded-pink combat fatigues—albeit under the dark-brown robe she wore in town to hide her identity—had just entered the room in the saloon.
“Good evening, Pito. Is it just you?”
The room featured a round table large enough to seat ten people, but there was only one person present: a slender woman wearing a navy-blue bodysuit, her black hair tied high in a ponytail, and with geometric-patterned tattoos on her cheeks.
In short, she was the quintessential Pitohui.
But in as deep a voice as she could manage, she muttered, “The truth is, it’s me, M… I woke up this morning, and we had switched bodies…”
“Iced tea,” Llenn said in response to this shocking admission.
A cup with a straw and a lid popped up out of the surface of the table. Llenn doffed her robe—by swiping with her hand on her menu, not by physically taking off the item—and sat down.
“C’mon, Llenn, you’re no fun!” Pitohui pouted. But the truth was that if you were going to react to something like that, you’d never last on Pitohui’s team.
Llenn scooted her chair up to the table, lifted her cup of iced tea with tiny hands, and asked, “Shall we make a toast, Pito?”
“Oh, fine, if you insist. Cheers!”
Pitohui lifted a large mug from the table. The contents, green and brown, as if the drink were made of liquefied locusts, were a mystery.
After giving their cup and mug a little kiss, the two of them downed their beverages. Once their virtual throats were virtually refreshed, Pitohui launched into a grave, dignified speech.
“I believe you all know the reason I have gathered you here tonight…”
“No one else is here!”
“Ah. Thank you for that interruption.”
Llenn failed to keep ignoring her nonsense.
About ten minutes later, Pitohui repeated, “I believe you all know the reason I have gathered you here tonight…”
This time, there were others gathered around the table.
Next to Llenn sat Fukaziroh. She had her blond hair tied up in her usual style and was wearing a MultiCam shirt and shorts, plus tights.
Across the table was Shirley. She wore a forest camo jacket with very realistic tree-bark patterns on it. Because they were indoors, she wasn’t wearing a hat, leaving her brilliant short green hair visible.
On the other side of Shirley was Clarence. She wore all-black combat gear that looked like it belonged to a special police unit, and her face was masculine and handsome, like a Takarazuka actor who specialized in male roles.
And then there was M, a man built like a bear, wearing a green T-shirt. As usual, for bottoms he wore his green camo combat pants.
It was the lineup of six who fought together in SJ4, as well as the recent Five Ordeals quest. Yes, you might even call them teammates.
“It’s so we can talk about what we’re doin’ with the fifth Squad Jam, right? They sent out the registration message earlier today confirming the event,” Clarence replied.
Honk-honk. A whimsical sound filled the room.
It was Pitohui, holding a horn with a rubber sphere on one end, and squeezing it to produce the noise. When did she get that out?
It was a rubber honking horn, more properly known as a bulb horn. In real life, you could buy one at a big musical instrument store or on the Internet.
This was the first time that Llenn knew it was in GGO, too. But she didn’t know why. Nor did she know why Pitohui had one. It was probably pointless to wonder.
“Correct!” Pitohui exclaimed.
“Yesss!” cheered Clarence.
“Why would we come here if not for that?” Shirley grumbled sourly. In short, the way she always did.
But she was likely concerned that the conversation was never going to move forward if she didn’t prod it along, so she continued, “We’re gonna go with this group for SJ5 again, right? I get it. I’m in. We’ll be seeded, so we don’t need to bother with the qualifying round. I’ll make sure I’m there on time the day of the event. The end. Can I go now?”
With that, she put her lips on the straw of her iced coffee, no cream, with syrup. She was determined to finish the entire thing before she left the room.
“Now, now, Shirl, don’t jump to conclusions,” Pitohui said, waving the horn.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Fine, fine. Anyway, listen closely, everyone—including Shirley. Today we’re going to be talking about the special rules, all right?”
Fukaziroh stopped sipping her lemon soda to ask, “What’s all this about special rules? They got some newfangled restrictions on us?”
Did you not read the damn message? thought Llenn.
At least she knew this Fukaziroh was indeed the real Fukaziroh. She’d have been a different person entirely if she had actually read the message beforehand.
“You didn’t really read the message again, did you, Fuka?”
Honk-honk.
What is the point of that horn? Llenn wondered but did not say aloud.
Pitohui waved her left hand and operated a floating window that only she could see. The only thing visible was the way her fingers moved and tapped the air.
A large screen appeared on the far wall of the room. The wall had been covered in floral wallpaper, but it instantly turned into a screen measuring over a hundred inches, displaying a message.
This was an area where the virtual world was incredibly convenient. If you got used to it, the real world seemed so clumsy in comparison.
“Here’s the message that went out about SJ5 earlier today. Let’s do a little refresher. Fuka, you’ll be in charge of scrolling the text.”
1:00 PM, September 12th, 2026.
To my dear friends.
How are you? I am doing well.
This message is being sent to all players who have appeared in any Squad Jam (henceforth “SJ”) event.
As I probably don’t even need to point out, I am the novelist sponsor, the one who came up with the idea for SJ.
Thank you to everyone who took part in my recent simultaneous competitive quest, Five Ordeals.
But you had all kinds of nasty things to say about me online, didn’t you?
Like, “What kind of horrible ending is this?”
Or, “Screw you, jerk!”
And, “I’m a cat person anyway!”
All right, maybe the last one isn’t actually an insult. Just for the record, I don’t mind cats. I’m just allergic to them.
Anyway, it made me quite sad to read such horrible reactions to my very earnest event.
But this message isn’t about revenge. I’ll choose to ignore my pain.
I don’t bear a grudge over it. No, I’m not seething with enmity in the least… I’m not seeking retribution at all…
“Oh wow, he’s really upset about this. I guess he’s the kind of guy who can’t get over things easily,” Fukaziroh noted immediately, pausing the message.
No one disagreed with this observation; they just nodded in silence. Everyone taking part in Squad Jam understood by now that the sponsor was a waste of life who was much too old to be so immature. It was old news.
“I wonder if he was able to take our glorious fight against the mecha-dragon and use it to write his novel,” Pitohui said. Nobody could give her an answer, because nobody cared.
Fukaziroh ran her finger along the window to scroll the text on the giant screen, moving on to the next part.
As for what I want to say with this message, I can sum it up in a single sentence.
We’re doing a fifth SJ! Right away!
Okay, that was two sentences.
@SJ5 basic info.
Time: September 19th, 2026 (Sat.), 1:00 PM (Japan Time) start
Eligible teams: 30 in total (max 6 members per team)
You’re able to register as of this very moment! Click right here to sign up! The deadline is midnight on September 17th!
Just as always, any team that has placed within the top four of any SJ event will be seeded, so you will be automatically granted entry.
However, you may not split up your members and enter as multiple teams.
All other teams, if the total entries exceed the number of slots for the event, will participate in a preliminary competition on the day before the event, September 18th, starting at seven PM, so be sure you’re available.
The qualifying round will play out the same way it always does: head-to-head fights on long, straight maps.
As most of you probably know, you don’t need to have your entire team present to take part in the qualifying round. If you think you can destroy your opponents alone, try it out!
Fukaziroh paused here and noted, “The nineteenth is really soon. It hasn’t even been a month since the last one. What’s he in such a rush for? Am I not gonna have time to go back to ALO again?”
Her primary VR game was ALfheim Online, generally known as ALO. It was a beautiful fantasy world where players inhabited different kinds of winged fairies, flying through the sky and going on adventures in picturesque surroundings.
It was quite different from GGO, where mankind came back to a future Earth devastated by a civilization-ending war and were reduced to crawling around the ruins of their giant spaceship, killing one another for loot. Completely different, in fact.
When SJ2 happened, Fukaziroh decided to help Llenn out by converting: moving her character from one game to the other, a process that maintained the character’s relative strength. She’d done it several times by now.
And she’d stayed in GGO ever since SJ4, including the recent quest.
“You still haven’t gone back…? No wonder you showed up so fast,” Llenn marveled.
The main point, however, was that Fukaziroh in GGO was a very powerful presence, so all was well! In fact, she could stay permanently in GGO, if she wanted to help…?
Pitohui said, “Just so we’re all on the same page, I trust that nobody has any big errands to run on that date at that time? We’re all good?”
She glared at everyone except for M. It was a glare that did not allow for any refusal. A glare that said, If you have any small errands, too bad; you’re still coming along.
“Nothing aside from studying for my college tests,” Llenn replied.
“Watch out, Llenn. You’re giving away your identity. Remember, aren’t you supposed to be a housewife with three nursing children to take care of?” Fukaziroh remarked.
“So they’re triplets? Are they cute?” wondered Clarence.
“Were you actually paying attention to anything anyone said?” Shirley asked, worried about her partner’s intelligence. “Anyway, I’m fine. If I couldn’t have made it to SJ5, I wouldn’t be showing up for this meeting.”
“Okay, so we’re all in,” Pitohui concluded, satisfied. She did not honk the horn this time.
Oh, Pito’s already bored of the horn, Llenn thought but did not say aloud.
“As for the most important people of all, me and M, we’re perfectly open, of course! I had a really important piece of work that day, but I just axed it right off the calendar.”
Don’t do that! Come on! You’re Elza Kanzaki! Llenn thought furiously but did not say aloud. She could never say that aloud.
“Wow. So despite the way you look, you have a job and stuff? What do you do, Pito?” Clarence asked cluelessly.
“I’m not interested. Keep talking about Squad Jam,” Shirley urged.
That’s right—these two have no idea that Pito is Elza Kanzaki. I wonder how they’d react if they found out, Llenn thought but of course did not say aloud. She could never.
“Go ahead, then, Fuka. Let’s continue. The special rules this time are extra complicated,” Pitohui urged.
@About SJ5’s special rules.
The basic rules are the same as previous Squad Jams.
A Satellite Scan will reveal the location of the team leaders and team names every ten minutes, and leadership passes down in succession if the leader gets killed—you can read the attached rule book for all the usual details. But the real draw of Squad Jam is the “special rules,” which change every time!
Yes! We’re doing it again!
Now, about the special rules…
There are two broad categories: those that can be explained beforehand (i.e., now) and those that will only be revealed once the Squad Jam battle is under way.
The latter will be displayed within the game as they become active. Have fun! Enjoy being startled!
So here, I’ll only explain the special rules that can be revealed at this time.
Read them carefully and only take part in the event if you agree to them. (Meaning: Don’t whine about it afterward.)
I’ve got an all-new, groundbreaking idea…
“Switching your entire loadout with the help of your teammate (henceforth ‘gear-switching’) is now possible.”
I’ll list the rules regarding alternate gear below. Read them carefully so that you understand them.
Rule 1
“All SJ5 players in the final event will be able to carry a set of alternate gear for one of your teammates, with no effect on your weight limit, within your item storage.”
Rule 2
“Alternate gear contains everything, including weapon ammunition and other eligible items usable within Squad Jam. The upper limit is the amount by weight that the owning player can carry.”
Rule 3
“Alternate gear is exchanged via a gear-switch with your currently equipped loadout. You cannot use both sets at the same time. Gear you don’t want to trade (your regular clothing, defensive items, etc.) can be retained in your inventory.”
Rule 4
“Gear-switching is only possible when the carrying teammate is close by, within the range for ordinary item exchanges.”
Rule 5
“If the teammate dies, the alternate gear they are carrying is no longer usable within the battle in any way.”
Rule 6
“You cannot materialize and use the set of alternate gear you are carrying for your teammate.”
Rule 7
“Gear that your teammate has received and materialized can be loaned to you for use. If the teammate dies in battle, it will continue to be usable, as will enemy gear, which can be plundered in the same way as before.”
Rule 8
“If your teammate uses the gear-switch function while you are using their alternate gear, it will disappear and no longer be in your possession.”
Rule 9
“The alternate gear set can be registered in an item list that does not interfere with carrying capacity before you enter the waiting area at the bar. During the ten minutes in the waiting area before the battle, you may choose which set you will use.”
Rule 10
“You are free to choose who in your team will carry whose gear prior to the start of the battle. During the battle, you cannot alter who carries the gear.”
Rule 11
“Alternate gear is optional. You may take part in the battle without making use of it.”
The end.
“Mm-hmm. I see. An entire set of alternate gear that you can switch between… Quite a special set of rules, indeed… Why, I’d say I’ve never seen such a system before…in my sixty-five years of VR gaming…”
“Thank you, mysterious old man. Also, no VR game is that old,” Llenn said, telling Fukaziroh off. It would be cruel to simply ignore her comment. Humoring her is just what a friend would do.
“Now, I believe you all know the reason I have gathered you here tonight,” said Pitohui for the third time this evening. “We need to figure this one out. We’ll want to increase the variety of gear—mostly weaponry—and I want to work on our overall team balance. It’ll change the way we fight, too.”
While her tone of voice was fairly brief and flippant, Pitohui’s topic was a smart and diligent one. She could be normal if she wanted to be.
Clarence raised her hand and called out, “Sensei, hang on. I didn’t actually understand all of the rules. Did everyone else follow the whole thing perfectly? Did you guys all get perfect grades in school?”
“Good point. Shall we refresh the entire list from the top?” suggested Miss Pitohui.
“Yes, Sensei!” said Clarence the student. It was good to be obedient and an attentive listener.
Llenn understood the rules after reading them several times, but maybe she just thought she understood. It never hurt to go back over them.
Pitohui waved her left arm and produced an automatic pistol from her inventory. It was a simple-looking weapon like a series of boxes stuck together: the Glock 34. Pitohui did not normally use this gun.
On the underside of the gun was a device like a combination laser sight and flashlight. Pitohui turned on the green laser and held the Glock in her right hand, pointing it at the wall.
In other words, she only took out the gun to use it as a laser pointer. This was the sort of thing that good little gun-loving children should never do in the real world, whether with a real gun or a model. It would be a bad, bad idea.
Pitohui pointed the green light at the first rule, underlining the words as she read them off.
“All SJ5 players in the final event will be able to carry a set of alternate gear for one of your teammates, with no effect on your weight limit, within your item storage.
“This one is…well, pretty self-explanatory. Any questions, Clare?”
“I get this part. You won’t get weighed down by someone else’s gear. That’s a good thing.”
Llenn considered this one, too. It was a natural system—if carrying someone else’s gear meant you couldn’t carry your own, it would be no different from the way things worked regularly.
The main point of this special rule set was that you could carry someone else’s gear without it weighing anything. It meant that Llenn, who had the smallest carrying capacity on the team, could haul the gear for M, the heaviest.
“Okay, let’s look at rule two.”
“Alternate gear contains everything, including weapon ammunition and other eligible items usable within Squad Jam. The upper limit is the amount by weight that the owning player can carry.”
Pitohui followed the sentences with the green dot.
“Any problem?”
“Actually, I wanted to ask about this one and number three together.”
“Okay, okay.”
“Alternate gear is exchanged via a gear-switch with your currently equipped loadout. You cannot use both sets at the same time. Gear you don’t want to trade (your regular clothing, defensive items, etc.) can be retained in your inventory.”
Clarence said, “This was the part I had trouble with. What does it mean?”
It was indeed tricky, Llenn thought.
Miss Pitohui explained, “To put it simply, it means you don’t have to exchange everything. So you don’t need to also switch your clothing. Do you even have another outfit, Clare?”
“Nope! Only this one! Black highlights a woman’s beauty!” Clarence said proudly.
“Ahhh, the wisdom of Coco Chanel. You’re pretty wise for someone who looks so dumb,” said Fukaziroh.
“Huh? No, it’s a quote from Kiki’s Delivery Service,” Clarence replied.
“Oh, that one. Well, I went and smothered you in kindness you didn’t deserve,” Fukaziroh grumbled.
Miss Pitohui ignored them both. “In that case, your clothing and boots and such don’t need to be exchanged, so they will always count toward your weight limit, see? If they make up five percent of your carrying capacity, for example, then the other ninety-five percent is for your weapons and stuff, which means your alternate gear has to be the same ninety-five percent weight or lower.”
“Ohhh, I get it. So you can’t just bring way more in your alternate set that you wouldn’t be able to carry anyway, and switch it out when you want to use it,” Clarence said, quick on the uptake.
Llenn, too, had been hoping she might be able to fit more ammo than she could actually carry in her alternate gear set. That wouldn’t be happening, it turned out.
“Okay, on to the next one…”
The green dot traced the fourth rule.
“Gear-switching is only possible when the carrying teammate is close by, within the range for ordinary item exchanges.”
“Oh, I get that one! It’s just like normal items!” Clarence said, so they moved on to rule five.
“If the teammate dies, the alternate gear they are carrying is no longer usable within the battle in any way.”
“Since it says ‘within the battle,’ that means that once SJ5 is over, everything will come safely back to you, right?” Clarence asked skeptically.
Pitohui reassured her that this was the case.
“Whew! That’s good to hear,” Clarence said, and Llenn echoed her feelings. If her teammate dying meant P-chan died, too, that would be tragic. She’d lost her P90 twice already in Squad Jams, and she didn’t want it to happen a third time.
“Next, then…”
Pitohui waved the Glock 34 and thus the green laser attached to it.
“You cannot materialize and use the set of alternate gear you are carrying for your teammate.”
“I get that one, too! Of course you can’t just use all their stuff.”
“Okay, number seven.”
“Gear that your teammate has received and materialized can be loaned to you for use. If the teammate dies in battle, it will continue to be usable, as will enemy gear, which can be plundered in the same way as before.”
“About this one,” Clarence said with a grin. But in truth, she was always grinning, so it was really even more of a grin. “Does that mean that if I’m dying, I can switch to the set of gear that has more ammo and materialize all of it really quickly so that my teammates can pick it up right after I die?”
“Oh, you have some wicked ideas,” Pitohui replied.
Ahhh, so you could potentially do that, huh? Llenn realized. She hadn’t thought about it when reading the rules. Apparently, she just wasn’t wicked enough.
“If your teammate uses the gear-switch function while you are using their alternate gear, it will disappear and no longer be in your possession.”
As for rule eight, Clarence remarked, “That makes sense! It wouldn’t be fair, otherwise.”
On to number nine.
“The alternate gear set can be registered in an item list that does not interfere with carrying capacity before you enter the waiting area at the bar. During the ten minutes in the waiting area before the battle, you may choose which set you will use.”
“About this one, ten minutes is a pretty short time to pick out your stuff, right? Shouldn’t we have it all set up before going in?” Clarence asked.
M replied, “Absolutely. Especially if you can pack right up to your carrying limit.”
Llenn thought, I want to bring every single magazine my weight capacity allows. So I’ll need to do a bit of preparation.
“Okay, got it. That’s all I wanted to ask.”
“Next up, rule ten.”
Pitohui waved the green dot.
“You are free to choose who in your team will carry whose gear prior to the start of the battle. During the battle, you cannot alter who carries the gear.”
“So if I’m understanding things correctly, this means anyone can carry anyone else’s gear?”
“Yep.”
“But if you think about it…normally, it makes the most sense if you and your partner carry each other’s stuff, right?”
“Indeed. Normally, you would do that. If you need a reason that isn’t normal, then you wouldn’t.”
“What reason would that be?” Clarence asked.
Pitohui shrugged with dramatic abandon. It was the kind of shrug that actual Japanese people never did.
Apparently, she couldn’t think of a reason. Or she could, but it was a secret she wanted to keep from her own teammates.
“Hmph. Well, whatever. Lastly, the eleventh rule…
“Alternate gear is optional. You may take part in the battle without making use of it.”
“Yep, got it! No problems here! I dunno, I feel it would be a waste not to make use of the special rules, you know? Who isn’t gonna use them?”
“Me. Right here. I only use my sniper rifle. No other guns. No need for alternate gear,” said Shirley, breaking her silence resolutely.
She was indeed intensely specced out for sniping, so that made sense. All she needed was her favorite bolt-action rifle, the Blaser R93 Tactical 2, and her homemade insta-kill exploding bullets.
“What?! But what about the rifle pistol you used in SJ4?” Clarence asked.
Clarence had blown up spectacularly before the gun made its appearance, but she knew that Shirley made her mark inside the mall, where only pistols were allowed, by using the Remington XP-100, a handgun like a shortened rifle. That was because it was Clarence who chose the gun, at Shirley’s request.
“I’m not using that one. There’s no point unless it’s in a pistols-only area.”
“Bummer!”
“I’ve kept it around, though, as a commemoration.”
“Awww, that’s so nice!”
Pitohui remarked, “Yes, I suppose that’s best for Shirley. And it says later on that there will be ammo refills this time, too. So go ahead and blast away with those explosive rounds.”
No one was inclined to argue, so it was decided that Shirley was fine with just the one set of gear.
“In that case, I no longer have any need to be here,” she said impatiently. “I’m going to get some shooting practice in.”
“You do need to be here!” said Clarence. “We need to figure out who in the team has what! And we need to figure out who’s carrying whose gear! It’s really important!”
In times like these, you could count on Clarence to be smart. She was quite the gamer.
“……”
Shirley paused in the act of standing up and, without having a good answer, ultimately sat back down and ordered another iced coffee, no cream, with simple syrup. It appeared from out of the table at once.
“Let’s start by figuring out everyone’s second loadout. We can decide whose gear Shirley will carry after that,” declared Pitohui, returning the Glock 34 to her inventory. Apparently, they were going to go with the term second loadout for the alternate set of gear the teammate would carry.
“Excuse me, Pito,” said Llenn, raising her pink arm. She was raising her hand, but it was her arm that was pink.
“Go ahead, Llenn!”
Honk-honk.
Pitohui hadn’t forgotten about the horn on the table after all.
“I’m not going to be using any gun aside from P-chan for my main weapon, either. But I might carry around Vor-chan as a sub-weapon.”
Her teammates didn’t need to ask, because they already knew, but she called her main P90 by the name of “P-chan,” and the set of two Vorpal Bunny pistols together were “Vor-chan.” All of her weapons were colored pink.
“Awww, why not take the opportunity to use a different one? C’mon, it’ll be way more très fun!” Fukaziroh pouted. Her attempt at French was not exactly correct, but the point was made.
“Ugh. I don’t want to have to learn how to use a whole new gun at this point. And even if it works out, I’m not going to be better at it than with the guns I already have,” Llenn admitted.
Fukaziroh’s brow wrinkled. “Alas…kids these days… No patience, no commitment…”
“Oh, are you still Grandpa?”
“Ahhh, my cute little Llenn… Listen to the advice your grandpa has for you.”
“Hee-hee-hee. Am I really cute?”
“It’s more like a nickname. Don’t take it seriously.”
“Sheesh!”
“Listen… Being able to switch your loadout means…you have the ability to take your opponent by surprise. Have you forgotten about the ending of the Five Ordeals the other day…the sixth ordeal?”
“Hrm… Yeah, I guess so.”
She had a point.
Llenn had completed the sixth ordeal, a totally unnecessary event at the end of the quest. It was the part that devolved into a battle with the rest of the team over whether or not to kill the dog.
In that battle, Llenn and Fukaziroh switched their outfits. Fukaziroh used the P90 and blasted away, taking Pitohui and Boss by surprise. She didn’t land a single shot, but it had taken them by surprise.
“That’s right,” said M, his voice a rumble among the others. “That’s the biggest benefit of the second loadout: You can surprise the enemy. There are videos of all Squad Jams, and we’ve been through several. Everyone’s watched and studied one another, and knows the other players’ weapons and tactical style. We’re fighting naked out there.”
“It’s too bad we can’t actually be naked. I wanna feel the breeze against my nips.”
“Shut up, Clarence,” Shirley snapped.
M pretended he didn’t hear them. “Naturally, the participants are going to hone their strategies for one another. But an alternate gear set allows you to counteract that. I think we should make full use of this system. The other teams are undoubtedly going to use every trick in the book. Shirley’s sniping with explosive rounds and no bullet line is the exception—the other five of us should decide on a second weapon and, as much as time allows, practice with it. We can’t hope to win this one without making that effort.”
“A very good point from M! He stole all the bits I wanted to say! Thanks for nothing, jerk!”
Honk-honk.
“Well, in that case…” Llenn had no choice but to accept. If you were going to appear in Squad Jam, you had to aim for the best possible result. That was the point, and anything less would be rude to the rivals they’d fought along the way.
Plus, she just wanted to win. Oooh, she wanted to win. Man, she sure wanted to win.
“Oh, but before that, keep reading, Fuka. The part about ammo replenishing,” Pitohui urged.
“Mm-hmm,” Fukaziroh murmured, scrolling downward.
@About the replenishment of ammunition and energy in SJ5.
This is another special rule for this event, so pay attention.
And by the way, you’ll be able to consult this rule book at any time during Squad Jam, too.
For the first hour, there will be two (full) recovery periods, at thirty minutes and the hour.
There will be no automated recovery points after that.
However: You will recover when defeating another player.
If you finish off (land the last attack) on a player, you will recover every one of your equipped guns’ ammunition or energy up to a certain amount, depending on the current percentage remaining of your total.
0–10% remaining: recover up to 50%.
11–30% remaining: recover up to 60%.
31–50% remaining: recover up to 70%.
51–79% remaining: recover up to 80%.
If you have over 80% of your ammo/energy left, you will not recover any.
An extra note.
The remaining ammo/energy percentage can be displayed by going to the “remaining shots display” setting in the options and turning on “show percentage.” I would recommend making that visible during SJ5.
Of course, only the weapons in the set you’re holding and using will recover. You won’t get any ammo back for the set your teammate is carrying for you.
Also, if the system determines that multiple people defeated the same target (extremely unlikely), every one of them will recover all their ammo.
“See, you spawn in, and you can fire away without holding back at all. Once you get into the mid stages and beyond, you gotta make sure you’re killin’ folks; otherwise, those wasted shots will start to add up. Guess it’s a special rule meant to prevent the strategy that won SJ2, running and hiding.”
Fukaziroh picked up on the idea behind the ammo replenishment quite quickly. That just went to show how good of a gamer Fukaziroh was. Llenn had to read the memo a few times to understand how it worked.
“‘See, you spawn in’?” Fukaziroh continued, “More like Gee-oh-vawn-i. Giovanni and Campanella…you know what I mean?”
Llenn did not know what she meant. Something about the sound of the first phrase made Fukaziroh think of the name Giovanni and made her want to say something pretentious.
That was good old airheaded Fukaziroh for you. Llenn had been friends with her for years, and she still didn’t get Fuka.
“Whoa! Are you a fan of Night on the Galactic Railroad, Fuka?” asked Clarence, latching on. The topic was threatening to get truly derailed.
“All right, I’m cutting you off there,” said Miss Pitohui before the class started talking about the classic writer Kenji Miyazawa.
Llenn said, “Well, that gives me an idea, actually… Since we got a ton of money from the last quest, I could probably buy just about any weapon I want… So what is everyone aside from Shirley going to use for their backup?”
She wasn’t asking them to tell her what to do. She was just being proactive about taking everything else into account when making her choice, she thought.
“Good question,” Pitohui replied. “It’s a tough choice for me, since, as you know, I’m good with just about anything, but I’m thinking of taking in a 7.62 mm machine gun. This particular team doesn’t have a machine gunner who can lay down a carpet of covering fire when needed, does it?”
You know, I think she’s right, Llenn realized.
Something she’d only learned after she started playing GGO was that in gunfights, the primary source of muscle for soldiers was a good old machine gun that could spray with speed and consistency, keeping the enemy trapped in place.
Holding the enemy down with a machine gun covering fire while agile riflemen circled around and picked them off from the side was a central pillar of tactical combat. Dealing with a machine gunner who could fire continuously was one-half of the nasty kind of enemy you didn’t want to face. That was something Llenn came to understand very well, dealing with SHINC and ZEMAL. The other half was snipers who could put a bullet in any target, no matter how small.
Fukaziroh asked, “Pito, why don’t you use that huge-ass gun you were blasting in the test session? It was like, boom, ka-bamm, ska-pow!”
Why is your vocabulary so limited?! Llenn thought but did not say aloud.
“What, the bazooka? It was fun to shoot, but it’s not great for Squad Jam. Plus, you need someone else to reload it for you,” Pitohui pointed out casually. “So anyway, from my massive gun collection, I will choose a machine gun that’s been polished to a sheen but collecting dust—er, just an expression, really—and fire the hell out of it! You guys remember in elementary school how someone always had to be on machine-gun duty.”
Uh, no, Llenn thought but did not say aloud.
“Oh yeah. I hated having to pick up the empty shells and clean the barrel when it was my turn,” said Fukaziroh. Llenn ignored her.
Karen Kohiruimaki had gone to a different elementary school than Miyu Shinohara, though. So maybe Miyu’s elementary school over in Obihiro had a 0.0001 percent chance of having a job in every class to take care of the machine gun.
“Just a minute. Wouldn’t it be better if M had the machine gun, since he’s the slowest?” Shirley asked. “A machine gunner doesn’t need to move that quickly. And he can use his shield to set up a blind for defense. A different set of gear would allow you to make use of your speed better, Pitohui.”
“I understand your logic, but it’s not going to happen.”
“Let’s hear why not, then.”
“Well, I was going to make a big, sensational splash of an announcement later, but oh well. You see, the truth is, in this event, M—and you won’t believe this. Oh my gosh, it’s gonna blow your mind—”
“It’ll be faster just to show you,” said M, cutting off Pitohui’s time-wasting by waving his hand and opening his inventory. He began materializing items; motes of light gathered in the empty space before him, taking form as a thin but long, quite long, very long, extremely long gun.
“Oh! A new one? A new one?” Clarence’s eyes sparkled.
“It’s freakin’ huge!” Fukaziroh blurted out. Llenn had the same thought but was able to hold herself back from saying anything.
The gun in the air was as long as a drying rod. M caught it in both hands, and you could tell that it took on weight by the way his arms tensed.
He had enough strength to handle it easily, though; his expression was cool as a cucumber as he placed it on the table with a bipod and a rear leg.
The gun’s right-side bolt had been pulled open. It wouldn’t fire at all in this state, so there was no fear of an accidental misfire. No one in GGO would complain about that sort of thing, but with real guns, it was always a matter of course that you safely disengaged the weapon like this.
There was now a massive gun over six feet in length on the round table. The front half of the gun was one long barrel. The rear half had a bolt-action mechanism that had to be manually operated between each shot, with a fat scope on top. There was an independent grip on the underside for use when shooting.
In the back, there was a sturdy stock and a single leg for planting into the ground. The whole weapon was a tan color. Only the scope was black.
“An antimateriel sniper rifle,” Shirley murmured.
An antimateriel sniper rifle—or just “antimateriel rifle”—used huge bullets, much bigger than a normal sniper rifle’s, that packed a devastating punch.
Despite the “antimateriel” description, it was totally normal to use them on people.
They were great in terms of power alone, but, of course, the guns were huge, heavy, and difficult to deal with.
“It looks like the gun SHINC has,” Llenn observed.
In fact, it looked exactly the same size as the antimateriel PTRD-41 rifle, which they’d been using since SJ2. The PTRD-41 was called an antitank rifle, but only because that was the term for weapons like this around WWII, when it was developed. Nowadays, it would be filed under the antimateriel rifle category.
M said, “Two days ago, I finished a really difficult mission at last and earned this Ukrainian antimateriel rifle called the Alligator. It’s exactly two meters long. Weighs fifty-five pounds. Fires 14.5 × 114 mm rounds, same as SHINC’s antitank rifle. I mean, those bullets were developed specifically for that antitank rifle.”
He pulled out an ammo container that looked like a gigantic lunch box, extracting suitably massive bullets as he explained the features of the gun. The bullets were about six inches long and looked big and sharp enough to stab a person, or to use as a bludgeon.
It was a major difference from Llenn’s P90 ammo, which was barely the size of her pinkie. Still, if she put it right into the brain, a single one of those tiny bullets could easily kill a person, too. Bullets are scary.
“How far can you aim with it?” asked Shirley, who had a natural interest in sniping.
“I’ve been practicing nonstop with it since I got it. Against a nonmoving target with no wind, I can hit a human-sized target at two thousand meters. That’s with no bullet line, of course. If I used one, I would guess I could go farther out.”
“Talk about a monster…”
In the wide-open airport of SJ4, Shirley had made a successful snipe shot of over eleven hundred meters. That was her personal best.
But it was a hit on a trike, which was several times the size of a person. If you were trying to hit a person normally, eight hundred was the best you could do. Two thousand was just preposterous.
With bullets of this size, incidentally, any hit on the trunk of the body was instantly fatal. If you hit the head, everything above the neck would be blown off, and a hit to the torso could easily split the target in two.
“What did you mean, Shirley? Is the gun a monster? Or is M?” Clarence asked.
“Well, both,” Shirley said honestly.
Even though it was a military weapon, which she had no interest in, this was quite a terrifying gun. If she used it to go hunting, there wouldn’t be any meat left to eat on the kill. Maybe it would be useful for taking down a berserk African elephant if one ever started rampaging through town.
“So now M can perform ultra-long-range sniping just like SHINC, and attack buildings and vehicles! That’s great to have!” Llenn raved.
It seemed to her that if M was using this as his second loadout weapon, then Pitohui would have to have the machine gun. It all made sense.
And she also realized SHINC would be doing the same thing.
In SJ1, Sophie had a PKM machine gun. But in SJ2, she gave up her gun in order to carry the PTRD-41 so that they had a weapon to break through M’s shield.
This time, however, she could carry both of them, with one being for someone else. It could only serve to make the battles more white-knuckled.
“Well, it sounds like you two have your second loadouts settled,” Clarence noted, Takarazuka features rounded with curiosity. “But what should Llenn and I, the peashooter duo, use for ours? It’s nice to take the enemy by surprise, but I can’t use something big and heavy.”
Clarence and Llenn used different guns that had the same size bullets and magazines: 5.7 × 28 mm rounds. In other words, the diameter of the bullet was 5.7 mm, and the full length was 28 mm.
That was a very small bullet. Llenn’s P90 was developed along with that bullet standard as an entirely novel specification, and Clarence’s AR-57 was designed to make use of it later.
Assault rifles use rifle rounds, and submachine guns use pistol rounds. But these guns were designed to fill the gap between the two in terms of size and power.
These two girls had similar tactical styles, in that they used their agility as a weapon and fired many small bullets very quickly. But because of that, the girls’ carrying capacity was low, and they wouldn’t be able to hold a heavy machine gun and the ammo it needed to fire. Sniper rifles were a bit out of their range, too, because you either needed a lot of skill levels or a lot of real sniping skill.
But a lighter assault rifle that they could have carried wouldn’t be much different from their current guns, eliminating the aspect of surprise. It would only increase their range and power slightly.
In that case, better to use the trusty guns they were familiar with already. They would be more accurate with them anyway, which, by definition, made them more powerful in combat.
M said, “I’d recommend a shotgun for you, Clarence. An automatic.”
He waved a hand to summon his menu, then made a gesture like he was hurling something toward Clarence, who was sitting on the other end of the table. A window that was visible for everyone, not just M, slid over toward Clarence.
“Ohhh?”
It featured a list of automatic shotguns perfect for battle that could be purchased in GGO. It wasn’t just a graphical list, either, but included caliber, magazine size, price, and weight. The shotguns were mostly for hunting, but some of them were for combat, too.
“You can manage that weight just fine, can’t you?” asked M.
Clarence was slower than Llenn but could carry much, much more. She gazed at the numbers and nodded. “Yeah. This seems good. I’ve made it this far without being able to hit distant targets anyway. Long live the shotgun! I’ll get in some practice!”
The effective range of a shotgun varied wildly depending on the bullets used. A single-shot type could cover only about 150 yards. Standard shotguns for combat were even shorter, maybe fifty yards at best.
Instead, their power at close range was formidable. The 00 buck, which was good for combat, fired nine pellets of buckshot, each eight millimeters wide, in a single blast. When these were unleashed, spraying within a certain radius and hitting the target at the same time, a player in GGO suffered a momentary stun effect.
This was a deadly serious consequence. Even players with plenty of hit points left could easily die if hit by multiple shotgun blasts in a row.
“Good. If you have any questions about picking a gun, just ask me. Or message me. If you need more help, I can go shopping with you.”
“Okay! I have a bunch of questions, but we can go shopping tomorrow or later. I want to go to bed early tonight. I’m logging off at nine o’clock, in thirty minutes. I’ll try to do as much research as I can by tomorrow. What about you, Llenn? Gonna go with a shotgun, too?”
“Hmm,” Llenn murmured, looking skeptically at the list of shotguns on the window. Most of them were long and thin.
Generally, shotguns came in the “magazine tube” style, with a tube about the same width below the barrel, where you inserted the rounds. If you increased the number of shots you could fire, for better use in combat, that also increased the length of the gun.
“I think these are too long for me to use.”
“Ohhh.”
“A more compact weapon would be better for your size, Llenn,” said M.
“I get that, but that would mean another submachine gun like P-chan or a light assault rifle with a short barrel. And that’s not surprising, is it? Plus, I already have the Vorpal Bunnies for handguns… Is there even anything worth using for a second loadout?”
“I’ve been thinking about the same thing. And I arrived at an answer. I used your previous Squad Jam experience as inspiration.”
“And it is?”
“It is…”
M proceeded to answer Llenn’s question. Their teammates exclaimed when they heard it, impressed.
When M was done, Llenn said, “Got it! I’ll do that!”
She had no follow-up questions.
“Well, now that we’ve settled all of the second loadouts for the team…”
“Hold on, Pito… Are you doin’ this on purpose…?”
“Oh my goodness, I completely forgot.”
Of course it was on purpose. The only person whose second loadout hadn’t been decided yet was Fukaziroh.
“Shouldn’t Fuka just stick with what she’s got now, like Shirley?” suggested Llenn.
Fukaziroh’s weapons were MGL-140s, a pair of 40 mm six-shooter grenade launchers. That alone was a bizarre choice no typical player would ever think to choose.
No one could outdo her in terms of firepower. She was pure power, a real meathead. But she’d proven her worth in every battle so far, so there was no need to force her to change things up. Her skill at launching grenades into the distance was tremendous as it was.
But despite all this, Llenn couldn’t help but think, Knowing Fukaziroh, she’s definitely going to want a second loadout. After all, it was just more fun that way.
“Nuh-uh! Nuh-uh! I’m gonna take a second loadout, too! It’ll be way more fun that way!”
See? I knew it.
“If everyone else is getting a makeover, it’s no fair if me and Shirley are the only ones who get left out!” said Fukaziroh with a pout.
“I don’t actually care,” said Shirley. “As long as you’ve mastered your way of fighting, that should be fine.” It was hard to tell if she was scolding Fukaziroh for throwing a tantrum or offering an answer to make her feel better.
“Well, your dozen-grenade barrage is truly incredible. It’s hard to come up with anything that can improve on power like that. What’s the point of startling the enemy if it makes you weaker instead?”
“Not you, too, Pito!”
“Well, since they came up with this special rule, I suppose I understand why you’d want to have fun with the gear-switching system.”
“That’s better, Pito!”
“So what do you want, then?”
“If I knew that, I would tell you! C’mon, M, help me out. This is what you’re here for, isn’t it?”
“Hrmm…”
M’s craggy face twisted in concentration. He really didn’t know what to say.
“Fuka, you have high strength and stamina, so you could handle a very heavy weapon…but…while this is very difficult to tell you…”
“No! You don’t need to spell it out! I know that my shooting ability leaves much to be desired! I suck! I knew it! Ugh!”
“Well, I wouldn’t say it like that…but yes.”
“So you are saying it!” fumed Fukaziroh. Yes, she was very bad at shooting guns.
The first gun she acquired in GGO was the ultraexpensive and heavy six-shooter grenade launcher—a gun most players would never experience, or want to experience. So Fukaziroh never went through the practice that every other player got with ordinary, basic guns, and she never picked up those skills.
For one thing, she totally skipped the intro and tutorial, assuming she didn’t need them. This is not the sort of thing that a good player does.
On the plus side, however, she had gained much experience with shooting grenade launchers, which made her a very dangerous player to face.
“Geez, thanks a lot! So I’m just supposed to give up on having a second loadout?! Once you give up, your Squad Jam might as well be over!” She pouted, going into full-on tantrum mode. Shirley and Clarence both gave her a look that said, What are we going to do with you?
“Pito, M,” Llenn said, for the sake of her friend and the team, “please, you have to—”
“Llenn! I knew you were my pal!”
“—convince her to give up.”
“What?! Llenn! Come on!”
“Hrmm…” M’s face was looking truly pained now. But after a couple of seconds, he said, “Oh, I thought of something.”
“That’s it!” exclaimed Fukaziroh, accepting the idea before she had even heard it.
Llenn turned to her. “You’re sure?”
“If there isn’t going to be any other answer, then the answer we do have is the best one! Once you’ve gone through some romantic relationships, you’ll understand, Llenn.”
“Do not talk to me about that right now.”
“What does that mean? Are you a virgin in real life, Llenn?” asked Clarence with a smile. Llenn shot Shirley a look, asking her to take care of her partner, please. It was a pleading look. A look that said, Kill her if you have to.
“Awww, c’mon. It doesn’t hurt to talk abou—Mrrgbph!”
The moment Shirley had gotten her hands around Clarence’s mouth, Llenn used the opportunity to change the topic at light speed.
“What’s the answer, M?”
M gave a brief explanation of his idea.
“Oh, I like it! That sounds best!” she exclaimed.
“Right?” said Fukaziroh.
At nine o’clock, Clarence said, “Oops, time’s up. Time for beddy-bye. I’ll log off first. See you tomorrow, M. Good night, everyone!” And she vanished in a puff of light, leaving just five of them in the private room.
The SJ5 preparation meeting was already over. They’d decided on the second loadouts for all members except Shirley, as well as who would carry each set.
Llenn’s second loadout would be carried by her combat buddy, Fukaziroh, and vice versa. M and Pitohui would carry each other’s. And naturally, Shirley would have Clarence’s.
“Well, that all seems sensible. By the way,” Shirley said, glaring at Pitohui, “when we split up after the start of SJ4, you said I could come after you if I wanted. Is that invitation still on the table, I assume?”
Pitohui paused in the act of consuming her mystery-colored drink and grinned at her. “You bet!”
“Very good. Then I’m looking forward to SJ5. I’ll be practicing my shooting—to eliminate you.”
And with a big smile, the lone-wolf sniper left the room like a sudden breeze, cool as you please.
Still holding the cup of iced coffee with no cream and extra syrup, because she hadn’t finished it yet.
After Shirley left, the room settled into a proper lazy weekend mood, suitable for a Saturday night, only inside a game instead of real life.
“I just wanna enjoy a normal Squad Jam,” Llenn grumbled sadly. She had been through more than enough to have earned the right to say this.
In SJ1, she was stuck in a two-man team with M, but it was a normal game at the start. However, despite their good pace taking down enemy teams, M dropped out partway, leaving her alone to rampage against a team of six. Although he did come back to save her at the very, very end.
In SJ2, the self-destructive urges of the face-tatted woman smirking right before her eyes put Llenn through hell. From start to finish, it was a mentally exhausting game. It was a good thing she was still here at all.
In SJ3, she thought she’d have a proper good time for once, but the stupid writer’s crappy special rules put her through the wringer. Llenn had been the one chosen to be the team’s betrayer, but because Pitohui (who wasn’t chosen) ran off on her own, acting weird, the battle turned out even more chaotic than it should have been. At the time, Llenn decided that she needed to speak her mind clearly when the situation called for it. It was a learning experience for her.
In SJ4, thanks to Fire Nishiyamada, she was forced once again into a desperate, abnormal gameplay situation with consequences beyond her GGO life. And then she got dumped in real life. She didn’t want to remember it. In fact, she completely forgot. What happened anyway?
“Oh, Llenn, this will be normal.”
“I don’t wanna hear it from you, Pito!”
“I’m guessing!”
“That’s not helping!”
“Just forget your real-world troubles and unleash all your instincts for battle in this virtual world! Have fun with SJ5—it’s just a game. A game where no one’s going to die. Enjoy a good battle with your rivals or the pursuit of victory as a whole.”
“Yeah, that was my plan…”
She’d already been playing GGO for over a year.
Her reason for starting was to become someone other than herself, a girl who was self-conscious about her tall height, and she felt like she’d accomplished that goal. She might have accomplished it too well.
She never would have guessed that she had such athleticism, such spirit, such determination, such an instinct to fight, or such a knack for slaughter.
She hoped her parents would never find out about it. She really hoped they never found out.
Llenn sighed and popped the straw of her iced tea into her mouth.
“Hmm?” Fukaziroh grunted softly but with real shock.
“Wzzup?” said Llenn, resting her chin on the table and pulling the cup sideways so she could keep the straw in her mouth. It was very bad posture—and all in the service of using as little energy as possible.
“I just got a message. It says, ‘To all players who wish to take part in SJ5.’”
Apparently, she was looking at a window that was visible only to her.
“Uh-huh? What’s it say?”
“Um, well, it’s nothing really serious. I don’t really know who sent it, either. It looks like a throwaway account.”
“What? Are people sending spam in GGO now?”
“Based on the message, I think it’s legit. Hmm. Well, it’s not going to get sent to you, so you don’t have to worry about it, I think.”
Slurp, slurp, gulp.
Llenn sucked in a mouthful of iced tea and swallowed it. “Really? I dunno, now you’re making me curious,” she admitted.
“No, really, it’s nothing big. All it says is that whoever eliminates Llenn in the next Squad Jam will be paid a hundred million credits, that’s all.”
“Ohhh.”
She put her lips around the straw again, pulled a fresh swig of liquid into her mouth, and then spat it out spectacularly.
“Blrrrft!”
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