Then came the day of the Christmas event. Spiegel joined Dyne's party, waiting anxiously for their turn. In fact, Spiegel had invited Sinon to join his team for the event a few days prior, but he was flatly rejected with a "that's a bit impossible," leaving him feeling slightly depressed.
(Well, I haven't seen her around lately, so she must be busy.)
In reality, Spiegel's login times were basically from morning until evening. Since Sinon had been logging in frequently around 10:00 PM lately—a time when Spiegel was often dozing off—he likely missed seeing her name on his friends list. There had been several opportunities where he could have confirmed she was online if he had just checked the list, but Spiegel, knowing Sinon's real-life circumstances, never even considered the possibility that Sinon—who carried deep emotional scars and rarely opened up to others—would voluntarily group up with anyone other than him.
Much less did he imagine that she had made three friends at school whom she could call close.
Well, considering he didn't have any friends who would proactively tell him about events at school, perhaps this ignorance was unavoidable.
An announcement signaled the start of the event. Players whose turns had come began entering the ten stages prepared to facilitate the event efficiently.
"Spiegel, it's almost our turn."
"Ah, yes, coming, Dyne-san."
"Dammit, I heard Shana is up at the same time in a different stage. I wanted to see that guy fight."
"Is that so?"
Spiegel recalled being shot by Shana when he was with Sinon previously as he began his preparations.
Meanwhile, Sinon was standing right next to Shana.
"Well then, shall we blow the audience's minds?"
"Your Hecate II is finally making its debut."
"Yeah. I've joined a few wild parties since getting it, but I didn't use it at all back then."
"Well, you might not be able to keep that up from now on."
"True. I'll be extra careful not to lose it in an accident."
"Yeah, watch out for that. If you do use it, don't rush to the front line carelessly."
In this event, the timing of the start was left to the team leader. However, there was a time limit; failure to initiate combat within two minutes of the start time resulted in disqualification.
Thirty seconds had already passed since Shana's group entered. During that time, Shizuka and the other three had moved in a tight formation to the enemy's front. Shana and Sinon exchanged nods, signaling "it's about time," and lay prone on the ground, assuming sniping positions.
When Shizuka and the others drew their weapons, the surrounding spectators stirred.
"Hey, look at that..."
"Everyone equipped with dual machine guns? I guess it's a valid strategy, but..."
"But those just have high ammo capacity; they barely have any power, right? And trying to aim while moving with one in each hand is tough."
"But that Shana is there. Isn't the plan to use the four in front as decoys while Shana snipes from the side?"
"That seems like the logical conclusion, but it is Shana we're talking about..."
Ignoring the murmuring crowd, ZeXceed, waiting for his turn next, laughed mockingly.
"Oh my, oh my. It seems Shana-san has thrown away the match from the start. Even if he lands a few sniper shots, the moment those guys in front get crushed by the enemy's charge, it's all over! Ahahahaha!"
Having gained some knowledge, Yukko and Haruka grasped the situation and jeered alongside ZeXceed.
"Yeah, yeah! This time victory is ours!"
"If you're going to get disqualified, why not just retire now?"
The feud between ZeXceed and Shana was famous. Many in the crowd looked on with exasperation, thinking, 'There goes the ZeXceed faction again.' The remaining three members of ZeXceed's team were hired hands, and they tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible to avoid gaining a bad reputation.
Generally, the consensus was that ZeXceed was unilaterally hostile toward Shana. However, just this once, his words held a grain of truth.
The fastest time recorded so far was fifteen minutes. All the top teams had employed a "kite and shoot" strategy, scattering to avoid attacks. Every team that had attempted a head-on confrontation in formation had run out of time and been disqualified. The time limit was thirty minutes.
Perhaps because of this, a few others joined ZeXceed in jeering. Though, most of them were simply jealous that Shana had four female players on his team.
However, some sharp-eyed, skilled players had already noticed.
They realized that what Sinon, lying next to Shana, was holding was the second anti-materiel rifle to appear since the launch of GGO.
These players thought the strategy was reckless in their heads, but knowing Shana might pull something off, they watched the proceedings with keen interest.
Just before the start, Pitohui spoke up.
"Shut up. You skill-less fledglings, keep your mouths shut and watch quietly for the next minute."
Combined with the intensity of her facial tattoo, her voice carried a menacing tone one would never hear among friends. The surrounding crowd, not even questioning the phrase "one minute," fell dead silent.
"Alright, let's do this."
"""Ouh!"""
With the signal, Shana pressed the start button floating in the air, and his teammates responded with vigor.
As expected, the mechanical Santa-Reindeer charged explosively toward the four players in front.
"No way?"
"Hey, are they serious?"
Gasps of surprise rose from the audience. The four players were sprinting full speed toward the reindeer.
"That's reckless!"
"What are they thinking?!"
Amidst the angry shouts of the spectators, Shana and Sinon calmly pulled their triggers.
With the tremendous roar of gunfire, two streaks of light flashed. In the next instant, the beams of light struck the reindeer's left front leg and left hind leg mid-air, blowing them violently sideways.
Unable to land properly, the reindeer crashed heavily onto the ground.
"Hah?"
"Ehh?"
"Did they just accurately shoot out the legs of an enemy moving that fast!?"
In the next moment, the four sprinting players unleashed a volley of fire from their dual machine guns upon the fallen reindeer.
The sound of dadadadadada continued endlessly as bullets poured into the reindeer's head and body. Even when it attempted to attack by swinging its antlers, the four dodged effortlessly while continuing to pump lead into it one-sidedly.
However, this state could not last forever. The reindeer shifted its entire weight onto its remaining two legs, attempting to stand.
At that instant, two streaks of light flashed again, directly hitting the exact same spots on the legs as before.
Having taken two consecutive hits from powerful anti-materiel rifles in the same location, both of the reindeer's legs snapped cleanly, and it collapsed to the ground once more.
Meanwhile, the merciless barrage from eight machine guns continued. Finally, even Shana and Sinon began firing consecutively into the reindeer's body.
Sounds of gulping could be heard from here and there in the audience.
In the next moment, the pitiful reindeer turned into particles of light and vanished completely.
At that instant, the timer on the electronic scoreboard stopped. The time was exactly fifty-eight seconds from the start.
In this moment, Shana's team secured victory, along with the "Most Bullets Hit" award and the "Least Damage Taken" award—a decisive sweep of multiple prizes. Sinon hugged Shana first, followed by Shizuka and Pitohui rushing over to embrace him.
The audience erupted in a tremendous roar of cheers.
"Wooooah, are you serious!?"
"Was that... an anti-materiel rifle?"
"I never heard about that!"
"Wait, isn't she the girl from the Shana-Zec video?"
"That's our Shana! You're number one!"
Amidst the immense cheers, Ikoma, thinking it might be inappropriate for a guy to hug Shana, stayed back with Benkei, waving proudly to the crowd. Once the three girls separated from Shana, Ikoma ran up to him and reported with a delighted voice.
"Shana-san, my level went up a lot! This is incredible!"
"I see. It was worth the effort then. Good job, Ikoma."
"Shana. I... I did it properly, right?"
"Yeah, you did great, Sinon."
Shana spoke happily, and Sinon was filled with the satisfaction of having accomplished her task. The six decided to return to their base to kill time until the event ended, but the spectators continued to cheer and roar with excitement long after they had left.
Meanwhile, ZeXceed and his group stood frozen in humiliation. When their turn finally came, they started their battle stealthily, as if trying to hide. Incidentally, no one bothered to heckle ZeXceed's disgraceful display. The fact that the audience was only interested in Shana's team turned out to be a mercy for them.
"What was that?"
Hearing tremendous cheering from a distant stage, Spiegel wondered what had happened as he pulled the trigger of his gun.
"That direction is... Shana! That guy definitely pulled something off!"
Hearing Dyne's words, Spiegel realized—albeit belatedly—that Shana really was amazing. But for now, focus on the enemy in front of me.
Spiegel told himself this, dragging his heavy feet as he fought desperately. Fifteen minutes later, the enemy fell, and Spiegel shared the joy with Dyne and the others.
The time displayed was 16 minutes and 25 seconds.
"Currently 8th place? That's borderline, isn't it?"
Spiegel, thinking that this time would likely place them around there, had only been looking at the bottom part of the results board from the start. He asked Dyne with a voice mixed with anxiety and hope. However, there was no answer.
"Dyne-san?"
When Spiegel looked over, Dyne was trembling, pointing at the very top of the board. Wondering what it was, Spiegel looked.
[58 Seconds]
The moment he saw the number for first place, Spiegel's mind went blank.
It was only natural. Even second place had a time of 13 minutes—not even breaking the double digits. Incidentally, that time had just been set by ZeXceed's team. It seemed Yukko and Haruka had grown more than expected.
"No way..."
Spiegel barely heard Dyne's stunned mutter. He didn't remember anything about his state until Dyne called out to him later, saying their ranking was confirmed at exactly 10th place.
"Well, we barely scraped into the prize ranking. Let's call it a good day."
"Yes, let's."
Spiegel went with Dyne and the others toward the podium to receive the 10th place prize. There, he witnessed an impossible sight.
"Eh... Sinon...?"
"Oh, when I heard you invited that girl to our team, I thought it was impossible. But I guess it makes sense. She's Shana's woman, after all. Or rather, it looks more like she's the one head over heels for him."
"Eh...?"
(What did I just hear? Shana's woman? Head over heels?)
"What, you didn't know? When you log off today, try searching for 'Shana ZeXceed.' Or 'Shana-Zec video' works too. She shows up perfectly in it."
(Shows up? What does?)
"Well, if the opponent is that Shana, it can't be helped. I have absolutely no idea how they got that time today. Man, he really is amazing. Truly the strongest."
(No. Sinon is my woman... Only mine...)
"Hey, Spiegel, are you listening? Hey?"
"!? ...A-Ah, yes, I'm sorry."
"Are you okay? It's almost our turn to choose a reward."
"Ah, yes, I'm fine."
"But to think she was the second anti-materiel rifle user in GGO. She probably didn't use it when she was with us because she was afraid of losing it in an accident. Well, can't be helped when grouping with strangers for the first time."
"Eh? N-No way, that's..."
"A Hecate II, huh. Amazing. She's going to be famous instantly with this. As a friend, how does it feel? Are you proud?"
"Ah, yes... I suppose so."
"Like I said earlier, try searching 'Shana ZeXceed' when you log off today. It's really amazing."
"...Earlier? Y-Yes."
In the distance, Shana's group was still surrounded by a crowd, receiving praise. And Sinon was clinging to Shana's arm with a joyous smile.
(...I've never seen Sinon make a face like that.
And a Hecate II? The second one in GGO? What is going on? I don't understand what this means.)
After logging out, Spiegel searched as Dyne had suggested and finally found the video.
The Sinon on the screen was not the lonely girl he knew, who occasionally showed a dark expression. No matter how he looked at it, she was a Sinon full of happiness, in love with all her heart and soul.
The moment he understood this, a seed called "madness" was sown in Spiegel's mind.
It hadn't sprouted yet, but the seed struggled to extend its shoots, seeking the sun that was Sinon. Later, it would reach the time of germination.
No matter how big the light, a shadow is always cast.
Thus, on this day, Spiegel—Shinkawa Kyouji—learned for the first time of the relationship between Shana and Sinon.
Author's Note:
Although it's a Christmas event story, it has sharply approached the main storyline.
Tomorrow is the GGO group's Christmas party! I will bring you "The First and Best Christmas."
By the way, when I preview a title, please keep in the corner of your mind that it is actually an important chapter!
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