"By the way, Shana! Were you actually trying to slice our arms off back there with that terrifying hardware?!"
"Yeah, what he said! You were definitely playing for keeps!"
Shana narrowed his eyes at the two protesting men, his expression unreadable.
"Well," Shana said calmly, "it seemed like you two were both dying to get your hands on Rosaria's chest. I figured if you didn't have arms, the thought wouldn't even cross your minds."
The two men froze. Rosaria, looking flustered, instinctively moved her arms to cover herself.
"Wait... you heard all that?" she asked.
"Yeah," Shana replied. "The comms were live."
"Goddammit! Death to the intercom!"
"Right then," Shana continued, his voice cold. "Be good boys and hand over one arm each."
"Whoa, whoa! Let's not go that far!"
"Don't worry. They'll grow back in an hour."
"I mean, technically, yeah, but stop talking about our limbs like they're lizard tails!"
Rosaria stepped between them, cutting off the impending "amputations" with a look of mock-seriousness.
"Shana, let's leave the jokes there... I'm sorry, you two. I truly appreciate you saving me, and I wouldn't mind showing my gratitude, but..." she paused, looking at Shana. "Unfortunately, these belong to Shana. I'm afraid I can't fulfill your request."
"Oh..."
"That line right there... that did more damage than anything else today..."
"My heart... the pain..."
"Shana, just go explode already..."
The two men clutched their chests and collapsed dramatically onto the pavement. Shana didn't miss a beat, delivering a sharp kick to their ribs.
"Get up. We're heading back."
"Hey, Shana... I thought we were friends..."
"Yeah! We even got those 'Friendship Certificates' earlier!"
"Exactly," Shana retorted. "That's why I'm using the sole of my boot to give those certificates a 'Seal of Affection.'"
"Your love is way too heavy, Shana!" the two chimed in unison.
A second later, as if nothing had happened, the pair flipped back to their feet and started walking toward the exit.
"Come on, Shana, let's move it."
"And be gentle when you pick up Rosaria, okay?"
"You guys have quite the personalities," Shana muttered, a small smirk playing on his lips.
"Hehe."
The four of them shared a laugh, looking for all the world like a close-knit team as they headed toward the Humvee where Ikoma was waiting. But a split second later, Shana suddenly unleashed a full-power kick on both men, sending them flying into the side of a nearby building.
"Gah! Shana, you hold a grudge way too long!"
"Just forget about Rosaria's chest already!"
From their new vantage point inside the building, the two looked back. They saw Shana leaping backward with Rosaria in his arms, while a hail of bullets whistled through the space he had occupied only a moment before.
"What—?!"
"Reinforcements?!"
Shana shouted to them over the gunfire:
"Flashbang going out! Close your eyes!"
Without waiting for a confirmation, Shana lobbed the grenade. In the blinding white burst that followed, the enemy's fire faltered for a heartbeat. Shana used the opening to carry Rosaria into the building to join the other two.
"You guys okay? Can you see?"
"Clear as a bell!"
"No problems here."
"But Shana, what's the move?"
"We bail through the back and sprint for the Humvee. I'm not worried about losing a straight fight, but we can't leave Ikoma out there alone."
"Shana, my legs are fine now," Rosaria said, her voice steady. "I can run on my own."
"Good. Let's move. All four of us!"
As they ran, Shana patched through to Ikoma. The driver sounded frantic, the distant rattle of gunfire clearly reaching his ears.
"Ikoma, do you copy?"
"Yes! I'm fine on this end. I heard shots—is everyone alright?"
"The enemy had reserves. We're fine, no damage taken. We could hold them here, but I don't want to leave you exposed. Let's regroup. Get out of the city and wait for us to the southwest."
"Understood! Please, be safe!"
Ending the transmission, Shana took up the rear, drawing his massive M82 anti-material rifle as they ran.
"Rosaria, you're on point. Tarako, Yamikaze, flank me on both sides."
"Got it!"
"Leave it to us!"
"Once we spot the Humvee, we pivot. Rosaria, you call the turn!"
"Copy that, Shana!"
The team pushed forward, eyes locked on the rear and flanks. Their speed and coordination paid off; they reached the Humvee without taking another hit. Ikoma scrambled from the driver's seat to the back to make room, while Rosaria hopped into the navigator's seat.
"Whew. Think we lost them?"
"No," Shana said, glancing out the rear window. "This feels wrong."
The street behind them was empty. No tracers, no pursuing dust clouds. Nothing.
"Now that you mention it... it is a bit quiet," Tarako mused.
"I didn't see a single soul on our way out," Ikoma added.
"Maybe they were just startled when they found us and panicked?" Rosaria suggested. "It felt like we caught them off guard."
"Or maybe," Yamikaze interjected, "they're currently barreling toward us in a giant truck or something."
"Hey, partner," Tarako groaned. "Shut your mouth. You're setting a massive death flag!"
Right on cue, three trucks roared out from a side street a short distance away.
"See! Look what you did!"
"Totally Yamikaze's fault."
"Maybe it is your fault, Yamikaze-san..."
"Yamikaze-san..."
"Alright, alright! My bad!"
Shana floored the accelerator, then barked an order at Yamikaze.
"Yamikaze, you're on the minigun. Get up there and raise some hell."
"Wait... for real?"
"Don't sweat it. The turret's shielded; their rounds will bounce right off. Plus, we're faster than them. You can pick them off from a safe distance."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"Yeah. This isn't a punishment—it's a service."
Yamikaze blinked, leaning back in confusion. "A 'service'?"
"You know as well as I do that the minigun is heavy. With your current stat build, you'd never get the chance to haul one of those around. Consider this your chance to enjoy the brrrrrt while you can."
"Now that you mention it... you're right! Hell yeah!"
"Our lives are in your hands, Yamikaze. Don't miss!"
"Leave it to me! I'm the man for the job!"
Ikoma hit a switch, and the minigun rose through the Humvee's roof. Yamikaze scrambled up the hatch, a manic grin on his face, and opened fire. The sheer volume of lead turned the pursuit into a slaughter. The lead truck swerved wildly, unable to return effective fire under the onslaught. Finally, the driver of the first truck took a hit, and the vehicle flipped, tumbling across the road in a ball of fire.
"Man, Yamikaze is really feeling it," Tarako laughed.
"Well, I meant it when I said it was a service," Shana said. "Hardly anyone gets to fire a minigun in this game."
"True. Even I've never touched one," Tarako admitted.
"Doesn't that Behemoth guy carry one around?" Rosaria asked.
"Yeah, but he pays for it with a massive movement penalty," Shana replied. "You need some serious backbone to commit to a build like that."
"I don't hate that kind of grit!" Yamikaze yelled, sticking his head down through the hatch.
"What's up, Yamikaze?"
"I'm dry! Need more ammo!"
"On it. Ikoma, help him out."
"Yes, sir!"
As they reloaded, Tarako looked up at his partner. "Hey, buddy. You having fun?"
"Man, this is life-changing!"
"That good, huh...?" Tarako looked visibly envious.
Seeing his partner's itching trigger finger, Yamikaze grinned. "I'll swap with you when the next belt runs out."
"Really? Thanks, man!"
"No sweat!"
By the time they had cycled through four more ammo belts, the remaining two trucks had been neutralized.
"Hell yeah! Mission accomplished!"
"That was a blast... thanks, Shana."
"Yeah, good work out there."
"But still," Tarako mused, "that felt a little too easy, didn't it?"
"Gunfights are like that," Shana said. "If you mess up your troop deployment, it becomes one-sided very quickly."
"But it was so sloppy. Where did those reinforcements even come from?"
"The city, most likely..."
"But you wouldn't deploy them like that. If they'd surrounded us with that many people from the start, we would have been in real trouble."
"Hmm..."
There was, of course, a reason. The original plan had been to pin Shana's team down in the middle of the building while the reinforcements moved up from the entrance to sandwich them. Shana's team had simply moved too fast and too unpredictably for the enemy to adapt. No one realized this until later, when Tarako "interrogated" a member of the rival squadron back in town.
"Well, whatever. I'm sure there was a reason."
"Yeah. Who knows about next time, but we took the 'W' today. That's what matters."
"Haha! Watch, the guys we beat first are probably waiting in ambush right outside the city gates."
The car went silent. The other four stared at Yamikaze.
"Yamikaze... seriously?"
"Is that another flag?" Ikoma asked, trembling.
"Total flag," Rosaria whispered.
"Dammit, partner! Keep the flags in your dating sims, not our lives!"
"I-I-I don't play dating sims!"
Shana pulled the Humvee over halfway up a small hill. The city was about a mile and a half away—close enough to see, but the hill kept the vehicle hidden.
"Ikoma, stay here. The rest of us will scout the approach on foot."
The four of them crept to the crest of the hill, dropping into a prone crawl. They pulled out monoculars and binoculars, scanning the outskirts of the city.
"...There. Over there," Rosaria whispered, pointing.
Following her finger, the other three spotted them: a group of players clearly set up for an ambush.
"He actually did it... they just don't know when to quit, do they?"
"I don't get what's driving them to go this far," Tarako muttered.
"Even if they're trying to frame Shana as the bad guy, this is overkill."
"Whoever's煽り (inciting) them must be good at their job," Shana said. He reached back and pulled out the M82—the heavy rifle that hadn't seen action yet.
"Oh ho..."
"Shana's famous for his daggers and his M82, but I've never actually seen him fire it," Rosaria whispered.
"Me neither!" Yamikaze added.
"Yeah, well, it's a niche weapon," Shana said, adjusting the bipod. "Hard to find the right opening for it."
"It's a beast to handle, for sure."
"Tell me about it. Alright... let's do this. Rosaria, sing something."
"Wait—what?! That's so sudden!"
"Anything. 'Jingle Bells' if you have to. Keep it simple."
"Ah..."
"Why 'Jingle Bells'?" the two men asked in unison.
Rosaria seemed to realize something, but Tarako and Yamikaze were lost.
"You guys know Sinon, right? The one with the Hecate II?" Shana asked.
Rosaria took over the explanation. "When she first got that rifle, Shana used to sing 'Jingle Bells' for her while she practiced, right?"
"Is that true?"
"Yeah," Shana said. "Helped her focus. She didn't miss a single shot back then."
"No way..."
"Sinon-chan is a beast..."
"So," Shana said, settling behind the scope. "I have a feeling that if you sing, I won't miss either. Though, honestly, it's fine if I do."
The three of them looked at Rosaria expectantly. Her face turned bright red, but being the serious girl she was, she began racking her brain for a song.
"Um... is humming okay?"
"Yeah, worked for Sinon."
"Okay... I'll try."
"I'm totally recording this!" Yamikaze whispered.
The melody Rosaria began to hum was Ravel's Bolero. Tarako gave a low, impressed whistle, and Yamikaze snapped his fingers in rhythm. Under their quiet watch, Shana took a steady breath and pulled the trigger.
Crack—!
The heavy report echoed across the hills. Then again. Crack—!
One by one, the players in the distance dropped. They were wearing camouflage cloaks, but they had chosen a position with zero hard cover. They scrambled in confusion, but there was nowhere to hide from the .50 caliber rounds finding them from a mile away. Their numbers dwindled rapidly.
CRAAAACK—!
One final, thunderous shot rang out, echoing longer than the rest. Shana eased off the trigger. Sensing the end, Rosaria stopped her humming and looked at him.
"Is it over?"
"Yeah. They're all down."
"Daaaaamn! That was incredible!"
"Shana, you really are a monster!"
"Rosaria," Shana said, looking back at her. "You have a beautiful voice."
"I... thank you," she stammered, her face flushing. It was the first time anyone had ever complimented her singing.
When they returned to the Humvee, Tarako and Yamikaze recounted the scene to Ikoma with frantic excitement.
"Aww, man! I wish I could have seen it!"
"Don't worry, I got the whole thing on video!"
"Seriously?! Tarako-san, you have to show me later!"
"Hey," Shana interrupted. "Why don't you guys just come back to our base? We can have a victory party there."
"Are you serious?!"
"Yes! I've always wanted to see inside that building!"
And so, the five of them drove boldly across the wasteland where no enemies remained. When they reached the city, they headed straight for the skyscraper that Shana and his crew called home.
-------------------------------
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