「おい、あんなことを言って大丈夫なのか?」
「要求された経費はこちらのテスト予算から出す。そっちの金は俺の管轄のはずだ。宣伝費から出せとは言わねえよ」
「いや、それもだが、連敗して多額の報酬を支払う羽目になったらどうする? ハンターはその辺の支払いにはうるさいぞ?」
「システムの設定を試験データ取得用から勝率重視に切り替える。こっちもある意味で今まではテストの
「俺の作ったシステムが、そんなにボロ負けするって言いたいのか?」
ヨドガワはタバタの気迫に少したじろいだ後、軽く
「分かったよ。好きにしてくれ。だが、勝ちすぎても負けすぎても途中で止めるぞ。商売の一番の敵は客の反感なんだ。接客する俺の気苦労も考えてくれ」
「分かった。中断の判断はヨドガワさんに任せる。それに、こっちが連勝したら設定を緩めるぐらいはするさ。その時は言ってくれ」
ヨドガワが部下の技術者達と一緒に総合支援強化服のシステム設定変更作業を始める。部下の技術者達はテスト工程が狂うことに難色を示しながらも指示通りに作業を進めていく。ヨドガワは作業の様子を見ながら、浮かんでくる懸念への対処に頭を痛めていた。
エリオ達はタバタから事情を説明されると、軽いざわめきを起こしながら不安そうな様子を見せていた。
「これからは実戦を想定した内容に変わるって、あの、それ、命中判定が出たら激痛が走るとか、これからは実弾を使うとか、そういうのじゃないんですよね?」
「大丈夫だ。その辺は今までと同じだから安心してくれ。ただ、システムからの指示や動作補助が実戦を想定したものになる。それでかなりの速度で走らせたり、結構
「まあ、そういうことなら......」
少し落ち着きを取り戻したエリオ達に、タバタが真剣な表情で告げる。
「君達の言っていた通り彼は今まで手を抜いていた。だがこれからは彼も実戦を想定して本気を出してくる。総合支援強化服を得た君達がその彼に勝てば、君達の実力も、システムの性能も、本物だと証明される。だから多少の
タバタが背を向けてトレーラーに戻っていくと、エリオ達が口々に話し始める。
「本気を出したアキラさんに勝つって、勝てると思うか?」
「無理だろ。アキラさんって、あの抗争騒ぎの時にエゾントファミリーの拠点に1人で乗り込んで、ボスを助けて帰ってきたんだろ? 勝てる気しねえよ」
「いや、でもこの強化服ってどっかの
「アキラさんも別に死に物狂いで応戦するって訳じゃないだろうし......、いけるか?」
「何度も試せるんだ。1回でも勝てれば......」
自分達でアキラに勝つ。それは荒唐無稽な無謀ではなく、賭けに出る程度には現実性を帯びているのではないか。アキラも自分達も同じスラム街の住人だった。だがアキラはハンターとして成り上がり、自分達は今もスラム街の住人のままだ。アキラに勝てば、その違いを隔てるどうしようもない壁を打ち破れるのではないか。その切っ掛けになるのではないか。その願望がエリオ達に徐々に広がっていく。模擬戦への意気込みを高めていく。
エリオが一度手を強く
「取りあえず、俺達は全力を尽くせば良い。それだけだ。あんまり気負うな。行くぞ」
エリオが休憩中は脱いでいたヘルメットを被って配置位置へ歩き出す。他の者達もヘルメットを被ってシステムから指示された場所に移動していった。
配置場所に着いたエリオが、静かに深く大きな呼吸をゆっくりと繰り返して気を静めながら模擬戦開始の合図を待っていると、ヘルメット内に支援システムからの声が響く。
「......分かってるよ」
「空気成分調整機能を介して低濃度鎮静剤を使用しますか? 薬剤残量ゼロ。使用できません」
「だったら黙ってろ!」
ちの余り思わず口調を強めた後で、自分の状態を再確認して意識の切り替えを試みる。
(......落ち着け。テスト中だから、まだまだいろいろあるって言われただろう。落ち着くんだ。落ち着かないと、勝てるものも勝てなくなるぞ)
気負っているのはエリオも同じだった。エリオ達はアキラとの訓練が中断していた間も独自に訓練を続けていた。本来はアキラがいないと使用できない訓練用のAAH突撃銃を、シェリルやヴィオラの伝で訓練用の機材を
れや偶然だったとしても、俺達が本気を出したアキラに勝てば、シェリルも俺達の実力を認めて相応の扱いをする。待遇も上がる。立場も上がる。......切り捨てられる可能性も下がるはずだ)
エリオは自分達の現状に危機感を持っていた。シェリルの徒党は急激に勢力を伸ばしているが、それはアキラ、シェリル、ヴィオラの3人だけで実現したものだ。エリオ達は徒党の勢力拡大にほぼ全く関わっていない。言い換えれば、エリオ達は徒党に必要な存在ではない。
シェリルは前回の抗争騒ぎの後処理で、スラム街の他の徒党に対して優位的な伝を得た。最近はシジマの徒党から人員を借りて拠点や縄張りの警備などもさせている。再開した遺物販売店の接客要員なども、ヴィオラの伝で従業員を集めて対応させている。シェリルの徒党の者達の中には、その状況に不安を覚える者も増えてきた。
自分達のボスはスラム街の他の徒党にかなり優位的な立ち位置を得ている。後ろ盾のハンターは人型兵器に勝つほど強い。それを単に頼もしく思えるほど、エリオは状況を楽観視できなくなっていた。
既にシェリルは自分達全員を切り捨てたとしても、代わりの人材をシジマ達などから都合して徒党の運営を問題なく実行できる。アキラはシェリル個人の味方であって、自分達の味方ではない。シェリルやアキラはスラム街の住人の
支援システムが模擬戦開始までの秒読みを始めてヘルメット内の表示装置に映し出す。エリオは減っていく数字に意識を合わせて集中力を高めていく。そして模擬戦開始と同時に、込めた決意を爆発させて駆け出した。
エリオ達から少し離れた場所で模擬戦の開始を待っているアキラに、アルファが楽しげに笑いながら尋ねる。
『それで、私はどの程度サポートすれば良いの?』
アルファが少し不敵に
『別に勝敗自体はどうでもいいんだ。経費を向こうが出すって言ってるんだから、これからは金の掛かる動きを気にせずにできるってだけだ。まあ、仮に連敗したら、しっかりサポートを頼んで負け分を相殺するよ』
『分かったわ。でも、ちゃんと全勝するつもりでやるのよね?』
『当然だ』
『それなら良いわ。でも少しだけ、サポートって程ではないけれど、軽く対処するわね。アキラに模擬戦の達人になってもらう訳にはいかないわ。あの中途半端な当たり判定を前提とした動きを磨いてもらっても困るの。そこは適宜対処するわ』
頭部に装着している小型の表示装置がアキラの視界に模擬戦開始までの残り時間を映し出す。アキラは息を整えて意識を集中する。両手に握ったSSB複合銃をだらりと下げて適度に脱力する。情報収集機器から送られてくる情報を、強化服を介して肌で感じ取り、周囲の気配を鋭敏に感じ取る。
アキラの視界には、情報収集機器で得た後方の映像と、左右の銃の照準器の映像が重ねて表示されている。視点の異なるそれらの視覚情報へ適度に意識を振り分ける。意識上の視野を広げていく。
(......集中しろ。あの時の感覚を思い出せ。部分的であれ、意識を、現在に、現実に、近付けろ)
アキラはアルファに旧世界製の自動人形達と戦った時に自分にしたというサポートについて詳しく尋ねていた。五感が
アルファはアキラとの通信帯域の専有部分を介してその処理に割り込んでいた。現実の出力処理を自身に委託させ、出力結果をアキラに送信していた。アルファの非常に高度高速な計算処理により、現在との時間的なずれが極めて短く、本来は省略される処理まで綿密に計算された高精度の現実情報を受け取ったことで、アキラは一時的に別世界と思えるほどに、現在に、現実に近付いていたのだ。
これは突き詰めれば、相手が遅れてぼやけた映像を見ながら反応の遅い機械を操作しているにも
アルファはアキラにそれらのことを不必要な部分は黙った上で丁寧に説明した。その後、アキラの訓練に新しい内容が加わった。現実の解像度を意識的に操作する訓練だ。
アキラがアルファのサポート無しで同様の状態を実現するのは現実的ではないほどに困難だ。だが短時間に部分的な再現を目指すのならば話は別だ。交戦の僅かな時間だけ、敵がいる場所に絞って、意識上の世界を限りなく現実に近付ける。アキラはその実現を目指していた。
(できると思わなければ、できるものもできなくなる。......できる! 後はできるまでやるだけだ!)
アキラが決意と覚悟を新たにする。そして模擬戦開始の合図とともに、その実現の糧を積み重ねる
「まあ、これも試験パターンの一種としては有りなんだけど、これを何度も続ける意味があるかどうかって言われたら微妙だな。タバタさん。このパターン、続けるんですか?」
技術者達は照準設定作業の後の出来事でアキラの実力の一端に触れていた。そのおかげで模擬戦の状況も少しは予想できており苦笑いで済ませることができた。
だがタバタは苦笑いでは済まない。かなり険しい表情で模擬戦の推移を凝視している。
「えっ? そんなことをすると支援システムの指揮演算に偏りが生まれて汎用性が大分落ちますよ? そりゃ、あいつには勝ちやすくなるでしょうけど......」
「良いからやれ」
技術者達は苦笑して指示通りに作業を始めた。タバタは模擬戦の様子を映し出す表示装置に険しい表情で厳しい視線を向け続けている。そこには予想を超えた早さで次々に撃破判定を受けるエリオ達の状況が表示されていた。
そうな表情で走っている。総合支援強化服の設定は着用者の負担軽減から身体能力強化優先に変更された。これにより更に高速で機敏な移動が可能になった。だが身体への負担は大幅に上昇していた。
これなら本当にアキラに勝てるかもしれない。エリオがそう思い始めた時、ヘルメット内の表示装置に表示されている部隊の状況がその希望を押し潰した。
仲間が次々に撃破判定を受けて数を減らしていく。それに驚いている間に数は急激に減り続け、すぐに残数は1人に、エリオのみになった。
の間を高速で移動するアキラの影が視界に映る。エリオがそれに気付いた時には既に手遅れだった。全身に無数の被弾判定を受けて撃破されていた。
アキラのSSB複合銃には拡張弾倉が装弾されている設定になっている。両手のSSB複合銃から撃ち出された架空の弾丸は、その大量の物量でエリオの周辺一帯に面で被弾判定を押し付けており、仮にエリオが回避行動を取っていたとしても撃破判定は覆らなかった。
設定変更後の初戦はアキラの勝利で終わった。
次の模擬戦までの休憩時間はタバタの要望で少々長めに取られていた。支援システムのデータ反映に時間が掛かっていたのだ。
シェリルが笑顔でアキラを褒めちぎっている。ヨドガワも少し硬い笑顔でアキラの奮闘を
「金の掛かる動きをしたから、まあ、ある程度はな。あ、そうだ。一応一戦ごとに経費を送っておく。そっちの想定よりも高すぎるのなら止めてくれ」
アキラが情報端末を操作してヨドガワに経費の概算を送る。ヨドガワは自分の情報端末でそれを見た後、僅かに顔を険しくした。
「もう止めておくか?」
「ご心配なく。この程度なら問題ありません。しかしアキラ様にはあの程度ではまだまだ
ヨドガワはアキラ達に軽く会釈してからトレーラーに向かっていった。
トレーラーに入ったヨドガワが客向けの愛想を消して厳しい声を出す。
を入れようとしたヨドガワだったが、タバタの視線にたじろいで言葉を止めた。タバタが険しい表情でどこか暗く低い声を出す。
「......分かっている。認識が甘かったのは認める。次はこんな無様な結果にはならない」
「データ反映処理、終わりました。再開できます」
「始めろ」
「カウント開始します」
次の模擬戦開始までの秒読みが始まり、残りの秒数がメインモニターに表示される。タバタが厳しい表情で、ヨドガワが少し不安そうな表情で、技術者達が苦笑気味の表情で、その異なる内心を顔に出しながら模擬戦の開始を待つ。
2戦目が始まった。
アキラが場を高速で駆けている。その初速は異常にも思えるほどに速く、方向転換時の減速も鋭角のような移動の軌跡を描いても非常に少ない。これは強化服の足の裏に備えられている機能によるものだ。
「タバタ。この調子が続きそうなら、悪いがもう中止だ。経費だって馬鹿にならない上に、連勝分のボーナスまで支払うんだ。改善案がないなら止めるぞ。あるのか?」
タバタは非常に険しい表情で強い迷いを見せていた。だが何かを決めたように表情を
その設定内容を見ていた技術者が軽い戸惑いを見せる。
「タバタさん。それ、有りですか?」
「......そもそも初めから相手と装備が異なるんだ。実戦を想定している以上、こちらの装備にそれらが含まれていても不思議はない。オプション品として販売する予定もある。有りだ。指揮パターンもそっち寄りに変えるぞ。設定しろ」
ヨドガワは作業を進めるタバタ達を見て、一応事態改善の余地は残っていると判断すると、模擬戦の中止を取り
な指示が来たので、その指揮通りにアキラの包囲を開始した。その後の指揮内容が前までの模擬戦とはかなり異なっていたことにはすぐには気が付かなかった。
アキラはエリオ達の行動の変化にすぐに気付いた。少し表情を険しくすると、その気付きの正しさを確認する
そして支援システムの精度に欠ける弾道計算や当たり判定計算を考慮したことにより、エリオ達の武装は元の性能よりかなり高性能なものとして再現されていた。通常の銃と同じ射程、弾数、連射性能を持つ散弾銃で、散弾の数も多く、しかも散弾のそれぞれの大きさが通常弾と同じという、実在していればかなり高額な代物となっていた。
アキラがその得物による着弾の跡を、かなり大きな円の内側を埋め尽くす着弾の跡を見ながら、自身の気付きを再確認する。
アルファが
『模擬戦開始時にエリオ達が小型情報収集機器を射出器で一帯に設置するような動きを見せていたわ。恐らくそれで一帯の情報を常に詳細に取得可能になったという設定に変わったのでしょうね。この周囲には初めから試験データ収集用に小型情報収集機器が設置しているから、そのデータを流用しているのよ』
『アキラが実戦を想定して金の掛かる動きをしているから、相手も同様に金の掛かる作戦をしているだけよ。使い捨ての小型情報収集機器を大量に使用すれば、それだけ費用も
『確かにそうだな。向こうも負けが込んできたから本気を出してきたってことか』
『良い訓練になるわ。良かったわね?』
"Hey, are you sure you're going to be okay after saying that?"
"I'll pay the fee using the budget for the test. I'm the one with the authority on how to use that money, so I won't use the marketing funds."
"That's not it, what are you going to do if you keep losing? Hunters are pretty persistent when it comes to money, you know?"
"I'll change the system setting to prioritize winning. Just so you know, I too am actually holding back since it was just a test. But from here and on, no more holding back. So it should be fine."
"Are you going to say that the system that I made will have no chance of winning?"
Yodogawa flinched back from the pressure, he then lightly sighed and said.
"Alright, just do what you want. But, I'll stop you if you lose or win too many times, okay? The biggest enemy of a merchant is the enmity of the customer, you know. Keep in mind that it's me who will face the full brunt from the customer."
"Okay. I'll leave it to you when to stop. Moreover, I'll lower the setting if I get too many consecutive wins. But do tell me if you want me to stop."
Yodogawa and his men started changing the parameter setting for the group coordination support augmented suit. Although the technicians had a troubled look on their faces while working on the ongoing test, they still changed the setting as they were told. Yodogawa looked at his men working while fighting back the headache attacking him, thinking about what might happen.
When Tabata told Erio and the other children what was going on, it raised a small excited murmur while at the same time, they had a concerned look on their faces.
"Uhh, when you say that we'll have a real battle after this, does that mean that we're going to use real bullets? Or that it will be painful when we get hit?"
"Don't worry. It'll be the same as before. But, the order coming from the system will be under the assumption that you are in a real battle. So basically you guys will have to run and do some difficult moves, both will put your body in some level of stress. Since you're volunteering for the test, I hope that you can understand that and bear with it."
"Well, if it's only that much, then..."
As the children regained some of their calm, Tabata then said with a serious expression.
"It's just as you said, he's been holding back up until now. But from here on out, he'll stop holding back anymore. If you guys can win against him with the help of the coordination support augmented suit, it'll be proof of your strength, as well as the proficiency of the system. So endure the fight, I'll give my best support as well. I'm counting on you guys."
Tabata turned around and headed back to the trailer. Erio and the other children started conversing with each other.
"Winning against serious Akira-san, huh? Do you think we can do it?"
"Don't be stupid. Akira-san went alone to Ezont Family's base during that commotion and saved boss, you know? We basically have zero winning chance against him."
"But like, this augmented suit is a new product from a huge company which originally would cost a whole lot of money, that's just how great this augmented suit is, right? I'm sure that Ezont Family also had some crazy equipment with them too, but all of us are using this amazing augmented suit right now. So like, our winning chances are not exactly zero, right?"
"Well, it's not like Akira-san will come at us with full force trying to kill us anyway... So, maybe we can win?"
"We'll do the mock battle several times, so if we can at least win a round..."
The thought of the possibility of winning against Akira. It was not a reckless abandonment, they started to believe that it was a worthwhile gamble. Akira was also a boy from the slum city, just like the rest of them. The only difference was that he rose up as a Hunter while the rest of them stayed as children of the slum. They started to think that if they could win against someone like Akira, they might be able to break the impenetrable wall that had been separating them. This might be a good chance to do that. As that thought permeated and spread among them, they started getting fired up for the next mock battle.
Erio clapped his hand once to gather everyone's attention and to calm everyone down.
"Putting aside whether we can win or not, one thing for sure we'll have to give our best for our next battle. That's all there is to it. Don't get too excited and stay sharp. Let's go."
Erio put his helmet back on, which he had taken off during their short break and started walking to his designated position. The other children also wore their helmets and followed the orders that came up inside the helmet.
Once Erio arrived at his designated location, he repeatedly took deep breaths to calm himself down while waiting for the start signal. That was when a voice came out from the inside of the helmet.
"...I know."
"Do you want to use low concentration anxiety drugs through the ventilator? Warning, no compatible drug detected, unable to dispense."
"Just shut up then!"
Erio inadvertently raised his voice from the irritation, he then reconfirmed his situation and changed gear.
[...Calm down. This is just a test. They did tell us that they are still holding back a lot of things. If I don't calm down, I won't be able to win what's originally winnable.]
In reality, Erio was as anxious as the other children. Even when Akira stopped joining their usual training, they continued doing training by themselves. The empty AAH rifle for training that they received from Akira was originally unusable without Alpha, but with the help from Sheryl and Viola, they somehow gathered enough equipment to get them usable and had Colbert to help them in their training.
[...If we can win against Akira, even if it's just purely out of luck, Sheryl would recognize our skill as well. We can get better treatment, better position... And finally, face a lower risk of getting kicked out from the gang.]
Erio and the other children felt that their positions were in danger. Although the overall power of the gang increased dramatically, it was purely from Sheryl, Viola, and Akira's contribution. On the other hand, Erio and the other children almost did not contribute to it at all, to put it simply, the gang needed them less and less.
After the clean up of that incident in the slum city, Sheryl's standing was considerably elevated among the gangs in the slum city. The gang was even able to borrow some men from Shijima's gang from time to time to patrol the area under their gang's control. Even some of the staff from the reopened relic shop came from Viola's connection. But some of the members of the gang were not completely happy with those changes.
With the boss of the gang regarded highly among the gangs in the slum city and the Hunter backing the gang being strong enough to defeat a powered suit alone, both of them were extremely strong pillars for the gang. But at the same time, they made it harder for the children to be laid back.
Even if Sheryl kicked out most of the gang members, she already had enough influence to get some men from other gangs to fill their positions. As for Akira, he was only helping out Sheryl, so strictly speaking, he was not on the same side as them. Although Sheryl and Akira had already distinguished themselves as no longer mere slum children, Erio and the others still could not escape that position.
The coordination support system started the countdown until the start of the mock battle on the helmet's display. As the number approached zero, Erio heightened his focus to its peak. As soon as the countdown reached zero, he immediately started running.
Not too far from the training ground, Alpha smiled amusedly and asked Akira, who was waiting for the signal to start the training.
"So then, how much support do you want this time?"
Alpha's smile distorted a bit.
"It's not about winning or losing. They said that they'll pay for the expense, so there's no more need to hold back. Well, if I'm losing too much, I'll ask for your help to get back my win-lose ratio."
"Alright, but just to be safe, you're planning to win all the rounds, right?"
"Of course!"
"It's all good then. But just for a bit, I'll make a slight adjustment to your shooting. After all, I don't want you to get too used to that imperfect hit calculation."
Akira's headgear display showed a countdown until the start of the mock battle. He calmed down his breathing and gathered his focus. He lowered his SSB rifles on both of his hands and relaxed his muscles. He soaked in the information sent to his information-gathering device to his augmented suit through his skin and probed for the opponents' location around him.
From his headgear display, Akira could see what was behind him from his information-gathering device along with the scene captured from the aiming device from both of his SSB rifles. He distributed his focus to those information displays as well in order to expand the horizon of his consciousness.
[...Focus. Remember that feeling. Even if it's only a portion of it, bring my consciousness closer to that time and pull off here.]
Akira asked Alpha in detail about what she did to him during his fight against the old-world automata. He felt like all his 5 senses were boosted to the point that it was as if he was transported into a completely different world. And Alpha's explanation regarding that support surprised Akira.
Furthermore, Alpha used her special private connection with Akira through the old-world domain to intercept the incoming information, analyze them, and then send the result back to Akira. Due to Alpha's powerful computation ability, it further shortened the calculation time, and with Akira skipping most of the information digesting process that he would normally have to do, his perception of the world got very very close to the real current world, to the point that it was as if he was in a completely different world.
To put it simply, it was as if, while the others were using a slow machine that could only pick blurred images, Akira was using a machine with clear images and superb reaction speed. As long as his opponents could not read the future, they had no chance to get ahead of him.
Alpha explained all of these things in detail to Akira while keeping a few things to herself. After that, Akira's training changed into getting him to be able to control the process when he was perceiving the current world.
It was actually close to impossible for Akira to do it without Alpha's support. But it was not impossible for him to try to get closer to that state. During the short exchange against his opponent, he extracted the information of where his opponent was, and his consciousness indeed was getting closer and closer to perceiving the current world, not the past world.
[I can do this! If I don't believe in myself, I won't even be able to do what's possible...!! I can do this!! Now I just need to keep trying until I can actually do it!!]
Akira renewed his resolve. He kicked the ground almost at the same time as when the signal for the start of the mock battle went off.
"To be honest, it's a good data set considering it's from a test. But still, I don't know if there's any point in continuing to do this. Tabata-san, are we going to continue with this pattern set?"
The technicians witnessed a small portion of Akira's power during the aiming device adjustment. Because of that, they more or less expected that this would happen, so their reaction to the result only ended with a bitter smile.
But that was not the case for Tabata. He was staring at the ongoing mock battle with a stern face.
"Eh? If we do that, the system will lean toward adjusting itself on how to fight that particular Hunter. It will be unusable for general use, you know? We might be able to get a win if we do that... But still..."
"Just do it!"
The technician smiled wryly and did as he was told to. Tabata still had his eyes fixed on the monitor showing the progress of the mock battle. He could see that Erio and the other children were gunned down one by one at an unbelievable speed.
Erio was running with a stern face. The augmented suit setting was changed from prioritizing in keeping the user's burden to a minimum into prioritizing to empower its user. Thanks to that, he was able to run faster and more agile than ever before, but the burden that it put on his body was not small.
When he thought that he might be able to win with his power-up, that exact thought was completely destroyed when he glanced at the display inside his helmet which showed the current situation.
The other children were shot down one by one. And when he was still trying to cope with the surprise, the number did not stop falling. Then, before he realized it, the number had reduced to one, he was the only one still alive.
Right at the next moment, Erio caught a glimpse of Akira moving between the rubble. But the moment he noticed, it was already too late, multiple bullets already landed on his body.
The magazine that Akira was using for his SSB rifles was set to be an extended magazine. The bullets that he shot from those rifles formed a wall of bullets that crashed into Erio. Even if Erio tried to evade that, he would not be able to get away from those bullets.
That was Akira's first win after the learning setting of the system was changed.
Due to Tabata's request, the break until the next mock battle was longer than usual. After all, he needed time to let the system digest the data.
During the break, Sheryl came to Akira and praised him with a smile. Yodogawa also did the same although with a slightly stiffer smile.
"Well, that's more or less what would happen when I'm not trying to keep the expense low. Ah, right, I'll send you the payment invoice after each battle, so you can stop the next mock battle anytime when you think it's getting too expensive."
Akira took out his information terminal and sent an invoice to Yodogawa, who frowned when he saw the number.
"So, you want to stop now?"
"Ah, please don't worry. We can pay this much, no problem at all. But still, it seems that it didn't pose much challenge to you. I'll tell Tabata to take this more seriously, so please excuse me."
Yodogawa lightly bowed and went back to the trailer.
The moment Yodogawa entered the trailer, his smile vanished as he yelled.
Yodogawa was about to continue, but he stopped mid-way and flinched back when Tabata looked at him. Tabata had a grim expression plastered on his face as he said with a deep voice.
"... I know. I admit it was my mistake looking down on him, but this won't happen again next time."
"The system is done analyzing the data. We're ready to start again."
"Let's start then."
"Starting the countdown."
The countdown for the second mock battle started, the seconds left before the second mock battle started was shown on the main monitor. Tabata was looking at that countdown with a stern face, Yodogawa did the same anxiously with furrowed brows, while the rest of the technician team was waiting for the countdown with wry smiles. All of them were waiting for the countdown to reach zero with their respective feelings shown on their faces.
And so, the second battle started.
Akira blazed through the training ground. His speed was abnormal but he was able to decelerate and make clean sharp turns. He was able to do all of these thanks to the power of his augmented suit.
"Tabata, if you're thinking of continuing, I'm sorry, but I'm stopping you here. Not only is the expense not small, we even have to pay for the bonus for winning the mock battle too. If you have no idea how to fix this, I'm stopping you here."
Tabata frowned and seemed to be wrecking his brain hard. He then seemed to have decided on something as he changed the setting of the coordination support from his terminal.
When another technician saw the new setting, he frowned and asked Tabata.
"Tabata-san. Isn't that cheating?"
"...We have different equipment than the opponent in the first place. It won't be strange to have at least this much if we consider this as a real fight. Moreover, the corresponding equipment is also planned to be sold as an optional item together with the main product. So there should be no problem. We'll also adjust the support pattern to suit the new setting, so get on to it."
Seeing how Tabata was still working hard on his work, Yodogawa thought that it seemed there was still a chance to win. So he did not stop the sixth mock battle. But even so, it did not erase the worried look on his face.
While they were still questioning what exactly they did, the next instruction that seemed to be a more serious one came up. So they moved on to follow the instruction to surround Akira. They immediately noticed that the instruction was different compared to the ones they were receiving up until now.
Akira immediately noticed that Erio and the other children were moving differently. He frowned a bit and quickly dove behind a wall before stopping right in front of a small gap in order to confirm his guess. The moment he stopped, he could see bullets coming flying straight at him through that small gap.
Moreover, due to the low precision of the hit recognition and bullet trajectory calculations of the system, Erio and the other children appeared to be stronger than they really were. Considering the rate of fire, range of fire, size of the ammo, and the other specifications of the rifles, the rifles used by Erio and the other children were of high quality, expensive rifles.
Akira followed the trajectories of those cylindrical bullets as they flew through the air, with this, he confirmed his guess.
Alpha smiled and gave some extra explanation.
"During the beginning of the training, they were moving as if they had pre-installed a small number of information-gathering devices around the area beforehand. My guess is that they changed the setting so that they can gather more information from those devices. They had small information-gathering devices scattered around the area beforehand to gather information during the test."
"Since you're not holding back your expenses, they are also not holding back on their expenses. If they use enough small information-gathering devices, it's not impossible to imitate this situation. Although it's not cheap, if that's enough to kill you, I'm sure they believe that would be worth the expense. Spending more money to defeat a strong opponent, it's completely normal, isn't it?"
"That's true. So basically they're getting serious now after losing so many times, huh?"
"It seems that it's going to be great training, aren't you glad?"
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
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