"Why are we back here?"
They were back in the Gantz room.
Yoko shook her head, fear evident in her tone. "I don't know, it's never happened before."
Nishi looked at the ball and realized the timer was counting down. "It's started, this room must be our target's location." Yoko gasped, and Nishi turned to face her with concern. "Which means the only logical explanation, is that the alien is here, and it's one of them." Nishi gestured to the group stood on the opposite side, looking around in confusion.
Yoko couldn't quite believe it. How was it possible for one of them to be the alien? "This is insane, are you saying that the alien somehow disguised itself as a human?"
Nishi tightened his hold on the large gun. It would be hard to fight an alien of that size in a narrow space like this. "It certainly makes sense, we know the alien can't cloak for long, so it's not as if it's hiding by invisibility, and just to be sure-" Nishi clicked the stealth mode of the device in his pocket and disappeared, causing everyone else to gasp in shock. When Nishi reappeared, and the static died off, he turned to Yoko. "I didn't see it, so it's definitely one of them."
Yoko looked at them. "But who? The disguise is near perfect, how are we supposed to find it?"
Nishi avoided looking directly at the group; he had his suspicions but wanted to keep it to himself for now.
"Just what the hell are you two whispering about, and how did you do that trick kid? I'm starting to think this guy was right, you know what's going on, don't you?" Blue sweater said with a deep frown, daring to step closer.
"Nishi, we can't just – shoot everyone in the room, right? I mean, we're – we're not going to do that are we?" Yoko looked at him with concern because she knew it was something he would seriously consider.
Nishi sighed and whispered, "It would be the easiest way to find it." Yoko's eyes widened, but then he said, "But it wouldn't help us; once we shoot one of them, the alien will attack, and I want to be ready."
The dog lowered his head upon hearing them and ran off into the hallway as if he believed Nishi would kill him.
"Sounds like you have a plan, does that mean you want my help after all?"
Nishi snorted at her smug comment, "The rules have changed. Unless you want to defend the alien? Perhaps you can become an alien rights lawyer; your next paper could be, 'aliens have a right to be here as much as we do.'"
Yoko huffed at him, and he laughed. "Fine, what do you wanna do?"
"Just follow my lead." Nishi walked into the middle to address the other players. "Listen up! Before you got here, you all died and were brought back by this ball. It recruits us to kill specific aliens within a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, on our last mission, we ran out of time before we could complete it. The alien you saw just now is the alien we failed to kill. Normally, we are transferred to a particular location to take out the target, but this time, the target has come to us. I have reason to believe that the alien is here, disguising itself as one of us." Nishi didn't expect them to believe him, so it wasn't surprising when they started complaining and claimed he tried to trick them. "Just to be clear, while you're all calling me a liar, I don't have a problem with killing anyone in this room, so if you want to test that, then go right ahead." Nishi knew he had to be careful not to provoke the alien just yet, it knew they were onto it, but he was hoping to buy some time.
Takada frowned. "So how do we find out who's the alien, it's not going to just come out and admit it if you ask."
Yoko wondered the same thing, but she was willing to back Nishi a hundred percent, and her hold on the gun was proof that if any of them tried anything, she wouldn't hesitate to kill them either.
Nishi clicked his tongue and took out a case from inside the ball. "These cases have our names on, so anyone that's meant to be here will have one of these. It's a matter of proving your identity."
Yoko smiled, Nishi's quick thinking was impressive, and his calmness would certainly throw the alien off-guard. He's amazing, she thought as her heart fluttered.
Nishi looked at them, daring anyone to oppose his idea with force because he wasn't afraid to give it back, and they wouldn't get a second chance to try. "Let's get started. Anyone can claim either of these names, so first off, you're going to introduce yourself."
Blue sweater looked around the room with suspicion and then turned back to Nishi. "I think it would be wise to discard all of the weapons, so no one gets any funny ideas, and that includes you two."
Nishi tensed slightly but didn't show his disapproval. "Well that's certainly rather hostel of you, maybe you're the alien." Nishi grinned when the man stuttered.
"That's ridiculous, I'm no alien. If you want us to believe you and go along with your plan, then I think it's a fair compromise, don't you? I mean, you did just say you don't have a problem killing any of us, right?"
Nishi frowned at the man. I can just blow his head off right now and be done with him, but the time lag will allow the alien to attack. He could be the alien, but I can't risk it. "Fine," the boy said reluctantly.
Yoko's eyes widened, and she grabbed Nishi's arm. "Nishi, we can't."
Nishi gritted his teeth and turned to face her. "We don't have a choice right now." Nishi discreetly gestured to his suit by tapping his chest, and Yoko nodded; at least they still had the advantage if things went wrong.
Blue sweater pointed to the side. "We put the weapons in that small room over there, including the ones still inside the ball. And whatever you used to disappear goes in there too."
Nishi smirked. "What makes you think I used anything?" The boy took the device from his pocket and showed it to the man. "It's just a map, see?" Nishi could see the man wasn't backing down, so he parted with it; it was the weapons he was more reluctant to give up, especially now that the alien knew they were defenseless.
Once all weapons and devices were in the back room, they formed into a circle. Nishi and Yoko stood separately from them. Nishi pointed at blue sweater with a frown. "We'll start with you, since you're so sure you're not the alien."
The man clicked his tongue and said, "I'm Akari Kumura, age thirty-six. I'm a football coach at an elementary school in Shibuya."
Another male of the group tilted his head and spoke the first words since arriving. "Isn't Akari a female name?"
Akari narrowed his eyes and shouted with a slight blush on his face, "Fuck you!"
Nishi's eyes traveled to the two females clinging to each other. "You're next."
The first female, dressed in a dark blue long-sleeved tight-fitting shirt with quarter length black jeans, spoke first, "I'm Misuki Watanabe, age twenty-two. I just graduated from medical school, and I now work at Tokai university Tokyo hospital." Misuki looked to her friend and gave her a smile of encouragement.
The second female, dressed in a short skirt with a white shirt, stepped forward. "I'm Himari Nakajima, age twenty-one, and I'm the same as Misuki, we graduated together."
Nishi looked down at the homeless woman sat down by the window; she had her legs crossed and her arms hidden in her long jacket. It's probably pointless asking her, but then again, looks can be deceiving.
The old woman realized everyone was waiting for her and looked up into Nishi's cold eyes before standing. "Oh, it's my turn? I'm Riku Shin." The old woman sighed with a hunch of her shoulders. "As you might have guessed, I'm – I'm homeless."
Nishi tilted his head to look at Yoko and asked, "Any relation? She has your last name."
Yoko snorted, "Unlikely, both my grandmothers are dead, and neither of them had the name Riku, so it's probably just a coincidence. Besides, even if we are related somehow, this is hardly the time to try and broach a family reunion."
Nishi shrugged, and they moved on. "You."
The male who claimed Akari was a girl's name tugged on his black t-shirt nervously. "Erm, I'm Fumihiro Uchida, I'm twenty-one. Up until a few months ago, I worked at a convenience store, but I was fired and am currently living with my mother in the basement." When he realized they were still staring at him, he panicked and said, "Uh! Just until I find my feet again!"
The man with orange hair raised an eyebrow. "Okay, my turn I suppose. I'm Itsuki Wada, twenty-eight. I'm an editor for manga."
Akari turned to Nishi and Yoko with a frown. "Now that we're all acquainted, it's about time you two introduced yourselves."
Yoko huffed, showing her annoyance at the intrusion despite requesting the same information from them. "We are already part of Gantz, so obviously we're not the aliens."
"You expect us to just believe you?"
Nishi rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling slightly uncomfortable when his empty pockets reminded him that he was defenseless. "I'm Joichiro Nishi, middle-school student. That's all you really need to know."
Yoko turned to them and said, "I'm Yoko Shin, age nineteen. I'm a student in college."
Akari nodded his approval of their brief introduction and turned to the last player. "What about you, the supposed survivor."
"I'm part of this thing too, I was here before. But if you must know, I'm Noboru Takada, age thirty-five. I'm a businessman."
Nishi pursed his lips and knelt down in front of the ball to retrieve the case from before. "Now that we're all familiar, let's get on with this, we have limited time." Yoko aided Nishi in retrieving everyone's cases. Nishi looked for any sign of concern on their faces while they were handing them out, but when they handed out the last case, he realized each of them had one. Shit. They all have cases; I didn't count on that. Nishi looked inside the Gantz ball, glancing at the man inside. Could that mean Gantz doesn't know the alien is one of them? How could it not know!
"The hell is this shit!"
Nishi snapped out of his thoughts and noticed the group were inspecting the case's contents. Damn, if Gantz really doesn't know, and the alien puts that suit on, it's game over. Nishi observed them carefully; it was hard to distinguish their human behavior from that which might be an alien's. They're all fucking clueless. Three individuals stood out to him: Akari, the obvious, given his defensiveness. Riku Shin, the least expected. Nishi's eyes fell on Noboru Takada; the man was acting way too calm for someone who had found out his original was still alive. Those three are the likeliest suspects, but how is that possible? Nishi found it hard to believe Gantz would save a dying 'human' without knowing it was an alien. No, there has to be something I'm overlooking.
"So what the hell happens now? We all have suits, so that just blows your alien theory sky high."
Nishi glared at Akari but noticed most of them had disregarded the suits except for Akari and the Riku. He's annoying, but he has a good point. I was betting on an extra player that shouldn't be here. Nishi gritted his teeth and glanced at Yoko, who looked as lost for words as he felt.
"What do you wanna do?" Yoko asked Nishi nervously.
Nishi eyed the group warily. Good fucking question.
"Oi, you gonna tell me what these things are for?"
It's too late to feign ignorance now, but if I tell them about the suit…
"I've seen hundreds of manga stories, and this definitely resembles cosplay to me," Itsuki said as he picked up the suit once more.
Misuki tilted her head in Itsuki's direction and asked, "Do you think we're in some kind of game simulation?"
Himari grasped her friend's arm. "But Misuki, we died. How can we be in a game simulation? That means we would have been brought back to life for that to happen."
Nishi sighed irritably. I just fucking told them that. But what did I expect? They're graduate nurses, which means they rely too heavily on facts; the possibility of this happening just isn't possible in their eyes.
"So what are the suits for?" Akari asked.
Yoko chewed her lip; she had no idea what to do. Nishi's plan backfired, and now their weapons were out of reach, and they still didn't know who the alien was. Who the hell could it be? I can't imagine Gantz purposefully transferring the alien to us, and everyone has cases. But how is that possible when the alien is one of them? Yoko started to wonder if shooting them all before would have been the best plan. It certainly beats having no weapon at all, and at least the alien might have shown itself or even died.
"Perhaps the suits are for protection," Takada said calmly without acknowledging his own suit still in the open case.
Nishi glanced at Takada and frowned. He probably noticed the suit underneath because no one on the last mission even touched the case.
"Wait a minute," Uchida said as he stepped forward. "Are you two wearing the suits right now? Because it kinda looks like you're wearing them under your clothes."
Yoko tensed and tried her best not to look at Nishi, but she was honestly surprised it took them so long to notice because the clothes they wore didn't cover the whole suit.
Nishi shrugged and tried to act casual. "It's comfortable, that's all. I doubt any of you would wear it though." He hoped to sound casual enough that they didn't call his bluff. Nishi remembered when he first saw the suit and thought they'd feel the same way. I just hope they don't take Takada's words too seriously.
Uchida pushed up his glasses with a thoughtful frown. "If it does give us protection, maybe we should put them on, we can just put our clothes on over the top like they did."
Nishi glanced at the timer. Thirty minutes left; this is taking too long. I should have just made a guess and shot someone; it's a lot better than this evasive bullshit. I can't believe I discarded my weapon. What the fuck is wrong with me? The hell do I care what happens to these fucking morons. Each and every one of them is expendable. I just bet their deaths are proof of that. Nishi gasped softly; his eyes widened slightly when an idea formed in his head. He glanced at Yoko to catch her attention, briefly considering the role she played in his life, wondering if she, too, was expendable. How would he feel if she died? Did he feel anything for her, or had he simply grown accustomed to her?
Yoko caught his stare and knew by the look in his eyes that he had another idea.
Nishi could tell by her determined expression that she would back him up without even asking her. Tsk. She's useful, that's all. Nishi eyed the group suspiciously; he had to act now before either of them put on the suit. I still don't understand; if Gantz kept us here, then how could it not know one of them is the alien when it's the one bringing them here. Gantz would not have saved anyone before they died if it knew they were an alien in disguise. That means it was tricked somehow, and if that's the case, the alien isn't disguised as a human; it's controlling one. But how is that possible, unless…. Nishi tensed. The alien doesn't attack humans who aren't part of Gantz because humans can't see them. Nishi's eyes fell on Yoko. And that means the only suspects are the players from the previous mission. Nishi curled his hands into fists, ignoring the possibility that it could be him, and he just didn't know it yet. Nishi wasn't with Yoko the whole time, so he couldn't be certain it was her. That would explain why she didn't kill the last alien, but -
"This is ridiculous! Whoever the alien is should just come right out and say it already, but I'm starting to think it's all fucking bullshit anyway," Akari said as he threw his suit to the ground.
Uchida looked at him nervously. "You know, you're pretty hostile for an elementary coach."
Akari glared and raised his fist. "What's that supposed to mean four-eyes!"
Itsuki laughed and clasped his fingers behind his head. "If you met my coach back then you wouldn't be saying that."
"Shut up," Nishi said with gritted teeth. The group was giving him a headache; all their constant rambling annoyed him. "Only those who died are brought here." Nishi narrowed his eyes and looked directly at Yoko. "I've ruled out the new players because Gantz only brings back humans, it would know who's alien and who isn't, unless it was tricked. Which narrows our suspects down to the previous players from the last mission."
"Why don't we consider that dog," Uchida said. "I mean, he's part of this too, isn't he?"
Akari pointed at the corridor. "Possibly, he ran off out there."
Nishi rolled his eyes. "That mutt isn't the alien, he doesn't interact with anyone on the mission. He wanders off too much." Nishi looked at Yoko once more, locking eyes with her.
Yoko's eyes widened when she realized. "You can't think – you can't possibly think I'm… Nishi, no!"
Despite his calmness, Nishi worried about provoking the alien before he had a chance to retrieve a weapon. "You're the only one who was with me at the end. It can only be you, right?"
Yoko frantically shook her head. "I'm not an alien!"
Nishi grinned and walked to the back room.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Akari shouted as he jogged to meet the boy and grabbed his arm.
Nishi turned to glare at the man. "Let go."
Akari tightened his hold without knowing what insignificant effect it had. "How do we know you're not the alien? You think I'm just gonna let you get a weapon?"
Nishi raised his fist, but before he had the chance to strike, the glass in the center of the balcony doors smashed to pieces, startling everyone into panic. Yoko moved away from the wall defensively, glancing at Nishi and Akari, who had released the boy out of shock.
Akari shouted, "What the hell was that? Who smashed the window?"
Then the alien appeared.