This is a continuation of the previous chapter.
=Ryunosuke's POV=
I saw a girl with pale blue hair and indigo eyes. I went to her to ask something.
"Um, excuse me."
The girl turned around and when she saw me she was sort of giving me a dirty look. Crap, she thinks that I'm hitting on her.
"What?" She examined me, seeing that I'm unarmed.
"Is this your first time playing the game?" She asked.
"Y-yes. I'm sort of lost." I answered "Is there a place where I can get weapons?"
She sighed "Fine, I'll take you there."
"T-thank you!"
"BoB? Didn't you just started today?" The girl asked.
"Yes."
"Your stats might not be good enough for you to participate in that tournament."
"W-well, my account is sort of an updated one. I already learned some skills." I explained.
"I see. What brings you to a game like this that's dirty and stinks of oil?" She asks me seriously.
"This is my first time playing this sort of game and I got curious." I answered. I can't let anyone know about Kikuoka-san's request. I saw an ad representing a gun weapon "And I was kind of interested in gun fights."
"So you're starting with BoB? You've got guts. I'll take you to a place where you can find a wide selection of weapons. We're almost there, anyway." She said as she continued walking.
"All right."
She took me to a huge market where there more gunners here than in the outside.
"T-this place is kind of amazing."
"GGO has two major weapon types: energy and physical types.
She then explained to me about energy and physical weapons and I started thinking whether I should decided on one of them.
"What kind of stats do you have?" She asks.
"Um, accuracy. Followed by strength and speed." I answered. After I came to this game I checked my stats. I kept on training with Karasuma-sensei these past few days.
"I see. Then you need a long-distance sniping gun and a handgun sub-weapon." She said.
Wait a minute. The one who needs weapons is me, right? Shouldn't I be the one to choose?"
"Wait. You just started, right? So don't have much money?" She asks again.
I looked into my menu "I have only 1000 credits."
"That's the starting amount, isn't it? With that money, you can't buy more than a small ray gun."
"Is there anywhere one can earn a lot of money?" I asked worriedly.
"I can't recommend it, but there are casinos and gambling games. There's one over there." She said as points to a game called the "Untouchable!". The area is laid out on metal tiles, surrounded by a wooden waist high fence. It's a walled off area, roughly 3 meters wide and 20 meters long.
"(In english) Hey, check it! Come on!" The NPC (Non-Playable Character) cowboy automatically said.
"What's this?" I asked while staring at the robot who spoke in english. I heard from Kikuoka-san that GGO is made in America.
"You enter from that gate, and dodge the NPC gunman's bullets. The goal is to make it as far as you can. And if you tag the gunman, you get all the money other players have ever put in." She explained.
"A-all of it?" I asked in shock.
She took a glance at the price and saw the amount "About 300,000 credits, huh?"
"T-that's a huge amount..."
"It's impossible." She said.
"What?"
"Once you pass the eight-meter line, he starts doing these cheap speed draws. By the time you see the prediction lines, it's too late." She explained.
"Prediction lines?" I didn't quite understand what she meant by that.
"Watch... Someone's about to add to the pool." She said and we both saw a person wearing a blue camo outfit being encouraged by his friends.
"All right!" The guy with the blue camo outfit touched the panel and the "Paid" bar turned red.
-WELCOME NEW CHALLENGER!-
"(In english) I'm gonna blast you from here to the Moon." The NPC said as he gets his gun ready.
A small crowd then came to watch the game.
"Okay, I'm gonna clear this today." The guy said as he gets ready.
"We're counting on you!" His friend told him.
"Leave it to me."
3, 2, 1... GO!
The gat opened and the challenger immediately ran inside. Suddenly, he stopped and does some weird pose.
"What's he doing?" I wondered.
The NPC fired and missed because of his pose.
"Was that the predicative line?" I asked her when I saw the fired bullets.
"Yes, a defensive assist system, the bullet line. Except for a sniper's first shot, a targeted player will see a display showing the path a bullet will take." She explained.
The NPC fired again with the challenger seeing the red bullet lines being able to dodge it.
"(In english) I'll kill you." The NPC then kept on firing and the guy dodges it.
The challenger then reached the purple line.
"(In english) You loser." The NPC fired bullet before the challenger notices it and gets hit, thus losing the game.
-GAME OVER-
The prize reached 302,000.
"I knew it wouldn't work." A guy from the crowd said.
"See? You can't move far to the left or right, so you have to run right down the middle. That area's the limit." She explained.
"I get it..." I finally understood now that I've watched how the game goes. I walk towards the entrance of the gate.
"Hey, wait..." The girl said, probably trying to stop me.
I touched the panel and the "Paid" bar turned red. When a challenger loses this game the prize goes up by 500.
"Heh. A beginner's gonna try?" The previous challenger said, as if looking down on me.
"The next loser's just some runt, huh?" Some guy from the small crowd said.
"While we're here, why not take a look." The person right beside him said.
Whatever. I'm used to this anyway. After all, the E-Class is an isolated section that is discriminated by classes A-D. But it's not only the students from the main campus that look down on us but the teachers there as well.
-WELCOME NEW CHALLENGER!-
3, 2, 1... GO!
I immediately ran towards the NPC.
"(In english) I'll kill you." The NPC started firing. I saw the red bullet lines and one of them points at my head. I managed to dodge the bullets.
I keep moving from left to right and I could tell that it's confusing him. Karasuma-sensei told us that speed is another way to confuse an enemy.
"(In english) You loser." The NPC fired and I managed to avoid the bullets again.
The girl and the crowd were suprised that I dodged it without stopping. I then reached the purple line.
"He's already made it ten meters?" The guy with the blue outfit said in disbelief.
"(In english) Die." I kept avoiding the fast bullets that hit the guy before but it's getting harder to dodge.
"(In english) Go to hell!" I slide to avoid the bullets and thought that he's out of ammo but...
The NPC then shot at me without me seeing the bullet lines and I immediately jumped before they could hit me and I landed at the NPC's spot and touched him.
"(In english) No!" The NPC then falls to his knees. Didn't expect him to go that far, though.
The contructure nearly exploded with credits as the crowd and the girl look in shock and disbelief. I opened my menu and took all of the credits. As I walked away the game resets.
"What was that? Who is he?" I keep hearing murmurs from the people who watched.
"What kind of reflexes do you have? At the end, in front of it, you dodged lasers fewer than two meters away. There's hardly any time between prediction lines and actual shots!" She asks me immediately as she walks towards me.
"Well..." I couldn't answer her question until something suddenly comes to my mind "I knew that there's a final shot there."
"What?"
"It's because everyone has a second weapon that they save until the time comes." I said. I learned that answer from one of my teachers.
I guess she didn't understand what I meant because she still has that puzzled look on her face.
I've been looking at some weapons for a while now and I can't find what I really want.
"So this gun is specialized for mid-range combat, huh?" I said as I look for some more weapons.
"You don't even know that, but you have those ridiculous dodging skills? You did said that this is your first time playing this kind of game, right?" She asked, looking at me suspiciously.
"Oh, that's just what we do in PE." I answered while still looking for a weapon.
"What kind of PE involves those combat skills?"
"Well, that's fine. If you're entering the BoB qualifiers, I'll have a chance to see you in action." She said as she crossed her arms.
I laughed nervously. She must be strong if she's entering the tournament.
We started to walk around to examine some weapons.
"Now that you have 300,000 credits, you can get some good stuff. But in the end, it comes down to what you like and want to focus on."
I listened to her explanation and then I saw a certain weapon that caught my attention.
She noticed that I stopped walking and was staring at a gun and realized that I'm interested in it
"That's the CheyTac Intervention. It specially developed the .408 CheyTac/.375 CheyTac cartridge for long-range use. The cartridge is optimized for accuracy by a balance of the rotational and linear drag, which reduces yaw and precession, and keeps the tip of the projectile pointed along the trajectory." She explained in a complicated detail.
"Wow. You sure know a lot about guns." I commented. I was actually surprised she knows this much. Also, this isn't my first time seeing this, though. While in United States, Korosensei took a gun like this one as a souvenir while getting assassinated.
I looked into the price and saw that it's only 100,000. I might as well buy this.
"You're going to buy that?" She asked me.
I nodded "I heard about this kind and I wanted to try it out."
I chose the color black and touched the "Buy" bar. A robotic NPC came and gave me the gun "Thanks."
"Thank you for your purchase." The robotic NPC left.
"You still got quite plenty of credits left." She said.
"Actually, I'm gonna buy another weapon."
The weapon that caught my attention wasn't only the one I bought but also... that.
"A photon sword?"
"Yeah." I figure that maybe I could use my knifework when I get in a pinch.
"Are you sure you're going to buy that?" She asked. Well, I'm already sure that she's going to ask that because after all, we're in a gun game that uses guns as a primary weapon. I'll use this when I get in a close-range combat.
"He already bought a gun but why does he need the photon sword for?"
The robotic NPC then gave me the black photon sword for 150,000 and I pressed the button make the blade come out, which is red. I was surprised that it's almost as light as a knife and I didn't regret my decision at all.
After that, I bought an FN Five-Seven pistol, bullets, armor and a bunch of others upon her advice.
"Have you ever fired a gun before?" She asks suddenly.
"Um... not really." I lied. I fire a BBGun everyday and she'll get suspicious if she knew that I'm trying to kill someone everyday.
"Want to try it?"
She took me to a shooting range, probably for me to practice firing. I saw a bunch of gunners practicing with handguns and sniper rifles. I'm already used to hearing gunshots.
"You can try any gun you buy at the store." She explained.
"Do you know how to fire it?" She asks.
"I think so." I hold my handgun with my usual stance whenever I practice shooting with Karasuma-sensei. I notice that my handgun is also suprisingly light like my photon sword. She told me that the handgun is made of reinforced plastic and the recoil isn't bad, either.
"The way he holds his gun. He looks suprisingly good with that."
As I aim towards the target, I see a blue circle that is in my vision.
"You should see a circle display. That's an offensive assist system., the bullet circle. Bullets hit randomly somewhere in that circle." She explained.
"So does that mean I can get a better shot if I move closer?" I asked.
"That's rigt. It's the easiest way but it is also difficult." She answered "if your pulse increases, the circle expands. So you need to stay calm."
Even without the circle I can still see the target from here. If only this system is available in real life, I'll have a better chance shooting Korosensei. I fired the handgun and it hit the target. She pushed a button so we could see where it hit. She was shocked to see that I hit the center.
"Looks like you have high accuacy all right. I don't know how you can see with your hair covering your eyes like that." She said.
Well, this is the reason why I have high accuracy.
We went outside the building after that.
"You really helped me out. Thank you." I gratefully thanked her.
"Don't mention it. Also, one of the reasons I helped you is that you're going to enter the BoB despite being a beginner." She explained.
"Are you going to enter, too?" I asked.
"Yeah. I'm just about to enter." She took a glance at the clock and saw that it's 14:50.
"Oh no! We only have ten minutes! Let's hurry!" She and I immediately ran.
"U-um, isn't there anything like a teleporter?" I asked her while running.
"Nope. In GGO, the only teleportation is dying and respawning at the revival point. And your HP will never go down in town, so you can't do that." She explains "The governor general's office is over there. It's three kilometers away... Entering will take five minutes, so we need to get there in three."
I could tell she's not gonna give up even with so little time left. I eventually saw a vehicle called a "Buggy" that are for rent. I grabbed her hand and made her sit in the back. I touched the panel and "Paid" bar turned red. I started the engine and drove.
"Hang on tight!" I told her.
"How? These buggies are really hard to drive, and almost no one can handle them!" She said.
-Flashback-
In sunday, I went out of the house for some sightseeing and I passed by a motorcycle shop. Well, I was going to pass by it until I saw a certain person with wriggly arms. I walked up to the person, who is admiring a motorcylce.
"... Korosensei?"
"Gyah! C-Chiba-kun! Don't scare me like that!" Korosensei said as he pants.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"Oh? Just looking at some motorcycles" He answered "Chiba-kun. Why do you think that some vehicles are faster and slower than the others?"
"Uh, it's because some vehicles are installed with particular parts that are suited for them?"
Korosensei's skin color turned Orange with a Red Circle = Correct Answer.
"Correct! Not only are the parts is the reason but it also depends on how they were drove by the driver!" Korosensei explained.
"Why suddenly became interested in motorcycles, sir?"
"W-well... I always see in movies that a girl falls in love with a bad boy who was using a motorcycle." Korosensei embarassingly answered.
"I see... you wanted to get a motorcycle to get yourself some chics, huh?"
"A-anyway, I know! Why don't you learn how to drive a motorcycle, Chiba-kun?" Korosensei changed the subject.
"... What?"
"Driving is also part of education. Also, I have a Norton motorcycle that I obtained as a souvenir when I was being attacked by an assassin from the US. We can use that to teach you. Nyuruhuhuhu...
"Nice way of changing the subject..."
-End of Flashback-
"My teacher taugh me how to drive a motorcycle." I answered the question she asked before to a flashback.
"Go faster. Faster!" I noticed that she's actually enjoying herself and it's the first time I seen her smile ever since I met her.
"Okay!" I drove faster.
I feel like I'm forgetting to ask her something.
Took me two days to finish this chapter. Hope you like it. Please review.