Performing a song on a brilliant stage while receiving the cheers of many people. That was his dream, his aspiration since childhood. His mother was a singer, and having grown up watching her, he too aimed for the same dream.
Two paths lay before him. One was the path to becoming a singer. The other was the path to becoming a doctor. He was born into a prestigious family that had produced excellent physicians for generations, and he had been educated since birth to become a doctor.
In truth, he wanted to be a singer. But his was not a family where such thoughts were permitted. He decided to become a doctor. However, it wasn't a path he chose reluctantly. There was a reason he had to become a doctor, even if it meant throwing away his childhood dream, beyond just the family's policy.
His mother had been stricken by a serious illness. It was an incurable disease for which modern medicine had yet to establish a treatment. Every possible means was exhausted, but she never showed signs of recovery. He entered university and threw himself into the research of that disease. For the sake of his mother, whose condition worsened day by day, he searched for a cure, even at the cost of sleep.
Even now, he often sees it in his dreams. Inside a white hospital room, countless tubes connected to the bed, the sight of his mother, unable to breathe on her own, is burned into the back of his eyelids. Dark spots emerged all over her body, and there was no trace of her former beautiful self.
Even when he spoke to her, even when he tightly held her thin hand, there was no reaction. Years passed while she remained unconscious. But then, one day, she opened her mouth just once.
'Noah.'
That was her last word.
The worst game had finally raised its curtain. The announcement declaring the start was broadcast. The voice belonged to Pomerni. I couldn't help but feel unpleasantness and irritation.
And already, one name had disappeared from the electric scoreboard. It seemed Grandfather of the Galaxy had been defeated. Was it the work of another iTuber, or did the Silver Team take him down?
I was still undecided on how to interact with the five members of the Silver Team who were supporting me. If they were just fans, the matter would be simple, but the situation was progressing in an unimaginable direction.
Blade says those people are spies sent by a country called the Saherta United States. Furthermore, for some reason, they are apparently aiming for my life. He wouldn't tell me the reason for that. He said he had been asked by some client to guard me during this meet-up period.
Without hearing the reason, I can't judge whether I should trust that story, but Blade's character is fairly reliable. He could have deceived me more skillfully to avoid complications, but the fact that he didn't try to blur the story—instead using his duty of confidentiality as the reason—might be an expression of his own form of sincerity. He might just be clumsy, but either way, he seems like the type who cannot tell a lie.
On the other hand, I didn't have much of a sense of distrust toward the Silver Team either. It's true they're suspicious, and of course, I don't trust them completely, but I couldn't bring myself to doubt them entirely. This was because I felt a sincerity from them similar to Blade's.
The cosplay duo had been helping me since before we entered the venue. If they intended to kill me, they would have had the opportunity. I could vaguely sense their strength. A woman named Chel alone had enough skill to make two Nen users, Blade and Velvet, shrink back.
However, I remained unable to reach a conclusion. In the end, following Velvet's proposal, the Silver Team was sent off to deal with the other iTubers, and I couldn't hear any detailed explanation.
The mystery only deepens. Why am I being targeted by Saherta? Velvet asked me if I was actually a princess of some country or something, but there's no way I would know.
For now, I have no choice but to wait and see. It doesn't seem like we'll be able to have a calm conversation until this game is over. Fortunately, we have many allies. If everyone cooperates, we should be able to end this game quickly.
"Regardless, what does the organizer of this game stand to gain from this? I can't read their objective."
"Did they create such a large-scale battlefield because they knew we were Nen users? Is their goal to have us crush each other-ssle? But if that's the case, there's no need to go out of their way to make rules that involve powerless ordinary people-ssle. In any case, if you ask whether this is something they must do, even to the point of pouring in such an enormous amount of money and making it a major incident..."
Blade and Velvet were currently discussing how to move forward. I knew that my awkward self wouldn't be very useful joining that conversation, but I felt unsatisfied, as if I were being left out of the loop. Having nothing to do, I had been relegated to looking after Noah Heliodor.
Actually, when the dialogue with the Silver Team was taking place earlier, Chel had apparently sent a warning flare of aura toward Velvet while simultaneously intimidating Blade, and she had incidentally aimed some toward Noah while he was meditating as well. Because of that, following Tsukuteku, Noah had been subjected to intimidation for a second time and had fainted.
However, it seemed he had been able to open his aura nodes due to this shock, and Noah had managed to master 'Ten' even while unconscious. It was thought that he wouldn't lose consciousness from intimidation alone from now on.
It must have been quite a strain on his mind, as he was groaning and covered in a cold sweat. Velvet told me to just slap him awake, but I couldn't bring myself to do something so harsh to someone so weakened. Since he was groaning, it meant he would regain consciousness soon.
While looking after him, I thought I should check his pulse or something and took his hand, but for some reason, he ended up gripping my hand instead. I think it was unconscious, but perhaps knowing someone was nearby reassured him, as his condition calmed down a bit. When I tried to pull away, he seemed to dislike it and gripped back harder, so I left it as is.
"Get away from Lord Noah! You bitch!"
"Don't you dare try to seduce him when you're just a brat! Switch places!"
However, I was starting to think it might have been better to pull away by force after all. I was being showered with incredible booing from the people who seemed to be Noah's fans gathered at the venue. While I can understand why fans with emotions bordering on worship would be dissatisfied with me acting so familiarly with Noah, the foul-mouthed insults were enough to make me weary.
"The audience is getting quite rowdy. It would be bad to leave them like this much longer. I hope we can make them understand after a proper explanation."
Gathered here was not only the Green Team, Noah's fans, but also Blade's Yellow Team. Velvet's team only had a negligible number of people, but for now, if you added up the numbers displayed on the board, it came to 1,293 people. More than half of the audience was gathered here.
If those crowds were kept waiting without any explanation even after the game started, things would take a turn for the worse. But even if we explained, it wasn't a simple matter. While it would be best if they just stayed still and did nothing, I didn't think everyone would easily listen to what we had to say.
For now, it was decided that Blade, the leader of the Yellow Team which boasted the largest number of people, would stand on the stage and attempt to persuade them. Velvet had a way with words, but his stance as a 'Controversial iTuber' made him an easy target for criticism. Blade was the right person for this.
"Everyone! Please listen to me-ssle! Currently, this ship is..."
However, the sounds of enthusiastic shouting from the venue rose with enough force to drown out Blade's voice as he began to speak. Perhaps misunderstanding that the game had finally begun, the audience started a commotion, ignoring what Blade was saying. And then, the situation we had feared arrived abruptly.
In various parts of the venue, people began to use their tranquilizer guns. Figures could even be seen collapsing on the spot after being shot. Now, no matter what Blade said, it was useless. It had reached a stage that could no longer be controlled with words.
"I expected this might happen, but it's sooner than I thought. To start a shootout in such a crowded area, they're even bigger idiots than I imagined. Or rather, don't they seem a bit strange?"
Indeed, no matter how excited they were, it was an incredibly short-sighted action. Now that it was mentioned, one could see from the expressions and behavior of the audience that they didn't seem normal. Like beasts whose reason had been stripped away, they were shouting without regard for those around them and brandishing their weapons. Some, who might have already fired all ten of their rounds, weren't satisfied and were trying to club others with the barrels of their guns.
"There's no sign of them being manipulated by Nen-ssle... However, it's clear their mental state is abnormal. If that's the case, it might be the influence of some kind of drug-ssle."
To administer drugs to this many people without being noticed, the routes would be limited. Even if it were mixed into food and drink, not everyone would necessarily eat it, and for the effects to start appearing all at once like this was unnatural. It was suspected that a gaseous drug might have been dispersed through the air conditioning. If that were true, there was a possibility that we wouldn't be exceptions and would be affected as well.
"Hmm... Condition, All Green. As of now, there's no drug reaction in this vicinity-ssle."
Blade casually rolled up his sleeves and flexed his biceps. He claimed it was easy to grasp the detailed current state of his body from the microscopic movements of his twitching muscles. This was his Nen ability, 'Condition Checker.'
"That doesn't seem like it would be useful in battle."
"What are you saying-ssle! If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear a hundred battles-ssle! By constantly grasping my own accurate aura condition, I can realize a combat style that utilizes my muscles more fully-ssle."
His Hatsu, strictly speaking, was called 'Muscle Museum,' which consisted of ten Muscle Secret Arts, and 'Condition Checker' was apparently one of them.
In any case, we couldn't just leave the mentally abnormal audience like this. Even though the people who were shot were only sleeping, if they were rolling around in the middle of this chaos, there was a risk they could be trampled and seriously injured.
Velvet apparently tried to suppress them with bloodlust, but he said that suppression doesn't work well on people in a state of high mental agitation. It was supposedly possible if he did it seriously, but he said he didn't want to do it because it might actually cause people to die from shock. One could say their minds had become so broken that they wouldn't stop unless they were hit with a lethal amount of aura.
"Dear me, it's a hassle, but cleaning them up manually will probably reduce accidents. So, I'm counting on you."
"I'd like for you to help-ssle, but well, I'm enough on my own-ssle. I shall show you one of the ten Muscle Secret Arts... 'Cast Off'!"
With that shout, the clothes on Blade's upper body burst apart. By tensing the muscles of his torso, he shredded the clothes that had already been tight to begin with in an instant. The garments were reduced to scraps, leaving only the collar and the bowtie around his neck.
The question of whether he actually needed to strip flashed through my mind, but a large number of fans were already trying to climb onto the stage. They had likely come to directly take down the enemy iTubers, who were the main objective. They showed no sign of hesitation. Especially the female fans—presumably those from Noah's team—had incredible spirit. Even knowing they were just ordinary people, it was a pressure that could make one shrink back.
Knowing it would be bad if there were any more misunderstandings, I had been trying to shake off Noah's hand for a while now, but he wouldn't let go at all. Instead, he had his arms wrapped around me as if clinging to me.
"A-Ah..."
In fact, Noah was awake. I thought that if he had woken up, he should hurry up and let go, but something seemed strange about him. Waking up to see a crowd of people brandishing guns and rushing toward him would certainly be unsettling, but with 'Ten' now available to him, he wouldn't be taken down by tranquilizer guns. Just as I was about to tell him he'd be okay...
"I don't want this... I don't want this, I don't want this, I don't want this, I don't want this!! Why do I have to go through this?! I've had enough... help me! Moommmmyyyyy!!"
Immediately after Noah screamed, a change appeared in my—Six's—body. A pair of wings sprouted from my back, and a ring emitting a faint green light appeared above my head. From a distance, I might have looked like an angel.
However, those wings were constructed from countless bundled thin tubes, and the halo above my head, where they connected, displayed an eerie graph like an ECG monitor.