Countdown 38

The bullet that was aimed at Charlotte’s forehead pierced her skull and shattered it.

...Or so I thought.

Charlotte had already made a move before I yelled at everyone to get down.

I’m not sure whether that had to do with pure instinct or her own skill.

The bullet sailed past her head the minute she threw herself on the ground.

“Ack!”

Futoshi let out a shriek, and the onigiri he was eating fell to the ground.

There was a perfectly round hole in the center of his forehead.

As a result of Charlotte dodging, Futoshi — who had been standing behind her — was hit squarely in the head by Yayoi’s bullet.

There was a small explosion, and Futoshi’s head blew up like the lizardmen’s.

“E...eeeyyaaaaa!”

Chika, who had been standing next to him, screamed in terror.

Futoshi fell backward, spattering blood from his now headless torso.

I couldn’t believe that the first person to die among us had been killed by one of our classmates and not a monster.

The reason the other units had left us behind was so that they could shoot Charlotte from a distance.

They wanted to get rid of Charlotte, who was a risk to all of us, along with our group.

This was probably due to Tsukasa’s command rather than Yayoi’s sole discretion.

“They’re still coming! Quick, everyone! Over here!”

I snapped back to reality at Shizuka’s frantic shouts.

More bullets aimed at Charlotte were flying towards us.

However, they lost their momentum halfway, until they slowed down to the point where we could follow their movements.

Saburo had activated his skill.

The other three group members had already hidden behind some rocks.

I quickly grabbed Charlotte’s hand and hurried to their side.

On the way, I got a glimpse of Futoshi’s lifeless and headless body lying on the ground. I tore my eyes away and threw myself behind the rocks.

“Wh-what’s going on?! Are they trying to kill us too?!”

Chika shouted in full-on panic mode.

“Well, we are a burden to the rest of the class. I guess they wanted to kill two birds with one stone by getting rid of this walking bomb and our useless unit.”

Chika turned pale at Saburo’s words and fell silent.

“I’m really impressed by that tiny one. It takes courage to turn your thoughts into action.”

Despite almost being assassinated, Charlotte showed no signs of being flustered.

“I would love to see him again. Let’s do our best to survive, everyone.”

A chill ran down my spine as Charlotte smiled at us.

“Ryo...”

Shizuka was shaking as she tugged on my sleeve.

“Do we want to survive that badly, even if it means killing our friends? This can’t be right, can it?”

“No. This is wrong.”

Just as I’d said that.

I heard my phone buzz with a notification.

Huh? That can’t be. We’re out of range here.

I checked my screen.

Student number two (male), Ryo Izumi.

Skill: None.

Below those words was a new message.

Countdown: 38 remaining.

Thirty-eight. That was exactly how many of us were left.