บท 1777: -1757- The third death
Death.
For Shinon, it was not an unfamiliar concept.
It wasn't that Shinon had experienced death herself, but it had always lingered around her.
The first instance was her father.
Shinon had never seen her father's face.
When she was only two years old, her father passed away in a car accident.
That day, her father and mother had taken her on a trip to visit her mother's hometown for the New Year, driving through a remote area in a northeastern prefecture. As they traveled on an old single-lane mountain road, an oncoming truck failed to turn in time and collided directly with their car.
The truck driver was thrown through the windshield, dying instantly. Meanwhile, Shinon's small car, struck on the passenger side, broke through the guardrail and tumbled down the mountain slope, coming to a halt only after being stopped by two trees.
Although her father, who had been driving, suffered severe injuries and lost consciousness, he did not die immediately. Her mother, seated in the passenger seat, sustained only a simple fracture to her left thigh. Young Shinon, secured in a baby safety seat in the back, emerged almost entirely unscathed.
It was not an utterly hopeless situation.
Unfortunately, the road was rarely used, especially at night. The area was deserted, and even the car's telephone had been damaged in the crash. It wasn't until six hours later, when a vehicle happened to pass by the old road, that help arrived.
By then, it was already too late.
For six hours, Shinon's mother had to watch helplessly as her husband succumbed to internal bleeding, his body gradually growing cold until he died. The trauma left her mentally broken, reducing her mental state to that of a teenage girl—the age she had been when she met her husband.
This was the first time Shinon had encountered death up close in her life.
The second time came five years ago.
By then, Shinon and her mother had moved out of Tokyo to live in her mother's childhood home, leading a simple life in the countryside.
Though fifteen years had passed since the accident, Shinon's mother's fragile mental state persisted. Perhaps she saw Shinon as a sister rather than a daughter. Fortunately, she still loved Shinon deeply. Every night, she would read picture books and sing lullabies to her, forming Shinon's earliest memories of her mother as a delicate and vulnerable young girl.
This shaped Shinon's resolve from an early age: she had to be strong to protect her mother.
For Shinon, the outside world was full of threats that could disturb her mother's fragile peace. Her sole focus became protecting her mother.
This mindset ultimately shaped who Shinon was today.
Shinon would never forget that fateful day.
She and her mother had gone to the post office, only to be caught in a robbery.
The robber wielded a Black Star—a Chinese copy of the Tokarev TT-33 handgun adopted by the Soviet Army in 1932. Its 7.62mm steel-core bullets, propelled by a high gunpowder load, traveled faster than the speed of sound, giving it unmatched penetrating power. However, its excessive recoil had led to its replacement in the 1950s by the smaller 9mm Makarov pistol.
The criminal shot and killed a post office employee who tried to sound the alarm, then turned the gun on everyone else in a fit of rage.
Unfortunately, Shinon's mother, overcome with fear, screamed uncontrollably.
Hearing her mother's scream, Shinon instinctively lunged at the robber, biting his arm. In the ensuing struggle, she wrested the gun from him and, in a blank state of mind fueled by her desperate will to protect her mother, shot him multiple times as he charged at her.
Later reports attributed the robber's death to the gun misfiring, but the truth was clear: Shinon had killed him.
Although she had sustained some injuries—a couple of broken teeth, sprained wrists, a bruised back, and a dislocated shoulder—they healed quickly.
But there were deeper wounds that couldn't be healed.
From that day on, Shinon developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The mere sight of a gun—whether on TV, in a manga, or even mimicked by hand—would make her vomit or faint.
Whenever she saw a gun, she could vividly picture the man she had killed, his bloodied face staring at her with a smile, his eyes wide open and pierced by a bullet.
Though Shinon did not regret her actions, her body and mind betrayed her, reacting uncontrollably to any gun-related stimuli.
This dissonance made her question whether her claims of "no regrets" were merely empty words. Deep down, had she always regretted that moment?
Therapists could only offer her platitudes of "we understand," but no real solace.
And so, Shinon resolved to grow stronger. She sought the courage to say, "Given the circumstances, my actions were justified."
That was when she encountered Shinkawa Kyouji, who introduced her to GGO (Gun Gale Online).
Remarkably, in this virtual world, where her physical sensations were simulated, Shinon could handle firearms without triggering her PTSD. Instead, she developed an affinity for several types of guns.
She began to believe that if she could become the strongest player in this virtual world, the experiences might fortify her inner self in the real world.
"If I can defeat enemies stronger than that robber, wield guns more powerful than the Black Star, and grow accustomed to them, my experiences here will surely translate into strength in the real world," she thought.
With this conviction, Shinon obsessively pursued powerful foes and wielded formidable weapons like anti-materiel sniper rifles. She hoped to one day overcome her mental scars.
But now…
Thump, thump, thump.
Her heartbeat quickened uncontrollably, leaving her gasping for air, drenched in cold sweat, her body convulsing and her mind blank.
This sensation was identical to the panic she felt when facing guns in the real world.
However, this time, it wasn't triggered by guns. It was the looming presence of death itself.
Would she have to face it again?
In her first encounter, she had narrowly survived while her father died. In the second, she had killed someone to save her mother. Now, whose life would be taken?
Would it be her own?
Or the boy who had come to rescue her?
If she survived, would it be at the cost of his life?
"No! No!"
Terror gripped her heart, causing her to cry out.
"You…you have to go! Run away!"
But Rozen paid no heed. With only twelve points of durability left, he raised his dagger high, mustering all his strength, and slashed down.
Clink!
The chain was severed with a crisp sound.
Bang!
The shattered chain disintegrated into polygonal fragments and vanished.
Beep!
The timer now read 0:02.
Without hesitation, Rozen scooped Shinon into his arms.
Moments later…
Boom!
An explosion echoed through the warehouse district, flames roaring skyward, their intensity lingering.
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