The four athletes landed on the water, each in their own way.
Ichika, with practiced ease, stood tall on the surface just as she had in training, her balance perfect. She was the first to grab her signature bullpup rifle, wings tucked in tight as she prepared to fire.
I wonder if Mika-senpai is watching.
Winning the gold medal was, of course, a matter of Trinity pride. It wasn't that she had any particular grudge against Gehenna, but seeing her own school lose just didn't sit right.
And as a member of the Justice Task Force, she had a duty to see Tsurugi happy. She would do anything for the often-misunderstood president of the JTF.
But the real reason she had to win gold here was because Misono Mika wanted her to.
Even Tsurugi, who considered Mika a friend, had been so determined to give her the gold medal that she'd taken the only role she could: the driver.
The sea breeze whipped across Ichika's face, and she narrowed her eyes—maybe 0.1mm more than usual—as she recalled the day that shining, radiant upperclassman had practically gotten on her knees, begging her to win the gold, saying she'd die otherwise.
That had been the ridiculous start of it all, but the more Ichika got to know Mika, the more she wanted to win for her. Mika wasn't a difficult person to understand.
Ichika would never forget how surprised she'd been when she'd jokingly asked Mika to dry her wings, only for Mika to start doing it without the slightest hesitation. If she'd done it carelessly, it would have been one thing, but she had dried them with the same meticulous care she gave her own wings, without a single sign of annoyance. It was clear she was a fundamentally good person. And she was always tossing out playful remarks, which made it easy to get a grasp of her personality.
For Ichika, who was good at just about everything, water skiing wasn't particularly difficult. But even for an all-around genius like her, Tsurugi's rampages were a challenge.
For now, however, Tsurugi was still in her rational state. Ichika calmly placed her right foot on the back of her ski and scanned her opponents, searching for her first prey.
A firing line? There was no such thing in water skiing. Hesitate, and you'll be left behind.
The nun from the Sisterhood, Sakurako. She'd heard she was a high-ranking member, but as a relative newcomer to the JTF herself, Ichika didn't know her well. In any case, a quick glance showed Sakurako balancing effortlessly, eyes closed as if she were simply enjoying the ride. As a fellow Trinity student, she was off-limits unless it came down to the final stretch.
Next to her was the demon with sunglasses, the president of Pandemonium Society, Hanuma Makoto. Her hair billowed behind her like a cape as she started out with a one-handed, unstable grip on the tow rope. Whatever she was thinking, she still hadn't found her balance.
Bang!
The perfect target to eliminate first, Ichika thought, just as she was about to pull the trigger. She quickly leaned her body to the side.
A bullet zipped past her. It was from Iori, the new face of the Prefect Team, the JTF's main rival.
"…Hah."
Iori had finished her preparations at about the same time, perhaps even a little earlier, and had immediately opened fire to stop Ichika from targeting Makoto.
Feeling a strange sense of frustration, Ichika returned fire while dodging Iori's shots.
A firefight erupted between the two racers on the outer lanes, leaving the two in the middle to their own devices.
Sakurako and Makoto were in a world of their own.
[Ah, Hanuma Makoto has failed to find her balance and has fallen into the water!. That's what she gets for trying to show off with a one-handed start. Serves her right.]
Unsatisfied with that, Makoto decided to play in a
completely different world.
[She's fine. It's still early in the race, and she hasn't let go of the rope… Hanuma Makoto is now being dragged for over 100 meters with only her hand visible above the water.]
[Meanwhile, Utazumi Sakurako still shows no intention of opening fire. Spoken like a true peace-loving Sister. In fact, throughout the preliminaries, she has consistently taken first place not through marksmanship, but through pure evasive skill.]
The Trinity commentator, a third-year student scheduled to graduate next semester, picked up where Gehenna's commentator, Iroha, left off.
[Shiromi Iori is the first to reload. As we mentioned in the previous race, she has uniquely modified her tow rope to include a rack for her rifle. A necessary modification for stable reloading when using a bolt-action rifle…]
To disrupt her opponent's reload, Ichika fired off the rest of her magazine. She then used a fresh magazine on her tactical belt to press the mag release without taking her hand off the grip.
Plunk. She watched the empty magazine sink into the sea.
Such a waste, she thought, before slapping the new one in.
She knew a flashier reload technique, but for a water-based competition, she had practiced a more practical method. By the time Ichika had finished reloading, Iori was still inserting rounds one by one.
[Nakatsukasa Ichika's reload is not only incredibly stable, but fast as well!. She finished in the blink of an eye, and her follow-up shots are delaying Shiromi Iori's counterattack.]
[Ah, Hanuma Makoto finally resurfaces!. Her sunglasses are nowhere to be seen. Hah… what a shame for those expensive sunglasses.]
Most water skiers learn to start at a moderate speed in the water and then rise to the surface, but doing so while being towed by a high-speed boat is incredibly difficult.
If not for the unique physical prowess and durability of a Kivotos student, Makoto would have lost her grip on the rope long ago.
"Ki, kikit—
cough. Kehek."
Makoto, who had tried to laugh nonchalantly, spat out a mouthful of water and glared around with fierce eyes.
"Tch, the Prefect Team is useless, as always. You still haven't managed to eliminate a single team?!"
The words, carried clearly across the wind, reached Iori's ears and made the Prefect Team member's blood boil. Her timing was especially bad, as Iori had just finished reloading and was about to start her counterattack.
"Shut your mouth, you damn tanuki!"
Bang!
"Wh-What was that for?! Are you trying to pick a fight with me?!"
Startled by the bullet that whizzed past her head, Makoto raised her own rifle and glared at Iori.
Having seen the Gehenna teams fight amongst themselves more than once on her way to the finals, Ichika sighed, bored. She began planning how to use the upcoming corner to eliminate one of them.
[A noteworthy point is that three of the four finalists are using bullpup-style rifles. However, while both Trinity athletes are using assault rifles, the Gehenna athletes are using a bolt-action rifle and a semi-automatic sniper rifle, respectively. The moment Utazumi Sakurako fully enters the fray, the Gehenna side will be at a disadvantage.]
[…Even without her, the Gehenna athletes seem to be racing toward self-destruction anyway.]
Hah, Makoto-senpai… You got too cocky just because we have a lead in the overall score. You know that if we give up a medal here, our point advantage will shrink significantly, so why… It's not like I lose anything if we lose, but I'd still like Gehenna to win.
Seeing the two of them waste ammo on each other, Kasumi, who was driving ahead, burst into laughter.
"Hahahat, wonderful! It's not as good as demolition work, but this is quite entertaining to watch! In that spirit… shall we make things a little more exciting?"
With those words, Kasumi pressed a button. Something slid rapidly down the tow rope toward Iori.
"…"
Iori's face went pale. She holstered her rifle on the rope's rack and quickly grabbed the object that had just arrived.
In her haste, she threw it with no regard for accuracy. The object, a grenade illegally modified by Kasumi, exploded right between Makoto and Sakurako.
The shockwave sent Sakurako staggering, but she managed to regain her balance. Makoto, however, was not so lucky and experienced her second plunge of the race. Even then, like a cockroach, she stubbornly clung to the tow rope.
[Uh… should this be considered a rule violation?]
[No. Since the driver didn't throw it directly at an opponent, it doesn't violate the rule against direct attacks from the driver.]
[…I see. With that, Hanuma Makoto is once again having some alone time under the sea. Will she be able to endure and return to the race this time?!]
As the race entered a corner, Ichika leaned her body and moved toward Sakurako. As if understanding her intent, Sakurako moved in the same direction.
Seeing their movement, Iori also pulled on her tow rope to follow suit, but another one of Kasumi's grenades arrived right in front of her.
"You… you?! Just you wait until after this race!"
"Hahat, is that a dog barking somewhere~? I can't hear you over the wind!"
Gritting her teeth, Iori threw the grenade again, but this time it missed wildly, exploding far behind them.
"Oh, Iori-chan. That was truly pathetic. How about you try a little harder next time and throw it properly?"
Iori, debating whether to just put a bullet in the back of her taunting teammate's head, quickly weaved her body back and forth to dodge Ichika's renewed assault.
Ugh, every single one of them. I hate this, I really do.
Makoto, who was as useless as ever, was still being dragged through the water like a caught fish—not that she ever had any expectations for her. She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, enduring the ridiculous situation where her supposed teammate was actively trying to get under her skin.
Alone on a battlefield with seemingly no allies, the Gehenna-phobia in one Prefect Team member's heart swelled to twice its previous size.
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