Although the entire front section of the bus was a complete mess, with most of the seats sliced to pieces, the bus continued to drive smoothly.
It's worth noting that the bus windows, and the extensive tape covering them, seemed to be made of a material beyond ordinary comprehension. They hadn't suffered any damage at all, even after taking some of the sword light Fumiya Jin had just unleashed.
Fumiya Jin and Yuki Suou returned to their previous seats and sat down.
Yuki Suou looked at the black ticket Fumiya Jin had given her and murmured, "So this is the ticket to clear the instance?"
Fumiya Jin glanced at his and her countdown timers, then nodded.
Although the countdown timer had been misleading in the last instance, he'd thought about it carefully afterward and concluded it was likely due to that instance's 'conversion' mechanic.
But this instance, so far, hadn't shown any similar mechanics. The method of killing was direct. Those dragged off the bus were simply judged as dead. Therefore, the countdown timer should be reliable in this instance.
And now, both of them held only the black tickets, their original ones tossed on the floor at their feet, with no intention of switching for the time being. Since the countdown timers still showed their original time remaining under these conditions, it was clear that the black ticket was the one needed to clear the instance.
"Now we just have to hold out until we reach the final station," Fumiya Jin said, his brow twitching slightly.
It wasn't an eyelid twitching, it was simply from the pain.
He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and lifted his T-shirt... A large, dark red patch was visible on his chest... it had already swollen up, and the pain was intense. A similar pain was coming from his shoulder as well.
Super armor isn't damage immunity, after all. You still have to tank the damage you're supposed to take.
Fortunately, the attacks from those things weren't overwhelmingly powerful. Or... was it the additional command Yuki Suou gave that made them hold back a bit?
"Yeah, but it's probably not fatal," Fumiya Jin said, putting his shirt back down.
"It should heal up once we leave the instance..."
"Eh...? You got hit by those things just now?" Yuki Suou exclaimed.
This... For a moment, Yuki Suou didn't know what to do; she didn't have any healing abilities, after all.
Just as she was wondering if there was anything she could do to help, she suddenly noticed the movements of the other two players.
The young butler walked toward the wreckage at the front. He first helped the unconscious middle-aged woman up and placed her in one of the few remaining front seats—it's worth noting that because the middle-aged woman had been lying on the floor the whole time, she hadn't been shredded by Fumiya Jin's recent attack. She should still be alive, just not awake yet.
Then, the young butler searched around on the floor, picked up one yellow, one green, and one cyan plastic tag, put them in his pocket, and only then returned to the middle of the bus.
Passing by Fumiya Jin, he gave a slight bow and said one word: "Thanks."
He then turned and sat in the same row as Fumiya Jin and the others, but on the right side, by the window.
As for the expressionless girl... after remaining silent in the back for a while, she also came to the middle of the bus.
She also sat on the right side of this row, in the aisle seat, which was next to Hasaka.
Then... a drawing board and a brush suddenly appeared in her hands.
While looking to her left, gazing at the black plastic tag in Yuki Suou's hand from a distance, she picked up her brush and began to draw...
She didn't even need any paint. It was clearly a brush for physical painting, yet it was as if she were drawing on a digital tablet.
And... she was actually managing to draw an image. Soon, the rough outline of a black plastic tag appeared on the canvas...
Yuki Suou and the young butler were stunned when they saw this.
Even Fumiya Jin couldn't help but be slightly astonished when he turned his head and saw it.
If it were just a simple drawing, even with a somewhat magical brush, no one would find it particularly strange in this Samsara Game.
The problem was, for the expressionless girl to pull out such an item at this moment and start drawing the very ticket needed to clear the instance—was she really doing it just for the sake of drawing?
"You can't possibly turn your drawings into real things, can you?" Fumiya Jin said, looking at the numbers above her head, which were just as long as his and Yuki Suou's.
The expressionless girl didn't answer.
"But why are you looking at ours to draw?" Yuki Suou was a little confused. "All the tickets have the same design, just different colors... Can't you just look at your own and change the color?"
The expressionless girl still didn't answer.
She just kept drawing intently... drawing... drawing...
"Hiss—" Her brow suddenly furrowed slightly.
Then...
Rustle... She tore the paper from her drawing board, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it on the floor like trash.
"No good... too far away," she muttered to herself, shaking her head. She looked toward Fumiya Jin and the other girl, then slowly stood up.
But just then... Screech... The bus suddenly began to slow down. It was clearly about to reach a new stop.
And this time, it braked especially hard.
The expressionless girl, who hadn't steadied herself yet, slammed into the seatback in front of her and fell back into her own seat.
Screeeech... The bus came to a complete stop.
Pshhh— The sound of air brakes was heard as the doors opened.
Everyone watched their own bodies warily, afraid they would start moving uncontrollably at any second.
But several seconds passed, and this didn't happen to any of the four of them.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump... Heavy footsteps came from the front.
Everyone immediately looked forward... More floating clothes were boarding the bus, and again, there was more than one.
Fumiya Jin couldn't afford another fight right now.
Although these unidentified creatures seemed to be bound by the rules and wouldn't dare to attack first, Fumiya Jin had no desire to have them get in his face again.
What if they surrounded him and, after staring for too long, couldn't resist throwing a punch?
So he immediately took the most prudent, tried-and-true course of action.
Yuki Suou was sitting up straight to observe the situation when a head suddenly dove into her chest again... right in the same embarrassing spot...
"You..."
Yuki Suou had a strong feeling this guy was doing it on purpose. There had to be other ways to hide his face. How could this guy always use this method so shamelessly?
Yuki Suou puffed up her cheeks slightly, feeling like she was getting the short end of the stick.
But then she glanced down and saw a faint red liquid seeping through the fabric on his shoulder...
Thinking back, he had indeed taken a huge risk to get the clearance tickets for both of them.
With that in mind, Yuki Suou no longer felt like she was being taken advantage of.
Besides... The cool image of Fumiya Jin's back as he delivered that slash reappeared in her mind...
Yuki Suou suddenly felt a tickle in her heart.
Hmph, it must be because this guy is breathing in again. What an annoying guy.
Yuki Suou pouted, but she raised her hands and held Fumiya Jin's head, cradling it against her chest.
Then she lifted her head and began to carefully observe the movements of the unidentified creatures now boarding the bus...
______
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