Wavered
"Why did a new experiment begin? Neither team has been wiped out yet."
"It's been five hours already."
Hiroyuki answered simply to my question.
"I see."
"Senpai, look at this."
Tsutomu showed me the screen of his phone.
"It seems like a postscript of the experiment content just mentioned."
"What does it mean that the results of the previous experiment will be carried over?"
"That means it would be important to know who got killed in the last experiment."
"I'm sorry, I cannot understand exactly."
Hiroyuki looked confused, so I gave him an example.
"For example, assume I had been killed during the last experiment. If the opponent team declared to kill my clone without knowing that I was already dead when this experiment began, that would constitute naming someone who is not alive, which is a violation of the order."
"It seems complicated."
Tsutomu also seems troubled by the complexity of this experiment.
"'Well, maybe Anzai wants to quickly annihilate the humans, so he's trying to make them violate his orders by devising such a complicated experiment."
Tsutomu and Hiroyuki looked at me at the same time.
"Anyway, we need to gather together with our clones. Let's find them."
"Creak."
As we were leaving the gym, the back door to the gym behind us opened.
"You guys are…"
They were our clones.
"Give us an order."
I was struck once again by the mechanical nature of how it spoke to me without emotion even in the situation like this. But there was something else that bothered me even more.
"Are you able to talk?"
"Yes."
Do the clones know where we are? AI is evolving with each game. Did someone tell them where we were?
"Who shall we pick?"
"There are only three of us, no including Mr. Nabeshima four of us now. In contrast, all eight members of Kazuhiro's team are still alive. The odds are against us."
"But over here, there are clones of me, senpai, Mr. Nabeshima, Okisada, and Shōta. The only ones not here are Minami, Ms. Misaki and Hiroyuki."
"The clone now has more physical ability and knowledge than the person himself. Besides, I believe three clones of the other team were killed according to the broadcast. In other words, our team has three humans left, but there are five clones. The opponent team has eight people and five clones. We're not even, but our chances of winning are not zero yet."
"I think those three clones are Ichirō’s that Okisada killed, and one of the three gangs I killed, I believe it was Konoe. And you said you killed earlier…"
"Yes. That was Kurumi."
Tsutomu answered without any hesitation.
"I think the amount of information is going to be important here."
Hiroyuki took out a piece of paper he had in his pocket and wrote something on it.
"For now, the only way to win this game is to let the clones nominate a person other than Ichirō, Konoe, or Kurumi."
"I wonder if the other team knows how many of our clones or humans have survived."
"The status report announced the number of deaths for each team, but we weren't told exactly who it was. However, since those three gangs saw us, they know there are four survivors."
Tsutomu’s answer made perfect sense.
"But will those three share the information with the other teammates?"
Hiroyuki turned to me for an answer.
"Now that you guys can talk, are you able to share information?"
I turned my gaze toward the clones standing before me.
"No, with all sincerity, we are limited in what we can say. We are basically only permitted to listen to what you have nominated and and agree to kill that person."
My clone spoke quietly.
The tone of his voice changed from earlier.
"There is no clone of Hiroyuki here now. If the person on the other side has already made their nomination and killed the clone, then Hiroyuki's life is in danger."
Tsutomu's mind seemed incredibly sharp right now.
"That makes sense."
Hiroyuki replied in a frightened voice.
"Moreover, if the human Mr. Nabeshima has already been killed, we will lose if his clone get killed."
I honestly got impressed with the fact that Tsutomu analyzed our situation with utmost rationality.
"How did you guys know we are here?"
I asked to the clones standing still in front of us.
"Along with the broadcast that just came in, it went directly to our brains. That you are all here."
"Could it be that Suguru Anzai is watching us somewhere? Perhaps surveillance cameras?"
Tsutomu looked at me.
"If so, that would mean that Anzai must be connected to this school. Surveillance cameras can't be installed everywhere yesterday or today. The only way to do this is to go in and out of the school on a daily basis and gradually increase its numbers. And he is alive. That means he is among us eleven."
"Oh, maybe it’s him."
Hiroyuki looked at Tsutomu, who was next to him, and appealed to him with his eyes.
"Oh, you mean him!"
It seems the two of them have come to an agreement.
"What? Who is it?"
"Hiroto Momii. He's a computer genius, and just the other day we found that he was trying to hack into the teacher's computer and stopped him."
"Hiroto…"
"What shall we do?"
The conversation was interrupted when my clone called out to me.
"Oh, yes. But if we nominate, you won't stop anymore, will you?"
"Yes."
"There's no time to worry about it, senpai. We've already come this far. We must survive for all those who have died."
"But…"
"Let’s survive, senpai."
Hiroyuki and Tsutomu put pressure on me.
"Umm…okay, then."
"Oops, there you are. We've been looking for you."
Once again, the conversation was interrupted by someone.
"What the heck, quite a few of the robots still alive, huh."
"I just contacted Kazuhiro and the others. Soon everyone will be here. They are trapped like a rat. Let’s go Ryūichi."
"Now you guys are all dead!"
The three of the gangs were standing in the three doorways of the gymnasium.
