Flag Game Chapter 15

The fifteenth chapter of the Darwin's Game ~Flag Game~ novel.

## Summary

After using the Hide Cloak item on herself, Shuka readied herself in a position where she could quickly destroy Yayaren's flag. In the Flag Game, if a player destroyed an already existing flag, their clan was given flag placement priority for 10 minutes. Because this also applied to players destroying their own clan flag, Shuka had to destroy the flag before the Yayaren members could, which meant that she had to outrace sniper bullets with her chains. In order to accomplish that, she took up position on the roof of the six story building right above the flag, and planned on using a start dash and gravity to get her there faster.

As promised, Rein began counting down 10 seconds before the start of the Flag Game. At 3 seconds, Shuka jumped off, using gravity to increase the speed of her fall. Seeing that she wasn't fast enough, she used Queen of Thorn with half of her chain to propel herself down, then used it again to send the other half of her chain at the point the flag would spawn. The moment the flag spawned, Shuka's chain destroyed it, and around a second later Yayaren's bullets hit the ground where the flag used to be.

As Shuka launched herself back up, Rein quickly notified Ryuuji that the flag was destroyed, causing him to set up the Sunset Ravens clan flag. The members of the Sunset Ravens only had a moment to celebrate their progress before they heard Rein's surprised voice, and at the same time they heard the Darwin's Game app set off the emergency alert notifying them of invaders in their territory. On the map, the entire Shibuya area was dyed red with enemy icons.

At her workstation, Rein desperately tried to prevent herself from panicking as she looked at the map. Although the emergency alert would inform a clan of invaders entering their territory, it only displayed their starting positions, and only remained for 10 seconds; therefore, Rein had to figure out what their enemies were planning. The number of invaders kept on increasing, already passing 40, which puzzled her as Black Lotus only had 12 members and Yayaren around 8, and even if several small clans joined in it wouldn't equal that amount. Rein realized what had happened and contacted the others, informing them that Twin Head Shark had most likely betrayed them. Ryuuji couldn't believe it, however Kaname confirmed her suspicions, noting that THS had paid the penalty for violating their agreement.

Affected by the news, Kaname asked Rein for orders, his usually calm voice showing signs of panic. His panic caused her to become calm; since she was away from the front lines, she need to keep a bird's eye view of the entire area. The currently 48 invaders were forming groups of 3 to 5 members and entering the Shibuya area as if they were encircling it. Rein asked the Ravens members to do a map search and counted them down from 3. The information from the search was quickly sent to Rein's workstation, allowing her to analyze the data she received.

From the data, she realized that the clans were simply taking advantage of the opportunity using a common front rather than seriously working together. Rein ordered Kaname and Shuka to help Ryuuji and Sui, telling them that they'd get rid of Yayaren first. Shuka asked if Rein was going to abandon the other flags, suggesting that she could go protect them, prompting Rein to answer that they wouldn't be taken down quickly and to believe in Sui's defenses. Sui herself was worried, nevertheless Rein told her it was fine and to finish putting up the defenses around the newly deployed flag. Defending the flags using Sui's sigil was the secret plan that Rein had prepared for this Flag Game.

## Characters

* Karino Shuka
* Kashiwagi Rein
* Maesaka Ryuuji
* Sudou Kaname
* Sui