Flag Game Chapter 14

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

## Summary

Two hours later, at a cafe near the movie theater, Kaname and Shuka discussed the movie they just watched. Although both of them thought the movie wasn't that great, and the producers should've stopped the movie at the previous installment, Shuka liked the heroine because she could relate to her. She recalled how she fell in love with Kaname, first thinking his game avatar was kind of cute, then taking an interest in him after he'd defeated Banda-kun. She had called him out to a warehouse to talk, and while she didn't plan on fighting, they ended up fighting anyway, with Kaname winning said battle. She then thought about her sigil, thinking that Darwin's Game didn't give players their sigils, but rather it drew out the sigil, as she believed that people had the power to overcome challenges inside of them.

Shuka had thought of weapons that were compatible with Queen of Thorn and trained herself to use her sigil better. Because of this, if she and Kaname had fought in that warehouse 100 times, she knew that she'd win the other 99 times due to the difference in experience. However, she ended up losing, and though she braced herself for death, Kaname didn't take her life, opting for both of them to keep on living. She knew that she'd been careless and overconfident at the time, but the main difference between her and him had been why they were fighting; she fought to kill her opponent while he fought to stay alive, and he had shown her the path that allowed both of them to live. Although she could beat Kaname 99 out of 100 times, she knew she would always lose the first battle, which she thought was most likely fate. At that point, Kaname asked her what she wanted to do, suggesting karaoke, though she told him that she wanted to take a walk with him instead. As she got up, she decided that she'd stop fighting to kill people with the next Flag Game, and from now on she'd fight to stay alive with Kaname instead.

The plan that Rein had prepared for the Flag Game was simple; Kaname and Shuka would destroy the flag and switch to defense right after, Ryuuji and Sui would set up the Sunset Ravens flag in the fortified building immediately after the existing flag is destroyed, and Rein would provide support from and defend their main base. The Ravens didn't have that many people, nevertheless the fact that Xuelan was a part of their clan helped served as a deterrent. Fortunately, they had completed their non aggression pact with Twin Head Shark, and they were already allies with the Danjou Boxing Club, so the only clans they needed to worry about were Black Lotus and Yayaren. Although there were other clans around the Shibuya area that the Ravens were negotiating with, they theorized that only Black Lotus and Yayaren had the leeway to try to participate in the next Flag Game, and there was no way they could avoid hostilities with Yayaren due to them currently owning the southeastern Shibuya area.

Around five and a half minutes before the Flag Game, Rein contacted all of the members, checking on them to see if they were ready. All of them were ready except for Shuka who was busy finding a new starting point because the roof she was supposed to be at had a couple there. At her workstation, Rein linked her phone to her computer to display the information on her multiple monitors. As Rein closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself, Shuka reported that she'd found a new spot, prompting Rein to ask her if she could see the flag, to which Shuka answered that she could but that she didn't see any enemies, only ordinary people.

Rein wondered where the Yayaren members could be, contemplating if they were inside a building or planned to abandon their flag entirely, and even if they tried using the Hide Cloak item the Ravens knew what each member looked like so seeing their face would be enough. Coming to a decision, Rein had Shuka use the Hide Cloak item, telling her that Yayaren was most likely going to snipe and asking her if she could deal with them. Shuka reminded Rein who she was talking to and asked her to count down ten seconds before the start. Rein took another deep breath and checked the time, noting that there were two minutes and 29 seconds until the start of the Flag Game.

## Characters

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