Flag Game Chapter 3

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

## Summary

Rein first became acquainted with Shuka soon after she started being an information broker. Shuka had asked for information on some strong players, and after she'd killed them, she asked Rein to look for an elderly man that could change his fingers into blades. Rein thought it was a strange request, but was interested by the fact that the sigil could change body parts into an object, as metamorphic sigils usually changed the user into a beast. She debated on rejecting the request since it was out of her area of expertise, though she decided to accept as it wouldn't be bad having a connection to an A rank player, and because she thought it'd be easy to find a man like that. However, she couldn't find anything no matter how much she searched, and coupled with the fact that Shuka didn't retract her request, Rein eventually forgot about it until she was given the information from Kotori.

According to Kotori, a strange elderly player had recently joined the clan Black Lotus. The clan Black Lotus was a new and powerful clan, just like the Sunset Ravens, and were seen as their biggest rival in taking control over the Shibuya area. Instead of Shuka, Rein had Sudou Kaname protect her on their reconnaissance mission to the Black Lotus base in the Meguro area. Kaname complained about having to come, nevertheless Rein pointed out that Shuka was too popular, which could blow their cover. She explained that they were disguised as a brother and sister running errands on their way home from school and handed him a pair of glasses as a disguise, while she herself wore bright colored glasses and a hairpin.

Kaname asked her why Shuka was looking for this elderly man, and as Rein didn't know either, she told him to ask Shuka himself since she'd most likely explain if it was him asking. Eventually, they reached the Black Lotus base, which was a small six story building with a cafe on the first floor. The two entered the cafe and were greeted by a waitress, who Rein checked with Laplace, coming to the conclusion that she wasn't a thread, but couldn't tell if she was an ordinary girl or a member of Black Lotus. Once they sat down, they scanned the area for enemies while pretending to look at the menu, and ordered iced coffee when the waitress came over.

Soon after, a group of four young people entered, three men and one woman, and the two immediately realized that they were members of Black Lotus. After the waitress brought their order, Rein used Laplace to analyze them. She learned from their conversation that they'd come back from a clan battle, that their clan had more than 9 members, and that their new member was named Fuli. Although they were using jargon, because they were back at their base, they weren't being cautious about people hearing their conversation and kept on talking. Sometime later, Rein realized that Kaname was tapping her shoulder and telling her the pass phrase they agreed on to tell each other that the Hide Cloak item was nearing the time limit. The Hide Cloak item allowed players to completely conceal their player icons and block battles. Rein noticed that Kaname seemed to be in a hurry, and when she checked her phone outside of the store, she noticed that they still had 10 minutes until their agreed retreat time and 20 minutes until the end of the Hide Cloak effect, causing her to give him as slightly critical look.

As they walked away, Kaname mentioned the man who'd been sitting at the counter, an athletic looking man that she'd also noticed, though she told her to forget about it and check if anyone was following them. Pretending to look at the shop window next to her, Rein looked back to see a man standing in front of the cafe that sent a chill down her spine. The man was strangely uncharacteristic and she felt like her impression of him would melt away if she took her eyes off of him for a second. By the time that Rein tried to warn Kaname, the man turned away from them and disappeared into the cafe, causing her to tell him to tell him that it was nothing. Rein didn't notice a man like that in the cafe, though she knew they hadn't checked everywhere, and that they needed to take the information they gained back to their base and analyze it.

## Characters

* Kashiwagi Rein
* Sudou Kaname
* Fuli

## Trivia

* Shuka's reason for looking for the elderly player is first revealed in chapter 79.