That wasn't protection money. It was hush money.
"All the wraith students paid up. One wraith girl tried to fight back, and they even played with her until she cried."
Shut up. There wasn't even any physical contact. When did I ever play with a wraith?
"The three big shots must be super-experienced players!"
Sorry to disappoint you, but the pink-haired idiot with the bow, playing with a pencil behind you, was a brand-new player on her first game.
Amamiya Natsuki lowered his head to look at the exam paper on his desk.
It was covered in great swaths of bloodstains, nearly obscuring the entire sheet. But as Amamiya Natsuki stared at it, the stains quickly faded and shrank, revealing the questions.
[Blood-stained test paper, wrapped in thick resentment. Reusable, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly.]
"Hey, the first question's super easy!"
Fujiwara Chika's soft exclamation sounded beside him.
Amamiya Natsuki looked at the first question. Sure enough, it was super easy.
"What's one plus two?"
The wraith students all looked like high schoolers, and there were several adult players too. So why was the exam asking what one plus two equaled?
Who did they think they were looking down on?
Amamiya Natsuki picked up the Blood-stained fountain pen and marked his answer.
Correct.
He looked down at the second question.
"Rabbits and chickens are kept together in a cage. There are thirty-five heads and ninety-four legs in total. How many chickens and rabbits are there?"
It was a Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage problem, the kind elementary school students got. Super easy.
No way.
Could anyone really get that wrong?
Amamiya Natsuki marked the correct answer and moved on to the third question.
"What is the hundredth digit after the decimal point of pi?"
Damn it!
"Poke, poke, poke—"
Amamiya Natsuki suddenly felt someone gently poking his thigh.
He turned and saw Fujiwara Chika discreetly writing a nine on the desk with her right hand.
Amamiya Natsuki was shocked.
She could remember the hundredth digit of pi? Was she a Genius Girl or something?
"It's Kaguya-chan." Fujiwara Chika cupped a hand beside her mouth. "I peeked at Kaguya-chan's paper just now."
So that was it.
For a beautiful girl with peerless talent in every field, remembering the hundredth digit of pi wasn't strange at all.
Young Lady Kaguya, forever a god!
Amamiya Natsuki looked at the fourth question as it appeared on the exam paper, his expression blank as he snuffed out any thoughts of clinging to her for help.
"Please identify the color of the proctor's panties."
A: Red
B: Black
C: Blue and white
D: Commando
He could rule out the commando option first. If she wasn't wearing any, they obviously wouldn't have a color. But the remaining three options... There was no way to tell.
To find out the answer, he could only ask the Proctoring Teacher. No matter how clever Kaguya-classmate was, she couldn't possibly know the color of the teacher's panties.
Amamiya Natsuki silently stared at the question. A moment later, a line of text appeared before his eyes.
[You choose to lift the Proctoring Teacher's skirt and take a closer look... You died.]
Great.
That was about as useful as hearing someone say nothing.
The others reached the same question and began fidgeting restlessly.
To answer it, they either had to guess or find a way to get a look at the Proctoring Teacher.
One player quickly put his plan into action.
He took a small round mirror out of his pocket, bent down to hide it against the top of his foot, then waited for the Proctoring Teacher to walk by. As she passed, he discreetly stuck out his right foot, ready to take a look.
And then...
"Cheaters deserve to die."
The Proctoring Teacher suddenly turned around, her voice cold and hoarse, and brought the Blood-stained Triangle ruler in her hand crashing down.
Blood spattered.
All the players fell silent, quickly abandoning any thoughts of peeking under her skirt.
Amamiya Natsuki silently moved on to the next question. Since he couldn't answer this one, he had no choice but to skip it for now.
"What punishment awaits anyone who tries to escape the school and gets caught by a security guard?"
A: Hanging
B: Impaling
C: Riding a wooden donkey
D: Sheep punishment
Amamiya Natsuki's expression remained blank.
Aside from hanging, he'd never even heard of the other three punishments.
He tried to move on, but couldn't.
He had to choose an answer before he could see the next question.
Amamiya Natsuki sighed and reluctantly looked at the Proctoring Teacher.
Compared to some security guard who could be anywhere, the Proctoring Teacher seemed like the more promising route to passing.
As he stared, a new line of text suddenly appeared before him.
[After persistently peeking, you have successfully discovered the Proctoring Teacher's weakness.] [There is no problem in this world that money can't solve.]
"Hm?"
Amamiya Natsuki's eyes lit up slightly as he quickly thought of a plan.
A moment later.
The Proctoring Teacher, reeking of blood, passed by Amamiya Natsuki.
Clink.
A coin used in Vengeful Spirit Academy dropped onto the desk.
The Proctoring Teacher came to an abrupt stop.
"Teacher, you dropped your money," Amamiya Natsuki reminded her.
"..."
The Proctoring Teacher fell silent for a moment, then picked up the coin and quietly pressed down on one of the options on his exam paper.
D: Commando.
Amamiya Natsuki filled in his answer.
The exam paper soon graded itself: Correct.
Death Exam, Heretical Truancy!
A trap!
It was all a trap!
She clearly wasn't wearing anything, yet the question asked what color her panties were. It was obviously a scheme to get people killed.
Amamiya Natsuki looked sternly at the wraith Proctoring Teacher in front of him. His gaze fell on the shapely rear outlined by her pencil skirt as he harshly criticized her in his mind.
What was worse, she was a female teacher who went commando at school. Wasn't that a bit much?
Had she not considered the Social Death of getting caught?
Wait.
She was already a dead wraith. She probably wasn't afraid of social embarrassment anymore.
Then that was fine.
"Poke, poke—"
Fujiwara Chika widened her eyes and looked over at him, writing on the desk with her finger: "Amamiya-classmate, don't keep staring at the female teacher's body. It's very rude."
Why bother being polite to a wraith? If the players in this exam hall weren't so thoroughly outmatched, those unlucky bastards would've already joined forces and pulled the Proctoring Teacher's skirt off!
"Don't accuse me unjustly," Amamiya Natsuki said expressionlessly. "I'm just working out the answer."
"Eh..." Fujiwara Chika blinked, then covered her chest with both arms. "Amamiya-classmate, do you have some kind of superpower that lets you see through people's clothes?"
You can stop covering up. If I really could see through people's clothes, I'd already have seen every mole on your body!
"Kaguya-chan, cover yourself up!"
Shinomiya Kaguya really didn't need to.
It was as plain as day: flat as a board, with nothing worth covering up.
Amamiya Natsuki secretly told Fujiwara Chika the right answer to the question, then looked at the Blood-stained test paper as a new question quietly appeared.
[How did Aoki Hayato, who is taking the exam with you, die?]
Great.
Another question from the depths of hell.
Forget that Shinomiya Kaguya was merely the top student in the school. Even if she were the top student in the country, she still wouldn't be able to answer it.
Amamiya Natsuki was starting to understand the Game Rules of the Death Examination Hall.
Sitting quietly and taking the exam meant certain death.
They had to stir things up.
Everyone had to use their own skills to find a chance to peek under the Proctoring Teacher's skirt, or figure out which wraith in the exam hall was Aoki Hayato, secretly observe him, and work out how he died. In short, they had to cheat by any means necessary.
Getting caught cheating meant a death sentence.
But Amamiya Natsuki had discovered a special Heretical Truancy technique.
It was perfectly normal for a Proctoring Teacher to know how her students had died, wasn't it?
A moment later.
After completing a lap around the room, the Proctoring Teacher returned to Amamiya Natsuki's side.
Before you continue