Kaguya-sama Wants Me to Surrender

"If you want to know, you can come to my room to play," Amamiya Natsuki said casually.

"I'll pass," Yurikawa Hana said, covering her chest with both hands. "Mom said I shouldn't casually go to strange boys' rooms to play. It might be dangerous."

Amamiya Natsuki sighed in disappointment, his tone melancholic.

"So, in Yurikawa-san's eyes, I'm just a dangerous stranger."

"I didn't say you were a stranger, Amamiya-kun is already a friend," Yurikawa Hana quickly waved her hands. "...I'll come to your room to play later!"

"I refuse."

Amamiya Natsuki picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"Eh?"

"There's something indecent in my room, it's indeed very dangerous. Yurikawa-san shouldn't come."

"..."

Chapter 25: Fujiwara Chika: Call me an Outlaw

"A family has two children. Given that one of them is a girl, what is the probability that the other child is also a daughter?"

Yurikawa Hana lay on the table, like a dried salted fish, weakly blowing bubbles.

"It should be one half, why is the answer written as one third?"

"I don't understand."

Free skirt 950180909

"I completely don't understand."

"Miko, why do you think it's one third?"

"I don't know," Yotsuya Miko shook her head. "I think it's one half... maybe the answer is wrong?"

Very good.

I'll admire your spirit of sticking to your guns.

What do you do when you get a question wrong?

The answer must be wrong!

"This is a basic permutation and combination problem," Amamiya Natsuki said, looking at the workbook, speechless. "The answer is indeed one third."

"Eh? Amamiya-kun knows how to solve it?"

Yurikawa Hana's spirits lifted. She quickly sat up straight and leaned closer to Amamiya Natsuki.

"Before a child is born, the probability of having a boy or a girl is the same, which is indeed one half," Amamiya Natsuki spun his pencil between his fingers. "The question is very clear, the children have already been born. This is asking about the permutation and combination between the two children, and the order doesn't need to be considered."

"Stare—"

Yurikawa Hana's eyes widened.

The girl's eyes were very large, her irises a clear sapphire blue, as blue as the sky after rain.

"...Why are you looking at me?"

Amamiya Natsuki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um..." Yurikawa Hana stammered, extending two fingers and lightly tapping her chest, her face slightly flushed. "Could Amamiya-kun say that again? I didn't understand just now."

Amamiya Natsuki silently looked at Miko.

Yotsuya Miko said nonchalantly, "I understood."

Amamiya Natsuki said:

"Then you explain it to Yurikawa-san."

"I'm sorry," Yotsuya Miko apologized decisively. "I didn't actually understand."

If you don't understand, just say so. Your attitude towards learning is always to seek superficial understanding, half-knowledge, and pseudo-understanding. No wonder your exam scores are always only in the middle of the class.

Amamiya Natsuki sighed and could only re-explain the problem.

Yurikawa Hana finally understood this time. She then shuffled her butt closer to Amamiya Natsuki and clasped her hands together.

"Amamiya-kun, please teach me math!"

"Hmm?"

"My math grades have always been bad since I was little. I often fail, and I always disappoint my mom," Yurikawa Hana said pitifully. "Amamiya-kun is good at math, so please guide my studies. I will offer a delicious sacrifice, please accept."

A delicious sacrifice?

Amamiya Natsuki's gaze involuntarily shifted downward.

It's just studying, and you're willing to offer your body as a sacrifice?

"Stare—"

Yotsuya Miko: "Wipe your drool, perverted Natsuki."

"I understand," Amamiya Natsuki quickly withdrew his gaze and said seriously, "I don't mind if you have time."

"Thank you so much!"

"..."

In the blink of an eye, it was five o'clock in the afternoon.

Amamiya Natsuki sighed deeply.

There's a saying that big breasts mean no brains, and Amamiya Natsuki realized today just how credible it was.

Take Shinomiya Kaguya, for example. A renowned genius girl at school, top of her class, with sky-high intelligence. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of her chest, which was flat and unremarkable, on par with a grade-schooler.

Fujiwara Chika was well-developed, but didn't seem very bright.

Yurikawa Hana, standing before him, was the same.

"It's getting dark," Yurikawa Hana said, stretching her arms over her head. The perfect curves of her chest were on full display, though she seemed completely oblivious. "Miko, Amamiya-kun, I'm heading home."

Amamiya Natsuki stood up. "I'm going too."

"I'll walk you both."

Yotsuya Miko followed them downstairs. On the way, they ran into Miko's younger brother.

Miko's mother was still at work and hadn't come home yet.

After greeting Miko's brother, Amamiya Natsuki, with his dog in tow, walked out of Miko's house.

"See you tomorrow."

Yurikawa Hana waved goodbye, grabbed the straps of her school bag, and walked briskly towards the train station.

The setting sun was fiery red.

It cast a glow that dyed the entire street, lengthening the girl's silhouette in the sunset, making her look quite beautiful.

It would have been even better if there weren't any wandering vengeful spirits.

"..."

The air quickly grew quiet.

After a brief silence.

Yotsuya Miko pursed her lips, looked up at Amamiya Natsuki, and whispered:

"Natsuki, when did you start seeing those... things?"

"Last night, when I took the dog out for a walk."

Amamiya Natsuki didn't hide anything, recounting the strange events he'd encountered.

The game hadn't warned him about keeping it a secret or not telling others. Besides, the Vengeful Spirit Academy alone had dozens of players involved. He had no idea how many players there were in the real world, so telling Miko was perfectly fine.

"An escape game?" Shinomiya Kaguya was very surprised. She raised her hand to cover her eyes, her tone filled with distress. "I haven't encountered the game you're talking about. It's just that a week ago, my eyes suddenly gained the ability to see those terrifying things, and I almost went mad."

Along with seeing vengeful spirits, she could also hear their voices, yet she had to pretend nothing was wrong, couldn't run, couldn't scream, couldn't do anything that might expose her... Yotsuya Miko felt like every day was an ordeal.

But now, things were different.

A ray of hope had appeared in her life!

Yotsuya Miko grabbed Amamiya Natsuki's right hand, her eyes shining brightly. "So, those vengeful spirits can indeed be eliminated, right?"

"It's possible, I suppose..."

Amamiya Natsuki briefly explained the effect of his Evil Spirit Repellent aura.

"Let's go, come home with me," Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes gleamed, and she pulled Amamiya Natsuki along. "Let's eliminate those guys hiding in the house first."

Amamiya Natsuki asked, "What about your uncle?"

The range of the Evil Spirit Repellent was five meters. He wasn't sure what effect it would have on Miko's father, so he had to be cautious.

"Hmm..." Miko pondered for two seconds, then quickly said, "I'll watch Dad, and you go perform the exorcism. We'll communicate by phone."

"Okay."

Amamiya Natsuki returned to Miko's house and began the exorcism mission.

The kitchen, the living room, the bathroom... in short, he just went around, activating his aura whenever he saw a vengeful spirit.

There weren't many vengeful spirits, but each one was uglier than the last. Seeing them suddenly could easily startle someone.

Amamiya Natsuki finished the exorcism and took his leave to go home.

"Tonight, I can finally sleep soundly!"

At eleven o'clock that night, Yotsuya Miko happily set her phone alarm, preparing to sleep. Her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the curtains.

Behind the curtains, a distorted black shadow had appeared at some point...

Yotsuya Miko silently bit her lower lip, her eyes misting over.

"The monsters 'respawn' way too fast."

"Do I have to go to Natsuki's house... and live together?"

The night passed without incident.

The next day.

After a simple breakfast of bread and a glass of milk, Amamiya Natsuki headed out to school.

"Good morning, Amamiya-kun."

Fujiwara Chika waved and called out, her voice clear and pleasant.

"Morning."

Amamiya Natsuki responded, his gaze falling on Shinomiya Kaguya, who clearly hadn't rested well.

"Kaguya-chan, your dark circles are even worse," Fujiwara Chika widened her eyes. "Were you up late again last night?"

Shinomiya Kaguya bit her lower lip slightly, her expression still cool and composed. "I wasn't up late."

She didn't dare to sleep at all.

There was a terrifying monster standing by her bed, staring at her. How could she possibly sleep!

Amamiya Natsuki said:

"Enough talk, let's open the blind boxes."

They had agreed yesterday afternoon after school to open the blind boxes together in the classroom this morning, just in case of any unexpected events. After all, no one knew if they might open a vengeful spirit.

"I'll go first."

Fujiwara Chika raised her right hand and was the first to purchase today's blind box, then opened it immediately.

"Huh, the blind box contains a skill card..." Fujiwara Chika displayed the card's attributes, her tone disappointed. "After learning it, you can change other people's names to 'Outlaw'..."

"Useless skill, one star!"