Unlucky Players began emerging from the surrounding rooms, one after another. Several were sporting injuries, and everyone looked miserable. Some even came out crying.
"Looks like everyone's having a rough time," Fujiwara Chika said, clasping her hands to her chest. "I wish we could help them."
"We can't," Shinomiya Kaguya replied coldly. "Offering help to strangers for no reason will only make them think we have ulterior motives."
Fujiwara Chika spoke softly.
"Natsuki-classmate and I can use our Combination skill to capture Outlaw Zhang San."
"The problem is, we can only deal with one Vengeful Spirit," Amamiya Natsuki said. "If we help one person and someone else asks us for help, what are we supposed to do?"
"..."
Fujiwara Chika fell silent.
Helping someone when you were able to was kindness. Trying to save everyone even when it was beyond your capabilities was just foolish.
The group headed straight for the nurses' station. The best way to learn the hospital's secrets was still to start with the nurse.
They had only gone a few steps when two players got into a fight in the corridor.
A male player shoved a girl to the ground, snatched something from her, and then strode away.
"Are you okay?"
Fujiwara Chika hurried over and helped the girl up, looking furious. "How could he steal someone else's things?"
What was stealing? There were no laws in the game. He could have just picked you up and carried you off, and that would have been fine!
"I'm okay..."
The girl bit her lower lip. Her gaze fell on Amamiya Natsuki, and her eyes suddenly lit up. She called out excitedly,
"Y-you're a big shot?!"
"Hm?"
Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow and looked over. She seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember who she was.
"We met before, in Vengeful Spirit Academy. We were in the exam room, and I was sitting in the corner by the window." The girl was thrilled. "I can't believe I ran into several big shots. I'm finally saved."
You've got it wrong. We're just Newbie Players who joined recently. We're not big shots at all.
"Sorry..."
Amamiya Natsuki wanted to refuse, but there was no Proctoring Teacher here he could bribe.
"I know the Rules." The girl quickly took out two items and showed them their attributes. "These are everything I have!"
[Item: A Green Leek]
[This item was crossbred by Void Technology Company. The leek is naturally safe and pollution-free. It needs no sunlight, soil, air, or water, and can grow by absorbing the energy drifting through the void. Cut one crop, and another will quickly grow in its place. Again and again, without end.]
[Note: You can use it to practice a hundred different ways to cut a leek.]
Amamiya Natsuki's mouth twitched slightly.
Great.
As expected of a Blind Box—you could get all kinds of bizarre things.
But what use was a single leek?
Was he supposed to cut it every day and make leek dumplings?
Amamiya Natsuki looked at the second item.
[Item: Speech Bowtie]
[How to use: Wear the bowtie on your chest to gain an extra boost to your speaking ability. Your speech will become charming and rousing.]
[Note: Do I really need to explain what it's for?]
"I've only taken part in three games, so I don't have many Game coins. These are the only things I've gotten from Blind Boxes." The female player they'd met once before, Kujo Asuka, bowed at a right angle. "Please, you have to accept them."
Game coins were the most important thing, but Amamiya Natsuki and Kaguya had already confirmed that they couldn't be traded or given away. The various items from Blind Boxes were different; they could even be stolen outright.
After all, Amamiya Natsuki and the others had only just joined the game. They were unlikely to run into a truly powerful player of a high level. Most Newbie Players had pretty shabby belongings, and what you got from a Blind Box was entirely down to luck.
"Natsuki-classmate."
Fujiwara Chika looked at him hopefully.
Shinomiya Kaguya said quietly, "Rather than helping others for nothing, an exchange of equal value is acceptable."
Amamiya Natsuki considered it briefly, then agreed. "I'll take them. Come straight to my room afterward. The hospital room is safe now."
The items looked useless, but they might come in handy at a critical moment, like the Cat Ear Hairpin from Vengeful Spirit Academy.
"Sorry for the trouble."
The girl looked delighted and bowed quickly.
"What did that person steal from you?" Amamiya Natsuki asked.
It turned out he had stolen her food.
Even though they entered the game as souls or consciousnesses, they still felt hungry.
"Eh?" Fujiwara Chika put a hand over her stomach, surprised. "I'm actually getting hungry. I ate breakfast before leaving this morning... Are we not allowed to eat in the cafeteria?"
"There's no cafeteria." The girl who had latched onto them shook her head. "The entire hospital only has four floors. We can't go anywhere else."
Amamiya Natsuki and Shinomiya Kaguya went to check for themselves. At the end of the corridor, they found the stairwell blocked by black fog, making it impossible to enter or leave.
Darkness descended again, and the group obediently returned to their rooms. After all that running around, every one of them felt hungry—and for some reason, the hunger was incredibly intense.
"Looks like we have another problem to solve..." Amamiya Natsuki pressed his fingers to his brow. "A food crisis."
The problem was that there was no cafeteria, and they had no idea where to find food.
At that moment, Rikka, who hadn't said much, raised her hand. "Um, the Vengeful Spirit who was in my room earlier might be able to make food."
Amamiya Natsuki asked curiously,
"What kind of Vengeful Spirit is your roommate?"
Takanashi Rikka raised her hand and shaped her fingers like horns above her head. "A cow."
"A cow?"
"She's a Vengeful Spirit, so there's nothing strange about how she looks."
"How's a cow supposed to make food?"
The group sat together in the hospital room, discussing the possibilities.
"I've got it!" Fujiwara Chika raised her hand to answer. "She should be able to milk her—"
"Stop. Sit down," Amamiya Natsuki said, unable to hold back. "That kind of thing can't be drunk without being pasteurized."
"Why not?" Fujiwara Chika argued. "You can drink freshly squeezed juice straight away. When I went to a ranch as a kid, I even saw the ranchers drink fresh Haruno."
Juice and Haruno were completely different things!
Fujiwara Chika folded her arms and continued,
"I also read a manga recently. It was about four beautiful girls who got into a plane crash and unfortunately ended up stranded on a deserted island..."
A Robinson Crusoe story starring beautiful girls?
If a boy showed up too, it would turn into a standard gal game plot.
"One of the girls accidentally fell asleep on a raft and drifted far out to sea. When another girl caught up to her, the one who'd drifted away was so dehydrated she was nearly unconscious. She couldn't drink seawater, so the other girl took off her—"
At that point, Fujiwara Chika suddenly stopped. She covered her pink lips with both hands, and a blush quickly spread across her cheeks.
"Took off what?" Amamiya Natsuki asked expressionlessly. "Please, go on."
You're so amazing—why not keep going? What did you stop for?
"I can't say it." Fujiwara Chika shook her head rapidly. "It's forbidden knowledge that must not be spoken of."
"S-so amazing!"
Takanashi Rikka clasped her hands to her chest, her eyes sparkling.
Amamiya Natsuki was unmoved.
"Spoiling a movie in advance, saying 'whatever' when asked what you want to eat, and leaving a sentence unfinished are all extremely rude things to do."
"What? Fine, I'll say it." Fujiwara Chika puffed out her cheeks and took a deep breath. Her face filled with grim resolve. "She took off her..."
It was a perfectly proper survival tip, anyway. It was serialized in a Jump manga, so there was no harm in saying it, right?
"Stop." Shinomiya Kaguya pressed her fingers to her brow, exasperated. "This conversation ends here."
Although she hadn't read the manga, Shinomiya Kaguya was a Genius Girl with broad interests and extensive knowledge. She'd already guessed what it was.
The group went on to discuss quite a few other things.
For example, everyone who completed the first game without exception received the reward of "being able to see the truth of the world."
"I don't want that reward at all. I don't want to look at those evil spirits."
"Me neither."
"Me, me! Me too!"
"..."
The girls quickly reached a unanimous decision. Even Shinomiya Kaguya gave a slight nod, and before long, their discussion had turned into a pity party.
After seeing terrifying evil spirits, their lives had been seriously affected. They couldn't eat well or sleep well, and they were afraid all the time. They couldn't even tell anyone, because no one would believe them.
"I tried everything: piling salt in the corners of my room, crosses, prayer beads, omamori, holy water, peachwood swords, praying at shrines... Nothing worked."
The girl speaking was Kujo Asuka, the second Newbie Player to latch onto them. Her eyes were brimming with tears. "I used to be on the volleyball team at school, but ever since I was chosen by the game and started seeing terrifying evil spirits clinging to my friends all day, I haven't even dared to attend volleyball practice."
"Asuka, you've had a hard time."
Mother Fujiwara's social skills were already at MAX. In no time at all, she and the girl had started calling each other by name. "Keep opening Blind Boxes. If you're lucky, you might get an Evil Spirit Repellent aura ability like Natsuki-classmate. Then you could drive the evil spirits away from your friends."
Kujo Asuka looked even more aggrieved. "I don't have any Game coins, and the Blind Boxes are full of all kinds of weird stuff."
"Come to think of it, the Vengeful Spirits in the game seem easier to get along with than the evil spirits in the real world," Amamiya Natsuki said thoughtfully.
The evil spirits in the real world couldn't be reasoned with. They were nothing but hostile toward the living. The Vengeful Spirits in the game were much better. Take Miss Sadako, for example. She was terrifying, but you could still talk to her.
After she tied up her hair, he'd even wanted to let Miss Sadako take maternity leave...
Shinomiya Kaguya nodded slightly and analyzed the situation calmly.
"The game must be connected to reality somehow. We just don't know how yet."
The darkness receded, and the light returned.
"Miss Sadako, we're going out for a bit." Amamiya Natsuki patted the television and called out to her. "Keep an eye on the place while we're gone."
Miss Sadako, who had been eavesdropping on gossip by the edge of the well, shivered. Her black hair quivered, and she quickly hid back inside.
Amamiya Natsuki sighed.
If she was so shy, how was she supposed to get by in society?
From her background, it seemed Miss Sadako had been a former employee of Himura Dairy. If she was that timid, she must have been bullied plenty.
The group left the hospital room and entered the corridor.
"This is the one."
Takanashi Rikka stopped outside her hospital room and spoke quietly.
"Don't worry," Fujiwara Chika said, clenching her right fist with confidence. "Natsuki-classmate and I can use our Combination skill. We definitely won't lose."
"Please don't jinx us."
Amamiya Natsuki grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open. He soon understood why Takanashi Rikka had called the Vengeful Spirit a cow.
The Vengeful Spirit in the room had a humanlike appearance, but a pair of horns grew from her head, and a cow's tail swished behind her. A big bell hung at her chest. As for her... proportions, she certainly deserved to be called a cow.
But her eyes were red as blood, and her mouth was full of sharklike serrated teeth. If you went to a dental clinic in Japan, you'd probably have to pawn your panties and still leave empty-handed.
Before you continue