It was clearly going to take a while to figure this out.
Could I learn Morse code sometime and use the red string to send messages?
As I considered other ways to use the red string, my pinkie moved slightly again.
"You're doing it again?"
"Hehe."
The girl with a bow-shaped hair clip in her bangs lifted her pretty face, wearing a smug little smile.
Three strikes and you're out. I'll show you what "enough is enough" means right now!
Amamiya Natsuki suddenly wiggled his pinkie.
Then the two of them secretly played finger games for quite a while.
"The hallway's lit up."
The three of them returned to the hallway and headed straight for the nurses' station.
The nurse sat motionless behind the desk, her face covered in bloodstained bandages as she silently stared down the hallway. She was clearly still slacking off.
The three searched for a key right in front of the nurse. Fujiwara Chika even tidied up the messy desk.
"Can't find the key."
"Could it be on the nurse?"
"Very possible."
"Then there's nothing we can do..." Fujiwara Chika pointed at her. "Outlaw Zhang San, I'm calling you. Do you dare answer?"
The nurse, who had been as motionless as a statue, let out a hoarse voice. Then she grabbed a huge, bloodstained syringe. Her slacking off had been interrupted, and she was clearly furious.
Smack.
Amamiya Natsuki grabbed the nurse by the shoulder. "Zhang San, you're under arrest."
The nurse immediately stopped moving.
"Kaguya-chan, let's look for the key together."
The two girls searched together and quickly found a key in the nurse's pocket.
Then came the trouble.
As soon as Amamiya Natsuki let go, the nurse sprang back to life. Holding a huge syringe, she staggered after the three of them, intent on killing them.
The Anti-pornography and illegal publications campaign combo looked powerful, but it could only deal with one target at a time. Its real effect was to restrict a vengeful spirit's movements, not destroy it.
That hadn't been a problem before, but now that a ghost lady was following them, the issue had become obvious.
They still didn't know what was in the last room, and they definitely couldn't bring the nurse along. They'd be in trouble if they got caught between her and whatever was inside.
"Kaguya-chan, want to try your weapon?"
Fujiwara Chika suddenly suggested.
"I'll give it a try."
Shinomiya Kaguya nodded. She'd received a special weapon from the Hundred Man Kill quest, but hadn't used it yet.
Amamiya Natsuki watched Kaguya curiously. The bow model suddenly grew larger, transforming into a real longbow.
A moment later, a faint glow shimmered around Shinomiya Kaguya, and her school uniform transformed into a red-and-white miko outfit.
Her black hair fell to her waist.
Her miko outfit fluttered though there was no wind.
Shinomiya Kaguya seemed to become a true shrine maiden. With a graceful, practiced motion, she drew the bowstring. An arrow formed out of thin air and shot forward.
As the three watched in anticipation, the arrow struck the nurse, then vanished with a pop.
The nurse jumped and hurriedly felt her chest.
There wasn't a wound where the arrow had hit. It hadn't even damaged her clothes.
"..."
The air fell silent.
I knew ADCs dealt chip damage, but this was ridiculous! The arrow hadn't even scratched her clothes!
"Your form looked great," Amamiya Natsuki said quietly. "Let's go hide in the room."
If they returned to the ward, Miss Sadako's social anxiety would surely keep her hiding inside. There'd be no need to worry about getting caught between two enemies.
Then the nurse suddenly spoke. "Again."
"Huh?"
"Come on. Shoot me again."
A hint of excitement and anticipation crept into the nurse's voice.
Fujiwara Chika blinked and whispered:
"Could the nurse be a masochist?"
It was very possible.
Even a vengeful spirit probably didn't like being shot over and over.
Shinomiya Kaguya lightly bit her lower lip, drew her bow, and fired another arrow.
Amamiya Natsuki had expected another weak attack, but after the arrow hit, the nurse was quickly sealed away in a flash of light and disappeared.
"Wait, what happened?" Fujiwara Chika cried in surprise. "Did Kaguya-chan land a critical hit?"
"Could it be," Amamiya Natsuki guessed, "that the nurse was so lazy she let Kaguya-classmate seal her away to avoid her shift?"
"..."
The three of them came to a stop in front of the last ward.
"I'll open it."
Amamiya Natsuki took the key, and the door opened without a problem.
As Sin Buster, he naturally had to go first. Fujiwara Chika and Kaguya were both squishy ADCs who could get taken out in one hit.
"Be careful, Natsuki-classmate," Fujiwara Chika warned nervously.
Kaguya likewise spoke softly. "Be careful."
Amamiya Natsuki nodded slightly and pushed the door open.
In the dim ward, a frail little girl lay on the bed. A few books sat on the table beside her. Amamiya Natsuki saw the manga Warmth of Monday and another book, Embrace Life Even With ALS.
A tablet lay by the girl's hand, its faint glow illuminating the ward.
Amamiya Natsuki cautiously stepped closer and looked at the tablet. It showed a page of hand-drawn manga depicting a hallway and a series of rooms. Inside the little rooms were familiar chibi avatars.
Beside it was a sentence: I want so badly to see the hydrangeas in the rainy season one more time.
The next moment,
the tablet's faint light abruptly went out, plunging both the ward and the hallway into darkness.
Amamiya Natsuki gently touched the tablet to wake the screen. The hallway brightened again. Then he placed a hydrangea folded from paper in the girl's hand.
The game prompt sound rang out.
"Player has cleared the game. Game over."
(ps: I'm feeling unwell, so I'll only post one chapter today.)
Miko, I Want You to Help Me Cultivate
[Players Evil of This World, Cancer of the Earth, and Budding Capital have cleared the game]
[All players, please prepare. The game will shut down in ten seconds]
"Huh?"
Fujiwara Chika's eyes widened in surprise. "How did we clear it in the blink of an eye?"
Shinomiya Kaguya's brows furrowed slightly as she looked at the bed.
"Actually, it's simple..."
The ten seconds passed in an instant. Before Amamiya Natsuki could finish speaking, the world before him suddenly froze.
The next moment,
the gloomy ward became a sunlit classroom. The three of them were still in the classroom, as if everything that had just happened had been a dream.
The game gave them only ten seconds to prepare for a summoning. That was too little time to do anything but brace themselves.
Amamiya Natsuki and the two girls could only stay in the classroom. They couldn't even go to the Game Club.
A player had once complained that the game summoned him while he was taking a bath. He'd been wearing nothing but his underwear and had almost been mistaken for a pervert.
That was why it was difficult to prepare weapons in advance. Everyone had school and daily life to think about; no one could carry an entire arsenal around all the time. Aside from items obtained from Blind Boxes, nothing from the real world could be stored in the Game Backpack. That was what had happened with the Traction Rope and collar.
Besides, it seemed that only their consciousness or souls entered the game, while their bodies stayed in the real world. Otherwise, people would be vanishing into thin air.
"We're back."
Amamiya Natsuki pressed a finger to his brow and turned to look out the window.
The sun was shining outside.
Members of various sports clubs were sweating it out on the field, giving it their all.
Too bad there were a few evil spirits training alongside them.
"Natsuki-classmate, what happened just now? Why did the game end all of a sudden?"
Fujiwara Chika clasped her hands to her chest, her face practically written over with curiosity. "What happened to the boss fight we were promised?"
Amamiya Natsuki interlaced his fingers and turned to look at the girl with the bow in her hair.
"You want to know?"
Fujiwara Chika looked at him expectantly. "More than anything."
Amamiya Natsuki leaned back in his chair. "I'm not telling you."
"...Natsuki-classmate, you're so mean!"
"..."
Amamiya Natsuki opened the game mailbox and checked the game clearance rewards.
First was the Basic clearance reward: ten game coins.
Players who did nothing but lie low could only get the basic reward, just enough to open one Blind Box.
Next were the side quests. The vengeful spirit in each ward could start a side quest. Because of the time limit, Amamiya Natsuki had only completed Miss Sadako's, the Beast-girl vengeful spirit's, and the Mirror vengeful spirit's quests, as well as the Old Maid game with Harley Quinn. For the other vengeful spirits, he'd simply used the Anti-pornography and illegal publications campaign combo. He hadn't received any rewards for those, but he'd earned eighty game coins in total.
Then there was the hidden quest, [Wish of the Hydrangea], which rewarded him with fifty game coins.
Finally, there was the game's hidden worldbuilding, [Light of the Tablet]. For Sakura, a girl with ALS, the hospital had only ever had a fourth floor.
The girl had lain all alone in the ward, with only her finger still able to move. Whenever the tablet's screen went dark, she would tap it with her finger to light it up again, letting its faint glow brighten the room.
[You have uncovered the hidden worldbuilding and received a special reward]
[You have successfully unlocked the Guardian Spirit slot. From now on, you can bind a Guardian Spirit]
[After binding, you can command the Guardian Spirit to fight for you]
[Note: Guardian Spirits include evil spirits, vengeful spirits, Earthbound spirits, and Heroic Spirits. You must obtain their consent before binding]
Hey, is there really nothing wrong with that note?
Evil spirits and vengeful spirits were one thing, but Heroic Spirits? What was that about?
So Heroic Spirits really existed in this world?
Before you continue