A moment later, the Daruma doll slowly turned around, and the eerie Underworld ballad rang out again.
The game continued.
Amamiya Natsuki stood up and looked at Shinomiya Kaguya beside him. Her expression was calm and her face as composed as ever, but every so often, "So scary" drifted above her head. He lowered his voice and said:
"Shinomiya, wait a moment."
"Hm?"
Shinomiya Kaguya turned her face slightly toward him. Her expression was serene, and even her eyelashes didn't tremble. The students watching the scene at school would surely have praised her as "Kaguya-hime of ice and snow." Too bad the true face of this Ice Sculpture Girl was crystal clear to Amamiya Natsuki.
Amamiya Natsuki didn't waste words. He simply shifted two steps to the side, moved closer to Kaguya, and leaned toward Shinomiya Kaguya's delicate, lustrous cheek.
"I have something to tell you."
Shinomiya Kaguya had meant to move away, but when she heard Amamiya Natsuki, she quickly stopped.
"Remember, when I stop, you stop too. Don't get greedy or act impulsively." To be safe, Amamiya Natsuki whispered into her ear. "Tell Fujiwara, too."
They were classmates, after all. He couldn't just stand by and watch the two of them get eliminated. If he could lend a hand, Amamiya Natsuki naturally wouldn't stand aside.
Feeling his warm breath against her ear, Shinomiya Kaguya instinctively wanted to get away. She had never been so close to a boy before. But the elegance she had cultivated over the years won out, and she endured it, keeping her expression as calm as ever as she replied in a cool voice:
"I understand."
Amamiya Natsuki nodded and stepped away from the Ice Sculpture Girl. He glanced at the words above Kaguya's head and was surprised to find that "So scared" had turned into "Too close, too close, too close"...
Her face was completely expressionless, but her inner thoughts were incredibly lively!
The game continued.
He had thought they would clear the Red Light, Green Light Game without a hitch, but halfway through, a female Wraith Student suddenly set her sights on Amamiya Natsuki.
The Female vengeful spirit wore a sailor uniform covered in patches of dark, dried blood. Her long hair reached her waist and clearly hadn't been cared for in a long time. It looked like withered grass, dry and yellow, without the slightest softness or sheen.
Amamiya Natsuki's heart tightened. He quickly glanced at Fujiwara Chika beside him and began counting down.
"Three, two, one..."
"Hi-yah!"
The moment the countdown ended, Fujiwara Chika dropped to one knee and moved behind the Wraith Student, doing exactly what Amamiya Natsuki had done earlier.
"You should follow the rules when you play games. It's not right to bully people."
Secretary Fujiwara looked serious as she formed hand seals and summoned the Toad Sannin Jiraiya.
"So... I'm terribly sorry!"
"..."
Watching the Female vengeful spirit disintegrate into ash, Amamiya Natsuki gave her an approving look. "Nice work."
He'd thought Fujiwara Chika wouldn't be able to bring herself to do it, but she'd been surprisingly decisive.
"Thanks for the praise." Fujiwara Chika beamed, then giggled. "Now we're even. I can do Thousand Years of Death, too. I even tried it with Kaguya before..."
Amamiya Natsuki stared at the Ice Sculpture Girl in shock.
You two have done that together?
He couldn't imagine which one of you would be on top and which one on the bottom!
"I didn't!"
Shinomiya Kaguya bit her lower lip.
"Don't get the wrong idea, Amamiya." Fujiwara Chika explained, "Kaguya and I watched the Naruto manga together."
"Too bad, though. It was a funny scene, but Kaguya didn't laugh at all... Wait, Kaguya, what's wrong?"
Fujiwara Chika's voice suddenly grew tense.
Amamiya Natsuki turned to look and saw the Ice Sculpture Girl's pink lips part. A trace of helplessness, as if she were embarrassed to admit something, crossed her pretty face.
"Ah-choo—"
The Ice Sculpture Girl furrowed her brows. "My nose is a little itchy..."
Sneezing involved a large number of muscles throughout the body. One wrong move could easily get her eliminated.
"Amamiya."
Fujiwara Chika hurriedly looked over at Amamiya Natsuki.
Amamiya Natsuki furrowed his brows and began counting down. "Three..."
"Ah, I've got an idea!"
Fujiwara Chika let out a little cry and suddenly hugged Shinomiya Kaguya from behind. The two girls then hid behind Amamiya Natsuki.
"Kaguya sandwich cookie!"
Chapter 8: Big Brain Fujiwara Chika
A soft, springy sensation bumped against his back... All right, it didn't.
For one thing, Shinomiya Kaguya was bracing her hands against Amamiya Natsuki's back. Even if she had really bumped into him, he wouldn't have felt a thing.
He was as flat as a board, after all.
"Sandwich cookie complete!"
Fujiwara Chika's smug voice rang out behind him.
What sandwich cookie? You two were obviously just using him as a shield!
"Kaguya-chan, you can sneeze now." Fujiwara Chika wrapped her arms around Shinomiya Kaguya from behind. "Don't worry, we'll protect you."
Shinomiya Kaguya parted her lips. The urge to sneeze grew stronger and stronger, and at last, she couldn't hold it in. She rested her forehead against Amamiya Natsuki's back.
Then...
"Ah-choo~"
The tiny, careful sneeze reached his ears. Amamiya Natsuki felt conflicted, oddly reminded of a kitten trying not to wake its sleeping owner. It sounded unexpectedly cute.
If the students at school had heard it, they'd probably have clutched their chests and shouted:
"ADSL!"
"So cute!"
"The cold Princess Kaguya's voice is this cute? I can't take it—my nose is about to bleed!"
"..."
Time started flowing again.
As the Daruma doll turned around, the players and Wraith Students began moving once more.
"Kaguya was so cute just now." Fujiwara Chika's eyes sparkled. "I want to hear it again."
Shinomiya Kaguya had recovered. Her expression was blank, and her voice cold as she said:
"There won't be a next time. Give up."
Amamiya Natsuki turned to look and saw a line of text appear above Shinomiya Kaguya's head:
[Ahhh! I made such an embarrassing sound! I really should kill them to keep them quiet!]
He and Fujiwara Chika had been acting as a sandwich cookie, trapping her between them. And she was thinking of killing them to keep them quiet? Was she some cold-blooded witch?
"How could you?" Fujiwara Chika said, deeply disappointed. "Amamiya, do you want to hear it again?"
"Not at all."
"Boys should be honest about what they want. Saying one thing when you mean another won't make you popular."
If hearing it again meant getting killed to keep quiet, of course he'd say he didn't want to hear it!
In any case, with the help of the inexplicable hints, Amamiya Natsuki led his two teammates through the Red Light, Green Light Game without incident.
"We cleared it!"
Fujiwara Chika patted her chest and let out a long breath. The little bunny in front of her bounced up and down, creating a mysterious gravitational pull that warped and drew Amamiya Natsuki's gaze toward it.
"It's too soon to relax." Shinomiya Kaguya lifted a hand and tucked the hair falling over her chest behind her ear. Her pretty face remained calm, betraying no emotion, and her voice was as cool as ever. "We still have two more challenges before we can return to reality. Stay alert."
The title Ice Kaguya-hime suited her perfectly—as long as you didn't look at the speech bubbles over Shinomiya Kaguya's head.
[So scary, so scary, so scary... Hayasaka, Hayasaka, Hayasaka, help, help, help!]
Amamiya Natsuki looked behind them. At some point, a gray mist had shrouded the sports field. He pondered for a moment, then said:
"Let's follow this path and see where it leads. We should find something."
"Amamiya, thanks for your help just now." Fujiwara Chika clasped her hands in front of her chest and thanked him earnestly. "I'll treat you to snacks when we get back."
Hey, wasn't she supposed to say that she could never repay his life-saving kindness, except by offering herself to him?
Snacks were just too much.
"Come to think of it, Amamiya, you seemed to know exactly when the Daruma doll would turn around?"
Fujiwara Chika leaned forward and moved closer, her beautiful, bright eyes filled with a big "curious."
A sweet scent, like orchids and musk, drifted into his nose, mixed with a faint milky fragrance. Amamiya Natsuki subtly took half a step back and said:
"You're too close, Fujiwara."
"Ehehe~ Sorry."
Fujiwara Chika raised her right hand, tilted her head, and lightly tapped her forehead.
Amamiya Natsuki was at a loss. "What does 'ehehe' mean?"
Fujiwara Chika smiled brightly and repeated the same gesture. "It just means 'ehehe.'"
"..."
Amamiya Natsuki interlaced his fingers and considered it. "I'm smart enough to have figured out the hidden rule."
He still hadn't figured out why he could see those strange hints, so of course he had to keep it secret.
There really was a hidden rule. One of the unlucky veteran players had mentioned it earlier, but he was dead now.
"Eh, what's the hidden rule?" Fujiwara Chika blinked, looking confused. "How come I didn't notice it?"
"It should be that flag on the sports field."
Shinomiya Kaguya, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke. "Everyone was focused on the Daruma doll just now, but the flag on the sports field moved without any wind before the doll turned around... There hasn't been any wind on the field."
"You're very observant, Shinomiya." Amamiya Natsuki looked at her in surprise.
Human beings weren't as observant as they imagined. Most of the time, they could only focus on one thing. For example, if they came across a short video of a girl dancing in a short-sleeved top and hot pants, showing off her navel and toned abs, then afterward you asked what her earrings looked like, ninety-nine percent of boys wouldn't be able to answer.
"Kaguya-chan, you're amazing!"
Fujiwara Chika looked at her admiringly. "I didn't even notice there was a flag on the field."
"..."
Before long, a sign appeared by the roadside.
"Let's take a look."
The three of them walked up to it. A rotten, battered sign stood at the roadside, weathered by who knew how many storms. Directions had been written on it in dark red letters of blood:
[Cafeteria]
[Exam hall]
[Sports field]
[School infirmary]
[Administration building]
[Swimming pool]
[Music classroom]
"It's the Campus Seven Mysteries." Fujiwara Chika's eyes widened, and her voice instinctively dropped to a whisper. "Amamiya, where should we go?"
Before you continue