[You chose option three: take her hand and lead her inside. Mission complete. Reward: ocular technique · Amaterasu]
Yuya stiffened.
A sharp pain shot through his hand.
Even with his current physique, Princess Kaguya had managed to crush his bones?
That little hand... sure packed a punch...
Was this the side effect of obtaining Amaterasu?
Yuya swallowed, suppressing the instinctive urge to shake off Princess Kaguya's hand.
He hid his discomfort and continued leading her forward as though nothing had happened.
Princess Kaguya hugged the doll in her arms tightly.
She followed behind Yuya like that.
Once they passed through the narrow passage,
the space before them opened up considerably.
They walked on for a while.
All sorts of strange, ghostly faces popped out from time to time.
Princess Kaguya became a little more immune to them,
gradually letting down her guard.
But the very next moment, a bloody hand
suddenly shot out of the ground.
It grabbed Princess Kaguya's leg.
"Aaaah!!!"
Princess Kaguya screamed, unleashing a surge of powerful chakra.
The bloody hand reaching out from underground was instantly crushed to pieces.
Every ghost-face prop around them, without exception,
shattered at that very moment.
Clutching her doll, Princess Kaguya threw herself into Yuya's arms.
Her eyes were squeezed shut, her body trembling.
Yuya: "..."
Behind another wall,
a female ghost dressed in red collapsed to the floor in terror.
"Pavilion Master... boohoo... I've shed blood for the organization! I've worked so hard for it..."
Tears streamed from her eyes.
Up ahead, countless staff members,
dressed as all manner of ghosts and monsters, were trembling.
"Even from this far away, I feel like I'm about to die... Mommy... I wanna go home."
"Boohoo... Pavilion Master... I only like napping on the job... I don't deserve to die for that... boohoo..."
"Thank goodness those were props. Who could survive that...?"
"If she comes any closer, let's just hand over the treasure..."
"Sounds good to me..."
The moment Princess Kaguya threw herself into his arms, Yuya felt his heart skip a beat.
The world seemed to fall silent.
Princess Kaguya's soft body rested against his.
Her faint fragrance wafted toward him.
She was still trembling a little.
Yuya hesitated, wanting to reach out and pat her back,
to tell her everything was all right.
But his body seemed to have frozen in that instant,
leaving him unable to perform even that simplest of gestures.
At that moment, all he could hear was his own heartbeat.
After quite a while,
Princess Kaguya recovered.
She let go of Yuya.
A faint blush had spread across her cheeks,
just barely visible even in the dark.
As Princess Kaguya pulled away, Yuya felt a pang of loss.
What a coward! he cursed himself.
Princess Kaguya had already activated her Byakugan instinctively.
"D-don't be scared... They're fake..."
Some of her composure returned, as though she had discovered something.
She patted her chest and forced herself to sound calm.
Yuya: "..."
Who was the scared one here, exactly?
Princess Kaguya held the doll in one hand,
and took Yuya's hand with the other.
"Come on. I'll lead you out."
With her Byakugan active, she was now brimming with confidence.
"All right."
Yuya nodded, a little amused.
From then on,
with Princess Kaguya leading the way,
they proceeded without a hitch.
She would suddenly stop at certain spots,
then nervously tighten her grip on Yuya's hand.
Only after a prop popped out
would she sigh in relief and continue forward.
But when they passed through one monster's territory,
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
Princess Kaguya and the monster screamed at the same time.
The monster's appearance was simply too bizarre.
Even though she had seen it beforehand with her Byakugan,
with color and sound now added to the mix,
it still left her trembling with fear.
Princess Kaguya clung nervously to Yuya's arm like a little girl.
He felt a softness against his arm,
as something pressed against it.
Even Yuya couldn't help blushing slightly across his delicate face.
After screaming, the monster tossed something down,
then ran off without looking back.
"Huh?"
Princess Kaguya tilted her head, looking a little bewildered.
She released Yuya's arm and picked up the object.
"This must be the monster's treasure!"
Princess Kaguya belatedly realized what had happened.
Her expression brightened with excitement.
What happened next confirmed her guess.
As they made their way along, every monster that saw them,
without exception, screamed, dropped its prop, and ran.
Eventually, Princess Kaguya wasn't afraid anymore.
Instead, she held Yuya's hand and chased the monsters around.
"Over here!"
"This way, this way!"
"Quick, hand over the prop!"
All sorts of monstrous screams rang throughout the haunted house.
One monster stumbled along as he fled,
glancing back every so often.
Once he was sure no one was chasing him,
he let out a long sigh of relief.
But the very next moment,
a wild Princess Kaguya suddenly jumped out,
blocking his path.
No... If I hand over another prop, the Pavilion Master said he'll dock all my pay and bonuses!
The monster wailed inwardly.
Just as he was about to turn and run back,
Yuya appeared casually behind him,
and gave him a calm look.
"What the fuck..."
The monster's eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
Princess Kaguya beckoned with her hand,
using Banshō Ten'in to pull the prop from the monster.
"I've got the last one, too."
Princess Kaguya looked rather pleased with herself.
With the eerie, terrifying music playing in the background,
chasing monsters around was simply too thrilling!
She had long since forgotten every trace of her initial nervousness.
When Princess Kaguya and Yuya emerged hand in hand,
Princess Kaguya took out all six props.
Her expression was disdainful.
"It wasn't scary at all!"
Yuya: "..."
Who was it that had thrown herself into his arms at the beginning?
In the end, under the sales assistant's respectful and envious gaze,
she left proudly with an exquisite gift.
Only after Princess Kaguya left did a figure emerge from a hidden door in the Adventure House.
"Good thing I didn't go in this time. She really did activate her Byakugan."
The figure muttered to himself.
"Pavilion Master... Our bonuses... boohoo."
Several people dressed as monsters came out, sniffling and sobbing.
"You did well. Double bonuses."
The figure murmured, then dissolved into smoke.
At the same time, around the haunted house,
several other figures also dissolved into smoke.
They hadn't come here merely to arrange how the haunted house would operate.
More importantly, they had feared Princess Kaguya might suddenly destroy the haunted house in a fit of extreme emotion.
They had been stationed here to carry out emergency measures, such as rescuing people, handling the aftermath, and keeping panic under control.
Fortunately... everything was still going according to plan.
After her experience in the Adventure House, Princess Kaguya seemed to let herself go even more.
She was now in high spirits.
"Let's see where to go next."
She unwrapped the exquisitely packaged gift box.
"Hmm? A Shuidilao hot pot buffet voucher?"
Princess Kaguya picked up the buffet voucher, looking puzzled.
"What's this?"
"Probably something to eat."
Yuya answered.
"Food? I'm not hungry right now. Are you hungry, Yuya?"
Princess Kaguya rubbed her stomach as she spoke.
"I... uh, well, I... I'm not hungry either..."
Was that it for my candlelit dinner?
Yuya felt like crying, but no tears came.
Still, he went along with Princess Kaguya's wishes.
Even though he had prepared something vitally important there.
And some things he simply had to say.
But those were far from his only preparations.
"That's good, then."
Princess Kaguya said.
She continued walking with Yuya, the doll still nestled in her arms.
But before long,
Princess Kaguya's eyes suddenly lit up, and she pointed somewhere.
"Let's go there."
There was a garishly decorated storefront,
with multicolored lights spilling out through its doorway.
Strange music could faintly be heard coming from inside.
And the place was called... a b... bar???
Yuya's mouth twitched. Although he had made plenty of preparations,
this hadn't been among them...
Why had I thought to set up something like this back then?
What do I do now? Princess Kaguya wants to go to a bar??
Before you continue