"A family has two children, and one of them is a girl. What's the probability that the other child is also a girl?"
Yurikawa Hana lay on the table like a salted fish just drying in the sun, weakly blowing bubbles.
"It's obviously one-half. Why is the answer one-third?"
"I don't understand."
"I really don't get it," Hana muttered.
"Miko, why do you say it's one-third?" Amamiya Natsuki asked.
"I don't know," Yotsuya Miko shook her head. "I think it's one-half… maybe the answer's wrong?"
Very good. I admire your spirit to stand by your opinion.
But what should we do if we get a question wrong?
The answer must be wrong!
"This is a basic permutation and combination problem," Amamiya Natsuki said, looking at the exercise book with a hint of disbelief. "The answer really is one-third."
"Hey, Amamiya-san, do you know how to solve this?"
Yurikawa suddenly sat up straight and moved closer to him.
"Before the child is born, the chance of having a boy or a girl is 50/50," Amamiya Natsuki explained, twirling his pencil between his fingers. "But the question says one child is already a girl. So the permutations of two children are different now. We don't care about order."
"Stare—"
Yurikawa's eyes widened.
Her eyes were big and clear blue—like the sky after rain.
"…What are you staring at me for?"
Amamiya raised an eyebrow.
"Um…" Hana hesitated, then shyly tapped her chest with two fingers. Her cheeks reddened slightly. "Amamiya-san, could you please explain it again? I didn't quite understand."
Amamiya looked at Miko silently.
"I understand," Miko said nonchalantly.
"Then you come explain it to Yurikawa-san," Amamiya said.
"Sorry," Miko immediately backtracked. "I don't understand."
If you don't understand, just say so! Your attitude toward learning is always half-hearted — a bit of this, a bit of that. No wonder you're always in the middle of the class.
Amamiya Natsuki sighed and repeated the explanation patiently.
This time, Yurikawa finally understood and scooted over to sit next to Amamiya. Clasping her hands together, she said eagerly:
"Amamiya-san, please teach me math!"
"Um?"
"I've never been good at math since I was a kid. I often fail exams and disappoint my mother," Yurikawa said pitifully. "Since you're good at math, please help me study. I will offer you a delicious sacrifice if you agree."
Delicious sacrifice?
Amamiya's eyes involuntarily flicked downward.
Just for studying, but you're willing to sacrifice your body?
"Stare—"
Yotsuya Miko: "Wipe your saliva, pervert Natsuki."
"I understand," Amamiya Natsuki quickly looked away and spoke seriously. "If I have time, no problem."
"Thank you so much!"
…
In the blink of an eye, it was five o'clock in the afternoon.
Amamiya sighed.
As the saying goes, big breasts mean no brains. Today, Natsuki Amamiya found this saying to be surprisingly true.
For example, Kaguya Shinomiya was a famous genius—top of her grade with a very high IQ. Unfortunately, her chest was modest. No doubt she was on the level of an elementary schooler when it came to physical development.
Fujiwara Chika was well-developed—but didn't seem very smart.
And Hana Yurikawa, sitting across from him, was the same.
"It's getting dark," Yurikawa stretched, raising her arms above her head and revealing the perfect curve of her chest—unaware of her own charm. "Miko, Amamiya-san, I'm going home."
Amamiya stood up. "I'm going back too."
"I'll take you."
Yotsuya Miko followed her downstairs, running into her younger brother along the way.
Miko's mother was still at work.
After greeting Miko's brother, Amamiya Natsuki left the house, leading his dog.
"See you tomorrow," Yurikawa waved goodbye, clutching her backpack straps as she hurried toward the tram stop.
The sunset was fiery red.
Its afterglow dyed the entire street red, and the girl's silhouette stretched long in the light—a beautiful sight.
It would be better if there weren't wandering evil spirits.
…
The air fell silent.
After a moment, Yotsuya Miko pursed her lips and glanced at Amamiya Natsuki.
"When did you start seeing those… things?"
"Last night, while walking the dog," Amamiya answered honestly, recounting the strange events he had experienced.
The game didn't forbid sharing. Besides, dozens of players joined the Ghost Academy, and who knew how many others in the real world were gamers? It was perfectly fine to tell Miko.
"Escape game?" Miko's eyes widened. She covered them with her hands and spoke distressingly: "I haven't encountered the game you mentioned. Just a week ago, my eyes suddenly started seeing those terrible things. I nearly went crazy."
Seeing vengeful spirits and hearing their voices… but having to pretend nothing was wrong. No running, no screaming, no exposing yourself. Every day was torture.
But now it was different.
There was a ray of hope.
Yotsuya Miko grabbed Amamiya's right hand, her eyes sparkling. "So those vengeful spirits can really be eliminated, right?"
"Of course," Amamiya explained briefly about the aura that dispels evil spirits.
"Come on, come home with me." Miko's eyes brightened, and she tugged Amamiya toward her house. "Let's get rid of those hiding in the house first."
Amamiya asked, "What should I do, uncle?"
The aura radius was five meters. He wasn't sure how it would affect Miko's ghost father, so caution was necessary.
"Hmm…" Miko hesitated two seconds, then said quickly, "I'll watch Dad. You go exorcise the demons and keep your phone on to contact me."
"Got it."
Amamiya returned to Miko's home and began the exorcism mission.
Kitchen, living room, bathroom—he went everywhere, activating the aura whenever he spotted a vengeful spirit.
There weren't many spirits, but each was uglier than the last. It was inevitable to get startled by their sudden appearances.
After finishing, Amamiya said goodbye and went home.
"I can finally sleep peacefully tonight!"
At 11 p.m., Yotsuya Miko happily set an alarm on her phone and prepared for bed. Then, she glanced toward the curtains.
Behind them, a twisted black shadow had appeared.
Yotsuya Miko bit her lower lip silently. Mist gathered in her eyes.
"The monsters 'refresh' too fast."
"Maybe I can only live with Natsuki at his house…"
No words were spoken that night.
The next day.
After a simple breakfast of bread and milk, Amamiya Natsuki headed to school.
"Good morning, Amamiya-san!" Fujiwara Chika waved and called out with her clear, pleasant voice.
"Morning," Amamiya replied, his eyes falling on Shinomiya Kaguya. He immediately noticed she hadn't rested well.
"Kaguya-chan, your dark circles are getting worse again," Fujiwara Chika said, eyes wide. "Did you stay up late again?"
Kaguya bit her lower lip slightly, keeping a calm, composed expression. "I didn't stay up late."
[I didn't dare to sleep at all. How could I sleep with a terrifying monster staring at me from the side of my bed?]
Amamiya Natsuki said:
"Stop talking. Open the blind box."
They had agreed after school yesterday to come to the classroom this morning and open the blind box together—to avoid accidents. After all, who knew what kind of vengeful spirit might appear?
"I'll go first."
Fujiwara Chika raised her right hand proudly, was the first to buy today's blind box, and opened it immediately.
"Hey, there's a skill card in this one…" Chika showed the card's stats and said disappointedly, "After learning, you can change other people's names to 'Outlaw'…"
"Useless skill. Bad review!"