join the Church of MissRaven and become a Sequence 9: Reader p atreon.com/KeyofStars for more chapters
"There, there are people on the bed!"
"I see them."
"Those two people... why do they look like us?"
Juju's eyes widened, dumbfounded, her small hand instinctively grabbing Amamiya Natsuki's sleeve.
"Be confident, remove 'look like'," Amamiya Natsuki said calmly, his expression normal, "It is us."
The bedroom was not large, containing only a single bed and a wardrobe.
Under the flashlight's beam, two people were clearly lying on the single bed.
On the outer side was a petite girl, wearing a pink and white Magical Girl uniform. Because the single bed was very small, to avoid falling off, she had to curl up in the boy's arms like a cat.
The two people were indeed Amamiya Natsuki and Juju.
"The people on the bed are us?" Juju looked up with her small face, her expression blank, clearly a bit dazed, "...Then who are we?"
No.
My head feels so dizzy.
There can't be two suns in the world, and there can't be two identical people, right?
"Don't overthink it."
Amamiya Natsuki looked down and said casually: "It's normal for the body and soul to be separated, isn't it?"
Juju couldn't help but exclaim:
"It's not normal at all!"
"..."
"This is a Haunted House, but it's not a real Haunted House," Amamiya Natsuki gently pressed his fingers to his forehead, looking at Juju, "There are actually many clues... For example, isn't this apartment too clean?"
"Eh?" Juju was startled, quickly understood Amamiya Natsuki's meaning, and softly retorted, "Even if no one dares to live here, the manager would definitely clean the apartment, right?"
"What if someone brave rented out the house?"
Amamiya Natsuki said unhurriedly:
"Then what about the teacups on the table, the shoes in the entrance, and the toothbrushes in the bathroom?"
"Would an apartment cleaned and prepared for re-rental leave behind the private belongings of the previous tenant?"
"Of course not."
Juju quickly shook her head.
This was illogical.
Private items like water cups, slippers, and toothbrushes would be thrown away by the apartment manager even if the tenant didn't take them.
Amamiya Natsuki looked down and praised,
"Juju's stockings today are super cute."
"You, you, you… what are you talking about?!"
The pink-haired girl's small face flushed red, and she quickly covered her skirt.
This was a gloomy and terrifying Haunted House. If he wanted to compliment someone, he should choose another occasion!
Amamiya Natsuki continued,
"Where are your shoes?"
"Eh?"
Juju looked down at her feet.
Her pink and white over-the-knee socks were undeniably cute… but her feet were bare, with no shoes on.
She was used to going barefoot at home, and if Amamiya Natsuki hadn't reminded her, she wouldn't have noticed she hadn't been wearing shoes.
"You're not wearing shoes either," Juju quickly said.
"Indeed, I'm not." Amamiya Natsuki nodded, "Knowing there's a kaitai in the Haunted House, you still took off your shoes? Are you worried you'd run too fast and the kaitai couldn't catch up?"
"Also," Amamiya Natsuki paused, "when checking the entrance earlier, there were only Miss Wraith's shoes."
Juju quickly reacted: "Eh, where are our shoes?"
"…"
Amamiya Natsuki said nothing, turning his flashlight to illuminate the two people's feet on the bed.
Two pairs of shoes came into view.
"Tsk."
Amamiya Natsuki suddenly frowned.
"What's wrong?" Juju hurriedly looked over.
Amamiya Natsuki said solemnly,
"Sleeping on someone else's bed with shoes on, I feel like we've gone too far."
"Don't worry about such things at a time like this!" Juju couldn't help but retort, "You just wanted to check Miss Wraith's, that's much worse than sleeping with shoes on!"
"Let's go, let's wake up first."
Amamiya Natsuki stepped into the bedroom.
Juju hurriedly followed with small steps.
Her eyes had already given a hint; she only needed to touch her own body to wake up.
As his fingers touched his body, Amamiya Natsuki only felt a slight dizziness in his head, followed by the yellowish ceiling appearing in his eyes.
"Ugh…"
The pink-haired girl in his arms quickly opened her eyes, her beautiful eyes filled with a dazed expression.
Just moments ago, she was standing by the bed, and the next second, she was lying down. The change in perspective made her dizzy.
"Juju, good morning," Amamiya Natsuki greeted.
"Morning~" Juju quickly sobered up, "No, it's not morning, is it?"
"Anyway, it's time to get up."
"…"
Only then did Juju realize she was still curled up on Amamiya Natsuki's chest like a kitten. Her small face flushed slightly, and she quickly sat up, jumping off the bed to straighten her skirt.
Amamiya Natsuki sat up with her and looked around.
The apartment was still the same apartment, but now it lacked that jarring sense of oddity. The bedroom was empty, with only a bed and a wardrobe.
Walking into the living room, the previously present furniture—table, sofa, television—had quietly disappeared, leaving only the empty apartment.
The two walked to the entrance, and Amamiya Natsuki reached out to open the door. The vast twilight once again appeared before them.
"Is it really okay to go out?"
Juju was a little nervous.
Once bitten by a snake, one fears the well rope for ten years.
"Miss Wraith likely has some ability to make people fall asleep and drag them into an illusion," Amamiya Natsuki explained. "If you think about it, Miss Wraith could have directly ambushed us from behind, but she only extended her hand over my shoulder. Her goal was clearly not to attack us, but to create fear. When there's enough fear, it eventually turns into despair."
"For example, we might escape the apartment after great difficulty, reach the hallway, only for us to be back inside the apartment the next second."
"And finally, the reason the Haunted House appeared…" Amamiya Natsuki's voice paused as he stepped out of the apartment and into the hallway, "It should be a fire."
Juju followed closely, hurrying out. She also received a game prompt, and her eyes quickly lit up.
"We're out!"
With the game providing official endorsement, there was no doubt that the two had truly completed the Haunted House kaitai. In other words, the main quest had been achieved. Now, as long as they met the time requirement, they could clear the game.
"A fire?" Juju breathed a sigh of relief, realizing, "No wonder Miss Wraith was charred all over, and there was black charcoal powder in her mouth."
"A fire broke out, but the door couldn't be opened, so they were trapped in the apartment… How pitiful."
Plop.
An old-fashioned videotape fell out of thin air at their feet.
"Eh?" Juju was startled, "What's this?"
A game notification rang in both their minds again.
['Haunted House kaitai' Filming Completed]
[You must hold this videotape for more than ten minutes before you can submit it for judge review]
[Please note, this videotape cannot be placed in the game inventory, and at the same time, this videotape can only be submitted by one lead actor individually]
"That last sentence… what does it mean?"
Juju looked up, her expression hesitant.
"It's exactly what you're thinking." Amamiya Natsuki immediately saw through the game's sinister intentions. "A 'lead actor' can only be one person. For example, if two of us complete the filming of the Haunted House kaitai, but only one person can submit the main quest for film review, the other person gets nothing."
"In other words…" Amamiya Natsuki lowered his head, looking at Juju, "the time has come to test the player's humanity."
join the Church of MissRaven and become a Sequence 9: Reader p atreon.com/KeyofStars for more chapters