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Pop, pop, pop.
Seeing Amamiya Natsuki approach, the koi in the fish tank immediately became excited, swimming in anxious circles while gurgling out bubbles.
"Owner, I'm hungry. Can I order something to eat?"
Amamiya Natsuki's gaze swept past the koi and landed on the old man, the owner.
The old man, the owner, nodded: "Of course you can."
"That koi looks very cute; it should taste quite good." Amamiya Natsuki smiled, "I'll choose that one."
"..."
As if struck by some major blow, the koi in the fish tank stopped swimming and sank to the bottom in despair.
The old man, the owner, raised his head, glanced at Amamiya Natsuki, and his voice remained gentle:
"Three thousand two hundred Yen. If you want it, you have to buy it first."
"Thank you, owner."
Amamiya Natsuki thanked him while taking out the tip he had just received to pay.
Indeed, whether in the human world or the kaitai world, without money, one would find it difficult to move forward.
Fortunately, the Dark Cuisine just now had made Miss Sakurako extremely satisfied. Once the rich lady was happy, he instantly earned a fortune; otherwise, he would have to work slowly to save money.
As for taking it by force...
Looking at the 'Danger' warning that appeared in front of him, Amamiya Natsuki decisively extinguished the thought.
Why resort to fighting and killing for something that can be solved with money?
It was completely unnecessary.
After paying the bill.
Amamiya Natsuki successfully obtained ownership of the koi. He reached for the net next to the fish tank, scooped up the despairingly still koi in one go, and then walked out of the store.
Juju watched, quickly following with small steps, not daring to stay in the store alone.
A chilly wind blew faintly.
The sky grew increasingly dim.
As Amamiya Natsuki walked out of the store, the koi in his hand immediately began to thrash. Just a few seconds later, a girl appeared out of thin air.
It was Fujiwara Chika, who had just experienced the life of a koi.
Amamiya Natsuki was quick-witted and immediately hugged the Secretary into his arms.
"I actually changed back?"
Fujiwara Chika's eyes were dazed as she murmured.
"Of course you can change back." Amamiya Natsuki said, "As long as you leave the store, the ingredient curse can be lifted."
Fujiwara Chika's eyes welled up with tears when she realized she had truly turned back into a human.
She didn't know what happened; she suddenly turned into a fish, was thrown into a fish tank, and was treated as ingredients for customers to choose from. If her luck was bad, she would be made into sashimi.
She finally waited for Amamiya Natsuki to arrive, but she couldn't speak, only able to blow out a few small bubbles... it was simply a nightmare.
"Did you find me a long time ago?"
Fujiwara Chika wrapped her arms tightly around Amamiya Natsuki's neck, her voice full of grievance.
Amamiya Natsuki nodded and said:
"That's right, I found you as soon as I entered the store."
"Then you still wanted to eat me!"
Fujiwara Chika became even more aggrieved upon hearing this.
She never gave up, waiting for him to come, and he actually said he wanted to eat her.
Despair.
Utter despair.
"I had to find a suitable reason," Amamiya Natsuki said gently. "The manager was right there. I couldn't just pick you up and run, could I?"
A cold wind blew, and Fujiwara Chika couldn't help but shiver.
"Um..." Juju, who had followed them out, cleared her throat and suggested, "Fujiwara, why don't you put your clothes on first?"
"Other customers might come over soon."
"Eh?"
Fujiwara Chika was startled, looked down, and her bare, snow-white skin immediately came into view.
"Ah ah ah ah ah--"
The pink-haired girl's pretty face immediately flushed red, and she quickly covered her chest with her hands, squatting down in a panic.
Transforming from a koi back into a human was like returning from hell to heaven. In her extreme joy and sorrow, she even overlooked the fact that she wasn't wearing clothes. If Juju hadn't reminded her, she still wouldn't have realized it.
"...You're still looking!"
Fujiwara Chika looked up, her pretty face flushed with embarrassment, and she couldn't help but shout.
Amamiya Natsuki took off his jacket and draped it over Fujiwara Chika's shoulders: "Do you have any spare clothes in your game backpack?"
"No."
Fujiwara Chika's pretty face was as red as fire; she shook her head at his words.
Only clothes produced by the game could be put into the game backpack, and problem costumes were rare; she hadn't been able to get any from blind boxes in a long time.
"What about Juju?"
Amamiya Natsuki then turned to look at the Magical Girl.
"I'm sorry." Juju shook her head and said softly, "I don't have any either."
Amamiya Natsuki mused:
"Then take off your clothes..."
This single sentence immediately made Juju puff out her pink cheeks and glare at him.
He actually wanted her to take off her clothes and give them to another girl to wear... didn't he care if she was exposed!
"Don't bully Juju." Fujiwara Chika, covering her chest and squatting on the ground, said, "Juju's clothes are so small, I can't wear them. Even if I could, I wouldn't agree to such a thing."
Amamiya Natsuki said:
"Where are your clothes?"
"My clothes should still be inside the store..." Fujiwara Chika bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth, recounting her experience with a wronged expression.
Secretary was very lucky. After entering the instance, she did not directly appear next to the kaitai, but safely appeared in a small Park.
Unfortunately, she was the only one in the Park.
Everyone else was scattered.
No phone, unable to contact others, didn't know where everyone was. Looking around, the entire small town was deserted, dead silent and eerie, the atmosphere so oppressive it was hard to breathe.
"I originally planned to stay put and wait for you to find me." Fujiwara Chika clutched the jacket, covering her chest, her tone resentful. "But you didn't react at all, so I thought you must have encountered danger and wanted to go find you to see if I could help."
Amamiya Natsuki said:
"Juju and I appeared together and were trapped in the Haunted House's dream."
In the dream, she couldn't sense the red string's existence, so she naturally couldn't respond to Amamiya Natsuki.
"That's right." Juju nodded. "I can testify... the first The Narrator that sounded was about us."
Fujiwara Chika continued:
"After I left the Park, I was still wondering where to go when I suddenly saw two white-haired old men walk into the store. I thought they weren't bad people, so I went in, wanting to ask for directions."
"But I don't know what happened, when I smelled the aroma of the food, I really wanted to eat it." Fujiwara Chika's tone was puzzled. "It was the kind of feeling I couldn't control."
"Clearly, this isn't an ordinary store," Amamiya Natsuki analyzed. "There might be some kind of mental suggestion; once you enter, it makes people involuntarily want to order food."
"Eh?" Juju was startled, tilting her small head. "Then why wasn't I affected?"
Amamiya Natsuki casually said:
"You're an employee of the store, with so many customers to attend to, and you still want to eat?"
"...I see."
Juju suddenly understood.
So, calling her Komatsu and asking her to help massage legs wasn't about bullying her, but about protecting her.
"When I took the first bite of the food, the game notified me that I had encountered a kaitai." Fujiwara Chika hugged her arms, continuing her story. "Then I discovered that the woman in the kimono had a face growing on the back of her head. Scared, I quickly hid in the restroom. Just as I was about to be found, The Narrator sounded again, saying that someone was infighting and an ignorant girl was backstabbed."
Juju covered her buttocks with both hands and glared at Amamiya Natsuki.
"That's right," Amamiya Natsuki said frankly. "It was still us."
"Eh?" Fujiwara Chika tilted her head in confusion. "But The Narrator said you guys were infighting, and there was also 'Uncle me,' and The Narrator like 'giving you a lecture'... what's going on?"
"It was an act." Amamiya Natsuki's expression was calm, without any guilt. He briefly described the situation at the time. "It turns out that The Narrator doesn't have the ability to judge the truth of people's hearts... You continue. What happened next?"
Fujiwara Chika nodded and continued:
"Later, when The Narrator sounded, the woman in the kimono turned and left. I didn't know why at the time, but now it seems she was clearly attracted by The Narrator."
"I was worried the woman would come back, so I secretly jumped out the window from the back to escape. Who knew that as soon as I landed, I turned into a fish."
"The next second, I appeared in the fish tank."
"At that time, my whole mind was blank. I had no idea what was going on. I just swam and swam in the fish tank until you guys entered the store."
"Finally, that's how it all happened."
Fujiwara Chika finished speaking in one breath.
Juju quickly grasped the key point: "Um, why did Chika-chan turn into a fish?"
"It was a koi, not an ordinary fish," Amamiya Natsuki corrected. "I think I've guessed the reason."
"Eh, what is it?"
Fujiwara Chika quickly looked over.
Amamiya Natsuki asked:
"After you finished eating, did you not pay?"
"At, at the time, the situation was very dangerous, you see. I was worried that woman would block me at the door, so I could only jump out the window to escape." Fujiwara Chika stammered, deeply ashamed of her dine-and-dash behavior. "...Is it because I didn't pay?"
"Very likely." Amamiya Natsuki nodded. "I just spent three thousand two hundred yen to buy you. How much did you spend on your order?"
"Hmm, let me calculate..." Fujiwara Chika counted on her fingers, then her eyes widened. "Exactly the same!"
"One of the store's rules," Amamiya Natsuki concluded. "Customers who dine and dash will turn into ingredients in the store."
"It actually works like that," Fujiwara Chika muttered. "If I had known, I would have paid first and then eaten."
"Probably not." Juju softly reminded her, "Money from the real world probably can't be used here. The money Natsuki just collected was all old banknotes that are no longer in circulation."
"Eh, how insidious." Fujiwara Chika puffed out her pink cheeks, gradually recovering her energy. "If I had known, I wouldn't have gone in."
"Let's go find your clothes first," Amamiya Natsuki said. "Where did you jump out the window?"
Fujiwara Chika looked around. The twilight was vast, the town desolate, and all she saw were unfamiliar buildings she couldn't identify. She said righteously:
"I don't know."
Amamiya Natsuki sighed: "Let's go, let's take a look around first."
"..."
The three of them were quite lucky. In just a few minutes, they found the girl's clothes lying on the grass behind the store.
Amamiya Natsuki swept his flashlight over them; the pink teddy bear was quite cute.
The clothes were neatly folded and had not been torn by stray cats, dogs, or other creatures.
"Quickly turn around!"
Fujiwara Chika's pretty face flushed, and she quickly shouted.
Amamiya Natsuki turned around: "Do you want me to wait for you inside the store?"
"No!"
Juju and Fujiwara Chika said in unison.
Night was about to fall, and there wasn't a single shadow to be seen on the street. Even if there were figures, they would have to worry if they were human or ghost. In short, they didn't want Amamiya Natsuki to leave at all.
"Then what are you dawdling for?" Amamiya Natsuki took charge. "Hurry up and put on your clothes."
"..."
Amamiya Natsuki naturally didn't go far. He turned around, took two steps, and stopped, responsible for vigilance and lookout. The rustling sound of dressing up came from behind him.
Juju, on the other hand, held the flashlight, providing illumination for Chika. Since they were both girls, there was no need for avoidance.
A moment later.
"Phew~ I'm dressed."
Fujiwara Chika let out a soft sigh, her voice finally becoming cheerful.
Amamiya Natsuki turned to look, seeing Fujiwara Chika pinning a bow in her bangs.
"And my jet-black bow. Other clothes can be less, but the jet-black bow must not be lost." As she spoke, Secretary pinned the bow, put her hands on her hips, and proudly raised her chin. "Full health restored on the spot!"
Juju was very curious: "Is the bow that important?"
Amamiya Natsuki said from the side:
"Because that's Chika's true form."
"What's a true form?"
"It's like the Magical Girl wand in your hand; once you lose it, you'll be stripped of your Magical Girl qualification."
"..."
Fully dressed and successfully resolving the exposure crisis, Fujiwara Chika quickly became worried about the safety of others.
"Natsuki, do you have any news about Kaguya-chan and the others?"
Fujiwara Chika asked.
"No." Amamiya Natsuki shook his head. "When I teleported into the instance, only Juju was with me."
Only half of the team was gathered; they were still missing Kaguya, Marin, and the Spy Maid Hayasaka, who was using the alias Hanamori.
Fujiwara Chika said with a worried tone:
"Should we go find everyone?"
"Finding people requires a clear goal and direction," Amamiya Natsuki said calmly. "Currently, we don't know if Kaguya and the others are entangled with kaitai. Wandering around randomly and coincidentally finding everyone is too unlikely, and the town isn't safe."
"Paper airplanes?"
Juju whispered from the side.
"There's only one paper airplane." Amamiya Natsuki shook his head again. "Kaguya-chan and the others don't have any."
"If only we had cell phones." Fujiwara Chika pursed her pink lips, her expression troubled, and she looked up, saying, "What do we do now? We can't just do nothing, can we?"
"Don't think about slacking off; there's a lot to do." Amamiya Natsuki walked forward. "First, let's go back to the store, then collect information."
When arriving in an unfamiliar small town, if you don't know anyone, what is the most important thing left?
Information.
Information.
Still information!
The town's map, rumors of kaitai in the town, whether there are any special taboos, the locations of inns and Convenience Stores, etc.—all must be gathered and mastered personally.
"Manager, we're back."
Amamiya Natsuki lifted the cloth curtain and entered the store.
As a specially appointed chef, Amamiya Natsuki's service targets were 'kaitai' guests; he didn't need to cook ordinary dishes.
Fujiwara Chika cautiously followed inside, her face quickly changed, and she said nervously:
"That feeling is back...!"
join the Church of MissRaven and become a Sequence 9: Reader p atreon.com/KeyofStars for more chapters