"Not bad, being vigilant is a good thing." Natsuki raised his hands, "When a girl is out and about, she really needs to protect herself, and not be tricked away by a bottle of Ramune."
Kaguya's delicate brows furrowed slightly, and she said warily:
"…What do you mean?"
Of course, he was talking about the time in the zoo when she was tricked away by a bottle of Ramune!
"Just wait a little longer, and you'll naturally remember." Natsuki waved his hand, looked down, and said, "The water is rising. Let's go out first and see what's going on."
When Natsuki used the Accio to grab Kaguya earlier, he had already conveniently planted a mushroom.
The next thing to do was to patiently wait for the mushroom to mature.
Although Kaguya hadn't been seen for a long time, to be honest, she wasn't cute at all.
More importantly, it wasn't just him and Kaguya who were caught in the nightmare; Chika, Tsubame, and others were also there. Finding everyone as soon as possible was the top priority.
"…"
Seeing Natsuki push the door and walk out of the room, Kaguya pursed her lips, a hint of hesitation flashing across her cold, pretty face, and she quietly followed behind him.
The water in the room was indeed increasing.
The murky, cold accumulated water had only reached their calves before, but now, without them realizing it, it had spread to their knees… Although it was unclear what had happened, it was certainly not a place to stay long.
Kaguya didn't actually believe what Natsuki had just said, but being in a strange and eerie environment, huddling together was human nature.
That's right, she needed to make good use of this man!
"Is there water in the hallway too?"
Natsuki gently pushed open the door and entered the hallway, finding the entire corridor submerged in cold, murky accumulated water.
Various debris floated on the water's surface: slippers, shampoo bottles, shower gel, and so on, in disarray.
Natsuki lowered his head, looking at a white slipper floating past his leg. It was very ordinary, but he vaguely felt something was off, though he couldn't pinpoint what it was for a moment.
Splash.
Natsuki reached out and simply fished the slipper out of the water, staring at it carefully to see if it would trigger [Hint].
"Did you find anything?"
Kaguya turned her head upon hearing this. Seeing that Natsuki had only picked up a white slipper, a hint of disappointment appeared on her pretty face, and she exhaled lightly, cautiously observing her surroundings.
"Our room number is… 502?"
The light in the hallway was dim, with almost no lighting, making it barely possible to see things clearly.
Kaguya looked down at the door, finding the room number submerged in the water, almost indistinguishable. She had to strain her eyes to barely make it out.
"Strange, the position is wrong."
"The room number should be above the door, why is it below?"
"And the entire corridor is flooded… Did we encounter a great flood?"
"This is the fifth floor, what kind of situation would cause a flood to reach the fifth floor?"
Kaguya furrowed her delicate brows, seriously analyzing the situation.
Unfortunately, she had no clue, and the more she thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
The false memories implanted by the nightmare abruptly stopped during the discussion of the school trip. Upon waking again, she found herself in the room, completely unaware of what had happened, with only the rising accumulated water flooding the entire room and corridor in her sight.
And accumulated water that completely submerged the fifth floor was hard to accept no matter how she thought about it. Had a world-ending super flood broken out while she was asleep?
"Perhaps this is not the fifth floor."
Natsuki exhaled lightly, throwing the water-soaked white slipper back into the accumulated water.
Under his gaze, [Hint] was indeed triggered:
[After careful observation, you found that the style of the slipper was wrong; it was not a proper household slipper…]
"Natsuki-kun, what did you find?"
Kaguya turned her head to look at him.
"The situation might be bad." Natsuki rubbed his temples, already having a guess in his mind. He didn't keep her in suspense, turning to look at Kaguya, his voice serious, "We are very likely not in a building, but in a ship."
"Eh?"
Kaguya was slightly startled, not understanding why Natsuki would conclude that they were in a ship.
However, a few seconds later, Kaguya quickly understood the key, and an expression of incredible shock appeared on her pretty face. Even Kaguya showed a lapse in composure, taking a flustered half-step back, saying in disbelief:
"H-how is that possible… Such a thing simply can't happen?!"
"The facts are right before us." Natsuki's tone was calm, "Where I woke up just now was in the bathroom, and when I looked up, I saw the bathtub fixed above my head… No one would install a bathtub above their head, would they?"
"And the slipper just now, that's a common slipper in hotels or inns, not a regular household style."
"The height of the room number is only at our knees, which is very unscientific."
Natsuki walked forward as he spoke, arriving at the door of another room. He removed a towel hanging on the door: "See, the room numbers are indeed not uniform."
"And look at our ceiling. Even if the circuits short-circuited due to water and couldn't provide lighting, there should still be lighting fixtures, right?"
"However, there are none at all."
"The reason is simple."
"Above our heads is actually the original corridor."
"Also, just now in the room, I found an ashtray with a cruise ship's custom logo."
"So…" Natsuki said calmly, "We are most likely in a capsized cruise ship, which is why everything we see is inverted."
Kaguya: "…"
Kaguya remained silent, only biting her lips tightly with her pearly teeth, almost drawing blood.
Eliminate all impossible options, and the last remaining option is the answer.
Although she didn't want to believe it, all the evidence proved that Natsuki's guess was not wrong… The hallway in front of them was not a corridor, but the hull of a ship, and she was in a capsized cruise ship.
"It tastes a bit salty…" Natsuki licked his finger again, feeling a bitter, salty taste spread across his tongue, then said, "It's seawater, alright."
"Now… what do we do?"
Even Kaguya couldn't help but feel bewildered and helpless. With her memories blocked, Kaguya was just an ordinary person at this moment.
"Don't panic." Natsuki comforted her, "The situation is what it is, panicking won't help."
Kaguya: "…"
Is that supposed to be comforting?
It'll only make people angry!
"Determining the situation we're in is actually a good thing." Natsuki continued, "All we need to do next is escape from the giant ship."
If everyone were ordinary people, waking up to find water everywhere, they would instinctively run to higher ground. By the time they realized they were in a capsized cruise ship, it would be too late to escape.
Unfortunately, Natsuki used an unorthodox method to skip ahead. Once the environment was determined, the next steps became much simpler.
Kaguya's delicate brows were tightly furrowed, and her pretty face was pale as she said:
"According to what you said, the cruise ship has already capsized in the water. How can we possibly escape…?"
"Don't forget what I just told you, we are super-powered individuals." Natsuki's tone was confident. He took out a bottle of Witch Potion and handed it to Kaguya, "Drink a potion first to activate night vision, and I'll find everyone."
Kaguya instinctively took the potion, her expression hesitant.
An unknown liquid, with no production labels, not even a manufacturing date—a "three-noes" liquid. Should she drink it?
And something about drinking it to activate night vision… Isn't that too exaggerated?
On the other side.
Natsuki wasn't idle either; he began searching for the lost girls.
The method was quite simple.
Natsuki took out a megaphone, held it directly to his mouth, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly:
"Chika, Tsubame, Juju, Shoko, Yukino, Haruno… If you hear me, answer me, the rescue team is here!"
Kaguya: "…"
Strange.
Too strange.
Why is this guy only shouting girls' names?!
It turned out that using a loudspeaker to find people was simple, crude, and effective.
The shouts echoed through the hallway, and soon a voice responded:
"I, I'm here…"
"It's Tsubame."
Natsuki instantly identified the owner of the voice and immediately walked towards it, not forgetting to turn to Kaguya: "Follow me, watch your step and the floating objects."
Kaguya didn't speak, pursing her lips, and silently followed him.
Following the sound, Natsuki quickly arrived in front of a room on the same floor. The door seemed to be blocked by something, allowing only a small gap to open.
"I'm here." Tsubame's pretty face was pale, and she was also soaking wet. She peered out through the door crack, saying nervously, "The door is blocked, I can't open it."
Natsuki instructed:
"Tsubame, take a few steps back, don't stand at the door."
"Okay." Tsubame nodded quickly, stepped back, and then said, "Alright."
Natsuki didn't waste words, directly leaped forward and kicked.
Boom.
The door immediately fell down, splashing into the accumulated water, creating murky, cold ripples.
"Tsubame, you can come out now." Natsuki stepped into the room.
"Thank you…" Tsubame thanked him gratefully, blinked, and hesitated, "Are you Natsuki-kun?"
In her false memories, they were just ordinary classmates.
"It's me." Natsuki nodded and said, "Tsubame, have you seen Aoi-chan?"
"Eh, Aoi-chan?" Tsubame was puzzled, "Who is that?"
Natsuki said seriously:
"She's your daughter."
Tsubame: "…"
She was still just a high school student, and she hadn't even had a boyfriend, so how could she have something like a daughter!
"Aoi-chan, are you here?"
Natsuki called out his daughter's name a few times, but there was no response. It seemed that she and Tsubame were not in the same room.
"Um, Natsuki-kun, do you know what happened?"
Tsubame covered her chest with both hands, clearly a little nervous and uneasy, "When I opened my eyes, I found the whole room was flooded, my phone was gone, I couldn't make calls, and I couldn't remember where this place was…"
"I still need to find others."
Natsuki said, "Let Kaguya explain to you."
"Eh?"
Tsubame's eyes widened, and only then did she see a figure standing behind Natsuki, which was Kaguya, "Is it really Kaguya?"
As popular beautiful girls in the academy, although they had no direct interaction, they both knew of each other's existence.
"…It's me."
Kaguya responded softly.
She had previously suspected whether everything in front of her was a reality show or something similar, but this suspicion gradually lessened, and she had slowly accepted Natsuki's explanation.
Natsuki raised his right hand, wanting to give Tsubame a Sin Mushroom, but halfway through, he realized that he didn't have enough mushrooms.
The Sin mushrooms had a storage limit, and he rarely planted mushrooms, so he hadn't paid attention to the limit issue, but after exploring so many rooms earlier, he had unknowingly used up all his mushrooms; the one he had just planted for Kaguya was the last one.
This meant that if he wanted to plant mushrooms for others again, he would have to wait for them to be born one by one, and he couldn't plant them for everyone all at once.
"Kaguya, what happened here?"
Seeing Kaguya, Tsubame instinctively moved closer.
Natsuki was a strange boy, so naturally, a girl made her feel more at ease in comparison.
"I…"
Kaguya parted her lips, unsure whether to speak, as it sounded so unbelievable no matter how she put it.
"Let's talk somewhere else."
Natsuki quickly said, "There might be other dangers in the water; let's go upstairs… No, downstairs."
Kaguya and Tsubame naturally had no objections, and the two girls followed behind him, walking forward unsteadily.
A moment later.
The three arrived at the end of the hallway.
"Eh eh eh?"
Tsubame's eyes widened, "What's with this staircase? It's too strange, isn't it?"
A normal staircase naturally has the handrail facing upwards for convenience, but the handrail of the staircase in front of them was clearly facing downwards, and the steps were also below, making it look awkward and strange no matter how you looked at it.
Looking at the awkward staircase, Kaguya bit her lip, having to admit the fact that the cruise ship was inverted, but she still held a glimmer of hope, wondering if everything in front of her was some kind of prank reality show.
The three quickly went upstairs, and the hallway was finally free of standing water, though the light remained dim and eerie, the entire hallway felt heavy and unclear.
Natsuki used the same trick again, taking out a megaphone and loudly calling out the girls' names, and soon there was a response.
"You two rest here for a bit."
Natsuki looked at Tsubame and Kaguya, "I'm going to find people."
Watching Natsuki's figure disappear into the darkness, Kaguya exhaled lightly, her eyes quickly firming, and she drank the bottle of 'Three No' potion.
Gulp, gulp, gulp~
After drinking it, in just over ten seconds, Kaguya quickly felt a coolness flowing through her eyes, and she subconsciously closed them.
When Kaguya opened her eyes again, the dim world instantly became clear; without the obstruction of the standing water, the entire corridor was unobstructed, with inverted room numbers, streetlights on the floor, and so on… the Miss no longer had any doubt.
"Phew…"
Kaguya exhaled lightly, finally accepting the facts, and began to explain the situation to Tsubame.
"H-how could this be…"
Tsubame's eyes widened in disbelief, clearly unable to accept reality, "How could such a thing be possible?"
"I don't believe it either."
Kaguya pursed her lips, "But that's the reality."
At the same time.
Natsuki had already followed the sound to the room door.
"Juju, open the door."
"Who are you?"
Juju hid in the room and did not open the door, being quite wary, "Why do you know… know that name?"
Natsuki smiled and said:
"Not only do I know the name Juju, but I also know that you've liked magical girls since you were little, your younger sister is named Shinju, and your home address is… Now can you open the door?"
"…"
After a brief silence.
A dull thud sounded from behind the door, as if something was blocking it.
"Pervert!"
"Stalker!"
"Kidnapper!"
"Let me go quickly, or I'll call the police!"
Clearly, from Juju's perspective, the reason she appeared in an unfamiliar environment was entirely because Natsuki had kidnapped her, after all, the 'Juju' account had quite a few followers, and it was quite normal for one or two perverted fans to appear among them.
Natsuki said eerily: "You don't even have a phone, how are you going to call the police?"
Juju: "…"
Juju was probably hiding behind the door, blocking it with her body, and forcing the door open would inevitably be dangerous. Natsuki pondered for a moment and quickly said: "Shinju is locked in another room by me, so open the door quickly and let me in… You don't want Shinju to be harmed, do you?"
Juju behind the door immediately panicked: "What do you want to do to Shinju?!"
"Of course, it's something fun."
Natsuki walked, intentionally making thudding sounds.
"Y-you come back!"
Juju completely panicked and quickly opened the door, "Don't touch Shinju, come at me if you have the guts!"
As an older sister, although her physique was vastly different from her younger sister Shinju, when danger arose, Juju would still unhesitatingly step forward.
Click.
The door opened a crack.
Juju's eyes were misty, biting her silver teeth, her small fists clenched tightly, her small face filled with an expression of resignation: "Y-you come in… As long as you don't hurt Shinju, you can do anything to me…"
Natsuki reached out and rubbed Juju's little head, saying gently: "Don't worry, I was just tricking you; Shinju isn't here, I just wanted you to open the door… Come back and regroup first."
Juju rubbed her eyes, looked up with her small face, and found that outside the door was not a fierce, perverted middle-aged man, but an exceptionally handsome boy. She hesitated and said:
"You… really didn't capture Shinju?"
"Of course…"
Natsuki paused slightly, "I was tricking you."
Juju: "…"
"Senpai, Kaguya, come over here."
Natsuki turned his head and shouted, "Explain the situation to Juju! I'll continue looking for people."
"C-coming."
Tsubame quickly agreed, and walked over with Kaguya.
Watching Natsuki turn around and leave without hesitation, Juju's small face couldn't help but show a bewildered expression.
What's going on?
He's just leaving?
She had clearly prepared herself for all sorts of torment and manipulation… Wait, wait!
Only when Kaguya and Tsubame approached did Juju clearly see their faces, and her eyes widened in surprise.
These two girls are too beautiful!
Especially the pink-haired girl, not only is she beautiful, but her chest is also super big… Even girls would want to touch them.
With them here, why would he still detain her?
Juju fell into confusion.
Standing in front of Tsubame and Kaguya, Juju didn't feel that she had any attractive qualities; whether in appearance or figure, she couldn't compare at all.
Unless… that boy is a perverted loli-con.