Chapter 10: Vengeful Spirit Classmate, Please Pay Me Hush Money
There's no such thing as a free lunch. Equivalent exchange made perfect sense.
Trading fat for food of equal weight sounded like a dream come true for countless dieters.
Too bad Chika wasn't having it.
"Absolutely not!"
The pink-haired girl tightly shielded her chest and protested, "It's not useless fat! If I get married and have a baby someday, the baby would starve without it, right?"
You're thinking way too far ahead—let's get through this first!
"Fujiwara-san, calm down. Panicking will only cloud your judgment," Kaguya said coolly, her expression as unreadable as ice atop a mountain peak. "Since we can't buy food, we have no choice but to barter. Right now, the least costly option seems to be exchanging blood for food..."
Kaguya then glanced at the hooded man smirking in the distance. "If I'm not mistaken, that's what he did."
Chika blinked hesitantly. "Like… donating blood?"
"Exactly."
"I guess I could try…" Chika mumbled. "I donated blood once before. It hurt so much I cried. Have you ever donated blood, Kaguya?"
"..."
Natsuki silently looked at the top of Kaguya's head.
A line of text quietly appeared.
[Sorry, never done it before. Terrified of needles, terrified of needles, terrified of needles… Just seeing a needle makes me super scared! I hate shots!]
Her words were hyper-rational, her expression cold as mountain snow, yet her inner turmoil was so rich—was this the legendary "tsundere" act?
No.
More like a complete character collapse.
Natsuki suddenly had a new realization.
If only we could bring pets along.
Leading a cow in would make passing this challenge a breeze—blood is acceptable, and freshly squeezed milk would naturally count as food... Too bad Fujiwara-san can't manage that.
As they spoke, a vengeful spirit girl with black hair covering her face and a school uniform stained with blood approached.
"Step back, step back."
Chika quickly tugged at Natsuki's sleeve, pulling him aside.
The vengeful spirit girl wasn't targeting the trio. She lowered her head as she reached the serving window, extended her right hand, and handed over a white bone-like coin in exchange for a plate of mystery pork cutlet rice. Silently, she turned and walked away, sitting down in a corner.
This vengeful spirit girl's body seemed unusually rigid. Clumsily picking up her chopsticks, she tried to lift a piece of unidentified meat, but before it reached her mouth, it fell to the ground with a plop.
Under Natsuki's gaze, a line of text suddenly appeared above the vengeful spirit girl's head:
[Danger, danger, danger! Good thing the head chef didn't see that, or she'd be dragged into the kitchen as ingredients.]
"Shouldn't she tie up her hair before eating?" Chika couldn't help but mutter under her breath. "I really want to help her tie it up."
Watching this, Natsuki suddenly had a bold idea.
As long as they used the currency circulating in this vengeful spirit school, they could buy food—humans were no exception.
The players had no money.
But these vengeful spirits in the cafeteria definitely did.
In that case, why not just take the money from them?
Plan successful!
"We don't have much time left," Kaguya reminded them calmly. "We can't afford to worry about others right now."
"Even if you say that, Kaguya..." Chika frowned pitifully. "They only gave us a stone bowl—this isn't donating blood, it's making us bleed out!"
"I have an idea I want to test."
Natsuki spoke thoughtfully, then strode toward the vengeful spirit girl.
"Eh?" Chika blinked. "What are you doing, Amanomiya-kun?"
Natsuki waved his hand. "You'll see in a moment."
Walking up to the vengeful spirit girl, he sat down right beside her and extended his hand, cutting straight to the chase:
"Give me hush money."
"Meow?"
The vengeful spirit girl, who had been clumsily eating, looked up in confusion.
What was this human saying?
Hush money?
Who gave him the nerve?
"You just dropped food on the ground and kicked it away instead of picking it up," Natsuki said sternly. "Wasting food in the cafeteria? Hand over the hush money, or I'll call the head chef."
"..."
The vengeful spirit girl pushed aside her hair with both hands, revealing a pair of hollow, pitch-black eye sockets. Her face was deathly pale as she rasped, "Stupid human, unless you know the head chef's name, he won't even acknowledge you."
"I see." Natsuki nodded. "Thanks for the tip."
The vengeful spirit girl grinned wickedly, leaning closer. "Stupid human, become my meal!"
Without changing his expression, Natsuki called out a name:
"Oink."
"..."
The vengeful spirit girl's smile froze instantly, her mouth hanging open in shock.
Natsuki continued:
"There's someone here wasting—"
Before she could finish speaking, the vengeful spirit girl trembled and quickly clasped her hands together: "I'm sorry, I sincerely apologize, please forgive me."
The head chef rarely emerged from the kitchen, but whenever he did, he brought terror. He despised those who wasted food the most—anyone caught doing so would be dragged into the kitchen as reserve ingredients.
Thus, the vengeful spirit girl before them promptly cowered.
Even as a spirit, she had no desire to become reserve ingredients.
"Me. Hush money. Pay up."
Natsuki unceremoniously extended his right hand.
Is bullying a vengeful spirit illegal?
Of course not.
"..."
The black-haired vengeful spirit girl swayed slightly, reluctantly pulling out a bone coin and offering it with both hands.
Natsuki took the coin, feeling its icy coolness. Despite being made of bone, its texture was smooth and silky, almost like jade.
"This is your hush money?"
Natsuki clenched the coin, dissatisfied.
Just one coin? Who do you think you're looking down on!
"I'm sorry." The vengeful spirit girl grew even more pitiful, nearly on the verge of tears. "This is all the money I have."
Having only enough for one last meal—it was enough to move anyone to tears.
Seeing the words [Truly, not a drop left] float above the spirit girl's head, Natsuki pocketed the coin and stood to leave.
"Um..." Chika, who had been eavesdropping nearby, whispered while clutching her chest, "This feels like a delinquent extorting pocket money from an elementary schooler."
That oversized vengeful spirit was hardly an elementary schooler, though.
Natsuki turned to her with an impassive expression. "Fujiwara, it's time to donate blood."
"I'm sorry, I was wrong."
Chika quickly apologized—wisdom lay in knowing when to yield.
"So this is possible too..." Kaguya pressed her lips together, swiftly analyzing. "That veteran player mentioned every game scenario has hidden rules. The hidden rule here is trading with the vengeful students?"
"There was no trading at all," Chika couldn't help but mutter. "It was just Amanomiya bullying the poor spirit—she was practically in tears!"