"Earthbound spirits are very rare. They appear as glowing white humanoid figures, and apparently they can only remain in places they were deeply attached to during their lives."
The girl's voice was timid as she continued sharing information. "I have a close friend whose mother passed away a long time ago. Recently, I went to her house to hang out, and I saw her mother had become an earthbound spirit. She looked almost exactly the same as when she was alive—I could even hear her speaking."
"Her mother said my friend always stays home alone and is very lonely. She hoped I could invite her out to play more often... I didn't dare respond. I pretended I couldn't see her."
"I don't know what would happen if she realized I could see her."
So that's how it is.
Natsuki nodded slightly.
So Miko's father was an earthbound spirit—no wonder he was completely different from the other wandering malevolent spirits.
Unfortunately, without knowing the specifics about earthbound spirits, pretending not to see them was probably the best choice.
"...Dad."
A soft murmur suddenly reached his ears.
Natsuki looked toward the sound and saw the chuunibyou girl Rikka's eyes slightly reddened, a hazy mist welling up in them.
The beast-girl spirit sounded surprised. "She's actually calling you 'Dad'?"
"Don't spout nonsense," Natsuki said, exasperated. "She's obviously not talking about me."
"That's not necessarily true." Miss Spirit snorted coldly. "Don't think I don't know—you human males love making women call you 'Daddy.' There's even an industry called 'papakatsu'..."
She even knew about compensated dating? What an up-to-date, current-events-following, motivated vengeful spirit!
Natsuki was curious. "How do you know so much?"
"A human appeared in my ward before. I was bored at the time, so I made her tell me stories to pass the time." Miss Spirit had now developed the instinct to chew on chives while talking, her words slightly muffled. "That cowardly human said she was an author writing a light novel. I can't quite remember the title... something like 'Catching the Weakness of a Papakatsu High School Girl and Forcing Her to Play Dog-Walking Games.'"
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Cao Cao waves his sleeve dismissively.jpg
Such a trashy title would never pass the review process!
Meanwhile.
"Rikka, what's wrong?"
Chika Fujiwara asked with concern.
"I want to go home." Rikka Takanashi rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, the ahoge on top of her head drooping listlessly. "Dad must be all alone back in our hometown, waiting for me and my sister to come home."
Chika blinked, then reached out to gently pat Rikka's head, her voice gentle. "Don't cry, Rikka-chan. If you're worried, then go home and visit. But please be careful."
"Mom... earthbound spirit..."
Kaguya, hearing this information, silently pressed her right hand against her chest. Her long eyelashes cast shadows across her pretty face.
"Um... may I have some food, please?"
The girl asked cautiously.
Kaguya let out a soft breath and turned her face to the side. "Amamiya-kun."
"Copy that."
Natsuki nodded.
The deal was complete. Next came the milking.
The beast-girl spirit sat propped against the hospital bed, chewing on chives while issuing fierce threats. "Eighteen times! Eighteen people total, and you haven't let me rest for even a minute! I've memorized every single one of you humans!"
"Yes, yes." Natsuki's tone was dismissive. "So, do you want us to put the blindfold on you or not?"
"I'm definitely going to eat you!"
"..."
After drinking a glass of milk, the hunger status quickly cleared. The player girl thanked them gratefully and was about to take her leave.
"Wait a moment." Kaguya crossed her arms, her tone cool. "There's one more thing."
"Huh?"
"Describe the 'roommate' sharing your ward. The more detailed the information, the better."
The player girl looked surprised. "What are you planning to do?"
"It's better to be prepared." Kaguya turned her head slightly toward Chika Fujiwara. "Fujiwara."
"Coming!"
Chika had already begun her duties as secretary ahead of time. She approached the girl and handed her a sheet of paper. "Please begin."
The player girl looked down and discovered it was a hand-drawn survey form—ward number, identity of the roommate spirit, what the spirit demanded, speculation about the spirit, and so on... It was enough to make one's head spin.
Wasn't this supposed to be a horror game?
Everyone else was walking on eggshells, desperately trying to survive. Why did these people have the leisure to make survey forms?
"Please hurry," Chika kindly reminded her. "The corridor is about to go dark again."
"I'm sorry."
The player girl instinctively bowed in apology, then accepted the pen and sat down at the table. With complicated and subtle feelings, she began filling out the survey.
Moments later.
"I've finished."
She handed over the form with both hands, then quickly said goodbye and left.
Darkness descended.
The door closed, and trading finally came to an end for now.
"Finally, no more chives." The beast-girl spirit lay sprawled on the hospital bed, her face wearing an expression of utter life-is-meaningless despair, like a toy on the verge of breaking. "I almost threw up."
Don't worry—there's no way you could throw up.
According to the law of conservation of energy, all the chives you ate have already been converted into energy.
To be safe, Natsuki remained seated beside the beast-girl spirit, keeping watch. On the surface, she appeared to have become completely obedient—even lying flat and giving up—but she was still a vengeful spirit. He had to stay cautious.
One bite from that mouth full of serrated teeth would probably crush bone and all.
"Um, what do we do next?"
Asuka, the second girl who had chosen to cling to the group, raised her right hand and asked quietly.
"Compile the intelligence, analyze the clues, extract the key elements." Kaguya rapidly scanned through the survey forms in her hands, not even looking up. "Intelligence is the most valuable thing. Sitting behind closed doors making wild guesses is meaningless. Conducting big-data analysis and integration is the correct approach to completing missions."
In fact, every player who had come to trade for food had filled out a survey. These forms didn't involve personal privacy, so there was no reason to refuse. Many people had even been quite cooperative, hoping that Natsuki's group would come pay them a friendly visit.
"Ahem... That makes a lot of sense."
Asuka Kujo coughed twice, feeling a bit out of her depth. She didn't really understand what was being said, but it sounded impressive.
As expected of the experts—she'd definitely made the right choice latching onto them!
Kaguya read remarkably fast and quickly finished all the survey forms. She then handed the stack to Chika Fujiwara. "Everyone take a look, then share your thoughts."
A decision-maker needed to be decisive and authoritative.
But before that, they needed to gather opinions from all sides.
"We have to share our thoughts too?"
Asuka's feelings grew even more complicated. Why did this feel like a leadership meeting to discuss work?
The tone of this horror game was getting more and more off!
Moments later.
"Here you go, Natsuki." Secretary Fujiwara handed over the stack of survey forms. "I'm done reading."
Natsuki accepted the forms and began reviewing them carefully.
The first survey form's roommate was a succubus.
Dark skin.
Fangs.
A pair of demon wings on her back, plus a tail.
Very revealing clothing.
Eyes with frightening red vertical pupils.
And finally, a note left by the unlucky player:
"—I feel like it wants to eat me, but I'm a girl!"