"Your other skill... is Song Tingbo?"
Chika quickly caught on.
All told, she only knew two skills. One was the Outlaw Renaming. The other was the sheep transformation.
"Kotoriyū-san, where is that magic mirror of yours?"
Kaguya turned her head and asked. She had clearly understood what Natsuki intended to do.
"It's in my pajama pocket." The middle-school-syndrome girl answered in a daze. "But I can't get it out."
"No need." Kaguya said. "Fujiwara—use your sheep transformation on her."
"Leave it to me."
Chika drew in a deep breath. Her pink cheeks puffed up slightly as she widened her eyes and fixed them on Natsuki, attempting to channel her skill through sheer force of gaze.
"That won't work." The pink-haired girl deflated almost immediately. "The prompt says the distance is too far—the skill can't activate. It can only be used at close range."
Hearing that, Natsuki couldn't help but turn his gaze toward Yukino Yukinoshita.
Sensing everyone looking at her, Yukino's dark brows drew together slightly. She murmured in a low voice:
"What do you need me to do?"
"Yukino-chan doesn't have to do anything at all. It's one of my skills." Chika said as she displayed her skill panel.
The skill panel was exclusive to players. Evil spirits in the game could not see it.
[Skill: Ptoo! Turn Into a Sheep!]
[Type: Active Skill]
[Description: This skill can only be used on allied players. Select one teammate and transform them into a sheep. The duration of the transformation depends on the teammate's willpower]
[Note: Song Tingbo deceived my feelings, played with my body—a despicable villain!]
"Sheep transformation..." Yukino pressed her lips together in a barely perceptible smile and spoke softly. "I understand."
"Then, one more time."
Chika widened her eyes—irises a brilliant, sky-blue so vivid it seemed deeper than the heavens themselves—and fixed them on Yukino without blinking.
"Someone is using a skill on you. Do you resist?"
Yukino Yukinoshita received the game prompt immediately.
"Accept."
The black-haired girl spoke the word silently in her mind.
The next moment.
Natsuki watched as a faint white luminescence bloomed across Yukino's body. The entire process took no more than a single second. The black-haired girl on the bone execution chair vanished—replaced by a small white lamb, its wool as white as clouds, looking extraordinarily fluffy and soft. A black butterfly-bow hair accessory was tied neatly at the right side of its temple.
A sheep that could actually be this adorable—this had to be the legendary Pretty Sheep herself.
"So cool."
Kotoriyū Rokka's eyes went wide, her little mouth falling slightly open as she let out an awed little murmur.
Having suddenly been turned into Pretty Sheep, Yukino clearly hadn't adjusted. She sat on the chair looking clumsy, turning her head left and right as though trying to orient herself. It seemed as though she wanted to speak—but all that came from her mouth was a sound impossibly soft and gentle.
"Baaaa~!"
Natsuki drew in a quiet breath. His heart very nearly skipped a beat. This was a genuine sheep sound.
Compared to cat sounds and dog sounds, the girlfriend mode of the sheep variety seemed to have its own considerable merits.
Thinking this, Natsuki instinctively glanced at Kaguya.
"Glare—"
The humiliated girl's expression was perfectly blank. She half-closed her eyes: "Turn yourself in."
"My sincerest apologies."
"..."
"Yukinoshita-san, you need to move quickly." Natsuki reminded.
Miss Spiderling, who had been perched on the ceiling this entire time without stirring, didn't mean she would stay inactive forever. This needed to be resolved fast.
Pretty Sheep Yukino had evidently retained her human ability to think. She was no mindless animal—transforming into a sheep didn't mean she actually became one. She nodded and, with clumsy little hooves, hopped down from the bone execution chair.
The chair had been designed specifically for a human body. What ill intent could a pretty little sheep possibly have?
Escaping was therefore effortless.
Stumbling onto the ground, Pretty Sheep Yukino shook her head to steady herself, then trotted over to Rokka. She found the magic mirror inside the pocket of Rokka's pajamas and clamped it firmly between her teeth.
"Kotoriyū-san." Kaguya spoke quickly. "Look at the mirror—and say again that you haven't taken off your underwear at school."
Kotoriyū Rokka blinked, and then understanding dawned on her face. The ahoge atop her head swayed back and forth: "I have not taken off my underwear at school."
The Witch's Mirror showed no reaction whatsoever. The truth.
"Humans, what exactly are you doing?"
Miss Spiderling, perched on the ceiling, asked with curiosity.
Natsuki raised his head and looked up at her, his tone even and unhurried: "We are discussing Miss Spiderling's hobbies and interests."
"My ears may be poor, but they are not deaf. You weren't discussing my hobbies at all." Miss Spiderling turned her gaze on Natsuki.
Natsuki looked surprised: "Miss Spiderling actually has ears?"
"Of course she does!"
"I've heard that a spider's ears are located on its abdomen. Is that the case?"
"Human, you certainly know quite a bit about spiders."
"Because..." Natsuki put on a grave expression. "My former dream was to become Spider-Man. Ever since I learned that Spider-Woman existed, my dream changed to becoming Spider-Knight."
"Human, something is seriously wrong with you."
"..."
While Natsuki kept Miss Spiderling occupied with conversation, Pretty Sheep Yukino had already trotted swiftly to the others, mirror clamped in her teeth.
Chika Fujiwara: "I have gone to school without underwear... why do I have to be punished again for this?!"
Verified. The truth.
Kaguya: "I have not gone to school without underwear."
Also the truth.
"Humans, what good does stalling for time do?" Miss Spiderling let out a light huff. She clearly understood what Natsuki and the others were up to—she simply couldn't be bothered to react. "The next question is another full-participation round. Please listen carefully."
"Have any of you ever... generated electricity on your own..."
Shut up! A question like that—are you not afraid of running into the Crimson King?!
At the same time.
Pretty Sheep Yukino finally arrived in front of Natsuki. Because of her small size, the only way to let him see the mirror was to hop up onto Natsuki's lap.
Up close, Natsuki could see even more clearly just how different Pretty Sheep Yukino was from an ordinary lamb.
For instance, an ordinary sheep's pupils were rectangular slits. But Pretty Sheep Yukino's eyes were large and bright—extraordinarily clear. They were unmistakably human eyes.
Natsuki's gaze swept across the mirror and settled on it. He spoke in a steady voice:
"I have not gone to school without underwear."
The Witch's Mirror showed no reaction.
The truth.
"Every single one of us has spoken the truth. Mr. Billy hasn't said a word this entire time. So..." Natsuki raised his head and looked up at the giant spider on the web. "The one who has been lying all along—is you."
"..."
Miss Spiderling suddenly fell silent.
"Think about it carefully. When you laid out the rules, you said that everyone in this room was forbidden from lying—not that we five were forbidden. It's common knowledge that spiders have their hearing organs on their legs. Yet you never corrected me or pushed back on that." Natsuki continued. "So you are not actually a spider."
The moment Natsuki finished speaking, the bone execution chairs beneath all of them let out a series of crack crack crack sounds and shattered completely.
At the same time.
A zipper suddenly appeared on the giant spider's back—like a pocket sewn into a piece of clothing. Something from inside pulled it open, and a tiny girl no bigger than a thermos bottle crawled out.
"Such a familiar feeling of déjà vu..." Chika's eyes flew wide open in an instant. "I remember now—this is a story from the Goosebumps I read as a kid!"