Full party of villains.
"That spirit classmate was too poor. I only borrowed one coin."
Natsuki sighed.
"You just called it hush money!"
Chika couldn't help but whisper her retort.
"We don't have much time. Don't waste it on trivial matters." Natsuki remained unfazed. "We need to keep borrowing money."
"We should borrow as much as possible." Kaguya had her left arm crossed over her chest, her right hand supporting her chin as she calmly analyzed. "Since this school has a 'currency' system, places other than the cafeteria should accept it too..."
"Ideally, we should borrow from everyone in the cafeteria." Lady Kaguya lowered her gaze, lightly pressing her pink lips together. Her voice carried the timbre of darkness, making her look even more frightening than the vengeful spirits. "I've heard a saying: money makes even ghosts turn the millstone... As long as you become the one who controls the capital, you can control everything."
"Kaguya is so scary!"
Chika hugged herself.
Natsuki nodded in agreement. "So scary."
Chika continued: "Exploiting even vengeful spirits—evil capitalist!"
Natsuki: "Evil capitalist."
I was just thinking about borrowing enough to get by, but you're already planning to extort the entire cafeteria. As expected of an evil mega-capitalist!
"Let's split up." Natsuki quickly decided. "Fujiwara-san goes with Shinomiya-san. I'll work alone."
Extorting spirits wasn't against the law. There was no reason to refuse.
Natsuki wholeheartedly agreed with the saying about money making ghosts turn millstones. With enough money, maybe he really could strut around the vengeful spirit campus.
And even if not, at a critical moment he could use the "scatter coins" technique to create an escape opportunity.
In any case, the more the better.
"Kaguya-chan, are we really going to extort people?" Chika asked quietly.
"It's hush money." Kaguya corrected her.
"It means the same thing." Chika whispered her complaint. "We're going to become campus villains."
"..."
Natsuki didn't listen to the two girls' murmuring. He walked over to another spirit student sitting in a corner.
This spirit was a male student with crimson eyes, his face covered in crisscrossing wounds. He had only one arm, with black mist-like substance flowing from the stump. He looked quite terrifying.
"I. Hush money. Pay up."
Natsuki sat down beside the boy, his expression unchanged as he extended his right hand.
If this had been before yesterday, he definitely couldn't have been this calm. But after seeing countless evil spirits, he had unknowingly grown accustomed to them.
The spirit boy before him was scary, sure, but at least he still had a human form. Many of those twisted things in reality didn't even have human shapes. Compared to that giant vengeful infant from this morning, this spirit boy was practically handsome.
"..."
The spirit boy said nothing. His head suddenly bent at a ninety-degree angle as cold, crimson eyes stared at Natsuki. His mouth opened, revealing cruel, saw-like teeth inside.
"What are you looking at?"
Natsuki pointed under the table. "That's food you dropped, isn't it?"
"How dare you throw food around in the cafeteria? Did you forget the head chef's rules?"
At the mention of the head chef, the spirit boy paused, a hint of hesitation clearly crossing his face.
But this male spirit was obviously harder to fool. After a brief moment of hesitation, the cold aura around him suddenly intensified. His voice was icy, as if it could freeze a person solid:
"You're lying to me. A human couldn't possibly know the head chef's name..."
Natsuki cut him off directly.
"Oin—"
The spirit boy frantically stopped moving.
How is this possible?
This outsider actually knows the head chef's true name?
Danger danger danger.
If he really calls the head chef out of the kitchen, I'll definitely be dragged in as reserve ingredients!
"I'm sorry, please forgive me."
The spirit boy's expression shifted rapidly as he quickly bowed his head in apology.
When under someone else's roof, you have no choice but to lower your head.
Vengeful spirits were no different.
Apologizing was just losing face. Not apologizing meant becoming reserve ingredients.
"I. Hush money. Pay up."
Natsuki extended his right hand.
"..."
The spirit boy silently fished three bone coins from his pocket and handed them over.
Three coins right off the bat. Quite generous.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely keep my mouth shut. I guarantee it on my honor."
Natsuki pocketed the coins with satisfaction.
The spirit boy trembled with rage, blood seeping from the corners of his eyes.
You're extorting even vengeful spirits—you don't have any honor to begin with!
Natsuki stood up. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the spirit girl from earlier brushing her hair aside and sneaking glances their way, clearly gloating.
You're a broke ghost with only one coin to your name. What right do you have to laugh at others?!
It seemed that not just humans, but vengeful spirits also had the trait of finding joy in others' misfortune. When other spirits suffered, they could feel happy about it.
Seeing Natsuki look her way, the spirit girl hurriedly lowered her hair and sat with her head down.
Natsuki didn't go back to bully her. He continued searching for his next target.
One trick to rule them all.
The fox borrowing the tiger's might worked wonderfully. The pig-headed head chef was basically a god. Natsuki went around collecting hush money, and not a single spirit student dared refuse.
"What's going on with those three players?"
"They're actually asking spirits for money?"
"Could they be borrowing it?"
"Idiot. Spirits aren't philanthropists—they'd never lend money to humans. They must have found a hidden way to survive."
"..."
The other players in the cafeteria were all shocked, staring with their jaws dropped.
Unfair!
We had to trade our blood for food, but these three are having such an easy time?
One player got restless and tried to copy them, using the same method to demand hush money. But when he couldn't say the pig-headed butcher's true name, the enraged spirit quickly tore him apart. His body dissolved into mist and dissipated in the cafeteria.
Seeing this, everyone else calmed down.
At the same time.
"Amamiya-kun, help help help help!"
Chika's cry for help suddenly reached his ears.
Natsuki looked over and found her and Kaguya with their wrists grabbed by a female spirit. The situation looked dire.
"I didn't secretly throw away any food. Even if the head chef comes out, I'm not afraid." The female spirit's face was pale, her eyes pitch black, showing no expression whatsoever. Her voice was cold and unsettling. "You tried to extort me. I'm going to eat you."
Demanding hush money required caution. After all, it was like negotiating with a tiger—these evil spirits weren't pushovers. One wrong move and you could become the unlucky one.
Clearly, Kaguya and Chika's luck had been terrible.
Clatter.
Natsuki walked over, raised his hand, and flipped the plate. Food spilled everywhere.
The female spirit raised her head in confusion.
"You're wasting food now." Natsuki calmly pointed at the food on the table.
Hearing this, Chika's eyes went wide as she blurted out:
"Whoa, the thirty-sixth stratagem—framing someone!"