"Now there's evidence." Natsuki pointed at the table. "This is the food you wasted."
"You're framing me! You're the one who spilled it!"
The spirit girl couldn't help but protest.
"Please don't joke around." Natsuki said with a straight face. "We're just pitiful, weak, and helpless humans. How would we dare flip your plate? Who do you think the head chef will believe?"
"Shameless!!"
The spirit girl with pitch-black eyes trembled with rage, tears nearly falling.
What was wrong with this world?
Demanding hush money wasn't enough—now they were directly framing her? This boy was even more terrifying than vengeful spirits!
Human anger only lasts three seconds. If it doesn't explode within those three seconds, they won't go berserk.
Vengeful spirits were probably the same.
Though this spirit girl was trembling with rage, she hadn't gone berserk. She had clearly caved.
In that case...
"First, let go of my friends."
Natsuki pried open the spirit girl's pale, icy fingers and pulled Kaguya and Chika behind him. Then he extended his right hand. "Hush money. Pay up."
"..."
The spirit girl clenched her fists, black mist roiling around her body like a volcano about to erupt. She trembled for a while before finally swallowing her anger and handing over the hush money.
"She looks like she's about to cry." Chika whispered. "Are we going too far?"
"We definitely are." Natsuki's voice was cold as he rolled up his sleeves. "Only giving one coin as hush money? That's an insult. We can't just let this slide."
"No, no." Chika quickly grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him away. "Let's go, now!"
"..."
The cafeteria wasn't full.
Besides a few unlucky players, there were over a dozen students from the vengeful spirit school. Natsuki quickly discovered that these spirit students were genuinely poor.
Some only had one coin. Even the wealthy ones had no more than three or four. Truly tragic.
"That's everyone."
The three soon regrouped at the serving window.
"We don't have much time." Natsuki said. "Let's finish the dining task quickly."
Kaguya's expression remained cool and composed, her tone steady. "Ten minutes left."
"Hey, what does Amamiya-kun want to eat?"
Chika asked curiously.
"Honestly, I don't want to eat any of it." Natsuki picked up a bone coin, tossed it into the air, then caught it with a slap. "Heads up... I'll have the borscht."
"Wait, both sides of these coins look exactly the same." Chika couldn't help but point out. "There's no heads or tails, is there?"
"Watson, you've actually found the blind spot."
"I'm not Watson! Call me Holmes."
"..."
Natsuki calmly handed over a coin. "Mr. Head Chef, one borscht please."
"Please wait."
The pig-headed butcher took the coin and soon handed over a bowl of borscht with unknown ingredients. Black mist floated on the surface, occasionally coalescing into black skulls.
"Mr. Head Chef." Chika raised her right hand, her voice bright. "I'll have a borscht too. When I was in elementary school, I had a cold one winter that wouldn't go away. Mom made me drink herbal medicine, and it looked pretty much like this borscht."
Hey, herbal medicine tastes bad, sure, but it doesn't have weird skulls floating in it!
Money for goods.
The pig-headed butcher only cared about coins and didn't mind their human identities at all. It quickly handed over another bowl of borscht.
"Kaguya-chan, what are you having?" Chika asked.
"I..."
Kaguya's pink lips moved slightly, a rare look of hesitation crossing her face. Honestly, both dishes looked absolutely terrible. Even the guard dogs at the Shinomiya estate wouldn't eat this.
But there was no choice.
"I'll have the borscht." Kaguya took a light breath and maintained her cool expression.
At least she could follow Chika's lead—close her eyes and gulp it down in one go.
Food collected.
The three walked to a corner and sat down.
"Thanks for the food."
Chika pressed her palms together and said softly, a miserable expression on her face. "I already had tamagoyaki and omurice this morning, drank two glasses of milk, then snuck a baumkuchen roll. If I eat more now, will I get fat?"
She's worried about getting fat at a time like this? Her thought process really is different from normal people!
"Don't worry." Kaguya looked at her coldly. "It's less than the snacks you secretly eat during class. Even if it turns to fat, it'll just go to your chest."
Chika covered her chest, her tone troubled. "I'd rather it go to my arms and thighs. My chest is so heavy now—I can't even bend down to tie my shoes comfortably anymore."
Crack.
The chopsticks in Kaguya's hand nearly snapped.
Natsuki ignored the two girls' whispering. He looked down at the borscht before him. After staring at it for a few seconds, a line of text slowly appeared.
[Borscht of Unknown Ingredients. No toxic side effects. Safe to consume. Restores stamina. Inhaling too much of the mist may cause hallucinations. Please maintain a clear mind while drinking]
"So it is edible."
Natsuki relaxed.
Those unlucky players had already gotten their food earlier. Some had even eaten more than half, and they looked lively with no signs of dropping dead. Now completely at ease, Natsuki lifted the bowl and took a small sip of the borscht.
Bland and tasteless, like plain water.
Despite the floating mist, he couldn't feel any temperature.
If only it were a bit spicier, a bit hotter...
The thought crossed his mind unconsciously.
"Hm?"
When he took his second sip, Natsuki raised an eyebrow.
The borscht had suddenly developed a spicy kick and warmth.
What's going on?
Natsuki quickly figured it out—this must be the "hallucination" he'd just read about.
Fundamentally, it was still just ordinary borscht, but it would generate hallucinations based on the drinker's thoughts. No wonder everyone in the cafeteria, whether spirit students or unlucky players, looked like they were eating bitter herbs. If your mind believed the borscht would taste terrible, it would only get worse.
"So bitter! It's killing me!"
Chika's voice reached his ears.
Natsuki looked up and found the pink-haired girl sticking out her tongue, her right hand fanning in front of her face.
"You drank it all in one go?" Natsuki was shocked.
"Mom always said herbal medicine has to be drunk in one gulp." Chika lifted her chin proudly. "Sipping it little by little only makes it taste worse. So I pinched my nose and chugged it."
She actually found the correct solution. An idiot who'd survived this long must have luck far beyond ordinary people.
Natsuki suddenly noticed something was very wrong with Kaguya.
The ice-cold, long-haired girl was biting her lower lip, saying nothing. Her right hand was frozen in midair. In her wine-red eyes, mist was gathering, and glistening dewdrops were clearly swirling inside—looking like they would spill over at any moment.
[So scary so scary so scary so scary...]
Kaguya Limited Edition: Trembling in Fear.jpg
Click to expand.