"Choose one candy."
A cold, raspy voice quietly spoke.
"Huh? Who's talking?" Chika grew nervous.
"It's your 'neighbor' next door." Natsuki looked at the pale hand extending from beneath the stall. "Just like you described—holding two candies, one red, one blue, asking me to choose."
Chika raised her voice. "There really is someone next door!"
"Obviously it's a vengeful spirit." Natsuki couldn't help but retort. "The hand is that pale with scars all over it. How did you even mistake it?"
"I'm sorry." Chika was quite guilty, stammering. "Amamiya-kun, have you seen that street experiment?"
"The one where someone walks up to a person on the phone and asks them to hold something, and no matter what it is, they'll take it."
"I wasn't thinking much. Someone suddenly reached their hand over, and I just automatically took it."
"Now isn't the time to discuss this." Kaguya's voice was cool. "The one next door... why suddenly give us candy? What happens after accepting it?"
Unsolicited kindness means ulterior motives.
Kaguya was quite wary.
She wouldn't even eat candy from strangers, let alone something from a vengeful spirit.
Hearing Kaguya's question, the cold, raspy voice actually answered:
"Blue for body, red for lifespan."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
Chika was curious.
Under Natsuki's gaze, text hints had already appeared:
"Choosing the blue candy requires payment of a body organ. The red candy requires payment of lifespan."
Taking a spirit's candy naturally required paying a corresponding price. Made sense.
"Th-that's so unfair!" Chika couldn't help but cry out. "It's just candy! The price is way too high!"
"Choose one candy."
The pale, bloodless hand waved at Natsuki again, a hint of impatience in the voice.
Natsuki's expression remained calm and collected. He suddenly asked:
"Why can I only choose one?"
The voice from the last stall paused. "What do you mean?"
Natsuki said seriously: "I choose to take both."
"...That's acceptable."
The spirit in the stall was silent for two seconds. "I'll give you both."
"Hold on, I have more questions." Natsuki didn't reach for the candy. "Is your candy past its expiration date?"
"..."
The spirit behind the stall was completely dumbfounded.
What was this human even talking about?
Worrying about expiration dates at a time like this?
"No."
The spirit answered, suppressing its anger.
"Please wait." Natsuki said unhurriedly. "Has your candy passed the Food Safety Protection Act inspection?"
"..."
This was a school where vengeful spirits lived. Where would food safety inspectors come from?
This human was clearly just mocking it!
"No! Nothing like that!"
The spirit's rage meter spiked. Its grayish fingernails rapidly lengthened as its anger exploded. "Human, hurry up and choose a candy!"
Natsuki acted as if he hadn't noticed the fury washing over him and reminded:
"Student, producing and selling counterfeit products without proper certification is a serious legal violation. Are you sure you want to do this?"
BANG BANG BANG!
Violent impacts struck the stall door.
"Enough nonsense! Hurry up and choose a candy!"
The spirit behind the stall was on the verge of going berserk.
"If you won't listen to reason, then there's no helping it." Natsuki sighed, rose to the challenge, and grabbed the restroom spirit's wrist. His tone was serious. "Student, you're under arrest."
"Meow?"
An incredulous voice rang out—it was Chika, still trapped in the restroom stall.
She was clearly being harassed by a spirit. How did it suddenly turn into the spirit getting arrested?
"Human, you're seeking your own death."
The spirit's voice was cold.
As a vengeful spirit, even if the police came, it wouldn't be afraid at all.
"Don't misunderstand. The reason for your arrest isn't selling uncertified products." Natsuki's tone was steady. He paused for two seconds. "...This is the women's restroom, isn't it?"
"You're a boy. Why are you in the women's restroom?"
Spirit: "..."
Was his focus completely off?
"So you're a perverted peeping tom!" Chika blurted out.
"I'm not. I didn't."
The spirit quickly denied it.
"You heard the school-wide wanted announcement just now, right?" Natsuki said unhurriedly. "Our location is broadcast every ten minutes. It's almost time. Someone will be coming soon. When they find you hiding in the women's restroom, what do you think will happen?"
Spirit: "..."
Death.
And a horrible one at that.
Though they were all vengeful spirits, they still maintained basic social order.
A boy hiding in the women's restroom—no matter how you explained it, he'd be branded a peeping tom. Once those female spirits who'd become vengeful went berserk, they could tear him apart in seconds.
Thinking this, the restroom spirit was ready to flee.
He had a special ability that let him teleport between different restrooms. He wasn't afraid of being caught.
Then he was shocked to discover his wrist was still firmly gripped by the human.
"Human, let go..."
The spirit issued a threat.
"Shut up." Natsuki calmly interrupted. "First, open the door and let those two out."
"..."
A mere human dared to counter-threaten a vengeful spirit?
Did he really think spirits were easy to bully?!
"Ah, it opened."
Chika let out a soft cry and quickly opened the stall door, walking out together with the cool and composed Lady Kaguya.
Natsuki said: "Fujiwara-san, give the candy back to him."
"Oh."
Chika hurriedly handed the candy back. The spirit hiding in the restroom silently accepted it, not daring to refuse at all.
"Let's go."
Only then did Natsuki release his grip.
Once you've backed down once, you'll only keep backing down more.
The three walked out of the restroom.
"The broadcast will sound again soon." Kaguya reminded them.
"Should we go to the rooftop?"
Chika raised her hand with the suggestion.
As she spoke, the broadcast sounded again, announcing their location. The vengeful spirit school stirred once more.
The three quickly climbed the stairs, preparing to hide on the rooftop.
When they reached the top, they discovered the door to the rooftop was locked.
"Don't worry." Chika reached up to touch the hairpin on her head. "I have a special lock-picking technique. I can open locks with a hairpin."
She actually knew such an advanced skill? Was she some kind of special agent girl?!
"How long will it take to pick the lock?" Natsuki asked.
"About three to five minutes."
Without another word, Natsuki quickly headed back downstairs. "Let's go, now."
Staying in one place for three to five minutes—they'd be dead meat by then!
The three quickly descended. Just as they rounded a corner, they came face-to-face with a spirit wearing a suit—tall, with black mist roiling around its entire body. The resentment occasionally surged into various shapes. It looked absolutely terrifying.
Text hints rapidly appeared before Natsuki's eyes.
[Rank: Dean of Students]
[Exploitable Weakness: Ultimate cat lover. Even after becoming a vengeful spirit, would never harm a cat]
Click. Click. Click.
The spirit with only a pair of beautiful legs appeared again behind the three of them.
In an instant—wolves ahead, tigers behind.
Natsuki quickly pulled out the cat ear hair accessory and looked at Kaguya—her pretty face expressionless, though text reading [So scary so scary so scary] kept floating above her head.
"Shinomiya-san, quick, transform into a cat girl!"