"I-I can't get married anymore..."
Chika knelt in the corner, hands covering her chest, faint steam rising from the top of her head.
Having a boy see her body—she couldn't get married anymore.
"I had my eyes closed."
"What good is closing one eye?!"
"..."
This first attempt at two-person cooperation had worked quite well, but it also exposed some problems.
First, Chika said the forced name change could only modify one person's name. If she designated a second person as Zhang San, the previous person's modified name would revert to normal.
Then there was Natsuki's problem.
He could only capture the spirit, but couldn't eliminate them.
For example, the Harley Quinn spirit before him was clearly not convinced. She kept yelling about how she'd make him pay later.
Simply put, he could only obtain the target's body, not their soul.
Though Natsuki wasn't particularly interested in a spirit's soul—just toying with the body while the spirit verbally refused but physically complied was actually more exciting—there was still danger involved.
The best method was naturally to eliminate the spirit directly, but he didn't have that ability.
Thinking of this, Natsuki thought of Kaguya again. He wondered if that weapon of hers would be useful.
"Where's Kaguya-chan?" Chika asked, thinking along the same lines. After putting her clothes back on, she spoke up. "Why didn't she come with you?"
Natsuki shook his head:
"Shinomiya-san isn't with me. Everyone's in a separate room. She should be next door."
"Then let's hurry and find her." Chika said urgently. "Let me tell you, Kaguya-chan looks like she's not afraid of anything, but she actually doesn't even dare watch horror movies alone."
"We can't go out yet. The corridor in darkness mode is very dangerous."
After briefly explaining his earlier experiences to Chika, Natsuki's gaze returned to the Harley Quinn spirit.
There was still time before the darkness lifted. Since they had nothing to do, why not play the role of Ning Caichen for a bit...
"Human, what are you trying to do?"
The spirit lady's voice was wary.
"Let's play a game." Natsuki released the spirit's shoulder and pointed at Chika. He said gravely: "Chika is a disciple I personally raised."
"Huh?"
Chika looked over in surprise.
When did I become your disciple? How come I didn't know?
"You lost to her that many times in a row. If word gets out, where will I put my face?" Natsuki interlaced his fingers. "So I'm going to win it back."
"So it's just for your pride." Chika couldn't help crying out. "Give me back my emotions!"
"Foolish human." The spirit lady sneered. She sat down at the card table, stuck out her tongue, and licked her lips. "You'll definitely regret your decision."
"I need to use the restroom first."
It took barely a minute before Natsuki walked back out.
"Human, can we start now?" The spirit lady urged impatiently.
"We can." Natsuki nodded and prepared to sit down.
"Wait a moment." Chika pulled him aside. She stood on tiptoe and leaned close to his ear to speak, her tone somewhat worried. "Maybe don't be so stubborn. If you lose, your body will move on its own."
"Don't worry." Natsuki said quietly. "I cheated."
"Eh eh eh?"
"..."
Natsuki quickly walked over and sat down across the card table.
Chika and Rikka knelt beside them, watching nervously.
A deck of cards had fifty-four cards. Remove one Joker, keep the other. After a simple shuffle, the game quickly began.
The rules of Old Maid needed no explanation—the two players simply took turns drawing cards. When they got a pair, they discarded it. Both sides moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the final showdown.
"Human, you're definitely going to lose." The spirit girl smiled viciously. Unlike when she'd been toying with Chika earlier, she didn't play around. She directly drew a card from Natsuki's hand. "This card table has a special ability. As long as one party doesn't want to end the game, it will continue indefinitely. Let's see how many pieces of clothing you have."
"Look at the card you drew before you talk." Natsuki reminded her.
The spirit lady looked down and immediately went wide-eyed. "...H-how is this possible?!"
The card she'd drawn was clearly the Joker.
"You lost." Natsuki tossed the matching pair from his hand onto the table. "Fulfill the wager."
"Huh? How did he win?" Chika looked over in disbelief.
Natsuki's voice was distant: "When I traveled through Skyrim, many people called me the God of Gamblers. Until that year when I took an arrow to the knee, and had to end my journey."
"So cool!"
Rikka's eyes had already turned to starry eyes, full of worship.
The spirit lady looked down at her body, her expression hesitant.
For the game, she was currently dressed as Harley Quinn—multicolored twin tails, heavy smoky makeup, a tight shirt exposing her midriff, and ultra-short denim shorts. It was quite revealing, to say the least.
"Here."
The spirit lady handed over the blood-stained baseball bat.
Natsuki accepted the item. "The game continues."
A moment later.
The spirit lady lost again. She raged impotently: "Impossible! How could you possibly beat me!"
"A loss is a loss." Natsuki was unmoved. "Since it's a game, it can't always be you winning, right?"
"..."
The one-minute time limit set by the rules quickly expired. The spirit lady could only question her existence while involuntarily taking off her shirt.
Natsuki was very disappointed.
You're an evil spirit, yet you're still wearing underwear. One star.
"Again! I don't believe I'll keep losing!"
The spirit lady covered her chest and continued the challenge.
"Um, do evil spirits also get embarrassed?" Chika asked curiously.
"Of course I don't get embarrassed."
"Please don't cover yourself while saying that."
"..."
The game continued.
The spirit lady lost again. This time she could only remove her denim shorts. In the blink of an eye, just like Chika, she was left with only the final sacred relics.
"Impossible!"
The spirit lady's chest heaved. She still couldn't accept the fact that she'd lost. "Human, you definitely cheated."
"I cheated fair and square. As long as I don't get caught, what does it matter?" Natsuki wasn't afraid at all. "Please identify my cheating method."
"...Human, I'll remember you!"
The spirit lady's body vanished, transforming into a card that floated down from midair.
"What's this?"
Natsuki curiously caught it. He discovered it was a summoning card that could summon the Harley Quinn spirit from earlier to help in battle—though it could only be used once... She had literally gambled herself away.
The cheating method was actually quite simple. The bat specimen on the wall wasn't an ordinary object but part of the spirit. It could peek from the wall, which was why Chika had kept losing.
As everyone knows, bats have terrible eyesight. After Natsuki discovered the weakness, he went to the restroom and made a simple cheat mark on his thumb. He beat her at her own game and nearly won her panties too.
"The corridor is lit up." Chika called out softly. "Let's go, let's go find Kaguya-chan."
The three came to the corridor and knocked on the door of the neighboring room.
"Kaguya-chan, we're here to find you... Eh eh eh?"
Chika was the first to enter. Her eyes quickly went wide. "Why are there three Kaguya-chans?"
Natsuki stopped in his tracks. He was surprised to find that there really were three Kaguya Shinomiyas in the room—identical from clothing to appearance, even down to their expressions.
One Kaguya's face was pale. "I've been copied."
The second Kaguya: "They're both fakes."
The third Kaguya: "Another one appears every so often. Both of them are fakes."
Not only could it copy, but it could infinitely duplicate too?
Upon hearing this, Natsuki immediately wanted to take Chika and leave first.
Let Kaguya get copied for a while. Once there were five hundred Kaguyas, they could be sent to construction sites to move bricks. They'd earn enough for a house in half a month!