Golden Week, Day One.
Nothing happened.
Nine o'clock in the morning.
Natsuki had barely gotten out of bed when the doorbell rang.
He got up and opened the door.
"Good morning, Amamiya-kun."
A golden short-haired girl stood outside, her smile radiant as sunlight.
"Good morning."
Natsuki nodded, looking at Miko beside Hana Yurikawa.
"Hana came over first thing this morning to play." Miko raised a hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. The dark circles under her eyes were still heavy—clearly last night's sleep had been rough again. "Bored, so we came to play with the doggy."
"Welcome, welcome. A warm welcome indeed."
Mrs. Kaguya's eyes lit up. She zipped over to Hana's side and launched into her Pretty Girl Cuddle game.
One step away from spreading her arms and wrapping around the blonde from behind.
As a ghost, Mrs. Kaguya had lost all physical sensations tied to a corporeal body—taste, touch, smell, and the like. She didn't even need sleep.
But strangely enough, she could sense a special warmth radiating from Hana Yurikawa. That's why she adored her so much, wanting to cuddle up every single time they met.
"Mmm~ So warm."
Mrs. Kaguya closed her eyes, a look of pure bliss spreading across her pretty face. "Hana's body really is irresistible."
That line was straight out of a scumbag's playbook—where did you even pick that up!
Miko turned a blind eye and silently walked in to change her shoes.
"Sorry for intruding."
Hana couldn't see Mrs. Kaguya at all. She stepped into the entryway and, spotting the Akita trotting up with its tail wagging, happily crouched down and smiled as she petted its head.
"Hana-chan really is a treasure." Mrs. Kaguya sighed appreciatively. "If only I could hold her while sleeping at night, that would be perfect."
Natsuki said flatly:
"You don't need to sleep, remember?"
"What if I happen to fall asleep?" Mrs. Kaguya murmured back. "How about Natsuki-kun tricks Hana-chan into coming home?"
"Little Yurikawa does look like someone who'd be easy to trick."
Natsuki glanced down at the blonde girl and nodded instinctively.
She did look easy to trick.
Mrs. Kaguya continued:
"Don't worry, I won't tell little Kaguya about this. Being a person, the most important thing is being loyal to your friends."
You're a ghost—you're not even a person!
"If Natsuki-kun and little Kaguya started dating, everything would work out." Mrs. Kaguya had a wild idea. "Then add little Yurikawa into the mix—everyone gets what they want."
How does that work out to everyone getting what they want?
You'd clearly be the one having it both ways!
Seeing Miko glance over, Mrs. Kaguya clenched her right fist and gave her own forehead a light tap, smiling sweetly:
"Sorry—and little Miko too. You all date together."
"...I don't need that."
Miko's lips twitched ever so slightly. Even for an apathetic girl, sharing a boyfriend held no appeal whatsoever—let alone dating someone as a group.
Ten thousand steps back.
Even if she agreed, there was no way someone as proud as Shinomiya—a wealthy family's young lady—would ever agree to something like that, right?
They moved into the living room.
Natsuki was playing Elden Ring, which he'd just unlocked. For now, it was looking like a lock for game of the year.
Miko sat beside him, scrolling through her phone while dozing off.
Hana was still happily smiling and petting the dog.
Mrs. Kaguya was pressed up against Hana, playing her Pretty Girl Cuddle game.
Golden Week's first day was quite leisurely.
The only shame was that this leisurely pace was soon shattered by a game notification.
[Game System Upgrading...]
The cold, mechanical voice rang out in his mind, causing Natsuki to freeze mid-action—and get wiped out by a boss combo in Elden Ring.
Natsuki reloaded his save, his attention mostly focused on the game upgrade.
"Why would the game suddenly upgrade?"
"Who helped trigger the upgrade?"
"What kind of changes will come after the upgrade?"
With his safety at stake, Natsuki naturally wouldn't take it lightly. He even hoped the upgrade progress would be slow—ideally stalling for ten days or so.
Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.
Within just a few minutes, the upgrade sailed through to one hundred percent without a single hiccup—just as fast as Ultraman.
Immediately after, a new interface appeared before Natsuki's eyes.
"Hm... the interface looks nicer."
The old horror game interface had been monotonous, like a roughly assembled half-finished product. You could mentally trigger it to open, and if left unattended, it would close on its own after a while—unless a new notification appeared.
This time, the interface was noticeably smoother and more rounded, much more pleasant to look at. The mailbox also contained a new announcement.
Natsuki opened the message with his mind.
[Game Upgrade Complete]
[The following updates have been applied]
[We have refined the interface art style. Your visual experience as a player has been improved]
[The advance notification feature is now live. You will receive game alerts thirty minutes in advance]
[Free Exploration Mode has been unlocked. Apart from the mandatory quests every half-month, you can now use the refresh function to access special game dungeons. Most dungeons require certain conditions to be triggered, such as time, number of players, location, etc.]
[Friend Function has been activated. If you know a friend's unique ID, and with their consent, you can add them as a friend. Please note: this function cannot be used during gameplay]
[The first large-scale dungeon is coming soon. All players, please prepare accordingly]
[Finally: Please cherish your lives, and manage your gaming time responsibly]
"Quite a few updates." Natsuki pressed his right hand against the bridge of his nose, lost in thought. "A first large-scale dungeon... no wonder I haven't run into any real powerhouses yet. Perhaps I'm among the very first batch of players."
"Free Exploration Mode... that should be the Midnight Subway dungeon from that night."
While still thinking, he received a new message.
[Your ten-day mandatory quest is about to begin. Players, please prepare]
"The mandatory quest every ten days. Doing the math, it falls exactly on today." Natsuki silently set down the game controller, his expression growing serious.
"What's wrong?"
Miko tilted her head slightly, immediately sensing something off about him.
Natsuki said quietly: "The game is starting again."
"Eh?" Miko widened her eyes slightly. "That spirit game?"
Natsuki nodded lightly.
As he spoke, his phone began to vibrate.
"Amamiya-kun." Chika sent a message. "I just got a game notification."
"Me too."
"That's so unfair. We literally just cleared the Midnight Subway two days ago. Why are they making us play again? I was even planning to go on a trip to Ukraine with Mom and Dad."
Ukraine of all places? Do you not know how to spell "danger"?
As expected, Kaguya had also received a game invitation.
Within the player mutual aid group Chika had set up, others reported receiving game notifications as well. However, without being in a squad, whether they'd end up in the same game as their previous teammates remained an unknown.
Every game meant danger. Morale in the mutual aid group was quite low.
Chika, the beacon of humanity, stepped up without hesitation—transforming into "Fujiwara Mom" to comfort and rally everyone's spirits.
After reading through the chat messages for a while, Natsuki set down his phone and looked at his childhood friend, speaking softly:
"You..."
Before he could finish, Miko quickly said: "I'm staying behind."
Real-world evil spirits were scary enough, but pretending not to see them kept things manageable. The game was obviously far more dangerous than reality.
"Alright." Natsuki nodded. "Keep an eye on my body after I enter the game—see what kind of reaction it has in reality. If nothing goes wrong, I should wake up pretty quickly. If something does go wrong, then..."
Flick.
Miko extended her fingers and snapped Natsuki's forehead: "Nothing will go wrong. You're definitely going to wake up."