[Immersive dungeon loading successful. All players, please prepare]
[Countdown begins]
Watching the game countdown tick down second by second, he looked at Miko and said softly:
"The game's about to start."
"Be careful." Miko bit her lower lip, giving him a quiet reminder. "I'll cook lunch. Come over and eat together."
"What are you making?"
"Tomato potato beef brisket."
"That happens to be my absolute favorite. I'll definitely be there for a free meal." Natsuki reassured her. "Don't worry. Based on past experience, it should be over in under a minute."
The countdown ended.
Natsuki felt everything go black before his eyes. His consciousness solidified.
The next moment.
Natsuki's body vanished from the room in an instant.
"Eh?" Miko's eyes went wide in shock, her mouth hanging open. "How did he just... disappear?"
"..."
Cold.
Dizziness.
Disorientation.
It was like having stayed underwater for too long—a suffocating vertigo filled his mind.
As a sheet of cold dissolved against his face, Natsuki snapped his eyes open. Before him stretched a grey, overcast sky, and countless snowflakes drifted down from above in a thick curtain.
Natsuki silently sat up, resting his right hand against his forehead. He drew in a slow breath. As the icy air rushed into his lungs, his mind cleared instantly. He used the brief calm to quietly observe his surroundings.
"Location... unknown mountain range."
"Setting... frozen blizzard."
This time the game hadn't scattered the teammates. Natsuki's gaze swept across—and there were Kaguya and Chika, lying right beside him. Beyond them lay a number of other players as well, everyone lined up neatly in a row.
"Mmm..."
Chika blinked open her eyes in a daze. The moment she saw the blizzard of snow, her eyes sparkled.
"Oh? What gorgeous snow!"
What are you so happy about! You're wearing nothing but a short skirt and blouse. Faced with such extreme weather, shouldn't you be worried?
"You're celebrating too early." Natsuki sighed. "Wake up Shinomiya-san first."
"Leave it to me."
Chika saluted, then reached over and poked Kaguya's cheek: "Eh, Kaguya-chan is so soft. I've always wanted to try poking. It really does feel amazing."
The pink-haired girl, never one to keep a good thing to herself, turned to look at Natsuki: "Amamiya-kun, do you want to try too?"
Honestly speaking, Natsuki was a little tempted.
Unfortunately, the very next moment, Kaguya opened her eyes. Wine-red irises flashed with confusion for an instant before sharpening immediately.
"Kaguya-chan, you're awake!" Chika showed not the slightest guilt at being caught, and instead spoke with complete sincerity. "Congratulations—the surgery was a complete success."
Kaguya pressed a hand to her forehead and silently sat up. Ignoring Chika's nonsensical distractions entirely, she glanced around before murmuring:
"This time's setting... a snow mountain?"
"Should be." Natsuki nodded lightly. "I just woke up. It seems like everyone ended up together."
As they spoke, the other players began stirring and waking one by one.
"So cold."
"A snow mountain, seriously?"
"Oh no. I was literally on vacation in Okinawa just now. I only brought a blouse. If I'd known, I would have worn a down jacket."
"Look—there's a castle at the top of the mountain."
"..."
"Chika-sama!"
A familiar voice rang out with surprised delight.
Natsuki followed the sound and spotted a petite girl in dinosaur pajamas sprinting over. She pulled back the hood of her pajamas, revealing a tiny, adorable face the size of a palm. A white eye patch covered her right eye. It was none other than Kotoriyū Rokka—a teammate from the previous game.
"Rokka-chan!"
Chika's eyes lit up, her smile especially bright.
Before entering the game, the beacon of humanity—Chika—had even posted in the mutual aid group encouraging everyone: if they ended up in the same game, they should help one another and get through it together.
Now that it had actually happened, there was a genuine sense of victorious reunion.
Unfortunately, Rokka was the only familiar face. Everyone else was a stranger.
Natsuki nodded lightly, greeted Rokka, and silently observed the other players.
The participant count for this game wasn't large—ten people total. Three men, seven women. After waking, no one broke into panicked screams. They were clearly all veterans by now.
"Ah—"
A surprised cry rang out.
Natsuki's lips twitched. He'd just noted that no one would make a scene—and here it came.
He turned to look and spotted Rokka's ahoge bouncing cheerfully atop her head as she sprinted on her short little legs toward a girl standing quietly in a corner. Long, straight black hair cascaded past her shoulders.
"Yukino! It's me, it's me!"
"...Somehow familiar."
Natsuki looked over curiously. It was a tall, beautiful girl with long straight black hair—though her aura was frosty and cold as snow, giving him a strangely familiar sense of déjà vu.
He remembered now.
Natsuki turned his head to look at the ice queen beside him.
The two shared a remarkably similar aura. Even the flat-chested attribute was identical—could it be that in real life, he was surrounded by friends who'd all come from the same planet?
"What is it?"
Sensing Natsuki's peculiar gaze, Kaguya tilted her head to look at him. The butterfly bow tied from the red ribbon swayed gently in the wind and snow.
Strange.
The moment the long straight black hair was paired with a butterfly bow in his mind, it felt as though something about the girl before him had subtly shifted...
Kotoriyū Rokka quickly pulled the black-haired girl over, cheerfully introducing:
"The very first game I played—it was Yukino who helped me clear it!"
The pink-haired girl raised her hand in greeting and introduced herself: "Chika Fujiwara. Nice to meet you, please take care of me."
The long-straight-haired girl's voice was cold and clear as she spoke softly:
"...Yukino Yukinoshita."
By this point, some players had already begun making their way toward the castle at the mountain's peak.
"So cold." Chika wrapped her arms around herself, giving a light shiver. "Let's head to the castle too?"
In reality it was Golden Week—sunny, with temperatures comfortably above twenty degrees. Everyone had dressed for warm weather.
Yet in the game it was a frozen wasteland. When they'd first woken, there hadn't been much sensation of cold, but now, after exchanging just a few words, a bone-deep chill had begun surging through them. They had to find shelter to stop their bodies from losing heat.
So even knowing the castle at the summit was dangerous, everyone had no choice but to go.
"Let's move."
Natsuki nodded lightly, taking one final look at the surroundings.
A stretch of low mountain peaks blanketed in ice and snow. They'd appeared on the mountainside, roughly halfway up. Behind them was a forest thick with snow-laden trees—quite a few had already been crushed under the weight of the accumulated snow on their dense branches.
[Taking a closer look, you notice the forest ahead is quite peculiar]
"Hm?"
Natsuki blinked at the prompt that had suddenly appeared.
Peculiar how, exactly? At least be specific about it!
"Amamiya-kun, hurry up!" Chika reminded him. "If we don't move, we're going to freeze to death."
Natsuki withdrew his gaze and, together with the girls, pressed forward into the howling wind and snow toward the castle at the summit.
The castle wasn't far. Shortly after, every player had arrived at the gate.
Faced with the heavy, imposing wooden doors, one player hesitated and stepped forward, giving them an experimental push. To everyone's surprise, the seemingly immovable gates swung open silently inward.
The group exchanged glances—no one wanted to go in. But outside, the blizzard raged and the cold was biting. There was no other option.
Natsuki took the lead and stepped inside the castle.
The eerie castle was completely empty.
"...I know what this is!"
Chika suddenly let out a low cry. She planted her right hand on her hip, her expression grave:
"It's a Snowbound Manor!"