"There's a flame in the fireplace?"
Natsuki looked toward the fireplace at Yukino's words and was stunned to find that, sure enough, a feeble little flame had begun flickering inside the pitch-black hearth.
The other players heard the exchange and crowded over.
"Oh, there really is a fire."
"That's impossible. No one went anywhere near the fireplace."
"If we're talking about impossible, a horror game is even more impossible."
"..."
Faced with the fireplace that had seemingly ignited itself, everyone knew something was off. They discussed amongst themselves while staying alert, and no one rushed carelessly toward it.
After waiting a while and seeing nothing unusual from the fireplace, one player finally couldn't take it anymore.
"This won't do. We're going to freeze." A player wrapped their arms around themselves, shivering violently as they proposed. "The fireplace has fire now. Let's burn the books for warmth."
The temperature inside the castle was still dropping. A pale blue frost had begun crystallizing in many spots. Relying on Natsuki alone as a human heater was nowhere near enough.
"I agree."
"Both hands in favor."
Ten players total: six in favor, four abstaining, not a single vote against.
Even knowing the fireplace was suspicious, the cold left them no other choice.
A male player walked up to the fireplace, picked up one of the books they'd carried over from the library, and placed it carefully inside.
They'd expected it to be difficult to ignite—but the moment the flame touched the book, as though some strange chemical reaction had been set in motion, it spread rapidly.
The book burst into flames. Warmth began to radiate alongside the fire.
"We're warming up." The male player extended both hands and started warming them by the fire. "From this day forward, I am the Fire Keeper."
The other players gathered around and began feeding books into the flames.
"Burning books for warmth feels so sinful." Chika said as she picked up a book. "How strange—there's even a copy of Goosebumps in the library. I read that series as a kid. It was terrifying. I was too scared to sleep alone for days afterward."
"It's just that so much of the content inside is blurry. You can only make out a little bit." The pink-haired girl continued flipping through the book as she spoke. "...Burn it for warmth."
She tossed it into the fireplace, and the flames flared a bit higher.
Natsuki looked down at the stack of books he'd brought back from the library. Right on top was How to Raise a Loyal Boyfriend.
He picked it up and opened it. Apart from the title, the contents remained completely illegible—same as before.
They'd already discussed this back in the library. Different people could see different things in the books. And earlier, the ice queen's expression had seemed noticeably startled...
Natsuki looked at Kaguya.
Could it be that Shinomiya had actually read this book?
Sensing his gaze, Kaguya kept her expression perfectly composed—though her heartbeat involuntarily quickened.
She'd been found out!
That was definitely a suspicious look!
So why on earth had this book shown up in the game?!
Screaming internally, Kaguya kept her outward appearance completely unchanged—she even turned her face to meet his eyes head-on.
Steady.
As long as she didn't admit to having seen the contents, no one would know the truth.
Natsuki withdrew his gaze and set the book down.
The ice queen, taking advantage of the moment he looked away, came over and casually tossed the book into the fireplace as though it were nothing.
"Phew..."
Watching the flames swallow How to Raise a Loyal Boyfriend, Kaguya quietly let out a breath of relief.
A book like that deserved to be burned. And after the game ended, the real copy back home needed to be burned too!
"Tomato aliens are so scary." Kotoriyū Rokka let out a low cry.
Natsuki followed the sound and found the middle-school-syndrome girl holding a manga book as though facing a mortal enemy. The cover featured several cartoon girls, and the title read Veggie Aliens: The Great Adventure.
"Isn't this a kids' manga?" Natsuki said, thoroughly exasperated. "The tomato aliens on the cover are clearly adorable."
He had a vague memory of this one. The premise was something like various vegetables anthropomorphized, encountering all sorts of pests and diseases along the way.
"Not adorable in the slightest." The middle-school-syndrome girl rebutted with deadly seriousness. "The tomato aliens' bodies are terrifyingly full of seeds. Once the seeds get into our bodies, they take root and sprout, making our stomachs swell up rapidly."
Are you making a dirty joke right now?
Tomatoes were one of the most popular foods out there—perfectly fine as either a fruit or a vegetable. Where exactly was the terror in that?
"Burn it, burn it."
Kotoriyū Rokka hurled the manga into the fireplace. The flames devoured it instantly.
Everyone burns books; the flames burn high.
As the fire in the hearth roared and crackled, the temperature inside the castle finally began to climb back up.
"Books really are wonderful things." Natsuki remarked as he held out his hands to warm them.
With the fireplace going, Natsuki's role as the human hand warmer was officially over.
"We survived." Chika exhaled contentedly. "I was planning to go skiing in the Alps this summer. After this, I'll never set foot there again."
"There are still plenty of books left in the library. Ten full shelves—we couldn't burn through them in a week."
"The countdown is almost halfway done. From here, we just wait for the game to end!"
"..."
With the fire going, morale among the players surged.
"Don't let your guard down." Kaguya looked toward the very cheerful pink-haired girl, her dark brows drawing together. "I have a feeling the game won't be this simple."
Just burning books for warmth and waiting for it to end—that was even simpler than a round of Snake. It didn't add up.
The words had barely left her lips when a strange rolling sound suddenly rang out through the castle.
Natsuki's ears twitched. He turned his head and looked behind him—and there, emerging from the shadows, was a wooden puppet carved in the shape of a clown. It wore a red necktie and a little suit, its feet perched atop a tiny unicycle, rolling steadily forward.
The other players broke into alarmed shouts.
"What is that?!"
"Isn't that the Annabelle horror doll?!"
"Why is there a clown inside the castle?!"
As one of the most iconic horror figures in a world-famous franchise, the image of the horror doll had seared itself into the public consciousness.
Among all the players present, only one person had no idea what a horror clown was.
"What is that?" Kaguya asked in a low voice.
Natsuki put on a grave expression:
"This is a highly skilled educator with an impeccable reputation—a truly virtuous professional. It frequents the filming locations of all sorts of horror movies. Its job is to bring screams and joy to adults and children alike."
"Virtuous and skilled, give me a break." One of the players couldn't help but scoff. "Apart from screams, there wouldn't be a shred of joy, would there?!"
As they spoke, the wooden clown rode its unicycle to a stop right in front of Natsuki and the others. It reached up and straightened the bow tie on its chest. Its mouth opened and closed, producing a strange, deep, resonant voice:
"Welcome, esteemed guests, to our humble abode. My sincerest apologies for coming out to greet you so late in the evening. To make amends, please allow me to invite you—"
Before it could finish, Chika suddenly stepped forward half a pace, pointed directly at it, and called out at the top of her lungs:
"Zhang San, the outlaw! I'm calling your name right now—do you dare answer?!"
The wooden clown's voice cut off abruptly. Then its mouth opened and closed again: "...Zhang San is here."
"Hmph hmph, it really works."
The pink-haired girl tilted her chin up slightly, turning her face to shoot Natsuki a small, self-satisfied expression that practically begged praise me already.
There's an old saying: villains always talk too much.
When you encounter an evil spirit, what do you do?
Of course—you arrest it on the spot!
Sweep away evil, show no mercy.
Natsuki, watching the outlaw Zhang San before him, was just about to move in and make the arrest—when he spotted something stirring in the darkness.
"It seems our esteemed guests are not satisfied with our hospitality." The wooden clown looked down and inspected its own body. "Then it becomes necessary to provide... compulsory service."
The next moment.
Two tall, gaunt creatures wearing hats and tattered cloaks emerged from the shadows. Ragged strands of straw poked out from beneath their worn cloaks, one after another.
"These are... scarecrows?"