Kaguya-sama Wants Me to Surrender

"...Your thighs are full of tally marks."

Amamiya Natsuki pointed firmly.

Hearing this, everyone's gaze shifted toward the female ghost. Even those vengeful spirits who had been keeping their heads down raised them in surprise—except for the last two, who remained silent.

"Impossible! You're talking nonsense!" the female ghost snapped, stepping back and releasing Kitagawa Marin's wrist. "There's no tally marks on my legs!"

"You're panicking," Amamiya Natsuki said slowly. "If there were no tally marks, why would you react like that?"

"There should be a limit to slandering others!" The ghost's expression twisted into a ferocious sneer. Slowly, she lifted her skirt.

Fujiwara Chika immediately covered her cheeks with both hands, peeking through her fingers in curiosity.

"Why cover your face?" Amamiya muttered, unimpressed. "She's not a man."

"Exactly," Fujiwara agreed—then suddenly stood on tiptoe and playfully covered Amamiya's eyes with her hand. "Natsuki-san, don't look. Don't look at anything inappropriate."

It's just thighs—nothing indecent at all!

The next moment, the hot blonde girl gasped.

"Hey! There really are tally marks!"

"So many tally marks!"

Fujiwara Chika's curiosity ignited, and she quickly leaned over. Her eyes widened as she counted aloud, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... so many!"

Amamiya tilted his head, scrutinizing the female ghost who had fully lifted her skirt. Between her stockings and skirt hem, her pale thighs were clearly covered with identical, perfectly printed tally marks.

"Who'd write tally marks on their own thigh?" Amamiya said righteously. "You really are the subway nympho."

"Impossible!" The ghost staggered back, eyes wild with panic and tears of blood swirling. "Why are there tally marks on my legs, human? You must have done something to me!"

"Don't sully my innocence," Amamiya said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Everyone can see I never touched you."

The ghost was struck hard. Panic overwhelmed her, and she let go of Kitagawa Marin completely.

"Phew..."

Kitagawa exhaled in relief and whispered to Amamiya, "What do the tally marks mean?"

The short-haired girl also looked intrigued. Without a doubt, the tally marks on the ghost's thigh was related to Amamiya Natsuki.

Not only did he refuse to fear these spirits—he framed them. It made even the ghosts question their existence. Was he some kind of big boss?

Amamiya shrugged casually. "I didn't write that, anyway."

Only Fujiwara Chika noticed something else. Her eyes sparkled, but she wisely held back, knowing this wasn't the time to get distracted.

After walking for a long time, Amamiya was beginning to tire. Just as he prepared to sit, a prompt appeared:

[After careful observation, you found no one was sitting, so you decided to stand with everyone else]

Bang.

The hot blonde had already plopped down, rubbing her aching heels.

"It's so uncomfortable walking in high heels… my feet hurt so much..."

"Get up right now," Amamiya ordered deeply.

"Huh?"

Kitagawa blinked in surprise.

"Marin, listen to Natsuki," Fujiwara urged. "Get up quickly."

Since the start of Ghost Academy, Amamiya's instincts had rarely failed. Fujiwara trusted him implicitly. She pulled Kitagawa to her feet and whispered, "Natsuki-san, what's wrong?"

"This is the midnight subway," Amamiya said quietly. "But none of the passengers are sitting."

The three girls glanced around, soon confirming the strange truth.

There were only seven or eight resentful ghosts scattered in the subway, along with a few corpses near the doors—both male and female. Every spirit looked tense and exhausted, but all stood in the corners, refusing to take a seat.

"Really... why don't these ghosts sit?" Fujiwara wondered. "There's nothing wrong with the seats."

"Maybe..." the short-haired girl speculated, "something terrible happens if you sit down?"

At this, the hot blonde paled and stared nervously at her seat.

She'd just sat down. Did that mean she was doomed?

"Human, you sat where you shouldn't," the ghost who was struggling with the tally marks on her thigh sneered, raising her head. "I'll be waiting for you. Soon, we'll be the same kind."

Kitagawa's face drained of color. She bit her lower lip and tightly gripped her left wrist.

Suddenly, the subway filled with that strange buzzing and vibrating again, like an electric current surging through the rails. The train slowed, and the lights dimmed rapidly.

"Natsuki-san," Fujiwara's voice grew serious, "what if we use our fusion technique on Marin-chan?"

Amamiya nodded quickly. "I don't know what'll happen, but we can try."

Their crackdown skills had only been tested on vengeful spirits so far—not on humans.

"Outlaw Zhang-san," Fujiwara said seriously, pointing at Kitagawa.

The blonde's expression blanked out. A question mark popped above her head, but her mouth moved as if possessed:

"...Zhang-san is here!"

It worked.

Amamiya reached out and pressed Kitagawa's shoulder. He felt the power surge again. "Outlaw Zhang-san, you are under arrest."

"What? Who is Zhang-san?" Kitagawa's eyes went wide. She struggled, but her body was frozen except for her eyes and mouth. "My name's not Zhang... I-I'm Zhang-san!"

"Marin-chan, don't panic," Fujiwara quickly explained. "This is the combined skill Natsuki and I developed. Hopefully, it helps."

Darkness enveloped the subway once more.

"Something's grabbing my feet!"

Kitagawa's panicked voice echoed.

Amamiya held her shoulders firmly. He felt a tug, but it was useless.

"If you're Zhang-san, even a god can't break free from my grasp!"

Turns out, the spirit that attacked Kitagawa was considered an "external force trying to break the seal," so it couldn't snatch Zhang-san away while Amamiya held her.

A moment later, the lights returned.

"It should be fine now."

Seeing Kitagawa still there, Amamiya gently released her shoulders.

"My feet hurt..."

Tears shimmered in her eyes as she clung to Amamiya's arm.

Looking down, Amamiya saw two deep purple handprints pressed into her ankles.

Had he not held her, she would have definitely been dragged off into the darkness.

"Are you all okay?" the female ghost asked, surprised. Then her expression twisted into a sneer. "Two stops left, and we'll be at the terminal soon. You'll all die before then."

Amamiya looked at her disdainfully. "Subway slut, shut up."

"Damn humans!"

"I already know the truth," Amamiya pressed his fingers between his brows. "Sister Shimizu, come on out."

"Roger."

A pleasant voice sounded behind the ghost.

The spirit covered in tally marks turned around in surprise.

A passenger stepped forward, lifting the bangs that hid her cheeks, revealing a beautiful, picturesque face.

She approached Amamiya with a felt marker in hand, smiled, and said, "Sorry, I'm undercover."

"After three long years, I finally have a chance to defect."

"Who are you?" the crazed ghost demanded, confused. "I've never seen you before."

Fujiwara Chika smiled brightly.

"Shimizu-nee, good evening."

The rebellious ghost before them was none other than Mrs. Kaguya.

Amamiya Natsuki realized just how useful Mrs. Kaguya was.

Unlike the evil-dispelling halo that worked only in reality, Mrs. Kaguya could be summoned inside the game, just like a player's pet.

Moreover, he could share equipment with her—like the felt pen that only wrote tally marks.

Finally, they could communicate telepathically with excellent confidentiality, though Mrs. Kaguya's physical strength would quickly drain in the process. She was already faint and blurred from overuse.

-End Chapter-

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