Kaguya-sama Wants Me to Surrender

"If a normal evil spirit wants to capture someone, where would it grab them?" Amamiya Natsuki asked, glancing at the female ghost whose thighs were covered in tally marks. "For example, that subway nympho lady."

The subway hummed quietly.

Inside the cold subway car, Amamiya's voice was calm and indifferent.

"Wrist?" Fujiwara Chika offered after a moment's thought.

"And shoulders," added the hot blonde.

Finally, the short-haired girl chimed in, "Well… in horror movies, evil spirits usually like to strangle people, right?"

"In short, when a vengeful spirit grabs someone, it picks the easiest place to do so," Amamiya continued. "So… under what circumstances would a spirit grab someone's ankles?"

"I see!" Fujiwara's eyes lit up excitedly. "The thing that attacked Marin-chan could only touch her ankles for some reason."

"…"

All the players turned their gaze to the body lying near the subway entrance.

It was a middle-aged man in a suit, suffering serious hair loss, sprawled on the floor facing the subway door. His face was pale and lips purple—anyone could tell he was dead.

"All the ghosts are standing in corners. At first, I thought they were afraid of the monster outside," Amamiya said, "but there's another possibility: they're afraid of the uncle lying at the door."

"If everyone on the subway is either a ghost passenger or player, then why is there a dead body?"

"There's only one truth—" Amamiya pressed his fingers between his brows and said quietly, "he's not actually a corpse."

"…"

With that, Amamiya subtly signaled Fujiwara Chika with his eyes.

"Meow?"

Fujiwara tilted her head, her pink eyes full of confusion.

"Use your combo skills. Hurry up," Amamiya silently urged.

What kind of response is that, meowing in a horror game!?

Logically, evil spirits on the ground can't move while the lights are on—otherwise, Amamiya would have failed when searching for the lighter. Still, it's best to be prepared for the worst.

Only the outlaw Zhang-san could make you feel completely at ease.

"I understand." Fujiwara nodded quickly and pointed at the man on the floor. "Outlaw Zhang-san, I call you. Do you dare to answer?"

Suddenly—

A cold, hoarse voice came from the corpse's mouth:

"…Zhang-san is here!"

"He spoke!" The hot blonde stepped back in surprise. "It really is a vengeful spirit!"

Amamiya stepped forward and touched the man's body, feeling better instantly.

No matter if you're a boss in the game or not, if your name is outlaw Zhang-san, even gods can't escape my grasp.

The middle-aged ghost lay still on the floor throughout.

Mrs. Kaguya walked forward, bent down, picked up a briefcase the man had dropped, and pulled out an empty plastic medicine bottle.

"This is heart medicine," she murmured, a faint look of nostalgia crossing her delicate features. "I used to take these often."

As a congenital heart disease patient, she had naturally consumed many pills.

"Why haven't we finished the game after catching this uncle?" Fujiwara asked curiously.

"Because there's still something left undone." Amamiya looked at the female ghost. "You falsely accused this uncle of being a pervert, right?"

"Others chose to sit idly by, not helping."

"Even when this man collapsed from a heart attack, no one came to aid him."

"That's why you're stuck here—you're bound by this grievance."

"Oh." The hot blonde, Kitagawa, finally understood.

"This is really too much," Fujiwara frowned. "A train pervert is bad enough, but falsely accusing someone? That's beyond excessive."

In Japan, the crime of innocence often assumes guilt unless proven otherwise.

But women can falsely accuse men of perversion at no cost—and sometimes extort money this way.

Still, the game wasn't over after revealing the truth.

Amamiya raised an eyebrow.

So clearing grievances doesn't clear the level—the real solution is to get this man out of the subway?

"Natsuki-kun." Mrs. Kaguya leaned close and whispered, "That buzzing just now was a defibrillator."

After a moment, Amamiya understood.

The middle-aged man didn't want grievances cleared—he wanted someone to help him live.

The subway slowed, darkness enveloped the car once more.

Amamiya flipped the man's ghostly body over and began performing CPR, recalling what he learned in health class.

Suddenly—

The world froze.

A game prompt echoed in all players' ears:

[Game cleared. Exiting in ten seconds. Please prepare.]

"Sister Shimizu," Amamiya quickly turned to Mrs. Kaguya. "Come back soon."

It was uncertain whether Mrs. Kaguya would follow him out or be left behind in the subway—too risky to lose her.

If that happened, Miss Ice Sculpture would definitely throw a fit.

"Okay." Mrs. Kaguya nodded and quickly latched onto Amamiya.

"It really is a vengeful spirit," the hot blonde muttered wide-eyed.

While she struggled, others had already begun expelling the evil spirits. They weren't even playing the same game!

"Marin-chan, Shimizu-nee isn't a vengeful spirit," Fujiwara explained quickly. "I'll add you to the group later, and we can talk after we get out."

Though Kaguya Shinomiya's capitalist hell empire hadn't yet been established, Fujiwara had already formed a player mutual aid association—albeit a small group for now.

Ten seconds flew by, and just before more could be said, darkness engulfed everything.

After a brief dizziness, Amamiya woke to find himself back in the crowded subway.

Checking his phone, exactly one minute had passed.

The ten-second exit was probably designed to give players time to collect themselves—to avoid sudden emotional outbursts and social death.

"Hmm..." Fujiwara blinked, looked around, then leaned close to whisper in Amamiya's ear, "Are we back?"

Amamiya nodded slightly, pressing his fingers between his brows. "Today's really not a good day for travel."

Though his body wasn't tired, his mind was exhausted.

"Just now, they said we triggered a special scene. Could it be this subway car?"

Fujiwara suddenly realized something.

"Very likely," Amamiya said softly. "It might even be this specific subway car."

"I don't want to think about it." Fujiwara shook her head and pulled out her blood-stained notebook. "I'll add Marin-chan to the mutual aid group first. She's actually in the same school, but the class is far away, so we haven't met."

"Stare—"

Fujiwara suddenly fixed Amamiya with a wide-eyed gaze.

"Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?"

Amamiya leaned back a bit.

"Natsuki-san," Fujiwara said softly, "what was the name of the other player who cleared the game with us?"

Amamiya thought for a moment. "...Aki Tomoya?"

"No, not that boy," Fujiwara shook her head. "The female player who was with us."

Amamiya frowned. He only remembered she had short bobbed hair, average height and build—her appearance had blurred from memory.

"That short-haired girl… what's her name?"

"I forgot."

"…"

They exchanged silent looks.

Fujiwara nervously hugged Amamiya's arm. "Ghost player!"

A moment later, the subway arrived at the station.

Amamiya and Fujiwara got off and dispersed.

"Natsuki-san, see you tomorrow!" Fujiwara waved brightly.

"See you tomorrow," Amamiya nodded and left.

It was already past eight by the time he got home. He planned to call Miko over to recharge, but Aunt Yotsuya had already left work, and Kenko was unwilling to come, so he gave up.

"Well, finally home."

Mrs. Kaguya stretched lazily, raising her hands over her head, then looked at him expectantly. "Natsuki-kun, phone, phone—give me the spare phone."

"No." Amamiya opened the fridge, stared coldly at the human-headed evil spirit inside, and killed it expressionlessly. Then he pulled out a can of Coke. "Miko can't recharge me. You can't play on your phone in this state."

If she kept playing like this, she'd probably become immortal and ascend.

"How can that be?" Mrs. Kaguya looked disappointed, then suddenly brightened. "I have an idea."

"What?"

Amamiya took a sip of Coke and looked up.

"How about I help you recharge, Natsuki-kun?" Mrs. Kaguya crossed one leg over the other, stretched out a finger, lightly pressed her thigh, and smiled sweetly. "Miko-chan's okay, little Kaguya's okay—so I can help you recharge too, right?"

Mrs. Kaguya was truly beautiful—every frown and smile were especially charming.

Compared to the ice-sculpture lady's perpetually blank expression, Mrs. Kaguya was elegant and warm.

"I used to... well, before I died, I learned how to give massages," she said seductively. "I promise I'm better than Kaguya-chan and Miko-chan. You'll feel very comfortable, Natsuki-kun."

"…"

Whether it's comfortable or not, if you generate your own energy and then use it to recharge yourself… are you trying to become the king of folk science? The perpetual motion machine?

All perpetual motion machines are scams, Amamiya thought, shaking his head.

"No thanks. I just want to rest now. We'll talk tomorrow."

-End Chapter-

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