Miss Kaguya Wants My Surrender

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"Only the countdown is different…" Fujiwara Chika pressed her finger to her nose, striking Detective Conan's classic pose, and mused, "The focus must be on the countdown."

Amamiya Natsuki said speechlessly:

"Listening to your words is like listening to words."

It was as good as saying nothing; everyone knew that the countdown, decreasing by seconds, was important, but no one knew what the countdown represented.

"Could it be the remaining game countdown?" a passerby player guessed, "As long as we hold on until the countdown ends, we can leave the game?"

"Possibly."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked towards a passerby player in the corner.

This male was thin, seemed to rarely sunbathe, his skin was noticeably pale, his hair was messy, and he appeared quiet, introverted, and taciturn.

Among everyone, his task countdown was the shortest, only a little over two hours.

Whether they could leave the game after the countdown ended would be known then.

"Oh, right, we still don't know everyone's names." Fujiwara Chika's social butterfly attribute shone brightly. "I'm Fujiwara Chika, what's your name?"

The thin male silently said, "…You can call me Izumi."

"Natsuki-kun."

Fujiwara-mama secretly winked at Amamiya Natsuki.

Amamiya Natsuki understood and said, "Amamiya Natsuki."

"Shinomiya."

"Takanashi."

"Yukinoshita."

Humans are highly conformist creatures; as long as someone starts and a sequence forms, others will unconsciously follow.

After going around, the names of the other five unfamiliar players were finally known, and initial team trust was established.

"The countdown is only a few hours, it'll pass in a blink." Fujiwara Chika suggested, "Why don't we all just stay in the hall and wait until the time is up?"

Shinomiya Kaguya crossed her arms over her chest: "I veto that."

"Eh?"

Fujiwara Chika turned to look, her tone puzzled, "Kaguya-chan, why are you refusing?"

"Because it's too cold," Amamiya Natsuki complained. "Haven't you noticed that the temperature is getting lower and lower? If we don't do anything, we definitely won't last until the countdown ends."

Fujiwara Chika hesitated: "It's not that serious, is it?"

"It's very serious," Amamiya Natsuki pointed with his hand. "Look at that door; it's already starting to frost over."

A group of players turned their heads, looking at the wooden door leading into the ancient castle, and were surprised to find a faint layer of frost had appeared on the door.

"When we just came over, was there any frost?"

A player hesitated.

"No," Yukinoshita Yukino's voice was calm. "If it's frosting inside, the frost outside would definitely be thicker, but the fact is there's no frost on the outside of the door."

"That makes sense."

"If we don't do anything, I feel like we'll freeze to death."

"There's a fireplace over there, everyone, let's find something to warm ourselves with, shall we?"

"…"

Upon discovering the fact that the temperature was quietly dropping, everyone quickly sprang into action and began to save themselves.

"Everyone act together, don't split up," Fujiwara Chika warned. "In horror movies, actors who act alone often get their lunch boxes."

You don't need to say it; no one would act alone in this environment! Only in horror movies would you find such foolish people!

And that was indeed the case.

No one had any thought of acting alone; they all walked together, their distance from each other not exceeding two meters, and began exploring the ancient castle.

This was a typical medieval European castle, primarily built of stone, with pointed spires and narrow windows. The interior was mainly wooden, with sofas, long tables, candlesticks, carpets, murals, and so on, all complete, looking quite exquisite and luxurious.

Unfortunately, the ancient castle was empty, only filled with gloom and silence.

Amamiya Natsuki and Fujiwara Chika walked at the very back. After all, in horror games, the person walking at the very back is often the most dangerous. The two of them walked last, so at a critical moment, they could use the combined skill of 'Seize and Eliminate Evil' to avoid being silently attacked by vengeful spirits.

As they advanced, the black-haired, long-haired female walking in front of them suddenly stopped, staring blankly at a mural on the wall, her pupils slightly contracting.

"Yukino, are you alright?"

Fujiwara Chika asked with concern.

As expected of a social butterfly, after only a few minutes of knowing each other, she's already calling her by her first name!

"I'm fine, don't worry." Yukinoshita Yukino shook her head, withdrew her gaze, and continued to walk forward.

Amamiya Natsuki looked towards the mural where the black-haired, long-haired female had stopped.

This was an oil painting, depicting a noblewoman who looked graceful and luxurious, with her hands clasped in front of her chest, her posture dignified and elegant. Unfortunately, only a pointed chin could be seen; her face above that point was suddenly blurred.

"An oil painting where the face can't be seen…" Fujiwara Chika's expression became serious, and she quietly tugged at Amamiya Natsuki's sleeve. "Natsuki-kun, let's walk along the opposite wall. Be careful that the woman in the painting might suddenly crawl out and drag us into the oil painting."

Amamiya Natsuki narrowed his eyes: "Please don't jinx it."

"I'm not, it always happens like this in horror movies."

However… this painting really isn't an ordinary painting.

As Amamiya Natsuki gazed, a prompt quickly appeared before him:

[You look closely and find that this painting is very strange.]

It was indeed very strange, but the problem was, he couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was strange.

The owner of the ancient castle seemed to have a lot of artistic flair, or perhaps he was just pretending to be refined. There were an unexpected number of murals in the castle, visible every so often.

The contents of these oil paintings varied, but without exception, some parts were all blurred and unclear.

The prompts in front of Amamiya Natsuki also kept coming.

[You look closely and find that this painting is very strange.]

Later on, Amamiya Natsuki had already grown accustomed to it; these paintings were clearly all strange.

"No, I can't find any firewood at all."

The male walking at the very front stopped helplessly.

"There's actually a lot of firewood," Amamiya Natsuki suggested. "I think that wooden door is pretty good."

"Hey, hey, a wooden door is too much," the male speaking couldn't help but say. "It's not like we're Steve; no one can chop down a wooden door with their bare hands, right?"

There was actually a lot of wood in the ancient castle, but unfortunately, no one could dismantle it with their bare hands.

Fortunately, everyone quickly found something to warm themselves with.

A library.

The bookshelves were filled with all kinds of books, countless of them.

"How about burning books to keep warm?" a player's eyes lit up, and he quickly suggested, "In the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow,' the protagonist was trapped in a library and used burning books to keep warm."

Amamiya Natsuki nodded: "I think that's a good idea."

This suggestion quickly received unanimous approval from everyone.

Gorky once said that books are the ladder of human progress; they can also be fuel for warmth.

"Everyone, let's move the books to the fireplace," Fujiwara Chika led the way.

Amamiya Natsuki walked to the bookshelf, ready to move books, his gaze sweeping over the cover of a book in his hand, and he suddenly raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"'A loyal dog boyfriend's handbook'… What kind of book is this?"

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