"I'm sorry, it's all my jinxing. I should have known not to talk nonsense…"
Chika's voice was full of guilt and self-reproach.
"Of course, it has nothing to do with you." Natsuki reached out and stroked Chika's head, "It's just a coincidence."
Tsubame said in a low voice:
"Can we just destroy that statue?"
"Most likely not." Natsuki shook his head, "Although that thing is just a fake Weeping Angel, it still has some abilities and cannot be easily destroyed."
Hayasaka said with a solemn tone:
"The notice board clearly states that rules only need to be followed in the hotel's public areas. Perhaps we can enter a hotel room to avoid the rules."
Juju hesitated:
"But won't we be pulled into a nightmare after entering the room?"
"Of two evils, choose the lesser." Haruno cast a vote of approval, "With Natsuki-kun here, even if we fall into a nightmare, we can wake up, but if we are caught by a Weeping Angel, what will happen is unknown."
Kaguya said softly:
"There's also another option: use the coin now to find the location of the hotel anomaly's main body."
Natsuki took out the coin and handed it over: "Kaguya-sama has a point."
"…"
After a brief discussion, everyone unanimously decided to actively engage, directly searching for the anomaly's main body instead of everyone staying in the lobby and staring at the Weeping Angel.
The Coin of Destiny was given to Chika to use. Although she had a reputation for being a jinx, her usual luck was always very good.
"…Done."
Juju quickly made a special dice with 'Up, Down, Left, Right' written on it, to guide 'fate'.
"Then I'll flip the coin."
Chika took a deep breath, lightly tossed the coin in her hand. It landed heads up, activating the 'Lucky Goddess's Favor' buff. Immediately after, she threw the dice, using luck to cheat her way out.
"It's upstairs… Let's go upstairs!"
Everyone didn't waste any time and quickly went upstairs.
To be safe, they still used the fire escape.
"You guys go first." Natsuki said calmly, while speaking, he kept his gaze on the Weeping Angel.
Kaguya said softly:
"I'll stay behind with President."
The situation was urgent, and no one was being overly polite now. Everyone quickly moved, heading up the fire escape to the upper floors.
However, due to the limitations of the space layout, when they passed through stairwell corners and similar places, they would inevitably break eye contact with the Weeping Angel.
So, just as Natsuki entered the fire escape, he saw the Weeping Angel appear at the stairwell entrance with a ghostly speed, half of its body peeking out, seemingly observing everyone's every move, and its hands covering its face were also halfway down.
By the time everyone reached the second floor, the Weeping Angel had also arrived on the second floor, only a few meters away from the players.
"This won't do." Natsuki frowned slightly, and quickly said, "Chika, you guys go ahead and find the room where the anomaly's main body is located based on the guidance. Kaguya and I will stay behind and keep an eye on it. Once you find the room, use Pickpocket to pull us over."
Chika said with concern:
"Are the two of you enough?"
"Two people are enough." Kaguya crossed her arms over her chest, "One person watches it, and the other rests. It's actually quite safe."
"…I understand!"
Chika bit her lip and continued to roll the dice.
"It's upstairs… Still upstairs, let's continue upstairs!"
Without much further ado, Juju and the others followed. On the other hand, the cheap daughter saw Natsuki standing still and didn't understand what was happening, so she reached out her short little hand and called for Papa.
"Papa will be there soon." The Senpai quickly comforted her, "Don't worry, Aoi-chan, we'll go first."
"…"
As everyone left, the hallway immediately fell silent, leaving only Natsuki and Kaguya, confronting the Weeping Angel.
Natsuki said softly to Kaguya:
"Tell me when you need to blink."
"Not yet." Kaguya widened her beautiful eyes, staring unblinkingly at the Weeping Angel, "Does President need to rest for a bit?"
Natsuki nodded: "My eyes are indeed a bit sore."
Blinking is a human biological instinct, not subject to human will. Even the legendary Zhang Fei, who supposedly slept with his eyes open, would inevitably blink while sleeping with his eyes open.
"I suddenly remembered a fun task I did before." Natsuki turned to look at Kaguya, "One of them seemed to be 'Staring at the Sun', right?"
"President's memory is quite good." Kaguya gently pursed her lips, her voice involuntarily softening, "It was so long ago, yet it feels like it happened just yesterday."
The early fun tasks were opened from Blind Box, and he never got them again later, so many people probably don't remember them.
"That was my first time not blinking for ten minutes, so naturally, it left a deep impression." Natsuki smiled, "Of course, there's another reason."
Not blinking for ten minutes sounds like a fantasy, but it's actually achievable. The current world record for not blinking is a full forty minutes.
Kaguya, still staring at the Weeping Angel, asked curiously:
"What's the other reason?"
Natsuki said earnestly:
"And also, it was my first time being so close to the lovely Kaguya… I can't forget it, I'll never forget it."
By now, Kaguya already knew about his playboy identity and chose to turn a blind eye. As long as he didn't act intimately with other girls in front of her, she most likely wouldn't use the cleaver on him.
Kaguya's pretty face quickly flushed red, and she bit her lip with her pearly teeth, saying, "The President is a liar, you didn't like me at all back then, did you?"
"I liked you then too," Natsuki said softly, "but that kind of liking was simple, a pure appreciation for beautiful things, like seeing cute kittens and puppies by the roadside. But the liking now is a desire to be with Kaguya forever."
The blush on Kaguya's face deepened by three points, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she said shyly, "My eyes… my eyes are so uncomfortable, President, quickly change people!"
"Yes, yes." Natsuki looked at the Weeping Angel, taking over for Kaguya, "I'm staring at it. You rest for a bit."
"Hmph…"
Kaguya let out a soft breath, her pretty face flushed as she averted her gaze, pressing her right hand to her chest, clearly feeling her heart beating rapidly.
Steady!
Don't be happy!
Stay calm!
The President is so skilled, he must have said similar things to many people, right?
Unfortunately, her heart was still pounding, unable to calm down at all.
Kaguya pursed her lips, disappointed with her own reaction.
He's a scummy President, secretly involved with so many girls, even saying he wants them all. He's utterly despicable. She should beat him up and never see him again, but… she can't do it.
She absolutely can't do it.
If she doesn't see the President for even one day, she misses him terribly. Almost every night when she sleeps, she dreams of the President… In short, she hates it so much!
After whispering to Miss for a while, Natsuki soon felt his pinky finger tremble rhythmically. It was a signal from Chika using the red string.
"Chika has news," Natsuki reminded, "Get ready, we're leaving."
"Mhm."
Kaguya took a deep breath, quickly calming down. While watching the Weeping Angel, she used the Sheep Transformation Technique to turn Natsuki into a little sheep, then transformed into a leg attachment. The two figures instantly disappeared into the hallway.
Light and shadow intertwined.
Vision shifted.
Natsuki only felt his vision slightly twist, and he was already in front of Chika and Tsubame and the others.
"President, you're here."
"This is the fifth floor. We rolled the dice all the way here. It should be it."
"Hey, hey, everyone, look at the end of the hallway!"
"That Weeping Angel is catching up!"
"Its speed is too fast!"
"…"
The girls quickly focused on the Weeping Angel, using their gazes to stop its movement. This thing was incredibly fast, almost in the blink of an eye, it went from the second floor to the fifth floor.
Natsuki silently waited for the forced transformation effect to end.
A moment later, he finally changed back to human form from the little sheep.
As for his clothes… of course, not a single piece was left, but the situation was urgent, and few people were paying attention to him anyway.
"Aoi-chan, don't look."
Tsubame silently estimated the time. Before Natsuki's transformation ended, she covered her cheap daughter's eyes a step ahead.
Kaguya then detached from the leg attachment state and used a Skin Card to activate instant costume change, transforming into Bunny Girl Kaguya. She covered her forehead with her right hand and said softly, "I feel… a bit bad."
Hayasaka comforted her from the side:
"The first time is always like this. You'll get used to it after a few more tries."
Hearing this, Juju inexplicably felt guilty, as if it was intentional.
"Is this the room?"
Natsuki turned to look at the room behind the girls. It looked unremarkable, just an ordinary hotel room. If it weren't for Lucky Goddess's Favor, they wouldn't have found it at all.
Of course, whether the anomaly's main body was inside, they would only know after entering.
"Everyone, let's go in together!" Chika clenched her pink fist and said, "Let's combine our strength and eliminate the anomaly in one go!"
Staying in the hallway and confronting the Weeping Angel was meaningless. Everyone uniting to eliminate the anomaly was the optimal choice.
Hayasaka said with a solemn expression, "The ordinary guest rooms we explored before were on the fifth floor. The rooms on the fifth floor are all deluxe rooms, so the situation might be different."
"What exactly is inside, we'll only know after we go in." Natsuki said softly, "You go in first, I'll keep an eye on the Weeping Angel."
"…"
The crowd didn't waste time, quickly pushed open the door, and entered the room.
Before long, only Natsuki and Kaguya were left again.
"President." Kaguya reached out her hand, intertwining their fingers, "We can go in now."
Natsuki nodded slightly, keeping an eye on the Weeping Angel, and stepping back, disappearing with Kaguya.
Bang.
The door suddenly closed.
The entire corridor became quiet again.
Cold.
Dizziness.
Sinking…
When Natsuki opened his eyes again, he saw a bathtub hanging above his head.
"Hmm? Above my head?"
Natsuki quickly sobered up and looked around, finding that his feet were on the ground, and the bathtub was indeed not at his feet, but above his head. Not only the bathtub, but the washbasin was also unusually high, in a strange position.
Why would a bathtub be above his head?
Natsuki raised an eyebrow slightly, seeing various toiletries scattered on the floor, exceptionally messy. At the same time, turbid standing water was rising above his calves, slowly spreading upwards.
"Another nightmare?"
"Why does it look somewhat like a restroom?"
"Strange…"
Natsuki didn't see Kaguya-san or the others, and quickly turned to leave the restroom.
The restroom door was ajar, and outside, there was still turbid standing water up to the calves, with various debris floating on the surface: beds, pillows, quilts, slippers… It looked exceptionally messy.
The entire room was dimly lit, with no lights.
Natsuki walked to a window. What was strange was that the window was very low, only reaching an adult's waist, so he even had to bend over to see anything.
"Could it be a window installed for Cupid people?"
Natsuki looked out the window, but unfortunately, it was only pitch black, and he couldn't see anything clearly.
"Amamiya… san?"
At this moment, a hesitant voice suddenly sounded, exceptionally familiar to his ears.
Natsuki turned to look and saw a soaking wet Miss emerge from nearby, water dripping from her hair, looking quite disheveled.
"Good, found the first one."
Seeing Miss, Natsuki couldn't help but smile.
Seeing the smile on Natsuki's face, Kaguya frowned slightly, cautiously stepping back half a step, and asked warily, "Amamiya, where is this place? Do you know what happened here?"
Of course, he knew where this place was and what happened in the room, but even if he explained it to her, she wouldn't believe him!
Natsuki was certain that everyone had fallen into a new nightmare because new false memories had appeared in his mind.
The false memories were quite thin.
He was a second-year high school student, living an unchanging, unremarkable life, repeating every day, bland and uninteresting. The last scene of the false memory was the entire class discussing the location for their school trip.
The memory stopped abruptly there, not knowing what happened next. In short, when he woke up again, he was in the strange room before him.
Clearly, Kaguya's false memories in her mind should be similar to his. The two were just ordinary classmates participating in a school trip together, with no usual interaction, only knowing each other's names. That's why Kaguya politely called him by his name instead of the more intimate 'President.'
"It's troublesome to explain…" Natsuki clicked his tongue and stepped towards Miss, "So I won't explain. You'll find out for yourself later."
Seeing Natsuki approach, Kaguya's eyes immediately sharpened, and she said cautiously, "My appearance here, is it related to you?"
Natsuki spread his hands and said, "If you want to think that, there's nothing I can do."
After saying that, Natsuki suddenly felt that this sentence was a bit off, seemingly quite scummy.
"…Amamiya-san, turn yourself in."
A cold, emotionless voice, devoid of warmth, quickly entered Natsuki's ears, like the bitter wind of winter, threatening to freeze one's body and soul.
Ah, how familiar!
After a long time, he saw Kaguya again, using the same expression and tone to persuade him to turn himself in, her eyes and tone clearly identical to their first conversation.
A strong sense of déjà vu flooded Natsuki, making him involuntarily smile.
Seeing the smile on Natsuki's face, Kaguya's eyebrows furrowed even tighter.
This boy… is not right.
She told him to turn himself in, and he could still smile? Is he a pervert?
Natsuki looked at Kaguya and smiled, "Since the crime has already been committed, wouldn't turning myself in now be a huge loss?"
"So, I choose to surrender afterward." Natsuki said, approaching Kaguya, playing the evil villain, "Kaguya, you can scream until your throat is hoarse, no one will come to save you."
Kaguya's pretty face tightened. If she were an ordinary girl, opening her eyes to find herself in a chaotic room, with her memory lost, and facing a fierce-looking boy, she would have already been in a panic.
But Miss Ice Princess remained exceptionally calm and did not panic or beg for mercy. Instead, she decisively searched for a handy weapon.
Unfortunately, only things like beds and quilts were floating on the water. Kaguya couldn't find a suitable weapon, so she quickly grabbed a piece of broken glass from the bed, tightly pursing her lips, ready for a fight. Because she was gripping it too hard, her fingertips were even cut by the glass shard, oozing faint traces of blood.
Kaguya in her ice princess form would truly rather break than bend.
"I'm sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me." Natsuki decisively apologized three times, "Listen to my explanation!"
Kaguya: "…"
At this moment, the best way would actually be to call out Mrs. Shimizu. As long as she saw her mother's ghost, Kaguya would definitely choose to believe him.
Unfortunately, it couldn't be done.
Nightmares were special services provided to human guests; ghosts couldn't enter nightmares. Natsuki had tried before, not only Mrs. Shimizu, Yandere Kaguya, Sadako, the Human Faced Dog, and the strange tale Spider Girl, none of them could be summoned.
Fortunately, Natsuki still knew many of Kaguya's secrets, such as her favorite food, her favorite animal, letters she had secretly written to Mrs. Shimizu but never mailed, and so on.
After hearing the evidence Natsuki presented, Kaguya slightly furrowed her brows and said in a cold voice, "Even if what you say is true, I still don't trust you."
Natsuki couldn't help but sigh.
If it were Chika, she would have already formed an alliance with him and escaped together—even with ordinary strangers, Chika would help each other, let alone with a classmate relationship.
However, Miss Ice Princess was wary of everyone and would not trust anyone.
"Accio!"
Natsuki extended his right hand towards Kaguya, using the Accio.
The difference in power between them was naturally immense; Kaguya was completely defenseless and flew directly into Natsuki's arms.
"An ordinary person couldn't possibly do something like this, could they?" Natsuki looked at Kaguya, "Do you believe me now?"
"Let go of me." Kaguya's pretty face remained expressionless as she quickly broke free from Natsuki's embrace, looking at him warily. "There really are superpowers… Did you hypnotize me, or read my memories?"
Natsuki: "…"
I didn't realize you used to be a Conspirer!