...
"Suzuka, and Trainer? Have you two already finished breakfast?" Special Week, fresh from washing up, stepped out of her room and ran right into Lucian and Silence Suzuka in the hallway.
Lucian nodded. "I finished. Suzuka hasn't eaten yet, I think? She suddenly turned back for some reason."
After saying that, ignoring Silence Suzuka's cold gaze and Special Week's puzzled expression, he returned to his room first.
"Suzuka-chan, you haven't eaten yet?" Special Week could only shift her gaze to Silence Suzuka. "Then let's go have breakfast together?"
"Spe-chan, you go ahead. I need to go back to my room for a bit." She had washed up this morning, but now she felt unclean and wanted to brush her teeth again.
"Okay."
Special Week nodded.
She had the feeling that Trainer and Suzuka were both acting strange.
Were the two of them really that coincidental? Coming back down the hallway together at the exact same time?
...
The final stop, Devil's Valley, also had high playability.
There was a dedicated exhibition hall introducing Japan's ghost legends, large-scale haunted house adventures, brain-teasing mystery script-killing games.
Of course, the most famous was the escape rooms here.
The venue was huge, the plots reasonable and rich, thrilling and scary... These were the positive reviews from visitors who had been.
"Everyone, should we split up and explore on our own, or team up together?" After paying the entrance fee, Lucian asked the horse girls.
He himself actually wanted to try the escape room, but he still needed to ask the team's opinion.
Tokai Teio: "I want to do the escape room! McQueen, together? If you're scared, just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Together then." Mejiro McQueen folded her arms proudly. In truth, she also wanted to experience an escape room once.
Meisho Doto looked left and right—none of the options really appealed. "I'll just wander around by myself. (•ˇˍˇ•)"
"Rice and Urara want to go to the haunted house~" Haru Urara said while holding Rice's hand.
Rice had no objections either. After Ines Hanakami left, her mood had improved a lot. Of course, she didn't dislike the little one.
Nice Nature: "I'll go to the haunted house too."
"Oh ho~ Feels like the escape room group needs a brains representative." Matikane Tannhauser rubbed her nose and puffed out her small chest.
Twin Turbo nodded. "Then I'll go to the haunted house with Nature. Haunted houses might need a brains representative too."
...
After discussion, the escape room group was Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen, Matikane Tannhauser, Silence Suzuka, Special Week, and Ines Fujin.
Lucian followed the strategy guide route and led everyone to the entrance.
They were lucky—the previous team had just come out, so no waiting.
"That scared me to death."
"We played for half a day and still failed."
"Failing is good. We got out earlier."
"Why is the NPC a horse girl? Who could outrun that?"
"You ran away yourself. She didn't even chase you, okay?"
...
These words reached Lucian's ears. He couldn't help but voice the same question. "The NPC is a horse girl?"
"Hello, are you all together?" The front desk attendant interrupted Lucian's thoughts.
"Yes, seven people total. Can we play this scenario?" Lucian pointed at the screen to a room called "Hyakumonogatari: The Call of the Vengeful Spirits."
They had already decided on this one before coming.
"Yes, this one is perfect for 7–8 people. This way please." The attendant had Lucian and the others wait on the sofa. After everything was arranged, she opened a safe. "Guests, please place your phones and valuables inside."
"Wh-Why do we have to hand over our phones? What if it's pitch black inside and we can't see anything? Isn't that dangerous?" Mejiro McQueen, experiencing this for the first time, didn't understand. Before coming, she had planned to use her phone's flashlight to sneak some light.
"Guests, the room provides flashlights, and there are many safe emergency exits inside. The entire room is under surveillance, so no need to worry." The attendant patiently explained.
"McQueen, if you're scared, just say so. You still have time to back out." Tokai Teio said.
Whether Mejiro McQueen knew Tokai Teio was using reverse psychology or not, she always fell for it. "The ghosts are all played by people. How could I possibly be scared?"
Even if she really got scared...
Mejiro McQueen subconsciously stole a glance at the spacing-out Lucian.
Before her last race she had been nervous too, but Lucian's words always made her feel at ease.
"Trainer-san, what are you thinking about?" Special Week also noticed Lucian, who had been silent and seemed lost in thought.
"Nothing." Lucian shook his head and pulled himself back.
He had just been thinking—his original intention really was just to play an escape room.
But with this plot... surely some horse girl would get scared and shrink into his arms later.
How cliché. If it was Silence Suzuka shrinking into his arms—and maybe Special Week too—he wouldn't mind at all.
Speaking of which, Silence Suzuka really couldn't be satisfied. She didn't learn from Seiun—once satisfied, she just went off to play on her own.
"Spe-chan, are you scared? Have you played before?"
"No, it's my first time too." Special Week felt a little uneasy. "Trainer-san, it shouldn't be too scary, right?"
"I don't really know about that either, but you don't need to be too nervous... because later you'll be even more nervous, hahaha."
"Trainer-san..." Special Week pouted and gave Lucian a half-coquettish, half-reproachful look.
...
"Guests, this is the safety agreement. To ensure safety during the game, there are some rules you need to follow." The attendant handed out the agreements one by one.
Lucian read parts of it softly while looking. "Guests must not physically attack NPCs, including slapping, pulling, hitting, elbowing, flying kicks, flying knees, etc."
At first he was puzzled—why were the rules so detailed?
But when he read further—"Guests, please control your running speed. Do not charge around recklessly"—he understood. These were clearly rules aimed at horse girls, just not explicitly stated.
"Guests, you need one experienced or thoughtful captain. I'll give the walkie-talkie to her. You can request hints when necessary."
As soon as the attendant finished, all the horse girls turned their gazes to Lucian.
Lucian: "?"
He turned his gaze to Matikane Tannhauser. "That one... brains representative. It's yours."
"M-Me? I was just saying it casually." Matikane Tannhauser rubbed her small hands.
"It's fine. Give it a try, Tannhauser."
"Since Trainer believes in me so much..." Matikane Tannhauser straightened her expression and took the walkie-talkie. "Then let me lead everyone through this escape room!"
...