"He was quite generous, giving out three coins at once."
Natsuki put away the coins, satisfied.
The vengeful boy was shaking with rage, blood flowing from the corners of his eyes. "You even want to blackmail evil spirits. You, a human, have no moral integrity at all!"
Natsuki glanced at the vengeful spirit girl nearby, who was lifting her hair and looking at him smugly. "How dare you, a penniless guy, laugh at others!"
It seems not just humans, but even vengeful spirits, can find amusement in others' misfortunes. When other vengeful spirits are in trouble, they can be gleeful.
Seeing Natsuki look her way, the vengeful girl quickly lowered her head and sat down. Natsuki didn't bother her further, moving on to find his next target.
"One trick is enough to make you successful. The fox borrowing the tiger's power works quite well. The pig-headed chef is always the boss. Natsuki collects hush money left and right, and no resentful student dares refuse."
The other students in the cafeteria were shocked, whispering to each other.
"What's going on with those three?" "Is he asking the vengeful spirit for money?" "Is he borrowing money?" "Idiot, the ghosts aren't kind people. How could they lend money to humans? They must have found some underhanded way to survive."
One student tried to imitate Natsuki, but couldn't remember the Pig-Headed Butcher's real name, and was torn to pieces by the angry spirits, his body dissipating into mist.
Suddenly, Chika's desperate cries reached Natsuki's ears. He found her and Kaguya trapped by a female ghost.
"I didn't throw away the food secretly. I'm not afraid even if the chef shows up," the ghost said in a cold, creepy voice. "You actually blackmailed me. I'm going to eat you."
Natsuki calmly walked over and spilled the food on the table. "You're wasting food now," he said.
Chika's eyes widened. "Hey, hey, hey, a ploy from the Thirty-Six Stratagems!"
"Now we have the evidence," Natsuki said, gesturing to the spilled food on the table. "This is the food you wasted."
"You're accusing me wrongly. It was clearly you who spilled the food!" the vengeful girl retorted.
"Please don't joke," Natsuki said seriously. "We're just poor, weak and helpless humans. How dare we lift your plate? Who do you think the chef will believe?"
"Shameless!!" the dark-eyed spirit girl cried, shaking with anger and almost in tears.
"Human anger only lasts three seconds. If it doesn't erupt in that time, it won't go out of control. The same must be true for vengeful spirits," Natsuki mused. Though clearly enraged, the girl didn't go berserk, seeming more scared than anything.
"Let my friends go first," Natsuki said, prying open the girl's cold fingers and pulling Kaguya and Chika behind him. He then held out his hand. "Hush money, give me the money."
The girl clenched her fists, black energy emanating from her body like a volcano about to erupt. She trembled for a while, but finally swallowed her anger and paid the hush money.
"She seems about to cry," Chika whispered. "Are we going a little too far?"
"That's really too much," Natsuki said, rolling up his sleeves. "You only gave me a dollar as hush money. You look down on me. We can't just let that go."
"No," Chika said hurriedly, grabbing Natsuki's arm. "Let's get out of here."
Natsuki soon discovered the ghost students were all very poor, some with just a single coin. "That's it," he said as they reached the food pickup. "Time is running out. Complete the dining task as soon as possible."
"There are ten minutes left," Kaguya said calmly.
"Hey, what would you like to eat, Amamiya-san?" Chika asked.
"To be honest, I don't want to eat any of it," Natsuki said, tossing a coin. "If it lands face up, I'll have the borscht."
"Wait, these coins have the same front and back," Chika said. "There's no way to tell which side is up, right?"
"Excellent observation, Watson," Natsuki said.
"I'm not Watson, I'm Holmes," Chika insisted.
Natsuki calmly handed the coin to the Pig-Headed Butcher. "One bowl of borscht, please."
The butcher quickly brought out a bowl of borscht, black mist swirling on the surface, occasionally forming a skull.
Chika raised her hand. "Chef, I'd like a bowl of borscht too. When I was a kid, my mom made me Chinese medicine that looked similar when I had a cold. It didn't taste great, but it didn't have weird skulls floating in it, right?"
The Pig-Headed Butcher quickly brought out a bowl for Chika as well.
"Kaguya-chan, what do you want?" Chika asked.
Kaguya hesitated, a rare sight. To be honest, both dishes looked terrible - even the guard dog wouldn't eat them. But she had no choice.
"I'll have the borscht," Kaguya said, taking a deep breath to maintain her composure. At least she could just close her eyes and gulp it down like Chika.
The three of them found a corner to sit and eat.
"I'm gonna start now," Chika said with a pained expression. "I just had tamagoyaki, omelette rice, and two glasses of milk this morning, plus a bag of Baumkuchen I snuck in. Will I gain weight from eating all this?"
"Don't worry," Kaguya said coolly. "It's not as much as the snacks you secretly eat in class. If it turns to fat, it'll just go to your chest."
Chika covered her chest, distressed. "I hope it goes to my arms and legs instead. My chest is already too heavy - it's even hard to tie my shoes!"
Kaguya's chopsticks nearly crushed in her grip.
Natsuki, ignoring the girls' whispers, stared at his borscht. After a moment, words slowly appeared: [Made with unknown ingredients, no toxic effects, safe to consume. Inhaling too much smoke may cause hallucinations, so keep your mind clear.]
"It's edible then," Natsuki said, relieved. The other unlucky players who had already eaten seemed fine, so he took a sip.
Tasteless, like plain water. No temperature either, despite the mist.
"It would be better if it were a little spicier and hotter..." Natsuki thought.
"Hmm?" Natsuki Amamiya couldn't help but raise his eyebrows as he took another sip of the borscht.
The bowl suddenly had more spice and heat to it. "What's happening?"
Natsuki quickly realized this must be the "illusion" he had read about. The borscht was still ordinary, but it would produce hallucinations based on people's thoughts. No wonder everyone was struggling to eat it, as if they were consuming something bitter and painful.
"It's so bitter, so painful!" Chika's voice rang out. Natsuki looked up to see her sticking out her tongue and fanning herself.
"You drank it all in one go?" he asked, shocked.
"My mom said you should drink Chinese medicine that way," Chika replied, chin held high. "If you sip it, it just gets harder."
Clever girl. Her luck must be higher than average for a fool to grow up like this.
Natsuki then noticed something off about Kaguya. The usually composed girl was biting her lip, holding her hand stiffly as her eyes filled with unshed tears.
Kaguya's eyes were wide with fear as she trembled. [So scary, so scary, so scary, so scary...]
Natsuki couldn't help but ask, "Shinomiya-san, what's wrong?"
Kaguya didn't respond, just looking away with tears in her eyes, like a child trying to hold back tears after accidentally eating a bitter pepper.
"Hey, Kaguya-chan, are you okay?" Chika asked with concern. "Why are you crying? Borscht is super bitter, but it shouldn't be this bad, right?"
Kaguya's pale face was streaked with tears as she whispered, "Eyes, eyes..."
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Chika leaned in, her cute bunny-emblazoned chest bouncing. "Did a bug get in? Don't worry, I'll blow it out for you."
Natsuki's mind raced. Could Kaguya actually be seeing something in the borscht, some kind of hallucination? But a brainless girl like Chika seemed unaffected.
"The meal time is almost over," the Pig-Headed Butcher's gruff voice called out. "Please leave the cafeteria."
The other students quickly fled the cafeteria, as if escaping. Kaguya tried to stand up, but Chika pressed down on her shoulder.
"Kaguya-chan, you can't run away! You can't waste food or the chef will get mad." Her expression was serious.
"It's just a hallucination," Natsuki quickly explained. "There's nothing actually in the soup. You're just scaring yourself."
"Oh, I see!" Chika realized. "No wonder everyone looks so terrified drinking it."
But Kaguya still stared at the borscht, her eyes brimming with tears. "I can't drink it. There's no way I can..."
Natsuki sighed. "Kaguya-san, can you please be a little more capable? Just pinch your nose, close your eyes, and down it like Chika did."
But his encouragement failed to rouse any fighting spirit in the trembling Kaguya.
"The cafeteria is about to close, and it'll be too late to buy another one!" Chika fretted. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Aha, I have an idea!"
She turned to Natsuki, clasping her hands pleadingly. "Amamiya-san, you haven't finished your borscht yet. Why don't you swap with Kaguya-chan?"
Natsuki understood immediately. Kaguya was terrified of the hallucinations in her own bowl - if she just switched, the problem would be solved.
"No problem," Natsuki agreed, pushing his half-finished borscht towards Kaguya. "Let's trade."
Kaguya still looked hesitant.
"Kaguya-chan, what are you hesitating about?" Chika scolded. "Now's not the time to worry about indirect kisses!"
"I don't care about that!" Kaguya retorted. What she cared about were the awful ingredients that looked like eyes. If it was Natsuki's bowl, her conscience would only ache slightly.
"Don't worry, an indirect kiss won't get you pregnant," Chika continued criticizing. "If we were stranded in the desert, we could even drink [CENSORED] to survive!"
Kaguya's eyelashes fluttered at the mention of pregnancy, and the borscht seemed to change again in her eyes.
Thundering footsteps approached from the kitchen. "The chef is coming out!" Chika said nervously. "Kaguya-chan, it's too late!"
"I...I understand," Kaguya said, taking a deep breath. Imitating Natsuki, she closed her eyes and gulped down the borscht.
Unfortunately, instead of a triumphant horn, all that was heard was the sound of Kaguya coughing miserably into her hands.
"Hurry, let's go," Natsuki urged.
As they quickly left the empty, echoing cafeteria, Natsuki said wistfully, "It would be nice to stay in the cafeteria the whole time." Bullying others under the Pig-Headed Chef's reputation felt so satisfying. But all good things must come to an end. He wondered if he'd be able to visit the cafeteria again.
"Where should we go next?" Natsuki asked as they returned to the signpost.
"Hmm..." Chika pondered for a moment. "Let's go to the examination room!"
"Kaguya-san is super smart," Natsuki commented. "She'll definitely pass the exam easily."
He felt Chika was setting herself up for disappointment with that statement. But as students of the elite Shuchiin Academy, exams were nothing to be afraid of.
"Let's take a look," Natsuki agreed, and they followed the signs to the school building.
"Hey, my body is moving on its own!" Chika suddenly shouted. The same thing was happening to Natsuki and Kaguya - an unseen force was guiding them towards a classroom door, which they pushed open and entered.
A chilling voice spoke. "It's full again, the exam starts now."
They found themselves in the "ghost classroom" - the "death examination room." Most of the students were vengeful spirits in bloodstained uniforms, exuding a cold, evil aura. A few unlucky players like themselves were also present.
The room was covered in blood and scratches, the stains still seeming fresh. And at the podium stood a tall, beautiful female teacher with waist-length hair.
Natsuki's eyes focused on the invigilator's face. Upon closer inspection, the "beautiful teacher" was actually a horrifying sight - criss-crossing knife marks, scarlet eyes, and a gaping mouth.
Above her head, a message appeared: "The teacher who was bribed by students before the exam and leaked the questions is full of resentment and very dangerous. Do not confront her directly. Find her weakness and tame her."
Natsuki's gaze then drifted downwards. "Ah, there are the weaknesses," he murmured.
"The 444th round of examinations has officially begun," the invigilator declared hoarsely, holding a blood-stained triangle ruler. "I will now announce the exam rules."
"This test will last 20 minutes. You are not allowed to leave the classroom, or you will die. After each question, the test paper will automatically grade itself, and those who fail will be punished by death."
"Even Professor Yang isn't as cruel as this!" Natsuki thought.
A whispered comment reached his ears. "I saw those three big guys collecting protection money from the vengeful students in the cafeteria earlier!"
Several unlucky players were eyeing Natsuki, Kaguya and Chika, referring to them as the "legendary Big Three."