"It's not protection money, it's hush money," Chika whispered.
"All the ghost students paid up. There was one ghost girl who tried to resist, but they messed with her until she broke down crying."
"Oh, come on! There wasn't any physical contact. Since when have you ever messed with a vengeful spirit?" Natsuki retorted.
"These three must be super-seniors!" someone exclaimed.
"Hate to break it to you, but that pink-haired idiot with the bow sitting behind you, twirling her pencil? She's a total newbie. First time playing the game."
Natsuki looked down at the test paper on his desk. It was covered in large bloodstains, obscuring almost the entire page. But as he stared at it, the stains began to fade and shrink, revealing the questions underneath.
[The blood-stained test paper is filled with resentment. It can be reused, saving energy and protecting the environment]
"Hey, the first question is super easy!" Chika Fujiwara's voice came from behind him.
Natsuki's eyes fell on the first problem. It really was dead simple.
"What's one plus two?"
All the ghost students looked like high schoolers, and there were even a few adult players mixed in. Yet the exam was asking "What is one plus two?"
Who did they think they were dealing with?
Natsuki picked up the blood-stained pen and ticked off the answer. Correct.
He moved on to the second question:
"Rabbits and chickens are in a cage together. There are 35 heads total and 94 legs. How many chickens and rabbits are there?"
It was that classic primary school problem about rabbits and chickens in the same cage. Child's play.
"No way," Natsuki thought. "There can't be anyone who'd get this wrong... right?"
He marked the correct answer and looked at the third question.
"What is the 100th decimal place of pi?"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Natsuki cursed internally. How on earth was a normal person supposed to know that?
Suddenly, he felt a gentle poke on his thigh. Turning around, he saw Chika quietly scribbling the number 9 on her desk.
Natsuki was stunned. Could she actually remember pi to a hundred decimal places? Was she some kind of genius?
"It's Kaguya," Chika whispered, covering her mouth. "I just peeked at her paper."
Ah, that explained it. For an all-around perfect girl like Kaguya, knowing pi to the hundredth place was probably no big deal.
"Kaguya, you eternal goddess," Natsuki thought, shaking his head as he turned to the fourth question. He'd given up any notion of trying to impress anyone here.
"Please state the color of the invigilator's underwear." A: Red B: Black C: Blue and white striped D: Commando
First off, we can rule out "commando." There's definitely going to be some color if they're wearing any. As for the other three options... it's completely impossible to tell.
If you want to know the answer, you'd have to ask the invigilator directly. Even someone as brilliant as Kaguya couldn't possibly know what color underwear the invigilator has on.
Natsuki Amamiya stared at the question silently. After a moment, a line of text appeared before him:
[You choose to lift the invigilator's skirt to find out... You die]
Well, that settles that.
Around him, other test-takers were starting to scratch their heads and fidget nervously. To answer this question, you either had to guess or somehow get the info from the invigilator.
One player decided to take action. He pulled a small round mirror from his pocket, bent down, and hid it behind his foot. When the invigilator walked by, he quietly stretched out his right foot, ready to sneak a peek.
Then...
"Cheating is forbidden."
The invigilator suddenly whipped around, voice cold and raspy. They swung a blood-stained triangle ruler.
Blood splattered.
All the players fell silent, quickly abandoning any notions of upskirt peeking.
Natsuki looked silently at the next question. Since he couldn't answer the previous one, he'd have to skip it for now.
"What punishment will be given to those caught trying to escape the school by security guards?" A: Hanging B: Impalement C: Wooden horse torture D: Mutton punishment
Natsuki's face was blank. Apart from hanging, he'd never even heard of the other three punishments.
He kept reading... but couldn't continue. You had to select an answer to move on to the next question.
Natsuki sighed and looked helplessly at the invigilator. Compared to the non-existent security guard, the invigilator seemed like the better bet for passing this test.
As he stared, a new line of text suddenly appeared:
[After persistent observation, you've successfully discerned the invigilator's weakness] [There's no problem in the world that money can't solve]
"Hm?"
Natsuki's eyes lit up slightly as he quickly thought of a solution.
A moment later, the blood-covered invigilator passed by Natsuki's desk.
Clink.
A coin used in the Ghost Academy fell onto the table.
The invigilator stopped abruptly.
"Teacher, you dropped your money," Natsuki pointed out.
"..."
The invigilator was silent for a moment, then reached out to pick up the coin. They silently pressed an option on Natsuki's test paper.
D: Commando
Natsuki filled in the answer.
The test instantly self-graded: Correct answer.
...…
"It's a trap!
They're all traps!
She clearly wasn't wearing anything, but the question asked about the color of her underwear. This was definitely a setup.
Natsuki Amamiya stared seriously at the vengeful invigilator in front of him. His eyes fell on the perky figure wrapped in a tight skirt, and he mentally criticized her harshly.
What's even more outrageous is that you, a female teacher, are going commando under your skirt at school. Isn't that a bit much?
Have you ever considered the social fallout if you were discovered?
Then again, as a vengeful ghost, I guess she's not too worried about social death anymore.
Whatever.
"Psst, psst—"
Chika's eyes were wide as she looked over, writing on the desk with her finger: "Amamiya, don't keep staring at the female teacher's body. It's very rude."
Why bother being polite with evil spirits? If their powers weren't completely suppressed, those unlucky players in this exam room would have teamed up to rip off the invigilator's skirt by now!
"Don't slander my innocence," Natsuki said expressionlessly. "I'm just trying to figure out the answer."
"Eh..." Chika blinked and suddenly covered her chest with her arms. "Does Amamiya-san have the ability to see through people's clothes?"
Don't bother covering up. If I could really see through clothes, I'd be able to see every mole on your body!
"Kaguya, cover yourself quickly!"
Shinomiya doesn't need to do that at all.
It's set in stone, nothing special there. The Kantō Plain, no need to cover up.
Natsuki secretly told Chika the correct answer to the test. His eyes fell back on the blood-stained paper, and a new question quietly emerged.
[How did Hayato Aoki, who was in the same exam room as you, die?]
Great.
Another impossible question.
Even if Kaguya Shinomiya was ranked first in the country, not just the school, she still couldn't answer this.
Natsuki was starting to understand the rules of this Death Exam game.
Quietly taking the test was a dead end.
They had to do something.
Everyone was trying their best to find a chance to peek under the invigilator's skirt, or to figure out which ghost in the room was Hayato Aoki so they could observe him and determine his cause of death... In short, they had to cheat in various ways.
If caught cheating, the penalty was death.
However, Natsuki had found a special trick to get around this.
As an invigilator, it would be normal to know how your students died, right?
A moment later.
The invigilator circled back around to Natsuki's desk.