Kaguya's eyes flickered as she glanced at Natsuki, a slight smirk playing on her lips. "Natsuki, would you mind bringing out the 'food'?"
"Hold on, since when does Natsuki have food?" Chika's eyes widened with curiosity. She clearly hadn't caught on yet. "Kaguya, are you sure about this?"
"Kaguya's right. I do have some 'food' for our bovine friend here."
Natsuki, catching Kaguya's drift, reached into his game inventory and pulled out an item.
The brilliant green color stood out starkly in the gloomy room.
Green. The color of life and miracles.
"Wait... are those leeks?" several girls exclaimed, their eyes growing wide.
"Oh, I get it now! We can feed the cow leeks," Chika said, smacking her forehead as realization dawned. "The cow eats leeks, we milk the cow - it's a perfect cycle!"
"So those leeks can actually be useful?" Asuka, the leeks' former owner, was stunned.
Come to think of it... it did make sense, didn't it?
Humans might not eat raw leeks, but cows probably wouldn't mind.
Cows are herbivores, and leeks are herbs. It should be fine, right?
Though surprised, Asuka felt no regret. Even if she'd kept the leeks, they'd have been useless to her - she wouldn't dare feed them to the vengeful spirits.
Trading a bunch of leeks for a chance to get in someone's good graces? That's a win in her book!
"Here," Natsuki said, handing the leeks to Kaguya. He positioned himself behind the cow ghost, ready to keep it contained. The feeding job was clearly meant for someone else.
Kaguya took out a knife, chopped the leeks, and calmly offered the fresh green vegetables to the beast-girl ghost. "Bon appétit," she said coolly.
"I'm not eating that!" the beast-girl snapped, baring a mouthful of jagged teeth. Her voice trembled with anger. "Just look at my teeth! I'm a carnivore now. I want meat!"
"Carnivores can eat plants too," Chika chimed in. "Cats sometimes eat grass, and you're supposed to be a dairy cow."
"I'm a ghost, not a cow!"
How could an evil spirit bear such humiliation?
"Miss Ghost," Kaguya said, tilting her head slightly as she gazed at the spirit, her voice eerily calm in the night, "do you know how foie gras is made?"
The beast-girl ghost looked confused, clearly unfamiliar with the term.
"I do!" Chika raised her hand. "I saw a post about it on social media once. They keep the geese in tiny cages where they can barely move. Then they grab the birds by the neck and force-feed them... I haven't touched foie gras since learning that."
Kaguya picked up where Chika left off. "So, Miss Ghost, would you prefer to eat on your own, or should we force-feed you?"
Tears welling in her eyes, the beast-girl chose to surrender.
Better to eat willingly than have food shoved down your throat. At least this way, she could keep a shred of dignity.
"Fine..." the ghost grumbled, reluctantly taking a bite of the leek. As she chewed, tears streamed down her face, and she muttered, "I'll remember this, humans. You'll pay for this!"
Kaguya remained perfectly composed, unfazed by the threat.
After all, empty words from a captive only reveal their own weakness.
"Natsuki, let's do this," Kaguya said, glancing over.
Natsuki nodded and grabbed the beast-girl's tail again. He had to admit, it felt surprisingly nice.
"Hold on a second!" the ghost protested. "That tiny bit of grass isn't nearly enough. Even if you mess with my tail, you can't magically turn it into food."
She thought to herself, "These humans are getting way too excited. It's not that easy to turn a handful of leeks into a meal!"
"Don't worry," Chika chirped, pointing at the table. "The leeks will be ready soon."
The ghost turned around, her eyes widening in disbelief. The leeks were growing out of thin air at a visible speed. It was as if she was seeing... well, a ghost.
"Oh, time to cut them!" Chika said eagerly, taking on the task of chopping the leeks and handing them to Kaguya.
"Here you go, Miss Ghost," Kaguya said, offering more leeks to the cow spirit. "Please, continue eating."
"This is too much!" the ghost wailed, her defenses crumbling. "You're not even giving a vengeful spirit a break!"
Resistance proved futile. Soon, the beast-girl ghost found herself living a miserable life of eating grass to produce food.
"It tastes good," one of the girls commented.
"It really does taste like Meiji milk," another added.
"Hey, there are two characters that look like 'Meiji' on the ghost's neck. Could she have been a Meiji Dairy cow?"
The girls chatted as they drank the milk, relieving their "hunger" status.
Seeing that all the humans had finished drinking, the beast-girl ghost breathed a sigh of relief, tears in her eyes. She thought she was finally free from leek hell.
Little did she know, the real hell was just beginning.
"Asuka, Rikka," Kaguya said coolly, crossing her arms. "You can open the door now and start attracting customers as planned."
The evil capitalist lady, Kaguya, was about to start building her own empire of sin.
Kaguya, raised as the eldest daughter of a capitalist empire, knew the power of capital all too well. She wondered if it was possible to become a capitalist even in a horror game.
It seemed possible. After all, there were plenty of players in each instance. It would be a waste not to utilize them.
Kaguya had received an elite capitalist education from childhood. She believed there were two types of people in the world: those who could be used, and those who were useless.
If they could exploit vengeful spirits, why not exploit the players too?
She thought to herself, "It's foolish to put oneself in danger and work hard to complete tasks alone. A true capitalist should control and integrate everyone, using all players to conquer the game."
"I, Kaguya Shinomiya, will become a capitalist in this horror game!" she decided. Of course, this was a long-term goal. She'd need to work on it step by step, developing gradually.
For now, she'd set a small goal. Something like making 100 million, for starters.
A gentle knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Come in," Kaguya said, turning her head.
The first customer finally arrived.
"Excuse me," a voice called as the door opened. A girl who looked to be in high school walked in. It seemed this horror game didn't allow younger kids - the old man hadn't seen any before.
"I'm Qingye," the girl said softly, eyeing the vengeful cow spirit next to Natsuki nervously. "Is it true I can trade for food here?"
"That's right," Kaguya nodded. "You know the rules, I assume?"
"Yes," Qingye nodded quickly, pulling out an item. "Could I get some milk, please?"
Kaguya thought to herself, "Every capitalist starts small. Our rules are simple - any blind box item for a cup of milk. Fair and straightforward."
Natsuki, tired of standing, was now sitting on the hospital bed. The cow ghost sat beside him, looking oddly cozy.
Curious, Natsuki examined Qingye's item. It was a blood-stained eraser with a rather morbid description about erasing wrong test answers and a grim origin story.
"Um, can I trade this for food?" Qingye asked timidly, worried her item might be worthless.
"Of course," Kaguya took the eraser, then turned to Natsuki. "Natsuki, if you would."
Natsuki nodded, "On it."
"Hold up," the beast-girl ghost, who had just started to relax, suddenly realized something was off. She narrowed her eyes at Natsuki. "Human, what are you planning?"
"Just business," Natsuki replied casually. "They trade items, we provide food. Simple, right?"
The ghost gnashed her teeth. "That's not what I meant! What are you going to do to me?!"
Natsuki sighed. "Don't ask such obvious questions. Chika, come feed her some leeks."
"Coming!" Chika chirped.
The ghost felt her world go black with rage. She trembled... or would have, if she could move.
The ghost fumed silently. "Shameless! These humans are utterly despicable! It's bad enough they're using me, but now they're turning me into a money-making machine? How can humans be so cruel?"
A moment later, a glass of milk materialized out of thin air.
"Thank you so much," Qingye said, her face a mix of surprise and gratitude. She quickly drank the milk, then shyly said goodbye and left under the vengeful spirit's furious glare.
More players started trickling into the ward, each trading with Kaguya and receiving various random items in return.
One such item was a scruffy-looking marker.
[Item: The Serious Marker]
[Description: This pen has been used to write correct characters for years. It's gained special powers - you can write perfect characters in one stroke when using it.]
As Kaguya watched the transactions unfold, she couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. Her little capitalist venture in this horror game was off to a promising start.
Meanwhile, the cow ghost sat there, seething with rage but unable to do anything about her predicament. She watched helplessly as player after player came in, trading their items for the milk she was forced to produce.
Natsuki and Chika worked like a well-oiled machine, one holding the ghost in place while the other force-fed her leeks. Kaguya oversaw the whole operation with a cool efficiency that would make any business tycoon proud.
The mix of the supernatural and mundane commerce created a bizarrely comical scene - a vengeful spirit being exploited for a milk-trading business in the middle of a horror game. It was absurd, yet somehow, it worked.