Every villain has their start.
"The vengeful classmate was too poor, so I could only get one bone coin," Amamiya sighed.
"You 'asked' for hush money!" Chika muttered, unable to hold back.
"We don't have time to focus on small matters," Amamiya replied calmly. "We need to keep borrowing more money."
"Yes, we should aim higher," Kaguya said thoughtfully, her left arm crossed over her chest as she supported her chin with her right hand. Her expression was cold, but her mind was sharp. "Since this school has 'currency,' it must be usable elsewhere beyond the cafeteria."
She lowered her gaze, her voice soft but laced with something chilling, more so than the spirits themselves. "I've heard it said: 'money makes the world go round'. If we control the capital, we can control everything."
"Kaguya-chan is terrifying!" Chika exclaimed, folding her arms across her chest defensively.
Amamiya nodded solemnly. "Indeed. Terrifying."
"She's even exploiting the ghosts... Evil capitalist!" Chika added.
"Evil capitalist," Amamiya agreed without hesitation.
'I was only thinking about borrowing a bit to survive this situation, but here she is planning to extort the entire cafeteria! Truly a master of villainy.'
"Let's split up," Amamiya said decisively. "Fujiwara-san, go with Shinomiya-san. I'll handle things alone."
Extorting ghosts wasn't illegal, and there was no reason to refuse an opportunity like this.
Amamiya wholeheartedly agreed with the saying that money runs the world. If they gathered enough ghost currency, they might be able to move freely across the haunted campus. Worst case, they could always throw coins as a distraction and escape if things got dicey.
The more, the better.
"Kaguya-chan, do we 'really' need to blackmail people?" Chika whispered cautiously.
"It's not blackmail," Kaguya corrected her, "it's 'hush money'."
"It's the same thing!" Chika complained. "We're basically becoming schoolyard bullies."
Ignoring the girls' murmurs, Amamiya approached another vengeful spirit seated in the corner.
This one was a boy with bloodshot eyes and a face crisscrossed with scars. His right arm was missing, and dark mist poured from his wounds. He was terrifying to behold.
"Hush money, please," Amamiya said, sitting down next to him and calmly extending his hand.
Before yesterday, he would've been paralyzed with fear, but after seeing so many vengeful spirits, he'd grown used to them. Besides, at least this one still resembled a human—unlike some of the nightmarish, twisted beings he'd encountered. Compared to the giant vengeful baby from earlier that day, this boy even seemed somewhat handsome.
The ghost boy remained silent but abruptly bent his head at an unnatural 90-degree angle. His bloodshot eyes locked onto Amamiya, and he opened his jagged, horrifying mouth.
"What are you looking at?" Amamiya pointed beneath the table. "Is that food you dropped?"
"How dare you waste food in the cafeteria? Have you forgotten the chef's rules?"
The mention of the chef made the ghost boy pause, a flicker of hesitation crossing his cold features.
But this ghost was less easily deceived than the others. His hesitation lasted only a moment before a stronger, colder aura engulfed him. His voice was frigid, capable of freezing a person in place.
"You're lying. There's no way a human could know the chef's name..."
Amamiya cut him off with a single word: "Oink."
The ghost boy froze in place, panic sweeping across his face.
'How does this human know the chef's true name?'
'Danger. Danger. Danger.' If the chef was summoned from the kitchen, there was no doubt I'd be dragged in as a reserve ingredient.
"I-I'm sorry. Please forgive me!" the ghost boy stammered, quickly bowing his head in apology.
Living under someone's control—even vengeful spirits had to bow to authority. Apologizing might be humiliating, but refusing to apologize would lead straight to the kitchen.
"Hush money, please," Amamiya repeated, unfazed.
Reluctantly, the ghost boy reached into his pocket and pulled out three bone coins, handing them over.
'Generous,' Amamiya thought, pocketing the coins.
"Don't worry, I'll keep quiet," he reassured him. "You have my word."
The vengeful boy trembled with rage, blood dripping from the corners of his eyes.
'Even spirits aren't spared from extortion. You, humans, have no morals!'
As Amamiya stood up, he noticed the ghost girl from earlier sneaking glances at him, amusement evident in her expression. She was enjoying his torment of others.
Even spirits, it seemed, had a penchant for schadenfreude.
But as soon as Amamiya looked her way, the girl quickly lowered her hair and returned to her silent vigil.
Satisfied, Amamiya moved on to his next target.
'One trick is all it takes,' he thought. The tactic of borrowing authority—by using the pig-headed chef's name—was proving highly effective. Amamiya asked for hush money all around the cafeteria, and not a single vengeful student dared refuse.
Meanwhile, whispers spread through the cafeteria.
"What's up with those three?"
"Are they asking the vengeful spirits for money?"
"Idiots. Ghosts aren't known for being generous. They must have found a hidden survival trick."
The other players watched in astonishment, eyes wide with disbelief. How was it possible?
'Unfair!' they thought. 'We had to spill blood to buy food, yet these three seem to have found a way around it!'
One player tried to mimic the tactic, but without knowing the chef's real name, he was swiftly torn apart by the vengeful spirits. His body disintegrated into mist in the cafeteria, leaving the other players too terrified to follow suit.
At that moment, a desperate cry for help rang out:
"Natsuki-san, help!"
Amamiya turned to see Chika and Kaguya being held by the wrists by a pale, expressionless female ghost.
"I didn't waste any food! I'm not scared even if the chef shows up," the ghost said in a chilling voice. "But you dared to blackmail me, and now I'm going to eat you."
'Ah, I forgot. Asking for hush money from ghosts is risky,' Amamiya thought, realizing the danger. If you're not careful, you could end up on the menu.
He approached, spilling the food from his plate in front of the ghost.
The ghost looked up in confusion.
"You just wasted food," Amamiya said calmly, pointing at the spilled plate.
Chika's eyes widened as she whispered in disbelief, "Did you just 'frame' a ghost using the Thirty-Six Stratagems?!"