"Now we have the evidence," Amamiya pointed at the table. "This is the food you wasted."
"You're accusing me unfairly! It was clearly 'you' who spilled the food!" The vengeful spirit girl retorted, her frustration evident.
"Please, let's be serious." Amamiya's tone remained calm. "We're just poor, weak humans. Do you think we'd dare to touch your plate? Who do you think the chef will believe?"
"You shameless!!" The girl, her eyes dark and filled with fury, shook with anger, nearly on the verge of tears.
---
What was wrong with this world?
Not only had she failed to eat these two humans, but now she was being framed for wasting food. This boy was scarier than any vengeful spirit!
Human anger usually lasts three seconds—if it doesn't explode within that time, it tends to cool off. The same seemed true for vengeful spirits.
Though the girl trembled with fury, she didn't lash out. Clearly, she was intimidated.
Seeing her reaction, Amamiya pressed further. "Let my friends go first."
He calmly pried apart the girl's pale, cold fingers, freeing Kaguya and Chika. Then, without missing a beat, he stretched out his hand again. "Hush money. Pay up."
The vengeful girl clenched her fists, dark mist swirling around her body like a brewing storm. She trembled with rage but, in the end, swallowed her pride and handed over the hush money.
"She looks like she's about to cry…" Chika whispered. "Are we going too far?"
"Yeah, this does seem a bit much." Amamiya said in a low voice, adjusting his sleeves. "She only gave me a coin as hush money. What an insult. We can't just let this go."
"No!" Chika quickly grabbed Amamiya's arm, dragging him away. "Let's get out of here."
---
The cafeteria wasn't fully packed.
Aside from a few unlucky players, there were about a dozen students from the ghost school. Amamiya soon discovered that these ghost students were truly poor. Some had only a single coin, while the wealthier ones barely had three or four. It was honestly pitiful.
"That's about it for now," he said, regrouping with Kaguya and Chika in front of the food pickup window.
"Time's running out," Amamiya noted. "Let's finish the task quickly."
Kaguya, ever calm and composed, glanced at the clock. "We still have ten minutes left."
"So, what do you want to eat, Natsuki-san?" Chika asked curiously.
"To be honest, I don't really want to eat any of it," Amamiya said, flipping a bone coin in the air and catching it with a sharp snap. "If heads, I'll have the borscht."
"Wait," Chika interjected, "the coins have the same front and back. You can't tell which is heads, right?"
"Watson, you've found the blind spot."
"No, I'm 'Holmes'! Call me Holmes-sama."
"…"
Unfazed, Amamiya handed the coin over to the pig-headed butcher. "Chef, one bowl of borscht, please."
"Coming right up," the butcher responded, quickly serving a bowl of borscht filled with unidentifiable ingredients. Dark mist hovered over it, occasionally forming eerie skulls.
"Chef," Chika raised her hand, "I'll have a bowl of borscht too. It reminds me of when I had a cold in elementary school and my mom made herbal medicine for me. It looked a lot like this."
…Sure, food medicine could be unpleasant, but it didn't make floating skulls appear!
Coins exchanged, the butcher placed another bowl of borscht in front of her.
"Kaguya-chan, what will you have?" Chika asked.
"I…"
Kaguya's pink lips pressed together, a rare flicker of hesitation in her expression. The food looked dreadful. Even the dogs at her family's mansion wouldn't touch it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a choice.
"I'll take the borscht," she said with a deep breath, maintaining her calm exterior.
The three of them took their trays and found a corner to sit.
"Let's begin," Chika clasped her hands together, then sighed. "I had tamagoyaki and omelet rice before we left this morning, drank two glasses of milk, and even sneaked a bag of Baumkuchen. Now I'm eating again… Will I gain weight?"
Worried about gaining weight? Only Chika could think of that in a situation like this!
"Don't worry," Kaguya shot her a cold look. "It's less than the snacks you sneak during class. Even if you do gain weight, it'll just add to your chest."
Chika covered her chest, groaning, "I'd rather it go to my arms or thighs. My chest is heavy enough already. It's even hard to squat and tie my shoelaces."
'Snap'.
Kaguya's chopsticks nearly snapped in her hand.
Ignoring their banter, Amamiya focused on the bowl of borscht in front of him. After staring for a few seconds, text slowly appeared in his mind:
['Borscht made from unknown ingredients. Non-toxic and safe to consume. Restores physical strength. Inhaling too much mist may cause hallucinations. Drink with a clear mind.']
"So, it's safe to eat."
Amamiya felt relieved.
Some unlucky players had already eaten most of their meals and were still alive, showing no signs of sudden death. Confident now, Amamiya picked up the bowl and took a sip.
Tasteless, like plain water. There was mist, but no discernible heat.
"It could use more spice and heat…" he thought absentmindedly.
"Hmm?"
By the second sip, the flavor had changed, becoming spicier and hotter.
What was going on?
Realizing this was likely the hallucination effect, Amamiya noted that the food's flavor was influenced by one's own thoughts. No wonder everyone seemed to struggle through their meals, making it feel like torture the more they thought about it.
"This is so bitter… so painful!" Chika's voice rang out.
Looking up, Amamiya saw her pink tongue sticking out as she fanned her mouth.
"You drank it all at once?" he asked, surprised.
"My mom always said to gulp down medicine in one go, or it'll get worse," Chika declared proudly. "So I held my nose and downed it."
She'd actually stumbled upon the best method. For a fool to survive this long, luck must truly be on her side.
Then Amamiya noticed something off with Kaguya.
The cold, composed girl sat in silence, biting her lower lip, her wine-red eyes misting over. She held her right hand in the air, trembling slightly, and her eyes shimmered with tears that were ready to spill.
'So scary… so scary… so scary…'
It was the rare sight of Kaguya on the verge of crying.