"Is there a fire in the fireplace?"
Hearing this, Amamiya glanced towards the dark fireplace and was surprised to see the faint flicker of flames. The fire had indeed started on its own.
The other players, overhearing the conversation, gathered around.
"Hey, there really is a fire."
"That's impossible. No one's even gone near the fireplace."
"If we're talking about impossibilities, horror games are full of them."
"..."
Everyone sensed something strange about the sudden "spontaneous combustion" of the fireplace. Despite their unease, they stayed cautious, discussing what to do while keeping their distance from the fire.
After some time, when nothing unusual seemed to happen, one of the players finally spoke up.
"No, we can't just stand around—it's freezing in here." One player crossed their arms, visibly shivering. "There's already a fire in the fireplace. Why don't we burn some books to keep warm?"
The temperature inside the castle had continued to plummet, with a thin layer of blue frost forming on various surfaces. Relying solely on Amamiya's body heat wasn't going to be enough.
"I agree."
"Yeah, both hands up."
Out of the ten players, six agreed, four abstained, and no one objected.
Although they all knew something was off with the fireplace, the cold left them no choice.
One male player moved towards the fireplace, grabbed a book from the library, and cautiously placed it into the flames.
Contrary to expectations, the fire took to the book instantly, as if a chemical reaction triggered by the flames made it burn even faster.
Soon, the books caught fire, and warmth began spreading through the room.
"It's getting warmer." The male player extended his hands towards the flames and grinned. "Guess I'll be the one tending the fire from now on."
The others quickly followed suit, tossing books into the fireplace to fuel the fire.
"Burning books... I feel guilty," Chika said while flipping through one. "It's weird though—there's a 'Goosebumps' book here. I used to read these as a kid. They were so scary I couldn't sleep alone for nights."
She continued, "But the words in this one are all blurry. Only a few pages are legible..." The pink-haired girl sighed and tossed the book into the fire. "Might as well burn it for warmth."
As more books were added, the fire grew stronger, and the flames burned brighter.
Amamiya glanced down at the pile of books he had brought from the library. On top was one titled 'How to Raise a Loyal Boyfriend'.
He picked it up and opened it, but aside from the title, nothing inside was legible.
They had just discussed this in the library—how different people could see different things in the books. Even Miss Ice Princess had seemed a bit shaken...
Amamiya's gaze drifted towards Kaguya.
Could it be that Shinomiya-san had read this book?
Sensing his eyes on her, Kaguya remained outwardly calm, but her heart began to race.
Suspicion!
That look was filled with suspicion!
But why, of all things, did 'that' book have to appear in the game?
Internally, Kaguya was screaming, but her face betrayed nothing. She even managed to turn her head and meet his gaze.
Stay composed.
As long as she didn't admit to seeing anything, no one would know the truth.
Amamiya eventually broke eye contact and put the book down.
The moment he looked away, Kaguya swiftly moved over and, pretending nothing was wrong, tossed 'How to Raise a Loyal Boyfriend' into the fire.
"Finally…" Watching the flames consume the book, Kaguya exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.
Books like that should be burned. Once the game is over, she resolved to find all copies in real life and burn them too!
"The Tomato Alien is terrifying!" Rikka suddenly exclaimed.
Amamiya turned toward the voice and saw the Chūnibyō girl holding up a comic book. The cover featured several cartoonish girls, and the title read 'The Adventures of the Vegetable Alien'.
"Isn't this a kids' comic?" Amamiya asked, puzzled. "The tomato alien on the cover looks pretty cute to me."
He vaguely remembered the comic—it was about personified vegetables dealing with diseases and pests.
"Not cute at all," the Chūnibyō girl replied seriously. "The Tomato Aliens are made of terrifying seeds. Once those seeds enter our bodies, they take root and sprout, making our stomachs grow rapidly."
Was she… making a dirty joke?
Tomatoes were well-liked, both as fruits and vegetables. What was so scary about them?
"Burn it, burn it."
Rikka threw the comic into the fireplace, where it was quickly devoured by the flames.
The fire blazed higher as everyone fed more books into it.
As the fire roared in the fireplace, the temperature inside the castle finally began to rise.
"Books are wonderful things," Amamiya sighed, stretching his hands towards the fire, enjoying its warmth.
With the fireplace now sustaining them, his role as a human heating pad was officially over.
"I survived," Chika exhaled in relief. "I was planning to go skiing in the Alps this summer, but after this, I'll never go again."
"There are still plenty of books left in the library—ten rows of shelves. It'll take more than a week to burn through them all."
"The countdown is almost halfway done. Now we just have to wait for the game to end!"
"..."
As the fire in the fireplace crackled warmly, the players' spirits lifted.
"Don't get too comfortable," Kaguya cautioned, casting a wary glance at the overly cheerful pink-haired girl. Her brows furrowed slightly. "I have a feeling this game won't be that simple."
Just burning books to stay warm and waiting for the game to end seemed too easy—easier even than the Snake level. It didn't add up.
As soon as she finished speaking, a strange rolling sound echoed through the castle.
Amamiya's ears twitched. He turned toward the source of the noise and spotted something emerging from the shadows—a puppet carved into the shape of a clown. It wore a red scarf, a small suit, and rode a tiny unicycle.
The other players gasped in surprise.
"What is that?"
"Is it one of those creepy dolls, like Annabelle?"
"Why is there a clown in the castle?"
The image of a scary doll was a staple of horror stories, etched into the minds of many. But among the group, only one person seemed unfamiliar with it.
"What's this?" Kaguya asked in a low voice.
Amamiya replied with mock seriousness, "This is a respectable figure, both virtuous and talented, with an outstanding reputation. He frequently appears in various horror movie sets, spreading joy and screams to both adults and children alike."
"What's the point of being virtuous and talented?" one player couldn't help but mutter. "All it's going to spread is terror, not happiness!"
As they spoke, the wooden clown pedaled closer, stopping in front of Amamiya and the others. It adjusted the tiny bow tie on its chest, opened its mouth, and spoke in a strange, low voice:
"Welcome, honored guests. My deepest apologies for the delay in greeting you. To make up for it, please allow me to—"
Before it could finish, Chika suddenly stepped forward, pointing dramatically as she interrupted, "Outlaw Don, I call you! Do you dare to answer me?"
The puppet clown froze. After a brief pause, it opened its mouth and replied, "... Don is here."
"Hehe, it really worked!" Chika puffed up with pride, lifting her chin slightly as she turned to Amamiya, giving him a smug look that seemed to say, "Come on, praise me!"
As the saying goes, villains meet their downfall because they talk too much.
So, what do you do when you encounter an evil spirit?
Obviously, you arrest it on the spot!
No mercy when dealing with criminals.
Amamiya glanced at the "outlaw" Don in front of him and was about to move in to capture it when he noticed something else slowly emerging from the darkness.
"It seems some of our guests are dissatisfied with our hospitality," the puppet clown remarked, lowering its head to check its body. "In that case, I suppose we'll have to provide... compulsory service."
At that moment, two tall, gaunt figures appeared from the shadows, draped in tattered cloaks and wide-brimmed hats. Their straw-stuffed limbs jutted out messily from beneath the cloaks.
"Is that... a scarecrow?"