"That feels great," Amamiya muttered as he stepped out of the bath, feeling completely refreshed.
How to relieve all worries?
A bath was the only answer.
As for the fifth reward still available...
[Reward: Cold Resistance]
[After being tempered by the blizzard, your cold resistance has permanently increased by 10%.]
There was no rush to select it, so Amamiya decided to wait.
"Come and eat," Miko called from the kitchen, wearing an apron. "It's already past two in the afternoon. I just made some omelet rice. We can have beef bowls tonight."
"Thanks for the meal."
Amamiya sat down at the table, where Miko joined him with her own bowl of omelet rice.
Meanwhile, Shimizu, who couldn't enjoy human food, lazily sprawled on the sofa. Her body briefly tensed as her fingers rapidly tapped away at her phone screen.
"A bunch of people just joined the player support group while you were in the bath," she remarked. "I assume they're the teammates from your last game?"
"As a senior, it's my duty to teach them some survival skills!"
'Senior? You're just a ghost,' Amamiya thought, shaking his head.
He finished his meal leisurely before getting up and walking over to the fridge.
As he opened the refrigerator, the automatic sensor light flickered on, revealing a grotesque human-headed spirit lurking inside, its vacant, dead eyes staring back at him.
"Great... I see you," Amamiya mumbled flatly, not even bothering to use his spiritual aura to dispel the creature. Instead, he simply reached through the spirit's head to grab the carton of milk.
'Funny how humans adapt under pressure.'
In the past, seeing such a grotesque sight in his fridge would've made him scream—or at least flinch.
But now?
If Amamiya opened the refrigerator one day and didn't see that unsettling human-headed spirit, he might actually feel something was missing.
He returned to the table with the milk, pouring a glass for Miko and then one for himself. As he sipped, he pulled out his phone.
The player mutual aid group, established by the ever-diligent Chika, had just surpassed ten members, and the chat messages had exploded, quickly reaching over 99+ notifications.
Amamiya scrolled through briefly. All his teammates from the last game had joined, but the ones dominating the conversation were still the usual few.
Chika: '"Getting lost in the snowy mountains is terrifying! I'm never skiing in the Alps again!"'
Hinata Hiyori: '"I'm so lucky we survived."'
Umi: '"That sounds so intense! I'd have no idea how to even get through it."'
At first, they were all reviewing their experiences in the game, but it didn't take long before the conversation derailed into discussing food, drinks, and Golden Week plans.
Amamiya glanced outside.
The rainy season hadn't arrived yet. The sun was bright, and the weather was perfect for enjoying the outdoors—if it weren't for the ever-present threat of wandering spirits.
Golden Week, with evil spirits lurking everywhere, didn't seem quite as wonderful as it should be.
Later that evening, around 8 p.m., Amamiya was reading in the living room when his pinky finger suddenly twitched.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
'No doubt it's Chika being bored again.'
Sure enough, his phone buzzed moments later.
Amamiya glanced at the screen.
"Ahhh! Too much, too much, too much! I just experienced something unbelievably unfair!"
The pink-haired girl's frustration practically leaped off the screen.
"Explain," Amamiya texted back, his response short and direct.
If it had been any other girl, they would have lost their patience by now. But Chika remained unbothered, muttering to herself:
"Just now! That wicked spirit crawled under my bed again, right in front of me!"
"It shows up every day or two. I've never encountered a spirit so evil before."
"I can't take it anymore!"
"Tonight, I have to see what it's doing hiding under my bed."
No one could endure the sight of an evil spirit lurking under their bed night after night, so it was easy to sympathize with Chika's growing frustration.
She continued, "Are you free right now, Amamiya-kun? If you are, why not come over to my place?"
Wait, is it really okay to invite a male classmate to your house in the middle of the night?
Amamiya groaned, "It's already late."
"It's fine." Chika was completely unfazed. "My parents aren't home tonight, so we can do whatever we want."
That statement sounded even more dangerous!
Does she not understand what it means to invite trouble into her home? Calling boys over while your parents are away is practically begging for trouble. She better be careful or she might regret it tomorrow!
"Please, Amamiya-kun!" Chika spammed several Dogeza emojis, pleading. "This is a request for life!"
Sighing, Amamiya relented, "Alright, just send me your address."
"Amamiya-kun, you're such a nice guy!"
"A nice guy card, really?"
"I'm sorry, I'll give you all the snacks I've saved later, promise."
"..."
Amamiya got up, changed his shoes, and memorized the address Chika had sent him before heading out the door.
The walk was quiet.
Half an hour later, he arrived.
Standing before the large house, Amamiya pulled out his phone and messaged her.
"I'm outside."
"Don't ring the doorbell, I'll come down to let you in," Chika replied immediately. "Moeha is home, and we can't let her know about this."
I'm just here to help with an exorcism—why does it feel so shady?
A minute later, the door clicked open. From the small gap, Chika peeked out, a towel wrapped around her head.
"Amamiya-kun, come in, quickly!"
Her eyes brightened when she saw him, and she hurriedly opened the door wider.
As Amamiya stepped inside, he glanced at her.
Chika, with her signature pink hair, had clearly just showered. Moisture still clung to her damp locks, and her skin had a soft glow, so dewy that it looked like squeezing it could release droplets of water.
"Why are you showering at this hour?" Amamiya asked quietly.
You can't just call someone over at night, fresh out of the shower, and expect everything to be okay. If anything inappropriate happens, half the responsibility would be on her!
"I was about to check under the bed," Chika explained in a hushed tone. "But to control my curiosity, I decided to take a bath instead. Honestly, after a long game session, a bath feels amazing. Kaguya-chan was bathing too… Anyway, here, these slippers are for you. They're my dad's, but he hasn't worn them yet. Hurry up and change, let's go to my room."
As Amamiya changed into the slippers, a large dog trotted over, its tail wagging.
"This is Pes," Chika said, nodding toward the dog. "I've had him since he was a puppy. Pes, this is Amamiya-kun—come say hello. But keep it quiet, so we don't wake Moeha."
Asking a dog to greet a person? That's a bit much, don't you think?
"Woof," Pace barked softly, sitting on the ground.
"Handshake," Chika instructed.
Pace obediently raised a paw toward Amamiya, his eyes full of canine wisdom.
Amamiya: "..."
Dogs clearly vary in intelligence.
After a friendly handshake with Pes, Amamiya followed Chika upstairs.
"Wait," Chika said suddenly, smacking her forehead. She bent down, picked up Amamiya's shoes, and tucked them neatly at the bottom of the shoe rack. "As a detective, I can't overlook any detail. It's safer to keep the shoes hidden."
An invisible force seemed to pull Amamiya's gaze downward, and in that brief moment, two things became apparent:
First, girls tend not to wear underwear after showering at home.
Second, this pink-haired airhead had an alarmingly weak sense of personal defense!