"Tw-twins?" Chika's eyes widened. "Impossible, absolutely impossible! I don't have a twin sister!"
Natsuki sighed, placing his hands on Chika's shoulders, and said in a deep voice: "At this point, I can only tell you the truth..."
Chika nervously asked: "What does Natsuki want to say?"
Natsuki instructed: "Call me husband."
It was unclear if the Chika on the bed was real or fake, but she was quite obedient, calling him whatever he asked.
"Husband..." Chika called out playfully, then urged, "Hurry up and tell me."
Natsuki seriously spouted nonsense: "When we were dating in high school, you had a car accident that left you occasional memory blurriness."
"Eh, a car accident?" Chika's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but retort, "Isn't that a K-drama trope?"
Natsuki said: "Hundreds of thousands of traffic accidents happen every day worldwide. On average, one traffic accident occurs every time we breathe. It's not a K-drama trope at all."
"O-okay..." Chika pressed her forehead in confusion. "But a car accident or something, why do I have no impression of it at all?"
"Of course, it's because of the memory loss. The brain area where you store memories was impacted, and you often forget some important things," Natsuki retorted, "For example, let me ask you, is our child a boy or a girl?"
"Of course, it's..."
Mid-sentence, Chika suddenly stammered.
There was no child at all, so of course, she wouldn't know the gender.
"See? You can't even remember something as important as the child's gender, so forgetting you have a twin sister is normal, right?"
After Natsuki finished speaking, he leaned down and pulled the Chika hiding under the bed out. "So don't be afraid; you two are actually twin sisters."
"..."
The two Chikas looked at each other, their faces filled with nervousness, unease, and... bewilderment.
Regardless of which of these two Chikas was real or fake, at least in terms of their reactions, both Chikas behaved normally, making it impossible to tell who was real and who was fake.
In fact, Natsuki could have triggered a prompt by gazing, but he didn't need to.
Absolutely no need.
Taking advantage of them was a piece of cake.
Natsuki looked at the Chika who had come out from under the bed and commanded:
"Take off your pajamas."
"Eh, eh, eh?" The Chika under the bed came to her senses and quickly covered her chest. "Wh-why do I have to take off my clothes?"
Natsuki said as if it were obvious:
"You've been hiding under the bed for so long; your pajamas must be dirty. How can you sleep without taking them off?"
"That seems to make some sense... Wait, no, it doesn't!" The Chika under the bed couldn't help but exclaim, "Even if she's my twin sister, why would she be in our house? I'm the mistress!"
The Chika on the bed immediately retorted: "You're talking nonsense! I'm the mistress!"
"It's me!"
"It's clearly me!"
"..."
Slap!
A crisp slapping sound suddenly echoed in the room.
"Ah..."
The Chika under the bed let out a low cry, quickly covered her backside with her hand, and looked over with a flushed, wronged face.
"You two really forgot again," Natsuki sighed. "You two were in the car accident together. Besides occasionally forgetting important memories, you also swap identities and mistake the other for yourselves."
The Chika on the bed widened her eyes, her gaze bewildered: "What does that mean?"
The Chika under the bed whispered: "I don't understand."
"It's literal," Natsuki said earnestly. "Simply put, the younger sister often thinks she's the older sister, and the older sister mistakes herself for the younger sister. Given your two special circumstances, your uncle and aunt, understanding the greater good, decided to marry both of you to me. After marriage, we have always lived together as three."
"Th-three people together?"
The two Chikas were dumbfounded.
"Wait a minute..." The Chika under the bed couldn't help but say, "The law wouldn't allow three people to marry, would it?"
Natsuki said righteously: "It's not a problem as long as you don't file a marriage registration."
The two Chikas: "..."
Japan does not have marriage certificates, only marriage registrations, and it also adopts the registration system. Simply put, as long as you don't register the marriage, it's not illegal to hold ten wedding ceremonies at the same time.
"It's getting late," Natsuki urged. "Quickly take off your pajamas and go to sleep."
"Oh..."
The Chika under the bed was dizzy, subconsciously took off her pajamas, and sat on the bed.
Looking at the 'Fujiwara' twin sisters sitting side by side, identical in appearance, height, build, voice, etc., with no discernible differences anywhere, Natsuki took a deep breath and moved closer to the two girls.
"Natsuki, what are you doing?"
The Chika on the left immediately became nervous.
"What am I doing?" Natsuki said while taking off his own pajamas, and retorted, "Children have already been born, what do you think I'm going to do... Which of you two goes first?"
Just moments ago, they were nervous about the existence of 'twin sisters,' but now, when it came to who went first, the two Chikas immediately began to push each other away.
The Chika on the bed nervously hugged the pillow: "Let her go first."
The Chika under the bed grabbed the blanket, covering her body, and shook her head shyly: "Let her go first, I-I need to calm down."
Natsuki smiled:
"Actually, there's no need to go in order, you can stack..."
Mid-sentence, Natsuki suddenly felt a great chill coming from somewhere unseen. Saying anything more might invite terrifying interdimensional attacks, so he immediately said seriously:
"You can form a human pyramid."
"Eh?"
"What's that?"
"I don't understand! I completely don't understand!"
"..."
Faced with such shameless and vulgar remarks, both Chikas blushed.
When Natsuki looked in the mirror in the restroom earlier, he had already seen a prompt: the passage of time in the nightmare was not the same as in the real world. Even if he stayed in the nightmare for a long time, he didn't have to worry about Kaguya and the others waiting anxiously in the corridor.
Of course, Natsuki had no intention of actually forming a human pyramid; it was still unclear whether these two Chikas were real or fake.
The main goal now was to figure out how to clear the nightmare and leave the room—the prompts weren't all-encompassing, appearing for everything he thought of. At least for now, there were no prompts for breaking the nightmare.
"Thump..."
A muffled sound suddenly echoed in the room, as if something had hit a wooden board.
"Natsuki, there's something!"
"It's in that box!"
The two Chikas immediately tensed up.
Natsuki turned to glance at the box and casually said, "It must be a mouse. Don't worry about it."
"That sound doesn't sound like a mouse at all!" The Chika on the bed said nervously, "The sound was so loud just now, Natsuki, hurry up and check!"
"Alright."
Natsuki shrugged, turned, and walked to the box from which the strange noise had come.
This box was made of plastic, not wood, and was placed in the corner. It was very large and looked strangely familiar.
Natsuki looked closely for a while, and the more he looked, the more familiar it became. Finally, he remembered where he had seen it...
"Isn't this the box Chika uses to store snacks?"
As a true foodie girl, it was natural that there would be no shortage of snacks at home. A long time ago, when Natsuki went to Chika's house to help expel evil spirits from her room, he had seen Chika's snack storage box. That's right, it was this very thing.
It seemed this nightmare wasn't entirely fabricated out of thin air; it would also read the 'guest's' memories in detail to create a realistic illusion.
Speaking of which, when he marries Chika in the future, will she really bring the snack box with her?
Natsuki thought for two seconds and came to a conclusion.
It was very possible.
Natsuki grumbled inwardly as he reached out and opened the plastic box.
The next second.
A pink-haired girl, wearing pajamas and curled up in the snack box, came into view.
"Well, I'll be..."
Natsuki took a deep breath and reached out to pull the Chika from the snack box.
There weren't just two Chikas; there was a third one in the room.
"Natsuki, don't believe them!" The Chika in the box nervously hugged Natsuki's arm, her eyes teary as she said anxiously, "When you went to the bathroom, they suddenly appeared, and I could only hide in..."
Smack!
A crisp slapping sound rang out again.
Natsuki slapped the Chika in the box on her bottom, sternly saying, "I've told you many times, don't always hide in the box. That's a snack box, not a place for you to sleep."
"Eh?"
The Chika from the box covered her bottom with both hands, staring blankly.
Natsuki said earnestly, "At this point, I can only tell you the truth. All three of you were in a car accident together..."
The Chika from the box subconsciously shook her head and said, "I didn't have a car accident!"
Natsuki responded calmly, counter-questioning, "Is our child a boy or a girl?"
"Um..." The Chika in the box hesitated for two seconds, then whispered, "A girl?"
Natsuki then asked, "How old is the child?"
The Chika in the box: "..."
"You can't even remember such important things, and you still say you don't have any memory loss." Natsuki carried the Chika from the box out and placed her on the bed. "Actually, you are triplets."
The three Chikas looked at each other, and the Chika in the middle couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "Natsuki, didn't you just say we were twins?"
"Yes, I did say that." Natsuki's expression didn't change, and he didn't even blink, continuing to spout nonsense. "Because you suffered an impact, you often forget the existence of your other sisters, many times a day. So, if you appear together, I usually don't say too much, so you don't get scared."
"Is, is that so?"
"Of course it is." Natsuki said without changing his expression, "If you weren't triplets, could you look exactly alike?"
The three Chikas exchanged glances and subconsciously nodded:
"That makes sense..."
No sooner had the words fallen than a suppressed sneeze suddenly echoed in the room.
"Some, someone sneezed!"
"Natsuki, there's someone else in the room!"
"It sounds like it's behind the curtains!"
"..."
The three Chikas cried out nervously.
It was understandable.
The Chikas in the nightmare were just ordinary young girls. Waking up in a dream and finding signs of someone else in the room would make anyone panic.
"Don't panic, it might be a stray cat."
Natsuki reached out and patted the heads of the three Chikas one by one, then turned and walked towards the window.
The room had a bay window design, and since they were sleeping, the curtains were naturally drawn.
Natsuki walked to the window and reached out to pull back the curtains.
Sure enough, hiding behind the curtains was a pink-haired girl in pajamas. Who else could it be but Chika?
"Natsuki..."
The Chika behind the window cried out tearfully.
Before she could finish, Natsuki had already said, "You heard what I just said, right?"
Natsuki reached out, embraced the Chika from behind the window, and walked towards the bed, saying as he went, "Actually, you are quadruplets. Because you were all in a car accident together, you often forget each other's existence."
"You're lying." One of the Chikas couldn't help but say, "You just said we were twins."
"Because you are sick, you always forget each other." Natsuki sighed, "Otherwise, tell me, how can there be people in the world who look exactly alike?"
"..."
All four Chikas fell silent.
Thump.
Natsuki tossed the Chika from behind the window onto the bed, then continued to take off his pajamas, saying, "Who's going first?"
"Wait, wait a minute!" One of the Chikas shouted, blushing, "Even if we're quadruplets, we can't all be dating you, can we?"
"Not dating." Natsuki corrected, "It's marriage. Your situation is very special, so your aunt and uncle bundled you up and married you all to me."
Thump.
A muffled thud suddenly came from the wardrobe.
Several Chikas all turned their heads in unison to look at the wardrobe, their movements so synchronized that Natsuki inexplicably thought of kittens sitting in a row.
"Natsuki..."
"There's a noise in the wardrobe."
"Go check it out quickly."
"..."
Natsuki gently twitched the corner of his mouth, turned, walked to the wardrobe, and reached out to open it.
Sure enough.
Another Chika, wearing pajamas, was hiding in the wardrobe, hugging her knees, her face full of tension.
"There's actually a fifth one." Natsuki reached out, picked up the Chika from the wardrobe, placed her on the bed, and then said, "Alright, you're actually quintuplets... Wait, let me check first."
Natsuki searched every nook and cranny of the room, confirmed there was no sixth Chika, then turned and walked back to the bed, continuing, "Because of a car accident in high school, you were left with short-term amnesia, often forgetting each other's existence and even confusing your identities... I'm done. Who's for it, who's against it?"
"..."
The five Chikas sat in a row on the bed, looking at each other. One of the Chikas raised her hand and said, "It's still hard to believe. Quintuplets, that's too exaggerated, isn't it?"
Natsuki said, "Do you remember Juju?"
"Hmm... The name sounds familiar..."
"I remember."
"She's like a elementary school student?"
Natsuki's mouth twitched slightly. Thankfully, Juju wasn't here, or she'd be furious.
"Juju was your friend in high school. She's just a bit short, not a elementary school student." Natsuki explained, "There are also quintuplets at the school she attends. From a physiological standpoint, giving birth to five at once is entirely possible."
"Alright... Even if they're quintuplets." Another Chika raised her hand and said, "Don't they have their own rooms? Why don't they go back to their own rooms?"
The other Chikas, upon hearing this, began to argue.
"This is my room."
"It's mine, not your room."
"You're the ones who should leave."
"..."
Seeing the Chikas start to argue, Natsuki pressed his temples, a headache forming, as he considered what to do next.
Could he only find the real Chika and... get rid of the imposters?
At this moment, a prompt quietly appeared before him.
[After much hardship, you have finally gathered all five quintuplet wives. Congratulations!]
[You ponder carefully and finally discover the pattern to breaking the nightmare.]
[This nightmare draws its energy from fear and terror. When it loses its energy source, it will automatically dissipate.]
"So that's how it is."
Looking at the prompt that appeared before him, Natsuki quickly understood the cause and effect.
After entering the room, fear would emanate, and that fear would provide energy to the nightmare. The more fear, the stronger the nightmare, thus creating a vicious cycle.
Without a doubt.
The reason the nightmare before him hadn't ended was entirely because Chika was providing the fear.
As for Natsuki, he truly felt no fear at all now.
Five Chika wives, combined, meant ten times the happiness; he couldn't feel scared at all.
"But... how do I wake Chika?"
Natsuki couldn't help but ponder.
A moment later.
"I've got it." Natsuki's eyes lit up as he looked at the five Chikas sitting side by side on the bed. "At a time like this, of course, we use happiness to dispel fear!"
Sensing Natsuki's undisguised fervent gaze, the five Chikas quickly stopped arguing and all covered their chests.
"Natsuki, your eyes are scary."
"What are you going to do?"
"Why are you going out?" Natsuki said as he took off his pajamas, "I already told you, because of your special circumstances, your uncle and aunt have packed you all up and married you to me… Hurry up and take off all your pajamas!"
Quintuplets sister rice bowl, I'm going to eat it!
Seeing Natsuki walk over, all five Chikas flushed red.
"No, don't…"
"Let them go out first."
"So many people together would be terrible!"
At the same time.
Outside the room, in the corridor.
"Bang!"
The door suddenly closed.
"Eh eh?" Tsubame immediately became nervous, "Kaguya, the door suddenly closed."
"I saw it." Kaguya lightly furrowed her brows, looking at the closed door, "Something special must have happened in the room."
Hayasaka Ai stepped forward and grabbed the doorknob, trying to open the door, and quickly shook her head:
"The door won't open."
Juju frowned and suggested:
"How about just breaking the door?"
"Don't be impulsive." Kaguya's tone was calm, "Trust the President, and Chika is also by his side, even if there's trouble, they can solve it."
Listening to Kaguya's words, the few girls who were originally a bit flustered all calmed down.
At this moment, a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind them.
"We came out from next door."
Juju rejoiced: "Eh, it's Stupid Natsuki…"
"Don't look back." Kaguya said quickly, "Don't forget the rules."
Juju was startled and quickly stopped her movements, but soon realized that there was no movement from behind her, confirming that she had almost been tricked. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Kaguya.
No wonder Kaguya was asked to stay outside…
When Stupid Natsuki is around, she seems a bit naive.
When Kaguya is alone, she's actually super calm.
"Wait ten minutes." Kaguya said calmly, "If they still haven't come out, we'll try to break the door and go in."
As soon as she finished speaking, the door clicked open slowly.
"Eh, the door opened."
The girls all looked into the room and quickly saw Natsuki and Chika standing together, immediately breathing a sigh of relief.
Strangely, Chika, wearing a Pure White Bride dress, was tightly hugging Natsuki's arm, as if she couldn't stand steadily, and her whole body was hanging on Natsuki. Moreover, her face was flushed, and steam was rising from her head… What exactly happened in these short few minutes?