"Junior, what do we do now?"
Tsubame asked softly.
"Naturally, we need to regroup as soon as possible."
Natsuki led his senior and the random girl back to the security booth. Although the light inside was dim and yellowish, it offered a sense of security compared to the pitch-black residential complex.
"Senior, Ms. Ami, please stay inside the security booth; there's no rush on the main quest for now," Natsuki said as he opened the door, giving them instructions. "If a resident calls, you can answer and note down their requests, but ignore anything else and wait for me to return."
Tsubame nodded earnestly.
"Understood. Don't worry, Junior."
Natsuki extended his right hand, and an ordinary-looking notebook appeared in his palm out of thin air. He said:
"I've already confirmed that Shoko isn't in the complex, so I'm going to find her first."
Of everyone, the "Shy girl" was naturally the one causing the most concern.
Although they had cleared so many instances together, her shy, introverted nature and social anxiety had improved only slightly, leaving her far from reassuring. However, since Shoko and Juju had both consumed the "Soul-Link Potion," finding Shoko meant finding Juju too—a "buy one, get one free" deal that was a guaranteed win.
As for Chika, the two stayed in touch via the red string; her status was stable, so there was no need to worry about her for the moment.
Natsuki opened the notebook and activated his "Print Media" skill to contact the shy girl.
"Shoko, where are you?"
A line of text quickly appeared in the notebook:
"At an intersection."
Natsuki: "Be more specific."
Shy girl: "Um... there's a pachinko parlor next to the intersection."
Wow. This was a horror instance—to think there was actually a pachinko parlor here! No wonder they say gambling is an original sin. Natsuki: "Stay put—don't wander off. Keep yourself hidden and safe, and wait for me to come find you."
Shy girl: "Be careful, Natsuki-kun."
"..."
Snap.
Natsuki closed his notebook, preparing to leave the residential complex, but there was one thing left to do before he went.
"Senpai..."
Natsuki turned his head, fixing a burning gaze on Tsubame.
"Huh?" Tsubame was startled; she understood the look in his eyes, and a faint blush colored her lovely face. "W-what are you doing, Junior?"
Natsuki pointed to his cheek and said with a straight face:
"It's bound to be dangerous outside the complex. I'm heading out to 'map the area' now—shouldn't you give me a buff first?"
"No buff for you. Go away, Junior."
Tsubame's face flushed crimson as she shot him a playful, flustered glare.
There was a random player nearby; kissing him right in front of someone else would be just too embarrassing!
Natsuki sighed and said in a wistful tone:
"Without Senpai's blessing, my spirits will flag. And because my spirits are flagging, I might fail to spot a hidden trap and end up never coming back..."
"Bite your tongue!"
Tsubame hurriedly made a warding-off sound, glaring at him with her bright eyes:
"Don't jinx things like that, Junior!"
Natsuki remained silent and simply pointed to his cheek again.
"You're so mean..."
Left with no choice, Tsubame—her face flushed red—stood on tiptoe and planted a light kiss on Natsuki's cheek while the random player watched.
"There, that's enough." Tsubame, her face still blushing, gave him a gentle push. "Hurry up and go find everyone, Junior."
Natsuki clicked his tongue and said:
"I feel a bit unsatisfied..."
"Huh?"
Tsubame's delicate brows instantly shot up.
"Fair enough." Natsuki, a man who knew when to yield to the situation, raised his hands. "I'll get right on it."
"..."
To find Shoko, he needed some guidance; wandering aimlessly like a headless chicken wouldn't work. The town was neither huge nor tiny, but taking a wrong turn meant wasting both time and energy.
So...
Natsuki simply turned around and headed deeper into the residential complex:
"I'll ask a friend for directions first."
That 'friend,' of course, was Mrs. Kato.
After all, he had helped resolve their trust crisis and patched up their marriage; surely asking for directions wasn't too much to ask?
A short while later.
Natsuki successfully obtained a map of the town.
Bidding Mrs. Kato farewell, he took the map and left the complex.
The streets were dilapidated, exuding an air of desolation and decay. As Natsuki walked, the only sound was his own footsteps; in the darkness, furtive figures would occasionally dart past.
Natsuki paid them no mind and kept walking. By cross-referencing the map with Mrs. Kato's recollections, he soon located the town's pachinko parlor.
Tch...
The garish, Japan-flashing shop sign stood out starkly against the desolate, eerie street.
It was a horror-themed establishment, yet it housed a pachinko parlor—did people actually play there?
Natsuki walked up to the entrance and peered curiously inside. He saw the flashing screens of various machines and a crowd of bizarre-looking patrons; the place was actually quite lively.
"Half their head is missing, yet they're still here playing pachinko..." Natsuki muttered, his gaze landing on a customer near the entrance. "Sure enough, compulsive gamblers can't kick the habit—not even in death."
He scanned the area, looking for the timid girl. Before long, he spotted someone peeking out from behind a sign.
As he drew closer, he saw the girl behind the sign—her black hair cascading down to her waist. It could only be Shoko.
"Amamiya-kun!" Upon seeing Natsuki, the "quail-like" girl's eyes lit up; she stepped out happily and was about to trot over.
Natsuki held up his right hand and said seriously:
"Stop. Let's check the password first."
"Huh?" The girl was taken aback, her lips pursing hesitantly. "Password... what password?"
"Naturally, it has to be something only the two of us know to serve as a password." Natsuki looked at Shoko and asked, "When was the first time I 'replenished your magic'?"
"Th-that..."
At the mention of "replenishing magic," the girl's dark hair trembled slightly, and her pretty face flushed a deep red at a visible speed; she lowered her head in embarrassment, staring at her toes, unable to meet his gaze any longer.
"Password confirmed." Natsuki stepped forward. "It really is Shoko."
Blushing furiously at the mere mention of "replenishing magic"—it could only be her.
Natsuki's gaze fell upon Shoko, who was dressed in a business suit, and he asked curiously:
"Shoko, what is your current role?"
"Phew..."
The girl let out a quiet sigh of relief, her cheeks burning as she hurriedly replied:
"An insurance salesperson."
Natsuki asked again:
"And the main quest?"
"Um..." she stammered, "It's to sell insurance..."
Upon closer questioning, he learned that Shoko had entered the instance at the nearby pachinko parlor. Her role was an insurance salesperson, and her main quest was to solicit customers and sell insurance policies; she had to sell at least five policies to clear the stage.
"Tsk... Making the person with the worst social anxiety sell insurance—this game really has a distorted sense of humor." Natsuki clicked his tongue softly.
In the real world, insurance sales were mostly conducted over the phone. However, in an era before telemarketing was common, agents had to make house calls. In this small town within the instance, communication relied largely on shouting; to sell insurance, one had to go door-to-door—a truly terrifying prospect for a girl with social anxiety.
Natsuki mused:
"We only need to sell five policies to clear the stage; the difficulty isn't actually that high."
The timid girl parted her lips, a look of hesitation crossing her pretty face.
"What is it?" Natsuki asked.
"The insurance contract..." she whispered. "It's... outrageous."
Natsuki extended his right hand, curious.
"Let me see the contract."
She hurriedly handed it over, looking at him with an expectant, anxious gaze.
Natsuki opened it and found the formatting similar to real-world insurance contracts, but he was left speechless after reading the specific terms.
"'Lifetime Happiness Endowment Insurance': pay premiums continuously for fifty years; get a payout if a covered event occurs, or receive a full refund of premiums if nothing happens by the end of the term..."
He didn't need to read the rest; he already knew this was absolute garbage.
Who on earth would buy an insurance policy that required fifty years of continuous payments before you could collect anything?
"Let's hold off on selling the insurance for now; we should go find Juju first..." Natsuki handed the contract back, speechless. "We can get in touch with Juju, right?"
"Mm-hmm." She nodded quickly. "Juju said she's at the sanatorium."
"I can't believe a town this small actually has a sanatorium..."
Natsuki took out the town map, located the sanatorium, and then vanished into the night alongside the girl.
They walked in silence.
As they passed a dilapidated park, the girl suddenly tugged at Natsuki's sleeve, lowering her voice in alarm:
"D-don't go over there—there's something inside the park."
"Huh?" Natsuki squinted into the distance; the park was unlit, and shapes were indistinct in the gloom. He whispered, "What's in there?"
The timid girl whispered back:
"There's a streetlamp monster wandering around, clutching its own head."
"Shoko can actually see that clearly..." Natsuki quickly realized, "Did Shoko take a Night-Vision Potion?"
The timid girl nodded weakly and whispered:
"I drank a bottle."
Walking all alone down a creepy, sinister street while carrying a treacherous insurance policy—feeling as though countless things in the shadows were watching you—made drinking a potion to bolster one's courage quite necessary.
Natsuki asked curiously:
"Were there any side effects from the potion?"
The timid girl shook her head:
"No."
Natsuki sighed:
"That's a shame..."
"Huh?"
The timid girl looked up, her pink cheeks puffing out slightly.
"I misspoke," Natsuki said with a straight face. "It's best if there are no side effects, of course... Shoko, lead the way. We'll go around; let's try to avoid clashing with the monsters."
This instance wasn't a "grind-fest" game where you leveled up by killing monsters; the primary way to earn rewards was through completing missions. So, if they encountered a monster, they would avoid it if possible—or run if they couldn't.
"Mm..."
The timid girl nodded gently. Just as she was about to step forward to lead the way, she was suddenly swept up into someone's arms, letting out a soft gasp of surprise.
Natsuki held Shoko close and explained seriously:
"A sanatorium sounds like a dangerous place. For Juju's safety, we need to pick up the pace. I'll carry you from here on out; Shoko just needs to point the way."
Komi didn't even have a chance to refuse; with a blushing face, she wrapped her arms around Natsuki's neck, whispering directions while fighting back her embarrassment.
They pressed on.
With Shoko acting as a human "navigator," the pair managed to dodge several wandering monsters that looked obviously dangerous and successfully arrived at the sanatorium.
"This must be the place." Gazing at the eerie, ghost-haunted sanatorium before him, Natsuki set Shoko down and whispered:
"The situation inside is unclear. Shoko, you wait out here; I'll go in and bring Juju out."
To his surprise, the "Shy girl" shook her head and said softly:
"No need for the trouble... Juju said to wait a moment; she's coming right out."
"Huh?"
Natsuki raised his eyebrows in surprise. Just then, a side door of the sanatorium opened, and a petite girl in a nurse's uniform stepped out, glancing around vigilantly.
"It's Juju." The shy girl's eyes lit up. "Juju's out."
Natsuki: "..."
She could come and go so easily, and there wasn't a trace of nervousness or fear on her face—could the main quest actually be quite simple?
The group quickly reunited.
Juju immediately began complaining about her main quest:
"It's totally bizarre. My current identity is a nurse at the sanatorium, but secretly, I'm also tasked with 'lightening the load' for the place. I have to use plausible methods to—without getting caught—either kill off a few of the troublemakers there or drive them out..."
Natsuki summarized it succinctly:
"So, I'm sending people to the afterlife while working as a nurse?"
Juju:
"...Pretty much."
The shy girl tilted her head and whispered:
"Like Detective Conan?"
Juju retorted:
"I certainly don't want to be a murderer in the world of Detective Conan. Besides, I'm supposed to be a nurse, yet the mission requires me to kill my own patients—even the real world doesn't have things that weird, right?"
Natsuki shook his head:
"You're overthinking it; things like that actually happen quite a lot in the real world." There have been news stories before about a nurse in the US who brutally murdered over a hundred patients over the course of a decade, or nannies who specifically targeted the elderly in their care... Truly, hell is empty; the devils are here among us.
Natsuki reached out his right hand, patted the top of Juju's head, and said softly:
"The mission objectives aren't set in stone; we can either kill the targets or drive them out... It'll be much easier to complete the mission once we regroup with Hayasaka."
"Don't touch my head." Juju took a half-step back, looking at him with her pink cheeks puffed out. "Did everyone end up in different locations?"
Natsuki nodded:
"That seems to be the case. Shoko won't be finishing her insurance-selling mission anytime soon, but I've already found our senior—let's regroup first, then figure out how to tackle the main quest."
Juju hesitated for a moment, then shook her head:
"I think I'll stay here. There's a nasty head nurse who keeps making me run errands; if I leave, the main quest might fail."
"That works too."
Natsuki was, of course, happy to go along with Juju's wishes.
Besides, Juju still had three charges of her Shadow skill; if she encountered unavoidable danger, she could simply slip into the shadows and escape the nursing home.
"One more thing..." Juju clenched her small fist and gave Natsuki's thigh a solid thump. "You need to be mindful of the situation—don't go taking advantage of Shoko while we're in this instance!"
Natsuki was taken aback and asked in confusion:
"When did I ever take advantage of Shoko?"
"I heard it loud and clear!" Juju huffed disdainfully. "Shoko kept screaming 'no' in her heart—you must have been taking advantage of her, right?"
Hearing this, Natsuki turned his head to look at the "quail-like" girl.
Komi hurriedly lowered her gaze to her toes; her guilty conscience was written all over her face.
"Let's leave it at that, then," Natsuki said softly. "Shoko and I are heading back now. If you need anything, Juju, just have Shoko pass the message along."
"Got it." Juju waved her hand. "You two get going. I'm heading back to the sanatorium; come over early once you find Hanamori-chan."
"..."
After parting ways with Juju, Natsuki and Shoko turned and walked toward the Happiness Residential Complex.
They walked in silence the whole way.
Natsuki remained quiet.
The "quail-like" girl walked alongside him for a while. Seeing his gloomy expression and continued silence—and with her own look of unease growing—she finally couldn't help but gently tug at his sleeve and whisper:
"W-why aren't you saying anything?"
Natsuki spoke in a low voice:
"I'm wondering if I did something wrong."
"Huh?"
"Even though you clearly didn't want it deep down, Shoko, I just went ahead and hugged you anyway... I suppose I really should keep my distance from now on, right?"
"N-no, that's not it..."
Hearing this, the "quail-like" girl immediately grew anxious.
Natsuki said wistfully:
"You kept saying 'no' in your heart earlier, Shoko. You actually hate it when I hug you, don't you?"
Despite saying that, he didn't actually doubt Shoko's feelings at all.
Girls like her found it difficult to open up to others, but once they fell for someone, it was highly likely they would remain devoted for a lifetime. "I don't hate it at all!" The timid girl bit her lower lip and explained, sounding aggrieved. "It's just that... just now, Natsuki-kun's right hand kept... kept touching..."
When he had picked her up just moments ago, Natsuki had indeed taken a bit of liberties for his own pleasure—after all, who could remain indifferent with such silky-smooth pantyhose resting against their palm?
Natsuki understood the situation perfectly, yet he maintained a look of feigned disappointment:
"I don't believe you—unless Shoko proves it to me."
The shy girl clenched her small fists:
"H-how do I prove it?"
Natsuki said:
"I shouldn't have to say it; Shoko ought to know exactly how."
Komi blinked, a blush rising on her lovely face; she nervously stood on tiptoe, leaned in close, and planted a quick kiss on Natsuki's cheek.
For a girl as painfully shy and socially anxious as her, managing even that much was a truly extraordinary feat.
"That's not enough." Natsuki reached out and wrapped his arms around her soft, slender waist, no longer hiding the smile on his face. "Not nearly enough."
Seeing that smile, the girl realized at once that he had been teasing her on purpose. Her pink cheeks puffed up in indignation, and just as she was about to speak, Natsuki leaned down; ignoring her bashful attempts to dodge, he sealed her soft, rosy lips with his own...
Teasing Shoko was, without a doubt, a delight for both body and soul.