"Eh… wh-what's going on?"
Looking at Hanako, who seemed startled and suddenly fled, the casual female player felt a dull ache in her head and her eyes were blank.
Was Hanako's expression shock and vigilance?
No!
She had just been rubbing herself on the ground, so she definitely wasn't afraid of herself.
The next second.
Soft footsteps sounded behind her.
"C-could it be behind me…"
Hearing the sudden eerie footsteps, the casual female player's body stiffened abruptly, and her heart immediately jumped into her throat.
Click-clack, click-clack.
In the deathly silence, the casual player felt her neck turn into a mechanical wind-up toy, incredibly stiff, and she unconsciously turned her head to look behind her.
"St-stop!"
The casual female player cried out in panic in her heart.
An evil spirit that could make Hanako vigilant and afraid must be a super terrifying existence. Perhaps if she turned her head, she would immediately be 'snapped' and have her head bitten off, just like Mami Tomoe, the headless senpai.
But the curiosity stemming from biological instinct, coupled with the desperate thought of giving up, made her unable to stop—in front was Hanako, behind was an even more terrifying unknown evil spirit. Anyway, there was no chance of survival, right?
She was going to die either way, so since that was the case, she might as well satisfy her curiosity before she died…
However, the next second.
A warm voice gently entered her ears.
"Don't be nervous…"
Natsuki said softly:
"I am a player."
The vengeful spirits and Strange Tales in the instance did not know of the existence of 'players', so the word 'player' was the best secret signal.
"…!!!"
The casual female player's eyes suddenly widened. She felt her incredibly stiff neck instantly relax, and she unconsciously turned her head quickly, seeing a handsome young man with bright eyes and brows who had appeared behind her at some point. Her heart was instantly overwhelmed with boundless joy.
"I-I'm saved!"
The casual female player almost cried tears of joy, but she knew it wasn't the time to let her guard down. She quickly suppressed the mist rising in her eyes and promptly reminded him:
"Please be careful, that's the legendary Hanako!"
Natsuki stepped forward, coming in front of the casual female player, and said softly:
"I know Hanako."
"Eh… know?"
The casual female player thought she was hallucinating, but the next second, she saw Natsuki raise his right hand and greet the Ghost Story the child crawling on the ceiling:
"Hanako, long time no see."
The casual female player widened her eyes in disbelief.
Hey, hey, what does "long time no see" mean?
The instance just started not long ago, right?
Why would he say "long time no see" to an anomaly in the instance!
Natsuki looked up at Hanako, who was crawling around on the ceiling. Meeting an old acquaintance, he was in a rather good mood and smiled:
"Hanako should still remember me, right?"
Hanako stopped crawling, hanging upside down from the ceiling, her pitch-black eyes staring intently at Natsuki.
Unlike the anti-gravity skirts in anime, the laws of physics in the instance were not challenged at all. The child's skirt hung down under the force of gravity, revealing a… well, nothing at all.
"...It's you!"
Hanako suddenly spoke, clearly having finally recognized Natsuki.
"That's right, it's me," Natsuki smiled. "Your former good friend…"
Before he could finish speaking, Hanako suddenly shouted in disgust:
"Trash!"
Natsuki froze, then raised an eyebrow and asked:
"What did you call me?"
"Trash! Garbage!"
"…"
Alright.
Other players must have entered the "Haunted Town" instance, so it was perfectly understandable for Hanako to learn swear words from others.
"Garbage-kun, you actually dare to appear in front of me again?" Hanako hung upside down from the ceiling, a ferocious smile on her face. "That Oppai alien isn't here today, so you're dead. I'm going to eat you, this stinky trash fish, bite by bite!"
The smile on Natsuki's face disappeared. He raised his right hand and crooked his finger:
"Come on then."
Being called a weakling really is extremely annoying.
Hanako, who had turned into a brat and was spouting 'weakling' everywhere, needed a good lesson to learn how to respect her elders.
"Weak—ling—!"
Seeing Natsuki dare to provoke her with a finger, Hanako's eyes suddenly flashed red, and she bared a row of sharp, serrated teeth, swooping down from the ceiling.
The bathroom was already dimly lit, and Hanako's speed was exceptionally fast; launching such a sudden attack now, she truly seemed like a ghost.
"Look out!"
The female player cried out in panic.
They were both in the same boat now, and she absolutely did not want Natsuki to get into trouble.
However, to her despair, the handsome young man seemed to have been scared stiff, standing motionless in place, apparently having forgotten to dodge.
"It's over..."
The female player closed her eyes in despair, not wanting to see the scene of Natsuki's blood splattering.
With so many teeth in Hanako's mouth, if he were bitten, he would surely be torn to shreds, right?
The next second.
Thud!
A clear yet dull and strange sound suddenly rang out, and the entire bathroom seemed to tremble.
Following that was Hanako's cry of pain:
"You weakling, you actually dared to fight back!"
The female player opened her eyes in surprise and saw Natsuki standing unharmed in place, while Hanako, who had pounced, had instead jumped back onto the ceiling, covering her forehead with both hands, grimacing, and crying out in pain.
Natsuki flicked Hanako with a brain-flick and sternly said:
"If you call me a weakling again, the consequences will be severe."
"Huh?" Hanako hung upside down from the ceiling and began her merciless barrage, "A weakling is a weakling, weakling! Stinky weakling!"
"Brat," Natsuki said expressionlessly, "Don't you dare cry later."
Hanako tilted her head, her expression puzzled:
"Weakling, what is a brat?"
The female player: "..."
The young man, who had originally seemed quite proper, suddenly appeared mischievous now.
"I misspoke," Natsuki coughed twice and corrected himself, "It's 'stinky brat'."
"Weakling!" Hanako raged, "I'm going to eat you!"
As soon as her voice fell.
Hanako quickly scurried across the ceiling, making one dizzy and disoriented.
After scurrying for a moment, Hanako jumped down from the ceiling again, pouncing from Natsuki's blind spot.
But it was useless.
Natsuki was even faster and his movements swifter; the female player, despite wide-open eyes, couldn't clearly see Natsuki's actions, only feeling him suddenly turn around and then grab Hanako's ankle.
"Have you ever heard an old saying?" Natsuki looked down at Hanako, "After three days apart, one should be looked at with new eyes. I am no longer the person I once was."
"You stinky weakling, I'll bite you to death..."
Hanako distorted her body to bite.
Natsuki remained expressionless, suddenly exerting force with his right hand, twirling Hanako like a windmill.
"Waaahh..."
As air rushed into her mouth, Hanako's insults instantly turned into strange whimpers.
A moment later.
Natsuki stopped the windmill game, looked at the dizzy Hanako, and said:
"Can you be a bit more well-behaved now?"
"Ptooey ptooey... ptooey!" Hanako spat out the hair in her mouth, her eyes showing dizzying spirals, but her tone was still incredibly infuriating, "Heh... stinky trash weakling... you, do you only have this much ability?"
"Tsk~"
Natsuki pouted in dissatisfaction.
Stinky brats really are incredibly annoying.
In that case...
Natsuki grabbed with his right hand and took out a black pet collar from his game backpack.
[Item: Spirit Pet Collar]
[Quality: Blue]
[Usage: Can capture and tame intelligent creatures as pets. Players can issue commands to pets as their owner.]
[Passive: Human-Pet Fusion: After equipping a pet with this collar, additional bonuses will be gained based on the intimacy and attribute difference between both parties. The higher the intimacy between the owner and the pet, the higher the percentage of attributes gained.]
[Note: Please maintain intimacy with your pet. If it drops to a hostile state, there is a possibility of backlash.]
This was 'protection money' that Ami had voluntarily offered in the previous dungeon. Unfortunately, the first time it was used, it was on Haruno, but it must be said that the attribute bonus effect was quite good.
After clearing the dungeon, Haruno returned the pet collar, and Natsuki had kept it in his backpack, without a suitable target for use, but now it came in handy.
If Haruno could be a 'pet', then an anomaly certainly wouldn't be a problem, right?
One of the prerequisites for capturing a pet was to suppress its resistance and personally put the pet collar on it.
The reason Ami took out this item was that the prerequisites were too difficult to meet; the evil spirits and Strange Tales in the dungeon were extremely dangerous and would never obediently let someone put a collar on them. In her hands, it was completely a useless, eye-candy item.
But in Natsuki's hands, the effect was completely different.
First, beat the Strange Tale, and after beating it, put the collar on it. 100% successful capture, with no unexpected situations.
"Weakling, what is that thing you're holding?"
Hanako quickly noticed the collar in Natsuki's hand and glared fiercely.
"This, oh..." Natsuki shook the black collar in his hand and smiled, "It's a very interesting toy, don't mind it."
"Stinky weakling!" Hanako bit fiercely, "Don't think I don't recognize it, that's clearly a collar for dogs!"
Natsuki easily suppressed Hanako's resistance and said nonchalantly:
"Humans and dogs actually aren't that different... Do you prefer black or silver? The collar's color can be adjusted."
"Weakling! Stinky weakling!" Hanako shouted fiercely, "If you dare put that thing on me, you're dead!"
Natsuki shrugged and said:
"Then black it is, black looks good."
Click.
Pet collar successfully equipped.
"Done."
Natsuki smiled with satisfaction, then released his right hand, letting Hanako fall to the ground.
Whoosh!
As soon as she touched the ground, Hanako suddenly leaped up, quickly darting onto the ceiling, tearing at the pet collar on her neck with her small hands. Unfortunately, the collar was made of supernatural material and simply couldn't be torn apart. Unless Natsuki actively removed it, or she 'backlashed' and killed Natsuki, her owner, only then could the collar be undone.
Of course, there was another way: for ghosts like Mrs. Shimizu, whose bodies could become ethereal, the collar simply wouldn't stay on.
Unfortunately, Hanako was a physical Strange Tale, not a ghost.
Natsuki looked up and said:
"Girls should be more ladylike, and not always reveal themselves... Hanako, come down."
To avoid unnecessary trouble, when giving commands to a pet, the pet's name needs to be added before the command. Without the name, it's just normal conversation.
"Weakling! You tell me to come down and I'll... Eh eh?"
Hanako looked over arrogantly, but before she could finish speaking, she suddenly felt her body become uncontrollable and plopped onto the bathroom floor.
As an anomaly, falling from such a height naturally wouldn't cause injury. Hanako flipped over and leaned against the wall, an extremely shocked expression appearing on her small face:
"You stinky weakling, what did you do to me?!"
Hanako wasn't stupid and quickly pinpointed Natsuki as the culprit.
Natsuki pointed to the black collar on Hanako's neck and said:
"That's a special pet collar. With the collar on, from now on, you're mine."
"Weakling!" Hanako's eyes widened, and she furiously tore at the collar on her neck with her small hands, "How dare you treat me as a pet, you're dead! I'm going to eat you bite by bite!"
Natsuki narrowed his eyes and said:
"After some time apart, who exactly did you learn that 'weakling' verbal tic from?"
"Stinky weakling! None of your business!" Hanako was now a standard stinky brat, extremely infuriating, and said fiercely, "Quickly take this collar off!"
Natsuki raised an eyebrow and said:
"If you call me 'owner' again, you'll be punished."
"Weakling!"
"Stinky weakling!"
Hanako had already discovered that while her body didn't obey, her mouth had no problems speaking.
"Weakling, don't think that just because you're a little stronger now, you're not a weakling. You'll always be... Eeeeek!"
Natsuki remained expressionless and lightly snapped his fingers.
Snap.
As the finger snap sounded, a surge of electricity instantly poured from the collar, sweeping through the stinky brat Hanako's entire body, making Hanako's obnoxious shouts instantly become high-pitched.
To tame a pet, one must, of course, use both kindness and strictness. Constantly pampering them will only make the pet forget its place and eventually ride roughshod over the owner. The most common example is city dogs; some dogs often guard their food and bite their owners, being incredibly fierce, but a single shovel blow will guarantee their obedience.
Besides the forced command effect, the pet collar also had a punishment mode. This was the first time the punishment function was used, and the effect seemed quite good, also working on Strange Tales.
The electrotherapy punishment ended.
As an anomaly, Hanako had basically never experienced feelings like cold, pain, or joy; boundless emptiness was her daily main tone.
Now, suddenly being punished, the stimulation was simply too intense for Hanako, who had never experienced anything unusual. Her body trembled and she directly 'plunked' down onto the ground, sliding into a sitting position. Although she didn't need to breathe, her small mouth involuntarily opened, like a fish thrown onto the shore, gasping for air.
Natsuki looked down at her from above:
"Are you still going to call me a weakling?"
"Weak..."
Hearing this, Hanako looked up, ready to continue shouting "minion", but after seeing Natsuki's snapping finger gesture, her body suddenly trembled, and then she tremblingly raised her two small hands, making two unwilling 'yes' gestures beside her small face.
Natsuki: "…"
The gesture was indeed 'yes', but the scissor-hands you made with your body trembling and eyes rolling back looked absolutely terrible! If anyone else saw it, they would definitely misunderstand!
At the same time.
In the corner behind Natsuki.
The player stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded and bewildered.
Meow meow meow?
What did she just see?
The legendary, super terrifying Hanako was actually defeated by a player, and even forced to wear a humiliating pet collar?
Her eyes must be playing tricks on her, right?
She was toyed with by Hanako, but the other person treated Hanako as a pet. They were both players, so why was the gap so huge?
"Wait, it seems there's someone else…"
Natsuki turned his head and looked at the player leaning against the wall behind him.
The female player couldn't help but shiver, instantly snapping back to reality, her face flustered as she forced a fawning smile:
"I, I will definitely keep it a secret!"
Keep what secret?
He just put a collar on Hanako, and besides that, at most he touched one of Hanako's fingers. There's no secret to keep at all!
Natsuki cleared his throat twice and said softly:
"Don't be afraid. Although I put a pet collar on Hanako and punished her, I am truly a player of the Lawful Good alignment."
The female player: "…"
Saying that just makes it more terrifying, okay?!
As he spoke, a shout suddenly came from the hallway:
"President, where are you?"
Hearing Chika's voice in the hallway, Natsuki stepped out of the restroom and replied:
"The restroom at the end of the left side of the second-floor Corridor."
"We're coming!"
Accompanied by a clear and sweet cheer, footsteps soon echoed in the hallway.
The player was curious. She glanced at Hanako, who was sitting on the ground dejectedly, then carefully stood up and peered out, soon seeing several girls appear in the hallway.
One of them, a black-haired girl in a neat tracksuit, quickly caught her attention.
"So familiar, I feel like I've seen her somewhere…"
"I, I remember!"
The female player's eyes widened quickly:
"It's Mitsui-sama from the Strange Tales Management Bureau!"