"...Let's go out together!"
Hayasaka wrapped both arms around Natsuki's neck, her face showing shyness and anticipation in her confession.
Was white-flag surrender embarrassing?
Of course it was embarrassing.
But compared to the life-threatening evil spirit behind her, embarrassment meant nothing.
That terrifying woman seemed to be jealous. If that was the case, as long as she eliminated the other party's jealousy, she should be safe.
Plan successful.
For the sake of her life, even if it was in front of the young miss—if she had to surrender, she had to surrender.
"...Let go of me first."
Being hugged and confessed to by a beautiful girl, Natsuki's heart remained completely unmoved.
Even thinking with his toes, he knew this was a lie.
They'd just met an hour ago. Even a love-brain wouldn't white-flag surrender so quickly, right?!
Just now when checking out at the register, Natsuki had seen Hayasaka being haunted by an evil spirit, so he'd stepped out first, letting Kitagawa continue queuing to pay inside the convenience store.
Who knew that the moment he came out, Hayasaka would hug him and surrender at light speed.
Natsuki had already guessed why Hayasaka would confess. It had to be said—this Hayasaka was quite quick-witted and quite clever.
Unfortunately, it was unnecessary.
"Don't panic." Natsuki lightly patted the girl's shoulder and spoke quietly: "Leave that evil spirit to me."
"..."
Hayasaka skeptically retreated half a step and looked back with the corner of her eye. The terrifying woman had stopped walking and seemed to show signs of turning back—clearly her earlier acting had successfully deceived the other party.
Who knew that the next second, Natsuki would actually extend his right hand and provocatively beckon with his finger toward the terrifying woman:
"Come here."
Hayasaka: "..."
"You can see me!"
The female evil spirit shrieked. Her face directly stretched and deformed as she lunged at Natsuki.
As her body crashed into the range of the Evil Spirit Repelling aura, the female evil spirit's body rapidly ignited with transparent flames, then turned to ash and vanished completely.
Seeing this scene, Hayasaka finally breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't help but ask:
"What was that woman just now? Why couldn't anyone else see her?"
"I forgot you're a newbie." Natsuki explained. "Any player who's cleared a game will receive a reward—the ability to see 'the world's truth.'"
Hayasaka's eyes widened: "So that woman just now is the world's truth?"
"Perhaps it's truth, perhaps it's a curse—no one knows." Natsuki shook his head. "But once you join the game, you can see the evil spirits wandering the mortal world."
"No one knows why evil spirits exist."
"But you must remember one thing—don't let evil spirits know you can see them, or you'll be killed."
"...I see."
Hayasaka bit down on her lower lip, still finding it somewhat hard to accept.
No wonder the young miss had been staring blankly at corners from time to time recently, inexplicably developing dark circles under her eyes, sometimes even running to her room insisting they sleep together... because she was too scared to sleep alone.
"Wait a moment." Hayasaka looked up. "Why did that evil spirit start burning?"
Natsuki said:
"Do you normally play mobile games?"
Hayasaka blinked: "Occasionally."
"How's your gacha luck?"
"Not bad."
"Then there's no problem." Natsuki spoke quietly. "If you silently recite 'game' in your mind, you can open the shop. Inside are daily blind boxes and random items. If your luck is good, you'll immediately draw the same skill as me."
"I'll try it."
Hayasaka recited "game" in her mind with great interest. A virtualized game interface quickly appeared before her eyes. Under her mental control, she quickly opened the shop, found the daily blind box, carefully read the product description, and decisively purchased the daily surprise blind box.
The next second.
A pack of tissues appeared in Hayasaka's hand.
Natsuki shrugged: "Clearly, your luck today isn't very good."
"..."
The spy maid's expression went blank as she crumpled the tissues into a ball.
Putting tissues in a blind box already constitutes fraudulent consumption. I can file a complaint!
A moment later.
Kitagawa Marin ran out of the supermarket carrying shopping bags: "Hanamori-chan, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Hayasaka shook her head.
"That's good." Kitagawa Marin breathed a sigh of relief and spoke quietly: "I forgot you were a newbie player just now and didn't tell you about evil spirits. Anyway, you must pretend you can't see them."
Hayasaka pressed her pink lips together: "Did you draw that Evil Spirit Repelling ability?"
"Nope." Kitagawa Marin shook her head. "Out of so many people in the mutual aid group, only Amamiya-kun has drawn this skill so far."
Tch.
Hayasaka secretly curled her lip.
So he's a detestable seal emperor.
The three chatted for a while longer, then went their separate ways.
Natsuki and Kitagawa Marin carried their things and returned home together.
"I'm home."
Kitagawa Marin raised both fists above her head and stretched hard. Her blouse lifted slightly, revealing a snow-white, slender, tempting waist as she made whimpering sounds like a dog: "First eat the bento, then take a nice bath after eating."
Natsuki closed the door behind him, then summoned Mrs. Kaguya.
"Eh?" Kitagawa Marin blinked, surprised. "Why is Kaguya-neesan wearing the Hamster Cloak?"
"When leaving the treasure room, I had Kaguya-neesan stay inside the treasure room." Natsuki looked at Mrs. Kaguya. "Did you get the things?"
"Mm-hmm~" Mrs. Kaguya made a peace sign, her smile delighted. "Mission accomplished—successfully obtained them."
After speaking, Mrs. Kaguya pulled out several items from the cloak.
An antique silver coin.
Several completely ordinary oranges.
A crystal-clear mermaid tear.
These were precisely the treasures that could be taken out of the game.
Only allowed to take one thing?
Only children make choices—adults naturally want everything!
"Ah, I understand." Kitagawa Marin blinked, suddenly realizing. "When we left the treasure room, Kaguya-neesan stayed alone in the treasure room."
Mrs. Kaguya wore the Hamster Cloak and hid behind treasure chests, lurking in secret. During that time, she didn't move at all. Only when the game cleared and reached the final few seconds of the return countdown did she suddenly act, grabbing the "treasures" that could be taken out of the game.
As a guardian spirit, Mrs. Kaguya was bound together with Natsuki. When Natsuki left the game, she naturally left along with him. The only question had been whether the things Mrs. Kaguya grabbed could be brought out of the game together.
Now it appeared there was clearly no problem.
"Little Natsuki, I need mana refill~" Mrs. Kaguya raised her right hand. "The consumption in the game was super high. I can't play on my phone until dawn today."
"Leave the charging to me." Kitagawa Marin planted her right hand on her hip and raised her left thumb. "First eat the bento, then take a nice bath, then charging and mana refill."
Natsuki was also somewhat hungry. He walked to the table and sat down, grabbed a half-price bento, and checked the game's final settlement while eating.
[Congratulations player, you have obtained MVP of the entire hide and seek game]
[Please choose one item from the following as your additional reward—]