Half an hour later.
Kitagawa Marin carefully walked out of the bathroom, wrapped tightly in a white bathrobe, and spoke quietly:
"I'm done bathing."
Natsuki looked up: "Does your foot still hurt?"
"It still hurts a little."
"Come sit." Natsuki pointed at the medicine on the table. "Come apply the medicine yourself."
"Oh."
Kitagawa Marin walked over and sat down. Having just finished bathing, her skin was pink and moist like a freshly peeled egg—making one wonder if water could be squeezed out.
This blonde gyaru was quite bold-spirited. After soaking for a while, the earlier incident had mostly turned the page. After sitting on the sofa, her volume quickly returned to normal:
"Amamiya-kun, help me apply the medicine."
Natsuki froze: "What?"
"It's my right ankle that hurts." Kitagawa Marin raised her chin slightly, her voice crisp. "Bending down isn't convenient for me, so I'm asking Amamiya-kun."
Natsuki's gaze drifted slightly downward: "How is it inconvenient?"
"You're asking when you already know." Kitagawa Marin quickly covered her chest with her hand and couldn't help but puff out her cheeks. "Amamiya-kun is bullying me."
"..."
Natsuki grabbed the medicine from the table: "Lift your foot."
"Mm."
Kitagawa Marin pressed her pink lips together and raised her right foot, carefully resting it on Natsuki's thigh. Her round, cute bean-like toes curled slightly inward.
Quite tall, but her feet are surprisingly small.
Natsuki tested it—the size fit perfectly in his palm in a single grasp.
Worthy of being a blonde gyaru—not only her fingers but even her toes had pink nail polish.
But speaking of which... they really were quite pretty.
Pink and tender, with an appealing color.
Having just finished bathing, they even gave off a faint fruity fragrance. The skin was snow-white with beautiful curves. Faint blue-green veins could vaguely be seen on the top of her foot. Holding them in hand, they felt warm and soft... If those perverted foot fetishists saw this, they'd probably couldn't help but take a few bites, right?
Unfortunately, Natsuki wasn't a foot fetishist. He felt no impulse whatsoever.
Having seen the big white moon, who would pursue the trivial at the expense of the essential?!
Pouring the medicine into his palm, Natsuki's expression remained unchanged as he rubbed it on Kitagawa's ankle, helping the medicine's effectiveness spread.
"Ah..."
Kitagawa Marin let out a pained hum.
"I-it hurts. Amamiya-kun, be gentler."
"Endure it."
"Natsuki is so rough."
"It'll definitely hurt at first. Endure it—it'll feel better in a bit... How do you feel now?"
"Liar. It doesn't feel good at all."
"..."
A moment later.
The rubbing ended.
"That's about enough." Natsuki let out a quiet breath and released his hands. "I'm going to take a bath."
Kitagawa Marin quickly pulled back her foot, hugged her knees with both arms, and turned to look at the TV. Her pretty face resembled summer evening clouds—densely covered in red. A moist luster faintly flickered in her eyes:
"Go go go."
"..."
Natsuki agreed and grabbed his change of clothes, heading to the bathroom.
At the same time.
On the other side.
Hayasaka had just returned to the villa, her expression clearly somewhat dazed and confused.
"So many."
"So many evil spirits."
On the way back, she'd seen countless evil spirits along the way.
On the train, on the streets, in convenience stores, in dark alleys, even on passersby... countless.
The evil spirits' appearances were also bizarre and varied, but without exception, they could all make one's SAN value plummet.
Hayasaka had never imagined the seemingly ordinary real world actually hid such a terrifying scene.
Horror game... the world's truth...
No wonder the young miss had seemed sleep-deprived recently, even developing dark circles. With evil spirits everywhere in the real world, how could anyone sleep peacefully?!
Her gaze swept over a human-head balloon outside the window. Hayasaka's mouth twitched slightly as she walked to the refrigerator.
"First drink a cola to calm my nerves..."
The next moment.
Hayasaka's breathing stopped.
Inside the refrigerator, a rotting human head's eyeball rotated, staring straight at her.
"Can see me...?"
The cold, hollow whisper entered her ears again.
"Ah, thinking about it carefully, it's too late to drink cola—it's easy to get cavities."
The corner of Hayasaka's eye twitched. Her right hand, extended halfway, naturally withdrew. She pressed her neck while talking to herself and closed the refrigerator as though nothing had happened.
Bang.
A faint whisper came from inside the refrigerator.
"Too bad... can't see..."
Hayasaka's expression unchanged, she turned around. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip as she silently walked into the washroom, leaned against the door, and only then stamped her foot in childish vexation.
"Damn damn damn!"
"I almost got so scared I leaked!"
"Why would such a disgusting thing appear in the refrigerator?!"
Hayasaka bit her fingernail, super displeased.
Decided. Tomorrow morning I'm throwing out that refrigerator—throw it as far away as possible!
The next second.
A strand of long black hair caught Hayasaka's attention.
The spy maid followed the hair with her gaze and discovered black hair churning outward from the toilet—something was clearly preparing to come out...
The corner of Hayasaka's eye twitched. Without a word, she turned and left.
The evil spirits in the villa are so numerous they're exploding... This life is unlivable!
Hayasaka silently returned to her room: "I hope there aren't any in the room... forget it, better not say it."
Better say less with a crow's mouth.
Hayasaka walked to the desk and sat down. She opened the computer. Multiple surveillance windows quickly appeared on the screen. When she'd quietly snuck over tonight, it was to install several more surveillance devices—not only the bedroom and living room, but even the kitchen and bathroom hadn't been spared. They were ultra-high-definition top-tier equipment.
"In the living room... Kitagawa is watching TV."
Hayasaka unwrapped a lollipop, put it in her mouth, and looked at the phone floating in the air in the surveillance—quite regretful.
Damn it.
If I'd known, I wouldn't have gone over tonight.
Curiosity killed the cat—no mistake.
"The surveillance isn't needed anymore. I need to find a chance to go over and remove the equipment... hm?"
Hayasaka's gaze focused on the surveillance video in the bottom right corner.
In the surveillance, Natsuki walked into the bathroom and began undressing.
"Planning to take a bath?"
Hayasaka bit the lollipop, preparing to close the surveillance video.
The reason she'd installed surveillance in the bathroom today was mainly because she suspected Natsuki and Kitagawa might be aliens. If they were aliens, their physical characteristics might differ from ordinary people.
Of course, surveillance wasn't needed now.
Everyone was just unlucky ordinary people.
Buzz buzz.
Her phone suddenly vibrated.
Hayasaka jumped in fright and looked down to find her phone in her pocket.
Kitagawa Marin: "Hanamori-chan, you're home now, right?"
"Just got home."
"You saw a lot of evil spirits on the way, right? You must pretend you didn't see them. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask everyone in the mutual aid group. In any case, definitely don't give up hope."
"Mm mm, I know."
"..."
Hayasaka replied with two messages and looked up at the computer. Her eyes suddenly widened.
Eh, he's already undressed?
Do boys undress that fast?
In the high-definition surveillance video, Natsuki's body was completely visible.
Hayasaka instinctively gazed over. After seeing clearly, her body involuntarily leaned back slightly. A blush rapidly spread across her pretty face.
"...This man is a tentacle monster, right?!"