"Good heavens, what kind of hellish place is this! A school ghost story incident actually happened!"
Subaru Natsuki wrapped the quilt around himself and hid in the corner, shivering.
He desperately wanted to open the door and call for help, but the rules said that someone might knock at night.
If he ran out and happened to encounter a so-called evil spirit, how would that be any different from seeking death?
"Calm down, Subaru Natsuki, you need to calm down!"
Subaru Natsuki reached out with both hands and slapped his face hard, trying to maintain some semblance of sanity.
"Sigh, why did I believe the words of a mirror? Could it be a prank by Ram?"
At this moment, Subaru Natsuki felt that his intellect had reached its peak.
He swore that the last time he used his brain was in a galgame.
"No! Thinking carefully, although Ram has a nasty personality, she wouldn't go to such lengths for someone like me. Dammit, this really is an emergency!"
Clank, clank~
The eerie sound of sliding iron chains echoed from the end of the long corridor, drawing closer and closer, shaking Subaru Natsuki's fragile heart like a death knell.
"There really is the sound of chains!"
Subaru Natsuki lost his composure and hurriedly stood up, pushing the desk over to block the door firmly.
Outside the door, a petite figure holding a morning star was moving in the corridor.
She first came to the door of Grin's room, pressing her ear against it to listen carefully.
Only after hearing steady and slow breathing did she slowly step back.
The wind rustled, swaying the green plants planted in the Mansion, swallowing the girl's extremely light footsteps into the darkness.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
The door to Subaru Natsuki's room was knocked on.
Has the evil spirit come?
He thought to himself, with nothing in his hands; if anything happened, he would have to fight barehanded.
"Who... who's out there!"
Subaru Natsuki asked in a low voice, his tone trembling slightly.
"It's me, Rem, Subaru."
"Ah~ it's Rem!"
The heavy stone hanging in Subaru Natsuki's heart finally dropped the moment he heard Rem's voice.
As if grasping at a life-saving straw, he reached out to open the door.
Just then, the eerie voice of the mirror suddenly surfaced in his mind.
[Someone is knocking at night, please remain rational. If you hear the sound of shaking iron chains, do not open the door under any circumstances!]
Subaru Natsuki's outstretched hand hung in mid-air. After hesitating for a moment, not only did he not open the door, but he also hooked the security chain.
In moments between life and death, this guy always had a flash of keen intuition.
"You're lying, you're definitely not Rem! You're an evil spirit!"
Subaru Natsuki shouted hysterically, as if trying to bolster his own courage.
Outside the door, Rem was a bit bewildered. If she wasn't Rem, then who was she?
Originally, she intended to knock Subaru Natsuki unconscious the moment he opened the door and then drag him to the back mountain for interrogation.
But Subaru Natsuki not opening the door made things a bit difficult. Rem glanced at Grin's door, seemingly worried that Grin would be woken up by Subaru Natsuki's shouting.
After a long while, Grin's room remained peaceful.
Rem breathed a sigh of relief and knocked on Subaru Natsuki's door again.
"Subaru, it really is Rem. A thief has entered the Mansion, and I need to ensure your safety."
Grin, who was pressed against his own door eavesdropping, shook his head and clicked his tongue, whispering, "He's even learned how to lie, this brat."
Subaru Natsuki gulped hard. After agonizing for a long time, he finally spoke, "If you're really Rem, then please step back a bit. I need to confirm your identity through the crack in the door."
Grin was greatly disappointed; this guy really wasn't afraid of death.
The killing intent in Rem's eyes surged like waves, but she eventually suppressed it with great willpower and turned to walk a few steps away.
"Of course, Subaru. Rem has already retreated to a safe distance."
Subaru Natsuki listened intently to Rem's receding footsteps. After confirming several times, he slowly pulled back the desk that was blocking the door.
Creak~
The door opened, but its range was still restricted by the security chain, revealing only half of Subaru Natsuki's face.
"Ha~ so it really is Rem!"
Ting, ting.
Several ice spears suddenly condensed in mid-air, their sharp tips pointing straight at Subaru Natsuki's eyes.
Swoosh!
The ice spears shot out abruptly, flying toward the crack in the door with a chilling aura.
Subaru Natsuki's pupils constricted in shock as he leaned back with all his might.
"Ah!"
An ice spear grazed past his face, tearing open a gash deep enough to see bone. Blood gushed out, instantly staining him red.
"Rem? Rem! You really are an evil spirit!"
Subaru Natsuki rolled on the ground in pain. Gritting his teeth, he tried to suppress the excruciating pain in his face and struggled to slam the door shut with a "click."
"Why, why won't you just die easily? Do you really have to attract an audience before you're willing to accept death?"
The moonlight was like a cold blade, cutting through the stained-glass windows of the Mansion and falling onto Rem's blue hair.
Her originally lowered eyelashes first trembled very slightly, as if someone behind a curtain had blown out a candle.
When she looked up again, her pupils had shrunk to pinpoints, the azure blue covered by a web of bloodshot veins. The glowing oni horn at the center of her brow "psshht" pierced through the skin of her forehead, like a piece of branding iron suddenly poking out from white porcelain.
There was no blood the moment the skin split, only wisps of indigo steam crawling out from the wound, as if evaporating both soul and sanity together.
Rem simply could not restrain herself and directly activated her Oni transformation ability. Even if she were discovered, she was going to kill Subaru Natsuki on the spot.
Rem reached out her right hand and gripped the door lock. With just a slight application of force, her fingers closed and crushed the metal lock core into fragments like tofu.
"Rem has been enduring every minute and every second, Witch Cultist! Seeing you swaggering around in front of Elder Sister, Rem's heart is so full of unease and anger that it's almost uncontrollable."
"The culprit who caused Elder Sister's misfortune, or someone related to that culprit, living leisurely in Rem and Elder Sister's precious home. Even knowing that Elder Sister is pretending to take care of you and pretending to be familiar with you, Rem can no longer endure it!"
Rem spoke with a voice full of rage, which by the end had turned into a teeth-gritting accusation.
"What... what are you talking about! What Witch Cultist? For as long as I can remember, my family hasn't belonged to any cult for generations!"
Subaru Natsuki watched the nearly shattered wooden door in despair, retreating tremulously. He felt that he was probably going to die.
Suddenly, a piece of information flashed through his mind.
[Hiding behind the mirror can provide temporary invisibility. If someone attacks you, please stay far away from the mirror.]
Thinking of this, Subaru Natsuki scrambled and crawled to hide behind the mirror, using it as a shield in front of him.
The body of the mirror released colorful light, causing the surrounding light to constantly twist and blend together, finally concealing Subaru Natsuki's form as he vanished from the spot.
Bang!
With a kick from Rem, the door's durability was instantly reduced to zero, turning into wooden shards that flew everywhere.
The usually cute and quiet girl was now no different from a vengeful ghost.
Her eyes, filled with killing intent, glinted with a terrifying light in the dim corridor.
This posture was like a wolf hiding in the shadows.
"Damn it, where did he hide!"