"Ah ah ah! I'm going to die, going to die, going to die!"
[At the Same Time, in a Bedroom Filled with a Girlish Atmosphere]
A pink-haired girl in silk pajamas looked at the "?" message sent by Kaito-kun, and couldn't help but hold her head in frustration.
'I am really not the type of girl who gets lustful upon seeing a good-looking guy.'
'Now, Kaito-kun will definitely think I am an indecent girl, right?'
Anon felt deep sorrow, but still wanted to struggle in her dying breath. She quickly typed a message to explain, trying to salvage her image as a goddess.
Anon: [Ah haha, I just accidentally slipped my hand just now, sorry sorry.]
Anon: [By the way, I heard there's a new café that opened near Shuka, the omurice is delicious. Tomorrow is Sunday, want to go try it together? My treat!]
Although the 'slipped hand' excuse made people want to roast her, life was tough and people shouldn't make it tougher... Kaito decided to tentatively believe her explanation and replied with a message.
[Tomorrow I still have some things to take care of.]
It wasn't an excuse. After all, having just dealt with Kita's problem, he planned to go to STARRY again tomorrow.
[Oh oh, I see...]
Anon looked a little disappointed, but she was sensible and didn't pester. After all, it was an awkward time for her. Kaito's refusal instead gave her a reason to run away, [Then I won't bother Kaito-kun. Let's go together next time when there's time. Good night!]
Looking at the rapidly grayed-out avatar, Kaito didn't mind and closed the chat interface, refreshing his feed casually.
He didn't have many close friends, and most of them were girls who were enthusiastic about sharing bits and pieces of daily life.
First came a post from Kita: [Wuuu wuuu wuuu finally back to the light! Thank you, almighty god!]
It was followed by a crying sticker.
There were many comments below, mostly concerned inquiries, and over a hundred likes. As expected of a top extrovert, the version of herself in Little Bocchi's fantasies.
'Come to think of it, there seems to be quite a lot of normies around me. Kita is one, of course, and Yumiko is also popular among the girls around her.'
'Even Nijiha was a typical extrovert. After all, the gentle and outgoing personality of the Shimokitazawa Archangel naturally ensures a girl like her will never lack friends anywhere.'
Kaito casually liked Kita's post, continued scrolling down, and saw a post from half an hour ago.
[Nagasaki Soyo: Singing karaoke with friends~]
There were several pictures attached. The first one was a selfie of Soyo. The brown-haired girl smiled gently. Clearly a pure eighteen-year-old college girl, yet she gave off a strong widow-like aura, full-on housewife energy.
The rest of the photos were group shots with a few other girls, all holding microphones, probably friends from Tsukinomori?
Kaito was about to scroll past, but suddenly paused and opened one of the photos, zooming in.
It was a black-haired girl sitting in the corner, smiling. But... around her neck, there seemed to be a transparent, unclear thread.
'Is this the work of an evil spirit?'
Finding Soyo's chat window, Kaito sent a message intending to ask her where she was, but the message remained unread.
He tried calling, but it was just a busy tone, no one answering for a long time.
Kaito frowned and was just about to get up from the bathtub, when he suddenly sensed that one of the jade pendants he had sent out, 'Seems to be under attack?'
———
"It's okay, everyone, stay close to me."
Multicolored neon lights flickered non-stop, weaving dreamlike light and shadow on the walls and ceiling, yet they brought no sense of safety to the people. Instead, like a snarling beast, they seemed ready to devour someone.
The brown-haired girl forcibly suppressed her fear, looking at the monster not far away, a creature with eight long spider legs and the upper body of a beautiful woman. She forced herself to show a calm face, though her small hand secretly gripped the jade pendant at her chest tightly.
———
[One Hour Ago]
Today was Saturday, and the weather was nice. Nagasaki Soyo originally planned to invite Kaito out for dinner, but her friends got to her first, inviting her to sing karaoke.
As a normie, she seemed to have a lot of friends, but the price of being popular was that you had to spend a lot of time maintaining social relationships.
Some invite you shopping, some to the movies, some to have desserts... Refusing once or twice was fine, but if you turned them down too many times, you'd inevitably be seen as cold and difficult to get along with, and people would subconsciously isolate you.
It wasn't that Soyo hadn't tried to decline, but for some reason, her friends were very insistent this time, saying whatever it took to make her come along.
Seeing no way out, she could only agree.
At karaoke, everything was normal at first.
But after a few songs, someone quickly suggested that just singing was boring, how about playing a spirit-summoning game?
Having personally experienced supernatural events, Nagasaki Soyo of course refused.
It was fine in the past, but ever since she learned that gods and ghosts actually existed in this world, she had been avoiding anything paranormal like the plague. How could she possibly join in?
But the others were very interested in the idea and all enthusiastically agreed.
Seeing that the tide couldn't be turned, she couldn't be the wet blanket, so she forced a smile and agreed.
She comforted herself inside, 'Spirit-summoning games are probably just silly rumors made up by bored people. Surely... I won't be that unlucky, right?'
But Murphy's Law says: when you fear something, no matter how unlikely it is, it will always happen.
Looking at the terrifying figure ahead, the monster with the upper half of a woman and lower half of a spider, just like the Jorōgumo of folklore, Soyo felt like crying but had no tears.

The opponent's eight spider legs were like blades. With a gentle stab, they could leave bowl-sized holes in the hard floor.
Even the saliva it drooled onto the ground made a sizzling sound, as if it were strong sulfuric acid, clearly not something that flesh and blood could resist.
Fortunately... the koi jade pendant Kaito gave her earlier activated at that moment.
The spider monster, let's temporarily call it Jorōgumo.
As soon as it appeared, it let out a screech and pounced at them impatiently. But when it swung its claws, it struck a faint golden barrier and couldn't break through no matter how hard it tried.
Its eight blade-like spider legs gleamed with cold light, capable of piercing a heavy tank, but such fierce attacks only caused faint ripples when they hit the golden barrier.
The barrier wasn't large, but just enough to cover Soyo and her friends.
Thanks to the barrier, the several delicate and weak girls who couldn't even truss a chicken were able to survive in front of the terrifying spider monster, instead of being wiped out instantly.
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