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"No time, get in the car first."
Bang.
Amamiya Natsuki pulled open the car door and dragged Shinomiya Kaguya into the bus.
"There's something outside," Shinomiya Kaguya subtly furrowed her brow.
Amamiya Natsuki turned to look out, only to see a dark shadow rapidly running through the dense fog. The fog was too thick to discern what it was.
"Could it be Sayu?" Rikka asked softly.
"No," Yukinoshita Yukino's voice was cold as she shook her head. "Although the fog has thickened, the bus is still clearly visible."
Clearly, the creature in the fog just now was not Sayu. Such a large bus would not have been ignored.
Rikka blinked, then hesitated and whispered, "Should we get out and look for Sayu?"
There was an unknown presence in the fog, and no one could tell how dangerous it was.
And Sayu, who was lost, was merely a stranger, a passerby player they had just met. She was neither a companion nor an indispensable person.
If it were other players, the high probability would be to leave her to die, to simply give up.
She was just a stranger met by chance; there was no reason to risk their lives for a stranger. In a survival dungeon like this, taking care of oneself was enough. Even if they didn't get out to look for Sayu, they wouldn't be criticized in the slightest—the moral standards of players were generally low.
However, not all crows are equally black; there are even white crows, so naturally, there are also players with high moral values.
Like Fujiwara Chika.
Facing the gazes of the girls, Amamiya Natsuki calmly said, "I'll go down and look for her."
Although Chika was a Kaguya-Type Leg Attachment now and couldn't speak, she could perceive what was happening outside.
As the light of humanity, when someone needed help, Chika secretary never hesitated to assist, so the option of standing by was simply out of the question.
Shinomiya Kaguya softly said, "I'll go with you."
"No need, I'll just search around the bus, I won't go far." Amamiya Natsuki took out the amulet and activated the Heart Voice state. "Contact me anytime if anything happens."
There was another unspoken reason.
The danger not only came from the presence in the fog, but the fog itself was not ordinary.
When the fog surged earlier, a prompt appeared before Amamiya Natsuki's eyes—
"You have observed carefully and discovered the lingering resentment within the fog..."
To be honest, he hadn't noticed anything. He hadn't even seen the 'flash of brilliance in someone's eyes,' let alone something like resentment.
"You've discovered that the fog will gradually erode one's sanity. You decide to remain calm and avoid emotional fluctuations to prevent attracting unknown dangers..."
The fog itself was dangerous, which was probably one of the rules—the reason not to go out after dark.
Shinomiya Kaguya didn't insist, softly agreed, took out her amulet, and reminded him, "Try drinking a potion."
"Okay."
Before getting off the bus, Amamiya Natsuki took out another Witch Potion.
Pop~
Pulling out the cork, Amamiya Natsuki tilted his head back and drank it in one gulp, then gave his evaluation: "The taste is strange, but the effect is very good; my vision is much clearer."
While speaking, Amamiya Natsuki took out a piece of chewing gum, unwrapped it, and put it in his mouth, continuing to maintain a state of forced calmness.
Avoid extreme emotional fluctuations, right?
He was super calm now.
He could remain steady even when listening to the Sheltered Young Lady's inner thoughts, as steady as an old dog.
Amamiya Natsuki pushed the door open and stepped off the bus, walking back along the road.
Such a large bus, it was impossible not to see it; the person must still be behind. But after walking dozens of meters, he still didn't see Sayu, and Amamiya Natsuki couldn't help but frown.
There was only one road, no matter how bad someone's sense of direction was, it was impossible to get lost.
Could she have been taken away by something lurking in the fog?
He searched another dozen meters back, still without seeing Sayu. Amamiya Natsuki stopped and began to observe the traces on both sides of the road.
The fog grew thicker, and it was already dusk. For ordinary players, it was almost impossible to see anything.
However, Amamiya Natsuki had drunk the Witch Potion, so his visibility was still decent. Before long, he saw a set of footprints beside the road.
The forest was full of humus and mud, so the footprints left were quite clear.
Amamiya Natsuki walked over, carefully observed the size of the footprints, and quickly came to a conclusion.
"They are indeed a girl's footprints."
Don't ask.
If you ask, it's because he had washed Hayasaka Ai's feet when they were at the hot springs before.
"Everyone was moving along the road before, no one acted alone. The owner of these footprints can only be Sayu, no one else."
Amamiya Natsuki's heart was calm as he followed the footprints into the forest.
A moment later.
A black-haired girl, sitting under a tree, hugging her knees, as if abandoned by the whole world, finally appeared before him.
"The fog is so thick... I can't see anything... I can't find my way back..."
"No one will come looking for me anymore..."
"If I die here, I won't cause trouble for anyone, right?"
The fog in the forest grew denser.
Sayu buried her face between her knees, feeling a sense of loneliness surge from all directions, threatening to swallow and engulf her.
It was as if a drowning person was slowly sinking into the dark water, no longer having the strength to struggle.
Just then, in the pitch-black world, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out.
"...I found you."
Sayu's black hair trembled slightly. She thought it was an illusion and continued to bury her face between her knees.
But the illusion didn't disappear; instead, it grew closer.
"Such a big road, and you still managed to get lost. Your sense of direction is way too bad, seriously."
The voice grew closer and closer, finally ringing clearly in her ears.
"Eh?"
Sayu hesitantly looked up and saw a boy standing in front of her. Her eyes widened, and she asked in disbelief, "You... came to find me?"
"I'm sorry, you're mistaken," Amamiya Natsuki said calmly. "I have an extremely bad sense of direction. I can get lost even when following a road, and I accidentally ended up here."
"That's not being bad with directions..."
Sayu softly retorted, then extended her right hand. "I just fell. Please pull me up."
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Amamiya Natsuki cautiously step back two paces.
Sayu: "???"
Are you serious about stepping back two paces?
She was a cute girl, after all, and he actually recoiled in disgust?
Amamiya Natsuki said from above, "It's necessary to first confirm your identity... I'll ask, you answer. Name?"
"Sayu."
"Age?"
"Sixteen."
"What was the first thing we said on the bus?"
"Let... let me think..."
Amamiya Natsuki took another half step back, his gaze wary: "You answered incorrectly."
"I said let me think about it!" Sayu couldn't help but puff out her rosy cheeks, "How could I remember that clearly?"
You can't even remember a conversation from less than an hour ago, little girl, your memory is quite poor!
"Then, another question, please answer seriously..." Amamiya Natsuki's expression was grave, "Who was the champion team of the Qatar World Cup?"
Sayu blurted out: "Argentina!"
Amamiya Natsuki smiled: "Congratulations, you've successfully joined the human camp."
"I was human to begin with, okay?"
Sayu couldn't help but grumble under her breath, biting her silver teeth, and helped herself up by leaning on the tree.
At the same time.
Amamiya Natsuki held the omamori and shared his thoughts with Kaguya in his mind:
"The person has been found."
Shinomiya Kaguya: "Come back as soon as possible, keep your distance from that girl, and stay alert."
In the state of shared thoughts, the Sheltered Young Lady was quite talkative and couldn't stop:
"Such a big road, and she still managed to get lost. That girl is very strange, don't get too close to her, I'm very worried about you... Wait, wait a minute! I wasn't worried!"
Amamiya Natsuki: "Kaguya-san is very cute."
"...Co-comms ended!"
In the state of shared thoughts, no secrets could be hidden, it was more embarrassing than being naked. The Sheltered Young Lady couldn't handle it at all. Before getting off the bus, she and Amamiya Natsuki had agreed that they shouldn't maintain a constant telepathic connection.
Shinomiya Kaguya always held the omamori, listening in at any time, while Amamiya Natsuki would only contact her when needed.
Putting away the omamori, Amamiya Natsuki looked at Sayu and asked:
"How did you get lost on such a big road?"
Sayu bit her lip gently with her pearly teeth and whispered:
"I... I heard someone call my name from behind."
Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow: "Someone important?"
"Mm." Sayu said softly, "...Very important."
Amamiya Natsuki shrugged: "Alright, I won't ask."
In horror films, there are always some fools who leave the group after hearing strange calls, which is not surprising.
"This is a kaidan, the person who called your name definitely isn't human." Amamiya Natsuki's tone was calm, "Just to ask, are you staying here, or are you coming back to the bus with me?"
"I'm sorry for troubling you..."
Sayu apologized softly.
The next second.
This black-haired girl suddenly widened her eyes, her pink lips slightly parted, a panicked expression on her pretty face, looking straight behind Amamiya Natsuki.
"Hm?"
Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow slightly, became more vigilant, and turned his head to look behind him.
From within the mist, a girl's face with a dull expression slowly emerged.
Amamiya Natsuki confirmed with his gaze that it was a stranger he didn't know, not a player.
"Sayu..."
The strange girl's face was pale, with a faint, eerie smile at the corner of her mouth, and a wavering call came from her lips.
"Sayu, I'm so lonely by myself, come and keep me company..."
An eerie call came from the girl's mouth, sending shivers down one's spine.
"Aren't we the best of friends?"
"Why did you leave me alone?"
"..."
Sentence after sentence came from the girl's mouth, and then the girl's body emerged from the mist.
Amamiya Natsuki's gaze narrowed slightly, realizing that this girl was not wearing any clothes.
The reason was simple.
Behind the beautiful girl's head, there was clearly a dog's body.
Amamiya Natsuki recognized it at a glance: "Tsk, so it's a Man-faced dog."
In the 1990s, when the internet was not yet developed, Japan's urban legends were quite prevalent, and one of them was the Man-faced dog, which was famous at the time and its popularity once rivaled The Slit-Mouthed Woman.
According to the legend, a man who worked at a restaurant often worked late into the night. One night after work, he was about to throw garbage into the back alley when he saw a dog searching for food in the trash heap. The man shouted loudly, wanting to drive the stray dog away, but the stray dog slowly turned its head, revealing a human face, and it could even speak human language.
However, in various versions of urban legends, the Man-faced dog always appeared as a middle-aged man, but this Man-faced dog in front of him was a girl, and she looked like a female high school student.
Amamiya Natsuki continued chewing his gum. Under the buff of forced calmness, he looked at the approaching Man-faced dog, his heart completely unmoved. He turned to Sayu and asked:
"Was it calling you just now?"
Sayu's pretty face was pale, and her body was trembling, clearly extremely frightened:
"I... I don't know..."
The Beautiful Girl Dog slowly approached, a wronged expression on her face: "She said she didn't know me... You forgot your best friend so quickly, Sayu is really too much."
Amamiya Natsuki looked at Sayu: "You knew it in real life?"
Sayu's eyes were filled with tears, her body trembling, needing to lean on the tree to stand steady, her voice trembling as she said:
"Yuuko is human... she's not like this."
The Beautiful Girl Dog continued to approach: "It's all because of Sayu that I became like this? Come and keep me company? If we become like me, we can be together forever."
"You... you're not Yuuko..."
Sayu covered her ears.
"Stop talking." Amamiya Natsuki began to move his limbs, looking at Sayu and saying, "Stand ready, prepare to do warm-up exercises."
"Eh?"
Sayu looked up blankly, her eyes blurry with tears.
What did this boy just say?
Warm-up exercises?
What does he want to do with warm-ups at this time?
The Beautiful Girl Dog even stopped for a moment, looking warily at Amamiya Natsuki: "Human, don't seek your own death."
In its perception, the young man in front of it was quite strange; from head to toe, there wasn't a trace of fear on him.
As a kaidan, it could discern the scent of fear, and the young man in front of it was not faking it; he genuinely wasn't afraid of her.
"Don't misunderstand." Amamiya Natsuki extended his right hand, "I don't want to fight, I just need to warm up before running."
Amamiya Natsuki turned to Sayu and said:
"We'll have a fair race, we'll run together, and whoever runs slower is out of luck."
Sayu: "..."
Beautiful Girl Dog: "..."
He even said it out loud before running away, this guy is too despicable!
"No need." Sayu bit her lower lip tightly and whispered, "I'll stay, Yuuko's target is me... You run quickly, I'm sorry for troubling you."
Amamiya Natsuki was slightly surprised.
When encountering danger, there are many people who drag others down, but he had rarely seen anyone who would sacrifice themselves for others.
The girl in front of him neither pleaded for help nor harbored resentment or curses, and she even remembered to apologize... Her resolve was at least ten stories high.
"You're so sensible, it makes things difficult for me," Amamiya Natsuki said with a helpless tone.
Since she said that, if he were to abandon Sayu and leave, he wouldn't be able to explain it to Chika.
In that case...
Amamiya Natsuki narrowed his eyes, looking at the Beautiful Girl Dog not far away.
A prompt slowly appeared before him.
[You have carefully observed and discovered the Man-faced dog's weakness: canine instincts are deeply ingrained in its soul]
"Canine instincts..." Amamiya Natsuki stroked his chin, thinking of the silly dog at home, "Eating, drinking, playing? And being in heat?"
A dog's happiness is actually very simple, nothing more than eating, drinking, and playing. As for instinct...
Amamiya Natsuki pondered for two seconds, then tried to whistle for a dog.
"What are you doing?"
Sayu stared over, dumbfounded.
What about the promised escape?
Why are you whistling there? That's a Man-faced dog, not a real dog!
"Human, you're dead!"
The Beautiful Girl Dog froze, then became furious, dropping to all fours, about to pounce.
"Wait a minute." Amamiya Natsuki held out his hand to stop her, "My throat was just uncomfortable, listen to my explanation..."
Sayu looked over speechlessly.
The reason was too far-fetched, even an elementary school student wouldn't believe it!
"As an apology, I've decided to offer a gift." Amamiya Natsuki said, taking out a rice ball.
It was a momotaro rice ball.
When Mizuhara Chizuru heard that Amamiya Natsuki was going to participate in the kaidan, she gave him all her rice balls without a second thought.
"Human, leave a finger as a gift, and I'll agree." The Man-faced dog's voice was chilling, but its gaze was fixed on the rice ball in Amamiya Natsuki's hand.
The momotaro rice ball emitted a strange fragrance that was barely noticeable to humans, but to a dog's nose, it was incredibly tempting.
"Here you go."
Amamiya Natsuki casually tossed the rice ball.
"Wait, wait a minute..."
The human head still wanted to speak, but the canine instinct could no longer be suppressed. It suddenly leaped up, bit the rice ball in one go, and swallowed it whole.
Amamiya Natsuki smiled and said:
"This is a rice ball specially customized for kaidan. How does it taste?"
"Very good..." The Man-faced dog subconsciously licked its lips, then quickly changed its words halfway through, "The taste is average. Since you're somewhat sensible, give me ten more rice balls, and I'll let you leave alive."
You're not a lion, yet you're making such a grand demand. Today, I'll show you what a canine training master is!
"Come here."
Amamiya Natsuki whistled again.
Hearing the whistle, Sayu immediately tensed up.
He was clearly such a dangerous monster, yet he deliberately provoked it. What exactly was this boy doing?!
The next second.
Sayu couldn't help but widen her eyes, shocked to see the Man-faced dog's tail wagging rapidly, as if it had seen its owner who hadn't returned home for a long time.
Not only that, its body also took small, quick steps to come before Amamiya Natsuki.
"Stop, stop it...!"
The girl's head cried out in panic, but unfortunately, the head was only responsible for eating and had no ability to control the body. To be precise, it was canine instinct dominating the body.
Amamiya Natsuki commanded:
"Sit down."
"Human, you wish..."
Despite its verbal resistance, the Man-faced dog's body was remarkably obedient, sitting down docilely.
"Very good." Amamiya Natsuki extended his right hand. "Come, shake a paw."
Canine instinct controlled the Man-faced dog's body, raising its right paw and placing it in Amamiya Natsuki's hand. The girl's head was still shouting in annoyance: "Human, what exactly did you do to me?!"
momotaro rice ball can forcibly increase the feeder's favorability, and as is well known, once a canine creature develops a liking for you, it becomes quite docile and obedient, even trying to please its owner.
As a dog lover, isn't it normal to tame a beautiful girl-dog?
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr