"After we split up on the second floor, it wasn't long before we ran into other monsters. We could only scatter. I hid in a room with that guy—but there were monsters inside the room too. It took everything we had just to get out..."
The girl's face was bloodless. She gasped for air as she spoke rapidly, recounting everything that had happened since they'd separated.
"We ended up in a hallway. We were still trying to figure out which way to go when that boy suddenly collapsed right there on the ground."
As though the memory of something horrifying had surfaced, a look of stark terror crossed her face. She trembled: "...That boy's expression was really, really scary."
Natsuki's brow twitched: "Are you certain he's dead?"
"I... I didn't dare check." The girl shook her head timidly. "When I saw him fall, I called out to him. He didn't respond at all. So I just... ran."
"Amamiya-kun, let's go take a look." Chika made the call without hesitation. "Maybe he just fainted."
As the game's self-appointed beacon of humanity, Chika naturally refused to give up on any human player.
"Let's go check."
Natsuki nodded lightly and took the lead.
The other girls followed close behind—after all, there was nowhere safe inside this castle. One place was as good as another.
They hadn't gone far when Natsuki spotted a boy lying face-up on the ground. His pupils had already begun to glaze over.
"It's Izumi."
Natsuki recognized him at a glance.
The same thin, frail boy who always looked like he'd never seen the sun. The one who coughed from time to time.
"...That smile is so strange."
Chika flinched, involuntarily stepping back half a pace.
For some inexplicable reason, the boy's face bore a peculiar, unsettling grin. It looked deeply, unmistakably wrong.
Natsuki drew in a quiet breath, crouched halfway, and began a basic examination.
"Breathing... none."
"Heartbeat—gone as well."
No breathing. No heartbeat. It was safe to conclude the boy was dead.
"And his body temperature..." Natsuki reached out and gently closed Izumi's eyes. "Extremely cold."
A prompt appeared before his eyes.
[After careful observation, you have discovered something very wrong with your teammate's body temperature]
Hey now, he has a name—it's Izumi! Do background characters not deserve names?!
That said, the body temperature really was off.
Kaguya used one hand to hold down her skirt as she crouched halfway, her dark brows drawing together: "His body is far too cold."
"He really is." Chika let out a low cry. "He's as cold as a block of ice."
An exaggeration.
He wasn't quite that cold—but it was obviously eerie.
According to the girl's account, they'd only fled the room and made it to the hallway a few minutes ago—ten minutes at most.
In such a short time, a body couldn't possibly have cooled this much.
"Could it be a witch who specializes in draining other people's lives and body heat?" Kotoriyū Rokka speculated quietly.
That's not a witch you're describing—that's a succubus!
The stranger girl shook her head: "There were only the two of us in the hallway. I didn't see any other monsters."
Rokka: "Witches know invisibility spells."
Invisibility spells now? If we keep going down this road, psychics are going to show up next—that's way too much of a cheat!
Yukino Yukinoshita folded her right arm across her chest, her brows knitting together:
"Could it be... the game countdown?"
"..."
The air fell into an abrupt, heavy silence.
When they'd first entered the castle and learned about the countdowns attached to everyone's main quest, two theories had emerged.
One possibility: it was a survival countdown. Hold out until it reached zero, and you could leave the game.
The other possibility... was a death countdown.
No one had wanted to say it out loud.
Now that Yukino had broken the silence, the other players grew tense and hurriedly checked their own countdowns.
Before anyone realized it, more than half the time had already elapsed. Most people only had about an hour left.
Thanks to his badge item, Natsuki's countdown was slightly longer. He still had close to two hours remaining.
Verifying whether it was a death countdown was simple: just wait and see what happened when the second-to-last person's time ran out. The truth would become crystal clear.
And the second-to-last person...
Natsuki frowned and looked at the humiliated miss.
It was Kaguya.
The countdown differences between players weren't large—but of all people, the one who ranked second-to-last just happened to be Shinomiya Kaguya.
"How much time do you have left?" Natsuki asked in a low voice.
Kaguya bit her lower lip gently: "Fifty-three minutes."
"That short already?" Chika jumped in alarm and quickly said: "Amamiya-kun, hurry and renew Kaguya-chan's time!"
Why does this sound like topping up credits at an internet cafe?
Still, her time definitely needed renewing.
If it were someone else ranked second-to-last, Natsuki might have chosen to stand by and observe, verifying the pattern—but he certainly wasn't going to watch the humiliated girl walk into danger.
Natsuki spoke bluntly:
"Give me your hand."
"Mm."
Kaguya pressed her pink lips together. Her expression cool and composed, she extended her right hand.
Natsuki took the ice queen's hand. It felt impossibly soft, as though it had no bones at all—the skin extraordinarily smooth and delicate.
By comparison, Kaguya's outward expression remained as cool and unruffled as ever—but the blush on her face was spreading at a breakneck pace, and even the tips of her ears had been stained a faint crimson.
You're supposed to be the icy Kaguya-hime. It's just holding hands—why are you blushing so hard?!
"How's the countdown now?" Natsuki asked.
Kaguya drew in a quiet breath and answered in a perfectly casual tone: "The countdown is slowly increasing."
"And now?"
Natsuki let go of her hand.
"The increase stopped." Kaguya spoke quickly. "The countdown started dropping again... the rate of decrease is fast."
"One more try."
Natsuki took hold of the humiliated miss once more.
After a few rounds of testing, Natsuki quickly arrived at a conclusion.
The "renewal" effect was actually quite limited. The moment physical contact stopped, the gained time would rapidly decrease until it returned to the original countdown.
Natsuki looked down at Mr. Billy and asked: "When Mr. Butler said 'time is running out,' you meant the countdown running out, didn't you?"
"I'm afraid I cannot say." Mr. Billy's tone carried weight. "Please, esteemed guests, make your way to the dining hall as soon as possible and enjoy your dinner."
Natsuki: "We're making a detour to the library first."
"Eh?" Chika looked curious. "What are we going to the library for?"
"To verify a theory."
"..."
The library was on the second floor. It wasn't out of the way.
Natsuki led the way. The girls all followed. As for Izumi, whose body had already gone cold... all they could offer was an apology.
The group quickly arrived at the library.
Natsuki pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The library was empty of monsters—quiet and still. Ten shelves stood in silent ranks, the books within as vast as a sea of smoke. The books they'd burned earlier barely amounted to a drop in the bucket.
Natsuki stopped in his tracks and looked at the black-haired girl: "Yukinoshita-san, please come here for a moment."
"Hm?"
Yukino's gaze was questioning.
"I need to talk to you." After Natsuki spoke, he looked at the ice queen beside him. "Shinomiya-san, could you step back a bit?"
Kaguya: "..."
To have a whispered conversation with another girl right in front of her—and then tell her to move away so she couldn't hear? That was way too much!