As the wooden butler lightly rang a bell, footsteps echoed from the darkness. A line of maids emerged, each carrying a silver serving tray.
These maid ladies wore traditional English maid uniforms, the skirts so long they nearly dragged on the ground. From the side, you couldn't exactly call them mountains and valleys—but at the very least, they exhibited varied peaks and depths from every angle.
Unfortunately, you couldn't look at their faces.
Natsuki's gaze drifted upward slightly, landing on the maids' faces—and then he sighed quietly.
Without exception, the maid ladies' faces consisted of nothing but pitch-black, hollow eye sockets and bone-white skeletal structures. They looked just like the Demon Nun from horror films. Through the stark contrast, the terror quotient jumped several notches—shattering any beautiful fantasies one might hold about maids!
Even having encountered countless evil spirits in reality, these eerie, shadowy maids still made it difficult to look at them for long.
Natsuki shifted his gaze and let it rest on the werewolf girl beside him.
Compared to the horror maids, the werewolf miss actually started looking rather pretty and refined.
"Human, what are you staring at?"
The werewolf miss's green eyes swiveled, glaring fiercely at Natsuki.
"Nothing. I just suddenly realized that the more I look at Werewolf Miss, the cuter she seems." Natsuki's tone was perfectly sincere.
"Flattery won't get you anywhere." The werewolf miss's pitch rose slightly. "I'm definitely going to eat you!"
"..."
Medieval European dining followed an individual-plate system. The maids swiftly placed serving trays before each player, then silently retreated into the darkness.
"Esteemed guests, you may begin your meal."
Mr. Billy reminded them.
The other players didn't dare make a move. They all turned their gazes toward Natsuki.
Setting aside everything else that had happened, Natsuki could now keep the werewolf miss firmly under control—clearly he was boss-tier. The obvious choice was to follow the boss's lead.
[There is energy-replenishing food beneath the serving tray]
"This is actually the Last Supper, isn't it?"
Natsuki glanced up at the mural on the domed ceiling. With calm composure, he lifted the silver lid from the plate before him. With the prompt in place, there was no need to worry about a "lid-lift ambush"—there was clearly no danger beneath.
The next second.
Deep, impossibly blue berries came into view.
"Oh? They're actually blueberries?"
Chika leaned across the table, peering over with curiosity. She recognized the food on the plate at a glance.
That's right—they were one of the most common berries found in any supermarket: blueberries.
What was peculiar was that the blueberries were still covered in frost crystals, as though they'd just been freshly picked from a frozen wasteland.
Seeing this, the others quickly lifted the lids from their own plates.
"A fish?"
"They're actually pine nuts."
"Ugh... why is my food earthworms?"
"Why is there a skinned frog on my plate?!"
"..."
Cries of alarm rose one after another. Every single food item on the plates was beyond anyone's expectations.
The fish appeared to be a common salmon—unfortunately raw, with its belly bitten out by something. Only the head and tail remained; the middle section had vanished entirely.
The pine nuts were ordinary white pine nuts, still in their shells.
As for the skinned frog... it was exactly that. The legs were still twitching nonstop on the plate due to nerve reflexes!
The player who'd drawn the "skinned frog" platter was a stranger girl. At this moment, staring at the skinless amphibian before her, her face had gone deathly pale. Tears welled in her eyes—she was clearly on the verge of bursting into sobs.
As for the humiliated miss beside Natsuki—she had once again transformed into an ice sculpture.
On Kaguya's plate sat a clump of small green plants, along with several plump, white, wriggling grubs.
By comparison, the food on Chika's plate looked far more palatable—a few withered frozen berries.
"Eh eh eh?!" Chika jumped in alarm, her body leaning back slightly. She cried out in shock: "Kaguya-chan, why is your food terrifying bugs?!"
"..."
Kaguya bit down on her lower lip. She said nothing.
Why?
I want to know why too!
Why do you get blueberries, and someone else gets mystery fruit, but I get bugs?!
Unfair!
This is completely unfair!
The root of human suffering isn't one's own mediocrity—it comes from comparison. Especially when someone else gets fruit and you get bugs—the resentment radiating from the ice queen was practically overflowing.
"That's wood sorrel." Natsuki looked at the leafy greens on the plate and cleared his throat twice. "It's edible. It tastes somewhat sour."
"As for those bugs..." Natsuki eyed the long white grubs wriggling on the plate and continued: "If I'm not mistaken, those should be longhorn beetle larvae. Their protein content is six times that of beef."
"How does Amamiya-kun know that?" Chika covered her pink lips with her hand, shock written all over her pretty face. "Don't tell me Amamiya-kun has actually eaten them before?"
Natsuki interlaced his ten fingers and let out two light hums: "Lots of places have a custom of eating insects. It's perfectly normal that I've tried bugs before, isn't it?"
"That's not normal at all!"
"..."
A sudden cry rang out, instantly drawing Natsuki's attention.
"Eating this food increases your time."
The speaker was a stranger player. The food before them was a plate of pine nuts. After forcing them down with a grimace, their eyes suddenly lit up—and they couldn't help but shout.
After the two groups had reunited, Chika had already revealed the truth about the game countdown.
Knowing it was a "death countdown," every single person had a Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Everyone was anxious.
Now that they knew the food could extend the countdown, the other players all felt their hearts stir—and immediately began eating.
In the face of death, whether the food tasted good or not truly didn't matter. Survival was the only thing that counted.
"Kaguya-chan..."
Chika spoke up softly, clearly wanting to say something but stopping herself.
Kaguya turned her face to look at her, expression resolute. Her gaze made her thoughts crystal clear.
Chika had no choice but to change the subject:
"Oh right—Kaguya-chan, why is there a weird collar around your neck? I don't remember you having it at the start."
"When we split up earlier on the third floor, we ran into a bit of trouble..."
Natsuki gave a brief explanation of the pet collar's origins—then, following Kaguya's meaningful glance, glossed over the parts that couldn't be mentioned.
"Let me take a look at that key." Chika's curiosity was at full throttle.
Natsuki pulled out the key and handed it over: "Here you go."
"Don't press anything randomly."
Kaguya gave a worried reminder.
The next second.
Click.
The silver key split in two, revealing a mechanical key hidden inside.
Natsuki and Kaguya both looked over at once.
"It looks like a car's electronic key. Once, when Dad was on a road trip, his electronic key died, and he told me there was a mechanical key inside." Chika quickly explained, looking a bit nervous. "I didn't break the key, did I?"
"No." Kaguya's tone carried a note of approval. "Well done."
"Meow?"