"Actually..."
Kaguya held the panda plushie, hesitating as though she wanted to say something.
"What?"
Natsuki looked at the humiliated miss.
Kaguya averted her gaze: "...Nothing."
She'd actually brought money today.
The arcade had been a sudden situation—who would go out every day without bringing money?
Still... pandas were so cute. Naturally, there was no reason not to accept it. She'd just return the favor at some later date.
Having each bought some souvenirs, the group left the Panda House, toured the remaining exhibits, and then departed the zoo.
"Eh, we made it out successfully." Kitagawa Marin put both hands behind her back and looked at the zoo under the sunlight. "'Opening soon'—it's just like those game companies making empty promises. Who knows, maybe it'll be a year from now..."
Natsuki quickly cut her off:
"Do you know what Murphy's Law is?"
"Of course I do." Kitagawa Marin raised her chin, revealing a stretch of snow-white, slender neck. She let out a proud little hum. "The more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen."
Natsuki sighed: "So don't jinx things like Fujiwara does."
"..."
Fortunately, the blonde gyaru's jinx didn't trigger. All the way until they left the zoo, the game never activated.
The zoo entrance.
"How are you getting home?"
Natsuki looked at the humiliated miss and asked quietly.
Kaguya spoke softly:
"A driver will come pick me up soon."
Mrs. Kaguya's voice was gentle: "Little Kaguya, when you get home, remember to message Mom."
Having stayed up late playing on her phone again last night, Mrs. Kaguya was listless and lethargic. She'd barely made an appearance during the day.
"The first message has to be for me. Otherwise, watch out—Mom will cry for you."
Enough already. Tears are liquid secreted by tear ducts. You're a ghost—you don't even have organs like tear ducts!
"...I understand."
Kaguya agreed helplessly.
"Shinomiya-san, goodbye."
Miko waved farewell.
Kaguya nodded lightly: "Goodbye."
The two groups said their farewells at the zoo entrance. Kitagawa Marin said she was going to the mall to buy things and left on her own. Natsuki, Miko, the elementary school brother, and Yuri Kawahana headed together toward the train station. Soon, only Kaguya remained standing alone at the zoo entrance.
"Young miss, it's time to go home."
Ai Hayasaka appeared silently from some corner and came to Kaguya's side.
Kaguya held the panda plushie, her pink cheeks puffing out slightly: "Why did you leave me alone earlier?"
"Of course it was to create opportunities for the young miss." Hayasaka folded both arms across her chest, a lollipop in her mouth. "Compared to covert observation, touring the zoo together was much more enjoyable, wasn't it?"
"What do you mean 'together'... there were so many other people there."
"Then tomorrow, invite Amamiya-kun out alone and tour it again."
"I don't have time tomorrow."
"..."
Eight-thirty at night.
Natsuki was watching TV when his phone suddenly rang.
"Marin?"
Natsuki picked up his phone. The caller was unmistakably Kitagawa.
Ever since exchanging contact information at school, this was the first time the blonde gyaru had called him.
"Moshi moshi."
"H-h-h-help!"
The girl's panicked cry for help reached his ears.
Natsuki sat up straight: "Did your dungeon start?"
"It's not the dungeon." Kitagawa Marin's voice was tense. "It's that scythe-wielding evil spirit we saw on the train today. I was just collecting laundry from the balcony when I saw that scythe spirit standing right below my apartment building."
Natsuki pondered:
"Some evil spirits all look pretty similar. Could you have mistaken it for another one?"
"I didn't mistake it." Kitagawa Marin sounded pitiful. "I saw it perfectly clearly. That evil spirit's robe was missing a piece at the corner—right where the flames burned it this morning."
"..."
If that was the case, it very likely was the same evil spirit.
Natsuki speculated:
"Maybe that evil spirit was just passing by your building?"
"I have a premonition—that scythe spirit definitely came for me."
Kitagawa Marin's voice was certain.
"How can you be sure?"
"A girl's seventh sense."
The seventh sense is a realm only Saint Seiya can access—it has nothing to do with you!
"I clearly felt it just now—the scythe spirit was looking at me." Kitagawa Marin's voice was aggrieved. "It must be because of what happened on the train. It came for revenge, didn't it?"
"I'm the only one home. I don't dare stay here anymore."
"Amamiya-kun, can you come to my place tonight?"
Natsuki answered decisively:
"No."
"S-so heartless."
The blonde gyaru let out a wounded, mournful cry.
Natsuki said: "But you can come to my place."
Of course he'd help.
They were friends, more or less. Naturally, he wouldn't stand by and watch her die.
"Eh? Why?"
"Because..." Natsuki's tone was somber. "I'm particular about beds. I have trouble sleeping in unfamiliar places."
"..."
"Send me your address." Kitagawa Marin was incredibly action-oriented. "I'll head to Amamiya-kun's place right away."
At the same time.
The Shinomiya family villa.
Kaguya had just finished bathing. Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall over her shoulders. She sat on the sofa reading a book.
Ai Hayasaka stood behind Kaguya, holding a hair dryer, helping dry her hair.
In the blink of an eye, it was nine o'clock at night.
"It's nine o'clock. I'm going to sleep. Hayasaka, you can go."
Kaguya closed the book in her hands. Her gaze imperceptibly swept toward the desk—the panda plushie sat securely in the corner.
Good children never stayed up late.
Staying up late not only caused hair loss but could also lead to sudden death.
As the daughter of a capitalist family, Kaguya Shinomiya's sleep schedule was exceptionally healthy. Ever since childhood, she'd gone to bed promptly at nine o'clock every night without exception.
"Then I'll go. See you tomorrow."
Hayasaka put away the hair dryer and turned to leave.
Reaching the door, Hayasaka slowly closed it. Through the gap, she clearly saw the young miss impatiently walk to the desk, pick up the panda plushie, and happily flop onto the bed.
Thud.
The door shut completely.
Hayasaka withdrew her gaze and returned to her own room. She pulled out a hair tie and secured her hair into a clean, efficient style. Then she removed her maid uniform and changed into a set of black night clothes. She unwrapped a lollipop and popped it into her mouth.
Spy maid—ready for action.
The young miss suddenly vanishing for several hours with no trace anywhere was absolutely the ultimate dereliction of duty.
As a maid, she had to figure out what had happened. That man, Natsuki Amamiya, definitely knew the truth.
In that case...
Hypnosis.
Truth serum.
Sleeping-drug-laced tea.
Tonight, she'd find out everything—down to what color underwear Natsuki Amamiya wore.
The journey passed without incident.
Hayasaka soon arrived by car outside Natsuki's house.
It was already past nine at night. The streets were deserted—only the cool moonlight and streetlamps remained.
Hayasaka gave a slight nod, had the driver leave first, then quietly crept to the window of Natsuki's house to covertly observe the situation inside.
As a maid, Hayasaka had received quite professional spy training. Her techniques were exceptionally skilled.
"No lights on the second floor or the first floor..."
Hayasaka quickly reached a conclusion: no one was home.
In that case, her mission would be even easier.
Hayasaka silently stood, moved from the back window to the front door, pulled out her tools, and easily picked the lock.
As a spy, being able to pick locks was perfectly normal, right?
"Woof."
An Akita dog heard the commotion and came running over—thump thump thump.
Hayasaka took half a step back, her gaze slightly wary—but the Akita, after running up to her, showed absolutely no aggression. Instead, it stuck out its tongue and wagged its tail rapidly.
"...Stupid dog."
Hayasaka suddenly thought of a certain pink-haired girl's dog. She let out a quiet breath and pulled a "specially-prepared" sausage from her pocket.
"Come, eat."
Not even humans could resist the temptation of sausage—let alone a dog.
The Akita approached without any wariness, wagging its tail as it ate the small sausage from Hayasaka's hand. Soon, it fell into a deep sleep.
Hayasaka walked into the entryway like she owned the place, calmly closed the door behind her, and began her investigation.
"The house is quite clean."
After inspecting the living room, Hayasaka walked up to the TV and lightly touched it with her hand.
"The TV still has some residual warmth. Looks like he just left not long ago."
"Perfect timing to install some 'little gadgets.'"
As a spy, carrying monitoring equipment was perfectly normal, right?
Install the surveillance devices first. When they were no longer needed, she'd come back and remove them.
To Hayasaka, this house was like Changban Slope—completely undefended. She could go in and out seven times, come back and go out again.
Having installed the monitoring equipment, Hayasaka's ears twitched slightly. Hearing the sound of someone unlocking the door, she silently hid herself.
"I'm home."
Natsuki pushed open the door and entered the entryway.
Immediately after, a girl's voice rang out.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Kitagawa Marin followed behind him inside.
"Hm?"
The spy maid narrowed her eyes.
"That voice... it's Kitagawa-san."
Who it was didn't really matter.
Right now, it was past nine at night. Bringing a girl home in the middle of the night—and one who wasn't even his girlfriend...
Young miss, you've been cuckolded!
Natsuki opened the shoe cabinet and bent down to retrieve a pair of women's slippers: "Wear these."
To be safe, Natsuki had gone out earlier to pick up the blonde gyaru who'd come seeking refuge.
"Thank you, Amamiya-kun."
Kitagawa Marin bent down and removed her small leather shoes. Her legs, wrapped in black stockings, gleamed with a delicate luster under the light. "I didn't expect Amamiya-kun to be living alone too. This makes things even more convenient."
Natsuki walked to the refrigerator: "What do you want to drink—green tea or cola?"
"Cola!"
Kitagawa Marin raised her hand to choose.
Natsuki opened the refrigerator. Looking at the human-head evil spirit that had once again appeared inside at some point, he could now completely ignore it—treating it as though it didn't exist.
Taking two drinks, Natsuki walked to the sofa and handed the cola to the blonde gyaru: "Here."
Kitagawa Marin didn't stand on ceremony. She accepted the cola, tilted her head back, and drank it down—glug glug glug—then let out a satisfied sigh: "Summer really calls for ice-cold cola."
Natsuki took a sip of barley tea: "It's not summer yet."
"The temperature during the day already exceeded thirty degrees. There's not much difference between now and summer." Having chugged the cola in one go, Kitagawa Marin's face flushed slightly red. Her breath was fragrant as she spoke: "Natsuki, what do we do now?"
Do what?
A man and a woman alone. Late at night. What else would they do? Did it even need saying?
The spy maid Ai Hayasaka, hidden in the shadows, stared at the two on the sofa with a somber gaze. She was already prepared to report everything truthfully when she returned.
Break them up.
They absolutely had to be broken up.
He was already cheating—if they didn't break up now, were they supposed to keep him around for the New Year?!
"We're not doing anything." Natsuki said. "Fujiwara went traveling with her family. Without her, there's no way to do it."
The Grim Reaper spirit seemed to possess a certain degree of intelligence. If they wanted to eliminate it, the safest method was naturally the evil-sweeping duo—first use the combo technique to control it, then activate the aura to purify it.
Unfortunately, the Fujiwara family had a Golden Week travel tradition. Chika Fujiwara was no longer in Tokyo at the moment and wouldn't be back for a while.
What does that mean?
The hidden spy maid furrowed her brow slightly.
Why did he suddenly bring up that airhead?
Can't do it without her... did that kind of thing require a third person's help?
Kitagawa Marin held her cola: "Then I'll be imposing on Amamiya-kun for the next few days. There's no way I'm going home alone anyway."
The next moment.
Hayasaka's eyes suddenly flew wide open. She stared at the space beside Natsuki in disbelief.
On the seemingly empty sofa, a phone suddenly floated up into the air. Then the screen unlocked on its own.
"Eh eh eh?! What's going on?"
Hayasaka could hardly believe her eyes.
As a girl who'd grown up under the banner of science, Hayasaka's first instinct was to explain it from a scientific perspective.
"Magic tricks?"
"No." Hayasaka quickly denied it. "It's not a magic trick."
So-called magic was nothing more than sleight of hand using props and people working together. It looked impressive, but there were always traces to follow.
The phone before her was floating directly in mid-air with absolutely no support whatsoever. Magic tricks couldn't explain this at all.
It truly wasn't a magic trick.
Mrs. Kaguya was playing on the phone.
As a ghost who didn't need to sleep, Mrs. Kaguya's greatest pleasure was playing on her phone. Unfortunately, she couldn't taste any food—otherwise, she'd very likely become a slothful shut-in like Gabriel or Umaru, spending all day eating, drinking, and having fun.
Ordinary people couldn't see ghosts. So in Hayasaka's eyes, all she could see was the eerie scene of a phone floating in mid-air.
This was exactly why Natsuki didn't let Mrs. Kaguya bring her phone to school—one careless moment and she'd frighten someone.
"I remember when I passed away, the One Piece manga had just gotten to the Sand Crocodile arc. In the blink of an eye, Luffy's all grown up now."
Mrs. Kaguya played with the phone with great interest.
Actually, that wasn't quite true. Twenty-five years in reality, but Luffy in the manga had only aged three years. He'd now grown into a top-tier fighter who could go one-on-one with Kaido.
Devil Fruit cheat. Bloodline cheat. Whole family's a cheat. As expected—there truly were no protagonists with commoner origins in shounen manga.
"I bought the manga this afternoon. It's in my bag." Kitagawa Marin quickly said. "If Grandma Kaguya wants to read it, we can look at it together later."
Hayasaka's eyes widened. She watched Kitagawa turn her head and talk to the empty air. She instinctively held her breath—feeling some regret. Had she been too reckless?
Something's wrong.
These two are very wrong.
She was just an ordinary spy maid. But these two before her—this was clearly already a supernatural event!