Kaguya-sama: Love Is War wants me to turn myself in.

"receive."

Kitagawa Kaimu quickly blinked to show that he understood.

"Let me see what kind of monster it is."

Kitagawa Kaimu raised her hands and covered her mouth tightly, then secretly peeked half of her pretty face out from Amamiya Natsuki's waist and looked out into the corridor.

Under the pale moonlight, there was a tall, imposing human figure with a dark blue body. He wore a pirate hat, held a black iron hook in his left hand, and his face was covered with marine parasites such as conch shells and scallops. Just standing there, he exuded a sinister and evil aura.

"Hey, it's the Ghost Captain."

Kitagawa Kaimu's eyes widened involuntarily.

Hayasaka Ai was equally shocked.

Although I had a lot of information about horror games in my mind, seeing a ghost in person was a first for me.

The scientific materialism he had cultivated over sixteen years collapsed at this moment.

There's definitely something wrong with this world!

In contrast, Natsuki Amamiya saw much more.

After careful observation, you have obtained the following information.

Pirate Captain: David Jones

[Faction: Chaotic Evil]

Every pirate captain is a chaotic and evil individual, and Davy Jones is one of the best. Please note that you should not make physical contact with Davy Jones, or you will be instantly stripped of control of your body.

[Weakness detection in progress... Detection failed. Even Sherlock Holmes couldn't identify the culprit at a glance. Please continue to gather more information.]

[Note: My name is David, but not Jones; my ship is the Flying Henanman, not the Flying Dutchman.]

At this very moment, the ghost captain was standing in front of a door, extending his right hand. The door wasn't pushed open; instead, his arm passed right through it, followed by his entire body...

Before long, the ghost captain entered the room silently, as if it were air.

"It really can walk through walls." Kitagawa Kaimu patted her chest and quickly breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness we got out."

If you think you can rest easy by hiding in your room, the Ghost Captain will just walk right in and trap you, leaving you with no way to escape.

"Change direction."

Amamiya Natsuki withdrew her gaze and led the two girls to the other end of the corridor.

The three of them proceeded with extreme caution, and fortunately, they did not encounter any other monsters along the way.

A moment later, Natsuki Amamiya and the other two carefully made their way onto the deck.

"It really is a ghost pirate ship."

A silver moon hangs in the sky, casting a pale, pale light.

Amamiya Natsuki walked to the edge of the ship's railing and looked down. The seawater was as black as ink, without the slightest ripple. Looking around, the surrounding sea was filled with endless thick fog, and there was no land in sight. It was as if the whole world consisted only of the ship beneath her feet.

Clearly, the two sides in the "hide-and-seek" game are the player and the ghost captain, and the venue is limited to the ghost ship.

The ship looks similar in size to the 'Jack Raven'. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the hull is badly damaged, with many broken marks from cannon fire on the deck. Pirate skeletons are scattered in the corners, and the entire ship is covered with all kinds of marine parasites, such as coral, oysters, shells, and barnacles.

Natsuki Amamiya looked up and saw that the sails of the two-masted sailing ship were already unfurled, and the pirate insignia with a skull and crossbones could be faintly seen.

"Um... if we jump into the sea and swim far away, could we avoid the ghost captain?"

Hayasaka Ai whispered, "We only need to stay out of the water for two hours while playing hide-and-seek. The temperature isn't that low right now. If we jump into the water holding a plank, we should be able to last for two hours without any problem."

Kitagawa Kaimu's eyes lit up: "That sounds pretty good."

Amamiya Natsuki said:

"Provided that there are no other dangers in the sea."

Unfortunately, the instructions were already very clear, and there was no way to skip class through unorthodox methods.

You choose to send a teammate down to scout ahead, but unfortunately, your teammate gets eaten.

Natsuki Amamiya glanced at Ai Hayasaka and stepped over to a pirate corpse lying on the edge of the deck.

The pirate had been dead for an unknown period of time; all that remained were his white bones, barely maintaining a human form.

Amamiya Natsuki bent down, picked up a loose arm bone, and threw it onto the calm sea.

next moment.

Wow!

Water splashes.

A ghost shark, its body half-rotted, leaped out of the water, bit into a bone, and then dived back into the sea. A ripple spread across the pitch-black surface of the ocean before quickly returning to calm.

“It’s obvious.” Natsuki Amamiya clapped her hands and looked at the spy maid. “This path is blocked.”

Hayasaka Ai: “…”

Not scientific!

Its body was already half rotten, yet it could still jump out and eat. Could it be that the shark from "Sharknado" wandered onto the wrong set?

"Looks like jumping into the sea to escape isn't going to work." Kitagawa Kaimu hugged her arms, shivering slightly, and suddenly a possibility occurred to her, "Hey, it's so quiet on the ship. Could it be that this time, it's just the three of us playing hide-and-seek?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Amamiya Natsuki heard terrified screams coming from the cabin.

Needless to say, it must be some unlucky player who got caught.

Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow and said in a low voice:

"I'll go over and check on the situation."

The previous hint made it very clear that the Ghost Captain has a weakness, and it is necessary to continue observing him.

“Let’s go together.” Kitagawa Kaimu stepped forward to follow. “People who act alone in horror movies are idiots. It’s too dangerous to go alone.”

Hayasaka Ai didn't say anything, she just silently followed behind the two of them.

As a newbie, relying on others before you have the strength is the wisest choice.

I, Hayasaka Ai, am absolutely rational.

The three arrived at the deck entrance, preparing to enter the cabin.

"Natsuki-kun, wait a minute." Kitagawa Kaimu slapped her forehead and looked at Amamiya Natsuki. "Can we use the hamster cloak we drew yesterday?"

Amamiya Natsuki pondered:

"You can take it out and try it out first."

Kitagawa Kaimu nodded and took out the hamster cloak from her game backpack.

"Eh?"

Hayasaka Ai slightly widened her eyes.

magic?

No, it should be "retrieving objects from a distance" or "portable space".

Hayasaka Ai instantly conjured up a variety of actions in her mind. With this ability, her infiltration and investigation skills could be enhanced by several levels.

It can also be used to store various weapons, greatly reducing the difficulty of the game.

Even if it were the Ghost Captain from before, one shot from an anti-tank rocket launcher would have been enough to kill the enemy, right?

Seeing Hayasaka Ai looking over with sparkling eyes, Amamiya Natsuki explained:

"This is a backpack feature provided by the game. It can only store game items and cannot be used to store or carry real-world items."

"……I see."

Hayasaka Ai's interest immediately waned.

The dream of becoming an arms dealer was shattered before it even began.

Natsuki Amamiya put on the hamster cloak and was surprised to find that the thing could change size according to the user's body shape.

The cloak that looked small before now fits perfectly when draped over my shoulders.

The three then tested the cloak's concealment effect and found that standing still was the most effective, while walking around was much less effective.

"Understandable."

Natsuki Amamiya is fairly satisfied with the results.

If you can walk around without being noticed, then it's not hiding, it's invisibility.

"The effect is somewhat like the hood in Assassin's Creed, so why call it the Hamster Cloak?"

As a newbie, Hayasaka Ai asked questions when she didn't understand.

"Perhaps because it's hamster-colored?" Kitagawa Kaimu tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Never mind that, if it's useful, it's a good thing."

"Let's go, let's go down."

Natsuki Amamiya put on her hood and led the way down the deck, followed closely by two girls. The eerie Ghost Deck quickly fell silent.

Once inside the cabin, the screams became intermittent and barely audible, clearly indicating that the unfortunate player who failed at 'hide-and-seek' was about to give up.

"It's on the first floor."

Natsuki Amamiya listened intently and quickly determined the source of the sound.

The three of them quietly approached the corner of the stairs and looked down into the corridor.

"Hey, where is everyone?"

Kitagawa Kaimu was astonished.

“It’s not that no one was there.” Hayasaka Ai raised an eyebrow slightly, having already guessed the truth. She bit her pink lips and whispered, “The person hiding in the room must have been caught.”

"..."

Kitagawa Kaimu fell silent.

Unlucky enough to be chosen by the game, a person arrives at a gloomy ghost ship, able to hide in a room trembling, hoping to survive until the end of the game, but is still found by the ghost captain, with nowhere to escape... Just how desperate must that player be at this moment?

Kitagawa Kaimu didn't want to think about it anymore. She bit her lip and silently gripped Amamiya Natsuki's right hand.

Amamiya Natsuki glanced back at the blonde bombshell, then continued to focus on the corridor.