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

"Ugh~ That sounds disgusting."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"I wasn't praising you at all."

I quickly found the cleaning toolbox, which still contained the same three items: a mobile phone, a tablet, and a fitness tracker.

"...Equipment upgrade!"

Fujiwara Chika put on the bracelet, then unlocked her phone, her voice filled with surprise, "This is the first time I've used a phone in a game, what a surprise!"

"Hey, by the way, what would happen if we called the police now?"

“I’ve already tried, but the phone call won’t go through.” Amamiya Natsuki shook her head. “Messages can’t be sent either; we can only communicate inside the mall.”

Fujiwara Chika blinked, somewhat puzzled: "Why is that?"

Amamiya Natsuki asked:

Are there any digital product stores in the mall?

“Of course,” Fujiwara Chika nodded.

“Given enough time and energy, we could easily break into a digital store and get a ‘zero-dollar purchase’.” Natsuki Amamiya had already considered this. “So, using digital tools to communicate is actually within the rules of the game; we’ve just skipped the preliminary stages and gotten the ‘reward’ directly.”

After a while.

Light footsteps sounded at the door.

“I am Pace,” Fujiwara Chika whispered.

“Strawberry daifuku,” Hayasaka Ai replied, revealing herself.

With her braided hair, black-rimmed glasses, and a black sweater that made her easy to blend into the night, Hayasaka Ai's presence was rather faint.

The two sides met.

The five-person team successfully gathered three members.

"Very good." Fujiwara Chika put her right hand on her hip and nodded in satisfaction. "Now only Kaguya-chan and Kaimu-chan are left."

Amamiya Natsuki said:

"Check the surveillance equipment to see if you find anything."

"I'll come and see."

Fujiwara Chika quickly accepted the task, opened the tablet, and retrieved the surveillance footage. Her clumsy movements made Hayasaka Ai's lips twitch slightly.

How stupid.

You're poking around with just one finger? Are you a primary school student?!

"We didn't find Kaguya-chan or Haimeng-chan, but we could see wandering monsters," Fujiwara Chika quickly said. "A strange little train, a teddy bear, a woman in red with an umbrella, Ronald McDonald, and even a reindeer... Amazing, the surveillance is super useful."

"Don't let your guard down," Natsuki Amamiya warned. "These are just monsters in the corridor. Don't forget about this shark doll."

Is there anything special about this mascot costume?

Hayasaka asked curiously.

As Amamiya Natsuki released her grip, the motionless shark mascot costume instantly came to life, waving its two shark fins and lunging at Hayasaka Ai in front of it.

"Hanamori-kun, be careful!" Fujiwara Chika hurriedly warned, "Don't let it touch you, or your body will become uncontrollable, you'll put on the mascot costume by yourself, and then you'll be extremely thirsty, like you haven't drunk water for three days and three nights in the desert."

Natsuki Amamiya gripped the mascot costume again and whispered:

"Let Hua Shou watch the surveillance footage, and we'll go back to the toy store we just visited."

"Huh?" Fujiwara Chika asked, puzzled. "Why go back?"

"Some things need to be verified."

"..."

With video surveillance present, there was no need to hide anymore. The three of them walked out of the restroom and arrived at the toy store without any hindrance.

Pushing open the door, you see all sorts of dolls displayed inside. The dolls, which look quite cute during the day, suddenly become eerie and filled with inexplicable fear at midnight.

"Chika." Amamiya Natsuki turned to look at the pink-haired girl. "Touch that dolphin doll and see if it comes to life."

Upon hearing that she would be handling dolls again, Fujiwara Chika was visibly nervous; once bitten, twice shy.

"Let me do it……"

Hayasaka Ai, however, didn't seem to care.

"No."

Fujiwara Chika quickly stopped her.

What if Hana Shou is mentally controlled by the mascot costume and also wants to drink water?

Do we have to ask Natsuki to help feed me water?

I might not care, but Hanamori must be super resistant, right?

"I'll do it."

Fujiwara Chika took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Sacrificing oneself to clear someone's name.

Chapter 163 My Friend Wants to Experience Driving Without a License

"No movement."

"It won't move."

Fujiwara Chika poked at them left and right, then quickly relaxed, "They all seem to be just ordinary dolls."

Hayasaka Ai seemed to be deep in thought upon hearing this, and looked at the shark costume doll in Amamiya Natsuki's hand.

Natsuki Amamiya held up the shark plush toy in her hand: "So, out of all the plush toys in the store, why is it the only one that moves?"

"Eh?"

Fujiwara Chika was taken aback; she hadn't really considered this question before.

The pink-haired girl put her right hand on her hip and pondered, "...Is this shark plushie special?"

Amamiya Natsuki nodded and then said:

"So what's so special about the shark plush toy?"

“What’s special is…” Fujiwara Chika pressed two fingers to her temples, “No, I can’t figure it out at all. Could it be that the game randomly selects a doll and brings it to life to act as a monster?”

“The possibility is relatively low,” Hayasaka Ai said softly. “Every game must have its own rules.”

Fujiwara Chika looked up at her: "Natsuki-kun, do you know what the rules are?"

"I don't know," Natsuki Amamiya shook her head. "We need to gather more information."

The prompt in front of me is crystal clear.

You discover that the monster shark is quite strange.

You've decided to capture more monsters for research; perhaps you'll find something useful.

"Let's go," said Natsuki Amamiya. "Let's leave first."

Before leaving, Fujiwara Chika found a rope, and the three of them tied up the shark mascot costume together before walking out of the toy store.

boom.

There was a muffled sound.

Natsuki Amamiya turned her head and saw that the shark doll, which had been tied up, had somehow broken free and chased after her again.

"Natsuki, it's catching up!" Fujiwara Chika quickly reminded her.

“It’s slow,” Hayasaka Ai whispered. “We can easily shake it off.”

Fujiwara Chika bit her lower lip: "But what if other players encounter it? Wouldn't that be extremely dangerous?"

Hayasaka Ai said speechlessly:

"Perhaps we're the only ones left in this game..."

Before he could finish speaking, a figure flashed by on the surveillance camera.

"Hey, someone's here." Fujiwara Chika peeked out. "...I don't recognize them, they must be strangers."

Obviously, with such a large shopping mall, the number of players will not be small.

Seeing the pink-haired girl looking over with a conflicted expression, Amamiya Natsuki hesitated for two seconds, then a thought struck her, and she looked at Hayasaka Michi:

"Hana-shou, where is that little train?"

Hayasaka Ai quickly glanced at the surveillance footage: "On the third floor, it will be passing over our heads soon."

"The time is just right."

Amamiya Natsuki turned around, grabbed the wobbly shark plush toy that was chasing after her, and walked towards the stairwell. "Let's go, put it in the car."

"..."

The three of them walked through the stairwell and quickly arrived at the third floor.

Joyful music echoed clearly in the corridor as the pumpkin-headed evil spirit slowly drove its little train into view.

"Would you like a ride, gentlemen?"

The pumpkin-headed evil spirit's head turned, and strange sounds came from its head.

“Excuse me, Mr. Pumpkin,” Chika Fujiwara politely declined. “Do you have a driver’s license?”

On the way up, Natsuki Amamiya had solemnly reminded the two girls of the rules of the little train, and they naturally knew how to deal with it.

Pumpkin Head: "..."

“Mr. Pumpkin, my friend wants to experience the fun of driving without a license, so…” Natsuki Amamiya stepped forward with a shark costume and pressed the other person down onto the seat of the toy train, “Please take it for a few rides.”

The moment I let go, the shark toy came back to life and tried to struggle off the train, but it seemed as if there was glue on its bottom, binding it firmly to the toy train and preventing it from breaking free.

The little train swayed and wobbled, carrying the shark costume doll slowly away.