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

"...I'm so sorry to have disappointed you!"

The girl with the braided hair felt a tightness in her chest, took a deep breath, and pushed up her glasses: "Well then, let's all tell each other what our tasks are?"

"If we have the same mission, we can work together."

Amamiya Natsuki gave a thumbs up: "I agree with the class president."

"So I'm not the class monitor anymore!"

The girl with braided hair helplessly pressed her brow and displayed her character panel to prove her player identity.

Everyone else did the same.

no doubt.

All five people are players; even if a non-player creature can disguise itself as a human, it cannot access the game interface.

Then come their respective main quests.

Natsuki Amamiya looked at the mission log.

[Task: Cat and Mouse Game]

[Objective: Leave the abandoned factory within 120 minutes]

[Note: The cats are extremely thirsty.]

Basic Reward: 40 Game Coins

"It seems we all have the same task." The girl with the braided hair pushed up her glasses. "So, shall we all briefly introduce ourselves?"

"I'll start," the girl with the braided hair said calmly. "You can call me Sanse. I've completed the game three times so far."

The girl with long, straight pink hair held a bamboo sword, her expression resolute. She was both cute and quite cool, possessing the aura of a leader: "Shikimori, the number of times you can clear the game is two."

"Yamazaki," the spiky-haired boy continued, "also completed the game twice."

New players who just joined the game would often naively reveal their real names. Now, many players only reveal their surnames to each other, or even just make up a nickname.

Finally, it was Natsuki Amamiya's and Kaguya Shinomiya's turn.

"I am the Admiral." Amamiya Natsuki said without changing her expression, and then began to introduce the silly young lady, "This is Hood-nyan. We are both newbies who have just joined the game and have just passed the beginner trial."

Kaguya Shinomiya remained calm and composed, leaving the negotiations entirely to Natsuki Amamiya.

"Hey, this kind of name is way too much," the spiky-haired boy complained. "How could a newbie player choose a game name like this?"

Natsuki Amamiya pretended not to hear: "Anyway, please take good care of me in the next game, class president."

pansy:"……"

"Let's get down to business." Shikimori's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "The basic completion reward is 40 game coins. With such a high reward, the game difficulty must be very high as well."

“That’s right.” The girl with the braided hair nodded. “The rewards for the game are usually proportional to the difficulty. Everyone must be careful and pay attention to their surroundings at all times. If you find anything unusual, don’t hesitate to speak up immediately.”

"The so-called cat-and-mouse game is actually just a survival game, right?" the spiky-haired boy frowned. "There should be vengeful spirits or monsters in this abandoned factory, and they might show up and hunt us down soon."

"Let's check this room first to see if there are any clues..."

As she spoke, the girl with braided hair took out a flashlight from her game backpack.

The light comes on.

Piercing through the darkness.

A flashlight swept across the room, revealing a rather large abandoned warehouse. Most of the items had already been moved out, leaving only some discarded cardboard boxes in the corner.

The girl with long, straight pink hair gripped the bamboo sword tightly and looked around:

"It seems like there isn't..."

next second.

A sudden darkness appeared, and Shikimori seemed to be knocked down by something, his bamboo sword falling directly to the ground.

Screams and gasps erupted, and everything suddenly descended into chaos.

"What is it?"

"Evil spirit?"

"monster?"

"No, I can't see it at all!"

"..."

Shikimori let out a low groan, biting her lower lip as she tried to grab the bamboo sword, but something seemed to bite her leg, dragging her into the darkness.

Such a bizarre scene made the bespectacled girl and the spiky-haired girl who were closest to her too afraid to step forward and help.

Just then, a figure suddenly pounced out.

Amamiya Natsuki narrowed her eyes, rolled over to catch the long-haired girl, preventing her from being completely dragged into the darkness, and shouted:

"flashlight!"

Kaguya Shinomiya reacted instantly, rushed forward, snatched the flashlight from the bespectacled girl's hand, and quickly turned it off.

Snapped.

The lights go out.

Amamiya Natsuki felt the pulling force on the long, straight-haired girl suddenly disappear.

"Huh...huh..."

Shikimori lay on Amamiya Natsuki's chest, still shaken and breathing softly.

Even the most valiant young woman cannot remain calm and composed when facing death.

"Thanks……"

Shi Shou subconsciously thanked him.

"Get up first." Amamiya Natsuki reached out and helped him up. "Did you see clearly what attacked you?"

"I don't know." Shikimori shook his head, took a deep breath to calm himself down, "The other person was very strong and tackled me to the ground in an instant, I didn't have time to fight back... I tried to kick, but I didn't hit anything... There was something holding my foot."

Natsuki Amamiya looked down and saw that Shikimori's right foot had its black stockings torn open by an unknown entity, revealing her fair and smooth skin underneath, with traces of blood on them. She was clearly not lying.

"What is that?" the spiky-haired boy asked nervously. "There's nothing in the air."

“It was a shadow.” Kaguya Shinomiya crossed her arms, her tone slightly grave. “What attacked her just now was a shadow. If I’m not mistaken… the shadow’s outline looks like a cat.”

"A cat in shadow form?"

Everyone was shocked.

Cats are natural predators, yet this is a shadow cat that can't be attacked or harmed—it's practically impossible to kill.

No wonder the dungeon is called Cat and Mouse Game; it's actually a cat game where the player is the mouse trying to escape.

“Don’t panic.” Natsuki Amamiya said calmly, “The moment the flashlight is turned off, the power of the attack disappears, so the real medium is actually light.”

"I'm sorry." The girl with glasses approached Shikimori, her face full of apology. "I didn't know that turning on the flashlight would attract a monster."

“Nobody knows about this.” Shikimori shook his head, showing no anger or concern whatsoever. Instead, he gently comforted her, “Sanshiro-kun, don’t blame yourself.”

“That’s right,” Natsuki Amamiya said from the side. “Class monitor, please be careful next time.”

"...So I'm not the class monitor."

"..."

Take a short break.

Shikimori said, "We should probably head out now."

While staying in the dark will prevent attacks, the game will never be completed, so you must take action.

"I can barely see anything," Kaguya Shinomiya said in a cool voice. "The exit is to the right. Everyone, follow me."

The group quickly arrived at the door.

Amamiya Natsuki grasped the doorknob and turned it gently: "The door is open. It seems there wasn't a locked room puzzle set up..."

next second.

Everyone was shocked.

Despite being a long-abandoned factory, the corridor has completely changed from its usual gloomy and dark style to a bright and dazzling one, which is completely different from the gloomy and dark style commonly seen in horror games.

But at this moment, no one felt any joy; instead, they all looked towards the opposite wall.

On the wall, there was a huge, ink-like shadow, its shape as large as a tiger, stretching out on the wall. To everyone, it looked like a cat licking its paws.

Seemingly sensing everyone's gaze, the shadow on the wall suddenly vanished.

boom!

Natsuki Amamiya had anticipated this; the moment she saw the shadow cat on the wall, she slammed the door shut.

The players all took a half step back, clutching their chests, their hearts pounding wildly.

"so big."

"It really is a shadow, a moving shadow."

The spiky-haired boy grabbed his hair, his voice filled with despair: "Is that monster on the wall a cat or a tiger?"

"The whole corridor is lit up, we can't get out at all."

If Shadow Cat must kill in a well-lit place, then a brightly lit corridor is like a laser death tunnel, through which no one can pass.

Shikimori frowned, gripping the bamboo sword tightly in her hand: "...Let's search the room again carefully, maybe we can find a way out."

How are the ventilation ducts?

"That's what the girl with glasses suggested."

“We can try it.” Shikimori nodded. “…We don’t need to turn on the flashlight.”

"..."

Amamiya Natsuki and Kaguya went their separate ways, while the other three players went their separate ways. Before long, they found a ventilation duct in a corner.

"We've found the ventilation duct..." The bespectacled girl looked up. "The problem is, how do we get up there?"