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

Amamiya Natsuki looked at Haimu: "So when you go in, you will feel pain in your hands. That vengeful spirit wants you to feel the same pain."

Kitagawa Kaimu pursed her beautiful lips and said softly:

"Why does the pain stop when I write a word?"

“Because my identity has changed,” Natsuki Amamiya said. “Who is the person a bullied student at school is most afraid of?”

Kitagawa Kaimu blinked, her mind suddenly clearing as she said:

"It's those bullies!"

"I was writing something on his desk, and he got scared... He thought I was the one bullying him?"

Amamiya Natsuki said calmly:

"In psychology, there is a phenomenon called the kicking the cat effect. Humans usually only vent their dissatisfaction and pain on targets weaker than themselves. The bullied person will not retaliate against those who bullied him, but will bully the weaker ones."

That's why Hayasaka Ai was cursed with pain before.

When she encountered vengeful spirits, she was cautious and only wanted to stay away, which naturally made her seem weak, and she suffered from their torment.

On the contrary, Natsuki Amamiya barged into the restroom and bullied the female vengeful spirit, who trembled with fear and kept apologizing.

The world is just so absurd.

"That sounds rather pitiful," Kitagawa Kaimu said softly.

“There’s always a reason why someone is pitiful,” Natsuki Amamiya added. “Of course, these are just guesses, and it’s unclear whether the truth is as it seems… but after verifying it a few more times, we can be pretty sure.”

“Hmm~” Kitagawa Kaimu pondered for a moment, then quickly raised her pretty face and said, “Then I’ll verify it.”

Chapter 294 Vengeful Spirit, I'm Back Again

“Let’s do another verification,” Kitagawa Kaimu suggested, pursing her lips. “A single case doesn’t count as a pattern. Other people will be coming in later, and it would be troublesome if they encountered any danger.”

Amamiya Natsuki nodded gently and said:

"Okay."

As we just learned, the Pain Curse is not a permanent debuff. As long as we leave the alternate dimension, the curse will naturally dissipate, so there is no need to worry about safety.

"The steps have been 'refreshed' on the second floor."

Natsuki Amamiya opened her notebook, where delicate handwriting had already appeared, as if she had a cheat code for seeing through things, reporting the location of the thirteenth step.

“Go straight there.” Amamiya Natsuki looked at Haimu and said meaningfully, “There’s a vengeful elementary school student in the first-floor restroom that you can use to verify.”

"Huh? What vengeful spirit?"

"You'll know soon."

"..."

Twilight fell.

Natsuki Amamiya and Umi walked through the campus bathed in the blood-red sunset and soon arrived at the first floor.

"Woo...Woo..."

Intermittent sobbing and crying drifted into my ears.

"Natsuki, have you heard any strange crying sounds?"

Kitagawa Kaimu lowered her voice, nervously clutching Amamiya Natsuki's clothes, feeling a chill run down her spine.

“I heard you.” Amamiya Natsuki stopped a few meters away outside the restroom and introduced, “This is the vengeful spirit I was talking about. She’s in the last stall in the restroom. Her name is Mizuki. She’s a fifth-grader, thirteen years old. She’s wearing a blue and white sailor uniform and has shoulder-length hair. She actually looks kind of cute.”

"Wait a minute!" Kitagawa Kaimu couldn't help but call out, "You know too much!"

Amamiya Natsuki helplessly spread her hands and said:

"There was nothing I could do. When I first came here, I was unfamiliar with the place and didn't know where Hua Shou was, so I had to ask someone for directions."

"Who would ask a vengeful spirit for directions?"

“In short, the vengeful spirit inside is basically harmless,” Natsuki Amamiya said. “If you speak a little harshly, it will immediately apologize and say ‘I’m sorry.’ Let’s use her to test it for now. I’ll wait for you outside.”

"call……"

Kitagawa Kaimu took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and her gaze quickly hardened: "I'm going in."

This succubus girl is incredibly decisive; she acts on her decisions immediately and never hesitates or goes back on her word. If it were Komi-kun, she would probably be trembling with fear for a long time.

No hesitation.

Kitagawa Kaimu walked into the restroom with his head held high and chest out.

To say that I'm not afraid at all would be a lie.

However, Natsuki dared to go into the restroom to investigate when she came to the other dimension alone before. Now that she has all the information, it would be too embarrassing for her to back down!

Watching Kitagawa Kaimu enter the restroom, Amamiya Natsuki opened her notebook and communicated with the girls outside.

at the same time.

In the restroom.

"It's so dark."

Kitagawa Kaimu nervously recited the mantra in his mind.

Darkness evokes primal fears. Even knowing there's nothing there, many people are still afraid of the night, let alone the idea that there might be vengeful spirits in a dark bathroom.

After pausing for a few seconds to allow her eyes to adjust to the light, Kitagawa Haimu lowered her voice and whispered:

"Um...Excuse me, is anyone here?"

"..."

The crying in the bathroom stopped abruptly.

Only a deathly silence remained.

Kitagawa Kaimu continued:

Is there anything I can help you with?

"..."

Still no one answered.

"If you need any help, just let me know."

"..."

Kitagawa Kaimu walked step by step to the last cubicle. Even though she already knew what was inside, her heart was still racing uncontrollably.

A surge of tension and fear welled up within them.

crunch~

Kitagawa Kaimu reached out and gently pushed, and the wooden door of the cubicle quietly opened inward with a scraping sound.

"Eh? Eh? Eh?" Kitagawa Kaimu panicked, her heart racing again. "What's going on? Didn't Natsuki say the cubicle door couldn't be opened?"

But since we've already started, we can't back down at the last minute.

Kitagawa Kaimu gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and forcefully pushed open the wooden door of the cubicle.

In the dim twilight, a vengeful little girl dressed in a black and white sailor uniform, with short black hair and soaking wet clothes, tilted her head and silently looked out.

His eyes were only a pale white, with no other color.

"what……"

The sudden opening of the door startled Kitagawa Kaimu, who slammed the door shut and instinctively turned to run.

Just as she ran out of the restroom, Kitagawa Kaimu felt something was wrong with her body.

“I could hear you shouting from outside.”

Amamiya Natsuki put away her notebook and looked at the succubus girl speechlessly.

"Of course I'm scared." Kitagawa Haimu clutched her chest, her pretty face slightly pale, her tone unusually resentful. "Why don't you say that the vengeful elementary school student's eyes are super scary?"

“It’s just a white eye disease,” Amamiya Natsuki remarked. “When I first saw her, I just assumed she was from some ninja clan and wasn’t scared at all.”

"It's really scary!"

"..."

Natsuki Amamiya got down to business:

"How do you feel now?"

"I don't feel the pain like before." Kitagawa Kaimu hugged her arms and shivered slightly. "But I feel so cold."

"Is it cold?"

Amamiya Natsuki pondered.

It seems that the pain 'synchronized' with vengeful spirits is not all the same.

The vengeful schoolchild wiping the table with his hand had his right hand covered in blood, which made people feel pain.

The vengeful little girl in the bathroom was clearly soaked after being splashed with water outside by her bullies, so Kitagawa Kaimu was feeling cold.

Kitagawa Kaimu stepped forward, stretched out her arms, and hugged Amamiya Natsuki from the front, pressing her pretty face close to hers.

"Phew~ So warm."

"Don't hug me, you're too cold."

"Hmph, I insist on hugging you."

Upon hearing this, the succubus girl tightened her arms, drawing warmth from Amamiya Natsuki, and looked up at her, whispering:

“Being bullied isn’t their fault. Maybe not everyone takes out their pain on others… If we give her a hug, would that help?”

Amamiya Natsuki reached out and gently embraced the girl's soft, slender waist, and murmured:

"Whether it works or not, we can't get the answer just by guessing. We'll find out by verifying it."

“Okay.” Kitagawa Kaimu nodded. “Let’s go verify it now…come with me.”

"I am coming too?"