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

The sound grew closer and closer, finally ringing clearly in my ears.

"Eh?"

Sha You hesitated before raising her head and saw a boy standing in front of her. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she asked, "You... came to see me?"

"I'm sorry, you misunderstood." Amamiya Natsuki said calmly, "I have a terrible sense of direction. I can get lost even when I'm walking along the road. I just accidentally ended up here."

"I'm not directionally challenged..."

Shayou retorted softly, extending her right hand, "I just fell, please help me up."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Amamiya Natsuki take two steps back warily.

Shayou: "???"

Were you serious when you took two steps back?

I'm a cute girl, how could you look down on me and avoid me?

Amamiya Natsuki looked down at him and said:

"It's necessary to verify your identity first... I'll ask you, and you answer. Your name?"

"Sayu."

"age?"

"Sixteen years old."

What was the first thing we said on the bus?

"Let me...let me think about it..."

Amamiya Natsuki took another half step back, her gaze wary: "You answered incorrectly."

“I told you to think about it,” Shayou couldn’t help but puff out her cheeks. “How could I possibly remember it so clearly?”

You can't even remember a conversation from less than an hour ago? Girl, your memory is a bit poor!

“Then let’s ask another question, please answer seriously…” Natsuki Amamiya said with a serious expression, “Who was the champion team of the Qatar World Cup?”

Shayou blurted out, "Argentina!"

Amamiya Natsuki smiled: "Congratulations, you have successfully joined the human camp."

"I am human, okay?"

Shayou couldn't help but mutter under her breath, gritting her teeth as she helped herself up by holding onto the tree.

at the same time.

Natsuki Amamiya grasped the amulet, sharing her innermost thoughts with Kaguya in her heart:

"The person has been found."

Kaguya Shinomiya: "Come back as soon as possible, keep your distance from that girl, and be vigilant."

When they're listening to each other's innermost thoughts, the silly young lady talks a lot and just can't stop:

"How could you get lost on such a big road? That girl is strange. Don't get too close to her. I'm worried about you... Wait, wait a minute! I'm not worried at all!"

Natsuki Amamiya: "Kaguya-san is so cute."

"...Call ended!"

When you're listening to each other's innermost thoughts, no secrets can be kept. It's more embarrassing than being naked. The silly young lady couldn't handle it at all. Before getting off the bus, she told Amamiya Natsuki that the two of them shouldn't maintain a state of spiritual communication for too long.

Kaguya Shinomiya always held onto the amulet, ready to listen at any time, while Natsuki Amamiya would contact her only when needed.

After putting away the amulet, Amamiya Natsuki looked at Sayu and asked:

"How did you get lost on such a wide road?"

Shayou gently bit her lip and whispered:

"I...heard someone calling my name from behind."

Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow and said, "Someone very important?"

“Hmm,” Shayou said softly, “...very important.”

Amamiya Natsuki shrugged: "Okay, I won't ask anymore."

It's not surprising that in horror movies, there are always some idiots who leave the group when they hear strange shouts.

"This is a dungeon. The person calling your name is definitely not human," Natsuki Amamiya said calmly. "Just asking, are you going to stay here, or come back to the bus with me?"

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble..."

Shayou bowed her head and apologized.

next second.

The black-haired girl suddenly opened her eyes wide, her pink lips parted slightly, and a panicked expression appeared on her pretty face as she looked straight at Amamiya Natsuki's back.

"Ok?"

Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow slightly, becoming more alert, and turned to look behind her.

From within the mist, a girl's face, blank and expressionless, slowly emerged.

Amamiya Natsuki recognized him immediately; he was a complete stranger, not a player.

“Sayu…”

The strange girl's face was deathly pale, with a faint, eerie smile on her lips, and a fleeting shout came from her mouth.

"Sayu, I'm so lonely all by myself, come keep me company..."

The eerie screams coming from the girl's mouth sent chills down one's spine.

Aren't we best friends?

Why did you leave me all alone?

"..."

A series of eerie words came from the girl's mouth, and then the body behind the 'girl's' head emerged from the mist.

Amamiya Natsuki's gaze sharpened instantly, and she took a deep breath.

Tsk.

It turns out to be an extremely ancient ghost story from the last century.

"...Human-faced dog."

In the 1990s, when the internet was not yet widespread, urban legends were quite popular in Japan, one of which was the human-faced dog, which was famous at the time and its popularity was once comparable to that of the Slit-Mouthed Woman.

Legend has it that a man worked at a restaurant and often worked until late at night. One night, after finishing his work, he was about to throw the trash into the back alley when he saw a dog searching for food in the garbage. The man shouted at it, trying to drive the stray dog ​​away. But the stray dog ​​slowly turned its head and revealed a human face that could even speak human language.

However, in various versions of urban legends, the human-faced dog is always depicted as a middle-aged man, but the human-faced dog in front of us has the head of a woman.

Amamiya Natsuki suddenly remembered a collection of Lu Xun's works that she had read in junior high school. There was an article in it called "From the Hundred-Herb Garden to the Three-Flavor Study". In it, there was a beautiful snake with a snake's body and a human head. She could speak human language and seduce humans. It was quite similar to the human-faced dog in front of her.

Natsuki Amamiya continued chewing her gum, her forced calmness remaining unaffected as she watched the approaching human-faced dog. She turned to Sayu and asked:

Was it calling you just now?

Sha You's pretty face was pale, and her body was trembling; she was clearly terrified.

"I-I don't know..."

The human-faced dog slowly approached, its face showing a wronged expression: "You actually said you didn't know me... You've forgotten your best friend so quickly, Sayu is really going too far."

Amamiya Natsuki looked at Sayu: "You know it in real life?"

Shayou's eyes were filled with tears, her body trembling so badly she had to lean against a tree to keep her balance, and she said in a trembling voice:

"Yukiko is a human being... she's not like that."

The human-faced dog continued to approach: "Is it all because of Sayu that I became like this? Come and stay with me? Become like me, and we can never be apart again."

"You...you're not Yuko..."

Shayou covered her ears.

"Stop talking." Amamiya Natsuki started to stretch her arms and legs, and looked at Sayu, saying, "Stand still, get ready to do some warm-up exercises."

"Eh?"

Shayou stared blankly at her, her eyes blurry with tears.

What did that boy just say?

Warm-up exercises?

What do you want to do when warming up at this time?

The human-faced dogs stopped in their tracks, looking warily at Amamiya Natsuki: "Human, don't be so foolish as to seek your own death."

In its perception, the boy in front of it was quite strange; from beginning to end, there was not a trace of fear about him.

As a ghost story, it can discern the scent of fear. The girl before it is not pretending; she is genuinely unafraid of it.

"Don't misunderstand." Amamiya Natsuki extended her right hand. "I don't want to fight, I just need to warm up before running."

Amamiya Natsuki turned to look at Sayu and said:

"We'll compete fairly, run away together, and if we're slower, we'll just have to accept our bad luck."

Shayou: "..."

Human-Faced Dog: "..."

Before running away, she even specifically said, "This guy is such a scumbag!"

"No need." Shayou bit her lower lip tightly and whispered, "I'll stay. Yuuko's target is me... You should run quickly. I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

Amamiya Natsuki was slightly surprised.

When faced with danger, many people will try to take others down with them, but I've rarely seen anyone who would sacrifice themselves for others.

The girl in front of him neither begged for help nor cursed him; she even apologized... Her awareness was at least ten stories high.

"You're so understanding, it's really hard for me," Natsuki Amamiya said helplessly.

Having said all that, if I were to leave Sayu behind, I wouldn't be able to explain it to Chika.