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

Kaguya Shinomiya also got up.

The two left the fast food restaurant, hailed another taxi, and headed straight for the address.

After half an hour.

Natsuki Amamiya and Kaguya arrived in front of an apartment building.

It was already past 1 a.m., and apart from the still bright streetlights, the entire apartment building was quiet.

"I've already told Haimeng and the others." Kaguya Shinomiya put away her phone and looked up at the apartment building. "Should we wait for everyone to arrive, or go up now?"

“Let’s go up now,” Natsuki Amamiya said calmly. “The opponent is most likely just an ordinary person… perhaps a little unusual.”

The other person had only resigned half a month ago and had been running around to various shrines ever since, trying to seek protection. Obviously, they hadn't been exposed to ghost stories for very long. Even if it wasn't ordinary, Amamiya Natsuki was confident she could solve it. Besides, the subway and trams were already shut down. It would take at least an hour for everyone to gather. They couldn't just wait downstairs.

The two walked up the stairs and soon arrived at the third floor, where they stopped in front of an ordinary apartment door.

“Knocking on the door so late is bound to disturb the neighbors…” Natsuki Amamiya looked at Mrs. Kaguya and whispered, “Mrs. Kaguya, I’m leaving it to you.”

"receive."

Mrs. Kaguya's figure flashed and disappeared into the house.

A short while later, the sound of a security chain came from behind the door, followed by the door clicking open.

Amamiya Natsuki reached out and pushed open the door, stepping inside.

This is an ordinary studio apartment, not very big, only forty or fifty square meters, but it has everything you need.

Just as Natsuki Amamiya was about to turn on the light, the room was already brightly lit. Someone turned on the table lamp, and then a sudden exclamation rang out:

"Who are you?"

Natsuki Amamiya squinted and looked over. A woman in pajamas was sitting on the tatami mat, looking at him warily. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin was sallow and withered, clearly showing signs of severe lack of rest and chronic insomnia.

"Ms. Sakura?"

The woman was extremely vigilant, quickly grabbing her phone and saying cautiously:

"Get out of here right now, or I'll call the police!"

"Please don't misunderstand." Amamiya Natsuki raised her hands and said seriously, "We are not thieves, but actually staff members of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau."

"Huh?" The woman stared in disbelief, forgetting to even press the emergency call button for a moment. "What did you just say?" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Paranormal Investigation Bureau." Kaguya Shinomiya crossed her arms and said in a cool voice, "Ms. Sakura, if I may be so bold... you must have encountered some ghost stories recently, haven't you?"

"How did you know?" Sakura Rinko suddenly became agitated, her voice becoming incoherent. "The Paranormal Investigation Bureau... why have I never heard of it?"

Amamiya Natsuki said seriously:

"In order to maintain social stability, the existence of the Investigation Bureau will certainly not be made public. Ms. Sakura should be well aware of the implications."

"I see..." Sakura Rinko felt dizzy and didn't really understand. "Wait!"

The woman looked wary again and held up her phone, saying:

"You two are just high school students, right? And you're already members of the Investigation Bureau? And... why didn't you knock before barging in?"

Kaguya Shinomiya said calmly:

"Knocking on the door so late is disturbing the peace, and we suspect that Ms. Sakura probably won't dare to open the door."

"As for why we are members of the Investigation Bureau..." Amamiya Natsuki paused slightly, "of course it's because we have the power to eliminate ghost stories."

After saying that, Natsuki Amamiya gave Mrs. Kaguya a look.

Mrs. Kaguya gestured, reached out and picked up a cushion from the sofa, then swung it in the air.

Ms. Sakura kept talking about two people, and it was clear that she couldn't see Mrs. Kaguya's presence. At this moment, all she could see in her vision was a cushion floating up and down.

Having witnessed the existence of supernatural forces firsthand, Sakura Rinko finally believed in the identities of Amamiya Natsuki and Kaguya. She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking as she burst into tears.

"Why did it take you so long to arrive..."

Amamiya Natsuki: "..."

Shinomiya Kaguya: "..."

The identity of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau is, of course, fake.

On the way there, Natsuki Amamiya and Kaguya discussed that if they could get information from Rinko Sakura, they would agree to cooperate if possible, and if not... they would use force to pry her mouth open.

It seems that violence is not necessary for the time being.

"Ms. Sakura, calm down and don't get agitated," Natsuki Amamiya comforted her. "Now that we're here, we'll handle that ghost story... Tell us about your recent experiences and encounters, the more detailed the better."

"I'm so sorry..." Sakura Rinko wiped her eyes haphazardly with her hands, tears still streaming down her face, her voice trembling, "I was just... too emotional..."

After a few minutes, Sakura Rinko calmed down, holding a glass of ice water, and said in a hoarse voice:

"That red door...we call it the Door of Despair."

Kaguya Shinomiya's delicate brows furrowed slightly as she said:

"us?"

“That’s right, I’m not the only one who’s encountered that door; there are many.” Sakura Rinko took a sip of ice water and continued, “I first encountered that door about two weeks ago. My friend went missing, and before she disappeared, she told me that she saw a strange door on the wall of her house…”

"I didn't take it seriously at the time, thinking that she was just hallucinating because of work stress."

“Then she suddenly disappeared. I asked other friends, but they couldn’t find her either… I was really worried at the time, so one day after get off work I went to her apartment to look for her.” Sakura Rinko looked regretful. “If I hadn’t gone to look for her, none of this would have happened…”

Kaguya Shinomiya said softly:

"Did Miss Sakura encounter that door?"

“Hmm…” Sakura Rinko nodded, “I couldn’t find my friend at the time, so I went home. Then I started having hallucinations, and finally that red door appeared in my workplace.”

“I was terrified and took the day off. It turned out that no matter where I went, that door would follow me—the walls of the subway station, the walls of the park, the walls of the apartment, etc.—and I was the only one who could see it.”

Amamiya Natsuki said in a deep voice:

Why did Ms. Sakura open that door?

“Because the door only appears for a few seconds at first, and then it takes full shape and produces a strange magic.” Sakura Rinko held her water glass in both hands. “I was like I was under a spell. I involuntarily grabbed the doorknob and couldn’t control my body at all. It was pitch black behind the door, and I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t want to go in, but my heart suddenly hurt so much. In the end, I had no choice but to go in.”

"I see."

Natsuki Amamiya and Kaguya exchanged a glance, understanding each other perfectly.

No wonder Moeha and Chika disappeared. It wasn't that the door couldn't be left open; there was some kind of curse. Most likely, Moeha's body was affected, so she pushed open the door and was cursed, suffering excruciating heart pain. Chika had no choice but to accompany Moeha into the door.

Kaguya Shinomiya inquired:

What's behind the door?

Sakura Rinko's hand trembled, spilling the ice water from her glass. The fear in her eyes was impossible to conceal, and her voice was hoarse as she said:

"It's a space filled only with despair..."

Amamiya Natsuki lit a match; the flickering flame, bathed in its light, quickly calmed the woman, and she said:

"Please describe the situation behind the door in detail."

"Behind the door... is an abandoned villa..." Sakura Rinko exhaled, glancing incredulously at the lit match, feeling an unusual warmth and peace in her heart. She smiled for the first time since they met, and then said, "After I entered, everything went black, and I found myself in an abandoned villa. There were quite a few other people besides me. Then blood-red words appeared on the ground. Some people said that it was a mission given to us by the Gate of Despair. Only by surviving until dawn could we leave the villa, and there was... a ghost in the abandoned villa."

"Ok?"

Amamiya Natsuki looked at the young lady in surprise.

"It feels a bit like... a game?"

Kaguya Shinomiya also looked over in surprise.

The task is to give people a limited time to survive; just from the description, it is strikingly similar to a game.

Could it be that the door wasn't eerie, but rather something like a game?

Amamiya Natsuki's mind raced.

This possibility cannot be ruled out.

To date, no one can be certain that "games" are the only thing that exists; there are simply too many unknowns in this world.

“There were nine people who entered the villa at the time, but only one other person and I survived,” Rinko Sakura continued. “Everyone else died.”

“There was a ‘veteran’ in the villa who said that even if you were lucky enough to survive, you would still be pulled into the door after a while, until you died one day. That’s why the door is called the ‘Door of Despair’.”

Kaguya Shinomiya then inquired about the details and discovered that the Gate of Despair was not the same as the game.

Although the types are similar, after Ms. Sakura clears the game, there are no rewards. She can only stay in the real world for a few more days. Or rather, this is the reward for surviving.

despair.

Only endless despair.

Amamiya Natsuki suddenly felt that the game had become much more humane.

Daily blind boxes, attribute point rewards, rotating shop, etc., are incredibly generous. Hard work pays off. In contrast, that door is a place of utter despair where no hope is in sight.

"You're from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, you must have a way to fix that door, right? You must be able to fix it, right?"

The match has burned out.

Sakura Rinko's emotions surged again, and the way she looked at Amamiya Natsuki and Kaguya was like a drowning person grasping at a last straw.

If I tell her now that there's no paranormal investigation bureau and that everything I said earlier was a lie... this woman would probably just despair and break down.

“Of course we can handle that door,” Kaguya Shinomiya said in a cool voice. “Please trust our professionalism.”

"That's good……"

Sakura Rinko relaxed a little.

Natsuki Amamiya asked again:

"Ms. Sakura, did you arrange to meet two middle school students at the coffee shop yesterday?"

“That’s right.” Sakura Rinko nodded. “Actually, they asked to meet me, saying that a relative had suddenly disappeared and they wanted to ask me about the situation… What’s wrong?”

“They also suddenly disappeared,” Natsuki Amamiya said calmly. “In fact, it was because we received a request from their father that we came to you.”

"I'm sorry, I didn't know..." Sakura Rinko covered her cheeks with her hands, her shoulders shaking slightly, and she started crying again. "I was just too scared and didn't know what to do. I wanted to talk to someone, so I met with them... Those old people said that we might be cursed by that door, so we can't escape no matter where we go, and it's best not to have any contact with anyone... Ugh!"

Sakura Rinko suddenly clutched her chest and groaned in pain.

"Ms. Sakura?"