Drowned Ghost's Commission

Although Kamiyagawa lay flat and exposed, death did not arrive as expected.

The repulsive, red ogre did not launch into a frenzied attack but maintained a proper kneeling posture, by the book.

He spoke, his voice heavy and dull, like a reluctantly beaten old drum, "One hundred Soul Crystals... teach you swordsmanship..."

Kamiyagawa: ?

Soul Crystals sounded like some sort of currency unit in this game.

So the current situation seemed to be that by paying a hundred Soul Crystals, he would be able to fence one-on-one with the red ogre, learning various fencing postures and techniques!

Kamiyagawa caught on, realizing that this red ogre was actually an NPC in the game.

"But I don't have any Soul Crystals," he tentatively replied.

The red ogre merely lifted his eyes slightly, "One hundred Soul Crystals... teach you swordsmanship..."

Well, it was understandable for an NPC to repeat the exact same line.

Buzz buzz.

The phone in his pocket started vibrating, and a line of text popped up on the dark screen—

[The Sword Dao club's red ogre is willing to teach you swordsmanship, but you must offer up one hundred Soul Crystals as tuition.]

"If I learned impressive sword techniques in the game, then I would become a swordsmanship expert in reality as well, right? Just like when I learned the Five Thunder Righteous Method yesterday."

Kamiyagawa took out his phone, merely glancing at the prompt on the screen.

He stayed in the Sword Dao club for a while longer but did not trigger any additional storylines with the red ogre.

No matter what Kamiyagawa said, the other party would only repeat the same sentence or simply remain silent.

"It seems there's no need to come to the Sword Dao club before I collect one hundred Soul Crystals."

Kamiyagawa prepared to leave.

He glanced at the firmly shut door, unsure if the headless high school students were still eagerly waiting outside.

There was no back door in the Sword Dao club, and the only two windows were fitted with burglar bars; the main door was the only entrance and exit.

Left with no choice, Kamiyagawa chuckled wryly, then straightened his collar, mustering the courage of "Everyone must die someday," and pushed open the main door with his head held high and chest out.

"Wuu wuu wuu—"

"Giggle giggle giggle—"

Familiar cries and laughter erupted chaotically.

The headless high school students, who had been waiting for a long time, clumsily and contentedly pinned Kamiyagawa to the ground…

On the dark phone screen, a large red character emerged—

[Tragic]

...

"Ouch ouch ouch!"

Kamiyagawa struggled to get up from the ground, as if waking from a terrifying nightmare.

After returning to reality from the game, he checked his surroundings and found that he was still in the Sakura woods.

Although he had died at the entrance of the Sword Dao club in the game, his body remained by the specific Sakura tree—the same as the location of the Divine Cabinet in the game.

Only when he was about to wake up, that is, when he was near death in the game, did his body react.

Kamiyagawa had discovered this the day before.

This was for the better; it was much more acceptable than keeping the same state as in the game after entering, shouting, running, and jumping around in school.

Kamiyagawa picked up his phone and saw a large [Tragic] character written on the screen.

Kamiyagawa: ...

I know my death was tragic, no need to keep reminding me.

However, he hadn't expected the game's death notification to vary.

[Your Substitute Paper Person has been consumed, with a current stock of 0, refresh time is 12 hours.]

By the Sakura tree, as usual, a white paper figure appeared out of thin air.

The little paper person had several tears, looking as mournful as Kamiyagawa's state of death in the game.

Kamiyagawa silently collected the paper person and, shouldering his backpack, walked towards the school building.

...

Today was Friday, the school was filled with the cheerful atmosphere of the upcoming weekend.

Due to the original owner's antisocial character and poor interpersonal skills, even with Kamiyagawa's handsome face, he had no real friends in class.

No one paid him any attention, nor did he need to engage with others.

He also ate lunch alone in the cafeteria.

A 300 Yen set meal with a cup of ice lemon water, the taste wasn't bad.

While eating, he overheard the idle conversation of some students nearby—

"Have you heard? The story about Hanako is becoming popular again."

"I know, I know. And I've heard that you can see Hanako in the girls' bathroom on the third floor of the west building."

"…"

It seemed the students of Karin High School were very keen on exchanging urban legends.

In the afternoon classes, Kamiyagawa remained distracted.

His gaze kept falling on the math teacher's shiny forehead and the English teacher's snowy thighs, his mind cluttered with thoughts related to "Strange Tales."

The headless high school student, the red demon who taught swordsmanship, the incomprehensible spells, the Hanako of the bathrooms…

He waited like this until school was out.

Kamiyagawa lingered around the school until 6:20 pm, then headed straight for the cherry blossom forest.

The Substitute Paper Person had refreshed; he had earned another life, and a new round of the game had begun.

Ignoring the cries of the headless JK, Kamiyagawa left the cherry blossom forest.

This time he chose to explore the school's west area, which consisted of the cafeteria and the artificial lake.

There were too many headless high school students near the cafeteria for Kamiyagawa to approach, so he wandered near the artificial lake instead.

As the sanctuary for lovey-dovey couples at school, the real-life scenery around the artificial lake was quite nice.

But in the game, underlaid with a hellish filter, there was an indescribable eeriness to it. The water was a dead pool, without a single ripple, yet it gave off the sense that an indefinable monster might be lurking beneath its surface.

Avoiding the headless high school students, Kamiyagawa cautiously circled half the lake and then spotted a strange figure—

It was another high school girl, but the style of her uniform seemed slightly different.

Furthermore, she was drenched through, water constantly dripping from her, her complexion deathly pale, her arms and legs wrapped in black and green algae.

Another detail worth noting was that she had a head.

She had a head!

"Although she has a head, she looks like a Drowned Ghost," Kamiyagawa observed from a distance quietly. "But if a red demon can be an NPC, there's no reason a Drowned Ghost can't be one either."

After thinking for a bit, Kamiyagawa started to approach the girl who might be the Drowned Ghost.

He hoped she was a character who could trigger a storyline through dialogue, or trade like the red demon.

If not, it wasn't a big problem.

The worst-case scenario would be cooling off in reality for 12 hours.

As Kamiyagawa neared her, the Drowned Ghost raised her pale, soaked arm and spoke in a voice as if muffled by mist, "Need... help..."

He had guessed correctly!

This Drowned Ghost could communicate!

Kamiyagawa felt a flicker of excitement, and then he asked as calmly as possible, "What do you need help with?"

"A letter... deliver it to Nagasawa Keisuke... come back here... I'll reward you," the Drowned Ghost said, pulling out a waterlogged piece of white paper.

The paper was just folded simply. Kamiyagawa glanced up at it and saw no text, but he still took the item for the task without any change of expression and asked:

"Nagasawa Keisuke? Where should I look for him then?"

A letter delivery, huh?

Facing a typical newbie task one would expect in a game, and she even mentioned there would be a reward!

Leave it to me, I'm a pro at delivery!

The Drowned Ghost let her hand fall back to her side: "Deliver it to Nagasawa Keisuke..."

Here it was again.

The NPC repeating the same line from the script.

Humming.

[Lakeside Drowned Ghost Sachiko Kuriyama wants you to deliver an important letter for her to Nagasawa Keisuke. It's suggested you try your luck at Shimizu Corporation building; perhaps you'll find the person you're looking for there.]

His phone vibrated, a new game notification popping up.

"Shimizu Corporation building, huh? I haven't accessed that map yet. Also... Sachiko Kuriyama, so this Drowned Ghost has a name too."

Kamiyagawa suddenly remembered that, according to the original host's memory, there had indeed been an incident many years ago where a female student drowned in the artificial lake at Karin High School.

Was that student named Sachiko Kuriyama?

He couldn't remember.

Afterward, Kamiyagawa tried to communicate further with the Drowned Ghost for a while, but the outcome was no different; all the responses were the same line, "Deliver it to Nagasawa Keisuke."

There was no choice but to wait until he could access the map of the Shimizu Corporation building to carry out the letter delivery task.

But speaking of which, the monsters in the Karin High School map were mostly headless high school students.

Shimizu Corporation sounded like a breeding ground for office workers; what kind of minion would this crappy game put in that map?

A workaholic spirit?