Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Train Slut
"...Human, you actually touched me?"
A cold, hoarse voice echoed through the car, immediately drawing the attention of Amamiya Natsuki and the others.
When they turned around, they saw the female ghost tightly clutching the wrist of the bespectacled boy. Her eyes, filled with tears of blood, radiated deep resentment.
It was Train Slut—a notorious urban legend, a twisted spirit that often appeared on trains and subways. No one expected it to appear in the game The Wraith.
Humans truly are terrifying creatures. Once they go perverted, not even vengeful spirits are safe.
"I didn't! I swear, I didn't!" Tomoya Aki stammered, panicked as everyone shot him uncomfortable glances. "I have zero interest in three-dimensional girls—let alone ghosts! I didn't even touch her just now!"
"Maybe it was just an accident?" Fujiwara Chika whispered uncertainly.
After all, in a horror game, who would deliberately grope a vengeful spirit? That's not something a normal person could even do, right?
The female ghost's voice remained icy. "If you didn't touch me, why am I only grabbing you and no one else?"
"...That's a good point," the hot blonde girl nodded instinctively.
Only Amamiya Natsuki had a strange look on his face. At first, the ghost's logic sounded reasonable—but on second thought, didn't that line sound awfully familiar?
After staring at the ghost for a few seconds, a system prompt slowly floated up:
[Species: Female Boxer]
A vengeful spirit transformed from a former boxer. Dangerous. Do not argue with female boxers.
"Human, apologize to me." The ghost's tone was chilling, her gaze sharp as a knife.
Tomoya Aki had no choice but to bow his head. "...I'm sorry."
"So you did touch me?" the female ghost suddenly smiled.
"I didn't!" Tomoya instinctively snapped back.
"Then why did you apologize?"
Amamiya Natsuki: "…"
Whether girl or ghost, it seemed that emotional manipulation was part of the female soul's very essence.
Force someone to apologize, then use that apology as proof of guilt—it was the oldest trick in the book!
Just as Tomoya Aki opened his mouth to protest again, the ghost unexpectedly let go and gave him a strange smile.
"Believe me, I really didn't touch her!" Tomoya Aki quickly backed away, sweat forming on his forehead. "I'm not into 3D girls at all—they're troublesome, boring, and make no sense! They're nothing compared to 2D girls. Like I'd ever touch a ghost!"
"Hey, what are you saying?" Kitagawa Marin snapped, putting her hand on her hip. "You say 3D girls aren't cute? That just means you've never met a real cute girl!"
"That's right," Fujiwara Chika nodded. "Kaguya-chan is super cute."
"...Are you serious?" Amamiya Natsuki glanced over at the pink-haired girl.
Someone actually thought that Miss Ice Sculpture was "super cute"? There's no one quite like her in the entire school!
The next second—
The subway, which had been running smoothly, suddenly buzzed with a harsh metallic hum, then violently trembled. Without warning, the lights cut out, plunging everything into pitch-black darkness.
"Eh?! Why did it suddenly go dark?"
Fujiwara Chika's nervous voice echoed through the darkness. A hand groped around until it found Amamiya Natsuki's.
Natsuki grasped her hand and grabbed the nearby handrail with his other. "Don't panic. Does anyone have a light source?"
"We can use our phones—ah, no, wait..." Kitagawa's voice came from the dark, followed by a frustrated sigh. "Sorry, I forgot—phones don't come with us into the game."
Bzzzz...
That low, eerie vibration echoed once again, followed by a distinct hiss as the subway doors slid open.
Then came a sharp, panicked cry.
"Something grabbed my leg—!"
Tomoya Aki's voice was abruptly cut off.
And then… silence.
Utter, complete silence.
A moment later, the darkness vanished. The ghostly white lights flickered back on inside the subway car.
The cabin looked just as it had before—dimly lit, with resentful passengers sitting silently in their seats, as if nothing had happened at all.
"I was scared to death…" Fujiwara Chika exhaled, her face pale. "That guy's gone!"
"I saw it."
Amamiya Natsuki nodded and scanned the car.
Tomoya Aki—the bespectacled boy who loudly declared his distaste for 3D girls—had vanished from the train without a trace.
In a horror game, that kind of disappearance only meant one thing. No one needed to say it aloud. He wasn't coming back.
"I heard the subway doors open..." the short-haired player girl whispered. "Was he dragged out of the train?"
"That's very likely." Amamiya Natsuki nodded grimly. "There's no sign of a struggle. No blood, either. Just gone."
"I hope he's okay…" Fujiwara Chika murmured.
Watching a fellow player disappear before her eyes made her feel guilty and helpless.
"There was nothing we could do." Amamiya shook his head. "I couldn't see anything."
The combo skills Crackdown on Vice and Eliminate Evil might sound powerful, but their limitations were becoming clearer.
If you couldn't see the enemy, you couldn't target them—and without a target, the skills were useless.
"Should we leave this car?" one of the other girls suggested.
Even the usually confident Kitagawa looked rattled. The sudden darkness and unexplained vanishing had shaken everyone's nerves.
"Let's check the conductor's cabin again," Amamiya said.
There was something he wanted to confirm.
He once again took the lead, with the remaining three girls closely following behind. They moved forward cautiously.
A moment later—
They arrived at the same subway car they had just left.
"We looped again..." Fujiwara Chika muttered, looking tense. "Is this subway the Infinity Train?"
The Infinity Train wasn't truly infinite, but this subway seemed capable of looping forever—as long as it didn't stop.
Amamiya looked up at the platform sign. "The train definitely stopped during the blackout just now."
"You're right." Fujiwara quickly glanced up at the map. "We still have four more stops until the terminal, Kisaragi Station. Even if I wanted to stay on this train forever—eh?!"
A sudden shriek burst from her mouth.
Amamiya Natsuki whipped around and saw that the female ghost from earlier had returned—this time, clutching Fujiwara Chika's wrist.
The ghost lifted her head. Blood tears welled in her eyes again, and a twisted smile curled her lips.
"Human, you actually touched me?"
Hey, you're just recycling lines now!
"I didn't touch you!" Fujiwara Chika protested instinctively.
This time, no one doubted her.
Whatever kind of person Tomoya Aki had been, maybe he was just perverted enough to attract a spirit. But Fujiwara Chika was a girl—she had no reason to sneak gropes in a horror game.
"Eh?! I really didn't! I swear!" Chika shook her head frantically. "I'm not! I don't!"
The ghost stared at her coldly. "If you didn't… then why did I grab you and not anyone else?"
Fujiwara Chika: "…"
She hadn't noticed before, but now that she thought about it, that sentence was absolute slander.
It was the worst kind of logic trap—guilt by accusation.
"...Natsuki-san." The pink-haired girl looked over at him with pleading eyes, silently begging for help.
Amamiya Natsuki sighed, stepped forward, and grabbed the ghost's wrist.
Then, he calmly said:
"You actually touched me?"
-End Chapter-
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