Kaguya-sama Wants My Surrender!

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"Eh?! Hey, hey, hey?!" 

"What is Amamiya-kun doing?!"

By the stream, Umi and Chika huddled together, whispering in disbelief. When they witnessed Amamiya's reckless, seemingly suicidal act, their eyes widened in shock. Moments later, both clenched their fists in unison. 

'He actually kissed another girl right in front of us. That's going too far!' 

---

At the same time, 

After a single second of kissing, 

Amamiya deftly dodged, narrowly avoiding the lethal punch swung by the furious Kaguya. 

"You... you dare?!" 

Kaguya's chest heaved as her bunny ears trembled with shame and anger. The icy chill radiating from her body was enough to freeze both the soul and the spine of anyone nearby. 

But Amamiya, completely unfazed, stood calmly a few steps away. His experience with her left him with a keen sense of her limits—he knew just how far he could push her. 

Casually, he raised three fingers and began to count down. 

"One." 

"Two." 

"Three..." 

As the countdown ended, Kaguya suddenly stopped in her tracks. Confusion flickered across her face before recognition dawned in her wide eyes. Her pale complexion quickly flushed a deep crimson, the color spreading visibly as realization hit her. 

"Do you remember now?" Amamiya asked, his tone calm but knowing. 

Kaguya's gaze darted nervously around the area, pausing briefly on Chika and Umi, who stood frozen in the distance. The blush on her face deepened to the point where it looked as though steam might escape. 

Her mind swirled chaotically, and her knees wobbled. 

'He kissed me. Again.' 

'And in front of Chika and Umi... How am I supposed to face anyone now?!'

Before she could collapse entirely, Amamiya stepped forward and caught her. He leaned in close and whispered, 

"Don't faint. If you do, I'll have no choice but to kiss you again to wake you up." 

"..." 

At those words, Kaguya's embarrassment transformed into indignation. She glared at him, her fiery eyes more expressive than any words. 

'You think I'd let you kiss me again?! Not a chance!' 

---

Boom, boom, boom. 

Chika and Umi came charging over, cheeks puffed and voices raised in protest. 

"Amamiya-kun, what do you think you're doing?!" 

"What you just did to Kaguya-chan is way out of line!" 

The indignation of being mere spectators to this scandal was palpable in their tone. 

"Don't jump to conclusions and sully my reputation." Amamiya's expression turned serious as he defended himself. "I didn't kiss Kaguya at all." 

"Huh?" 

Chika blinked, momentarily stunned. "Did I see it wrong?" 

Umi, though still skeptical, hesitated. "I was pretty far away. I only saw the motion... but you're saying you really didn't kiss her?" 

Kaguya, however, knew better. 

'Liar.' 

'We definitely kissed. Both this time and last time. That heat wasn't my imagination.' 

But before she could speak, Amamiya continued smoothly, "Don't forget, this is just a nightmare world. Our bodies are still in reality. Can a kiss in a dream even be considered real?" 

"Of course it's real!" Kaguya wanted to scream, though her pride kept the words locked in her chest. Instead, she clenched her fists tightly, glaring at Amamiya with silent fury.

With tensions somewhat eased, the group began piecing together the situation. 

"Kaguya," Amamiya began, his tone shifting to seriousness. "Here's what happened after time restarted." 

"I see." 

Kaguya tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear, exhaling slowly to regain her composure. "So after the restart, I wasn't under the tree?" 

"No," Amamiya confirmed. "The point of restart wasn't the same as before." 

Kaguya mulled over this for a moment before speaking. "Back at the hotel, Umi and I also experienced a restart. It happened roughly once every hour. This nightmare world might be following the same pattern." 

"It's very likely." Amamiya nodded. "After realizing that the restart point was different, I checked the hotel clock. If my observations are correct, the restart window seems to occur between 8 and 9 PM." 

Kaguya's sharp instincts kicked in as she quickly asked, "What time is it now?" 

"It's already half past eight," Amamiya replied with a helpless shrug. 

"Half past eight?!" Umi exclaimed, hands on her hips. "Does that mean we only have half an hour before the restart happens again?" 

"That's right," Amamiya confirmed. 

Chika's eyes sparkled with unexpected excitement. "So we'll get to start all over again?" 

"You're celebrating too soon." Amamiya's expression turned grim. "Don't forget, the skills I've been using to navigate this nightmare are temporary. The abilities will fade once time restarts. If we're caught unprepared, we could all be trapped in this nightmare forever, unable to wake up." 

"Th-that's so dangerous!" Chika finally grasped the gravity of their situation, her earlier enthusiasm giving way to genuine alarm. 

The group, now fully aware of the stakes, braced themselves for the ticking clock. With only half an hour left, their next moves would decide their fate. 

Kaguya folded her arms across her chest, her expression grave. 

"In other words, we have half an hour to find and destroy the nightmare core." 

"Then let's move immediately." Umi turned to Amamiya, her tone brisk. "Amamiya-kun, where's the core located?" 

Amamiya shook his head. "I don't know." 

"Huh?" 

Amamiya elaborated, "I only know that the nightmare is centered around a specific individual." 

"What does that person look like?" Chika asked, tilting her head curiously. 

Again, Amamiya shook his head. "No idea." 

"…" 

'This is bad. Really bad!' 

Seeing Amamiya's repeated lack of answers, Umi and Chika exchanged worried glances. Even Kaguya's composed expression faltered, her brows furrowing deeply. 

There were only thirty minutes left. 

All they knew was that the nightmare was connected to someone in the hotel. But beyond that, their height, weight, gender, and identity were a complete mystery. 

To locate the true target and destroy the nightmare within such a short timeframe seemed an almost impossible task. 

Kaguya lightly bit her lip, a rare trace of anxiety flickering in her usually cool demeanor. "If the person is in the hotel, we'll need to verify everyone staying here." 

Sometimes, the simplest approach was the most effective. 

While the dream world kept restarting, only Amamiya and Kaguya were "aware." The other occupants of the nightmare remained trapped, endlessly repeating the same cycles. 

However, there was one glaring issue: 

The time of Miko's ocular ability was finite. If it ran out before they succeeded and the dream restarted, they would all be trapped permanently, unable to wake. 

"There might be... another way," Amamiya suddenly said, his voice drawing the girls' attention. He reached into his pocket and produced a small, gleaming object—a coin. 

"A coin?" Umi recognized it immediately. "Wait, isn't that your lucky coin? What are you planning to do with it?" 

"We need luck in moments like this," Amamiya explained, flipping the coin between his fingers. 

"But what if we're unlucky?" Chika pointed out, skeptical. "The chances of flipping heads are really low." 

"Exactly!" Umi chimed in. "I tried flipping it before—barely got a good result even once in ten tries!" 

Amamiya's lips curled into a confident smile. "That's because this coin isn't truly random." 

The three girls blinked in unison. 

"What do you mean?" Kaguya asked. 

"This coin doesn't generate luck out of thin air," Amamiya began. "Instead, it absorbs a small amount of our luck with each toss. Once enough luck has accumulated, it guarantees a positive result on the next flip—100% certainty." 

"Wait, wait." Chika raised a hand, her voice incredulous. "You're saying this coin steals our luck first, and that's why we've been so unlucky after using it?" 

"Exactly," Amamiya confirmed. 

"That explains a lot…" Chika muttered, crossing her arms. 

Kaguya, however, caught on to Amamiya's intent. Her eyes brightened slightly. "So you've been preparing this coin in advance?" 

"Correct." Amamiya nodded. "From the moment I picked up the horror ticket in the park to entering the game, I've had plenty of time to charge it. I've been saving it for a situation like this." 

"And now it's ready?" 

"It is." 

Amamiya raised the coin, flicking it high into the air with his thumb. 

The three girls watched as the coin spun and tumbled before landing gracefully on the back of his hand. 

Face-up. 

"It worked!" Chika exclaimed, her tension momentarily replaced by excitement. 

Umi's brows furrowed in thought. "Wait a second. We're in a dream, right? How can we use items and skills from the real world here?" 

"That's a good point," Kaguya added, her tone thoughtful. "This might have something to do with the game itself. Real-world items can't be placed in the game's inventory. Meaning, the items we're using here are likely imbued with special properties tied to the nightmare." 

Amamiya nodded. "That's my best guess too. Either way, we now have the luck needed to guide us toward the core." 

Amamiya turned to Kaguya, his expression calm. 

"Take out the divination eraser." 

Kaguya nodded slightly and retrieved a simple-looking eraser from her belongings. 

[Item: Divination Eraser] 

[Attributes: An ordinary eraser imbued with a faint trace of mysterious power due to its frequent use in divination. When tossed for guidance, it has a chance of pointing to the correct answer.] 

[Note: Divination comes with risks; use caution when guessing answers.] 

The eraser, though seemingly mundane, was an item obtained from the Midnight Mall game when Amamiya had opened a makeshift fortune-telling business. It was commonly used to guess answers on exams, though its predictions were far from infallible. 

However, what if someone with extraordinarily high luck were to use it? 

Wasting no time, Amamiya grabbed a pencil and carefully wrote the four cardinal directions—'east, south, west, north'—on the eraser's sides. Then, he tossed it onto the ground. 

With a soft 'click', the eraser landed, showing the east side facing upward. 

Without hesitation, Amamiya picked it up and tossed it again. 

And again. 

Three consecutive throws. Each time, the result was the same: east. 

"That should be correct," Kaguya concluded, pressing her lips into a thin line. "We go east." 

"East, huh…" Chika glanced around, quickly pointing in the corresponding direction. "It's this way!" 

Following the guidance of the divination eraser, the group moved forward. At every fork in the road, Amamiya would repeat the process, tossing the eraser multiple times for accuracy. Thanks to his luck-enhanced abilities, the eraser never deviated from its guidance. 

"Amazing!" Chika marveled. "If I had this eraser during exams, I'd ace every test and be top of the class!" 

Amamiya arched an eyebrow at her. "How exactly would you predict the answers to objective questions?" 

Chika's excitement deflated. "What a shame… It'd be perfect if every test were just multiple-choice." 

"…" 

After a short trek, Amamiya stopped in front of a building. He pointed ahead. 

"The divination indicates the target is inside." 

The group looked up, their expressions a mix of curiosity and surprise. 

"It's a hot spring?" Umi tilted her head. "Wait, seriously? The mastermind is… taking a bath in a hot spring?" 

Kaguya nodded thoughtfully. "It seems so." 

"Then what are we waiting for?" Chika pumped a fist in the air. "Let's go in!" 

Amamiya raised a hand to stop her. "This is the women's bath." 

Chika blinked at him, nonplussed. "It's just a dream, right? Who cares?" 

"I care," Amamiya replied flatly. "I still get beaten up in dreams, and my ribs are still sore." His gaze slid to Kaguya as he added pointedly, "You hit pretty hard." 

Kaguya stepped closer, her lips pressing into a faint pout. "Our lucky streak just ran out. The eraser's predictions might not be reliable anymore… Let's go in and check the situation ourselves." 

She was right. After their prolonged journey, the luck-enhanced coin's effects had finally worn off, leaving the eraser's future predictions uncertain. 

Even so, their progress had been undeniable—they'd successfully pinpointed the hot spring as their target. 

"Alright, we're going in," Umi declared, resting a hand on her hip. She glanced back at Amamiya with a grin. "You stay here and wait for our report." 

"…" 

Amamiya watched as the three girls slipped behind the curtain into the women's hot spring, leaving him standing alone outside. 

The seconds stretched into minutes as he waited silently. 

Suddenly, a face peeked out from behind the curtain, a delicate blush coloring her cheeks.