Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Game Update
It was the first day of Golden Week.
With no plans for the day, Amamiya was lounging around.
At nine in the morning, not long after he woke up, the doorbell rang.
He got up and opened the door.
"Good morning, Amamiya-kun."
Standing outside was a girl with short blonde hair, her smile as radiant as the morning sun.
"Good morning," Amamiya replied, nodding at Miko, who stood beside Hana.
"Hana came over to play this morning," Miko said, covering her mouth with her hand to stifle a yawn. Dark circles under her eyes betrayed her lack of sleep. "I was bored, so I decided to tag along and play some games with Hana and the dog."
"Welcome, welcome! A warm welcome!" Shimizu's eyes sparkled as she rushed toward Hana, eager to get close to her.
Without hesitation, she stretched out her arms to embrace Hana from behind.
As a ghost, Shimizu lacked the sense of touch, taste, and smell, and didn't even need to sleep. Yet, somehow, she could feel a unique warmth emanating from Hana, making her drawn to the girl every time she saw her.
"So warm~" Shimizu closed her eyes in bliss, a look of pure happiness spreading across her pretty face. "Hana-chan is simply irresistible."
That line... sounded like something straight out of a scumbag's playbook. Where had she picked that up?
Miko, feeling ignored, quietly stepped inside to change her shoes.
"Excuse me," Hana greeted, completely oblivious to Shimizu's presence. She entered the hallway, where an Akita dog bounded over, wagging its tail. With a smile, Hana knelt down to pat the dog on the head.
"Hana-chan really is a treasure," Shimizu sighed. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to cuddle her while sleeping at night?"
Amamiya sighed in exasperation. "You don't even need sleep."
"But what if I feel like sleeping?" Shimizu pouted. "Why don't you trick Hana-chan into living with us, Amamiya-kun?"
"..."
"She seems easy enough to fool," Shimizu continued innocently.
Amamiya looked down at the bright-eyed blonde girl and found himself nodding absentmindedly. She did look easy to deceive.
"But don't worry," Shimizu reassured him with a wink. "I won't tell Kaguya-chan. Loyalty is key, after all."
You're a ghost, not even human!
"It would be wonderful if you and Kaguya-chan started dating," Shimizu mused dreamily. "Then, if we add Hana-chan to the mix, everyone wins."
How is that a win for everyone? Clearly, you're the only one benefitting from that scenario!
Seeing Miko glancing over, Shimizu tapped her forehead playfully and smiled. "Oh, sorry, I didn't forget about you, Miko-chan. You can date him too!"
"...I don't need that," Miko muttered, slightly embarrassed. Lazy though she might be, there was no way she'd ever agree to share her boyfriend—if she had one—with others. Especially not with Shinomiya-san, the proud daughter of a wealthy family.
They moved into the living room.
Amamiya was engrossed in playing 'Elden Ring', a newly released game that was already predicted to win Game of the Year.
Miko sat beside him, fiddling with her phone and dozing off.
Hana was still happily petting the Akita, while Shimizu clung to her, gleefully playing with a bishoujo sticker app.
The first day of Golden Week was surprisingly peaceful.
Unfortunately, that tranquility was soon shattered by a sudden game notification.
[The game system is being upgraded...]
A cold, mechanical voice echoed in Amamiya's mind, causing him to freeze for a moment. Distracted, his in-game character was promptly decimated by a series of attacks from the boss.
Amamiya quickly reloaded his save file, though most of his thoughts remained focused on the game system upgrade.
"Why is the system upgrading all of a sudden?"
"Who triggered this upgrade?"
"And what kind of changes will it bring?"
Since this was directly tied to his personal safety, Amamiya wasn't going to take it lightly. He even thought that the upgrade would take a while, perhaps ten or so days.
But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
In just a few minutes, the upgrade progress had already hit 100%, faster than an Ultraman transformation.
A new interface appeared in front of Amamiya.
"Hmm... the interface looks much nicer now," he observed.
The previous horror game interface had been plain and rudimentary, almost like a half-finished project. You could start the game simply by thinking about it, and if you ignored it, the interface would close after a while, unless a new game notification arrived.
But now, the interface was far more polished, with smoother design and a more pleasant visual appeal. There was also a new announcement in the mailbox.
Amamiya opened the letter with his mind.
---
[Game upgrade complete]
[The contents of this update are as follows:]
- Interface art style optimized for an improved visual experience
- Game advance notification system activated. You will now receive game prompts 30 minutes in advance
- Free Exploration Mode unlocked. Besides mandatory missions every two weeks, you can now use the "refresh" function to explore special game instances. Most instances require specific conditions such as time, number of players, or location to trigger
- Friend system activated. You can now add friends using their unique ID, with their consent. Please note this feature is not available within the game
- First large-scale dungeon will be opening soon. All players, please be prepared
- Reminder: Cherish your life and schedule your game time responsibly
---
"A lot of updates," Amamiya muttered, rubbing his nose thoughtfully. "So this is the first large-scale dungeon... No wonder I haven't encountered a real boss yet. Looks like I'm one of the early players in this game."
He paused. "Free Exploration Mode... that must be related to the midnight subway instance from the other night."
While he was thinking, a new email arrived.
---
[Your ten-day mission is about to begin. Please be prepared.]
---
"It's the mandatory mission every ten days. If I calculate the timing... it's today," Amamiya realized, setting down his game controller. His expression turned serious.
"What's wrong?" Miko asked, tilting her head slightly, noticing the shift in Amamiya's demeanor.
Amamiya replied in a low voice, "The game is about to start again."
"Eh?" Miko's eyes widened. "The ghost game?"
Amamiya gave a slight nod.
Just then, his phone vibrated.
"Amamiya-kun," Chika had sent a message. "I just got a game notification."
"I got it too," Amamiya responded.
"This is too much. We only just finished playing the Midnight Subway game two days ago, and now they're dragging us back in. My family and I were planning to go to Ukraine for a trip!" Chika complained.
Ukraine? Seriously? Do you even know what the word "danger" means?
As expected, Kaguya had also received a game invitation.
In the player mutual aid group Chika had set up, other members mentioned they received notifications too. However, since they weren't on the same team, it was still uncertain if they would encounter their previous teammates in this round.
Every game presented life-threatening risks, and the overall mood in the group was grim. Morale was low.
Chika, stepping into her role as group leader, switched into her "Chika Mom" persona, doing her best to console everyone.
After scanning through the chat messages for a while, Amamiya put his phone down, turned to Miko, and said softly:
"You—"
Before he could finish, Miko cut him off. "I'll stay."
Although the evil spirits in the real world were terrifying, she could always pretend not to see them. The game, however, was clearly more dangerous.
"Alright." Amamiya nodded. "Just watch my body after I enter the game. If nothing goes wrong, I should wake up soon. But if something unexpected happens—"
Pop.
Miko flicked Amamiya's forehead with her finger. "There won't be any accidents. You'll definitely wake up."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone