Chapter 174: Don, you are guilty!

"So, it really is in my eye…."

Amamiya pressed on his right eye. Even he hadn't expected that the barcode would be hidden there.

"Thanks," he said, lowering his head to pat the silver-haired loli's small head gently.

If she hadn't pointed it out, he would have ended up like the fully naked animal on the zoo.

"Oh, I get it now," Chika mused, putting a hand to her chin in retrospective analysis. "When we first met, Amamiya held Reina to dodge the train. She must have noticed it then."

Umi nodded, adding, "The lighting in the mall is so dim, so you'd only spot it if you were close enough."

"The person closest…" Amamiya turned to the pink-haired girl and lowered his voice. "How did you not notice?"

"I closed my eyes, of course!" Chika puffed up her cheeks. "Why would I keep my eyes open then!"

"…"

Hayasaka, finally reaching her limit, pressed a finger to her throat, disguising her voice to remind him, "Amamiya-kun, could you put on your clothes first, then head back down to the first floor?"

"Ahem~" Chika cleared her throat with a little cough. "Let's step out first."

Everyone realized they were still in the men's restroom, standing next to a boy in nothing but boxers. They promptly turned around and exited.

A moment later.

Amamiya, fully dressed, walked out of the bathroom. The girls looked over at him.

"Let's go," he said, turning on the faucet to wash his hands. "Back to the first floor."

"…"

With Hayasaka monitoring the situation and Miss Ghost scouting ahead, they all made it safely back to the first-floor cashier counter.

They picked up barcode scanners, helping each other out to quickly scan the necessary "ransoms."

Most items required just one circulating coin, but Amamiya's ransom was the highest, costing three. It turned out that, even though he had circulating coins earlier, he hadn't been able to get through the barrier.

"It seems like the way forward has appeared," Chika analyzed. "We'll have to 'purchase' ourselves to leave the mall."

The girl with glasses chimed in, "The circulating coins should be those purple ones we got from the monster, right?"

"We can confirm it now."

Amamiya took out a purple coin and, after a moment's thought, handed it to the junior high school girl, Kujo. "Here, you take it."

"Are you… really giving this to me?"

The junior high school girl looked thrilled, clearly not expecting such a rare coin from him.

"Remember, junior high school students should go to bed early and get up early," Amamiya said, "not stay up all night gaming."

"I don't want to either." Kujo clutched the coin to her chest, looking aggrieved. "If it weren't for these chest, I'd be in high school by now."

"Alright."

Amamiya tossed the coin to her, which she clumsily caught.

"So… how does this work?" she asked, glancing at the coin.

Amamiya replied, "Try using it to pass through the air barrier."

"Got it."

Kujo took a deep breath, then reached toward the invisible barrier. Everyone held their breath, watching. The purple coin in her hand turned to a shimmering light, gradually fading, as Kujo stepped forward, slipping effortlessly through the air wall without resistance.

"Wait, did I actually make it through?" Kujo turned to look back at Amamiya and the others on the other side of the barrier. A mixture of surprise and joy filled her expression. She beamed, "I just received a game notification. The main mission is complete, and I can exit immediately!"

With that, the junior high school girl turned back to Amamiya, so thrilled that she gave a deep, 90-degree bow. "Thank you so much, Amamiya-senpai!"

Amamiya blinked, his vision blurring slightly, as if he was seeing two slimes bouncing around. 'Ah, what a perfectly round and bright moon tonight…'

Suddenly, a hand covered his eyes.

"Kujo-chan, don't forget to join the mutual aid group," Chika reminded her. "In case you run into another game, we can all help each other."

"Noted! Thank you all…"

The ten-second teleport countdown went by in a flash, and the junior high girl with 'ahem' "ample assets" vanished in an instant.

"Great, that confirms it." Amamiya opened his hand to reveal another purple coin. His gaze drifted to the girl with glasses and the silver-haired loli. "Sadly, we're down to just one coin now. Heh heh…"

"Poke—"

Umi reached out and jabbed Amamiya in the side, frowning. "Quit trying to scare us."

Amamiya raised his hands in surrender. "You've shattered my villainous dreams."

"Yeah, well, no one's afraid of you."

"…"

Kaguya folded her arms and said thoughtfully, "If I'm not mistaken, there should be another way to clear this level."

"Oh?" Chika looked intrigued. "What's that?"

"Those monsters in the mall," Amamiya picked up the thread of the conversation. "Why can they pass through the barrier?"

"They're all incomplete, damaged goods," Shinomiya answered in sync with him. "They're not considered valuable merchandise anymore."

Hayasaka nodded. "In other words, if we remove the product tag from ourselves and make ourselves 'damaged goods,' we should be able to pass through the barrier and finish the game."

"But… how do we do that?"

The girl with glasses looked puzzled.

"It's simple," Amamiya said, leaning close and lowering his voice. "Just… cut off the skin."

"…"

'Simple in theory,' but how many would actually be willing to do that?

"So, does anyone want to try this method?" Amamiya's eyes landed on the girl with glasses.

She gave an awkward smile. "Why are you looking at me when you ask that, Amamiya-kun?"

"Because your barcode's on your wrist—it'd be the easiest spot to cut…"

"Absolutely not!"

"…"

Now that they understood the way to clear the level, their goal was clear.

"Let's go gather some more coins and buy our way out."

"The circulation coins seem to be on the monsters," Chika analyzed. "Both coins we got so far were dropped by monsters."

"Not necessarily," Amamiya replied, glancing at Umi. "Let's head back to the clothing store where we saw that mannequin."

The mannequins seemed unusually dangerous, and with two in the store, it was likely that there'd be a reward hidden nearby.

A short while later.

The group returned to the clothing store and began searching.

"Found them," Amamiya called out, holding up three purple coins he discovered behind the cash register, lined up in a row.

"Nice, three coins in one go!" Chika leaned over for a look. "We're halfway to our goal."

"A monster just entered the corridor on the east side of the second floor," Hayasaka warned. "It's the KFC grandpa figure."

"Perfect timing." Amamiya led the way out of the store.

For other players, cracking the level's rules would probably involve disguising themselves in monster costumes, sneaking into the monster's side undetected, and desperately grabbing any chance to earn a "ticket" to freedom.

But Amamiya's group had their own, entirely different approach.

They met up with the monster in the corridor.

Seeing the group of humans coming his way, the old creature barely had a moment to react before someone pointed straight at him and declared:

"Don, you're under arrest!"