003 A real man should take up fencing

The next morning at 6 a.m.,

Kamiyagawa yawned as he walked into Karin High School.

He had been killed by a headless JK in "Strange Tales" around 6 p.m. the evening before.

After a 12-hour cooldown, the Substitute Paper Person had just refreshed.

Playing the game was simple, set an alarm for the exact moment, and then grind it out.

He sat down against a cherry blossom tree by the school path in the sakura grove and pulled out his phone.

"Strange Tales," boot up!

The surrounding light began to dim, and the chilly morning air became murky as Kamiyagawa entered that bizarre game world once again.

Upon entering the game, the first thing he saw was the glowing wooden Divine Cabinet.

As Kamiyagawa understood it, this little Divine Cabinet was a save point, or rather, a bonfire. After dying in the game, players had to return to the cabinet's side to start over.

"Surely there are more than one of these Divine Cabinets in the game, but it would be great if there was one near my house. It's too hard to come to school to play the game by catching the early train," he thought to himself.

Thinking this, Kamiyagawa stood up from the ground.

The morning breeze rustled through, bringing with it the sobbing of a young girl.

The headless JKs in the woods had started again.

This time, Kamiyagawa certainly wouldn't foolishly walk over and be an easy target, and he also had no plans of initiating any battles for the time being.

When he was pinned down by a headless JK last night, he truly felt the gap in strength between himself and it.

With his little body having only 10 points combined in strength, agility, and physique, it was impossible to win a fight.

Time to run for it.

Kamiyagawa took off running.

Since he didn't venture deep into the cherry blossom woods this time, the strategy of tactically avoiding confrontation worked very well. The headless JK never even met Kamiyagawa, so naturally, she didn't chase after him to kill him.

Next, there were roughly three areas in the hellish version of Karin High School that Kamiyagawa could explore.

The east side.

This area had a sports field and various club practice areas like the Sword Dao club, archery club, and swimming club.

The north side.

The classrooms, nothing much to say.

The west side.

There was a canteen, a small store, and an artificial lake, where students usually rested or dated.

Actually, for Kamiyagawa, it didn't really matter which area he chose to explore.

He was still in the early stages of the game, and he definitely had to explore the entire map eventually, hoping to also complete that area exploration task of over 80%.

If he died during the exploration, it wouldn't be a big deal.

After all, he had refreshed a Substitute Paper Person.

"First, I'll strive to explore the entire map and see what rewards I can get," he decided.

"As for the task of getting rid of Hanako, I can put that aside for now. If random monsters along the road can pin me down and slaughter me, let's not even talk about dealing with such a well-known Strange Tale entity."

With regulated breathing and a steady mindset, Kamiyagawa confidently walked towards the eastern part of the school.

...

About ten minutes later.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

At the door of the Sword Dao club, Kamiyagawa ran for his life.

Behind him followed six headless JKs, and in addition, there were four headless DKs.

"Wuwuwu——"

"Giggle giggle giggle——"

This group of brainless high school students, either crying or cackling, chased relentlessly, and they were fast...

The story begins ten minutes before, when Kamiyagawa first stepped into the eastern part of the school and felt the full malice of the game "Strange Tales."

Karin High School, though just an ordinary national high school in reality, was filled with so many monsters in this crappy game!

Headless JKs and headless DKs could be seen everywhere!

They were like normal students, scattered in every corner of the campus.

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But fortunately, these monsters seemed to lack brains in every sense, responding very slowly.

They either sat in a daze, paced back and forth within a small area, or gathered in groups, crying and laughing as if they were having a conversation.

If Kamiyagawa didn't get too close, they appeared to be unaware of his presence.

He recalled that previously, the headless JK that first drew his blood in the cherry blossom grove also only showed a desire to attack after Kamiyagawa had ventured deep into the grove and gotten close.

Based on this, Kamiyagawa crouched down and lightened his footsteps, consciously keeping his distance from the headless high schoolers as he cautiously explored the eastern area of the school, and managed to avoid trouble.

In this way, he arrived at the entrance to the Sword Dao club.

Outside the Sword Dao club, there were also a few headless high schoolers wandering around. So, Kamiyagawa didn't plan to get too close, and instead, he aimed to skirt around them along the flowerbeds.

That's where the problem arose.

Kamiyagawa had never expected that behind the bushes of the flowerbed, there squatted a headless DK!

I have no idea if the kid was there to take a dump or what.

In any case, Kamiyagawa, who was stealthily moving along the flowerbed, entered its sensory range.

"Hehe, hehehe!"

Upon discovering Kamiyagawa, the headless DK emerged from behind the bushes with strange cries.

These cries even attracted the attention of the other headless high schoolers nearby.

Kamiyagawa wasn't stupid; in fact, he was quite quick-witted. He immediately took to his heels and ran, which led to the scene at the beginning of him being chased by a dozen headless high schoolers, crying for help.

But to get back to the main point.

The physical strength and explosive power of the headless high schoolers were abnormally strong.

Kamiyagawa had learned this the night before from the headless JK girl.

He knew he couldn't escape, and he didn't plan on escaping.

Turning a corner by the flowerbed, Kamiyagawa strained every muscle, recklessly charging towards the grand entrance of the Sword Dao club!

Kamiyagawa thought — death may be inevitable, but he should still struggle a bit, at least to make his death slightly more worthwhile. It was better to die inside the Sword Dao club where, before death, he could catch a glimpse of what was inside, than to perish outside, wasn't it?

As he ran, without knowing if it would be of any use, Kamiyagawa also summoned a Five Thunder Righteous Method electrostatic version, running with sparks and lightning trailing behind him.

He felt a cold breeze on his back.

Presumably, a headless high schooler was about to pounce, only inches away.

But almost at the moment when he was about to be tackled, Kamiyagawa touched the door of the Sword Dao venue.

Clatter!

The door swiftly opened, seemingly like a gaping black maw that engulfed Kamiyagawa before viciously snapping shut.

The restless headless high schoolers were all left outside.

"Wuuu—"

"Giggle—"

They cried, they laughed, but not one dared to push the door.

...

The wooden floor was relatively smooth, seemingly freshly waxed.

On the wall hung a nonsensical hand-painted banner reading, "Real men should fence!"

Through the dim light that filtered in through the windows, fine dust could be seen dancing in the air.

The scene inside the Sword Dao club was not much different from reality.

However, there was something in the venue that absolutely would not exist in reality.

It was a giant red ogre.

Huge in stature, with disheveled hair, large horns on its forehead, a bare upper body, and a muscular chest, it looked ferocious and menacing.

Based on its appearance, if you told Kamiyagawa it had just eaten someone, he would believe you.

The ogre was sitting properly in the center of the venue, with a Tachi placed before him.

"What is this thing? A red ogre?"

"Is it because of this that those headless high schoolers outside don't dare to come in? Did I just enter the boss room of the school's eastern district?"

Kamiyagawa cautiously sized up the giant ogre, but also wasn't too scared.

To him, death was inevitable either way. Dying at the hands of a small fry or a boss didn't make much of a difference in the end.

"Well, I'm really done for now." Since he had already met the boss and it seemed there was no room left to struggle, Kamiyagawa chose to lie down where he was, "Come on, do your worst. Don't go easy on me because I'm a delicate flower."

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