Chapter 188: Do Not Be Sad, Do Not Cry
Mao Yifan seemed to know them like old friends, chattering away as if he and Haruto's group went back years. The sheer familiarity of his one-sided conversation left Kaguya and Youmu utterly stunned, their expressions twisting into something deeply strange.
Finally, Haruto saw an opening—a gap in the torrent of words—and managed to interject.
"Do you like playing basketball?"
Mao Yifan froze mid-sentence. A question mark might as well have materialized above his head. Beside him, the looks Kaguya and Youmu were giving Haruto grew even weirder.
What in the world was that question?
Shouldn't he be asking if the teammates of that man who died at the knife-throwing wheel were still alive? If not that, then at least a question about what had transpired after they'd all parted ways last night would have been more appropriate.
But asking if he plays basketball?
Even though Kaguya and Youmu were by now well-acquainted with Haruto's eccentricities, this particular non-sequitur still left them momentarily dazed.
Mao Yifan scratched his head. Though he couldn't fathom why Haruto was asking, he answered honestly. "I have. I was even on the school team back in high school, but I haven't played much since then."
He followed up, his curiosity piqued, "Why do you ask? Does this instance have something to do with basketball?"
"It just reminded me of a friend." Haruto shook his head, deftly steering the conversation back on track. "Is it convenient for you to disclose whether the teammates of the person who died on the wheel yesterday are still alive?"
"His teammates?" Mao Yifan propped his chin on his hand. "I did see one of them die. Looked like he was crushed directly into meat paste." He tilted his head. "Why ask about this all of a sudden?"
Haruto raised an eyebrow. He didn't mind sharing his hypothesis about the ninth rule, but before he could even begin, Mao Yifan beat him to it.
"The ninth rule?"
Slightly surprised, Haruto nodded. "Yes. The ninth rule is the core of this instance. You can't show sadness. If you do, you get crushed into meat paste by the instance itself, just like what you saw."
"About the same as what I guessed," Mao Yifan confirmed, then rubbed his stomach, his gaze turning hopeful as he looked between Haruto, Kaguya, and Youmu.
"So… you guys have any money?"
Haruto was taken aback.
Kaguya and Youmu were equally confused. Surely this man hadn't braved a horror instance just to borrow money from them?
"It's for lunch. Isn't it about that time?" Mao Yifan rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Can you treat me to a meal? I haven't even had breakfast yet."
"It's not free?" Haruto asked, surprised. He had assumed it would be like a school cafeteria, with the circus providing complimentary lunch and dinner.
"It's free, but the food there doesn't taste good and…" Mao Yifan's face scrunched up. "It's a bit unclean."
He sighed, and hearing this, Haruto couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
'Unclean, huh?' he thought. Considering the animals here might be transformed players, the food provided could very well be made from… 'animal' ingredients. He had pieced that much together from Kaguya's earlier reminder and the clues they'd found at the residential area's entrance. He hadn't expected this guy to have noticed as well.
Just as a flicker of approval crossed Haruto's mind, Mao Yifan continued, his voice thick with indignation.
"You have no idea. I sneaked into the back kitchen earlier to see if they were hiding any good stuff, and I found out they just rinse the large intestines with a bit of water and call it a day!" He looked genuinely offended. "And our poor teammates… they actually praised it after eating, saying the braised large intestines were especially fragrant."
The corner of Haruto's mouth twitched violently.
So it was that kind of unclean. And here he was, thinking the guy had deduced the horrifying source of the ingredients.
"Then what do you need money for?" Haruto asked, his brief moment of appreciation evaporating.
"To buy snacks and instant noodles. There's a kiosk next to the cafeteria that sells food and plenty of daily necessities. If my phone had a signal, I would've just ordered some myself long ago." Mao Yifan spread his hands helplessly. "I originally wanted to borrow some, but I went around all those tents… forget paper ghost coins, there's barely even any food. I worked so hard searching for so long and only found a few compressed biscuits."
Haruto silently gave him a thumbs-up. He didn't need to be a genius to know that the "borrowing" this guy mentioned was definitely the kind done without the owner's knowledge.
"Since so many people don't have any, what makes you so sure we have paper ghost coins?"
"Intuition!" Mao Yifan grinned, pointing a finger at them. "My intuition tells me you guys are experts, and experts usually carry some ghost coins on them."
For a moment, Haruto didn't even know how to begin complaining.
The infuriating part was that he was right.
Haruto had indeed relieved those two Ghost Postmen of quite a few ghost coins, along with a good amount of tobacco and alcohol. He reached into a Gap and pulled out a thick stack of bills, a mix of red and green.
"So many?" Mao Yifan's eyes widened, clearly not expecting Haruto to be so wealthy. He quickly started rubbing his hands together again. "I don't need that much, just one red one will do."
Just as his fingers reached for the cash, Haruto pulled the stack back.
"You're not planning to get a free meal, are you?" Haruto said, a sly grin on his face. "We're strangers. Why should I give you precious ghost coins? You should know that these paper ones are worth much more than the virtual kind."
"...How can this be a free meal! Aren't we good friends? It's normal for friends to treat each other to dinner! If you ever come to my world in the future, I'll treat you until you're bursting at the seams!"
"Good friends of less than ten minutes, you mean?" Haruto rolled his eyes. "Lead the way. Let's go check out this cafeteria and kiosk you mentioned first."
"Alright!" Mao Yifan nodded readily and turned to walk ahead, his mind already calculating which flavor of instant noodles to choose.
Haruto, Kaguya, and Youmu followed behind him.
As they walked out of the residential area, they saw that the colored lights strung up all around the circus had been lit. The further they went, the clearer the cheerful, tinny music became. The surrounding tents were all open for business, their entrances already crowded with people. Besides the grand performance area in the center, there were seven smaller tents in total. If stamps could also be obtained at the main stage, that would mean eight different ways to get them.
However, as Haruto passed by the central performance area, he noticed that it was not yet open.
Following Mao Yifan's lead, the three of them soon arrived at the so-called "canteen."
It was really just an area enclosed by railings, with several large iron buckets placed inside, each filled with food. A few staff members in blue uniforms were busy serving meals.
Among them, Haruto even spotted the girl in the blue uniform who had kindly brought them inside yesterday.
"Do you know each other?" Mao Yifan asked, following Haruto's gaze to the staff member standing at the far left edge of the enclosure.
"Sort of. She's the one who brought us in yesterday," Haruto nodded.
"What a pity," Mao Yifan sighed dramatically. "If the food here were a bit cleaner, with your relationship, maybe you could get her to give you extra portions, or…"
His eyes suddenly lit up with a supposedly brilliant idea. "Or you could just ask her to steal a stamp and help us get our cards punched!"
"Do you think she's some kind of wish-granting genie?" Kaguya, who had been listening silently nearby, couldn't hold back her retort. Her voice was laced with aristocratic disdain. "Extra portions, stealing stamps… why don't you just ask her to clear this instance for us and then serve us fine wine and roasted meats while she's at it?"
Haruto and Youmu both nodded in silent, solemn agreement.
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