Chapter 6: Ivywood Girls’ Academy (6)

The moment Rowan stepped into the West Teaching Building, a girl's voice echoed from all directions, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying.

A strange, eerie voice whispered in his ears.

"Why won't you play a game with Hanako?"

The moment Rowan heard the name "Hanako," his lips curved into a playful smile.

So, even gods enjoy using urban legends from Earth in their games.

Hanako of the Toilet—an urban legend from Sakura Country.

According to the tale, Hanako's mother was a teacher at the school. One day, while looking for her mother, Hanako was murdered in the restroom by a wicked person. Since then, her vengeful spirit had lingered, hiding in the third stall of the school bathroom.

After her death, she longed for playmates, knocking furiously on the stall doors and dragging anyone who answered into the toilet to drown them.

As Rowan approached the third-floor restroom, the eerie voice grew louder and louder.

When he finally stood at the entrance, the voice took on an angry tone, as if displeased.

Rowan, however, acted as if he hadn't heard anything. He walked straight to the third stall from the inside and knocked twice on the door.

The moment he knocked, the voice abruptly ceased. Silence returned to the world, but the air was still filled with an unsettling chill.

"Hanako, are you there?"

He asked with a smile.

A sinister laugh echoed from inside the stall.

"Hehehehehe…"

A cascade of jet-black hair suddenly fell from the ceiling, dangling like a spider's legs.

A girl, dressed in a blood-red dress, clung upside down to the ceiling like a grotesque arachnid. The red on her dress looked as if it had been dyed with human blood.

Her pale face was stretched into an unnerving, ear-to-ear grin. Her lips, tinged with a bluish hue, slowly parted.

"I'm here."

With a loud "BANG!" the stall door slammed open from the inside. A multitude of pale, lifeless hands stretched out from the abyss, trying to drag Rowan into the stall.

Rowan made no attempt to retreat. Instead, he casually rummaged through his pocket.

The moment his hand emerged, gripping a small object, the ghostly hands froze mid-air, as if they had collided with an invisible wall.

"Hanako, you haven't turned in your homework yet."

Rowan waved the teacher's ID badge in his hand. The badge had no photo—only a name: Leo Carter.

While everyone else had assumed Rowan was merely asking Leo a math problem earlier, he had, in reality, stolen the teacher's ID badge.

The student handbook dictated the school rules that students had to obey.

And in any school, there was always a hierarchy between teachers and students. Even if teachers were bound by certain rules, they didn't necessarily follow the same set of regulations as students.

"Homework?" Hanako's voice turned shrill.

"Yes."

Rowan lied with an utterly calm expression. He repeated, "Hanako, you haven't turned in your homework."

A flicker of panic crossed Hanako's ghostly eyes. She dropped from the ceiling, landing in a crouch. Her body remained rigidly still, but her head twisted a full 180 degrees to stare at Rowan, an unnatural motion resembling that of an insect.

"I… I don't know what the homework is."

Rowan raised an eyebrow.

So, there was indeed a hierarchy at play.

Players who broke school rules were punished accordingly.

Hanako's game forced players to participate, but its authority was inferior to school rules.

And since Hanako was classified as a student, even in death, she was still bound by school regulations.

School Rules > Hanako's Game.

Rowan had suspected that parts of the student handbook contained false rules, but some were undoubtedly real.

And right now, he was betting that Rule #10 was legitimate.

Even if it turned out to be fake, he wasn't particularly afraid of playing Hanako's game.

"This question right here."

Rowan pulled out a notebook and wrote down a math problem he had seen on the placement test earlier.

Since he had slept soundly through most of the test, he hadn't had much time to memorize the problems.

Hanako took the notebook, glanced at the problem, then looked back at Rowan. Something felt off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Still, she obediently sprawled on the restroom floor and began attempting to solve it.

However, after staring at the problem for a long time, she hadn't written down a single step. She scratched her head in frustration, her fidgeting almost comical.

Rowan crouched beside her, completely unbothered by her terrifying appearance—or the fact that she was the designated horror NPC of this game.

He yawned lazily and asked, "Hanako, do a lot of people play games with you?"

Hanako shot him a glance.

Why wasn't this human scared of her? He was even leaning on one hand, casually watching her do homework…

"Of course! The older girls love playing with me. They always come to me when they're feeling stressed."

"Oh?" Rowan raised an eyebrow. "You're not talking about making them jump off buildings, are you?"

"Jump off buildings?" Hanako tilted her head, confused. Then, she giggled, licking her lips as if reminiscing about something amusing.

"Hanako doesn't like jumping games. Hanako likes hide-and-seek! Hehehehe."

As she spoke, her tone was filled with a twisted excitement.

"And what's the benefit of willingly playing your game?"

In the dim lighting, Rowan's snake-like eyes fixated on Hanako.

Hanako hesitated for a moment. This was the first time a human had ever asked to play with her voluntarily.

She lifted her head to look at Rowan.

"Hanako can let you choose the game."

Rowan chuckled, leaning in slightly.

"Before I choose, can I ask—how old are you?"

"Hanako is five years old!" she replied proudly.

Rowan laughed aloud.

A mature high school student wouldn't start every sentence with their own name—unless they had a childish personality or a cognitive impairment.

"In that case, I'll pick the game. How about that?"

Hanako's eyes lit up at the mention of a game. She immediately set down the notebook and nodded eagerly.

"Okay!"

Rowan reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin.

The coin had been in his pocket since the moment he entered the game.

Unlike the currency he was familiar with, this one resembled a game token from an arcade.

He told Hanako, "The side with the king is heads. The side with the queen is tails."

"If it lands on heads, I win. If it lands on tails… you lose."

His voice was soft and deliberate.

Hanako barely processed the meaning of his words—she was too fixated on the shiny coin. Probability games were fun!

"Okay!" she chirped, crawling closer to Rowan.

Rowan casually tossed the coin into the air.

A crisp clinking sound rang out as the coin landed on the floor.

Hanako's pupils dilated as she stared at it intently.

"Heads. I win." Rowan showed her the result.

There was never a chance he would lose.

Because in this game, heads meant he won.

And tails?

That also meant he won.

After all, he was just messing with a five-year-old.