"…Amamiya-san, please turn yourself in."
A cold, emotionless voice reached my ears, like the freezing wind on the coldest winter days—chilling both body and soul.
The girl who spoke wore moon-white pajamas made of luxurious fabric. Her silky black hair fell naturally to her waist, and her skin was fair and smooth, her features delicate and flawless.
If I'm not mistaken, she looks like my classmate... Shinomiya Kaguya?
The new semester had just started, and I happened to be assigned to the same class as the girl standing before me. However, we had never spoken. We were just typical classmates.
Amamiya Natsuki took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. In his left hand was a black collar; in his right, a white leash. He couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
I was just about to take my dog for a walk. I crouched down to tie my shoelaces—and when I looked up, the Akita had turned into an ice sculpture of a girl in pajamas?
Could this be the dog girl's way of repaying a favor?
I guess walking you every day wasn't in vain.
But how is asking me to turn myself in supposed to be a way of repaying kindness?
Amamiya Natsuki raised his head and looked around.
The familiar street had quietly vanished, replaced by a strange room. Though calling it a "room" might be inaccurate—no one would build a room the size of a football field.
There were no doors or windows. Aside from Amamiya Natsuki and Shinomiya Kaguya, there were no people or creatures present. Not even a table or chair. It was like standing inside a giant, empty box.
What was even stranger was that, despite the absence of a light source, everything was clearly visible.
The unexplainable phenomenon made Amamiya Natsuki question whether he was dreaming.
"…Turn yourself in."
That same cold, melodious voice—pleasant to the ear, like pearls clinking together—rang out once more. Shinomiya Kaguya pressed her hand to her chest, her face still devoid of emotion.
"Sorry, I refuse," Amamiya Natsuki replied reflexively.
The first time I speak to a classmate and it starts with, 'Turn yourself in'? Something's definitely off here!
Shinomiya Kaguya's voice remained icy, her gaze as still as a frozen lake: "Although I don't know how you managed to secretly abduct me here, my bodyguards will find me soon… Your only way out is to surrender."
What's with that look, like she's already writing my obituary?
If I don't confess and surrender right away, am I going to end up feeding the fish in Tokyo Bay?
"Shinomiya-san," Amamiya Natsuki said seriously, "I think you may have misunderstood something."
"…"
Shinomiya Kaguya said nothing, but her gaze dropped to the collar and leash in his hands.
"I was about to go walk my dog," Natsuki said, keeping his tone calm. "Isn't it normal to have a collar and a leash?"
At his explanation, the ice sculpture girl's eyes widened ever so slightly, and an even colder aura burst from her like a blizzard.
"Wait," Natsuki said quickly. "This really is a collar and leash for a dog. I didn't prepare them for you!"
The air turned frigid. Soul-freezing cold.
Natsuki slowly raised both hands in surrender. "…Is it too late to turn myself in now?"
Shinomiya Kaguya didn't answer. Her crimson eyes opened wide, her pink lips parting slightly to reveal two rows of pearly teeth. Compared to her icy expression from moments ago, her current dumbfounded look was almost… cute.
Wait—
"There's something behind us!"
Natsuki's heart skipped a beat as he quickly turned around.
Oh crap!
A huge snake!
A giant serpent—easily over ten meters long—had appeared in the room without warning. Its body was made of interlocking rings, and aside from its oversized head, the rest of its form was unnaturally uniform in width and length.
The next moment—
A strange voice echoed directly in their minds.
[Welcome to the Weird Game]
[Game Instance: Snake Catchers Talk]
[Clear Conditions: 1. Capture the snake; 2. Survive for 30 minutes. Either condition allows you to exit the dungeon.]
[Reward: See the Reality of the World]
[Penalty for Failure: Random]
[The game is about to begin. Good luck.]
As the voice faded, the previously motionless anaconda stirred. Without hesitation, it slithered straight toward Amamiya Natsuki and Shinomiya Kaguya.
Natsuki took a sharp breath and turned to the pale-faced girl beside him—still clearly stunned. "What are you daydreaming for? Run!"
Only then did Shinomiya Kaguya snap back to reality.
Even 'Ice-Cold Princess Kaguya' couldn't keep her composure in the face of a monstrous serpent.
Fortunately, the snake didn't pursue them immediately. It turned around instead, swallowed a floating orb of light, and slithered off at a leisurely pace.
In addition to the giant snake, there were many glowing orbs scattered around the room—each about the size of a soccer ball. One sat in the corner where the two had taken shelter. Natsuki cautiously reached out to touch it, only to feel nothing. His fingers passed right through as if it were air.
The two leaned against the wall, panting. Natsuki glanced at Shinomiya Kaguya.
"Shinomiya-san, did you hear a strange voice just now?"
"I heard it," Kaguya replied, her face still pale. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Her icy composure was starting to thaw, like a snowman under a noonday sun. She tried her best to keep her voice steady. "It said… 'Welcome to the game…'"
So they had heard the exact same thing.
"It seems we've become players in some sort of game," Natsuki said in a low voice. "The snake catcher's task… must be to catch that giant snake."
In this sealed space, the only things present were the two of them—and the anaconda.
Which made the objective painfully obvious.
The problem was… the snake was just too big.
You might wrestle a small snake with your bare hands, sure—but try grappling an anaconda that could star in a horror film?
That's like an old man drinking poison because he thinks life is too long.
"That snake… just appeared out of nowhere…"
Kaguya inhaled shakily. She could stay composed when facing criminals or threats she understood—but a supernatural monster? Not so much.
"I was just about to walk my dog," Natsuki muttered, frowning. "I bend down to tie my shoes and next thing I know, I'm here—with that thing."
He hadn't noticed Kaguya's subtle flinch. "This has to be some kind of paranormal phenomenon. There's no way to explain it with science."
There was something wrong with that snake. Not just its size—it radiated a sense of wrongness, like it didn't belong on Earth. The closest analogue was an anaconda, but that wasn't saying much.
So now the question was:
How does an ordinary person catch a monster like that with nothing but bare hands?
Natsuki carefully considered all the "tools" at his disposal: a collar, a leash… and a girl made of ice.
And came to a grim conclusion.
No way.
We're dead.
The only viable condition now seemed to be surviving for thirty minutes…
Natsuki glanced toward the distant anaconda and began to accept his fate—when suddenly, his vision shimmered. His eyes grew warm. And then, floating just above the anaconda's head, a line of glowing text appeared:
I have a dream…