"You two have returned safely..." Kotoko Iwanaga greeted Asagiri Utsunomiya and Asuna Yuuki as she took off her beret, held it against her chest with one hand, and acted completely like a young lady from a wealthy, prestigious family. Of course, she was indeed a young lady from a wealthy, prestigious family. She said, "This is something I collected, I wonder if you two are interested?"
Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga take out something that looked like a book, Asuna Yuuki frowned slightly and said, "What is this?"
"The Hotel staff's guidebook, which records the locations of all the facilities in this Hotel, as well as the structural floor plans of each floor."
Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but show a look of surprise.
In a haunted dungeon with an unknown environment, the value of a guidebook like this was self-evident, wasn't it?
For ordinary Players, they might not need this thing that much, after all, their goal was to find a safe place to hide, and then wait for the twelve-hour time limit to end. Regardless of the evaluation they get, being able to survive and get consolation prizes was enough.
But Asagiri Utsunomiya and Asuna Yuuki were different.
Neither of them were the type of people who would be willing to just muddle through a dungeon. After all, in the eyes of Asuna Yuuki and Asagiri Utsunomiya, if they didn't get a high rating, it would be equivalent to wasting the cooldown time for entering the dungeon.
"Are you asking for the information we obtained as an exchange?"
Hearing Asuna Yuuki's question, Kotoko Iwanaga first shook her head, then said with a sweet smile, "No, I just want to ask you, oh, no..."
Kotoko Iwanaga suddenly paused, looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya, who was standing there, and seemed a little shy. Then she continued speaking in a shy tone.
"I just want to ask you one question. In exchange, after you answer, I will give you this guidebook."
Asagiri Utsunomiya replied calmly, "Ask away."
Kotoko Iwanaga's face showed joy, and then she asked an astonishing question that made Asuna Yuuki dumbfounded and even doubt her ears.
"Excuse me... do you have a girlfriend?"
What?
Looking at the somewhat shy Kotoko Iwanaga, Asuna Yuuki was utterly confused.
She brought such a valuable staff manual just to ask this?
If it were in the real world, Asuna Yuuki wouldn't be surprised at all; after all, Asagiri Utsunomiya was so handsome, and it was normal for girls to want to strike up a conversation.
The problem was—
They were in a dungeon right now!
What kind of top-tier romance-obsessed girl was this?
"No."
"That's great."
Kotoko Iwanaga heard Asagiri Utsunomiya's answer, her face full of joy, and directly handed the guidebook in her hand to him.
Then she said, "As agreed, this is yours."
Just as Asagiri Utsunomiya had just taken the guidebook from Kotoko Iwanaga, two figures suddenly appeared from the corner of the corridor.
"Hmm? Have those three arrived?"
The Man in Suit said so as he appeared together with the Woman with Heavy Makeup. Neither of them seemed to be injured.
However, just as they were about to walk over, Kotoko Iwanaga frowned slightly, directly raised her cane, pointed it at the two people, and said, "You... are possessed by the oddities of this Hotel."
"Pos-possessed? What are you talking about?"
The Woman with Heavy Makeup asked, looking confused, while the Man in Suit's looked displeased.
The Man in Suit kept walking over as he said, "We didn't encounter any vengeful spirits, so where does this talk of possession come from..."
"Don't come any closer!"
When Kotoko Iwanaga suddenly shouted this, the Man in Suit finally realized that this little girl, who looked like she was in middle school, was not joking with him, but was serious. His expression became even more displeased, and his next words were spoken in tougher tone.
"Hey! What's with your attitude? What do you mean by being possessed by the oddities? That's just your side of the story. You suddenly say such a thing, I suspect you are the one who is possessed by the oddities. You two stay away from her, the four of us can just discuss together. Just ignore her."
Asagiri Utsunomiya ignored the Man in Suit. Asuna Yuuki, who saw his action, did the same.
Seeing that his words were not answered, the Man in Suit's face couldn't help but show some embarrassment, and he couldn't help but shout at Asagiri Utsunomiya in a tone that sounded like a superior ordering a subordinate: "Didn't you hear me? I told you two to come over..."
"Shut up."
Before the man in the suit could finish speaking, Asagiri Utsunomiya directly interrupted him, and then, under the horrified gaze of the Man in Suit and the Woman with Heavy Makeup, he took out a black pistol from his pocket and pointed the dark muzzle at the Man in Suit.
"Shush, quiet down, I'm considering whether to kill you two directly."
"Pis-pistol?"
Seeing Asagiri Utsunomiya suddenly take out a pistol and point it at himself, the Man in Suit's face instantly turned pale, and his legs couldn't help but start to tremble.
'What is going on? When entering the dungeon, wasn't it forbidden to carry any type of weapon from real world? Why did this guy have a firearm? Could it be... equipment rewarded after clearing the novice dungeon?' The Man in Suit first wondered to himself, then realized it.
After realizing that, he complained in his heart,'Unfair, how unfair! How was that possible? I, who got a B+ rating, only got a golf club as an equipment reward. How could someone get a pistol as a reward!?'
And Kotoko Iwanaga, seeing Asagiri Utsunomiya suddenly take out a firearm, also looked a little surprised, but she didn't make any instinctive movements to back away; instead, she looked quite interested.
Among the people present, only Asuna Yuuki knew the truth. The black pistol in Asagiri Utsunomiya's hand was actually a summoner for summoning his Persona, and it couldn't shoot bullets at all.
However, in the face of a carbon-based creature cooler, unless one felt they could withstand or dodge bullets, no one dared to act rashly.
"Come on, let's begin your honest confession session." Asagiri Utsunomiya first said with a joking tone, then his tone turned cold as he spoke to the Man in Suit and the Woman with Heavy Makeup: "Tell me everything you've done since you separated from us. All the details. Otherwise, I'll play the Requiem Mass and send you two off happily."
Facing a threat to their lives, the Man in Suit and the Woman with Heavy Makeup first exchanged glances, then the former spoke with a trembling voice, completely losing the arrogance he had when he first entered the dungeon.
"I... after we separated from you, we first searched this floor... then we went to search the twenty-first floor, and then... and then we saw that there seemed to be no vengeful spirit on the twenty-first floor, so we kicked open the door of a room, and then... and then..."
"And then what?"
Seeing the Man in Suit look hesitant to speak, the Woman with Heavy Makeup, like a primary school student, carefully raised her hand and spoke with a trembling voice.
"And then... he asked me, asked me to do... that..."
Hearing this, Asuna Yuuki's pretty face flushed, while Kotoko Iwanaga looked as if she had heard exciting gossip, looking very interested and wanting to hear the details.
And Asagiri Utsunomiya, after a few seconds of silence, slowly spoke.
"You two... Are you brain-dead?"