After the realization that the Origami Birds were a clue she'd completely overlooked, a character with a faint presence suddenly flickered in the dusty corners of Sylvia's memory.
Misha.
She had seen him once during the opening act of the story—right when she entered the dream—but they hadn't crossed paths since. Because of that, Sylvia hadn't given his absence much thought.
Until now.
"Something's not right. Something is definitely off. Misha said he was a bellboy; he should be wandering around the lobby every day."
Sylvia didn't usually pass through the main hall, but she'd been to the lobby in reality a few times.
She hadn't run into Misha once.
"No, I have to go ask. I need to know if I just missed him or if there's actually something wrong."
"And what exactly are you going to ask, my little white-haired friend~?"
A familiar, playful voice drifted into her ear.
Sylvia turned her head instinctively, finding Sparkle using a nearby chair as a footstool so she could lean in close and whisper secrets against her ear.
"..."
Sylvia stared at her, blinking slowly. "Your timing is impeccable, as always."
"Hehe~ I had a hunch that something big would happen once you got back, so I decided to come lend a hand."
Sparkle pushed off Sylvia's shoulder to stand straight, then nimbly hopped onto a nearby railing.
She looked down at Sylvia from her high perch, completely unbothered by the fact that her already short skirt had lost all pretense of providing cover.
Sylvia glanced at the thin, form-fitting safety shorts before meeting Sparkle's gaze.
"I'm really curious just how much you actually know—and how deep the details go."
Sylvia was genuinely wondering. Between the script for Penacony that Sparkle had gotten from Silver Wolf, what parts did she actually have written down?
What details did she know, and what was she blind to? Like the way Sparkle had found her just now—was it a fluke, or was it written in the script?
"Hehe~ That's a secret."
Sylvia wasn't disappointed by the answer. She hadn't expected to get a straight word out of Sparkle anyway.
More importantly, she needed to look into this Misha person first.
"I'm heading to the Reverie Hotel in the real world. You coming?"
"Of course! Hehe, how could I miss out on something this fun?"
Sparkle chuckled and crouched down, pulling the mask from her head. The moment it covered her face, she vanished in the blink of an eye.
Sylvia didn't dawdle either; she followed suit and departed from the Dreamscape.
Splash—!
The sound of water rippling echoed from the Dreampool.
Sylvia rose from the water, the liquid sliding off her without leaving a single damp spot on her clothes.
She checked the time. From the moment she entered the dream to her exit, less than half a system hour had passed. Robin hadn't replied to her yet; she was either resting or busy.
Sylvia tucked her phone away and stepped out of her room.
Compared to the temporarily closed Reverie in the dream, the real-world hotel was buzzing with life.
Guests and staff bustled to and fro, and she caught the occasional glimpse of a Bloodhound patrolling the halls.
If there was one drawback, it was that this hotel was simply massive.
Even with elevators everywhere, just walking from a guest floor to the lobby could take half a system hour. There were even portable transit devices along the hallways for the guests to use.
Regardless of where Sparkle might pop up from, Sylvia took the elevator alone to the lobby floor.
The moment she stepped out, Sparkle's head peeked out from beside her.
"Yahoo~ This is our first time meeting in reality, isn't it?"
Sparkle was acting exactly as she did in the dream, standing on her tiptoes to try and lean into Sylvia's ear.
Unfortunately, there was nothing here for her to stand on, so she could barely reach Sylvia's shoulder.
It looked a bit ridiculous.
"It is indeed the first time."
Sylvia nodded with a smile, though her mind was busy wondering if she'd get a chance to catch Sparkle and give her a repeat of what she'd done to her back in the Dreamscape.
"So, where are we going?"
Sparkle pulled out a map of the Reverie with great flourish. She had donned a detective's hat from heaven-knows-where and was even holding a pipe. She looked like she was having the time of her life.
"To the front desk to ask about someone."
The Reverie was simply too big. This wasn't the kind of situation where you could just ask around through a network of coworkers.
Lord knows how many tens of thousands of staff members were employed here. A normal person couldn't possibly remember all their colleagues' names.
Her only choice was to go to the front desk and have them check the database.
"Now then, now then! Detective White-Hair, sir! Who is our prime suspect this time?"
Sparkle skipped along beside her, raising her hand like an overeager detective's assistant.
"...Not a suspect."
"Ooh, a witness then!"
"Not that either... forget it, why am I even arguing with you?"
Sylvia had been about to explain, but the moment she made eye contact, she gave up. This girl was purely in it for the laughs—or maybe she already knew exactly what was going on.
"I'm looking for a bellboy named Misha. Or at least, he claims to be a bellboy."
"Ooh... a 'bellboy' at the Reverie? Sounds like a terrifying figure. Very suspicious indeed."
Watching Sparkle pull out a notebook and start scribbling while muttering to herself, Sylvia sighed and chose to ignore the theatrics.
"What's so terrifying about a bellboy?"
"This is the only grand hotel in all of Penacony, the Reverie! With this much foot traffic, a bellboy would at least need the power of self-duplication to keep up, right?"
"Wait..."
Hearing Sparkle's dead-serious analysis, Sylvia's rebuttal died in her throat as the realization hit her.
Good grief, she was right.
The Reverie was called a "hotel," but the entire planet of Penacony basically only had this one establishment.
The guest floors alone stretched further than the eye could see. The sheer volume of people coming through here was on par with a Starport.
A position like "bellboy" should, by all logic, be split into several different roles across multiple stations.
Thinking of this, Sylvia glanced at Sparkle, who was still muttering to herself with her head down.
This girl...
Did she come here specifically to give me a hint?
With that thought in mind, the two of them hurried to the front desk.
Sure enough, the result was exactly what they had suspected.
"A bellboy? I'm sorry, but the Reverie Hotel hasn't had a 'bellboy' position for a very long time... After all, as you can see, the hotel is vast. Every staff member is assigned to a fixed zone to provide service; we don't move long distances at will."
"...Then, could you please check if there is a staff member named 'Misha'? He has light blue hair and looks a bit small and thin."
"I'm very sorry. We have thirty-four staff members with that name, but none of them match the physical description you've provided."
The girl at the counter even turned the screen to let Sylvia see for herself.
Clearly, not a single one of them looked anything like Misha.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.