Room 304.
After the middle-aged man Tanaka Ichiro, and Kamimura Miho returned to their room, Kamimura Miho immediately pressed him for details about what happened on the first floor.
The female staff member who appeared. The staff member's horrifying transformation after Sawanaga Taisuke responded to her. And those agonized screams that came afterward.
This hotel was eerie beyond belief and dangerous in ways they couldn't predict.
"Rule 8 recommends bathing before sleeping. You go first, or should I?"
They could bathe or not, but both somehow agreed they probably should.
"You go first."
Tanaka Ichiro was still caught in the aftermath of panic, his hands shaking slightly.
The sound of flowing water began behind the bathroom door.
Tanaka Ichiro glanced over and forced himself to suppress the stirring in his heart.
Tanaka Ichiro and Kamimura Miho had actually just met today. The whole meetup was purely transactional, one person paid money, one person provided their body. A fair trade, nothing more. But he never expected to get dragged into this godforsaken death game.
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have made plans tonight. Should've just stayed home and slept."
But there was no medicine for regret in this world.
Tanaka Ichiro could only sigh heavily.
Suddenly, a woman's scream tore through the air.
That was Kamimura Miho's voice.
"What happened?"
"Blood, so much blood!"
The sound of someone crashing hard to the floor rang out with a wet thud.
The middle-aged man who'd been about to rush in and check saw the blood-red liquid pooling at the bathroom doorway. He immediately lost all intention of going anywhere near it. Instead, he fled to the far corner of the room and grabbed a vase, holding it up defensively, ready to deal with any monsters that might suddenly appear.
"Come help me! Hurry..."
"Deal with it yourself."
In the end, Kamimura Miho relied on her own strength to stand, legs wobbling. She gradually calmed down, forcing her breathing to steady. After feeling that nothing seemed wrong with her body, she endured the psychological discomfort and turned off the showerhead with shaking hands.
"Useless."
After changing into clothes and coming to the bedroom, she looked at the middle-aged man cowering far away in the corner and sneered coldly.
"Dealing with you, I'm more than capable."
"Hmph. All you know is how to bully a weak woman like me."
"Don't you like being bullied? That's what you paid for, isn't it?"
"Come on then!"
But Tanaka Ichiro had absolutely no impulse to move forward. Instead, he worried the woman would get close to him and somehow put him in danger through contamination.
Room 307.
Kuroda Hikari and Sawanaga Taisuke talked for quite a long time, their voices low and tense. The girl mainly asked about what happened in the first-floor lobby, pressing for details.
Sawanaga Taisuke gave a simple explanation, informing her they'd encountered the hotel's female staff member down there. But he carefully concealed the fact that he'd responded to her and felt marked by the creature.
I'm just doing this to avoid making Kuroda Hikari worry needlessly...
"Kuroda, if we really encounter danger, you must go to 306 and ask Hayato-san for help immediately. If one of us can leave this love hotel alive, it'll definitely be him."
This was everyone's unspoken consensus. They'd all seen Hayato's performance in the hotel with their own eyes, calm, capable, seemingly unshakable.
"I will, Sawanaga-kun. We'll definitely leave here alive."
"Yeah, we will. You're cute, though I know this isn't easy to hear. Hoshino Ai stands out more as an idol, but you're beautiful in your own way. And if it's for our own survival, sometimes sacrifices can't be avoided."
Sawanaga Taisuke said it tactfully, trying to soften the words, but Kuroda Hikari understood perfectly what he meant. She showed a bitter smile and lowered her head, hair falling forward to hide her expression.
How could he say something like that?!
Kuroda Hikari's heart filled with bitterness that tasted like ash. She turned without another word and walked toward the bathroom.
She turned on the sink faucet.
Her eyes immediately caught the dark red liquid flowing out in thick streams.
"Ah!"
She flinched and pulled her hand back, letting out a panicked sound.
Soon, Sawanaga Taisuke rushed over and confirmed the water situation, peering at it from a safe distance.
"It's all dark red!"
"Then, bathing time..."
"I'm not bathing. Rule 8 didn't say bathing was mandatory anyway...."
Sawanaga Taisuke looked at that dark red liquid and felt like it was some deadly pollutant from the abyss itself, ready to infect anyone who touched it.
In the end, Kuroda Hikari didn't bathe either.
She was worried too. The risk seemed too great.
Afterward, the two found spots to sit down and rest, keeping a distance between them. The air felt heavy, uncomfortable.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
Time passed slowly, each minute stretching.
The current time was 10:48 PM.
More than an hour had passed since Hayato arrived at the Koi no Kokoro Love Hotel.
During this time, aside from the dark red liquid flowing from all the faucets, nothing else abnormal had occurred. No monsters, no screams, no sudden deaths.
Hoshino Ai kept finding topics to chat casually with Hayato, filling the silence. She talked about her future plans and dreams, how she hoped to become a super popular idol loved by everyone nationwide. She mentioned that if she got married and had children in the future, she'd definitely become an excellent mother who gave her kids everything she never had.
"Actually, I'm from a single-parent household. My mother was very harsh and often hit me."
Recalling the past made something in her chest tighten. Hoshino Ai hugged her legs to her chest, curling up. Her body trembled slightly with the memories. Right now, she was wearing Hayato's jacket, which he'd given her to prepare for any sudden incidents that might occur.
Hayato still remembered Hoshino Ai's tragic upbringing from the original story, but now he chose to become a quiet listener, letting her voice the deepest thoughts and pain in her heart.
"She was later arrested and sent to prison, and I went to an orphanage. But I've actually always missed her, even after everything. Even though she often hit me, left bruises, I know she's my only family in this world."
The purple-black-haired girl showed such sadness, emanating an atmosphere of suffering that made the room feel colder.
"I kept waiting for the day she'd get out of prison and come find me. But until now, I've never seen her again. She completely abandoned me. Maybe if I died tomorrow, she wouldn't even care. Wouldn't even know."
"I care."
"Hm?"
Hoshino Ai looked over with a surprised gaze, eyes widening.
"If you died, Hoshino, this world would lose one beautiful girl. What a waste that would be. So I care very much. You'll leave here alive. I'll make sure of it."
"Hayato-kun, you really are..."
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, or whether she should be happy or sad at those words.
"Think more about happy things. This world has sadness and pain, sure, but it also has joy and happiness waiting for you. You, who's devoted yourself to being an idol, must really love this work. It brings you happiness, doesn't it? So do your best! Become that super popular idol you hope to be, Hoshino-san."
"Thank you."
One word of thanks, but it expressed all the gratitude swelling in her heart.
"Um... Hayato-kun."
"Speak freely."
"Can you... Keep supporting me? I hope you'll... keep supporting me as a fan. Don't, don't go support Mai-san, okay?"
This request seemed to use all of Hoshino Ai's courage and strength.
She looked at Hayato nervously, hands gripping the jacket, waiting for an answer.
Don't go support Mai-san?
Wait, does that mean Mai-san really exists?!
Hayato's heart immediately ignited with excitement. Blazing flames burst with scorching heat inside his chest.
Bunny girl senpai!
"No can do. After leaving this hotel, I'm going to find Mai."
Mai-san existed in this world, so how could I not go see her? That was non-negotiable.
Only Hoshino Ai wore a heartbroken expression right now, like she'd been physically struck. She'd been cleanly and decisively rejected without hesitation.
"I actually..."
But right then, sounds rang out from somewhere nearby.
"Mmm, aaah..."
Hoshino Ai and Hayato's eyes met, confusion flickering between them. They looked toward where the sound was coming from.
"Mmm..."
"Ooh..."
Next door, someone was clearly going at it.
Tanaka Ichiro and Kamimura Miho are seriously doing that right now?!