That was the sound of high heels clicking.
Hayato looked over and saw the female receptionist in a disheveled black suit, her stockings torn in multiple places to reveal pale skin underneath. She walked steadily in her high heels despite everything, her left hand hanging down and dragging something heavy behind her. As the distance closed between them, what her left hand dragged finally became clearer in the dim red light.
"Ugh..."
Hoshino Ai and Kuroda Hikari both covered their mouths quickly, deeply afraid of making any sounds and triggering the hotel's noise rules again.
Even with Hayato standing right here, the two girls didn't dare face what they were seeing directly.
That was a corpse. The mangled corpse of the middle-aged man, Tanaka Ichiro. No, strictly speaking, it wasn't quite a corpse yet. Tanaka Ichiro hadn't died completely. His head was still raised slightly, and his eyes were still open, staring at nothing. But his originally overweight body had swollen grotesquely to the point his clothes couldn't contain it anymore and looked ready to burst. Chunks of unknown flesh dripped with dark fluids that left a trail. The hallway even started carrying a faint fishy, rotten stench.
"Woman..."
"Kill..."
The weak voice could still be heard clearly in the oppressively quiet hallway.
The female receptionist suddenly kicked him without warning. Tanaka Ichiro's pig-like scream rang out, echoing off the walls.
Then she stopped moving, raised her gray lifeless eyes, and gazed directly at Hayato.
Four eyes met. Silent communication passed between them.
Hayato was eighty percent sure this female receptionist had genuine self-awareness. She wasn't just a mindless puppet role within the hotel's mechanisms. However, whether that self-awareness was truly her own or artificially granted by the hotel itself, he couldn't determine yet.
Try it and see.
Hayato raised his index finger slowly to his lips in a shushing gesture.
Three seconds passed in tense silence.
The female receptionist withdrew her gaze without reaction. Her hand continued dragging Tanaka Ichiro's swollen form step by step forward. Hayato watched quietly without any movement, standing his ground. Hoshino Ai and Kuroda Hikari trembled behind him like leaves. They worried desperately that the receptionist would suddenly lash out and launch a surprise attack. If they could, they'd even want to immediately turn into the room and slam the door shut.
But Hayato didn't move and showed no intention of closing the door. They could only endure the terror, anxiously hoping the receptionist would hurry past them.
Tap...
Tap...
Closer.
Even closer with each deliberate step.
The female receptionist never launched an attack or showed any visible malice toward them.
Finally, they passed each other in the doorway.
And in that exact instant—
"Cleaning..."
"Must have..."
A hoarse voice, but unexpectedly without any cold or threatening component to it.
She dragged Tanaka Ichiro away down the hall, entered the elevator with him, and disappeared from view.
"Ha-Hayato-senpai... we're... safe now, right?!"
Kuroda Hikari spoke carefully, voice barely above a whisper.
The female receptionist had left the floor. They were definitely safe now, right?!
"We're fine for now, at least."
"That's good, that's good."
Kuroda Hikari let out a long, shuddering breath of relief.
"That's... a keycard. Hayato-kun."
Hoshino Ai immediately noticed something, a card lying on the floor just outside their door, stained with dark red liquid. She suddenly shook Hayato's shoulder urgently. Then she actively stepped out and bent down to pick up the keycard carefully.
Rustle rustle...
Hoshino Ai pulled out a tissue from her pocket, wiped the keycard clean with methodical strokes, and handed it to Hayato.
"It's room 304's keycard. Did that middle-aged man drop it when he was being dragged away?"
"Probably. There's no way that terrifying female receptionist intentionally left it behind!"
Kuroda Hikari was still visibly terrified even now. She'd been so close to fear and death, closer than she'd ever been in her life.
If not for Hayato, I'd probably already be dead.
And compared to Hayato's protection, her classmate Sawanaga Taisuke was absolutely terrible. She'd already heard from Hoshino Ai that when the female receptionist first appeared, Sawanaga Taisuke had directly slammed his door shut, completely giving them zero chance to enter and seek shelter.
Hayato took room 304's keycard, examining it.
Combined with the female receptionist's simple words from earlier, Hayato actually suspected the receptionist had deliberately left it behind for them.
This is... for helping me?
This... isn't right, is it?
The hotel's female receptionist actively providing assistance to guests?
With this uncomfortable doubt nagging at him, Hayato turned and finally closed room 306's door.
Click.
The moment the lock engaged, Hoshino Ai and Kuroda Hikari finally breathed huge sighs of relief, feeling exponentially more at ease.
"The room really does make you feel safe somehow."
Hoshino Ai completely disregarded her image and directly leaped onto the large bed with childlike abandon. The bed even made creaking sounds under her impact.
Kuroda Hikari followed right after, not caring about appearances at all either.
Hayato glanced over and caught the beautiful scenery of their carelessly exposed positions on the bed.
"Speaking of which, Hayato-kun, why didn't the receptionist attack us at the very end?"
Instantly, both girls' gazes focused on Hayato with intense curiosity.
"First, we'd already entered the room's threshold. We were within the room's protective range."
"Second, we stayed completely quiet. We didn't make loud disturbances anymore."
"Third, I estimate that since she just dealt with one rule-violating guest, she can't deal with other guests until she's completely processed and disposed of this one first."
Hayato's logical explanation made the two girls suddenly understand everything.
"So... that's how it works! Hayato-kun is so smart! I couldn't think of any of that on my own."
Kuroda Hikari showed genuinely admiring expressions.
Hayato didn't explain further. Time stop was his ultimate secret and primary source of confidence. He absolutely couldn't let anyone else know about it.
Time stop was very strong, probably his most powerful advantage. But it wasn't truly invincible. Once people knew about it, he could very easily be targeted and countered by those who were prepared.
Prepared versus unprepared, after enough times, the one who'd inevitably die would be him.
It concerned his life and continued survival. Hayato still knew the critical difference between important and trivial information.
Hayato just didn't know if this world had people with abilities like "knowing others' superpowers automatically." If such people existed and he encountered one by chance, he'd probably have to deal with them permanently first.