Last night was a complete nightmare.
Sawanaga Taisuke sat alone in room 307, and what happened to him there was without a doubt the most terrifying experience of his entire life.
Around 3 AM, the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. No one walked through the door, and no creaking sounds echoed in the silence, but he knew with absolute certainty that something else had entered the room with him.
He couldn't see it, and he couldn't touch it, but the presence was unmistakable. It felt heavy and oppressive, like something breathing directly against the back of his neck.
Then the giggling started.
Sometimes it came out high-pitched and shrill, other times it dropped to an unsettling low rumble. The sounds came and went without any pattern, weaving through the silence like wisps of smoke. Sharp bursts of sobbing mixed between the giggles, fading into broken whimpers before falling silent again, only to restart the cycle.
Every single time Taisuke roared at the top of his lungs, slammed his fists against the walls, or screamed until his throat burned raw, everything would instantly vanish. The room would fall into dead silence as if nothing had ever existed there in the first place.
But the moment he stopped and his ragged breathing finally settled, it would all start again.
He screamed until his voice gave out. He begged and pleaded with whatever invisible force tormented him. He tried bargaining with something he couldn't even see, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his face that he didn't bother wiping away. None of it worked.
He tried open the door.
It wouldn't budge even a single millimeter. He slammed his shoulder against it repeatedly and yanked at the handle until his palms scraped raw and bled. Nothing changed. Room 307 held him prisoner like a steel trap.
Then, teetering on the very edge of losing his mind completely, he stumbled into the bathroom.
The mirror hung there on the wall, and his reflection stared back at him from the glass.
Except it wasn't just his reflection anymore.
A pale face with hollow black eyes clung to his back, its mouth twisted into something that wasn't quite a smile. The thing he'd been hearing all night was finally visible now, finally real, right there in the mirror behind him.
His vision went completely white.
When consciousness returned to him, the first thing he noticed was his own reflection staring back from the mirror again. But something fundamental had changed. His face in the mirror looked wrong in ways he couldn't quite articulate, the skin texture, the expression, the way his eyes sat in their sockets, everything about it had twisted into something no longer human.
He had become a supernatural existence.
And the absolute worst part was that he no longer had any control over his own body.
It simply moved on its own, walking back and forth across the room before drifting out the door and down the hallway like a corpse dangling from invisible strings. Taisuke could only watch it all happen from somewhere deep inside, screaming at limbs that completely refused to listen to his commands. He had become nothing more than a helpless prisoner trapped within his own skin.
That was the exact moment when true despair crashed into him like a tidal wave.
Why did it have to be me? The question burned through his consciousness over and over in an endless loop. Why did they drag me into this insane death game? Why did I have to die and become this horrific thing? Meanwhile, Hayato walked around out there somewhere, alive and perfectly fine, casually strolling with that idol Hoshino Ai as if none of this nightmare had ever happened.
While Taisuke had absolutely nothing left.
That's when he heard the voice speaking to him.
It offered him a deal, become a hotel staff member, and in exchange, he would receive a genuine chance to live again. His freedom would be the price he'd have to pay, but the arrangement wasn't meant to last forever. If he could complete the hotel's assigned work, he might eventually get his freedom back.
Taisuke didn't even care about the "might" or the "possibility" parts of that offer. He would have agreed to those terms regardless of how uncertain they sounded, because at this point, he had absolutely no cards left to play.
But at least now he had something to fight for.
Sawanaga Taisuke's smile stretched unnaturally wide across his face as his eyes, brimming with an unsettling intensity, locked directly onto the three people currently standing before him in the hallway.
Right now in this very moment, he felt completely and utterly fearless.
It didn't matter how sharp Hayato's mind was, how capable he'd proven himself, or how clever his strategies were, because none of that could possibly matter here in this place. Here in this hotel, Taisuke held the position of staff member, and being staff meant he held all the power that truly mattered.
He was effectively invincible.
The memory of Hayato's cold and dismissive look from their previous encounter crawled its way back into Taisuke's chest, and the resentment that had festered there swelled hot and tight behind his ribs.
He needed to hold it in for now, though, because this confrontation had only just begun. He wanted to savor every single second of what was about to unfold, slowly and carefully drawing it out like a starving man presented with a feast.
The wave of pure malice that suddenly rolled off Taisuke hit all three of them simultaneously.
No subtlety disguised what it was. The suffocating hostility simply emanated from him in thick waves that crashed into Kuroda, Hayato, and Hoshino Ai all at once.
Kuroda Hikari felt her chest go ice cold as she stared at the figure standing directly in front of her, and something fundamental seemed to shift in her perception. It was like looking at a complete stranger who happened to wear the familiar face of someone she once knew.
This person standing before them wasn't Sawanaga Taisuke anymore, or at least not the version of him that had once been human. The thing occupying his body was nothing more than a monster wearing human skin, and she kept repeating that reminder in her head like a mantra, gripping it tightly like it was the only lifeline keeping her sane.
"Hayato-san, I really need you to help me out here," Taisuke said with that unsettling smile still plastered across his face.
Hayato felt his stomach drop as an uncomfortable sensation washed over him.
Something about this entire situation felt deeply wrong in ways he couldn't quite put into words. He could physically feel something heavy and oppressive radiating outward from Taisuke's direction like heat waves rising from broken pavement, and it made every single hair on the back of his neck stand straight up.
What the hell actually happened to him last night? Hayato wondered with growing unease.
He genuinely had no idea what Taisuke must have experienced during those dark hours, and honestly, looking at the way the guy smiled right now with that expression, Hayato wasn't entirely sure he actually wanted to find out the details.
Taisuke maintained that disturbing smile as he began speaking again.
"You should all just stay here in this hotel with me," Taisuke said, his voice taking on a warm and almost inviting quality, as if he genuinely offered them something wonderful. "It's actually really great here when you think about it. We'd have infinite time stretching out before us and eternal life to enjoy it with. New guests check in at regular intervals, so we'd never have to worry about getting bored. This time we'd get to face them as staff members instead of being guests who had to live in constant fear like we did last night..."
Taisuke spread his hands outward in a slow, deliberate gesture with his palms open and fingers curling slightly.
"We would essentially become gods within these walls. We could do absolutely whatever we wanted without consequences. We could enjoy watching the guests suffer, relish in their raw fear and mounting their desperation, experience all of it from a position of complete power."
The invitation hung heavy in the air between them, waiting for a response.
Hayato remained silent and didn't answer immediately. Something about the way Taisuke's words landed in his ears felt distinctly off. It wasn't just the insane content of what he actually said, though that disturbed him enough on its own. No, it was something about the delivery itself, the words felt too smooth and too carefully constructed, like someone designed them to slip past a person's mental defenses without them even noticing the manipulation happening.
Then Hayato caught himself mid-thought as he noticed that weird, artificially warm feeling that had started creeping into his chest, and he mentally pulled back from it hard and fast, like someone who'd almost touched their hand to a hot stove.
Taisuke was definitely doing something to us right now, some kind of supernatural manipulation.
Hayato didn't know exactly what form that manipulation took or what its precise mechanics were, but certain facts were becoming increasingly obvious. Taisuke had clearly become a supernatural entity at some point, which was evident from the way the air itself felt thick and oppressive around him and from the way Kuroda visibly trembled behind Hayato's back.
So if Taisuke was supernatural now and presumably worked for the hotel's interests, then why did he stand here trying to convince us with words instead of just forcing it?
The answer had to be because he couldn't actually force them to do anything, which meant this verbal manipulation was literally all he had available to work with. Maybe this is the rule of this death game, the supernatural existence can't hurt the hotel guest if they didn't break the hotel rules...
Hayato wasn't completely certain that logic, and he definitely wasn't willing to bet their lives on that assumption, but it was the only explanation that made any coherent sense given their current circumstances, and he simply didn't have enough time to work through all the other possibilities.
"You failed whatever challenge the game presented last night and became something supernatural as a result of that failure."
"So your actual job now is to prevent us from leaving this hotel and keep us trapped here, isn't that right?"
Something flickered behind Taisuke's eyes for just a fraction of a second, though his unsettling smile remained frozen in place. But Hayato could see the expression go slightly tighter around the edges.
"And based on everything I'm seeing, persuasion through manipulation is probably one of the very few abilities you actually have access to right now as hotel staff," Hayato continued, pushing forward with his theory.
The hallway fell into complete silence.
Taisuke said absolutely nothing in response, and the air stretching between them felt thin and fragile, like it might shatter at any moment.
Hayato swallowed hard as his heart hammered against his ribcage so violently that he could actually hear the pounding in his own ears.
"So just move out of the way and let us process our checkout," Hayato said, lifting one hand in a gesture that came across as vague and awkward.
Sawanaga Taisuke's smile somehow managed to grow even brighter and more intense than it had been moments before.
"You really are truly worthy of the reputation you've built, Hayato-san," he said with what sounded like genuine admiration mixed with amusement. "My pathetic little tricks really don't stand even the slightest chance against someone like you, right?" He accompanied this with an easy shrug, as if he was simply laughing at some harmless joke between friends. "Alright then, I can accept that. Hayato-san did help me out before when I needed it, and I'm definitely not the kind of person who would repay genuine kindness with outright hostility."
Taisuke deliberately shifted exactly half a step to his left, opening up just enough space in the hallway for them to potentially pass by. It was a small but unmistakably intentional gesture, as if to say 'See, I'm being reasonable here, and I'm not going to cause any trouble for you.'
"Hayato-san, you and Hoshino Ai are completely free to leave this hotel whenever you want," Taisuke announced with that same bright smile.
Hayato didn't immediately move forward to accept the offer though, because something about how easily Taisuke had given in felt fundamentally wrong. The way that smile remained perfectly locked in place on his face made Hayato's gut clench with instinctive warning.
"But I'm afraid Kuroda-san absolutely cannot leave," Taisuke added, as casually as if he were commenting on the weather.
A single beat of shocked silence passed.
Then Kuroda's voice emerged, small and shaky and barely above a whisper.
"Sawanaga... kun..."
"What's wrong, don't you want to stay here with me?" Taisuke asked as he tilted his head slightly to one side, somehow managing to keep that disturbing smile perfectly locked in place on his face.
"I... I don't..." Kuroda stammered, unable to form complete sentences.
"Doesn't Kuroda-san like me even a little bit?" Taisuke took one deliberate step forward in her direction, then another, each movement slow and unhurried as he methodically closed the distance between them. "Just stay right here in this hotel and keep me company for eternity. We could have eternal life together, you and me, forever and ever without end."
Kuroda Hikari immediately scrambled backward until she pressed herself firmly against Hayato's back, using him as a shield between herself and Taisuke. Her hands desperately gripped the back of Hayato's jacket with white-knuckled intensity as she shook her head so violently that her hair whipped across her face.
She was absolutely terrified huh, Hayato could feel every tremor running through her body as she pressed against his back.
"Sawanaga," Hayato said firmly, his voice coming out with more strength.
"But someone absolutely has to stay behind in this hotel!" Taisuke's grin somehow widened even further, completely undeterred by Hayato's attempt to establish boundaries. "So, how about this Hayato-san, what if you volunteered to stay here instead of forcing Kuroda-san to remain? Or..." His eyes slid sideways with deliberate slowness until they landed squarely on the idol who hid behind Hayato's other side. "Actually, Ai-chan would work perfectly well, too. You have to understand that as her biggest and most dedicated fan, I'm really, genuinely looking forward to the possibility of Ai-chan staying here with me in this hotel."
Hoshino Ai ducked behind Hayato so quickly that she nearly knocked him off balance and sent him stumbling forward. She pressed herself close against his back, one hand clutching desperately at his sleeve.
This guy is a complete pervert, an absolute creep, Hayato thought with disgust.
His mind raced now, trying to process every word and analyze every subtle movement. Everything about this interaction felt too calculated and too deliberately orchestrated to simply be Taisuke acting weird because he'd lost his mind.
He's specifically trying to provoke me and make me angry, Hayato realized with sudden clarity. He wants me to lose control and snap at him.
Ah.... I see....
The realization settled into his consciousness cold and crystal clear.
This wasn't just Taisuke messing around or venting his frustrations randomly. He tried to push me into doing something rash, into reacting violently, into retaliating in any way that might possibly count as breaking one of the hotel's mysterious rules.
Hayato thought as the pieces clicked together in his mind. And Taisuke knows exactly what those rules are because he's part of the system now.
Sawanaga Taisuke watched as Hayato's silence stretched on and on, and then he suddenly threw his head straight back and let out a loud, completely unrestrained laugh. The sound bounced and echoed off the hallway walls in a way that seemed almost theatrical.
"Ha! You know what, I actually genuinely thought Hayato-san was going to turn out to be that classic self-sacrificing hero type, the kind of protagonist who's always willing to throw himself down for the sake of everyone else around him!" He dramatically wiped one finger underneath his eye as if brushing away tears of laughter, though his grin never faltered for even a second. "But it turns out you're really just a completely normal guy at the end of the day. You value preserving your own life above everything else, exactly like every other human being would. It really looks like Kuroda-san placed her trust in the wrong person after all, doesn't it? I wonder if you're regretting that decision now, Kuroda-san?"
That particular comment stung in a way that hit deeper than Hayato wanted to feel.
It wasn't because the accusation was actually true, but rather because Kuroda Hikari stood right there behind him and Hayato could physically feel her grip on his jacket loosen for just a brief second, as if she genuinely considered whether Taisuke might be right about him.
Before Hayato could formulate any kind of response to defend himself, Kuroda's voice suddenly shot out on its own accord, loud and sharp and fierce in a way that seemed to surprise even her.
"That's absolutely not true! Hayato-senpai isn't anything like that at all! He's so much better than you could ever hope to be!"
The words echoed down the empty hallway with surprising force and conviction. Then, as if she'd only just processed how loudly she'd been shouting, Kuroda immediately shrank back behind Hayato again with her shoulders curling inward protectively and her face burning bright red with embarrassment.
Sawanaga Taisuke let out a long, theatrical sigh that sounded almost disappointed.
"Well, it looks like Hayato-san didn't manage to see through my actual real purpose after all this time," he said with mock sadness. "I have to admit, this is one of the rare occasions where I've managed to stay a step ahead of you, Hayato-san."
He held up a single finger in front of his face, and his tone shifted noticeably into something that sounded almost gentle now, almost earnest and sincere.
"The truth is that I only wanted to help Kuroda-san properly test whether Hayato-san could actually be trusted with her life in a crisis situation. If you really think about it logically, if Hayato-san had been genuinely willing to sacrifice himself for her sake, wouldn't that have given Kuroda-san the definitive answer she needed? She would have concrete proof that he's a man she could truly entrust her entire life to without any doubts." He shrugged with an expression of complete helplessness, as if the whole situation escaped his control. "And obviously, I wouldn't have actually kept Hayato-san trapped here in the hotel even if he had agreed to stay. The whole thing was just meant to be a test of his character, nothing more than that."
The words settled over the hallway like a heavy blanket, muffling everything else.
Kuroda Hikari's entire body went rigid as her mind frantically processed what she'd just heard.
Could it actually be true? Could Sawanaga really have been trying to help her all along?
Pa!
The sharp sound of Hayato's palm connecting with her cheek rang out clearly in the silence.
It wasn't hard enough to actually hurt her or leave any lasting mark, but it was definitely sharp enough to snap her out of whatever mental fog had been descending over her thoughts. Her eyes refocused almost immediately, blinking rapidly as clarity returned, and when she looked up at Hayato's face, there was something close to guilt written across her expression.
"It's his abilities, don't worry about it," Hayato met her eyes.
Behind them, Hoshino Ai had also nearly fallen for the exact same trick. She'd felt that insidious pull tugging at the back of her mind, trying to drag her thoughts in a specific direction, and she'd come dangerously close to letting it sweep her under completely. She released a shaky breath and pressed herself a little bit closer to Hayato's side, grateful that he'd broken the spell before it could fully take hold.
"Since it's become clear that Hayato-san isn't going to voluntarily make any choice in this situation... then I suppose I'll just have to go ahead and make that choice for all of you instead."
A keycard suddenly materialized in his hand as if it had always been there. He held it up between two fingers at eye level, making absolutely certain that all three of them could see it clearly and understand its significance.
"This is the keycard for room 307," he announced with casual precision.
Just looking at the keycard and thinking about how Taisuke kept mentioning the checkout process and the way he held up that card like it was the single most important object in the hotel...
"If Kuroda-san genuinely wants to leave this hotel and return to the outside world, she's going to need this specific keycard in order to properly process her checkout at the front desk," Taisuke explained with the patient tone of someone delivering important information.
He let that statement hang in the air for a long moment, allowing the full implications to sink deeply into their minds. Then he continued in a quieter voice that somehow carried even more weight.
"But if this keycard were to get destroyed or damaged beyond use... well, in that case, Kuroda-san would have no choice but to stay here in this hotel. Forever. Keeping me company for all of eternity."
Taisuke watched all three of them with intense focus, drinking in every microexpression that flickered across their faces, every subtle shift in their body language, every tiny reaction they couldn't quite control. He absorbed their emotion as if it were something delicious.