Hayato's gaze shifted to the other attribute values.
Strength, Agility, and Constitution were all below average. That made sense, though. Hoshino Ai was only sixteen right now, and he wasn't much better off himself.
Hayato was only a year older than her.
[Name: Hayato]
[Character Nickname: Unnamed]
[Strength: 8]
[Agility: 9]
[Constitution: 9]
[Charm: 12]
[Mental Power: 15]
And this was after adding achievement points. These values already include boosts to Agility, Charm, and Mental Power.
My mental power being this high... Hayato suspected it was because he was a reincarnator.
"I need to start working out and improve my physical condition as soon as possible."
My body was my foundation. Without a healthy body, there was no way to handle the more dangerous game instances.
"Don't rush to allocate your points. After I research the game mechanics more thoroughly, I'll give you advice on that. The same goes for spending game points."
"I'll listen to whatever Hayato-kun says."
Having Hayato to trust and rely on made Hoshino Ai feel secure.
Suddenly, Hoshino Ai thought of something and slapped her hand on the bed with a loud smack.
"I almost forgot about Kuroda-san! Should we contact her? She should be okay now, right?!"
"You have her contact number?"
"Mm-hmm."
Hoshino Ai nodded. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number.
'Ring...'
"Ring ring ring..."
After a good while, the call finally connected.
"Hello! This is Kuroda Hikari. May I ask who's calling?"
Kuroda Hikari's voice came through from the other end.
"It's me, Ai-chan."
"Ai-chan?"
Kuroda Hikari sounded confused.
"Hoshino Ai! Ai-chan!"
"Um... I think you might have the wrong number. I don't know anyone named Hoshino Ai."
Hoshino Ai was about to say more, but Hayato gently tapped her and shook his head.
At this point, two of them already had their answer.
"S-sorry, I dialed the wrong number."
"No problem."
The call ended.
Kuroda Hikari was quite confused.
"Ai-chan? Hoshino Ai... feels like I've heard that name somewhere."
"Hikari, isn't there an idol called Hoshino Ai?"
Her mother, who'd just come out of the kitchen, thought of someone and spoke up.
"An idol... oh, right! An idol! She held a concert around here before. A bunch of guys from our school went to see it."
She remembered now. But why would that idol have her contact number? No matter how she thought about it, this didn't sound like a simple wrong number situation.
She was confused over it for a while before finally giving up.
"Kuroda-san really doesn't have any memory of the hotel."
"That's a good thing."
Hayato thought Kuroda Hikari had made the right choice.
"She clearly knew her own abilities. Accepting the invitation would only lead to death in the end. It's much better to refuse the invitation and return to her normal daily life. That's the correct choice."
"But, but..."
Hoshino Ai anxiously clasped her hands together and looked up.
"Kuroda-san promised she'd wear a school swimsuit for Hayato-kun to see!"
Why is your focus always so different from everyone else's?
"She can't wear it anymore and can't fulfill the promise, so... so... I'll wear it for... Hayato-kun in the future. That counts as fulfilling my friend's promise, right?"
Her serious expression didn't contain even a hint of joking.
Hoshino Ai genuinely thought this way and was really planning to do it.
"Alright."
Hayato accepted directly.
Free benefits like this? Why would he ever refuse?
The important matters were basically finished now.
Hayato checked the time. It was about time to rest.
"It's getting late. You should head back and get some sleep."
"Eh, go... go back?"
She even looked shocked.
"If you don't go back, are you planning to stay and sleep with me? I'd be more than happy with that."
Hoshino Ai's face immediately turned red as she shook her head vigorously like a rattle drum.
"Then, then I'm going back."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she fled the room like a scared cat.
Hayato smiled and lay down on the bed.
Hayato had a feeling that if he'd pushed a bit, the girl would've given in with a little bit of resistance. But Hayato found that boring. Since the girl still had concerns and worries, he decided to let it go.
"Especially since she's only 16 years old... Ah, if I remember correctly, even around that age, she was pregnant with Ruby and Aqua.... Yea, maybe 17?...."
"Time to sleep."
"I'll go find Mai tomorrow."
Hayato slipped into the covers, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.
Meanwhile, in the room next door, after Hoshino Ai turned off the lights and closed her eyes, scenes from the 'Romance Love Hotel' kept flashing through her mind. The grotesque monsters made her nerves tense up reflexively.
She huddled under the covers, completely unable to fall asleep.
"I should've just slept next to Hayato-kun."
The world was so scary. The mysteries were so terrifying.
Tonight, for Hoshino Ai, was destined to be a sleepless night.
Tokyo, somewhere in a corner unreached by neon lights.
Several shadowy figures stood together.
"It's confirmed. Before the police arrived, Yamamoto's Mystery Object was already taken."
One black shadow shook their head.
"Yamamoto, that useless bastard. We told him not to let his dick do the thinking and cause trouble. If he was gonna go, fine, but then he had to get himself killed."
"Clearly, there were 'Death Game' players at the concert, too. Otherwise, how could Yamamoto have died, with his Mystery Object taken on top of that?"
"The Mystery Object must be recovered."
"Since the incident happened at the concert, let's find those few people from the concert. We'll definitely get more clues from them."
The primary targets were naturally those two who'd participated in the police station record-taking.