Knock knock knock!
Room 307's door was knocked on with a steady rhythm.
"Hello!"
"Room cleaning service."
But the door didn't open.
The cleaning staff member quickly retrieved a keycard from the pocket on her chest, a master keycard that belonged to the cleaning staff with authorization to open all guest rooms.
Hayato's expression shifted slightly. He'd just searched through those exact pockets during time stop, fingers running through the fabric, but hadn't found any keycard at all.
The hotel rules must impose restrictions huh....
"Room 307 requires room cleaning service."
"Now using the keycard to open the door."
The cleaning staff member held the keycard and gradually approached, her movements mechanical and precise.
"Don't..."
Suddenly, a strong voice of refusal came muffled from inside room 307.
"Room 307 doesn't need any cleaning service. Don't need it. Absolutely don't need it. Go to other rooms instead."
That was Sawanaga Taisuke's voice, unmistakable.
He wasn't dead. He was even doing just fine hiding in there.
The cleaning staff member's head turned slowly toward Kuroda Hikari, making the chestnut twin-tailed girl involuntarily tremble. Her hands and feet went ice cold, blood draining from her fingers.
"Sawanaga, Sawanaga-kun, open the door. We... need room service."
Her voice came out shaky.
"No."
Still a firm, selfish voice of refusal.
The cleaning staff member lowered her hand, the keycard disappearing back into her pocket.
"There are guests inside room 307. Room cleaning service is not needed. Moving to the next room."
But in that moment, time stopped once again.
Bzzt...
The world froze mid-breath.
Hayato let out a disappointed sigh.
"I thought Sawanaga Taisuke wouldn't respond!"
Hayato really wanted to see what the cleaning staff member would do after entering a room with someone still alive inside.
Would she treat the person as trash to be cleaned up and disposed of? Dismembered like Kamimura Miho?
If initially Hayato's attitude toward Sawanaga Taisuke still stayed at the negative impression from the original work, disliking him but not to the point of directly harming him, even helping when necessary, then now, after Sawanaga had mercilessly slammed the door to save himself, refused any communication with them, and played dead hiding in his room, Hayato no longer minded screwing over this famous coward from the anime world.
A dead Sawanaga is a good Sawanaga.
But for now, this satisfying idea of his temporarily couldn't be realized.
Hayato came beside the cleaning staff member's frozen form and took the cleaning staff's exclusive keycard from her left hand. The plastic felt smooth and cold against his palm.
Next, I can just use this to open our room..
Time resumed flowing.
Bzzt...
Hayato approached room 306 and swiped the room 304 keycard.
Bzzt bzzt bzzt...
The harsh sound of rejection.
The room 304 keycard was invalid.
Hoshino Ai watched, her expression changing rapidly as understanding dawned.
We can't get back into our room.
After cleaning was completed, the original keycard couldn't be used anymore! The room had been reset!
What... what should we do?!
Her chest tightened with sudden panic.
Hayato held up the cleaning staff member's master keycard.
Hoshino Ai watched and felt a surge of relief. Hayato-kun had already considered this point, that's why he took the cleaning staff member's keycard!
He swiped it.
But bzzt bzzt bzzt... the same ineffective notification sound buzzed.
The door remained tightly shut, rejecting even the master key.
Hoshino Ai's face went completely pale, blood draining away. Her hands went cold.
Hayato reacted normally, his expression calm and unbothered. He didn't fall into panic because the keycard failed.
"Guest..."
The cleaning staff member's hoarse voice came scraping through like rusted metal.
Hayato looked over.
The cleaning staff member who'd seemed quite normal just a second ago changed in that instant. Her expression grew increasingly fierce, lips pulling back. Her hollow eyes dripped with dark liquid that ran down her cheeks. Her hands retrieved one tool after another from the cart with deliberate menace.
There was a broom, a duster, and... an axe.
Cleaning staff carried axes?
Kuroda Hikari stared wide-eyed in horror. That sharp axe blade caught the dim light, reflecting it. Drops of fresh blood still clung to the metal, falling. This was probably Kamimura Miho's blood!
"Stealing keycard."
"Other property... dangerous guest."
"Must be..."
"Eliminated..."
The hoarse, halting voice was extremely similar to the earlier female receptionist, that same broken inhuman voice.
The next moment, the cleaning staff member moved fast.
Her humanoid body began transforming into a changing supernatural entity, limbs extending and twisting. The broom and axe made whoosh whoosh sounds as they swung through the air toward them.
Hoshino Ai and Kuroda Hikari froze in place, instinctively squeezing their eyes shut.
Soon, Hoshino Ai knew she was fine. She felt herself being lifted and carried away, the ground disappearing beneath her feet.
Hayato-kun must've used time stop.
After blinking and recovering her vision, Hoshino Ai found herself standing before the elevator entrance. In the distance down the hall, all the cleaning staff members' violent attacks in front of room 304's door had missed completely, hitting empty air.
It was discovered that the three people had vanished.
"Take the stairs, go down now."
Kuroda Hikari, who'd been about to press the elevator button, immediately spun and ran toward the emergency stairwell entrance.
"Aaaah..."
Behind them, the supernatural cleaning staff member's roar rang out, inhuman and enraged.
But that twisted figure stopped dead at the stairwell entrance, unable to cross the threshold.
"It, it... didn't chase down after us."
"It probably can't leave the third floor!"
Hoshino Ai breathed a sigh of relief, her racing heart starting to slow.
"What do we do next? Hayato-kun, we can't get back into our room. The first-floor lobby has a female receptionist, also very dangerous. We can't just stay here in the stairwell the whole time, right?!"
In the narrow stairwell passage glowing sickly green from the emergency lights, Hoshino Ai didn't think it was very safe either. Too exposed.
"Go to the lobby."
"..."
"Really? Stay in the lobby until 6 AM?"
Just not talking to the female receptionist for a few hours, Hoshino Ai gritted her teeth and felt she could endure it.
"No."
"Then..."
"The Only Way Is Go to the Receptionist."
"What?!"