Hayato had consumed plenty of supernatural horror works in his past life. He could predict the usual plot developments, hidden supernatural entities mixed in with the group, or everyone actually being supernatural from the start.
Hayato couldn't trust anyone except himself. Not even Hoshino Ai could be fully trusted.
Who knows, maybe she'd already been replaced or possessed by something without anyone noticing.
Of course, compared to Hoshino Ai, who'd been beside him the whole time and never left his sight, these four newcomers who just walked in looking perfectly human were way more suspicious.
"What death game?"
"I don't believe it. This has gotta be another prank show. Those Japanese TV stations are pulling this kind of stunt on random people again."
After a brief moment of panic, the middle-aged man immediately showed strong skepticism. He grabbed the shoulder-length-haired woman's wrist and headed for the exit.
"Miho, let's go."
But the woman with black shoulder-length hair stood completely still, not moving an inch.
"You... you don't actually believe this, do you?"
She slowly looked away from him. Compared to his prank theory, she clearly believed this was a real death game.
"You, you guys, fine, great. I'm not playing along with you."
The middle-aged man spat out his words and strode toward the exit. His eyes kept darting back to Hayato and the others. Seeing that none of them showed any sign of stopping him, the bad feeling inside him kept rising, but at this point, he could only grit his teeth and keep walking.
Hayato figured this was a perfect chance to see what consequences leaving the hotel would bring.
Saved him the trouble of finding someone to test it.
Tap tap...
The man took another step forward.
His entire body disappeared at the entrance doorway.
Everyone went silent, quietly waiting with their eyes fixed on the hotel entrance.
Time passed second by second.
The middle-aged man seemed to have vanished completely. No movement whatsoever.
"Is he gone, or what happened?"
No one could answer that question.
Finally, someone couldn't take the tension anymore.
Sawanaga Taisuke stomped his foot hard.
"I don't see anything wrong. I'll go too..."
He took a step forward. The entrance door automatically opened, and a figure suddenly burst through.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Heavy breathing filled the lobby. It was the middle-aged man who'd left.
Right now, he looked wild, arms wrapped around himself, face completely pale. His breathing came in harsh, rapid gasps, as he'd just experienced some intense traumatic shock.
Sawanaga Taisuke froze mid-step. His expression went blank. The shoulder-length-haired woman, Kuroda Hikari, and the others unconsciously backed away from the entrance.
Hoshino Ai shifted closer to Hayato.
Hayato, on the other hand, stayed on high alert.
After leaving and coming back, is this still the same guy?
The middle-aged man kept looking toward the entrance with frantic, wary eyes, as if something terrifying was chasing him.
"It, it didn't follow me. Thank, thank god... Outside, outside... there's something that wanted, wanted to kill me. Good thing I... ran fast."
The middle-aged man spoke in broken fragments about what he'd seen outside.
In the fog, pitch-black shadows wandered. Hoarse, grating voices kept echoing. They launched bloodthirsty attacks without warning.
"Outside isn't safe. My guess is that people who enter the hotel and then leave directly will face supernatural pursuit. To safely leave the hotel and escape the death game, the correct method is probably to check out at 6 AM tomorrow morning, then leave."
At Hayato's eye signal, Hoshino Ai grabbed the "Check-in Rules."
"Rule 5 hints at it."
Everyone immediately gathered close. Even the gasping, panicked middle-aged man struggled to his feet and read the "Check-in Rules."
"Check-in procedures stop at 10 PM. Current time is 9:26 PM. We've still got half an hour."
Hoshino Ai suddenly realized something.
If she'd kept insisting on staying outside, searching for a way out of the fog, she'd very likely have missed the check-in time.
When she was panicking and just wanted to escape, Hayato had already thought of the "entry time" restriction.
He's really sharp.
As for the consequences of breaking the rules?
Hoshino Ai shuddered. No matter what, she absolutely couldn't violate them.
Her idol career had just started taking off. She hadn't fallen in love yet, hadn't tried so many delicious foods. She absolutely did not want to die here.
"But this... isn't there a problem?"
The cute chestnut twin-tailed girl Kuroda Hikari frowned slightly and pointed at Rules 3 and 4.
"Rule 3 says there are no staff members, but Rule 4 tells us to seek help at the front desk. Isn't that contradictory?"
"Simple."
Hayato's voice drew everyone's attention.
"First possibility, the rules contain errors. This is pretty common in rule-based supernatural scenarios. I used to read a lot of novels with similar setups. In many of those stories, several of the given rules would be wrong."
"For example, the part in Rule 3 about 'there are no staff members' could be the error. It's just my deduction, I don't know if it's right or wrong at this time..."
Right then, the shoulder-length-haired woman suddenly spoke up.
"How do we determine what's correct and what's wrong?"
If you couldn't tell real from fake, wouldn't it be easy to accidentally violate them?
"There's no guaranteed method. Analysis, judgment, intuition, and luck."
So basically gambling with our lives just to make sure the rule is right or wrong.
"The second possibility is that the 'front desk' doesn't fall under the category of 'staff members with this game', so assuming both rules are correct, there's no actual conflict."
Everyone could understand that, though 'front desk' not counting as a hotel 'staff member' didn't really align with common sense.
But they were already in a death game. What common sense applied here?
After lying there for a few minutes, the middle-aged man finally caught his breath.
He was much more docile now, without that initial arrogance.
"Let's start with introductions. Get a basic understanding of each other."
Everyone introduced themselves one by one.
The middle-aged man's name was Tanaka Ichiro, an employee at some company. The shoulder-length-haired woman was called Kamimura Miho, working as a sales assistant at a mall.
They didn't explain what their relationship was.
But based on Hayato's guess, these two probably had some kind of money-and-body arrangement. Whether it was long-term or just tonight, he couldn't tell.
After the introductions finished, Sawanaga Taisuke suddenly raised his hand with a suggestion.
"I, I think maybe all six of us should stay in one room for the night. Rule 1 says single room occupancy is at least 2 people. Six of us in one room is totally fine. If we really run into danger, we can watch each other's backs."
Most importantly, more people meant more courage.
In such a dangerous, creepy place with just two people, blonde Taisuke was honestly terrified.
Right now, Hayato looked at Sawanaga Taisuke like he was staring at a complete idiot.
Is this guy serious?