Hoshino Ai was completely out of her mind.
This sudden transformation caught her totally off guard, slamming into her like a physical blow.
The hallway passages could mutate, too?!
Room 306, where did room 306 go?
She spun around to look at the hallway behind her, but it was all dark red and oppressively gloomy. She couldn't see the end at a single glance. The twisted doors and warped room numbers on either side of the hallway were impossible to make out clearly.
"Ha-Hayato-kun..."
"Don't worry. It'll be fine."
His calm words came out steady and certain, like a tranquil lake, like warm sunlight breaking through clouds. They soothed Hoshino Ai's racing heart instantly. Her tension and panic dissipated by more than half in seconds.
That's right!
Hayato is here. With him, someone who can stop time, we're safe!
Tap...
Tap tap...
The sound of high heels stepping deliberately on the floor was crisp and clear. The sound kept echoing through the twisted hallway, bouncing off warped walls.
The female receptionist kept walking toward them with continuous measured clicks.
She didn't seem rushed at all, nor worried that they would somehow escape her grasp. She just walked step by step, occasionally letting out hoarse, tearing sounds that made the air feel colder.
"Noisy... guests."
"Expel..."
Bzzt...
Time stop activated once again.
Hoshino Ai realized it immediately and even watched as Hayato actively walked straight toward the female receptionist without hesitation.
Facing the ugly, eerie female receptionist up close, Hayato showed no visible reaction of disgust or fear. Instead, he observed her more closely, examining every detail.
"Not much different from what I saw on the first floor earlier."
The urgent matter was getting back to room 306 somehow.
Time stop could guarantee he'd be fine, but time still needed to flow forward.
Otherwise, they'd never reach the 6 AM checkout deadline.
Hayato grabbed the female receptionist by the back of her collar, dragging her continuously toward the farthest end of the hallway like hauling a sack. Along the way, he looked left and right constantly, searching for room 306's door plate.
Nothing.
Nothing.
There was absolutely nothing on this side at all.
Just in case his theory was wrong, Hayato tied up the female receptionist's hands and feet with torn fabric strips.
"Best if it works. Even if it doesn't, it'll buy some precious time."
He didn't actually expect these makeshift restraints to truly limit the supernatural receptionist's movements for long.
The moment he finished knotting them tight, Hayato turned and headed to the hallway's other side. He circled the entire twisted third-floor section but never found room 306 anywhere.
He even discovered rooms numbered 207, 408, and others that should've been on completely different floors.
Chaos. Complete spatial chaos.
"The entire hotel has twisted somehow. Room positions are completely scrambled across floors."
Room 306, most likely, was somewhere on a different floor now.
But how could I possibly get there?
Forget the emergency stairwell, even the elevator entrance had completely disappeared from existence.
"There must be a way to deal with this change. Otherwise, this lethal shift gives participants absolutely no way to survive at all."
Returning to Hoshino Ai's frozen side, Hayato released the time stop.
Bzzt...
"Ha-Hayato-kun..."
Her consciousness had existed throughout. She could also guess what Hayato had accomplished during the time stop from his repositioning.
"Room 306 isn't on this floor section anymore. We need to wait for the floors to shift and change positions. Stick close to me. Don't get separated under any circumstances."
"Mm."
Hoshino Ai nodded firmly, her expression determined. One hand gripped Hayato's sleeve tightly, as if she wouldn't let go even if death itself tried to pry her fingers loose.
"Aaaah..."
A sharp howl suddenly tore through the hallway.
The female receptionist struggled violently at the far end of the corridor.
Riiip...
After a brief moment, the harsh sound of fabric tearing came echoing through.
Hayato grimaced, realizing his restraints weren't very effective at all.
Right now, he'd already arrived before room 307's door and bent down to pick up the still unconscious Kuroda Hikari carefully.
Knock knock knock...
At Hayato's subtle signal, Hoshino Ai stepped forward and knocked on the door. But there was no response from inside whatsoever.
"Sawanaga-kun, open the door. Kuroda-san is still outside here."
But the door showed absolutely no movement.
Tap tap...
Footsteps sounded again from down the hall. Compared to before, this time the footsteps were noticeably faster in rhythm. The female receptionist's hoarse whispers seemed to carry a strange power, constantly stimulating their raw nerves.
"Hayato-kun, what should we do?"
"We can't get back to room 306!"
"Hoshino-san, wake her up..."
Seeing Kuroda Hikari's limp form passed to Hoshino Ai's arms, Hayato found a broken wooden stick lying in the debris and actively walked toward the approaching female receptionist.
"This time... let's try breaking both your feet and legs completely."
Hayato didn't know if he could actually break supernatural limbs, but he'd try first and see what happened.
In the silent, frozen space, Hayato dragged the receptionist's stiff body to the very end of the hallway and swung the wooden stick in a relentless barrage of attacks.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
That wasn't all. Remembering that this receptionist could make those horrible sounds, Hayato focused his strikes on the receptionist's mouth area repeatedly and finally stuffed a thick piece of cloth deep.
After finishing these brutal tasks, Hayato returned to Hoshino Ai's side.
Click...
The moment time resumed flowing, the supernatural receptionist was genuinely confused. How did she end up all the way over here again? Her body looked like it'd been violently beaten and broken.
"Noisy... guests, expel..."
In just moments, the battered body recovered again with sickening speed.
She stood up shakily. Her ash-gray eyes stared intently at the three living people in the hallway and took another determined step forward.
Endless.
This repeated several times in succession.
The supernatural receptionist genuinely wanted to give up at this point. She had absolutely no idea what was happening to her anymore.
Right now, Kuroda Hikari had already awakened. With Hoshino Ai's careful explanation, she roughly understood their current impossible situation.
Each time the ugly, terrifying female receptionist approached them, she trembled in absolute fear. But somehow, after blinking once, the female receptionist would mysteriously disappear, then come rushing back from a distance.
By now, she'd gradually gotten used to the bizarre pattern and felt like nothing would actually happen to her.
The most at ease was Hoshino Ai. Knowing the full story behind it, she felt like continuing this loop until 6 AM wasn't completely impossible.
But Hayato-kun must be getting exhausted!
As expected, we still needed to get back inside a safe room.
Crack crack crack...
Suddenly, the entire hallway began shaking violently.
"Hold onto me tight. The hallways are about to shift and change."
At Hayato's sharp warning, Hoshino Ai immediately grabbed Hayato's left arm with both hands. Kuroda Hikari's reaction wasn't slow either, Hayato had already warned her beforehand about this, and she knew exactly what to do.
In just a single moment, the hallway seemed to transform around them. Crooked and twisted in completely different ways, nothing like before.
Hoshino Ai immediately looked at the room number plate on the right wall.
"It's 409. I remember it was 301 before."
"Ten minutes between shifts huh...."
Hoshino Ai immediately realized Hayato had been carefully recording the time interval between changes.
"I'll go check the current floor's room situation quickly."
"Eh..."
Kuroda Hikari let out a surprised sound. Was Hayato going to leave the two of them alone to search for room 306?
She completely freaked out at that thought.
"Hayato-senpai, let's search together!"
"306 isn't here on this section. But room 304 is."
"Eh?"
But that confident appearance and certain tone made Kuroda Hikari feel Hayato wasn't lying or guessing.
"But Kamimura-san and the others in room 304 have already... become complete monsters, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then..."
But Hayato didn't explain his plan. He just headed off down the hall.
The two girls followed closely behind without a moment's hesitation, trusting him completely.
Knock knock knock...
Knock knock knock...
Hayato knocked on the door firmly.
"Kamimura-san, Tanaka-san, it's me. I brought Ai-chan and Kuroda-san with me."
Is he really planning to take refuge in room 304?
Both girls couldn't help thinking the same thing.
But if Hayato dared to do it, they dared too. They'd follow him anywhere at this point.
Click...
The sound of the door unlocking.
As long as they were still willing to open the door, that was enough for his plan.
Hayato glanced at the figure in a black suit wrapping a graceful body in the distant hallway, and couldn't help but smile slightly.
Perfect timing!