Hayato took two steps forward, looking at the now-transformed female staff member who'd targeted Sawanaga Taisuke.
She'd already shed her beautiful appearance completely. Her bright eyes had turned bloodshot and wild, pupils dilated with inhuman hunger. Her cherry-like lips had split wide open, the right corner tearing all the way to her right ear in a grotesque smile. Dark gray liquid kept dripping from the wound, thick and viscous.
"Her face changed. Wonder if her body changed, too."
Hayato looked her up and down carefully. After confirming the supernatural entity had indeed fallen into an absolute frozen state due to time stop, he walked two more steps closer.
After a brief hesitation, Hayato made his decision.
This is for investigation. Just an investigation.
He first kicked Sawanaga Taisuke aside, the guy rolled across the frozen floor like a ragdoll, then approached the supernatural entity. His hands reached for the suit jacket buttons.
But finding it too slow, Hayato grabbed the fabric with both hands and pulled hard, choosing a more direct method to remove her clothes.
The shirt tore open.
Under the white fabric, patches of gray-brown skin mottled her torso. Definitely not normal human skin, rough and scaly in places.
Same with her back when Hayato checked.
Riiip...
Hayato tore open the black stockings and examined her legs.
The skin on those long, slender legs was also covered in patches of gray-brown discoloration, spreading like disease across what had seemed flawless moments ago.
Faintly, there was even a slight fishy stench rising from the exposed skin.
Very consistent with a certain imagined form humans had of supernatural entities, beautiful on the surface, rotting underneath.
Hoshino Ai watched from the elevator, completely stunned.
She'd witnessed the entire process. From Hayato unbuttoning the female monster's suit jacket to removing her clothes with force, then tearing open her black stockings. Hoshino Ai saw everything with wide, disbelieving eyes.
So that's it. Hayato likes this type of thing. Female supernatural entities. This kind of... perverted kinky!
For a moment, she didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Her mind was spiraling.
This kind of twisted preference... I, I might... not be unable to accept it.
Her face burned at the thought.
"Now let's see if physical attacks are effective."
Hayato grabbed the solid wooden chair with one hand, testing its weight again.
He swung hard.
CRACK!
The solid wooden chair slammed into the staff member's forehead with brutal force.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each strike landed with a sickening thud, but whether it was actually effective would depend on her reaction afterward when time resumed.
Hayato felt he'd tested enough, so he turned and headed toward the elevator. He looked at Sawanaga Taisuke's frozen form and casually grabbed him by the collar, pulling him forward across the floor.
Time stop ended!
Bzzt...
Everything snapped back to normal.
"Save me, Hayato-san..."
CRASH!
The delayed impact hit all at once, the solid wooden chair made an explosive sound as the force registered.
The transformed female staff member stumbled back several steps from the accumulated blows, her heels clicking erratically. Even though her forehead showed traces of bleeding flesh and splintered bone, she had no pain response whatsoever. No scream, no flinch.
The next second, she realized Sawanaga Taisuke had vanished from before her eyes. Her head snapped up immediately, bloodshot eyes locking onto him across the lobby. Her disheveled figure lurched forward and started moving again with unnatural speed.
Tap...
Tap...
The sound of high heels stepping across the lobby floor rang out clearly, each click echoing in the tense silence.
"Service."
"Guest, you need service."
Her gaze stayed locked on blonde, unwavering and hungry.
Sawanaga Taisuke was so scared he was about to piss himself, his legs trembling violently.
Thud thud thud!
The middle-aged man had already rushed into the elevator, slamming against the back wall.
"Hurry up, you guys!"
"Move! We need to go upstairs!"
The rapidly approaching footsteps made the middle-aged man shout frantically, voice cracking with terror.
"Sawanaga-san, don't come in! Go lure that monster away!"
"You go if you want! I'm not going!"
Sawanaga Taisuke rushed into the elevator, nearly tripping over himself.
But given the current situation, there was no way they could close the elevator doors before the female monster arrived. She was too close, moving too fast.
"Hayato-san, get in the elevator quickly!"
Hoshino Ai had never extended her hand to stop the elevator doors from closing. She was waiting for Hayato's return, refusing to leave without him.
But right now, Hayato seemed to have no intention of going upstairs at all. He just stood there in the lobby, calm and collected.
"Hurry up!"
The middle-aged man was losing his mind.
Why is that guy just standing there instead of getting in?!
Time Stop!
Hoshino Ai was about to shout again when she suddenly realized time had fallen into a frozen state once more. The world went silent mid-panic.
In her field of vision, she watched as Hayato walked to the female monster's side with measured steps, grabbed the back collar of her torn shirt, and began dragging the frozen creature toward the hotel entrance.
Right now, after confirming that physical damage didn't have much effect on the female monster, Hayato had moved on to his next test.
"Participants who register in the hotel can't directly leave through the hotel doors, so..."
Hayato looked at the female monster before him and adjusted his position, planting his feet.
"Wonder if the staff members can!"
The instant time resumed—
Bzzt...
Hayato kicked out hard. His foot connected solidly with her torso. The female monster stumbled backward across the hotel entrance threshold, her body crossing the invisible boundary.
"AAAAAH..."
A piercing scream suddenly tore through the air, inhuman and agonized.
Hayato watched as the female monster before him began disintegrating at a speed visible to the naked eye. Her flesh peeled away like burning paper, turning to ash and smoke that dispersed into the fog outside.
Clearly, her range of activity was limited to the hotel itself. She couldn't exist beyond it.
So the hotel entrance is a one-way barrier. Keeps participants in, forces supernatural entities to stay in.
It took Hoshino Ai a while to come back to her senses and understand Hayato's method for eliminating the female monster.
So... amazing!
Her eyes sparkled with starlight, filled with genuine admiration.
Hayato turned and walked toward the elevator, toward Hoshino Ai.
Closer.
Even closer.
His footsteps echoed across the empty lobby.
Suddenly--
"Welcome, guest. I am Fukada Mayu, a staff member of the Koi no Kokoro Love Hotel. Is there anything I can do to serve you? Any service at all?"
At the front desk position, a figure materialized once again.
The exact same woman. Same black suit. Same perfect appearance.
But this time, she looked completely normal, without any supernatural features showing. Beautiful and professional, as if the grotesque transformation had never happened.
As if everything from before had been fake.