Drip, drip...
After the showerhead was turned off, a few drops of the dark red liquid kept falling, echoing in the sudden silence. After a long moment, it finally stopped.
Hayato scanned the bathroom carefully, then walked over with measured steps. He reached out to grab two bath towels from the rack and returned to the bathroom doorway.
Right then, he shifted more of his attention to Hoshino Ai.
The completely naked girl was still shaken, trembling. One hand braced against the wet tile floor, the other tried desperately to cover herself, but her beautiful figure was fully visible anyway. That snow-white skin was stained with the dark red liquid, adding an eerie, unsettling atmosphere to her appearance.
"Hoshino, do you feel anything unusual? Any pain, burning, numbness?"
"N-no."
Her voice came out small and shaky.
Hayato held out the towel.
Hoshino Ai tried to take it but found her right hand weak and powerless, fingers refusing to grip properly. Not just her hand, even her legs felt like jelly. She couldn't stand up at all.
Hayato immediately saw her predicament.
"I'll help wipe off the liquid on your body first."
"Mm."
Hoshino Ai made a sound of agreement, too shaken to protest.
Hayato knelt down and used the towel to wipe the liquid staining the girl's skin, moving carefully while trying his best to avoid the liquid touching his own body. Soon, the white towel was dyed a dark, unnerving red.
"I'll help you up."
Hayato carefully helped the girl stand, supporting her weight as her legs wobbled. Then he began wiping her back, the towel moving in slow, methodical strokes.
The constant sensation of his hands through the fabric made shame rise even more in Hoshino Ai's heart. This burning embarrassment actually dispersed some of the raw terror that had been filling her body and mind moments ago.
Soon, the used towel was tossed by Hayato into the bathroom with a wet splat. A fresh bath towel wrapped around the girl's body, giving her some sense of security and coverage.
Hayato lifted the girl carefully and carried her to the bed.
By now, having recovered somewhat from the initial shock, Hoshino Ai's body had regained some strength. She pulled the blanket over with one trembling hand and dove right under it. The blanket covered half of her delicate face, leaving only a pair of bright eyes peeking out at Hayato, though she was too shy to maintain eye contact for long.
Compared to being seen through the glass earlier, this time she'd really been thoroughly examined and touched up close by Hayato.
For Hoshino Ai, this had already exceeded her psychological limit.
I feel like I probably really can't get married now.
"Feeling better now?"
"Mm."
Hoshino Ai made a sound of agreement, voice muffled by the blanket.
"Wh-what was that? Why... did it suddenly spray blood?"
"It's 10 PM. The hotel changed from the normal one to the game criteria."
"Then I, then I..."
Suddenly thinking of a certain terrible future, Hoshino Ai clutched the blanket even tighter, knuckles going white.
"Will I die? Is that liquid poisonous? Am I... going to mutate soon? Turn into one of those things?"
As an idol, she'd watched plenty of horror movies and videos between practice sessions. This unknown liquid very likely contained unknown infectious components. And Hayato had just tried his best to avoid getting the dark red liquid on himself.
Hayato must have already figured it out! That's why he wouldn't touch it!
"You won't."
But Hoshino Ai didn't feel reassured at all. The words rang hollow.
"I, I... my idol career just started. I haven't become a... super popular nationwide idol yet. I haven't eaten enough delicious food. And, and... I've never even been in love. I don't want... to die like this!"
The string she'd been holding taut finally snapped in that moment. She could no longer maintain her surface-level calm, and everything came pouring out.
"Trust me, you'll be fine."
"But Hayato-kun didn't even dare touch that liquid. You avoided it completely!"
She looked up, her eyes covered with a thin layer of moisture threatening to spill over.
"I, I'm definitely going to mutate soon. Hayato-kun... Hayato-kun, when you kill me later, please... please make it quick and painless. I, I'm scared of pain. Really scared."
Hayato's eyes reflected this idol trembling under the covers like a scared child. He'd thought Hoshino Ai would shout at him to prove it, demand he touch the dark red liquid himself to prove his reassurances were real.
But instead, she'd accepted what she thought was inevitable death and just asked him to make it quick.
His gaze toward Hoshino Ai softened considerably.
"Trust me, you'll be fine. If you could die just from getting stained by this liquid, then this death game instance's difficulty would be way too simple. That's not how these rule-based death games work."
"I've never been in love. I... I still... haven't done it yet. Ha-Hayato-kun... sleep with me! Before I die, sleep with me!"
Hoshino Ai looked up, her eyes staring intently through the tears, her expression and words deadly serious, without a hint of joking.
A flash of genuine shock crossed Hayato's face.
He recalled some knowledge he'd once read in a psychology book before death, people would sometimes burst with intense reproductive urges. A biological drive to leave something behind.
She really thinks she's dying....
"You're not going to die. I'm telling you right now."
"But..."
"If my analysis is correct, that dark red liquid is just water."
"Eh?!"
Her eyes went wide.
Water looks like that?
"I didn't smell blood. I didn't smell any other abnormal odors either. No metallic scent, no chemical smell, nothing."
"But... water is that deep-red color? How..."
"The hotel changed our perception of the water. Simply put, it's a hallucination. Visual manipulation. The water itself is probably normal, but we're seeing it as blood."
Hoshino Ai was silent for a long while, processing this information. Finally, she chose to believe Hayato.
"Rest well. We can leave here tomorrow at 6 AM."
"Mm."
Hugging the blanket tighter and feeling its warmth against her skin, Hoshino Ai suddenly remembered her earlier explosive statement, her desperate plea for him to sleep with her before she died.
Shame kept gushing out like a fountain, flooding every part of her.
I can't... show my face anymore. Ever..
She buried herself deeper into the blanket until only her eyes showed, then even those disappeared.
Meanwhile, in the other rooms on the third floor, the same situation had occurred.