"You two have returned safely..."
Kotoko removed her beret and held it gently to her chest, the very image of an elegant young lady from a prestigious household. Of course, she was a young lady from a prestigious household.
She reached into her bag and produced a thin, slightly yellowed booklet.
"This is something I found. I wonder if you two might be interested?"
Asuna eyed the item with a slight frown. "What is it?"
"The hotel staff's work manual. It contains the location of all the hotel's facilities... and the structural floor plans of each level."
At that, Asuna's eyes widened.
In a horror dungeon with an unknown layout, the value of something like this was self-evident. Most Players wouldn't care. They'd just find a safe hiding spot and wait out the twelve-hour limit. The rewards didn't matter as much as survival.
But she and Asagiri weren't ordinary Players.
Neither of them would ever waste a dungeon run just to survive. In their eyes, failing to earn a high-clear evaluation was no different from wasting a cooldown.
"Are you offering this in exchange for the information we've gathered?" Asuna asked, cautious.
But Kotoko shook her head and smiled gently. "No. I just want to ask you one question. Oh, no—"
Her gaze shifted shyly to Asagiri. "I want to ask you one question. If you answer, I'll give you the manual."
Asagiri didn't even blink. "Go ahead."
Kotoko's face brightened. She looked nervous—but also thrilled—as she asked the most ridiculous question Asuna had ever heard:
"Excuse me... do you have a girlfriend?"
Asuna blinked. What?
She stared at Kotoko, stunned. You brought something that valuable... just to ask that?
If they were in the real world, she wouldn't have been surprised. Asagiri was absurdly handsome—girls swarming around him was nothing new.
But this was a dungeon. A death trap. Monsters and ghosts everywhere. And Kotoko was making moves?
What kind of top-tier romance-brained logic is this?
"No," Asagiri replied simply.
"That's great." Kotoko beamed and handed over the manual without hesitation.
Asagiri took it without expression—just as two figures appeared from the corner of the corridor.
"Hm? So those three are already here?"
The suited man and the heavily made-up woman approached casually. Neither of them looked injured.
But Kotoko's smile faded. She frowned, stepped forward, and raised her cane with a calm yet firm gesture.
"You two... you're possessed by the spirits of this hotel."
"Possessed? What the hell are you talking about?" The woman frowned.
"We didn't even run into any Banshee. What do you mean possessed?" The Suit Man added, irritation creeping into his voice.
"Don't come any closer!" Kotoko barked sharply.
For a moment, the two stopped. The Suit Man looked at her again—really looked—and realized she wasn't joking. Her expression was deadly serious.
"What's with your attitude?" he snapped, scowling. "You think you can just accuse us of being possessed without proof? Maybe you're the one acting weird."
He turned to Asuna and Asagiri. "You two, come over here. Let's discuss things together and ignore her. We can't just let some junior-high kid boss us around."
Neither of them moved. Asagiri didn't even glance at him. Asuna followed his lead, expression blank.
Feeling ignored, the Suit Man's pride began to boil over. His voice grew sharp and commanding.
"Didn't you hear me? I said—"
"Shut up." Asagiri cut him off coldly.
In one smooth motion, he summoned his black handgun and aimed it at the man's forehead.
The muzzle gleamed dully under the corridor lights. The Suit Man froze.
"G-Gun?" he stammered, voice cracking.
His legs began to tremble. Weapons weren't allowed in dungeons... right?
So why did this guy have a gun!?
Reward item? But... he'd gotten a B+ and only received a golf club!
Unfair. Unbelievable. What kind of god-tier reward is this!?
Even Kotoko looked slightly surprised—but not frightened. In fact, she looked... intrigued.
Only Asuna remained calm. She knew the truth.
Asagiri's "gun" was actually his summoning medium—a channel for calling his Persona. It couldn't fire bullets. But none of these people knew that.
And in front of a carbon-based creature with a loaded barrel aimed at their head, no one dared call a bluff.
Asagiri gave a small smile. "Let's start your confession session."
He cocked his head slightly.
"Tell me everything you've done since we split up. Every detail. If you hesitate—"
He tilted the gun meaningfully.
"I'll play the trumpet and send you both off with a lively tune."
The Suit Man turned pale, exchanging a desperate glance with the woman.
"I—we—we just searched the rest of this floor first," he stuttered, "then we checked the twenty-first floor. There didn't seem to be any Banshees there, so we broke into a room and then... and then..."
"And then what?" Asagiri's tone remained flat.
The woman, looking as though she were about to cry, raised her hand like a student caught cheating.
"Then... he asked me to...blow him..." she mumbled.
Asuna's face turned crimson. Seriously!?
Kotoko, on the other hand, looked as if she'd just discovered her favorite soap opera twist—gleeful, intrigued, and leaning in with open curiosity.
Asagiri was silent for a beat.
Then he sighed.
"You two…"
"Are you brain-dead?"
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