A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

..........

A few minutes later, Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna returned to the door of their suite on the 22nd floor of the hotel, which was the top floor.

When the two arrived, they found Kotoko Iwanaga already waiting at the door.

Seeing that the other person was still alive and that the white dress she was wearing was spotless, Yuuki Asuna secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Asagiri's prediction was indeed correct.

Kotoko Iwanaga must possess extremely powerful talent, or perhaps a special profession.

032 Staff Handbook

"You two have both returned safely..."

Kotoko Iwanaga took off her beret and placed it against her chest with one hand. Her every move exuded the air of a noble lady, and indeed, she was.

"These are things I've collected. I wonder if you two are interested?"

Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga take out something that looked like a manual, Asuna Yuuki frowned slightly.

"what is this?"

"The hotel staff's handbook contains the location of all the hotel's facilities, as well as a floor plan of each floor."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

In a terrifying dungeon of an unknown environment, the value of a manual like this is self-evident.

For ordinary players, they might not need this item as much. After all, their goal is to find a safe place to hide and wait for the twelve-hour dungeon time limit to end. They don't care about the rating they get; as long as they can clear the dungeon and get the rewards, that's enough.

But Asuna Yuuki is different from Asagiri.

Neither of them were the type to casually complete dungeons. After all, in Yuuki Asuna's and Asagiri's view, failing to achieve a high-level completion rating was tantamount to wasting the cooldown time for entering the dungeon.

"Are you asking for the intelligence we obtain in exchange?"

Upon hearing Asuna Yuuki's question, Kotoko Iwanaga shook her head and smiled slightly.

"No, I just want to ask you... oh, no..."

At this point, Kotoko Iwanaga looked at Asagiri standing there and suddenly seemed a little shy.

"I only want to ask you one question. In exchange, I will hand over this manual to you after you answer it."

Asagiri remained calm: "Go ahead and ask."

Kotoko Iwanaga looked delighted, and then asked a surprising question that left Asuna Yuuki speechless and even doubting her own ears.

"Excuse me... do you have a girlfriend?"

what?

Looking at the somewhat shy Kotoko Iwanaga, Asuna Yuuki had a question mark on her face.

You brought such a valuable staff handbook just to ask about this?

If this were in the real world, Asuna Yuuki wouldn't be surprised at all. After all, Asagiri is so handsome, it's normal for girls to want to chat him up.

The problem is... we're in a dungeon right now!

What kind of ultimate love-struck brain do you have?

"No."

"That's great."

Upon hearing Asagiri's reply, Kotoko Iwanaga looked delighted and immediately handed the staff handbook to Asagiri.

"As agreed, this is yours."

Just as Asagiri received the handbook from Iwanaga Kotoko, two figures suddenly appeared from around the corner of the corridor.

"Hmm? Have those three people arrived yet?"

The man in the suit and the woman in heavy makeup appeared together, neither of them seeming to be injured. But just as they were about to approach, Kotoko Iwanaga frowned slightly, raised her cane, pointed it at the two of them, and slowly spoke.

"You... are possessed by the strangeness of this hotel."

"Possession? What are you talking about?"

The heavily made-up woman looked bewildered, while the man in the suit looked displeased.

"We haven't encountered any evil spirits, so where does this talk of possession come from..."

"Don't come any closer!"

When Kotoko Iwanaga suddenly shouted that, the man in the suit finally realized that this girl, who looked to be in middle school, was not joking with him, but was serious. His expression became even more displeased, and his tone became harsher.

"Hey, what kind of attitude is this? What do you mean by being possessed by a monster? That's just your side of the story. You're suddenly saying things like that, so I suspect you're the one who's possessed. You two stay away from her, the four of us can discuss this together, just ignore her."

Asagiri ignored the man in the suit, and Yuuki Asuna, seeing that he was also ignoring her, did not speak either.

Seeing that his words went unanswered, the man in the suit couldn't help but show a hint of embarrassment on his face. He then shouted at Asagiri in a tone that sounded like a superior ordering a subordinate.

"Didn't you hear me? I called you two over..."

"Shut up."

Before the man in the suit could finish speaking, Asagiri interrupted him. Then, to the horror of the man in the suit and the heavily made-up woman, she pulled out a black pistol from her pocket and pointed the dark muzzle at the man in the suit.

"Shh, be quiet. I'm considering whether or not to just kill you two."

"Gun...gun?"

When the man in the suit saw Asagiri suddenly pull out a gun and point it at him, his face turned deathly pale, and his legs began to tremble uncontrollably.

what happened?

Aren't we prohibited from bringing any type of weapon into the instance? Why does this guy have a gun?

Could it be... equipment rewarded after clearing a dungeon?

That's unfair! How is that possible? I got a B+ rating and all I got was a golf club as an equipment reward. How could someone else get a pistol as a reward for completing the game?!

Kotoko Iwanaga seemed somewhat surprised when Asagiri suddenly pulled out a gun, but instead of instinctively moving away, she appeared quite interested.

Of all those present, only Asuna Yuuki knew the truth.

Asagiri's gun is actually a summoner for Personas; it can't fire bullets at all.

However, when faced with the "carbon-based biological cooler," unless one believes they can withstand or dodge bullets, no one dares to act rashly.

"Come on, let's begin your honest confession."

Asagiri smiled slightly and spoke softly.

“Tell me everything you’ve done since you parted ways with us, every single detail, or I’ll play the suona and send you two off in a cheerful manner.”

Faced with the threat of the morning mist, the man in the suit first exchanged a glance with the heavily made-up woman, and then spoke in a trembling voice, completely lacking the arrogance he had when he first entered the instance.

"After we separated from you, we first searched this floor... then we searched the twenty-first floor, and then... then we saw that there didn't seem to be any evil spirits on the twenty-first floor, so we kicked open a door, and then, and then..."

"Then what?"

Seeing the man in the suit looking hesitant, the heavily made-up woman, like a primary school student, cautiously raised her hand and spoke in a trembling voice.

"Then...he let me, let me do that to him...you know, I mean, bite him..."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki blushed, while Kotoko Iwanaga seemed very interested, as if she had heard some exciting gossip and wanted to hear more details.

After a few seconds of silence, Asagiri slowly spoke.

"You two..."

"Is he brain-dead?"

After doing some calculations, if it's released on the 5rd of next month, I can update it faster, so I'm adding an extra chapter today.

033 Two Living Yama Kings

The man in the suit and the woman in heavy makeup blushed, seemingly wanting to explain themselves, but under the gaze of the "Equalizer of All Beings," they didn't dare to continue being stubborn and could only remain silent.

"I really didn't expect to encounter two such stupid players."

Kotoko Iwanaga maintained her sweet smile, shook her head with a slightly helpless expression, and said in a gentle tone.

"I can understand your desire for thrills, but since this is the result, you can only blame yourselves for being muddle-headed and lacking in ability. However, this shouldn't be the reason why you were possessed by the hotel's strangeness. Continue, what else did you do?"

The heavily made-up woman hesitated before replying.

"Well... afterwards... afterwards we just searched that room, looked around that floor... and didn't do anything else..."

"Do not."

Asagiri shook her head, looked directly at the faces of the man in the suit and the woman in heavy makeup, and slowly spoke.

"After you two did that, you drank the hotel water, didn't you?"

"Eh? How do you know?"

The heavily made-up woman paused for a moment, then, seeing that Asagiri's index finger was already on the trigger of the gun, she dared not hide anything and quickly told the truth.

"Oh...I remember now, back then...we saw some bottled mineral water in the room, so we took two bottles and drank them..."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki's expression became very complicated.

"You...you...sigh...how could there be such stupid people..."

The man in the suit tried to explain, "No, we didn't drink tap water. It's bottled mineral water. I checked it, and it hasn't been opened. There shouldn't be a problem."

"If I said you were brain-dead, you really are a complete brain-dead person. You've gotten so confident playing the newbie dungeon, huh?"

Asagiri showed absolutely no politeness, displaying maximum aggression.

"Evil spirit, do you understand? Do you even know what an evil spirit is? You think that if an evil spirit replaces the water in a bottle, you still need to unscrew the cap? Very good logic, with a kind of simple and pure beauty of brainstem deficiency."

The man in the suit and the woman in heavy makeup turned deathly pale and stammered.

"Then...what will happen after drinking that water?"

Asuna Yuuki pursed her lips, looking at the two trembling players with a complicated expression.

"We're not entirely sure about that yet, but if I were to speculate... the body will explode like a balloon."

"explode!?"

The man in the suit's expression changed, his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground. Then, he made a dogeza (a traditional Chinese kneeling gesture) and pleaded with Asagiri, who was standing there.

"Help...help me, please! Since you know there's something wrong with the water in this hotel, you must be able to find a way to save us, right? Please! Oh, and by the way, I'm very rich! I can give you money after we leave the instance, as much as you want!"

"Don't make me laugh."

Asagiri said calmly, "You brought this on yourself, why should I save you? Am I your father? What obligation do I have to save you?"

Upon hearing this, Kotoko Iwanaga took two steps closer. Just as Asuna Yuuki thought that Kotoko was feeling sorry for the two players and wanted to persuade Asagiri to save them, she heard Kotoko Iwanaga speak in a relaxed tone with a smile.

“That’s true. According to what you just said, if your bodies could explode at any time after drinking the hotel’s water, then these two people are like time bombs. If their bodies explode and their blood or other substances splash into our eyes or mouths, we might also be contaminated with the strange substance. So my suggestion is to kill them right here.”

Yuuki Asuna was shocked. She never expected that this cute, loli-type beauty would say such a thing.

Not only did they not rescue them, but they also killed the two players to eliminate any future trouble?

Rationally speaking, Asuna Yuuki knew that Kotoko Iwanaga's words weren't wrong, but these were, after all, two lives lost. To utter such cold and ruthless words with such a relaxed, even smiling tone...

Kotoko Iwanaga, who dared to sign up for the dungeon solo, is indeed no ordinary person.

"Hey, what are you saying? They're still alive, after all. My morals wouldn't allow me to kill them outright."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, the man in the suit and the woman in heavy makeup, whose faces had been deathly pale, almost burst into tears, thinking to themselves that there really are good people in this world...

"Besides, killing them directly would be too wasteful."

Before the two could even feel touched, Asagiri suddenly changed the subject, revealing a friendly smile and softening her tone.

"You two want to live, right?"

"Yes, so please..."

"Begging me won't help."

Asagiri interrupted the man in the suit's plea, and said with a light laugh.

"Based on the intelligence we have at this stage, there is an evil spirit in this hotel that is more powerful than any other evil spirit, and can even annihilate other evil spirits at will. It is most likely the source of the strangeness in this hotel. You have drunk the water here and have been infected by the strangeness. The only way to survive now is to deal with the source of the strangeness in this hotel."