25. Tokyo Love Hotel
「Chie」
I cannot believe this.
It is the crack of dawn, a headache is currently splitting my head in two from the massive hangover accrued from our celebration the night before, and generic love songs blare into my ears, along with an utter assault on my eyeballs from the absolute cacophony of heart themed neon and TV screens that fill this empty hotel lobby.
A love hotel. Our tip is a love hotel.
“Seriously,” I ask Mayumi. “This was your tip?”
She leans over and speaks in my ear.
“Chie, my oblivious little nerd… My contact is a demon-woman who runs a lesbian club. What did you expect?”
Chills run up my spine.
“I cannot with you today.”
I huff and look around the barren lobby. Touchscreen kiosks and a door that leads to what I assume to be the rooms are the only things I see beside the decoration. I start looking around.
“Aww, is our girl grumpy?” Mayumi teases.
I scowl at her grin. Out of all of us, she seems to have no issue from last night. Haruki is more subdued, but seems fine enough. Even now she’s curiously tapping on a kiosk.
Katsumi and Hotaru are blearily-blinking at the noise and light, same as me.
“Chie,” Hotaru groans, “Did we really have to do this this early? I'm about to fall over I'm so tired. And my head…”
Mayumi answers for me.
“Yes, we do! I got it last night. We only have a few hours before someone else shows up, so...” She waves a hand.
I find a door that is carefully hidden in the wall with no handle. Employee access most likely. I knock on it. After about a minute, there's no answer.
“You know,” Haruki muses at the kiosk, “We should come here sometime. There's a good selection.”
Katsumi and Hotaru snicker.
I start beating on the door, the sound making me wince.
“Why would we come here when I have a perfectly good flat?” I ask between strikes.
“Inventory,” Haruki remarks way too dryly for such a topic.
“Please, no more euphemisms," Mayumi complains.
More snickers. I shoot the two girls a look.
“I'm being serious,” Haruki says, “Look they got a-”
The door opens right as I'm leaning on it, and I fall into the doorway with a surprised cry. A soft body catches me.
“I am so sorry!” The someone says. I right myself with her help. A pretty girl wearing a bland hotel uniform. “Please forgive me!”
She does a little bow.
“It's… okay. We aren't guests. We're here for your… uh, demon problem.”
She straightens, her face relaxing into boredom.
“Oh, that. Follow me,” she directs in a normal voice, not the exaggerated customer service one.
I glance back and shrug before following the employee. She talks as we go through what must be the employee access halls. Separate from the customer halls to minimize contact with the hotel's customers.
“You know, Mama said she was sending someone over. But I didn't expect her to send half the bar.” She shoots a look over her shoulder.
“We're a team,” I say.
“Is that what they're calling polycules these days?”
My cheeks heat as Haruki and Mayumi laugh, intermixed with sputters from the two high femmes taking up the rear.
“We're not in on it!” Hotaru calls from the back. “It's only half a polycule!”
“Sixty percent actually,” I mumble.
“Close enough,” the employee says with satisfaction. “Mama tell you anything about our problem?”
“Nope,” Mayumi said. “Just said it's a C-class.”
“Its eh, basically a giant octopus,” the employee explains, stopping before some industrial-looking elevators. “It came in here out of the sea last night and and started traveling through some rooms. Scared a few people.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No, but my boss is going to put out an alert if you don’t get it by the time most people start coming in. It’s already made us look bad enough.”
“And when is that?” I ask.
“Bout an hour.”
I stutter on air but Haruki lays a hand on my shoulder and answers for me. “We’ll get it done.”
“Great,” she pulls out a card. “This is my employee card. It’ll work on all the rooms. It was up on the third floor last.” She hands it to Haruki, not me, which makes me frown. “I’ll be down here. Find me when you’re done. I’ll see if I can get my boss to throw in something extra if you manage to get it without breaking anything. Friends of the family bonus or whatever.”
“Sure,” Haruki says.
The lady walks off.
“Why do they always default to you?” I grumble.
“Eh, I’m tall and act like I’m confident?”
“You usually are confident babe,” Mayumi says.
“I mean, sure. But if I talk in clipped sentences with a deeper voice suddenly everyone acts like I’m the coolest gal to ever live.”
I shake my head and press the button to the elevator.
“Soooo…” Hotaru says, “What's the plan?”
“I have no idea,” I reply.
“Oh, such confidence!” Mayumi teases.
“I said that confidently! I confidently have no idea what to do.” Katsumi mumbles something inaudible. Hotaru laughs. The elevator doors open. As they pile into the rickety service elevator I say, “It's a demon in a love hotel, so my bet is that it eats desire. Or something like it.”
“Sounds… gross,” Hotaru mutters.
Usually I would disagree, but the images that come to mind are not the kind that I find remotely enjoyable. The opposite actually. I press the button for the third floor.
Katsumi finally speaks up. “We get a bonus for not damaging anything, soooo… how could we do that?”
“Draw it out of the hotel?” Haruki muses.
I hum. There's an idea.
“We'd have to bait it somehow,” I mumble more to myself than anything.
“With what?” Katsumi asks.
Mayumi grins at me.
Oh no.
“No,” I say, “Not in the mood.”
“I didn't say anything,” she says, evil grin still on her face.
“You don't need to I-”
“It could work,” Haruki says. “Especially if they haven't let anyone into the hotel recently. We would be the only ones. And plenty of desire between us three. Probably wouldn't have to do a whole lot to get its attention."
“Thank the spirits…” Hotaru mumbles.
I rub the bridge of my nose as the door opens, pushing up my glasses. “You are aware it will want to eat us, correct? Meaning it will chase us. You want me to run? I am not a runner!”
The elevator opens to a hallway that's bland and filled with dull fluorescent light. Doors line the place, access points so they can get into the rooms and clean them without being seen in the main hall.
“I always said you need to work on your cardio. It's gonna get you one of these days! You need to stay healthy, sitting in that office of yours all day.”
Usually I like Haruki's doting, but not right now.
“I’m not beginning an exercise regiment by getting chased by giant sea demons!!!”
“Well,” Mayumi drawls, “Do you have a better idea?”
I tap my foot, looking up and down the hall. There has to be something around here we can do, because no matter what, I am not being the bait for this demon.
■ ■ ■
「Haruki」
"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"
Chie screams as we run down the hall, away from the approaching mass of pink tentacles that take up the whole of the hallway. Mayumi fires back the odd arrow here and there, but all it does is anger the thing. Breath huffs out of me. This thing is much faster than it's bulk would suggest.
"Come on, baby!" I tease. "Keep the knees up!"
"I will never forgive you for this!!!"
From somewhere behind us, Hotaru and Katsumi are laughing.
Finding the thing was a bit of a struggle. We had to search though room after room, following the trails of wetness that criss-crossed all the hallways. Eventually we happened on it in one of the fancier suites, sitting in a massive hot-tub, looking way too cute for a giant tentacle demon. Too bad for it that mama needs her payout. And… Chie is pretty sure it eats people.
Whats up with these damn things and eating people? Couldn't they—I don't know—eat their random concepts politely? Like civilized fucking-
I see the stairs coming up.
There's a door with one of those opening bars instead of a handle, I slam into the thing, throwing it wide, and leap down three or four steps at a time. The demon smashes into the doorway behind us, the entryway too small for its bulk, but its already squeezing itself through. It'll give us precious few seconds.
I'm down on the second floor landing, then down to the first. I go for the door.
Locked.
My heart stutters but there's a card reader next to the door. My hands fumble for the card the hotel employee gave me, while the sounds of the tentacle monster shoving itself through the doorway continue above.
The reader flashes red.
Shit.
I try again.
Red flashes.
Shit, shit shit.
One more time.
Red.
I whirl. Four pairs of eyes are on me.
"Second floor," I say. "Now!"
I run up the stairs, breath heaving out of me now. This is the worst fucking spot to be trapped with a giant fucking-
The mass of pink tentacles ooze down from the third floor.
Oh fuck.
"Hotaru! Barricade!"
Chie's shout rings off the walls just as the demon is halted by the translucent rainbow barrier. Tentacles are already feeling for a way around, and a pair of dark red eyes look right at me, narrowed with a knowing inteligence.
I shoot Chie a, "Good thinking darling," along with a wink.
Her cheeks redden, right in time with the demon's growl. Octopi shouldn't growl. That much I know. I hit the card reader on the second-floor door, and—for some reason—it works. We tumble into another employee hallway.
Nothing but bland doors around us.
"Chie, darling… We need a way out!"
"Oh, now now you want me to come up with an idea?! I thought-"
With a wet slithering noise, the demon presses up against the doorframe, halted by another of Hotaru's barriers. A black beak chomps at the translucent shield, wet dripping maw on full display. I take back what I said about it being cute.
"Girls?" Hotaru calls, "Hurry up please!"
Mayumi storms up. "You know what, fuck it. We're jumping out a window!"
Me and Chie look at each other, and shrug.
We run, doors pass us by in a blur.
"Try this one!" Chie calls to me. "These places rarely have windows but if they do then they'll be on-"
The door opens.
First thing I notice—the room is loud. Not in sound but color. Reds and pinks everywhere. Lights and fuzz and spirits know what else. But I'm not paying close attention to all the decoration, because in the center of the room there are people!
NOT EMPTY!
"Sorry!" I exclaim, shutting the door. To the girls I say,"Oops."
"Give me that!" Chie swipes the card from my hand and runs to the next door. "Why are there people still in here anyway?!"
"Capitalism, bitch," Mayumi shouts, shooting around Hotaru's barrier like a shield. "Death is preferable to profit loss."
"My love, what the fuck?"
"Am I wrong?"
Chie is already opening the next door. I set up behind her.
"Not really no." The door swings wide, and thankfully I see nobody inside. Instead of a window or other convenient escape route though, I'm struck by the sheer amount of… inventory. "Oh shit," I mutter. "Are those swings? And… is that an x-frame! Oh we could do so much with that…"
"Not the time, babe!" Mayumi calls back.
Chie is muttering, already running to the next door with red cheeks.
"Right…"
The evil-ass octopus has finally squeezed through the stair doorway and is barreling down towards us at speed. Its then that Katsumi summons her weapon. Not a sword as I expect, but a naginata. She jabs her weapon beyond Hotaru's shield just as its about to hit, and the force impales it on the polearm. A screech tears through the hall.
"Hell yeah, miko!" Mayumi shouts.
Its not a fatal blow. Though really, I have no idea what is fatal on an octopus. Still, its tentacles flail against the barrier. Several are trying to get around it by slipping into the cracks. Taking Katsumi's lead, I summon a basic spear and get to work keeping the thing at bay. The more force against Hotaru's shield, the weaker she becomes. So we have to keep it from getting the leverage to use it's full force.
"How ya doin, Sunshine?" Mayumi asks Hotaru.
The bright-eyed girl's forehead is damp with sweat, but she shoots us a smile. "Not too bad," she says. "But I am never doing this after going out again!"
"We'll make it up to you," I quip, spearing a tentacle.
Mayumi shoots some arrows around the barrier. "Maybe go to that concert you've been asking about?"
"You would!" Hotaru shouts with joy. "I thought you hated her!"
"I didn't say that! I just said she wasn't my thing!" Mayumi looks at Katsumi. "Whatchu think miko? Wanna see some bubbly-glittery gay pop?"
Katsumi struggles to pull her naginata free from a grasping tentacle. "Uh, Sure?"
Hotaru does a little whoop, a smile on her face. She's been trying to get us to go see some pop singer for ages. I glance back down the hall. Chie is still checking rooms. Katsumi draws my attention.
"Did you know that octopus tentacles can move and act independently of the central brain?"
"No shit…" Mayumi remarks, having forgone her bow for a dagger that she is using to stab at the tentacles at our feet.
"Wait," Hotaru says, "Does that mean-"
She's cut off by Chie shouting down the hall.
"Hey! Down here!" She's waving almost at the end of the hall. I look back and forth, already not liking the distance.
"Shit…" I mumble, "Alright… we book it on the count of three, you good for it, Hotaru?"
She glances between me and the demon, breathing deep. "Carry me? I'll release my barrier on the count of five."
With a grin I scoop her up and haul ass towards Chie, Mayumi and Katsumi behind. In my ear she counts.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The floor shakes as a few hundred kilos of enraged muscle charges after us. My lungs heave in my sprint to Chie. I hope to whatever Kami and spirits there are, that she's found us a way out. I set Hotaru down as we reach her, and she brings us into some kind of workroom—I'm not paying attention—all I see is the big open window. Right now, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen
Outside, a beach stretches in both directions. The sand goes right up to the building. Perfect for jumping from this height. It'll break our fall.
The octopus hits the door, tentacles are already feeling around inside for us.
Out we go.
One of Hotaru's barriers as our slide.
■ ■ ■
「Katsumi」
The smell of salt and brine stings my nostrils while the strong wind has the long hair of my wig in a tussle, my pony tail within its cute bow is gettting thrown about like a flag.
With the ocean at our backs and the high wall of the hotel in front, we stare down the big mass of pink tentacles that is the demon. The narrow band of beach stretches into the early morning to our left and right. Demons come out at night, they prefer the dark—their element, so this can’t be very comfortable for it.
Our adversary has more or less trapped itself.
We're between it and the waves, and trying to escape down the beach makes it an easy target. Heaving its heavy body back up the wall would be a slow affair, leaving it open to our attacks.
Its class is too high to chalk this less-than-optimal-play up to simple instinct. Meaning it probably thinks it can take us with ease. Nothing but tasty snacks, who are a bit annoying. Or maybe it likes the rush of the hunt? The excitement of it.
Who can say?
The liminal moment of tranquility ends as two of its tentacles lash forward, targeting Chie, while the rest of them are busy moving its sizable body in our direction.
Hotaru lets one of the attacks crash against a blink-and-you-miss-it barrier. To my right Haruki’s large blade cuts a sizeable gash into the second tentacle on the offensive, halting its advance.
Mayumi and Chie bolt in opposite directions, left and right, our ranged fighters know what they're doing. At the same time, I bring the blade of my naginata down on the base of one of demon’s extended tentacles. The weapon still feels unfamiliar to me even if the basics are the same, but the range I gain more than makes up for my inexperience.
“Cut them at their base!” I shout.
I hear short call of acknowledgement in my back as Haruki takes up position there.
A tentacle on route for me gets momentarily stapled into the sand by two massive arrows in short succession.
I take a second strike at the same spot I targeted before, successfully robbing the monster of one of its arms.
It screams. It's a terrible sound to hear.
More arrows hit its side.
Enraged, it focus flips with a vengeance. Three of its arms go for me, all of them blocked by the sudden appearance of the familiar translucent rainbow sheen. Thanks Hotaru!
Haruki uses the demon's mistake to let her sword come down like enormous cleaver. Two more tentacles gone.
The barrier fades.
With Haruki’s blade still in the flesh of the demon, I flip around, leting the long handle of the my polearm glide through my hands and take a swipe at the tentacle already gunning for her.
Our backs touch, a comfort so close to this pink beast.
The chime from Chie’s gun rings out and I watch the unprotected glowing red eye of the demon blink out into a splatter of cerulean blood.
Another high pitched, choked scream.
This isn’t really going your way Mr. Octopus! May have bitten off more than your black beak can handle.
I use the opening of its blindness to hack with a forceful swing at another tentacle’s base. I don’t make it fully through but it’s severed enough that I’d say it counts.
I can feel the demon’s desperation. Its whole body shows it. Gone is the offensive posturing, the eagerness to feed.
“Hotaru, left flank!” Haruki yells.
A barrier closes off its possible retreat.
With half of its arms gone, Haruki lunges with her sword over the barren side of the giant octopus while I defend her with a wide sweeping arc against the tentacles desperate to stop us.
There is an awful yelp in my back and the next thing I see is the tentacle caught on my blade burning away.
I turn to see Haruki standing tall, half covered in blue blood and wearing a wicked grin.
“Let’s cash this baby in. Mama needs her pay day.”