"Yui, I'm bored, can I leave?"
"This was your idea. The day is almost over" Yui refused immediately.
"Buuuuuut... we've just been sitting here all afternoon writing down names and handing out keys according to races. It feels like a puzzle about who you can seat next to whom, except long and boring" Run complained, leaning over the reception desk in boredom.
"I can't just assign people randomly, I need your knowledge so I don't place them incorrectly and cause accidents."
"But it's in the papers. If one says their name is Vulcano and their bodies have lava instead of blood, don't place them near the ones called RockEaters whose description says they eat any kind of rock, the rarer the better" Run replied, pointing at the papers and the obviousness of the task.
"And what about the Ror and the Romr? I still don't even understand the difference between them" Yui asked, frowning as she tried to understand what they had written.
"That's easy too. They're simply two races from the Reflective Solar System, where conditions caused identical planets to exist in front of and behind the sun.
The Ror and the Romr come from Palyu and Payul, two planets that are not only exactly identical, but even the people look like twins. Because of their similarities, not only in appearance but also in life experiences, they hate each other and tend to get confused for one another, so you can't place them together.
Anyway, if something happens, just put them somewhere with extremely high temperatures and the ones who start looking translucent are the Romr."
"I didn't understand half of what you just said" Yui sighed before smiling and lifting a stack of papers. "But I can assure you they didn't write that in the forms."
"Tsk." Run clicked her tongue, realizing she had been caught and wouldn't be getting out of work that easily.
While they continued talking, a new person entered. Yui handed them one of the questionnaires she had prepared earlier and offered it with a smile.
It wasn't just the two of them who were tired of working, everyone had been working until nighttime and was exhausted.
While Yui and Run handled reception, occasionally acting as bellhops, Haruna handled the kitchen, Rito took care of guests' special needs such as delivering items to their rooms and giving directions, and finally Risa and Mío handled general cleaning, one taking care of the onsen and the other the hotel, although they often switched or helped each other.
By eleven at night, they had finally finished receiving guests and were able to rest at last.
After enjoying the onsen once again and having a quick dinner, everyone went to sleep without even feeling like talking because of how tired they were.
Fortunately, the next day was the weekend, so they didn't need to attend school.
Furthermore, according to Mikado-sensei, official personnel would arrive later that day, so they wouldn't need to keep working themselves.
...
"Yui, good morning."
"Run, good morning to you too. How did you sleep?"
"Fine, although it was a little difficult to fall asleep at first. There's someone pretty heavy at the end of the second floor" Run said.
"Yeah, I heard it. At first I thought they were just making noise, but when I paid closer attention some of them sounded like footsteps, so I assumed it was some heavy race. Did we even check in someone like that yesterday?" Yui agreed.
"I don't know. A lot of people came" Run said dismissively.
As they chatted cheerfully, two floating metallic spheres appeared in front of them.
They moved as if they possessed their own consciousness and were distinguished only because one wore a small elegant top hat.
The devices seemed to vibrate for a moment and, before Yui could wonder what was happening, voices echoed directly inside her ears.
"We would like to file a complaint."
"Yes, a complaint."
'Eh? Aliens?' Yui thought in surprise before finally remembering the two beings from yesterday.
"Yes, is something wrong?" she asked naturally, calming her expression.
"There is. I believe I wrote in your so-called form that we are creatures sensitive to powerful sound waves. Even so, an individual who produces them simply by walking was placed beside us."
"Yes, beside us."
"Eh?" Yui's expression changed, thinking she would never make such a mistake. She immediately pulled out the notebook where she kept records of all the guests and began searching through it.
"Could you remind me of your room numbers, please?"
"We are staying in room number 47."
"Yes, room 47."
"Let's see, 47... 47..." Yui quickly located the page with their information and, after reading it, realized there was nothing wrong.
"Room 47, right before the last room on the fourth floor, room 48, which is supposedly empty. Around it there are only lightweight species such as the Erriah and the Sssrg" Yui explained.
"Impossible. The room next to ours, room 48 I presume given the numbering, is occupied by an individual whose minimum weight is, according to my calculations, approximately five tons."
"Yes, approximately five tons."
"That shouldn't be possible, we don't have anyone registered there. Even so, we'll investigate immediately." Yui bowed apologetically to the floating alien technological spheres that communicated through sound waves that did not travel through the air, something she never would have imagined herself doing a few months ago.
"Excellent. We will spend today sightseeing and experiencing what planet Earth has to offer. I hope this matter is resolved by the time we return" said the small sphere with the hat as it departed.
"Yes, by the time we return" the other sphere repeated before disappearing behind the first one.
"So, do you know what's going on?" Yui asked the unconcerned Run.
"I don't know, but I'm also on the fourth floor and I can assure you there's someone there."
"Then let's go check" Yui said.
...
Knock Knock Knock
At room 48, Yui and Run knocked on the door and waited a few seconds. After receiving no response, they tried opening it only to discover it was locked.
"It's locked from the inside. There's someone there" Yui said.
Knock Knock Knock
They knocked again.
Thump
After waiting a few seconds, they heard noise from inside, confirming someone's presence even further.
"Excuse me, hotel reception. Could you open the door?" Run called out.
"..."
"We know someone is in there. If you don't open up, we'll have to use the master key and call the authorities" Yui said, wielding the power of the law.
Thump
The same heavy noise from before sounded again, as if something heavy had fallen to the floor.
Thump thump thump.
Immediately afterward, a similar but not identical sound repeated over and over. They were extremely heavy and hurried footsteps.
However, something surprised Yui. Judging by the number of footsteps, either it was some kind of short-legged species or...
"I'm sorry, please don't call the police!"
The door opened, revealing a girl who looked about eight years old, whose skin was entirely crystalline green and who wore clothes far too large for her.
...
"Who are you?"
Once inside the room, Yui and Run looked at the girl with complicated thoughts.
The girl sat nervously in front of them, her hands trembling.
"I-I'm Eme."
"You're a Zielonyta, right? What are you doing here, and where are your parents?" Run asked.
"Yes, I'm Eme the Zielonyta" the girl nodded vigorously. "M-my dad isn't with me."
"You're alone? Why?" Yui asked.
"...My dad is mean, so I left" she replied after a few seconds, lowering her head.
"Wait, you ran away from home?" Run realized. "How did you even run away from your home all the way to another planet?"
"Gronn helped me. He's nice, unlike Dad" Eme said proudly, raising a fist.
"And who is this Gronn?"
"He works for Dad, but he's nice."
"Then..."
"Wait, Yui, I think we should stop talking and call Mikado instead" Run interrupted her.
"But what if she's going through a complicated family situation?" Yui said. "We should try to help them."
"I know, but we still need to do it in Mikado's presence. Zielonytas aren't a common race. They're an entire species made from the hardest and most durable mineral in the galaxy. So hard that, besides the Galactic King, the only recorded sighting of someone breaking through it without specialized tools, and even then taking weeks to do so, was the most powerful mercenary in the entire galaxy.
Because of their durability, Zielonytas are highly sought after on the black market. The mere presence of one of their race outside their planet tends to attract space mercenaries looking for easy money.
We need official backup quickly or we're going to get into trouble."
"That important? Fine, I'll follow your lead" Yui said, looking at the little girl in front of them with concern.
"Eh? You said you wouldn't call the police!" Eme exclaimed upon hearing that.
"We won't call the police, but being outside your planet is dangerous and we need to help you return" Run tried to reassure her.
But not only did the girl fail to cheer up, she even started throwing a childish tantrum.
"I don't want to, I don't want to! If I go back to my planet, my father will find out and make me go back with him!"
"He won't, don't worry."
"Of course he will, my dad is the king!" Eme said.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)