Spirit Hotel

Translated by Rook of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

After they had had their hearts content, their bodies were relaxed and tired (1). Gin and Hughes fell asleep in each others" embrace. The night was long and they had a full sleep. Yet, the doorbell was still a wet blanket.

Gin woke up blearily and foggily opened the door. Right outside stood Feisha, who was still pressing the doorbell.

Gin forced his eyes open to a slit. "Can I a.s.sume that you"re just here to press the doorbell and not here to look for someone?"

Feisha gaped for a moment before pulling his hand away in embarra.s.sment.

Gin looked at his wrist and realized his watch was still in the bathroom. "What time is it?"

Feisha stared vacantly at his watch. "Four o"clock."

"In the afternoon?"

"In the early morning."

Gin let his head rest against the doorframe weakly. "Are you bullying me because I"m a morning person?"

"… I can"t find him."

"What?"

"I can"t find Metatron. And I can"t find that building." Feisha slowly leaned against the wall. "I ran for so, so long, and I still couldn"t find it…"

Gin suddenly realized Feisha"s hair was wet and his face was flushed abnormally red.

"I once thought that seeing that tower so often was so frustrating, so…" Feisha abruptly knocked his head against the wall. "I didn"t know it would be like this. If I had known, I"d have stayed there and refused to leave."

"If you had stayed there and never left, you"d have starved." Gin matched him point for point.

"If this is how you"re consoling me, I have to say it. You suck at this."

"Then let me try something else." Gin pinched the bridge of his nose to help himself focus. "There"s two reasons why you can"t find it. First, you no longer meet the conditions that enable you to find the tower."

Feisha was lost. The conditions to find the tower? He never knew that these conditions existed.

"Secondly," Gin said each word distinctly. "Metaton doesn"t want to see you."

Feisha lowered his head dejectedly. "Maybe he knows what I want but he doesn"t want to help me, so he"s avoiding me."

"I don"t doubt that possibility." Gin patted his shoulder. "Never trust heaven, they are the origin of everything."

"Including evil?" If it included evil, then how did Isefel fall in the beginning? Feisha"s thoughts were disordered.

"They gave rise to sin and yet abandoned it." Gin shook his head head, "But four in the morning is really not a good time to chat. Why don"t you go back to take a rest and maybe when you wake up tomorrow morning, you"ll discover everything is actually beautiful. Your thoughts are clear, your future is bright… etcetera."

Feisha pulled at the corner of his mouth, nodding minutely.

"Wonderful. Then, goodnight!" Gin didn"t wait for his reply, swiftly turning around and closing the door.

Feisha stared at the door mutely for a long while before walking back, wobbling, to his room. Although he hadn"t left Noah"s Ark for a long time, it felt like an eternity had pa.s.sed since he was last here.

The bed was still the same bed, yet, when he lay there, it was icy cold. Everything around him seemed so foreign, as though he was the only one left on this earth. He felt like the way he had when he had first came to Noah"s Ark.

Lost, helpless, afraid… All kinds of negative feelings flooded him in the dark, rushing towards him and engulfing him. He lay on his side, slowly lowering his head and then slowly bringing up his legs, curling into a tight ball…

~~~~

"You have to give me three rooms. These guests are very important." Shao Huli"s (2) finger, sharper than a drill, almost stabbed his face.

Feisha pressed down on the handrests of his swivel chair with both hands, slowly retreating ten centimeters, "The rooms are full."

"Full? How can they be full? Are the customers already here?" She pretended to look at her watch. "It"s only three in the afternoon."

"They booked in advance." To make sure she understood, he added, "They paid deposits."

"I can also book in advance! Paying the room"s bill in advance is not a problem. So long as you give the rooms…" She grumbled and grumbled, but her voice sounded further and further away, as though it had become clamorous noise.

Was she really from the sales department and not just from new money?

Feisha stood up and walked off without even looking at her.

"Blah blah blah blah….." (3) Noise chased him from behind. He walked quickly out of the door and let out a relieved breath.

"Feisha."

He lifted his head and saw Qian Luyou walking towards him from the front doors. (4)

"Hi." Feisha greeted him.

"When do you leave work, let"s watch a movie together." Qian Luyou hooked his arm. "The Blue Faerie is really good~"

Blue faerie?

Feisha thought confusedly, since when did the blue faerie move to the big screen? But what confused him was that he actually nodded and said, "Mmn, I also really like that movie." And then he grabbed her hand and walked out.

Once he left the building, they were in the cinema.

The cinema was pitch-black. He couldn"t see the person beside him clearly, only hearing a voice saying, "Let"s marry."

He didn"t reply. But in his heart, he seemed to have given in. Pictures began appearing on the big screen in the theatre, a pair of black wings, white tusks, special effects flying back and forth…

He watched it seriously until his eyes were dazzled, yet, his heart was very quiet, so quiet that he could hear a voice repeatedly reminding him: look at the person beside you.

So, he turned his head and saw a stranger sitting there, smiling happily at him.

And then…

He smiled.

~~~~

By the time Gin managed to climb out of his tender and warm bed, it was already past four in the afternoon. He walked into the cafeteria, thinking to go to the kitchen to look for some food when he saw Feisha sitting beside the window, a face full of contentment as he drank afternoon tea.

"Why are you here?" Gin asked in surprise as he walked over.

"I"m having my afternoon tea." Feisha shook his milk tea.

Gin looked him up and down for a long time before realizing that what he wanted to ask wasn"t why Feisha was here, but why he was in a good mood. "You saw Metaton?"

Feisha slowly sighed and shook his head. "No."

"You thought of other methods?"

"Also no." He picked up a strawberry and stuffed it into his mouth.

"….Then what happened?" Gin really wanted to go back and flip the calendar to check if he had slept for a night or a month.

"Nothing happened." Feisha wiped his mouth, "But if I had to say that something had happened, then I would say that I realized I"ve been here for more than half a year."

Gin wrinkled his brow. "So?"

"So in another half a year, I can go home." Feisha happily stretched. "My G.o.d. This kind of days where the meals and lodgings are covered but there"s no salary will finally be over."

Gin stared at him disbelievingly, "Huh?"

"Don"t you know that any salary I earn here can"t be taken back to the human world?" Feisha sighed, "You also feel that it"s really unbelievable, right? There"s actually this kind of unreasonable conditions. No wonder when Tony left, his expression was so strange. It"s because he also felt very wronged."

Gin bit his lip and was silent for a very long time before staring at him and saying, "Has the shock been too much for you, so… do you want to rest again?"

"I slept very well yesterday night. I even dreamt that I married and had kids. It was a boy."

"Then what about Isefel?"

Feisha"s smile stiffened slightly before slowly disappearing. "This is probably the best ending. He"s an angel, he returned to heaven. I"m a human, I belong in the human world. Everything returns to its rightful place. Don"t you think this is a very perfect and satisfying ending?"

"No."

"But I really think so." Feisha lowered his head, his finger circling the rim of the cup of milk tea slowly. "I keep thinking that if I stay here for too long, I"ll be affected too much by all of you. I"ll gradually forget how I used to look, I"ll forget how humans look. This morning, I thought very carefully and very seriously about this. I feel that… maybe G.o.d and Metaton are right. This ending is the best for everyone involved. I never belonged here, anyway."

"You really think so?" Gin eyed him closely.

Feisha stared at his own finger for a long while before lifting his head, smiling slightly, "Mmn."

Gin felt that this was wrong, yet he couldn"t retort anything. Obviously, no matter what angle he looked at it from, the solution now was the simplest and the most sensible. Everything returns to where it belonged, it couldn"t be more reasonable than that. He really didn"t have the grounds to persuade Feisha to pick a tougher path that might not even have hope.

Feisha suddenly said, "Oh yes. I talked to Antonio for a while just now, he said Lanka will refuse to be the successor to the throne and he will nominate Jesse."

"Oh." Gin was still immersed in the previous line of thought, thus, he replied without thinking.

Feisha continued,  "But Jesse didn"t have a reply. I heard he refused to release Shamal. Because of this, Aumerle went to visit Genesis in person."

"Shamal? Jesse? This is something else that happened when I wasn"t there?" Gin was a little helpless.

Feisha spied out of the corner of his eye Layton carrying a tray out over and hurried to wave his hand to say, "I would like a cantaloupe-flavored ice cream."

Gin heard his words and turned around. "I want steak… raw."

Layton could only put down food on the table and then turn back to the kitchen again. After a while, he came out carrying steak and ice cream.

Yet, Gin took one look at the steak and said, "Is this raw?"

Layton replied: "Antonio said so three minutes ago."

Gin said unpleasantly: "Then in those three minutes, what happened to it?"

"As you can see, it"s cooked."

Gin savagely cut off a piece, putting it into his mouth. "I hate cooked food."

Feisha mocked him. "That"s obvious by looking at Hughes."

Gin glared at him. "Whether Hughes is raw or cooked, only I know. You better not even think about it."

Feisha pulled a face.

Layton said, "Oh yes. We"ve declared war on the t.i.tans."

"Huh?" Gin swallowed the steak and asked disbelievingly. "Us? You, me, Antonio, Hughes and him? Or is this something else that happened when I was asleep?"

Layton said, "Of course not. I"m talking about us dwarves."

Gin suspiciously asked, "Because of height differences?"

Layton replied, "No. The t.i.tans imprisoned their queen and then declared that they"re leaving the Novem Union."

Feisha rushed to speak before Gin, "This is while you were asleep."

Gin said, "So, when you said Asa betrayed us, it was for this?"

Feisha answered, "If I didn"t understand it wrongly, he"s from the Novem Union."

"So," Gin played with the fork in his hand. "The t.i.tan clan is the Novem Union"s biggest base of operations? But haven"t the dwarves and the t.i.tans always had a strained relationship? Especially the dwarf king and the t.i.tan queen? Or… did something else about them happen that I don"t know?"

Layton said, with great devotion to righteousness, "We fight for justice!"

"Is the steak good?"

"So-so. The ice cream?"

"So-so too."

Layton said, discontentedly spoke, "What kind of att.i.tude is this?"

Feisha responded, "The att.i.tude when one is faced with justice and one is shocked into silence."

Layton, "….."

Feisha said, "Oh yes. Shamal, Asa…and Isefel aren"t here, will the hotel still bring in people?"

"Don"t know." Gin shrugged. "These things are usually decided by the head of each realm. Of course, you"re the exception."

"Then recently, has there been any business?" Feisha asked. "Just taking the salary without working is not my style."

Gin lifted an eyebrow. "The werewolves who come every month are still here. Also, it will be time for every realm"s businessman to begin transporting their goods in a few days."

Feisha rubbed his mouth, standing. "Very good. Then I"ll have to get ready and prepare." (5)

Layton blankly watched him lift up empty bowls and leave, speaking in a soft voice to Gin, "What"s wrong with him?"

"He was just complaining that his salary can"t be brought back to the human realm, and now he"s done a hundred eighty degrees turn to say he can"t just take his salary without working… what do you think is wrong with him?"

"He lost it?

Gin chased after Feisha. "Just what on earth has happened?"

"What?" Feisha slowed down his footsteps, turning to look at him.

"From the time when you woke people up in the early hours of this morning till now, what has happened?" Gin didn"t believe that the person in the morning who was so desperate because he couldn"t find Metaton would, after sleeping, have a moment of enlightenment and get over it.

Feisha was silent.

"Have you already met Metaton?" When he thought about it, this was the only biggest possibility that would have the biggest impact.

Feisha shook his head.

"Actually, the vampires have cruel methods to extract a confession, too." Gin was all smiles as he threatened Feisha.

Feisha saw his insistence on getting to the bottom of the matter and could only sigh. "…I had a dream."

"Huh?" He had thought of many answers, but not this one.

"I went to the cinema to watch a movie. Pictures are shown on the screen…"

Gin interrupted his description, "I know what a cinema is."

"You were all on the screen. But I was not."

"I don"t understand."

"What it means is… I woke up." Feisha smiled and patted the railing, turning to leave.

Gin stood where he was, turning to Layton, "What does this mean?"

"He"s lost it and he"s now awake." (6)

—–

T/n:

(1) Their "hearts content" was written as 酣战淋漓 Hānzhàn línlí, which I think is a typo for 酣畅淋漓 Hānchàng línlí, a idiom meaning "to one"s satisfaction/heart"s content".

(2) Her name is a pun on "despicable vixen/b.i.t.c.h" because it sounds very similar to 骚狐狸 Sāo húlí.

(3) The words here are literally 叽里咕噜咕噜叽里 Jīligūlū gūlū jī li, which is onomatopoeia for grumbling, mumbling and jabbering.

(4) Her name is a pun on money. Qian Luyou is written 钱绿悠. The first two characters literally mean "green money".

(5) Feisha actually says he"ll 打起精神 Dǎ qǐ jīngshén, which means to cheer up/muster up enthusiasm.