Chapter Three:
Ink Tide Hotel Ambush
Even as she turned away and headed towards the hotel with the others, Saiko found herself unable to forget him. Her cheeks were flushing with every second she thought of Alex's handsome face and she could hear his words on replay, telling her that she knew where to find him if she wanted to talk to him again.
'C'mon, Saiko, focus on checking in and think about music.' The anime girl told herself.
"Saiko's got a boyfriend." Meggy teased in a sing-song voice.
"What?!" Saiko exclaimed sheepishly, "No, I... I don't even know him!"
Meggy giggled, "Don't hide it, Saiko. I saw you two were holding hands. And you're thinking about him, I can see it on your face."
Saiko begged with the former Inkling to drop it as they entered the hotel lobby with Mario, Jeeves, Shroomy and Whimpu, with the luggage still in hand. Saiko did not forget her belongings and the rest of the equipment, even with that handsome Inkling still on her mind. It took a while, but she finally managed to push Alex to the back of her mind for now.
Finally, her cheeks felt warm and her heart was beating normally. Saiko approached the receptionist's counter while the Inkling staff assisted the band, Mario and Jeeves with carrying the luggage.
"Welcome to Ink Tide Hotel..." The cyan-blue Inkling girl at the desk said, "I believe you are staying for the weekend?"
"We sure are." Shroomy nodded.
"That's right." Saiko added.
"Great squid!" The receptionist exclaimed, "This is an honor to have the rock star Saiko Bichitaru and her band along with Splatfest champion Meggy Spletzer in the hotel. If you don't mind, allow me to show you to your hotel rooms! But, can I get your autographs first?"
Mario stepped in. "Mario would be happy to give you his autograph." The fat Italian quipped.
"Oh, hey there, Mario!" The receptionist said with a happy wave.
"Uh, sorry, Mario. She wasn't asking for your autograph." Meggy told her friend.
Mario looked at the Splatfest champion with a sad face. "Aw, Meggy. C'mon! Mario's famous too!" He said, "Wasn't I on your Splatfest team?"
Saiko picked up a note pad along with a pen, then she started writing a note on the piece of paper. She finished writing, plucked the paper off the pad, and gave it to the receptionist. Then, Saiko handed the pad over to Whimpu, Shroomy and Meggy, who signed their autographs on different pieces of paper before handing them to the cyan-blue Inkling.
Jeeves adjusted his tie and looked around the hotel lobby, making sure there were no other Saiko fans ready to ambush the band with demands for an autograph, especially since everyone had a lot of other things to do aside from performing music and signing autographs for fans.
"Thank you." The receptionist said as she accepted the autographs, "Allow me to show you to your rooms. I believe you have a reservation for Room 21418, Ms. Saiko?"
"Damn straight." The anime girl replied with a polite grin.
The receptionist, whose name was Clorine, led the group through the lobby as a few Inklings waved to them. Mario ran up to the cyan-blue squid woman with a piece of paper that had an M symbol written on it and he gave it to her with an eager smile.
"Mario hopes you're happy to have a Mario autograph." The plumber said to the receptionist.
"I don't think I've played your games." The Inkling told him, "But thanks for the autograph."
"You serve spaghetti in the hotel, right?"
Saiko rolled her eyes and Meggy giggled, that plumber just could never get over his obsession with his favorite food, even while he was helping them with the luggage. The receptionist led them into an elevator and headed up to the fourth floor where they would find their rooms. Thankfully, their rooms would have windows.
As they stood in the moving elevator, the group heard the sound of Marie's song Tide Rolls Out playing over a speaker. The receptionist said that different songs played in the elevators every day, which Meggy found to be very interesting, even Saiko was fascinated by that detail.
Mario asked Clorine if they could play Mario music someday. The Inkling just giggled and Meggy playfully elbowed the plumber, which took the dim-witted Italian by surprise.
"You know not everything revolves around you, red man?" Whimpu asked.
"I'm sure he knows." Jeeves grunted, "You have enough brain cells to know, Mario?"
The sound of pinging filled the elevator as it stopped and the doors opened. Everyone stepped out and the receptionist led Saiko to a door with the number 21418 on it, the anime girl waited for the others to catch up with the luggage in hand. The receptionist pulled out a key with a card, handed it to Saiko, and she inserted it into the lock.
Without a struggle, Saiko unlocked the door and entered her hotel room, which looked spacious and colorful with traces of pink on the walls. She saw a poster that had her band on it sitting over a medium sized bed on the wall and a Squid Sisters poster sat next to the Saiko poster as well.
Mario whooped and charged into Saiko's room, approaching a sound-speaker that sat on the right side of the bedroom. The plumber tapped a button and rock music began vibrating the room, the fat Italian laughed with glee and started dancing to the music just as someone started singing with the music;
'Oooooh, don't come a-knocking. It's a dangerous time for rocking, ooooh, rocking and knockin'.
'Danger calls for doors to be locking, come knocking while rocking, you'll be in for a docking.
'Watch out, trouble is rocking, someone is knocking, and they got a gun.
'You better run, trouble has knocked and it looks like you're totally docked...'
"Golly gee..." Shroomy quipped, "Looks like you got quite the room, Saiko."
Saiko shut off the sound-speaker and Mario left the room, the anime girl set aside her belongings and sat on the bed, taking in the bedroom. Meggy brought out her phone and clicked some photos with the camera feature, this place sure was a fit for a rock star like Saiko...
BLAM!
Gunshots rang out and everyone took cover, Saiko ducked behind the bed and rolled out of the way before another gunshot rang out. Mario yelped and ducked down the hallway, trying to avoid the shots. Meggy drew her Splattershot and ducked behind a shelf, trying to not get hit. Shroomy and Whimpu hid themselves, also trying not to be shot.
Clorine yelped and ran out of the room while more gunshots fired. Just then, a Splat-bomb landed in the room. Saiko dove for it and grabbed the Splatoon-y explosive in time. She ran to the open window and threw it outside.
She then noticed a red light aiming for her head and looked up, spotting someone on the rooftop of another building across the street.
Sirens wailed and Saiko ducked, she took cover right before the mysterious attacker fired another shot into her hotel room. Meggy ran to Saiko's side, seeing if she was alright. The beanie girl nodded and threw herself out the window. She climbed up another ledge nearby and leaped onto the hotel roof, ducking to avoid being shot at by the attacker.
"My goodness!" Clorine exclaimed, "It's going to take some time to clean this mess!"
"Do you have a way up to the roof?" Saiko asked.
Clorine told her about the hotel's fire escape and Saiko instructed her along with Jeeves to look after the luggage, she then ran out of the room and headed down the hall, heading to the fire escape door. She opened the doorway and ran up the stairs, heading to the hotel's rooftops where Meggy was.
Saiko caught another glimpse of the attacker, who was wielding some type of machine gun sniper rifle that resembled a Splat-charger.
BLAM!
Both girls hid behind an air duct and took cover as another shot came their way. Meggy emerged and fired off her Splattershot, aiming for the attacker. Saiko looked around at the surrounding city rooftops and stepped back. And then, she ran towards the edge and leaped off, leaping as far as she could towards the roof where the attacker was.
Saiko managed to fully glimpse the assassin, who was clad in black with a mask covering their identity. But to judge by their height, they seemed to be the size of an Inkling or an Octoling.
The anime girl made it to the rooftop and tackled the mysterious black-clad assassin, she knocked the gun out of their hand and pinned them down. Just then, she heard the sound of ink being splatted and noticed Meggy landing on the rooftop with her Ink Boi.
"What's going on here, you bastard?!" Saiko yelled at the attacker, reaching for the mask on their head, "Tell us what your angle is!"
And without warning, Saiko felt a boot kick her in the belt and she retreated, catching her breath and nursing her stomach. The assassin got back up and reacquired their gun, then they bolted across the rooftops and the girls gave chase, determined to find answers behind why the attack took place and what was the motive...