A wild Ruri episode appears!
This time we’re on just one guest, a woman whose initial appearance has brass knuckles for a head. Despite the ominous nature of that, she seems to be a surprisingly caring sort.
At the same time, we get Ruri’s story, how her mom left and dumped extreme gambling debts on her dad, forcing Ruri to more or less fend for herself. We also learn in full how she got to the hotel: she was hit by a truck, and is alive but in a vegetative state. Neko notes that means she could check out any time she likes, but Ruri insists that she needs to save up more of her pay from working at the hotel. She also says that the wages for the likes of her and Neko are not in money but in time, but does not elaborate on that much.
As to the guest of the episode, it turns out that she was a single parent, hence noting where Ruri must have come from and wanting to take care of her. The woman’s own story, however, is nested tragedies: she was dragged into a fraud operation by a friend, and just as she was coming to realize what a bad thing she was doing and that she should go back to the hostess club if she has to, she got in an accident following her friend on the run from a police bust… and she’s stone dead at that. She says, tearfully, that at least her daughter’s father is a good guy who wants her and will take good care of her, but it’s still a sad check-out to the other side.
However, at least she does leave her mark in the Hotel – the other staff get together to cook for Ruri for once, and Ruri has some inspiring words about letting herself be cared for when somebody wants to do it.
And, that is pretty much the episode. The investigation of the guest is fairly well done, with the clues presented significantly before they’re drawn together for the most part (something that’s fallen by the wayside in more plot-heavy entries) and there’s nothing more than a failed attempt at causing trouble from Osoto. All the same, I don’t think we can 100% call this filler, and even if it is more filler than not at least it’s quite watchable on its own.