Immediately, he was struck by the image of something raising itself up behind him and giving chase. It was a tremendously powerful premonition, and Mitsuhiro almost screamed. He was so terrified, having no idea what was chasing him, that he couldn’t even look back to see. If he did, he thought, there’d be no turning back.
—Calm down. There’s nothing behind you. Just a big empty space.
But the image of being left alone in this vast dark ocean appeared in his mind. A cold, sharp fear pierced his entire body from behind. Overwhelmed by the sensation, Mitsuhiro gritted his teeth and climbed up the stepladder. He couldn’t afford to slip—otherwise, he’d be swallowed into the bottom of the hole, never to emerge. He was breathing hard as he ascended.
The man had now climbed all the way out, disappearing over the edge of the hole. Mitsuhiro soon followed him, crawling out on hands and knees atop the dusty ground. He continued crawling all the way over to the altar, then stood up, clinging to the table and panting with fear.
He was back in the safe zone. He thought so, anyway, but it was far from safe. He felt like he was merely clinging to a tiny inner tube in the pitch-black sea, desperately trying to keep his face above the surface.
The man was standing there, looking dazed.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mitsuhiro barked, the dry air irritating his throat. The man gave this an apologetic nod. Considering his previous situation, he really deserved some sympathy. Right now, Mitsuhiro should have been winning this man over, convincing him not to tell the outside world about what happened at this site. Minimizing the potential damage to his company was supposed to be his job here, but right now, it sure didn’t seem that way.
Mitsuhiro didn’t know if some idiot construction worker did this or not, but all the trouble this would undoubtedly cause filled him with frustration. Or maybe it was fear.
Clutching his bag in his hand, he made for the only door in the room. He had left the stepladder down in the hole, the key in the chain lock, and the lights on as well, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t about to switch them off and take that long walk back in the dark.
—If anyone has a problem with that, tell it to the idiot who didn’t put a light switch by the door!
Feeling a little ill, he kept the handkerchief by his mouth as he climbed the stairs. Occasionally, he’d look back to make sure the man was following him. At first, he did so silently. But as they both made their way to the surface without a word, the man suddenly shouted out.
“Fire!”
Mitsuhiro turned his gaze upward. He had only been looking at the dusty staircase in front of him, oblivious to the smoke and strange smell that had begun to drift down. He hadn’t even noticed that unnerving, burning smell in the dry air.
—Fire? Where could there be a fire? The generator isn’t even running.
Another fire
He almost took out his tablet, attempting to figure out where the fire might be coming from, but naturally, that wasn’t the smartest move right now. The most pressing issue was the smoke. It was blowing downward at them; they had to move right now. There was no way he could stand there checking blueprints while they were being bombarded with potentially toxic smoke in this cramped stairwell.
“Let’s get out of here now!”
Mitsuhiro saw the man shrink back and decided to give him his handkerchief.
“Put this over your nose and mouth.”
The man eagerly accepted it. That handkerchief, Mitsuhiro suddenly recalled, was a Father’s Day gift from his wife and daughter. But it was too late to worry about such pleasantries, especially now that the man already had it.
Mitsuhiro was deeply frustrated, but he covered his own mouth with a gloved hand and climbed the stairs, holding his breath as best he could. That irresistible fear stalking him from behind wasn’t there any longer. Now the fear was overhead.
And as he endured the pain of climbing these stairs while breathing as little as possible…
I can hardly breathe
…he bit down again, this time around the base of the thumb. He tried his best not to fall, his eyes alternating between the smoke reflecting the light of his headlamp and the dust billowing off the stairs. His knees and thighs were in agony. His lungs were burning hot, and his heart was beating so fast, he thought he might have gotten sick. Something about restricting his breathing as much as possible while doing all this aggressive physical exercise almost made him laugh—or maybe he really was giggling as he scrambled up the stairs.
He was ready to break, but he still struggled and put one leg in front of the other. Then he thought he really would break, but still he persevered. This time, when he really did think he was at the end, that he had absolutely nothing left, he finally reached the open floor above.
鎭
The character on the wall appeared in the light from the headlamp, but in no time at all, Mitsuhiro was surrounded by smoke, unable to see anything. He tried to make sure the man was all right, but he couldn’t. Instead, he bumped into a nearby wall. Following the wall with his shoulder, he used his memory of the floor plan to try to reach the stairs to the surface. His head was pounding, and he feared he was about to pass out or pop a blood vessel and die right here. His hand was in terrible pain, but he wouldn’t stop biting on it.
Suddenly, a figure appeared and pulled his other hand forward.
“This way! This way!”
It was the older guy from the prefab office. He had his helmet on, along with goggles and a dust mask. His guidance allowed Mitsuhiro to reach the stairs without another moment of hesitation, his legs shaking with fatigue by the time they reached the surface. The sound of rain was audible again. He felt a cool breeze blowing in, as the realization that he was finally safe again washed over him.