“Oh! You’re awake now?!”
“Wh-Where are we? Why are you carrying me?”
“In the passageway connecting to Area 4’s inner ring. Ms. Moribe carried you this far after you passed out in the outer ring.”
“Where’s Moribe now?”
“She met up with Ms. Tachibana and they’re working together to put out the fire in the outer ring. They asked me to take you to the system control room.”
“So that’s what happened… Sorry for the trouble.”
“You should be. It’s a Herculean feat to carry you with a woman’s slender arms!” She flashes me a teasing grin.
I smile back wryly. “By the way, what happened to the girl? Sannomiya, was it?”
“She got away, according to Ms. Moribe. She wasn’t anywhere to be found inside the outer ring.”
“Did she escape to another area?”
I don’t know where the girl went. I feel like I saw her running off somewhere right before I collapsed, but my memories from around then are nonexistent. But we know for a fact that she got away.
“…Why did she run away?”
“I don’t know.” Miss Ena gives her head a small shake. “Do you have any ideas?”
“None…”
But thinking back on it, Yuuri was clearly scared when she first saw me too. Is my face that frightening in a disaster? Or had that girl also come across those dead bodies and is on edge because of that?
The truth is a mystery.
“…I’m sorry, Miss Ena,” I say with a sigh. “I failed to save your student.”
“What?” She looks surprised, but that expression immediately gives way to a soft smile. “…It’s okay. You risked your life trying. Besides, it’s a step forward just knowing that Ms. Sannomiya really is trapped down here.”
“But she ran through a contaminated zone. There’s a high chance she’s been exposed to radiation.”
“Actually, there might be some hope on that front,” she says, pulling something from her pocket. It’s an empty AD ampoule.
“What’s the story with that?”
“It was on the ground near where Ms. Sannomiya had been. If she’s the one who used it, then it should offer her some basic protection at least.”
“We can’t be overly optimistic. I doubt she has a Procyon. It’s dangerous for anyone to stay in contaminated zones for too long, even with AD.”
“…She’ll be fine, Captain Kasasagi,” Miss Ena reassures me in a calm voice. “She’s actually a prodigy who excels at almost everything.”
“A prodigy?”
“She sure is. I just know she’s the kind of girl who can figure out a way to survive by herself.”
“I see… That definitely offers some hope.” I should believe in that hope, even if it’s little more than grasping at straws.
“By the way, how long must I carry you for?”
“Huh? Ah! Sorry!” Realizing my arm is still wrapped around her shoulders, I quickly take my weight off her. She chuckles at me.
“You don’t have to jump away like that. I won’t bite. And you’re still under the weather.” As she says that, the sternness that usually dictates her speech and mannerisms is replaced by kindness. Trying to save her student probably made a good impression on her.
Feeling a little self-conscious, I thank her. “Well, anyway, thanks for everything. I’m ready and raring to go again.”
“I don’t mind helping you out if this is all it takes. Anyway, we should hurry to the control room.”
We break into a run to make up time.
✦ ✦ ✦
▼ 10:38 am
Area 4, Inner Ring
Outside the System Control Room
YUURI is waiting for us in front of the control room.
“Um, did something bad happen…?” she asks upon seeing us.
“Not bad per se. Our captain here passed out right after entering a contaminated zone.”
“You went into a contaminated zone? Why did…you pass out…?”
“Well, I got a killer headache out of nowhere…,” I explain calmly so as not to make Yuuri fret too much. “It might’ve been a side effect from radiation poisoning. Tachibana says radiation can damage your brain cells, so that could be the culprit here.”
“Oh no…!” Yuuri stares hard at my face. She seems concerned about me.
“It’s okay, Yuuri. This is our way of life. We’d be out of a job if we made civilians, especially young ladies, worry about us.” I craft a smile just for her, earning a teasing remark from Miss Ena.
“Oh my, you’re finally starting to sound like a man of your station, Captain Amnesia.”
“Well, amnesia aside, I’m supposed to be a rescue worker. This is just my way of playing it cool.” As I say that, it hits me that my subordinates are currently fighting fires in the outer ring. “All right, I’m off to help Tachibana and Moribe. Wait for us in the control room.”
“Huh? Will you be okay? Did you also forget that you just fainted?”
“I’m all better now. So I’ve gotta go make up for lost ground.”
“Good grief. You’re such a tough guy, aren’t you?”
With that comment at my back, I run toward the outer ring.
✦ ✦ ✦
▼ 10:41 am
Area 4, Outer Ring
I race through the connecting passageway and find the outer ring still engulfed in a sea of flames. Surrounded by spark-spewing fire on all sides, Tachibana and Moribe are desperately suppressing the blaze with two hoses.
“Captain! Are you sure you’re okay to be up and about?!” Tachibana shouts over the roaring fire when she sees me.
“You needn’t be concerned about me! Anyway, is there anything I can help with?!”
“I would love some assistance putting out this fire, but you can see for yourself…”
I survey the area. Aside from where Tachibana and Moribe are standing, the rest is on fire. With heat, steam, and smoke filling the air, every breath I take feels like its setting my lungs on fire.
This fire looks like it can’t be controlled by just human hands anymore.
All of a sudden, the nearby flames surge fiercely upward and lick the ceiling before slowly rolling back to the ground. It almost looks like a giant writhing fire snake.
“H-Hey, guys, what’s that?!” I call out in warning.
Tachibana and Moribe both balk at it.
“Oh, crap! It’s rolling over!” Moribe yells.
“We won’t last against that! All hands retreat!” Tachibana orders in a loud voice.
Even I can tell we’re in too deep here. I break into a run behind Tachibana and Moribe. I hurtle into the connecting passageway and slam the gate’s close button. There’s a white flash on the other side of the closing gate.
“AGH!” A shockwave crashes through the opening, knocking me back. A sharp pain radiates from my rib cage as my body is tossed on the ground like a ragdoll. “GRAH! UAGH!” Moaning, I shove to my feet and stare at the closed gate.
It appears an explosion occurred in the outer ring, and the blast burst through the gate before it fully closed. I shudder when I think about what would’ve happened had we been even a second slower.
“Wh-What was that explosion?” I ask once I catch my breath.
“A flashover,” Moribe explains. “It’s a temperature-driven event where the contents of the room suddenly and simultaneously ignite. The snake of fire that darted out of the smoke was the warning sign.”
“So that’s why Tachibana gave the order to retreat…”
We would’ve all been torched to a crisp if we stayed there a minute longer. I gulp as the ferocious nature of fires is figuratively burned into me.
But I’m glad we got outta there alive. I glance toward Tachibana, only to find her painfully leaning against the wall with her hands pressed to her head.
“Wh-What’s wrong, Tachibana?”
“N-Nothing… Just got a sudden headache and a bout of dizziness…”
“You have a headache?!”
Now that I think about it, the area where we were putting out the fire had a reading of over 4,000 mSv on the Procyon. And it doesn’t help that Tachibana took a halved dosage of AD.
“Hey, Tachibana, are these signs of radiation damage?” I squeeze out in a hoarse voice.
“No, subjective symptoms of radiation damage shouldn’t manifest this quick. This is more likely the effect of overexposure to carbon monoxide.” Tachibana’s still blue in the face as she speaks.
She dismissed radiation damage, but we can’t be overly optimistic here. I experienced a killer headache and blacked out the second after I set foot in a contaminated zone. She can’t be much better off with a lesser dose of AD.
“At any rate, let’s return to the control room for now. Going back into Area 4’s outer ring is no longer an option.”
“O-Okay…”
Tachibana briskly walks off, leaving Moribe and me to run after her.
As we feared, a halved dosage of AD wasn’t good enough to do its job. Not to mention, it’s beyond extremely dangerous for her to have injected a drug housed in a damaged container.
We have to find more AD before it’s too late. With that thought clawing away at me, I take quick strides toward the control room.