▼ 11:41 am
Area 5, Between the Outer and Inner Ring
Connecting Passageway
ON the way to the inner ring, something odd catches my eye. “What’s this?” Something like charcoal was used to write a message in big letters on the wall.
To Sirius’s owner, from Alice’s owner,
Did you guys safely escape? Or are you still here? Maybe I should take it as a sign that you aren’t here anymore because I can’t find you no matter how much I look. But if you are still here, I want to regroup as soon as possible. Answer the following question if you get this message: “Did Sirius succeed in escaping from the cage on the night of the full moon?”
“Wh-What do you think it is? A message from someone to someone else?” Moribe asks in a dubious whisper, her eyes tracing the charcoal letters scribbled along the wall.
“Looks like code to me. Isn’t Sirius the name of our rescue squad?”
“Well, it’s definitely like we’re locked in a cage right now… But what’s this bit about the night of the full moon? I don’t think it’s a full moon today—it’s not even nighttime.”
“Hmm, no clue.”
I’m curious, but we don’t have time to burn thinking about it. We make our way through the connecting passageway and enter the inner ring. But the shrill beeping of the Procyon greets us the second we opened the gate.
“Tch! Another contaminated zone?!”
“8,650 mSv is the second danger standard! Let’s fall back, Captain!”
Moribe and I jump back and shut the gate. The shrill warning alarm ceases, but it’ll just go off again if we reopen the gate.
“That’s the highest level we’ve seen yet! It’s dangerous even with AD.”
“But I’d hate to leave somewhere completely unsearched. There could be survivors.”
“True. It can’t be avoided—I’ll go search the area,” I firmly declare.
“You can’t! It’s too dangerous! You fainted the last time you entered a contaminated zone, Captain!”
“I know, but I’ll be fine this time. I’ll go and come back in under three minutes.”
Moribe thinks it over for a bit before finally making up her mind. “…Okay then. If you’re going, I’m coming too.”
“You too?! Forget it. What good does it do for both of us to get exposed to radiation?!”
“I can’t let you go in there alone. I need to be there to save you when you pass out again.” Moribe grins to hide the fear she feels inside. Just where does she store all this courage in her small body?
“…All right,” I concede while secretly admiring her bravery. “I’ll be the one to carry you out of there if you pass out this time.”
“I like the sound of that. I’m counting on you.”
We exchange a firm handshake and determined smiles. Then I set the timer on my watch. “We’re doing this in three minutes, Moribe. Give up the search and return here once the time is up.”
“Roger, Captain. Let’s turn the whole place over in that time!”
“Yeah! Let’s do this!”
We bolster our morale and charge into the highly contaminated zone.
Unlike the untouched outer ring, the inner ring has extensive fire damage. The narrow passageway’s walls and floor are scorched black, with a damaged door at the end. Corridors continue to the left and right of it.
We’re in a battle against time now. No sooner does that thought occur than it feels like my head is being hammered and my skin goes numb. It’s the same symptoms I had the last time I entered a contaminated zone.
Is this a side effect of the radiation as we thought?
Fighting the pain, I strain my voice to say, “Moribe, let’s split up and regroup by the front room!”
“Roger!”
Moribe and I separate at the fork in the corridor. There are three doors on the left path I take. I hurtle into the farthest room first. It’s been charred beyond recognition like the corridor.
“Is anyone there?! Say something if you are!” I shout as loud as I can.
There’s no answer. I search for AD while I’m at it but don’t find any. I finish the search in under a minute and bolt from the room.
I immediately burst into the next room. But there’s nothing here either. The next room after that is no different.
I dash into the corridor after searching the three rooms and see Moribe sprinting toward me.
“Moribe! How’d it go on your end?!”
“I hit all three rooms with no luck!”
“Same here! The front one’s all we have left, then!” My eyes turn on the last unsearched room. It’s at the center of the fork and has a plate on the door that reads “Dr. Miyoko Tenkawa.”
Tenkawa? Is she related to the Natsuhiko Tenkawa who’s trapped here? Now that I think about it, Ukita previously mentioned that Natsuhiko’s mom works at LABO. Would that make this his mom’s office?
I open the door and find that this room, unlike the others in this block, hasn’t sustained any fire damage. There aren’t any survivors, but something about this room is calling to me.
I look behind the desk in search of that “something.” Lo and behold, I find an iron box on the floor. It’s a medical box! Flipping it open reveals five AD stashed within. I fist-pump the air just as my watch beeps.
“Score! Let’s get back to the outer ring!”
“Okay!”
We fly out of that room with the medical box. Once we get back to the connecting passageway, I shut the gate behind us, stopping the Procyon’s shrill warning beeps. Sighs of relief escape us with the quiet.
“Phew, I was becoming a nervous wreck!”
“You can say that again. Are you feeling out of sorts at all, Moribe?”
“Y-Yeah…no, well, a little nauseated…!” Moribe covers her mouth and bends over. “Don’t look, Captain! I’m gonna hurl!”
“Hurl what— Ah!”
“BLURRRRGH!” She turns her back to me and throws up in a corner of the passageway. I watch her like a dumbfounded idiot. She finishes throwing up and manages to put a smile on her pale face. “…Man, I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m so embarrassed.”
She’s making light of the situation, but my voice comes out tight. “M-Moribe… Don’t tell me you got radiation damage from being in there?”
“Huh? N-No way. I was running around so nervous that my fatigue finally caught up to my stomach, that’s all.”
“Are you positive?! Hey, show me your wrist!” I grab her wrist and examine her Vital Checker. One of the five green lights is flickering bright red. “Hey, it’s red! Doesn’t that mean something’s wrong with your health?!”
“Don’t panic. That’s just the pulse indicator. My heart’s racing because I just finished blowing chunks all over the floor. It’ll change back to green soon,” Moribe explains, and sure enough, the light returns to green. “See? I’m the picture of health again. Right as rain.”
“I see… As long as you’re okay…”
But Moribe has entered two contaminated zones, same as me. I’ve already clonked out once, so there’s no guarantee she’s okay with her smaller body size.
“…Tell me immediately if anything feels off.”
“Thanks for worrying, Sir Captain. You really are being a nice guy today.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s only natural for a captain to worry after their subordinates.” We share a short laugh.
“…Anyway, we found one hell of a treasure trove in there, huh?” Moribe says to bring us back on point.
“Sure did. It’s too bad we didn’t find any survivors, but we got a hold of AD pretty quick this time.”
Together with the one AD left in my pocket, we now have a grand total of six. We still have time until the next injection, too, so we’re in the clear for the time being.
“Let’s meet up with the others! They’ll be jumping for joy with this find!” she exclaims with a slightly less pallid face.
“Yeah!”
We take off in a run for the outer ring.
✦ ✦ ✦
▼ 11:47 am
Area 5, Outer Ring
TEAM Tachibana happens to be exiting a nearby room when we reach the outer ring.
“Oh? That was quick. Did you finish checking the inner ring?” Tachibana asks when she notices us.
“Yeah. And I’ve got good news. We found five whole AD there.”
The other team goes wide-eyed at my announcement. A rare smile graces Tachibana’s lips. “Then we have a total of six AD? We secured a supply much faster this time.”
“Yeah. This gives us another hour plus of safety,” I say with a grin. I decided to keep quiet about the inner ring’s contamination. With our search of the area finished, I don’t want to cause unnecessary worry for the others. “How did your inspection of the outer ring go, Tachibana? Any luck?”
“We didn’t come across any AD or survivors after going through all the rooms, but…we found these instead.” She holds out a stack of security cards marked “Level 6.”
“You found that many Level 6 cards lying around?”
“There were three in the room we just checked. It appears that office belonged to the person responsible for managing and issuing these cards.”
We now have a grand total of four Level 6 security cards. But there’s not much point in having a ton of the same level cards.
“Survivors matter more than some stack of cards,” Miss Ena snips, her opinion similar to my own. “How have we not found a single trace of those children yet?”
“True. It’s fishy that we haven’t seen any of them after how much we’ve looked around.”
We’ve finished searching over 80 percent of the facility. Area 6 is the only area left unsearched. Does that mean we overlooked some places? Or have the survivors already died somewhere we haven’t come across?
Depression hovers in the air as everyone begins drawing similar conclusions. But a timid voice breaks through the glum mood.
“U-Um…I think it’d be better to think positively…instead.” Yuuri’s voice brings us all back to our senses as she continues, “Isn’t it better to believe that the fact we haven’t seen them yet…means everyone’s still alive? I’m sure they’re all in Area 6.”
“…You’re absolutely right, Yuuri.”
Yuuri’s smile dispels the shadows shrouding everyone’s faces.
“That’s right,” Miss Ena says with a small smile. “They have to be okay… All three of them are smart kids.”
“All right! Then let’s get on with the search!”
We share a determined nod and walk off toward the last unsearched zone of Area 6!