“Hold on a second, you two,” Moribe interjects. “I didn’t think it had anything to do with our situation until now,” she says as a preface before gingerly continuing, “...but word has it that terrorists have recently invaded this city.”
“Did you say terrorists?!” I’m astonished by that abrupt word drop. “Moribe, are you being serious here? Do you have a good reason to think it’s related?”
“I know rumors lack credibility, but plenty of them have been floating around. A lot of similar disasters and incidents have been occurring all over the city lately… Another huge research facility was bombed just yesterday too.”
Miss Ena is in total agreement with Moribe’s tentative theory. “Terrorists targeting a nuclear reactor makes perfect sense to me. All those explosions and fires, along with the sprinkler system being suspiciously shut off…when you think about it, those are clearly human acts.”
If there really is a terrorist organization on the loose, then the bullet wounds to several of the deceased would make more sense. It’d also explain the frequent occurrence of unnatural incidents and why someone would go after a nuclear reactor, but it feels like we’re grasping at straws here.
Ukita seems to have come to the same conclusion as he lets out an exasperated sigh. “Terrorism? Preposterous. Have you people been watching too many movies?”
“Care to repeat that?” Miss Ena scowls at him.
Ukita goes on refuting her theory. “Are you people totally unaware of how strict this facility’s security is? We have a 24/7 security team made up of JDSF soldiers equipped with rifles and riot guns. Only in fiction could a terrorist ever dream of bypassing our security and pulling off this kind of stunt.”
“Oh, I’m sure that sounds good on paper, but the instant someone opens the lid on your almighty defense system, the whole thing goes down the drain like the load of crap it is,” Miss Ena sneers.
“Hey!”
“Are you so blindly confident that you’d ignore the possibility a terrorist took advantage of a hole in your PERFECT system to sneak inside? Case in point, there’s some random girl who slipped in unnoticed and died. That defense system you put all your faith in isn’t looking so dependable right now.”
“Are you that desperate to make this incident our facility’s fault?! The accident is one thing, but we aren’t responsible for a murderer on the loose!”
Sparks are flying between Ukita and Miss Ena as if they’re loose cannons about to explode at any second now.
The most unexpected person speaks up then. “I agree that we should at least take the involvement of terrorists into consideration.”
“You think so, too, Ms. Tachibana?” Miss Ena asks, surprised.
“Yes, somewhat. But even if we hypothesize that a terrorist was here, I still believe they escaped before the bulkheads lowered.”
“You do? Based on what?”
“Because if the terrorist is trapped in here with us, why haven’t we run into them in the nearly five hours since the lockdown?” Tachibana looks around the group. “With a gun, they could take any one of us hostage, steal our AD, or get away with practically anything else in this confined space. It’s very strange they haven’t tried anything on us yet.”
“But you heard that last transmission. Your commander said no one has escaped to the surface with a gun,” Miss Ena argues. “How do you explain that?”
“Simple: they just had to get rid of the gun. They could have slipped into the huge panic before the lockdown and escaped outside facility grounds unchecked. Those are my thoughts on the matter.”
It’s a perfectly thought-out and logical reasoning that fits Tachibana’s personality.
“Hold it, Lieutenant,” Moribe says, joining the debate. “Isn’t it too soon to draw conclusions? Aren’t you always telling me to assume the worst when we’re on duty?”
“That’s a completely different matter from this! We aren’t detectives!”
Miss Ena doggedly pushes the argument with her. “It’s important to keep the worst-case scenario in mind, Lieutenant Tachibana. We’re in a whole other league of danger if there’s still a terrorist—or terrorists—roaming this basement, no?”
Ukita snorts. “Are you implying one of the nine of us still trapped here is a terrorist? What rubbish. We’d be in a far, far worse predicament if someone with evil intentions was among us.”
Everyone is arguing their own thoughts and opinions on the matter. To me, every opinion feels like it has some validity. But we’re only digging our own graves by wasting time debating them. I open my mouth to tell everyone to think calmly, when an agonized moan rips past my lips instead.
A sharp shock crashes through my brain like a tidal wave. My vision turns to black, immediately followed by countless scenes flashing through my mind.
Wh-What the hell?!
Scenes from the past several hours whisk through my head. Starting from when I woke up in Area 1 to everything I’ve experienced up until Area 6. They zoom past my eyes like a movie on fast-forward—and then vanish.
“…?” The abrupt phenomenon leaves me confused. Through my blurred vision I can see everyone eyeing me.
“Wh-Why did you suddenly bend over? Are you all right, Captain?”
I’m incapable of answering Tachibana. The shock has rendered me speechless.
Wh-What the hell was that just now?!
This was nothing like looking back on old memories. It’s totally different from reminiscing. In a fraction of a second, I’d relived everything that’d happened up until now in minute detail.
I don’t know what caused this bizarre phenomenon or what it was. But thanks to that curious case of instant recollection, I was able to make several connections between all the things I’ve seen and heard so far.
Okay, okay…let’s say there really is a terrorist down here with us… Which of the nine people trapped is the most likely suspect? Distrust toward the others rapidly billows within me. Is Ukita the most suspicious?
Ukita was the one who constantly emphasized the facility’s strict security system and how a terrorist could never slip past it. But he’s a staff member at LABO—it’d be a piece of cake for him to let someone in. And if he had, it’d make sense why he grew irrationally defensive over Miss Ena pointing out flaws in the system.
But misgivings have a way of summoning more misgivings.
Wait…doesn’t that increase the chance of her being the culprit instead?
When I think about it, Miss Ena has the flimsiest reason for being here. She said someone from LABO told her to come, but she has nothing to support that claim. And while she introduced herself as a teacher, anyone can allege they’re whatever they want when we have no way to confirm it with the outside. There’s little reason to trust her.
But that’s also not enough of a reason to pin her as the culprit. I decide to go back to the drawing board of suspicious people.
What about Tachibana and Moribe, then? I consider them for all of a second before tossing out the idea. There’s nothing suspicious about them. They’ve been acting with everyone’s safety in mind—I can probably trust them unconditionally.
Maybe I’m going about this all wrong… What if this very facility is where I should be placing my doubts? Isn’t it strange that we’re still on lockdown after all this time? Is it really due to the system trying to prevent a radiation leak?
Doubts keep summoning more doubts, making everything seem dubious. I push back those feelings and look around at our ragtag group of survivors. My eyes go from Tachibana, to Moribe, to Ukita, to Miss Ena, and then—I realize Yuuri is missing.
“Y-Yuuri’s gone!” I shout as soon as I realize it. The others look back at me in wide-eyed surprise.
“Y-You’re right! Since when?!”
“You don’t think she ran away again, do you?!”
Moribe and Miss Ena shout one after the other, just as the sound of a gate opening goes off in the distance. I whip around in time to see Yuuri disappear beyond Area 5’s open gate.
“I see her! She went into Area 5!”
We break into a run after her.