▼ 12:35 pm
Area 5, Outer Ring
Infirmary
I’M dismayed by the allegations directed at me out of the blue. My confusion explodes into defensiveness. “Wh-What’s gotten into you, Ukita? Why would I ever need to tell a stupid lie like that?!”
“Because you have something to hide… That’s my thought, at least.”
“Like what?” He has me completely baffled.
Ukita gives me a hard look. “Several hours ago, you stole my security card, effectively preventing me from leaving Area 3. But even that action is odd when I think about it now. Why did you have to steal a security card? Isn’t it because you wanted to do something you needed to hide from LABO staff?”
“Do something? Like what…?”
“How should I know? But I can’t help thinking whatever it was is connected to Yuuri’s fear of you. And there have been multiple murders since then… How can I not suspect you?”
“I-I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“Then prove your innocence to us here and now!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! How the hell am I supposed to prove anything without my memories?! Don’t you guys think he’s being ridiculous too?!” I look to the others for support. They all look like they want to say something but can’t find the right words.
I don’t blame them. I can’t defend myself, so why should I expect them to be able to? So how do I get myself out of this predicament, then?
Ukita doesn’t give me time to think as he tries to push me into a corner. “Get the picture now, Captain Kasasagi? Everyone is starting to become very curious about what you so conveniently forgot.”
“U-Ughh…!” I groan. I’m ticked that I don’t have a good comeback, and frustrated that I can’t remember anything.
Dammit! What in the world was I doing before I lost my memories?! I can prove my innocence if I can only remember! No sooner do I think that than white light suddenly bursts open in my head.
“Agh?!”
It’s the start of another one of those bizarre flashbacks. Various scenes flicker in front of my eyes—all related to the things I’ve seen and experienced until now.
“URK! Ahh…AGGHHHHH…!”
The torrential flow of memories zipping in front of my eyes distorts my sense of time and place. It’s as if a second is stretched into eternity, and an eternity has been shortened into seconds. Time travels backward, and the journey I’ve taken is played back in reverse: saving Yuuri in the factory; diving into the lethal gas to find AD; meeting Ukita, Miss Ena, and Yuuri; waking up in Area 1 and meeting Tachibana and Moribe; and at the end of those scenes—
Something unfamiliar floats into view.
What is this?!
I’m confused for a moment until it clicks—what just entered the forefront of my mind are my lost memories.
✦ ✦ ✦
☢☢☢☢☢☢☢☢☢☢
Several hours ago, at 6:42 am, I was racing down LABO’s emergency staircase to get to the basement floors. Two men in hazmat suits charged ahead, shouting something over their shoulders at me.
“Hurry, Captain!”
“I heard footsteps over here, sir!”
I don’t recognize their voices, but I know who they are: Dojima and Hiyama, my squadmates who’ve passed away in the line of duty. I had descended into the basement floors at their behest.
“Are you absolutely positive, Dojima?! Survivors are definitely down here?!” I confirmed with them.
“Yes, sir! It’s just as I reported over the radio!”
Taking their report seriously, I searched the basement floors with them until I spotted several people down one of the passageways—one boy and two girls wearing high school uniforms. They rejoiced upon seeing us.
“I-It’s the rescue squad!”
“They surely came to save us!” One of the girls jumped for joy and waved at us.
I sprinted over to them with my subordinates. “I’m sure you kids don’t work in this facility. What’re you doing here?”
“We happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in all this,” the boy answered me.
“Was anyone else with you?”
“No. Only the three of us you see here.”
“What are your names?”
“I’m Natsuhiko Tenkawa, this is Mashiro Toba, and the girl hiding behind me is Salyu,” the boy explained while pointing to each of the girls with him.
My eyes went to the blonde girl behind him. “Your name’s Salyu? Are you a foreigner?”
“That’s my nickname. Comes from Louise Yui Sannomiya.”
“I see…” I checked my watch while thinking I’d asked a dumb question. I read aloud the time indicated by the needle: “Okay, three survivors secured at 6:50 am.”
Just like that, we had taken Natsuhiko and the girls into our protective custody. But problems arose right after. We couldn’t escort the survivors to safety on the surface floor because the emergency staircase had completely collapsed. We raced around the facility looking for another way out.
An ominous alarm blared throughout the facility while we were searching—a Case N was announced the second we set foot inside Area 5. Worst of all, the security gate shut right behind me, separating me from the others who were following a few steps behind my lead.
I had no choice but to leave the kids to Dojima and Hiyama at this point, and start searching for security cards and AD. One of the rooms I eventually made my way to had a huge stash of AD.
I remember the nameplate on that room—"Dr. Miyoko Tenkawa.” The supply of AD was hidden in Natsuhiko’s mom’s desk.
Relieved, I continued my search with the thought I had to get AD to any other survivors trapped inside the facility.
It was in a certain room inside Area 5 that I met her for the first time. Her delicate features and frightened face struck an immediate chord with me. I rushed over to her side and asked, “Are you all right? What’s your name?”
“Y-Yuuri… Wh-Who are you?”
“I’m a rescue worker. I came to rescue you.” I hold an AD ampoule out to her and say, “Okay, I need you to inject this medicine.”
“I-I don’t want to!”
“You can’t refuse it. This area is radioactive! You’ll be in danger if you don’t take this.”
Yuuri refused to inject AD then too. I tried to forcefully administer it to her, but she shoved away my hand and fled the room. I chased after her, my pursuit eventually taking me to where the factory was engulfed in a fire straight from hell. Through the blazing inferno I dashed in search of her. But then something blew up nearby.
“GUAGH!”
I was thrown by the blast into the nearest wall. Flames from the explosion transferred to my hazmat suit, and I hurriedly stripped it off. Heat waves blew violently against my unprotected body.
I sensed my life was in serious danger. It was impossible to keep searching the factory amid this raging fire.
There’s no way Yuuri is here. I just know she ran to the next area. With that belief, I staggered my way toward Area 1. My head spun and I wasn’t walking straight. Not just because of the heat wave—I had smashed my head hard against the wall when that explosion blew me back.
Everything in front of my eyes was blurred and distorted. I couldn’t even tell if that was due to something wrong with my perception or the heat haze.
I pushed ahead with everything I had left in me. After a while, a security gate came into view. I fled into Area 1 through it.
There were no signs of fire in that area. Relieved for my momentary safety, I pushed on even farther, telling myself I had to find Yuuri.
But I was already past my limit. The strength suddenly went out of my legs and I dropped to the ground. I fell hard, without supporting myself, but the pain was dulled. My pain receptors weren’t the only thing blunted—all five senses felt out of whack. I couldn’t control any part of my body and my consciousness was growing hazy.
Through my fading awareness, I told myself: Now’s not the time to go down. Rescue those kids. I came down here for that sole purpose.
But my pep talk ended in vain as my mind slipped into darkness.