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“—Captain! What’s the matter with you, Captain?!”
“Huh? Ah!” Tachibana’s voice brings me back to the present. The scene before my eyes switches from Area 1 several hours ago to the current Area 5. Ukita and Miss Ena are gaping at me.
“Y-You okay there, Captain?” Moribe cautiously checks with me. “You suddenly started screaming, then went dead silent without a single reaction to anything we said or did…”
“I-I’m okay… What’s more important here is that I remembered.”
“What?”
Everyone is taken aback by my confession. Tachibana grabs my arm and confirms it: “Captain, did you remember what I hope you did?!”
“Yeah… Finally got my…memory back.”
“What?!” Ukita’s eyes open so wide I wouldn’t be surprised if they fell out. “R-Rubbish! You want us to believe your vanished memories suddenly popped right back for you?”
“Yeah. Only a fraction of them did… It’s limited to my memories since arriving at LABO, but it might be enough to prove my innocence.”
“How…can that be?”
I slowly explain what I recalled to bring Ukita out of shock. “I’ll explain things in order. I came down to the basement because Dojima and Hiyama asked me to.”
“How did they do that?”
“I got a radio transmission that there were survivors in the basement floors. If I’m not mistaken, they called for me around…right, it was 6:42 am.”
“6:42 am…? Are you positive that’s the correct time?” Tachibana double checks.
“Yeah.”
I had looked at my watch and saw without a doubt that the hands pointed to that time. Something about that seems a little off to me, but I’ll trust my memory on this one.
“…I headed to Area 2 after that and found Natsuhiko, Mashiro, and Salyu.”
“Salyu?”
“That’s Louise Yui Sannomiya’s nickname, apparently.”
“Tenkawa and the others do call her by that,” Miss Ena says in support.
“Now that you mention it, we spotted survivors in the basement’s Area 2 as well,” Moribe adds, as if hearing me talk about it sparked her memory.
“You did?”
“It’s not exact, but the timing is pretty close to when you said. You guys might’ve been super nearby while we were putting out the fires.”
“Could’ve been. In any case, we took the kids under our wing, but…” I explain the rest of what happened from there. Talking about my memories helps me solve several of the outstanding doubts and questions I had too.
It explains how I knew the names of Yuuri, Natsuhiko, Mashiro, and Louise, why I wasn’t wearing my hazmat suit when I regained consciousness, and why I immediately felt the need to save Yuuri when I saw her again. The answer to all those mysteries had been lost with my memories. But there are still a few points I don’t understand.
After hearing me out, Tachibana voices my biggest question. “…I understand what happened to you now. But I wonder why Yuuri was so opposed to being injected with AD.”
“That’s the one thing I have absolutely no clue on…”
Yuuri has been adamantly opposed to being injected with AD from the start. It didn’t matter if it was me or Tachibana who tried to talk her into it—she hated it.
“…Maybe she disliked being injected with AD so much she left our group?”
“But why would she despise it that much? I can’t imagine most people reacting that way under normal circumstances…”
“I don’t know why, but there’s one thing I can say for sure.” I look at everyone in the group and announce, “I simply wanted to rescue Yuuri. You may not believe me, but my desire to save her hasn’t changed.” With that, my long story ends.
Right away, Ukita snorts in disbelief. “Hmph. Those are some mighty unreliable memories you’ve got there, Captain. Do you have proof your story is true?”
I’m stumped for a whole minute, before I realize there’s confirmation right there in my memories. “I’ve got your proof, Ukita.”
“You do…?”
“I discovered a treasure trove of AD inside this facility before I passed out. It’s located in Area 5’s inner ring.”
Moribe’s the first to react. “Isn’t that the contaminated zone we searched together?! There was more AD lying around?!”
I fish through my memories for the answer. “Yeah, in the office belonging to Dr. Miyoko Tenkawa, where we found the other five AD. I completely overlooked it our last time there, but there’s still a ton of AD in that room. It should be stored in the desk drawer.” I’m nearly positive about it. There’s no way such a vivid memory would lead me astray. “If that AD is still there, it’ll prove my story’s true.”
“…Tch.” My appeal silences Ukita.
“I-I’ll go check!” Moribe offers.
“I will come with you!” Tachibana says, running out of the infirmary with Moribe.