▼ 9:24 am
Between Area 1 and Area 2, Outer Ring
Connecting Passageway
GUIDED by the lieutenant, we walk through what looks like some sort of connecting passageway. A gigantic iron door blocks our path forward, but it opens when the lieutenant operates the terminal beside it. Beyond is yet another corridor lined with doors on both sides. It continues for about fifty-five yards before turning at a dead end.
This is a ridiculously large and complex facility.
“Captain, what would you rather know about first? Your personal information or the situation?” the lieutenant asks as I’m taking in my surroundings.
“Good question. Let’s start with my personal information, please.”
“Very well. Then you should know your name first. It’s Watase Kasasagi.”
“Watase Kasasagi… That’s my name?” It feels odd listening to someone list facts about who I am.
She nods and goes on, “You’re a thirty-two-year-old single man. You’re a member of the Rokumei City Fire Department’s Special Elite Rescue Squad SIRIUS. Your rank is fire lieutenant and you’re the captain of our squad. In other words, that makes you our direct superior. Does any of this ring a bell?”
“No…I can’t remember anything.”
“I see…” The gravity of the situation colors her expression.
Uncomfortable leaving it at that, I ask a question instead. “…By the way, what’re your names?”
“Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. I’m Fire Sergeant Kazami Tachibana. I serve as lieutenant in your squad.”
“Uh, so should I call you Ms. Tachibana?”
“No, please just call me Tachibana. You don’t have to be overly formal with me,” she answers in a monotone voice.
I’m nodding my agreement, when Moribe enters the conversation. “And I’m Jun Moribe! A twenty-year-old firefighter!”
“You’re twenty? Pretty young.”
“Yep! I’m a rookie officer who just joined this year. My nickname is ‘SIRIUS’s Lady Suicide Squad Captain.’ Let’s get along!” Moribe exclaims, her self-introduction cheerful.
I’m a whole twelve years older than her and her boss, but she doesn’t seem too concerned with typical hierarchical work relationships.
“…Say, Moribe, is SIRIUS a pretty tolerant squad?”
“Whoops! My bad! I usually try to keep my word choice and temper in check, but I get caught up in the heat of things in the field and lose track of it sometimes!”
“Nah, don’t apologize. Doesn’t bother me. It actually makes it easier to get along with you.”
“Wait, really? You sure are understanding today, Captain!” Moribe smacks me on the shoulder.
She’s definitely overly friendly, but she seems to have the skill to back it up. So I can let it pass. Besides, she has nerves of steel, keeping cheerful under these grim circumstances.
Next, I turn to the girl we rescued. “And what might your name be, young lady?”
“…!” She jumps and hides behind Moribe.
She reacted the same way when I found her in the sea of flames. She must still be frightened to death.
As I’m weighing my options over how to interact with her, Moribe intervenes. “Oh dear, Captain, it looks like someone doesn’t like you. You’ve got one intimidating face, so it makes sense why.”
“I do? I wouldn’t know…”
“Don’t let it get you down too much. You’re mostly handsome, aside from your face,” Moribe ribs, then drops to eye level with the girl. “Would you care to tell me your name, little miss?”
The girl holds her silence for a long minute before muttering, “...It’s…Yuuri.” She answers with only her first name.
That name strikes a chord with me. I feel like I’ve heard it before. Scouring my mind doesn’t bring up any solid memory of it, though.
I give up trying, and ask Tachibana for more information that might help. “Now that the introductions are over…could you explain what exactly is going on here?”
“All right. Let me start by telling you more about this facility,” Tachibana says, beginning her solemn report. “We are currently in the underground section of a nuclear research facility located on the outskirts of Rokumei City. This facility’s name is the 6th Laboratory of Atomic and Biological Organization, or LABO for short. It’s a facility with two aboveground and underground floors, with the latter housing a nuclear reactor for research purposes.”
“LABO is the name of facility?” I ask, the abbreviation nagging at the back of my mind.
“Correct. And it was at 6:19 this morning—the morning of September 16, 2030 to be exact—that explosions of unknown origins occurred in the basement levels.”
“Explosions? Did they cause the fire we just fought?”
“Yes. Although the cause of the explosion wasn’t known, they sent a rescue request to SIRIUS’s headquarters. So we rushed to the scene and commenced searching for survivors around 6:30.”
I look at the sturdy watch on my wrist. The digital display reads 9:27 am. The accident occurred about three hours ago.
“Our team of five rushed to the scene. We split into two-member cells, with me and Moribe as one cell, and Dojima and Hiyama—other rescue workers on our team—as another cell to rescue survivors aboveground. You set up a command post on the first floor and gave us orders from there.”
“So we have two other teammates?”
“Yes, we do. Unfortunately, we lost contact with the Dojima/Hiyama cell. We then lost contact with you. This was around 6:35, a mere five minutes after we commenced rescue operations.”
“You lost contact with us? What happened?”
“The three of you might have gone down to the basement floors at the time. Reception is terrible down here, so our radios are practically useless now.”
“I see… But why’d we even go down to the basement floors?”
“This is just my guess, but wouldn’t it be to search for survivors? Members of LABO’s staff told us that the basement floors had already been evacuated and only the upper floors had survivors in need of rescue, but…”
“That wasn’t true?”
“It wasn’t. Moribe and I headed to the basement when we found out there were survivors there as well. But the fires were far worse than we had anticipated, and we lost sight of the survivors while we had our hands full… We had no choice but to set up a makeshift base underground and resume our rescue activities from there.” Tachibana takes a breath and looks me in the eyes. “…Right after that, around 7:15 am, an eerie announcement about a ‘Case N’ was broadcast throughout the facility.”
“Case N? What is that?”
“Given the nature of this facility, it’s probably code for nuclear. We believe that a meltdown occurred in the reactor area around that time. We measured the radiation levels right after the announcement and discovered that they had grown abnormally high, so that’s our theory for now.”
I organize the information Tachibana told me and what I’ve seen for myself to start piecing the puzzle together. What concerns me right now is the steadily growing radiation levels.
“Then shouldn’t we make a break for it? And soon?”
“Yes, we should, but…” Tachibana’s voice trails off, her gaze locking on what lies ahead—a door with the words “Emergency Staircase” written on it.
“That’s the exit, right? Let’s go!” I run to the door and throw it open as if it’s the light at the end of the tunnel. Through the poor lighting I see a metal spiral staircase continuing endlessly into the darkness above. I ascend it with the others, only to be stunned by what’s waiting at the top. “Wh-What the hell is this?!” I groan.
A metal wall blocks the stairwell entrance to the first floor aboveground. We can’t leave the staircase with this in our way.