▼ 1:00 pm
Area 3, Inner Ring
THE explosion threw me and Tachibana against the floor.
“GUAGH! …Urghhh…” I force my consciousness back from the brink of darkness and peel my eyes open. Smoke and thick dust covers everything. The small fire seems to have ignited something, causing an explosion.
But there shouldn’t have been any explosive materials around…
“Ughh…” Someone moans beneath me—it’s Tachibana. I knocked her to the ground in a last-ditch effort to shield her.
“Are you okay, Tachibana?!”
“Y-Yes…but m-my leg…!”
I look down to see a scrap of iron about six inches long impaling her left thigh. Blood is seeping from the wound.
“I need to get you out of here!” I scoop her into my arms and carry her up the stairs and out of the stairwell.
“What happened? Are you both all right?!” Ukita asks in a panicked voice from where he’s pacing in front of the fire door.
“I’m fine, but Tachibana was injured.”
“Wh-What’s the state of her injury?”
“It’s not life-threatening, but her leg’s in bad shape. I want to treat it as soon as I put out the fire here.”
“That sounds time-consuming! Would you like me to continue searching the other areas in the meantime?”
“You sure? Will you be okay on your own?”
“I won’t go near anything dangerous. We’re running out of time and options.”
“You can say that again… All right, you have my permission to go. Take this with you.” I hand the Procyon over to Ukita.
“I’ll be going on ahead, then. Sorry for leaving you.”
“Don’t mention it. Be super careful out there.”
“Of course. Let’s meet up again in Area 2 so we don’t get separated too long,” Ukita says and takes off.
I drop my gaze to Tachibana. “Wait for me here, Tachibana. I’ll go put out the stairwell fire and be back in a jiffy.”
“Okay… I’m sorry for slowing you down…” I help her sit on the ground with her back against the wall before running back into the stairwell.
The explosion had weakened the strength of the flames. I make quick work of extinguishing the fire there and race back to her.
“All right, time to take care of you. Climb on.” I crouch down with my back to her.
“O-Okay…” She meekly leans her weight onto my back. I hurry to the nearest room, her weight and softness pressing up against me.
✦ ✦ ✦
▼ 1:05 pm
Area 3, Inner Ring
Surveillance Room
THE surveillance room was the closest to us. I lay Tachibana down on the floor.
“Sorry, but I have to roll up your pants,” I inform her before rolling up her left pant leg, revealing a painful wound that makes me grimace just looking at it. Her white thigh is drenched in bright-red blood. It’s too wet to apply the Chiron. “It doesn’t look good, Tachibana. I have to take you to the infirmary!”
“No, you don’t. It didn’t hit an artery, so…you can perform adequate treatment right here.”
“You need stitches—”
“You need training to properly stitch a wound closed. So, take this instead…” With shaking hands, Tachibana pulls what looks like a stapler from her pocket. “It’s a surgical stapler… Please use it to close the wound.”
“O-Okay.” Resolved to do what it takes, I accept the device from her. I press it against her wound and push down the lever. Her expression contorts with the click of the staple snapping into place. “Are you all right?”
“D-Don’t ask! Just do the next one… I can tolerate it…!” Tachibana whimpers with her eyes squeezed shut.
I shove my guilt into a corner and snap staple after staple into the wound. Seven staples later, the wound is closed. I rub about half a tube of Chiron onto it next, cleanly stopping her blood loss.
“All done.”
“Th-Thank you…”
“Still hurt like hell?”
“Somewhat… But it’s within tolerable limits.”
So she says, but I’m still worried about her. My staring brings a wistful smile to her lips. “…This makes me kind of nostalgic.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Someone answers her. “Not at all. You look really nice, Kazami.” The man who said that has the same voice as me.
Tachibana blushes. She briefly glances my way to hide her shyness and says, “…Th-Then let’s go. The movie will start without us.”
✦ ✦ ✦
☢☢☢☢☢☢☢☢☢☢
That scene plays in front of my eyes and vanishes like a daydream.
Wh-What was that just now? A memory from my past? From when?
Tachibana peers into my perplexed eyes. “What’s the matter, Captain?”
“Nothing. One of my memories seems to have resurfaced, is all. A memory of you wearing a skirt…”
“Huh?! I-Is that from when—” Tachibana trails off. She clearly has an idea what I’m referring to.
“You know what I’m talking about? Please tell me what that was a memory of!”
“I-I know about it, but…that’s so cruel of you! Why did you have to go and remember that moment over something else?!” She’s blushing.
Her reaction pulls me up short. After a few seconds, I come to a certain conclusion that I’d never considered until now. “S-Say, Tachibana…could it be possible that we were dating?”
My question draws an exasperated smile from her. “…You finally remembered.” Affection fills her voice.
I’m shaken more than ever. “A-Are we still a couple?”
“No, we broke up a long time ago.”
“I-I see.” Finding the right words escapes me. A long silence hangs between us before I work up the nerve to ask, “…Why did we break up?”
“We were too much alike. That’s what drew us together in the first place, but we were so similar it became painful to be together… That was probably why we had to break up.”
Tachibana did tell me that, before my amnesia, I used to be “an intellectual rescue worker who always made rational decisions no matter the crisis.” That would make us very similar types.
“…But man, I must’ve been a total dumbass to let you go. Women as amazing as you only come by once in a lifetime, after all.” I meant that as a compliment, but it makes her frown.
“Where did you pull that pick-up line from…? It sounds nothing like what you would say, Captain. You’ve never said things like that.”
“Huh. I didn’t? Well, maybe rattling my brain did some good in making me into a more honest man,” I sniffle, earning a couple of laughs from Tachibana. A comfortable mood fills the space between us. But we can’t revel in the moment all day. Too much is riding on us. “…Sorry, Tachibana, but I’d better get back to the search soon.”
“Oh, then I’ll join—”
“Don’t push yourself with that fresh injury. Rest here for a bit.”
“B-But—”
“No buts. You’re ‘too reckless for me to watch’ right now.” I borrow the words of my past self to keep her obstinacy in check.
“…Very well,” she meekly concedes. “I will obey orders, Captain.”
“Good girl. Return to the infirmary once you feel up to it. Do me a favor and check the unbroken surveillance camera footage for survivors in the meantime.”
“Yes, sir. You can entrust that duty to me.”
I accept the spare Procyon from Tachibana and make to leave the room, but she calls out to my back. “Captain, um—”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
“N-Never mind… Please be careful.”
“You’ve got it. Thanks.” I grin at her and head out.