▼ 1:15 pm
Area 2, Inner Ring
I glance at my watch in the corridor—it’s 1:15 pm. Almost time for the next AD dose. I inject one of the two AD I have on me.
Five hours to go until the lockdown lifts. We still have a long road ahead of us. My mental and physical exhaustion has been accumulating into unbearable levels, and my body feels heavier than lead.
I’m walking through the corridor sighing when I catch the sound of an unfamiliar voice.
“—n’t come any closer.”
The voice is coming from the corridor around the corner. Another voice echoes back.
“Wait. Why are you trying to run from us?”
That sounds like Miss Ena. Keeping myself hidden, I peek around the corner and spy on the people talking; it’s Miss Ena and—
Salyu?!
—the girl who ran from us in Area 4. Salyu, also known as Louise Yui Sannomiya.
I tamp down my surprise and strain my ears to hear their conversation.
“What are you even doing here, Miss Sannomiya?”
“Why are you here, Ena? You wouldn’t even give our tip-off the time of day yesterday.”
“That’s because…I told you then to leave the rest up to the adults, didn’t I?”
“And this is how you take care of it?” Salyu doesn’t act like a student speaking to her teacher.
“We can get into the details later. Come with me for now, Miss Sannomiya. It’s too dangerous for you to be on your own,” Miss Ena says persuasively.
“I refuse. Mashiro said, ‘Ena’s heart is closed off.’ I trust her judgment.”
“What? Miss Toba is with you?! Where is she?!”
“She’s not with me now.”
“…What do you mean?”
Salyu doesn’t answer.
Doubts surge within me again. Miss Ena’s heart is closed off? Has she been hiding something from her students? And what did she think needed to be left to the adults? Why isn’t Mashiro Toba with Salyu now?
“I acknowledge my heart is closed,” Miss Ena concedes, stopping the barrage of questions racing through my mind. “I have a reason for keeping it so… But I’m on your side. Won’t you trust me?”
Salyu stays silent for a long time before grimly warning, “…Let me give you one piece of advice out of consideration for Natsuhiko. Be careful around that ‘captain.’ He’s dangerous.”
An electric shock courses down my spine and I stupidly leap out from around the corner. “H-Hey! How am I dangerous?!”
Salyu and Miss Ena jump. Less than a second later, Salyu whips around and darts off like a rabbit.
“Ah! Wait, Miss Sannomiya!” Miss Ena sprints after her, but Salyu shoves her when she gets too close. “Kyaa!”
I catch her before she falls. Salyu takes that opening to flee into the connecting passageway leading to the outer ring. After steadying Miss Ena on her feet, I run full speed after her, but the security gate shuts in front of me.
“Ugh! Gimme a break, you piece of crap!” Miss Ena angrily slams her hands against the closed gate.
I swipe my card through the slot, reopening the gate. Salyu is already out of sight. “Let’s look for her! I bet she’s hiding in a nearby room!”
“O-Okay!”
We open every door we come across and search inside for Salyu.
“You care to explain why my student just warned me about you being dangerous, Captain?” Miss Ena probes while we’re looking.
“I have no clue. Sadly, it’s just as much of a mystery to me.”
“…I see.” Suspicion colors her voice. “But something definitely happened between you and her. Probably before your amnesia.”
“I agree, but I’m a rescue worker, you know? What do you think I did to her?”
“How should I know?”
We finish checking the floor before our conversation ends—and still no Salyu.
“Let’s search the other areas. We can ask her directly when we find her.”
“Before that…what happened to Tachibana and Ukita, Captain? Didn’t we decide to avoid traveling alone at all costs because of how dangerous it is?”
“Oh, as for that…” I explain about Tachibana’s injured leg and how Ukita went on ahead.
“I see. So you guys ran into trouble too…”
“You guys did as well?”
“Ms. Moribe was electrocuted by a shorted cable during our search of Area 6.”
“She was?! Is Moribe okay?!”
“Don’t worry. She’s currently resting in Area 6’s inner ring, but I believe she will recover soon.”
“That’s good to hear…”
Being told she’s fine does nothing to set my mind at ease. Something about Tachibana and Moribe getting hurt one after the other is very unsettling. It’s almost as if an “invisible enemy” is lurking in the shadows. But mentioning that aloud will only incite fear in the others. I’ve decided to give priority to urgent matters over theories.
“At any rate, finding Salyu’s the most important thing right now. She might still be close.”
“…I hope so,” Miss Ena says with worry and runs at my side.
We’re currently in Area 2’s outer ring. Considering the location, Salyu should’ve run into Area 1 or Area 3. Before I can decide which direction to go, I hear a disturbing sound from the direction of Area 1.
“What was that…?!”
“It came from that way! Let’s hurry, Miss Ena!”
We take off in the direction of the noise.
✦ ✦ ✦
▼ 1:21 pm
Area 1, Inner Ring
DROPS of fresh blood are splattered all over the floor in Area 1. Is it Salyu’s blood? The trail of blood continues into the stairwell.
“W-We have to find her, Captain Kasasagi!”
“Yeah!”
We storm into the stairwell.
The state of this emergency staircase hasn’t changed since its collapse. But Salyu isn’t here either. And at the end of the blood trail is—one of the blood transfusion packs from the infirmary.
“Wh-Why in the world is there a blood pack here?!” Miss Ena cries out in dismay.
The fire door slams behind us.
“What the?!” I whip around and dash to the door. It won’t open no matter how hard I try. It barely budges, as if something has been propped against it. “Dammit! We’ve been locked inside?! Was it a trap?!”
Panicking, we seek out another exit. Something uncanny catches my eye right away—a fire extinguisher left alone in a corner of the stairwell.
“A fire extinguisher—another damn fire extinguisher?!” A hollow voice slips past my lips.
“Captain Kasasagi? What’s wrong with fire extinguishers?” Miss Ena asks with a frown.
“I-I’m not sure… Just give me a minute to think, Miss Ena!”
Intense apprehension pierces my brain. A fire extinguisher had been at the scene when Tachibana was hurt by the explosion in the other stairwell. Is it possible that the fire extinguisher was the very cause of the explosion?
A hunch that’s little more than guesswork gets me to examine the fire extinguisher. When I flip it over, I see soldering marks on the bottom.
It was soldered? Something’s inside?!
I pick up a piece of debris from the staircase and work it into the soldered part until the bottom pulls off and something questionable appears within.
“Oh God!” This time, I’m terrified.
A cord is sticking out of what appears to be a digital clock, wrapped around several cylindrical objects that look a whole lot like TNT. I can tell at a glance that it’s a freaking time bomb.
Miss Ena lets out a horrified scream. “A-A bomb?! A bomb was planted inside the fire extinguisher?!” Just as she finishes voicing her shock, blood-red numbers flash onto the digital display. Together with a mechanical beeping, the number is counting down from sixty to fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven!
“H-Holy crap! It just activated!”
“Can’t you disarm it, Captain Kasasagi?!”
“I don’t have that kind of training! We need to focus on getting out of here ASAP!”
“How are we supposed to do that?!” Flustered, Miss Ena does a sweep of the stairwell. The part of the spiral staircase leading up is a pile of rubble, and the fire door has been locked shut. The death countdown is heartlessly ticking away with no way out.
“DAMMIT!” I ram the door. “Open! Open up, you piece of shit!”
The fire door doesn’t budge. The time between beeps is growing shorter by the second.
Are we done for? Am I going to be blown up without knowing the answer to anything?!
“Move out of the way, Captain Kasasagi!” Miss Ena shouts and draws something from her skirt pocket.
✦ ✦ ✦
I doubt my eyes—she’s holding a gleaming black pistol.
“You have a gun?!”
She pulls the trigger as I instinctively take a step back. Four silenced bangs take out the door’s hinges.
“Kick the door open! Now!”
“O-On it!” Flustered, I kick the door down with all my strength. And then I run like a madman with her.
How much time is left? Can’t be more than a few seconds.
I hear a high-pitched beep behind me.
“Get down, Miss Ena!”
“Agh!”
I throw myself into the corridor in order to shield her with my body.