Tachibana looks rattled as well. “P-Please wait,” she says to Ukita in a shaky voice. “The real problem is why he would tell such a peculiar lie in the first place…”
“Who knows? But once you think about it that way, everything about him becomes suspicious. Like if the memories he said came back to him are true or not.”
“Why?!”
“You said you came down to the basement to rescue survivors, right? But that’s another lie, isn’t it? Didn’t you actually come here for a completely different objective?”
“What o-objective is that?”
“Need you ask? To kill people. This isn’t terrorism—it’s a planned murder.”
“Hah?” I’m flabbergasted by his logic.
Meanwhile, Ukita continues playing detective. “How about this for the reason: you harbored the urge to kill your squadmate Dojima for some reason and decided to do the deed at a disaster site. Killing him somewhere with raging fires would burn up the evidence with his body, and then the authorities would chalk up his death to an accident. Drawing that conclusion, you used this incident as the opportunity to enact your murderous plans.”
“…!”
“But then you were caught red-handed by the two researchers and had to kill them to keep the truth from getting out. Hiyama barely escaped you, only to have the misfortune of being caught in a fire and dying that way. Yuuri, Sannomiya, and the girl in the lift may have all been witnesses to your heinous killing spree.”
“Shut up! That’s bullshit! Why would I do something like that?!”
“There’s no evidence you did. And absolutely no evidence that you didn’t. Aren’t you the most aware of that fact out of all of us?”
“Damn you…!” I sweep my gaze around the people in the room for help. My eyes lock with a frightened Tachibana. “T-Tachibana… Did I hate our squadmate Dojima enough to want to kill him?”
“I-I…don’t know.”
“You don’t know? You should have at least seen hints of—”
“I don’t know! Honestly!” Tachibana sharply cuts me off. “You never talk about yourself, Captain!”
Shocked by that unexpected reply, I ask, “I didn’t talk about myself…?”
“You always kept a distance from people before you lost your memories… You never spoke with others about what was on your mind.” Sadness shimmers in her eyes.
“Now that you mention it, I know nothing about Captain’s private life,” Moribe throws out there, as if she’s only just now realized it. “…We only have a work relationship.”
I feel the ground sway beneath my feet.
I thought Tachibana and Moribe would believe in me—just as I believe in them. And yet not only do they question me after I lost my memories, but they seem to have never trusted me before this either. My knees buckle under the abrupt despair washing over me.
Moribe’s gaze digs into me as I hold my silence. “…Hey, Captain, tell us the truth. What really brought you to the basement floors?”
“I told you it was to rescue su—”
“That’s bull. You’ve never left your post before, you know?” Moribe marches over to me. “Just tell me… You came down here to save lives, didn’t you?”
“……”
“Because if you didn’t…I’ll never forgive you, Captain.” Rage simmers in her eyes. No, it’s not something as cute as rage—it’s bloodlust. Moribe is glaring at me with bloodlust blazing in her eyes.
I want to tell her what she wants to hear. But I don’t, because anything I say here is going to sound hollow.
I try to say something before things go horribly wrong, when Miss Ena suddenly speaks on my behalf. “Stop right there, Ms. Moribe, Mr. Ukita. You two are acting a little strange.”
They turn on her like she stepped on a land mine.
“What? How are we acting strange? Huh?” Moribe snaps with an intensity that could make even the fiercest dog back down.
“Yeah. I believe we are making a truly sound argument,” Ukita agrees.
Miss Ena returns their glares. “And that’s what I’m saying is strange. Didn’t Captain Kasasagi save you both numerous times? Where do you get off turning on him just because the AD disappeared?”
“This and that have nothing to do with each other. How could you side with him after all we’ve said? You’re a complete stranger who doesn’t even know him yet—” Moribe gasps midsentence. Her eyes widen as if the truth finally dawned on her. “Don’t tell me…you two were in on it together?”
“H-How did you come to that conclusion?!” Miss Ena scowls.
Ukita sweeps in for the kill. “Is that it? It does make sense. No wonder why you were both acting so strange…! You’re working together so only the two of you can get out of here alive!”
“Has her stupidity rubbed off on you, Mr. Ukita?! You know that’s not true!”
“No, I’m positive it is. You hid the AD, didn’t you?! You’re trying to hoard the AD!” he rants and raves.
Moribe’s deranged glare stabs into me and Miss Ena. These two seem to have complete faith in their own baseless speculation. It’s closer to a false accusation than speculation too.
But the way they turned on Miss Ena helped me see the insanity glimmering in their eyes. H-Have they lost their minds?
There have been plenty of factors to make that happen. Accumulation of stress and fatigue. Countless unexplainable incidents. A feeling of entrapment. Utter despair over a lack of an exit. Fear from discovering body after body.
And then, to deliver the final blow, our AD supply vanished. That single occurrence shortened the time limit for our survival by hours.
It’s impossible for people to keep it together in a situation like this!
Ukita and Moribe are slowly closing the distance between us like wolves closing in on a kill. Before they get too close, I hear that auditory hallucination again.
<You’re in danger! Take Miss Ena with you and run!>
“Tch!” I snap to it and grab Miss Ena’s arm.
Moribe and Ukita yell out at once.
“Planning to run for it?!”
“Don’t let them! Pin them!”
They both lunge at us as they shout. I narrowly sidestep them and they are propelled into the monitors instead.
CRASH! The sound of something breaking echoes through the room. But they quickly recover and turn back around with hatred in their eyes. I instinctively look away, and my eyes meet Tachibana’s. She wordlessly looks to the door. She mouths, “Run away.”
“—Miss Ena, time to run!”
“I-I agree!”
I fly out of the room holding her arm.