▼ 2:27 pm
Between Area 2 and Area N
Connecting Passageway
THE Procyon’s warning alarm screeches at me the second I set foot inside the passageway leading to Area N. Displayed is a reading I’ve never seen before—12,210 mSv, a number that far surpasses the lethal limits.
My head is killing me, nausea forces me to clasp my hand over my mouth, my skin tingles, and my eyes blur over.
“…Tch!”
I flip the switch on the Procyon to “OFF” and push forward. It’s not long before I can make out the security gate through my watering eyes. A melted nuclear reactor, raging hellfire, lethal radiation. I shudder as I imagine the hell on Earth awaiting me up ahead.
But I came here prepared to face all of it. I keep myself from shaking, pull a hose from a nearby fire hydrant, and direct it at the security gate with my left hand.
“…Extinguishing preparations all set. I’m ready to do this.”
My determination doesn’t wither even in the face of genuine danger. Boundless courage courses through me.
I wonder if I’ve finally…become a real rescue squad captain now.
With the card in my right hand, I open the gate to nuclear hell.
✦ ✦ ✦
▼ 2:28 pm
Area N
IT feels as if I’ve just opened the door to a raging energy storm. An invisible force crashes over my body with the earth-shattering power of a tidal wave. I dig my feet in, hold my arms down, and force my eyes open until they can take in every detail of the spectacle beyond the gate.
“…?!” The breath is ripped from my lungs.
This should be where a reactor melted down. The place where a fire is burning so out of control it made the security system go haywire. When in reality, the air is fresh and clear. Fire and smoke are nowhere to be seen.
“Wh-What the hell is this place?!”
On the other side of the opened gate is a gigantic hall filled with the faint sound of running machinery. A transparent cylinder stands in the center of the hall, surrounded by six towering spire-like installations. The installations are all connected to each other near the ceiling, forming a hexagram.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wh-What’s the meaning of this?! Wasn’t Area N supposed to be on fire?!” I throw the hose aside and walk over to one of the towering installations.
I don’t have any idea what a nuclear reactor is supposed to look like. But something tells me that the machines in this room aren’t it.
Doubts suddenly race through my mind. H-Hang on…wasn’t there something like this in that data Miss Ena showed me earlier…?!
I rack my brain to recall the data. I’m fairly certain the list included terms like Case N, meltdown, brain dysfunction, Subject N, WX particles, particle amplifier, WX particle proliferation, and so on. Now I finally realize the source of the uncomfortable feeling I had when I first saw the search list.
It’s too strange…!
Though the words Case N and meltdown appeared on the list, the other terms that should’ve been there weren’t. There hadn’t been a single hit on words pertaining to nuclear reactors, radiation, radioactive materials, or radiation exposure. And this is supposed to be a facility that designed an anti-radiation drug!
Instead, there were a ton of hits on mysterious terms like WX particles and particle amplifier.
This is clearly strange. There’s no explanation for it. But I have a hunch the answer lies in this room.
“It’s not just that there’s no fire! Could it be that…there was never a nuclear reactor here to begin with?!” I shout out loud.
Countless questions race through my already confused mind. Were we tricked? By who? For what purpose? Who deceived us? Commander Murakami? Why would he lie about this? No, the people at LABO are more suspicious. Then was Ukita in on it…?!
My head aches before I can finish my train of thought. “Ghh! AGH!” The pain is a thousand times worse than before. Every muscle in my body begins convulsing. “Sh-Shit…!”
I dart my eyes around the room in search of an exit. Just then, I catch a whiff of a disturbing stench. I’ve smelled this stench more times than I would’ve liked to in the past few hours—it’s the smell of spilled blood. A very bad feeling balloons within me as I follow the scent trail.
“No…!”
A boy in a blood-soaked school uniform is unconscious on the ground behind one of the whirring machines. His eyes are closed beneath his wire-rimmed glasses. His name and face match up perfectly with my memory of him.
✦ ✦ ✦
Lying in a pool of his own blood is one of the three high school students trapped inside LABO—Natsuhiko Tenkawa.
“Hey, boy! Are you all right?!”
He doesn’t respond to my calls. I remove my glove and press my fingers against his carotid artery, but there’s no pulse, and his body is growing cold.
I quickly lay Natsuhiko flat on the ground and begin CPR. I do it just like Tachibana and Moribe did. Fifteen heart compressions. Two rescue breaths. But I get no reaction out of him.
Dammit…dammit!
I withstand the headaches and convulsions racking my body in my desperate attempt at CPR on the boy.
Fifteen compressions. Two rescue breaths.
Fifteen more compressions. Two more rescue breaths.
Fifteen more compressions. Two more rescue breaths.
“Please, please don’t die on me…!” I cry out as I throw myself into every compression. And then, somewhere along the way, his pulse faintly returned. “I-I did it!”
I hold my hand over his mouth, and his shallow breath slightly brushes along my skin. I may have gotten him back for now, but it’s still a life-threatening injury. It’s a miracle he’s still alive after how much blood he’s lost.
How did he get so severely injured, though? I examine his body and find several bullet holes in his uniform. He was shot by someone too! As soon as that realization hits me, I spot something lying on the ground beside him.
“Th-This is…!” I pick up that black glimmering piece of deadly metal and feel its weight in my hand. It’s a different model from the one Miss Ena had, but this is a pistol nonetheless. “Did the same killer get Natsuhiko too…?!”
In any event, I have to carry him somewhere safe. I pocket the pistol and put my hands under his body to lift him up.
Suddenly, I sense someone’s presence behind me. Startled, I jerk my neck to the side and see a petite figure charging straight at me with an axe.