Days passed. Hirono studied even more than before, now that she didn’t have to stop.
Naturally, she still took the time to do stuff like eat, sleep, and bathe, but only the bare minimum. She cut down the gaps between her study sessions to be as short as possible. Her worries that she was wasting her time had completely vanished. Now she was working hard without needing to rest. That was a wonderful achievement.
Slacking off from her studies and wasting time was a bad thing—she wouldn’t do that anymore. She was a good, dutiful, productive person. That thought gave her more confidence in herself than she’d felt in a long time.
✦ ✦ ✦
After a while, though, she ran into one teensy little problem.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What am I supposed to do with these…?”
Hirono looked at her Fatigue Cage, a troubled expression on her face.
In the short time since she first bought it, the cage had become crammed full of the strange gray creatures. Apparently, they didn’t just disappear on their own. And now the cage was so full there was hardly any room left in it.
“Hmm… At this rate, I won’t be able to take out any more Fatigues…”
What was she supposed to do now? That merchant had said that a Fatigue could find its way back into her body if it wasn’t put in the cage.
Maybe I should ask that girl in the pink hoodie for help… I haven’t seen her at cram school since that first time, though.
Still at a loss, Hirono made her way to cram school like usual. She had her cage and net with her—these days, she always carried them in her bag so she could deal with any fatigue that built up while studying. But there was no real point if she couldn’t put any new Fatigues into the cage.
Come to think of it…I wonder if that merchant is down that same alley today.
The thought struck her in the middle of her cram school classes. If she asked the man who had sold her the cage and net, surely he could tell her what to do with her excess Fatigues.
And so, when classes were done for the day, Hirono once again made her way to the dim, dingy alley.
Unfortunately, when she reached the flickering streetlamp at the end, she didn’t see the man in the hat and scarf there. But she did spot a flyer of some sort posted on a utility pole a few paces away. It had a simple map on it, with an arrow pointing to a building marked by a large black dot. Next to the arrow was written: PLEASE TAKE ALL CAPTURED FATIGUES TO THIS LOCATION.
“This doesn’t look very far. I can probably make it there today, even.”
Wasting no time, Hirono set out for the specified location.
✦ ✦ ✦
Upon arriving there, she found it to be a small, factory-like building. She pressed the doorbell, and after a little while, somebody opened the door and stepped out. They were wearing work overalls as well as a wide-brimmed hat and a long, thick scarf…
Is this that same merchant from before…?
He’d been dressed similarly, but she hadn’t been able to make out his face. This person’s face was hidden in shadow, too, so she couldn’t really be sure. That didn’t matter right now, though.
“Uh… My Fatigue Cage got filled up, so I brought it here…”
Reaching into her shoulder bag, Hirono brought out the cage. The factory worker—if this place was a factory—looked at it and nodded.
“I see, I see…,” he said. “You certainly have collected a lot of them.”
He took the cage from her. His voice sounded similar to the strange merchant’s as well. Were they really the same person?
“Well then, allow me to take these Fatigues from you.”
“Excuse me, but…what exactly is this place?”
“This? This is a Fatigue Treatment Center. It’s where we take the Fatigues you extract using the net and dispose of them.”
Dispose of them? Apparently, Fatigues had treatment plants just like the ones for garbage.
Hirono’s eyes drifted down to the little gray creatures in the cage. The merchant—or rather, the facility worker—grabbed a disposable bag from a pack that was hanging on a wall. He opened the lid of the cage and poured out the contents. The gray, smokelike Fatigues tumbled into the bag one by one. When they were all safely inside, the man sealed the bag closed.
“Thank you, young lady. I will now handle getting rid of your fatigue,” he said, handing Hirono the empty cage.
She’d be able to fill it up with Fatigues again now. That was good, at least. Except something was bothering her.
“E-excuse me, but…how exactly do you ‘get rid of’ the Fatigues?”
The factory worker had already turned to go back inside, but she called out to stop him. For some reason, she’d become strangely curious about this aspect of the process.
It’s probably an industry secret, so he won’t be able to tell me anything. It can’t do any harm to ask, though.
However, the factory worker turned around and answered perfectly candidly.
“Oh? Would you like a tour of our little facility? By all means, please, come in,” he said, casually ushering Hirono in like it was no problem.
Wow, just like that? Wait, what did he mean by “a tour”? Does this place do tours like a regular factory? Wouldn’t they want to keep their processes a secret?
Hirono had plenty of doubts and questions, but she held back for the time being and followed the strange man.