√A Chapter 15: 【Truth and Despair】 9/16/2030 3:05

√A Chapter 15: 【Truth and Despair】 9/16/2030 3:05

Radiation Level: 4,862 mSv

Remaining AD: 0

Area 3, Attic

Inside the Engine Room’s Drainage Pipe

FIVE minutes have passed since I dove into the pipe. I’ve come to a complete standstill after advancing about fifty-five yards through the water. Something is blocking my path forward. The darkness in here is so thick my eyes are basically useless. I can still tell there’s something in the way, though.

The forced circulation pump from the blueprint is obstructing the middle of the pipe.

Why after I’ve come so damn far?! I slam my fist into the pump. It doesn’t even vibrate under my knuckles. This isn’t something I can take out with physical strength. Break, dammit! I can get to the lake if this is gone! I can save everyone!

I punch and kick at it, but I can’t muster enough force underwater. Still, I fight with the pump until it becomes difficult to breathe.

There’s plenty of air left in the tank, but expending so much energy underwater at these high temperatures is burdening my lungs. I’m seized with a rapidly growing sense of despair. Death is all that’s in store for me if I stay here.

You piece of shit…! I kick off the pump and return down the path I came.

“Puuaaah!” I rip the faceplate off when I come up from the hot water. I clamber on top of the pipe and slide down the ladder. Once my feet hit the floor, I hear a voice behind me.

“Captain!” Tachibana is running over to me. “You came back so soon?!”

“I’m sorry, Tachibana…! The path inside the pipe was blocked! We can’t reach Lake Rokumei!” I explain through gasps for cool air.

Tachibana’s expression falls. “I-Is it possible to destroy the obstruction? What if we use the engine cutter…?”

“The pipe is filled with water. The motor won’t work underwater.”

“…No…” She covers her mouth and casts down her eyes.

“…The pipe is no good,” I grind out between my teeth. “We gotta search for another way.”

“But how? There really is nothing else for us to go off of…”

“Let’s go back to the starting point one last time. We have to think of a way to pry open the bulkhead blocking the escape route from the emergency staircase in Area 2.”

My suggestion isn’t even close to a plan, but it’s better than nothing. Tachibana wordlessly goes along with me. I glance at my watch—it’s 3:09 pm. Only seven more minutes until our last dose of AD runs out. I peel off the hazmat suit and pick up Natsuhiko.

“…Time to move, Tachibana.”

“Okay…” Tachibana pulls Salyu onto her back and steps forward just as we hear the alarming sound of electronics powering down and the area is sunk into darkness. “A blackout?!”

All the lights in the facility have gone out. An automated broadcast fills the corridors: “The main generator and backup generator have stopped. Activating the emergency generator now.”

The lights click back on after the broadcast. It’s slightly darker than before the blackout, but it’s doable.

“Wh-What was that all about…? Why would the generators suddenly—” Tachibana lets out an agonized cry before she finishes her question.

I whirl toward her and gasp. Salyu is squeezing Tachibana’s neck from behind. “Wha—?! Wh-When did you wake up?!”

She doesn’t answer my query. She merely continues to choke Tachibana.

“Khh...aaaghhh…” Tachibana wheezes and falls to her knees.

Salyu relentlessly tightens her hold as she glares at me. “Release Natsuhiko,” she demands in a low hiss. “Or else I’ll choke the life out of this woman.”

“Stop it, Salyu! We just want to save you guys! Why can’t you understand that?!”

“There you go with more of your thinly veiled lies.”

“Why do you think I’m lying?!”

“Because you’re the one who shot Natsuhiko,” she flat-out accuses.

“Wh…at?” Her accusation stabs me right in the chest.

Tachibana’s expression fills with shock that has nothing to do with being choked. “…Wh-What…did you…just?!”

Salyu answers her in a conspiratorial whisper: “You didn’t know? Then I’ll tell you. This man is a terrorist.”

“T-Terrorist?”

“It’s the truth whether you believe it or not. We’ve been fending off his attacks since last night and this morning.”

Every word she says sends my world spinning.

Tachibana looks at me with pleading eyes. “She’s lying, right? You would never do something like that, would you?”

“……” I try to say something, but the words don’t form. Attempting to dredge up my lost memories overwhelms me with unexplainable apprehension.

Meanwhile, Salyu continues to blame me. “Everything that’s happened here is all this man’s fault. Several suspicious things should stand out to you too.”

“Stop…it…! I don’t…want to…hear it…!”

“Take a good look at what’s in his pocket.”

What’s in my pocket…is the pistol I picked up in Area N.

“It probably originally belonged to him. Natsuhiko was shot by that gun—”

“Just stop it!” Tachibana screams and violently bucks Salyu off her back.

“Ah!” The force sends Salyu flying back toward the machine that controls the sprinkler system.

“No!” I can only watch as everything plays out in slow motion. Salyu whacks the back of her head against the machine and slides limply to ground. “S-Salyu!”

I rush over and check her condition. Blood is trickling from her head, but she has a strong pulse and is breathing. Tachibana staggers over to me during my moment of relief.

“C-Captain…how is she…?”

“She’s okay. Just lost consciousness.”

“I-I see…” Tachibana’s shaking. Trembling, she stares at me with fear in her eyes.

“T-Tachibana, why are you looking at me like that? Do you actually believe Salyu’s accusations?”

“N-No, sir…”

“There’s no way I’d be a terrorist, right? You know better than anyone else that I’ve always been a rescue worker!”

Tachibana flinches away. She won’t reassure me. My worries swell during the long pause she takes before answering me with her head lowered. “…Captain, may I ask you another question?” she mutters.

“Wh-What is it?”

“There is one doubt that has been left unanswered… Why did you come down to the basement at 6:42 am?”

Her unexpected query catches me off guard. Unsure of the intent behind it, I reluctantly answer, “I told you before that it was because Dojima and Hiyama called for me on the radio—”

“Wouldn’t that mean your radio still worked at 6:42?” She lifts her head and holds me in her accusatory gaze. “But, Captain…I tried to send you a radio transmission a few minutes before that.”

“…!” Electricity courses through my spine.

Come to think of it, Tachibana has been saying all along that she lost radio contact with me around 6:35 am. The times are inconsistent.

“Why didn’t you respond to my transmission when you responded to Dojima’s? Doesn’t that imply you had reason to intentionally not respond to me…?”

“What reason would that be?”

“How about…slipping away from your rescue duties to commit some other act…?!” Suspicion and sorrow color her eyes.

“H-How long…have you been thinking that?” I ask in a trembling voice.

“Ever since you said some of your memory came back…since the moment I heard your reason for coming downstairs.”

“Since that long ago?!”

“But I didn’t want to bring it up… I believed the inconsistency in the times was due to your jumbled memory!” She drops her gaze to the floor and sorrowfully imparts, “I…was desperately trying to believe in you. I’ve continued to have faith in you since long, long ago…”

“T-Tachibana…?”

“But…but…I can no longer…” She jerks her head up. “…do that, Watase,” she declares to my face. She’s dropped all formality with me. Her expression is neither that of an obedient subordinate nor that of a strict lieutenant. Before me are the ice-cold eyes of a woman who’s lost faith in me. Those eyes pierce into me.

“Everything adds up if Ms. Sannomiya’s story is true. When I think of what this facility really is and about the you I knew before…the answer becomes clear.” Tachibana yanks the fire hydrant off the engine room wall.

“Whoa, Tachibana! What do you plan to do with that?!”

“Watase, you’ve gone down the wrong path… The time has come for you to pay,” she says in such a soft voice it gives me chills.

Sensing imminent danger, I try to run just as she’s swinging the fire hydrant toward my face.

“GUAGH!” I throw my arm up to block the impact. The bone in my arm cracks from her merciless strike. “S-Stop this, Tachibana! Why are—”

“I’m so sorry, Watase… This is all I can do for you now…” An eerie glimmer flashes in her eyes as she apologizes. It’s the same shade of madness I saw in Moribe and Ukita.

Why has even Tachibana been affected?! Did I do something to engender her hatred? At a complete loss, I thrust her away from me before she can hit me again.

“Kyah!” She falls onto the floor.

I take that opening to readjust my hold on Natsuhiko and flee from the engine room with him. I descend the ladder to Area 3 with him on my back. I don’t want to leave Salyu behind, but I’ve barely managed to carry Natsuhiko with me.

Dammit! What the hell is going on?!

Tachibana and I had been on the same page only a few minutes ago. We definitely trusted each other. But the pain in the arm she whacked with all her might is very real. It aches with the vibrations caused every time my feet hit the ground while running.

I’ve come to the connecting passageway while blindly running for my life. Footsteps echo from the path ahead of me.

Who is it now?!

Moribe appears from the other end of the corridor. “Captain…!” She fastens her empty eyes on me. She’s still clutching the damn engine cutter!

“Uwaaaaaaaaah!” I scream and flee in the opposite direction.

I run blindly with Natsuhiko to whatever area is next. I’m gasping for air and every bone in my body aches. Just when I think I can’t run anymore, a dry bang echoes out of the blue.

“GAH!” I fall on the ground. Red-hot pain splits open my side. Someone shot me. Clutching my side, I search the area. I can’t see him, but I hear Ukita’s voice coming from somewhere.

“I hit you this time, Captain Kasasagi,” he cackles.

“U-Ukita?!”

“You seem to be in agony. As my last act of pity, I’ll put you out of your misery right now.”

I spring to my feet before he finishes speaking. Scooping Natsuhiko back up, I break into another sprint, while blood spills from my side.

Luckily, the bullet seems to have missed my internal organs. But the wound hurts like nothing I’ve experienced before, and the blood flow won’t stop.

“Dammit…dammit…!” I curse from the pain and seek out a safe place. During my nonstop dash I finally see it—the connecting passageway to Area N. Only the Level N card I have can open the gate leading to that room.

I’m safe if I can escape inside there! I give myself a pep talk to keep my burning legs going in the direction of Area N.

Area N

I open the gate and scurry inside. Whatever those WX particles are, they’re causing my head to throb and my fingertips to go numb. But I have to push through the pain and reclose the gate if I want to stop the others.

Yet before I can do anything, Tachibana appears on the other side of the still-open gate brandishing the fire extinguisher. Our eyes meet. The daggerlike gleam in her eyes stabs into me. Ignoring her injured leg, she charges at me with the speed of a tiger.

“Shut already!”

The gate slowly begins to close. Tachibana slips through the open gap and swings the fire extinguisher down on my head.

“AUGH!” Sparks scatter in front of my eyes. Losing my sense of balance, my body reels to the side.

Sh-She’s gonna kill me! But Natsuhiko is doomed if I die here! That sole thought fastens my rupturing consciousness. I muster the last bit of strength left in me and—“URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”—shove Tachibana outside Area N.

“GYAH!” I hear Tachibana’s scream the same time the gate fully closes. She starts shrieking hysterically on the other side. “Watase! WASTASE! Open up, WATASEEEEEEEE!”

Her voice gradually fades into the distance. My headache and convulsions grow increasingly worse by the second. The AD has probably run out by now. All the energy drains from my body as soon as that realization strikes me.

I try to resist gravity’s sudden wicked pull on my body.

I can’t fight it.

The floor is coming right at my face.

It’s no use! I’m falling!

A loud thud resounds through the tranquilly still Area N.

Natsuhiko’s weight disappeared from my back when I hit the ground. He seems to have slid off. But there’s no longer anything I can do for him.

In my fading consciousness, I think to myself, Why…did it come to this…?

Thinking doesn’t help me understand it. Too many absurd things have happened over the past six hours. All the mysteries I’ve stumbled upon until now flash into a corner of my increasingly muddied awareness.

The reason why I lost my memories.

The reason why the nine of us were trapped inside this accursed facility.

The reason why people were murdered here.

The reason why the survivors ran away from us several times.

The reason why the cargo lift control panel was destroyed.

The reason why there was a mysterious girl’s body there.

The reason why the AD supply we set aside went missing.

The reason why there was no reactor or fire in Area N.

And the reason why Yuuri’s body disappeared.

Until the very end, I never learned the answer to any of those mysteries. What in the world happened here? The faces of everyone I met today flashes into my mind: Tachibana, Moribe, Miss Ena, Ukita, Yuuri, Salyu, Natsuhiko. And then there’s the final survivor, Mashiro Toba, whom I haven’t seen yet.

I didn’t want to suspect any of the survivors. But isn’t it most likely that the mastermind behind this disaster is among us? The only thing I know for sure is that it’s not Natsuhiko. He was on the verge of death in this room.

I wanted to at least…get Natsuhiko outta here…!

But I can’t make that happen either. I can no longer keep my consciousness grounded. As the energy leaves my body and my mind is about to slip into darkness—I hear a loud heartbeat.

For a moment, I think it’s mine. But it’s not. The sound is coming from right next to me.

After a short while, I sense movement beside me.

I-It can’t be! I wrench my eyes open and see—him standing there. H-How?!

Natsuhiko, the boy who should be at death’s door, has gotten to his feet and is glaring down at me. Why did he suddenly come to? Why is he glowering at me?

“Stand! Nothing is over yet…!” he declares to me, who doesn’t understand a single thing.

But after hearing him speak, my mind plummets into darkness.