Closed Circle: 09/16/2030, 09:23 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫  It was blocked by a metal door, but that opened once the lieutenant had operated a nearby terminal.   (This place is huge...)Just then, the lieutenant turned to the man and spoke.  Captain, which would you rather know first-- your personal information or the situation? Oh, uh... my personal information, please. Understood. Then let's start with your name-- It's 'Watase Kasasagi'. We have our first confirmed character name!  Not that it really counts for much since the Senses Sympathy System screen already tells us this and more, but it's still something.The man-- no, ''Watase'', listened to the lieutenant list off facts about him with a strange feeling in his heart. You're 32 years old and single. You're a member of the Rokumei City Fire Department's special elite rescue squad, 'Sirius'. Your rank is Fire Lieutenant.Tips posted:TIP: Firefighter These tips are WAY more detailed than what I've usually seen. Not that that's a bad thing. I always appreciate side information like this. Tips posted:TIP: Sirius ''BC law''... I wonder what that is. Tips posted:TIP: Rescue squad They do like to hit that point that Sirius is the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to rescue squads. And you‘re our squad's captain. In other words, that makes you our direct superior. Is any of this bringing back any memories? No... not ringing any bells. Oh, hey, a blue branch!  So this one's about how we feel about Tachibana and Moribe.  And of course, in accordance with our voting results, I lower our Senses for Tachibana back to the middle.  Oh, forgive me for not telling you sooner. I'm 'Kazami Tachibana', Fire Sergeant. I serve in this squad as your lieutenant.Watase carved this information into his memory.  Note the +1 to Jun we just got. The woman named Kazami appeared to be strict-- both towards herself and others. Um, can I call you Lieutenant...? No, please call me Tachibana instead. There's no need to be formal with me.Watase nodded. Just then, the other rescue worker spoke up.  And I'm 'Jun Moribe', Firefighter, 20 years old! I only just joined Sirius this year, so I'm whatcha'd call the team's 'new blood'! My nickname's 'Sirius' Lady Suicide Squad Chief'! My catchphrase is 'Jun's my name, rescue's my game!' Let's get along, okay!?...that's quite a nickname you picked for yourself there, Jun. And yes, I'm indeed pretty sure you were the one that picked that nickname for yourself. She felt like the complete opposite of Kazami.  She seemed to have a fierce will, and yet a cheerful and friendly personality. She didn't appear to be very conscious of the hierarchy in the group, perhaps because she was a lot younger than her superiors. Please excuse her attitude... I keep telling to her to do something about it, but it just doesn't sink in. I usually -am- careful about it. It's just that when I get to work, I get caught up in the heat of things and can't hold myself back, y'know? Yeah, I don't mind at all. Actually, it makes things a lot more comfortable for me. Woohoo! You're so understanding today, Captain! (Well, it looks like she's got the skills to make up for it.)She'd have to have nerves of steel to stay so cheerful in a situation like this. Watase then turned to the last member of the party as that thought crossed his mind.   !? Oh boy, doesn't look like she's warming up to you all that much, Captain. Well then, would you tell me your name, missy? ... ...ri. Huh? 'Yuuri'.The girl only gave her first name. Yuuri, huh? Aw, that's a cute name. Nice to meet you! (It feels like I've heard that name somewhere before...)But no matter how much he studied her face or searched his memories, he couldn't remember anything solid. So he decided to give up and turned his attention back to Kazami. Okay then, now that we're done introducing ourselves... could you please explain what's going now? Roger that. Then let me explain this facility first--Kazami then quietly began to speak.  This upcoming stuff is all quite important, as this segment gives the baseline for what's going on here. This version of how events occurred will be necessary to remember at points - and remember that we already have a version of how events occurred from the very first part of the story. Try to see if there are some things that don't quite match up. I mean, we already know from the first bit that Watase already had a run-in with Yuuri, but of course, that too went missing with his amnesia. Could you be a bit more specific on that first part...? I don't know the details, but it more or less seems to be a facility for conducting research related to nuclear power. The facility's name is the '6th Laboratory of Atomic and Biological Organization'-- known as 'LABO' for short.  Explosions of unknown origins occurred in the basement levels.  So they sent a rescue request to Sirius, since we're trained to handle these kinds of disasters. ...We then arrived on the scene at 6:26 AM and commenced our search for those still trapped. Its digital display read 9:27 AM.  When we got here, we split into two teams of five-- Teams A and B. We're Team A. Tips posted:TIP: Command post   This was around 6:35 AM. The three of you might have gone down to the basement floors at that time. Reception's really bad down here, so our radios are nearly useless in that sort of situation. This matches up with what we've seen in the intro. Watase did indeed go down to the basement with Dojima and Hiyama. However, nobody in this group actually knows that yet, they can only assume. It's possible that you went to rescue survivors. According to members of LABO staff, the basement floors had already been evacuated and the only survivors still there were trapped in the above-ground floors, but-- While we were saving them, we found out there were survivors in the basement too. So the lieutenant and I headed there. It was then that we set up a makeshift base on floor 82 and resumed our rescue activities once again. Then right after that, around 7:15 AM-- A most ominous announcement about a 'Case N' was broadcast throughout the entire facility. Given the nature of this facility, it's probably short for 'Nuclear'. We've got something in the rescue world we call an 'N disaster'. In that case, 'N' refers to a nuclear-induced disaster. Another blue branch.  This time, it's about our opinions on Tachibana and Yuuri. We haven't gotten an opportunity to set our Senses for Yuuri yet, so it's still at maximum from the tutorial, but I think it's in a good spot there for now. Yuuri seems to be a lot more trustworthy than the other two right now - she's scared, confused and frightened, just like Watase is! Clearly, we can bond over this shared despair. And we'll surely get an opportunity to have a vote on this at some yellow branch fairly soon (note: I do not actually know what yellow branches are coming up and whether we'll have an opportunity to vote on Yuuri's Senses soon).  We checked our Procyons right after the announcement and discovered that the radiation levels had grown abnormally high. So we're pretty confident in our theory. By the time they'd finished explaining, the group had arrived in Area 2.  Note the +1 to Yuuri.  She looked even more scared than she did earlier. Yes, we agree, it's just... The staircase leading to the surface is here in 'Area 2', but...Kazami and Jun paused, then looked down the hall. Standing there was a door with a plate that read Emergency Staircase. What do you mean, 'but'? The exit's right there, isn't it? Then let's go, Yuuri! Ah, Captain, please wait!Watase ran towards the door, Kazami's voice growing fainter and fainter with each step.   ♪ BGM: Evil and Nightmares ♫ Wh... what the hell... is this!?An iron wall was lying just a short distance away from the top of the stairs.  By the time he came to his senses, Kazami and the others were standing right behind him. Wh-what do you mean, 'there you have it'...!? The truth of the matter is that all exits to the surface are currently blocked off by this 'bulkhead'-- Meaning we're trapped down here in LABO's basement floors. Trapped!? Why!? ...I don't know. That said, the PA did say that they were looking down all bulkheads leading to the surface at the same time it announced the Case N. So there's probably no way out... You can't be serious...!No, she is in fact quite Sirius. Oh god I'm sorry I'll show myself out now Can't you just contact someone on the outside and ask them to open it up!? We can't get in touch with 'em. All the landline phones here are dead, and the radio was working good enough at first... But then reception kept getting worse and worse for some reason, and now our chances of reaching them are pretty much zilch. Wha...!? Then can't we just break it or force it open!?Watase tried pounding his fists on the bulkhead. But it didn't budge an inch. Goddammit! Open up, you piece of poo poo!But no matter how hard he punched, kicked, or pushed it, nothing changed. It didn't look like something that could be dealt with human hands alone. Khh... looks like we can't do anything to it without any explosives or something...! Hate to break it to you, but we don't have any. We can't destroy it with the equipment we have on hand. Though it's annoying to admit... this bulkhead has completely split the basement and surface apart.Watase finally understood the situation when he heard Kazami and Jun's comments. But it was a hard pill to swallow. Isn't there any other possible way out of here...? ...Negative. We've tried all sorts of things ourselves in the two hours we've been trapped here, but nothing worked. We can't go through the air ducts. All the elevators are out of order. And we can't break the ceiling. What's worse, this facility is supposed to have this flawless sprinkler system-- But it's not working for some reason. So we don't just have fires breaking out all over the place, but we've got no way to find out where they're coming from. Wh... what the hell!? Then we're in real deep poo poo now, aren't we!? We're all full of radiation, there's fire everywhere, and we can't even get outside!? Why the hell is this--I like amnesiac Watase. He has all the right ways of reacting to situations. Please calm down! Having a rescue captain lose his cool will only make matters worse! She's right, Captain! Can't you see that all you're doing is scaring poor Yuuri to death?! With realization hitting him in full force, Watase looked at Yuuri. She was hiding behind Jun and looking at him with trembling eyes. Ah... I—I'm sorry. ...Kazami and Jun were right: he couldn't show such disgraceful behavior in front of a frail girl like Yuuri. Regardless of his amnesia, Watase had most likely come down to the basement floors in order to ''rescue people''. But at that moment, he was hit by a sudden question. Oh, come to think of it... what were you doing here in LABO, Yuuri? Just then, a tearful look appeared on Yuuri's face for some reason. Wh-what's wrong? I—I'm... Um... I'm family to one of the people who work here. And so... I happened to get caught up in all this by bad luck... I see... that's a disaster for you.Watase turned to his thoughts as he kept looking at Yuuri. (It really has been a disaster... for all of us. I really wish we could all get out of here...!)But he knew it wasn't that simple. In the first place, there was still way too much that he didn't know about his current situation. Why wouldn't the bulkhead open up? Why wasn't the sprinkler system working? Why had he lost his memories? And-- Say, Tachibana... what's our next move? ...I'd like to explain that to you in detail. We've got a simple makeshift base set up nearby, so let's head there first.They had no choice but to go along with what she said. And so the group's shoulders slumped as they proceeded down the staircase.
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