Researcher: 09/16/2030, 09:36 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ I'm looking forward to seeing how you react to the character introduced in this chapter. This area was considerably different from all the other floors. The walls were made of unfaced concrete, and the ceiling's steel frame and cables were completely exposed. Watase checked his Procyon to find that the display read ''1381 mSv''.  Good, looks like this place is safe too. 'Safe', huh... Normally we'd be dead at this level of radiation. Like we said, we'll be fine as long as we have AD. And fortunately, it doesn't look like there were any fires in this area--But the moment Jun said that, ???: --Impossible...!? Why were they... the group heard a voice coming from somewhere.  It looks like someone's here! Yeah!Watase thought he heard the voice coming from the room right in front of him. The door was labeled Surveillance Room. Heeey! Is someone in there!?A voice filled with surprise echoed in reply to Watase's unconscious shouts. ???: Wha—!? That voice-- is that you, 'Captain Kasasagi'!? What!? Y-you know who I am!????: H-how could I -not- know you... Someone was talking to him from the other side of the door. However, Watase didn't recognize the speaker's voice. (Who is it...!?)Watase timidly opened the door.   Oh hey, we've seen this guy before! And we've also heard him before - astute listeners will notice that he was the one that was giving the emergency broadcast in the prologue. Of course, you can't notice that, so that's why I'm telling you. Makes sense, right? Kazami and Jun's eyes simultaneously widened as soon as they heard the man's voice. Huh... Mr. Ukita!? What're you doing here, old man!? Y-you're all here too...?The man named Ukita said this with bewilderment. W-wait a sec... you guys all know each other? Yes. We saved this man when he got into a car accident just last week. Don't tell me you got into -another- accident this week, Mr. Ukita? Y-yes... Never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted such misfortune befalling me. (I don't really know the circumstances, but-- anyone would be bitter over having luck this bad two weeks in a row.)And if Kazami and Jun had saved him once before, then it made sense that he knew them all. I see... By the way, were you not able to evacuate in time or something? Wha... what preposterous game are you trying to pull here!? -You- were the one who looked me in this area! H-huh...?Watase froze in confusion at the angry look that'd suddenly appeared on the man's face. H-hold on a second. Could you explain the details? Shouldn't you know that better than anyone else here!? Well, uh, you see... The truth is, it looks like I hit my head really hard a little while back... and thanks to that, I can barely remember anything... Barely remember anything... Are you serious!? Ukita wasn't the only one to react to Watase's explanation. Whoa, hold on, I didn't hear any of this. Are you saying you have amnesia? Is that thing even possible outside the movies? Well... I understand why you two can't believe it, but it's true... The kind of long-term amnesia that you see in movies is extremely rare, but short-term amnesia where memories become hazy, while not exactly common, is still possible.Kazami came to Watase's defense at the perfect time. Ukita spent a long moment looking doubtfully at Watase-- but eventually came to a decision and spoke. ...Very well. Then I'll believe you for now. Thank you. Um... and you are? Oh, I'm 'Keiji Ukita'. As you can see, I'm a researcher at this lab. (Keiji Ukita...!?)That name sounded familiar to Watase. He thought his memories were coming back for a moment-- but that wasn't the case. For he'd seen the words ''Keiji Ukita'' after he'd woken up. It was the name that'd been written on one of the cards he'd found earlier. Then this is your card? Ah! So you really did have it!Ukita swiped the card out of Watase's hands. U-Um, hey... Mr. Ukita? Why did I steal your card from you? A bit of an odd question, but I suppose it can't be helped. Now then, how to explain this...Ukita thought for a bit before he began to talk. ...While all my colleagues were evacuating, I tried to take charge of the situation. Felt it was my duty as one of the people who worked here, you see. But it didn't go so well, as a 'Case N' was declared during all the chaos... It was at that moment while I was paralyzed in shock that I met you, Captain Kasasagi. This was about 2 hours ago. Did the captain say anything back then? He said 'I'll go look for an exit. But the fires are getting worse and it's too dangerous, so wait for me in this room'. But I refused to listen to him. I panicked and flew into a frenzy. That's why Captain Kasasagi took my card from me-- so that I couldn't move on my own. Well, I'm sure he only did it to keep me safe... but I detest how I was given no choice in the matter. That's why I was angry. Oh boy, sounds like you came face to face with the captain's uncompromising side. So that's what happened... I'm sorry for what I did to you. I was probably planning on coming right back, but... No, it's all right. By the way, who're those two?Ukita glanced at Ena and Yuuri as he asked this. I'm Ena Tsubakiyama. I'm a high school teacher who was called to this facility. I'm Yuuri... I'm family to one of LABO's researchers. Hmm... so a teacher and a family member, huh? But that sure is bizarre. This facility's security is top notch, so no one should have been able to even get into the basement floors. Really? Then how do you the two of you explain yourselves?Ena grew exasperated at the rest of the group's confusion. Believe me, that's what I'd like to ask these guys. Even I don't know why they called for me so early in the morning. I was brought down here by a real jerk of an employee... then there was the explosion, and I ended up trapped here in all the confusion. Which employee? I think he said his name was Mr. Nojima or something like that. He told me to wait right where I was and then went running off somewhere as fast as he could. I swear, it's like a bad joke. We get a blue branch here, but like I said earlier, we're staying with the middle for now. Back to the questioning. Y-yes, it was like that for me too... I came to visit this place late last night... and they told me to spend the night down here in the basement floors... And when I woke up, all this happened... My mom wasn't there either and I got scared...! Hey, then that makes us both victims who got caught up in this mess, doesn't it? You have no right to pry into our affairs. Mmm... I see, my apologies.Ukita seemed to be pondering something as he said that. Intrigue! Kazami cut into the conversation as she gave him a curious glance. ...By the way, have you already injected yourself with any AD, Mr. Ukita? Oh, the AD! I took the ones that Captain Kasasagi gave me, but I've used them all up at this point. The last time I took any was nearly an hour ago.As expected, a researcher like Ukita knew all about AD. Then use this.Watase handed Ukita an AD. The latter practically snatched it out of his hands and injected himself with it. (... We're getting short on those things.) Yup. The menu keeps track of your current AD stack - not exactly what I'd call crucial information (for the player, that is), but it's good to know. So right now, we have six people and five AD, and everybody needs to inject one every hour. Not good. Ukita threw aside the empty AD ampule as anxiety began worming its way into Watase's mind. More importantly... would all you rescue workers here please take a look at these monitors for a minute? Huh? I was perusing through the surveillance camera records to get a grasp of the situation when I happened upon an image that concerned me. Now that you mention it, I do recall that you were talking to yourself just before we found you. So what's this image that's got you all hot and bothered? This image was taken in Area 2 at '6:21 AM'--Ukita operated the control panel. A second later, the monitor displayed an image taken by the surveillance cameras. ...but not until the next chapter!
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