Cause: 09/16/2030, 14:25 ♪ BGM: Ominous Ambience ♫   Yes...Watase and Ena had escaped their pursuers and were now hiding in a room in Area 2's inner ring. ...I didn't expect things to turn violent so suddenly. Well, it's not that surprising... not when you consider the number of dead bodies we've seen. I can understand how their anger and impatience are driving them crazy... True... but that really was a close call back there. If they'd caught us-- then they might have very well killed us for all we know. Killed us...!? Wait, are you serious!? You don't honestly think they'd go that far, do you!? They're still our companions!A stern expression appeared on Ena's face when she heard his protests. You still don't get it? The thing that's truly frightening in this hell isn't fire or radiation-- It's people. Yes... nothing is more terrifying than the raw malice of someone with their back to the wall. ...Watase gasped.  But now that things had gone to hell, it was likely the other way around. (What happens when the ''human will to survive'' transcends ''human morals''...? Does it become the will to survive... ''even at the cost of killing others''!? Or maybe it becomes the conviction that ''killing others is justifiable if it means protecting someone else''...!)In any normal situation, Ukita and Jun would probably never even dream about considering those things. But now everyone's lives were at risk. Their morals were most likely being shaved down to a layer of thin ice. Possibly enough to justify murder in their minds-- (Dammit, how did things come to this... Why!? I thought we were all on the same side here...!)The problem was whether the others felt the same way. And they probably didn't.  ♪ BGM: Close to the Truth ♫ ...Hey, can I ask you a question? What? Why did you stick up for me back there? Regardless of what I remember, that video footage proves that I'm suspicious. ... Weren't you the one who told me to doubt everything? So why are you...Faced with the others having seemingly gone mad, and beginning to doubt even his own memories, Watase wondered what Ena was truly after. Ena then spoke in a somewhat hesitant voice. ...Because I want to know what your real motives are too. ...? Hey... you said that you saw Ms. Yuuri's body, right? How do you explain that? I... think it was my eyes playing tricks on me, just like the old man said. I'm suffering from memory impairment, and I've been in contaminated zones a few times... It wouldn't be odd for me to be seeing things.He was reminded of something Kazami had said way back then. ''Radiation exposure causes severely negative effects on the human body. This includes skin inflammation, nausea, organ failure, brain cell damage, vision impairment, neurological disorders, genetic disorders, and cancer.'' --Vision impairment, neurological disorders, and brain cell damage. Any one of those could have caused Watase to hallucinate seeing a corpse. And to be honest... I've been hearing this auditory hallucination from time to time ever since I woke up. ...An auditory hallucination? Yeah... I figured you'd all think I was nuts if I mentioned it, so I've been keeping quiet about it this whole time... At first, I thought it was being caused by that 'BC thing you mentioned earlier. But... the auditory hallucination aside, there's no such BC out there that can cause someone to hallucinate, right? Y-you're right... So maybe... I've just gone crazy. Simple as that.Feelings of abandonment seized Watase. The Procyon's reading was at ''5672 mSv''. They had less than an hour until their next AD injection. At this radiation level, they'd instantly show life-threatening symptoms of radiation exposure once their AD wore off. ...I mean, think about it: it's been a real long time since it passed the first danger standard. It's been a few hours since the AD has stopped being enough to protect us from the radiation here... so it's not surprising I've been hallucinating.Watase shuddered. Ena then quietly spoke up. True... but you know what? There's something else that's been bothering me. Huh? You said that it's not surprising that on top of your memory impairment, you've been hallucinating thanks to your trips to the contaminated zones, right? But what if radiation wasn't the cause of your hallucinations? ...What? I remember reading something about this before. It's true that radiation can cause vision impairment-- But that only refers to your sight getting blurry and becoming nearsighted-- there was nothing in there about seeing things that aren't actually there. Then what's really causing my hallucinations? Got any ideas? ...Nope.Ena's words only served to confuse Watase further. ...But I could be suffering from brain cell damage and neurological disorders. If my brain and nerves got all messed up, then it's not implausible for me to be seeing things, right? True, but... there's something else bothering me. Take a look at this.Ena took out her PDA. She then fiddled around with it, causing words to appear on the screen. ...What's this? You remember how Mr. Ukita was yelling at me when I was looking around the neuroscience laboratory all by myself? Yeah, now that you mention it... The truth is, his anger was more justified than he thought. I secretly copied data from the neuroscience laboratory's computers onto my PDA. You did what!? Why!? I was already convinced by that point that this accident was no ordinary accident. It's odd that it would take nine hours for them to lift the lockdown, isn't it? So I was wondering if there was some other reason for that... Good question... But the data I copied was all encrypted. I've tried decrypting it by myself for the time being... but most of the data's damaged.Watase remembered that Ena had indeed been fiddling around with her PDA from time to time in the last few hours for some reason. So you weren't actually checking your map, but instead trying to decrypt the data? Yes. I was able to discover some barely readable data as a result.Ena then handed over her PDA to Watase. On-screen was what appeared to be sentences from a report of sorts.   There were several words there that caught Watase's interest. ''Subject****as born in LABO.'' ''It is Subject****t ****need to be careful****ut.'' But in spite of that-- None of this makes sense... what are they even talking about? Well, the title is apparently 'Case N Specifications Alteration Proposal'-- But as you see, the data's so encrypted that you can barely read any of it in this state. The same goes for the rest. But I've managed to extract several lines with the tools I have on hand... and I've found several strange words. This is the part I really wanted to show you. Hey, do any of these mean anything to you?Ena fiddled with her PDA again, this time bringing up a fully comprehensible list.   --!Watase felt chills run down his spine with each phrase he saw. There were multiple unknown phrases in that mix. He felt a strange yet severe sense of discomfort. But it was soon cast aside for another emotion. Subject N... IGF2R Gene!?His heart shook from those phrases. He could feel a pitch black emotion-- a mix of fear, anger, and hatred-- welling up from the bottom of his heart like a geyser. Captain Kasasagi, do you recognize these terms!? Y-yeah...!They did seem familiar to him. But a second later-- !!A violent headache tore through him. It was as if his brain was refusing to let him remember. He still tried to search through his brain in spite of the pain, but no relevant memories would come to him. ...N...no... I don't remember. ...I see.Ena let out a truly disappointed sigh. What about you, Teach? Got any ideas...? No... it just bugged me, that's all... When I saw the phrase 'brain dysfunction', it got me wondering if it had anything to do with your memory loss and hallucinations... ...I see... but I don't remember anything. I believe that the hallucinations I've been having truly are due to abnormalities in my brain. Including my amnesia...It did seem like the cause of Watase's frequent headaches and memory problems really did lie in his brain. In that case, maybe I really did steal the AD... and don't even remember it. I can't confidently deny the possibility that a part of me's okay with letting everyone else die so long as I survive...!Watase suddenly began to get scared. Very scared. Perhaps there was a ''wicked'' side to him that he was not aware of-- one that was deciding all his actions on its own and driving everyone to their deaths-- That thought was much more frightening than the prospect of his own death. But-- Ena spoke to Watase with a kind voice when she saw him trembling. Get a hold of yourself, Captain Kasasagi... You're not that kind of person. ...Huh? You are indeed suspicious-- your amnesia and the security footage attest to that. But even when I take that into account, I want to trust you. ...Why? Because the indisputable truth is that you have been pushing yourself to your limits to save people. You even ran into a contaminated zone to save a student of mine even though you didn't even know her... ... It's not important that you have amnesia or that you had a hallucination. As long as you stay the way you are now... as long you're 'Captain Kasasagi'... I am on your side.Ena gazed straight at Watase. Watase couldn't bear to look her in the eye. He hung his head and answered: Thank you, Teach...There was someone out there who would say they were on his side when even he didn't trust himself-- Watase was grateful for that more than anything else at the moment. But... what do we do? Moribe and old man Ukita don't trust me at all, you know? That's true. So that's why-- I'll go convince them. Wha... you're not saying you plan to go alone, are you? Of course I am. If you came along with me with things being the way they are now, all you'd do is make things harder for me. Well, yeah, I guess, but... I'll be right back, so wait here, okay?And with those words, Ena left the room.
|
|
| ← # ? Dec 4, 2016 13:41 |
|
