"I-I'm NOT his girlfriend!" Maki's denial erupted instantly, cheeks blazing.
Even after a month of shared survival, her tsundere instincts overpowered honesty.
"Eh? But he hugged you publicly at school! And he told me how much he cares about you. Are you... already married?" Chika gasped, hand over her mouth.
"He cares?! I— No! We're just— just comrades! And marriage?! I'm 17! The legal age is 18 now—"
Maki's rambling crescendoed until Chika dropped the bombshell:
"So you'll marry him at 18?! How bold~"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Maki stomped, now a flustered kitten.
(*Though internally: If he proposed... maybe I'd consider it...)
Chika observed her coolly. Exactly as I predicted. But...
Her own heart raced. Stealing Akira from Shijou-san would be wrong. Unless...
(No. Focus.)
The Experiment Records
The stolen files revealed chilling details:
[Red Nut Ash Cave Exploration Logs]
Entry A1-1-001
Team: 6 elite soldiers (Codename A1-A6)
Mission: Install sensors at the "Blood Vessel" entrance.
Result:Total wipeout.
Entry A1-1-002
Team: 8 armed soldiers (B1-B8)
Mission: Locate Team A.
Result:Total wipeout.
Marginalia:
General Shegela:"Stop wasting lives."
Professor Vernon:"Sacrifices are necessary."
Entry A1-2-012
Team: 4 death row inmates.
Mission: Place 15 sensors along the "Plains."
Result:13 placed before annihilation.
Marginalia:
Vernon:"These prisoners are incompetent. Use trained soldiers."
Shegela:"Pay their life insurance yourself."
Entry A1-2-103
Team: 3 prisoners.
Mission: Simulate tourist route (Entrance → Stone Forest → Plains → Square → Gentle Slope).
Result:2 lost at Gentle Slope.
Marginalia:
Vernon:"Leave them. The Slope's anomaly differs from the Blood Vessel—test its lethality."
Entry A2-1-003
Team: 2 probe vehicles + 1 drone.
Mission: Explore the Blood Vessel's depths.
Result:All units destroyed upon entry.
[Part 1: The Power Distribution Room]
White mist enveloped the area, obscuring boundaries between fragments of lingering obsessions. Takakai knew crossing into these zones would transport him to others' memory fragments.
The Nutty Putty Cave entrance was conspicuously absent—this reconstructed space couldn't fabricate even a false cave mouth.
But he found it:
A squat, single-story building with a rain awning—the power distribution room.
Inserting the key from Welber's office, he turned it with a soft click.
[Part 2: Welber's Message]
To the One Who Comes After:
If you're reading this, you're trapped here—and you've learned too much.
Escape Method:
Wear a security guard uniform to manifest at the guard post.
Tell any guard: "I came to relieve your shift early."
Exit via the Stone Forest path (NEVER the Gentle Slope).
Critical Warning:
First, fulfill your initial role's requirements (e.g., explorers must visit the "Heart"; rescuers must complete a rescue).
Something new watches this cave now—something furious.
My Sabotage:
I linked this facility's grid to their power network.
Cutting power here will draw That Thing toward them—your chance to flee.
I've stayed 59 days (see wall tallies). Now I'm becoming one of them. This is my penance.
—Welber
The room reeked of cigarettes and canned food. Discarded uniforms (explorer, firefighter, guard) littered a table.
Takakai immediately contacted Maki:
{Stop Kaguya from cutting power! The white-dress entity will invade if the base loses electricity.}
[Part 3: Kaguya's Capture]
Too late.
Kaguya—having merely surveyed the power room—was ambushed upon exiting. Two soldiers pinned her as Professor Vernon coldly declared:
[Violator. Process #3.]
Maki arrived just as Kaguya was dragged toward Isolation Zone D6. A glance from Kaguya warned her not to intervene.
Chika's Quick Thinking:
Retrieved the invisible doll from the archives.
Sneakily passed a scalpel to Kaguya via the doll.
Vernon then confronted Maki and Chika:
[Assist tomorrow's experiment in Research Zone.]
[Part 4: Isolation Zone D6]
The soldiers took Kaguya past inspection rooms to a hidden downward staircase—unmarked on maps.
The lower level revealed:
A circular corridor lined with sealed cells (D1-D12).
A central "Solitary Confinement" chamber.
Cell D6 was bare except for:
A ventilation grate (too small to escape).
Faint scratch marks tallying days.
Then—a cough from the adjacent cell (D5).
[Annotation:]
[Stop using drones and probes—the cost is too high. Just use death row inmates. At least they're much cheaper. —Prof. Vernorn]
[Record A1-3-077]
[Team Composition: 3 personnel]
[Mission Objective: Carry K-type remote explosives into the "Vein" zone of Nutty Putty Cave. The explosives will detonate 30 seconds after losing remote signal/network connection, with sufficient force to destroy the "Vein" area.]
[Result: No detonation detected. All operatives lost. Command room personnel fully wiped out. Quarantine zone sustained heavy damage. Over 90% of installed monitoring devices in Nutty Putty Cave disabled.]
[Annotation:]
[1. This is the dumbest, most irresponsible, most goddamn idiotic operation I've ever seen. What the hell do you think we're doing here? We're Prometheus trying to steal fire from the gods, and you honestly believe this arrogant, destructive stunt will end well? Wake the fuck up, you morons. —Prof. Vernorn]
[2. Watch your tone, Vernorn. I still hold supreme command here. —General Shegela]
…
The exploration logs for Nutty Putty Cave alone spanned hundreds of pages, covering over five years.
It was horrifying to imagine just how many people had vanished forever inside that cave.
While Chika shuddered at the records she'd uncovered, back on the first floor, Kaguya glanced around the deserted hallway before slipping into the power control room. Testing keys one by one, she soon found the right one, turned the lock, and quietly slipped inside.