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- After that...
- We tried two emergency sets of stairs in the area, but both were a waste of effort.
- They were shut off by thick partitions it was impossible to climb up to Zweite stock.
- According to Kidere were a total of 12 emergency stairs in LeMU.
- Three of those were closed off, so that left nine.
- You and I walked around emergency corridors searching for those nine.
- But...
- We met with a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- The watertight doors were completely shut and there was no way we were getting them open manually.
- We gave up and headed out into the normal corridors, to see if we could work our way around using them.
- And still...
- We met with a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- Inside the sprawling LeMU complex, there was a web of several dozen corridors.
- We investigated each, only finding closed doors everywhere. It seemed hopeless.
- Both the normal corridors and the emergency corridors were sealed .
- All were blocked off.
- The only thing left for us to try was...
- "Dritte stock."
- "It looks like the only thing left is to go down a floor..."
- With the elevators out of action, the emergency stairs were our only choice.
- Thankfully, one-third of the remaining three stairways were still operating.
- Which meant that even if there was no going up, we could still go down.
- You and I wound around and around the spiral stairwell until we reached Dritte stock (three floors underwater.)
- "Wa...water..."
- I muttered this without thinking when we reached the floor.
- As far as I could see, the floor was a sheet of water that had flooded in...
- It was about up to my ankles.
- "There's water flooding in from somewhere else!"
- "No, I don't think so."
- "The water's not moving, is it?"
- Now that she mentioned it, there was not even a ripple on the water's surface.
- There was no evidence that the water level was increasing.
- I looked around to be sure, but there weren't any signs that water was leaking from anywhere.
- "Well then, what is this...?"
- "This must be from the water that washed us away earlier."
- "I figure the seawater that pooled on Zweite stock flowed down here."
- "Maybe via the emergency stairs, or a vent... I don't know how, but somehow it flowed down here."
- "Hey, you remember that saying?"
- "About how water flows downhill...?"
- We entered the room from a door along the corridor.
- The room's massive ancient remains were steeped in water, making it seem just like the seafloor had risen up.
- As You and I looked around the wide room our legs splashed water all over.
- Our drenched clothes were drying so we didn't really feel the cold.
- The water on the floor was not as cold as I'd expected.
- But somehow walking in the water in shoes was, well, unpleasant.
- Finally...
- When we turned in to a corridor, we heard an unexpected sound.
- Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...
- Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...
- "Hey, did you hear something just now?"
- We stopped and listened.
- Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...
- Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...
- Somebody was hitting something.
- Somewhere nearby...
- "There are other people here..."
- "Other people that were left behind!"
- We ran at full speed in the direction of the sound.
- "Heeeeey! Somebooooody!"
- "Somebooooody!"
- "Is there anybody there?"
- "Anybody?"
- Two girl's voices could be heard from within the elevator.
- You and I looked at each other and nodded.
- "Hold on just a little longer!"
- "We're going to open the door for you!"
- "Alright! Oh good!"
- "I was so worried that no one would come."
- The voice from inside sounded well.
- It didn't sound injured or weak.
- "Still, how are we going to open this?"
- You placed both of her hands on the door and pushed left and right.
- "Uggggh!"
- "Oh! Why do we keep running into problems like this?"
- "Won't it open?"
- "If you were paying attention, you'd be able to tell! You give it a try!"
- I switched places with You and reached out to try to open the door.
- "Ummmpphhhhhhh!"
- It didn't budge.
- "Come on! Put some power into it!"
- I tried to put my fingers in the crack in the door, but my fingernails just barely squeezed in and there was nothing happening there.
- "Owwww...."
- Blood started oozing from the nail of my index finger.
- But it was the digit next to that that caught my eye.
- The thumb on my left hand.
- "Hey..."
- I noticed a distinct mark on it.
- On the meaty part of the thumb was a deep scar about a half-inch long.
- I wondered if I had had it for long.
- The mouth of the cut was swollen and milky-white colored.
- "Are you alright?"
- Her question brought me back to reality.
- "Oh, my! You're bleeding. Let me see."
- You grabbed my left hand.
- I suddenly bent my thumb under, hiding the scar.
- For some reason I didn't want her to see it.
- You took an adhesive bandage from her pocket and put it on the bloody finger.
- "I swear, you need so much looking after."
- "Th-thanks..."
- My finger smelled faintly sweet.
- "Uh, the door still won't open?"
- "But it seems there is someone that needs even more looking after than you do..."
- "What should we do...?"
- "...Oh, that's right."
- You muttered...
- She searched around in her pocket for something.
- And she took out a...
- "Drum roll please! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat. Ta-da."
- "A marker!"
- It was just felt-tipped pen.
- "See this? You take it like this... then do this... around and around and around..."
- As she said this, You screwed the capped end into the space between the doors.
- A gap appeared.
- "See?"
- I jabbed my finger into open space gap and started forcing the door open.
- The box inside (the part where people ride) was stuck right before arriving at Dritte stock.
- Above the door, jutting out some 20 inches or so was the lower bit of the elevator box.
- It was at a height where if I stretched my hand out completely, it would just reach.
- If we could get the box open, then it seemed possible to pull the people trapped inside over to our side.
- "Shoulder-ride."
- You's one word said it all.
- As she implied, I stood in front of her and spread my legs, bracing myself.
- "Hey! Why do I have to lift you up?"
- "Huh?"
- "I meant the opposite way around..."
- "In this type of situation, it is the stronger person that is on the bottom, right?"
- I went around behind You, wordlessly squatting down.
- You was wearing a skirt after all.
- (One reason I tried to be on top was I thought I would save her the embarrassment...)
- As I was thinking that, You straddled my head with her legs.
- I put both my hands on my knees, supporting myself, and stood up all at once.
- Her soft thighs hugged against my head.
- She was flush against the back of my neck.
- It was a bit nice...
- "Wait! Hold on! We're almost there!"
- "Please help."
- You took the marker and started prying it between the doors again.
- She stuck her finger in the gap.
- And then she opened the door with a flourish.
- "Wow!"
- With You on my shoulders, I looked up.
- A girl in a uniform was peeking down.
- "Whoa!"
- "Ahhh!"
- "Ahhh!"
- I don't know why, but all three of us exclaimed at once.
- Just then, I felt something like an electric shock run through me.
- Severe lights went off in my mind and I heard the sound of something snapping.
- I was suddenly dizzy.
- I lost my sense of balance and swayed forward and back.
- My vision and consciousness were overrun by white.
- I couldn't take any more...
- "Kyaaaa!"
- I fell to the floor like a marionette with its strings snipped.
- "Ouch. Geez..."
- "Why'd you fall like that? You could have hurt someone!"
- "Geez. Lazy. Kids these days are so lazy..."
- Things began to fall back into focus.
- I was lying on my back looking at the ceiling.
- The lights were shining down brightly.
- "Wah-ha-ha-ha..."
- The girls...
- The girls were pointing at me and laughing.
- Their innocent faces were enveloped in celestial-like light.
- Just like a couple of angels...staring down from heaven.
- "Hey, are you alright?"
- I didn't know why...
- It was a bizarre sense of something-like deja vu-that came welling up in my mind.
- I felt like I had seen this all before.
- The angelic smiling faces somehow made me feel nostalgic...
- Like it was a fragment of some familiar everyday scenery...
- I couldn't explain it, but somehow I had that vague sense about things.
- "Huh? Why is the floor all wet? Did a water pipe burst?"
- (Oh, they don't know because they've been stuck in the elevator.)
- As I was about to answer, the girl cut me off.
- "But that's so important as..."
- "...just what are you doing here, Nakkyu?"
- The girl said this as she descended from the elevator, patting her clothes back into place.
- "I should be asking Kidat!"
- "Mayo, what are you doing here?"
- Mayo? The girl's name was Mayo?
- "Whaddya mean? If you'd take a look at my outfit you'd know."
- "You're on a school trip?"
- "That's for seniors."
- "Oh. Right...Mayo, you're still a junior, yeah?"
- "Right."
- "So what then?"
- "Have you forgotten everything about your old high school already?"
- "Huh?"
- "Volunteer activities!"
- "At Kyumeikan, juniors are supposed to go out and volunteer somewhere, right?"
- "Nakkyu, you just graduated this year so you've gotta remember, right?"
- "Oh, that's right ? the volunteer program!"
- "The Civil Service Volunteer Program."
- "Well...that was the official name, but it was really just a glorified field trip."
- "It's still the same old deal, I bet."
- "The girls go 'help' out at LeMU for a day, or something stupid like that."
- "You got it."
- "When I was there we went to United Land... but I guess they changed it to LeMU, huh?"
- "You didn't see any other students, did you Nakkyu?"
- "The whole Kyumeikan junior class should be here."
- "No. I didn't see anyone."
- While the two of them were talking, I decided to take a peek at the elevator that Mayo was stuck in.
- I grabbed on to the entrance of the box and used my momentum to pull myself up.
- It was empty inside.
- (I thought I heard two girls inside...)
- (I wonder if my mind was playing tricks on me.)
- I let go of the elevator and dropped to the floor.
- "Hey? What are you doing?"
- You asked me this when I returned to the ground.
- 0 Ask You
- Don't ask You
- "Well, before...didn't you hear two voices?"
- "Two?"
- You shot the question right back at me and then looked back at Mayo.
- "No. It's just me."
- "Nobody else..."
- "I see..."
- "I guess it was just my mind playing tricks on me..."
- "No...no big deal."
- "No big deal? You suddenly start doing chin-ups on the elevator and then you say it's no big deal?"
- "It must have just been my imagination. Forget about it."
- "Now, now...why aren't all youngsters as easy going as Kidese days?"
- You shrugged her shoulders in an exaggerated way.
- "..."
- It seemed like Mayo was having a little trouble deciding how to react to You's behavior.
- Mayo would glance at me from time to time, but when our eyes met, she would look away.
- "Uhh...um..."
- "Nakkyu? Who's this...?"
- "Huh? Oh, this guy?"
- "He's...just a visitor."
- "We just met a while ago...but, you know, a lot has happened since then."
- "Nice to meet you."
- There was something a little off about Mayo's greeting.
- "And this is Mayo."
- "She goes to your old high school?"
- "Nice to meet you, too."
- But then again, my words were pretty stiff as well.
- "But her real name is Sara Matsunaga..."
- "Sara? So, why Mayo?"
- "Matsunaga Sara."
- "Tuna Sara"
- "A tuna salad is loaded with...?"
- "Mayonnaise...at least for Nakkyu it is."
- "Ha. I see."
- I said that, but I still didn't really get it.
- I had the feeling that simple salad dressing was better suited to tuna salad.
- Well, whatever. It wasn't important.
- "By the way...um...your name is...?"
- "Na...name..."
- "Yeah. Your name."
- "My...my...my name is..."
- "He says he can't remember."
- "What?"
- "Amnesia, that's what."
- "Amnesia...?"
- "...Really?"
- "Ye-yes..."
- "Oh, wow. Cool."
- "Wow?"
- "That's kind of cool, isn't it? I mean, like, amnesia."
- "It sounds kind of like an international man of mystery, kind of thing."
- "Like, maybe...you could be being hunted by an underground organization or assassins or something."
- "Assassins..."
- "I...I wouldn't kill anybody!"
- "I keep trying to tell you not to take things so seriously."
- "Huh. Amnesia..."
- "You really do have it? That amnesia thing."
- Sara kept staring at me as if I were something exotic.
- Like I were an angel...
- Replete with a set of wings on my back.
- The divine and nostalgic feeling from before had vanished like an illusion.
- The three of us aimed for an exit.
- It goes without saying, but Sara couldn't hide her surprise at the transformation the complex had undergone.
- "What's this?"
- "Why is this whole place flooded?"
- "And there doesn't seem to be anyone around..."
- While we walked, You brought Sara up to speed with the situation, while walking next to her.
- She told her that You herself was working at LeMU.
- How I had collapsed in by the kiosk.
- How after falling down, I was hauled to the infirmary.
- After finishing the story, You went on.
- "And then, you know, suddenly the alarm started ringing..."
- "Alarm?"
- "What? I didn't tell you about this yet?"
- ".........?"
- "While you were out, they rang the emergency evacuation alarm."
- "I don't know the why...but it said: 'Anyway, everyone please escape,' or something like that."
- "Mayo, you heard it, right?"
- "Yes."
- "Suddenly the elevator stopped...and I got stuck inside..."
- "I think it was right after that when I heard the alarm."
- "And then there were three other staffers and myself in the infirmary..."
- "The other three said they would go out to check what was going on and never came back. I waited, but nobody returned."
- "The only two people left in the room were me and you..."
- "........."
- "I couldn't just abandon Kidere..."
- "And at that point, I wasn't really even that worried."
- "I figured probably some kid had just gone and pushed the emergency alarm button...that was all I thought was going on."
- "I figured, even with a prank, it must be serious for them to sound the emergency evacuation warning..."
- "Well, now that you mention it I suppose so..."
- "But at that time I was just, I don't know..."
- "I was worried about this kid..."
- "You were worried about me?"
- "Well, sure..."
- "And? Then what happened?"
- Everything after that was old news to me.
- The closing of the watertight doors.
- Our search for the emergency stairs to the floating island.
- And of course, You also told Sara about how we got washed away by flood water..
- After that...
- I, You and Sara did a complete check of Dritte stock's corridors.
- But...
- We met with a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- And a dead end...
- After dead end...
- And the final place that we ended up...
- Was in front of a small door at the end of a narrow corridor.
- In the middle the word 'Himmel' was engraved.
- "What is this...?"
- "Hmmm. Good question. This is the first time I've been here..."
- Saying that, You took hold of the door knob.
- It didn't open...
- It didn't even budge.
- Next she started tapping randomly on the ten-key display next to the door.
- You should have known that it was a waste of energy...
- "Haaaaaa...."
- "So this is the end..."
- You punctuated this with a sigh.
- "The end...you mean we're..."
- "Yup..."
- "It looks like we're locked in..."
- Gong.
- You weakly kicked the door.
- Following the sound, we went silent.
- The atmosphere around us was heavy.
- Both You and Sara wore tired expressions as if they couldn't even be bothered to speak anymore.
- It was a gloomy silence.
- To try to lighten things up, I said -
- "Hey, anyway it doesn't do us any good to just stand around here!"
- "We've gotta think of something!"
- "Something?"
- "A way to escape!"
- "You have any bright ideas?"
- "Well, let's see...how about..."
- 2 Try to contact the outside ...
- Look for other exits ...
- "For example, we could try to contact the outside or something."
- "How? Cell phones don't even work..."
- "Even without a cell phone, LeMU must have other means of communicating, right?"
- "Means...of communication...?"
- "Oh, right! The Control Room!"
- "For example, we could look for other exits or something."
- "Anything else? Hello...you know we are in the middle of the ocean, right?"
- "I know. I'm not saying we try to escape out a window or anything."
- "Nothing like that..."
- "If this is the middle of the ocean, then there must be a duct for outside air. So..."
- "Oh, I see. So you're saying that we use that ventilation duct to escape? Like they always do in the movies."
- "Yeah. That's what I mean."
- "Sorry, but there's no way that's possible."
- "Huh? Why not?"
- "The ducts that go to the outside aren't big enough for people to pass through."
- "No...no way..."
- My shoulders slumped in disappointment.
- Sara's face was also covered in dejection.
- "I wish I could at least contact my friends outside..."
- "Contact outside...?"
- "But cell phones don't even work..."
- "Oh, right! The Control Room!"
- "Why didn't I think of this until now?"
- "From there we should at least be able to contact someone on the floating island."
- You's face lit up again.
- Next, light returned to Sara's eyes as well.
- But...
- Crash!
- You did a fantastic heel stomp on the console in the Control Room.
- "What's this? Why won't it go through?"
- "What's the matter?"
- It looked like she were going rant.
- No, she was already ranting...
- "Hey, hey! Nakkyu, wait a second!"
- "Hey, what are you going to do with that chair!?"
- "I'm going smash it into this stupid... machine!"
- "I'm going to destroy it! I mean smithereens! Absolutely pulverize it!"
- "Ta-take it easy! Just calm down!"
- "How do you expect me to stay calm in a situation like this?"
- "How can all of the communication lines be down!"
- "E-mail, too. Even the emergency line won't go through!"
- "Is this possible?"
- "I don't get it! Something is wrong here!"
- "Still, you don't have to destroy..."
- "Shut up! I've had...enough! Kyaaaa!"
- Sara and I restrained You and dragged her outside the control room.
- "Huff, huff, huff..."
- You's eyes were bloodshot like a rabid dog.
- Somehow her fantasy-like outfit seemed out of place.
- "Well, if it has come to this, there is nothing else to do..."
- "Let's just...split up again and look for an exit."
- "It's no use! After we already looked everywhere?"
- "But we haven't looked inside the rooms."
- "I see."
- "There might be something like a secret passage hidden or something..."
- "There is no way. This isn't a ninja house you know."
- "Anyway, let's just...look one more time, alright?"
- "Because there might be a helpless maiden trapped somewhere like I was."
- "I'm off."
- So with that, the three of us, Sara, You and I, split up and started searching the complex.
- We agreed we'd meet again in an hour...
- We decided to meet in front of the Control Room.
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