All of Humanity ch8-2

p1
>It's not like I believe you, but there's no point in doubting you either, is there?
>So let's move the conversation forward and save its authenticity for later.
>Besides, I'm happy that Lily asked me for my help!
>Ow...
>You sure don't act like it!

>Well.
>It's outside my area of expertise, but if there's something I can help you with, I will.
>Thank you so much.

>Lily's quite the troublesome girl.
>If I knew she had such an acquaintance, I would've asked her to introduce us sooner.

>Look here...

p2
>"Please!"
>"Just hear me out!"

>Does someone who says stuff like that with tears in their eyes have any right to tell me that?
>You trying to say I'm not good enough!?
>S-Sorry!
>That wasn't what I meant.
>Ah, girls. Could we get back to the subject at hand?

>For now, let's have you explain everything from the very start.
>How rare for Lily to show so much of her true self to someone.

>Phew...
>I see...
>It looks like you girls have stuck your necks in something bothersome...

p3
>Yae-san... Do you know something?

>"Yanagi",
>"project",
>and an "old research facility", huh?

>I don't know the specifics but
>I think I have a vague idea...

>...
>From the looks on their faces,
>they'll probably research this on their own even if I keep quiet about it.

>Those are
>remnants from the Shadow Era.

p4
>The Shadow Era.
>In the early to mid 20th century...
>As the world was gradually headed towards destruction, researchers searched for a way for humanity to survive.
>Of course, they initially tried to find a cure to the pathogen, but it wasn't yielding results. People gradually became impatient and looked into every possible method they could find.
>It was a chaotic period where biology was thrown out of the window and people had serious discussions about stuff like using softward to install humanity's consciousness into machines to even researching into time machines.

>...
>Hah...
>You wouldn't find that in a textbook.
>After all this time...
>Allow me to continue.

p5
>Among them was a heretic researcher named Yanagi.

>The physicist's research could not be outmatched in how bizarre it was.
>She figured that by travelling to another world, the world could be saved.
>She appearently claimed that humans possessed an unknown power that would allow them to do so.

>Well,
>as you'd expect,
>she was treated like a fraud.

>An unknown power...
>You mean...

p6
>Psychic abilities.

>Psychic...

>Are you serious...?
>She believed that humans had a latent ability that would allow them to travel
>to a parallel world.

>It couldn't be proven, and ended up becoming something of an urban legend.
>Not to mention there's a lot of it that didn't make sense.

p7
>When I was looking up Sakaibe Village... I came across a disturbing story...
>Apparently there's an ancient ritual called the "boundary crossing" or "border crossing" ritual.

>However, despite the mutterings and people laughing it off, there are a few strangely concrete details.

>One is that Professor Yanagi used unique chemicals to stimulate people's brain calls in her experiments.
>And the other,,,

>is something known as
>an isolation tank.

p8
>Psychic abilities,
>huh...

>This is becoming more and more unrealistic.
>But y'know...

>The idea that we might have psychic powers sounds kinda exciting!
>Just a little bit.
>A moron.
>She really is a moron.

>Hah...

>My acquaintance privately owns one of "those", so you should go see her if you want to know more.
>For now, let's go see that person Yae-san referred us to.
>Yeah!