Researcher Sophia Brown from Base 17 was currently deep in thought.
This was because she had to seriously consider the Anomalous Entity she was currently studying.
Well, it’s only natural if you think about it.
Abnormal phenomena are mostly dangerous and unstable things.
If one doesn’t constantly research and worry about them,
Before worrying about the dangers to the world and the lives of many,
The first thing they should worry about is their own life, which was most at risk.
As a result, researchers in this profession often looked tired, as if the word ‘fatigue’ was literally glued to their faces.
Yet for some reason, among those who definitely seemed to have such faces, Sophia was,
Instead, displaying a fresh and invigorated expression unlike before.
Of course, the reason for this was that what she was pondering over now was not about life-threatening dangers or malevolent anomalies—
“How can I pet 19th entity for a longer time…?”
A simple yet shameless worry about wanting to close the distance with a girl.
If other researchers could hear her thoughts, they would surely consider it trivial.
But then again, who could blame her?
You can know a lot about the water but little about the hearts of people.
And it’s not like there was anyone in Base 17 who could suspect that a woman with a professional demeanor and a stoic face was occupied with such a superficial dilemma.
“That aside, with all the charms you’re putting on, refusing to be petted is quite a troublesome personality, isn’t it, 19th entity?”
Sophia let out a small sigh, sounding somewhat disappointed.
Of course, from the perspective of the girl known as 19th entity, it was a hugely unfair thought.
Because the girl known as 19th entity was far from being charming.
Rather the opposite, she was always so tense that she made an effort to avoid such behaviors.
It was as if an unfounded accusation was placed upon the girl.
However, unfortunately.
The laws of the world do not always go the way you want them to.
She might have believed that she was consistently trying to behave ordinarily.
But the actions of a small girl shaking her head at every question, nibbling on snacks, or proudly showing off a drawing made with crayons,
To those who “can’t resist cute things,” those actions were essentially tantamount to tempting them.
And although it might not be a pleasant fact from the girl’s perspective,
Among the researchers who spent the most time with the girl in Base 17, Sophia Brown was one of those who could be classified as a severe case among those who can’t resist.
“No matter how you think about it, I should request that giant bear plushie again. Let’s see, where is the material I saved――”
clang
“Hey, have you heard about the transmission? If you haven’t seen the call or notification yet――”
Just as she was considering requesting that giant bear plushie, which had been rejected by Researcher Oliver once,
With the sound of hurried footsteps from the hallway, the door opened, and someone entered the space where she was.
It was her junior, Researcher Arthur.
“…What are you doing?”
Arthur’s original purpose had been to come to this room and relay some information.
However, as soon as he caught sight of her current posture, he immediately stopped what he was going to say and instead started questioning her.
“Oh, so good to see you, Arthur. I’m currently choosing essential research supplies for the 19th entity.”
“Essential research supplies? Are those the pictures of the bear plushies?”
“No, not the pictures but the things inside the pictures. Come on, this office is way too small to actually have those things.”
“Whether it’s the bear plushie pictures or the real plushie, I really don’t get why that would be considered essential research supplies.”
“Oh my, you just don’t understand a girl’s heart, do you? Arthur, haven’t you ever dated anyone?”
“Why are you suddenly launching a personal attack?!”
Arthur exclaimed, looking flustered, then sighed as if he had given up.
As he reached out and placed his hand on something, a chair nearby rolled over with a thud.
He pulled a random chair from next to her desk and plopped down on it with a thud as if he had just lost all energy from their brief exchange.
“Ha, the 19th entity, right? That’s the new Anomalous Entity you’ve taken on.”
“To be precise, it’s 163-19. But that’s too long and stiff, isn’t it?”
“I think 163-19 and 19th entity both sound stiff like experimental subjects.”
“Oh my, how uncaring you are of someone else’s name. Arthur, haven’t you made many friends at all?”
“So could you please stop with these baseless personal attacks…?”
Arthur rubbed his head, looking troubled.
He always thought of her as someone who enjoyed teasing others.
But on the other hand, it was also true that it was hard to hate her.
He then began to seriously ask her about the topic he was concerned about.
“Sophia. I’m asking now, but… is that Anomalous Entity really okay?”
“Arthur, its official danger rating classification is the lowest. I appreciate your concern, but you really don’t need to worry that much.”
“Sure, it might be classified like that. But that drawing you shared this time seems a bit off.”
“Off in what way?”
“…Are you seriously asking that?”
Arthur shot back as if he were incredulous, looking at his seniors who seemed unaware.
However, Sophia’s expression didn’t change, and since he found her reaction incomprehensible,
He took out his tablet to verify something and placed it on his senior’s desk.
“Oh, this. It’s the drawing I shared.”
The screen of the tablet showed a certain drawing.
It was a landscape painting drawn by the girl known as the 19th entity.
Although the 19th entity had made a completely wrong assumption about what kind of place she was in,
Regardless of that fact, she concluded that pretending to have memory loss would not be good for escaping this facility.
Thus, the 19th entity chose to pretend her memory was somewhat returning, and instead of speaking, she decided to draw, hoping to make them think she came from a world resembling fantasy.
Acknowledging her lack of talent in art, 19th entity chose to draw a more universally recognizable and simple landscape so that they could easily identify what she was trying to convey.
However, if there was something even 19th entity couldn’t have anticipated—
“…Yeah, and it’s also filled with incredibly eerie and horrible things.”
――—It was the plain fact that 19th entity was far worse at drawing than she realized.
“Look here, this bizarre monster with flat, sharp forelegs and several holes in its face.”
Arthur pointed to something at the rightmost part of the drawing.
If 19th entity had drawn it as intended, it would have been a knight wielding a sword and shield with a helmet full of holes.
“And next to it, there’s a crescent-shaped creature spewing something weird.”
Arthur’s finger pointed to the part right beside what he had just pointed out.
If 19th entity had intended to describe it, it should have been a wizard casting magic while wearing a pointed hat.
“Even here, there’s something I don’t even want to imagine in detail.”
He pointed at the corner of the screen, showing something that was blurred, strange, and chilling, then he seemed to not want to see it anymore and shut his eyes tight.
If 19th entity had portrayed it, it should have been a flying dragon.
“Even the colors in the background… can a world like this really exist?”
Lastly, Arthur opened his palm over the tablet’s screen.
The colors meant to portray the background were chaotically filled with hues that shouldn’t even exist on the ground.
What 19th entity had wanted to paint was…
Well, the truth is, she probably wouldn’t remember it well anyway.
“Ugh, Arthur. You’re exaggerating too much.”
“It’s not just me thinking like this. More than half the personnel at the base shared this opinion.”
And the rest of half of the base’s personnel were those who hadn’t seen the shared drawing yet.
It would be a sad fact for the one who drew it, but unfortunately, it’s incredibly difficult to receive good reviews on a horrifically bad drawing.
“Um, still, it doesn’t look that way to my eyes.”
Sophia stated, seeming unconvinced.
For Arthur, whose aesthetic sense was quite normal, it felt extremely frustrating.
“Then how does it look to you, senior?”
“Well, I’m not sure, but….”
She shifted her gaze to the tablet’s screen.
She seemed to squint to try to distinguish the figures from the background, staring at the screen for ten seconds.
Finally, she began to point at the part that her junior had indicated before and spoke.
“First, this is the knight with the sword and shield, and next to it is probably a wizard with a pointed hat.”
To her surprise, her interpretation was quite close to the truth.
It seemed that spending time with the 19th entity had somehow influenced her aesthetic sense.
She was presenting something that was nearly impossible for an ordinary person to reach but was infinitely close to the answer.
“And this should probably depict something flying, right?”
“The sky?”
“Well, something like a dragon….”
“…”
Unfortunately, that opinion wouldn’t be accepted.
The one who drew it couldn’t speak, and most people couldn’t recognize what was represented in the drawing.
No matter how close it was to the truth, there was only one person within this base who would accept it.
If she had known, it would have been quite shocking.
“…Sophia, the mental contamination test. You actually took it, right?”
Arthur squinted his eyes, looking skeptical.
Of course, this was a joke.
As he had said in their earlier conversation, inspections conducted in the base couldn’t be refused just because one said so.
So it was half-serious but also half a way to tease her dreadful artistic skills in a mean-spirited manner.
“I totally did. After all, because of the escape incident, both Arthur and I kept receiving those examinations…”
Oh no, Sophia covered her mouth with a gasp.
She had spoken those words unconsciously, intending to lightly counter what her junior was saying.
But this time, it contained a notably sensitive aspect for the both of them present.
The escape incident.
Abnormal Phenomenon 871. In other words, when the swallowing shadow escaped Base 17.
Due to their failure to check the alarms and notifications in time, they couldn’t cross the barrier walls and ended up being consumed by the shadow.
Of course, like other personnel that were devoured that day, they had no detailed memories of that experience.
All they remembered was a consciousness abruptly cut off during their conversation and then waking up in a half-naked state.
They hadn’t really experienced anything that could be described as pain.
In some cases, one might even feel a sense of glee for getting lucky.
However, the fact that they had escaped death
Was something that wasn’t feasible to casually brush off by most people.
The falling steel frame right in front of them, the crushed lungs just before drowning, the blade that barely grazed their heart.
Rather than some vague notion of “I might die,”
It was a more certain and direct fear that only those who stood at the brink of death could start to comprehend.
That was the kind of terror that was hardest for people to overcome.
And for them, who were aware that their lives could be threatened at any moment,
The feelings they experienced after the escape incident were, quite literally, a kind of horrendous fear that could only be felt by those nearing death.
“…I’m sorry. I was trying my best not to bring up that incident.”
“Oh, no. This time it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have brought up something unnecessary.”
As Sophia spoke, sounding remorseful, Arthur waved his hands, stopping her.
In truth, neither of them was to blame.
Who would have imagined that they would meet a complete life-or-death crisis suddenly while idly chatting in the office?
Even if that day he had remembered to notify her about the call alert that was on her work computer, whether they could have reached the partition wall in time remained unsettled.
If there was truly a fault,
It would be the existence of things in this world that could cause someone to meet a horrifying end without reason.
And sadly but truly,
Both of them were in a position where they couldn’t escape being targeted by those things.
That was the common burden shared by those belonging to the Abnormal Phenomena Research Department.
“….”
“….”
A silence ensued.
An uncomfortable atmosphere flowed around them.
From the moment they first met today, the two that had been chatting as if the conversation flowed like water,
Now only endured this prickly situation, trying to get through it somehow.
After quite a while had passed,
The two managed, albeit awkwardly, to continue the stories they had intended to tell.
