“Hmm?”
A man walked into the hospital room, raising one eyebrow in confusion.
He was a middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat.
It was Researcher Oliver Smith from Base 17.
“Agent Cooper, what brings you here?”
“I just came to visit this guy… but what about you, Researcher?”
“I just came to check on Agent Eleanor’s condition as well. Do you two know each other?”
His gaze shifted back and forth between Eleanor and Cooper.
Although they were both rescued from the same facility at the same time, they were completely unrelated on paper.
For him, seeing a man and a woman together like this was quite an unusual sight.
“Should I say we know each other? Well, due to some bad luck, we’ve had to work together…”
Cooper scratched his neck and answered, and Oliver nodded as if he understood.
As mentioned before, whenever two or more humans survive a life-and-death crisis together, some bond of camaraderie or intimacy surely forms.
Of course, he wasn’t so oblivious that he couldn’t grasp the implication of Cooper’s earlier response.
“Well, this works out well. I actually had something to ask the two of you.”
“Something to ask? What is it?”
“The incident that happened below the facility. I need to ask a few detailed questions about it.”
Oliver lightly tapped the stack of documents he was holding with his finger.
At a glance, it was a rather thick pile of paperwork.
It seemed that he didn’t come here just for a casual visit.
“Before that, Agent Eleanor, how’s your condition?”
“Oh, yes! Nothing seems to be wrong!”
“That’s a relief. When you were first rescued, I was worried because you hadn’t opened your eyes for so long. But excluding some short-term memory loss, it seems there are no aftereffects.”
“Does that mean I can start thinking about getting discharged soon?”
“Not just yet. I think it’s best to monitor your condition for a while longer. There might be some lingering symptoms we aren’t aware of.”
He asked Eleanor a few simple questions while she sat on the bed.
Common inquiries about whether she felt any pain or if any other symptoms had emerged.
Being very standard questions you would ask a patient in recovery, but Cooper observed the scene with a somewhat skeptical expression.
Just as their exchange was drawing to a close, he began speaking directly to Oliver.
“Researcher, I actually have something I wanted to ask you about.”
“Something?”
“It’s nothing major, but it seems that there’s a bit of confusion in that girl’s memories.”
Just as Oliver turned around, Cooper’s expression suddenly changed.
He had gone from looking a bit uneasy to wearing a completely vacant smile, almost as if he was a different person, continuing in a light tone.
“Well, since the isolation period was pretty long, I was a bit worried. Did something happen, perhaps…?”
This was a kind of fishing expedition.
If the Management Office had really administered memory erasing drugs to her, the highest authority at Base 17 would surely know about it.
Right now, he couldn’t ascertain the reasons behind it, nor did he have any solid evidence to draw conclusions, but at least he was confident in his ability to read other people’s facial expressions and emotions.
“No, nothing unusual happened. The extended isolation period was simply due to her body exceeding its limits, causing her to be unconscious for a while.”
However, there was no change in Oliver’s expression.
He was merely stating the obvious with a calm face while responding to Cooper.
“As for the muddled memories, it seems her mind did that to protect itself… So, I think it would be best not to bring this matter up unnecessarily.”
“Thanks for worrying, but there’s no need to be that concerned,” Eleanor chimed in from behind.
That was only natural.
If her memories were wiped away due to trauma, it meant her subconscious didn’t want to recall those memories.
If he truly cared about her, refraining from bringing that up would be the best course of action.
“…”
But just a moment ago, Cooper had seen Oliver quietly raise his thumb to his chin.
“…Well, if you put it that way.”
He wasn’t so thickheaded that he didn’t understand what that meant.
For now, he refrained from speaking further.
“Now then, I have a few questions to ask the two of you. Is it alright to proceed?”
With a click, the small recorder in Oliver’s hand lit up.
It was a customary action that researchers performed before interviews.
“Yes, I don’t mind,” Eleanor replied.
“Same here. I think I covered most of the important details in the previous interview,” Cooper added.
Their voices were oddly devoid of tension.
Given that they had already completed prior interviews, they had already shared everything they knew.
Repeating what they had previously discussed wouldn’t yield anything new.
“True. However, there’s a new entity that resembles what you described, so…”
“A similar entity?”
“Indeed. It looks exactly like what you two described.”
Cooper opened a box he brought and pulled out a bottle of drink.
In fact, this was good news for him.
It was likely just some chunks of flesh blasted away in the facility’s explosion.
In the underground setting, such entities were quickly subdued by the management office.
Right now, his interest lay not in some remnants of abnormal phenomena but in the conversation he would share with Researcher Oliver later.
As he was tidying up his thoughts, a sudden thirst overcame him.
Unscrewing the cap of the drink, he began pouring the liquid down his throat when…
“Speaking of the floating head, do you remember—”
“Pfft!”
As soon as he heard the words come out of Oliver’s mouth, he spectacularly sprayed the drink all over.
“What just happened? Agent Cooper, are you alright?”
Oliver looked concerned at Cooper, who was coughing as if he was about to choke.
Having unexpectedly received those words while drinking, he went into a violent coughing fit.
Holding his sore throat, he turned to Oliver again, trying to confirm what he just heard.
“Cough cough! No, I’m fine. But what did you just say…?”
“Just now? I said something about a floating head.”
“Right, that! You managed to secure that? From down there?”
“Is there a problem?”
“There’s definitely a problem! A significant one! Why on earth would you bring up a creature from the depths of the underground?! Do you even realize what you’ve brought with you?”
Oliver could only stare at Cooper with a confused expression.
Naturally, the entity he’d encountered was bizarre in appearance, yet exceptionally tame in demeanor.
Even within the countless abnormal phenomena he had encountered, a simple floating head didn’t even make it to the strange category.
Compared to those, a creature playing with a tablet and writing devices appeared rather cute.
“Hey, you have to say something too! Do you remember what that floating head put us through—”
Just when they couldn’t understand each other at all, Cooper recalled someone who shared a similar experience.
He quickly turned to Eleanor beside him.
“—” Gurgle gurgle
What he found was a poor woman, already fainted, having realized she was in the same place as that nightmare, frothing at the mouth.
“E-Eleanor?!”
“Hey, are you okay?! Hey! Snap out of it!”
The surprised voices of the two men filled the hospital room.
Soon after, other medical staff rushed into the room.
It would be quite some time before they could properly resume their interview.
“Hmm?”
While sitting in the spacious room, I suddenly felt like I heard something strange from outside.
I reflexively turned my head towards it.
“Big sister Nine, what’s up?”
“No, it just felt like I heard a scream from somewhere.”
“A scream…? I didn’t hear anything.”
The little girl floating in the air tilted her head slightly to the side.
Well, that made sense. This room had incredibly thick walls.
It goes without saying that it was completely soundproof.
Without good hearing, it would be nearly impossible to catch sounds coming from outside.
“Well, I guess I must have misheard.”
I shrugged off the noise from outside and continued my conversation with Revi.
To be honest, it didn’t sound particularly serious.
If I had to classify it, it was more akin to the silly screams Sophia often made.
So, it shouldn’t be anything serious.
“Yeah, that could happen! But look, big sister! Look at this!”
Revi nodded in agreement before showing me something.
In her hands was a tablet, which she claimed to have received from Arthur.
At least, that’s what she asserted.
“What tiny people are moving around in this little box! This is amazing!”
What was playing on the screen was a large video site.
A veritable ocean of content filled with all sorts of videos.
I had used it so much during my previous life that I was sick of it, but for Revi, who had been trapped underground her whole life, this was her first encounter with such varied external things.
And, like all children, she was probably so captivated by the vibrant display that she would end up watching it all day without noticing the passage of time.
“Do you get what’s going on?”
“Nope! But it’s fun, so I like it. Sometimes people who look like Revi show up too!”
Seeing Revi so full of energy made me feel uplifted as well.
As I mentioned before, I generally liked children.
A child’s delighted smile is one of those things that usually brings joy to anyone.
“…Similar people?”
If there was an issue, it would be with the strange statement that Revi had made.
“Yeah! Look! Everyone is wearing cool clothes, but some big sisters are…”
As she asked me again, Revi began to tap the tablet enthusiastically.
I didn’t know why she was waving it around in the air, but…
Maybe she’s trying to learn how to operate it in her own way.
When she showed me the video again, it didn’t take too long for her.
This child, perhaps she is adapting to modern technology rather quickly?
“They wear clothes similar to mine and dance funny. Isn’t that hilarious?”
What appeared on the screen was an image of a woman dressed in tattered clothes.
To be precise, it should be said that she was a woman wearing ragged clothing.
But compared to Revi’s attire, the difference was that they had deliberately created their outfits that way.
Naturally, I wasn’t so pure as to be completely unaware of what was happening on the current screen.
Feeling a bit flustered, I coughed awkwardly and quickly extended my hand to cover Revi’s eyes.
“…R-Revi, just give me that for a second.”
“Why? Are you looking for someone who looks like you too?”
“Forget it, hand it over quickly!”
I snatched the tablet from Revi’s hands.
Tock tock tock, my fingers moved over the screen’s keyboard effortlessly.
Thank goodness. It seems my body didn’t forget how to use it.
After enduring all that time, I still remember how to type—should I be really glad about this?
The addictive nature of electronics gave me a sense of foreboding.
“So, what was that video about?”
Please, don’t ask me. I have no clue how to answer that. No matter which way I look at it, it’s a landmine.
How in the world do all parents teach sex education to their kids?
Was the genius who created the saying about storks bringing babies actually onto something?
“…I’ll tell you later.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, sure. When the time comes.”
Receiving Revi’s innocent-sounding questions, I tried my best not to shatter her naivety.
Feeling a sensation that I thought I would never experience again in this body, of raising a child, I broke into a sweat and sighed deeply.
“Ah, but I really want to try that dance just once. How did it go again?”
“…No way.”
No.
Revi, please.
