In the darkness-filled underground.
Once, a colossal facility existed here, but now it had completely crumbled into ruins, filled only with debris and fragments.
As before, a foreboding atmosphere surrounded the space, as if something might leap out from the darkness at any moment.
All that filled this space was the humidity and coldness, without even a hint of life’s warmth.
_bong_
Suddenly, the quiet stillness was shattered.
Tiny stones and dust rolled down from above.
And following that, a beam of light shone into the underground.
Soon, a small figure fell down from above.
“Ugh!”
A little grunt escaped the girl’s lips.
The small space, filled with debris, had no gaps for her to squeeze through, packed tight with large stones.
But with a swift kick, the girl nonchalantly shoved the rocks aside like they were made of foam, scattering them around.
As she passed through the gap she had created, the girl descended even deeper into the ground.
Finally, she was able to face something she had been searching for.
‘…Is this it?’
Before the girl was a gigantic hole.
A yawning abyss that seemed to lead to the end of the world, visible only as an abyss of pitch-black darkness.
The hole, which displayed endless voids, had a terrifying appearance as if the darkness itself was pulling her in.
Yet, the girl, seemingly unfazed, moved toward it, and without any hesitation, jumped right into the hole.
_woosh_
The fierce wind zipped past the girl’s ears.
An interminable fall followed, without any promise of an end.
What reflected in the girl’s eyes as she plummeted downward was a cavernous space with walls twisting like a maze.
As the ceiling soared higher and higher, eventually disappearing from her view—
_kuuuung!_
At last, the girl’s body landed on the ground of the abyss.
With a tremendous shockwave, a cloud of dust rose around her.
“…”
The girl walked out of the cloud of dust, slowly scanning her surroundings.
A massive cavern where nothing was visible.
Unlike above, this place showed barely any signs of debris or fragments, looking more like a cave than ruins.
The epicenter of the previous explosion.
Due to that enormous blast, this space had become a realm of endless darkness, leaving nothing behind.
“Hmm, is this the right place…?”
Even so, the girl seemed determined to find something in this empty place, continuing to look around.
Soon after, she began to move forward into the darkness.
“Revi.”
The name escaped the girl’s lips.
Her voice echoed and resonated all around her.
Yet, there was no response to her words.
Only the sounds of her voice hung emptily in the air.
“…?”
Suddenly, a faint sound cut through the darkness.
It was a tiny sound, yet it distinctly reached her ears.
The sound resembled someone softly sobbing.
Feeling a shiver from the eerie noise, the girl scrunched her face momentarily.
But soon, she resumed walking toward where the sound was coming from.
“Revi, are you here?”
From the other side of the darkness, a pale figure emerged.
Tattered clothing and disheveled hair.
It sat crouched on the ground, turning its back, and bore a resemblance to the child the girl remembered.
Yet for some reason, the child seemed unresponsive to the girl’s voice.
“…Revi?”
The girl cautiously approached the child.
As she did, the figure that had been swaying slowly came to a stop.
And the sobbing sound abruptly halted, as if a machine had been switched off.
“―――”
A chilling silence enveloped the ruins.
An atmosphere so desperate it felt as if time itself had stopped.
In the perfect stillness where even their breaths were inaudible, the figure, buried in dust, began to rise slowly.
Revealing only a vague outline, the figure hovered in the air, still facing away from the girl.
Gradually, it turned its head backward to look at her—
“…Waaah!”
With a half-crying voice, it leapt toward her, face twisted in anguish.
“Waaah! You’re such a fool, sis!”
Moments before the 4891st abnormal phenomenon erupted.
In other words, just before the girl detonated the bomb in the core base’s underground, completely obliterating the area.
Despite the urgent situation above, Revi was spending her time mindlessly in her room like usual.
She was still lingering in thoughts about her recent encounter with the girl.
“Is sis coming back…?”
A lonely murmur slipped from Revi’s lips as she sat in the air.
Meeting the girl was undeniably a joyful experience, but sadly, it was too short to fulfill the child’s loneliness.
Though the girl had promised to return, Revi had no clue when that would actually be.
So, like always, she was left alone in the pitch-black darkness.
During her solitary wait, she even thought that perhaps the girl might not come back at all.
“…No, we promised. She’ll definitely come back.”
However, Revi quickly shook off her negative thoughts.
After all, it hadn’t been long since she parted ways with the girl.
Compared to the time she had spent here alone in the underground, the moment she was waiting for the girl felt like just a brief flicker of time.
It seemed far too early to let such negative thoughts cloud her mind, so she vigorously shook her head from side to side.
“Therefore, like sis said, I shouldn’t bother the adults and should just stay quiet—”
Thus, Revi decided to focus on pleasant thoughts, like what to say when she meets the girl next time or how they might play together.
Although it was uncertain whether those things would actually come true, imagining them alone made her feel joyful.
While humming a messy tune, she swung her feet around while floating in the air—
“…?”
Suddenly, she realized the scenery around her was shaking slightly.
With no time to continue her previous thoughts, she displayed a bewildered reaction.
“What, what’s happening?”
Revi exclaimed, looking around with a confused expression.
Though she had been in this underground for a very long time, such a situation was entirely new to the child.
Panicking, she dashed out of her room, moving between the hallway and other rooms.
But every place looked just like the others, continuing to show the violently shaking scenery.
“Ah, ahwaah!”
The tremors intensified, and sounds akin to monstrous roars grew closer.
Shouts that resembled screams echoed around.
As those noises approached, Revi couldn’t help but feel they resembled the sounds that the ‘something’ always made from above.
Finally, when the shaking and cries filled the space where the child was—
Revi realized those sounds were coming from above her.
She looked up to the ceiling with alarm.
“Whaaaaa?!”
In an instant, she saw something huge burst through the ceiling.
With a scream, she fell back.
_kuguguguguguguguguguguguguh!_
The ceiling caved in, walls crumbled, and debris flew up from every direction.
Something that fell from above crashed through the ceiling, causing the entire layer to collapse completely.
In the midst of the sudden chaos,
Revi stared blankly at the destruction around her, unable to comprehend the situation.
Then, she spotted a familiar figure attached to the ‘something.’
“Eh, sis—”
Recognizing that it looked just like the girl she had parted with moments ago, Revi waved her hand to call out to her—
_bright flash_
A blinding light erupted from the ‘something.’
In that instant, Revi lost consciousness right where she stood.
After a while, when Revi regained consciousness, everything around her had vanished due to the explosion.
