Chapter 78: Chapter 4.2
Cross my heart and hope to die
Shortly after that, we reached SPES's test facility. Since this had been their base of operations, I thought information about Seed might still be here, but...
"Want to walk around a bit?"
Natsunagi and I explored the building, which looked a bit like a hospital. Not much sunlight made it inside. The rooms were gloomy, and the place felt deserted. Once I started to think we were wasting time just wandering around aimlessly like this, I was about to head for that other location, when...
"Natsunagi?"
...I realized she was pinching my sleeve between her fingertips.
"...I'm sorry." There was a shadow in her eyes, and a barely perceptible tremble in her hands.
...Oh, right. What sort of place had this research facility been to her? How had they made her feel here? It was no wonder Natsunagi was like this.
"It's okay," I told her. "There are no enemies here to hurt you now."
A year ago, SPES had already almost abandoned this place. Then, as Natsunagi herself had said, Charlie must have come here to investigate. We didn't need to be that wary anymore; it wasn't that dangerous.
"...Yes, I know. Logically, I understand that." But Natsunagi couldn't get her feet to move.
She knew this place was safe as well as I did. However, the pain and fear she'd experienced here long ago had left an indelible mark on her. That was why Natsunagi had unconsciously created Hel: to carry that pain and those memories for her.
—In that case...
"Here." I turned my back to Natsunagi, then put my hands behind me. "Um... Piggyback?" Natsunagi sounded bewildered.
Yeesh. Having her spell it out like that was embarrassing. "Well, you know. I can't give you a ride on the back of a motorcycle, but you can ride me." I prompted Natsunagi to climb onto my back.
"...Pfft!"
"Hey, stop. Why are you cracking up?"
Had she noticed my failed attempt to look cool? Well, I wish you hadn't. And even if you do notice, don't laugh at people's failures.
"Heh-heh, no... I just thought that line couldn't have sounded more like you.
Not that that's a compliment."
"What, it's not?! Why not?!" Never mind that, hurry and get on. Just standing here like this is embarrassing.
"If you say I'm heavy or something, I'll double-kill you." "I do have that much tact."
"Then okay, I guess... Thanks," Natsunagi murmured in a little voice. Then she jumped onto my back.
"Huh. You're in better shape than I expected."
The whisper had come from right behind my ear. "—Hel, huh?"
The voice was pitched a little lower than Natsunagi's, and then there was the way she phrased herself. I apparently had Natsunagi's second personality on my back now.
"Why are you here? You can just come out on your own like that?"
Either that, or for Hel, who might have become my real partner on one of those countless potential routes.
"That's a promise, then," Hel said. She put her lips right up next to my ear. "If you lie—I'll double-kill you."
In a voice that numbed my brain, she made a promise for two people with me. "...Huh...? I..."
The next moment, the voice I was used to came back.
"Are you okay, Natsunagi? We're almost there," I said over my shoulder. "Ah... Oh, yes... I see."
She must have realized why her memories of the past minute or so were missing—but her sigh carried a hint of relief.
"Oh, sorry. You've been carrying me this whole time."
"Don't worry about it. Your boobs are touching me more than I figured they would, though."
"Didn't you say you had tact?!"
Forging ahead with Natsunagi still on my back—while she hollered at me to put her down—I stepped into the elevator that went underground.
"Does this thing still work?"
"I dunno. It did last year, but..."
This was the elevator Charlie and I had taken to the basement a year ago.
Down there, we'd encountered Seed, the leader of SPES. "Hmm?"
However, the instant the elevator doors shut, it was obvious that this time would be different. Orange light streaked across the inside of the mechanical box
in a mazelike pattern—and then the floor buttons stood out like 3D images. "...So we've got two options, huh?"
Only two floor numbers were displayed: B1 and B2. I didn't know why this system had activated, but...I didn't think the B2 option had been there last time.
Thinking I'd go with the safer option first, I pressed B1—and, with a dull
clunk, the elevator began descending.
"Listen, if this still has power, isn't there a chance that someone's here?" Natsunagi whispered uneasily in my ear.
Yeah, it might be a good idea to prepare for that contingency. But we'd only brought the bare minimum of weapons with us. Natsunagi had left the musket on the boat. The tension around us was rising.
"Natsunagi, can you walk on your own?"
"Yes, we'll have to be ready to run, just in case." "Yeah. Also, you are getting a little heavy." "You know, I may actually hate you, Kimizuka."
While we were talking, the elevator reached the first basement.
This was the research facility's core, and the place where we'd both encountered Seed: six years ago for Natsunagi, one year ago for me. Although there shouldn't have been any members of SPES here, what we found was—
"...! Why are you here?"
The room held rows of culture tanks, and inside one of them was—the body of a familiar white-haired detective.