Anomaly Catching Anomaly

“Eh?”

Eleanor asked again, looking flustered.

The words she had just heard were so short and straightforward that there was hardly any need to repeat them… but ultimately, the meaning behind those words contained information that was anything but favorable in their current situation.

She wished her ears had made a mistake.

“So, the launch isn’t stopping. Someone has tangled the codes and command system in a total mess. And they did it with a lot of effort.”

With a scratching sound on his neck, Cooper frowned at his own face.

It was probably irritation building up inside him, slowly seeping out.

After passing through a hallway that seemed impossible to cross, they reached a room that felt unreachable.

Despite finally opening a door that seemed like it would never budge,

they found themselves yet again stuck in place due to a problem whose cause they could not identify.

Whether this chaos was caused by a ghost, a monster, or some bizarre phenomenon,

one thing was clear: whatever it was had a delightfully twisted personality.

“Does that mean there’s no way out?”

“No, not exactly. It’s not like we can’t use the device at all. If we take some time, we should be able to restore the command system.”

His words revealed a hint of anxiety stemming from her question.

The masked man stated that it wasn’t entirely impossible, but that was purely a theoretical discussion.

“However, it seems we won’t have enough time for that. Unless we get additional personnel or support from headquarters, the nuclear weapon will launch before we can fix it.”

He quickly added that what he just said couldn’t actually be accomplished, firmly stating that they couldn’t restore the device by themselves.

Cooper followed up, explaining to everyone that the situation was extremely dire.

“And the Abnormal Phenomena Management Office will probably drop a huge bomb on this facility before the countdown ends to prevent that from happening. If that happens, we all blow up together. How’s that for an explanation? Need more?”

So, in the end, they were saying it was impossible to prevent this bomb from launching.

Even if there were other methods, at least none existed in this Launch Control Room, and that was their conclusion.

“…”

A moment of silence descended upon the room.

Not long after, a deep voice broke that silence.

“What will you do?”

Elijah asked, looking toward the 19th entity still sitting in the chair.

He knew that completing their mission was impossible, but he wondered if maybe the girl would have some other way.

After all, the girl in front of him operated on a completely different frequency of bizarre phenomena.

“Well, I’m not sure. What do you think?”

However, just because she was a girl didn’t mean she had any unique solutions.

It was inevitable. After all, it was they who had restricted the 19th entity’s movements by citing the regulations of this facility.

Even if they hurriedly asked her for other means without knowing what those regulations entailed,

it wouldn’t be surprising if no sudden brilliant solution popped up, and so the girl could only return the question as it was.

“…For now, I think it would be best to get out of the facility. We’ve been cut off from headquarters since entering this place.”

Did he realize there was no other way? Elijah suggested a retreat in a de facto sense.

Well, “retreat” was a term, but it felt like the smartest course of action in the current situation.

Due to the phenomena occurring in the facility, they too were cut off from Base 17, making it impossible to confirm if they were even alive.

“I think the communications have been disrupted because of the issues happening in this facility. It would be wise to go outside, report the current situation to headquarters, and follow their instructions moving forward.”

Even if they found another way to stop the launch while wandering around the facility,

they wouldn’t be able to inform headquarters, and the probability of initiating the final protocol would only increase.

Thus, definitely heading outside to inform headquarters about the situation felt several times more prudent.

“Let’s do that then. Plus, we need to send those two here outside as well.”

The 19th entity agreed with that statement.

The girl too felt it was better to follow the guidance of the professionals rather than randomly trying to do things her way.

Additionally, she thought it was best to take the two new companions outside.

Bringing these two along wouldn’t exactly create any effective means to stop the nuclear launch.

Thud

The girl stood up from the chair, and the sound of her tiny feet landing on the floor echoed.

It seemed she was tired of sitting in this place for far too long, and her footsteps while preparing to leave felt oddly cheerful, as if she was glad to be rid of the discomfort.

“….”

But for some reason, Eleanor, watching her, didn’t seem particularly pleased.

“Aren’t you coming out?”

The girl asked the woman still leaning against the wall, despite having just heard their conversation.

Surely, she wouldn’t just stay in here.

Even a completely daft person would seek out a place other than this dreadful basement.

However, despite being closer to normal than a lunatic, the woman appeared to have no intention of leaving the room.

“…I feel bad for pouring cold water on this, but I’m afraid we can’t leave here.”

Eleanor opened her mouth.

And the words that came out were undoubtedly negative.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s some sort of bizarre phenomenon happening at the facility’s main entrance.”

“Phenomenon?”

“Yes, a peculiar one.”

When Elijah asked for clarification, she recounted what they had experienced earlier.

She recalled a memory from the past.

Right after leaving the shelter, when heading to the first floor to exit this place, she witnessed the scene.

Yet that place had already been blocked off by someone trying various methods to escape, and all she could confirm was something was firmly stopping their way.

“So, it’s exactly like how this room’s door wouldn’t open—”

Right. Just like when she first saw this room, the door had been tightly sealed, as if someone had been blocking it to keep anyone from entering or exiting—

——WAIT, this room?

“—Oh.”

As that thought crossed her mind, she suddenly recalled how she had entered this room.

In fact, there was no reason to worry.

Both the main door and this room were blocked by the same phenomenon, and neither could be opened by her own effort. Yet,

the very person standing in front of her had definitively opened one of those doors.

Having seen that spectacle with her own two eyes, it was hard to continue thinking that the other door would remain shut.

“…Haaa.”

She raised her head for a moment and covered her face with her palm, letting out a deep sigh for some reason.

Whether that was from embarrassment or relief was uncertain,

but it was evident that both feelings were definitely mixed together.

“I’m so sorry. Forget what I said. I somewhat lost sight of the fact that the person who opened this door is standing right in front of me.”

Eleanor said.

Her face still showed signs of complicated feelings tangled with embarrassment, yet the joy of finally being able to leave this place was vastly dominant.

In fact, it wouldn’t be fair to simply call her foolish.

Like an elephant that grows up tied to a rope, despite becoming strong enough to break free, it still lives tied up;

a person too can start to live with thoughts of defeat after hitting a large, despairing wall.

Particularly so if that person’s mind was devastated after losing all their companions in an instant.

“…Now that I think about it, how stupid was I to think we’d all die trapped here?”

Cooper grumbled while rubbing his forehead.

He too had been suffocated by the thought of defeat that they couldn’t leave this place until just now.

Arriving at the Launch Control Room, he’d been fixated solely on two outcomes: survival or death.

But what could he do?

The idea of just brute-forcing a way through a door blocked by some bizarre phenomenon was something straight out of cartoons that only the most naïve of people would dream up.

Even having seen that unfold before his very eyes, in such dire situations, there’s no time left to apply that action elsewhere.

“Just to check, there’s not a limit like ‘can’t use it more than twice a day,’ right?”

“What do you mean?”

“That ability that blew the door away, of course. Just now, she mentioned how the main entrance is blocked by a similar phenomenon to this one.”

That’s why he asked the last-minute question, preparing for any contingency.

He didn’t disbelieve it. How could he?

Ultimately, the fact that he was here in this room was undeniable.

“So if that… whatever it is, can’t be used again, we’d be stuck here. I was just wondering if there was a limit.”

He understood well enough that there weren’t any super beings like in movies.

Even if the girl showcased such a ridiculous ability, she wasn’t a being that leapt out of fantasy.

One last confirmation, he wanted to get a confirmation from the girl.

The moment his words finished, the girl turned to look at him.

Her expression remained unreadable behind the mask, but as she stared at him for a moment with that emotionless face,

“…Have you been watching too many cartoons?”

She looked at him with a slightly pathetic expression, then turned and slowly walked towards the door.

“….”

A heavy silence lingered.

Elijah and Eleanor, who were still in the room, glanced at him before following the girl outside.

One expression was hidden by a mask, and Eleanor’s eyes carried no particular emotion, but still,

he felt strangely wounded.

“No, you’re the last person who should be saying that…”

Only a hint of grievance escaped his lips as he muttered to himself.