Risk Level 4: The Girl (2)
Kiing... I stood frozen, staring blankly at the nameplate that marked this as the Level 4 section, when the familiar mechanical whir of the door right in front of me made me stiffen. The door had opened.
"..."
The room beyond was pitch black. Just like the Sirens' chamber I'd seen earlier, not a single light was on, and an unsettling chill seemed to linger in the air. But how had the door opened?
I was squinting into the darkness when a bright, familiar voice called up from right below me.
"Huh? You're trying to help me look for her too, big brother? No, no, if she's hiding this well, even I would have trouble finding her. It's fine."
?!
"Uh, uh...?"
I'd thought she'd disappeared down the opposite hallway, but there she was, stepping out from behind the now-open door—code name Founder. Her height made her hard to spot at first glance.
...Just who was she, really?
"She definitely came to this room recently... Hmm..."
Grumbling softly, the black-haired girl brushed past me and wandered off again. I watched her retreating figure before turning back to the front. The safety door, still open because of the motion sensor, stood before me. It was almost embarrassingly simple, but the door was open.
'Someone... please... save me...'
And then the voice came again, clearer than before.
"..."
Stepping into this dark room would be a clear violation of protocol. Coming down here was beyond my control, but moving forward now would make it intentional. I knew that.
"Ugh..."
But what if someone really needed help? What if this was their last desperate cry?
I couldn't just walk past that voice.
Step. My right foot moved. Step. Then my left.
"Hoo..."
Now I was fully inside the containment cell. The sound of the door closing behind me felt final, as if declaring there was no turning back after committing two major violations—unauthorized absence during duty and trespassing into a restricted area.
...Click!
Only after hearing the door lock completely did I come to my senses. But the damage was done. I shouted into the darkness ahead to finish what I'd come for.
"...Is anyone there?"
Despite my cautious question, no answer came from within. All I heard was the faint echo of my own voice bouncing off the walls and the quiet sound of someone sobbing, still ringing in my head.
"Huu..."
When no reply came, tension began to creep in. The fragile sobbing echoing from the pitch-black space made the hairs on my arms stand on end, but the thought that someone needing help was right in front of me gave me the courage to feel along the wall for the light switch.
It had to be around here somewhere...
Beep. Found it.
The moment my fingertip brushed the lighting control, a heavy clunk echoed and a single spotlight blazed to life from the ceiling.
"...!"
And in the circle of light stood a single metal-framed chair in the center of the vast room, with a woman of deep silver hair seated upon it.
"...Is she restrained?"
She wore a plain, loose white top and matching baggy white pants that looked like a prison uniform. At first glance she seemed human, but as I drew closer I saw soft-looking restraints on both her wrists and ankles. That wasn't all. A blindfold covered her eyes, a gag sealed her mouth, and earplugs blocked her ears. She had been rendered completely unable to see, hear, or speak.
Locking her in a containment cell was one thing, but going this far surely had a reason. That thought made me pause for a moment, yet the sorrowful voice claiming her innocence rang with undeniable sincerity, leaving me conflicted. If someone had been unjustly subjected to this treatment...
"Hey! Are you all right?"
I reached for the cuffs binding her arms, only to freeze in shock. Crack...! The restraints shattered as easily as if they were made of wax. I hadn't used much force, but I hadn't expected them to break so readily. Still, perhaps it was for the best. These fragile bindings only emphasized how delicate she was, and they aligned with my impulse to set her free.
...The impulse felt unnatural, yet I couldn't stop myself, as if entranced.
"Just a moment... please wait a little longer."
Once her hands and feet were free, I removed the earplugs, then the gag, and finally the blindfold. At last, her face was revealed beneath the bright spotlight.
"You are...?"
"...Ah."
Her eyes were heartbreakingly beautiful. That was my first thought upon meeting her gaze.
"I'm... the Counselor."
Those beautiful, colorless eyes, now glistening with moisture, looked up at me. Entranced, I stared back until—wham! She suddenly threw herself into my arms, snapping me out of it.
"Ah...?"
"..."
'Did he come to save me...?'
Her tear-filled, ashen eyes were now right in front of me, trembling with anxiety despite her desperate embrace. Faced with that fragile, frightened-animal-like vulnerability that stirred every protective instinct, I could only pull her close to reassure her.
"...Don't worry. I'll help you."
"Thank you... Thank you so much... Sob... Hic..."
She clung to me, tears streaming down her face in gratitude. Her slender body felt light and frail, as if she hadn't been eating properly. Restraining such a delicate woman like this, on top of everything else... I couldn't remember ever feeling this sorry for anyone before. Why had she been locked away so deep underground, stripped of so many freedoms?
"I want to go... to a place with lots of people..."
'Being alone is so lonely... Being alone is... scary...'
Her trembling, sorrowful voice made a simple request. She didn't ask to escape this place or beg for help fleeing—just to be somewhere with people. That alone felt strangely off, yet the voice in her heart held only the deep loneliness and fear of someone who had been alone for far too long. Hearing her true feelings, I knew I had to grant her wish.
"Will you... help me?"
'Please... don't abandon me...'
She slipped from my embrace and looked up at me with desperate eyes.
"...?"
Her clothes...? I distinctly remembered her wearing a plain white top and matching long pants. So why was she now wearing a soft lavender dress? Two thin straps rested on her dainty shoulders, and the short hem revealed most of her smooth thighs. Seeing her slender figure so clearly stirred my protective instincts into something else entirely.
"Your clothes..."
"I've always looked like this, you know...?"
'I've never worn anything but this dress...'
"Ah... Right."
I must have been mistaken for a moment. Thud...
"Ah?"
She looped her arm through mine and pressed close. The modest curve of her chest pressed against me from below, pricking my conscience. I quickly looked up, but the soft, yielding warmth of her body against my arm sent my heartbeat racing.
"Why are you linking arms...?"
"Isn't this much fine between us?"
"Us...?"
'Counselor, don't you remember...?'
Remember? What was she talking about? As if I'd met her before...
...Ah?
"Hic... Sob..."
'Counselor... That's too much... Hic...'
"W-wait a second?"
"We were lovers, weren't we? Am I the only one who still loves you now? Or... was I deceived? Does this ring mean nothing?"
"...?"
I looked at the hand she was holding. Matching rings gleamed on both our ring fingers. Yet something about seeing that ring on my hand felt deeply wrong.
"You gave it to me..."
'It's been so long... Please, tell me that's why...'
Faced with her pleading voice, I could only nod.
Now I remembered. How could I have forgotten something so important?
"...That's right... I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Then... can you prove it?"
"Prove it?"
"Kiss me. Then... then you'll remember everything."
A kiss? From me... to her? Even if we loved each other, was that really okay?
"Ugh...?"
The more I thought about it, the stronger the sense of wrongness grew. As if to stop me from thinking further, she grabbed my shirt and slowly pulled me down. Her trembling arms could barely manage it, so I let myself be drawn in—yet even so, a kiss...
"You've always told me, haven't you? That you love me... Whispered it so sweetly in my ear."
Her eyes trembled, on the verge of bursting into tears. I couldn't deny her. No—I mustn't deny her. This was the undeniable truth.
"That's right... I..."
My head lowered until our eyes met. Her lavender-colored eyes...
"Lavender...?"
Such a beautiful color. At least more so than ashen gray. Being drawn to beauty... wasn't strange at all.
"...Come to me."
She parted her lips slightly, tilting her head toward me with a shallow breath. I leaned in to meet her...
"If you don't stop right there, I'll show this recording to Harpy."
Harpy...? Who was Harpy? ...And whose unpleasant voice was that?
"This bitch still doesn't know her place and keeps clinging to men, huh. What a coincidence."
"A... Aaa?"
A familiar clown mask. Where had I seen it before? One thing was certain—seeing that mask filled me with inexplicable revulsion.
"Kyaaah...! Help me, Counselor!"
'I hate that person... She always torments me, locks me up, makes me lonely!'
"Please help me!"
Acting on pure reflex, I hid my sobbing lover behind me the moment I saw the clown mask and glared warily at the man wearing it.
"Who the hell are you...?"
"And who might you be?"
"I'm...!"
"You are?"
I... I?
"You're my lover."
"...Right."
"You always carried a gun, didn't you? You can stop him with that."
'I'm so glad you're here...'
A gun...? That's right, I had one. Following the guidance of her hand on mine, I reached into my coat and pulled out a heavy pistol, far weightier than its size suggested. I always carried it... How could I have forgotten in a moment like this?
"Oh dear, the distance is still..."
The clown mask flinched, clearly unwilling to be shot. For some reason, that reaction filled me with both unease and a strange sense of satisfaction deep inside.
"If he disappears, we'll be free."
'Then the two of us can live happily ever after...'
"Yeah... We'll be free."
To live with the woman I loved, there was no other choice. ...It was an unavoidable decision.
My finger rested on the cold, hard trigger. The muzzle was aimed squarely at the unpleasant clown mask. But... was this really okay?
"Haha, are you really going to shoot? You'd go that far for that woman?"
"...Watch your mouth."
"A rare romantic in this day and age. But do you even know her name?"
"..."
Name... Her name?
"Huh?"
I was about to answer confidently—why ask something so obvious?—when my words caught in my throat, leaving me stunned.
"Strange, isn't it? You say you love her, yet you don't even know her name?"
"Ugh...?"
In an instant, an agonizing pain tore through my skull, as if someone had plunged their bare hand inside and was ripping it apart. I barely kept hold of the gun, but the pain was so intense my vision spun.
"Counselor..."
The one gripping my trembling arm was the woman I loved... whose name I didn't know. Her pale, delicate hands.
"The truth that we love each other is what matters, right...?"
'A name is nothing but a chain of obsession...'
Fortunately, hearing her voice made the pain in my head gradually fade.
"So hurry..."
'Hurry.'
"Pull the trigger for me."
'I love you. More than anyone else in this world...'
Once I confirmed my arm no longer trembled, her hands slipped away... and then wrapped tightly around me from behind. Her voice against my back, her fragile breath, the trust and love I felt through her arms—all of it reached me as genuine. And with unwavering resolve, I tightened my grip on the gun.
For the woman I loved, I was willing to throw away even my own life.
"You're definitely going to regret this."
Bang...!