Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Lights Out at the Management Bureau #4
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After that, I spent the same day as before.
I trimmed the Tooth Tree without any issues and fed teeth to the Tooth Fairies. It was exactly what I'd done before the basement succumbed to madness.
Repeating the same tasks made things... even more confusing.
Just where did the truth begin and end?
In my hands right now was the gift box the Tooth Fairy had given me. It felt like there was something the size of a basketball inside.
The weight was similar to when Spandal's head had been in there.
If I opened this...
Would Spandal's head be inside?
Just holding it made me tense up, sweat starting to bead on my skin. What would happen if I opened it? An impulse to check the contents surged up, but so did the terror that opening it would reveal Spandal's head again, plunging me back into that hellish repeat.
"Why are you standing there all spaced out?"
"Huh? Oh, no. Just wondering what's inside this."
"If you're curious, why not open it...?"
Gasp!
"What kind of nonsense is that!"
"Hee hee, just kidding."
Spandal let out a sinister chuckle as she turned away. In the first loop, she had opened it suddenly. Good thing she didn't this time.
"In principle, you shouldn't open that box. It can only be opened after special procedures at the lab. It's for safety."
"Quite right. Better to stay safe when you don't know what might come out."
Even as I said that, I couldn't shake my suspicions.
Truth be told... this human-like form of Spandal's was fake.
And her real form was that shadow-shrouded, pitch-black monstrosity, with eyes bulging all over her body and thorns sprouting everywhere. The doubt gnawed at me.
I shook my head.
The message had already popped up anyway.
It should be fine.
And so, I walked alongside Spandal.
We were heading to the Isolation Team Lab.
Maybe because it was my second time, the path felt familiar.
"Over there."
I could see the lab door.
Just like in my memory.
-Beep.
Spandal swiped her ID card.
The door opened.
Feeling tense, I peered inside as I entered.
"Hmm..."
Same scenery.
Various displays and control devices everywhere. No twisted parts, and the bright lights illuminated every corner, making it feel incredibly clean and bright.
The back of a man in a white coat came into view.
Disheveled white hair.
The man turned to us.
Round goggles.
He looked just like a mad scientist.
"..."
After a brief staring contest, he spread his arms wide and shouted.
"Oh! You must be the new recruit! Nice to meet you! I'm the Research Team Leader, Gognija!"
I'd guessed as much from the disheveled hair and round goggles. So he really was the Research Team Leader. The one who'd been chewing pills and fused with the display in that hellish scene... And the name matched what I'd heard.
"Grong. The Research Team Leader is a very senior figure. Aren't you going to greet him?"
"Ah, right! Nice to meet you, Research Team Leader! I'm Grong!"
"Grong! Looking forward to working with you!"
He looked like a guy who'd hate the second law of thermodynamics, but he approached and grabbed my hand, shaking it vigorously.
As we shook hands, our eyes met. The goggles hid his eyes, so I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
In that hellish situation, this Research Team Leader had told me to open the red door over there and activate the Reality Recognition Device.
That red door should be...
Huh?!
Wait, no red door?!
I looked again, but where the door should have been, there was just a plain wall!
"What are you looking at?"
"Huh...?"
"You're staring like there's something on that wall!"
What?!
This guy...!
"Just taking a look around."
"Hmm! I see!"
My vague excuse seemed to satisfy him, and we moved on.
"Anyway, it's been a while, Spandal! You've been eating your seniority and hardly show up at the isolation rooms anymore! Come around more often!"
"Haha, too busy for that. But what about that kid?"
"Over there! Since you brought it up, Déjure! Come make some coffee! Everyone here has to drink sweet mix coffee mandatory-like!"
Déjure?
Looking where the Research Team Leader shouted, a woman was half-hiding behind a machine, trembling as she peeked at us.
"Come on out! I want my sweet coffee! Raaargh!"
The Research Team Leader pounded his chest like King Kong—no, what the hell was this guy? Some kind of lunatic?
"Y-Yes... C-Coming..."
A young-looking woman emerged, trembling.
I memorized her code name along with her features.
Pink.
Her hair was an unusually bright pink. Twin tails, black skirt suit. Her chest was impressively busty, like it might burst open.
Déjure approached, glancing nervously, her index fingers pressed together.
"U-Um... H-Hello... Y-You're the n-new recruit, right...?"
"Yes. That's me. Grong."
Her voice sounded incredibly timid.
She couldn't meet my eyes.
"Déjure? When's the coffee coming?"
Spandal senior slipped right in between us.
"Eek!"
Déjure jumped in fright.
"Why so startled? Am I making you uncomfortable? How does it feel to have ditched the team? Jamtree and I treated you so well. Running off to the Isolation Team like that. Doesn't it seem a bit much?"
"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Forgive meee...!"
What the hell was this?
"Spandal senior?"
"Greet her. This is Déjure, the new recruit from our old Comprehensive Response Team. She transferred to Isolation. If she hadn't, she'd have been your senior."
Ah.
So she was originally on our team and got transferred.
"D-Déjure... That's meee..."
"Déjure. This is Grong. He would have been your junior, so you'd have had to look after him. But now I'm doing it. Aren't you grateful? Since you left."
"Th-Thank youuu...!"
Spandal leaned in close to Déjure's darkened face, whispering menacingly.
No matter how you sliced it, this was workplace bullying.
"Spandal senior. This looks an awful lot like harassment."
"It's not."
"Déjure!!! I want my coffee NOWWWW!!! This greeting is taking too long!!!"
"Y-Yes sir!"
At the Research Team Leader's bellow, Déjure hurriedly started making coffee. She looked so clumsy that I couldn't imagine her handling dangerous agent work.
"See? She seems unreliable, doesn't she?"
"A bit prone to little mistakes, yeah."
"That's exactly it. Super timid too. Couldn't handle field work, so she ended up in Isolation... Such a shame. She was a good junior."
Don't spout bullshit.
"Here's your coffee...!"
"Ah! This is what I wanted!"
The Research Team Leader snatched an iced coffee and chugged it. Spandal senior and I just sipped from our cups.
"So, you're here for that, right!"
As the Research Team Leader shouted, Spandal elbowed me.
"Ah, yes. Here. A gift from the Tooth Fairy."
"Déjure! Take it!"
"Y-Yes...!"
Déjure took the box.
"So now we check what's inside?"
"Righttt... W-Wanna watch...?"
This.
Was it okay for me to see?
"Spandal senior. Mind if I watch?"
"Hmm, you need to know the basics of this job anyway. Go ahead."
"Spandal, you help me over here!"
Spandal waved me off to go first.
"This way..."
I followed Déjure right away. The lab was huge, divided into sections. We entered one.
"N-Now we'll open it... Grong."
"Yes."
"B-But when did you join...?"
"Not long. Less than a month."
Though it felt longer subjectively.
"Wh-What... Really...?"
Déjure's eyes trembled wildly.
She glanced around nervously before speaking.
"S-So that makes me your senior... And you're the junior... S-So I can drop formalities, right...?"
She wanted to drop formal speech.
"Sure. No problem. Déjure senior."
"E-Ehehe... Th-Then I'll drop them... Okay...?"
An uneasy laugh.
Was she happy?
But more than that, her slow talking was driving me nuts.
"Feel free."
"Alright... Then watch this..."
Déjure placed the box in a glass chamber. She went to the screen and typed on the keyboard. Then, a mechanical arm extended toward the glass.
-Zing.
A laser shot from the arm's tip. It passed through the glass and hit the box inside.
"Hmm... Dud..."
Dud?
The machine stopped. Déjure opened the glass chamber and unsealed the box.
"This?"
Inside was something like a beast's bone fragment.
"This is junk... We'll store it briefly and dispose of it..."
"Ah, so if something useful comes out of the box, you keep it. Otherwise, dispose. And Déjure senior handles the inspection?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Impressively skilled."
"E-Ehehe... Really...?"
Déjure scratched her cheek.
"B-But you seem like a good listener, junior..."
"Well, gotta listen to my seniors. Still learning."
"Th-Then wanna come to Isolation...?"
"Pardon?"
Join Isolation?
"H-Honestly, Spandal senior's weird... B-Better run... She's scary... That woman..."
She said it while glancing anxiously at the door, like Spandal might burst in any second.
"It's for your sake, junior... D-Doing isolation alone is scary too... Wh-What do you say? Just file a transfer request... I-I'll teach you everything..."
"Ah, Spandal senior. Time to go?"
"Eeeeeek?!"
My light joke made Déjure leap back and collapse. She looked like such a timid little animal, it was kinda cute.
"Kidding. Déjure senior."
"Eh...?"
"No way I'd request a transfer right after starting. Pretend you didn't say anything."
"Ah, ah! Don't tell Spandal senior! Please!"
She suddenly teared up and grabbed my lapel. If my handler was like this, life would be tough.
Not joining Isolation...
"Secret's safe with me. In return, if I come by for work later, teach me well."
"Got it! I will!"
We finished up like that and headed out.
"What came out?"
"Nothing. Just some small animal bone or something. Déjure said it was a dud and it'd be disposed of."
"Hmm, can't be helped."
A question occurred to me.
"But Spandal senior. Seems like stuff comes out of these boxes randomly. What usually hits?"
"Ah, good question."
Spandal grinned sinisterly.
"Usually, we count agent innards or bones as a win."
"Pardon?"
"Sometimes during missions, anomalies snatch our stuff... Heh heh, no idea why, but we get them back via the Tooth Fairies. Grateful little things, huh?"
What kind of bullshit is this!