Chapter 13: Anomaly Catching Anomaly

Adaptation to Site 17 (3)

It seemed like the time had come.

I thought so from the bottom of my heart.

If someone were to ask me what time I was talking about,

Well, of course, it was time to leave this room.

"What are you looking at so intently?"

From beside me, a voice that had become quite familiar spoke.

I turned my head and saw the owner of the voice looking at me.

It was the blonde woman, Sophia.

And, about two weeks after I returned to my hometown, she was the person I had met the most.

Especially during the first week, I met quite a few people,

But recently, I hadn't seen anyone else's face except hers.

Thanks to her visiting this room every day without fail, I didn't have time to feel lonely,

But somehow, I wished she would refrain from the increasingly frequent physical contact lately.

I'm not some kind of petting-only stuffed animal.

After swallowing the complex and subtle feelings in my heart,

I looked in a certain direction and pointed my finger towards it.

"Huh? There…"

Her voice, slightly flustered, followed as she turned her head in the direction of my finger.

Because there was the only door in this room.

That's right.

I was now feeling intensely that it was time to leave this room.

"19. Do you perhaps want to go out of here?"

It was an obvious question.

Well, spending two weeks trapped in a closed space

Wasn't a short time at all, relatively or absolutely.

Especially considering that I had returned to my hometown after a very long journey, it would be even more so.

-Nod nod-

When I nodded, Sophia made a troubled expression.

I felt my heart weakening at that expression, but I couldn't help it.

I was grateful for the affection she gave me, which was a little difficult to receive,

But no matter what, I didn't want to just waste time in a closed space anymore.

She must have expected me to do so, as she brought me various items…

But even buried in girly dolls, I didn't think I could have a good time any longer.

"But, but, the outside is full of dangerous things. You might get hurt."

No, isn't that a bit of a dismissive statement towards me?

Unless a nuclear war had broken out in my absence and the entire planet had turned into a sea of fire, my hometown shouldn't be such a dangerous place.

Even if it had become such a living hell, my body was sturdy enough that I wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt.

Above all, wasn't the sky I saw when I first returned here the same blue sky I knew?

It meant that there was no need to worry about me to this extent, as if I were a young girl or a kid.

…Well, looking at my appearance alone, it's a little hard to completely deny it, but anyway.

-Shake shake-

"Umm…"

-Shake shake shake-

I narrowed my eyes to express my dissatisfaction and shook my head vigorously.

She let out a small groan. It didn't seem like she would easily allow it.

But I had no intention of backing down today.

I had made gestures to leave here a few times before,

But even then, she had given me a troubled smile and told me no.

I had a feeling that if things continued like this, I might be raised here forever,

So today, I was going to be a little more firm in my attitude.

"Really, do you want to go out that much?"

-Nod nod-

"Why? 19 has never been outside before. Aren't you scared of what might be out there?"

-Shake shake-

But Sophia's attitude was also formidable.

As if there was a reason why she shouldn't take me out of here, she was somehow trying to make me not want to go outside.

If I were really a girl with amnesia, I might have believed her words.

Unfortunately, I was someone who still had a longing and yearning for the scenery of my hometown, even if it was a little blurry.

There was no reason to fall for such basic gaslighting.

"…Ugh, this is troublesome."

This won't do. The conversation isn't ending.

I never knew not being able to speak would be so frustrating.

It was a moment when I was ashamed of myself for not working harder to improve awareness of people with disabilities in my previous life.

"…"

I stopped moving my head for a moment and fell into thought.

It seemed that I couldn't fully express my feelings just by nodding or shaking my head.

I needed a powerful move that could express my emotions.

A gesture that could express how suffocating it was to be trapped here…

'Ah.'

Then, something flashed in my mind.

Come to think of it, I had something like that.

I had forgotten even such a simple thing because I hadn't had to communicate with anyone for quite a long time.

Having remembered something, I immediately made eye contact with Sophia to show her the gesture.

And to let her know that I wanted to leave this place, I began to hit my chest with my fist.

-Thump, thump, thump-

With a thumping sound, a dull sound came from my chest.

It's usually an action you do when you have indigestion or a stuffy chest…

Anyway, it was an action that could also be used to mean stuffiness.

At least she would understand what it meant.

'…?'

But when I looked up at Sophia to see her reaction after hitting my chest three times,

"Sigh, whooooo…"

I could only see her covering her entire face with her palms,

Breathing heavily while making strange noises.

'…Is she sick?'

That's all I could think.

If not, maybe she saw something she shouldn't have and was acting like that.

But no matter how I thought about it, I didn't think hitting your chest with your fist as if you were feeling stuffy was such a terrible sight.

Unless a terribly hideous creature was doing it.

Even then, the problem would be the creature's appearance, not the gesture itself.

And given her tendency to keep trying to stroke me, she probably didn't see my appearance as that bad.

Sophia remained without showing me her facial expression for about ten seconds,

Then, with a seemingly stable expression, she began to lower her palms to her lap.

"…Ahem, hmm, even if you go that far, I can't grant that request."

That far? I don't remember doing anything great except hitting my chest.

So, simply showing that I'm feeling stuffy isn't enough…

If that's the case, I have to show her something like hitting my head against the wall—

"But, I understand 19's desire to go outside. I can't do it right now, but I'll try to let you go outside later."

While I was seriously considering whether I should do a self-harm performance, Sophia gave me words that seemed to offer a hopeful outlook.

Those words meant that I would be able to see the outside before too long.

Unless that "later" was a deceptive act of talking about months or years later, at least that's what I thought.

"So, you have to be good until at least then?"

At her request, I nodded.

After all, I had been good until now,

And if she didn't seem to have any intention of keeping her promise even after a long time,

I was planning to put on a self-harm show, as I had thought earlier.

When I nodded, Sophia tried to stroke my head as always,

And I accepted her touch with a somewhat sullen expression.

Zhiiiiiing—

With the sound of something turning, a mechanical sound was heard and the door of the isolation room opened.

Sophia walked out from inside.

She was the researcher in charge of the Anomalous Entity in the isolation room, commonly known as 163-19.

"Hoo…"

As the door closed, Sophia stood still in the hallway and took a deep breath.

As for the reason…

Well, what's there to hide?

It was because of the Anomalous Entity she was in charge of.

19's reactions were more intense and diverse than before.

Thanks to those actions, which anyone could only call cute,

She had almost lost her mind for a moment in the middle.

'Today was a little dangerous…'

Sophia said, calming her pounding heart.

Earlier, when Number 19 proudly puffed out her chest and tapped it with her tiny fist,

It was truly a miracle that I didn't lose my mind for a moment.

The urge I felt then was to hug Number 19 and roll around on the floor several times.

Sophia felt like rewarding herself for enduring that impulse, even if it meant tearing at her face.

'But, if I did something like that, she would definitely start avoiding me.'

She doesn't even particularly like having her head touched.

Spending time with Number 19 had opened her up to some extent, so the time I could stroke her had become a little longer than before.

But it always felt like she was 'allowing' it, not exactly welcoming the act.

If I were to make intense contact without her permission, and she started to be wary of me,

I would lose my only means of mental recovery, and I wouldn't have the energy to endure the harshness of my job any longer.

'More than that, wanting to wander outside. That child really makes things difficult…'

Sophia recalled the promise she had made with Number 19 in the containment chamber just now.

The promise to let her wander outside someday.

It was a promise made in a daze, intoxicated by the child's cuteness,

But now that I think about it coldly, it really doesn't make any sense.

'Because there are hardly any cases of letting an Anomaly wander outside.'

The liberation of Anomalies and things derived from them.

Sophia knew very well that it would never be permitted by conventional means.

Of course, it wasn't entirely impossible.

She had heard of Anomalies wandering inside the Site before, on several occasions.

However, that was only in very special cases, or for Anomalies that had been proven safe over a very long period of time,

It was virtually impossible for an Anomalous Entity that had been discovered less than a month ago to be allowed.

The Anomaly Research Department had been deceived and tricked by too many things to allow that.

Even if she wanted to take Number 19 out, there was no way she would get permission from above.

'It can't be helped. I'll have to explain it to her later and somehow beg for forgiveness—'

Therefore, Sophia also realized that it was impossible,

Thinking that she should bring Number 19 a lot of things that she would like later, she tried to move her feet, but.

"...".

The look of anticipation in the child's eyes when she and I made the promise,

For some reason, I couldn't get it out of my head.

"...Well, it would be good to at least try."

Saying that, she roughly scratched her bangs a few times,

With a 'whatever happens, happens' attitude, she started walking somewhere.

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