Chapter 11: Anomaly Catching Anomaly

Adaptation to Site 17 (1)

! EMERGENCY REQUEST !

From: Head Researcher, Benjamin Campbell

To: ███, ███ █

Request: Requesting the evacuation of all personnel from Site 17 and a complete lockdown of Site 17.

―Request Denied

Reason for Denial: Insufficient justification for the request

Quite some time has passed since then.

Well, it's probably only been about a week or so.

But isn't it said that time is relative?

Anyone would feel that way if they were trapped in a small room like me.

If you were to ask what happened in the meantime...

Well, nothing particularly special happened.

It wasn't like some strange creature was sneaking into my room like before,

It was just that, like last time, people came into this room and asked me,

Whether my memories had returned, or if anything was coming to mind,

It was just a repetition of stories I'd already told.

Of course, my goal was to play the amnesiac girl,

So I just diligently repeated the act of shaking my head vigorously from side to side.

And they brought machines I'd never seen before and put them on my body, and took bits of my hair or nails.

Since people were talking about tests and check-ups, it seemed like they were probably conducting some kind of physical examination.

And that added credibility to my previous speculation.

That this place is a facility that protects and studies interdimensional strays, or something like that.

Maybe taking some of my bodily tissues was for that reason too.

Studying unknown life forms from beyond dimensions... something like that.

Thanks to that, I had to control my strength as much as possible when they tested things like muscle strength.

But seeing as they haven't questioned it yet, it seems I've managed to fool them somehow.

So, if anyone asks what's so great about just blankly killing time,

I can confidently say that it wasn't all for nothing.

More than anything, the invisible barrier in the center of the room had completely disappeared at some point.

It's not like there's anything else to do in this room in the first place, and even if the usable space has doubled, I'm not particularly happy about it.

In any case, the fact that the barrier separating me from the people entering this room has been removed is proof that I've made them believe that I'm not a particularly harmful being.

How could I do that?

Well, it's nothing special.

It was just a matter of keeping my mouth shut and pretending to be as docile as possible.

It's a bit much to say it myself, but a young and cute girl is like a cheat code in relationships with people.

For me, who looks like a girl who hasn't reached adulthood yet, gaining people's trust wasn't that difficult.

Thanks to that, the people coming and going treated me strangely kindly,

Regardless of my own will, the fact that I was benefiting from this appearance made my heart complicated.

Just in case, I can say for sure that I never deliberately acted cute or anything like that.

As I've said before, I was a man,

And although my gender changed after reincarnation, I haven't really been conscious of it.

Now, trying to act like a girl and fawn over someone, even if it's acting, I honestly don't have the courage to put it into practice.

More than anything, if I really did something like that,

I felt like something precious inside me would collapse.

And now, as time has passed.

I've gotten used to being in this room to some extent, and I'm doing something with a bit of peace of mind――

―Crunch, crunch

Quite carefree,

I was munching on snacks that someone had given me.

"Want more?"

A blonde woman asked me in a kind tone, as if offering.

The woman's name is Sophia.

She was the first person I encountered after coming to this room.

―Nod nod

"Here you go."

When I nodded, she tore open a small bag and handed me the contents.

And I accepted it without any suspicion and put it in my mouth.

In fact, from the beginning, I didn't trust Sophia enough to accept the bag of snacks she gave me.

That's because there was a rather awkward part in our first meeting, wasn't there?

After being kidnapped and forcibly confined in an empty room,

The first thing the first person I met said was, "Wow, what a cute kid."

It would have been a relief if I didn't just guard against her and keep my distance, let alone trust her.

But after that, my meetings with her continued.

Among the people coming and going, she continued to show interest in me.

Asking if I needed anything, bringing snacks and asking if I wanted to try one,

Thanks to her efforts to somehow become close to me, I opened up to her to the point where I would accept the snacks she gave me, even if only a little.

―Munch munch

Well, it's not like I'm forcing myself to eat the snacks.

No, it should be seen as the opposite.

To be honest, I missed this kind of taste quite a bit.

That's because it's food from my hometown.

In other dimensions, even the concept of taste was different, so eating familiar-tasting food was as difficult as finding sand in the desert,

And I hadn't been able to eat this kind of snack food for a very long time.

In fact, I wasn't even sure what it tasted like, and even if I were to eat food from my hometown now, I couldn't be sure that it would still taste the same,

But when I put the snack in my mouth and felt the familiar taste on my tongue, which reminded me of my memories of food from my hometown,

Fortunately, it seemed that the food from my hometown hadn't changed much even after time had passed.

"Is it good?"

―Nod nod

"Hehe, that's a relief."

Sophia smiled and started reaching out towards my head.

I instinctively realized that she was trying to stroke my head, so I flinched and leaned back,

But because of her atmosphere that seemed to be pleading for something, I had no choice but to give in.

―Stroke stroke

I feel someone gently stroking my hair.

As expected, it was still an unfamiliar feeling, and one I didn't want to get used to.

Being stroked on the head by someone after having lived this long was quite awkward.

It goes without saying that being treated like a child was even worse.

"Number 19 is well-behaved."

She said as if praising me.

Number 19. That seemed to be the name given to me.

I wasn't going to complain about a name that would be given to a test subject.

After all, wasn't it I who decided not to say anything?

I had no intention of ruining the concept I had built up so far because of one strange name now.

...Well, I'm only saying this now,

But honestly, I've thought a few times that I should pretend to be able to say a few short words.

―Rustle!

I thought I had been stroked for too long,

Like a cat shaking its body after coming out of the water, I started shaking my head and shaking off her hand.

This was an expression of my intention to stop at this point.

"Whoa, s-sorry. Did I stroke you for too long?"

―Nod nod

"B-but, can you allow me to do it a little more..."

―Shake shake

"Ugh... Okay. I'll stop."

Sophia sadly removed her hand from me.

I felt a little sorry for her looking so tearful, but I still didn't want to be stroked any more than this.

And I've been thinking this since last time, but if I'm stroked for too long, I start to feel something strange.

Leaving her looking dejected, I started walking towards the corner of the room for a moment.

I thought I should get away from her in that state for a while,

And there was something else I had to bring her.

'Let's see, I think it was around here...'

I rummaged through the corner of the room, which was piled up with various miscellaneous items, looking for something I had put down.

Of course, she was the one who brought this item.

When she gave me bedding and other necessities, I was honestly quite grateful,

But when she started bringing me things like teddy bears with a girly sensibility, I was quite troubled.

'Ah, found it.'

After rummaging around for a moment, I was able to find what I wanted among the dolls.

A white piece of paper and a familiar landscape drawn on it.

Roughly speaking, it was like a landscape painting of a fantasy world.

'It's a bit rough since it's drawn with crayons, but it's not like you can't recognize it at all.'

Of course, the reason I picked up crayons instead of a pen wasn't because of my preference.

It was because when I asked Sophia, describing paper and a pen as best as I could, that was all she brought me.

But it was too much of a headache to ask her to bring something else,

And thinking this would be good enough, I just started drawing with what I had.

Well, the real problem was that I wasn't that good at drawing.

…Still, with this much detail, there shouldn't be any major problems recognizing it.

Turning around, I saw Sophia still drooping her head.

Seeing that, I felt something complicated and subtle,

And started walking towards her with the paper in one hand.

-Poke poke

"Hmm…? Ah, what's wrong?"

When I tugged on her sleeve, she reacted to me, waking up as if from a dream.

Don't tell me she lost consciousness because I refused to be petted…

…Nah, no way. It couldn't be that.

"Oh my, this is…."

Looking at the drawing I held out, she drawled, sounding interested.

Well, of course.

The first drawing shown by a girl with amnesia is a landscape painting of some fantasy world.

Considering the fact that I came from beyond the dimensional gate, it couldn't help but be quite interesting to her.

'I can't pretend to have amnesia forever, either.'

Pretending to have amnesia was fine, but there was one problem with it.

That is, people would never let a girl with amnesia wander around outside carelessly.

Especially if my guess that this was something like a protection center was true, this was even more obvious.

So, from now on, I was planning to slowly pretend that my memories were returning.

Now that I've obtained some information about this facility, it didn't seem like it would be a big problem even if I wasn't amnesiac anymore.

The reason I bothered to depict a fantasy world?

Well, isn't this kind of scenery usually the first thing that comes to mind when you think of another world?

It's not that difficult to draw, either.

If I drew a person holding a sword and a wizard, and even a fire-breathing dragon.

Anyway, anyone could tell that this was a fantasy world.

Well, it would be a lie if I said I didn't think of that dimension, my second hometown that had already been destroyed.

"Hmm…."

I hear a sound of contemplation.

She stared at the drawing I was holding out and thought hard about something.

Soon, she looked at me as if she had realized something and started talking to me.

"Perhaps, did you depict where Number 19 came from?"

-Nod nod

"Ah! Then, does that mean all of your memories have returned?"

-Shake shake

"Ah, not that much yet? That's a shame…."

To Sophia, who asked if my amnesia had been cured, I shook my head, expressing my denial.

It goes without saying, but I had no intention of rushing things yet.

I was going to slowly pretend that my memories were returning and see how far I could go.

At least until I left this room and confirmed the extent of the exchange with other dimensions, I shouldn't reveal too much.

"Don't worry too much. You'll be able to remember everything someday."

At her comforting voice, I slowly began to nod.

It was a warm word that could be considered the best thing to say to a young girl who had lost her memories.

She rolled up the paper in my hand and placed it next to her.

And then, as if trying to reassure me, she lightly stroked my head once.

"Until then, let's stay safe here."

Sophia smiled.

…Well, the feeling of her touch this time,

Wasn't that bad.

Date: September 14, ████

Reporter: Head Researcher, Sophia Brown

On this date, I received a drawing from 163-19.

163-19 expressed that it was the place she came from, but detailed interpretation is impossible due to the description of the drawing.

Since the insights of other researchers are needed, I am sharing the contents of the drawing in the Site's database, so please gather as many opinions as possible.

Additional request: Judging from the fact that she still avoids physical contact for more than a short time, it seems that 163-19's psychology is still unstable.

For the psychological stability and detailed research investigation of 163-19, I would like to request approval to bring a giant teddy bear into the isolation room.

―Additional request denied

Reason for denial: Enough is enough, Researcher Sophia.

• Responsible Researcher, Oliver Smith

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