STL

Chapter 7: Anomaly Catching Anomaly

Added 2025-05-27 02:16:27 +0000 UTC

New Anomalous Entity, 163-19 (6)

After the blonde woman who introduced herself as Sophia left the room,

I remained lost in thought, pondering something deeply.

To be precise, I was repeatedly mulling over the single word: "dimensional gate."

And for good reason. A dimensional gate, of all things.

They wouldn't just slap that kind of name on some highway toll booth, would they?

If that were really the case, I'd have to worry about whether I could even keep up with the sensibilities of this era.

So, it's best to assume that the "dimensional gate" she mentioned earlier has a meaning similar to what I already knew.

Literally, a gate that crosses dimensions.

Something that the technological level of my home dimension couldn't even dream of.

To hear something like that casually tossed into a conversation, it was clear that this wasn't the timeline I was hoping for.

Based on the information I gleaned from the earlier conversation, I began to mentally deduce where and when I was.

First, if it's another dimension that's similar in appearance...

Well, it's possible, but I'll dismiss it for now.

Basically, there were no other dimensions that shared a language with my home.

I mean, it's not like I've mastered every language in every dimension, so it's kind of ridiculous for me to be so sure.

But as far as I knew, languages never overlapped between dimensions unless there had been communication between them.

Now, all of a sudden, a dimension with completely similar races, languages, clothing, appearances, and everything else just pops up in front of me?

I'd sooner believe I was being subjected to some kind of Truman Show or hidden camera prank.

Therefore, I'll exclude this possibility for now.

Secondly, if this is all a dream I'm having, and I've gone crazy after wandering through dimensions for too long and am just hallucinating.

Well... even so, that's too depressing, so I'll dismiss it.

I can't say there's absolutely no possibility, but I haven't become so jaded that I can readily accept that assumption.

Get a grip. I've told myself thousands of times that negative thoughts eat away at a person.

Third, this is my home dimension, and so much time has passed that humanity has reached the technological level to develop dimensional gates.

And sadly, I think this is probably the closest to reality.

If that's the case, then the people I knew have already passed away a long time ago...

Well, at least it's a relief that I didn't return to a dimension that had been destroyed.

I guess I'll have to cross "meet up with old friends and joke about being a military-graduate high school girl" off my bucket list.

There's no way it'll ever happen anyway.

That's the end of my speculation.

Actually, there's one more possibility, to be honest.

The reason I haven't brought it up is because it's such a far-fetched assumption.

That assumption is that my home dimension has a hidden, non-ordinary side to society, and dimensional gates are information known only to those who belong to it.

Hey, don't laugh.

I told you beforehand that it was a far-fetched assumption.

Yeah, I know. It's an assumption with too much wishful thinking.

But everyone has those moments, right? Imagining winning the lottery before going to bed, or imagining flying...

Imagining freely without paying attention to the numerous objections or points of contention that make it impossible.

In that sense, the assumption I just made was just an extension of that.

"...My head hurts."

I covered my throbbing forehead with one hand.

Why does my head hurt? Because the situation has become much more complicated.

My home has developed technology to the point of crossing dimensions, I don't know how much time has passed since then, and this group is still a mystery.

I tried to gather information and guess what this place is all about, but instead, I've only made my head hurt more.

To have to use my brain, which I don't normally use, as soon as I return home, it's already killing me.

For now, I still intend to use escape only as a last resort.

Knowing the technological level here, I don't think I can escape this place so easily, and even if I succeed, I can only see a future that will be clearly troublesome.

I'd rather ask them to let me out first, because breaking down the wall and escaping doesn't seem like it would make a good impression on these people.

Of course, this isn't the last resort either, but it's a means I'd use when I'm close to it.

Doesn't the fact that they've confined me in a space like this mean that they don't see me as an equal?

I don't know which dimension that dimensional gate is connected to, or why they're keeping me, who looks like a simple human girl, locked up like this.

The way they're treating me now isn't for ordinary people, but rather with the caution of handling an endangered species.

'Well, they wouldn't be looking at me as I appear to be with this barrier in the center of the room.'

I ran my palm over the invisible wall.

Judging by how sturdy it is, it's probably using some kind of higher technology that I don't know about.

It's definitely not something you'd install for an ordinary girl.

And that means they're not seeing me as a human girl.

'Well, it's not like I can't break it.'

If there's any silver lining, it's that this wall isn't that strong by my standards.

That means they don't know anything about me either.

Conversely, it also means that I can pretend to be a harmless and weak being.

If I can trick them as planned, at least they might not keep me locked up in a place like this, but send me to a more free place, or maybe a shelter.

At least they wouldn't throw me into a meat grinder as disposal.

No matter what, the morality of this era hasn't fallen that far――――

I was thinking about how to act in the future when,

Suddenly, a complete and unexpected darkness came.

"...Hmm?"

There was no sound of a light bulb breaking, and there was no flickering of light before the light went out completely.

Of course, I didn't see any objects like light bulbs, and I don't even know if they still use such things,

Anyway, without any sound or warning, all the lights in this room suddenly went out.

'Is it a power outage? For a mysterious group that I don't even know what it is, the facility management is quite poor.'

I frowned slightly and expressed doubt about this phenomenon.

Soon, I thought that might be the case and nodded at the same time.

The reason I think of this place as a mysterious group is just because I don't have any information about it, and in reality, it might not be such a great group.

This place might be protecting interdimensional stray life forms, and this barrier might just be installed for a simple safety door purpose.

If technology has developed so much, it wouldn't be strange to make even a simple safety door to this level.

Why, in the eyes of people of the past, even a simple kitchen knife requires the effort and materials to make a masterpiece.

In this case, I am the person of the past, and this barrier is the kitchen knife.

And as far as I remember, I've never seen a person complain about poor facility management when there's a power outage at the stray center.

'Still, shouldn't there be at least an emergency light?'

When I looked at the ceiling, I only saw darkness.

Complete darkness with not even a faint light.

I don't know if the building codes of this era, or the laws that require emergency lights to be installed in buildings of a certain size, still exist.

If you've designed a completely enclosed room, I think it's normal to have at least an emergency light.

This is a matter of common sense before legal issues.

"...?"

In the meantime, something strange caught my eye.

No, it's a little different from catching my eye.

There's no way I could see anything in a space with no light.

But I can definitely say that I saw something clearly.

Something was definitely visible in a place where nothing should be visible.

It was 'color'.

A black and black painted, black and dark color.

A color that is no different from pitch-black darkness.

Originally, the two would be the same.