LIGHTNOVELONLINE ‘Name: Arthur Wilson, Age: 25, Birthday: February 25th, Hometown: Dover, Delaware…’
Arthur began muttering information about himself in his mind.
It was some sort of personal diagnosis—an instant self-check to determine his mental state. The Abnormal Phenomena Management Office dealt with numerous psychological attacks from abnormal phenomena, and those facing them were bound to be affected mentally. So, rather than undergoing direct tests, it was more effective for the staff to practice a self-check method that they trained on.
‘… Doesn’t seem like anything’s wrong.’
After conducting his self-check, Arthur realized that there was mostly nothing wrong with what he remembered, and he understood that what he had just experienced didn’t count as a mental attack.
Of course, if something cute could make someone lose their mind, it could be considered an abnormal phenomenon on its own.
When he saw the girl referred to as the 19th entity, he was suddenly overwhelmed by the impulse to hug her and ruffle her hair. He didn’t dislike cute things; in fact, when it came down to it, he liked them. But he had never felt such a strong desire to dote on something like this before, so it wasn’t surprising that he closed his eyes to self-diagnose.
“Hmm? What’s going on? Have you already fallen for the 19th?”
“… No, that’s not it. Instead, why do you look so happy?”
It was annoying how his senior seemed to tease him, but sadly, Arthur couldn’t argue against it too much. His behavior just moments ago was the complete opposite of what he usually told her.
“Well, I can’t help it. I’ll give you a chance to pet her. It’s not something that comes easily, so you should be grateful.”
“No, I’m telling you to listen—”
Sophia bent down a bit, gently pulling the 19th entity in for a quick hug before showing her to Arthur. Naturally, he tried to push away his senior’s actions and ignore them, but the moment his eyes met with the 19th’s, he froze again, like a rock.
Her glistening, watery eyes, lovely chestnut hair, small stature—it was almost as if he was enchanted.
He unknowingly raised his hand toward the 19th, and just when his large hand was about to rest on her head—
“… That’s enough. She wouldn’t like it if you just touched her without permission.”
Trying to act shy, he said something that took the girl’s feelings into account and started retracting his outstretched hand.
“Without permission? The 19th would express it properly if she didn’t like it.”
“How would you know? She might be putting up with you touching her even though it’s a burden.”
“Hey, Arthur, are you jealous? Even then, reckless insults aren’t nice.”
Sophia said this in a blunt tone, but she returned the jab with an almost playful demeanor. From her viewpoint, this definitely seemed like something she could think. The 19th still hadn’t allowed her to pet her for too long, but it seemed that lately, she hadn’t shown much resistance to being touched at all.
From her perspective, Arthur’s actions looked like a little boy trying to hide his embarrassment while being upset.
‘… It doesn’t seem like that’s how he thinks, though.’
But surely, she had seen it. That time when she encouraged Arthur to try petting the girl, barely half-lidded and looking up at him with a hint of dissatisfaction.
It was undoubtedly an unspoken protest, or something with a similar meaning. And given that expression was repeated when Sophia countered him, the 19th likely wasn’t satisfied with the act of being petted either.
――vvrrr
While continuing the usual silly banter with his senior, Arthur’s security phone started vibrating.
Feeling the vibration in his pocket, he pulled out his phone with skilled motions and then began speaking to his senior, his expression hurried.
“That’s not the important part! Senior! Didn’t you hear the notification? The management office is calling for you.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I don’t know either. I had to search all over the place to find you. Just come quick!”
Sophia asked, shocked. She had no clue why she would be called by the management office.
Now, working here, it wasn’t strange to be called at any time, and given her experience with the last escape incident, she would have responded nonchalantly to the summons if it were any other day. However, today was important; she had the significant task of taking care of the 19th.
“Wait a moment. I need to take the 19th with me…”
“Take her where? To the security area? To an anomalous entity?”
“… Now that you mention it, if the management office is calling, it’s obviously outside the restricted area.”
Arthur, speaking hastily, did try to take Sophia’s hand, ready to move. However, he soon realized that the 19th couldn’t accompany them at this time.
The places that a restricted entity could go with limited outing permissions were strictly public areas only. Taking her into personal spaces or security zones wasn’t mentioned in their request.
“Arthur. Could you hold the 19th for a bit?”
“Can’t do it! Only those with proper authorization can take her out!”
Arthur shouted. The thought of doing something unauthorized made him terrified about how many incident reports he would have to write.
Even if it might have been possible, he wouldn’t have taken the 19th. He was already struggling to handle the job he had, and he had no idea what he might end up doing with the little girl next to him. He knew well that it was wisest to limit any chance for something to happen from the start.
“Why don’t you just put her back in the Isolation Room?”
He casually suggested the most straightforward and direct solution Sophia could take.
Put the 19th back in the Isolation Room and respond to the call. At least to him, it sounded like the most reasonable course of action.
“Still, I don’t know when she’d be out if she goes back in…”
“Looks like you were planning on letting her out again next time…”
But of course. Given her situation, that wasn’t an acceptable method for Sophia.
Not just this time—but even next time, she was thinking of letting the anomalous entity hang around outside. Arthur had heard a few incidents similar to this at other bases.
But seeing this unfold before his eyes—with a colleague committing such an act—he felt mentally overwhelmed.
After a few dozen seconds had passed, during which Sophia wore a troubled expression as she began contemplating something.
Arthur thought it’d already taken quite some time and was about to suggest his previous plan again when suddenly something seemed to spark in her mind, and she began speaking as if she’d found clarity.
“Oh, right! There’s that place!”
He subtly frowned at her mention of “that place.” Did she really believe he would know what that was?
There were probably hundreds of locations within this base that could be referred to as “that.”
“That? What’s ‘that’?”
“That place in the C-2 Hallway.”
After hearing her words, Arthur tried to mentally map out Base 17 but soon ended up making a face that clearly said he didn’t understand.
As far as he knew, the C-2 Hallway didn’t host anything particularly impressive or notable.
However, seeing his expression, Sophia looked at him in a frustrated manner despite having given him a specific location.
“The playroom, you know!”
And just like that, a word that shouldn’t exist in this Abnormal Phenomena Management Office slipped from her lips.
What is a playroom?
To put it plainly, it could be described as a room filled with harmless furniture for young children when their guardians step away to prevent self-harm.
But strictly speaking, the 17th base didn’t have such a room for that purpose.
And yet, surprising as it may be, among the researchers in the 17th base, it wasn’t rare to find someone who used the word “playroom.”
The reason was that what they referred to as a playroom was not the common meaning of the term, but rather a euphemism for a specific Isolation Room.
“I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
–nod nod
“Sorry. I didn’t think something like this would come up… ugh, somehow I keep apologizing today.”
–shake shake
“Really, how kind of you…”
Sophia patted the 19th’s head.
Though it felt oddly frequent today, for now, the 19th decided not to reject her touch.
For some reason, it seemed that Sophia looked quite urgent discussing something with her colleague, so even in an urgent situation, the 19th thought she would let it slide this time.
“Instead, it’s not much, but there are various things to play with here. I really hope the 19th enjoys it.”
She pointed to another door beyond within the Isolation Room.
That space was used for assessing the cognitive abilities of low-risk abnormal phenomena.
Most of it was for experiments, but among those were puzzles that ranged from simple to quite complex and equipment that required movement.
Of course, there was no need for the 19th to come here.
If she could communicate with the researchers, she wouldn’t need this place at all.
But that didn’t mean it was prohibited, and under the pretext of evaluating the 19th’s cognitive abilities, Sophia decided to take her here to buy time until she returned to the Isolation Room.
After all, it seemed much better than just sitting alone in the empty Isolation Room.
‘Well, maybe I’ll hear about my actions later…’
Certainly, how quickly this use of the Isolation Room was proceeding, along with the measures for temporary usage that might be questioned later, left some potential for scrutiny.
However, that was about it.
This action wasn’t exactly a breach of established protocols or safety guidelines, so it could be treated as acceptable, even justified.
She even remembered that a few years ago this room had been used as a playground for certain abnormal phenomena, allowing her to leave the 19th here without further worries.
“Senior, it’s about time—”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Realizing the time limit was approaching, Arthur pulled on Sophia’s arm.
With no other choice, she followed his lead and began to exit the Isolation Room.
“Then I’ll be right back. I promise!”
Waving at the 19th, she assured her return.
After the sound of machinery whirring around, the weighty door with futuristic design slammed shut behind her.
Left alone in the Isolation Room, the 19th looked around in discomfort.
‘Even so, I think I’ve outgrown the age for playing in a playroom.’
That wasn’t wrong.
Her mental age had kept pace with her physical form and she did consider herself to have quite a youthful mindset, yet still, she felt considerable embarrassment about playing in a place called a playroom.
She hadn’t been paying close attention to her own and her colleague’s conversation as she reminisced about the familiar scenery of her hometown, but she had certainly registered that this was a playroom.
‘Even in a protective center, is it really necessary to build a playroom in a place like this?’
Staring at the identical mechanical door of her Isolation Room, 19th pondered this and then shrugged, thinking it could be just the way it is.
After all, it wasn’t odd to place a small stray dog in a cage, right?
Equating herself to a dog was a bit much, but just like that little one who had come into her room before, if it was a facility meant to protect things from beyond dimensions, having security measures like this didn’t seem unreasonable at all.
‘Then, I wonder if there’s someone else inside.’
Just before grabbing the more ordinary-looking doorknob, the 19th entertained that thought.
After all, unlike the room she inhabited, the playroom was more of a public area where many might congregate, wasn’t it?
Especially considering the purpose she guessed the facility served, it was virtually certain someone was inside.
‘Oh well, I’ll find out once I go in.’
But frankly, it didn’t matter.
Whatever it was, she could just face it when the time came.
After all, standing there doing nothing wouldn’t yield any changes, so the 19th opened the door in front of her without hesitation and stepped inside.
What lay before the 19th was a sight that felt endless compared to the size of the room seen from outside, filled with something geometric that entirely disregarded the laws of physics.
An undeniably unique scenery stretched out that could never be considered of this world.
‘…Wow.’
A heartfelt exclamation of awe escaped her.
The playroom she remembered was undoubtedly a space where young children played with soft balls and slides, yet what was unfolding before her was…something she couldn’t quite put into words, something mystical.
‘It seems technology has really advanced tremendously…’
The 19th reflected on her earlier thoughts of the playroom being childish and lost track of the closing door, being irresistibly drawn into that bizarre space.
! Emergency Alert !
Emergency triggered across Base 17
Implementing 1983-β temporary procedure
To all personnel stationed at Base 17:
An unexpected shutoff phenomenon has been detected from the 1983rd entity, “Door to the Multidimensional Maze.”
All personnel must immediately cease all movement and distance yourself from any doors nearby.
Currently, the 1983-β temporary procedure is ongoing.
Specially assigned personnel will assess the situation and will be moving throughout the base.
Assigned personnel will forcibly breach doors if necessary and will not request personnel to open any doors.
If you hear a voice asking you to open a door from the other side, immediately distance yourself from that door, covering your ears and averting your gaze.
Reminder: Specially assigned personnel will never request any doors to be opened.
All personnel must immediately cease movement and remain where you are until further instructions are provided.