LIGHTNOVELONLINE ――――Crack!
Something like a strong impact echoed through the air.
That rather unpleasant, slightly irritating sound burst forth in the direction of my hand, raised straight and swung toward somewhere—
“――――?!―!?!?”
What had sneaked in, I didn’t even realize, had just been smacked lightly by me and was now rolling powerfully on the floor. It was the face of some vague creature.
‘Ah, the light is back on.’
Looking around the now bright room, I glanced at the ceiling where the light was streaming in. The light fixture appeared completely unharmed and was still shining brightly, just as it had before.
So, the reason this room darkened earlier was presumably because that creature had covered it with its body. It seemed odd that there weren’t even emergency lights in a place like this.
‘So, what the heck is that creature…’
I looked at it rolling on the ground—no, should I say rolling? What should I call it?
Anyway, it wasn’t making any noise, but it was clearly writhing in pain. I had been trying to act as a delicate girl to get maximum cooperation from the people here.
But while I was thinking that, this thing had come in and started making the room darker. Whatever its intent was, as it got closer to me…
My instincts kicked in, and before I knew it, my hand shot out.
‘…Oops, I must’ve miscalibrated my strength.’
Seeing the creature still writhing in what looked like quite a bit of pain—even after I struck it with my hand edge instead of a fist and definitely not intending to kill—it was a bit worrying.
I thought it was about the size of a large dog, so I wasn’t being overly gentle, but…
Well, considering this might be a sort of protection center, it could be that hitting it in the first place was the wrong move.
It might not have been trying to bite or devour me at all; it could’ve just been trying to show affection.
You know, like licking my face or rubbing its head against me, roughly like those things.
‘Though, it doesn’t look like it has a tongue to lick anyone…’
That thing was still squirming on the floor.
It didn’t look like a beast or an insect; it was just a squishy, shadowy blob.
It had a form I’d never seen in this world, let alone the other dimensions I’d traversed.
But that said, I wasn’t unfamiliar with seeing rare creatures, so I approached it with an open mind.
Step by step.
As I moved forward, something that looked like a shadow tried to flee from me.
Of course, when I approached, it moved as if it were a wounded animal trying to escape.
However, I didn’t want to chase it around and scare it more, so I quickly dashed forward and began lifting it to prevent its escape.
“――――!!?!”
What was stuck to the floor was now lifted up by my hand into the air.
It felt more like lifting a thin sheet of paper rolled up into hundreds of layers than a slime.
The thing lifted seemed panicked as it twisted its body trying to break free from my grip, but unfortunately, I was stronger than it looked.
‘This little guy just can’t stay still, can it?’
Perhaps it was to be expected. Even the tamest puppy would react similarly if you suddenly slapped its face on their first meet-up.
Lucky for me, it didn’t seem like it was going to bite me to death.
Of course, the little shadow creeping toward me without caution had some responsibility in this too, but it was still strange to blame a mute creature for its actions.
In the end, I was the one who had to calm it down.
‘The problem is, how do I calm it down…?’
Talking… obviously wouldn’t work.
And even if it did, I had to keep up the “memory-loss fragile mute girl” act, which meant I couldn’t speak at all.
Naturally, as soon as I opened my mouth, any hidden cameras would record my voice, and the moment that happened, my amnesia act would be blown to bits.
Of course, it wouldn’t be tough to secretly break those cameras—but if one just happened to break down out of the blue, someone in this place might find it odd.
Still, as I had been repeating since earlier, I didn’t want to cause any trouble in my hometown.
So until I escaped this facility, I had to pretend to be good and serene.
‘Looks like there’s no way around it.’
Trying to use physical force to teach hierarchies in a situation like this would likely backfire.
If it were about training a pet, it could work, but in a situation where I was trying to calm a fleeing creature, the opposite was true.
Even though I still didn’t know what this creature really was, and even if what it tried to do to me was malicious…
If my assumption was correct, this creature probably came from another dimension and, during the process, lost its home and was now being sheltered far away.
As a fellow who lost their place to return, I didn’t want to instill further anxiety in it.
Struggling to escape my grip, it continued writhing and I adjusted it to fit my view.
With a being so indistinguishable, I locked eyes with whatever counted as its eyes and then carefully pulled it close, regulating my strength to avoid causing it any harm.
I could feel it wriggling frantically and fighting in my embrace.
It was biting, headbutting, scratching, and gnawing.
Though it didn’t have claws or teeth, thinking about the unidentified attack it was raining on me made the descriptors feel oddly cute.
“Yes, yes. Good little thing.”
This massive bundle of power could have swallowed me whole.
Despite its efforts to suck me in completely, I continued to pet it without concern.
It fought back for a while but eventually seemed to tire out, and it started to calm down.
At last, once it grew completely quiet, I gently released it from my embrace.
It seemed somewhat calmed, and I figured that holding it longer would only feel suffocating.
Now returned to the ground, it started to absorb back into the floor.
On the surface, it looked exactly like a squirming shadow.
“――――――”
Having separated from me, it seemed as though it was looking at me.
It turned in my direction with a part that I couldn’t even distinguish as a face, then turned around without reacting and began to slip away through a crack in the door.
‘Did it just leave…?’
For something I put so much effort into calming down, it had a pretty unemotional response.
But well, I didn’t feel particularly disappointed.
Craving affection for a creature I wouldn’t raise was a rather meaningless endeavor.
Plus, if we were in the same facility, it wouldn’t be too hard to meet again.
Especially seeing how easily some unidentified creature had broken into my room.
By the way, it’s a creature not much influenced by physical interference—
Honestly, I was a little shocked.
Having never seen anything like it in my past life, it caught me off guard.
But given the nature of my hometown, where magic isn’t exactly a thing, a creature with such attributes would surely be quite complicated to handle.
At the very least, it wouldn’t seem safe enough to be left unrestricted in a protection facility…
…Wow, the science around here seems incredibly advanced.
As I simply tried to estimate the drastically different outside scenery, I started to ponder again whether I could adapt to my hometown.
―――Thud
A human seemingly popped out from the black shadow.
Completely bare from head to toe, just as they are born.
Humans, who appeared to be passed out, were bouncing out like they were being expelled from shadows.
―――Thud
The shadow lurched, spewing out everything it had swallowed.
It looked almost like it was vomiting.
What it just experienced, the things it faced, the encounters it had—all these were totally foreign to the shadow.
It was feeling nausea for the very first time in its existence.
―――Thud
It felt sick.
Being touched by something, being overpowered by a tiny being, being unable to break free no matter how hard it tried—none of it was anything it had ever experienced, and they were displeasing sensations.
―――Thud
But what bothered it the most was the final encounter.
The feeling of being covered by the little blob’s body—the unfamiliar and disgusting warmth it felt.
It recognized that feeling.
It felt it every time from the intense something floating in the sky that made it weak and slow.
Thus that little creature’s humiliation drove it to flee for its life, despite its pride being severely wounded.
―――Thud
However, something felt different this time.
New emotions stirred within, unlike when it faced the floating thing in the sky.
But the shadow, not wanting to learn more or discover what it meant, continued to endure the nauseating sensation as it crawled away from the light maze it despised.
Thud, as the last human, who had lost consciousness, collided with a desk and fell.
The shadow reached the room that had imprisoned the humans and began to crawl back into the hole from which it had exited.
The blinding light enveloped it, and strength drained from its limbs.
A nauseating, disgusting, deeply hated light began to constrict it.
But, even that was now more comfortable than what it had felt earlier.
The shadow crawled in and ceased movement.
It learned fear.
And along with that, it learned another feeling, but realizing what it was would come later.
—
Report
Report on the escape incident of Abnormal Phenomenon No. 871 at Base 17
Task Force: Special Task Force Bravo-█ with additional personnel ██
On September 7th, YYYY, an escape incident occurred related to Abnormal Phenomenon No. 871.
Special Task Force Bravo-█ immediately deployed to Base 17.
Upon arrival at Base 17, some staff members were found unconscious in a naked state.
These individuals exhibited minor symptoms of memory loss and could not recall any events related to the escape incident.
Abnormal Phenomenon No. 871 was located within a damaged Isolation Room, prompting immediate repair procedures per containment protocols.
Most of the recording devices within the internal partition of Base 17 were destroyed during the escape incident, and recovery of any footage or audio recorded during that time has been deemed impossible.
A comprehensive examination of the individuals who lost consciousness within the partition is currently underway.