Chapter 5: Side Story: Suzushiro Momoka's Monologue/Interlude

Suzushiro Momoka's Monologue/Interlude

I think it's fair to say my life has been smooth sailing. I entered a prestigious university, achieved my dream of doing research related to supernatural powers, and was praised by those around me for being an excellent student.

Just when I was thinking I would end my life as a researcher in graduate school, I was approached about doing joint research with a company.

The company was one of the leading pharmaceutical companies both in Japan and overseas, and was also famous for its pharmaceutical research in fields related to supernatural abilities, so I gladly accepted the offer at the time, and the joint research was indeed very meaningful.

I was scouted by someone from the company, and also recommended by friends in my graduate school lab, so I accepted the offer, thinking that now I would be able to be involved in more cutting-edge research than ever before.

Little did I know that what lay ahead was a hellish world where children's lives were crushed in pursuit of profit and knowledge.

I simply carried out the research and experiments as I was ordered. Without thinking about anything else, I administers drugs to the test subjects, who are practically invalids, just like always, destroying their bodies and minds.

This subject will also be disposed of soon, but there is nothing I can do about it; a new subject will be assigned to me, and the same thing will happen over and over again.

After a while, I was transferred to a new subject, who was not much different from the others.

Terrified by the experiment, they could only scream and plead.

That changed about a week into the experiment.

The subject suffered memory loss, which is unusual but not uncommon in this location. Memory loss can occur due to stress or as a side effect of medication.

However, that won't change what I do, and even if the subject loses her memory, she won't be able to escape from here. Even though she temporarily regains a childlike vitality, she will soon lose her mind and become like a doll again.

I thought this as I looked at subject 027, who was smiling innocently.

"Sensei! Nina didn't cry during today's experiment! Is she great? Will you praise her?"

"...That's right. You're great, Nina."

"Really?! I'm so happy!"

It had been three months since I had been put in charge of No. 027, and no matter how many experiments I conducted, the child remained unchanged.

She calls herself Nina because she is subject number 027, and she retains her cheerfulness and kindness.

Even now, she is calling out to one of the staff members who is conducting experiments that only hurt and torment her, calling him ``Sensei.''

I couldn't understand why. The experiments we were conducting were not something a child could endure on their own.

"Hey! What about you, Sensei? Will you praise me too?"

Why are you looking at me like that?

The experiments continued after that.

"Haa...fuu,...fuu...fuu"　

"Are you hot or cold?"

"Ha, phew... my body is... hot."

Nina is sweating and suffering from the side effects of the medication, so I check on her condition. Her eyes are unfocused and she has a dazed look on her face, perhaps because her consciousness is clouded.

"Is there anything else that's out of the ordinary?"

"...My body... hurts...My head hurts..."

Even though it must have been painful for her to even speak, No. 027 desperately answered my questions.

"...Sensei, I want you to...hold me..."

"..."

"...I'm sorry, ... you ... still....have .... work... but... haa... fuu,... Nina... it's okay..."

"...I still have things to do, so please ask another sensei."

"Sensei! Yesterday! It was the first time that Lena hugged me, and I was so happy..."

"...yes"

"Yes! She says that hugging me makes her feel calm! And when I hug her, I feel happy..."

"...."

"...Would you like me to give you a hug too, sensei?"

"...I won't."

...Stop it.

"Hey, sensei, are you tired?"

"...why?"

"Hmm, for some reason... you seemed less energetic than usual."

"...It's okay, don't worry about it. Go play with the others."

Stop it!

"Here you go, sensei! Here's an origami flower!"

"...."

"Well, I got some origami paper and made it with Lena. Lena made it for me and I was so happy that I wanted to give it to other sensei too."

"I'm fine. I'm sure everyone will be happy, so give it to them."

Why are you being nice to me?

"...Aren't you happy, sensei?"

Please.

"Why you don't want me to give it to you, sensei?"

Don't let those eyes reflect me.

Don't call me in an expectant voice.

"The punishment for No. 027 has been decided. As soon as the ongoing drug experiments are completed, we will conduct an experiment on administering a paranormal enhancing drug."

"Huh?... Hah?"

Katsuragi-san called me outside of work hours and told me that.

"The experiment is in a week, no changes."

“…No. 027 is one of the few people with the ability to interfere with spatial information, and even rarer among them is the ability to teleport to another place. There is still more that can be researched, right?”

"Research on teleportation has been going on for a long time. Most of the experiments we conducted on No. 027 were just rehash of previous ones, and the results were not anything new. We started researching No. 027 five years, seven months, and twelve days ago, which is quite long."

Katsuragi-san continued speaking calmly, as if he was stating an irrefutable fact.

"The medication experiments we've been conducting on No. 027 over the past few months have been slight modifications to previous ones, and we can't put this off any longer."

"Why did you tell me first?"

"Because you've been involved with No. 027 the longest."

"Then tell 027 about this."

"That won't be necessary."

I've been running away all this time.

I have turned a blind eye to reality and continued to run away from the sins I have accumulated.

Because of that child's kindness...

"A week later."

In just a week, she'll be dead; ten years, less than a third of my life.

If I didn't tell her anything, she would die in agony from the side effects of the strengthening drugs without knowing anything. But even if I told her, the outcome would be the same.

...No, this is just running away too.

I'm sure she would want to be told. Rather than ending up not knowing anything, rather than facing the fear of death, she is the kind of girl who would want to cherish her final moments with her loved ones. Nina is a girl who can't be compared to me....

"It's time for bath time number 027, follow me."

"Eh...? Is sensei the one in charge today?"

I won't run away again, because if I run away now I'll regret it for the rest of my life.

─────

I wash Nina in the bathroom; her body is smaller than her age.

Due to the effects of drug experimentation from a young age, she was robbed of proper development, and if you touch her you can see that her skin is a little rough.

It's probably even worse inside the body, as some of the side effects are permanent and not temporary.

The numbness and pain caused by nerve paralysis, the constant headaches, the discomfort and unease that lingers in her internal organs and five senses - five years had left countless invisible scars on Nina.

"Thank you, sensei."

"... No, ...thank you."

When I finished washing her body and turned off the shower, the bathroom was very quiet...and I suddenly felt scared.

I have decided that I have to tell her, but I can't find my voice.

My eyes met Nina's through the mirror, eyes that were pure and kind to the last detail....eyes that seemed to see right through me.

"Sensei, there's something you want to tell me."

"Huh...!"

"Tell me? It's something I need to know, something you felt you had to tell me, right?"

In the end, I was unable to tell her of my own will; I was pushed and guided by this child.

"...In two days, an experiment will be conducted on you using a drug called a supernatural enhancing drug."

"So far, the survival rate for these drug trials has been 0%."

Nina's expression didn't change. Even when I explained the details of the experiments to be conducted and their unreasonable reasons, she accepted everything I said as if she had known it all along.

"Hey, sensei, can I look that way?"

"Eh?... Eh, okay."

Nina said as she stood up and turned around, looking straight at me.

The crimson eyes characteristic of spatial supernatural abilities, Nina's eyes, which she looked at clearly for the first time, sparkled and reflected light like rubies, and looked more beautiful than anything he had seen until now.

"May I ask for Sensei's name?"

"...Momoka ..... Suzushiro Momoka."

"Momoka-sensei... I want you to see me off with a smile at the end."

The voice calling my name is the same as always.

"So, it's okay to cry now. And promise me that you'll say goodbye with a smile at the end."

The words she spoke to me were filled with nothing but kindness and compassion.

"...fuh, huh... huh... huh."

I had decided not to shed any tears because I knew I didn't deserve it, but I let that resolve slip away too easily.

Before I knew it, the sound of the shower was running, drowning out my voice.　　

Katsuragi-san brought Nina into the lab and had her sit in the restraint chair prepared for today.

Now I'm afraid of losing Nina, and it makes me realize just how much I cared about her.

Katsuragi-san inserts the needle of the syringe into Nina and injects the liquid, the drug that will kill Nina slowly entering her small body.

As soon as the administration was finished, Nina's restrained body began to tremble and spasm.

"Ahh! ... Ugh...?!"　

Right now, she must be feeling such pain that she cannot even make a sound, and as proof of this, her always gentle, smiling face was severely distorted.

For a moment, I thought Nina looked at me. I had to keep my promise, and even though I was thinking that, I couldn't laugh at all.

...Nina is going to die now... No, I'm going to kill her. But there's no way I can say goodbye to her with a smile, or see her off with a smile.

Even though I had decided not to run away, I remained weak and tried to look away... and saw the chair that was holding Nina being teleported away.

"……Eh?"

Nina used her supernatural power. I quickly looked at her neck and confirmed that the collar had disappeared. Then, realizing that she had been teleported collar without touching it, I looked at Katsuragi-san.

While everyone, including me, was confused, he was the only one who showed no signs of being confused and just looked at Nina.

"Sensei, please protect everyone."

One by one, Nina transported the researchers, presumably out of the facility. Watching this, I finally understood what Nina was trying to do, and that I had been used by Katsuragi-san.

Before I knew it, the only ones left in the lab were Katsuragi-san and I.

"Momoka-sensei"

"……what?"

"Thank you"

"...Yeah."

My voice was trembling as I answered, but this time I didn't look away from Nina; she was smiling gently, just like always.

"...Nina, goodbye."

"...Yeah, goodbye."

Did I keep my promise?

"Katsuragi-san, you knew this would happen."　

"I was just anticipating the possibility."　

I was talking with Katsuragi-san as we watched the children and staff being transferred one after another.

"You knew I would tell Nina, so you told me about the experiment before anyone else."　

"…the others could have tried to take out 027. Even if you hadn't, they would have, and 027 would have acted the same either way."

I feel a little irritated by his usual matter-of-fact way of speaking, even though I know I have no right to do so.　

"Enforcers will be there immediately. Will it go well?"

"Physical interference with the current No. 027 is meaningless. Whether it's tranquilizer darts or real bullets, they will be transferred to the one who fired them. After a while, it will undoubtedly develop into a visual interference type. No. 27 has an extremely high level of understanding of her own supernatural powers, so once that happens, it's only a matter of time. There's also a possibility that it could develop into an area domination type."

I was a little surprised that Nina's supernatural power had such potential, but at the same time, I thought to myself.

"If we had reported that this was a supernatural ability with that much potential, wouldn't they have given Nina a few more years to think about it?"

"That would not have created this situation."

"...What a cruel person."

"Oh, I guess I'm a mad scientist."

Katsuragi-san said this with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

"...Was I able to say goodbye with a smile?"

"...Only 027 knows the answer. But at least 027 was smiling after sending you off."

"……thank you"

[Suzushiro Momoka/Momoka Sensei]

She considered Nina to be somewhat special. She normally followed instructions for human experiments and was a weak person, so she not really a good person.

[Katsuragi/Mad]

He probably understood Nina's personality and supernatural powers better than Nina herself. He modified the supernatural power enhancing drug he administered to Nina to temporarily numb her sense of pain and fatigue.