Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 8 - Chapter 3.6

The video showed a golden coin. One side was engraved with a fox, the other with the moon. It was beautiful yet somewhat melancholy.

Someone was twirling the coin between their fingers. They were young fingers, but everything past their arm was off camera, so it was impossible to see who exactly the person was. They were, however, speaking in an almost singsong manner.

“Upon the tainted sorrow,

no hope nor want of anything.

Upon the tainted sorrow,

to idly dream of death.”

It was an intriguing poem. The words were not meant for anyone. They simply fell to the ground; it almost felt as if they would continue falling forever.

As the poem was being recited, the golden coin began to emit a mysterious glow.

The screen changed.

Someone was holding a glittering coin in the center of the screen, but the camera was too far away to make out their face. The only thing discernible was how oddly spacious the concrete chamber was.

The white light being emitted from the coin gradually changed into a vicious crimson until the entire screen was red.

The screen changed again.

The next video was of an observation room that looked over the large concrete chamber. One of the walls was a thick panel of Plexiglas; the chamber and the coin’s glow were visible from within.

“Confirmation of deep skill lock code within the subject. Launching protocols eight hundred and six through eight hundred and seventy-two.”

There were around a dozen researchers attending to their own calculations on this side of the Plexiglas.

“Confirming expansion of special-ability light. Gradient increase is three hundred and twenty percent over the maximum allowable value.”

“Don’t stop just yet.”

The coin’s light grew even brighter and faintly illuminated the researchers’ faces. The light began to pulsate as it turned various shades of crimson, each darker than the last, until it transformed into a pitch-black mass that swallowed the light.

“Gamma ray detector has exceeded its sensitivity limit. Internal temperatures rising.”

The space itself in the chamber began to change as well. The floor rattled as pieces peeled off and were drawn toward the coin. But before they made impact, the pieces of flooring were crushed under the gravity, then pulverized into a fine powder before disappearing. Soon the space surrounding the coin began warping.

“Visual confirmation of spatial distortion! Apparatuses two through six, ten, and fourteen have been destroyed!”

“Subject’s vitals are reaching critical levels—no, subject is now in cardiac arrest!”

The walls of the spacious test chamber were breaking away along with the floor, each piece successively crashing into the light. The room was no longer even retaining its original form.

“Abort! Begin pumping water from the emergency tank!”

All of a sudden, the space instantly contracted. The chamber itself twisted as it was drawn toward the individual with the coin.

Then came a flash of light and an impact. The screen violently shook until the Plexiglas separating the observation room and test chamber shattered into thousands of pieces and scattered everywhere. The researchers floated in midair.

There was a scream, and then the screen faded to black.