Shadows
In a certain prefecture in a certain city deep in the mountains, in a place that could be called an island in the wilderness, stood an unexpectedly modern facility: the Independent Higher Order Lifeform Research Institute.
“So, what do you want us to do?”
On the main floor in a corner of the facility, Asaka Takatou was speaking with her superior, Shiraishi, in one of the break rooms.
“My apologies, but it looks like rebuilding the underground village will be quite difficult,” he replied with a half-smile, although it didn’t feel like he was really apologizing.
“We can stay here for now, but not forever, right?”
Asaka, Yogiri, and Nikori had been moved to a meeting room on the surface. Some sort of curse had tainted the underground village, turning it into a place where people could no longer linger.
“Well, letting ΑΩ roam free here with no decent security is a huge issue.”
“He seems to be enjoying himself for now.”
It was an empty meeting room, it was all new to the boy. He didn’t seem the least bit unhappy about it. But how long would it take before he grew sick of it? It wouldn’t be a surprise if he started wandering about the facility or took an interest in the outside world.
“I don’t know. There are some rooms underground for those cooperating with us, so that would solve most of the security issues.”
“You mean the isolation cells?”
Shiraishi must have been speaking about the place where Estelle, the woman with the self-proclaimed power of being the most beautiful person in the world, was staying. But those people were treated like lab rats, so it didn’t give a great impression.
“It’s not like you’d be trapped there,” Shiraishi said.
“I guess Estelle comes and goes freely enough. But I can’t imagine the security is all that great.”
“It’s better than here on the surface. You need special clearance to get into the underground floors of the facility.”
“That didn’t stop all those weird people from warping or teleporting or whatever down there, did it?”
“Uhh...let’s put aside the issue of supernatural beings for now.”
Both the self-proclaimed angels and the King of the World had made it into the underground village, and there was also the case of that bizarre world connecting to it, so it was hard to call the place safe. But if one considered those things rare exceptions, being far enough underground did offer a degree of security.
“To be frank,” Shiraishi continued, “no matter how well-behaved ΑΩ is, letting him go free isn’t an option. You do realize that, right, Miss Takatou?”
“I don’t know. Yogiri has grown to be quite discerning. Don’t you think there’s something we can do?”
“Miss Takatou, please remember, our main purpose here is to seal away and isolate ΑΩ.”
“But there’s no real point to that, is there?”
If Yogiri wanted to, he could end the world no matter where he was. Asaka didn’t see the point of keeping him underground in the first place.
“It all comes down to ΑΩ’s whims. That’s why the higher-ups want to avoid him meeting other people as much as possible.”
Yogiri could kill anyone he didn’t like, but that wasn’t the greatest danger. The higher-ups were worried that he could turn against humanity itself.
“I don’t know who these higher-ups are, but it sounds like they’re afraid Yogiri wouldn’t take too kindly to them if they ever met.”
The people in question must have assumed that since they had evil thoughts themselves, others would be just like them.
“Ha ha ha...well, maybe they’re afraid of ΑΩ so much because they are self-aware enough to recognize their pride in treating people like animals. At any rate, him needing to remain underground isn’t a problem I can solve on my own.”
“They must trust me an awful lot, then. There’s always the possibility that he’ll hate all of humanity because of me, isn’t there?”
“They did a thorough investigation of you when you applied, of course.”
“What?! What kind of investigation?!”
“They looked into a lot of things to make sure you weren’t a spy for another organization. Maybe you’d rather not hear all the details.”
They must have investigated her to make sure she wouldn’t be a danger to them, to ensure they could safely leave ΑΩ in her care. It wasn’t hard to imagine how detailed the investigation had been.
“All right, that’s enough scary talk. What am I supposed to do with Yogiri?”
“Realistically, we’ll have to send him back underground eventually, but...for now, leaving him where he is should be fine. It will take some time to prepare a room for him down there anyway.”
As if to say that was the end of their conversation, Shiraishi got up and left the break room.
Asaka returned to the meeting room. It held a large desk, a white board, and a projector, just like any meeting room would.
“This is what the IT battlefield looks like in the business world, huh?”
Though perhaps the futons on the ground, the dog sleeping in the corner, and the elementary-school-aged boy doing homework weren’t all that normal for such a setting.
“Welcome back, Asaka!” Yogiri said, looking up as he noticed her arrival.
“Thanks.” She sat down in one of the chairs.
“I finished my homework!”
“Oh? Let’s see.”
She looked over his answers. He had gotten them all correct. Though they were problems aimed at elementary school students, they were designed to make a challenging middle school entrance test. Some of the problems would even take adults by surprise if they weren’t well-prepared.
“I guess there’s no problem with your elementary level education...”
That didn’t mean sending him to elementary school was out of the question, though. Yogiri was lacking in common sense. He had never even bought something from a store before. The kind of knowledge a person naturally acquired as they grew up was missing for him, and as long as he stayed locked up in the facility, he would have no way of growing. There were only so many things they could predict he would need to know.
It would be far better to learn in a more practical way, Asaka thought. Going outside, trying lots of things, and learning from his own failures. She couldn’t think of a better way of teaching him. But the people here don’t want that...
That’s where Asaka diverged from them. The Institute only wanted to raise him so that they could make use of him in an emergency, but she saw him as a human being. She wanted him to be independent someday.
“Hmm. If he wanted to leave, he could at any time, but...”
If he threatened to kill anyone who stopped him, he could get outside easily. He could even guarantee a certain standard of living once he left. But that would turn him into nothing more than a supernatural being who terrorized others as a matter of course. That was hardly human. There was no better word to describe such a person than “monster.”
“What’s wrong?” Yogiri asked, seeing her deep in thought.
“Nothing. It looks like they won’t be able to fix the village anytime soon, but they don’t want us staying here forever either. So I was wondering where we’d go.”
“Oh, I see.”
“But it’s nothing you need to worry about. They won’t kick us out anytime soon.”
“Okay, then. Let’s play something.” Yogiri seemed entirely unconcerned.
“Okay...ah, we do have that projector. Why don’t we try using it for some video games!”
Pulling down a screen from the ceiling, they connected the game console to the projector, then turned off the lights to better see the screen.
“Ohh! That looks really impressive! I was asking for a home theater, but if we could get some good sound here, it would be almost perf— Huh?”
“What is it?” asked Yogiri.
“I thought I saw someone in the hallway.”
The walls of the meeting room facing the hallway were covered in windows. They had lowered the blinds to block the view, but the gaps in the blinds were enough to see people walking by.
“Guess it was just my imagination. It’s too dark to see anything anyway.”
It wouldn’t take long for her to realize it hadn’t been her imagination at all.
◇ ◇ ◇
All matters involving ΑΩ were considered absolutely top secret at the Institute. So the fact that Yogiri was staying in the meeting room on the surface was also kept a secret. But there was no way to keep people from talking. Even without being told explicitly, everyone knew not to approach that part of the facility. So no one came by the room they were staying in.
Yet even so, Asaka and Yogiri occasionally noticed someone outside the windows. And those figures were starting to appear with increasing frequency. A week had passed since they had moved to the surface, and at this point, when night fell, there was almost always something in the hall.
“Okay, there’s definitely someone there! Are those the things from the village?!”
Having awoken during the night, Asaka noticed them. In the underground village, shadows had always appeared at night. If she closed the doors and windows of the mansion, they wouldn’t come inside, so after a while she had grown used to the strange apparitions, even though she didn’t know anything about them.
I thought they were ghosts tied to the location, but... But if they were showing up here, perhaps the shadows appeared wherever Yogiri was. Well, as long as they don’t come in here!
While it was unpleasant to know they were in the building, the creatures weren’t coming into the meeting room. Deciding that was good enough, Asaka went back to sleep.
◇ ◇ ◇
“You’re pretty bold to go back to sleep in that situation...”
“Well, I was scared of them at first when we were underground. But they never come inside, right? So you get used to them after a while.”
“That’s what I’m saying is bold.”
Shiraishi and Asaka were talking in the break room again. Asaka was reporting the strange happenings of late.
“The shadows have definitely been having an influence. There have been a number of sightings among the staff as well,” her supervisor noted.
“Oh, did someone get attacked?”
“There haven’t been any victims yet. At most, people have noticed vague figures in the distance or on the edges of their vision.”
“Even so, can you guys work with that kind of stuff happening around you?”
These things weren’t figments of the imagination, but actual beings. Even if they hadn’t hurt anyone yet, she couldn’t deny they were unsettling.
“I suppose since they only show up at night, if everyone finishes their work on time and goes home, they won’t be bothered by them.”
“Oh, so the employees are actually better off then. What are they anyway?”
“I have no idea. You said they always showed up in the underground village, right?”
“If you’re asking me, then that must mean you don’t know much about the situation down there.”
“I only know what’s in the reports.”
“They try to get inside the house, but they never force their way in, so maybe they’re not that strong.”
“I’m not sure about that. There are plenty of stories of monsters that can’t enter a dwelling without being invited in.”
“So what do we do?” Asaka asked.
“It’s definitely related to ΑΩ in some way... But what, indeed?”
“Well, I certainly don’t know.”
“For now, we’ll start by contacting the family.”
Though it sounded pretty fake to Asaka, there was a specific family who was responsible for putting up the barriers and constructing the underground village where they lived—the people who used to call Yogiri Lord Okakushi.
“So...wait and see, then?”
“I guess so.”
With their conversation over, Asaka got some food and headed back to the meeting room. It was almost sunset. Once it was dark, those things would appear again; it was only a matter of time. Being indoors made no difference. Even if they filled the hallway with light, the shadows would appear.
“I’m back.”
“Welcome back!” Yogiri greeted her.
They couldn’t do much cooking in the meeting room, so it was all instant food for them. At least they could manage boiling the water and pouring it into something.
“Do you know what those things outside are, Yogiri?” Asaka asked as they ate their Cup Noodles.
“No idea. They’ve always been there.”
“I feel like things are escalating somehow...”
Though she had grown used to seeing them underground, she couldn’t see them all outside when they appeared, so she didn’t know for sure. But it felt like there were more of them appearing here than before.
After finishing their meal, Asaka opened the blinds.
“Whoa!”
She was taken by surprise by the impossible sight. Countless shadows stood in the hallway. The lights were supposed to be on, but the sheer number of the things made the hallway look dark.
“Uhh, that’s a lot of ghosts. Are they playing a game or something? Actually, I don’t even know if they’re ghosts.”
“Wow, there really are a lot of them,” Yogiri commented as he came up by her side. He didn’t seem the least bit scared, just curious.
“What should we do about it? It doesn’t look like they’re doing much... Oh!”
Shiraishi had said that if the staff went home on time, there wouldn’t be any issues. But what about the security guards? Any building like this would have security guards—for a facility full of secrets that couldn’t be let out into the world, there would obviously be some on duty.
“Then again, the Institute has robots that look indistinguishable from humans, so maybe they’ve automated the security system.”
That being said, even the possibility of people being wrapped up in this seemed dangerous to her.
Asaka put an ear to the glass. Though the meeting room was mostly soundproof, she wanted to see if she could hear anything.
She thought she could hear someone screaming.
“Yogiri, do you think we’d be safe if we went outside?”
“Yeah. I’ll protect you!”
“Oh...that actually makes me worry for the sake of the shadow people for some reason... But okay. I’m afraid if someone’s out there they might be in trouble, so I want to go take a look.”
“Okay!”
Asaka and Yogiri headed for the door. Resolving herself, Asaka pulled it open. The shadows didn’t rush towards her as she had feared. If anything, it felt more like they had pulled away.
This time, she heard the scream clearly. It definitely wasn’t her imagination.
“Let’s go.”
They stepped out into the hallway. The shadows didn’t try to approach. Heading for the source of the scream, they found a man wearing a security guard uniform huddled in the corner, trembling.
“Are you okay?” Asaka asked.
“Gaaaaaah! Huh?” The man blinked in surprise, caught off guard by the sight of other people. “Uh, you, y-you’re human, right?”
“Yes. We heard you screaming, so we came over. Do you know what’s going on?”
“I have no clue...”
“Of course not. Is there anyone else here?”
“I’m the only one in this area. There should be two more in the guardroom.”
“Let’s go see how they’re doing. Come with us.”
As they walked to the guardroom, the shadows kept their distance. As they moved through the building, the shadows moved to clear a path for them.
“What are these things...?” The guard asked, but Asaka had no answer for him.
As she was considering what to do about the situation, they heard a loud boom in the distance.
“Huh? What was that? An explosion?”
“It sounded like it came from the entrance,” the guard said. He was much more familiar with the building, so he was probably right.
“I guess we can’t just ignore it...”
The three of them headed to the entrance. The room, furnished with nothing but a reception desk and a small meeting corner, was filled with scattered rubble. The glass door leading out of the building had been smashed, and the most likely culprit was standing outside.
“Huh? What is that, some sort of cosplay?” Asaka wondered out loud.
A boy who looked to be about high school age stood outside in a military uniform. Large black wings protruded from his back.
“Aha ha ha ha ha! Darkness, death, and gods! I love it! Eating all these souls is going to drive me crazy!” He was laughing. He seemed so excited that he hadn’t noticed Asaka’s group yet.
“Is he some kind of terrorist? Dammit! I always wondered what we would do if someone targeted us here...” the security guard grumbled as if regretting his assignment.
“I guess so. I don’t know what research they’re doing here, but an attack on a facility creating a biohazard that kills all the guards is a pretty common plot, isn’t it?”
“Oh? Humans?” The young man finally noticed them as they whispered amongst themselves. “Normally I would not waste my time with the likes of you...but rejoice! You shall be directly consumed by me as I rise to godhood!”
Foreseeing exactly what was about to happen, Asaka tried to warn him. “Uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“Hah. Who would want to eat an old hag like you anyway?”
“What?!” She glared at him.
“All I am interested in consuming is that kid—”
That was as far as he got before he dropped to the ground, never to move again.
◇ ◇ ◇
As they waited outside the facility, Shiraishi came running over.
“I’m glad you got here so soon. I guess you went home on time as well?” Asaka asked.
“Workplace regulations are quite strict these days.”
“Even an evil organization goes through workplace reform?”
“Putting aside the morality of what we do here, not even we can avoid changing with the times.”
“So, what exactly is going on?”
“According to the family, the shadows may be the remains of divine spirits.”
“Divine spirits?”
“I don’t know much about them. But things like gods and youkai are normally immortal.”
“I see.” Asaka felt that didn’t explain anything at all. It was so far removed from her daily life that she found it hard to care.
“Even if they die or are destroyed, they eventually come back,” Shiraishi continued. “But as that happens over and over, it wears down their souls until they begin to forget who they even are. In the end, all they want is death. They want to disappear once and for all. That’s what I heard.”
“Huh? Then they’re...”
“That’s right. They’re here hoping someone will kill them. Of course, it’s not like we can actually ask them, so this is just conjecture.”
“Why do they only come out at night? And why don’t they come inside?”
“Who knows? As I said, I don’t know that much about them. I’m not that well versed in the occult.”
“I guess not. So what about that guy with wings?”
“He was a youkai...I guess?”
“Youkai? Well, I guess there was that King of the World fellow and the angels, so it’s not that far-fetched. It sounded like he was trying to absorb something that had collected around here.”
“If people like this are going to appear where ΑΩ is, we can’t have him in a place where there is no spiritual protection at all.”
“You realize the ‘spiritual protection’ underground didn’t do anything either, right?”
“It’s still better than being on the surface,” Shiraishi insisted.
“I guess so. Can you bring those barriers up to the surface, then?”
“That would take quite some time. It wouldn’t be easy...” Shiraishi trailed off. He really seemed to want them to stay underground.
“I can kill the shadow people though, can’t I?” Yogiri asked brightly.
“Huh? Uhh...” Asaka hesitated. The creatures didn’t even seem like living things, so it was hard to say whether they were alive or not in the first place. “I guess...if they want to die, it’s okay? Maybe there’s no point, but should we try asking?”
“Okay.” Yogiri stepped into the facility. As he did, shadows immediately filled the area around him. They were definitely trying to follow him. “Anyone who wants to die, go over there.”
He pointed to his right. As he did, the shadows moved as one, going exactly where he was indicating. As Asaka and Shiraishi watched, dumbfounded, the shadows flowed forward, disappearing one by one until there were none left.
“It’s fine now, right, Asaka?”
“I guess so!” She wasn’t sure that was the case, but if they had chosen to disappear, she figured she didn’t have the right to complain.
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