[Major Flood Period — Suburban Evacuation Notice for Old Apartment Residents]
[Recently ■■■■■ (blurred text) flood control ■■■ major ■■■■■■■■ related announcement ■■]
[■■■■■ suburban old apartment areas, including Clear Spring Apartments, Higashiyama Apartments, and Shirakawa Apartments, total of 7 apartment districts ■■■■ evacuated ■■■■■■ personnel resettlement ■■■■■]
[Residents in the area will be organized for total evacuation on ■ day ■■■■■■ strictly forbidden to return privately ■■■■■]
[x year x month x day]
The damp environment had made the newspaper's ink blurry and hard to discern.
Even so, after a careful examination, Takumi and Maki roughly confirmed that it was an evacuation notice issued during a major flood.
Shirakawa Apartments.
This ruined apartment complex that had now become a place of eerie anomalies revealed, at this moment, an even older chapter of its history.
"An announcement like this… That means this apartment must have existed through at least 3 distinct periods. The earliest one was before any anomalies appeared, when this place could still interact normally with the outside world—when disasters like floods occurred, local authorities would come here to organize evacuations. Then came the second period, when anomalies existed but things remained relatively stable—the survivor group led by Kyosei developed and settled during that time, until that man named Sanchez joined forces with part of the survivors to cause destruction…"
Gazing at the stack of damp, old newspapers, Maki spoke in a low voice, her expression solemn.
"And the last period is the one we're in now—this extremely dangerous era, filled with all kinds of bizarre and eerie anomalies."
Standing beside her, Takumi finally spoke, completing the words Maki hadn't had time to finish.
"Is there any other clue in that newspaper?"
Kaguya, sitting beside the hole in the ceiling, asked at that moment.
"The text is mostly blurred. Takumi and I could only barely extract some useful information from it. And since both of us have already read quite a bit of what's on this newspaper, if there's any info contamination, continuing to read could get us both caught. Oba-san, please take a look instead."
As Maki said this, she tossed up the stack of old newspapers, and Kaguya reached out to catch it, setting it beside her.
'More clues, huh?'
She carefully opened the soaked, almost fused-together sheets that could hardly be turned anymore.
Downstairs, because of the dim lighting and the difficulty of moving while standing in the flooded water, Takumi and Maki hadn't dared to unfold the newspaper recklessly for fear of tearing it apart. So, one of them had read the front, and the other had read the back.
In the living room, Yamamoto Hiroshi, who had been silent for a while, had already stood up—no one knew what he was doing. However, Green, who was guarding the kitchen doorway and keeping an eye on the living room, signaled that everything was fine, so Kaguya temporarily ignored whatever Yamamoto Hiroshi was up to.
This newspaper… Hmm, yes, the moisture damage was too severe. The outer layer was still somewhat intact, but the inner pages were all completely stuck together, impossible to read.
Even though she was as careful as she could be, Kaguya still tore the newspaper; there was no way to open it completely without damaging the pages fused inside.
However, during this process, she quickly noticed that something was actually wrapped in the middle of the newspaper—a small plastic case.
After opening the small plastic case, what appeared inside was a sheet of white printed paper.
The same kind of printed sheet as the rule sheet Kyosei had left earlier.
Unfolding the waterproofed paper that had been specially wrapped, Kaguya first saw the line written at the top:
[Shirakawa Apartments 1st Floor Temporary Survival Rules]
A new rule sheet.
"Green, call Yamamoto-san over."
Downstairs, Takumi and Maki had already gone through the newspaper's information, and for safety reasons, they couldn't read any more text for a while. Although she could read part of it herself, this letter contained a lot of writing—possibly dangerous as well.
After some thought, Kaguya decided to have the seemingly honest Yamamoto Hiroshi help read the rule sheet.
When Yamamoto Hiroshi carefully stepped into the room, Kaguya noticed that the nearly fifty-year-old man had somehow found a small toolbox and hung several tools—screwdrivers and pliers—on his belt.
"My health isn't that good, so I can't run around like you young people. But I used to do some technical work—I know a bit about repairs. I can fix broken circuits and some simple mechanical structures. Once those two young ones come back up later, I can help you take a look at Room 204's door. Didn't you say the door lock was broken and the lock cylinder wouldn't pop out? I can check it later—maybe I can fix it."
After fully realizing the nature of the environment he was now in and regaining clarity, the man seemed to have undergone a complete change.
Kaguya didn't say much about it. She simply handed him the rule sheet, letting Yamamoto Hiroshi read the upper half while she took charge of the lower half. Then, the two of them exchanged what they had read to confirm all of its content, and finally Kaguya orally relayed the full contents of the rule sheet to Takumi and Shijō Maki waiting below.
The process was rather halting for Yamamoto Hiroshi—his memory and reading speed weren't as good as those of the younger ones, and because of his nervousness, he had to read that half-page of the rule sheet several times before finishing it properly. It made Kaguya a little anxious, worried that rereading it so many times might trigger contamination or something. Fortunately, nothing happened in the end. Perhaps it was because the documents left behind by Kyosei didn't trigger contamination, or perhaps only reading through an entire document at once would cause a problem?
"Thank you for your help, Yamamoto-san. Please go back to the living room and rest for now. We can handle the exploration here. Also, Green, your focus right now shouldn't be on us. Confirming Maeda-san's condition is what you should be doing at the moment."
Because the man was indeed a senior and had also demonstrated a useful skill, Kaguya's attitude toward Yamamoto Hiroshi was much more respectful—she displayed the kind of polite demeanor a junior in Japan would show an elder.
But Green, who had been somewhat distracted and hadn't properly kept an eye on Maeda Miwa, did not receive the same courtesy. Kaguya reprimanded him mercilessly, making the man lower his head in a flustered apology before turning his attention back to the shivering Maeda Miwa crouched in one corner of the room.
Secretly, Green couldn't help cursing under his breath.
As a petty thug from the bottom of the United States' underclass, Green had committed countless thefts, been imprisoned multiple times, and done plenty of bad things. But due to his naturally cautious and cowardly temperament, he had never killed anyone—at most, he had only cut someone's hamstring once.
Yet after entering this sacrificial game—this stage of death—he had no choice but to grovel and curry favor with several players who had entered the Dusk-level game to investigate, surviving only by playing the part of their obedient lackey and dog.
And now, in the second round of the game, he had to do the same thing all over again. There was nothing Green could do about it but feel helpless. Still, he was the kind of guy who, as long as he could survive, wouldn't even frown at the thought of licking a toilet—so he wasn't about to let something like this show on his face or affect his attitude.
However, unlike in Takumi's first operation, this time, thanks to Yamamoto Hiroshi's cooperation, Green was no longer acting as an enforcer-type figure responsible for suppression. Instead, he was mostly serving as the guard for Maeda Miwa, whose mental state seemed somewhat unstable. Naturally, his importance in the group had declined a lot in the eyes of Takumi and the others. On top of that, with his body covered in tattoos and his delinquent air making him look anything but trustworthy—with a face that all but screamed he hadn't spent many days in school and lacked the ability to read or articulate properly—he seemed even worse in comparison to Yamamoto Hiroshi. That was precisely why Kaguya had chosen Hiroshi to read the rule sheet rather than Green, and Green could clearly sense this difference in treatment.
Of course, even so, as long as he didn't do anything stupid, Green—who knew how to read the room and had a small skill or two (like lockpicking)—wouldn't be treated as an enemy or expendable by Takumi, Maki, or Kaguya. Still, feeling undervalued made him uneasy. Judging others by himself, he couldn't help wondering if Takumi, Kaguya, and the others, now united, might start to discriminate against him the same way he had once discriminated against Black people and Asians. Because of this, the anxiety in his heart only grew stronger.
Yet all of these thoughts, Green hid carefully inside, not letting anyone see through them.
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