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Volume 5 Trouble File First Second Half Part 2

And it was in the middle of that pointless stroll of his when he heard a silent voice, barely louder than a whisper.

「. . . . .  .ugh. . . .. .! ! ! ! 」

A soft voice, delicate and weak, that seemed to be like the flame of a candle what was about to go out at the touch of the slightest breeze. Rushing in the direction from where the voice seemed to be coming from, Izayoi rushed towards one from among the many doors lining up the long corridor and placed his hand on the doorknob. But just when he was about to to open them, his hand suddenly froze in place and refused to move forward.

「. . . . ugh. . .」

The voice that was coming from the other side of the door was quiet and weak, so it is quite possible that even if he rushes to help the voice’s owner, he might not be able to do anything to help or save them. And besides, even if he barges in there now, what is he going to do? He honestly had no idea because he was never in such a dire situation before, but he knew that rushing in without any plan at all would be just as bad as hurting the person on the other side himself. And most importantly, he has already do everything that he wanted to do in here. His purpose of witnessing the worst kind of battlefield has been achieved, so there was no need for him to be lingering here any longer than it was strictly necessary, so he should be leaving this place as fast as he can. If only he does that, he will be able to continue going on with his life despite everything that he witnessed today and all of the monsters he had slain. But if he takes yet another step forward, he felt like he was going to see something unimaginably horrible, something that is going to make him unable to turn hie eyes away and ignore it even if he wanted to do so.

Right now, as Izayoi was battling his own thoughts in the middle of an underground breeding ground that was about to collapse and be buried under the crushing mass of rock any moment now, the only sounds that could be heard were Izayoi’s frantic breaths and the grinding of his teeth against one another as well as the barely audible voice of the person at the other side of the door.

For a while, Izayoi was truly torn apart between going in to help that other person and walking away without doing anything, but when the voice beyond the door started moaning and grunting one sentence as if its owner was in extreme pain, that was the kick in the ass that Izayoi needed in order for all his hesitation to be erased.

「. . .  . . help. . . . . me. . . . .  .」

When he heard those words, spoken with a voice louder and more desperate than before, his body rushed forward without him even thinking about it. And to tell you the truth, years later, when he has become older and wiser with all the experiences that he went through. . . . .. he was still unable to tell why exactly did he do that thing back then.

He squeezed the doorknob firmly, and then swung the door open.

What he saw at the other side of them has burned itself in his memory, but also left him with a scar that he would never be able to forget about throughout the rest of his life. But even so, even if the decision that he made back then might have been the wrong one all along, he had no regrets.

Because in exchange for descending into this hell on earth that left him with a wound that he would be carrying for the rest of his life, he met the first even person whom he could genuinely call his friend.

* * *

「Well, well, well, looks like you really went and cut loose this time, eh, Izayoi?」

「. . . . Shut up, you fucking old hag.」

As Izayoi was leaning against the wall of the hospital’s corridor while hugging his one knee, a certain woman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Canaria, who was wearing a white trench coat came to his side and immediately began to poke fun at him, and when he mouthed off to her she simply laughed it off as she sat right next to him.

「You trashed that facility so badly that it completely collapsed about thirty minutes after you made your escape. And I know that I do not have to remind you about it because you probably figured that out yourself, but because this country is ravaged by non-stop conflicts, we cannot afford to go back there and dig everything back up, you know? Luckily, the same goes for anyone who might have tried to used the equipment from that facility or attempted to rebuild it.」

「. . . I see. So at the very least, that shithole and its secrets is going to stay buried in the darkness of the earth where they belong, right?」

「I hate to disappoint you, but exactly. You thrashed that place so good that it will not be possible to conduct any kind of experiments there ever again, that much is true, but as long as there will be even one survivor of that incidents, the knowledge of what they did there is going to survive as well. Not to mention that there is also a matter of that kid whom you have brought back with you from there. Now that you have decided to get yourself involved with her you are no longer in a position where you can simply ignore her and leave her behind. So, what are you gonna do about her?」

The tone of Canaria’s voice and her exact words proved that she was not blaming Izayoi for doing what he did, but at the very least she wanted to know what he intended to do about the kid that he rescued. However, since he was still just a thirteen years old brat himself, there was no way for Izayoi to know the answers to Canaria’s questions, and we was not even sure whether or not he had the strength to bear the full burden of responsibility for that selfish action of his.

However, thinking about it now, when he was finally able to calm down, he did not even want to be helping that kid in the first place, but everything happened so fast that he was unable to react to the events that were unfolding around him properly, and his body just sort of. . . . . . . . . . moved of its own accord without paying attention to what Izayoi himself thought will be the best thing to do at that time, but other than escaping the facility while carrying that kid on his back, he did not really do anything else, because all of the other procedures, like the ones related with transporting that kid to the hospital and hooking her up to a life support system, all of these things have been arranged and taken care of by Canaria herself.