In the empty corridor, Lain's footsteps echoed as he walked alone.
The dim lighting pressed on his nerves the whole way. By the time he reached the containment unit, his throat tightened—he swallowed hard, forced himself to muster courage, and stepped inside.
…
Meanwhile, Anna returned to the rest area.
Faust was seated there, notebook open, recording something, while Sif was still obsessively flipping through the training manual.
Anna sighed and walked up to Sif.
"Hey, Sif. Stop staring at that handbook. Learn from me and Faust. If you don't know something, ask—we're not going to refuse to teach you."
"Boss, I…" Sif opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say died before it left his lips. He just kept turning pages.
"You—!" Anna flared, anger rushing up as she almost reached to grab him by the collar.
But she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead she cursed under her breath.
"Fine. I'm done with you. Like I wouldn't teach you if you asked—whatever. Do what you want."
Still fuming, she stormed over to Faust and dropped into a chair with a heavy thump.
"Damn it… I'm trying to help him and he's this stubborn."
She scratched her head, thinking bitterly:
If that little brother of mine doesn't change—if he keeps that timid, shrinking personality—he's going to pay for it sooner or later. Sure, right now the company's treating us well, aside from the strict training… but what if things go wrong? Just once?
The more she thought, the angrier she got. She punched her thigh.
Forget it. I'm not thinking about it.
She crossed one leg over the other and glanced at Faust's notebook, curious about what the "Control Team Captain" was writing.
Faust was recording the first day's work log.
Location: the company's only open department—Upper Control Team.
Date: the company's first working day.
08:10 — Faust answered questions from her roommate and colleague Anna. Explaining the work procedures eased a colleague's panic. This, perhaps, is part of a captain's duties.
After the explanation, Faust received an assignment from the Manager: Insight work on Abnormality O-02-56.
Upon receiving the order, Faust moved to the target site immediately. Entering the containment unit, Faust learned the assigned target's outward appearance:
A white-feathered entity, body occasionally twitching—its exterior closely resembling a small bird.
During the work period, the Abnormality did not display obvious danger. Its behavior pattern was similar to a real bird, but Faust did not relax her guard.
Near the end of the session, due to failing to track the Abnormality's position, Faust nearly struck it. The red mass in its chest convulsed open, revealing its true nature—
a mouthpart lined with sharp teeth.
Before Faust could react, she felt liquid flowing on her face. However, the work had already ended, and the Abnormality returned to the perch inside its cell, as if what happened had only been an illusion.
Conclusion: its behavioral tendency likely involves attacking targets that attempt to attack it.
Anna stared at the detailed notes, dumbfounded.
"Uh… Faust, do you really need to write your whole process down in this much detail?"
"It is merely a minor habit," Faust replied calmly. "Good habits support Faust's thinking and learning."
She tapped the page with her pen, scanning for anything she might have missed.
Anna nodded like she'd just witnessed the habits of the genuinely brilliant.
"So your assignment was an Abnormality that looks like a harmless little bird? Compared to mine, that sounds way safer…"
In her mind, she pictured it: a small white bird… with a mouth on its belly.
Then she compared it to her own target: a huge skull pierced by a cross, floating in midair—black eye sockets that seemed to see through your soul.
…Yeah. Compared to the skull, the bird was practically a pet.
Faust glanced at Anna and spoke with a sharper weight than before.
"Anna."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Do not judge an Abnormality's danger by its appearance. And do not assume working with Abnormalities is simple."
"Our first assignment ended smoothly, but that experience has no reliable reference value for future work."
"Abnormalities are… strange. Faust does not even know whether they can be called a species."
"Their existence itself is an unknown beyond our understanding."
"All we can do is, with the Manager's support, improve ourselves as quickly as possible."
Anna's fleeting sense of luck evaporated immediately.
"…I understand."
The room fell quiet.
Faust added small details to her notes.
Anna reviewed her own work and replayed Minister Malkuth's warnings in her head.
Only the soft rustle of Sif's page-turning remained.
Then—
The iron door opened.
The sound shattered the stillness. The three in the rest area turned to look.
Lain stumbled in, leaning against the corridor wall as he lurched forward step by step.
His face was ghastly.
Blood seeped from his eyes, nose, mouth—his seven orifices.
His skin was paper-white, eyelids swollen, eyeballs veined with dense red. His expression was vacant, like someone who hadn't slept in days and was one breath away from sudden death.
Anna sprinted to him.
Sif—seeing his brother like that—dropped the handbook and rushed over too.
"LAIN! Lain! What happened to you?!"
Anna braced him, panic in her voice.
But Lain just stared forward, unseeing, as if he hadn't heard her at all.
"Lain! Lain, what's wrong?!" Sif grabbed his hands and shook him.
"DAMN IT, SIF!" Anna roared. "Look at him—stop shaking him! Help me hold him up and get him to the seats!"
Sif snapped back to himself. He moved to Lain's other side, hooked an arm under him, and together they hauled him into the rest area and lowered him onto a chair.
Anna frowned hard at how severe he looked.
"It's the same Abnormality. Why was I fine… but Lain turned into this?"
"I told him exactly how to do O-03-03."
Sif trembled as he looked at Lain's face.
"B-b-boss… Lain isn't… dead, is he?"
"Shut up!" Anna slapped him hard.
"Don't say that! I'm not letting Lain die in front of me—don't you dare say that kind of unlucky crap!"
"Relax."
Faust had approached at some point without them noticing.
She spoke evenly, almost gently:
"Each department's central room contains a healing reactor."
"It releases healing factors periodically to treat injured personnel."
"Like the wound that was on my face."
She pointed to where the scratch had been.
Anna looked closely—Faust's earlier injury really was gone.
Trusting Faust, Anna finally released her grip on Lain and stepped back, leaving space to watch and assess his condition.
....
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