episode_0056

While the Violets’ discussion was underway on the surface, not everyone attended. Many Violets lay around without enthusiasm, and some mechanically went to attend classes. Others were too focused on different tasks to pay attention.

Violet No. 84 belonged to the last category.

Separate from the abduction operation, there were still people waiting in the underground facility.

Violet No. 84, who had been sleeping in a crack in the underground facility wall, woke up in a daze. She was first hit by the mental shock that the school was being destroyed, and while still in a state of confusion, she received a second physical shock when No. 2 pulled the trigger on her head, causing her thoughts to briefly halt.

“Ugh…”

I roughly brushed off an unknown bug crawling on my head, unwrapped a chocolate bar, and put it in my mouth. It would be time for the consciousness shift soon.

“I’m tired…”

The scientists here look at computers and scribble on blackboards, day or night. Of course, since it was morning, they would soon go to rest.

The speaker inside the underground facility hummed. That sound was the preparatory signal before an announcement began.

Since the research building was divided into several sections, announcements were often made here. They were usually ordinary messages, like gathering for a meeting somewhere or coming for an upcoming demonstration.

However, today seemed different. I thought it was nothing and was about to close my eyes again until the shift, but then I heard something I’d never heard before.

-All personnel are to move to their respective positions. The September experiment will be conducted according to the previously announced procedures.

I was bewildered and focused on the sound.

-Entering Phase 1, overall situation is good. Continue observation.

A sharp sound was heard from down the hallway. It sounded like electric motors rotating loudly, or thousands of mice screaming simultaneously. The source of this unpleasant noise was the operating sound from the pipes—that is, the particle accelerator—installed in the facility.

-Entering Phase 2, Aetherium collision procedure initiated… Energy supply is stable.

The piercing, scream-like sound that had pricked my ears suddenly transformed into a heavy wave. Abruptly, the hallway lights began to flicker erratically.

-Artificial gate formation initiated… Connection with the second dimension complete. Spacetime stabilization procedure in progress, filter adjustment complete. Wave pattern is alpha… Proceeding as expected. Let’s focus a little more.

Suddenly, the sound stopped. Why?

-Integrated spell deployment being adjusted, output is 10% as initially set.

My eyes widened.

From the floor, a faint blue magical light began to rise like a shimmering haze. It filled the entire hallway. Particles of aether-light scattered and converged. They swayed, then stood still. They sparkled, then darkened again. Particles of light danced in the air.

Then, I felt a sensation of being sucked in somewhere. What on earth was this?

‘Eek?’

No, my body wasn’t being sucked in! My body was still inside the wall! Then what was this? What was it?!

Startled, I immediately tried to reverse-generate. At the same time, I sent a warning to my other selves outside.

「…Something’s happened! Here, right now…!」

But it was too late. A massive psychic shockwave, originating from somewhere in the facility, swallowed No. 81, us, me.

Babbling silence enveloped us. Howling stillness swallowed our minds. Screaming quietude wrapped around our entire bodies. We faded. We disappeared…

***

“Where is this?”

The Violets who opened their eyes realized they were in an empty space, stark white like snow in every direction.

“Huh? Why is No. 81 here? You’re supposed to be underground.”

“You’re right? Wait, why is No. 2 here? You were clearly outside…”

Looking around now, all Violets whose consciousnesses had been generated, from No. 1 to No. 102, were here. 102 Violets looked around, examining their surroundings.

“Where is this place? Is this even reality?”

Someone started to speak, then closed their mouth again. To anyone, this place felt excessively unrealistic from its very atmosphere. There was no smell, no discernible airflow. They felt the floor, but there was no tactile sensation. It felt as if they had fallen into an endlessly unfolding white canvas.

Inventory use was also impossible. This situation meant that this was an entirely different world.

The fortunate thing was that their consciousnesses were still connected even within this unknown space. If their connection had been severed, they would have been truly terrified.

They wandered around inside the white space for a long time, but this place even defied the laws of physics.

“We came back…!”

“Are we possessed by ghosts?”

One Violet ran hard in the opposite direction from where they were gathered. It was to check the extent and end of this place. But before they knew it, they found themselves back where the Violets were gathered.

“That’s really strange… How many hours have we been here so far?”

“I don’t know. Feels like about an hour.”

In this peculiar space, even the concept of time was indiscernible.

“What was the last thing you remember seeing?”

“No. 81 and No. 23 were observing the experiment inside. It was quite noisy.”

“Their plan is already complete? And we were swept away and died?”

“Waaah!”

A few Violets, feeling sad, slumped to the floor. The other Violets tried their best to explain the situation.

“That can’t be right. It’s only been a day since they gathered the people. It doesn’t seem like it would be over already. Besides, they said ‘10% output’. I don’t know what that means, but it’s not 100%, right?”

“Is that so? Then how long do we have to stay here?”

“Well… we don’t know.”

Since they knew nothing, there was no answer.

In this boring white space, only they were visible. Sitting still, they grew bored and restless.

The bored Violets decided to gather and play.

“Everyone, pull off a button.”

“Even amidst all this, our clothes are still intact.”

To pass the time, we formed groups of five or six and played an odd-or-even game. It was a game where you had to guess whether a button, when tossed, would land purely on heads or tails.

Of course, it wasn’t the usual odd-or-even game where you guess what’s hidden in a hand. They all knew anyway.

Since they shared thoughts, games that required thought and strategy could never be played together. So, for entertainment, they had to either act as a team or play games that relied heavily on chance to make it fun.

No. 10 tossed a button into the air.

“Heads!”

The button spun in the air and silently dropped to the floor. It was tails. The other Violets chuckled and approached No. 10.

“Come here!”

“Get her!”

-Thump thump thump!

“Ouch!”

No. 10, who had already been smacked on the back twice, pouted. Since the game relied purely on luck with no skill involved, it was common to lose repeatedly. But it was fine.

“Why! Why was it tails?!”

When No. 11 lost, No. 10, as if she hadn’t just been whining, laughed and rushed to hit No. 11.

“Ow!”

They were playing, oblivious to the time passing, when someone came up beside them and spoke.

“Let me join too…”

“Huh?”

Someone poked her in the side, so No. 15 turned her head and found a small girl standing next to her. It was a girl in a white dress. Just by her appearance, being a head shorter than them, she was unmistakably an elementary school student.

“Who are you?”

The girl answered shyly.

“My name is Violet.”

When I looked closely at her face, she resembled us. She had rabbit-like red eyes and long, flowing blonde hair. Was I ever this cute? It was fascinating.

The Violets playing the game also gradually began to look toward No. 15. It was astonishing that there was such a tiny Violet among them.

“I see, nice to meet you. I’m also a Violet. Violet No. 15. What’s your number?”

The mini Violet proudly raised her right hand and held up one index finger.

“Me? I’m No. 1!”

What on earth was that supposed to mean?

Question marks appeared in all the Violets’ minds. Violet No. 1, puzzled, approached the mini Violet.

“Hey, what are you talking about? *I’m* No. 1. Look closely!”

No. 1 rolled up her sleeve and showed the number ‘1’ written on her left arm. At the same time, the other Violets approached the girl. The mini Violet flinched, scared. Since she was wearing a sleeveless dress, her number could be checked immediately.

“Where’s your number?”

There was none. Her left arm was clean. Why?

Most importantly, her thoughts weren’t being read now. This girl, she wasn’t connected to them.

Feeling a sense of unease, they surrounded the mini Violet. They had no weapons, but they all clenched their fists, wary of her.

“No number. Are you really a ‘Violet’? You don’t seem like one of us.”

The mini Violet, who had been looking around naively, was startled when she saw her own left arm.

“It’s true!”

“Now you get it, right? Who are you?”

As they showed their threatening stance, the cowering mini Violet slowly opened her mouth.

“Actually…”

“Actually what?”

“Actually, if you want to be precise… I’m No. 0.”

The mini Violet straightened her shoulders and grinned. The earlier intimidated air was gone, and she looked at them with bright red eyes. The girl crossed her arms and stared at them arrogantly.

Everyone was dumbfounded by her attitude, which changed in the blink of an eye. She seemed to enjoy their reaction, observing them with a razor-sharp gaze and scoffing.

Meeting that bright red gaze head-on, a chill ran down their spines.

What on earth was that? Those red pupils, those eyes, they weren’t a girl’s eyes. They were a snake’s eyes. The eyes of a predator.

What are you?

“…So, Older Sister No. 1, hug me!”

The self-proclaimed No. 0, the mini Violet, suddenly hugged No. 1. I screamed out of instinctive repulsion.

“What?! Let go! Get this thing off!”

“Aw~ you don’t like me? Hug me! Hug me!”

I felt the creature struggling in my arms growing bigger and bigger. Other Violets tried to pull it off, but it wouldn’t detach. It stuck like it was glued on.

It was getting bigger. Growing. Violet No. 0 had somehow started to grow to a similar size as me.

Suddenly, the space shook.

“Gah?”

They all fell due to the tremor. The self-proclaimed Violet No. 0, clinging to No. 1, also stopped growing abruptly, perhaps due to the aftershocks. She began to scatter and disappear like foam.

“Ah, not enough time. Older Sister No. 1, no, No. 1. Later…”

Violet No. 0 lightly kissed my forehead.

The space was collapsing. They all fell once more. Like when they were sucked in, this time they surged upward. They flew.

***

The Violets snapped their eyes open in their respective places.

“Huh? Why am I here?”

No. 21, who had been listening to the class, blinked in confusion. Surrounding students were either attending class as if nothing had happened, or messing around and looking at their smartphones. As she focused, the Violet network became noisy with the sudden return.

All Violets had returned to reality.

“Gasp? We’re back!”

Violet No. 21, who had put Yurik in the car, looked around. She could see that her other selves were in the same predicament.

“How long were we in that strange space? An hour?”

「I’ll check. Huh, not even a minute has passed?」

「What? We played for ages in there!」

「It’s true. It might even be shorter than that. When we looked at the clock before we fell into that strange place, the second hand was at the 20-second mark. But now it’s around the 30-second mark.」

It felt like they had been there for a long time, but upon returning, not much time had passed. Was the place they had been in truly not reality after all?

「Do you remember anything from the end?」

When No. 1 asked, everyone answered one by one.

「The space suddenly collapsed while we were playing the odd-or-even game. Probably?」

「That’s right! I was in the middle of hitting No. 12!」

No. 1, hearing No. 10’s words, chimed in.

「You’re right, our group was also getting ready to hit No. 5. What a shame.」

They all spoke a word or two. Was that strange space a world related to the mind? It felt just like a dream.

There seemed to be no special incidents other than wandering around and playing games in there.

But they realized the Council’s experiment was terrifying. To suddenly incapacitate them, even for a short time. It was dangerous.

They should leave only the minimum personnel at the school for their clones.

***

“Um, Team Leader-nim. During the review of the wave propagation process, a peculiarity was observed. While most wave readings matched the expected reactions, some observed wave values deviated from the predicted range.”

“Explain.”

“There are roughly three cases. Two slightly exceeded the average range, though these cases barely went beyond the error margin. But the remaining one significantly exceeded the expected error margin, let alone the average. I’m not sure how to explain this…”

“Good grief, is this your first day? This is merely a temporary phenomenon that occurs at the beginning of wave propagation. There’s no need to worry about it.”

“Still…”

“I said it’s fine, didn’t I? The calculations are perfect. If you have time to look at such things, go review something else.”