Alarm In Silence
"Buzz, buzz"
"Who’s calling me at this hour?"
I mean it’s normal for people to call you in the middle of the day. I held back what I was about to say, and just looked at Shōta’s face.
"Hmm... well. Huh?"
Shōta tilted his head as he looked at his screen.
"Human experimentation?"
"Huh?"
Kazuhiro who until then had not shown any interest in our conversation, looked at him.
"Are you alright?"
Keisuke made a stupid look.
"Isn't it some kind of advertisement?"
Risa asked.
"I think you are misreading the words."
I advised him to check again.
"Haha, no way. Here."
Shōta showed the screen to Risa, who was looking at Shota above the laptop in front of her.
Risa closed her laptop and stared at Shōta's cell phone screen.
"The human experimentation is about to begin. From now on, a special wave will be sent directly into the brains of all the people in Asanomiya High School. After this, no matter what happens, do not ever leave the school. Suguru Anzai."
"What is a special wave?"
Keisuke asked.
"Does it hurt?"
I tilted my head.
"Well, let’s ask the teacher later."
At the moment Minami was about to leave her seat,
"Beep."
We heard a mechanical noise from somewhere.
"Ouch!"
Then, suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head, as if a needle was pricking me.
"Wha…what is this?"
"It hurts."
The sharp pain went away quickly, but I felt a weird discomfort all over my body that I had never experienced before.
"What was that?"
I asked everyone.
"Was it an earthquake?"
Keisuke replied.
"My hands and feet feel numb."
Minami complained of symptoms similar to mine.
"I feel cold, and my body feels heavy."
Risa also answered.
It seems like the symptoms differ by people.
"Oh, I bet it is the flu, isn't it? It's cold, my hands and feet are numb, and I'm tired."
Shōta seems... as always.
"No, I suspect that's the brain-stimulating vibrations mentioned in the message. Now let's see what happens…"
Kazuhiro's eyes were usually half-open and seemed sleepy, but now they were somewhat serious, showing a sharp gaze.
Then the cell phone made that eerie sound again.
I hadn't realized it until then, but apparently, both this and the previous email are sent to all students in the school, not just Shōta's phone.
Risa mumbled in a shaky voice.
"And now, we will begin the experiment. Humans, please stay where you are."
I just stared at Kazuhiro, sitting quietly in front of me.
Then suddenly, a voice from somewhere that I could not identify as a male or female echoed through the cafeteria and perked up my ears.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Suguru Anzai. Are you enjoying your meal? This may be your last supper, so please taste it well. I have just released gas into the school grounds. It is a mustard gas that was invented by the German army during World War I. However, this is a fake I created and its killing power is not as high as the real thing. However, if you inhale too much, you will still bleed to death. To prevent gas from entering the body…"
As the words cut off, the cafeteria door was forcibly opened. What came in was a moving doll. No, a moving self.
"Confront the clone of yourselves that has just appeared in front of you. However, do not just compete in terms of fighting ability, but compete with what you are best at. For those of you who lose, I will increase the strength of the waves I keep sending to your brains and destroy them. Meanwhile, the winner should tear off one finger of your clone and swallow it. Fingers are the antidote."
Instantly, silence returned. But soon someone shouted loudly.
"Poisonous gas!"
"Oh, come on, don't be so serious. It must be some kind of joke."
"Hey, what should we do?"
Minami's voice, which is usually loud, could not be heard clearly, perhaps because of the buzz in the surroundings.
"Haha, last supper? But we are having a lunch now."
Keisuke smiled bitterly.
"Anyway, it looks like he is serious. I guess we'll have to face that clone or whatever that is for now."
"Haha, come on. Even you, Kazuhiro. What are you talking about? Hey."
Shōta grabbed Kazuhiro's shoulder with a thin smile on his face.
"Don’t you see that?"
Risa wrinkled her eyebrows and looked out the window.
"What do you mean by don't I see that?"
Keisuke looked toward where Risa was staring.
"No way…"
All six of us were looking out the window at the bizarre scene. A large number of birds were falling from the cloudy sky like rainfall. The numbers were by the hundreds.
When we looked closely, we saw that not only crows, sparrows, and pigeons, but also butterflies and cicadas were raining down.
And it quickly became enough to cover the asphalt.
"This is the gas the broadcasting was talking about earlier, isn't it?"
Minami asked in a shaky voice.
"What? Because it is called mustard, so I thought it would be tasty."
Keisuke is still talking nonsense.
"But this means we are completely trapped in this school."
Kazuhiro turned toward the cafeteria and shouted.
"Hey, Somebody! Close the vents! The gas will get inside."
"We have no choice but to do something with that clone."
Risa told us.
"But why don't we just call the police…"
I quickly pulled out my cell phone. Just as I was about to type in the number, ignoring a text message from a sender named Suguru Anzai,
"Crack!"
The screen of my cell phone cracked. No, it wasn't that the phone cracked automatically, but rather that my finger, trying to touch the screen, went through the phone.
"What, why?"
A question mark popped into my head. I am not a strong man. I would never destroy a cell phone with a single finger, for that matter.
"Apparently, it's also true about the special wave mentioned by the guy called Suguru Anzai."
Kazuhiro answered my question calmly.
"Then, that means the wave is causing me to lose control of my power?"
"If that's all it is, it's still good. Maybe they have complete control over our brains. That means that any behavior that is unfavorable to the perpetrator will be prevented."
Risa added to Kauzhiro's response.
"So never leave the school. Follow his instruction."
"So, what the guy said earlier about destroying the brain of the loser..."
"I guess it would be a piece of cake for the perpetrator."
Kazuhiro's calm statement made my heart beat faster.
"Then, we’ll die!"
Minami shouted.
"But we have a chance to survive. We just have to beat those guys."
Kazuhiro's words were cautious as always, but I certainly heard him quietly taking a very deep breath.
