Previously:

"..." Tokiwa looked down into the darkness of the stairwell.

"What's wrong, Tokiwa?" Akira asked. She stepped in front of him.

"There's something about this I don't like..." Tokiwa said.

"Huh?" Akira said.

"Sengoku-kun, go on up ahead… Act like you didn't notice," Tokiwa said.

"O-Okay..." Akira said, a little confused. He stepped up past her.

"..." Tokiwa pretended to take another step forward. 'You've been following after us this whole damn time...' She suddenly turned, jumped up onto the railing, and threw herself down. "It's about time you show us who you really are! You… fucking bastard!"


Chapter 25: Unexpected Discovery


"To… Tokiwa!?" Akira shouted, alarmed that she had just jumped off of the stairs.

"Huh? Tokiwa-san jumped down just now!" Rion said, alarmed.

"Why..." Yuki said, concerned.

"Sh… She said she'd found it," Akira said.

"Huh?" Rion said.

"It's the person that's been watching us the whole time! She's trying to catch them!" Akira said.

"!!" the others said.

"Let's go, too!" Akira said.

"Y-Yeah..." Rion agreed. Tokiwa landed in crouch on one knee.

'There he is!' she thought. She sprang forward, wielding her sharp stick. "Stoooooop!" Tokiwa yelled, driving the stick into her prey. "—!?" She was shocked when she realized what it was.

"Tokiwa! Did you get them?" Akira asked, rushing down the stairs with everyone else behind him.

"!" Tokiwa said. "It… It's..." She pointed at the thing she had attacked.

"Huh?" Akira said, shocked when he saw it. They were all shocked to see the mechanical arm, and then the mechanical body it was attached to. It was round, with another arm and two legs. It was very clearly a machine. "Wh… What is that? A machine?"

"..." They all stared at it.

"Just what is that… That's what Tokiwa had been feeling this entire time? That's the first time I've seen anything like that," Akira said.

"That's nothing to be surprised about!" Igarashi said.

"Huh…?" Akira said. "Igarashi-san?" The older man was wiping sweat from his face.

"Just how many machines have there been up to now? I saw them myself… Didn't you see lots of machines in the basement of the 'pyramid'?" Igarashi said.

"..." Akira remembered.

"That the legs of this robot could move on their own is weird, too. Even in my factory we used robots that automatically transported books." Igarashi said. "It was the major internet company Amazon's massive warehouse. Sendai's robots would run around and work. B-But it's the first time I've seen one functioning..."

"Why just this one…?" Akira asked as Yarai squatted down to examine the robot.

"! Look, there's a sensor in here," Yarai said, pointing the part out to the others.

"A sensor?" Akira asked.

"Like a motion detector?" Torako asked.

"Yeah, most likely it responded to us and started moving. It's a defense robot or something," Yarai said. "So it was asleep this whole time until we came along? That's likely how it had energy. Besides, there are lots of automatic motion robots that are self-charging machines. If it has a solar battery, then it doesn't have to worry about running out of energy."

"I… I see..." Miyauchi said.

"… Damn, just when we thought we'd met a survivor on this island. And it's a robot like this," Akira said. "I wonder if it could be helpful in some way? It looks like even the computer had been beaten down. Thanks to Tokiwa." Mairya and Yarai both realized something at the same time. They looked at each other.

"!?"Akira said when Yarai began tearing the robot apart. "H-Hey, what you breaking?"

"Around here…?" Yarai asked Mariya.

"A little deeper… There it is! Is this it?" Mariya said.

'Are they looking for a specific part…?' Torako wondered.

"The video, Mariya. It might have the same maker," Yarai said, pulling out the part they wanted, which had a rectangular shape and a white sticker with small words printed on it.

'The robot's HDD…?' Akira and Torako thought.

"All right, let me have it. I'll try putting it into my computer," Mariya said.

"Yeah," Yarai said, handing it over.

"H-Hey, what are you doing?" Akira asked as Mariya hooked the HDD up to his computer.

"The HDD is separated from the 'user domain' that we can ordinarily access. There's an area that's been hidden called SA," Mairya said. "All right, just like I thought, it doesn't look like it has protection," he muttered quietly to himself before continuing his explanation. "In order to operate the HDD in the SA, there's a serial number or program put in its memory… and it controls the password connected to the protection as well."

"So what? I don't get it," Akira said.

"Listen so you'll understand!" Mariya said. "The protection couldn't work with the HDD that Yarai got at the 'lighthouse' to see what was inside of it. So I'll copy the password system from the other HDD which doesn't have protection… and overwrite it onto Yarai's HDD."

"Huh? Then, you mean..." Akira said.

"That's right! If it all goes well… we might be able to see what's on the HDD that Yarai brought!"

"R-Really!" Akira exclaimed. "When will you know?"

"Hmm, that's right… This involves an important factor… It'll probably end unexpectedly early. Give me a little time," Mariya said.

"Y… Yeah… I'm leaving it to you, Mariya…!" Akira said. "Hey, what are we gonna do with the robot? It looks like it's completely destroyed."

"I'll try examining it later," Mariya said.

"Mm, so, until Mariya's job is over..." Miyauchi said.

"Should we be sticking around?" the president asked.

"No, that won't be necessary," Mariya said, standing up. "Let's continue with the search. I can work while we walk around and whatnot."

"Mariya..." Akira said.

"Understood! All right, I'll help out!" Oomori said, getting ready to work.

"Idiots should stay out of it," Mairya said.

"But to think it was a robot..." the vice president said.

"That surprised me," Yuki said.

"…" The vice-president spared one last look back at it as they continued back up the stairs.

"What should we do? Start looking from the second floor in turns?" Yuki asked.

"But, don't you feel a little weird about the third floor? Didn't Yarai-kun say that it was the third floor were the island's top people lived? Then it's better to go on ahead from the third floor and look around—" Rion said.

"No, if you're talking about being worried, I'm worried about the fourth floor," the president said.

"A mausoleum… They used an entire floor for it," the vice president said, holding her chin. "It's not just some little thing. A mausoleum above where the VIPS lived… Just what is it?"

"..." Torako was troubled. She had an idea of what it could be, if the time travel theory was correct, but she didn't want to disturb the others. Besides, she had to be wrong, right? Why would they suddenly be transported through time? It didn't make sense…

"What are we going to do? It's already the third floor," Yarai said, stopping.

"Let's see… Should we try going all the way to the fourth floor and looking around as we come down?" Akira said.

"All right, let's go on up!" Yarai said.

"Yeah," Akira said.

"..." Morita paused to peer down the hall that led off from the stairwell. "! Hang on, everyone, look over there!" he said, pointing at his discovery.

"Huh?" Akira said as he, Yarai, and Torako came over to look, too. There, at the end of the hall, a door stood open, as if inviting them in.

"The door..." Yarai said.

"Is open…?" Akira said. "Want to go in there?" he asked everyone.

"Yeah…!" Miyauchi and the president said, and the others clearly agreed.

"Mariya, what are you going to do?" Akira asked.

"I'm going to stay here. It looks like it'll be cleared soon," Mariya said, still typing away.

"Y… Yeah…?" Akira said. That was good news. The rest of them went down the hall to the open door. 'The rooms of the island's top people… Just what is in there?' They approached the open doorway cautiously. Akira looked at Rion and Yuki, who nodded, then he stuck his head out from behind the doorframe to look. It seemed like there were no nasty surprises waiting for them.

"Look, a name plate," Torako said when she noticed a plaque next to the door. "It says, 'Riaka island supervisor.'"

"It's… all the people in charge on the island!" Akira said, pulling his head back to look.

"What should we do?" the president asked.

"What, you get scared now?" Miyauchi asked.

"No choice but to go in!" Yashiro said.

"It's quite vast," Yarai said. "Let's try going in." They entered the room together. It was dark and dirty and some of the furniture was broken. A few ceiling tiles had fallen down. There didn't appear to be a bed.

"Is this a meeting room…?" Yarai said. "It's nothing but trash. Are these really the rooms of the supervisors?"

"Hmm?" Akira said, spotting some kind of tube on the ground. "This is… It looks pretty old… Is it… a flute…? Huh? This looks kind of familiar..." he said, picking it up and looking at it.

"Huh? Oh, that..." Yuki said, coming up next to him.

"Yuki!" Akira said. "You know what it is?"

"Yep, let me see it for a second," Yuki said. She held it as if she was going to play it. "Look, it's like this. It's a recorder they use in schools or whatever."

"That's right, your flute… Didn't Suzuki play one after school a lot?" Tokiwa said.

"Huh? What's that?" Yuki said, shocked and horrified, managing to turn both blue and red in the face as the same time as she pictured Suzuki contaminating her recorder.

"What did you say?" the president said, outraged on her behalf.

"Why didn't you stop it?" Yuki asked with an angry desperation. "I mean, it's got nothing to do with this..."

"A box…?" Akira said, spotting one on the floor. It looked like it had been knocked over. Some things like more recorders, action figures, a beach ball, and some shredded up book had fallen out. 'Did that recorder fall out of this box?' he wondered, picking it up. "Hmm? There's a paper clinging to the bottom of the box…" He reached in to remove it. 'What is it? From the size, I'd say it's a picture?' Akira picked it up and turned it over. "..." His eyes widened in shock. He continued to stare at the picture, unable to move. "..." His hand shook.

"Akira-kun? What's wrong?" Rion asked. "Akira-kun?"

"All right! It's cleared!" Mariya declared out in the hall.

"I said, Akira-kun!" Rion called, snapping him out of it.

"!!" Akira gasped. He looked over his shoulder at Rion.

"?" Rion said.

"Ri-Rion..." Akira said, looking startled with wide eyes.

"What's up with you making such a scary face?" Rion asked.

"Ah, well..." Akira said. "That's..." The hand holding the picture trembled. "It-It's nothing..." he said, shoving the picture into his pocket.

"Really? You're so pale," Rion said.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Akira said. 'Huh? Why did I hide it? There's no need to hide it. If I show it to everyone… No, I can't.' He had broken out in a nervous sweat. 'Why… What is a picture like this doing in a place like this?' Torako was looking back toward the door.

"Did anyone else hear Mariya-kun's voice?" Torako asked.

"Huh?" the vice president said.

"Oh, so you heard it, too," Miyauchi said. He stuck her head out the doorway and called to him. "Hey, Mariya! Did you say something just now?"

"I've finished analyzing the HDD. Call everyone, Miyauchi!" Mariya said.

"Y-Yeah, got it!" Miyauchi said. She called everyone back, and they gathered on the stairs around Mariya. On the screen of his computer was a graphic of a smilodon, with all sorts of squares of info and data that pointed at various parts of it its body. It appeared behind the full image of the smilodon was an image of it without its skin that showed its muscles and then an image of just its skeleton.

"H-How is it, Mariya-kun?" the president asked.

"What's inside of it?" Yarai asked.

"… It looks like this is the design data for the extinct animals..." Mariya said, pulling up another page with the same thing for the diatryma. He noticed the graphic of a button on his screen. "Hm? What's this button?" He clicked on it. "!" he said. "This is..."

"Huh? What…?" the vice president asked.

"It looks like they put two things on this HDD," Mairya said.

"Two…?" Yuki asked.

"Yes, the first is the blueprint… and then in order to link to it, they put something else. It seems it's what they used as production data. The extinct animal illustrated reference book! And yet this is completely the same thing as what I put into my computer!"

'!!" everyone gasped.

"W-What?" Miayuchi said.

"No wonder your information was so accurate..." Torako said.

"N… Now that I think about it, Mariya-kun said that before… the island's extinct animals are too similar to the reference book. That maybe they were created based on the reference book," Yuki said.

"Yeah! But, I never imagined they made the completely same thing," Mariya said. 'What's going on here? What's the reason for bothering to choose this reference book?'

"Hey, aren't these illustrations in the reference book… kind of like those that Miina-chan drew…?" the vice president said.

"Huh?" the president said. "N… Now you say that, when I look, they really do. The drawing's touch and whatever sort of look like hers..."

"W-What does that mean?" Miyauchi said.

"Is there any meaning in it?" Yashiro said.

"..." Mariya stared at the screen. 'Pictures that Miina drew…? They certainly do look like hers… Just what is in this reference book…?'

"..." Torkao held her chin. 'Those illustrations… probably aren't a coincidence...'

"What does this mean?" the president asked.

"I wonder if Miina-chan referenced it…?" Morita said.

"But, isn't that a little weird?" Yuki said.

"!?" Mariya gasped when he checked. "Th-This is..."

"What's wrong? Did you find something out?" Miayuchi asked.

"T… Take a look at this! Below the publication data…!" Mariya said.

"..." They all looked.

"Huh?" the president said. There it was, written in black and white: Miina Isurugi. "Miina's name…?"

"Wh… What is this..." Tokiwa said.

"What's going on here?" Morita asked.

"Why is that child's name in a place like this..." Miyauchi asked.

"Who published the book?" Torako asked.

"Let me see it for a second," Igarashi said, moving closer to have a better look. "I believe this reference book was put out by Koudansha."

"Do you know about it, Igarashi-san?" Mariya asked.

"Koudansha is Isurugi's subsidiary. If the leader is the one who dotes on his grandchildren, then he probably put his animal-loving granddaughter's name into it," Igarashi said.

"..." The others stared at him.

"Hey, Miina-chan traced the drawings in the reference book, right?" the vice-president said. "The extinct animals were the basis for the reference book. And that reference book's drawings are just like the ones that girl drew… In addition, she appears by name in the credits… That girl… does she really have nothing to do with this?"

"Does she have some kind of excuse for it?" the president said.

"That girl definitely knows something," Miyauchi said.

"What are we going to do? Go out right now and ask her?" Yashiro asked.

"B-But, Miina-san lost her memory..." Morita said.

"I don't get it. She had to be putting it on," Miyauchi said.

"Wait! More importantly, shouldn't searching the tower come first?" Yuki asked.

"Hold on, I'd like to go back to the idea that Miina-chan traced the drawings..." Torako said.

"Why?" the vice president asked.

"Because, if she was credited in the book, and the illustrations look like her drawings, which don't have the quality of having been traced… Don't you think it's more likely that the illustrations were based on her drawings, and that's the reason her name appears in the book? If her grandfather dotes on her, with how good her drawings are, it wouldn't be strange for him to use them. He would have been proud of her ability, right?"

"Wh-What!? That's just..." the vice president said with disbelief.

"… What the vice president said is true, but what Fukui said is also a possibility," Mariya said. "Sometimes certain children exhibit strange concentration abilities. They have powers that far surpass ordinary people in things like the arts and academics. They're children called 'geniuses'. If we assume Isurugi Miina is that sort of genius, then she should have been able to draw those pictures through her own effort. In other words, she didn't trace the pictures in the reference book… Then that idea is more fitting for her name being credited in the reference book. But is something like that possible? A large group the size of Isurugi's company syndicate creating a reference book based on the drawings of a ten-year-old child and creating extinct animals based on that reference book… It's a ridiculous idea! Besides, there's no reason for it…!" 'But, why does an idea like that worry me so much?'

"See, even Mariya-kun just said it was a ridiculous idea," the vice president said.

"It makes about as much sense as anything else on this island," Torako said.

"Whether she traced it or not, it's clear that girl knows something," Miyauchi said.

"You sure about that?" Torako said. "Personally, I think questioning her would be a waste of time, even if she did have her memory."

"And what makes you say that?" Miyauchi asked.

"… If I tell you, you'll think I'm crazy..." Torako said.

"In other words, you don't have a good reason!" Miyauchi said. Yarai moved to stand right behind Torako.

"Back off. We should prioritize searching. If we have confirmation, we can do it whenever. Something important might yet turn up," Yarai said. "Hey, Sengoku!" Akira didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Huh? Y-Yeah..." Akira said, finally looking at them.

"…?" Myauchi said. Everyone was wondering why he was acting strange. "What's wrong? You're acting kind of weird. Are you hurting somewhere?"

"… N-No..." Sengoku said, avoiding eye contact with a troubled expression on his face. "It's nothing..." His hand touched the photo in his pocket.

"… Sengoku…?" the president said. They were all concerned. There was a sound like something soft but heavy being dropped. Akira looked in that direction and saw Rion leaning against the wall.

"Huh?" Akira said. Everyone else looked, too.

"Ri-Rion-chan?" Oomori said anxiously as they all hurried over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Akagami!" Miyauchi said.

"Ri-Rion-chan!" Oomori said. Rion's face was red, and she seemed to be having a little trouble breathing. She was covered in sweat.

"Do you have a fever?" Torako asked, frowning with concern.

'What is this all of sudden… I don't feel good...' Rion thought. 'What is this… My body is hot and I feel faint… Oh no… I feel weak.' She slid down the wall. 'Huh… the ceiling...' She fell over onto her side, hitting the floor hard. Everyone was horrified.

"Rion!" Akira yelled.

Outside, they were still building the bonfire.

"Oof! Phew!" Takahashi said, throwing the wood she had collected onto the stack of the first bonfire. Suzuki added his next.

"I wonder if Sengoku and everyone found anything," Yamato said.

"It's a while since they went in there..." Suzuki said.

"Of course they had to have found something!" Takahashi said.

"Oof! Will this much do?" Mutou asked, adding to the second bonfire they were making.

"Yeah… Yeah, it should be enough," Seigou said.

"If we burn it all in one go, even a megatherium won't be able to get close," Kokonoe said.

"Th-That's right..." Kirino said.

"..." Segawa was holding her turtle as she looked into the distance. "Hmm?"

"!" The turtle became alarmed, as did Segawa.

"Th… Tha…" Segawa said, shaking with fear while her turtle squirmed in her hands.

"What's wrong, Saki?" Matsumoto asked. She was checking on Kurusu-sensei while Shigeno gathered firewood. Segawa let her turtle go and pointed at the thing that had disturbed her.

"Th… Th… That'!….!" Segawa said, struggling to get the words out.

"!?" Matsumoto and Shigeno exclaimed when they saw the silhouette of a giant head and neck sticking up above the trees. Everyone else saw it, too.

"A megatherium!?" Heero said, alarmed.

"But, isn't that really big…?" Quatre said nervously.

'It can't be that...' Miina thought warily, glancing at Isurugi Miina, who still had her sketchbook open to the page with the twenty ton beast.