mabver321: Living arrangements it is! :D
Dessert Maniac: While I was writing the chapter, I didn't realize I was putting 'seven' instead of 'six' for Eri and Nico until near the end. I missed the number in Nico's portion of the narration, but it's been fixed now. Thanks for pointing it out! :D (Nico, Eri, and Nozomi are all six. Honoka, Kotori, and Umi are five. Maki, Rin, and Hanayo are four.)
A couple of chapters will be used to develop the bunker that the characters are living in. It's a bit more advanced than the technology we have. (I think...I'm not good with technology…)
All children designated for the Tokyo Bunker are accounted for and present. Honoka, like all of her new friends, stopped in their tracks to look for the source of the echoing voice. She was still looking around curiously when one of the white walls turned into a screen, showing nothing but a flat line. I will begin going over procedures for living within the bunker. Listen carefully. Honoka realized with slight amusement that the line moved every time the voice said something. She turned to point it out to whoever was close to her-Kotori-but her friend silenced her before she could say anything. All of you should have a card that you received when you first entered the bunker. Make sure you still have it. Honoka reached into her pocket and pulled out two cards, one that belonged to her, the other she was holding onto for Yukiho. She nodded to herself and put them away again. Keep those with you at all times. Losing your card is not an option, as they cannot be replaced. Now descend the steps.
The center of the room rose, revealing the top of a spiral staircase. Honoka looked at all of the other girls in their 'bunker'-that was what the strange voice called it, right?-noting that no one else was making a move towards the stairs. But the voice had told them to go down, and in the lack of any other instruction, Honoka was more inclined to obey. She took Yukiho's hand and started towards the opening made by the raised floor. She couldn't see the bottom from the top, but she wasn't scared. "Let's go everyone!" She called out cheerfully to her friends and started down the steps with her little sister.
"We're with you, Honoka-chan." Kotori's voice came from behind her right ear.
"Y-Yeah…" Umi sounded more scared, though the girl was following her regardless. It took a few minutes of descent through the darkened stairwell before Honoka emerged in a brightly lit room not unlike the one they had just left. Except it had several hallways running in different directions from the center room. She moved aside, careful to make sure Yukiho wasn't in the way either, to allow the rest of the girls to come down. Umi and Kotori huddled by her side.
Once all the girls were inside the room, the staircase retracted into the ceiling of the room. Clearly, they weren't going back up soon. The screen appeared on one of the walls again and Honoka turned towards it. Each of you have been assigned a room within this bunker. You must share rooms. Some may have two people, some may have three. Your cards should tell you your room number. Numbers 1-7 are down the left hallway. Numbers 8-15 are down the right hallway. Check your cards now. There was a rustling noise as all of the girls pulled out their cards.
"I'm in Room 2." Honoka said, reading her card. She looked at Yukiho's as well. "Ah, but Yukiho is in Room 5. How can I take care of her if she's not in the same room as me?"
"Arisa's also in Room 5. Maybe we'll take turns keeping an eye on both of them?" Eri suggested, looking at the two cards in her own hands. "I'm in Room 3 though."
"That's a good idea." Honoka admitted. "Hey, what about everyone else? Where are you at?"
"Room 1…" Hanayo said, showing her card to Honoka.
"Me too nya! Kayo-chin and I will be together!" Rin cheered, jumping up and down with joy.
"Me too…" Maki mumbled. "I'm in Room 1...I think." Rin took Maki's hands.
"We'll have lots of fun together nya! All three of us!"
"I'm in Room 3." Nozomi and Nico said at the same time. Nico glared; Nozomi stared back evenly.
"Wow, what are the chances of that? All our rooms are super close to each other!" Honoka said cheerfully. "Ah, the screen is saying something now. Better be quiet." With difficulty, she stopped herself from making more comments and looked to the screen again. Within each room is a interface. It looks like this. A picture of a machine was shown on the screen. Each morning, you must put your arm into the interface. A red arrow appeared on screen, pointing to a part of the machine. It will print out a schedule on your arm. Follow that schedule. It will wash away during your shower. The showers are down the hallways next to the room hallways. All meals will be in the dining hall, down the hall opposite the screen. Head to your respective rooms now to receive your first schedule. The wall went blank after the message was finished.
"Rooms 1-7 are down the left, right?" Honoka asked as she cheerfully led her little group through the crowd searching for their rooms.
"Yes, that's what the screen said." Eri confirmed from the back of the group. The eleven girls tromped down the hallway directly to the left of the screen, looking up at the signs above the doors to see what room they were supposed to go into. "Here's room 5." She opened the door, revealing a rather bare room with only two beds and another door. "Arisa, this is the room you are going to be sharing with Yukiho, okay?" Her little sister nodded. Eri looked around for the interface, finally spotting it right next to the door to the hallway. "I'll help you first, but every morning from now on you have to do this yourself." The interface arm module seemed to be in a lower position than the screen had indicated, but it would be fine for the two three year olds.
"Yukiho, you watch too." Honoka said, having entered the room with her own little sister. The rest of the girls waited outside, not wanting to crowd the space. Eri lifted Arisa's right arm and put it into the hole in the interface.
Scanning. Confirmed: Ayase Arisa. Printing schedule. Arisa gasped as a stamp pressed down on her skin. When she pulled her arm back out, it now bore the activities she would have to do and the times she would have to do it at. "Now, Yukiho's turn." Eri gestured for the other toddler to come over. Once both of the girls had their schedules, they looked at their older sisters for explanation. "We'll be in different rooms, so you'll have to get the schedule in the morning by yourself. But if we'll tell you what your schedule says once we see each other. Understand?" The two girls nodded. Honoka knelt and took Yukiho's arm in her hand to see the schedule.
"All it says right now is to change outfits-probably through that other door-" Honoka pointed at the door across from the room entrance, "-and then there's nothing until dinner at seven. Shower's at eight."
"Look over there." Arisa and Yukiho looked in the direction Eri was pointing in. "Arisa, you can read a clock, right?" It was a simple wall clock, ticking the time away. Arisa nodded.
"I can tell time!" She said, looking rather proud of herself.
"That's cool! Even nee-chan can't do that yet!" Yukiho gasped.
"So when the big hand touches the seven, it's time for dinner. We'll come get you, so you don't have to worry." The two girls nodded solemnly. "We're going to our own rooms now, so go through the door and get changed." Eri closed the door to give the two girls privacy.
The nine girls split into three groups as they reached the furthest three rooms in the hallway. Honoka opened the door to the room she would be sharing with Umi and Kotori, wondering if it would be different from the room Yukiho and Arisa had. Unfortunately, it was largely the same, except that one of the beds was a bunk bed, to accommodate for three people instead of two. "I want the top bunk!" Honoka called out, climbing to the top of the ladder to look at her bed. She had begged her mother for a bunk bed before, saying that she would share a room with Yukiho to have one, but her mother had not agreed. Now she got one, and she would be sharing the room with her two most favorite people in the world.
"I'll take the bottom bunk then." Kotori said, knowing that Umi wouldn't like having a restless sleeper like Honoka above her during the night. "But we have to get the schedule first."
"Ah, right!" Honoka checked below her to make sure neither of her friends were there before hopping down from the top rung. She went into a somersault as soon as she landed, decreasing the amount of damage her legs would take. "I'll go first!" Sticking her hand into the arm module of their room interface, she waited for the stamp to come down with her schedule. Scanning. Confirmed: Kousaka Honoka. Printing schedule. The ink was still wet when she pulled her arm out of the module. Kotori went next, bravely putting her hand into the machine.
Scanning. Confirmed: Sonoda Umi. Printing schedule. By the time Umi was getting her schedule, Honoka's had dried enough to be touched without leaving a trace on her fingers. She looked at it. "It's the same as the one Yukiho got. We hafta get changed. Who wants to go in first?"
"My schedule is still wet. I have to wait." Umi said, staring at her arm as if doing so would make the ink dry faster.
"I'll go." Kotori volunteered. She walked over to the other door and pulled it open. "No peeking. That means you, Umi-chan."
"Since when have I ever done something like that?!" Umi shouted, her face bright red. Kotori stuck her tongue out teasingly, then shut the door behind her. Honoka looked between the door and Umi, then gave herself a tour of the room.
"Hey, Umi-chan! Look, look!" Honoka had found a poster on one of the walls. "It says something, but I can't read it!" She could, but she was rather lazy and wanted Umi to read it for her. Her friend came to her side to peer at the poster.
"Um…'If you...have...any….' I don't know that word yet." Umi pointed to the word in question. Honoka studied it for a few seconds.
"'Questions'. That's 'questions', Umi-chan!"
"Uh-huh...so 'if you have any questions...ask the...in-inter...interface.' ...I think." Umi turned away from the poster to stare curiously at the machine next to their room door. "What else does it do besides print schedules?"
"Dunno. Let's ask it!" Honoka trotted over to the machine.
"What else do you do besides print out schedules?" Nozomi asked the machine. The three of them had also found the poster, but Nico hadn't been interested in it. So while the black-haired girl was in the changing room, Nozomi and Eri turned their attention to the interface. No response came from the machine.
"Maybe we have to press something. Like this button?" Eri suggested, pressing a button that had the silhouette of a microphone on it.
Ask your questions. The machine intoned. Both girls were taken aback, but they soon recovered from the surprise.
"What do you do besides print out schedules?" Nozomi repeated her earlier question.
Classified.
"What does 'classified' mean?" Eri whispered to Nozomi. The purple-haired girl shrugged; she didn't know the word either. Raising her voice, Eri addressed her question to the interface.
Classified. Something confidential. The girls were more confused now, with another word that neither of them knew to think about.
"Oi, one of you two can go now." Nico stepped out of the other door, now dressed in a gray jumpsuit. "Don't say anything about my clothes until we see what they change you into." Nozomi and Eri exchanged glances with each other. The blonde walked over to the door and passed through it, shutting the door behind her.
From the main room looking in, she had thought it was nothing but a dark room. But as soon as she entered and shut the door, the room pulsed with light. A green light roved over her body, from both the front and the back, and she got the feeling that it was passing right through her clothes and scanning her body. Undress, Ayase Eri. A voice said and Eri obeyed. Now she stood without any clothing in the space which had once again become dark. These are your clothes from now on. You will receive clean ones only after a shower. Eri fumbled in the dark, then realized she had been acting too early as the clothes the voice mentioned rose from the floor on a table. She pulled on the undergarments and the jumpsuit-gray, just like Nico's-and the boots that came with the outfit. Send in the last individual in the room to get changed. Eri opened the door back to the main room. Remembering her clothes, she turned to retrieve them. But the room was already empty; her clothes were gone. At least she still had her hair tie. She made a mental note to keep it with her at all times.
"Hey, a new poster arrived!" Rin shouted as soon as Maki emerged from the dark room. The red-head had been the last to get changed, while Hanayo and Rin chatted in their bedroom.
"It wasn't there before, right?" Hanayo looked at the other poster, the one with a picture of their interface that they had been unable to read even with the three of them looking at it together. "Can anyone read it?"
"It has a picture of the clothes we're wearing nya!" Rin pointed at the image, which had arrows pointing away from the outfit.
"I can't read it…" Maki was reuniting with her teddy bear. She was grateful for not bringing it into the dark room after her original clothes had been taken away from her. "Maybe we should ask one of the nee-chans to see if they know what it says later."
"That's a good idea nya!" Rin patted her new friend roughly on the back. "What should we do for now, nya?"
"Nothing shows up before dinner at seven." Maki looked at the clock. "The long thingy is on five."
"Kayo-chin's being quiet. What's wrong, Kayo-chin?" Rin hopped onto the bottom bunk next to her childhood friend.
"I was just thinking...what if our mamas don't come back for us?"
"My mama will come back for me!" Maki shouted, making Hanayo flinch. "I'm sure she's just getting papa from the hospital and then they'll come for me!" The amount of determination in the other child's voice managed to dispel Hanayo's worry though.
"Maki-chan's right nya! Kayo-chin's mama loves Kayo-chin and Rin's mama loves Rin! They'll come get us! We just have to wait here for now nya! Like a long sleepover nya!" Hanayo giggled, feeling better with both of her roommates cheering her up.
There are around 30~40 girls in the bunker.
There's a very good reason why I put the first years in room 1, the second years in room 2, and the third years in room 3 but the little sisters in room 5. Room 4 is for another group that will make their first appearance in the next chapter. (I hope. It may not turn out that way after writing the chapter.)
Thank you for all the support on the story so far! I'll do my best on this story! :D