Something should always remain buried
Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Archive; all characters belong to their original creators.
Chapter 3: A secret long forgotten.
As Toki comes up to check the door, she notices something. "This door is not like the other one; we can break it with our gear," said Toki as she deployed her arm gear and punched the door, causing it to cave in. With another punch, the door completely flew off from its hinges, revealing a large room inside, connected to a small metallic room at the entrance.
"I guess this metal room is for sterilization, but since the whole lab is now running on reserved energy, it's not working anymore," commented Himari as she followed the whole group into the room.
As they step through the black metal room and into the lab, they are greeted by a majestic sight as the light comes to life. A laboratory unlike anything they had seen before unfolded before their very eyes; large tubes with wires connected to them lined the walls of the lab, each as big as a normal human. In the middle of the room are various giant controllers connected to the tubes via smaller wires; behind the controllers are tables with various equipment lying on them.
"Wow, although this would be expected from a laboratory from an ancient civilization, it would be a lie if I said that I'm not impressed by it," commented Himari.
"Pan-paka-pan, a new location has been unlocked on the map; time to go exploring," said Aris as she ran away from the group with Yuuka following suit, "Wait, Aris-chan, don't run around and wait for Sensei's order."
"Everything looks to be in order and preserved condition; it seems like this place was abandoned intentionally, with the people leaving it behind no longer having any need for it," commented Ayane as she moved toward the controllers.
"Then, it means that this place doesn't have any escaped failed experiments," Takashi said with a relief expression, "we can safely explore this place without any worries."
With this in mind, everybody begins to explore the place and search for useful documents that may be left behind. "What do you think they were raising here, Sensei? From what I could see, these things are too huge for puppies or cats," questioned Himari as she moved toward one of the tubes. "I don't know Himari, but if I have to guess, these things may be used for cloning," replied Takashi.
"These controllers are definitely simple in their designs, although the technology required to carry out something like this is far more advanced than what we have in Kivotos," commented Utaha.
"You are right, Utaha-senpai. I looked around the controllers and saw they all had electronic keyboards and projectors attached. It seems like they were working with 3D interactive screens here daily," added Hibiki.
"Hey everyone, come and look at this," shouted Kotori as she opened a wardrobe on one of the tables.
As everybody focuses on the position of Kotori, she takes out a journal from the wardrobe, "Test Subjects, huh? This may be interesting," commented Himari.
After Kotori opens up the journal, the faces of every student, except Aris, Toki, and Eimi, become as red as tomatoes, with Yuuka blocking Sensei's eyes with her 2 hands. "Hey, what's the deal, Yuuka? I also want to see what the journal is about?" complained Takashi. "Nothing, nothing at all, Sensei; you can wait outside until we finish the journal, okay? I promise I will tell you whenever we are finished," Yuuka asks in a panicked tone. "Okay, I'll trust you guys and wait at the tubes," replied Takashi as he moved away from the group.
The journal is filled with drawings and pictures of various naked students with their haloes. If this wasn't found in a laboratory, the students would have thought that they had discovered some pervert's secret stash. Every paper in the journal has a depiction of a student, detailing every body part on one side and their abilities on the other.
"The girls depicted in this journal... have haloes, then that means that they are students, but how can students be listed as Test Subjects here?" questioned Ayane with a panicked expression.
"If this room is called "Raising Chamber," then this probably means that they kidnapped students from various schools and cloned them here, but the problem here is what for and how long has this been going on?" confused Yuuka.
"But this lab is from an ancient civilization pre-dating even Kivotos, how can students from Kivotos be listed as Test Subjects? Something is not adding up here," added Utaha.
"Hey, don't you think some of these girls depicting here... kinda look like us?" Kotori asks as she looks at a picture of a tall, yellow-haired girl with red eyes and a triangle halo.
"You are right; this girl can even be passed as your older sister, Kotori," commented Hibiki as she looked more closely at the girl in question.
Flipping the pages, more girls with various characteristics that resemble some of the current students begin to pop up. One girl looks like Yuuka but with elf's ears, another looks like Eimi but with short hair and without her enormous "Eimis," and another looks like a taller version of the Head Prefect of Gehenna but with a simpler halo and a tail.
"Girls from an old civilization that looks like current students? Either this is a coincidence, or...," a crazy thought crosses Himari's mind.
"What is it, Himari-onee-chan?" asked Aris.
"Uh, nothing, Aris-chan, it's only a crossing thought, and we still don't have enough evidence to prove it," replied Himari, "Let's keep searching, everyone, I feel like we are missing something here."
"You guys keep looking. I'll inform Sensei of what we found first," said Yuuka as she approached Takashi from behind, "Sensei, it seems like we've made a worrying discovery."
"What is it, Yuuka?" asked Takashi.
"According to the journal we found, it seems like the people here were doing something illegal to the students of old. The journal we found contains multiple girls with haloes listed as Test Subjects here. What's more curious was that some of the girls in the journal even resemble some of the current students," replied Yuuka
"That is definitely surprising; either girls with haloes have existed even before Kivotos or some deranged people have restarted this place and kidnapped students here," commented Takashi, "but it seems like we are still missing a lot of clues; I think it is best that we continue to search before drawing any more conclusions."
As the students and Takashi continue to rummage through the lab, many journals are also discovered, ranging from nutrient solution adjustments, the development of Test Subjects, shipment orders, and even guides on combining genetic materials from different species.
"Did everyone scour the lab?" asked Takashi.
"Yes, Sensei, it seems like this lab's focus is the creation of girls with haloes. Many materials here are related to how to create and maintain those girls until they reach maturation," said Yuuka with a hint of disgust in her voice, "however, we still don't know what's their purpose for doing something like that."
"This place is still full of mysteries, but this is a good start. We now know the objective of the people who once worked here," commented Takashi, "but if this is all this place has to offer, then I suggest we move to the other twos; we may be able to discover something new from them."
"I hope this place won't prove my theory correct," thought Himari as she followed Takashi's order and moved out of the room with everyone.
Takashi and his students are now moving to the middle hallway until they are once again faced with another steel door. "Although this door seems to be using a biometric system, it's not too study; we can break it with Toki's arm gear," commented Hibiki as she examined the door before them.
Toki once again ready her arm gear and punched the door with all her might. This time, the door flies off its hinges after only one punch, allowing the group to go deeper into the mysterious laboratory. The hallway in front of them is divided into 2 directions, with the restroom at the intersection.
"Let's split up, everyone, I know it's better to fight against unknown targets if we are together, but we've not yet encountered anything ever since we stepped into this lab, so let's cover more ground," requested Takashi.
Every student in the group nods, prompting Takashi to divide their group, "Eimi, Hibiki, Aris, Ayane, you go with Himari. Yuuka, Utaha, Toki, Kotori, you guys go with me. Does anyone have any objections?"
All students shake their heads, and the 2 groups begin to go in separate directions.
Takashi's group:
They have taken the right hallway, and they are now standing before a room called "Chief Director's room." "I guess the Chief Director may have more insights regarding this lab; let's crack it open, Toki," ordered Takashi.
"As you command, Sensei," nodded Toki as she readied her arm gear and punched through the door like it was made of wet paper, "I expected this door must be the same as the other 2, but it seems I was mistaken." Using the gear, Toki begins to grab onto the door and pull it out of its position with all her might, creating a way for the rest to go inside.
"The Director's room is huge, just as I expected," commented Yuuka.
"Come on, everyone, let's start searching for some clues," said Takashi as he and his students began examining various places.
As Takashi goes through the drawers of the Director's table, he finds a USB without any label inside the top drawer. "Hey everyone, come and look at what I found," shouted Takashi as the students in the room rushed toward him,
"Even for an advanced civilization, this USB doesn't look that different from the ones we are using right now," commented Kotori as she examined the USB
"Nevertheless, this is still useful as we can easily exploit its data. Let's take this back with us and keep searching everyone," said Takashi.
After searching, the group found 2 more USBs inside the table's drawers and a journal left behind by the Director himself.
"It seems like nothing more for us to find anymore, Sensei. This room is now completely empty," reported Toki.
"Okay, everyone, let's step outside and see how Himari's group doing," ordered Takashi.
As the group walks outside, they are greeted by Himari's group already waiting for them. "How could you let this beautiful, sickly, and genius girl wait so long, Sensei?" exclaimed Himari with a smile.
"Oh, we were busier than we thought with how much stuff the Chief Director hid away in his room. How about you?" asked Takashi.
"The room we went in was only a changing room for male and female staff, so we didn't find anything substantial. Naturally, we went back and checked the restroom but yielded no results either," replied Himari.
"I guess this leaves the other hallway unchecked. Yosh, everyone, let's see what we can find more about this place," said Takashi as he pumped his right hand up.
"You're so energetic today, Sensei. I guess you are more fit to go on an adventure instead of handling paperwork," Yuuka sighed with a smile.
Unfortunately for Takashi, but lucky for the tired students being there, the remaining rooms are just a security and a storage room, with none of them having anything worth left to discover. Without anything more to do, the group heads out of the lab to return to the surface.
"Don't be so sad, Sensei; at least we still have the USBs and a few journals to bring back with us," said Ayane as she tried to cheer up a weeping Sensei (2D doodle?).
"Aris thinks this is one of the best adventures that Aris has ever had; there are so many secret lore to learn about. Can Himari-onee-chan and Yuuka-san take Aris on an adventure like this again?" asked Aris.
"Depends on your level first, Aris. If Aris' level is not high enough, you won't be able to take on harder requests," replied Himari.
"Then Aris must focus on leveling up even more now," shouted Aris.
"What will we do with this lab in the future, Himari-san?" asked Utaha.
"I think we'll let other clubs take it from here, see if we can take some of the technology back with us for further studies," replied Himari.
"Now, let's see what you are hiding in these, Mr. Director," thought Himari as she looked at one of the USBs on her right hand.