Chapter 25 Heavy Rain

Shujinko nodded, even though Akarui couldn’t see him.

  “Yeah, I’m sick of sitting around doing nothing. It’s been two weeks, and we still have no idea what’s going on at Helios-9. Let’s meet at the university. I’ll start looking for the truth in Professor Ichiban’s office. I know she has a hidden safe in there. There’s got to be at some clues.”

“Alright, I’ll meet you there,” Akarui said before hanging up.

Shujinko took one last look at the TV. On the screen was a press conference, with Eel Schmuck standing at the podium. Beside him was a scientist with a bandaged hand and a cast slung across his chest. The scientist stepped forward and introduced himself.

  “Hello, everyone. I am the new head of the scientist division, Dr. Kaiju. I work for Eel Schmuck, and today, we are gathered to announce that after many long years, we finally have a cure. I know the government has kept it hidden for a long time, but our planet is being consumed by crystallization. However, you can rest assured—we will stop it. The mass production of the cure will begin shortly after this announcement.”

Shujinko turned off the TV, a thought crossed his mind. 

"Crystallization? A cure? What the hell is going on? "

He grabbed his umbrella and headed out into the pouring rain. The campus was eerily quiet, the rain pounding against the empty walkways and buildings. Shujinko made his way to Professor Ichiban’s office, his footsteps echoing in the deserted halls. He found the door unlocked, which struck him as odd, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He stepped inside, the room exactly as he remembered it—neat, organized, and filled with the faint scent of her perfume.

He went straight to the bookshelf, running his fingers along the spines of the books until he found the one he was looking for. He pulled it out, revealing a hidden safe behind it.

"Here we go," he thought, entering the combination he had seen on a sticky note once before. The safe clicked open.

Inside were files, documents, and a small notebook. Shujinko’s eyes widened as he flipped through the pages. The notes were filled with diagrams, equations, and references to something called “Project Gaia” and "Compound 86." There were also mentions of “core destabilization” and “crystallization suppression.” His heart start to beat harder as he realized the magnitude of what he was holding.

Just then, the door creaked open, and Akarui stepped inside, shaking the rain off his jacket.

  “Hey, I’m here. And I have Makiko with me. So, did you find anything yet?”

Shujinko held up the notebook, his expression grim. 

“Something big. Professor Ichiban was working on something called Project Gaia. It’s connected to the planet’s core and this crystallization thing they’re talking about on the news. I didn't finish reading it all but there’s more. I mean, it's just a diary with random thoughts, but she mentioned a ‘cure,’ but it’s not what they’re saying on TV. It’s… experimental. Dangerous.”

Makiko’s eyes widened.

  “Dangerous how?”

“I don’t know yet,” Shujinko said, flipping through the pages. 

“But if this is what caused the explosion at Helios-9, then we’re in way deeper mess than we thought.”

Akarui grinned, though there was a hint of unease in his expression.

  “Well, looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us. Let’s figure this out before the world ends, yeah?”

The door to Professor Ichiban’s office swung open with a loud creak, and Kataomoi stepped inside.

  “Hey! You three again?! Isn’t there anyone else to make trouble for me? Yeah, we saw you on the cameras, sneaking in. What’s going on here? What are you doing in Ichiban’s office?”

Before any of them could respond, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. The vibrations grew stronger, rattling the shelves and sending books tumbling to the floor. Shujinko, Akarui, and Makiko exchanged panicked glances as the tremors intensified.

“What the hell is that?!” Akarui shouted, gripping the edge of the desk to steady himself.

Kataomoi’s eyes darted to the window, and his face went pale. 

“Get down!” he yelled, diving toward the others.

Through the window, they saw it—a massive, blood-red crystalline vine, as thick as a train and moving with terrifying speed, burst from the ground. The force of its emergence peeled the earth away like a carpet, sending chunks of asphalt and dirt flying in all directions. The vine slammed into the side of the building with a deafening crash, shattering windows and tearing through walls as if they were made of paper.

The room shook violently, and the ceiling groaned under the strain. More distant rumbles echoed through the air, followed by the sounds of buildings collapsing and roads being ripped apart.

“What the hell is that thing?!” Makiko screamed.

“How the hell I suppose to know?! We need to get out of here!” Kataomoi shouted, grabbing Shujinko and Akarui by their arms and pulling them toward the door.

  “Move! Now!”

They stumbled into the hallway, the ground still trembling beneath their feet. The sound of more crystalline vines erupting from the ground echoed through the building, each one closer than the last. The walls cracked, and the ceiling began to sag, threatening to collapse at any moment.

“This way!” Kataomoi yelled, leading them down the hallway toward the security room. 

“Stay close, and don’t stop for anything!”

As they ran, the building continued to shake, the crystalline vines tearing through the structure like it was made of cardboard. The air was filled with the sounds of shattering glass, crumbling concrete, and the eerie, otherworldly hum of the crystalline vines.

“What the hell is going on?!” Akarui shouted, “Is this what they were talking about on the news? The planet’s core crystallizing?!”

“I don’t know, but we’re not sticking around to find out!” Kataomoi replied, his voice strained as he pushed open the door. They stumbled into the security room, slamming the door shut behind them. Kataomoi collapsed into his chair, his hands trembling as he frantically scanned the monitors. The screens displayed a nightmarish scene of destruction and death, each one more horrifying than the last.

The first monitor showed one of his fellow guards, a man he had worked with for years, standing near a building wall. Before Kataomoi could shout a warning through the radio, a massive crystalline formation burst through the wall, slamming into the guard with brutal force. The man didn’t even have time to scream before he was crushed, his body disappearing under the jagged, blood-red crystal.

 The next monitor flickered, the feed unstable. Through the static, he saw another guard—this one impaled on a cluster of crystalline spikes. The man’s body hung limply, his face frozen in a mask of agony. The feed crackled and then went black, leaving only a blank screen.

“No… no, no, no… no, no, no, no!” Kataomoi muttered.

 He switched to another monitor, his hands shaking so badly he could barely operate the controls. This one showed a third guard, crawling desperately across the ground. The man was dragging himself forward, leaving a trail of blood behind him. His lower half was gone, torn away by the crystalline vines. Kataomoi watched in horror as the guard’s arm gave out, his body collapsing to the ground. The man didn’t move again.

One by one, the monitors turned black, each feed cutting out after displaying a new horror. A guard being swallowed by a growing crystalline mass. Another being torn apart as the vines erupted beneath him. The final monitor showed a group of guards trying to hold their ground, only to be overwhelmed as the crystalline formations surged forward, engulfing them in seconds. Then, the screen went dark.

The room was silent except for the faint hum of the remaining monitors and the sound of rain pounding against the windows. Kataomoi’s radio slipped from his hands, clattering to the floor. The sound snapped the others out of their frozen stupor.