Solnus 25. Free to Free Space, Out of Quod, Trapped in Reality, Goodbye SSW Visa 2

610 days, or 1 year, 8 months, and about 5 days before the Circumadversum Omatsuri, one night.

"Well, well, you finally realized it," a woman's voice was heard.

Four people heard the woman's voice: Minato Nakamura, Daniel Lumanbatu, Bành Đức Hải, and Guruh Dwi Cahyo.

Two of them, Bành Đức Hải and Guruh Dwi Cahyo, heard the woman's voice with their eyes open but with a seemingly blank stare.

Meanwhile, Minato Nakamura and Daniel Lumanbatu immediately responded to the woman's update.

Minato spontaneously said, "Oh, is that right, Satsuki-san?"

At the same time, Daniel Lumanbatu said, "Come and see Hai-san and Guruh-san."

A woman told Minato and Daniel, "Look at them. But it's best not to interact with them like usual. Let them calm down first."

Guruh and Hải, who had just regained consciousness, immediately remembered the owner of the voice they had just heard. Without seeing the woman's face, they were still certain that it was Satsuki Sasaki.

Hải and Guruh remembered that the woman was a police officer assigned to their neighborhood. They remembered their first interaction: when they reported a broken pelican (PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled) crossing button. They remembered that this incident occurred several years after they had worked in Wakkanai.

Hải and Guruh, whose physical condition had not yet fully recovered, pieced together their memories. “I once reported that policewoman about the damaged road facilities. It happened on… It was a few years before I returned from the hot spring on the day… Before I was locked in the octagon room…”

Suddenly, Hải and Guruh’s eyes widened. They screamed silently, screaming without uttering a word. “That’s right! That octagon room! The room I was locked in alone! Now, I can hear other people’s voices! Have I returned to my original world?!”

(000)

610 days, or 1 year, 8 months, and about 5 days before the Circumadversum Omatsuri, one night.

“Okay, so we were found on the side of the road?” Guruh asked.

Hải confirmed, “Then we were taken to the police station by Satsuki-san and another police car?”

Minato replied, "Yes, that's it."

Minato also immediately offered advice: "Tonight, I'll take you home to my apartment in my car. Leave your bikes at the police station. You can take care of them tomorrow. Or let Douga-san and another kouhai take care of them, so you can get some rest."

Daniel agreed, "Yes, I can take care of your seniors' bikes."

Besides helping his coworkers, Daniel was certainly happy to have an event he could turn into content for his YouTube channel. For this event, Daniel had already thought of a title like "My two seniors fell off their bikes at night!" He had also thought of a caption he could include in the thumbnail, such as "Are there criminals in remote parts of Japan?!"

While Daniel was distracted by the title and thumbnail for the next video, Hải and Guruh seemed to have regained their concentration.

Minato commented and offered further advice, "It's a good thing you fell on land. If it had happened in the ocean, it would have been much more dangerous." When you go out to sea, don't lose focus even a little bit."

(000)

Hải, Guntur, and Daniel were being driven to their apartment by their boss. Hải and Guntur were sitting in the second row of Minato's car, while Daniel was in the front seat next to the driver.

During the night trip, Hai and Guntur tried to explain that they had experienced interdimensional travel.

"That's right, that's right. It was like I was locked in an octagonal room. And it feels like it lasted for years," Guntur said.

Hải confirmed, "Yes, I experienced that too. There was something called a request box, wasn't there, Guru-san?"

Guruh confirmed, "Yes, that's right, that's right."

Minato and Daniel laughed, "Hahahahaha..."

Minato joked, "What kind of box is that? Doraemon box?"

Minato and Daniel laughed, "Hahahahaha..."

Minato stated his suspicion: "If you're being serious... My theory is before you fell off your bikes, you were talking about a science fiction story about a strange octagonal space. Then you fell, and the topic came to your mind when you passed out. That's probably the explanation."

Daniel said, "Yes, Sacho is right."

Hải and Guruh didn't try any longer to convince Minato and Daniel to believe their story. For a moment, the duo was silent, until Guruh had an idea and expressed it verbally.

Guruh opened the conversation again, "Maybe our story is hard to believe. Maybe we're half-imagining the octagonal space. But, Sacho and Daniel, maybe you've noticed some strange things about Hải and me these past few years?"

"Strange things?" Minato seemed to be reminiscing.

Meanwhile, Daniel, who had interacted more with Hải and Guntur, immediately commented, "I don't think it's accurate to call it strange. I think it's more fitting to call it "different," and the things that are different about Guntur-san and Hai-san are actually positive things. For example, you exercise more often and eat more nutritious food. Things like that."

Minato agreed, "Right, I agree."

Daniel added, "It would only be strange if Hải-san and Guruh-san suddenly started eating drumsticks or drinking oil. Like that."

Minato agreed, "Right, I agree."

(000)

610 days, or 1 year, 8 months, and approximately 5 days before the Circumadversum Omatsuri, it was approaching midnight.

At this time, Guruh and Hải were sitting in Guruh's room discussing their experiences and what they should do next. Everyone else in the apartment besides them was asleep.

"If we compare our memories with the football score records, along with who scored the goals and when and how they happened, then the footage we saw on television was completely real," Guruh said.

Hải stated, "Agreed. So... the octagon room is real, whether it exists in another dimension or still exists here on Earth."

Guruh said, "Correct."

Hải argued, "If it's on Earth, then I suspect government involvement."

Guruh said, “That's right. Sancho and Daniel said earlier that the first person that found us was Ms. Kitako Hasegawa, who they said was the mayor of the town across the street. Then the one who brought us in was a police officer.”

Hải said, “Government officials. If they could do things like what we experienced, I think only a government agency could. The Yakuza, or the Jinshin Baibainin, wouldn't be able to do something like that. And you definitely know what's around here.”

Guruh, staring at Hải, replied, “There's a military base nearby.”

They were silent for a moment. Then Hai commented, “I think if we report this to the police, they won't take us seriously.”

Guruh said, “That's right. Either they think we're imagining things, or there are certain police officers who know the truth but are keeping it a secret.”

Hải nodded.

Guruh added, "Moreover, our recording of the mysterious object on the beach has been deleted from our phones. If we still had that recording, maybe our story would be different."

Hải nodded. Then he picked up his laptop and said, "Ah, let's check the forum posts to see if there's any response."

Before the discussion, Hai had already tried to create a post on a forum recounting his and Guruh's stories. He was trying to find out if anyone had had a similar experience. When Hai checked, he just shrugged, sighed, and closed his eyes.

From Hải's body language, Guruh could tell he was disappointed with the results, but he still asked, "How was it?"

Hải replied, "The forum admin moved my post from the 'life experiences in Japan' section to the 'fiction' section. That's it. You probably think the same as me: even this forum and this admin are among the people who experimented on us."

Silence fell again between Hai and Guruh. Finally, Hải spoke, “Perhaps we should consider ourselves fortunate that we were still allowed to regain our consciousness and our souls.”

Guruh agreed. “You’re right. If our enemy is truly the government, there’s nothing we can do.”

Hải said, “And if we keep trying to convince people of the truth of our story, we’ll be shunned. No company will hire us. No woman will want to marry us.”

Guruh said, “You remember, we told Sacho we were interested in upgrading our visas to Specified Skilled Worker 2 visas in the fisheries sector. But with this incident, I might not be interested anymore.”

Hải agreed. “Me too. I’ll finish the rest of my contract here. After the first three years on an internship visa, I’ll now finish my Tokuteginou 1 visa. After that, I’d better go home.”