In Search of Her

I continued running through the premises of the facility without a care in the world. Luckily there was no one outside guarding the entrance which I found oddly weird, but it was of no importance to me in that moment, the only thing that I needed to do was find them at all costs.

“Where are you?”

Just as I was nearing the entrance of the facility itself, a sudden sound of static clouded my mind “Hatomi?!

“Took you long enough… you idiot”

She didn’t sound mad, on the contrary she sounded relieved to know that I was here for her “Where are the both of you right now?”

“We’re in the basement. There are two floors of the basement, we’re currently in the bottom 2nd floor”

“Got it. I’ll be there in a bit”

“But be careful, there are some people guarding the floors down here”

“Thanks for the heads up. I’ll try and not push myself anymore”

“Wait… You’ve pushed yourself again?”

“…”

“Natsuo. Answer me”

“Y-Yeah… I did”

“You idiot! You could’ve killed yourself by pushing yourself anymore!”

I could tell that she was pissed off at the fact that I had done so, but even if I explained why I did so, she would simply ignore me and focus on the fact that I had pushed myself even more.

“S-Sorry… You can drill me once we get out of this place, for right now, let me do as I please”

“Fine… I’ll disconnect for now since we don’t know if there keeping track of me. Be careful and escape if you need to”

“Sorry, can’t do that. I need to save the both of you at all costs”

“You really are too nice for your own good… I’ll make sure that my punishment isn’t as bad for you”

“I’ll hold you to that”

With those parting words, she cancelled the call and I was simply left there wondering what to do next. I slowly made my way towards the back of the facility and noticed that it was lock.

“I need to get inside…”

Just when the thought crossed my mind, a sudden voice appeared in my mind. It wasn’t any of the girls, it was one of the workers.

“They’re coming this way!”

I quickly hid nearby the entrance and as the door opened, I saw an opportunity. I could do it. 

Once he had exited the door, I quickly got inside the building and let out a sigh of relief “Now… I need to get downstairs as quickly as possible”

I slowly started making my way towards the stairs leading downstairs and as I did so, voices started taking over my mind. These weren’t the voices of Hatomi or Asami-san. They were the voices I had heard the time we had came.

“Save me…” “I want to leave” “Mommy!” “Let us leave!” “Stop… Stop, please” “I want to be free!”

They were crying in pain and to top it off, they were of all ages. That alone was more then enough to make me feel disgusted. They were using people for their own pleasure of experimentation.

Did the government know about it? We’re they keeping it a secret from them as well? Did these people give permission to be experimented on or were they kidnapped and forced to be used by these researchers?

The questions kept on popping out one after the other, but there was one thing I did know that I needed to do. I needed to get the both of them out at all costs.

I arrived at the first floor of the basement and as I started going down the stairs, the voices started getting louder and louder. Once I was on the floor itself, they were taking over my mind.

Step by step, I started making my way through the floor, I walked through the floor and kept my gaze on the floor. Just by how the floor was kept, I knew for a fact that the people in the cells were going to be in horrifying condition.

It pained me to know that I couldn’t do anything for these people in the moment. I could only focus on the two people I had come for.

“Help… me”

“Let us… go”

“I want to see my family…”

Hearing these people in pain was more then enough to make me feel disgusted at these people and what they would go to for research “I’m sorry… I can’t do anything for any of you right now, but I promise to do so as soon as I can alongside Asami-san”

I continued making my way through the first floor of the basement and every time I went deeper and deeper, the smell had started getting worse and worse. I didn’t even want to know why it smelled so bad, I simply wanted away from here before anymore security guards came down.

Once I had arrived at the last set of stares, I let out a sigh of relief, calmed myself and started descending the stairs once more.

Once I was done in the 2nd floor of the basement, I looked around the cells and noticed that they were empty. I continued walking through and as I did so, I noticed two people huddled together in one of the cells.

“Hatomi…?”

“Natsuo…?”

I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I had found her, I quickly made my way towards their cell and pulled out a decoding device. The cells in this day and age had a control panel with a set code that needed to be put in to open the  door.

With the decoding device in my hand, I turned it on and started connecting it to the panel.

“Glad that you could make it. Did my picture help you?”

“No, I could only see a facility and since I needed to know for sure which one it was, I extended my powers to a hundred mile radius and managed to find out which one it was thanks to Hatomi’s message”

W-What? A hundred miles?”

I knew why Hatomi was sounding so concerned. I couldn’t handle a twenty mile radius, but even then, I was desperate to find them.

“Yeah…”

“You suffered why looking into twenty miles, a hundred miles was more then likely to have killed you!”

I knew that she was angry, but I was desperate to find them at all costs. Before I could say anything, Asami-san spoke up.

“Now now, at least he managed to find us. Once we get out of here, I’ll check to see if he’s alright. Will that clear your mind?”

The way she was so calm, I couldn’t help but wonder if she was simply putting up a front as to not make us worried.

“Fine,,,”

I let out a sigh of relief and continued looking through the device and decoding everything I could to find the code. After a few more minutes passed, I finally managed to crack it.

“Finally”

I pushed open the door cell and let out a sigh of relief, but just when I had done so, I fell to the ground. It wasn’t an attack, it was most likely my adrenaline.

The adrenaline was the only thing that had made me move my body without any problems at all and now that I had finally found them, there was no more need for the adrenaline to be coursing through my body any longer.

“Natsuo!”

Hatomi quickly caught me and stared into my eyes “S-Sorry… I guess my body has already had enough”

“You really do push yourself too much…”

“That’s a man for you~“

The way Asami-san was acting in that moment, I couldn’t help but feel relieved that she was the one who was fine. The way she joked would be more then enough to keep us two sane for the moment.

“You’d better tell me everything that you went through, Natsuo”

“I’ll tell you, don’t worry about it”

She let out a sigh of relief and before I knew it a smile appeared on her face. Asami-san helped me up and the three of us started making our way towards the exit.

Thankfully, there was no one around as we exited.

We quickly got away from the facility and arrived at Asami-san’s car and before I knew it, my brain had had enough. It wanted to rest.

“Hatomi…?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll be going to sleep for a bit… Let me know when we arrive at the house…”

“I will… I’ll thank you once we get there”

“Ok…” Before I knew it, my mind was clouded. I couldn’t think logically any longer and to top it off, everything I did in the span of a few hours was more then enough to make me feel like I had done exercises and activities for three days straight.

“You’ve done more then enough for me, Sub-power… Thank you for everything that you’ve done for me today”

“Good night…”

“Good night, Natsuo. I promise to drive a bit slow so that you can enjoy your nap~”

“Thank you…” I glanced over at Hatomi and chuckled “Good night, Hatomi…”

She let out a sigh and smiled at me once more “Good night Natsuo… Sweet dreams”

“Thanks…” Once I was seated down inside the car, I closed my eyes and fell to sleep, but before I did so, I felt something soft on my head. I opened my eyes for a bit and noticed that I was laying down on Hatomi’s lap all the while she caressed my head.

“I’ll talk to you once I feel better…”