Mia looked toward the corridor and spoke in a low voice.
“They’re coming.”
“How far?”
“Still a ways off. But fast.”
Erka immediately opened the metal box.
“I’ll put it in.”
“Yeah.”
Erka picked up the bloodstained shard of glass, then paused.
“It shouldn’t touch anything else, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“You decide.”
Erka glared at me.
“You’re really no help at all.”
“That’s why you’re here.”
“Unbelievable.”
Even as she said that, her hands moved quickly.
Erka set up another support inside the box,
then fixed the bloodstained shard of glass at an angle in the side compartment.
The side with the red stain didn’t touch anything.
“Done.”
“Nice work.”
“Don’t praise me. It feels gross.”
Erka closed the box and tucked it under her arm.
I nudged the chair with the tip of my foot, pushing it back to somewhere close to its original position.
It wasn’t perfect.
A faint red stain still remained near the bottom of the doorframe.
But we had secured the important part.
The powder mixed in the blood.
The moment Kyle had still leaked out toward the human side.
Erka looked at me.
“What Kyle said just now.”
“Yeah.”
“He said room, didn’t he?”
“You heard him.”
“Then you’ve got the look of someone who’s going to that room again.”
She notices things she doesn’t need to.
“I haven’t said that yet.”
“I can see it even if you don’t.”
“That obvious?”
“Yes. With a very displeased face.”
Before long, two people in white assistant uniforms appeared at the end of the corridor.
The one in front was the guy who had taken Kyle away earlier.
The one behind him was carrying a folded white cloth and a small water bottle.
They had come to clean up.
Faster than expected.
The one in front smiled.
“You were still here.”
“What is it this time?”
“There was blood left on the doorframe.”
His gaze went to my hand,
then moved straight to the doorframe.
The spot where the red stain had been.
The spot that had grown fainter than before.
His smile stiffened ever so slightly.
He saw it.
That we had touched it first.
He didn’t immediately tell the other one to wipe it.
First, he looked at us.
My immobilized hand.
Mia beside the door.
Rine, who had stepped back toward the inside of the laboratory.
And the metal box tucked under Erka’s arm.
His gaze paused on the box for the briefest moment.
I took a step back from the doorframe.
“Go ahead and wipe it.”
The eyes of the man in front narrowed ever so slightly.
He must have thought I would stop them.
Too bad.
We’d already taken what we needed.
The white assistant uniform in the back approached the doorframe.
The cloth passed over the red mark.
Swipe.
The blood smeared, then soon disappeared.
One more time.
Swipe.
Even the red traces left between the wood grain grew faint.
The white cloth brushed over the doorframe a third time.
The red mark vanished.
The white assistant uniform in the back said,
“If any splattered inside as well, we will take care of it.”
There it is, finally.
I did not smile.
“Nothing splattered inside.”
“We will check.”
Erka responded at once.
“This is my laboratory.”
Her voice was low.
There was annoyance in it, but it didn’t tremble.
“If you wipe down the experiment table with cloths from the Sanctuary, that will make things more difficult for me.”
“There may be blood on it.”
“Then I’ll wipe it myself.”
“It would be better for the Sanctuary to handle—”
“This isn’t the Sanctuary.
This is a laboratory, and my experimental materials are here too.
If outsiders come in and touch things without the professor in charge present,
how am I supposed to know what was left on them afterward?”
Mia said quietly,
“Good.”
I looked at Mia for a moment.
“You’re pushing that here too?”
“Yeah.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Miss Lumen.”
“What?”
“We came to prevent contamination.”
“Exactly.”
Erka did not back down a single step, the metal box still tucked under her arm.
“I’m preventing contamination too by keeping you from entering.”
She was right.
Both sides were using the same word.
Contamination.
But the meanings were completely different.
For them, it was a word for erasing traces,
and for us, it was a word for protecting them.
The white assistant uniform looked inside the door once more.
The experiment table.
The glass bottles.
The dry cloth.
And the metal box tucked against Erka’s side.
“Then we will leave the inside to you, Miss Lumen.”
Then he looked at my hand.
“Student Balteureu’s examination is still pending.”
“I think I’ve heard that for the third time now.”
“It is a necessary procedure.”
“Then let’s do it later.”
“It would be best to do it now.”
“I don’t want to.”
His smile thinned a little.
“May I ask why?”
I pulled my immobilized hand farther behind my back.
“Because it hurts.”
I added,
“If you forcefully take away a student who’s in pain,
is that student safety too?”
The white assistant uniform fell silent for a moment, then smiled again.
“Then please do not put it off for too long.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“The request will be sent again.”
“You’re free to request.”
This time, he didn’t say anything more either.
Before turning around,
his gaze touched Erka’s metal box once more.
This time, a little longer.
Erka saw it too.
The two white assistant uniforms walked toward the end of the corridor.
No one moved until they had completely disappeared.
Mia spoke first.
“They’re gone.”
Rine asked cautiously,
“What will you do now?”
I didn’t answer right away.
If we followed Kyle, we’d be caught.
The Sanctuary side was already watching us.
But what Kyle had been looking for was a room.
My room.
The fact that those words had slipped out meant
Kyle’s memories might still remain in that room.
“The room.”
I said.
Erka’s face immediately crumpled.
“Again?”
“Kyle was looking for it.”
“After all that just now,
you’re saying you’re going to that room again?”
“If we don’t go now, it’ll be erased.”
Erka started to argue, then closed her mouth.
That was the answer.
We did not move immediately.
Mia checked outside the door first.
“No one.”
Only after hearing that did I leave the laboratory.
The corridor was narrow.
After stepping out only a little, I could see the small bulletin board attached to the wall by the stairs. It was a place I would normally have just walked past.
A place where notices for the laboratory building or class schedule changes were posted.
But there was one extra sheet of paper I hadn’t seen before.
Its corners were still straight, as if it had just been posted.
I stopped walking.
“Why?”
Erka asked from behind.
I didn’t answer and went toward the bulletin board.
Only when I got closer could I read the words.
[Notice of Cleanup for Certain Rooms on the 3rd Floor of the General Building]
Room numbers were written below.
Kyle’s room.
Cleanup time: this evening.
I stared at that paper for a while.
Erka came up beside me and read the words, then her face hardened.
“If it’s this evening…”
“They’re saying they’re ending it.”
Erka asked from behind.
I didn’t answer and went toward the bulletin board.
Only when I got closer could I read the words.
[Notice of Cleanup for Certain Rooms on the 3rd Floor of the General Building]
Room numbers were written below.
Kyle’s room.
Cleanup time: this evening.
I stared at that paper for a while.
Erka came up beside me and read the words, then her face hardened.
“If it’s this evening…”
“They’re saying they’re ending it.”
Erka read the paper once more.
Her eyes moved back and forth between the room number and the time.
“It says cleanup notice.”
“Yeah.”
“But why this evening?”
She was right.
A cleanup notice was usually posted a day in advance.
They gave students time to collect any belongings,
and went through confirmation from the professor in charge or the dormitory administration.
At least on the surface, that was how it worked.
But this was this evening.
It had just been posted.
I looked at the bottom of the notice.
There was no name of the person in charge.
Instead, there was a small sentence written there.
No lost items or remaining belongings.
“No remaining belongings.”
Erka read in a low voice.
“That means there’s nothing in the room.”
“No.”
I looked at the paper.
“It means they’re going to make it that way.”
“Then there’s still something left in the room?”
“At least, they seem to think so.”
Or Kyle did.
My room.
Those words kept bothering me.
His own room.
A place his body remembered.
“Go now?”
Mia asked.
“Not now.”
Mia’s ears drooped a little.
“Why?”
“They just saw us.”
Just then, a bell rang in the distance.
Once.
Twice.
The sounds of students moving in the corridor gradually increased.
Doors inside the laboratory building opened,
and students carrying books appeared.
It was the passing time between classes.
Erka looked at the wall clock.
“If we leave now, we can blend in.”
Now was best.
If there were too few people, we would stand out.
“Not the central stairs.”
I said.
Erka immediately nodded.
“Yes. There’s a high chance those people just passed that way.”
“Let’s go around to the west.”
“That would be better. Even if it’s a bit of a detour.”
Mia stuck close beside me.
“What about me?”
“Come with me.”
Her ears immediately perked up.
“Good.”
“That’s forbidden.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t fit the mood right now.”
“But it’s good.”
Rine cautiously opened her mouth.
“What about me?”
I looked at Rine.
“You go to class.”
Rine’s face stiffened.
“But—”
“If you move with us too, it’ll get more complicated.”
“Do you mean I’ll be in the way?”
“No.”
I lowered my voice slightly.
“The Sanctuary side called you once earlier.
Saying something about stability support or whatever.”
Rine’s fingertips stiffened on the spine of her book.
“If you move with me to the General Building now, the chances of being discovered go up.”
Rine pressed her lips together.
“Then can I do nothing?”
“No.”
I glanced toward the corridor for a moment.
“Go to class.”
Rine looked at me.
“To class?”
“Like usual.”
“Will that help?”
“It will.”
I turned my gaze to Rine.
“If Kyle’s name comes up,
watch how the professor and the students pass over it.
If there’s an empty seat, see who sits there.
Watch who talks to Kyle too.”
“If someone talks to him?”
“Remember it.”
“If no one talks to him?”
“Remember that too.”
I added,
“Don’t ask if it’s strange.
And don’t bring up Kyle first.
Just act like you normally do.”
“You want me to just listen.”
“Yeah.”
“And not follow alone either.”
“That’s the most important part.”
Rine slowly nodded.
“Understood.”
Rine hugged her books to her chest and walked down the corridor toward the classroom.
“Let’s go.”
Erka adjusted her hold on the metal box.
“I’m in front?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“The person holding the box needs to act like she knows where she’s going. It’ll look less suspicious.”
Erka looked at me.
“What am I, a repairman?”
“It suits you.”
“Don’t. It feels gross.”
Erka said that, but still walked ahead.
She probably didn’t want to admit it, but it suited her quite well.
She just looked like a student in the laboratory building carrying some broken thing somewhere.
“You thought something weird again, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You just did.”
“Repairman.”
“Should I really hit you?”
“I’m a patient.”
“Do people faking illness count as patients?”
Mia tried to stick close beside me,
but when I looked at her, she stepped two paces back.
“Behind.”
“Yeah.”
“But don’t fall too far back.”
“Yeah.”
“And not too close either.”
Mia’s ears drooped slightly.
“Difficult.”
“That one’s fine.”
“Good.”
“Not that one.”
Instead of answering, Mia only flicked the tip of her tail lightly.
When we reached the corner of the third floor, Erka checked the corridor first.
Erka gave a very small nod.
We stepped into the corridor and arrived in front of the room in question.
A fresh sheet of paper was stuck to the middle of the door.
Scheduled for cleanup.
The black letters were neat.
A thin strip of paper was wrapped around the doorknob.
It was not as grand as an official seal.
But it was positioned so that it would inevitably crumple if the doorknob was turned.
A marker put there to see if anyone touched it.
Erka muttered quietly,
“They made it annoying.”
“Can you remove it?”
“Removing it is possible.”
“And putting it back?”
“Difficult.”
“So it’s possible.”
“Why do you always take it that way?”
“You didn’t say you couldn’t.”
Erka glared at me.
Just then, a door farther down the corridor opened.
All three of us stopped at once.
A dormitory administration student carrying a ledger came out of the room.
The administration student’s gaze landed on us.
It was too late to turn back.
A person who had taken the wrong way was better than a person running away.
I took the first step forward.
The student supervisor narrowed his eyes the moment he saw my face.
“Student Valter.”
Great.
So playing dumb won’t work.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came after seeing the notice on the bulletin board.”
The student supervisor’s eyes moved to my immobilized hand,
then to the metal box Erka was carrying,
and then to Mia’s ears.
“You mean the cleanup notice posted on the board downstairs?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you come all the way up here?”
I took a brief breath.
“There was something I needed to check.”
“And what would that be?”
“The room number.”
The student supervisor’s eyes narrowed a little more.
“It should have been written on the bulletin board.”
“I only saw it vaguely.”
“You came all the way to the third floor just to check that?”
“Yes.”
“Student Valter.”
His voice lowered a little.
“Are you connected to that room?”
I did not answer right away.
If I said no too quickly, it would look even more suspicious.
“I think I’ll have to check before I know whether I’m connected or not.”
The student supervisor pressed a finger against the ledger.
“Access to that room is restricted until cleanup is complete.
No one except authorized personnel is to approach the door.”
“Who counts as authorized personnel?”
“Only those with permission from the management office may enter.”
“What about the owner of the room?”
A brief silence.
The student supervisor did not answer immediately.
“At present, no one is using that room.”
“Then what about the belongings left inside?”
“As stated in the notice, there are no remaining items.”
“There’s nothing, but they’re cleaning it out.”
The student supervisor’s expression hardened.
“Student Valter.”
“Yes.”
“If you remain here any longer, you will be reported.”
“Understood.”
I didn’t ask anything more.
Erka moved at once as well.
With the metal box tucked under her arm,
she turned away like an irritated student.
Mia watched the student supervisor until the very end, then followed a beat late.
I could feel the student supervisor’s gaze on our backs.
Only after we turned the corner and went down a few steps toward the stairs
did Mia look up the stairwell and speak softly.
“He’s still there.”
“The student supervisor?”
“Yeah.”
“In front of the door?”
I looked up the stairs as I spoke.
“Looks like we can’t get into the room.”
Erka looked at me.
“You’re finally admitting it.”
“For now.”
“I feel like you’re going to add something strange after that.”
“If we can’t look at the room, we just have to look at the person erasing the room.”
Erka’s expression stiffened slightly.
“The person erasing the room?”
“They said they’re cleaning it up tonight.”
I spoke without looking up the stairs.
“Someone is going to open that door.
They’ll remove the paper strip, go inside,
and put it back on again.
We just have to see what they do then.”
“You’re not saying we should go in, are you?”
“If we go in, it’s trespassing,
but if they go in, it’s procedure.”
“Then are you saying we wait here until that door opens?”
“Not here.”
I looked up the stairs.
The student supervisor was still near the room in question.
He was pretending to check the ledger in front of the door with the paper strip on it, but in truth, he seemed more intent on watching to see if we came back.
“If we stick around in front of the room, we’ll be caught immediately.”
“Then where?”
“Somewhere not too far, and not too close.”
Erka narrowed her eyes.
“Does a place like that even exist?”
“The residential building common room.”
Erka seemed to understand immediately,
then frowned at once.
“The common room?”
“Yeah.”