When Renji jumped into the thick fog, all he could see was purple.
He felt as if he were drunk, which threw off his sense of balance.
But then all of a sudden, his vision became clear. The thick fog disappeared, and in its place there was a wet and sticky strange feeling that wrapped around his whole body.
“…”
Renji landed into a thin empty space that was enveloped by darkness.
He illuminated the room by using the light that he had held in his mouth earlier.
That place was undoubtedly an empty space that differed from the shed in Chiba that he was in moments before.
It was a small locker room.
However, there were lockers lined up alongside a wall, all of them rusty and warped, while withered tree roots entered from the broken ceiling. There was a plastic bottled that rolled on the floor. Inside of it was some solid, dark, dry matter, and the outside of it was covered in moss.
Renji listened carefully as his whole body remained tense.
It was quiet.
The only things that could be heard were his muffled breathing and the sound of his beating heart.
When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw that there was a faint fog covering the empty space where he shined his light at.
“…”
With a jolt, the right side of Renji’s face and right arm twitched.
When he enters this world, that usually happens. A monster settled down on the entire right side of his body, and it was glad to have returned home. It was a menacing behavior.
Renji, while holding his knife, approached a door that was the only way out.
Looking out for a trap, he carefully turned the doorknob.
“…”
Outside the locker room, there was a thin path.
While Renji was breaking out in a cold sweat, he looked for signs of life on the path. He crouched into a position where he can move freely, and confirmed it. The concrete path was covered with dust—No traces of a raider.
He confirmed that it was safe up until that point, and let out a big sigh of relief.
He lowered his guard from 100% to about 50%, and relaxed his muscles.
Once again──he pulled through and survived.
Every time, whenever he sets out on with this first step, the suspense takes years off his life.
This is because if an “enemy” was waiting for him at this place, and if, by mere chance, it just so happened that they pass by each other and ran into each other──Renji would easily die.
“Clear”
Renji murmured as he moved his goggles up onto his forehead.
His voice ran through the microphone in his neck gater, and was transmitted through the cables which passed through the thick fog.
“Roger that.”
Kanta’s voice replied back from the speaker that was also in his neck gater.
From inside the thick fog, she appeared, carrying a backpack. Quickly moving, she met up with Renji and from inside her backpack she took out a small antenna (in fact it was a parabolic reflector).
Kanata put on some big headphones, and moved her parabolic reflector around as she aimed it at space.
“There are no abnormal sounds.”
Renji was relieved by her words.
But quickly bracing himself, he put his goggles back on.
“Confirmed. Reinforced shot４, repair shot 4, the conditions are good.”
The rod-like object that was inserted into the socket on Renji’s chest flickered a faint shimmer of light. There were four red lights and four blue lights on it. Moments before, it was just an ordinary rod on his right side.
Kanata was also wearing goggles, and in her chest the rod that glows with green and blue colors.
“Confirmed. Sense shot１、repair shot１, the conditions are good.”
“As usual, first secure the position in front of the 25th gate.”
“Yes, and be careful of the type that float and don’t make sounds.”
But she didn’t need to so that, for there was no reason to endanger his own life and end up with his head being cut off.
“Go!”
On her command, Renji hit the floor running.
In a forward bent posture, he moved quickly, but he made sure to make his footsteps as quietly as he could.
As Renji ran, the cables that were extending from his neck were flowing to his back and then onto the ground. Behind him, Kanata spread out her extended cables that were crammed inside her backpack.
While he was literally vomiting blood, he remembered the training every day after school. He remembered the movements he made with the practice cable. Even now he will not trip over the cables.
Clinging to the door at the end of the passageway, Renji put his hand on the door knob.
“I’m leaving.”
“Go!”
Renji opened the door, and rushed outside.
The building Renji was in was a flat, box shaped building. On the front side of the building, there was some paint peeling that said “Gate 25”.
When he left from that building, he was greeted by── a gigantic egg.
Wait, no. It was actually a gigantic building that had a semi-spherical roof.
Almost as if the walls were as tall as a rampart, it was lined up in a curve shape, and had always been this way. The gigantic building’s area itself was ten times bigger than the building Renji was in.
Renji took a position in the gigantic building and the gate’s joint, and remained aware of his surroundings.
“Hah…hah…”, he panted.
It was not just the gigantic building. Behind it, there was a withered forest, and to his left there was another enormous building. Directly in front of him he saw a town square, and could see up until far away, where there were decaying roller coaster rails.
The Tokyo Dome..
At least that’s what this place used to be called.
No──if we were to say it exactly, this world that Renji is now in used to have another name that it was called.
It used to be a world called Tokyo.
However, now the world where everything went to ruins and is covered by the purple fog is called by another name.
The “Critical Area.”
“Hah…hah…”
Renji let out a deep breath. He could see not only the building, but also as far as the town square’s lamp posts, every single shadow that moves shadily if they exist? He remains cautious.
Before the attack, various events were held at the Tokyo dome city. It used to be full of people.
It was not only filled with sport spectators, but also people who have fun at attractions and who enjoyed shopping at composite facilities.
However, 2 year ago on that day──the people vanished because of the “Unfortunate attack on Tokyo” the people there vanished.
But Not only did the people disappear, but the buildings decayed as well. The building that Renji saw had a dome was also decaying, among the other things, and the building was covered in rust and moss. It looked like a wasteland that has aged about 100 years, so to speak.
It was not just Tokyo dome city.
The whole heart of the city, which was once called Tokyo, also changed in that way.
Every last person disappeared, and in their stead the raiders appeared and became rampant.
Even though that occurred, they continue to deny that those people went to a ruined world.
“Clear.”
Renji murmured after he confirmed that there were no signs of anything moving within his field of vision.
“Roger that.”
He heard her voice, and Kanata appeared behind him. Despite the fact that she was carrying heavy equipment, her movements were quieter and smoother than Renji’s.
“The search has begun. Please remain alert.”
“Understood.”
While she took out her parabolic reflector again, Renji got out his knife and guarded her.
It was only minutes before that Renji and Kanata were in a bamboo forest located in Chiba.
And now here they are, directly inside the “Area.”