"Uhh, what is this?" A young woman frowned while staring at the stack of documents in front of her. "Is this really necessary? I just feel this is a bit strange. Why do I have to do all of this?"
The young woman was now in a white room together with a young man.
The woman's hands trembled slightly as she turned the pages of the contract filled with complex sentences and confusing legal language. The woman's name was Nira, sitting nervously in the nearly empty interview room. There was only one plain white table and two simple chairs—one that I sat on and another occupied by a man in a white lab coat who had been smiling strangely since she arrived.
Nira took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. The formal black suit she wore felt a bit tight. Ichika had spent almost all of her savings to buy this suit—the last investment in her seemingly endless job search. Beneath the black blazer, her white blouse had already begun to wrinkle after the long journey to this remote location. Her long, black hair had been neatly tied back.
Advanced Research Facility. The name sounded grand and scientific when Nira first heard it at the campus recruitment seminar. After six months of fruitless job hunting, seeing their loose requirements felt like an oasis in the desert.
"Even humanities graduates are highly valued," the recruiter had said enthusiastically. "We're looking for diverse perspectives!"
The facility building stood towering in the middle of wild mountains, about five hours' drive from the nearest bus station. During the journey on the company bus, Nira watched civilization slowly disappear—cities turned into villages, villages into forests, and finally there was only a small winding road cutting through seemingly uninhabited wild mountains.
Now, before her lay a strange and frightening contract—a liability release document that basically said if she died while working here, it wasn't their business.
Nira looked at him in disbelief, her heart pounding. His hair was neat and black with thin-framed glasses that made him look like a stereotypical scientist. His name—Tanaka, according to the name tag on his coat—smiled as if he had just offered her a cup of tea, not threatened her.
*His smile makes me want to leave this place quickly* Nira thought.
"Can I go home?" she asked with a trembling voice. "I don't want to work in a strange place like this." Nira swallowed, trying to control her increasing fear. No matter how difficult her financial situation was, no money was worth her life.
Dr. Tanaka chuckled, his voice echoing in the almost empty room. "Leave if you want, that is if you know the way back.
A horrifying realization hit her—even if she could escape from this room, where would she go? The company bus that brought her here had long gone. Her phone hadn't gotten any signal since an hour before arriving here. Around this facility, there were only dense forests and rocky mountains.
"What is this place, really?" she asked desperately, her voice trembling. "I don't understand! What's happening here?! Am I, am I going to be some kind of experimental subject or something?!" Terrifying images from horror movies about scientific experiments gone wrong flashed through her mind.
"Haha, you're quite funny, aren't you?
We won't do anything strange to you. The description we wrote in the recruitment advertisement is an accurate summary of what you'll be doing..." He paused, a small smile appearing at the corner of his lips.
Nira stared at the contract in front of her. The papers looked more threatening than before. Clauses about confidentiality, release of liability for death or injury, agreement to "special security procedures"—all written in complex legal language.
"And what happens if I don't sign this?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
Tanaka looked directly at her with his sharp black eyes. "You'll just be thrown in without any explanation."
"Thrown where?!"
He didn't answer, just raised his eyebrows meaningfully.
A terrifying reality hit her—when she decided to board the bus to this place this morning, her fate might have already been determined. When the bus drove away from the last station, she had already left the world she knew.
With trembling hands, Nira took the pen offered by Tanaka. It felt heavy, as if made of lead, not plastic. Slowly, with a feeling of surrendering to an inevitable fate, Ichika signed her name—Nira—at the bottom of the document.
Tanaka nodded with satisfaction. He neatly collected the papers then took something out from his coat pocket—an ID card with her photo.
The male Tanaka handed the ID card to her.
◇ ◇ ◇
Nira lowered her head as she walked down the pale blue corridor stretching before her. Her footsteps echoed on the too-clean floor, almost like a mirror. The light blue painted walls with white accents reminded her of the hospital she had once visited. However, this corridor felt much colder and sterile—no decorations, no signs of life, just fluorescent lights that flickered occasionally, creating strange dancing shadows around them.
"What kind of place is this, really?" she asked in a quiet voice, "Is this a research facility for creating evil humans or something?"
Tanaka halted his steps momentarily, turning to look at her with an expression that was a mixture of amusement and impatience. His pristine white lab coat rustled as he crossed his arms.
"Your mind seems to be full of crazy things, doesn't it?" he sniffed. "Clearly not. We work for the good of humanity. We wouldn't do things like creating artificial humans or something like that."
Nira felt her face heating up. Of course, her mind had been carried away too far by the science fiction films she had watched. But how could it not? All of this—the remote facility, strange contract, mysterious attitude of everyone—felt like a horror story waiting to happen.
"Working for the good of humanity to the point of forcing me to work here," she replied with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Can't be helped," he said as he continued walking. "We desperately need workers now. We have considerable freedom with our methods, so I guess you can see it that way.
"Ah, we've arrived," Tanaka continued before I could ask further.
He stopped in front of a wall that appeared ordinary, with no sign that it was a door. With a movement that had been performed thousands of times, he tapped his ID card against a small card reader that was almost invisible on the wall. A soft beep was heard, followed by a smooth mechanical hum.
The wall in front of them slid open smoothly—no creaking, no sound, just a precise movement indicating high technology. Behind it, a modern elevator with glass and metal panels opened, a bluish-white light illuminating its spacious interior.
"You need an ID card to go anywhere here, so please don't lose it," Tanaka warned while pointing to the card hanging from his neck. Ichika reflexively touched hers.
Nira hesitantly stepped into the elevator, her feet almost stumbling as she entered the narrow space. The interior of the elevator was minimalist yet elegant—a holographic control panel with numbers and symbols, some of which I didn't recognize, flashed on one wall. Tanaka pressed one of the buttons—not a number, just a symbol that looked like a spiral.
After the door closed with a gentle hiss, the elevator began descending at a steady speed. No jerks, no sound—just a light sensation in my stomach indicating movement. Through the glass walls of the elevator, she could see the levels she was passing.
"What will I actually be doing?" she asked, "What exactly is my job?"
Tanaka stared at the constantly changing numbers on the elevator panel, as if avoiding her gaze. He took a breath before answering.
"Uhh, basically, your job will be to take care of a being," he replied in a tone that sounded slightly awkward.
Nira frowned. "What do you mean by 'being'? Is it something created by your evil research?"
*Truly, I don't know what he means by "taking care of a being." Is it like caring for laboratory animals? Or perhaps something stranger—genetically engineered creatures?*
Tanaka raised his hand in a calming gesture. "It's not something you should worry too much about. We're just trying a number of different approaches."
His ambiguous answer made me more suspicious. The elevator continued descending, and I began to wonder how deep this facility actually was.
"So what exactly are you researching at this facility?" Nira changed the topic, as he seemed to be avoiding the subject of that being.
Tanaka let out a long sigh, this time his gaze meeting my eyes. For the first time, I saw an expression of doubt on his face.
"We ourselves don't know what it really is. What kind of being it is, we're not sure. The being itself has powers that we don't even know what they are. We only know a few things—the being can do anything it wants, no one knows where it came from, it exists because it exists, that's all I can tell you."
His sentence hung in the air, making Nira hair stand on end. The elevator felt increasingly cold, or perhaps that was just her imagination.
"But don't worry," he continued quickly, seeing her fearful expression. "The being doesn't seem to kill someone unless they bother it or make it angry. So I think you'll be fine."
"Actually, before you worked here, someone else already worked here, but unfortunately, she died because she was old."
*Huh? So there was someone working here before me, that makes me feel a little more at ease* thought Nira.
◇ ◇ ◇
The elevator continued moving downward.
*How deep is this place, really?* she thought while gripping the handle on the elevator wall.
"How deep have we gone?" she asked.
Tanaka glanced briefly at the control panel. "About 300 meters below the surface."
She gasped. "Three hundred meters? That's... that's almost like a mine!"
"Depth is necessary for... proper containment," Besides, this space has been here for a very long time, he answered.
Finally, the elevator stopped with a gentle jerk.
"Now, from here, you have to go alone. Just walk along the corridor," said Tanaka as he swiped his ID card on the panel beside the elevator door. The door opened with a soft hiss, revealing a brightly lit corridor with clean white walls and floor.
"Alone?"
Tanaka nodded, remaining inside the elevator. "Unfortunately, I'm not permitted to go any further. And even if I were allowed..." he paused, his eyes looking down the corridor with an expression I couldn't read, "...I wouldn't want to anyway, hahah."
""--""
His words made her hair stand on end.
*What is it that makes him not want to enter?*
"What does this being you're talking about look like?" she asked hesitantly, her voice trembling slightly. *I need to know what I'll be facing, at least to prepare myself mentally*
Tanaka gave her a thin smile that was not at all reassuring. "You'll know when you see it. Well then, good luck with your work," he said as the elevator door began to close.
"Wait! I still have many questions—" Too late. The elevator door had fully closed, leaving me alone in that too-bright white corridor.
For several moments, Ichika just stood still, staring at the closed elevator door. Part of her wanted to wait until the elevator returned, hoping Tanaka would change his mind and explain everything. But she knew that wouldn't happen.
Taking a long breath, she turned and faced the corridor. There was no choice but to move forward. Realizing she wouldn't achieve anything by standing there, she finally stepped forward reluctantly.
The corridor wasn't very long, perhaps about twenty meters, and ended at a large metal door that looked very sturdy. As she approached it, she could see how massive the door was—at least thirty centimeters thick, with various metal components and intricate locking mechanisms arranged on its surface. This door reminded me of the underground vault of a central bank I'd seen in a documentary—designed to withstand even bomb attacks.
*Could an ID card really open this type of door?* she thought doubtfully.
With trembling fingers, she took out her ID card from her pocket and brought it closer to the card reader beside the door. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a soft beep was heard, followed by a mechanical rumble that startled me.
The large door began to move, metal bolts and locking mechanisms shifting automatically. The sound of creaking and clinking metal echoed in the corridor as the door slowly opened, revealing what lay behind it.
Nira gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief. It wasn't another room that greeted her, not a dark corridor or an advanced laboratory—but a vast and beautiful open landscape.
Before her stretched an expansive green meadow, with rolling hills in the distance and a bright blue sky above. The sun shone warmly.
*Even here there's a sun, it seems to be an artificially created sun* she thought.
"Wow, this is like being in another world," stepping out of the corridor hesitantly. "How were they able to create an underground space like this, I wonder how long it took them to make an underground space like this?"
She looked back, hoping to see the metal door and the white corridor she had just left. But what she saw was only the same meadow, as if the door had completely disappeared. Both the door and the wall displayed the same scenery image, making her feel as if she had truly stepped into another world.
*Is this some kind of virtual simulation? Super advanced hologram? Or perhaps...*
Her thoughts halted as she saw something in the distance—a building that looked like a house, standing alone in the middle of the meadow. Its black wooden roof contrasted with its white walls, and a wooden veranda surrounded it.
"Hah! It seems there's a house. Is that the house of the being that person talked about?" she murmured, beginning to walk toward the building.
A small path formed in the tall grass, as if it had been traversed many times. Ichika followed the path, while her mind was filled with speculation about what kind of "being" she would meet. Was it a monster? An alien? The result of genetic experimentation? Or perhaps something she couldn't even imagine?
As she approached the house, she felt a strange serenity enveloping the place. There was no sound except the chirping of birds and the rustling of grass blown by the wind. The house looked well-maintained despite its simplicity—clean and orderly, with wildflowers growing around it.
After several minutes of walking, I finally arrived in front of the house. Climbing a few steps to the veranda, she stopped in front of a traditional sliding door made of wood and paper.
"Hello?" Standing at the entrance, she called into the house with a slightly trembling voice. "Is anyone inside?"
There was no answer, but she wasn't surprised. She sensed a vague presence inside the house. Carefully, she tried to slide the door and found that it was unlocked.
Following tradition, she removed her shoes at the genkan (entrance area) and stepped into the house with bare feet. The smooth wooden floor felt cold under my feet. The house was simple but neat—clean tatami, some landscape paintings hung on the walls, and minimal furniture.
"Excuse me? I'm Nira. I was sent from the facility to... um, take care of this place," she called again, this time with a slightly louder voice.
Still no answer, but she could feel the presence growing stronger. Hesitantly, she walked deeper into the house, following her intuition.
The floor of the dark hallway creaked beneath my feet, indicating the building's age, which might be older than it appeared. Each step produced a small sound, making her heart beat faster. She tried her best to ignore the unpleasant sticky sensation on the floor, like residues of dried liquid. The further I walked, the faster my steps became.
After walking along a corridor that seemed longer than it should be for a house this small, she saw a sliding door that was slightly open. Golden light penetrated the door gap, creating a thin line of light on the dark floor. She could sense a clear presence behind that door.
She stopped in front of the door, taking a deep breath to calm herself. With slightly trembling hands, she slid the door wider to look inside.
And there she saw it.
Not a monster. Not an alien. Not a terrifying creature with tentacles or sharp claws.
It was a boy. It was just a boy with the body of a 7-year-old child.
He sat cross-legged on the tatami floor, wearing a simple white robe-like garment that seemed too large for his small body. His hair was pitch black, falling softly to cover part of his face. He wasn't doing anything in particular, just sitting quietly.
"Uhh?" The boy turned toward her, his large, clear black eyes looking at her with an innocent expression. His face was perfect, almost like a porcelain doll, with pale white skin that contrasted with his black hair.
*Wow...* she thought, slightly surprised to see the child's face.
"Who are you, miss? Are you the replacement for Grandma Lili?" he asked with a soft voice that sounded like small bells.
*Grandma Lili, is that the person who worked here before?* She thought.
Nira still stood frozen at the doorway, shocked by what she saw. Of all the possibilities she had imagined, she never expected to find a small child. *Is he the "being" Tanaka mentioned? How could a child this small require this level of security facility?*
"Ah," "My name is Nira and I'm the person who will take care of you from now on. What's your name?"
The child tilted his head slightly, his large eyes staring at her without blinking. "Name? I don't have a name," he answered with the same innocent face.
*Doesn't have a name? Then what did the person who worked here call him? I don't feel at all that this boy is dangerous. He doesn't fit at all to be called a "being."*
Driven by an instinct she didn't even understand, Nira stepped into the room and sat on the tatami beside him. The child showed no signs of fear or wariness—he just continued to stare at her with his big eyes.
"It would be troublesome if you don't have a name," she said in a gentle voice. "How about I give you a name?" She herself didn't know where that idea came from, but it felt right to do it.
The child's face lit up, a small smile beginning to form on his lips. "Okay," he replied with obvious enthusiasm.
She thought for a moment, looking for the right name. Somehow, a name immediately came to her mind, as if it was destined.
"From now on, your name is Kazuki, how's that?" she said, smiling warmly at him.
The child's eyes widened, shining with pure joy. "Kazuki. Kazuki!" he repeated his name cheerfully, as if it was the most precious gift he had ever received. "From now on my name is Kazuki!"
*Wow, he really likes it*
"Kazuki," Nira tried his name, "How old are you now?"
He tilted his head again, looking confused by her question. "Age? I don't know."
"Have you been living here for a long time?" I asked again.
"Always," he answered.
"Always? You mean, you were born here?"
Kazuki seemed to think for a moment, then shook his head. "I exist. Because I exist, isn't that normal?"
His strange words made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. *What does he mean, he exists because he exists, what do those words mean?*
*But looking at his innocent and sincere face, I can't imagine him lying. Maybe he just doesn't remember anything?*