And so, Kurumi began her secluded life inside the underground facility.
Just as Naia had said, there was no need to worry about water, electricity, food, or lodging there.
Water was supplied by purifying extracted groundwater. Energy ca from an airship's mana generator, which converted mana from the soil and atmosphere into magical power, then into electricity and heat. Food ingredients were regularly ordered online by Naia, teleported in through the Realizer, then processed and preserved.
Of course, beyond the basic guarantee of daily life, this underground city was also equipped with all kinds of entertainnt facilities—a the park, a movie theater, a swimming pool, a massage parlor. One could say that whether it was sothing an ordinary person could think of, or sothing they could not, Kurumi could find it in this city.
But to Tokisaki Kurumi, all of that was optional.
The reason she stayed here was simply because no one else would disturb her.
Kurumi's life could only be described with two words: monotonous.
Wake up in the morning—eat—then silently wait until night ca and sleep again.
Like a rigid machine, aside from the occasional ti Naia forcibly demanded she bathe, Kurumi rely repeated this unchanging life day after day.
Naia did not simply ignore this condition either. Every day, she would provide all kinds of plans in an attempt to improve Kurumi's quality of life. But Kurumi turned a deaf ear to all of them.
Imrsing oneself in sothing might allow a person to look away from pain and make a long day feel short. But that was not a right Kurumi felt qualified to enjoy. Compared to having fun, she was more willing to hide inside her narrow room, stare blankly at the ceiling, and let loneliness and guilt stretch ti endlessly, tornting her mind little by little.
That was the only punishnt Kurumi could give herself.
(This is fine.)
Kurumi thought silently.
Ever since she lost the target and reason for her "revenge", Kurumi's heart had remained empty.
When she woke up, the world before her eyes had lost its color. No matter how delicious the food was, once placed in her mouth, it was no different from chewing dregs. Every ti she fell asleep, she would always be startled awake by nightmares.
(Why am I still alive?)
Looking at herself in the mirror, Kurumi often could not help asking herself that.
Even though she had already lost her reason to live, she was still shalessly alive.
It was not because she feared death. She simply did not want Shido's death, or the kindness Yutsuki had left behind, to beco aningless.
Even if all she could do was keep living in agony, dazed and hollow.
...
And so, that left eye inlaid with a golden clock never turned backward again.
Ti, however, moved on as it always had.
Without asking the world, without asking people, it advanced on its own, second by second, minute by minute.
Originally, Kurumi thought she would spend the rest of her life wasting away inside this empty underground space.
But unexpectedly, on a certain day six years later, an incident occurred.
[Warning! Warning! Seismic waves detected. All areas beginning lockdown. Deploying Territory. Beginning earthquake prevention procedures.]
In the morning, just as Kurumi had woken up, a piercing alarm rang in her ears.
(What happened?)
Slowly crawling out of bed, Kurumi thought a little sluggishly.
There was a slight shaking near the headboard. Kurumi lowered her head and saw that the glass of water placed beside her bed was dancing, ripples spreading one ring after another across the water inside.
An earthquake.
A movent of the Earth's crust caused by tectonic plate compression or volcanic eruption. Unlike spacequakes caused by Spirits, this was a natural disaster in the truest sense.
More than ten seconds passed, but the shaking did not weaken. Instead, it intensified little by little. Sounds like wafer biscuits being crushed ca from deep within the structure, and pieces of paint peeled from the walls and fell onto the floor with the tremors.
[Warning. Magnitude continues to rise. Judging that underground equipnt has a 69.5% chance of collapse. Initiating ergency plan. Forcibly transferring master.]
(?)
Before Kurumi could understand the broadcast, four housekeeping robots burst into her room, lifted the legs of the bed, and carried both the bed and Kurumi into the transfer room as if raising a palanquin.
"Wait? Where are you taking ?"
[Safe evacuation zone locked. Beginning spatial transfer.]
Along with Naia's voice, the Realizer in the transfer room lit up green, indicating activation. Imdiately afterward, Kurumi's vision shifted, and she went from the sealed underground world to the surface of the earth.
Looking around, the city in her mories had long since vanished. Heavy earth and stone seed to have buried both the ruins and history itself beneath the ground, piling up into tall hills.
Trees, flowers, and grass had taken root on this raised land, turning into a green cloak that covered the whole area and blended with the mountain range stretching around it.
The clear sun hung high in the eastern sky, illuminating the azure heavens and painting a few leisurely white clouds with ink-wash shadows.
"This place... is the surface?"
Kurumi looked sowhat lost. Having originally thought she would spend the rest of her life underground, she was clearly not ntally prepared for this situation at all.
—Beep beep. Beep beep.
Suddenly, the sound of a phone rang by her ear. Kurumi looked down and saw that a suitcase had appeared by her bed at so point.
After hesitating briefly, Kurumi found a phone inside the suitcase and pressed the answer button.
[My master, are you all right?]
Naia's voice ca from the phone.
"Naia..."
Hearing Naia's voice, Kurumi's expression softened slightly.
"I'm fine. How are things on your side?"
[Report. Due to the earthquake stopping, damage to the underground city has remained within controllable limits. Damaged facilities: 15.2%. Of that, 2% cannot be repaired. The rest is expected to be repaired within the next three days.]
Naia replied in a voice without any rise or fall. Only then did Kurumi realize that while she had been shaken by leaving the underground, the earthquake had already quietly co to an end.
Still, hearing that both the underground city and Naia were safe, Kurumi unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Although her range of activity in the underground facility had only been the cafeteria and bedroom, it was still the place where she had lived for six years. She had developed at least so sense of belonging to it.
[My master, I sincerely apologize. Due to damage caused by the earthquake, today's recomnded schedule has been forcibly canceled. I will now formulate a new recomnded plan for you.]
After a short silence, Naia continued.
[Considering the risk of aftershocks, this AI does not recomnd that you return to the underground city. Therefore, I hope you will go to a nearby town and stay there for the ti being.]
[The nearest city is approximately 12.8 kiloters away from master's current location. Estimated walking ti: four hours and twenty-three minutes. This AI has already contacted a taxi to co. Master only needs to follow the navigation and proceed to the mountain road five hundred ters away to wait.]
[The first layer of the suitcase contains a change of clothes and hiking shoes. The second layer contains drinking water and ergency rations. The third layer contains cash and forged identification docunts. This phone is also linked to an account containing five million yen in savings. You may use mobile paynt at any ti if needed.]
[Next, this AI will allocate most of its mory to the repair project. It is expected that daily life managent services for you will be suspended for the next three days. In the event of an ergency, you may activate the phone and call directly. This AI will stop all operations and prioritize serving you.]
[Appropriate outdoor exercise is beneficial for relieving ntal stress. I hope you have a pleasant ti. Goodbye, my master.]
Without giving Kurumi a chance to speak, after a long string of nagging reminders, Naia ended the call.
"..."
Kurumi felt as if she had been forced into a sales pitch. It was called a recomndation, but Naia had not given Kurumi any right to choose and had already arranged everything.
(Oh well.)
Sighing helplessly, Kurumi got out of bed, carried the backpack, and followed the phone's navigation to the roadside.
Sure enough, before ten minutes had passed, a taxi drove up in front of her.
"Little lady, where to?"
The woman driving asked.
"...The nearest city is fine."
Sitting in the back seat of the taxi, Kurumi gave a brief answer.
"Got it."
...
"Little lady, what were you doing all alone in such a remote suburb?"
"Don't tell you ca to visit a grave? I heard from so passengers before that there used to be a city around here seven years ago. But after it was destroyed by a spacequake, the remaining ruins also mysteriously vanished one day. So news reports even called it a kamikakushi(hidden by the gods/spirited away, TL:this will be important)."
"Speaking of which, that earthquake just now was really scary. It felt like around magnitude six or seven, didn't it? Good thing it stopped quickly, or who knows how many people might've died."
"Don't underestimate earthquakes. I heard from my grandpa that before spacequakes existed, one huge earthquake could kill tens of thousands of people."
"Even though spacequakes disappeared, the world still won't just beco peaceful, huh."
"...Ah! Sorry, that topic was a bit heavy. Little lady, how old are you this year? You still look like you're in high school."
Perhaps because of a taxi driver's occupational habit, along the way, the driver kept driving while throwing out all kinds of topics to chat with Kurumi.
"..."
However, the auntie's efforts did not manage to pry open Kurumi's mouth.
Six years of living alone underground had made Kurumi sowhat withdrawn and taciturn before she even noticed. If Naia had not spoken with her every day, Kurumi might have already forgotten how to talk.
"Little lady, we're almost there."
Hearing this, Kurumi finally reacted a little.
She raised her head and looked out the window. Buildings representing human civilization were gradually enlarging in her crimson eyes.
Although nearly six years had already passed since she arrived in the future, she had always hidden inside the underground city Yutsuki had built and never gone outside. She still knew nothing about how the outside world had changed.
(What... is the future like?)
Looking at the city drawing closer in the distance, Kurumi felt fear in her heart, but also a tiny trace of curiosity.
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