chapter3 · 046-ep46
Episode 46: The Worst Lineup Possible
Wednesday after school.
The instant the sixth-period bell rang, the classroom atmosphere shifted into its usual after-school mode.
Voices heading for club activities rose here and there, overlapping with the sounds of people getting ready to go home.
As I picked up my bag, I checked my phone screen.
It was a little past four.
There was still some time until the meeting.
Former Minami Ward Third Materials Yard.
Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
Work time: one or two hours.
Details will be explained by the on-site representative.
The words from the job listing I'd seen on Monday had stayed in the back of my mind right up through today.
Aizawa-san and Segawa said two days ago that they wouldn't send the registration form.
So neither of them would be going.
They shouldn't be, anyway.
Still, since the name Next Works might be connected to Takatsuki, I wanted to at least check out the location.
Knowing the date and place, then just going home, felt weirdly bad too.
So I left school and headed for Minami Ward.
Once I got a little ways from the station, the number of shops dwindled, and the streets became the kind that mixed houses with warehouses.
Fences around old factories.
Rusty signs.
Materials piled up in vacant lots.
Not somewhere a high schooler would casually swing by after school.
Forget casually—unless you had a reason, it was the kind of place you normally wouldn't go near.
The destination should be getting close about now.
That was when I saw two high school students standing still on the sidewalk ahead.
Aizawa-san.
And Segawa.
"...No, no, no."
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Why are they here?
I was only here to check out the Next Works site.
Aizawa-san and Segawa definitely said they weren't sending the form.
Which meant they had no reason to be here today.
They shouldn't have.
And yet there they were, standing around normally near the destination.
What kind of coincidence was that?
No, this was way too bad a place to write it off as coincidence.
I moved behind a nearby wall and watched them.
Aizawa-san was clutching her phone in both hands.
Segawa stood a few steps ahead, looking back at her.
"Segawa-kun."
"What?"
"Shouldn't we stop after all?"
"What're you saying after we came all this way?"
"But Himuro-kun and Makino-kun both said we shouldn't..."
"I said we're just hearing the explanation. We hear them out on-site, and if it's weird, we go home."
"But..."
"The listing said registering doesn't mean you're definitely participating, right? They replied that just coming to observe is fine too."
Hey.
So they did send it after all?
After we talked that much on Monday, and they said they wouldn't send it, they sent it anyway?
Maybe Segawa didn't see it as breaking his promise.
Just the explanation.
Just observing.
They could decide on-site.
Put that way, it probably felt like they were still somewhere they could turn back.
Even though I felt like they'd already gone way too far.
"It'll be fine. If it's weird, we'll leave."
With that, Segawa started walking again.
Aizawa-san still looked hesitant, but in the end she followed him.
That was when I finally wondered whether I should call out to them.
But if I showed myself now, Next Works might realize I was here.
Who was there?
What were they going to explain?
Was it really just a part-time job?
It was too early to show my face without seeing any of that.
I put some distance between us again and followed the two of them.
There weren't many people around.
Cars passed now and then, but hardly anyone was walking.
Before long, the two stopped in front of a lot surrounded by an old fence.
Former Minami Ward Third Materials Yard.
Some makeshift lights had been set up near the entrance.
There was an unused prefab building farther in.
A few cars.
Two men in work clothes.
And several men and women around our age, or maybe a little older, gathered there.
I circled around the edge of the lot and pressed myself behind some materials piled near the prefab building.
I was pretty close.
But from here, I could see both the staff's movements and the Awakeners who had gathered.
There was a blue tarp set up farther inside.
It looked like it might be concealing materials or something.
But behind it was a strange distortion.
I'd seen it before.
A dungeon entrance.
A Gate.
"...Oh, come on. Seriously?"
That one slipped out too.
High-paying jobs for Awakeners.
On-site support staff.
Details will be explained by the on-site representative.
And what it really was: a gathering in front of what looked like an unregistered Gate.
They were just wrapping it up in the words part-time job, but what was inside was seriously bad.
No, seriously bad didn't even cover it.
Writing "on-site support" on the job listing when the actual site was a Gate was just cheating.
A murmur slowly began spreading among the Awakeners who had gathered too.
"Um, isn't that a Gate?"
"That's an entrance, right?"
"Are we really going in?"
Natural reactions.
The listing had only called them on-site support staff.
It hadn't explicitly said one word about entering a Gate.
Segawa was silent too.
Aizawa-san's face had gone visibly stiff.
The men in work clothes gently tried to calm the gathered Awakeners.
Then a man came out from the prefab building.
The second I saw him, I almost let out a noise.
It was that guy.
The man who'd been in that meeting room I watched with Mibu.
The big-built Fighter Awakener.
I hadn't thought he'd really be here.
But the man in front of me had a completely different air from back then.
There was none of that roughness.
He wasn't raising his voice.
If anything, he wore a gentle expression, like he was trying to put the participants at ease.
"Thank you all for coming today."
The man bowed politely.
"I'll be handling today's on-site guidance. I'm Kanzaki from Next Works."
Kanzaki.
So that was that guy's name.
Kanzaki slowly looked over the gathered Awakeners.
"There may have been parts that were difficult to understand from the advance information alone. First, I'll briefly explain today's schedule."
His tone was kind.
I could tell he was choosing his words so he wouldn't make them anxious.
He looked like a different person from the one I'd seen in that meeting room.
No, maybe he was just making himself look like a different person.
"From here, everyone will enter this Gate."
The air at the site froze at that one sentence.
A few people looked at one another.
Aizawa-san looked at Segawa beside her too.
Segawa opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but it looked like the words didn't come right away.
Kanzaki smiled immediately, as though he'd been waiting for that reaction.
"Of course, we're not asking you to engage in dangerous combat. This will only be simple inspection work and support duties near the entrance. We'll proceed with everyone's safety as our top priority, so please rest assured."
Please rest assured.
Pretty words.
But hearing them in a situation like this just made them harder to trust.
"We'll explain the specific work again after we enter."
No, explain it outside.
If it was simple inspection work near the entrance, all the more reason to explain it outside before going in.
The order was obviously backwards.
"But aren't we not supposed to enter Gates without permission...?"
"Will the permits be okay?"
"The Program's suspended too."
The participants' voices overlapped.
The men in work clothes said nothing.
Kanzaki lowered his brows as if troubled.
Just from that expression, he almost looked like he was sympathizing with their fears.
Then, as if he had been waiting for that atmosphere, another voice rang out.
"Please rest assured."
Another man came out of the prefab farther inside.
He wore a suit.
Clothes so neat they looked out of place.
A calm expression.
And a familiar face.
"The necessary arrangements have been made."
The man slowly turned his gaze on the gathered Awakeners.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Takatsuki, assistant policy secretary to Representative Mibu."
It was Takatsuki.
A man named Kanzaki standing beside him.
And a Gate, huh?
No, no.
This was way too much of the worst lineup possible.