Part 110: Coco's Route - True End - Part 15

Video: Coco – Banished From Heaven



I could see everything. Everything in the year 2017...A continuous flow of fragmentary images...Pieces of this world flowed by without context...I was simply an onlooker of everything in this world.

Yes...I couldn't take part, I could only watch...I was nothing more than a 'Perception.'

Track—Drittestock




"Uggh...Aaaah...aaaahhh...Agh...ugh....uugghh..."

Coco groaned, and held her hand pressed against her mouth. Fresh, crimson blood dribbled through the cracks of her fingers. A red stain spread on the floor of the Control Room.


"...This is bad...! These...these symptoms are...!"


"Symptoms!? WHO CARES about Symptoms! Don't you realize! If we leave her like this...Coco's going to...!!!"


"Coco, hang in there!"


"T-Takeshi...what are we going to do, what can we do!?"


"Wait! Don't panic! Everyone just calm down!!"

Oh hey, he’s voiced now.



The link between my sight and consciousness had been broken, and all I could do was continually gaze at the scene unfolding before me.

I felt neither sadness nor anger.... Neither impatience nor despair...I was looking at the reality in front of me as one might stare at a meaningless jumble of numbers.



The 'L-MRI' was scanning Coco's condition. The Tief Blau Virus—


"Coco, hold on! ...No! Don't you die on me!"

Coco's body lay one the examination table. Kaburaki held her thin arm, intensely.


"Open your eyes Coco! Come on! Wake up!"

Kaburaki grabbed a hold of Coco's shoulders and was shaking her violently.



Takeshi pulled him back from Coco.


"What are you doing?"


"Jackass! Calm the hell down! What do you think that's going to accomplish, huh!?"


"But, Coco's gonna...she's gonna!"


"If we don't do anything, Coco's...going to die!"


"Calm down. There's got to be something we can do..."


"Don't get crazy. Let's just calm down and think..."

Sora interrupted Takeshi and the 'Kid' with her hand. Looking all of the people gathered in the face, she announced...


"There's an installation called IBF, directly below us. The management company that built LeMU is Leiblich Pharmaceutical. Their research facility is IBF."


"IBF...?"

Takeshi mumbled to himself. It seemed as if it were familiar to him.


"There is a medical center there that is far superior to this one. At least from the information I can get from LeMMIH's database...It appears that they have a new type of 'High-pressure Oxygen Treatment Device' there...And if we can treat her with that, her leukocyte, er, white blood cell activity should increase. This should help ease Coco's condition somewhat."


"Alright then...IBF...So all we need to do is get her over there, and Coco can be saved, right?"


"However, in order to get to IBF, we have to get through HIMMEL...and HIMMEL's door isn't opening."


"I don't care, we're going! There isn't any other way there."


"It might not work..."


"But we don't know that unless we try, right? Sora, show me how to get there."


"........."


"Hey Kid...give me a hand!"


"O-okay."

Takeshi picked up Coco's inert body and carried her piggyback.



The door was shut fast.


"Damn it, what are we going to do!?"


"........."


"........."


"........."


"........."

[Pipi]
"*whine*"

Coco slid off of Takeshi's back. She weakly hunched over on the floor. The color of her face had gone translucent white, her lips parched, and her eyes looked feverish.

Just then...

[Announcement]
"Öffnen Sie die Tür von HIMMEL"


"What's that mean?"


"Someone is trying to access LeMMIH's system! From inside the room...from a terminal inside HIMMEL!"


"What!?"

The access indicator light for the electronic lock to began blink, and soon changed to green. The hatch's lever raised, and turned automatically...





Squinting against the brightness, they walked into the room to explore. It appeared as if this was the computer control room.




"Did he open up the door just now?"

There was someone passed out on the floor. He was a man who appeared to be in his 40's, dressed in a white lab coat.


"Hey mister! Are you alright!?"

Takeshi rushed over to the man and lifted him into a sitting position.

[??]
"........."

The man didn't reply to Takeshi's call, he just sat there with his eyes closed.


"Who is this guy...?"


"Sora, do you have any idea who this is?"




"But judging from the way he is dressed, it is safe to assume he was a researcher at the IBF Facility."

[Researcher]
"Uuugh..."

The researcher let out a dry gasp, and opened his eyes slightly.


"Hey, are you one of the staff from the research facility?"

[Researcher]
"Y-yeah...that's right...Doesn't seem like you're...here to rescue me..."

With a shaking hand, he grabbed onto Takeshi. The hand was covered in blood......

[Researcher]
"So there were still people in LeMU...and it's been six days since...Ha, ha, ha, what a surprise....*Gagh*"

Blood trickled from his mouth, and he smiled, wryly.


"H-hey! Don't strain yourself. You don't have to talk!"

[Researcher]
"I'm so sorry...it's all our fault..."


"What happened? Did something happen down there?"

Everyone stood quietly, gathered around the researcher, and seemed to have lost the ability to talk. The research worker murmured and looked up vacantly at all the figures around him.

[Researcher]
"But, why all this...This..."

And he suddenly fell silent. His eyelids slowly closed.


"Hey! Hey! Hang in there!"

Takeshi shook the man's shoulders. There was no response. But at least it seemed he was breathing.


"We'll...we'll have to bring him with us."

Takeshi nodded and stood up, and picked up the unconscious researcher. Watching the situation, Sora began a quiet explanation...


"Everyone, at the far end of this room is another room. Can you see it? That is the compression chamber for IBF. Judging from my incomplete data...IBF is enclosed in higher-pressure gas than LeMU. The IBF area is set to what is known as 'saturated diving specifications'. This type of area is also probably more suitable for research with bacteria.... The atmospheric pressure of IBF is actually at about 12.5 atmospheres."


"I want all of you to enter that room. And after you spend about one hour in the compression chamber, you'll take the access elevator down to IBF. And I should tell you this as a precaution, but...You will not be able to retrace your steps easily from this point on. Please give this due consideration."





During that time, nobody said a single word.



Everyone headed into the elevator. The door sealed and the elevator started to lower, as though it were sliding.

[Announcement]
"Depth 210 feet...Depth 240 feet...Depth 270 feet...Depth 357 feet..."



It seemed that there was a pool where a small submarine could dock. Although the area was directly attached to the ocean, the inside and outside pressure were the same, keeping the ocean water out of the room. It was the same as turning a cup upside down and putting it in water.

They all stopped in their tracks, and as if waiting for an alarm to go off. They studied their surroundings tensely. There was no sign of anyone.


"Anyway, let's get to where we have to go."

They opened a watertight door at the other side of the room and continued deeper into the installation.



The Kid and You placed Coco, who they'd been carrying, on a nearby bed. Tsugumi and Takeshi lowered the researcher gently onto a chair. A 'L-MRI', the same type that had been in LeMU, was in the room.


"Hey, You? Where is that 'high-pressure oxygen' thing that Sora was talking about?"


"H-how should I know...?"


"Tsugumi, what should we do?"


"Well, we'll have to look for it. None of us knows a thing about this place."

[Researcher]
"Gagh... W-wait!"

The researcher coughed as he spoke.


"H-hey, don't move! Are you okay!?"

[Researcher]
"I've been better...but at least I'm alive..."

The researcher raised his hand weakly as he spoke.

[Researcher]
"This smell...is this IBF? So I'm back where I started...*cough*"


"So, you WERE working here....Wait, there's something I want to ask you. We're looking for something called a 'high-pressure oxygen treatment device.' We've come as far as the examination room, but we don't have a clue what to look for. Can you help us? Please!"

[Researcher]
"Oxygen treatment...yeah, you're looking for the pods. There should be some alloy capsules, with mats set inside of them. They look like a bunch of cylinders stuck to a pillar.... You see them?"


"Yeah, they're right in front of me."

[Researcher]
"That's them...*cough*"


"Hang in there! ...We found them. So, don't waste your energy talking anymore, okay?"

New blood appeared on the researcher's closed hand, as he wiped his mouth.

[Researcher]
"Just take a look at the manual...they should be...easy to operate."


"Okay, I gotcha..."

The strength left the researcher's hand...As he sat there, it seemed all the life had left the researcher's body, and he looked like an old, withered-up tree.


"Let's get Coco in to a pod...and this researcher, too."


"Yeah..."

They put Coco and the researcher into separate pods and closed the lids.


"Did you find the manual?"


"Yeah. This is the control panel..."

Flipping through a thick book that appeared to be the manual, You started operating a terminal a short distance away.


"High-pressure oxygen treatment...set..."

The screens of the monitors attached to the tubes flickered and both of the pods seemed to be functioning normally.


"That should do it."


"Okay......"

Blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate...normal. They silently watched Coco and the researcher. Although it was too soon to say if they had recovered, Coco and the researcher's face seemed to settle a bit. They had somehow managed to stave off death.


"I'm so relieved..."


"Yeah...tell me about it."


"Yeah..."


"Looks like we made it in time."

[Pipi]
"*Woof*"

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. It seemed as if they had escaped the worst, for the moment.


"Well......We don't have time to hang around, you know?"

[Music—Stop]



Their aim was threefold...to find a way to escape the facility, to see if any communication lines were open, and to look for any other survivors. While Takeshi, Tsugumi and the young Kaburaki were searching around IBF, You stayed with the resting Coco and researcher.

Meanwhile...

Track—Traum In Der Dunkelheit















[Music—Stop]



After searching around, Takeshi, Kaburaki and Tsugumi all headed back to the examination room.

Track—Zweitestock




"Ah...yeah. It looks like they're doing okay for now."

You looked tired as she sat down and faced the pod's control panel. Her eyes were a bit red, as if she'd been crying.


"Oh yeah, Takeshi. I checked the medical database on this terminal earlier, but..."


"Yeah, did you find something?"


"Yeah...It looks as if they still haven't found any definite way...to treat the Tief Blau virus. Although the symptoms can be temporarily treated by injecting that orange serum....Otherwise, the only option is to hope for the small chance that it will clear up by itself."


"Oh...That sucks..."


"Huh? What do you mean?"


"Um..."


"Well, basically...If Coco is going to heal, her immune system is going to have to work a little harder. We've brought her to the treatment pod, all we can do now is hope."


"Yeah, that's all we can do."


"No...Coco isn't going to get better?"


"Nobody said that."


"Whether she gets better or not...is up to Coco's will to live."

The young Kaburaki walked over to the pod where Coco was sleeping.


"Coco...Coco..."

He started to cry, latching onto the pod as though he were embracing it.


"We still don't know how much this pod is going to help Coco."

You murmured softly as she read the life signs on the monitor.


"It seems that this pod can also do laser disinfecting as well as simple surgery, in addition to the oxygen treatment. And depending on how you use it, even cryogenic suspension..."




"What's that...You?"


"I'm not sure. It was just in the manual...We don't really know is going to happen. All we can do is have faith and wait..."

Right then....

[Music—Stop]

—Beeep!

A sharp alarm sounded from control panel monitor. Shocked, the four of them all turned to face the screen at once.

Track—Kopfsprung

[Researcher]
"Aagh....!"

An agonized expression came over the face of the researcher. He thrashed and contorted inside of the cramped capsule.


"Aaah!"


"H-hey mister!!!"

The researcher coughed violently and clawed at his throat. His hand and the area around his mouth were stained red.

[Researcher]
"Aaaaaaghhh...!"

The color quickly drained from his skin. His breathing became shallow, and he groaned in a low voice.


"No! I can't believe his condition would change like this!"


"Hey mister! Stop grabbing at your throat like that! You'll crush it!"

[Researcher]
"Gaaguh...Huuugh...huuugh...huuugh..."

He slowly lowered the hands, which had been thrashing at his throat.


"Hey mister, are you alright!?"

[Researcher]
"No...This...is as far...as I make it."

The researcher was barely breathing. He was trying to breathe. He let out a gasp....But wasn't able to bring in air.

[Researcher]
"This...is...my...reward..."



You poured over the manual, and desperately searched the control panel. But...there was nothing she could do. There was no way for her to keep him alive. She pounded on the manual, then placed both elbows on the panel and covered her face with her hands.


"Aaah...."

She burst into tears.


"........."


"........."

Tsugumi and Kaburaki gazed at the monitor with strained expressions. The researcher's vital signs were getting weaker.

[Music—Stop]

[Researcher]
"...My daughter...Daughter...take care...of her..."

He looked as though he were smiling. And…Finally he stopped breathing.

Beeeeeeeeep......

The life readings from the capsule pod went blank, and an electronic alarm sounded what seemed like forever.


"........."

Takeshi reached out his hand to the panel, and turned off the alarm.


"How is...Coco?"


"Normal..."

You replied in a voice filled with tears.


"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong, for the moment..."


"Okay...thanks. We'll have to make sure...he gets a proper burial..."



In the belly of that iron hulk, they stopped breathing and stood still. Their expressions were lifeless. It was impossible to tell what any of them were thinking. The white interior of the room was filled with a quiet calm.

Time passed slowly, cruelly, crawling forward second by second.