Part 49: [continued]
VLR OST: [Sinisterness]
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
Hmph.
Another dude... This place is turning into a real sausagefest.
What're you telling me for?
...
Oh yeah... You were one of the first people in here, weren't you?
Yeah. So?
Well, did you notice anything?
Although I guess I did notice that the sofa's pretty comfortable.
Uh... Okay, but how about something more... useful?
I'd say that the comfort level of a sofa is pretty useful.
Right.
That? What, you can't tell? It's a dirty magazine.
Oh come on! It's about astronomy! Can you even read?
Can you even see? Just look at those rings on Saturn. Don't they excite you?
Different strokes, I guess...
It appears to be a special dedicated to a lunar eclipse.
The cover says the eclipse can be observed on December 31st, 2028.
Oh, right. Yeah, I guess it did say something like that...
Six days, huh?
You mean today is December 25th?
Yeah. Well, I mean, I think it is.
Depends on how long I was out after they hit me with that gas, I suppose.
...
Did you find anything?
Nothing of interest.
You better not be hiding something.
There really wasn't anything helpful. At least, nothing that could help us escape.
A cat? What, so now Zero Sr.'s a crazy cat lady? And just what the hell are we supposed to do with that tidbit?
Well, it's more useful than how comfortable the sofa is...
Hey! The sofa's comfort level is very useful!
Um...
I think you must have misunderstood me. This book isn't for, ah, "cat ladies".
Uh, I don't really give a shit about the breed, genius.
Anyway, I'm a dog person, if you couldn't tell.
No, it's not an issue of breed...
Okay, okay, okay. So it's a story about poor Mr Schrödinger and his beloved cat, right?
Don't tell me: The cat dies at the end. Boo-fucking-hoo.
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
So this is where you were.
Nope. We got squat.
You were looking, though, right?
...
Hey. Answer me.
Oh, uh, well, I mean, we weren't wasting time...
I was just asking them what they'd found.
And...?
Nothing...
Useless...
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot...
...?
It'd take too long to explain.
Just have a look at this.
[Music fades out]
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
Yeah. We found it in the infirmary safe.
The headline says...
"Radical-6 Infection Spreads, Cure Continues to Elude Authorities."
Wh-What...?
What is... Radical-6...?
Just read the article.
999 OST: [Riddle and Puzzle]
Okay...
"The Radical-6 virus continues to spread across the globe like wildfire."
"The WHO has confirmed...
...that the death toll is estimated to have passed 100,000 victims."
"Immediate quarantine of any infected patients is strongly advised."
...
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
I mean, I certainly hope it isn't the case, but...
Could it be that this facility is, in fact, one of the quarantine locations that clipping mentions?
Then... you're saying we're all infected with this Radical-6 virus?
I donno... It doesn't really fit.
I mean, none of us have shown any kind of symptoms, right?
Well, I do feel a little strange. I've lost my balance a few times.
My body feels kind of weird too, now that you mention it.
That's probably just because you were asleep for so long.
Are you suggesting that our incarceration here has nothing to do with this article?
Maybe if we'd been thrown in here after this virus started spreading...
But right now it looks like we were abducted before this thing turned into a pandemic.
How's that make any kind of sense?
Besides... You found that article in the safe, right?
That means Zero Sr. put it there specifically so we could find it and read it.
Why would Zero do something like that?
So that we'd think this place is a quarantine facility.
So that we'd think what Zero wants us to think.
How do you mean?
And this thing is just a... a prop. Something to set the scene.
Zero's trying to freak us out.
You've got a point... If it was real, why cut it out?
Just leave a newspaper with the article circled in red pen or something.
Right?
That lazy son of a bitch...
Probably too much of a pain in the ass to fake a whole paper.
The other side? Oh... Uh, hold on...
Why would a newspaper just be black on one side?
Well, perhaps there was an ad there...
An ad?
Some sort of full-page ad, with a black background.
No.
I'd bet you money an article like this was front-page news. It's too big of a story.
And I really don't think they put full-page ads on the back of the front page.
Exactly.
Even I know that, and I can count the number of times I've read a paper on one hand.
...
If Zero Sr. really wanted to trick us, why not go all-out?
Only an idiot would fall for this. It's pathetic.
Am I right or what?
I suppose you do have a point.
Yes... I agree.
Besides, I don't remember ever hearing any news about any pandemic...
If it was really killing hundreds of thousands of people, I'm pretty sure that would've been on the news or something...
You're right, we would have heard about it...
Hm...
[Music fades out]
Good idea.
I'll be off then. What about you guys?
Okay. See you all later.
