The next day.
Haruto woke up and opened his eyes. In his arms was the soft and adorable Shiro.
Although Haruto had tried to talk to Shiro before, asking her to sleep in her own room and not sneak over in the middle of the night, it clearly hadn't worked.
Moreover, Shiro seemed to have found a way to deal with Haruto.
Whenever Haruto started scolding her, Shiro would widen her watery eyes and start acting cute.
Since Shiro was adorable, this tactic was highly effective.
After getting dressed, Haruto left the house, heading to Sobu High. Standing on the street, Haruto glanced curiously at the apartment next door.
Even through the walls, he could sense someone inside.
Checking the time, it was almost late for school.
Shouldn't the model student Gabriel be heading to school by now?
Though puzzled, Haruto didn't plan to knock on the door and ask. They weren't close, so there was no need to meddle.
Then, Haruto headed to Sobu High alone.
After class, Hiratsuka Shizuka called him over.
"Haruto, how about being the class representative?" Hiratsuka suggested.
Haruto immediately shook his head.
He didn't want the hassle of being a class representative. He still had to skip classes to deal with Foundation matters.
No way was he taking on that role.
Seeing Haruto's firm refusal, Hiratsuka sighed.
"I figured you wouldn't want to, but there doesn't seem to be a good candidate in the class."
Haruto thought about the class composition and suggested:
"How about Gabriel? She seems pretty well-liked by everyone."
He expected Hiratsuka to agree. But instead, Hiratsuka sighed again.
"I thought the same thing, but today, on the second day of school, Gabriel skipped class."
Haruto: ?
Recalling Gabriel's personality, she didn't seem like the type to skip class.
But... she had been home that morning.
And she hadn't shown up for class.
Seeing Haruto's surprise, Hiratsuka raised an eyebrow.
"What, do you have any other ideas?"
Haruto shook his head.
"No, it's just that Gabriel lives pretty close to me. I saw her last night. She didn't seem like the type to skip class, so I'm a bit surprised."
Hearing this, Hiratsuka stood up and gave Haruto a firm pat on the shoulder.
"Great, Haruto, Gabriel is your responsibility now. Make sure you drag her to school tomorrow."
Haruto: !
"Hiratsuka-sensei, isn't this..."
Before he could finish complaining, Haruto was pushed out of the teacher's office.
The door slammed shut.
Standing in the hallway, Haruto let out a long sigh.
What a hassle.
Just then, the system panel popped up. The anomaly detection program had found something.
But this time, the anomaly was far away, not in Chiba.
So...
Haruto turned around and opened the teacher's office door again.
"Hiratsuka-sensei, I need to take a leave of absence. My neighbor's daughter's uncle's wife's dog is having a difficult labor."
With that, Haruto closed the door and bolted.
Leaving the teachers in the office utterly baffled. Hiratsuka was dumbfounded, taking a moment to recover.
"Haruto!"
Hiratsuka roared.
Meanwhile, Haruto had already slipped out of the school gate.
"Anomaly containment mission. Have the stationed personnel nearby send a D-Class team to investigate."
Haruto called the Foundation and gave instructions.
He then headed to the nearest train station, planning to get there as soon as possible. The anomaly was located in Osaka. Although the Foundation hadn't yet established additional containment sites, personnel stations had already been set up across the Land of Japan.
Even in the Northern Nation and other regions, companies and organizations had been established to distribute personnel, waiting for the construction of proper sites.
At this moment, the Foundation personnel near Osaka, upon receiving the order, immediately sealed off the area.
Armed personnel escorted a group of D-Class personnel to the scene.
The anomaly site was an underground structure in Osaka.
Below is the D-Class personnel contact record.
----------------
D-181's Log:
'This is D-181, leading the team on this anomaly contact mission. Can you see me?'
A brunette girl spoke into the camera.
The Foundation responded, instructing her to begin the contact mission immediately.
'Alright, I'll... begin.'
D-181 picked up the camera and started moving toward the target location.
At the anomaly site provided by O5-1, there was only an abandoned park, with no signs of anything unusual.
'Report, D-181 has not detected any anomalies. Everything here seems normal... Wait, what's this?'
The camera panned over the abandoned park, suddenly focusing on a patch of ground. There was a small crack in the sand, so tiny that even zooming in made it hard to spot.
D-181 reached out and tried to pry the crack open.
She succeeded. The crack widened, and the sand in the park sank, revealing a staircase leading downward.
'Report, D-181 has discovered a strange passage. Requesting further instructions.'
The Foundation instructed her to proceed downward.
D-181, holding the camera, began descending the staircase.
The staircase had about a thousand steps. Based on the footage, it descended several hundred meters before opening into a corridor.
The corridor was dimly lit by emergency lights on either side.
'Report, D-181 detects a strong smell of blood. Other D-Class personnel also report the smell.'
The Foundation instructed her to continue forward. The camera moved further down the corridor. Blood and chunks of flesh began to appear.
The blood on the walls formed strange symbols.
After investigation, the Foundation found no specific meaning behind these symbols.
'I think this is human blood. Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick.'
D-181 muttered a complaint.
Since the comment contained some useful information, the Foundation did not issue a warning.
As they continued forward, dismembered limbs began to appear, confirmed to be human.
These limbs were embedded in the walls, arranged in various poses.
After passing through a hundred meters of blood and dismembered limbs, they reached an underground hall.
'Report, D-181 has discovered an underground space. Human voices can be heard inside. Requesting instructions.' (Whispered)
The camera was raised, capturing the dark underground space.
Faint voices could be heard through the audio, but the language was unrecognizable. It didn't sound like any known language.
The Foundation instructed her to proceed and investigate the underground space.
'Uh, honestly, my gut tells me nothing good is waiting ahead.'
Foundation Warning: D-181 has received one warning!
Three warnings will result in the immediate detonation of the explosive collar, leading to execution!
'Alright, alright, no need to get violent. I'll go.'
The camera continued forward.
Inside the underground space, there were over a dozen primitive torches. In the footage, thousands of people dressed in bizarre attire were prostrating themselves in one direction.
'Ugh! That guy's ripping out someone's heart with his bare hands! Hey, there's someone peeling their own skin off!'
'Wait, what's that thing in the center?'
The camera zoomed in on the center of the space.
There, a three-meter-tall humanoid creature sat on a throne made of human bones.
The creature had green skin, bat-like wings, and a head resembling an octopus, with dozens of tentacle-like appendages protruding from the back of its head.
It... looked somewhat resigned to its fate?
'We've been spotted! These lunatics are charging at us! Requesting evacuation! Requesting evacuation!'
In the footage, the thousands of strangely dressed people turned their heads toward the corridor. Some of them, wielding sickles, axes, and screwdrivers (?!), began charging forward.
The Foundation authorized the evacuation.
The footage began to shake violently.
During what appeared to be a collision, the camera was dropped.
The D-Class personnel were seen fleeing in panic, pursued by a group of frenzied individuals. Two D-Class personnel were caught, their limbs severed on the spot, their bodies gutted, and their hearts ripped out.
The person who removed the heart held it aloft, his expression both manic and reverent.
"For the great Cthulhu!"
He declared.
Then, he devoured the heart raw.
The footage abruptly cut off, presumably because the camera was crushed.
This concludes the anomaly contact record.
In the end, only D-181 successfully escaped. The other D-Class personnel were confirmed dead. The Foundation determined that this human organization had anti-human tendencies and authorized the use of standard weaponry against them.
Armed Squad-19 was dispatched.
Armed Squad-19 was wiped out.
The Foundation classified this human organization as an extreme anti-human group, with members exhibiting deranged mental states.
Due to the organization's large numbers and the inability to deter them through force, the Foundation authorized the use of special strategic weapons.
Mobile Task Force A, Wings of Freedom, was deployed.
Wings of Freedom was equipped with Crimson-1 bio-exoskeleton armor.
Wings of Freedom completely eradicated the anti-human organization, killing 6,307 members and capturing 632.
The captured members would be properly detained, interrogated, subjected to the Class-D Memory Erasure Procedure, and repurposed as D-Class personnel for expendable tasks.
The organization was annihilated, and the humanoid anomaly in the underground space was placed under Wings of Freedom supervision.
O5-1 arrived at the anomaly containment site.
[DATA EXPUNGED]
This concludes the containment record.
When Haruto arrived at the scene, he was met with utter chaos.
The entire underground passage and staircase were clogged with corpses, body parts, and blood.
The Wings of Freedom members showed signs of mild psychological distress.
Haruto arranged administrative leave for them. After clearing the underground passage, Haruto entered the underground space.
There, he saw the humanoid anomaly from the records.
At the same time, he reviewed the anomaly's characteristics.
Just as Haruto's expression grew complicated, the humanoid anomaly spoke.
"Um... could you help me down? I'm stuck here. Oh god, those people are complete lunatics."
Haruto's expression became even more complicated.
This anomaly, with its distinctly Cthulhu-look alike appearance... sounded oddly polite.
Huh? This little thing's got manners.