Chapter 24: Anomaly Catching Anomaly

Adaptation to Site 17 (14)

Anomaly Report
Anomaly No. 1983

Also known as, "The Door to the Multidimensional Maze"

Hazard Level Classification: Ⅲ (Extremely Dangerous)

Special Procedures

Door 1983 must remain open at all times, and must never be allowed to close except under special circumstances.

Special circumstances include earthquakes, detection of internal environmental changes, and the occurrence of personnel running towards the door.

If, after opening and closing Door 1983, a landscape resembling a complex shopping center appears beyond the door, the door must be closed immediately, and

In the event that an unidentified, unrecognizable shape appears beyond that landscape,

An emergency situation must be declared immediately at the Site blockading Anomaly 1983, and armed forces must be assembled in the isolation chamber in accordance with Lambda-5 regulations.

These regulations take precedence over all regulations pertaining to Anomaly 1983.

The shape began to rush towards me.

No, could I even call it rushing?

Without the slightest movement, only the shape approaching me as if detached from space,

It was so unnatural and grotesque that the word 'rushing' seemed utterly inappropriate.

Before I knew it, the shape was close enough to touch me.

Even though it was close enough to bump noses, I still couldn't properly identify the shape,

And the shape, as if spreading its arms, stretched out something long on either side of itself,

And then, it enveloped me as if embracing me.

"――――――――――"

I feel something crawling on my body.

The feeling of countless wriggling little beings, as if swimming beneath my feet.

Those things crawling around my feet gradually began to tickle the tops of my feet,

And crawling up my calves and thighs, they began to slither up my body,

Finally, they began to penetrate even above my neck.

An unbearably bizarre and unpleasant sensation.

That sensation was finally trying to penetrate even into my ears,

And with that unbelievably unpleasant feeling,

I, I couldn't help but―――

Unable to bear the ticklish feeling,

I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Ah, hic, ha, woohyat…!"

No, stop it, seriously.

I'm really weak against tickling.

I'm the type of person who can be instantly incapacitated just by someone tickling my soles or armpits a little.

I don't even know what this is supposed to be in the first place.

What is it? Are you expressing affection or something? Suddenly? To someone you've just met?

"―――――?"

When I pushed away the thing clinging to me, telling it to stop, it began to look at me as if something was wrong.

What? Why are you looking at me like that?

I don't know how you greet people in your dimension, but here, hugging and tickling someone you've just met isn't a common greeting.

Especially if that person doesn't really like the sensation of being tickled.

However, the shape I pushed away, as if it had received some kind of great shock from being pushed away,

Remained standing there.

Just staring at me.

'Hmm….'

Ah, could it be that?

Like those strangely friendly kids who just run up and hug someone they like.

It's a bit embarrassing for the person being hugged….

Well, it's not like I can't understand the behavior at all.

Originally, children's play is all about getting together with their peers and shouting and playing, isn't it?

But he's been playing alone in this big playroom all this time, so how lonely and isolated must he have been.

Thinking about it that way, I began to understand why this guy suddenly ran up and hugged me.

Come to think of it, looking at him a little closer, he might be a little cute.

I still can't quite express what he looks like in a language I know,

But he's probably just a kid from another dimension who fell through the dimensional door anyway.

So that's why he's been playing alone in the playroom of this missing children's center.

And originally, when you travel back and forth between dimensions, prejudices about appearance quickly disappear.

It's more important to skillfully look at the feeling or atmosphere, so to speak.

And I was already a master at reading someone's face in that way.

But for some reason, other people don't really acknowledge it.

"――Ah,"

The guy in front of me suddenly let out a short exclamation and began to slowly back away.

No, wait a minute. I didn't do it on purpose.

I wasn't really trying to push you away, I was just a little embarrassed because you suddenly tickled me.

'…Ugh, what should I do in this situation? It's so inconvenient that I can't talk.'

I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding for the child who seemed hurt, but unfortunately, I couldn't speak in my current state.

Of course, this is just to keep up the act, and it doesn't seem like there's anyone around here except me and this guy,

But still, there might be someone watching, and this guy might later tell someone that I was talking~ or something.

By the way, now that it's come to this, pretending not to be able to speak feels quite inconvenient.

Maybe it's time to show that I can say a few words.

'First of all, right now, I need to express that I'm okay with some kind of gesture…'

While thinking about an appropriate body language, I soon remembered an appropriate gesture that could be used in this situation.

Surely the reason that guy is backing away is because his hug was rejected.

If I reach out my arms and approach him, he should be able to understand what I'm trying to say.

Thinking that, I spread my arms wide and took a step forward.

'…?'

The moment I took a step,

That guy also started to take a step back.

One step, and then another step.

Thinking that the child might be surprised, I carefully continued to take one step at a time.

But that guy still only moved away from me as much as I approached.

'…Huh, he didn't want a hug?'

Confused by the guy's incomprehensible behavior, I stopped walking for a moment and fell into thought,

But before long, I managed to figure out why the child kept trying to run away from me.

That's right.

This guy wants to play tag with me right now.

The fact that he ran up and hugged me the moment we first met must have been an action to signify that I'm 'it' from now on.

And the fact that he's slowly running away from me now must be because he's slowly trying to judge whether I'm someone who will play with him.

If that guy ran away from me quickly,

If I, who didn't understand tag, just stood here, it wouldn't be very fun.

'Well, it's not like I can't play with him at all.'

I think I've said it before, but I quite like children.

That's not to say that I'm broad-minded enough to embrace even children's severe pranks,

But I still feel like playing with children who approach me with the pure intention of playing, even if it's only for a short time.

Besides, I have plenty of time right now, and I've even been given a large space.

There was no reason why I couldn't play a simple game like tag.

Having realized the child's true intentions, I spread my arms wide like before.

After taking an exaggerated pose that would make it clear to anyone that I was going to chase him from now on.

――Thud

I started sprinting towards the guy in front of me.

"―――――?!!?!"

The child, seeing me running, turned his back to me and began to run away.

There was no starting pistol firing to signal the start, nor was there a bang! sound to replace the firing sound,

But as is the case with all children's tag games,

Without any prelude or sound, we began to run almost simultaneously in this vast space.

"―――Ah, aaaaaah, aaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Ah, here it comes. The sound kids make when they're happy.

Don't kids who haven't fully learned to speak usually shout things like 'kyaa' or 'ppyaa' loudly when something fun happens?

From the listener's point of view, it's hard to tell whether it's a cheer or a scream,

But at least in a situation like this, everyone can tell that the sound contains a feeling of joy.

Yeah, it's normal to hear kids running around and cheering like this in a playroom.

Inside a room in a shopping mall-like playroom.

We diligently roamed around the place, continuing our innocent game like children in a playroom.

I was chasing after him, carefully adjusting my speed to almost catch him, but not quite, so he could enjoy the game as long as possible.

As we continued our thrilling chase, I stopped running and stood before a collapsed staircase.

The reason I suddenly stopped playing tag was simple.

The boy, fleeing from me, suddenly dashed towards this dead end.

He fearlessly plunged into the collapsed staircase, blocked by debris without a gap.

'Seriously, that's cheating.'

I rubbed my forehead, feeling troubled by the audacious kid's actions.

I don't know how he did it, but using his physical characteristics in the game felt very childlike...

If you act like this when playing with other kids, you might run into trouble later.

Even if they're kids, they can still feel when something is unfair.

It's obvious that no one wants to play with a kid who constantly acts unfairly during a game.

'Should I just clear it away...?'

I reached out towards the debris blocking the staircase.

Of course, we can't pass through like this, but clearing it away wouldn't be a big deal.

It's just playroom props anyway; it should be fine to just clear a few away.

...Well, it should be fine.

Above all, this is for the kid's education.

He needs at least one adult to teach him that not everything in the world goes as planned.

Let me be clear, this isn't because I feel like I've lost if I can't catch him. It's not some childish feeling.

I'm just genuinely worried about him. Really.

Having decided to clear the debris, I reached out and grabbed one of the pieces.

Finally, as I was about to use my strength to pull it out—

—BANG!

Suddenly, I heard something opening behind me.

I stopped what I was doing and turned towards the sound.

'...A door?'

It was clearly the sound of a door opening.

Since doors don't usually open automatically, I thought someone had entered the room, but there was no one there, just an open, orange door standing alone.

'Did it open because of the wind? Or rather, was there even a door here in the first place?'

I stared at the suddenly opened door, starting to question it.

I had been running around most of this room while playing tag with the kid, but I had no memory of seeing a door here.

Of course, I can't say anything if it's because I didn't search the room thoroughly or look closely.

But I'm sure that even when I was chasing him, it felt like there was nothing here...

"..."

I glanced at the staircase blocked by debris, then decided to give up chasing the kid.

Come to think of it, I've been here for quite a while.

I've been running around here without considering his stamina, so even with a young child's overflowing energy, he must be reaching his limit after running around this much.

That's probably why he resorted to such a sneaky tactic of hiding in a space only he can enter.

'Well, he'll either follow me when he recovers, or play alone again.'

Then, I'll give him time to recover.

Now that I think about it, I'm starting to feel like exploring other rooms too.

Since there's a door right in front of me anyway, he can follow me if he wants to play together.

Behind the collapsed staircase.

I pointed in the direction I was going several times so that the kid, who was surely still hiding in the debris, could see me.

Feeling that was enough, I waved goodbye, implying that I'd see him later.

Then, I started to walk towards the open, orange door, where another landscape unfolded.

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