When the battle was over, we boarded the bus again.
"Then let's set off again, Charon."
"Vroom vroom. I'll go."
Once I took my seat, I heard the now-familiar exchange between the two.
Exhausted from a battle that had dragged on for dozens of minutes, I leaned against the wall by the window and closed my eyes for a while.
**
"Mm..."
I opened my eyes inside the quiet bus.
When I looked outside with half-lidded eyes, it was dark out.
Had I slept for quite a while?
Wait, but it feels like the bus has stopped.
Only then did I realize the bus was parked.
"Are you awake?"
Dante's voice came from behind me.
Dante was sitting near the middle of the bus, on a chair he had placed there.
Everyone else had gone somewhere; only Dante and I remained inside the bus.
"Yes, but where is everyone else?"
"Inside the bus."
Inside the bus?
At that, I looked behind Dante and saw a door at the rear of the bus.
"Looks like you didn't hear me earlier because you were asleep."
"Ahaha... um, sorry, but could you show me around?"
"No problem."
Dante stood up and headed toward the back of the bus.
I followed him through the door.
Inside was a long corridor with no visible end.
"This is the bus corridor. It connects to each prisoner's room."
Then he pointed to a door farther inside.
"In there are Vergilius's and Charon's rooms."
"Are the others all asleep?"
"Yes."
"Then what are you doing, Dante...?"
"Keeping watch."
"Ah."
That made sense. If the prisoners were asleep, someone would need to stand watch so the bus wouldn't get attacked.
And since Dante was a body that didn't need sleep, he was perfectly suited for the role.
While I was thinking that, Dante knocked on the door marked 14 and said, "This is Saramago's room."
Then Dante pointed into the dark depths where I couldn't even see and said, "And that area farther in is off-limits."
"Mm... Have I explained everything?"
"Then there's nothing else to tell you, so I'll head back."
Dante said that and left the corridor to resume his watch.
...Then maybe I should look around my room?
Curiosity led me to open the door and step inside.
The room looked like a hospital patient room.
If I had to add a bit more detail... maybe a VIP single room?
Other than that, there was a window.
When I looked outside, I saw a patient room similar to this one... but slightly different.
Not a single room, but a horribly cluttered ward that looked like it could hold dozens of people...
"Ugh!"
A sudden headache hit me.
The moment I felt that familiar pain, I hurriedly turned away and drew the curtain shut over the window.
...There seemed to be something about the scenery outside, but I couldn't tell what it was in my current state.
Tch, maybe I should just sleep.
With that thought, I lay down on the bed, but sleep didn't come for a long while.
Well, I had been sleeping soundly until just a little while ago, so maybe that was only natural.
...There's nothing to do in this room.
And if I went looking for another prisoner's room, they'd all be asleep.
There's no way anyone would still be awake... oh, there is?
The moment I realized that, I left my room and headed out of the corridor.
"Saramago? Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just... I can't sleep."
"...If it's not rude, may I sit beside you?"
"Of course."
...Awkward. Was it because I had nothing to say?
Maybe Dante felt the same way, because he spoke first.
"Why did Saramago join here?"
"I'm not really sure either. I suppose I just... ended up joining."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, um... Dante, aren't you tired?"
"Of what?"
Dante seemed not to understand what I meant and asked back.
"Bringing the prisoners back to life. It must be painful."
"Ah... it is. To be honest, I don't want to do it."
"I understand. With people like Heathcliff killing allies left and right, who'd want to bring them back?"
"Pff..."
Ah, he laughed.
As the conversation continued and the mood loosened, our talk began to bloom.
"Mr. Vergilius..."
Sometimes we said things we couldn't say in front of the person involved.
"I don't have anyone I can really talk to..."
Sometimes we vented about what had been hard for us.
"Back then, Sinclair was just..."
And sometimes we passed the time with trivial jokes.
How many hours had we chattered away? Before I knew it, dawn had begun to brighten the outside of the bus.
"Hah! What, Sara, you're up early?"
Rodion came out from the corridor, saying that.
"I went to bed early yesterday. Good morning, Rodion."
"Yeah, good morning~ Dante too, hello?"
"Good morning."
After Rodion, who had come out first, the prisoners kept waking up one after another.
Faust, Yi Sang, Ishmael...
And finally Vergilius, leading Charon out with her sleepy eyes, brought everyone out of the bus.
Once everyone had gathered, the morning of the bus began with Dante's words signaling the end of his personal maintenance time.
**
About two days passed like that.
After a battle, while we were refueling Mephistopheles, Vergilius suddenly leaned his head out of the bus window and said, "Hey! Wrap it up already. We'll have a guest arriving soon."
"A guest? Who?"
"Since this is our first dungeon, I figured we'd need a guide."
At that moment, a woman with long red hair wandered up nearby.
"Um, are you perhaps the people from Limbus Company?"
Her right eye was tightly covered with cloth, as if she had some kind of eye disease.
I wonder if that isn't uncomfortable.
"Looks like it..."
The woman said that after briefly looking at the bus body.
She must have seen the Limbus Company logo there.
Grrr... grrr...
As she calmly watched the bus consume fuel, she spoke.
"I'm Yuri, formerly of L Corp. Nice to meet you."
"Former L Corp...?"
"Ah, then it would be Lobotomy Corporation."
"Yes, we're heading to the old branches of Lobotomy Corporation... the former L Corp."
Faust explained that after Gregor's words.
"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't have come if they called."
"A fallen Wing, huh. I'm sure it didn't end well."
"What are you talking about? Wing or no Wing, as long as money's involved, anything becomes a pleasant memory."
Rodion dismissed Ishmael's sarcasm.
Just how much does she like money?
"Huh, I heard that place is still swarming with monsters."
"Not monsters. Abnormalities. In any case, that part is true. But there are important things there."
Faust corrected Gregor and said that.
What could those important things be?
"At the deepest part of the branch, there exists the core essence of L Corp's technology, which only recently began to bloom."
"Dante, do you remember what I suggested a few days ago? I said I'd have your rank engraved."
"An essence... If we gather the Golden Boughs, something like that won't be difficult at all."
I didn't know what a rank was, but if it was the essence of a Wing's Singularity, then surely it could do anything.
That's how incredible a Singularity is.
It's the kind of technology that can stop time and cross space, doing absurd things like that without a care as long as there's enough energy.
Hearing Vergilius's words, Dante suddenly clutched his head.
Was he reacting to the word "rank" the way I reacted to my two years of past?
"There's no need to force yourself to remember. You'll know everything when the time comes."
Faust's words were clearly directed at Dante, but...
I felt certain she was speaking to me as well.
Did Faust know about my past too?
...That was something I'd never know unless I opened her head and looked inside.
Dante thought for a moment, then nodded and changed the subject.
"Then... there should still be Enkephalin left in that Lobotomy Corporation."
"Ah, then we won't have to keep grinding people... in anymore?"
Sinclair said that in a hopeful voice.
"And if we're lucky, we might even get E.G.O, so that's three birds with one stone."
For the first time in a while, Ishmael spoke with a satisfied smile.
By the way, wasn't it a little rude to talk among ourselves when a new person had just arrived?
Apparently I wasn't the only one thinking that, because Gregor addressed Yuri.
"What kind of work have you been doing, Ms. Yuri?"
Gregor put on the friendliest-looking smile he could manage.
Ah, his eye corner twitched. Guess he's not used to that.
"By my reckoning, you must be a Fixer! I hear they all carry the scent of noble heroes!"
At Don Quixote's words, Yuri gave a slight nod.
Then Ishmael let out a deep sigh.
"I don't know where you heard that, but Fixers aren't those kinds of heroes. If anything, they smell like pitiful wage slaves."
Ignoring that, I spoke up.
"If you came from a fallen Wing, it couldn't have been easy to find work. You managed it somehow."
"For now... I'm a contract worker."
So that's how it is. If luck is on your side, you might just manage to get as far as contract work.
Becoming a regular employee would be another matter entirely.
Unlike my own thoughts, Ishmael seemed annoyed by Yuri's answer and said in a sarcastic tone, "Ah, I see. So that's why you crawled back here."
"Did they promise you a team leader position if you went back to your old workplace and pulled off some big score?"
"...If I build up enough results, they might extend my contract."
"R-right. Usually, contract workers have to stake their lives on every bit of performance."
Gregor defended Yuri, looking at Ishmael with a flustered expression.
"Ha, what a pointless life."
By then, I could hear Gregor whispering, "Hey, why are you being so sarcastic from the start? What's got you so worked up?"
"...Well, there's plenty I don't like from beginning to end."
But Yuri didn't seem particularly bothered by any of it. She quietly found an empty seat and sat down.
Gregor looked back and forth between Yuri and Ishmael, then scratched his head and sat down as well.
"I just... can't get used to these people."
"...Agreed."
That was a heartfelt affirmation.
"It'll be easier if you get used to them quickly, Dante."
That's a curse, that is.
Vergilius said that without caring about my fixed stare.
"...Charon, let's depart. Our guest has taken her seat."
"Mephi go, vroom vroom. Charon go vroom vroom too."
And with a deep engine rumble, the bus began to move forward.