Guuuuung—
The sound of the engine shutting off rang out, and the bus came to a stop.
"Happy Charon, happily arrived."
"Now, get off. It's time for inspection."
"Ah, just in case, I'm saying this now: do as you usually do."
"In other words, don't expect things to be cleaned up for you even if you go around making a spectacle of yourselves and causing trouble..."
"You'd better throw that kind of thinking away at the checkpoint."
Under normal circumstances, that would have been the sort of thing he could brush off with a joke...
But this was a Nest. If you entertained foolish ideas here, your head would be off before long.
We entered the checkpoint with the thought that we had to stop anything that happened, no matter what, but...
"[Welcome, everyone visiting K Corp.]"
"[Please enter in a single file line in order, then stand in the appropriate location according to the 안내문.]"
The sharp, tense atmosphere of the immigration inspection station, enough to intimidate any first-timer, made the prisoners go quiet as if they'd been cowed.
Come to think of it, I hadn't heard that announcement in a while. Nothing's changed.
Every so often, when Sinclair started sniffling, I moved forward while soothing him together with Gregor and Rodion.
I was curious why he was like this, but it was probably a bad memory, so there was no need to drag it out.
"Yes, if you keep order like this even on ordinary days, how lovely. Like chicks on a picnic."
...?
"Gasp, why are you..."
""
I could guess why he had come, but separate from that, the situation was so startling that my body stiffened.
Seeing the prisoners' movements gradually grow strange, he slowly opened his mouth.
"Because this is a Nest, Dante."
"The moment you cause an unexpected incident here..."
"It would become difficult for Dante to take responsibility for everything."
He was certainly right.
It would still be hard for Dante, a novice manager, to clean up every mess caused in a Wing's territory.
Vergilius would not be all that different, but if you considered his connections and the like, maybe he could manage to smooth things over once.
After that, a brief silence settled in.
Even our troublemakers, who never paid attention to their surroundings, seemed to find this atmosphere uncomfortable.
As I thought that and waited a little, the line moved quickly, as expected of a checkpoint managed by a Wing.
"They're moving through pretty fast. If we wait about ten minutes, it'll be our turn."
"Do all fourteen of us have to answer the inspection questions? Dante won't understand what they're saying, so what should we do?"
Ishmael seemed to have the habit of talking faster and asking more questions when she was nervous.
"I was just about to talk about that."
"Listen carefully. The K Corp employee will only ask very simple questions of the people standing in this line."
"And you only need to give very simple answers as well."
Come to think of it, there hadn't been all that complicated a procedure when I first came here either.
I don't remember the details very well since I was still green then, but I do remember it being surprisingly simple.
"If the inspector asks what purpose you came for..."
"'I came on business for Limbus Company. Please verify my work visa.'"
"That's what you answer. Memorize it exactly, word for word."
"I'll handle the rest, so you only need to prove you're not someone who'll cause trouble."
"If you can't memorize that, then at least keep your mouth shut."
"Just showing the employee ID you have will be enough."
""
Dante snidely muttered under his breath.
Even then, he was trembling as if afraid Vergilius might somehow hear him, which was pretty funny.
"Now then."
"Anyone with a question should first consider whether they've truly thought of a question worth asking."
"Then raise your hand quietly."
Dante and a few others raised their hands.
"Rodion."
"Since it's for work, we can bring our weapons in, right~?"
"That is correct. Next."
"Then Gregor's grotesque arm and Dante's splendid clock head are fine too, right?"
"That's right. For reference, the Manager's head is classified as a prosthetic, not a weapon, so it's allowed even with a tourist visa. Even if he possesses immortality."
Ishmael, who seemed to have decided to take on the role of model student, answered in Vergilius's place.
As one of the more trustworthy people on the bus, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with what she said.
"Correct."
Dante and Gregor's arms lowered at the same time.
"And Ryoshu. Put out your cigarette before speaking."
"...I didn't raise my hand."
Ssshhhh—
"······."
Flap, flap—!
Even with Vergilius's clearly deliberate act of ignoring her, Don Quixote stubbornly kept her hand raised.
"...Fine, Don Quixote. What is it?"
"For what purpose is that glass wall there?"
Was she talking about that one?
Everyone's gaze turned to the glass wall inside the immigration inspection area that Don Quixote was pointing at.
Beyond the transparent wall dividing the space in half...
An impossible number of people were waiting in a line.
So that was the line.
"Rather than waiting, it looks like people are just sitting on the floor over there."
"Looks like they've been lined up for quite a while."
"There are a lot of armed guards too. Three times the number of people here."
"...Glass walls installed in most buildings are likely for safety."
"To put it simply, it's a passageway for back-alley people. If you don't have a visa, moving to another Nest is very, very difficult."
"The attack near the checkpoint was probably along similar lines. They want to get into the Nest even if they have to forcibly steal a visa."
"...And it's also a problem we can't solve."
But that didn't seem to be a satisfying answer for Don Quixote.
Whether it was because of the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere beyond the glass wall,
or because of the commotion happening beyond it right now, I couldn't tell.
"Manager, it's our turn."
""
Before we could exchange a few more words, our turn came around quickly.
"Remember. If they ask what purpose you came for..."
"...If you say that one more time, I'll go and have a little talk with that inspector or whatever he is."
Contrary to Ishmael's excessive worry, the process of passing through the checkpoint was going smoothly.
"State your affiliation and reason."
"Ah, I came from Limbus Company on business. Please verify my employee ID."
"...Verified. Next."
"We're from Limbus Company. Business. They said to check the employee ID."
"...Verified. Next."
Perhaps because we had already proven our affiliation with Limbus Company up front, the checkpoint staff repeated the same questions and answers like a machine, nodding perfunctorily before letting us through.
"······. ······."
Hm?
"...Looks like something's happened over there."
But the glass wall seemed thick enough to block sound too, so it was hard to tell what was going on.
Still, one thing was clear: someone was being dragged away by security with both hands bound,
and in front of them, a child was crying helplessly, not knowing what to do.
"...Let's not worry about it. I don't know the details, but it looks like they violated a Wing taboo."
"Yeah, if it's a taboo violated by the poor, what else could it be besides not shoving enough money up the back door to satisfy them?"
"...Are you mocking me right now?"
"Hah. What, you said it wasn't worth worrying about, didn't you? You sure seem worried."
For a moment, I was distracted by Heathcliff, who had gotten cocky after finally succeeding in needling Ishmael for once...
But the person I had expected to act up had barged in again at the worst possible time.
"State your affiliation and reason."
"······."
"I have come to grant freedom to the oppressed!"
Damn it, shit!
For the first time, emotion appeared on the checkpoint staff's face.
Shock.
A face literally carved with shock looked down at Don Quixote.
Hold on, I think most of us probably had shocked faces too.
Dammit, I should have been braced for Don Quixote to jump in the moment I saw that scene earlier, but I'd let my guard down.
"Release those people! Are they not suffering?"
"...State your affiliation and reason."
...! There was still a chance to salvage this.
I moved quickly and clamped Don Quixote's mouth shut.
"Mr. Meursault! Hold her mouth shut and keep her still!"
"I will."
"Mmmph! Mmmph mmmph!"
I roughly snatched Don Quixote's employee ID and held it up for them to see.
...Will they let this slide?
"...Verifi..."
Just as I was feeling relieved at hearing the K Corp employee speak in a low voice,
my eyes happened to drift beyond the glass wall in the urgent situation.
And what I saw was the small movement of a child's mouth.
"[Da...d...]"
Clang——!!!
"...What the hell."
Don Quixote had gone and thrown off Meursault's restraint, then hurled the spear she was holding with enough force to smash the glass wall.
What, is everyone here really just desperate to die or something?