NOVEL NEXT Chapter 49: The Tea Brewed is Warm
[Well, here we are.]
The old man stopped somewhere.
In the end, Louise followed the old man, procrastinating on making her decision.
[This place is……?]
Louise tried looking around and getting some information, but the light from the old man’s flashlight kept on obstructing her eyesight from adapting to the dark.
There was no sign that they had entered a room, so it seemed that she had been led to some empty space.
[This is just a little storage area…… We have some chairs and a table over there.]
Approaching the place indicated by the old man’s light, almost groping her way in that direction, sure enough, Louise found a set of cheap-looking plastic chairs and a table.
[It may be a bit cramped for the long-legged Foreigner-san, but please sit down and wait. I’m going to make us some tea. I’ll leave the flashlight here for you.]
And so, forcing Louise to sit in an ill-fitting chair, the old man turned to leave in the darkness.
[However, are you alright with your footing, moving around in the dark?]
Louise called out, trying to confirm if the old man had really gone.
[What, don’t worry. This place is like my own yard.]
She heard such a reply from the old man from a distance.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
(Now then…… What should I do?)
Alone, Louise finally had enough time to look at her situation objectively.
She was caught up in that strange old man’s pace.
“I don’t like this darkness. It feels repulsive.”
When she put it into words, she became aware of it once again.
This darkness is repulsive.
Operatives like Louise are trained to operate at night and in dark places.
Night and dark rooms are dark, quiet, and being a place where your opponent is deprived of vision and one could play one-sidedly with your opponent, they were a perfect battlefield for silent killing, and they have been trained to fight in such battlefields.
So, by nature, the darkness of the nights and dark rooms should be a field in which Louise excels.
However, something is different about this sickening darkness.
It’s as if there is “something” lurking around her.
It’s as if that “something” is crawling all over the walls.
It’s as if “something” irreversible would happen the moment she turns off the flashlight on the table.
She felt as if the moment she shines the flashlight on the ceiling, she may end up seeing “something” that she can’t recover from……
Fear, akin to paranoia, is restraining her actions as an operative.
Her reasoning knows what she should do.
She must act now.
She may have taken a detour, but she’s sure that she had drawn closer to the central dome. Calculating from the distance she had walked, it’s possible that she had already entered that dome.
The Dream Machine, the objective of her mission, may be very close by.
(The question is, what should I do with this old man?)
She could either shoot him dead or ignore him and leave.
For the time being, would the old man’s activities be greatly impeded if she took his flashlight with her?
Thinking of this though, she changed her mind. She wouldn’t want him to tip her existence to the security out of kindness when he finds out that she disappeared.
At the very least, he would need to be neutralized.
Fortunately, she still had all the .22-caliber bullets left in the small pistol hidden in her back.
It was probably too much for the small, old man though.
[Tea is ready.]
Suddenly hearing the call from behind her, Louise turned around, hiding her astonishment.
The old man, faintly illuminated by the flashlight on the table, had brought a tray of tea, but she didn’t hear his footsteps or even feel his presence.
[Come, here you go. Would Foreigner-san want to drink coffee instead of tea? We do have them, but they’re only instant coffee……]
[……No, please don’t mind me.]
The old man, placing a paper cup on the table, sips his tea leisurely, saying “They sure are finding it rough to bring back the light huh”.
Louise also had no choice but to sip her hot tea, when she suddenly thought of something and thought of mentioning it.
[……Grandpa, how did you boil the water for this tea? The power is out, isn’t it?]
[Ahh, we have a gas water heater here. In times like this, old equipment is more convenient.]
[An old water heater in a newly built facility? In a place that isn’t a break room?]
[Fumu…… Is that strange?]
[Yes, it unfortunately is.]
Louise took off her mild-mannered foreigner mask and quickly drew her pistol, a natural ruthless smile on her lips.
[Fuhii……]
The old man who had the gun pointed at him, his head still looking down, started wheezing like a sick man who could no longer breathe due to asthma.
It seemed to be the old man’s way of laughing.
Louise kept pointing her gun silently at him without letting her guard down.
Finally, the old man, who had been making strange breathing noises for at least a minute, slowly looked up.
[……Good gracious, even when I become old, I shouldn’t be so careless huh……]
She doesn’t know if it was because of the darkness surrounding them or not, but Louise felt like the old man’s eyes, looking back at her, were like black holes, reflecting nothing at all.