The Outer District was the dark underside of the prosperous city.
The environment here was terrible. Ordinary people who lived in the area were prone to illness and cancer due to the pollution produced by the heavily contaminating factories built along the outskirts.
The government had repeatedly claimed that it intended to redevelop the Outer District, but those promises had never resulted in any actual action.
Generally speaking, only one kind of person lived in a place like this.
The Cursed Children, girls who had been ostracized, persecuted, and abandoned by society.
This was where most Cursed Children grew up.
Now, in one corner of the Outer District, a sizable complex had been erected in less than half a day.
Heavy trucks continuously came and went around the construction site, unloading cargo, while massive cranes rapidly hoisted prefabricated modules into place.
The team responsible belonged to one particular power, the world's largest weapons manufacturer, Shiba Heavy Industries.
Officially, the facility was an experimental laboratory constructed at Muroto Sumire's request for the further development of Gastrea virus suppressants.
Anyone who dared interfere with or sabotage the project would face retaliation from both Shiba Heavy Industries and Sumire herself.
Most people would probably fear retaliation from the world's largest weapons manufacturer far more than that of a researcher named Muroto Sumire.
Those who truly knew Sumire's background, however, feared her much more.
When that woman went mad, the consequences were far more terrifying than anything Shiba Heavy Industries could do.
Like a genuine mad scientist, Sumire had already begun frantically collecting samples before the facility was even finished.
There were large numbers of Cursed Children here. She had them consume the Elixir, then drew blood from them for analysis.
"You're Kayo Senju, right?"
"Yes."
Kayo nodded at the woman in the kimono standing before her, releasing the straw she'd been biting between her lips.
In her hands was a glass bottle filled with black liquid, with faint bubbles occasionally rising through it.
Some people might have mistaken it for some kind of medicine. Either way, they certainly wouldn't have assumed it was a harmless and tasty beverage.
Of course, there was indeed a drink that looked similar.
Cola.
As for this bottle, Mr. Kain, who had temporarily become her Promoter that morning, had given it to her.
Earlier, while casually reading a book, he had once again produced several things seemingly out of nowhere, as if performing magic. He'd enjoyed some himself, handed a portion to her, and told her to share them with the other Cursed Children.
Looking at things that way, Mr. Kain only seemed frightening on the surface.
He was actually a pretty good person.
"Um, do you still have any of the snacks he gave you earlier? Could you share some with me?"
Kayo hadn't expected her to come over just to ask for a snack.
Still, she said nothing and reached into her pocket, pulling out a neatly wrapped pastry.
It was sweet, soft, and pleasantly chewy.
It was the most delicious snack Kayo had ever tasted.
She had originally received two pieces. After eating one, she'd saved the second for a time when she became unbearably hungry and had nothing else to eat.
But just as she was about to hand it over, Kayo suddenly hesitated.
Her arm froze halfway through the motion.
It wasn't because she couldn't bear to part with it.
The pastry had been touched by her, a Cursed Child, and she'd carried it around on her person.
The woman might find that disgusting. She might...
"Then I won't stand on ceremony."
Miori shamelessly took it straight from her hand, peeled away the wrapper, and lightly bit into the small pastry.
"Just as I thought. There's absolutely no way something this clean could be produced nowadays."
Miori carefully savored the flavor, her eyes practically lighting up as she spoke to herself.
She was a wealthy young lady, so the food she ate was naturally better than what ordinary people could afford.
Even so, modern food couldn't compare to the snacks that had existed more than ten years ago, before the Gastrea outbreak.
For one thing, food supplies were far less abundant now.
For another, much of the agricultural land was located toward the outskirts. The quality of the crops grown under present conditions naturally couldn't compare to those from before the disaster.
The pastry in her mouth reminded her of the treats she'd enjoyed back when the Gastrea outbreak had yet to happen.
The next second, under Kayo's stunned gaze, Miori shamelessly picked up the girl's bottle as well and took a sip through the straw.
"Ahh. I knew it. It's cola. I haven't tasted this in years."
Cola still existed today, but somehow it just didn't taste the same as it once had.
As that familiar childhood flavor lingered on her tongue, Miori suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of envy toward a certain someone.
She'd thought something had been strange lately.
The last few times she'd seen Tendo Kisara, that young lady had somehow developed a taste for what appeared to be cheap bottled drinks.
So that was the reason.
What Kisara had been drinking wasn't the same mass-produced stuff everyone else had access to.
It was genuinely clean, uncontaminated cola.
And the source of that luxury was obviously Mr. Kain.
Miori kept sipping as she indulged in the nostalgic taste of her childhood.
By the time she finally snapped out of it, the bottle was empty.
Realizing she'd just finished someone else's drink, she looked rather embarrassed.
"I'll find a way to repay you with another bottle."
In truth, she'd already shamelessly gone over to Kain and asked him for one.
Unfortunately, he'd told her he didn't have any left and suggested that Kayo might still have some.
"There's no food in this one."
Kayo immediately hugged the violin-shaped case beside her tightly to her chest.
Miori's gaze had just fallen onto it.
And there really wasn't any food inside.
It contained the weapon Mr. Kain had given her.
A very advanced weapon.
"There's a weapon inside, isn't there?"
Miori's question immediately made the girl tense.
"Relax. I'm not going to take it from you. I'll just ask him for one myself."
The man called Kain was making Miori increasingly curious.
Advanced weapons.
Clean, pollution-free food.
Just what untouched paradise had he come from?
Black hair and black eyes gave him the appearance of an East Asian, and even his name made it easy to associate him with a particular country.
But if that country possessed technology this advanced, then when negotiating mineral trades with this side, they should have had enough leverage to demand outrageous prices.
Hm?
Someone was coming over.
From the look of things, he was here for her.
"What's this?"
Kain handed her something.
A smartphone?
Or perhaps a miniature tablet?
"Enter all of your people's information into this."
As he spoke, he raised another identical device in his own hand and appeared to take a photograph of her.
Her information immediately appeared on the screen of the device she'd been given.
Although calling it "information" was somewhat generous.
It was essentially just a personnel registration profile.
Then the display changed into a three-dimensional map of the surrounding area.
Her current location was marked on it.
Apparently, Kain had also installed a far more advanced surveillance system covering this entire region.
If anyone who hadn't been registered entered the area, it would probably trigger an alarm.
It might even trigger an attack.
Suddenly, a woman came rushing over like a lunatic.
"Do you have anything that can observe things at an even smaller scale?!"
"Did you find something?"
The wildly excited woman grabbed Kain by the shoulders, but instead of answering her question, he asked one of his own.
He had only recently provided her with a microscope far more advanced than anything available in this world.
Apparently, she'd discovered something with it.
"Do you know what I just saw? The true Gastrea virus might only be one nanometer in size, maybe even smaller!"
That was why Sumire was so excited.
A typical atom had a diameter of roughly 0.1 nanometers.
In other words, the true Gastrea virus might be approaching the atomic scale.
That was completely insane!
(End of Chapter)
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