Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 4

Children’s Collapse chapter 4

p1: ================================================
There’s something about that place that stinks.
Be careful.

p2: ================================================
Chapter 4: Going the distance

p3: ================================================
{ I’m terribly sorry, but Coleman cannot spare any time right now… }
{ Would you please wait for her? }

{ In the meantime, you are free to observe our facility. }
{ I can?! }

{ You may.
/ There are some areas you’ll be forbidden access to, but all of them are marked. }

[sfx]: Bounce

p4: ================================================
So much space…
/ And it’s so open.
I wasn’t even patted down.

[sfx]: Fween

p5: ================================================
This’s less a lab and more an orphanage.

p6: ================================================
[sfx]: Crash!

[sfx]: Squeeze!

{What…?}

p7: ================================================
{…Where?}

{…?}

{Alan!}

{Hey now!}
{Mnph!}

{Oh!}

[sfx]: Sigh

{…Sorry. Are you the woman here to observe?}

p8: ================================================
{…He has hypersensitivity?}
{Yes}
[sfx]: Stab

{He was born with abnormally acute sensory organs.}
{ He follows his own rules when interacting with others, and…
/ Please don’t view him too harshly for what he did. }

{I realize I’m in no position to judge when you so kindly let me observe, but it seems like there’s more children with early-onset developmental disorders than there are those with higher brain dysfunctions.
/ Any reason why you’re obsessing with them? }

{You certainly know your stuff.
/ Umm, aren’t you-- }

p9: ================================================
{Mnnn! Mnnnn!}
[sfx]: Slap

{Sheesh. Again…?}

{Here.}
[sfx]: Squeeze

[sfx]: Toss

[sfx]: Run

[sfx]: Squeeze

p10: ================================================
{ An obsession? }

{ Yes. He won’t drink out of any cup but the right one.
/ But his old one’s gone missing. It had a duck on it. }

{We tried putting a similar sticker on this one, but to him, it’s just not the same… }

{You have to drink your milk if you want to grow up big and strong. }

{ Alan…
Let him do as he pleases. }

p11: ================================================
{ And if he insists on not having anything to drink, put him back on the IV during his nap. }

{Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Kunosato.

p12: ================================================
{ Beth! Jake! }
{ You’ll hurt yourselves! }

{ Get down from there! }
{ Beth, Jake, please…! }
Isn’t she…

{Apologies for all the ruckus. }
/ { My staff are excellent researchers, but they aren’t the most experienced in dealing with children. }
{It’s fine. I’m the one who dropped in unannounced. }

{So, what brings you here today?
/ How’s your shoulder? }

p13: ================================================
{ Your research caught my eye. I looked into it…
And it looks like you’re chiefly concerned with the issue of perception. }

{Yes.
Investigating how the children view the world gives us insight into it. }

{…That girl. Beth, was it?
…? Yes, that’s her. }

{What in the world is she?}

p14: ================================================
{ Music suddenly rang in your ears?
/ Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination? }

{ Then why did you know to come to the bathroom?
/ Wasn’t it because you heard the music? }

{ When the children panic, what they seek are quiet, enclosed spaces. }

{…}

p15: ================================================
[sfx]: sigh

{ Hypothetically, if what you say were true, then what is it you would like to ask? }

{ It’s not normal.
/ Which makes it interesting. }

{ But why? Aren’t you Ms. Makise’s assistant?
I can’t imagine our research has much to do with hers. }

[sfx]: Mmph
{ I’m not her assistant.
/ I’m not even on her staff. }

p16: ================================================
[sfx]: Heh

{ I read the article you wrote for the conference.
It shared the same theme as hers… Though apparently, it was a bit shallow. }

{I’m terribly sorry, but I can’t share details about the children to people who aren’t staff. }
{ You’ll have to accept that. }

p17: ================================================
{…}
sfx: clench

{ Ms. Kunasato, you are still young.
/ You can’t possibly know what you want to do, or even what you should do. }

{ …What’d you say? }

{ Ms. Makise is terribly brilliant. As a fellow researcher, I understand the pressure to succeed you feel around her.
Gather experience as her assistant. I expect big things from you. }

{…Back where I’m from, people like you get told to mind their own damn business. }

[sfx]: Slam

p18: ================================================
[quote to 4-17] { You can’t possibly know what you want to do, or even what you should do. }

…I know damn well she’s fucking brilliant.
[sfx]: Tch

p19: ================================================
[sfx]: Eeeeek!

[sfx]: Thud

[sfx]: Rise

{ Beth, no! }
{ It’s dangerous! }

[sfx]: Vibrate

p20: ================================================
Mio?
/ You all right?

…What part of me?

Have you already left?
I’m still here.

If there’s nothing for you to gain, then let this end.
{ Beth! Stop this at once! }

p21: ================================================
[sfx]: Reach

p22: ================================================
…I get it.
That’d make sense.
[bg]: YEOUCH!

…Mio?
Are you listening to me?

Yeah.
At any rate, come back here right away.

{ Yeah, mom. }

p23: ================================================
YOU’RE WHAT?!

The Coleman Institute has made great strides. I’m going there.
Looks like it’ll be fun.

Now wait one moment!
[sfx]: Grab

p24: ================================================
What is the meaning of this? I hope they didn’t try to bribe you into going.

Nah, just the opposite.
Coleman told me to gather experience under you.

…

[sfx]: grin

And that pissed me off.

Huh…?

p25: ================================================
At the end of the day…
I can’t even put my dreams to words if nothing’s fighting to keep me down.

{So Mio,}
/ {could you maybe stop looking like you’re having the time of your life when you’re getting payback?}

I’m the kind of person who wants to seek her teeth into whatever’s in front of her.

…You’re leaving out of stubborn pride over what she said?
/ I know the university’s made offers. And right here, we—

No. It’s you.
…Hey, Kurisu?
/ That thing you said, about the riddle that is the universe? But that’s just dealing with the one we’re looking at right now, isn’t it?

…?

p26: ================================================
[ref, p14] { Music suddenly rang in your ears?
/ Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination? }

…That reaction was almost certainly genuine.
The sound was almost farcical, the way it appeared.

That kid doesn’t see the same world I do.
Nevertheless, I heard that sound. She [em]influcenced[/em] my world.

p27: ================================================
If I can explain why, that’ll rock the foundations of the world we’re researching.
I might even be able to show that all our research is nonsense.

I might be able to surpass her…

In other words, Kurisu, if we take things to extremes…

p28-29: ================================================
I’m damn sure I want to kill you.

Kill your research, kill its results.
Kill the whole universe you see.

p30: ================================================
…

You think I’m gonna latch on to you and beg for scraps at your feet?

By my measure, the people who do are incompetent.

In fact, over this past year, you’re the one who showed me that.

Becoming a scientist isn’t my dream.
/ But I’ve figured out what it is I want to do.
It’s to destroy you.

p31: ================================================
And so you would kick away this familiar laboratory
to begin anew doing new research in some suspicious institute?

…Mio, people like that?
By my measure, they are exactly who I would call scientists and researchers.

p32: ================================================
[sfx]: spill

{ Again, Alan? }

[sfx]: Step

…You’re the one from yesterday.

p33: ================================================
[sfx]: Clatter

{ What?! }

[sfx]: Offer

p34: ================================================

[sfx]: toss
[sfx]: slump

{ Next. }

{Excuse me. What are you-- }
{Shut up. }

[sfx]: mmph

p35: ================================================
{ Look, it’s not going to work. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but please let me do my job. }

{ Like I told you before, the boy isn’t going to accept any cup that doesn’t have a duck on i-- }

p36: ================================================
[sfx]: Pour

{But why…?}

{ I don’t got a clue how long you’ve been here,
but maybe you need to spend more time observing. }

{ The kid obsesses over texture. Touch and feel.
What his eyes tell him about some picture doesn’t mean crap in comparison. }

p37: ================================================
[sfx]: Clink

{ When Coleman said most of her staff don’t know how to deal with the brats, she must’ve been thinking of you.
…! }

{…Hmph.
/ So I take it your boobs are as hard as hard as this handle? }
[sfx]: Tap

p38: ================================================
[sfx]: Yank

[sfx]: Press

{What are you--?! }

{You tell me.
/ That kid’s the only one who knows what it is he’s looking for. }

p39: ================================================
{Or do you honestly think he’s living in the same world you are? }

{…What? }

{That’s why you don’t know how to deal with him. You said it yourself: he’s got his own rules. }
{If you’re a researcher, then look at him as nothing more than a research subject. }

{Who do you think you are?! }
{Enough. }

p40: ================================================
{ Ms. Kunasato,
/ what was the meaning of that? }

{I just want to be part of your institute. }

[sfx]: Speechless
{…And you expect us to accept you? }

{Yeah, unless you want me to tell everyone about Beth.
Do you mean that gossip you brought here yesterday? You can’t expect people to believe— }

p41: ================================================
{ Wanna try me? }

{ Here’s all of my research, my papers, their evaluations.
If this isn’t good enough, then you don’t have to make me a full researcher. }

[sfx]: Click

[sfx]: Smoke

{Smoking in a lab, in this day and age? }
{Of course it’s fully banned.)

{…I’ll ask you again. What is the meaning of all this? }

p42: ================================================
{ I told you, your research interests me.
What do you say? }

[sfx]: Sigh

{You will start by learning the children’s names and conditions.
Then you’ll move to research. }

p43: ================================================
{ Heh.
/ And here I thought you’d start me off doing office work. }
[sfx]: Pass

{I’m familiar with your achievements.
/ Additionally, you have, in your own way, decent knowledge and understanding of the children’s conditions.
What you said earlier was largely accurate. However… }

{ I do have one correction:
That child lives in the same world we do. }

{ …Heh. With you running a lab so young, I figured you as more of a researcher.
/ What’s all that humanity supposed to get you? }

{ Our research exists to help the children here.
/ As an employee, you would do well to obey that tenet. }

{ Furthermore… }
[sfx]: Squeeze

p44: ================================================
{ The boy has a name: Alan.
Alan Coleman. }

{He is my one and only son. }