The silence had returned.Dense. Heavy, like a damp blanket.
Masachika stood with his arms crossed, back against a wall covered in rust and indecipherable symbols. He wasn't looking at anyone. Just at the void, straight ahead.
Alya, still sitting on her crate, had crossed her arms as well. She stared at the flickering ceiling light without saying a word. Not a single sentence had been exchanged in minutes.
Yuki, standing off to the side, scribbled frantically into her notebook with almost obsessive focus. What she was writing didn't matter. It just gave her something to do. A feeling of control.
Marsha was rummaging through an empty drawer. A warped metal cabinet, eaten by humidity. She was digging into it like she expected to find a way out—or a lightsaber.
Subaru stood a little apart, arms limp at his sides. He watched the others, trying to read the dynamic. He didn't dare speak. He wasn't even sure what he would say.
Then, without warning, Masachika broke the silence.— "So? No one's got an idea? Not even a bad one?"
Yuki looked up from her notebook.— "We should start mapping out the place. Mark the hallways, visual landmarks, and—"— "Yeah. Great." He cut her off, not aggressively, just with the same calm weariness that clung to him. "And we'll write that down with your magic pencil in your invincible notebook, right?"
Marsha lifted her head, not smiling. She looked at Subaru, then the others, and said simply:— "Maybe… we should just try to stick together. Five is already something. Better than being alone."
Alya said nothing. She just blinked slowly.
Subaru hesitated, then spoke up in a hesitant voice:— "I… I think this is another world. An isekai. It's happened to me before. A kind of… transfer."
Masachika turned to him. The silence lasted a beat too long.Then he shrugged.— "Right. So we're five Japanese high schoolers in a giant bunker. No signal. No windows. No exit."
He swept the room with his eyes.— "And no one, absolutely no one, brought a phone."
He let out a long sigh. Then concluded, eyes half-shut:— "Alright. We're officially in a shitty isekai."
No one challenged it.Because deep down, it might be true.
Then Alya uncrossed her arms, stood up slowly from the crate, brushed off her skirt like she was leaving a dusty lecture hall, and looked calmly at the group.— "There's nothing here that's going to help us move forward."
She scanned the room: the weeping walls, the empty drawers, the flickering light.— "And I see no one wants to take the first step."
She took one toward the hallway, then turned slightly.— "So I will."
No speech. No dramatic gesture. Just a flat, clear tone that cut through the indecision.
Yuki, still hunched over her notebook, suddenly looked up.— "I was just thinking the same thing," she said quickly, brows furrowed. "Obviously we need to move. I was just trying to determine the best direction."
Alya didn't answer. She didn't even glance at her.
Subaru stifled a small laugh. Light, nervous, but sincere.— "Honestly, we should listen to Alya."
He shrugged with a slight smile.— "She doesn't talk for nothing. She acts. And really… it's kind of nice to see someone here who makes sense."
Alya looked at him for a second.No smile, but a flicker in her eyes. Almost imperceptible.
Masachika, behind them, muttered:— "Amen."
Then he stood up as well.And one after another, they began to walk.
They moved for long minutes through endless hallways. Nothing changed—gray walls, hanging cables, a floor too smooth, too dirty. The air tasted like metal and burnt plastic.
No one spoke. Or rather, no one felt like speaking anymore.The silence wasn't heavy—just… resigned.
They were hungry.And thirsty.It had been maybe five hours. Maybe more. No sense of time. No rhythm. Just walking, fatigue, and that growing weight in their stomachs.
Then Yuki pointed at something.— "There. A locker."
A military locker, embedded in the wall. Dirty, dented, but still locked with a rusty latch. Masachika stepped up and kicked it open.
Inside, there were three things:A worn, olive green military coat, frayed at the shoulders but still warm.A flashlight, dusty but intact.And at the bottom… a square, scratched, nearly faded foil package.
Subaru leaned in.— "Is that… a cracker?"
Masha crouched next to him at the same moment.— "A real one, you think?"
Their eyes met. They understood instantly.And before anyone could say a word, both reached into the locker at the same time.
— "Hey! I'm hungry too!" Subaru protested.— "You already had two halves of an energy bar in your other world, Mr. Isekai!" Masha shot back, pulling on the wrapper.
The struggle was short. But intense.Serious in their movements. Eyes bright with survival instinct.
Masachika, a bit further away, sighed.— "We're all gonna die."
Yuki was scribbling again in her notebook: "Conflict over resource, notable."
Alya simply watched in silence.But nothing changed.
The hallways all looked the same: gray, cold, winding. Sometimes the walls vibrated with a distant breath, as if the hive was breathing through metal lungs. The flickering lights buzzed rhythmically, blind to their fatigue.
Subaru counted turns in his head, trying to remember the symbols on the walls. He was sure they'd been here already. Once. Maybe twice.Yuki had stopped writing a while ago. Her pencil was useless when everything looked identical.
They were trapped in an endless maze.And their bodies were starting to give out.Not from walking. But from thirst.
Dry throats. Thick tongues. Even the air seemed to steal the moisture from their skin.
Masachika stopped first.— "We're going in circles."
Alya looked around. Then nodded.— "We need to stop. Find a safe place. Sleep."
No need to vote. Even Yuki said nothing.They walked a few more steps… and saw it.
A warped door, pushed in on one side of the wall.Behind it, an old maintenance lounge.
The couches were ripped open, moldy leather bloated from the damp.Metal tables covered in dust.A half-melted vending machine.Control screens without signal, covered in cobwebs and shards of glass.And on the far wall, a rusted clock frozen at 2:17.
They entered one by one, without a word.As if the place had been waiting for their exhaustion.
Subaru dropped into a corner, legs stretched out. Masha collapsed into a torn armchair with a long sigh.Yuki scanned the room, arms crossed, wary.The place didn't feel safe. But nothing here really did.
One by one, they settled in.Masha curled up in a corner, knees to her chest, back against a metal cabinet. Subaru slumped near a torn couch, eyes vacant. Alya sat against the wall, knees bent, hands resting on her thighs. Masachika remained standing, as if he didn't trust the floor.
No one spoke. Not because they were already asleep.But because fatigue had replaced words.And thirst… left a taste of ash on their tongues.Each breath seemed to drain a little more from them.
The silence was total. No echo.As if the world around them had fallen asleep too—or was waiting.
Subaru shifted slightly, looking for a less uncomfortable position. He glanced at Alya, sitting two meters away, still and composed, eyes lost in the void.— "Y'know… I've seen cozier inns."
Alya didn't even turn her head. Silence.— "Even the dumps in Lugnica had pillows. And people who smiled. Or… tried to kill me, mostly, but you get the idea."
She blinked slowly.— "Here, you've got people who tolerate you. You've leveled up."
Subaru raised his eyebrows, surprised.— "Was that… a compliment?"— "An observation."
He smiled despite himself. Then added softly:— "Have you always had that look? Y'know, the one that says 'I'm judging you but you're not worth the energy to reply'?"— "I've always had that look for talkers."
Subaru was about to respond, smirking, when a dry voice rose from the shadows.— "Thirst makes you chatty?"
Masachika, half-lying on a pile of cloth, eyes closed, had spoken without moving.— "'Cause if that's the case, keep going. It's distracting me from wanting to drink my own spit."
Subaru raised his hands in peace.— "Message received, Captain. Strategic silence."
Alya finally turned her eyes away.A faint twitch of her lips.Subaru saw it.And it was enough.