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Chapter 11: Alice-chan’s Research
—-荒川功樹　視点—-
—-Arakawa Kouki’s Perspective—-
「What should I do for a research subject…..」(Alice)
Some time after having almost getting blown away by a ballistic missile, The three of us were, as usual, eating in the academy cafeteria when Alice-chan said that sighing.
「I’ve decided」(Saitou)
Saitou-kun who was greedily devouring his donburi bowl attempted to reply to Alice-chan,but it was in vain.(Fraiziar: She wasn’t listening I think)
Now that you mention it, the other day sensei mentioned something about how each person will perform a study and report on it regularly.
It’s got nothing to do with me though…
I wanted to try researching the new metals I saw back at the research facility, but I don’t have access to the funding or facilities like they do.
In the first place, when I consulted the academy director about the matter of the studies, she said with a frantic expression 『That’s unnecessary!』.
But anyways, Alice-chan’s research huh..?
「You are good with pharmaceutics right? So why not do that?」(Kouki)
When I said that, for some reason she started staring at me with a *Jiiiミミ*.
Wait, no, if you stare at me like that I’ll start feeling weird. For now I’ll just avert my eyes since I’m unsure what to do.
「Would you help me?」(Alice)
How could I say no when you’re looking at me with those puppy dog eyes!?Alright, I’ll help you, and Saitou-kun will also help with all his strength too.
Hearing me say that, Alice-chan happily filled in the research subject field on my printout.
Well, for some reason Saitou-kun is trembling with teary eyes muttering 『My research time….』. He’s trembling but I’m sure he’s happy to be of help to Alice-chan.
Even though the space beneath your nose is lengthening, It’s my pleasure. (Fraiziar: Apparently, this phrase “the space beneath your nose is lengthening” (鼻の下を伸ばす)　is a Japanese idiom that means “you’re obviously thinking about sex/ecchi things”)
「For now, I guess I’ll take a look at improving things like antibiotics」(Alice)
Hmm, Improving what we already have huh….If it’s that then I should be able to do something like that surprisingly easily.
But how would we test its effectiveness?
Even if mother somehow were to conveniently come down with a summer cold, there’s no way I could afford to inject such a new drug into her body! If Saitou-kun is by my side and you ask nicely, I would be willing to become a test subject but…
you couldn’t be thinking of testing it on yourself!? If so, then I strongly disagree.
I asked her about my concerns.
「What about test subjects? Would Saitou-kun be unreasonable?」(Kouki)
「Fuhi! wh-why did it end up being ME doing it?… but if it’s for Alice-chan’s sake I’ll do my best!」(Saitou)
Alice-chan went 『ah…』, stiffening up.
Saitou-kun, I don’t think it’s right for you to risk your life for a Good Impression Point-Up you know!
「Could we get someone like Arakawa-kun’s mother to test it on some viral samples at one of those special laboratories?」(Alice)
Hmm, Mom huh. I should be able to get something done about it if I ask…. I mean, I can’t let Saitou-kun test it out, I don’t want to lose a friend.
When I told them that I don’t mind talking to my mom about it, I was delighted to see Alice-chan so happy. After all, Anyone would be happy to please such a cute girl.
Or so I thought, but what was awaiting us was a nightmare….
From that day forth after school we performed new studies in Alice-chan’s laboratory, and it was great, but there was one unexpected surprise.
「Saitou-kun, what was supposed to be done next?」(Kouki)
「If I remember right, you should measure the concentration using that paper. Fuhi!? What should we do, it’s totally burned 」(Saitou)
Alice-chan treats her workers roughly, in fact, her abuses are absolutely ridiculous.
I wanted to voice a complaint to her, but if she were to say  『I’m sorry』with clouded eyes, There’s no way I could continue to scold her. Today too, taking the place of the person in question, I desperately proceed with what I was told. In truth, she’s trying her best too, and although we all want to show off our strong points, we work quietly.
「Arakawa-kun」(Saitou)
Saitou-kun moved towards my location with a serious look on his face.
There’s an earth-shatteringly awful premonition hanging around but for now I’ll listen to what’s wrong.
「I screwed up the amount, I accidentally doubled the quantity. 」(Saitou)
What should we do…. If we end up starting over, we’ll have to do that terribly complex workload again from the start.
If it’s only about twice the amount then somehow It’ll work out.
「Saitou-kun, nothing happened, understand? You were just tired.」(Kouki)
As I said that with a serious expression, Saitou-kun repeated those words back to me as instructed, and turned back to his work.
Now then, Let’s get to work on my section. I’ve gotten so far, just a bit more and today’s work will be over…..
「Arakawa-kun, Arakawa-kun!!」(Saitou?)
feeling someone calling my name, I jolted awake. Apparently I had been sleeping….
I look at the clock and notice that it’s been over 20 minutes.
This is bad. Extremely bad.
Getting up in a hurry, I peeked into the centrifuge and became speechless, there was something in there that I didn’t understand. As I despair at how my efforts had been wasted, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned my head and Saitou-kun, with a serious expression spoke. (Fraiziar: Originally ‘centrifuge’ was 分離機 which means separator, but ‘centrifuge’ in Japanese is 遠心分離機, which is the same except for 2 characters. I chose ‘centrifuge’ because it seemed more appropriate)
「Nothing happened, right? Nothing happened」
He said, as if chanting some sort of spell, appealing.
That’s right…. Nothing really happened in particular.
I then continued my work while repeating those words.
One after another, 3 more of these 『nothings』happened afterwards, but somehow I managed to finish the word that Alice-chan assigned.
As the two of us sat down exhausted, Alice-chan came in from another laboratory.
「Sorry about that! I had to go mix the medicine over there since it couldn’t be done over here. By the way, have you already finished up what I asked for?」(Alice)
As I handed over the part that I was originally responsible for (which at some point turned into something else), Alice-chan hugged me tightly.
「Thank you so much! With this, we can finally make the prototype!」(Alice)
She said, delighted. With a rising tension that was different from Alice-chan, we cannot help but hide our guilt as we watch the mixing being done.
「Saitou-kun, do you think the medicine will be effective?」(Kouki)
「I highly doubt it」(Saitou)
Even so, this is something that can no longer be said. As a promise between men, we decided to keep this case a secret. As the medicine completed, Alice-chan happily spoke.
「Please give this to your mother, and ask her to try it on a viral sample, anything is okay」(Kouki)
And, as I took care of the Ampoule while going home, I was stricken by feelings of helpless exhaustion.
(Roa: Ampoule – a hermetically sealed small bulbous glass vessel that is used to hold a solution for hypodermic injection)
—Arakawa Miki’s Perspective—
Carrying the Ampoule delivered to me by Kouki yesterday evening, I arrived at the Virus Research Laboratory.
I received an explanation from Kouki that it was an Virus Medicine made in collaboration with his friends at the academy. For now, I was told to try it out on some viral samples. but I don’t know what kind of sample I should test on.
「If it came from that child, It shouldn’t be an ordinary sample」(Miki)
To start with, I decided to use on a safety level 3 virus, however I couldn’t get any effect. After mulling it over for a bit, I switched over to Safety level 4.
「Neither Smallpox nor Ebola huh…」(Miki)
Just what kind of sample should it be used on?
If I could, I’d like to test it out on samples starting from the level one class but unfortunately there isn’t enough in this ampoule.
Could it be that this is a failed product? Sometimes the equipment used at the academy can fail, but Kouki’s friends from before were very excellent children.
Then, an idea suddenly popped up in my mind.
I got very excited, because if my line of thinking is correct, then they’ll have to rewrite the textbooks!
「Mrs. Arakawa, that’s dangerous! That is something humanity is not prepared to handle yet you know!?」(Researcher)
The Institute researchers tried to stop me, but I don’t feel like listening to such a thing.
I was on the eighth basement level protected by a special 2 meter thick door. If needed, All human beings in this isolation chamber room will be incinerated.
I carefully took out the viral sample and used the contents of the Ampoule on it.
「It couldn’t be…. for it to actually work.」(Miki)
I couldn’t believe what is happening before my eyes. I used all of the remaining contents and checked the results many times but every time it was the same.
We need to contact WHO immediately…. We also need to contact the school and request their research records. (Fraiziar: WHO is in english characters in the raw, so I assume it is an acronym of some sort WHO is the World Health Organization apparently. Curse my uncultured self)
The virus that was affected by the ampoule I was testing, was the world’s only virus categorized under Level 5 called the 『European Tragedy』.
—Alice Alford’s Perspective—
A major incident occurred!
It turns out that the medicine that we developed was effective on the 『European Tragedy』. Because of that, my laboratory has been shut down since yesterday.
There were some good that came out of it though, My normally silent and strict father whom I greatly respected, and was who got me into studying pharmaceutics praised me a lot. While hugging me he spoke.
「You did well, You’re your father’s pride」(Alice’s Father)
He said.
If I recall correctly, I remember hearing that my father’s grandfather had died from the 『European tragedy』.
He had told me that it was the reason he became a researcher, so I may have robbed my father of his research, but when I asked him:
「What are you talking about. You’ve succeeded where I had failed, you should stick out your chest and be proud of yourself」(Alice’s Father)
I was very very happy, and somehow ended up crying on my father’s chest.
I had said thank you to Arakawa-kun and Saitou-kun but,
「「We’re serious, Nothing happened!」」(Kouki & Saitou)
(TN Roa: Promise between men, Nothing happened OK?)
The two of them were trying to give all the credit to me.
Even though I told them that was something I just couldn’t do, why are both of them smiling bitterly without meeting my eyes?
In the end, I at the very least managed to reward them by publishing their names as Co-researchers…
I wonder, when will the day when I can finally repay my debt to them come? At that time, no matter what happens, I decided that I would become their strength.
In the Year 2012, WHO formally announced the cure for the『European Tragedy』. The creators, the International Academy of Science and Technology’s 「Alice Alford」, 「Saitou Shingo」, and 「Arakawa Kouki」.