But it doesn't change the fact that there is something wrong with this place. This facility is similar to a glided cage. He calls it a facility, but there is everything here, stores, great food, amusement rooms filled with games. Numerous areas would help cultivate skills after the subject leaves this place.
A lot of the subjects were young children. After having everything given to them this way, some didn't see the need to go outside.
Why would anybody bother with the outside world when it is more difficult to obtain these things outside? Why settle for the hard option when there is the free one?
A perfect paradise, of course, this place isn't all fun and games. The training program for those children with supernatural abilities was similar to torture. The subjects had to endure such gruesome and inhumane training every single day.
But due to the leisure activities, many fail to see what the facility was doing to them. There was a set routine, a schedule for each child every single day. Most people got used to living that way.
However, Mamoru understood that real life wasn't like that. Although he spent the last six years in silence, even he understood the current situation.
Life isn't this simple. It isn't easy to obtain everything just because you obeyed somebody. The fun thing about life is getting lost, getting hurt, and experiencing hardship. People can only grow if they do those things.
But the facility and their perfect ideology mess up children's brains. The kids don't think of hardship or anything bad happening. They believe that as long as they obey orders, they can obtain anything, even the world.
He wonders how many ability users struggle after they leave this place. Do those people learn that society, that life is not easy? Or do they cause a disturbance in society because things differ? It is most likely the latter.
He often hears the researchers speak of those who have left and comment on how they end up detained.
Mamoru didn't have to hear any further details; he knew what they meant by detained. Those people end up going to prison. To what extent does this place brainwash people?
His thoughts broke off when the girl split the hamburger in half; she passed the other half towards him. "Here."ｆ𝓇𝘦𝚎𝑤e𝗯𝑛𝗼ѵe𝗹. c𝒐𝘮
Huh?
"I think you're hungry too."
Mamoru blinked, surprised. Is she trying to be considerate? His gaze softened. So she is a nice person after all. "Eating out here is a bit awkward. Can we go inside--" He paused, realizing something. "The surveillance?"
"Ah, I don't have any, don't worry."
Even more surprising, he just assumed that every room in the facility has surveillance cameras. So they kept her locked away in a secure area, and yet despite the tight security, there are no cameras? What an unusual situation.
Mamoru followed the girl inside, and the doors automatically closed behind them. His eyes widened when he came inside. "This place is so large!"
From the other doors, it seems like there are other rooms too. This is the first time he has seen an accommodation like this for a subject. He knew the researchers had rooms like this, but he didn't think a subject would have one too.
A nice room, and yet locked away in the deepest area of the facility. Are they confining her or not? Moreover, if she has such a nice room with her own kitchen, bathroom- why is she so frail and skinny? Surely they must give her food to eat.
Sumire laughed softly. "I suppose so; you can sit wherever you want. Can I heat these?" She pointed to the hamburger.
"Yeah."
The girl took his share too and went off to another room.
Mamoru awkwardly sat down on the couch. He wonders what the situation is with this girl. He has never heard of the facility doing so much. He recalled the name she gave him earlier. Are her abilities that dangerous?
His thoughts broke off when the girl reappeared with a white apron. She peeked through the door. "Would you like to watch?"
Mamoru blinked, puzzled, and realized what she was doing.
He quickly stood up and made his way over. "Are you going to cook?"
Is this girl only seven years old? How come she knows how to cook?
Sumire shyly covered her mouth with her sleeve and nodded. "Mm, sorry if it doesn't turn out so well. I haven't done it in a while."
Uh- the fact that she already knows how to cook is amazing enough. His gaze fell towards the table. There was a large piece of meat inside a blue-colored bowl. There were various other appliances and fresh groceries.
"Were you planning on cooking before I came here?"
"I planned to, but then I thought I didn't want to let them win."
"Win?"
"This fancy facility they gave, it was only recently because my parents visited. They didn't like the room I had before and negotiated. It felt stupid. I came here because of my uncontrollable ability. I don't expect to be treated like a human being."
So it was something like that. He figured something was off.
"The rooms you went past on the way here were all mine before. Plain empty walls, not even a bed. Locked up like some kind of monster."
Mamoru blinked, startled at her words. "That many?"
"My powers would go out of control. So I don't see the need having a nice room, I don't want to destroy everything. I normally lock myself up in one of the other rooms and not go out."
Are her powers that bad?
Sumire taped the surface of the oven and set a timer. She pulled out a few pots and dumped different ingredients inside alongside the raw meat. "With how advanced things are, though, cooking is boring."
She tapped the knife against the raw meat, and he watched how it immediately sliced into thin pieces.
Mamoru blinked, surprised. "Wow."
"Interesting, isn't it? In this place, one doesn't have to put much effort into leisure activities. But when it comes to training, these people are so brutal."
Mamoru felt his heartbeat increase when he heard her say those words. Could it be that this girl is the same as him?
He watched her get everything else ready; indeed, since she didn't have to waste time cutting ingredients, it didn't take long.
She quickly got the table ready, and he helped her place the dishes on the table.
The girl decided to make a stew with the meat and alongside the hamburgers were potato chip fried rice.
"Wow.."
Sumire laughed, "Don't be too impressed; you do know that appearances can be deceiving, right?"