I never thought there was anything that defied logic apart from the fact that we were frozen and survived for a long time as stones, but now what I see before my eyes is another flaw in logic—something that breaks the laws of thermodynamics... Yes, I'm talking about a door. It's strange because only I can touch or see it.
While returning to the village with Kohaku, I saw this door. I warned her to be careful, as it seemed she was about to collide with it, which would have been bad since she was carrying a barrel of at least 50 liters. But she passed through it as if it were a ghost. When I tried to do the same, I crashed into the door, and Kohaku laughed. But that's not the interesting part. There's something new here that breaks the laws of physics, and that, to me, is far too important. I need to investigate it.
To avoid delaying her, I made a bamboo cart so she could reach her village faster and told her to go ahead while I would follow a bit later. And that's what she did.
Now alone with this door, the only thing I can do is study it...
After what felt like an eternity of hours, I couldn't draw any conclusions. So I decided to leave, but the door began following me all the way to Kohaku's village.
As soon as I arrived at the village, two guys attacked me, and I couldn't react in time. It seems everyone in this stone world is a gorilla.
But at the last moment, Kohaku saved me from the two.
"Stop the unnecessary violence, Kinro, Ginro," Kohaku said. "This man saved my life."
"We can't, Kohaku. That's not right. We don't allow strangers. It's a village rule," Ginro said. "The elder will be angry."
"It's very simple. Rules are rules," Kinro added.
"There's no one from the outside. Strangers and criminals were expelled long ago," Genri chimed in.
"That's why he won't enter. We won't consider it, even if he saved you," Kinro concluded.
"Oh, so I have no choice. You want to fight here and now? But if it's two men against one woman, you certainly have the advantage," Kohaku said, which made me laugh.
"You're so temperamental, and your face is downright scary, Kohaku," I said, moving toward some nearby water.
"Witchcraft!" Kohaku exclaimed.
I used the water and a bit of soap to make bubbles.
The other two looked confused and somewhat frightened.
Soon, someone named Chrome arrived, proclaiming himself a sorcerer.
He challenged me to a sorcery battle. It seems no one here is on my level of science.
As I headed to the supposed battleground, he started making fire and changing its colors—well, that wasn't surprising. Then he used a sulfur ball to generate electricity, but his output was weak. I used leather to improve it and shared the results with the others. After a while, he showed me his collection of "stones," as Kohaku would call them.
Over the next two days, I taught them about science and life 3,700 years before the petrification. I also searched for things to help Kohaku's sister, but that door kept following me...
"Chrome, I want you to keep track of the time while I'm gone. I might disappear for a short period," I said, and just like that, I was forced to enter the door... though not without preparing first. I crafted a spear to attack if there was anything inside.
As soon as I opened the door, a freezing air—as if I were in space—chilled my body, and a blinding light stunned me. I felt strongly that the same thing that happened 3,700 years ago, when we all turned to stone, was about to repeat. I don't know how much time passed, but I woke up on the floor in what seemed to be a white room. The first thing I saw were two people: one squatting and the other sitting cross-legged.
As I got up, I looked for references and saw a distorted clock displaying what appeared to be February 26, 9:30 AM. I licked my finger and calculated the wind speed, but to my surprise, it was... 0 km/h. This place defies the laws of thermodynamics. Looking at what seemed to be the younger one, with chestnut hair,"""I had what was a firearm and my spear, but that period when I passed out took it from me. According to my calculations, I was unconscious for 20 seconds, and the distance between me and it couldn't have been closed, let alone returning to that place. That means it's someone superhuman.
I tried to run, but the farther I got, the more I saw that black-haired guy who looked depressed laughing while eating his cake.
"That won't work. I already tried it, and you end up back in the same place every time," he told me with a smile.
You couldn't know for sure until you tested it, and just as that guy said, it happened. I returned to the same place where I started...
When I stood still, I heard a voice echoing throughout the room, as if piercing my eardrums and skull.
*Participant 03 - Senku Ishigami*
"Hello, Senku. I'm Kaito Fujimoto," said the brown-haired guy with a gaze that seemed devoid of emotion. He might have alexithymia...
"I'm L, but call me Ryuzaki—that's my alias," Ryuzaki introduced himself. "I'll tell you what's going on for now because Kaito doesn't seem like he'll say much more. It seems we were locked here by something called the Alpha System. That's all I know for now, and it appears to be a room that manipulates space-time."
Hearing that, I started laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHA, something that manipulates space-time? I can't believe it! The laws of thermodynamics were broken, Einstein's theory of relativity was fulfilled—we're shattering all of science! Now I can innovate science from scratch." As I said that, the two of them stared at me. Ryuzaki looked somewhat confused, while Kaito gazed at me with what seemed like curiosity, though it's hard to say for certain.
"In what order did you arrive?" I asked.
"I'm Participant 02, and Kaito is 01," said Ryuzaki.
"I see."
"Since when did you start seeing the door?" Kaito asked.
"I started seeing it two days ago, until I decided to enter," I replied.
"I saw it just today," said Ryuzaki.
"I see..." Kaito murmured. "All that's left is to wait for the last participant, and then I'll tell you what's happening."
After those words, he decided not to speak anymore, even though I waited for about 5 minutes...
So I had no choice but to wait for Participant number 04...."""