RESEARCH LAB

"I don't know how many years have passed in this empty space. I've lost count,"

Akio mutters while gazing at the giant eye in front of him, sitting in an ethereal void.

No hunger, no thirst – even the anxiety about his family seems to have faded away. In his vision, he witnesses his entire family being consumed by flames.

"What's happening to me? I was once a child, and now I am bigger and older than I was before. Has it been one month, one year, five years… I don't know. How much time has elapsed? I am suffering so much. Is this hell?"

Akio wipes his eyes,

"Tears? They're not coming out anymore. I forgot what's called frustration. I forgot what it is called..."

That giant eye blinks for one time.

".... emotion"

Akio again looks up at that eye.

"Who are you? Why won't you speak? What even is this place?"

"Mental plane? What is it? If you ask me, I'd say it's a plane made of mental projections, thoughts. Have any of us ever wondered what its shape might be? In 1975, a German scientist tried to explore this concept. He proposed that the mental plane has its own unique shape and structure. We are able to think, dream and while doing so, we enter the mental plane. Of course unconsciously. However, his theory lacks a solid foundation,"

A hand rises among the crowd. "But Dr. Shimura, that theory was dismissed because it lacked evidence."

Dr. Shimura chuckles, "Do you truly believe it has no basis? Was that German scientist just another fool?"

"No I didn't mean that...."

"It's alright, we scientists are often seen as fools. But that scientist did indeed enter the mental plane, consciously. In his thesis, he claimed to have seen the true shape of the mental plane."

Another hand goes up, "But it's still just a claim. It could be false. He couldn't provide any proof."

Dr. Shimura paused for a moment, looking at his red hat, before continuing, "True, it lacks empirical evidence. Yet, it isn't entirely false. Let me remind you of another incident – the 1990 bus accident in Karuizawa. One survivor from that accident reports experiencing a new reality during the crash. He describes the world as distorted."

"Are you suggesting that he consciously experienced the mental plane?"

"Yes, he did. Both the survivor and the German scientist see the mental plane with their conscious minds. However, their descriptions of the plane differ in almost every aspect, except for one: the presence of a goat and a colossal eye."

"Goat?"

"Yes, a goat with no iris. Strangely, they both note this particular detail. It could change everything, but no one seemed to care. You know why? Because they deemed them foolish, right?"

The audience falls silent for a moment, processing the information.

Then another voice speaks up, "How did you come across this information? Sorry, that question is worded poorly. I meant to inquire about your inspiration for this theory. It appears quite fictitious and conspiracy-like. After all, you are a Nobel prize-winning scientist, and for you to suggest something like this…"

Shimura laughs, "ok let me get this straight --"

Shimura takes a deep breath,

" I am that survivor from the Karuizawa accident."

The revelation stuns the crowd, and chaos breaks out in the room.

Suddenly, the TV is turned off. Rigaka returns to reality, realizing he has been absorbed in watching Dr. Shimura's interview. He notices that Risha is the one who turned off the TV and that she appears damn angry.

They are now in a hospital room for Risha's 7th month of pregnancy checkup.

Risha shouts at Rigaka, "RIGAKA!!! I told you to not bring this DVD here. You watched this clip more than thousands of times. Still you are so clingy with it."

Rigaka, engrossed in the interview, tries to explain himself, "I can't help it. I've become a fan of this guy since I first saw this clip eleven years ago. It's so intriguing. I can't believe he got connected with that plane and even knew its name. Truly fascinating. I thought only we zord people knew about it and how that plane works. To think that a newborn was able to get it right.... It's insane."

Risha sighs, "We all know about it, Rigaka. And don't praise him too much in front of others. People in Zord despise him. He has no sense of discretion. He exposed this entire matter and put the Zord association in jeopardy."

Rigaka defends Dr. Shimura, "Still, I can't help but feel bad for him sometimes.He is now dead. Zord association executed him and his entire research team right after this interview."

Risha retorts, "Don't feel bad for him. It's all about international security. You know, the powers of the mental plane should remain unknown to newborns. Otherwise…"

"I know," Rigaka replies, understanding the implications.

Both stay silent for a while. Risha takes the initiative to break the silence,

"Ok Whatever, But why were you watching it at this moment? I am pregnant goddamn it. You are going to become a father. At least try to act more father-like."

As they continue their conversation, a staff member interrupts.

"Rigaka sir?"

"Yes, I am rigaka. What happened?"

The stuff : we got another successful subject. You have been called to monitor him over.

Rigaka flusters, "a new subject?"

The stuff nods his head, "yes and the subject's name is akio katsueki. Here's every detail about him."

Saying so, the staff hands over all the documents about akio to rigaka.

That news spread like wildfire. Soon it reaches the president's room.

As the news spreads, it reaches the president's room.

The president stands by the window, feeling the strong wind, and his secretary, Grinal, approaches him.

President : "The weather seems good."

His secretary, Grinal, asked him from behind. "Sir, should we call off the meetings? In case you wish to meet the subject personally."

The president opens his eyes and replies, "Not necessary. I will talk to him later. By the way, who is the monitor this time?"

Grinal responds, "It's Rigaka."

The president frowns, "Rigaka? Wasn't he the one who caused issues during previous monitoring sessions?"

Sanjo, the president's security, attempts to clarify, "But sir, Rigaka wasn't at fault…"

The president shoots Sanjo a furious look, "Don't interrupt me when I'm talking."

Sanjo shudders, "My apologies, sir."

The president takes a deep breath, "Sorry, I overreacted. Let's see how he handles the subject this time. Sanjo…"

Sanjo steps forwards, "Yes, sir?"

The president requests, "Tell the scientists to take care of the other subjects while monitoring this new one. We can't afford any casualties."

Sanjo agrees, "Of course, sir."

President shuts his eyes off. in his mind, he keeps chanting one thing.

"Akio, please be alive."

Meanwhile, Rigaka hurries to the counseling room, repeating to himself, "Focus, focus, you can do it, everything will be alright."

Upon arriving at the room, he encounters two guards, shows them his ID, and gains entry. Inside, he sees numerous people working on computers, rushing around with documents.

Rigaka sighs, "eeeh… it's so messy."

"Oh, so you're gonna be his monitor." a voice came to his ears. He discovers that the voice owner is the scientist Arish.

Arish extends his hand to shake hands. "Hey, I am arish. I am in charge of this research division."

Rigaka accepts the handshake with a smile on his face, "yes sir, i heard about you."

Arish comments, "So you're gonna be his monitor. I never saw you here actually."

Rigaka: yes sir, it's my 1st time monitoring someone from this room. But don't worry, I won't let you down, sir. I already have enough experience in such cases.

arish puts his hand on his chin, "hmm.. there are more than 30 research labs in this base. i guess it's reasonable that i never saw you."

rigaka nods his head, "i guess so. By the way, When are you going to get him out of the tube?"

Arish takes a coke.

"After a while. His body will take time to stabilize. Please wait till then. Do you want some coke?"

Rigaka: "no, I am good. Did you call any of his relatives here?"

Arish points to an old man, "Yes, his dad is here. Name's Aritsu Katsueki."

Rigaka saw a 45-49 year old man sitting on a bench. The man looked as if he were in deep anxiety. Rigaka feels sympathy for Aritsu, who appeared to have a troubled past, with one of his legs missing. In the documents, it was revealed that Aritsu had been a Zord member, but his mission details were classified.

Arish takes a sip from coke and mentions, "I don't know where his mom is, though."

Rigaka exhales, "she died along with Akio's 2 sisters. They were newborns, I heard."

Arish was a bit surprised.

Dr. Arish was surprised, "Newborns? I thought we were experimenting on successors of Zord members. Most newborns enrolled in Zord are natural charge users, and they don't need this artificial treatment. So why now?"

Rigaka explains, "There might be a reason. His father was a Zord member, and his mother is a newborn."

Dr. Arish remarks, "Mixed blood, huh?"

Arish takes another sip from his coke.

"This world is surely mysterious."

Suddenly they hear a scream. Rigaka and Arish look at the tube. There's a hole on that tube and water pressure can leak the tube at any moment.

Arish shouts at his subordinates, "how did this happen?"

One of his subordinates tries to justify themselves, "we didn't do anything sir, I just discovered this damage.Tru–"

Arish slaps that person. "Do you even know what you do? A lot of people are going to die because of this."

Because of the upside-down situation, Rigaka gets tensed for akio. Rigaka looks at Akio's father, Aritsu. That old guy is literally trembling with fear.

Arish shouts to one of his subordinates once again, "go and stop the water supply for 30 seconds."

Another subordinate: "But sir, without continuous water supply, those subjects will die."

Arish keeps shouting, "Just do it."

Everyone starts working as fast as possible.

Rigaka asks out of concern, "What the hell are you trying to do?"

Arish replies, "I am trying to save everyone."

saying so, he starts typing something on the computer.

Arish shouts at his subordinates."Let's try to restart the programme. Re-arrange all the particles within the tube. Change the Varz motor supply. Put a new motor there. We got only one chance."

Rigaka sighs with a sound of relief. "So, We can save them I guess."

"Oh no."

"The restart has been paused."

Arish: "oh shit."

He sits on the ground.

Rigaka puts a hand on his head, "me and my cursed mouth. Whenever I try to get something to be right, it turns out to be wrong."

Rigaka finally realises that there's no other way. The ray of hope just got Extinguished. Rigaka feels responsible for the tragic outcome. He realizes he couldn't save Akio or the other subject. The weight of his past mistakes weighs heavily on him.

"It's all over."

Later, an explosion rocked the research lab at 6:00 PM. The tube got destroyed.