On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Sandorias III

"Is Shinsuke here?"

Tsurugi looked up from his tablet to see his brunette captain with a worried look on his face. "No, he's not."

"Ah... Alright. Sorry for disturbing you."

When he was just about to leave, he stood up and called out to him again. "Tenma, wait."

"Hm?"

"Have you seen Kimiko? She was supposed to meet me here..."

He blinked. "Didn't she go straight to her room after dinner?"

"Yeah, but when I checked, she wasn't there." He clicked his tongue. "I don't want to think she snuck out at this hour on an alien planet, but it's starting to look like that's the case."

"Ahahaha... Well, since she still has her abilities, I'm sure she'll be fine. I'm going to continue looking for Shinsuke now."

"Alright. I'll let him know you're looking for him if he comes by."

"Thanks. I'll do the same for Kimiko too."

So, the navy haired boy continued his wait in his dorm car's lounge area, a small space between Shindou and Tenma's rooms that had a table and two chairs for when they simply wanted to hang out outside their rooms. As he scrolled through the data of the previous matches, which Aoi let him copy into his tablet, Tenma suddenly ran by again, with most of the team on his tail. Curious, he followed the group to the cockpit of the space train.

Tenma reported to their coach how the Black Room was inaccessible, and so, he called for their caretaker to look into it.

Kusaka gave a confused smile. "Why are you operating the Black Room system, aunty?"

"I might not look like it, but I'm a scientist who specializes in virtual reality." Kamata replied without taking her eyes off the panel. "Coach Kuroiwa asked me to participate in the Earth Eleven Support Project. I'm also the one who invented this Black Room."

"You?!" Minaho had a wide smile on him. "You're kidding!"

She very much was not, but instead of humoring him, she turned her focus back to matter at hand. "It's completely locked down. It won't open for a while."

"Won't open?" Tenma asked.

"That's how I'd made it to operate."

"No way..."

"Who is inside?" The coach asked.

"Tetsukado and Shinsuke." Shindou stated.

"Oh, and Kimiko too!" Sakura added. "I ran into her while in the bathroom and she said she wanted to see how it works again."

"I see."

That answers where they disappeared to then. Tsurugi held back a sigh. At least it's safer than her going off on her own... Hopefully, anyway.

~~~~~

"This is weird..." Shinsuke said. "An hour has definitely passed by now."

Kimiko nodded from beside him, playing with her souvenir. As it turns out, it really was an hourglass. The sand at the top had just run out not too long ago.

"Why won't it turn back?"

"Maybe I did break it..." Tetsukado muttered.

"Eh?! Then, does that mean we're stuck here forever?"

"Well, there's no point working ourselves up about it. This is the same as being stranded in the ocean. Sitting still and waiting for help to arrive is the best thing to do."