I was able to calm my startled heart pretty quickly. It wasn't like I was genuinely terrified; I was just surprised by a gruesome face suddenly popping up in front of me.
As for the damage to my image in the process… well, it can't be helped. It's incredibly embarrassing, but it's not that important, so whatever.
"Phew, okay, let's think for a moment. We already expected there to be zombies beyond that door… so the way to get past them has to be in this room! Okay, so while you were figuring out the door's password, Hina-chan, the clues I found were the word [RINSE] and a password that's probably 7319. Of course, it could also be 00730109."
When I explained the password I'd deduced from the test tubes, Hina agreed that it was likely the correct one.
"But this word, 'rinse,' feels a little random. It can't be a meaningless word…"
"Ahaha! In times like this, rather than getting hung up on the clues we've already found, I think the right move is to gather more. Hina-chan, you cracked that lock thanks to the password you found in the report, so if we look through the rest of this stuff, something's bound to pop up!"
"That's certainly a valid point. Alright, then you check this report, Mika. I'll read the one over there."
And so, the search for clues began again.
The report I was checking detailed the results of experiments conducted on the zombies. There was no need to read the whole thing; the conclusion of each experiment was conveniently printed in bold, as if telling me to just read those parts. Honestly, this was much better than wasting time on meaningless lore.
Here's a summary of the conclusions:
Zombies exhibit no vital signs whatsoever.
The host of the virus appears to be in a state of suspended animation. In theory, if a cure is successfully administered, the host may be able to regain consciousness.
The method by which the virus animates the host's body remains unknown. It is highly likely that this cannot be explained by modern science.
The zombies seem to draw energy from moisture in the atmosphere. It is a different mechanism from photosynthesis.
Zombies that come into contact with a certain amount of water will temporarily cease all movement. This appears to be a process of converting water into energy. The process is remarkably fast, and they do not exhibit this reaction again until a certain amount of energy is consumed. However, this was of great help to the military. It was thanks to this trait that we were able to secure test subjects.
So, zombies that stop for a bit when they touch water to recover energy?
…The more I think about it seriously, the more I feel like I'm losing my mind. I just have to accept it as a story element created for the sake of an escape room theme.
I thought about it carefully. The information that zombies temporarily stop when they touch water had to be the key to getting through that hallway. There would be no other reason to explain it in such detail.
Zombies. Water. RINSE. 7319.
…RINSE. An anagram?
"…I've got it!"
Yes, of course, when you see an English word, think anagrams. Rearrange RINSE and you get SIREN. A fire alarm is usually called a "Fire Alarm," but "Fire Siren" isn't entirely wrong.
This means the answer is to trigger the fire alarm, and by extension the sprinklers, to neutralize the zombies and pass through the hallway.
Using "sprinkler" as an anagram would be a headache for both the creator and the solver, so they probably went with the simpler anagram of siren and rinse. Plus, this was a medium-difficulty theme.
If that's the case, then 7319, or 00730109, is likely the password for the door leading to the third area on the other side of the hallway.
When I shared my deduction with Hina, her eyes lit up as she retraced my thought process.
"That's certainly a plausible theory. In that case, let's find the device to make that happen. They wouldn't mean for us to use the building's actual fire suppression system."
Ah?
"Ahaha, right. Of course, that goes without saying!"
…I can't, for the life of me, admit that I saw the sprinklers on the ceiling and thought, That's it! How do I deal with this shame that I feel even when I'm the only one who knows?
Hina seemed to notice something was off from my awkward reaction, but it looks like I got away with it since she quickly lost interest. I can't just undo the partial recovery of my damaged image after a successful deduction… Right. I can't.
Fortunately, the device to clear this hurdle was located in a drawer.
The small device, shaped like a matchbox, had an empty slot for batteries. The drawer below it was secured by a four-digit lock. I entered 7319, and sure enough, there were batteries inside.
I have no idea if you can actually activate a sprinkler system with a matchbox, but I decided to just think of it as a prop.
"…Wait, if we use this number, how do we open the lock on the other side?"
"Is it possible there isn't one? There are bound to be more puzzles to solve in the next area."
"That's true, but we have to consider the specific nature of this theme. We can temporarily neutralize the zombies with the sprinklers, but it's just that—temporary. If the second area is designed so that the zombies start moving again after a certain amount of time, then opening the locked door before they get back up could be a puzzle in itself."
It's not like I have a lot of escape room experience, so this was just a guess, but at least that's how I would have designed it. There's no other reason to have moving zombie robots.
"Wouldn't that be a little off-concept for a medium-difficulty theme? The employee stated the rule that we can't use unconventional methods like subduing the zombies by force. I think there's plenty of room to interpret 'running away from the zombies using an unconventional method' as an unconventional method itself."
"It's not just a possibility; it's probably one hundred percent a rule. In that case, maybe it's the type where getting caught is part of the solving process and they give you a 'coin'…"
"A coin? What does that mean?"
My dear Disciplinary Committee Head, who can solve puzzles just fine but tilts her head in confusion at slang like this… Isn't this a criminally cute level of adorable? It makes me want to kidnap her and take her to Trinity. Honestly, if we're being frank, wouldn't Hina welcome a chance to escape Gehenna?
"A coin is a term usually used in games to mean a life. '3 coins' means you have three lives. So if we assume getting caught by a zombie costs 1 coin, it could be a system where after you're caught, you come back to this room and start again! If getting caught once means you fail the escape, that's just a hardcore difficulty level☆"
Regardless of the puzzle's difficulty, a condition that results in immediate failure upon a single mistake goes against the spirit of an escape room. Isn't the point of an escape room game to experience the sense of accomplishment and thrill of reaching the solution and escaping through trial and error?
For that reason, even high-difficulty escape rooms generally have challenging puzzles or devices, but I don't think they usually limit the number of attempts you get at solving them.
"Hmm, we have too little information. Wouldn't it be better if they clearly told us we get another chance if we get caught?"
Hmm… now that we've started the game, it does feel a bit unhelpful in some aspects.
"Ahaha! Maybe it's a way to maximize the immersion before you use your first coin. They give you the tension of thinking it's all over if you get caught, and maybe they consider the emotions you feel when you fail to open the door on the other side as part of the theme. Yes, if that's the case, it makes sense why they wouldn't give us detailed information!"
"To be honest, since this is my first time trying something like this, I don't really know, but listening to you, Mika, I think that might be right. Then let's go back to the report I was looking at. Given the situation so far, there's a high probability the final clue is there."
After grabbing the matchbox device, we scrutinized the report Hina had been reading.
"Hmm…"
"Nothing."
"Yup, nothing."
It was truly a report with no other significant content. It's possible we just couldn't find the clue, but it also seemed likely that it was a simple MacGuffin.
"Mika, what do we do now? Does this mean we just have to go for it?"
Is this really all there is to the first area? Something doesn't feel right…
Ah, wait. Could it be?
"Hina, what if we've been overthinking this?"
"Then, as I said before, we can assume there's no lock between the hallway and the next area, right?"
"No, no, not that! We've been treating this lab as the first area and the hallway beyond that door as the second area, right? Then the answer to the puzzle to get from the second area to the third area should, naturally, be in the second area!"
Excited by how perfectly it all clicked into place, Hina and I had tried to solve everything in this room before passing through to the next area, and that's undoubtedly why we got stuck. Common sense dictates that the clues to pass through the next area would be in the next area, but we ignored that and were just pointlessly racking our brains here.
"In other words, we have to find the clues and open the door in that hallway before the zombies become active again. Is that it?"
"Yes, that's it!"
"…Alright, let's go."
We stood before the door to the hallway and turned the matchbox device over. Hina met my gaze and nodded, and I nodded back.
Click—
I inserted the battery into the matchbox device and pressed the button on the front.
[Fire detected! Fire detected!]
Dee-ree-ree-ree-ree-ring—!! Whoooosh—!!
A fire alarm blared from a speaker somewhere in the room, followed by the sound effect of water pouring from sprinklers.
"We can't miss any clues. I'll take the left, you take the right, Mika."
"Okay, got it!"
[Sprinkler device used 1 time. Remaining uses: 3.]
"Waaah-oh☆ So we can actually use this device multiple times. I thought for sure it was a one-time thing!"
"In that case, there really was a reason this was medium difficulty."
[The zombies have ceased activity.]
"I'm going in first. Mika, stay right behind me."
"Ahaha! The Head of the Disciplinary Committee has such an amazing presence!"
Opening the door and entering the hallway, we could see a total of three robot zombies standing still. As we'd arranged, I scanned the right side of the hallway thoroughly as we moved forward.
The doors weren't for actual research labs, just convincingly shaped props. I checked them carefully.
The lab we came from was 101. The right side had 103, 105, and 107, so the left would likely be 102 through 108.
We quickly reached the end of the hallway and confirmed that, as expected, the door to what was clearly the control room was locked. The door opposite it was labeled 'Storage Room.' Perhaps we had to find the clue to open this door in there.
"Did you find the clues, Mika? The password is a four-digit number. On my side, I found an 8 on the fire extinguisher and a 4 written on a door that one of a zombie was covering."
…What's this? Is this the part where I become the traitor if I didn't find any clues?
Fortunately, I managed to find them.
"There are five long scratch marks, like from fingernails, on the door of lab 103, so that's a 5. And in contrast to all the other white tiles, there's a single black one, so that's a 1. I think the password is most likely entered in the order we passed them!"
"…Then that's 5, 8, 4, 1."
Thunk—
"Huh? What the—it's not opening?"
"I'll try again in a different order."
Thunk— Thunk-thunk—
Hina kept trying different combinations, but the password wasn't correct. Hmm, at this rate, aren't the zombies going to start moving again…?
What was that, I think that one just twitched. No, it wasn't my imagination, it definitely twitched!
"Hina-chan, I think they're about to start moving!"
"…Ugh, what did we get wrong? The combinations I haven't tried are…"
"Waaah-oh… it's coming this way…!"
Just in case, I tried the storage room door right next to us, and it opened without any resistance. Thinking this must have been the right way, I was about to call for Hina when my eyes caught something I had missed.
"…Wait, is that another black tile on the ceiling?"
Then it's not 1, but 2…?
"Hina-chan, it's 5842! Try that one! 5842!"
"Ah? Okay, got it. 5, 8, 4, 2…"
Click—
"Mika, it's open!"
"Then hurry up and get in!"
With the closest robot zombie less than a meter away, we barely managed to open the door. We slammed the control room door shut and stumbled inside.
"…Ahaha! Ahahahahaha! What was that☆ Hina-chan, my heart is pounding like crazy! What do I do, I think I got way too into it! That was so much fun!"
"The tension and urgency of the situation were definitely no joke. But it's not over yet, is it? We have to send the rescue request to successfully escape."
"Yes, that's true. But with a smart person like you, Hina-chan, you'll probably find and solve it in no time~☆"
"I don't know about that. It wouldn't be strange if you solved it first, Mika."
We exchanged such compliments until we both burst out laughing from the awkwardness.
After meeting like this today, Hina's eyes looked full of life for the first time. Starting things off at the escape room café seems to have been an excellent choice.
As expected, the final area was over in a flash. Seeing Hina in action, I became both curious and terrified of what the result would be if I ever tried an escape room with Hanako or that super-genius, frail, pretty-girl hacker from Millennium.
Afterward, we asked the employee, who told us that the standard way to clear the zombie section was to fail on the first attempt, or, if you passed, to find the clue in the storage room, figure out the password, and use the sprinkler device again to get through. The fact that we found the clues in the hallway and opened the door was a shortcut they had put in.
When Hina heard that we had beaten the theme's record of 27 minutes by more than 10 minutes and achieved the fastest escape time, she seemed even more delighted than she let on. She smiled faintly and suggested we try a harder theme next time.
…I'm truly glad that Hina seems to dislike horror themes too.