The test drug administration experiment for Houjou Satoko is proceeding smoothly.
Personally, I wouldn't have cared even if the experiment failed right away.
But, as a result of Irie putting an abnormal level of concentration into the experiment, Houjou Satoko has avoided falling into a deranged or vegatative state...... and has actually begun to show possibilities of returning to a normal social life even while in L5.
Although there are still many areas of the C103 that requires further examination, by adjusting the administration amount while paying close attention to the specimen's physical conditions, it has achieved the great feat of allowing even those with L5 to survive.
...Regarding to this, although half-teasingly, I must recommend his efforts.
No, maybe because it's Irie, that's why.
Tormented by some naive humanism, and even now, he still resists dirtying his hands, that's probably what linked him to the sense of duty of wanting to save Houjou Satoko from a dying fate.
What I don't like about Irie is not his accomplishments or capabilities, but his naiveness and inability to act without emotions.
......For that reason, I had to praise him for the first time ever.
Takano: "I had a chance to look through administrator Irie's report.... I must say, my hat is off to you."
Irie: "No. I'm simply fulfilling my duties as a researcher.... If the results also fulfilled my job as a dcotor, then there is nothing better I could've asked for."
Takano: "Right now, it's probably not an exaggeration to say that Satoko-chan is a very very important specimen to us, don't you think? After all, she's the first person to have survived even after reaching L5."
Irie: "...That's right. We will return her to regular social life, and switch to long-term observations to watch her throughout that process. I am planning to get her to come back here again every Sunday to receive examinations."
Takano: "But how will you explain to her the need to take 3 injections of C103 a day, and the need to come here every Sunday for examinations? She has no self-awareness to her sickness at all, right?"
Irie: "...About that, I'm thinking up a believable explanation right now....... For now, what I'm thinking of is to ask her to help out with my research article. She receives nutrient injections everyday, and comes here every Sunday to examine the effect. In exchange, I will pay her some money as payment for cooperating in the research. That's the idea."
......Looks like Irie is insistent on completely curing Houjou Satoko
...It looks like he's insistent on keeping her from being placed on top of the dissection table.
Although our positions are different, no matter how naive his thoughts are, as long as it connects directly to a passion for the research, I have no complaints.
If his plan is to be executed, we'll probably get a different result than a dissection, and it'll still be useful in uncovering the full picture of the Hinamizawa Syndrome.
It's not that I hate Houjou Satoko.
It's just that, for the sake of the research, I'm willing to eat anything that I can get my hands on, that's all.
If Houjou Satoko can be useful in ways other than dissection, then I'm perfectly fine with that.
Irie: "With 3 injections needed a day, we'll have to get consent not only from herself, but her guardians as well. If I remember right, since her parents passed away, her guardianship was moved over to her uncle's family, wasn't it? I'm thinking about discussing this with them when I have a chance. I hope they're willing to allow their niece to participate in some weird experiment though...."
Takano: "*giggle*, don't worry. That's what research cooperation payments are for. All we have to do is toss 100 or 200 thousands at them every month, and they'll be dancing for us."
Irie: "Do we have the funds for that?
Takano: "Of course. As long as we make up files that Jirou-san can be satisified with."
Irie: "Understood. I'll make them up. Also, we need to instruct them to not put any stress on Satoko-chan. It'll be hectic if her L5 resurfaces again, after all....... I hear from rumors that her uncle and aunt are very self-interested people. It might be possible to coax them with money. I'm planning to give them the instructions on those as well."
I have heard rumors saying that Satoko-chan's relationship with her uncle and aunt, her new parents, has not been a good one.
But I figured it has nothing to do with us. I didn't expect Irie to get this involved so enthusiastically.
Maybe something caused him awaken to a sense of duty of wanting to become her protector or something.
I don't mind that either. If a sense of duty burns within him, then the research advances further. And that's a big help for me.
Irie: "......Aside from that.... I have looked through your report on the H170 series."
Takano: "Yes. Although it's nothing compared to administrator Irie's accomplishments, I was able to get my research results, for the time being."
Irie: "...It really is ironic, isn't it? In this research lab, a treatment medication that will save her from madness is being made, yet right alongside it, we're making a dangerous drug that can drive her crazy right away."
Irie is not involved with the H170.
I led the research on it.... Well, even if I told him to get involved, he probably still wouldn't have.
This dangerous test drug was created during the process of understanding the mechanism of just how the pathogen that controls Houjou Satoko's brain was able to create paranoia and derangement in its host.
To put it in plain words, by administering H170 to those who are infected with the Hinamizawa Syndrome, we can forcibly cause the terminal symptoms to occur in them.
By sending the brain into a pseudo-excited state, we're basically making the pathogen unstable on purpose.
If the research on this dangerous test drug can advance further, it will probably become possible for us to send regular infected individuals into the terminal stage any time we like.
Since understanding the mechanism of the terminal symptoms is linked to understaning the Hinamizawa Syndrome, there's no doubt that this H170 will become a very strong ally in the smooth advances of this research in the future.
Also, this medicine might carry the potential for military-use that our clients are looking for as well.
Although there's still almost no use for it at this point, if our research continues, we might be able achieve certain actions by spreading harmless pathogens into a target population, and then distributing the H170 at a certain timing.
Although it's a slow and stupid pathogen compared to killer viruses, the fact that it is impossible to detect from dead bodies, and how victims appear to have become deranged voluntarily, means there's must be some use for it.
The culprit that once tried to shut down the research of the Hinamizawa Syndrome,
Marco Polo Bridge Incident. (
Note: It was explained in the main Higurashi story that the event was actually caused by Japanese soldiers from Hinamizawa)
......Important historical landmark events such as that cannot be created by something as clumsy as killer viruses.
...But with Hinamizawa Syndrome, it's possible....
......For these kind of things, I'll just let those old men from our Alphabet Project sponsor think what they want.
Practical usages doesn't concern me at all.
My objective is to uncover the mystery behind the Hinamizawa Syndrome, and to prove to people just how important this research is.
Also, to make people recognize grandfather's work as a great achievement.
...Military use is simply a side-product of that process, and doesn't concern me whatsoever.
Irie: "For our clients, they'll probably be more glad to see Takano-san's accomplishments. Maybe we'll have an easier time at getting funds for the next term."
Takano: "*giggle*. You can't maintain a research with only passion, after all. Something concrete is needed first."
Irie: "......We really can't raise our heads against these sponsors who has provided us with such extravagant funds....... And to think that all of these money came from public fundings.... Perhaps Japan is a far wealthier country than I had imagined."
Takano: "Even though it's called public funding, they're probably dark fundings that's never made public though. *giggle*...."
Irie has no idea just how much hardship I had to go through... to gain the connections needed for this.
......Anyway, the research is going very well.
What is Hinamizawa Syndrome trying to show us humans?
There's no doubt it'll be showing us yet-unseen secrets, my heart dances in intellectual excitement.
The Hinamizawa Syndrome has shown us the possibility that humans are nothing more than empty containers, and the things that we believe to be our own consciousness are actually something that came from special parasites that live in our frontal lobes.
If I can successfully unveil that......... Human beings will probably be impacted by it more than any other mysteries that have ever been solved in the past.
The truth, that everybody would want to ridicule.
The great achievement, of grandfather who was already able to foresee it back in that age.
Ahh, I can understand it clearly now.
Why this research was able to fascinate grandfather that much.