Reincarnated as an Alchemist - Rewrite

Prologue - Lost Time Memory

The scorching heat of Mid Summer burned the whole city again today. Just as the forecast said, the day would be the hottest one throughout the year. But, even so, it couldn't stop my job from giving me work to do. As a new member of society, I could only grit my teeth and bear the heat as I went to my workplace.

I glanced at the wristwatch on my hand to check on the time. The digital display of the old tattered watch was faintly showing the time of 11.35 a.m. with its last energy supplied by the cheap battery I purchased long ago. It was supposed to be my day off today but the Chief of my Research Team called me earlier that there would be a meeting with the director otherwise, I would rather spend my day in my air-conditioned apartment than walking through the hellish walkway. 

My workplace was stationed on the 9th floor of the building 5 minutes away from the nearest bus stop I could commute to every day. That was why even the bus had a good air conditioner, I would still have to feel the scorching heat during my 5 minutes walk toward my office. Shifting my crooked glasses I headed to the tall research building several meters away from my position.

"Yo, Sakagami. You're called by the chief too?"

An easygoing man called me from behind. He looked too energetic for someone who just got baptized by the scorching sun above our head. 

"Ah, Soujirou-senpai, Good morning."

I greeted him weakly. He was Soujirou Agata, my senior in this research institute as well as my only ally I could get from my 3 months experience of working in this institute. 

"Uwaa... you surely looked unenergetic for someone of your age. Did you get a heatstroke?"

He asked worriedly.

"Anyone would be like this if he has to walk through this heat for a long time."

I said.

"You should have called a taxi instead of taking a bus."

He said.

"The taxi fare is too expensive. I'd rather spend that extra expense for my gacha than splurging on a short distance traveling fare for a short distance."

I replied.

"I had said this many times already, your priority is too crooked, Sakagami Kazuma."

He said.

"More importantly, let's get inside!! The heat is killing me!!"

I immediately cut senpai's words. He had a habit of giving a long lecture and preaching whenever he called someone by their full name. That was why I needed to stop him before he entered the lecture mode. 

"Ah, that's true."

Senpai said. We entered the building hoping the cold air coming from the air conditioner would cool us down. However-

Inside the building was even hotter than outside for some reason.

"What the hell?!!!"

I screamed.

"What happened here? Did the air conditioner busted or something?"

I asked.

"It seems like that's the case, Sakagami."

I heard senpai's voice from some distance away. He was looking at the notification paper stamped in front of the control panel of the air conditioner.

UNDER MAINTENANCE

Those words were enough to give me despair. 

"Anyway, let's head to the lab right away, senpai. I hope that the air conditioner there is still functioning."

I suggested.

"Are you sure? It's going to be tough you know."

Senpai said nonchalantly.

"Huh?"

I was confused.

He pointed out the direction where the elevator we always use. Right in front of the entrance, a similar notification paper was stamped on it. My eyes bulged out seeing how absurd it was. Normally, the important infrastructure would never get busted all at once like this. My gut feeling told me that this meeting might be involving the current state of this building.

"Anyway, staying still here won't change anything either right? Let's go upstairs and ask the chief if he knows something about this absurd situation."

I suggested.

Short stories, we went upstairs using the emergency stairway to our office on the fifth floor. We entered the office and finally felt the blessing of the air conditioner. But, with our clothes drenched in sweat, it made me a bit uncomfortable. 

With the last meeting participant arrived, the meeting started right away. After the chief's explanation, I would bet my entire fortune that everyone in this room was enraged. After all, what the chief had mentioned was an announcement that could determine our life from now on.

He told us that the Broad Director was found out pocketing a lot of funds coming from the sponsors designated for maintaining the facilities. He was captured by the police but the money could never return as we know well that the Broad Director was a gambling addict. 9 out of 10 people in this room would guess that the fund he had pocketed had gone into the gutter.

The chief apologized for the incident and announced that due to the lack of funds, he would lay down the researchers who failed to create a result within a month. That result however must be done without any additional financial support coming from the institute. In other words, in order to stay in the institute, we were told to create a result using our own funds within a limited time.

There were many complaints regarding this but the chief told us to negotiate with the sponsors ourselves. Also, if we failed to create a result or cancel our contract with the institute, we would have a bad mark on our career history. That would mean we would have a difficult time finding a new institute, sponsor, or company that would hire us as researchers.

After some futile attempt of changing the absurd decision of the institute, the meeting was adjourned. I glanced at Agata-senpai. He looked very pale from the announcement earlier. Well, unlike my topic which used a medical science topic, senpai was a researcher who researches mineralogy and depending on the stage of his research, it would need a lot of funds and time.

I stood up from my seat and headed to my research lab. Actually if not for the busted elevator and scorching emergency stairway, I would rather finish my research report at my home. I opened my laptop and started writing for hours till the heat outside subsidized.

On the way home, I yawned as I boarded the public bus from my workplace. It was late in the cloudy afternoon where none can see the sun at the horizon. I took out my smartphone and opened my game. It was a game with gacha feature. Since long ago, I liked this kind of game.

Suddenly the bus shook violently. I looked around and saw the people ran outside escaping the buildings. The girls and children were panicking. The bus driver hit the brake and stopped the bus to avoid an accident.

Not long after that, the earthquake stopped. Everyone inside the bus sighed in relief. But, that relief crumbled down in instant. The nearest skyscraper lost its support and slowly crumbling in our direction. The driver tried to move the bus as fast as he could but suddenly the engine turned off. I watched the collapsing building fall toward me.

That was the last scene I had.