Though they were skeptical, that was enough.
The Calamity of Doomsday was already approaching. Nobody would joke about their own safety or that of their loved ones. Even the slightest suspicion would have to be investigated thoroughly until it was dispelled.
The entire Bureau sprang into action, launching emergency protocols. First, they investigated the people who had disappeared across Tokyo.
Although people's perceptions had been distorted, reality itself hadn't changed. When someone disappeared, their desks, chairs, and workstations remained where they were. Centering their efforts on schools throughout Tokyo, the Bureau issued an urgent order for every school to count the students in each class.
They also conducted population surveys across all sectors, including established companies with bloated workforces, manga production studios, and labor-intensive factories.
Once all the information had been compiled, Amamiya Natsuki led a group of experts into the Time Bubble. They put on the Masks of Oblivion and restored their distorted perceptions. Then they all sucked in a breath of cold air.
Universities aside, every class in every high school, junior high, and elementary school in Tokyo had lost students. The same was true of other sectors across society. Even the Bureau's headquarters was no exception. The offices that should have been full had gradually developed empty seats, but with their perceptions distorted, nobody had noticed.
Extrapolating from the survey samples, nearly a quarter of Tokyo's population had vanished. The entire Tokyo Metropolis was on the verge of collapse!
After cross-checking the data several times and confirming it was accurate, the Bureau's top officials raised the danger alert to the highest level, SSS. Its codename was—
Supernatural Apocalypse.
The instinct of all living things was to survive. And the more desperate the situation, the more power humans could unleash. Nobody gave up and threw in the towel