Chapter 9

## Station February III

**Station February III** (ステーション・フェブラリー III, *Sutēshon Feburarī III*?) is the ninth chapter of the Otherside Picnic manga adaptation.

## Summary

Immediately Toriko puts her hands up and shouts to them in English to not shoot. Sorawo follows but in broken English. One of the soldiers takes off his visor and asks the girls if they're humans. Sorawo, in panic mode, answers him that they are.

The rest of the soldiers are wary because there's still something out there. Then, the Walking Gallows appears along with something else, a tall, muscular, and naked humanoid creature known as the Horned Man. However, the creatures don't attack. They turn around and leave down the hill.

The lieutenant asks the girls if they're alright, even coming close to them. The rest of the soldiers don't trust Toriko and Sorawo, believing they're creatures of the Otherside. Consequently, one of the Palehorse Battalion points his gun at Sorawo. Toriko steps in front of her. But Sorawo removes her hand. She doesn't want Toriko to protect her. If they both get shot, they're finished. Thankfully, the lieutenant orders the soldier to stand down.

The lieutenant asks the girls who they are and where they come from. The girls answer the soldiers, and they're in shock. They can't believe that they are so far from their starting point. The lieutenant introduces himself as Will Drake. He and his men are U.S. Marines.

The marines have been stuck in the Otherside for a month. Will goes on to explain that they got dragged into the Otherside while training in the mountains. They suffered a few casualties, the victims being the corpses hanging from the Walking Gallows. It seems that the marines' cargo carrier robot got caught in a trap. Unable to get it free, they abandoned it. But later on, the machine came back and started attacking the soldiers.

Will mentions that they set up base at a station called Station February. While Palehorse Battalion has used it as a headquarters, it isn't abandoned. In actuality Station, February is Kisaragi Station.

Sorawo remembers that on January 8th, 2004, at 11 pm, someone posted in real-time that the train didn't stop at the station it was supposed to. And when it finally did stop, it was at a deserted station that the poster had never heard of. And that the station's name was Kisaragi.

The poster called their family and had posted online as they tried to get home. But their phone ran out of battery, and all contact was lost.

The station shouldn't exist, but here it is, serving as a camp for the USFJ marines.

The base is filled with military weaponry and seems to be heavily guarded except for the platform. The girls ask Will why that is. When he's about to answer, one of the soldiers interrupts him pointing out that they shouldn't trust Sorawo and Toriko. However, Will dismisses him and asks the girls not to provoke his men seeing that they are losing their sanity. Will brings the girls to Major Ray Barker. The Sergeant questions them on how they were able to dodge the "bear traps."

Sorawo is hesitant to reveal that her left-eye can see the glitches. Sensing Sorawo's Reluctance, Toriko blurts out that they were just lucky.

The Major says that he lost many men during their way to their current base, no small number of them due to madness or simply disappeared. The men can't explore further from beyond because they don't know where the glitches are, and as such, are stuck. Moreover, following the tracks have seen the men disappear or go mad.

The Major offers the girls a tent, and that in the morning, they and some of the soldiers will go look for their entry point. But he also advises them to not use their phone.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Palehorse Battalion
* Sorawo Kamikoshi
* Toriko Nishina
* Lieutenant Will Drake
* Sergeant Major Greg
* Walking Gallows
* Horned Man
* Kunekune *(Mentioned)*
* Hasshaku-sama *(Mentioned)*
* Face Dogs *(Mentioned)*
* Major Ray Barker