“Six months?” [That was alarming. Masumi wasn’t sure what answer she was expecting, but six months was not it. Pausing midway through trying to put her ticket in the lanyard that had been in the bag, she had to take a second to put her thoughts together before responding.]

“...So there was no one else on the train before your group? That must have been weird, having to figure things out.”

[She didn’t envy that, given how jarring the train was even with explanations about what was going on.]