Chapter 21: The Dim Cityscape

Hey again!  Even though I said some stuff last chapter, I found that I needed to do a lot of stuff before moving.  However, I found some free time and translated this chapter.

This chapter was long and frustrating. I had trouble with a few sentences… It’s like the author tried to write it in the most round-about way he could think of….

I don’t really like the next chapter, and I still have some things to do before tomorrow, so I probably won’t finish it for a while.  I don’t like sex in these kind of novels, I would rather read about an innocent girl who is embarrassed to hold hands!  Also, I really don’t like her enthusiasm to sleep with Yusuke even though her little brothers are sleeping in the next room…. it’s pretty vulgar.  Plus I ship Yusuke and the zombie girl 😀

Anyway, here it is.

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Watching the zombies crowd around the elevator doors, Yusuke gets up.

“Ouch–…………, damn, their feet even left marks.”

He lightly dusts off his clothes.

“Seriously, what were they doing?”

(They suddenly come down the elevator, get attacked by zombies, then run back…)

Yusuke couldn’t understand their reasoning at all.

“Anyway, I have to do something about these guys huh….”

Three zombies were scratching at the elevator door. Because Mizuki and her brothers had moved far away, the zombie’s aggression had died down.

“Right…..” (TL: “U—n…..”)

He put his hand on his holster. He was scared of using the gun before, but now, if he shot the head of the zombies, they would die.

However, with Mizuki and her brothers already safe, there is no need for him to go that far. The floor would get dirty, cleaning up the corpses would be a hassle, and it would shrink the defense personnel. If he reduced the number of zombies too much, in the off chance that humans come across this place, the food would be in danger. If possible, he wanted to keep as many zombies here as he could.

“Hey, come here for a second. Oi, I told you there’s no longer anyone there!”

(TL: he says “feed” in place of “Anyone”.)

He tries pulling on their bodies, but the zombies are more persistent than expected. Hooked on the lingering sent of humans, the zombies refuse to leave the elevator doors.

“Shit…..”

Fed up, he looks around and notices food scattered all over the floor. Both his bag, and Mizuki’s bag were lying there.

“She brought the food while trying to escape….? Meaning she wasn’t suicidal… Did she think she could escape?”

Yusuke tilted his head.

If Mizuki’s willfulness ever caused her to pull something like this again, he decided he would abandon her. Even if they are prospects for a labor force, he has no need for a madman.

“Well, whatever. First I need to move these guys.”

If he left them as they were, they would leisurely stand there for about a week. He could use the stairs to come and go, but climbing them every time would be troublesome. Borrowing several ropes from the 2^nd floor misc. goods corner, he ties one end to one of the zombie’s torso, and connects the other end to his bike parked at the rear entrance. He puts the engine in low gear, and while leaving a skid mark on the ground, slowly pulls it away from the door.

So that it wouldn’t be able to leave the area out in front of the automatic doors, he ties it to a nearby fence with the rope. Repeating this process, he drags the other two zombies out as well.

This way, if anyone intrudes, the zombies will attack them. If the zombies remained in good condition, that entrance would be safe.

“I say it as if it’s a sure thing…”

Looking at the zombies tethered to the fence near the automatic doors, Yusuke nods in satisfaction.

“Speaking of which…..”

Prowling around the road by the parking garage, were 10 or so zombies; and there were another three… no, four zombies in the department on the first floor. Like the previous ones, they were wandering monsters.

If a decent number of people were to cut through, they would need to be well armed. It was like that all around the supermarket, and thinking this, most of his worries are put to rest.

“Actually, exactly how much is the combat potential of the zombies?”

If they were the slow moving zombies, you could easily end them with a single blow to the head using an axe or something; but when they speed up….

Even equipped with a handgun, it would be hard for Yusuke to slay one of them, coming at him from a distance. He isn’t experienced enough to hit their moving heads, and even if he hit their torso, they don’t stop moving. Therefore, they have to be hit with something first, to stop their movements, then shot in the head.

(But wouldn’t it be fine if I used the gun as a melee weapon?)

“Also, I haven’t been able to find a sharp weapon.”

Hatchets, machetes, or knifes. If a time ever came where he had to quickly dispose of the zombies, they would be convenient.

With that thought, he completed his work. At that time, the sun was starting to set, and the sky became red.

Yusuke returns to the elevator, picks up the bags lying on the floor, and presses the button calling it down.

The first to notice Yusuke enter the room were Mizuki’s brothers. Their eyes became wide, and started sparkling. When he asked them about her, they pointed to the desk in the back. When he peeked at the Mizuki underneath the desk, she was rolled up, sitting with her face buried in her knees.

“What the hell are you doing….?”

At that spectacle, Yusuke felt himself become weak. Mizuki raises her face, and seeing Yusuke holding the bags, stiffened with a dumbfounded expression. As if she had been crying, her eyes were swollen red.

“Ah…..eh…..wh, why……?”

Mizuki leaks out a voice.

“What do you mean why? What were you doi….”

There, he noticed the gazes of her two brothers. Setting the bags in front of the two brothers, he speaks to them.

“You two haven’t eaten yet right? You don’t have to worry about saving any, so eat your fill. You know how to open it right?

The two nod their heads.

“Good. Your sister and I have something important to discuss, so don’t get in the way, alright?”

Feeling their gaze on his back, Yusuke left the room with Mizuki trailing behind him while looking as if she had lost her strength. Leaving the office and entering the hallway, the two face each other.

“So? Why did you do such a thing?”

“………….”

Mizuki held her gaze to the floor without answering.

“Say something. You guys were going to die you know?”

“…..n’t…..I…..thought…..”

“Speak up.”

“I thought….. outside…… was safe…….”

“What?”

“Dad….. mom, they were waiting for us…… to return…..”

“…………..”

Yusuke was silent.

Mizuki also kept her mouth shut, and like that, the neither of them said a word.

After a while, Yusuke slowly opens his mouth.

“Did you check if the phone connected? The office has a phone right?”

“………….”

Mizuki shook her head.

“Did you not think of going down by yourself first to check the situation? Why did you take the kids with you?”

“…………..”

Mizuki hangs her head in silence. Yusuke draws a deep breath and scratches his head.

“…..but!”

Mizuki shouts with a distraught voice.

“For there to be zombies! Something like that……. They don’t exis……..”

Her last word is caught in her throat, and she starts to cry.

“……you, come here for a sec.”
Even though Yusuke grabs her by the hand, she does not resist.

The place he takes her, is the roof of the supermarket. After climbing the private stairwell, scattered around the rooftop before them were various tanks and equipment. Pushing past the obstructions, they near the edge of the roof.

“………….”

At that wide open scenery, Mizuki said nothing.

All around the parking garage of the supermarket, there were numerous figures. The surrounding roads were littered with crashed cars and wandering people who used to be human.

“You understand, don’t you?”

Mizuki didn’t answer those words.

Clasping the railing firmly with her hands, she stares at the scene. Gradually, the day turned to night, and the surroundings grew dark. Even then, no lights came on. It was as if all the houses in sight were dead asleep. The windows of the apartment buildings remained dark, and were silent, as if there was no longer anyone living there.

“There are no lights because there are no survivors. If something turns on, it just because a switch happened to be flipped.”

“…………..”

For roughly 30 minutes, they stared at the scene. Finally, Mizuki opens her mouth to speak.

“……everyone’s disappeared, haven’t they…”

“Aa” (TL: Confirming what she said.)

“……do you think my mother and father are safe?”

“I wonder. People who are lucky like you guys, there’s only about one in 100 remaining. But, the only survivors I’ve seen are you guys.”

Hearing those words, Mizuki lets out a small breath, and leans against the fence. With a small voice, she mutters.

“…….why is Takemura-san able to remain so composed?”

“Hmm?”

“The city has ended up like this… aren’t you scared? Also, before….. how were you, how did you survive against those kind of opponents? I, I thought Takemura-san had… died……..”

Mizuki looked at Yusuke with questioning eyes.

(This is bad. I haven’t thought of an excuse.)

Yusuke silently turns his head. Certainly it would be impossible for an ordinary human to survive in a situation like that. After a moment of deliberation, he pulls back his coat and takes the pistol out of his revealed holster.

“I took this guy off of a cop’s body.”

Mizuki stares at it for a while, but when she realizes what it is, she swallows her breath.

“……..it isn’t, a toy huh?”

“It’s the real thing. I cleared away the guys before with it.”

In that chaotic situation, Mizuki was also thrown into chaos, so she didn’t notice the details. But, to be able to successfully escape from that situation where he couldn’t even move by just using a gun, would be impossible.

“Ahh, also, those guys are sensitive to people’s presence. When zombies sense fear, they come in groups. If you keep your heart calm, zen, and centered; and you don’t get too close, you’ll be safe.”

Finding a suitable explanation, these words are spouted from Yusuke.

He is aware of the aura he gives off, but in his apartment building, when he came face to face with a zombie, and even grabbed its hips. In that state, the zombie didn’t attack, but that was just because he is special.

(TL: Talking about the female zombie, about how he is able to get close to them, which goes against his rules he made up.)

With that said, it would be hard for a human to not fear zombies. Even if they are suspicious of it, they are not likely to confirm whether it’s true or not.

However, Mizuki wasn’t really listening to the excuses. She was completely focused on the gun the entire time. Eventually, she quietly spoke.

“….if you threatened me with that, you could have freely done anything you wanted to me.”

In other words, if she refused the deal for food, he would have just forced her anyway with the gun.

Yusuke raises an eyebrow,

“Don’t be conceited. I did have an interest in your body…… but I just thought it sucked to give food for nothing”

“…………”

Mizuki takes her sight off the pistol, and looks out at the city.

The sun had sunk, and the town was wrapped in darkness. Within that darkness, were countless moving shadows. That getting food meant risking your life, Mizuki finally feels the weight of that truth.

As if recalling past memories, her blank gaze wanders in the darkness. Breaking away from the darkness, she speaks earnestly.

“……that’s, that’s right isn’t it….. I’m……”

With that kind of fragile atmosphere, Yusuke becomes nervous. If she were to jump from here, his investments would be lost.

“……..well, in any case, it’s not like Japan has been wiped out. I don’t know when rescue might come, but you have to hold out until then. Because you can rely on borrowing lots from me.”

Seemingly bottling various feelings, Mizuki looks at her hands gripping the rail. After a while, she swallows hard and nods.

With that their conversation ends.

Yusuke turns on his heel and walks back while Mizuki obediently follows. In front of the door leading inside, he is stopped by Mizuki.

“Ano.” (TL: It’s kind of like “Hey.” Or “Um.”)

“What is it?”

“If it’s okay with you, after my brothers are asleep….. is it alright?”

“Ah? Yeah.”

“…….if it’s in the locker room, we can lock the door.”

“Right, got it.” (TL: “Un? Wakatta.”)

Just once, Mizuki looked back at the rooftop. Within the darkness, everything became vague. As if getting rid of any lingering regret, she lets out a short breath, and proceeds down the stairs after Yusuke had already descended.