A youth story of a passerby at the end of the world

"The drama club members used to rehearse here, but they don't need to use it now. There's also a practice room for the light music club next door, so feel free to use it."

"Ah..." Hirokawa Uzuki looked around the spacious classroom, then thanked Hikigaya Hachiman, "Thank you."

"No need, there will be a performance on Sunday, remember to produce results." Hachiman Hikigaya reminded him, he was just being official.

Finally, he added, "You can go to the cafeteria for a meal first. There's free bread in the morning. For lunch, you can ask Yukinoshita for an advance on your salary. She's the school's accountant and is in charge of salary disbursement."

"Ok."

It's called Sweet Bullets. These girls are the idol group that Hyun Shin mentioned rescuing before. They are such glamorous girls.

Hachiman Hikigaya tugged at his collar, turned around without making a sound, and prepared to leave.

After Hachiman Hikigaya and Utaha Kasumigaoka left, Uzuki Hirokawa suggested, "Let's explore this floor first. It seems like there are only a few of us here."

“Okay,” Okazaki Hotaru replied cheerfully.

Anong Yae followed behind them, saying, "Speaking of which, everyone has remembered our previous choreography, right?"

“Hahaha…” Nakago Ranko let out a subtle laugh.

"You'll know once you jump," said Feng Bin and Xiang, who were walking at the back, their hands covering their heads.

She was wearing a dark green sweatshirt, black sweatpants, and sneakers; everyone else was dressed similarly, in clothes that allowed for easy movement.

“That’s true,” said Hirokawa Uzuki, who was walking at the front.

Meanwhile, Hachiman Hikigaya led Utaha Kasumigaoka into the special building.

“Genjin told me about you,” Hachiman Hikigaya said.

“Standing on the ground, the young man was well-fed and the fish were plumb. He was a pheasant ...

"Using a pen name? Haven't you considered changing how you address him?" This way of addressing him might be a bit troublesome for people who don't know his pen name.

"Because it's my unique nickname, a connection between him and me," Kasumigaoka Utaha chuckled. "Yes, I'll change it later. Next time I change it, it'll be like Dan."

"Ah..." This woman made no attempt to hide her ambition, well, can we call it ambition?

Looking back, you can see eyes that shine brighter than rubies, long, smooth, beautiful black hair, a delicate and pretty face, and a figure that surpasses most girls. Her beauty is on par with Yukinoshita.

"I see, so you really like him."

“Yes,” Kasumigaoka Utaha nodded.

"Well, you'd better hurry. Don't let his aloof appearance fool you, he's actually quite popular. No, not just popular, there are girls as outstanding as you around him."

Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression was strange. Because of her standing there, her gaze was somewhat distant and unsettling. She seemed to be looking at him with a mixture of emotions, her expression shifting from one of surprise to one of astonishment. She looked at him with a mixture of emotions, her expression shifting from one of surprise to one of astonishment.

"I understand." Kasumigaoka Utaha took it to heart, and at that moment she made up her mind, "I will find a chance to confess to him."

"Oh." So fast! Hachiman Hikigaya didn't know whether this was a good thing or...

He opened the door, and the people inside were there according to the student council's working hours, meaning they could only arrive a little later than Yukinoshita.

There were only five or six people in the room. They stood up together and called out, "Minister!"

“Oh.” Hachiman Hikigaya stood in front of them and introduced, “This is the new member, Kasumigaoka Utaha.”

"She's a third-year student at a school in Chiyoda, Tokyo. She's ranked first in her humanities class and is also a novelist—a true talent." To avoid anyone looking down on this new member, he felt it necessary to clarify things.

"From now on, she will help me with drafting documents and editing announcements." Hachiman Hikigaya breathed a sigh of relief. He was already exhausted from missions, and then he had to deal with the affairs of two departments when he got back. The pressure was building up little by little every day, and now he could finally relax a little.

"Caijia," he called to the cute boy standing there.

"Yes."

"You can show Kasumigaoka around and familiarize her with our club."

“Okay, leave it to me.” Totsuka Saika smiled shyly and said to Kasumigaoka Utaha, “Hello, I’m Totsuka Saika, nice to meet you.”

"Yes, please take care of me," Kasumigaoka Utaha replied.

"Then I'll leave it to you." Hachiman Hikigaya planned to head to the dojo.

“Ah, Hachiman.” Totsuka Saika called out to Hikigaya Hachiman.

"What's wrong?" Hachiman Hikigaya stopped in his tracks.

"Hey, good luck with your work and be careful." Totsuka Saika had always thought that Hachiman Hikigaya, who worked in the Executive Department, was really amazing, and he was very grateful to this former classmate who had the courage to dedicate himself to the school.

"Oh, oh." What is this? An angel.

Not good, not good.

Hachiman Hikigaya, beginning to doubt himself, shook his head and left.

"..." Kasumigaoka Utaha stared at the movable blackboard standing in the room.

Aya Totsuka explained kindly, "These are exactly the same notices that are posted on bulletin boards all over the place. This way, we can know which ones need to be removed or replaced."

"Ah, Kasumigaoka-kun has such good grades in humanities and is a writer, her articles must be very good. You can polish the text above and then replace it. To be honest, Hachiman, the club president is quite troubled by this. Sometimes the student council returns articles because they are not satisfied, hahaha..."

"I see." Kasumigaoka Utaha turned around and glanced at the overly cute boy before continuing to browse the content.

The report included the cause, process, and outcome of yesterday's execution, as well as the newly confirmed initial version of the General Staff High's laws, an overview of recent price increases and decreases, the results of yesterday's operations, and any new supplies that had been received, etc.

Then, in the middle, there was a lone piece of paper that read, "Prohibition of Impure Sexual Relationships."

"This?" Kasumigaoka Utaha pointed to the document.

"Ah, um. This was the directive issued by the student council at the beginning. Everyone said the regulations were a bit strict, so I'm not too sure about it."

Let's start by modifying this document. The dates on it are from a long time ago, and the writing is unclear. Let's start by defining what constitutes impure sexual relations.

The initial intention was probably to curb the potential for girls to seek unearned income or even engage in compensated dating that might arise with the salary system. Also, back then, even school safety couldn't be guaranteed, and having children would be a real problem. But now...

Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly smiled with relief and sat down quite naturally.

The dignified and elegant temperament and the proud and aloof aura she exuded subtly intimidated the people in the room.

"Ah, our job today is to assist the student council in formulating the constitution of Soubu High School, um, that's what we can call it."

"Okay, I understand. Leave it to me."

Strong-willed, competitive, and confident—that's how outsiders see Kasumigaoka Utaha.

Chapter 136: Be My Son (Just kidding)

When Uesugi Genshin and Yukino Yukinoshita came downstairs, they were stunned by the scene before them.

Hiratsuka-sensei found a group of dirty little children from somewhere.

From a distance, they looked like a group of beggars, their faces covered in dust and their clothes having an incongruous black texture.

They were probably all elementary school students, with all sorts of physiques and grades, making them appear quite scattered.

High school students have uniforms, and even if the number is large and the schools are different, they can still look very uniform, at least that's the case at Soubu High School.

Elementary school students don't have such uniforms, so it looks particularly chaotic.

Basically everyone was gathered around Hayama Hayato. He must have been on patrol at the school as the disciplinary committee chairman when he saw him and went to help.

When children are wronged, they immediately cry to adults. In this case, the person they are crying to is Ye Shan.

Hayato Hayama is a very popular sunny and handsome guy. He's a cheerful older brother with outstanding looks, and kids can like him at first sight.

For children, adults, especially high school or college students, particularly those with a glamorous appearance like Hayato Hayama, are objects of admiration.

Then Uesugi Genshin clearly saw an elementary school student bury his tear-stained face in Hayama Hayato's body, "..."

However, their voices mixed together sounded like a mix of crying and chattering. Under normal circumstances, Uesugi Genshin would have found it noisy, but he wasn't in the mood for it now.

Looking at those ragged children, a long-lost feeling of sympathy and pity welled up inside me.

He walked over to Hiratsuka Shizuka beside him and asked, "Hiratsuka-sensei, where did you find these children?"

"Isn't it amazing that they stubbornly hid in unseen corners?" Hiratsuka Shizuka took a drag of her cigarette and chuckled. "Thanks to Hachiman, he saw the signal coming from a child inside the school building."

Uesugi Genshin then looked at Hachiman next to Hiratsuka Shizuka, who shrugged and said, "It was just a coincidence."

“However…” Hiratsuka Shizuka’s tone turned heavy, “They had a teacher who had been taking care of them since the zombie crisis broke out, but he starved to death not long ago.”

She felt that Uesugi Genshin and the others should know this. When they went in after clearing out the zombies, the teacher's body was in the corner, beginning to decompose. Her face was covered with lividity, and she was only wearing a thin shirt, as her coat had been taken off and given to the younger children to keep them warm. When Hiratsuka Shizuka saw her, she was only covered by a child's clothes.

"Amazing." With a sigh, Uesugi Genshin roughly counted the number of people; there were about twenty.

Hayato Hayama, standing among the children, looked over. Genshin Uesugi gestured towards the shower area, suggesting they wash up first since they were so dirty.

Yukino Yukinoshita also suggested to Shizuka Hiratsuka, "Let the cooking club make them something easy to digest."

Being stuck at school for more than half a month will definitely make you go hungry.

"Yes." Hiratsuka Shizuka stubbed out her cigarette, casually took out a portable ashtray from her pocket and put it in, then walked towards the cafeteria, as it would take time to make things fresh.

At the same time, several disciplinary committee members came over. Hachiman saw Orimoto Kaori among them. She also noticed him, waved cheerfully, and showed a toothy smile that was very much in line with Orimoto's image.

The flow of elementary school students instantly split into two streams, rushing towards the newer older students.

After Hayato Hayama started talking to the children, the disciplinary committee members, including Kaori Orimoto, also struck up a conversation with them, quietly comforting the crying children one by one.

"..." Uesugi Genshin squinted at the scene before him, which was roughly like concentric circles where everyone would gather together.

In other words, even if it splits into two parts halfway through, it will slowly connect back to become a neat circle, with the only noticeable discordant point appearing outside the circle.

Only one girl stood quietly beside the crowd.

With a slender and healthy body and long, straight black hair that resembled someone else's, she gave off a more mature impression compared to other children who cried and sought comfort.

Neutral clothing, in comparison, makes one appear more demure.

She is incredibly cute, making her an even more eye-catching child.

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease," Uesugi Genshin chuckled.

"Hey, hey, hey, you shouldn't be laughing at a time like this." Hachiman sighed; he had seen it too.

"Do you think my smile looks like a smile? Ha, they're just kids." Uesugi Genshin now truly understood the meaning of those words.

"Well..." Hachiman stepped forward and whispered something in Uesugi Genshin's ear.

The girl, all alone and isolated, was barely able to make her presence felt.

However, it seemed that no one noticed that such a person had been left behind.

No, I did notice. Several other children would occasionally turn around and look at each other, their eyes filled with a hint of surprise as they stared at the lonely girl, wondering why she didn't come over and join them.

They were not far apart, yet there seemed to be an invisible barrier between them.

Those who can cry and those who cannot, are separated by an invisible wall.

After discussing things with the disciplinary committee members, Hayama Hayato led the still unsettled children toward the swimming pool showers.

A dot remains a dot; it does not merge into a circle.

She stood there, unable to move forward, drifting further and further away from the crowd. She was caught in a dilemma, as if she had been deliberately pulled there.

"Your name?" Uesugi Genshin walked over to the girl who was clutching her clothes with her head down. Seeing Hayama smiling apologetically in his direction, Uesugi Genshin waved his hand understandingly, indicating that he was there and not to worry about her. Just seeing the three children hanging on Hayama's body, not counting the ones he was holding hands with, gave Uesugi Genshin a headache.

"Tsurumi Rumi." The muttered words weren't too inaudible, and Uesugi Genshin nodded upon hearing her name.

"I heard that you led everyone to find food after your teacher died. That's really impressive."

“They’ll just cry there.” Tsurumi Rumi turned her head away and said in a cold voice.

Someone has to shoulder the burden like an adult. But they're still just kids, and no one really wants to listen to someone their own age, even when they're right. They might even argue about it and make things unpleasant for each other.

“That means you’re weak,” Uesugi Genshin said, squatting down. “When you’re strong enough, no one will ignore your voice.”

"Hey, what are you teaching this kid?" Hachiman thought to himself.

“I’m different, compared to those over there.” At least compared to them, I’m not that weak.

This declaration is also a form of self-affirmation. Tsurumi Rumi spoke each word stubbornly, much like someone else.