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

"elder sister?"

"Would you like some incense?"

-----------------

Mai Sakurajima stood in the stairwell, looking quite hesitant.

Should we go in or not? There might be someone there.

Her inner struggle stemmed from her desire for human intervention, after experiencing hellish scenes along the way.

If anyone is still alive and well...

But the hesitation stemmed from the horrific scene downstairs: blood and corpses on the thick, viscous asphalt.

It should have been an ordinary afternoon, but the first thing to notice was a person covered in mud and bleeding from their legs, huddled in a corner.

He muttered something about everyone being dead.

Seeing that there were other people there, she stumbled and ran away.

There were a few calls from my mother on my phone, but I didn't answer them because she silences her phone when she's at work.

When I tried to call back, I couldn't get through.

Just as she was frowning in thought, several passersby rushed in, like a herd of wild horses that had broken free of their reins, and almost everyone in the group died.

They are sensitive to sound. If you put your phone on speakerphone aside, they will swarm around you. She and a few others hide in the room.

She was thinking of finding a chance to get out, but everyone else advised her not to move and to wait for rescue.

After waiting all night, only she emerged from the room, holding her "weapon."

She didn't have anywhere she wanted to go, so she decided to go home.

They truly fought their way through, initially trying to dodge. In terms of speed, they were not as fast as humans, but they were tireless.

There are always unavoidable situations. When she mustered up her courage and killed the first one, the second one was not so resistant.

Put on the long-sleeved clothes they found by the roadside, grabbed their weapons, and marched along the residential area and railway line.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I was almost home, but then I saw a body downstairs.

The wound was a bloody mess, and white bone fragments could be seen deep inside.

The missing teeth and decaying mouth make his face look like the skull itself.

No, even she couldn't be that twisted.

I killed quite a few of these things along the way, but I could never hit such horrifying parts of the body.

After dealing with the zombies wandering around the first-floor entrance, she stared at the elevator stopped on the 7th floor, lost in thought.

So Mai Sakurajima chose to take the elevator.

Unlike the other dimly lit floors, the corridor lights were on.

The lights in the stairwell behind me were off, and the space was plunged into darkness once again.

She pressed her ear against the door, listening intently to what was happening inside.

Then I hesitated, wondering if I should check if anyone was there.

Nobody knows what's inside, and the thing that can turn on the light isn't necessarily a person.

If it's just someone living downstairs, it's better to make contact sooner rather than later to take the initiative.

Thinking about this, she felt she needed to actually check, so she pulled her mask up a little and pressed the brim of her hat down.

Relax your hand, let the stick slide down, tighten your grip again, grab the near end, swing it a few times to make sure you're in the right place, and then turn the doorknob with your right hand.

The creaking of the door made her heart beat faster.

-----------------

"Sister! You're back?!" Toyohama Kazuka recognized her proud older sister, Sakurajima Mai.

Just by checking on my phone, it takes a lot of effort to even look through all the awards I've received.

The list details her activities from her glamorous debut in a morning drama series to her announcement of retiring from the entertainment industry, along with a detailed record of the titles of her most popular movies and TV series.

Unlike new idols like her, the concerts she holds are mostly collaborative activities with idols belonging to the same agency.

Most of them are held in very small venues, with a maximum of about three hundred people.

Opportunities to appear on television are extremely rare, and most of the programs are on local television stations.

"Waka, what are you doing here?" Mai Sakurajima asked in surprise. Her expression was not visible because of the mask, but her beautiful black and blue eyes revealed her inner joy.

"I've come to find you, my sister."

Toyohama Kazuka stepped forward and hugged Sakurajima Mai, ignoring the bloody smell that rushed into her nostrils, which was quickly replaced by the salty smell of tears and snot.

Mai Sakurajima also wrapped her arms around her younger sister. The small and cute child that her father first brought her to see when she was little has now grown up. She didn't see her on TV, but felt it directly.

The figure I had only seen on television was now actually standing before my eyes.

"He Xiang, you're alright, that's so good." There was no doubt that this was his younger sister.

"Yes, thanks to my sister's friend!"

"friend?"

Mai Sakurajima suddenly felt something was off. What kind of friends did she have?

His life was controlled by his mother; he never attended school properly and couldn't fit into his class.

At this point, it sounds absurd for Kaori to talk about her friend.

"Yes, Genshin." Toyohama Kazuka excitedly shared what she had seen with her sister, believing that her sister must feel the same way.

"He's really good. He can take down zombies with a few blows. He can easily handle more than a dozen at a time."

"She can drive, even though she's still a student. And she's also a novelist. It's truly astonishing."

"Mmm-hmm." Mai Sakurajima held the hand of the excited Kazuka Toyohama and nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Ah~, when did I have a friend like that?

"I understand, Kaori. Tell me more about Gen-Gen Shin later."

"Speaking of which, aren't you going to introduce your friend to me?"

"Ah~" Toyohama Kazuka turned around, because the members of Sweet Bullet in the room had all poked their heads out because of the sound just now.

"Hello, Xiaohe's older sister, I am Hirokawa Uzuki."

"Yes, this is the captain of my team."

"And this is Nakago Ranko," she introduced, pointing to a tall girl.

Then came the short-haired girl. "This is Anono Yae, the vice-captain."

"This tiny one is Okazaki Hotaru."

"Ugh~" Okazaki Hotaru complained, displeased by Toyohama Kazuka's teasing.

"Hello, I'm Kaori's older sister, Sakurajima Mai. You can call me Mai if you like."

"Yes, Miss Mai."

"Do you live here?" Mai Sakurajima asked, looking into the house.

"Yes, it is."

"My home is on the ninth floor."

“Then let’s go to my sister’s house.” Feng Bin and Xiang smiled happily. “I went to the eighth and ninth floors with Xuanxin. It was very safe. There was no problem taking the elevator.”

She glanced instinctively at the traces of her vomit not far away.

A scream like a groundhog echoed in my mind once again.

“Since my brother has confirmed it, then there’s no problem,” Hirokawa Uzuki said with a smile, clasping her hands together.

elder brother?

Sakurajima Mai re-examined the man who claimed to be her friend; he seemed to be a good person.

They came to the front door next to the Sakurajima house again, and this time the door was open.

Feng Bin and Xiang leaned in to look inside, suddenly remembering what Genshin had said.

Your sister seems to keep the letters you sent her in a cabinet.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Finally Back

Even when the sun was at its zenith, it still did not leave any intense heat on the ground.

That's true, now is the springtime when all things are reviving.

April is the start of the school year when cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

However, the school wasn't as vibrant as it used to be; after all, it was the end of the world.

"What should we do with the corpse?" Hachiman Hikigaya examined the zombie's body, its face covered in blood.

He had just been mercilessly hammered on the head by Yukinoshita, and the sound of his skull vibrating could be heard by those nearby.

"This is a real headache, the incinerator has already been dismantled."

There is a custom of burning garbage here; the garbage generated every week and every day is thrown into the incinerator to burn.

However, in recent years, due to environmental pollution, most of them have been demolished, at least that's true for Zongwu High School.

If that's still there, just throw the corpse in and burn it to ashes.

It wasn't entirely Yukino's fault; Shizuka-sensei also played a part...

“Bury it in the ground…no, that’s too much trouble.” Yukino Yukinoshita rejected the argument to herself.

If they were really buried in the ground, the number of people that would need to be buried later would be truly hopeless.

Not to mention throwing them into the sea, I'm really afraid that one day the tide will push a bunch of corpses ashore.

"Has the incinerator really been dismantled?" Yukino Yukinoshita asked to confirm.

“Of course, I had only been working there for a short time at the time,” Hiratsuka Shizuka recalled.

Hiratsuka Shizuka is under 30 years old and only started working here 4 or 5 years ago.

"What happened next? Shouldn't that be school property?"

"The aftermath, the aftermath... Ah, you mean after it's dismantled, it might be stored in the storage room."

It's not worth much if we sell it, so we'll just keep it for now. Who knows if the policy changes and we can take it out and use it again?

There is such a possibility.

That's what storage rooms are like, so they're piled up with all sorts of trash.

"We'll have to go and see for ourselves to know." With that, Hiratsuka Shizuka went to confirm.

Yukino Yukinoshita went back to the student council room first, while Hayato Hayama went to find his friends, namely the Hayama Group of Four and Yumiko Miura.

Looking left and right, it seems like I'm the only one with a lot of free time.

Hachiman Hikigaya, having once again confirmed that he was a good-for-nothing, went to find his younger sister, Komachi.

"Ah, Onii-chan." My little sister is definitely the cutest.

Hachiman Hikigaya smiled knowingly.

"Wow, that's gross."

"Don't say it's disgusting."

"Hachi-chan," came the voice of Kyoka, the youngest sister from the Kawasaki family.

Through their shared experience, the Hikigaya and Kawasaki families have completely united, according to Komachi's understanding.

After all, the older brother and sister are classmates, and the younger sister and brother are also classmates. Is there really such a coincidence in the world?!

“Oh, oh,” Hachiman Hikigaya replied.

Judging from Jinghua's outstretched arms, if he hasn't mistaken me, he probably means he wants a hug.