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

Curry, oh curry!

Kato Megumi sat down, smoothing her skirt. Sawamura's mother said that she had left all the things to them and they could use them as they pleased, but they should not touch anything valuable, such as those clothes that looked very expensive.

When I was helping to tidy up, it seemed that Aunt Xiaobaihe left everything behind except for one item she said she bought when she got married. She wasn't wearing her usual clothes, but rather a hiking outfit that was easy to move in. However, it took a long time to find the hiking outfit, as it was something she kept at the bottom of her trunk and probably didn't wear much.

As for the rest of the clothes, one didn't fit them, and the other they didn't want to wear.

So we're still wearing school uniforms. Since we don't go out, they don't get dirty easily and don't need to be washed frequently.

Kato Megumi scooped up a spoonful of curry rice and put it in her mouth. The beef in the can was already so tender that it would fall apart at the slightest touch. After being stewed in curry for a long time, the curry flavor seeped into it, diluting its original seasoning.

It tastes pretty much the same as before; not everyone has a divine tongue.

"It tastes like home."

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Chapter 85: Three Options

"What are you doing?" Hachiman asked the person with the strange expression.

"No... no." Uesugi Genshin finally pulled out the crowbar, bringing out an indescribable red and white substance.

"!" Even Hachiman himself had a strange expression now.

Uesugi Genshin wiped the crowbar on the zombie's clothes, muttering, "I used too much force."

A white, jelly-like substance was rubbed onto the clothes. Ah, this person...

Hachiman looked around to make sure the street was safe, and asked, "Is there anything else you need to take?"

"We can come again if needed." It's quite close anyway.

"Yes." Hayama Hayato also came out of the store. The baseball bat in his hand was beautiful, with nails arranged in geometric aesthetics, neatly arranged in circles.

Completely different from the liberal arts student, what Hachiman holds looks more like some kind of crude torture device, used to torment people.

After the three of them tidied up and got into the car, Uesugi Genshin drove towards Sobu High School.

To avoid getting stuck, Hachiman laid the spiked baseball bat horizontally on the ground.

Ha... there's still some blood on the car carpet... that guy probably won't mind, right?

The Wrangler returned to the coastal highway, passed Zongwu Expressway, but only passed by, continuing to drive forward without looking back.

Turn right at the first intersection ahead. This road, heading east inland, is called Haibin Songfeng Road. Just from the name, you can tell why it's named that way.

The 6-chome area on the left is entirely composed of detached houses, stretching for over a kilometer. On the right, after passing the Lawson convenience store near the intersection, the area is mostly comprised of apartment buildings at least five or six stories high. Because it is a residential area, most people were not at home when the zombie virus broke out, so there were very few zombies in the vicinity.

Driving further ahead, we unexpectedly spotted a shrine by the roadside!

Right at the intersection ahead, next to the parking lot, it's called a shrine, but it's incredibly simple. The shrine stands haphazardly beside the sidewalk, enshrining Inari Daimyojin. How can you tell? Just because there are several red flags with names I've never heard of. After all, there are a total of eight million deities here.

Although it's not very proper, it still has a red torii gate, which is a meter high and looks like a toy model. Next to the shrine, there is a mailbox-like money box. Do people actually put money in it?

This road has three lanes, but some cars still use the outermost lane as a parking space, even though there are no parking spaces marked.

A green belt about the width of a car separates the lanes of traffic, and every so often there is a tall... well, not really a tall pine tree.

The word "upright" is often used to describe pine trees, but these pine trees are basically similar to women with their buttocks sticking out, showing the curve of their "hips".

The road surface, which had not been cleaned for a week, was covered with brown pine needles, not only in the adjacent lanes but also in the middle lanes.

It wasn't just one kilometer; after driving past 6-chome and arriving at 5-chome, it was still the same residential area as before.

After passing through 5-chome, the surrounding area transforms into oddly shaped but rather attractive apartment buildings resembling Tetris blocks, with a single dormitory building right next to it.

Finally, we arrived at a wide-open intersection. It wasn't a crossroads, but we deliberately opened two roads on the right so that we could see the MARINPIA (AEON) supermarket on the right as soon as we turned our heads. One road led in and the other led out. We could clearly see that the zombie hordes on both roads were completely different from those in front of us.

Along a short road less than 500 meters long, at least fifty or sixty zombies were wandering aimlessly. Their colorful clothes indicated that they were there to shop, and there were students, housewives, the elderly, and children.

When the nearby zombies saw a noisy jeep passing by, they all turned their hideous white eyes toward it and rushed over the next second.

“It’s close by too.” Hachiman looked out the window at the relentlessly pursuing figure. “The road is safe too. Once we clear out these zombies, everything in the supermarket will be ours.”

"Let's find a big truck first," Uesugi Genshin said, stroking the steering wheel.

Looking out the window at the payment methods displayed on the MARINPIA building—WeChat Pay, Ali Pay, and their respective icons—below the simplified Chinese characters for "tax-free," he chuckled to himself.

Is this in an effort to attract foreign tourists?

We finally arrived at 1-chome, and this time our destination was a pachinko parlor.

However, with that wide-open door and the chaotic lights and hordes of corpses inside, well, this is a den of demons.

They parked the car on the side of the road, got out, dealt with the dozen or so zombies that had run into the store and the surrounding area, and then got back into the car.

"What are we doing here?" Hayato Hayama asked, unsure of what was going on.

When I got out of the car and looked straight into the store from the door, the zombies were incredibly dense among the rows of arcade machines. You could bump into one every two steps you took, and another every two steps back. However, compared to usual days, this number wasn't considered "many."

“We need currency to establish an economic system,” Uesugi Genshin replied.

“They do different jobs, but eat the same food, and their treatment is no different. This is a waste,” Hachiman explained.

These past few days, people have been eating whatever they can, whether it's canned meat or canned seafood. Judging from consumption, the number of canned beef products has clearly decreased the fastest.

From now on, everyone will receive a salary based on their contributions, with clearly marked prices. They can buy whatever they want, whether they eat less to save money or not to lose weight, it's all up to their own ideas.

"Are we really going in?" Hayama Hayato asked again after understanding the whole story.

He and the other two looked at the shop with a serious expression, while Uesugi Genshin unfolded a paper map and examined it.

"This is the closest one. The other shops are further away, and the roads are difficult to navigate." His fingers weaved through the crosses and exclamation marks, finally stopping at another shop after a winding journey.

Hachiman leaned forward, pointing to another shop, "How about this one?"

"That place is too remote, and it's almost evening now." The sunlight, tinged with orange-red, shone through the gaps between the buildings onto their car, creating a warm and comforting hue, but unfortunately, this was the apocalypse.

Hayato Hayama couldn't help but ask, "Is it really necessary to use game coins as currency? If it's recorded on paper?" In other words, to create another kind of internally used credit paper money.

"Only a heavy weight in one's pocket can truly calm the mind." This is Hachiman's cunning insight into human nature.

"I want the organization to be more flat and I don't want to add any more managers." This is how Uesugi Genshin speaks of power.

They each gave their reasons, and Hayama Hayato raised his hands in surrender, saying, "Okay, okay, I understand."

After Hachiman sat back down, Uesugi Genshin held up three fingers behind him.

"Three methods: stealth, aggressive tactics, and deception."

"Let me explain." Hachiman spread his hands, indicating that he needed to explain.

"Attract the zombies near the door, deal with them first, then sneak in to find the counter where you put the game coins, and quietly take them out." Plan A requires avoiding noise, otherwise a sudden encounter will occur.

"What if something unexpected happens?" Hayama Hayato shook his head.

"Or we could attack from the front, find a safe location, clear them out, and then carry out the transport work." Plan B is positional warfare, a well-prepared and forceful assault, which is at least easier than skirmishes, but also more tiring.

"You think too highly of us." Hachiman was always cautious and humble.

The other side, however, was full of confidence: "As long as we're not caught in a pincer movement, we're invincible."

Could it be that the place is full of corpses as soon as you enter? That's impossible.

Even if 99% of humanity were to perish, aside from the initial 40% of infected individuals, another 40% to 50% would be infected zombies later on, a 50/50 ratio, though the actual proportion would vary depending on the location.

Pachinko parlors are densely packed yet private spaces, with each adjacent game machine separated only by a glass panel. Yet, each person is in their own little space, releasing their repressed desires.

When someone nearby fainted or something happened, apart from the staff, everyone else was basically indifferent and wouldn't even glance at them. They didn't want to bother others or be bothered by others.

The blood-stained glass door of the pachinko parlor and the red handprints on the floor, which shouldn't be there even though the staff regularly cleaned it, proved that people only wanted to escape the horrors of the place when the crisis broke out.

"what......"

Ignoring Hachiman's sigh, Uesugi Genshin continued, "Finally, find a back door or something to lure the zombies away, then enter through the front door. That will make things much easier." Plan C: This kind of shop definitely has more than one door; it's just that the person acting as bait will have a harder time.

"The second or third one, I suppose." Hayato Hayama nodded.

"Then who should be the bait?" Hachiman directly chose the third method. The first method depended on luck and was uncertain, the second method was too tiring and he didn't want to do it, while the third method was relatively easier, because the person who was the bait only needed to lure them away, instead of killing all the ones following behind. After circling around a few times to shake them off, they could come back.

"I'll do it." "Yeah, I guess I'll do it."

Hayato Hayama and Genshin Uesugi spoke at the same time.

"I'm from the soccer team, so I can run faster."

"Hmm... there's a possibility that something might happen to someone." This was exactly what Uesugi Genshin was worried about.

“You are the general, you should be in the center of the field, you shouldn’t be doing the decoy work yourself.” Hayama Hayato patted him on the shoulder.

“Then go ahead.” Uesugi Genshin agreed. If he always took on dangerous missions, his subordinates would never grow. “Be careful.”

The three of them got out of the car and walked around the building. They then saw the side entrance of the arcade, which was at a 90° angle to the main entrance facing the street, right on the path between the two buildings.

When they arrived at the road behind the building, they realized that this seemed to be the main entrance.

"..."

The door that opened on the seaside pine breeze road was the back door. The signboard at the front door was covered with various anime characters. Uesugi Genshin only recognized Misaka Mikoto from "A Certain Magical Index" and Rei Ayanami from "EVA". He couldn't recognize the muscular men with different art styles and the hot-blooded characters from who-knows-where.

He said that the arcade, which occupied an entire floor on the first floor of the building, looked so small because it wasn't the main entrance at all.

Chapter 86: The Swimming Pool at Night

“Just find the truth you seek, and I’ll find you right now. Thank you for finding this little sprout,” you whispered to me.

As she finished singing, Yui Yuigahama shyly touched her hair, which was tied into a bun, and asked, "How was it?"

"It sounds better than I imagined." Hiratsuka Shizuka clapped her hands and gave a thumbs up. She knew she had made the right decision to bring her over.

"Hehehe~" Yui Yuigahama laughed shyly when she heard the praise.

Yukino Yukinoshita nodded in agreement, saying, "Yuigahama-san, you are indeed very suitable to be the lead singer."

If you listen closely, it's different from the accompaniment that someone originally designed, not to mention the singer's style. It's a completely different version of "Haru Nigi," the Yuihama version.

However, how the chef executes the recipes that have been entrusted to him is up to him. There's nothing to complain about; as music, it's undeniably beautiful.

"Really? Yukino~" Yui Yuigahama happily hugged Yukino Yukinoshita's arm.

Although the other party was very troubled by this unprecedented act of intimacy, "Wait, Yuihama-san."

If a boy were to have his body pressed together, he would immediately have all sorts of romantic fantasies, even coming up with names for the child. But right now, Yukino Yukinoshita only felt an indescribable sense of frustration.

"Judging from this, I'm quite looking forward to seeing how Haruno will react when she hears this." Hiratsuka Shizuka became very interested.

Shiromaru, with her two braids and pigtails, naively thought it was just a pleasant surprise. "Miss Haruno must be very happy."

"Thank you all for your hard work~" Iroha Isshiki distributed water to everyone present. She had been working as the accountant, Yukinoshita, in the role of general affairs officer since this afternoon.

"Oh, thank you." Hiratsuka Shizuka quickly took it, and the others also thanked her.

"I never expected Uesugi-senpai to write a song for Yukinoshita-neechan. What's their relationship?"

"Same kind? Enemy? Evenly matched opponent?" Yukino Yukinoshita carefully considered her words, trying to answer this question.

This surprised the junior student, who exclaimed, "Wow!"

"Speaking of which, where is my older sister?" Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly remembered and asked Hiratsuka-sensei.

"She's probably drinking in her room. Oh dear, we need to hurry back as it gets late, or it'll arouse suspicion."

Did she manage to hide it from her sister? Yukino Yukinoshita felt a chill run down her spine the next second.

She quietly walked to the door, opened it, and looked out into the hallway.

Hmm, nobody's here.

"......" means she's neurotic.

"Xiaoxue, what are you doing?" Yui Yuigahama tilted her head and asked in confusion. Her innocent appearance really increased the attack power on her heart.

"No, it's nothing." Yukino Yukinoshita casually brushed her hair aside as if to cover up her embarrassment, and calmly walked back.

Just then, the door opened.

"!" Yukino Yukinoshita was startled and looked toward the door in a panic.

"Second Miss, what's wrong? Why the expression?"

"Thanks to someone!"