Chapter 12 - To the Conference Room

“Let’s go.”

After saying that, Ryu stood up.

In his state, you couldn’t see the look of resentment of the disgust of having killed a person who “had been” that he had felt a moment ago.

No, he surely hid it unconsciously in some unknown place within him.

If not, the sensitive heart of someone his age would break.

And then, he wouldn’t be able to turn back to be the same as he was before.

“That’s right. It would be better to hurry and go, isn’t that right?”

Rather than really thinking that it was better to hurry and go, unless Rei did something, he would think of the person he had killed, and his words were loaded with that fear.

Noticing that, Ryu didn’t touch on the subject.

He couldn’t bear to bring it up.

The two of them walked out of the cooking class’ classroom and went out to the hallway.

The hallway wasn’t very long.

And because of that, even though there weren’t that many zombies, they got the impression that the zombies were covering the hallway completely.

“If this had been the shopping mall before Christmas, it would have been a little charming…”

He muttered.

“Exactly that.”

Rei agreed as well.

The two prepared themselves to cross the hallway, but…

“Are you okay?”

They heard a girl’s voice and reflexively looked in the direction it came from.

Behind them, a cheerful girl and a gloomy boy came into view.

It was an inexplicable combination, but if they were survivors, they were probably heading to the conference room after hearing the broadcast.

There was no way they couldn’t help them.

Perhaps their action could be a form of atonement.

The two gestured, conveying that they weren’t infected.

Noticing that they were heading toward them, they replied with a nod.

Returning to the cooking class’ classroom once again, the two invited them in.

“We finally met living people.”

The girl said, sitting down on a chair,

“I’m Sayo Haiga. Third year class 4. And this is Jun Haiga. Like me, third year class 4.”

The boy quickly bowed his head.

They wondered why the boy called Jun hadn’t introduced himself.

Noticing the change in their expressions, the girl awkwardly opened her mouth.

“...Jun is mute. Pardon him.”

So that was how it was.

Agreeing, Ryu nodded with big movements.

Silence.

Before long, unable to stand the air in the room, Rei asked,

“Since you are both called Haiga, are you siblings? You really don’t look alike for that… or something… Haha.”

As soon as he had asked that, Sayo’s expression stiffened.

It felt like he had mentioned something he shouldn’t have.

“...”

The awkwardness once again filled the room.

“Oh, I apologize.”

Rei thought that he should apologize first after sensing the bad mood.

Being unable to ignore this situation, Ryu said in a light voice,

“W-well, let’s go to the conference room!”

The smile on his face was somewhat stiff.

“...That’s true. Let’s go.”

She answered after some time.

Only that made Rei’s smile turn natural.

He was probably relieved from the bottom of his heart.

If the silence had gone on for any longer than that, he was sure that his mind would have broken down.

“Please be careful about what’s under your feet….”

While saying that, he opened the door of the classroom.

The state of the hallway wasn’t much different from before.

Making a circle with his hand, he conveyed to Sayo and Jun to keep going, and Ryou and Rei took the lead.

The width of the hallway was narrow, three people walking side by side would fill it to the fullest extent, so no matter how close they walked to the wall, so the gap around the zombies became cramped.

Meaning, they would attack in an instant if they were discovered.

They couldn’t be absentminded.

The nerves were stretched out from their head to their feet, and they moved without making any sound.

(Don’t hurry… Don’t hurry…)

Rei told himself while walking slowly.

Before long, the hallway came to an end, and three people exhaled.

Saying “three people” might be doubtful, but that was the truth.

As Jun had walked down the hallway, he had walked calmy like usual.

It was like he wasn’t afraid of the zombies.

Why did they fear zombies?

It was because it was directly linked to the crisis of life.

The predators in front of you. The natural enemy.

Strictly speaking, people didn’t find the zombies scary, but the death they brought.

In that case…

Rei looked at Jun.

Humans were indifferent to what didn’t concern themselves.

Meaning that Jun was indifferent to death.

(No way…)

Were there humans not fearing death?

He had heard that soldiers fighting with their lives on the line time over time couldn’t feel themselves.

However, that didn’t go beyond locking the existence of death somewhere in their heart.

Or, they couldn’t feel anything because of the destruction of their heart.

Were there really that many people with destroyed hearts here, in peaceful Japan?

If that was the case, why did his heart become destroyed?

If they had answered that question, maybe he could have solved this problem.

Jun kept standing there with an indifferent expression.

Like this was somebody else’s problem…

Rei started to slightly fear that cold attitude.