Chapter 34 - Should They Live?

“Nnghhh!!!”

Daiki pushed up the manhole.

When he lifted his face, he saw the main street of the shopping district.

He had gone here for the temple festival, but now, about ten zombies were staggering and wandering around there.

Furthermore, those ten had probably doubled and spread inside the stores.

Looking around at their surroundings, he saw that a clothing store, grocery store, climbing equipment store, fishing gear store, and a book store were in the vicinity of the manhole.

“Alright…”

He crawled out of the manhole and Takumi came after him.

“First off, let’s leave marks.”

Takumi took out chalk from his pocket and drew several arrows in the surroundings pointing toward the manhole.

“It’s probably fine like this.”

“Senior, wouldn’t it be better to bring some supplies back?”

“Let’s not. Our job is obtaining an escape route.”

“Okaaay…”

Daiki was disheartened like a child being scolded by their parent.

“Well then, let’s return.”

As Daiki was returning to the manhole, a vehicle entered his vision.

“...”

“What happened, Daiki?”

“Well, that car…”

He approached the car and saw a girl squatting inside.

“There’s a girl in it. If we don’t save her!”

Flustered, Daiki was about to open the door.

However, Takumi held the door back.

“W-why are you stopping me, Senior!”

“You’re wrong. Look properly.”

Takumi’s gaze laid on a small trace of a bite near the girl’s calf.

“The girl is infected.”

“No way…!”

Perhaps noticing the disturbance, the girl slowly headed to them.

Her face was covered in dark red blood and her lips were partially missing.

“...!”

As he thought that she was about to shake the corpse in the driverseat which seemed like her mother, she suddenly started acting violently.

The sound of the girl hitting the door made the mother struggle without noticing the seatbelt obstructing her.

“Daiki, let’s go. The zombies are gathering.”

“Why… Why did this!”

Daiki grieved as liquid amassed in the corners of his eyes.

However, the only thing Takumi could do was not console Daiki but pushing him into the manhole.

The manhole opened with a grating sound, and Daiki showed his face.

“Welcome back, how was it?”

“...Well, it was connected perfectly to the center of the shopping district.”

Daiki‘s expression was slightly strange.

It was like he was missing some energy.

Though, at any rate, they had confirmed that it was pushconnected to the shopping district.

“We left proper marks by the manhole. Since there weren’t any traces of anyone breaking into it, we can probably expect supplies to a certain degree. However, there was one place we had to crawl on the way. Since Daiki can pass through, I think everyone can as well, though… I don’t know about Ryou.”

Takumi, coming after Daiki, explained.

It seemed like he had gotten a pretty good view of everything.

For the time being, the activities today would end now, and everyone would gather for a meeting.

“So, we have pretty much confirmed an escape route. It’s this kind of feeling.”

Tooru marked the escape route with a red pen on the map of the shopping district he had drawn.

“If there is an emergency, we will rake refuge here. Since the forecast said it would rain tomorrow, we can’t go exploring. Fortunately, we still have a margin of supplies.”

After the meeting ended, it was time for dinner.

Each of them opened a can of food like always and started eating.

It was his first day of continuously eating canned food like this.

If one met a disaster like this, they’d probably be forced to live like this.

A can of pork beans was left in front of Tooru.

Having already eaten this can of food for three days already, Tooru had already become used to eating it.

Separating a pair of chopsticks that had been left in the staffroom, he picked up a soybean.

However, Tooru didn’t bring his chopsticks to his mouth.

Because he was watching Daiki.

The usual feeling of being delighted enough to break into a dance because of the meal wasn’t there.

“Are you okay, Daiki?”

“...Yeah, don’t worry.”

He said, but it was clearly strange.

Maybe something happened as they explored the shopping district.

As he was thinking that, Daiki suddenly opened his mouth.

“Dead.”

“Huh?”

“She died.”

While saying that, Daiki opened the lid of the canned food and started eating it bit by bit.

“When we were exploring, there was a girl in a car. But, she was a zombie.”

I see.

That was the reason why Daiki wasn’t lively.

Come to think of it, he felt like he remembered Daiki liking children.

“Why? Why should a child who should live die?”

Daiki had phrased it as a question, but, at the same time, it felt like a question to himself as well.

“... In the world we’re living in now, it’s no longer a place for ‘children who should live’.”

Tooru answered while putting a soybean in his mouth.

“What is needed is ‘children who will find their own way to survive’. It’s too good to talk about ‘children who should live’ if they don’t do anything.‘ We’ve already passed the good time.”

“…”

Daiki didn’t answer.

While not saying a single word, he forcibly gulped down the canned food.