Chapter 45 - The Compensation of What was Procured
Daiki who was pulling everyone up started thinking that something was off.
Tooru, Sayo, Takumi, Yuuki, Shinji, Seiji, Ryou, and Rei crawled up in turn.
Seeing that each of them had an amount of supplies on them, he understood that the bus had been abandoned.
Right, he understood that.
However, what he didn’t understand were two things.
Sayo who was fainted, and the missing two people.
“Heey, hurry and come up!”
He shouted down the manhole.
However, there was no answer.
When he raised his face to look at them, everyone turned away.
“Senior Kazuma and Senior Jun haven’t come yet, are they late?”
No one said a word.
“...Why are you all so quiet?”
“Kazuma and Jun are dead.”
Takumi muttered absent-mindedly.number
“...Huh?”
Dead?
That Senior Kazuma?
“W-what kind of joke is this! It’s too vicious. Right, Tooru?”
“...”
Tooru didn’t open his mouth.
“Hey, Tooru? What’s wrong, why aren’t you saying anything?”
Daiki desperately called out for each of them.
“It’s a joke, right!? Right!?”
“Daiki, how many times are you going to have me say it? Kazuma and Jun are dead.”
“...It’s a lie.”
“It’s not.”
“...Why? How can you be so calm!?”
“Even if I shout, the truth won’t change.”
Daiki grabbed Takumi who returned to be calm.
“Wasn’t Senior Kazuma your best friend!? To say ‘Dead’, was it a relationship you could just settle with that!? Senior Kazuma said that you were like his brother, but was what you felt for Senior Kazuma that shallow!?”
Daiki shouted in a loud voice.
The members around him stayed quiet and watched the matter unfold.
“...I know.”
Takumi muttered weakly.
However, that calmness was only for a moment.
“What do you know!? Kazuma was like a younger brother to me! We had always always been together! But, he’s dead! Your way of shouting at everyone is only an escape from reality! You only have to accept Kazuma’s death!”
Takumi roared.
Takumi who was unusually perturbed shouted at Daiki.
However, Daiki didn’t give in.
“Accept!? It’s no joke! Why should I accept it just like that!? People have died, a friend has died, a person who easily accepts that isn’t human!”
“Then what do you want me to do!? What do you want to do by ignoring that he died, the fact that he’s dead won’t change! To say that you can’t see what you see, that it isn’t there, what will change by that!? Don’t get too carried away with your self-satisfaction!”
“Self-satisfaction…”
“Accept it. It’s needed to do so in this world.”
Giving Daiki who became dumfounded a sideglance, Daiki walked away with his backpack with supplies.
The others copied him, and Daiki was the only one left behind.
“Why… Why are you doing it so easily? Are you satisfied like this?”
Sitting down and facing down the manhole, he asked the darkness.
However, that missed voice didn’t return.
After that, they went back and forth between the school and the bus through the manholes to bring all of the supplies.
Everyone (Sayo was sleeping in the infirmary, and Miu was keeping watch over her, so the two were absent) gathered in the conference room.
“...Well then, I will announce the result this time. The canned food was stuffed in 9 cardboard boxes. 16 2 liter PET bottles and 9 1.5 liter PET bottles with water. 20 magazines for entertainment. Two handaxes and one ice pick. Ten men’s underwear for top and bottom. 10 jerseys. 10 women’s underwear for top and bottom. 10 Western-styled clothing. Every kind of sanitary product. 20 toothbrushes with 10 tubes of toothpaste. 10 towels. 3 detergent.”
After finishing smoothly analyzing the supplies, Tooru stated the criticism of the expedition.
“We couldn’t obtain the private power generator that we wanted to as much as possible. And the worst thing was the deaths of Senior Kazuma and Senior Jun.”
Everyone kept silent.
The heavy mood enclosed the conference room.
“However, the supplies they left behind for us was a large amount. These supplies are what they put their lives on the line to get for us. By risking their own lives, they prolonged ours. We will never forget what they did.”
Bringing the speech to a finish, each of them left the room without any urging.
They probably couldn’t stand the mood.
“...Sigh.”
He sighed as he looked at the large amount of supplies.
As he had thought, this was the worst kind of mood.
If it continued like this, the community would likely divide and collapse.
“...Um.”
Turning around to face the sudden voice, he saw Yuuki standing there.
“What is it?”
“Well, I know you are tired, so I have made some tea.”
Yuuki was probably concerned.
He thanked her and drank the tea.
“Leaders easily accumulate stress. If you don’t vent from time to time, you will someday break.”
“Is that something you have seen after watching the student president?”
“...It is already too late for that person to let out his stress.”
Saying that, Yuuki turned to the side and left.
“I see.”
Tooru drank the tea in one gulp and drained the cup.