There’s no sound in the desolate world.
A gray jungle, its carcass.
Stepping on reinforced concrete cracked in every direction, I aimed my gun at the approaching hordes of the decayed. High-impact shockwaves of murderous intent fills the area.
「Adashino! Zombies at three o’clock!」
「There’s one right next to me though.」
「There isn’t!」
Holding two guns in both hands, I fired with only rough aiming.
With zombies swarming from all directions, it was a matter of shooting enough to hit something. But I tried to aim for the ones closest to me.
If we’re talking about the closest zombie, there’s a monster called Kusakabe Yuna next to me, but right now she’s my comrade in survival.
To increase my chances of survival, it’s better to have more comrades.
So without aiming my gun at Yuna, I pulled the trigger in the three o’clock direction.
「Haa… haa…」
「Tired, aren’t you?」
「I didn’t expect so many to come out…」
「Maybe we advanced too far.」
Hard difficulty.
Two-player mode.
Stage four.
We’re fifteen-year-old high school students seriously playing a zombie-killing game in an arcade. It’s surprisingly fun, and we don’t care about the looks we’re getting. At least while we’re playing.
We continued to mess around, but eventually, both of our HPs dropped to zero, and we died within a few minutes.
Wiping the slight sweat from her forehead, Yuna lifts the corners of her mouth.
「It was fun.」
「Glad to hear it.」
「I come from a rural village, you see. There was no game center.」
Zombies killing zombies was a hellish sight.
As soon as we entered the game center filled with booming sounds, she said, “I want to try that”, so I couldn’t tell if she was aiming for a laugh or just being natural.
Do they even realize they’re monsters?
From our usual interactions, it seems like they don’t…?
「It would have been nice if Onee-chan had come too.」
「If she has things to do, it can’t be helped.」
「I wonder. It might be a nonexistent errand.」
「What do you mean?」
「That she was being unnecessarily considerate.」
Yuna put her hands on her hips while saying something I completely didn’t understand. I recalled this afternoon. Yuna seemed to want to go to the game center with Nanaka, but Nanaka apparently had things to do. “Why don’t you go with Adashino-san? Besides, you’d be happier that way, right?” she had said, shaking her lump of meat meaningfully.
I’d rather not go out with a zombie, but it seemed too harsh to flat-out refuse to co-star, so I kept quiet.
And somehow, I ended up going to the game center with Yuna.
Silence is golden, speech is silver is a lie.
If you have something on your mind, it’s better to say it. If you keep it to yourself, you might end up having to go out with a zombie.
We sat side by side on chairs meant for resting and looked up at the ceiling.
It was slightly dark, as if it had absorbed cigarette smoke.
I wondered if the sprinklers would activate in case of a fire.
「We played quite a bit.」
「About… two hours?」
「Fun times always pass quickly, so I’m always surprised.」
──Light Novels──
──Read Here──
「It feels pretty long to me, though.」
Because it’s always like a near-death experience.
It’s natural when there’s a monster next to you.
Having crossed so many lines of death, I’ve become a “different” kind of guy just from my face.
Not that it means anything.
Yuna, who for some reason looked brand new──it was my first time seeing a zombie equipped with anything that wouldn’t be decomposed by microorganisms──picked up the brim of her hat printed with a jet-black tulip and pointed to an area at the back of the arcade.
「There’s a cafe.」
「Then, since it’s about that time…」
「What time? Anyway, let’s go.」
「Actually, I’ve got a doctor’s stop order.」
「For the cafe?」
「For the cafe.」
I’ve seen this development before.
I mean, I went to a cafe with Miho.
Adding a zombie to that is too much.
「It’s okay.」
「And there’s anaphylactic shock.」
「It’s the first time, so it’s fine.」
「It’s the second time, actually.」
「Who was the first?」
「……」
Otto, slipped up.
As I fell silent, unable to say anything, she sighed with a look that said, “The bravado of a virgin, how laughable.”
It’s not a problem if she finds out I’ve gone out with Miho before, but it’s not fun to be teased about it. I don’t want to be recognized as the kind of guy who goes out with a mud dauber wasp. I’m just a normal high school boy.
Like a UMA being dragged away, I’m pulled along by Yuna.
Inevitably, I feel the sensation of a zombie in my hand.
It was cool and strongly reminded me of “death”.
Scary.
「Oh my, isn’t this You-kun?」
I felt even more “death”.
Give me a break.
The automatic door slides open with a whirr.
A mud dauber wasp sitting on the other side.
My face turning blue.
An insect’s leg raised in a friendly manner.
All I could raise was a white flag.
「Shall we change shops? I know a good place.」
「Could it be the place you went to before? I’ll join you.」
「Go back to your nest.」
I tried my best to pull Yuna’s hand and make a quick exit, but it wasn’t that easy. I was called out to by the mud dauber wasp from behind. In an instant, the zombie’s hand tightened.
「…Adashino.」
「…What?」
As I escape into reality, thinking this is a familiar development, I look into her colorless eyes.
「Who’s this woman?」
A mud dauber wasp.