Chapter 131
That night, Nishino ate dinner in the cafeteria with the friends who had gathered.
The menu was curry.
With the power back on, they could use large commercial rice cookers, electric stoves, and the like, greatly expanding both the variety of dishes they could make and the ingredients they could use.
Even so, they had nearly dozens of people to feed, so the menu was inevitably limited. Still, the curry they were eating for the first time in ages was so delicious it brought tears to his eyes.
(Shimizu-san said she’d splurged to help us get our strength up...)
At cost, it was an unassuming meal that had cost less than three hundred yen per person.
Yet all the friends gathered there and all the City Hall staff were eagerly shoveling curry into their mouths.
Her plan had clearly been a success.
The woman herself was busy serving food alongside the other women, with a kerchief over her head.
“This is so goooood, Nisshii!”
“Yeah... And swallow before you talk.”
“Righ’... *gulp*”
“Jeez, you’ve got some on your cheek. Hold still, I’ll wipe it off.”
Nishino wiped Rikka’s cheek with the handkerchief in his hand.
“Thanks, Nisshi. As a thank-you, you can have my carrot.”
“You’re just trying to foist it off on me because you can’t eat it. Don’t be picky—eat it properly.”
“Boo.”
“Don’t ‘boo’ me. Honestly...”
Even as he said that, Nishino ate half of it for her.
Their friends nearby were watching them with knowing grins, but he hadn’t noticed.
“Everyone, keep listening while you eat. This is about tomorrow’s battle.”
The moment he said that, everyone’s expressions changed.
Their eyes focused on Nishino even as they moved their spoons.
“I can more or less guess what the mayor and Shimizu-san’s plan will be. With that in mind, there are a few things I want everyone to watch out for.”
He explained the likely plan, the roles they would probably be assigned, City Hall’s forces, and various other things to his friends.
Everyone listened to Nishino intently, determined not to miss a single word.
That alone showed how much they trusted him.
“—That’s all. Also, we’ve gained one—no, two new members. We’re supposed to meet up with them later.”
“Oh? What kind of people are they?”
The one who asked was a girl with a gyaru-like look, just like Rikka.
“The first is Ichinose Natsu. You were in the same class, so you know her, right?”
“Huh?! Y-You mean that girl?”
She looked surprised when she heard the name.
The other members looked much the same.
They all shared the understanding that Ichinose had dropped out of school after being bullied, and that Rikka had led the bullying.
Nishino had probably expected that reaction. He looked over at Rikka.
“Rikka, it’s okay if I tell them, right?”
“...Yeah.”
So first, he needed to clear up that misunderstanding.
After Rikka agreed, Nishino explained to his friends about her relationship with Ichinose and the misunderstandings between them.
Once he had finished explaining everything, the gyaru-looking girl murmured apologetically,
“I see, so that’s what happened... I have to apologize. I was scared of getting dragged into it, so I just kept pretending not to see...”
“Me too. Now I finally understand why Ono was so desperate to do something.”
“Damn it, if I ever run into the people who bullied her, I won’t let them get away with it...!”
The others, too, spoke of apologizing to Ichinose and their anger at the bullies.
Though they were the sort of students schools labeled ‘failures’ or ‘delinquents,’ they still had the ordinary desire to cherish their friends.
“As for the other one... there are some circumstances involved. They might be a little late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, actually—”
Nishino made up an appropriate excuse, explaining things so that whether Kazuto arrived disguised as Ichinose or brought the real Ichinose along, it wouldn’t upset his friends or interfere with their plans.
He did this not because Kazuto had asked him to, but because he had the quick thinking to minimize the confusion.
(That should be enough to explain things to everyone for now. Kudo-san said not to tell the City Hall people or Shimizu-san and the others, but how am I supposed to cover that up...?)
Nishino sighed inwardly.
Though he grumbled to himself about why he had to be so considerate, he believed it was the best course of action, so he had no choice but to act accordingly.
After all, Kazuto and Ichinose were far too valuable as ‘assets’ to him.
They had high levels, a wide variety of Jobs and Skills, and even monsters under their command. Their combined combat strength was probably far beyond his group’s.
Nishino understood perfectly well that they couldn’t beat them even if they all joined forces.
(My ‘Command’ doesn’t work on them at all, and if I go against them, I have no idea what Rikka will say... They went this far before approaching us. They’re really something...)
He was almost surprised they’d offered to work together rather than asking his group to submit.
With that much power, they could have forced his group into line from the start, like Student Council President Igarashi.
(He called it a trial period, but it’s probably so he can get a more accurate read on our strength...)
They would surely use this battle to judge whether they were worth joining forces with.
But Nishino wanted that, too.
It was only right for him to assess their strength in turn and be prepared to make use of them.
(Heh. I’m counting on you, Kudo-san...)
To be clear, things had come about mostly by coincidence and circumstance, but Nishino didn’t realize that.
His bad habit was reading too much into things, all because he was a little too clever.
Watching him, Rikka quietly moved a carrot onto his plate.
Nijo Kamome was on the roof of City Hall.
She had finished dinner early and had someone take over her watch.
Her reason was to make as much time as possible for exploring.
Ever since the world had changed, she had been searching for one man.
Kudo Kazuto, her former coworker and senior.
“...Achoo!”
The cold night breeze brushed her cheek.
It was still May. The nights were cold.
“Sigh... In the end, I didn’t find a single clue today, either...”
It had already been three days since she arrived here.
She went out exploring with her coworkers every day, but she still hadn’t found even one clue about the person she was looking for.
Her coworkers said she should give up already, but she absolutely refused to.
He’s alive. He’s alive, and I’m sure we’ll meet again.
Kamome believed that without a doubt.
“Senpai...”
Tomorrow was the decisive battle against the ants.
It would be fiercer than any battle so far.
Someone might die.
That someone might be her.
(I absolutely—don’t want that.)
I have to survive.
I have to survive, no matter what, and see him again.
The man who had spoken to her when she had no place at the company.
She would see him again—the man who had given her casual greetings and conversations, an ordinary connection, and the warmth of a patch of sunlight. She would meet him and, this time, tell him how she felt.
That was why she had to survive.
She clenched her fist against her chest.
“Kazuto-senpai... where are you...?”
—I want to see you.
That whisper reached no one’s ears and melted into the darkness of the night.
In reality, she had already seen him, but she wouldn’t realize it until a little later.
Outside the walls of City Hall.
There, Kazuto’s former coworkers were smoking.
No one would have minded if they smoked indoors, but it was simply a matter of habit.
Besides, places like this were best for conversations they didn’t want anyone overhearing.
For example, complaints and grievances.
“Sigh... What a pain. Hey, what are we gonna do about tomorrow’s operation?”
“What do you mean, what are we gonna do? We gotta go, don’t we?”
“But it’s more dangerous than anything we’ve done so far, right?”
“The mayor and Shimizu-chan will figure something out, won’t they? That woman’s been strangely motivated since she got here.”
“Oh, that. She’s always so fired up around that old guy Fujita. Maybe she’s got a thing for him?”
“Ugh, she’s got terrible taste. What’s so great about a geezer like that?”
They laughed crudely, agreeing with one another.
“Anyway, why do we have to work so hard? Isn’t that normally the Self-Defense Forces’ or the police’s job? They should pull their weight for once.”
“Because all of them died in one go. They’re fucking useless.”
In a sense, what they were saying was true.
There was a police station near City Hall, but most of the police officers were already dead.
Before anyone knew Skills and stats existed, they had been trampled by monsters and Golems.
If they had survived, they would undoubtedly have gained powerful abilities, but all anyone could say was that they had been unlucky.
“We’re busting our asses, too. Wouldn’t it be nice to get some kind of reward...?”
“A reward, huh...? Like what?”
“What do you think? Women, obviously. We haven’t gotten laid worth a damn since the world changed, so I’m pent up. I wouldn’t mind if Shimizu or Nijo would sleep with me...”
“Oh, then I want that new blonde girl. She’s got huge tits. Maybe she’d put out if I asked?”
“I’d rather have the girl with the gun. The quiet-looking ones are often the wildest in bed.”
Each of them voiced his selfish desires.
But they were only saying it.
Their complaining here was a way to blow off steam, and if they acted selfishly, it would come back to bite them. That was common sense, and they thought they understood it well.
—At least, until this very moment.
“Then... why don’t we actually do it?”
One of them said that with a cigarette in his mouth.
“Huh? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, actually, I leveled up while we were out exploring today, and I got a pretty interesting ‘Skill.’”
He eagerly explained the Skill he had acquired.
As he described its abilities and how impressive it was, their expressions gradually changed; at first, they had just stared blankly.
“...Are you serious about that?”
“Of course. Besides, look at the situation we’re in. Anything could happen, right? So we might as well live however we want. What do you guys say?”
He looked around at his coworkers.
They were silent for a little while, but then—
“...I-I’m in!”
“M-Me too!”
“Y-Yeah. We deserve to enjoy ourselves a little, right?”
One by one, they agreed, until every one of them had raised a hand.
Satisfied with the result, he nodded.
“All right! Then let’s work hard tomorrow so we can claim our reward.”
“Yeah!”
The eyes of the men tossing away their cigarettes were all swirling with dark desire.
And then—someone was watching them.
On the roof of a building a short distance from City Hall.
‘He’ was there.
“Hahaha, humans really are fascinating. They have so much reason and so much intelligence, so why are they so disorganized? No, perhaps it’s the other way around. Is it because they seek individuality that they stop valuing the whole...? Ah, what an ‘arrogant’ way to be. I never get tired of watching.”
Wearing an emotionless grin, ‘he’ continued to gaze at City Hall.
“Still, this is a problem. I thought I’d get a huge amount of experience, but I never expected the area to be off-limits.”
Then ‘he’ looked down at his feet.
“Don’t you think so, too? Hey, Titan?”
“Boruru...”
A low growl echoed.
As if in response to the voice, the building where ‘he’ stood trembled.
“Whoa, don’t take your frustration out on me. I understand you’re irritated, but you should be directing that anger at the humans over there. Right?”
Slightly flustered, ‘he’ said that, and the shaking stopped.
“Good, I’m glad you catch on quickly.”
“—Grrr...”
“Yeah, I know. It’s fine. There’s a way to break through that restricted area.”
“Boruru...?”
“I’m telling the truth. But you’re the only one who can do it. It’s frustrating, but I don’t have that power yet. That’s why I approached you. Unlike that Queen Ant and the Dark Wolf, you’re easy to talk to.”
“—Grr...”
“Don’t worry about it. Um, what do you say in a situation like this...?”
He thought for a while, then remembered.
“Oh, right—‘We help each other out when we’re in trouble,’ right?”
And then dawn broke.
The curtain rose on the seventh day.