Chapter 16: Looting
Compared to escaping the school, the road should have been easy.
That was what I thought, anyway.
The school had zombies.
The school had panicking students.
The school had Shidou.
Just remembering that guy made me want to drive the bus into a wall.
Yet somehow, after everything we had gone through, the atmosphere inside the bus felt more awkward now than it had during the actual apocalypse.
Nobody spoke.
The engine rumbled beneath our feet as Shizuka-sensei guided the bus through the abandoned streets.
Outside, the city burned.
Smoke rose from distant buildings.
Cars sat abandoned in the middle of intersections.
Occasionally, we'd pass someone running.
Sometimes, we'd pass someone being chased.
And sometimes...
We'd pass a body lying motionless on the asphalt.
Nobody commented on those.
I think we were all trying very hard not to think about what they meant.
The silence stretched on.
Long enough to become uncomfortable.
Long enough for me to start noticing things.
For example—
Takashi and Rei weren't talking.
Not that they had been particularly chatty before.
But after the whole Shidou incident?
The distance between them somehow felt larger than the bus itself.
Rei sat near the middle.
Takashi sat closer to the front.
Neither one looked at the other.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Meanwhile, Takagi had returned to her usual self.
Which meant she was currently reading something she'd found in the faculty office while occasionally adjusting her glasses.
Saeko sat nearby, quietly observing everyone.
And when I say everyone...
I meant everyone.
The woman noticed things.
Far too many things.
Honestly, I was beginning to suspect she'd somehow figured out I wasn't actually eighteen.
Or maybe that was just paranoia.
Probably paranoia.
Hopefully paranoia.
Then there was Shizuka-sensei.
Who was currently humming to herself while driving a vehicle significantly larger than anything she should legally be allowed to operate.
Somehow.
We were still alive.
A miracle.
A terrifying miracle.
"..."
My gaze drifted back toward Rei.
Then Takashi.
Then Rei again.
Then Takashi.
And honestly?
The tension was so obvious that even zombies would probably notice it.
A normal person would've stayed out of it.
Unfortunately, I wasn't a normal person.
"So."
Takashi glanced over.
"So?"
I nodded toward the middle of the bus.
"You really don't know why she's upset?"
The bus immediately became quieter.
Which was impressive, considering nobody had been talking.
Takashi frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh."
I leaned back against my seat.
"Nothing."
Rei's eye twitched.
Takagi lowered her book.
Saeko looked mildly interested.
Excellent.
I had everyone's attention.
Exactly what I didn't want.
"I just figured," I continued, "if someone looked at me the way Rei looked at you back there, I'd probably spend some time thinking about why."
Takashi blinked.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"See?"
I pointed at him.
"That's exactly the problem."
"Hiro."
Rei sounded dangerously calm.
"Stop helping."
"I'm not helping."
I paused.
"...Actually, that's fair."
Takagi snorted.
Traitor.
The bus fell silent again.
For a moment.
Then Takashi looked toward Rei.
Actually looked toward her.
A small victory for him.
Unfortunately, Rei immediately looked away.
A significant defeat for him.
Balance in all things.
I folded my arms and stared out the window.
In my defense, I wasn't trying to make things worse.
I was simply making observations.
Very reasonable observations.
Entirely objective observations.
The fact that those observations happened to make things awkward was completely unrelated.
Absolutely unrelated.
Totally.
...
Okay.
Maybe a little related.
But only a little.
Besides, if the two of them drifted apart—
No.
Bad Hiro.
Focus on survival.
Not heroines.
Survival.
Definitely survival.
Thankfully, fate decided to save me from my own thoughts.
Because just then, Shizuka-sensei suddenly pointed ahead.
"Oh!"
Everyone looked up.
A convenience store stood on the corner of the next intersection.
The parking lot was mostly empty.
The building itself looked mostly intact.
And immediately, every pair of eyes inside the bus locked onto it.
Food.
Water.
Supplies.
In the middle of an apocalypse, that building might as well have been made of gold.
"Should we stop?" Rei asked.
"We need supplies," Takashi said.
"Obviously, we should stop," Takagi replied.
Saeko nodded.
Even Kohta looked interested.
Personally?
I was already standing.
"Why are we still discussing this?"
Everyone looked at me as I pointed at the store.
"That's food."
Then I pointed at myself.
"I'm hungry. You guys are probably hungry too. Right?"
Another pause.
Then Takagi sighed.
"I hate how simple your logic is..."
Regardless of what she said, the bus pulled into the parking lot a few moments later.
Proving that I wasn't entirely wrong.
Now, the first thing I noticed upon getting off wasn't the store.
It was the lack of people.
Or zombies.
Or anything, really.
The parking lot was almost empty.
A few abandoned vehicles sat scattered around.
A cart lay on its side near the entrance.
Beyond that?
Nothing.
Which was weird.
Food attracted people.
People attracted trouble.
So where was everybody?
The convenience store itself looked like it had already been picked through.
One of the front windows had a large crack running across it.
Several shelves inside had been overturned.
Products littered the floor.
Someone had definitely been here before us.
Probably several someones.
Yet despite that, there was still plenty left.
Which honestly didn't surprise me.
Most people panicked.
And panicked people were terrible looters.
They grabbed chips.
Soda.
Candy.
Anything that immediately caught their eye.
The useful stuff?
That usually got left behind.
Regardless of my concerns, we got off the bus anyway.
Because suspicious or not, food was food.
And unlike common sense, food was necessary for survival.
The moment our feet touched the pavement, everyone started moving.
After forcing the doors apart, we stepped inside the store.
And immediately, everyone's eyes lit up.
Food.
Actual food.
Rows and rows of it.
Not untouched.
Not pristine.
But there was still plenty left.
Enough to make everyone move a little faster.
"Take only what we need," Takashi said.
Nobody listened.
Not completely, anyway.
The looting began.
It was honestly kind of funny.
You could learn a lot about a person just by watching what they grabbed first.
Takashi headed straight for bottled water.
Rei immediately started gathering medical supplies.
Kohta disappeared into the electronics aisle so fast he practically teleported.
At some point, I noticed Saeko had already filled two baskets.
I had absolutely no idea when she managed to do that.
The woman was terrifyingly efficient.
Takagi started organizing items before she'd even picked any up.
Somehow.
I still didn't understand how her brain worked.
Then there was Shizuka-sensei.
Who had somehow acquired an entire basket filled with snacks.
"..."
"..."
"What?"
She hugged the basket protectively.
"Emergency food~"
I couldn't even argue with that.
As for me?
I had priorities.
Water.
Medicine.
Batteries.
Flashlights.
Instant noodles.
More batteries.
Painkillers.
And because I had lived through enough situations to know better—
Toilet paper.
Lots of toilet paper.
Now, before anyone says anything, yes, I preferred washing.
Please, I wasn't some kind of barbarian.
But water was one of those things people always assumed would be there.
Until it wasn't.
And when clean water suddenly became more valuable than gold, nobody was going to waste it washing their ass.
That was when toilet paper became a luxury item.
A sentence I never thought I'd seriously think in my life.
Yet here we were.
While stuffing supplies into one of the bags, I happened to glance toward the next aisle.
Coincidentally.
Completely coincidentally.
Takagi was there.
Busily sorting through medical supplies.
Her glasses had slipped down slightly.
She pushed them back up without even looking.
...
You know.
Maybe it was the apocalypse.
Maybe it was the near-death experiences.
Maybe it was because she used to be one of my favorite characters.
But every time she did that glasses thing, I felt like my survival instincts became slightly less effective.
Tragic.
Then she suddenly looked up.
Our eyes met.
"..."
"..."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Takagi narrowed her eyes.
"You were staring."
"I was observing."
"That's called staring. There's a difference."
"There is?"
"Hmph! Idiot."
She clicked her tongue and walked away.
...
Progress.
I guess.
Then my eyes landed on another shelf.
"..."
Condoms.
Well.
It would be irresponsible not to.
I grabbed a box.
Then another.
Then paused.
After a moment of consideration, I grabbed a third.
"You know..."
A voice suddenly came from behind me.
I turned around.
Rei was standing there, holding a basket filled with supplies.
Her eyes drifted toward what I was holding.
Then back to me.
"...Why are you grabbing those?"
For some reason, she looked slightly embarrassed asking that.
I looked down at the boxes.
Then shrugged.
"I just want them."
"..."
"Might use them later."
"I don't know."
Rei froze.
Her face immediately reddened.
"I-I see."
A brief silence followed.
Then she awkwardly adjusted her grip on the basket.
"Well then..."
And promptly retreated.
Fast.
Almost suspiciously fast.
I watched her disappear around the corner of the aisle.
Then couldn't help but chuckle.
Teasing her was surprisingly fun.
...
Nearly thirty minutes later, the bus was already half-loaded.
Food.
Water.
Medicine.
Batteries.
Everything we could reasonably carry.
The trip had gone surprisingly well.
Almost suspiciously well.
Basket after basket disappeared into the bus.
The others seemed relieved.
Happy, even.
And honestly?
I couldn't blame them.
Compared to fighting zombies, carrying supplies was practically a vacation.
Yet the uneasy feeling never really left me.
Every few minutes, I'd find myself glancing around the parking lot.
Checking the nearby streets.
Listening.
Waiting.
For something.
Anything.
Regardless of how early this phase is during the apocalypse...
Food attracted people.
People attracted trouble.
And somehow, we hadn't encountered either.
That wasn't normal.
Not anymore.
Standing beside the bus, I scanned the area one more time.
Empty.
A little too empty for my liking.
Either we were unbelievably lucky...
Or we were intruding on someone else's—
Well.
I didn't even get to finish that thought.
A voice suddenly called out from the corner of the lot.
"Damn. Looks like you kids beat us to it."
...
Ah.
There it was.
Now everything made sense.
End of Chapter 16
___
Author's Note:
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