Chapter 21: A Bad Feeling
"Did Rei pass out as well?"
My entire body froze.
Saeko stood in the doorway, looking past me toward the bed.
Shizuka-sensei remained beneath the blanket, still held together by a towel and what I could only assume was divine intervention.
Rei slept beside her, one arm resting across her stomach.
Neither showed any sign of waking.
I slowly turned toward Saeko.
"...Alcohol remains undefeated."
Her gaze moved between the two women again.
"I see."
That was all she said.
No suspicion.
No raised eyebrow.
Not even a threatening smile.
Somehow, that almost made the situation feel more suspicious.
Saeko stepped into the room and approached the bed. She carefully pulled more of the blanket over Rei, then checked Shizuka-sensei's towel without disturbing her.
I looked away.
Not because I hadn't already seen enough to threaten my sanity.
Because watching another woman adjust it somehow felt considerably more inappropriate.
"They should be fine," Saeko said after a moment. "They simply drank too much."
"Yeah."
I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Both of them seem talented at that."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"Rei usually has better judgment."
"Today probably wasn't a normal day."
"No."
The smile faded slightly.
"I suppose it was not."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
The room became quiet again.
Rei's face looked peaceful now, with none of the fear or grief from earlier remaining on it.
At least for tonight, she could stop thinking.
That was probably the best anyone could ask for.
Saeko turned toward the door.
"I brought food upstairs for Komuro and Hirano. There is still some left."
She glanced back at me.
"Have you eaten?"
I thought about it.
Between preparing the equipment, waiting for something to happen, being assaulted by a towel-clad teacher, and becoming emotional support for a drunken girl, food had apparently slipped somewhere near the bottom of my priorities.
My stomach answered before I could.
Saeko's eyes lowered slightly.
I cleared my throat.
"Apparently not."
"Then come."
She left the room.
I gave Shizuka-sensei and Rei one final glance before following.
The kitchen was quieter than it had been earlier.
Most of the lights downstairs had been turned off, leaving only the one above the counter and another near the dining area.
Several weapons rested close enough to reach.
A sword beside the wall.
A pistol on the counter.
Extra ammunition arranged neatly near one of the bags.
Nothing about it should have felt peaceful.
Yet somehow, it did.
Saeko placed a bowl in front of me before sitting across the table.
Steam still rose from the food.
I didn't know exactly what she had made.
At that point, I didn't care.
It smelled good.
"Thanks, Busujima-san."
I picked up the chopsticks.
Saeko didn't immediately respond.
When I looked up, she was watching me with a thoughtful expression.
"Saeko."
I paused.
"Hm?"
"You may call me Saeko."
She lowered her eyes toward her own bowl.
"That is what my friends call me."
Oh.
That sounded significant.
Not overwhelmingly significant.
But significant enough to be carefully documented by the part of my mind responsible for measuring progress.
I hadn't even needed to hand her a gun.
Amazing.
I somehow kept my expression normal.
"All right."
I tried the name once, making sure I didn't somehow ruin it.
"Saeko."
She looked back at me.
A small smile appeared.
Then she resumed eating as if nothing important had happened.
I did the same.
For several minutes, the only sounds came from our utensils and the faint movement of air outside.
The food was warm.
Simple.
Exactly what I needed.
I had nearly finished half the bowl before realizing how quickly I was eating.
Saeko noticed too.
"You were hungry."
"More than I thought."
"You should have eaten earlier."
"I was busy."
"So I noticed."
Her eyes briefly moved toward my vest.
I was still wearing the entire outfit.
The armor.
The thick clothing.
The holster.
Everything except the gloves, which I had removed before eating.
I glanced down at myself.
"In my defense, taking this off and putting it back on again would be annoying."
"You intend to wear it again tonight?"
There was no suspicion in her voice.
Just curiosity.
I took another bite before answering.
"I wanted to get used to the weight."
That was true.
Mostly.
"It would be a problem if I discovered something was uncomfortable when I actually needed to move."
Saeko considered that.
"You have given this quite a lot of thought."
"Not really."
I adjusted the edge of the vest.
"I had time this afternoon. There was equipment everywhere, so I tried different things until I found something that worked."
Another mostly true answer.
I was becoming very good at those.
Saeko looked at me for another moment before returning her attention to her food.
She did not press further.
I appreciated that.
Most people heard an incomplete answer and immediately tried to pull the rest out.
Saeko seemed content to recognize that something had been left unsaid.
The silence continued for a while.
It didn't feel uncomfortable.
Outside the kitchen windows, the neighborhood remained dark.
A few distant figures wandered between the houses, barely visible whenever they passed beneath the weak streetlights.
From here, the world almost looked normal.
Almost.
Saeko placed her chopsticks down.
"It is strange."
"What is?"
"This."
She gestured lightly toward the kitchen.
"Preparing food. Bringing it upstairs. Sitting here while the others sleep."
Her gaze moved toward the window.
"For a short while, it almost feels like an ordinary evening."
I followed her eyes.
Nothing can be seen at the window, but I know what's past beyond that. I'd seen it earlier.
One of Them was stuck to a metal pole outside, hanging above ground.
Its head hung at an unnatural angle, still groaning, still pretty much active.
A gruesome sight.
"An ordinary evening with considerably worse neighbors."
Saeko smiled faintly.
"Yes."
The smile remained for only a moment.
Then she became quiet again.
"I do not dislike it," she said. "The quiet."
"Neither do I."
I looked down at the food.
"I think everyone needed a few hours where nothing was chasing us."
"Perhaps."
Her fingers rested lightly against the edge of the bowl.
"Though some of us appear less willing to relax than others."
I knew who she meant.
Still, I looked around the room as though searching for another candidate.
"Kohta?"
Saeko gave me a look.
I smiled and returned to eating.
"I'm relaxed."
"You are wearing body armor at the dinner table."
"It's comfortable."
"It is also fitted with a pistol."
"Very comfortable."
A soft laugh escaped her.
Not loud.
Not exaggerated.
Just enough to briefly change the atmosphere between us.
I found myself smiling too.
Afterward, Saeko looked toward the ceiling.
"Komuro and Hirano are still watching from the upper balcony."
"Yeah."
I had used that balcony earlier.
The binoculars stored there were powerful enough to survey most of the surrounding neighborhood.
I hadn't known which house the father and daughter would eventually approach, so I had studied everything that looked important.
Houses with lights behind the curtains.
Reinforced doors.
Moving silhouettes.
Properties that were clearly occupied despite the darkness outside.
There were several possibilities in the same general direction.
Too many to watch simultaneously.
But at least I had narrowed the area down.
Kohta and Takashi currently stood guard from that same position, unaware that I had spent part of the afternoon using it to prepare for something I wasn't entirely sure would happen.
"They should change shifts soon," Saeko said. "Neither of them has rested properly."
"I can take over later."
"You have not rested either."
"I sat down several times."
"That is not the same thing."
"Close enough."
Saeko slowly shook her head.
It wasn't irritation.
More like quiet disbelief.
"I am beginning to understand why Komuro looks tired whenever he speaks to you."
"Natural charisma can be overwhelming."
"I am certain that is the reason."
There was enough dryness in her voice that I looked up.
Saeko met my eyes.
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
I stared for a second.
Then laughed.
Apparently, she was learning.
Dangerous.
We finished most of the meal without speaking.
The silence felt easier now.
Not empty.
Just shared.
I found myself wondering how long the mansion could remain like this.
A few hours?
Until morning?
Maybe longer, if we were lucky.
The walls were strong.
We had food.
Water.
Weapons.
For the first time since the outbreak began, nobody was being forced to run.
It would have been easy to believe we had finally found somewhere safe.
That thought should have been comforting.
Instead, it made me uneasy.
Because I knew better.
Not everything.
My memory beyond this point remained scattered and incomplete.
But enough.
The father.
The little girl.
A house whose occupants refused to open the door.
A rescue that arrived too late for one of them.
I had spent the afternoon preparing for it.
Then several hours waiting.
Nothing happened.
Eventually, part of me had begun wondering whether I had remembered the timing incorrectly.
Maybe the event will happen tomorrow.
Maybe our earlier arrival had changed the sequence.
Maybe the father and daughter would take a different route through the neighborhood.
Maybe they had already—
A dog barked somewhere outside.
My chopsticks stopped halfway toward my mouth.
The sound was faint.
Distant enough that I couldn't tell where it had come from.
For a second, I only listened.
Then it barked again.
Something shifted inside my memory.
Not a complete scene.
Not even a clear image.
Just fragments suddenly connecting.
A little girl.
A small dog.
Her father.
Dark houses.
A door.
The dog.
I had forgotten the damn dog.
The barking did not tell me where they were.
It didn't mean they were already standing outside the house.
For all I knew, the animal was several streets away.
But the sound meant one thing.
The event was beginning.
My chair scraped against the floor as I stood.
Saeko's eyes immediately moved to me.
"Hiro?"
I listened for another bark.
Nothing.
It didn't matter.
I already knew the general direction.
That would have to be enough.
"Saeko, can you stay here and watch the house?"
She looked at the untouched food remaining in my bowl, then at the equipment I was already wearing.
"Where are you going?"
"Outside."
I stepped away from the table.
"Just for a little while. There's something I need to check."
I moved toward the side entrance.
A small sling bag rested beside the door where I had placed it earlier.
Saeko's gaze followed me as I picked it up.
Her expression changed slightly.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
She understood that I hadn't prepared the bag because of something I had just heard.
It had been waiting there for hours.
"You prepared that beforehand."
"Yeah."
I slipped the strap over my shoulder and adjusted the bag against my side.
Saeko rose from her seat.
"You knew that something would happen?"
"I thought something might."
That answer sounded weak even to me.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
"I'm not completely sure. I just need to look."
Saeko remained silent for a few seconds.
Then she walked toward me.
"You would not tell me the real reason even if I asked, would you?"
There was no accusation in her voice.
No annoyance.
If anything, she sounded faintly amused.
As though she had already started understanding how my mind worked.
I let out a quiet laugh.
"Probably not."
At least that was honest.
"Mostly because I'm not sure I could explain it without sounding insane."
Saeko waited.
I looked toward the dark windows.
"Let's just call it a bad feeling."
I rested one hand against the sling bag.
"An instinct, if you will."
Her eyes remained on me.
She could have asked more.
She probably should have.
Instead, Saeko reached for her wooden sword resting nearby and drew it smoothly.
"Very well."
She moved beside the entrance.
"Do what you must. I will protect the house."
No argument.
No demand that I take someone with me.
She simply trusted me to handle whatever I was doing while she handled everything behind me.
For some reason, that affected me more than it should have.
I placed my gloves back on.
"Thanks, Saeko."
Her expression softened slightly at the use of her name.
"Be careful, Hiro."
I opened the side door.
Cool night air entered the kitchen.
Beyond it waited the backyard, the neighboring walls, and an entire section of dark streets filled with houses that all looked almost identical.
I didn't know exactly where the father and daughter were.
I didn't know which house they would choose.
I only knew the general direction.
And that if I waited until I heard a gunshot, I would already be too late.
I stepped outside.
Saeko remained beside the open door, sword in hand, watching as I crossed the yard.
Another bark echoed somewhere beyond the neighboring houses.
This time, I was already moving.
End of Chapter 21