Chapter 103 - The Story of How the Teachers of the Young Ladies' Academy Were 'Gotten' as Hostages by Survivors
After getting out of the car, Yuko and Rei headed toward a supermarket in a different direction from the gas station. It was doubtful how many products remained in the only supermarket in the village, but the food left at the academy was already nearing its end. They had managed to procure some food by going around private houses, but even that was in a state of being a drop in the bucket.
The vegetables in the greenhouse were also far from enough to support everyone. If the food ran out, the students at the academy would either starve to death or have to spend every day searching for supplies by moving from place to place as the boy had done.
The village was devastated; there was no one crossing the road, let alone a cat. The shutters of the shops standing here and there on the left and right of the road were all closed, but perhaps the pandemic wasn't the only cause. Even before the infection reached it, this village had already ended.
Decrease in young people and population outflow, what remained were only old people and old buildings——it was such a village where depopulation was progressing, as can be found anywhere. Whether Japan perished or not, this village would have surely ended eventually.
"There it is."
Rei pointed ahead. Across the intersection where the only traffic light in the village stood, a building that looked like it, equipped with several parking spaces, could be seen. It wasn't even a chain store, and the sign, which contained characters that seemed to be the owner's family name, had turned brown with rust.
"At this rate, the owner doesn't seem to be here. It's not a privately-owned business, but a deceased-owned business." (T/N: pun on kojin-keiei [privately-owned] and kojin-keiei [deceased-owned])
"Don't try to be clever and let's just go check it out."
Yuko said so and headed toward the supermarket while gripping the shotgun in her hand. She doubted whether she could shoot in case of emergency, but if she didn't shoot, danger would reach the students. To protect them, she had to stand in front and fight.
Several cars were left abandoned in the supermarket parking lot. Had the residents gathered here for evacuation, just like at the residential police box? However, the car doors remained closed, and no corpses were inside.
As the boy had been doing, she first had to check if there were any infected inside by making noise. So that the infected wouldn't come out, Yuko threw a stone from behind the shadow of a car in the parking lot. The stone hit the asphalt ground, bounced high, and flew into the supermarket where the door was left open.
She waited for a while, but there was no reaction. Steeling her resolve, Yuko stood up and stepped into the supermarket while holding the gun so she could fire at any time. The inside of the store was dim, and when she turned on the L-shaped flashlight attached to the strap of her backpack, the cluttered state of the store emerged in the darkness.
"Good, quite a lot still remains."
Compared to chain stores in urban areas, it was small, but the selection seemed sufficient. Cardboard boxes piled on the floor were lined up closely, making it like a maze. Fresh foods had apparently been consumed by the village residents after the pandemic, and the meat and fish sections were empty. The types of dried noodles and canned goods also seemed to have decreased, but some still remained at the back of the shelves. If they searched the warehouse at the back of the store, they might find more.
"We might not be able to carry it all back by ourselves."
"Shall we have him come with the car?"
While having such a conversation, they kept throwing canned goods and preserved foods from the shelves into their backpacks. Since it was heavy and her hands were occupied, Yuko almost put the shotgun on the floor once, but she remembered the boy's words, "Never let go of your gun," and stopped. She thought just for a bit... but since the boy said so, it might be better to follow those words. At least he had survived this harsh world alone. Those words were well worth listening to.
The empty backpacks were soon filled with food and became heavily weighed down. When she also put in bags filled with unpolished brown rice, she almost tottered when she stood up after putting it on her back. If they could take out all the food remaining in the supermarket, they might have a surplus of food for about another month.
"Let's go back for now. It's impossible for just the two of us to take all of this."
It was impossible to stuff all the food into their backpacks and carry it back. On the other hand, they couldn't go back and forth between the car and the supermarket every time. They would have to come directly to the supermarket by car. With a car, they should be able to take back all the remaining food.
When Yuko, carrying the backpack heavily stuffed with food, turned back to go outside, she saw a human figure standing at the entrance of the supermarket. Even though no one should have been there until just now, the human figure that suddenly appeared in front of Yuko and the other seemed not to be an infected. Illuminated by the flashlight's light was a girl who appeared to be around the same age as Rei. The girl took a step back, and her semi-long black hair swayed.
It seemed the girl was also surprised by the sudden encounter. With a dumbfounded face, the girl also looked back and forth between Yuko and Rei's faces.
Why was a girl here? Alone? Was she a survivor of this village? Was there anyone else living with her? Such questions flooded into Yuko regarding the survivor of the outside world other than the boy whom she had finally met.
And Yuko noticed that the girl had a frightened face. Looking closely, her gaze was directed at the guns Yuko and Rei held. Anyway, she had to protect her. Especially if she was a girl who probably hadn't even reached twenty.
"Wait, we're humans. Not infected. And we don't intend to hurt you, so it's okay."
Hanging the shotgun on her shoulder with the sling, Yuko raised both hands. Rei, next to her, also noticed that the one who appeared was a girl who seemed to be around her age and lowered her gun. From what she could see, the girl seemed to have nothing. And no hostility could be felt.
"We live near here. Do you live in this village? Is there anyone else you're living with?"
"...Please help, my friend is injured."
Whether she finally understood that Yuko and the other had no hostility, the girl's trembling lips spun those words. Yuko was relieved to know that there seemed to be other living humans. She didn't know how they had survived for nearly a year, but she could have hope just by knowing there were other living humans.
"Injured? Are they not here?"
"They have a leg injury... I have to treat it quickly. Please, help me."
"I understand, can you guide us to that friend? They weren't bitten, right?"
The girl nodded, and Yuko urged Rei to go outside the supermarket. Regardless, helping that friend should come first. If they had been bitten by an infected, she would be hesitant in her judgment, but if it was a simple injury, there was no problem. She had brought a simple first-aid kit, and as a teacher, she had also learned how to perform first aid. Unless it was an injury that had to be shown to a doctor, they should be able to manage somehow.
"This way, hurry."
Saying so, Yuko and Rei followed after the girl who started running in the opposite direction of the gas station. For a moment, she wondered whether to call the boy at the gas station, but from the girl's state, it seemed to be an urgent situation now. There was no time to call him.
Leaving the supermarket parking lot and heading east through the shopping district. The girl, who didn't even have a backpack, had a light pace, and Yuko and Rei desperately followed her. The backpack on her back and the gun in her hand were heavy, but she couldn't complain.
Eventually, the girl stopped at a private house where two passenger cars were parked under the eaves at the edge of the shopping district. Urged with "My friend is inside, come in," Yuko opened the door and was about to step into the private house.
"Don't move."
The moment she opened the door, a low man's voice was heard. At the same time, something hard was pressed against her head, and the shotgun she held was snatched away by a hand that thrust out from the entrance.
"Teacher!"
Rei's scream was heard behind her, which immediately turned into a groan. What Yuko saw when she turned around was the girl pointing a handgun she had taken out at some point toward her, and the figure of Rei crouching on the ground while holding her head with both hands.
"Sorry."
The girl said with a frivolous expression and voice, her desperate look from earlier gone. A young man wearing a tattered jumper, who came out from somewhere, picked up the shotgun that Rei, who seemed to have been hit on the head, had dropped. "Put both hands behind your back," a pudgy man, who was pressing a gun against Yuko's head, came out from inside the house.
"You know what happens if you don't comply, right?"
The man's muzzle momentarily pointed in Rei's direction, and Yuko decided to comply quietly. It might be more correct to say she couldn't think of anything due to fear. Yuko, who was facing a situation where she might be killed for the first time in her life, no longer had the composure to think things through calmly.
It seemed the same for Rei. After the two put down their backpacks and put both hands behind their backs, the man in the jumper tied their hands with plastic string. Next, they were instructed to enter the house.
The inside of the house was dim, and dust danced with every step. It was clear that no one had been living in this house. That being the case, this group must have come from somewhere else.
The two were brought to a room that seemed to be a reception room where a sofa and a table were lined up. There, another man was sitting on the sofa waiting for the two. The man, wearing a thick coat and with neatly arranged hair mixed with white, appeared to be in his mid-50s; if he were made to wear a suit, he would look like a salaryman found anywhere.
"I'm sorry, I really don't want to do this kind of thing."
How hypocritical, she felt like saying that. Yuko finally understood now that they had been set up. There was no injured person here. The two had been deceived by that girl.
"Sit down."
"Hey, watch your language. Don't use rough measures."
The man in the suit barked at the pudgy man who pushed Yuko's back with his muzzle. Apparently, that man in the suit was the leader of this group. The fact that he had been acting apologetically since earlier might be an expression of the man in the suit's will that he wanted to avoid taking such measures as much as possible.
However, that was a separate matter. Whatever the reason, Yuko and Rei were deceived, had their weapons taken away, and were now restrained like this. Whatever the reason, what they were doing was a crime.
"...What do you want? Are you going to kill us?"
"Kill? No way! We don't do such things. We just want a bit of food and weapons."
"You already have weapons, don't you? And you just took the food from us just now."
As Rei said, these men had weapons from the start. The handgun the girl had hidden and one rifle the pudgy man held. Probably the young man wearing the jumper also had a gun.
"Certainly, we have guns. But this alone is not enough. The food is also far from enough to support everyone. Our group has nearly 40 people, including women and children, and we're short on weapons, supplies, and everything else."
"So, you're going to steal from us?"
"I'm sorry, but that's how it is. Meeting you two was truly a coincidence. If we hadn't seen you two entering the supermarket, we wouldn't have noticed. We shouldn't have thought of doing such a thing."
Yuko cursed her own carelessness. When entering the supermarket, she was so full of caution for the inside that she completely forgot to look outside. Her head was full of the thought that there might be infected inside the supermarket. But it was too late to say anything about that now.
"Then, your business should be finished. We no longer have weapons or food, please release us quickly."
"That won't do, the amount you two had is far from enough."
"Even if you say so, we have nothing left."
Yuko tried to hide the existence of the boy and the others. She thought if she feigned that she and Rei were living alone and said they no longer had weapons or anything, they might be released. Such shallow wit was immediately seen through.
"You were doing shooting training on the outskirts of the village a few days ago, weren't you?"
"——!"
"Was I right? Well, fine. We witnessed that scene by chance, though we failed to follow you. If you have enough guns and bullets to train, won't you give us a little? It would also be appreciated if we could have some food too."
"I refuse. And even if I said okay, the others would refuse."
Especially the boy would absolutely oppose it. After all, he was even reluctant to lend guns to Yuko and the others who lived with him. There was no way he would obediently nod his head when told to hand over guns to a group of unknown identity.
"In that case, although it's reluctant, we'll have to take drastic action. Seeing you two about to be killed, I wonder if your companions can continue to refuse forever?"
"Scumbag..."
Rei cursed the man in a small voice.
"When you came to the village, there must have been other companions. You surely didn't come to that supermarket on foot. Where are the other companions now? And where is the place you live?"
"Do you think I'll talk obediently?"
"Even so, you won't talk?"
Saying so, the man took out a revolver from his breast. It was very similar to one a police officer would have——or rather, it was a police officer's handgun itself. Among the handguns the boy had, there was a similar one.
The man pressed the muzzle of the revolver against Rei's head. His finger went to the trigger, and the expression vanished from Rei's face.
"Stop! That girl has nothing to do with this! If you're going to hurt someone, why don't you do it to me!?"
"I'll stop immediately if you tell me the location of your companions. I don't want to do this kind of thing either, please talk obediently. Otherwise, you know what will happen to this girl, right?"
She couldn't decide between Rei's life in front of her and the safety of the other students. But if she didn't do as the man said, Rei might be killed. Even if she wasn't killed, she would be made to suffer terribly.
But no bloodlust could be felt from the man. Rather, there was even a sense that he was doing it reluctantly. For him too, producing a dead person was not his intention. In that case, there should be room for negotiation. If they handed over weapons and food, they might go back quietly. If the safety of the students could be protected by that, there was room for consideration. Yuko resolved to manage somehow through negotiation, but that resolution was shattered in the next instant.
"Speak quickly! Or I'll kill her!"
A skinheaded man shouted and grabbed Rei's hair, lifting her up. The man rebuked that act, but the skinhead didn't stop. He pulled out a knife housed in a sheath on his belt and pressed the blade against Rei's throat. Before she knew it, Yuko was screaming.
"Stop! The two who came with us are at the gas station, so that's enough, right!?"
"Not yet, I haven't heard where you live."
"Sayuri Girls' Academy! It's in the forest north of here!"
She had talked. Yuko felt miserable about herself. Her will to negotiate had blown away when she saw Rei about to be killed.
The man in the coat looked satisfied and instructed the girl and the young man standing behind the two to "Take one more person and go." From now on, they probably intended to deceive those two and take them hostage as well. Yuko blamed herself, thinking she had failed as a teacher for not being able to protect the students.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have those two come along too. It's a bad way to put it, but you are hostages. The more hostages there are, the easier it is for demands to pass."
"What you're doing is a crime..."
"It can't be helped! This is the only way to protect everyone!"
At the word "crime," the man suddenly changed his expression and shouted at Yuko. It can't be helped. The boy also used that phrase often.
Certainly, what the man was doing might be something that couldn't be helped. Now that weapons and food were insufficient, the man might have no other choice but to do this. He might truly not want to take hostages. Thinking so, Yuko couldn't blame him, but on the other hand, she had no intention of sympathizing. How could she sympathize with people who deceived her and tried to harm her precious students?
"We're leaving here. You two will come to the place where we live. Once you come there, you too should understand that what I'm doing is necessary."
Yuko and Rei, with muzzles pressed against them, were led outside while their hands were tied behind their backs. Then they were instructed to get into one of the cars parked under the eaves. Perhaps they had been guarding the surroundings from a distance outside, as two more male companions appeared. One got into Yuko and the other's car, and the other ran toward the gas station along with the girl and the young man.
Trust no one. Yuko, who was deceived while trying to help someone and ended up being taken hostage, felt like she finally understood what the boy had been saying. Without Yuko and the others knowing, the outside world had become a place where such things were permitted.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.