Chapter 161 - A Decluttering Story
"...Please, please stop this already! What is this!? What is the meaning of this!?"
The boy, bright red with spray-back blood, and The Brotherhood members looking down at the scene from the catwalk in a daze. Furthermore, while everyone was lost for words at his act of defeating two infected empty-handed and the members were falling silent, Aki raised a voice of protest.
"What is the meaning of doing such a thing!? Why do we have to do such a cruel thing!?"
"It's because he is an enemy."
While the member acting as a supervisor was also lost for words, the one who answered instead was the Leader.
"He has killed many members; as a reason, that's sufficient, isn't it?"
"Even so, that shouldn't be a reason to do such a thing! This is just like making people's deaths into a show!"
The one who raised that voice was Aoi, who was Aki's junior. Other companions of Aki also raised voices of protest. There was no one who was enjoying this show.
For them, they never thought until now that The Brotherhood was a group that would do such a thing. Comrades of a kind person they happened to meet in the city. After they ended up being hostile to the boy, they decided to take shelter under them, but while feeling a sense of incongruity somewhere in the communal life with The Brotherhood, Aki and the others decided to become their comrades to survive.
The sense of incongruity they felt was growing larger day by day. They were told that the shot Yuko was taken to the infirmary, but they haven't been allowed to visit even once. Even though they joined as comrades, they aren't even allowed free action. Aki and the others have seen many drug addicts whose eyes were hollow, cheeks sunken, and who were staggering with unfocused eyes.
On top of that, even though there are many young men and women, there is not a single baby or child here. Even elderly people were not there.
Aki thought The Brotherhood was a group made of many evacuees gathered together. But if so, it would be natural for there to be at least one child or elderly person who fled together.
There were no injured or seriously ill people either. There are people who cut their fingers during work or take a break with a cold. However, in a situation where supplies are insufficient and there is no sufficient medical equipment, it wouldn't be strange for there to be people who become seriously ill. And after the engagement with the boy, several members who were shot and seriously injured were brought to The Brotherhood's base. However, no one among Aki and the others has seen the seriously injured people who were carried into the infirmary after that.
Even if a member died during a patrol, no one held a funeral or made a grave.
She was aware that her common sense of the outside world had shifted from her own common sense because she had lived in the academy, which was safe thanks to being far from human habitation. But they are too strange.
When she met the boy captured by The Brotherhood, he told her to go see the seriously injured Yuko. He said if she did so, she would understand the true nature of The Brotherhood. Although only a sense of repulsion was born being told so by the very person who shot and seriously injured Yuko, she was still curious and tried to apply for a visit again.
The result was again a flat refusal. Moreover, they wouldn't even tell her the condition. On top of that, this ill-mannered survival game. Aki's distrust of The Brotherhood heightened all at once.
She can't be with them anymore. Aki felt so.
On the other hand, for the Leader of The Brotherhood, it was an unexpected situation that Aki and the others did not enjoy this game. He had received a report that when the boy shot Yuko, they harbored considerable hostility toward the boy. And he brought them into The Brotherhood because he thought they might have some potential as they had survived this world in whatever form.
The reason the Leader brought them to this Colosseum was to see if they really had the potential he expected. Their ability to fight seemed not to be a problem, but he wanted to see if they were the kind of people who could kill humans.
He had invited many people to The Brotherhood until now, but among them, not even half were judged as "usable" without problems. No matter how much they say they "can kill humans" with their mouths, only a handful of people can really kill humans without any hesitation. Some might kill humans if ordered, but even those are few.
To see through that, the Leader utilized the Colosseum. In the Colosseum, spectacles that would never be permitted in the previous world are being held as a matter of course. Whether one can enjoy this spectacle or says to stop it determines whether that person can become a member of The Brotherhood.
If they enjoyed the Colosseum, that person has the potential to be active enough even if they join The Brotherhood. A type who can't actively agree but says nothing because those around them are enjoying it can be used as a person who moves if ordered.
The ones who are unusable are those who oppose what is being done in the Colosseum. Since such people are those who are still caught in the common sense of the former world even in this situation, they probably won't be able to actively kill someone, and they will resist even if ordered.
Humans are, after all, creatures that hide cruelty. Just as a child steps on and kills an ant for fun without feeling regret or doubt, everyone equally harbors cruelty in their instincts from the time they are born. It's just been suppressed by education such as morality or humanity.
To keep society running smoothly, that would have been good. But now that society itself does not exist, humans can only survive by fighting. For that purpose, it is important to bring out human cruelty. It has been proven in many wars until now that humans who can be cruel are the ones who survive in battle.
Above all, the Leader was a person who thought that conflict was indispensable for human progress. And the more intense the battle, the faster the speed of that progress. The Leader thought that for humans to survive and rebuild the world, it was important to become able to fight by demonstrating cruelty. What is necessary is to survive, and to survive, one must not show mercy. Even if the opponent is a woman or a child, one must be a person who can kill them calmly.
What is necessary are people who can commit murder without any hesitation of their own will. However, due to the morality and common sense of society that have been cultivated until now, almost no one can kill people for fun from the start. Even if they can kill someone, most of them become unusable due to something called a pang of conscience. Such humans are not needed in The Brotherhood, and they won't be able to survive in this world either.
The Colosseum was an event to find such people, or to flip the switch to make them such people.
But Aki and the others were apparently people whose switch would not be flipped.
Even if they are not people who can actively and intentionally kill someone or who can execute it because they want to kill, if they are the type who carry out what they are ordered, there is still a use. He just has to dangle a carrot in front of them or teach them that the only way for them to live is to keep killing someone.
But people who are still dragging the values of the old, now-gone peaceful society are troublesome. People who can stick to such values even in this situation are either those who have never faced a life-threatening situation or those with a very strong conviction.
Probably Aki and the others are the latter, the Leader thought. They seem to have been saved because they were in a secluded all-boarding academy, but they must have gone out to the outside world after the academy was overrun by the infected.
Moreover, when Aki and the others were acting with the boy, they must have heard from him what the outside world was like, and they must have realized the reality by being attacked by other survivors. That the common sense of the peaceful world they once lived in does not work at all in the current world.
Even so, the fact that they are sticking to the way of thinking of the old world means that the common sense of the old world has soaked into the depths of their hearts. The Leader thought so. Such people won't come to this side no matter how much he preaches the merits of joining The Brotherhood or teaches the charm of a world where power is everything.
For the Leader, he had some expectations for them, so this result was a pity. Especially for Aki, he had predicted that she might become a member of The Brotherhood.
He had been reported that when the boy shot Yuko, she tried to kill the boy in earnest. Seeing her anger toward the boy not subsiding even after joining The Brotherhood, the Leader thought she might become a useful person for The Brotherhood. If she is a person who can kill even a former companion, he definitely wants her.
But that also seems to have been a disappointment. In the end, Aki and the others were people caught in the common sense of the old world, and they won't become members of The Brotherhood. If left alone, they might take actions that would be harmful to this side, and even if they are harmless, there are no supplies to give to people who are not cooperative. If they are people who are not useful to this side, they have no value at all.
"I see, that's a pity. I was expecting things from you guys."
Saying so, the Leader drew a handgun and pointed it at Aki. Suddenly Aki's face cramped, and the boy below could see them backing away.
"Hey, what are you doing! Stop it!"
The boy shouted so, but he couldn't just pay attention to Aki and the others. The third round was just about to start, and the door of the third container placed in the corner of the room was beginning to open slowly.
"I've been thinking for a while, but I finally understand. You guys, aren't you out of your minds?"
Aki, who was spreading both hands to protect the other students while backing away, said in a trembling voice. Among the students who were bewildered and frightened by having a gun pointed at them, the boy noticed that only one person was acting strangely.
The one who was calm, unlike the other girls, was the girl named Rei who caused the boy to leave the academy. Rei, who was always aloof and whose thoughts he couldn't understand until the end, hasn't changed her expression even with a gun pointed at her. Does she not understand the current situation, or has she made up her mind?
But the boy also can't pay attention to Aki and the others any more than that. The wire connected to the container door was gradually being pulled up through a pulley, and the container door was also about to open. The first round was one infected, and the second round was two, which meant, although he didn't want to think about it, he might have to face three infected in the third round.
As expected, he didn't have the confidence to fight and win against three infected. The boy rushed toward the container to try to suppress the door that was about to open, but sparks flew on the floor in front of him with a gunshot, and he had no choice but to stop.
"Hey hey, that's a rule violation. That's one yellow card, you're out with two."
Looking, the DJ was pointing the muzzle of a smoking handgun at the boy. At this rate, the container door will open completely, and the infected will jump out from inside. On the other hand, Aki and the others will either be shot dead by the Leader or eventually face a fatal situation even if they are not killed on the spot.
Is it finally checkmate this time? The boy distorted his face.
But in the next moment, the ground shook greatly, and a large explosion sound that even penetrated the soundproof walls of the Colosseum roared outside.