Chapter 34 - Chapter 32: A Story of a Chain Letter
Something is strange.
For these past few days, questions have been constantly surfacing in my mind. I can't say clearly what is strange, but somehow my head feels fuzzy. An inexpressible sense of incongruity was always in my head.
For example, a discomfort like a winged insect flying around my ear. For these past few days, I've been intensely curious about what they are hiding, and I also didn't like the fact that they are hiding something while having accepted us who came from the outside.
Why do the village people not want us to step even a single foot outside? Even though there are no infected in the village, isn't it an excessive level of caution to not even let us take a walk?
Furthermore, they aren't making us engage in anything, but are keeping us cooped up in the house. Normally, it wouldn't be strange to be asked for labor in exchange for providing food and housing, and in fact, feeling guilty about just receiving favors, we offered to help with work several times. However, the answer that always comes back is "We have enough hands, so you can take it easy."
They have enough hands? In a village full of old people like this?
Why are there no other refugees besides us? Yamato-san said the house we are staying in was used when refugees came before, but where have they gone? I received an explanation that they went to look for important people, but as we are, would they go out of their way to look for people who might not even be alive outside the dangerous village in such a situation? While harboring dissatisfaction, we continue to stay in this village for the reason that it's better than the outside.
And that sound I heard when I was in the bath a few days ago. That sounds like the growl of an infected that I've heard many times in the city. At that time, the wind was strong, so some sound might have overlapped and sounded like that, or maybe an infected had come near the village and its growl reached me riding on the wind. But I couldn't shake the doubt from my head.
This village is hiding something; that much is certain. But what that is, I don't know. Whether what they are hiding is a good thing or a bad thing. Or whether it's something necessary and unavoidable for living in this village, or not. Anyway, I needed to know.
For now, I have no intention of leaving this village. However, I don't like this current situation of being hidden from. I'll decide whether to leave this village after hearing what they are hiding.
...Although I've decided that, if I'm not careful, it might affect the other three besides me. If my questions offend the people of this village, all four of us might be kicked out of the village together.
For that reason, I decided to act alone. In the first place, Yui and Mana-chan don't seem to care much about what the people of this village are hiding, and Naomi-san seems to have noticed something but remains without saying anything. There's no reason to involve them; I'm enough on my own.
No one lives in the neighboring house, but it's easy to meet a resident of this village. I just have to go outside. If I do that, within a few minutes, the guard will come from over there in a truck.
"I'm going to the village office for a bit."
"Eh, going outside is supposed to be prohibited, right? What are you going for?"
"I just want to talk to Yamato-san for a bit."
When I said that, Yui didn't pursue it any further and waved her hand, saying "Have fun~".
"Then, Mana-chan, I'm going to the village office for that reason, so I'm counting on you to look after the house."
"Yes, please come back by evening!"
In the hands of Mana-chan as she said that, a bag containing sparklers is gripped. It's something she found in the storehouse of this house. Considering the time, it's likely something the resident of this house purchased last year and then forgot about, but the gunpowder probably hasn't gotten damp in about a year. Since it was kept sealed, it might actually light.
Mana-chan's smile when she found these fireworks was very bright. Tonight, we intend to enjoy these sparklers in the yard. With something like sparklers, the sound is small, and the infected outside the village won't notice our presence. Now that infrastructure is dead and we can no longer play games that use electricity, the only things we can enjoy are analog things like this.
After bidding farewell to Mana-chan, I headed to where Naomi-san was doing push-ups in the yard.
"For that reason, Naomi-san, I'll leave the rest to you."
"Yeah, go ahead. Even so, you don't know what might happen, so be careful. Did you bring a weapon?"
"A weapon? I don't need one; it's not like I'm going to launch a raid. I just want to convey my points of dissatisfaction."
Though, even if I say weapon, I only have two knives because most were confiscated on the first day. Then, Naomi-san held out a small folding knife I had.
"Just take it. I can't put it into words, but I have a bad feeling. It's better to be on guard."
"...Naomi-san, too. I've also started to think this village is strange."
"Well, you're free to act however you want, but think of Yui and Mana, too. I don't want to involve those two in trouble."
As Naomi-san said, basically it's my own business how I act. However, depending on the content of the secret they are hiding, we might end up having to leave this village. Of course, it would be best if it doesn't come to that, but considering the "GET OUT NOW" slip of paper that was in the book the other day, there's no doubt there are people in this village who harbor antipathy toward us. I need to act with the utmost caution so as not to provoke them.
I forced the small folding knife I received from Naomi-san into my sneaker and then opened the gate and went out onto the road. Stepping on the cracked asphalt, I began walking toward the village office building visible in the corner of my vision. It's a distance that would take 10 minutes on foot, but only two or three minutes by car.
As I thought, within less than two minutes of walking, I heard the sound of a car engine from behind. Stopping on the spot and turning around, a familiar pickup truck came to a sudden stop in front of me. The person who got down from the bed was the also familiar young guard with a buzz cut, whom we had been taken back to the house by when we tried to go to the village office a few days ago. Just like a few days ago, he was carrying a side-by-side double-barrel shotgun, but today he was holding the gun in his hand. Although his finger wasn't on the trigger, I noticed he was in a posture where he could fire at any time.
"Hey, what are you doing! You should have been told not to go outside the house!"
His tone was different from a few days ago when there was a slight politeness; it was entirely like one directed at an opponent one holds hostility toward. I was almost intimidated by his words, which could even be called a roar, but plucking up my courage, I puffed out my chest and answered.
"I want to go to the village office and talk to Yamato-san."
"If it's the village office, you always go during the meal..."
"If I'm told to return to the house immediately even after the meal is over, there's no opportunity to talk. Please, could you let me talk to Yamato-san?"
Then, the buzz-cut youth made a troubled face and said something to the other guard in the driver's seat. The guard in the driver's seat took out a transceiver and began communication, and after a while, the youth came back.
"Fine, Yamato-san will specially meet with you now. Get in the truck quickly."
"I'm grateful."
"It seems the warning didn't work."
At those words of the youth, I inadvertently stopped my hand as I reached for the truck. A warning?
"Could it be, you were the one who wrote that memo..."
"Yeah, that's right, it was me. Why don't you guys just get out of this village already?"
In the youth's eyes, a flame of hatred was dwelling. The "GET OUT NOW" slip of paper I found when I was reading the book—that had been written by the youth in front of me.
"We're doing patrols for the guard work every day. And yet outsiders who came waltzing in are just sleeping and eating leisurely every day without working... don't mess with me."
"It's not like we're living this kind of life because we want to... Yamato-san said we didn't have to work."
"No matter what Yamato-san says, you guys are just nuisances. Get out already, from this village."
The youth glared at me and said that as if spitting it out. Immediately after, the guard in the driver's seat urged, "What are you dawdling for, get in quickly," and without being able to say anything to him, I scrambled into the bed of the truck.
As I thought, maybe coming to this village was a mistake. Such a thought was rapidly spreading within me.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.