Chapter 80 - Chapter 78: First of All, at My Place, We Have a Bath... (T/N: Reference to a meme)
You stink, so take a bath.
If the boy were to summarize what Yuko told him, it was such content. To the boy who was feeling down about the snow that had accumulated enough to bury the car after spending a night at the academy, Yuko said:
"This school has small windmills and solar panels, so we can use electricity to some extent. You couldn't take a proper bath outside, right? Electricity can only be used during the day, so why don't you go in now? Look, appearance and such are important..."
She didn't explicitly say "you stink," but her eyes were saying so.
Because lifelines were cut off, he hasn't taken a bath for a long time. If it's a traditional drum-can bath, bathing is possible even if electricity or gas cannot be used, but the boy didn't have the leeway to find a clean drum can, look for firewood, and boil water. Above all, if he did such a thing, he might be killed by being attacked by the infected while defenseless.
On the other hand, not washing the body is extremely unhygienic, and he can't afford to get sick in the current situation where there are no hospitals or doctors. Even while acting alone, he had been wiping his body with a towel soaked in hot water every few days, but there was a limit to that too.
"A bath... I haven't taken one for many months..."
"Right? Right now our girls are in class, so the bath is empty."
"Class?"
The word class, he hadn't heard for over 9 months. He thought schools were already things of the past, but it seems they still exist here.
"That's right? Although since there are many other things to do, it's not from morning to night like in the past. Do you want to take one too?"
"I'm a boy, you know? Are you telling me to cross-dress?"
"I thought you'd say that. But, it's surprisingly good, you know? That classes can be continued even in this situation. Education is important, you know?"
Certainly education is important. If you can't read characters, a book filled with knowledge is just flammable trash, and if you can't calculate, you can't even count things. There were many people in Africa or the Middle East even in peaceful times who had a hard time just because education was not fulfilled.
But for the current boy, what's necessary is not classical Japanese words or factorization, but simply the wisdom and technology to survive. The top priority is how to fight the infected, followed by first aid methods and how to fix machines. Classes for entrance exam study that he did in peaceful times are at the very bottom.
"No, I'll pass. To be honest, I don't think I'm welcomed by the people here."
"I suppose so; students came to me many times yesterday too. But I want to believe you. First you must believe the other party, or nothing will start."
She's a good teacher. The boy thought so in a corner of his head. He understands well the reason why the students admire Yuko.
But unfortunately, the boy was looking at the world from the opposite position of her. He can't believe anyone. He can only believe himself, and the rest of the humans are only enemies or humans who are not yet enemies. If you let your guard down, you'll be eaten in an instant. If you don't want to be killed, don't trust anyone.
It was also a natural thing in a sense that the students here didn't welcome the boy. If compared to the peaceful days 9 months ago, it would be like a child soldier from a country in civil war suddenly transferred to the high school they attend one day.
The environment they lived in and their common sense are all different. He was shown the ugly parts of humans thoroughly, and made to face the reality of the world they had been pretending not to see. If the boy were in their position, he similarly wouldn't have welcomed his current self.
They wouldn't have wanted to meet a boy who embodies the harsh world outside. If the boy hadn't come to this academy, they could have continued the same life as in the peaceful era.
He kills the infected who were once the same humans without hesitation, and if it's to survive alone, he doesn't mind laying hands on women and children. Such a human is the same as the villains who are finally defeated by the muscle-bound macho protagonists in the Hollywood movies the boy often watched. What the boy admired was a hero who saves everyone, not a heinous villain.
I didn't want to become such a human, but the world didn't allow it. Existences that were once human attack, and even the same humans come to kill. For the boy to survive, it was necessary to have the resolve to regard everything other than himself as an enemy. And as a result of establishing rules to survive and acting accordingly, there is the current him.
I shouldn't have met the girls. The boy thought the same.
In a sense, they were pure and innocent existences. The girls, who haven't stepped out of the academy for these 9 months, must have never defeated even a single infected, let alone a human. Although the environment has worsened somewhat, meeting them who continue the life of the pre-pandemic era and hold the common sense of the peaceful era, the boy was made to realize the ugliness of his own self which has completely changed during these 9 months.
He also envied the girls who haven't even killed an infected. If the boy of the peaceful era saw the current him, he would surely despair. Because he has strayed from the path to the existence opposite to the hero he admired.
That said, he doesn't think what he has done is wrong. Or rather, the boy's true feeling was that he didn't want to think so. Whatever the means, he has done what he thought was best to live. If he had chosen the wrong method, he would be a corpse rolling around or an infected chasing humans while dripping drool by now. That's why the boy was trying to convince himself that he was not wrong.
Still, the boy felt as if they still had the precious things he had discarded to live.
"Oh, where are you going?"
Yuko left the classroom, and when the boy opened the classroom door with a backpack filled with a change of clothes and such, one girl was in front of the door as if she just happened to be passing by. It was Sugishita Aoi, the military enthusiast whose eyes sparkled when he showed his handgun yesterday.
"...What do you want?"
"Oh come on, I just happened to be passing by this classroom by chance just now."
"You guys usually live in the dormitory, right? I heard from that teacher that when you have classes, you use the classrooms on the second floor, and the first floor is not used."
Precisely because the first floor is not usually used, a classroom on the first floor was assigned to the boy. Moreover, Yuko should have started class just now, so it's even more inconceivable for someone to pass by the first floor.
I've been found out, Aoi said, scratching her head. Maybe she came to snatch the weapons, the boy thought, and placed his hand on the handgun in the holster on his thigh casually.
The atmosphere that he is not welcomed by the girls has sufficiently reached the boy too. If they kill him and snatch the weapons, they can eliminate the threat and also obtain the means to fight. He didn't think the girls who were steeped in the common sense of the peaceful era would think of such a thing just yesterday or today, but still, humans are things you don't know what they'll do. If Aoi attacks, the boy had decided to immediately kill all the survivors of this academy.
"The thing is, I thought I'd guide you around the academy."
"I already got the school map. Besides, I'll almost never go out of the classroom, so I don't need guidance."
"Don't say that, please. I want to talk to a human other than those in the academy after a long time."
"We talked yesterday, didn't we?"
"There was almost no time for questions yesterday, right? Besides, I was in shock yesterday and couldn't continue the conversation."
She was like a puppy in front of a toy. The boy, who locked eyes with the sparkling Aoi for a few seconds, had answered "Alright" along with a sigh.
From the current Aoi, he can't feel things like hostility or killing intent. She purely came because she wanted to talk to him. The boy judged so. Though, since humans are creatures whose hearts you don't know when they'll change, he can't be careless.
"But, first I have to take a bath. Surely you don't want to follow me into the bath to hear the story, do you?"
"If you like, shall I wash your back?"
"You're obviously joking."
The bathhouse was at the back of the dormitory. Since many students used to live together originally, it seems the dormitory is equipped with a large communal bath. However, now that the power plant has stopped functioning, the amount of electricity that can be generated by solar panels and small windmills is not enough to boil enough hot water to fill the large bath, so it's not used now.
This time the boy was permitted to use the small bath for teachers. A shower room and a bathtub large enough for several people to enter together. Now it seems the students are using this bathhouse.
"Nuaaaaaah, I'm tired, moooooo." (T/N: Reference to a meme)
While muttering such a thing, the boy thrust the clothes he took off into a basket in the dressing room. Because he had been training in the classroom until Yuko came, his shirt was soaking wet with sweat. To maintain his physical strength, the boy doesn't skip muscle training every day. Because it would be troublesome if he couldn't move or fight in case of emergency.
He wants to take a bath quickly and feel refreshed. That was his current state of mind. As expected, there is a limit to just wiping the body.
Even if he leaves the clothes he was wearing until now in the dressing room, he can't possibly leave the weapons too. The door of the dressing room can be locked, but it's meaningless because the people of this academy have the key. It would be nothing but pathetic to have his weapons snatched while taking a bath and be shot to death while naked.
Thrusting the handguns and blades into a waterproof backpack, the boy opens the bath door. Even though it's a bathhouse, it's not a place where he can let his guard down.
The bath for faculty and staff was a very common one that could be found in a hotel or inn. A large tile-lined bathtub where several people can enter together, and several shower nozzles lined up. Since teachers also usually live in the dormitory for work in this academy, it seems they also used this bathhouse.
Hot water soaks into his chilled body. He felt the heat, which cannot be produced by a heater or heavy clothing, penetrating to the depths of his body. The boy, who raised a middle-aged-man-like groan, soaked in the bathtub up to his shoulders for the first time in a long time.
Maybe it was worth visiting this academy just for being able to take a bath. While thanking the greatness of civilization again, the boy enjoyed the bath for the first time in a long time.
"Hot—"
After soaking in the bathtub for nearly 20 minutes, the boy finally got out of the bath. Wiping his body which had turned bright red with a towel, he takes out a change of clothes from the backpack.
He had been hand-washing the clothes that were dirty until now, but it seems he can use a washing machine here. Electricity is great, the boy thought while finishing changing, and opened the dressing room door. Aoi was standing as if leaning against the wall of the corridor right in front.
"Where shall we go next? The library? Or shall we go see the greenhouse outside?"
"Why do I have to go outside on purpose after a bath when snow is accumulated? Or rather, were you waiting all the time while I was taking a bath? I told you I don't need guidance."
"Oh come on, it's fine, isn't it? I'm doing it because I want to."
"I have no intention of causing trouble to the people here, so I won't go around without permission. So I don't need guidance. Oh right, you were peeking at me while I was changing just now, weren't you?"
When he was changing in the dressing room, the boy felt Aoi's gaze. The dressing room and the corridor are separated by a door, and it was locked. However, the presence of Aoi watching the dressing room from beyond the frosted glass fitted in the door was somehow transmitted.
"No, I wasn't looking."
"Liar, you were definitely looking."
"Why would I need to look?"
"Well, surveillance, right? Most likely you were told by that teacher to keep an eye on me, weren't you?"
The boy thought that the reason she has been persistently following him around since a while ago is to keep an eye on him. It's not likely the students of this academy would trust the boy just yesterday or today. Rather, it's natural to doubt him as a dangerous person. Therefore, the boy accepted it as a natural thing that they would try to watch him so he doesn't do anything.
Of course, he is prepared to receive surveillance. If it's a condition that unnecessary combat can be avoided and no harm is added to them, he welcomes that things are settled just by being watched. But there is a limit to that too. If followed everywhere he goes, he'll naturally get fed up.
"What's your goal? Goods, or money? I don't have money, as it's useless now."
"No! I haven't been told anything by Yuko-sensei. I just, well, wanted to see that gun..."
Saying so, what Aoi pointed at was the automatic handgun hanging from the boy's waist. Come to think of it, this one's tension was unusually high when I showed the handgun yesterday, he remembers.
"I've seen plenty of New Nambus or M37s of police officers, but to be able to see a real USP in Japan! Just a little is fine, let me touch it! I'll do anything!"
"Hm? You just said you'd do anything, didn't you?"
"Yes, you can even grope my chest if you like."
"Uh..."
Does she not have a sense of shame? Because she has no immunity to men, has she become defenseless beyond being vigilant? He thought so, but in Aoi's case, it's probably purely from the single-minded desire to touch a real gun. People like otaku or enthusiasts are things that sacrifice money or whatever for their own purpose.
Of course, the boy didn't think he'd let her touch the gun so easily just because he was asked. If the weapon is snatched and the muzzle is pointed here, he must pay the price for his own sweetness with his own life.
"I refuse."
"No way! Then should I just strip?"
"Don't strip. In the first place, I'm not interested in women now."
"Eh? Then does that mean you're a homosexual?"
"No. It means I don't have the leeway to think about such things."
He's at an age where sexual desire is more than enough to sell, but strangely the boy was not hungry for women. In terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the boy is acting based only on the physiological needs at the very bottom and the safety needs above that. A peaceful society where self-actualization is possible no longer exists, and the people who recognized him have already died or lost their reason. The boy only holds the desire to live now. He has no time to hold sexual desire.
In the past, he might have accepted Aoi's proposal without a second thought, but now he feels no charm. His honest state of mind now is that he doesn't care about humans other than himself, and he doesn't care if it's a woman. In the first place, how can sexual desire well up in a situation where he doesn't know who will become an enemy?
"It's the request of a lifetime! Just a little, just the tip is fine!"
"What do you mean by the tip..."
"I've only ever touched model guns until now. Even if I go abroad, I can't shoot guns if I'm a minor... Just once is fine, please."
"...Only once, okay?"
Apparently, what Aoi is interested in is the handgun rather than the boy. If so, if he obediently satisfies her desire, he might be able to avoid being followed anymore. The boy, who judged so, pulled the automatic handgun from the holster on his thigh.
He removes the magazine containing 15 rounds of 9mm ammo, and pulls the slide to eject the bullet that remained loaded in the chamber. With this, the handgun became just a lump of metal and plastic. He didn't not assume the situation where Aoi has bullets and loads and fires them quickly the moment it's handed over. However, 9mm rounds for handguns are difficult to obtain in Japan, and the possibility that students who haven't stepped out of the academy until now have obtained bullets is close to zero.
Besides, even if Aoi points the gun, the boy had the confidence that he could shoot her dead immediately. In the belt around his waist, a holster containing a spare revolver is hanging. If Aoi showed suspicious movement, he intended to pull the other handgun immediately.
"Don't point the muzzle at me. I'll kill you the moment you point it."
"It's okay. Don't point the muzzle at allies, don't put your finger on the trigger except when shooting. It's common sense."
The word ally bothered him, but the boy placed the automatic handgun on Aoi's outstretched hand. Aoi, while opening her eyes wide as if surprised by its weight, stares intently at the handgun in her hand. After finishing observing it enough to think a hole would open from staring too much, she gripped the grip with both hands and leveled the handgun toward a direction where the boy was not.
"Amazing..."
In contrast to Aoi who couldn't hide her joy at touching a real gun, the boy's heart remained cold.
Aoi probably doesn't know what kind of end the original owner of that gun met. And she also doesn't know how many lives, regardless of infected or human, have been taken by the bullets spat out from that handgun.
Aoi sees the gun not as a tool for murder but as an object of her own hobby, just like in the peaceful era. But the boy was a little envious of Aoi's purity. He understood well that his current self has come to a place far from pure.
I'm waiting for your opinions and impressions.