Chapter 82 - The Story of the Crazy Psycho
While his stay during the period when the snow was piled up was permitted, it was unknown what would happen after that. Since Sayuri Girls' Academy was in the forest, the possibility of being found by the infected was low, and electricity was available. There was no worry about water because they pumped up and used groundwater, and if they grew vegetables in the greenhouse, they could easily provide for one person's worth.
It was an ideal place for a base, but there were problems. The biggest problem was the existence of the girls who had continued to live here since before the pandemic. There was a possibility of being betrayed somewhere, and the more people there were, the more supplies would be consumed.
Three days since arriving at Sayuri Girls' Academy. The snow piled up outside hadn't even half-melted yet. The sun hadn't come out for these three days, and since the temperature dropped below freezing at night, the snow that had finally melted would freeze again.
In fact, it had started snowing again. The boy, who was clearing the snow piled in front of the school building with a snow shovel in hand, scowled at the white snow falling from the gray sky. He had been silently shoveling snow alone to at least make it possible for a car to pass to the front of the school gate, but this happened within less than an hour of starting.
"I'm getting sick of this..."
To have it snow immediately after finally starting to shovel. In any case, it was physically and temporally impossible to remove all the snow on the road leading from the academy, but even so, a laugh welled up at his lack of luck. Surely by tomorrow morning, the parts he had shoveled would not only be buried but would have even more snow piled up than before.
It would be a different story if there were a snowplow, but in this region where it usually doesn't snow, there probably wouldn't be a snowplow. For the boy, who lived in an area where it didn't snow much, snow so deep it made movement impossible was something he had only seen at ski resorts he went to with his family.
Was it because the carbon dioxide emitted had decreased due to the drastic reduction in humans, weakening the greenhouse effect? Or had a nuclear war started somewhere, and a nuclear winter had arrived? While thinking such things, the boy headed toward the van parked under the porch of the school building while wiping the sweat from his forehead. Continuing to work would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket and a waste of stamina.
Even the van, which should have been parked under the roof, had snow that had blown in clinging to its tires. He had finally made it so the car alone could move, but at this rate, it would be buried in snow again.
Touching the chilly cold body of the car, he unlocked it, opened the rear sliding door, and climbed inside. The interior of the van, which had been left outside for a long time, was cold, and his exhaled breath drifted white. He wanted to turn on the heater, but he had to save fuel.
Moving through the narrow interior filled with stacked cardboard boxes and gasoline cans, he went to the rear of the vehicle. The last row of seats was fixed in a flipped-up state to the left and right, and a blue tarp was spread on the floor. When he peeled it back, a variety of firearms lined up in the cramped space were revealed.
Only handguns were permitted to be brought into the school building, but he hadn't been told he couldn't touch automatic rifles or shotguns outside the school building. The boy, having removed the chain passed through the trigger guards, picked up the M1A rifle equipped with an EBR kit. The aluminum chassis was cold as ice.
It was written in a book the boy had read before that firearms were prone to malfunctions in cold regions. Knowing that one reason the German army lost in the German-Soviet war was the frequent malfunctions of weapons in the harsh Russian winter, he couldn't neglect the inspection of his weapons. If the guns stopped working, he would have to face the infected with knives or axes.
At least once a day, the boy performed weapon inspections in the car. At first, Aoi had tried to follow him with great interest, but he naturally turned her back. How many weapons there were, what kind of weapons there were. He couldn't let them grasp that accurately. He had thought letting her hold a gun would satisfy her, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect.
Now, weapons were as indispensable for survival as water and food. Without weapons, one couldn't oppose the attacking infected or rioters, and without food, one would starve to death. One couldn't live if either was missing.
He flipped up the trigger guard of the rifle with the magazine removed. Then, the entire trigger block of the M1A rifle came off. He checked if gunpowder residue was stuck in the gaps of parts like the hammer and trigger, then reattached it to the rifle. The M1A rifle, which had the most firepower, needed to be kept in top condition no matter what. He always performed inspections and cleaning after shooting, but one couldn't be too careful.
He inspected the submachine guns in the same way. Especially the MP5 submachine gun; while its accuracy was high, its internal structure was complex, and he had to be particularly careful about malfunctions. Double-barreled shotguns that looked like a trigger and stock attached to an iron pipe, or bolt-action rifles with simple structures, were hard to break. Should he choose reliability or instantaneous firepower? Since it was more important to hammer in even one more bullet against fast infected, the boy placed emphasis on automatic firearms.
Just in case, he also checked if anything was missing from inside the car. It was locked, and an alarm system was installed. If someone from the academy tried to force their way into the car by breaking a window or something, the alarm would sound. The fact that it hadn't sounded meant the girls of the academy hadn't tried to intrude into the car. It was also hard to imagine they had special unlocking methods like picking, looking at the girls' behavior.
But there was also the saying, "better safe than sorry." Especially in this day and age, one can't be too cautious. Those who let their guard down are the ones who die. He checked the bullets stored in a small dial-type safe and also looked at the meter to see if gasoline had been siphoned. He didn't think they would destroy a precious means of transportation, but he also made sure the wiring was intact. After confirming that nothing was missing and the car hadn't been destroyed, the boy finally took a breath.
He noticed the girls didn't welcome him, but he also knew they showed no sign of attacking. For them, who had lived according to the logic of a peaceful era until just a few days ago, attacking someone was likely something completely unthinkable.
If only the girls would attack, his troubles would be solved at once. The boy thought such a thing. If they launched an attack, he could fight back and annihilate them. That way, the anxiety of having his throat slit in his sleep would be resolved, and the boy could obtain a safe base. Yuko had said there were still stockpiled rations here, and if he did farming in the greenhouse, he could continuously obtain enough food to live alone. If that happened, he could escape the life of wandering here and there in search of food and a safe place—.
However, if they didn't show the intent to attack, he couldn't make a move from his side either. He was even tempted by the impulse to just get it over with, but the "rules" he had established within himself forbade making the first move. In this world where laws and everything else had vanished, the only thing the boy could rely on were the "rules" he had decided for himself. If he ignored those "rules," this time there would truly be nothing left to rely on.
Precisely because there was no one to lead him, the boy had to have a way to lead himself. That was the "rules." In this world where laws were lost and order had vanished, only the "rules" were the sole firm existence within the boy.
Therefore, he must not violate the "rules." That would mean losing order and becoming anxious again. That's why the "rules" were absolute. If he kept the "rules," he could avoid making mistakes again.
So the boy would absolutely not lay a hand on the girls. Unless, of course, they made the first move.
He passed the chain through the firearms he had finished inspecting again and locked it with a padlock. A clump of snow blowing against him stuck to the boy's face as he got out of the car.
It's as if it's trying to prevent me from leaving here. Looking at the gray sky, the boy began to think that he was even hated by the weather. In the past, he used to frolic and run around outside when it snowed, but now he wasn't in the mood to be happy at all.
Entering the school building, which was hushed and quiet, only Yuko's voice conducting a lesson on the second floor could be heard. Was continuing the lessons despite university and exams no longer mattering her pride as a teacher?
But the situation where lessons were being held and few students were wandering the school building was an ideal situation for the boy. In the three days since coming to this academy, he had been exploring the school building here and there to prepare for any eventuality, simulating how to move in an emergency.
How to escape if this academy was discovered by the infected. Or, if the students of the academy had a change of heart and attacked the boy, how to retreat while engaging them. Since he was staying for a while, there was nothing bad about grasping the structure in detail.
Yuko had given the boy permission to basically enter and leave anywhere, except for the dorms and a few other places. The students probably wouldn't be happy about it, but it was something their leader had decided. Even if they complained, they had no right to.
He had already grasped the entire school building, including the inside of the girls' toilets. The grounds of Sayuri Girls' Academy were arranged with the classroom wing where lessons were usually held at the center, the administration wing with the music room and home economics room, the gymnasium that could accommodate all 300+ students, and the cafeteria next to it. The school building was also connected to the dorms by a covered walkway, but since he wasn't permitted to enter, there was no need to go.
Slinging the backpack containing the sawed-off shotgun over his shoulder, the boy aimed for the administration wing. There was a library in the administration wing, so he could kill time. Before coming to this academy, he had no leeway at all because he was constantly on guard against infected and rioters, but since coming to this academy, the boy felt that time passed more slowly.
Probably because it was peaceful here. There was no worry of being attacked by infected, and even if the students attacked, he could easily repel them. That didn't mean he could let his guard down, but being too tense would only cause stress to accumulate.
In that case, while he could relax, he should just relax as much as possible. Whether he would leave here when the snow melted or be attacked by rioters or infected was unknown, but such a peaceful life wouldn't last forever. Using opportunities to the maximum—that was the art of living he had learned in these nine months.
Being a private school for young ladies, the library was large enough to be called a library, and the number of books was enormous. In the library, which was built by hollowing out space for two floors, many shelves were lined up, and high-quality-looking round tables and wooden chairs were placed here and there.
Among the books lined up on the shelves, there wasn't a single novel for young people. On the spines of the thick books, only difficult words were lined up. When he found a novel and picked it up, it was an English book that seemed to have been procured directly from overseas.
"My head's going to hurt..."
What the boy wanted to know wasn't the history of the Roman Empire or The Lord of the Rings written in English, but practical knowledge for survival. The boy, who had been going around the many lined-up bookshelves looking for any useful books, suddenly noticed he could hear some sound.
It was during lesson time now, and the students not in the lesson should be in the dorms. Even if they wanted to read a book, they should take it back to their rooms to read. In fact, on the loan record book placed on the circulation counter, the names of students who had conscientiously taken books out of the library were written until recently. No student would go out of their way to read a book in the library.
If so, who was in such a place and for what? While walking around looking for the source of the sound, he found that the sound was coming from the preparation room behind the circulation counter. Along with a sound like something creaking, he could hear faint but rough breathing.
"...Don't tell me it's an infected, that would be a bad joke."
He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't rule out that possibility. Even when he performed a patrol this morning, no abnormalities were reportedly seen in the fences surrounding the grounds or the school gate, but even so, it wouldn't be strange for an infected to appear anywhere. However, an infected wouldn't have the knowledge to sneak into the grounds without anyone noticing, go out of their way to intrude into the library preparation room, and close the door.
Or had a third party other than himself or the students sneaked in? The boy thought that possibility was higher. If someone had entered from the outside on their own, he couldn't just leave them be, and moreover, if it were someone with ill intent, he had to eliminate them even more. The boy, having climbed over the counter, pulled out his handgun and put his hand on the doorknob leading to the library preparation room.
It wasn't locked. He slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door softly so as not to make a sound. The boy, peeping his face in slightly from there, almost dropped his handgun at the sight that defied his expectations.
In the library preparation room, there were bookshelves lined with books being prepared for loan or return, and a large desk for working. On that desk, two naked bodies were entwined. He couldn't see the faces well, but he recognized the short-cut hair of one of them. It was the third-year Oba Rei, with her boyish and aloof attitude.
Rei was reaching out both hands to the body of the other female student. Every time Rei moved her hands, the female student let out a shrill cry. Rei's toned body and the female student's white back. The words "Eh, what is this?" almost came out of his throat, but he somehow prevented himself from speaking. The boy, not knowing what to do, softly closed the door.
The two didn't seem to have noticed the boy and were still indulging in the lewd act. Having crawled out from the counter in silence and left the library, the boy let out a large breath the moment he closed the door.
"To think there are idiots getting it on in broad daylight..."
As expected, a girls' school was a place beyond a boy's understanding. The boy, deciding to act as if he hadn't seen the scene just now, withdrew to the classroom much earlier than planned.
I did it☆ Submitter: Perverted Scum Girl
If I write any more than this, it'll become R-18 and get banned, dangerous, dangerous.