CH 17

Chapter 17 – To help or to abandon

It’s been about ten minutes since Takenaka Isao saw Kousuke’s family near the ‘Captain’ market. The man that accompanied them seemed to be a member of the Self-Defense forces and had an automatic rifle with him. He’s probably the one that protected Kousuke’s family so far.

Isao said that he could see them driving a truck of the self-defense forces that was headed our way, but their path was cut off by the zombies, so they had to escape to the top of the truck.

Right now, the zombies are surrounding the ‘Captain’. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before things become unrecoverably bad.

“I’m going. Immediately.” Kousuke said as soon as we were briefed on the situation. His tone gave no room for rebuttal.

We were inside the school building right now. Isao didn’t brief just us on this, but also the adults that are usually in charge of managing things here in the school.

“Wait! I get how you feel, but wait!” Mr. Sasaki immediately said once he saw Kousuke getting up to go save his family, “Think a bit about the current situation! There must be like, a hundred zombies there, just what are you going to do by yourself!?”

“I get it, but…” Kousuke was biting his mouth, “I just have to go. You understand this much, right?”

“I do understand! But going there without any plan is too reckless!” Mr. Sasaki told him.

“Then what, teacher?! Are you telling me to just… Let my family die!?” Kousuke exclaimed. With the way he was saying it, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had added a ‘I’ll kill you if you try to stop me!’ at the end of this sentence.

However, even though Kousuke was understandably flustered right now, Mr. Sasaki was actually looking fairly normal. I guess he must be used to students that lost their cool.

“Just try calming down a bit, Hibiya.” Mr. Asada said, though he seemed to be about as flustered as Kousuke right now.

“Look, if you think of any strategy that might work, we’ll go with it right away. But you can’t just go there without thinking, you’ll just waste your own life! It would be just like an insect flying towards a fire!” Mr. Sasaki told Kousuke.

“Huh!? How can you be sure of that without trying!?” Kousuke really seemed to have lost his capability of thinking clearly right now. I don’t quite blame him, but perhaps Mr. Sasaki could have been more careful with his words, maybe this could have been avoided then.

I sighed. I suppose… That maybe… I might have been empowered by that mysterious paranormal existence for this kind of situation. I don’t like the idea, but this is probably where I’m supposed to intervene.

It can’t be helped. I raised my hand and said, “May I make a suggestion?”

Mr. Sasaki stared at me for a moment when I said that, then he started frowning and said, “Uhn… What was your name again? No, never mind that. If you have something to say, then say it.”

This guy… Let’s ignore his pointless comment and focus on the matter at hand, “I’ll be a decoy and attract the zombies. In the meantime, how about sending a separate team to rescue Hibiya’s family.” I told them.

“Huh!?” Kousuke didn’t seem to believe his ears.

“That’s… Way too dangerous.” Mr. Sasaki said. Just like Kousuke, it seemed like he couldn’t believe what he just heard, “I know you’re good at handling them, but there’s no way you can deal with this many zombies at once.”

His point made sense. It was risky to face even a single zombie from the front, so facing a hundred of them by myself would be extremely reckless to say the least. After all, zombies aren’t threatening just because of their physical strength, but also because they can attack without caring for their own lives.

In all honesty, I ain’t confident enough in my skills to deal with more than three zombies at once. To kill a single zombie I need to first position my blade, pierce its head, then take my blade out of its head… It’s an operation that requires three movements each time. That’s way too much time when facing over a hundred zombies.

I may not be worried about losing to a zombie in single combat, but handling a large number at once is a completely different story… And therefore, this plan was basically suicide.

However… The only one who has any chance of helping the Hibiya family right now is me. Right now, I need to embrace the rumor of me being ‘fearless just like a robot’ and cut off my worries, so that I may act without hesitation.

“It’ll be alright. I have a good chance of winning.” I told them calmly… I lied to them calmly.

“Really…?” Mr. Sasaki seemed to be unsure about my statement, but I couldn’t show weakness right now.

“Yes. Though I’ll be the one to decide who will be part of the rescue team… For as long as they are okay with it themselves, of course.” I replied.

Mr. Sasaki and Mr. Asada both stared at each other before nodding. Judging by their expressions, it seems like they made a decision on the basis of ‘if she says so’ or something… Seems like my capabilities are vastly overestimated right now, though this ended up working out on my favor this time.

I wonder what they think I am though, am I seen as some kind of slaughter demon?

Well, it doesn’t matter, let’s just make sure to get their approval on this, “In this operation, I’m the only one that will have a high chance of being sacrificed. Thinking about it carefully, losing one life for the sake of four others should be a no-brainer.” I told them.

Besides, even if I do end up falling, there is a member of the self-defense forces with Kousuke’s family. His expertise will definitely be far more valuable for this community than me.

Mr. Sasaki seemed to give in, “Who will you take with you?” He asked me.

“A small team of trained personnel. The two people that will be on the rescue team will be Konno Rintarou and Kimino Asuka. Everyone else will wait here.” I replied.

“Eh?” Kousuke was clearly surprised by this statement, but I ignored him.

“I won’t accept objections from anyone other than Rintarou and Asuka. We don’t have any time to waste, so if you have anything to say, do it now, or at most in a few minutes.” I told everyone.

The room went silent. Will they brush away the hands asking for help? Or will they risk their friends’ life for the sake of others? It was not an easy decision to make.

After some long twelve or so seconds, I got a reply. It was, as expected, from the man that seems willing to be hated for his words. Mr. Sasaki sighed, then said, “Alright. Get ready to go.”