Side Story: Ayaho & Iroha 1 On that day—that summer day four years ago. A giant dragon appeared in the skies of Tokyo, and blood rained all over the city. Then the Japanese were wiped out. Iroha proudly announced that she’d made lunch for that day. “Rice balls, egg rolls, pork stew, and braised burdock root. The pork and burdock were canned, though.” She giggled, holding her backpack tenderly in her arms. Her long, light-brown hair glowed under the soft spring sunlight. Iroha was three years older than me: sixteen. She was thin, her face was small, and her eyes were big. She was very pretty. My impression of her hadn’t changed since the day I met her, four years before. Even the red school jacket looked cute when she wore it. “I could’ve made it if you had told me.” I pouted. I felt bad about making her do it. She had so much more to do back home, and I only knew how to cook. “I just felt like it this morning. I figured it would be better to have some food when going out into the city.” “Yes. That’s true,” I agreed. Our destination was the former Shinjuku ward. We didn’t know it well, and nothing guaranteed that we would find usable food in the convenience stores and supermarkets. Securing the minimum necessary food and water was important. “Besides, I’m already making you come with me,” Iroha said while grabbing my hand. Despite being older, she was pampered and wanted physical contact all the time. I didn’t mind it, personally. “So what are we looking for today?” “Hmm… Clothes?” Iroha replied ambiguously. “Shouldn’t you have brought Rinka instead then?” I wondered out loud. Rinka was one of our little sisters. She was eleven, but she was our family’s fashion guru. She was very particular about everything fashion, and I was clueless about it. Surely she would have been a better choice. Iroha had a troubled look on her face and was avoiding eye contact. “I, um, I think she’s still too young…” “What do you mean? Are we…going to look for bras? Don’t tell me it’s that again…” My gaze dropped to her chest. Iroha was slim, but her chest was big. Huge. It always had been, but it just kept growing. From an outsider’s perspective, she looked pretty, and honestly, I was jealous, but she said that it only made her look fat, and it was hard to find bras that were the right size. “N-no! I mean, this one’s getting a bit tight, but I’m still fine…!” Iroha shook her head while covering her chest with both arms. I had already accompanied her to look for underwear three months ago. Yes, Rinka was still too young for that. “Let’s hope we find something cute.” “Yeah… Wait, I said no!” Iroha turned red. I waved off her protests dismissively. The abandoned roads were all cracked and potholed, and the weeds made it difficult to walk. Still, it felt nice to walk with Iroha along the river under the gentle sun. It had been a while since we had gone out, just the two of us. We walked in silence for a while, holding hands. As we were reaching the outer moat, Iroha remembered and said, “Wait, are we going the right way?” “Huh? You didn’t know?” I looked at her aghast. Iroha smiled bashfully. “I was just…following my gut.” “The one thing someone with a poor sense of direction should never do.” “No, I’m pretty confident in my skills. I figured it’d be fine if we just went west.” I ignored Iroha’s excuses while unfolding the map. I checked the nearby ruined building and broken traffic signs to work out where we were. “We’re going the right way. We just have to turn at the intersection. We took a roundabout path, though.” “Sorry, Ayaho. But hey, look. It’s so pretty.” Iroha sighed in relief before pointing ahead. Cherry blossom petals were blooming on the trees by the promenade. “Cherry blossoms.” “Yeah! It’s already the season, huh?” Iroha reached for the falling petals. I stared at her in fascination. She spun around in place and looked at me with an impish smile on her face. “Hey, let’s have lunch?” “Huh? Already?” I asked, baffled. It hadn’t even been an hour since we left home. We were only halfway to Shinjuku. Iroha insisted, like a child throwing a tantrum, and pulled my sleeve. “Pleeease. Okay? I want to look at the flowers.” “Well…I guess we can.” Caving, I smiled awkwardly. I wasn’t giving in to her demands; I felt like enjoying the flowers, too. Iroha pumped her fist, then turned around and shouted, “Nuemaru, c’mere! It’s lunchtime!” A giant beast appeared in response to her voice. It was about six or seven meters long to the end of its tail. It looked like something between a wolf, a fox, and a tiger. A monster with white fur—a Moujuu. Nuemaru summoned thunder with a roar. The other Moujuu that were hiding in the ruins and looking at us flinched under his intimidation and ran away. Iroha smiled and thanked Nuemaru as he slowly walked up to her. He hunkered down and purred as she petted his forehead. The Moujuu were man-eating monsters that had appeared out of the blue in this country. We were able to walk around their territory, the 23 Wards, thanks to Nuemaru’s protection. Iroha could talk to Nuemaru, and she treated him like family. As far as I knew, Iroha was the only Moujuu tamer in this world. 2 On that day—that summer day four years ago. A giant dragon appeared in the skies of Tokyo, and blood rained all over the city. At the same time, Moujuu appeared all over Japan. They had power like mythical monsters and attacked and devoured people and wrecked the city indiscriminately. International leaders, political and religious, decided there was only one solution and commanded: Kill the Japanese. Exterminate them. A chain of massacres spread all over the world in the blink of an eye, and armies from every country began their invasion into Japan. Amid the frenzy, the country of Japan disappeared, and the few Japanese people overseas were persecuted and killed. We called the event the J-nocide. After it, the Japanese died out. It took only half a year after the massacre began. “Whoa! This place is amazing! I’ve never seen so much food!” Iroha cheered while holding up the luxurious canned foods meant for gift baskets. We were in the ruins of a big department store in Shinjuku. We found a mountain of untouched goods in the basement. Basements of the abandoned buildings tended to be flooded, but since there was a subway tunnel right below this store, the water had gone there instead. Naturally, all the fresh food was already rotten and unsightly. But the canned and preserved foods were fine. I was as excited as Iroha looking at the rare food we couldn’t find in convenience stores or supermarkets. “We can’t take all of this,” I said to Iroha, who was gathering an absurd number of cans. Iroha held her head in shock. “Ahh! I should’ve brought Tabby. Nuemaru can’t carry anything… What should we take? I can’t choose!” She crouched down and began picking through the cans carefully with a serious look on her face. She wouldn’t worry that much if it was all just for her, but she was thinking of our siblings back home. There was a total of eight kids, me and Iroha included. The oldest, Iroha, was sixteen, and the youngest, Runa, was only seven. We weren’t related by blood, but we worked together to survive. We were the few Japanese survivors, and we were now family. We were only able to survive the hellish massacre thanks to Iroha. We were attacked by Moujuu and were preparing for death when Nuemaru and Iroha came to our assistance. And ever since, the Moujuu she tamed had protected us from the others. Tabby was one such Moujuu. Iroha saved around seventy Japanese people. Among them were teachers, nurses, and engineers. They serviced the building that became our home, built solar panels and drinkable water pumps, and gave us the foundations to continue our lives. Not a year went by before everyone left. Some of them ran away out of fear of Iroha. Some died in accidents or illness. But more than that ended their own lives. They were all in despair. They couldn’t handle the reality of the end of the Japanese people and the desolate ruins they lived in. In the end, only us eight remained. For that reason, Iroha treasured us. She treated us like family, if not better. So, in the middle of these dark underground ruins, she carefully selected the cans to bring back to our siblings. “Should we just take the cans? Weren’t we going to look for bras and stuff?” I reminded her from behind. Iroha quickly lifted her head. “Clothes! Not bras!” “Look, there’s a guide. The underwear is on…the third floor. And it says they have large sizes.” “I feel like the large sizes they’re referring to are a different sort of large.” Iroha pouted as she left the cans behind and stood up. 3 “It’s huge…” I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the ladies’ clothing section. I didn’t expect a lot since it had been abandoned for four years, but most of the floor was in good shape, and almost all the items remained. Luxury brands’ clothing, bags, shoes, accessories—it was all so shiny and fancy. It told of the country’s bountiful past, when there had been peace. It was as sad as it was exciting. “I wish we could see it with better lighting.” I sighed while staring at a mannequin wearing a summer dress. The vivid colors of the clothing looked dull in the darkness of the store. “I did bring the strongest flashlight we had.” Iroha raised it above her head with the outdoor LED set to max output. We could see far away thanks to it, but it was far from the store’s original brightness. “Right… It was swimsuit season…” Iroha and I shared a glance as we wandered into the seasonal area. The J-nocide had happened in the summer. The store at the time must have been full of people shopping for new swimsuits. “Wanna try one on?” Iroha asked me, her eyes seeming to sparkle. I shook my head quickly. “No, no. I don’t wear this flashy stuff. Maybe you can pull it off.” “Really…? I think this one looks great.” “No way, no. I can’t swim to begin with.” I wasn’t lying. The J-nocide happened when I was nine, and I hadn’t been to a pool ever since. Obviously, I hadn’t taken swimming classes. Iroha grabbed the bikini with a regretful look on her face. “I wanna go to the beach… Let’s go once it’s summer. And we’ll set off fireworks. And have watermelon.” “Can we make it in time for summer if we plant watermelon now?” “I dunno. I’ll look into it. We gotta look for watermelon seeds,” Iroha said, always so positive. The beach trip was already set in stone inside her mind. I didn’t hate the beach. I also wanted our younger siblings to get to bathe in the sea. And maybe we could even get some fresh clams. But I didn’t want to wear a swimsuit. Although nobody would have to see me who wasn’t family, since there were no more Japanese. But just the thought of standing next to Iroha in a swimsuit had me so embarrassed I wanted to run away. She was so pretty and had such a nice body. Our little sisters were cute, too, sure to grow up to be beautiful in the future. It was an unfair world. “The future…,” I muttered to myself while looking at the store. After the J-nocide, the 23 Wards of Tokyo had been put in quarantine and forsaken by all the countries that shared territory in Japan. No criminals would set foot inside a Moujuu-infested area. Which meant we were safe here, under the Moujuu’s protection. We had a garden and pet chickens for eggs. The rest of our provisions we got from canned and preserved food in the ruins. We had no trouble getting by. But I couldn’t think the peace would last forever. We had only a few years until the preserved foods expired. We would have to leave the 23 Wards eventually. I was lost in thought while walking around, and it took me a moment to realize that Iroha had disappeared. “Iroha?” I stopped and called her name. The lantern she’d been holding was on a shelf. But she was gone. Was she trying on the swimsuits? But why would she go inside a changing room when it was only the two of us? “Iroha, where are you?!” My voice trembled. I was alone in an unknown place. Fear took over. Nuemaru wasn’t with us. He was too big to fit into the building, so he had stayed by the entrance. If a Moujuu were to attack, I’d be defenseless. We could only move around this place that even the armies avoided thanks to Iroha. Without the Moujuu tamer, we were… “…!” My toes caught on something. The clothing on display swayed, and something rolled from under them. The first thing that caught my eyes was the long hair. A bony arm. Bare teeth. Hollow eye sockets. I gasped instead of screaming. Then. “Ayaho!” Someone picked me up as I fell. Warmth and a sweet smell. “Iro…ha…” She held me up, trying to catch her breath. Just seeing her melted the fear away. “Sorry I left you alone. I saw this guy coming…” Iroha looked equally sorry and relieved. “What guy…?” I turned around and this time I screamed. Behind Iroha stood a beast taller than me. A Moujuu that looked like a bipedal raccoon. The monster, enemy of all humanity, followed Iroha like a loyal pet, clinging to her back. She had found it in the building and run over to tame it without me noticing. I had no idea how she could do it. She said she didn’t know, either. But in any case, that power of hers had saved me, and nothing else mattered now. “She’s been dead for a long time. It must’ve been in the J-nocide,” Iroha said while crouching down before the skeleton. It was the remains of a woman wearing the store’s clothing. She must’ve died in the middle of the pandemonium and been left behind. A Moujuu wasn’t responsible. It seemed like she had been crushed by the panicked crowds, but there was no way to be sure now. It wasn’t the first time I had seen a dead body, but I still wasn’t used to it. I held back the tears, and Iroha held my shoulder and softly said: “Let’s bury her. Help us out, Donburi.” “…Donburi?” I frowned at the odd word. “It’s his name. I named it after the pattern on his tail that looks like a bowl—ramen donburi.” Iroha pointed at the Moujuu with her chest puffed out proudly. The raccoon-like monster had a swirl pattern on its tail. I could sort of see the resemblance. But it was a weird name for a Moujuu. “You’re not good at naming things, Iroha.” I sighed, all tension gone from my voice now. “What? No way! It sounds cute!” Iroha’s eyes went wide, and her shoulders slumped. We returned to the shop after burying the woman in the garden on the department store’s rooftop. Iroha found what she’d been looking for about an hour later. The spacious, clean shop had a wide selection of shirts, blouses, blazers, and skirts. “These are…” “Yup. Uniforms.” Iroha smiled at me. “Ayaho, you should be a middle schooler starting this year, right? I wanted you to wear a uniform. You can’t go to school anymore, but at least you can experience wearing the uniform.” “Ah…” I scanned the mannequins by the wall with wonder. There was no middle school for me to attend in this world without the Japanese people. The day when I became a middle schooler would never come. But I was moved by the sight of the uniforms. The symbols of past peace and hope for the future. Pieces of a place I used to admire that I had nearly forgotten. Even in this cruel world, I still lived and continued to grow up. The uniforms here felt like proof of that. It was the best gift Iroha could have given me. “Well, choose whichever you like.” Iroha illuminated the assortment and grabbed uniform after uniform. They had everything from old-school sailor uniforms to unfashionable blazers, all so charming. “But should I…?” “Don’t you worry. Middle school is part of compulsory education. You don’t need to take a test to enroll.” “I think some privates schools do tests… Ah, this one looks cute.” “There’s too many options, huh? Maybe I’ll grab a high school uniform for myself,” Iroha said while giving the high school corner a yearning look. It was such an Iroha thing to say. I smiled. “You sure love cosplay.” “Cosplay?! No, I’m still of high school age…!” Iroha protested. Meanwhile, I grabbed one uniform. A very normal blue sailor uniform. A plain middle school design I found lovely. “H-how does it look?” I held it up in front of me. “Amazing! Adorable! You’re so cute, my sister!” Iroha hugged me. I felt like I could accept her overexaggerated compliment now. Because she was my precious family, my only older sister. “…Thank you, Sis,” I said, suppressing my embarrassment. Then I staggered at the sight of the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Ayahooo…” “D-don’t cry, Iroha! You can’t be moved to tears just from that!” “But… But I…!” “Geez, what am I going to do with you…?” I chuckled and patted her back. It’s more motherlike than sisterlike to cry at the sight of your family member wearing a uniform for the first time, I thought. This couldn’t go on forever. The day when we had to leave these ruins would come. But the time we spent here as family was real. And until then, we would keep living here. In this hollow world.
Chapter 95
16 min read