“I understand. I’ll give up on entering the building. Just let me make sure of one thing first: You don’t have a problem letting Haruka stay here, do you?”
“Of course not. She seems to be a student here, so we can trust her.”
“Good…”
I hadn’t expected things to turn out like this, but there was some good to come out of it. I could leave Haruka here and go off by myself to collect supplies.
Just as that thought went through my mind, Haruka’s eyes met mine.
“Yuuma, I hope you’re not even considering leaving me here.”
“I’ll come and get you when I find someplace safe for us. Besides, I’ll be back once a day to bring you supplies, and—”
“No.” Her tone said it was out of the question. “If you can’t stay here, then neither will I.”
“…I’m worried about taking you with me to places we don’t know are safe. I’ll go alone and check things out first, then come back.”
“All you have to do is protect me.”
“Stop being unreasonable. I promised your dad you’d be safe with me.”
“You did, so don’t go back on your word now. What if zombies are lurking somewhere in this dorm?”
“—Oh. Now that you mention it, that is a possibility…”
Haruka was right: It was dangerous to leave her here without checking that the place was safe first.
Listening to our exchange, the girl with the bow and arrow put down her weapon and turned to Haruka.
“What do you want to do? I’ll open the gate for you if you wish to leave.”
“Please, let me out. I don’t want to stay here by myself.”
“Understood. I’ll unlock the gate—but you,” she said, looking at me. “Don’t you dare try to slip in when I open it. I’ll shoot you if I see you making any strange moves.” She repositioned her arrow on the bowstring and continued to regard me suspiciously.
“I won’t… Oh, and let me know if you need anything in the way of supplies,” I told her. “We’re going to the supermarket later, so I’ll pick them up while we’re there.”
“—Huh?” I seemed to have caught the girl by surprise, because her eyes widened, just for a moment. “…Why would you offer to do something like that?”
“What d’you mean, ‘why’? We all need food, don’t we?”
“That’s not what I meant… Why would you even consider helping out someone who rejected you…?” the girl asked, sounding confused. She really didn’t seem to get why I was offering to help her out.
…Oh right. I’m resistant to zombies, so it’s natural for me to want to help, but other people wouldn’t have the luxury to do that…
“Aaargh…”
I suddenly heard a zombie moaning behind me. Turning around, I saw it was wearing the same uniform that Haruka had on. It had probably wandered close after hearing our conversation.
“—Oh no!” The girl immediately took out a key, unlocked the gate, and shouted, “Quick, get inside!”
“No; you said guys weren’t allowed inside, so you can’t let me in.” I picked up a rock about the size of a fist and shoved it into the zombie girl’s mouth as she tried to bite me. I swiftly went around her and tied her hands behind her back, but in the process, the rock fell out of her mouth. The girl flailed violently, trying to sink her teeth into me.
This was one ferocious zombie; simply restraining her hands and feet might not be enough. I wanted to secure her someplace where it wouldn’t matter if she thrashed about…
Looking around, I spotted a telephone pole. Something like that wouldn’t break, even if the zombie went wild.
Not wanting to scare the girls in the dorm, I dragged the zombie about ten meters away, then used the hemp rope to tie her neck to the pole. The girl zombie bared her teeth and tried to bite me. I watched her for a little while, but she didn’t seem to be clever enough to free her arms and neck from the rope.
Satisfied, I returned to the girls’ dorm and saw the young woman in the hakama frozen on the spot behind the half-open gate.
“…Aren’t you afraid of the zombies?”
I didn’t quite know how to respond to that. I could tell her it wasn’t a problem if a zombie bit me, but that might mean I’d have to leave Haruka here at the dorm. It was probably better to hide the fact that I was…different.
“I am scared, but I’m more afraid of zombies biting other people.”
That must be how the average person felt when they confronted a zombie. Not that I knew.
“…Answer me one more question: Why didn’t you kill it? Destroying its head would have reduced the risk of it biting you, rather than just tying it up.”
“True, but what if there’s a way to turn the zombies back into human beings again? I don’t want to have any regrets if we ever find a way to do that.”
The truth was that I didn’t have the guts to kill a zombie, but I tried playing it a bit cool.
A resolute look appeared on the girl’s face, and she opened the gate.
“Forgive my earlier rudeness. Please come in; you’re welcome to live in the dormitory here.”
“—Huh? But I thought guys weren’t allowed.”
“The reason we refuse entry to men is because I’m still too inexperience to discern whether they will cause problems. It’s my duty to protect the girls here, so I’ve had to be very strict in dealing with the current situation. You seem sincere, though, so I think we’ll be safe letting you in. There is still a chance that something might happen, but having witnessed your courage, I’ve decided that the potential returns of letting you join our community outweigh the risks.