“I saw you kissing at four this morning, and at first, I thought, Boy, those lovebirds really can’t get enough of each other. But soon after, I noticed something strange. Yesterday, you guys kissed three times: at ten AM, four PM, and ten PM. Today, it was at four in the morning, then in the hallway at ten, and you’re about to do it again now at four in the afternoon. You didn’t kiss once at any other time. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“……”
We hadn’t expected Kamiji to pressure us with her incredible observational skills, and neither Mai nor I could speak for a few moments.
Now that she mentioned it, I realized how careless we’d been. A kiss every six hours meant we were kissing at the same time each day. I thought that made it nice and easy to remember, but there was also a high risk of having other people notice what we were doing. We should have started kissing at random intervals once we realized Kamiji was suspicious of whether or not we were really a couple… Though normally, nobody would have noticed something like that…
It probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d been kissing once after five hours, then a second time seven hours later. Cursing my bad luck, I tried to rebut Kamiji’s arguments.
“Hey, don’t be ridiculous. Once every six hours? That’s just a coincidence. Why would we do something like that?”
“I don’t know, but maybe there’s a reason the two of you have to kiss regularly. It would certainly explain why you’re usually so distant from each other. Maybe you aren’t kissing because you’re a couple but just pretending to be a couple because people saw you kissing.”
“…It’s all in your head. You don’t have anything to prove that, do you?”
“No, I don’t. But there’s also no proof that I’m wrong about this.”
“Then we aren’t going to get anywhere with this discussion.”
“Not necessarily. There’s a simple way to prove your claim. All you have to do is refrain from kissing each other for a while. It’s almost four PM, the time you have to kiss each other, right? Then if you want to prove me wrong, all you have to do is not kiss.”
“……”
Mai and I looked at each other. Kamiji was smart, suggesting that as a way to prove her wrong. We were left with no room to argue.
We had no choice but to fess up, so we decided to tell her the truth.
The three of us left the tent and asked Amano to join us. Then I told them that I could turn into a zombie at will, that Tsukishiro had the zombie virus in her body, and that I was giving her my saliva to stop her from zombifying.
“…I see. That also explains the weird feeling I’ve had about how unafraid of zombies you are, Kousaka,” Kamiji said as she stood with her arms crossed.
“You think I’m unafraid of zombies…?”
“Yeah. You go out there to face those zombies with almost no battle gear when a single bite from them could kill you. I’d think that normally, you’d wear a full-face helmet and thick gloves to make sure your skin isn’t exposed. You could also get spattered by their blood and get infected.”
“When you put it like that…”
“But putting that aside for now, let’s get to the important question. I want you to answer me honestly, Kousaka. Will a person turn into a zombie if they’re infected with the zombie virus you have inside your body?”
“I don’t know…”
“Then what about the conditions for infection? Will someone be okay as long as you don’t bite them, or will they be infected if your virus enters their body in any way?”
“I don’t know that, either…”
“Okay… So even if you don’t bite us, there’s a possibility we could still get infected and become zombies if we’re with you. Like catching a cold.”
“I guess…”
“Then it’s too risky living in the same building. There’s a chance we could get infected from a droplet of saliva or something while speaking to you.”
“……”
I hadn’t thought of that, but she was right. You could catch a cold from someone without kissing them. So far, I’d been occupying the same space as everyone else—eating, talking, and even taking drum baths with them. I’d been too careless.
Kamiji, on the other hand, had maintained a certain distance from everyone else yesterday. She’d been considering the possibility that she might give them the zombie virus if she had it in her body…
I’d started to regret my actions, but then Haruka spoke up.
“I’ve been living with Yuuma for six days now, and I haven’t gotten infected.”
“Maybe you’ve just been lucky. Even if you’ve been okay so far, there’s no guarantee you’ll stay that way,” Kamiji countered.
She was right. It was over for someone if the zombie virus entered their body. I should have been more careful.
“As you say, I should be quarantined immediately. I’ll leave the dorm and live somewhere on my own.”
“Huh?! Yuuma, are you serious?!”
“Of course. I’d never be able to live with myself if someone got infected because they’d been living with me.”
“But we can’t go on without you!”
“I’ll make regular deliveries of food and water, and I’ll live close enough to be able to rush over if something happens.”
“That’s not the issue!”
“Please understand, Haruka. This is to protect you and everyone else.”
“…Yuuma…” She hung her head sadly.
“Besides, it isn’t like we’ll never see each other again. It’ll be okay for us to talk if we keep a certain distance.”
“…But…”
“…Uh, can I interrupt for a minute?” Mai interjected. “Am I right in assuming that I’ll be going with Yuuma?”
…Huh?