When the thunderous noise erupted from above, Tetsuko looked up.
“She did it.”
Tetsuko was down in the underground garage, packing the car with ammunition and every bit of food and fuel she could scrape together.
Having accompanied the Kosahana duo in their hunting endeavors on numerous occasions, she could easily discern the different firing sounds of each rifle.
“She really did it...”
After a moment of silence, she pushed down her glasses and went back to work.
✦ ✦ ✦
The door locked behind us as we crumpled to the floor, struggling to catch our breath.
“Do you have a death wish or something?”
“You’re one to talk.”
Shino had delivered a clean headshot.
She did it. She finally put her old man to rest.
The aftermath hadn’t been nearly as pretty. Two other zombies had been standing right beside me, and with a lifeless corpse weighing me down, I hadn’t been able to slip away in time.
I’d thought I was looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, but it had turned out to be the sole of Otoha’s shoe.
She had made quick work of the two zombies using her trusty shovel, then proceeded to punt the corpse clean off me.
After that, I had scrambled to my feet, snatched the rifle off the ground, and scuttled back inside.
Otoha had jammed a fork she’d “borrowed” during lunchtime in the doorway to keep the door from closing.
A zombie had almost landed a swipe on my back as we’d kicked away the fork and tumbled inside. The door had closed and locked itself right in front of the zombies. About ten seconds had passed since then.
“Didn’t I tell you to stand by the door?”
“You could’ve done that a million better ways.”
“As they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty.”
A simple trap could have stopped a zombie dead in its tracks, but could it have pushed Shino over the edge? Probably not.
By putting my life on the line, I had given Shino the excuse she so desperately needed to finally put an end to it all. She got to put the blame on me, and I got to free her from this accursed place. A win-win, by all means.
“Just don’t do that ever again.”
“I’ll try not to.”
All of a sudden, Shino stormed in, shouting, “Have you gone mad?!”
Did I just single-handedly free a hardcore shut-in?
“Do you have any idea how worried I was?!” She kneeled down right next to me, put her hands against my cheeks, and went in for the headbutt—err, hung her head.
Her eyes were swollen, her lips quivering. She was an all-around mess, yet I couldn’t pull my eyes away.
It’d be so cool if we kissed right now, I thought to myself.
“Never, I repeat, never even think of doing that again!” Shino cried, and this time, she landed an excellent headbutt.
Owie.
“You did good, soldier,” I said with a smile.
As I expected, her sniping skills were just as impeccable in real life as they were in games.
One of Raven’s lines crossed my mind at that very moment: “Welcome to the party. We hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”
And another: “Gather your party, collect resources, fight side by side, and you too can be victorious! Always remember, teamwork makes the dream work!”
If I took her words at face value, this meant we were one step closer to victory... whatever that was.
Shino blinked. “Hello? Hiroaki?”
“I did it for me, a’ight? Don’t get any ideas.” I gave her a thumbs-up.
At that moment, Tetsuko came up the stairs from the underground garage. “We’re all set. Everything is just as you ordered.”
“Oh, uh, excellent.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Tetsuko, Shino’s mother figure, was the last person I wanted to walk in on us with our foreheads touching.
“Now, Lady Shino.”
“Erm, yes?” Shino quickly hopped off me and onto her knees, staring attentively up at Tetsuko.
“What will it be?”
“I’m going with them,” she answered immediately.
Shino, having unleashed her frustrations on me, went right back to her usual self—except now she spoke with determination.
“I’m finally free of this place.”
The Shino who had locked herself away in her room, away from the guilt and regret, was no more. She had freed herself from the past. Finally, she could take on the world without anything holding her back. Yeah, she was one of us now.
“From here on out, we fight for the living.”
Tetsuko nodded. “As you wish,” she said, her voice thick with pride.