Chapter 11 “You’re out of your mind.”
“In times like that, Kana will be more calm if Masaomi says it to her than if I say it to her.”
After leaving the student council room, Kazuki and I started running down the hallway.
“But I wanted to get between you guys a little. I couldn’t leave it to Masaomi. You understand, right?”
“Yea, yeah.”
I didn’t understand the reason and ended up giving a raw reply.
“That’s just how it is.”
Kazuki called me insensitive, but it seemed like I needed to realize that sooner.
“By the way, Masaomi, stay calm and listen.”
The sound of two people’s footsteps echoed in the hallway on the third floor.
“Dead people are walking.”
I couldn’t respond to that.
For a moment, it reminded me of old zombie movies.
From the moment I was attacked by the spider monster, reality had already ceased to be real. However, even if it is no longer reality, this is way too far-fetched. It’s so hilarious that you might even think that it’s being done on movie shoots.
“Right now, the student council president and the others are building a barricade. To somehow prevent their advance.”
Kazuki jumps to the landing instead of running down the stairs leading to the second floor.
Even though he was playing around, he was able to avoid Mizuno-san’s near-surprise crutch attack.
Of course, I couldn’t do that, so all I could do was skip two steps and run down.
When I got down to the second floor, I found the student council president, Mutsuki-san, and Sato who had brought out a large number of desks.
A desk is mercilessly thrown onto the landing on the first floor.
On the landing, desks, chairs, and a teacher’s table were stacked together.
“We’re fine here! Toujou and Nagasawa go to the other side!”
Kazuki and I came to help, and were greeted by a roar of anger.
The student council president carries a desk in, not caring if his glasses come off.
“I just some some movements to the other side!”
Satou, who was holding a chair, turned his voice over and shouted.
Sweat drips down his forehead, and his uniform is stained with rust from the legs of the desk.
“Got it. Masaomi, let’s go. On the other side.”
We turn on our heels.
On the way, I passed Mutsuki-san, who had punched me away.
She strides towards me, carrying more chairs than Satou.
Where such power was hidden in the feminine Mutsuki-san, it’s a mystery.
“I thought you wouldn’t be able to recover for a while, but you’re surprisingly sturdy.”
I suddenly stopped when I heard her voice behind me as she passed by.
“We’re almost done here so I’ll go over to help out later.”
Her hair, which has become disheveled from hard labor, sways. As if she knew I was standing still, that’s all she said, and she headed back to the barricade construction site.
“Masaomi! Hurry up!”
I followed Kazuki, keeping my eyes glued to Mutsuki-san’s slender, stretched back.
Just looking at Mutsuki-san, who works hard even if her uniform, hair, and skin get dirty, makes me feel encouraged.
That’s probably just my own imagination.
However, there was definitely a part of me that was encouraged.
Mutsuki-san’s behavior is typical of her, who hates being passive and doesn’t mind taking action on her own.
I could see from her back that she had a strong will to carve out her own destiny.
“Okay, let’s carry it out.”
We jump into the classroom near the landing and pick up a desk. We throw all the textbooks and notebooks on the desk into the classroom. The pencil case fell with a noise, and the lid came off. We trample mechanical pencils that have fallen into the classroom while carrying it, leaving footprints of the slippers on the notebook.
Once outside, we immediately head to the landing and throw the desk from the top of the stairs.
An unthinkable roar echoed through the school.
Normally, students would be surprised and run out of the classroom, or teachers would run wide-eyed.
“Masaomi, next, next!”
Similarly carrying a desk, Kazuki threw it into the corridor and slapped my back. While spinning his arms around, Kazuki entered the classroom in search of the next desk. I also followed and tried to return to the classroom.
“……Hel,p…… me”
It was my classmate’s voice.
A voice can be heard from the landing.
I almost burst into tears at the familiar voice.
――She was alive.
“…What a relief, I’m so glad……”
I stop carrying the desk and go down the stairs. I moved the desk that was lying on the landing and approached my classmate who was lying face down.
It was the girl sitting next to my desk.
We didn’t usually talk but there were times when I heard a boisterous laughter and get surprised. She was a member of the softball club and seemed a little rough around the edges.
While remembering the peaceful days of school life, I helped the girl, Katou-san, up.
There’s a gooey sensation on my hand.
When I helped Katou-san to her feet, her abdomen was dyed bright red.
The blood had lost its original color and was bleeding so much that it looked like it was a red uniform.
“Katou-san!”
I call out to her.
“Hel……p, me?”
Katou-san’s eyes catch me. Her mouth was opening and opening like a goldfish, and her whole body was convulsing repeatedly.
“It’s okay, you’re fine now.”
I repeated as if trying to convince Katou-san.
Despite trying to persuade her, Kato-san’s symptoms do not improve.
On the contrary, the convulsions gradually became worse. It felt like all my muscles were going to explode.
I drop Katou-san’s head from my arms as she goes wild with convulsions.
The dull sound of Katou-san hitting her head echoed on the landing.
Then, Kato-san’s convulsions suddenly stopped.
“Ka, Katou-san――”
I couldn’t believe it.
Katou-san seemed seriously ill, but the next moment she stood up vigorously.
I kneel down on one knee and look up at her.
Katou-san’s abdomen seems to be still bleeding, and his blood runs down her thighs and soaks into her knee socks.
“H……e, he……lp, me……”
Kato-san’s eyes turned towards me. I feel like her eyeballs are going to pop out.
“…….Ka, Katou-san?”
Blood flows out from Katou-san’s mouth like a drool.
No, not drool but a vomit.
The amount is unusual.
Every time Kato-san speaks, a sound similar to gargling is heard.
Her arms reached out to me.
Her hands reach out to me, trying to grab me.
Like the forward leaning posture you see in old zombie movies. Like a baby that just stood up..
。
Katou-san’s hands reached out to my face.
―― The moment I thought that, Kato-san’s head got hit by a desk that came flying.
The desk tumbled in front of me, and Katou-san smashed through the window, exposing half of her body to the outside.
“Masaomi! Stay away from it!”
“‘It?’ Hey, do you realize what you’re done to her!?”
Kazuki comes down the stairs in a hurry.
While I was still on one knee, he forcibly pulled up my arm and pushed me against the wall.
“Get it right! You know it! There’s no one left alive except for us!”
“Kazuki……”
Kazuki’s breathing is heavy.
“She was……asking for help.”
“Help? That’s why? Is that why you helped her? Even at the risk of you getting killed!”
Katou-san breaks through the window glass and slowly pulls half of her body out of the glass. Her head is caved in from being hit by the desk and blood is gushing out. Red cascades down her face, making it impossible to look directly at her. Just looking at it makes me feel like throwing up.
“Katou-san……”
I was in a daze and was doing my best to call out her name.
Kazuki lets go of me, who was pressed against the wall, and confronts Katou-san.
As if he’s protecting me.
Kato-san extends her arm to Kazuki. Kazuki doesn’t do something half-hearted like take her arm, but instead jumps up and kicks her in the jaw. Her neck was exposed, and she turned over, falling onto her back.
The blood that had dyed her face splattered onto the wall. The blood on the wall was pulled by gravity and formed a straight streak.
“H……el,p”
I can hear Katou-san’s murmuring voice.
I still can’t believe it.
“Kazuki, you……!”
Kazuki’s back is breathing heavily.
“Masaomi, you have to realize it. There is no one else who is alive. Don’t be deceived. Everyone is dead.”
Kazuki approached Katou-san, who was lying on her back. When he stood in front of Katou-san’s face, whose mouth was flapping open and close and blood was gushing out, he lifted the desk that was supposed to be used as a barricade.
What will he do?
“Stop it, Kazuki. Katou-san is alive.”
Kazuki lifts the desk high.
“Kazuki, stop.”
I extend my arm to Kazuki, just like Katou-san did.
As if clinging to a faint hope.
“H……el, p?”
Katou-san moves her eyeballs slowly. Like a medaka ricefish just before it is born from an egg.
I can see the strength in Kazuki’s arm.
The hammer was about to come down.
I realize that my body jumps in before my thoughts.
“You guys, what are you doing!”
Mutsuki-san’s voice sounded like a scream.
I was covering Katou-san at the speed of one tenth of a second.
If someone else saw it, it would definitely look like I was attacking her.
“Masaomi…… why?”
The force of the desk slamming into my back was probably the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.
Severe pain spreads from my back.
“Why won’t you understand!”
He throws the desk away and scratches his head. In his outstretched hands are hair that has fallen out due to excessive scratching.
“I want to protect you! I want to help you!”
“……What the hell is going on?”
It seems that she can’t grasp the situation just by looking at me and Kazuki. However, when she saw the person I was covering, she completely changed.
“You’re going to die.”
She’s staring at me with cold eyes.
“……Hel…… me”
Katou-san speaks to me. I feel like crying because of the pain in my back. But I was able to protect her. Compared to its value, this back pain is nothing.
“I want to help! Please understand! Get out of the way!”
Kazuki screams like crazy in a voice that sounds like he’s about to cry. I have never seen Kazuki in such a disgraceful sight before.
“I also want to help… Katou-san. She’s still alive.”
“What are you talking about? That’s a monster.”
“No, she’s alive…look…”
Katou-san begins to tremble little by little. I gently stroke her cheek to soothe him.
It’s still warm.
Her cheeks and the blood flowing down them were certainly warm.
“You’re out of your mind.”
She looks down on me as if I were a monster.
“Exactly, which one of us is out of his mind……”
I make peace with my aching back and stand up. The negotiations seemed to be going nowhere, and the severe pain made my expression distort.
“Why…… are you able to accept it so easily……?”
I tighten my fists.
“She’s our classmate! She’s a friend from our school life!”
Mutsuki’s lips tremble.
“We lived together until yesterday, so why would you kill her!”
Every time Kazuki hears my words, he clutches his head in pain. He seems to be suffering from a headache.
“That’s weird!”
“What a hopeless hypocrite.”
Mutsuki’s eyes become sharp.
This is hostility. She is looking at me the same way she did the spider monster.
“…… el,ppp, p” (TN: from “help“)
Katou-san has convulsions again.
“Damned monster.”
Mutsuki-san takes out a fire extinguisher that was installed on the wall.
Mutsuki-san’s gaze was focused on Katou-san, who was having repeated convulsions. There was no sign of Katou-san getting up. Her belly just swells and bulges over and over again.
“Masaomi, what’s all the fuss about~?”
Kana’s voice came from the stairs, leaning over to look into the landing.
Everyone present lost their minds at the bright voice that seemed out of place.
Kana trots down the stairs and beckons something in front of her.
“I’m sorry. That… we heard that loud voice, so… we got worried.”
Mizuno,-san on crutches, timidly appeared from where Kana had beckoned her.
