High School Girl Warrior: How to Save an Apocalyptic World

Chapter 71 – Civilization

 

The old lady of the ‘clubhouse’ led us to a small room within the building, then told us, “Please wait here for now… And are the three of you hungry?”

“Yes! I’m hungry!” Sakata exclaimed.

He is quite energetic, isn’t he?

“Well, then here, they are the leftovers of yesterday’s hot pot.” The old lady then gave us bows with rice gruel in them.

“Whoa! Thank you! I love eating the leftovers from hotpots!” Sakata exclaimed.

I actually agree with him on this one.

“Do you smoke, by the way?” The old lady asked.

“You have cigarettes too!? Please give me one!” Sakata asked.

“After dinner.” The old lady replied, then left.

And so, me, Sakata and Iroha ate dinner in a small room that was a bit too cramped for the three of us.

“Delicious… Seriously now, I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.
I can’t believe I’m eating something so good…” Sakata commented as he ate.

“Since yesterday…? Couldn’t you have gotten some food from the station?” I asked.

“Idiot.
That place is a nest for ‘them’.” Sakata replied.

Oh, right.
There used to be zombies there, though me and Iroha took care of them already.

And while I was thinking about that…

“Hey, you.” Sakata bowed his head to me, “Thank you for what you did earlier.”

“… What happened earlier?” I asked.

“Don’t be silly.
You saved me from ‘them’.” Sakata replied.

Oh yes, that happened.

I didn’t tell him, but I had genuinely forgotten about it.

“… Though that help was unnecessary.
I was about to break the neck of that zombie.” Sakata commented without looking me in the eyes.

“Ohou!” Iroha said.

“… You don’t believe me.” Sakata muttered.

“I don’t!” Iroha replied.

We all knew that, if I was just a few seconds late, he would have been bitten on the neck, so Iroha’s reaction made sense.

“You brats are way too impertinent.” Sakata grumbled.

“Does age matter?” I replied.

As far as I could see, it seems like ability is prioritized over age and background in this place.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have taken me in after I suddenly appeared.

Besides, Oda is already an executive, and he seemed to be about the same age as Sakata.

At this moment, Sakata sighed and looked away from me.

Then, I got up from my seat, “Bathroom.”

“Aah, theen I wiil go tooo!” Iroha also left her seat.

So, the two of us went to the bathroom together.

Even now that we were alone though, Iroha kept on making that dumb face.

She giggled.

“Enough of this act, alright?” I told her.

“It’s aactually preetty fuuun.” She replied.

“Don’t overdo it and try being real.” I sighed.

Iroha just giggled at this request.

“Soo, whaat aree we doiing noow?” Iroha asked me.

She really seemed to have no intention of stopping…

“For now, let’s wait until it’s night.
Once we figure out where the boss is, we can go there…” As I said that, I put my right hand on my chest.

Then, my hand was enveloped in a white light.
It was the light of the Enslave skill that I borrowed from Amamiya.

“And use Enslave on him.” I told Iroha.

“And then?” She asked next.

“I’ll first order him to release all captured women, then we can go back to the memorial park and talk to him about what comes next.” I replied.

“Talk?” She asked.

“I will make him swear that he won’t threaten the people on his surroundings in the future.” I said.

“Mmm…” Iroha seemed to be thinking, “Will thaat woork?”

Just when I thought she had stopped…

I’m not sure if it will work or not though.

“What if he doesn’t listen to you no matter what?” Iroha asked, normally this time.

“In that case…” I sighed.

I have a feeling that it might end up like that.

“It can’t be helped.
If it comes to that, I’ll have no choice to kill him.
The boss of this place.” I said.

***

When we finished talking and left the bathroom, we bumped into Sakata.

“What are you two doing?” He rolled his eyes at us.

“Well, bathroom.” I replied.

“And you were both in the women’s restroom?” He asked next.

Oh… I had completely forgotten, but I’m on a man’s body now.

Sakata started laughing, “You guys were having some fun, weren’t you!?”

“T-that is… That’s not the case.” I replied.

“Sure, sure, just don’t be having some premature ejaculations, alright?” Sakata laughed out loud.

How uncomfortable… Are men always excited about this kind of topic?

Either way, we passed by Sakata and went back to our room.

Just then, we met up with Oda, who seemed to have just arrived.

“Yo.” He greeted us.

“Yes…?” I replied.

“Can I ask you to do a job now?” Oda asked.

“Sure.” I told him.

“Burn that zombie woman you killed.” Oda told me.

I stayed silent for a few seconds, but he said nothing else, so I decided to ask, “… That’s it?”

“That’s it.
Why do you ask?” Oda asked back.

“It’s too easy.” I replied.

Oda averted his gaze.
It seemed like he was a bit troubled over how to talk about this.

But soon enough, he continued, “Certainly, this isn’t dangerous, but you see… This is a job that not many people are willing to do.

“Therefore, you do it, since it’s your ‘fault’.”

I just heaved a sigh in response.

“You can be happy about it though.
The boss seemed to have also been thinking that that zombie should be disposed of, so he was happy when he heard about what you did.

“Depending on how well you work, you might meet up with him soon.” Oda told me.

Even if says that, I still have mixed feelings about all this.

After all, I might either make him a slave or kill him tonight.

“For now, just focus on doing work, alright? Over here you can get promoted much faster than in the previous world.

“After all, there are only a few humans available, and there’s a lot of work to be done.” Oda told me next.

“I see.” I vaguely replied.

“You know, we’re actually planning on using this place as our base to restore civilization in this country, so like…” Oda started saying.

“Don’t oppose the boss?” I tried finishing his phrase for him.

“Oh… Did you hear that from Akai?” Oda asked me.

“I did.” I answered honestly.

“Well, then you already know.

“In any case, the boss has a talent, you know? The kind of talent you need to create a strong country.

“I couldn’t think I’d be involved in something like this back before the world changed.

“This is a pretty worthwhile job, isn’t it?” Oda asked me.

I looked away from him after hearing this much.
It was hard to meet his gaze.

Oda laughed heartily at my reaction though, “Actually, aren’t you enjoying this too? This ‘world end’ situation?”

I didn’t know how to respond.

I silently left, without looking back at him.