Chapter 40 - The Beginning Of One's Last Moments
When everyone went to the bus, a man invaded the grocery store.
Quietly, without making a sound.
The man grinned widely as he, agile like a snake, entered the store.
There was still enough food being left behind.
There was no doubt that they would return.
There was a flash from the knife in his hand.
In front of the grocery store.
“…”
Jun paid attention solely to their surroundings.
There was no sign of the infected people wandering around on the street from time to time were heading his way.
It was safe.
Right, completely safe.
Without any zombies coming and there was no weird monster.
However, Jun was wordlessly driven by his anxiety.
In this season when the snow might fall, sweat ran down his back.
His instincts warned him of danger.
The alarm rang continuously in his head, his heart beat a little faster than normal, and he felt like he was suffocating.
Kazuma was inside the grocery store, and Sayo was in the storehouse in the inner parts of it.
Perhaps their positions were dangerous.
However, there was only one person he should protect and that was Sayo.
Kazuma wasn’t worth worrying about.
Sayo was, Sayo was his sole signpost, his hope, his dream.
He would protect Sayo who had always tucked him in.
Jun’s feet headed to the storehouse in the grocery store.
The man was in a narrow place.
A place in which he couldn’t move and only crawl forwards.
He peeked up from a crevice on the floor and saw a happy-looking boy stuff his backpack with canned food.
Only a little more-
He wondered what kind of sound he would make in his last moments.
Would he scream in a loud voice, or be dumbfounded?
Or beg for help?
He slowly removed a plank from the floor.
And then, haning a foot on the edge, he stretched his body,
The place the man was in was the ceiling.
He dove with his head down like a person being suspended from their execution.
And so he arrived at the back of the boy seemingly about to break out into a song.
Clutching the knife, he stabbed his back.
In the storehouse, Sayo placed a pet bottle she had filled with water in a trolley.
“Hmm? Gun? What happened?”
Noticing Jun entering, she interrupted her work and headed toward him.
“…”
Jun stroked her hair without a word.
“I see, so you were worried.”
For the two of them, words were already no longer needed.
They had a perfect understanding of each other’s minds.
“But, you have to properly keep watch.”
In spite of her saying that Jun didn’t move.
It seemed like he was refusing to budge.
“There’s no other way for you, huh.”
Sayo hugged him close and stroked his head.
“I won’t die, ever. Because I will protect you, Jun. Therefore, you protect me too, yeah?”
“…”
Jun didn’t move.
Did you know the word “Codependence”?
In a relationship where people didn’t have any self-confidence or didn’t know their own life’s values, they find it out by being mutually dependent on their partners.
That was just like chains.
A connected ring.
It was a puzzle ring that could never be solved.
Jun lost his reason for living and relied on Sayo.
Sayo gained her reason for living by continuing to support Jun.
Something lost and something gained.
They complemented each other and were able to live.
To put it in other words, it was unhealthy love.
The two continued to embrace each other without moving.
They would hug each other until they both got peace of mind.
Who would blame them?
Who would laugh at them?
In order for them to live, they couldn’t help it.
Even if they ended up bound, entwined, and ruined.
“U… gh…”
Blood oozed slowly but steadily from Kazuma’s back.
At the same time as the man pulled out the knife, blood spurt out, forming a red puddle underneath.
“What…”
“Ahahaha! Huge success!”
He suddenly heard a voice from behind.
Kazuma spurred on his body that was unable to speak and turned around.
There, a strange man stood.
Maybe he was old, or maybe he was young, he didn’t know.
Only, he was laughing his head off like a mad clown.
“I’m happy! How fun!”
“Ugh…”
His strength was leaving him.
The temperature was gradually lowering.
However, he was lucky that he hadn’t noticed that he carried a gun with him.
Kazuma contemplating whether to pull the trigger or not when the safety was on, stealthily removed it and put strength into his finger.
However, the safety didn’t react.
Even the power to remove the safety had lost Kazuma.
“Ooo… aaa”
He could only muster a groan.
Something hot welled up his throat, and without being able to withstand it, he vomited, resulting in the red puddle growing even larger.
“So, let’s try dying?”
The man approached him with the knife.
(Please give me… the strength to remove the safety… and shoot this piece of shit to death…)
Even then, his body didn’t listen to him.
From the sloshing sound, he understood that the man had stabbed him.
And his whole body was losing its functioning.
Kazuma fell with his body facing upwards.
Thud.
At that time, the weight of his body removed the safety.
(Alright… Now… Shoot… Shoot… Shoo..t…)
The sound of a gunshot never rang.