Chapter 5 - The Watchman of the Small Library
“...I’m stumped.”
A girl with long straight black hair, second year class 5’s Miu Shimizu propped up her head on her hand.
This was the school’s small library1
No, rather than calling it a small library, it suited more to call it a library.
The vast room stored over 20,000 books.
And, for teaching staff to manage that amount of books was tough.
Therefore, it was organized for one person from each class to be invited to the library committee.
The small library was open morning, lunch, and after school, so since it was the day when Miu was on duty for the morning shift, she was here to manage the library.
It had been no different from every day until now until a sudden scream resounding in the school breaking that feeling.
A few minutes later, a suspicious person had entered the library, so, flustered, she had locked herself in a storeroom, and had survived without any problems.
However, there was naturally nothing to eat nor drink in here.
“What should I do…”
The suspicious person seemed to have found out where she hid, and the sound of banging was heard.
(At any rate, it is strange… rather than the sound of banging, it is more like scratching. No, should the suspicious person not give up in the first place? If they stayed at this place for a longer period of time, they would be caught by a teacher. Rather than that, why won’t a teacher come? The screaming is only getting louder. It is probably already a situation where the teachers cannot do anything about.)
Her thoughts turned over in her head.
(A normal person would leave this place. This was too weird even for a mentally ill person. Was it an unhuman existence? …There is none like that. However, I do not feel like opening the door to check either. Not being able to see the opposite side because of the frosted glass is vexing.)
A dark figure was projected on the frosty glass.
(Anyhow, waiting with courage is better… If neither the boisterous students nor police were coming, it might be a bit dangerous though. They could break the glass at any time….? Why are they not breaking the glass…)
Immediately after she thought that, the glass broke and a hand reached inside.
Blood was covering the hand.
(It is a hand, but it is covered all over with blood… It should not only be blood from a wound caused by breaking the glass. Perhaps the assassin had already dealt with several people before her… No, this is not the situation to be thinking about this. I should at least look for a weapon or something.)
She surveyed her surroundings slightly impatiently.
(A broom… That is impossible, huh. The reach of a dictionary is too short too. Let’s make a barricade by moving the desk.)
Pushing the desk, she brought it to the front of the door.
(After this, I only have to put stuff on it to make it immovable. However…)
Miu’s thoughts were cut off.
“Wha!? Ugh!”
Her throat was squeezed.
The hand squeezing her throat was the hand that previously broke the glass.
(Why…? To be able to even reach here… That is not the normal range for a human? Unless you dislocate your joints… I… can not…)
Her vision grew dim as if a fog was spreading out in the room.
However, she could hear a war cry sounding next.
“Aaargh!!!”
(What is… that.)
At the same time as a crushed sound, the hand strangling her neck lost its strength.
“Cough! Coughcough!”
She coughed violently.
And then, she heard a knocking on the door.
“Uhhh. Are you alright?”
“Cough, cough, somehow…”
She staggeringly stood up.
Unlocking the door with the key, the door was opened vigorously, and a young man seemingly around 190cm appeared.
“Are you hurt?”
“Oh, no, thanks to you… Thank you very much.”
She bowed deeply.
Seeing the circumstances, the young man scratched his head embarrassedly.
“No, no, you don’t need to be so grateful.”
He said.
Miu exited the storeroom and checked the suspicious person who had strangled her.
The head was indented.
He probably hit him with a drilling impact.
“He is dead, huh.”
“Oh, that’s probably not human.”
“Not human? What do you mean by that?”
“The suspicious people inside the school right now… the other students are kind of zombies… Anyhow, if you’re bitten by one of them, you’ll behave just like this guy.”
“Huh… It is exactly like a zombie.”
She looked at the arm of the collapsed person.
It was way too long.
Probably, at the end of running away from the zombies, the arm had forcibly been pulled back.
The arm was stretched out.
“The eyes are white.”
“I think they probably can’t see. I think they detect us based on smell or sound.”
“Right. Then, let’s make a complete barricade in the small library. Could you bring that desk here?”
“Oh, of course. I look like this, but I’m strong.”
He easily lifted up the desk.
His strength was clearly like it seemed to be, but she did not retort that.
“Thanks… . I am Miu Shimizu. Second year class five. And you?”
“Oh, I’m Daiki Oota. First year class four.”
“...That is, will we be able to do this?”
“Well, with effort.”
Miu turned her neck left and right, and after taking a deep breath, she told Oota.
“We will be able to do this?”
“Understood! Senior!”
The barricade of the small library was completed.
- Instead of a library with several rooms, this is a library with only a single room. These are usually libraries at schools, companies, etc. ↑