Chapter 54 - The Proof of a Leader
A leader should always stay calm.
They should win boldly, give precise instructions, and protect their subordinates.
Also never complain.
“It's not my personality though."
Jin muttered to himself.
The reason he acted as the leader was because he had once been a police officer.
Even if he had been, for example, an office worker for the traffic division.
Moreover, if he happened to say that he was an office worker for the traffic division, the community would probably easily collapse.
Therefore, he was the leader, and he had to be the ideal police officer of justice.
He stopped the car in front of the shopping center.
“Alright, let’s gather…”
He started to say before he heaved a sigh.
The blonde delinquent and the middle-aged man wearing glasses had started another quarrel.
“...Argh. You’re so annoying, old man!”
“W-what!? Dye your blonde hair! Aren’t the zombies gathering because of your flashy appearance!?”
“What!? Are you saying that it’s my fault this happened!?”
“Hey, you guys. That’s enough.”
He broke into their childish fight of throwing insults at each other.
“Tsk, I get it.”
If he intermediated, their quarrel would end, but it would soon after relapse.
The quarrel wasn’t only between the two, but they ended up giving the people in their surroundings stress as well.
And then, it would spread like cancer in the community, causing it to eventually collapse.
He had to do something before that happened.
“I, Riku, and Airi will go inside to look for supplies. The remaining people will stand by on guard.”
Leaving those words, he stepped inside the shopping center.
He disliked scary things.
Because it was scary.
He gets worried that the people who say they like horror have some kind of problem with their minds.
Because he was a guy, he’s often entrusted to go look for supplies by Jin, but he disliked it enough to die.
Therefore, if a zombie came out from a blind spot, he would become on the verge of crying.
No, it was enough for them to enter his line of sight to make him cry.
He wanted to pass the time listening to music in a soft and fluffy bed.
Even if it won’t come true, he couldn’t help but hope it would.
“Riku, come for a sec.”
“What is it, Airi?”
“Can you eat this?”
What Airi showed him was snack food.
“Since it’s sealed, I think it’s fine. Probably.”
“Can’t you be more clear? Do something about the ‘probably’.”
“T-then, it’s likely okay…”
“...It makes one really irritated, huh.”
“S-sorry!”
He kneeled down on the ground cleanly.
Airi was… He attached a “san” to her name even though she was in her second year of middle school and was younger than himself.
But, she was like an unusual female delinquent, so he had to address her with an honorific because he was scared.
To be honest, he didn’t want to go look for supplies together with her, but since Jin had said that they had to be at least two when searching for supplies, he couldn’t do anything about it.
However, Airi was very gentle with Misa.
It might not be her maternal instinct, but she becomes a very kind older sister.
Seeing that felt like a punch in his gut though.
“Hey, absent-minded good-for-nothing. Let’s go.”
“Y-yeah.”
He grasped the iron pipe tightly.
Because he had seen a zombie slowly walk toward the exhibition window.
“Airi.”
“I know.”
Airi approached the zombie.
At that moment, Airi disappeared.
“A-Airi!?”
No, she hadn’t disappeared.
Only fallen over.
On top of that, a dog was climbing on her.
A dog who was missing a part of the right side of its face.
“Ugh…”
Airi was scared.
He was scared as well.
“...Get away from Airi!”
Even then, he stepped forward and swung the iron pipe as hard as he could.
The zombified dog tumbled over and stopped moving.
“Are you okay!? Airi!”
“...I-I’m fine. I wasn’t bitten anywhere.”
“I’m glad…”
“Yeah… Riku, behind you!”
“Huh?”
He turned around, and a zombie opening its mouth wide was coming close to him.
Right, he had taken the iron pipe because he had noticed this zombie from the beginning.
“This is bad!”
He swung the iron pipe, the distance was too close to do enough damage.
The zombie grabbed him.
“W-woah!?”
As he said that, the hand on his shoulder was cut off, and the zombie was sent flying.
“...It was too dangerous to just stand and watch.”
“J-Jin!”
“I came because I could hear the uproar… Look around you.”
Taking a look around him once again, a fairly amount of zombies were gathering and surrounding them.
“It’s a bit problematic to take these down.”
“He, we have no choice but to do it.”
Jin and Airi took a step forward.
And he, although delayed, stepped forward as well.