In the World of Crawling Dead The Record of War of a Certain High School

An unusual event had occurred for the Truck Brigade right as they headed for the shopping center.

“Huh? …Why?”

“What is it?”

The middle-aged man tilted his head in contemplation and to the question the man wearing glasses asked.

The middle-aged man was a PE teacher, and after his school was destroyed, he met Jin and the others as he was at a loss for what to do.

Now, he was the driver of armored buses of the Truck Brigade that picked up refugees.

“Well, the thing is… The engine doesn’t work.”

“Huh?”

“Well, I forcibly ran the bus, so it piled up until now, I guess. It’s no wonder there’s a backlash.”

“Hmm… Then, we have to repair now.”

“Hey, Shigeto. Shigeto?”

“Yes, yes, what is it?”

“The engine doesn’t work. Can’t you repair it?”

“That’s an easy task.”

To be a grownup¹ is to be a car mechanic.

As the repairman of this Brigade that makes the vehicles function, he had an extremely important post.

“Hmm? Oh no, this will take time.”

“About how long?”

“That’s right… Well, it’s estimated to be at the very least 30 minutes.”

“30 minutes… Well, we have no choice but to wait, I guess.”

“Then, let’s start.”

Seeing Shigeto begin to repair the bus, the middle-aged man came down from the driver’s seat and went up on the bus’ roof solely by the strength of his hands.

Then he took out cigarettes and a lighter and smoked.

Since the lighter was a precious ignition material, it was better to not use luxury items like cigarettes as much as possible, but since Jin had permitted it, he was doing it gratefully.

As a heavy smoker, smoking one cigarette a day wasn’t a great comfort to him.

He breathed out a lot of smoke and threw away the cigarette.

“Uncle, you can’t litter with cigarette butts!”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.”

Heeding the warning Misa gave him, he went down to the ground carefully and erased the tip of the cigarette with his foot.

Then he took the remnants and put them in his pocket.

He had always had a habit of littering, but since he didn’t know when he would get another cigarette, he had to collect those he smoked and make new ones.

It was an excessive small-mindedness but in order to smoke, he had no time to feel miserable.

As he returned to the bus and added the cigarette butt, it seemed like something noisy was coming, so he looked at the shopping mall through the windshield where the noise came from.

Riku, Airi, and Jin came running toward them.

The middle-aged man came down from the bus and called out to the three.

“Why are you rushing like that?”

“Hurry and get us away from here!!”

“Huh?”

“They’re coming!”

“What!?”

However, no zombies came out of the shopping center.

“Zombies, you say…”

“We lowered the shutter for disaster prevention! But it won’t last long! Something monster-like thing is destroying it! At first, the monster and the zombies were killing each other, but before I noticed it, they were coming after us instead…”

“...This is the worst.”

“That’s why we have to hurry and escape!”

“No. An engine stall just happened. The repairs will seemingly take 30 minutes.”

“No way…”

“Of all things it happened to the bus. We won’t be able to transport people and on top of it, we have to leave our goods behind. Jin, what do you think?”

“...First off, put the necessary goods in another vehicle. Hurry!”

“But what about the people?”

“I will think about that later. Just hurry and take the luggage!”

Seeing Riku and Airi starting to run, the middle-aged man talked to Jin.

“If we can’t use the bus, five people will be left out. Having said that though, we don’t have the time to wait for the bus to be repaired either.”

“...I have no choice but to make a decision, huh.”

“Unfortunately, five members will be left behind. We could find a new car, but we won’t have the key. There might be a way to start the car without it, but before that, the alarm will sound and attract the zombies. Five people… we have to save time and cut the number, huh.”

“However, that means…”

“To turn someone away will become a fear to one day be turned away as well, and it will arouse the suspicion of the community. Right?”

“What are you?”

“I know what you are thinking about, Jin. However, it’ll be a total annihilation otherwise. …I will remain here.”

“You are a necessary person to the community!”

“No, my life has already ended once. It was you, Jin, who gave me another life. It’s no good if I don’t use this life for you, you see”

“... Me too, I will remain.”

“You can’t. Do you mean to take away the leader?”

“Another person will become the leader- Even Riku could have the makings of becoming a leader…”

“Goddamn idiot! You are the leader. If you quit being the leader this easily, you’ll trample on Daigorou’s will who believed in you. So please go. The other four people will be seniors.”

“But!”

While knowing that the worst act of a leader was to hesitate, Jin couldn’t help but to hesitate.

Was it okay to abandon this man who had made a significant emotional contribution to the community?

There was no way it was.

If he was leaving someone, it would be better to leave a blonde guy who always was in a bad mood.

However, at the same time as Jin was about to object, the shutter for disaster prevention broke down.

Countless zombies came out from it.

1. His name also means grownup or adult. ↑