Bio Defense ~A City Built in a World That Has Ended~

Chapter 1-5

“Grandma, is everything okay?”

As they approached the source of the voice, they found an elderly woman holding a large bundle of belongings and two foreign men struggling over the luggage. One of the men had blond hair and was holding onto the woman’s cylindrical bag, while the other had short hair and was incredibly muscular and unfriendly. When they saw Kanata and his friends, they exchanged sharp glances for a moment and then began to whisper to each other in low voices. However, the blond-haired man soon smiled and spoke to them.

“Ah, we help grandmother with heavy luggage.”

He used gestures and broken Japanese to convey this. He didn’t let go of the luggage the whole time.

“I told her I was fine, but she wouldn’t listen, and I was at my wit’s end. Are you students? Could you translate this for me in English?”

The grandmother looked at them expectantly, but unfortunately, everyone here was barely passing their English exams. They looked around for help, but since they were in a back alley that couldn’t be seen from the street, there was no one else there, of course.

The grandmother’s hopeful expression gradually turned into a cloud of disappointment, and Kanata felt sorry for her.

Just then, a hero appeared.

Subaru, who was the least proficient in English and sometimes even struggled with Japanese, stepped in front of the grandmother and the foreigners. He turned slightly and looked at them, giving them a thumbs-up, as if to say, “Leave it to me!”

Kanata and Daigo exchanged glances, preparing to take action if needed. Subaru then began to speak rapidly to the foreigners.

“Don’t worry!”

Subaru, who had been playing baseball since he was a boy and had trained his voice, spoke from his belly.

“No, no problem!”

The foreigners, who were taken aback by Subaru’s confident and proud expression despite his awkward reading, relaxed their guard and let go of the luggage. Seizing the opportunity, Daigo stepped between the grandmother and the foreigners, and Kanata picked up the fallen luggage and returned it to the grandmother.

The foreigners, who had momentarily regained their senses, exchanged words, and the muscular man, who had been standing behind them, stepped forward and glared at Daigo in a threatening manner. Daigo was well-built, but the foreigner was even bigger.

Tension filled the air, but the blond-haired man said something quickly, and the muscular man, who had been glaring at Daigo with cold eyes for a while, slowly returned to the blond-haired man’s side.

“Ah, it’s okay? OKOK We don’t have time. Good-bye.”

The blond-haired man stepped forward and said this cheerfully, then he disappeared into the back of the alley. However, the sharp gaze he had directed at Kanata and his friends when they first appeared was completely different from the cheerful tone he used when speaking in broken Japanese. It was unclear, but it seemed like he had made a disparaging gesture, and Kanata felt that he was not just a pushy but kind foreigner.

As Kanata watched the foreigners disappear, tense, a deflated voice came from behind.

“That was scary. That big guy was so intimidating, right? I was trying my best to hide the fact that my hands and feet were shaking.”

Daigo, who had sat down on the spot, said this. Indeed, his hands were visibly shaking.

“You’re pathetic. Pull yourself together! Did you see my English? It was pretty good, right? I told them it was okay, and they immediately let go.”

Subaru, who was helping Daigo up, looked happy, but Kanata thought that the expressions on the faces of the two foreigners at that time were more like “What is this guy saying?” rather than understanding the meaning.

“Well, it all worked out in the end, right?”

Kanata said this, sticking out his fist, and the other two also smiled and bumped fists with him.

—

Ten minutes later…

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

The grandmother, who was being carried by Daigo, apologized. After the incident, when the grandmother tried to stand up and walk, she sat down as if her strength had been drained. It seemed that she had twisted her foot while struggling over the luggage with the blond-haired man.

The grandmother said she could walk slowly, but Kanata and his friends insisted that she shouldn’t overexert herself, especially with such a large bundle of belongings. So Daigo carried the grandmother, and Kanata and Subaru carried the luggage.

“I should do something to thank you. My name is Matsushiba Sayuri. Was there something you needed?”

The grandmother, who introduced herself as Matsushiba, said this apologetically. Subaru, who was poking Daigo with his index finger, joked, “No, it’s fine. We just came to play, and if we ignored you, this Daigo might stand by your bedside at night.”

… Subaru. Matsushibasan gave him a gentle smile and ignored the comment, but normally, people who stand by your bedside are the deceased.

Besides, Daigo would probably find a more physical way to resolve the issue. For example, there was a story that when he saw a child crying after a minor collision with a light truck, he comforted the child, but when the light truck tried to escape, Daigo grabbed the back of the truck with one hand and prevented it from leaving while still comforting the child.

The driver could have abandoned the car and fled, but he was so intimidated by Daigo, who was holding the light truck with one hand, that he cried and apologized.

When asked about it, Daigo laughed and said, “There’s no way I could stop a running light truck, it’s an exaggerated rumor. Look, light trucks are rear-wheel drive, right? I just lifted the back tires a bit.”

Kanata and his friends shared such stories and asked Matsushiba-san not to worry. Matsushiba-san reluctantly agreed.

As they followed Matsushiba-san back to her company, they realized that it was in the same direction as the game center they had planned to visit that day. Maybe Tajima and Nakai were there.

As they approached the game center, they noticed something.

“Hey, what’s that over there?”

Daigo, who was walking at the front, muttered and stopped. In the direction of his gaze, there was a large intersection, and the game center should have been nearby.

It was a major road in the suburbs, and due to the nearby shopping mall, new companies, and warehouses, it was usually a busy road. Now, the cars lined up at the traffic light had their doors open, and some were parked on the sidewalk, creating a chaotic scene. Multiple people seemed to be struggling with each other around them.

If they paid attention, they could hear screams and shouts carried by the wind. Someone must have called the police, as they could now hear sirens from various directions.

“I wonder if there’s been some trouble?”

“Hey, are you okay? What’s that?”

Matsushibai-san, who was squinting, muttered, and the people who had been struggling on the ground had stopped moving. One of them must have been injured, as the man who got up had a large bloodstain on his shirt. Seeing this, Subaru became flustered.

Once again, the everyday world was about to collapse with a loud noise.