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

Chapter 3-1 Hinata

An hour or so after running away from the Nishina Dojo, Hinata was near the familiar game center.

“Haaah, haaah…”

Hinata leaned against the wall of a narrow back alley, panting heavily. She tried to calm down by taking deep breaths, but she had pushed herself beyond her limits. It wasn’t easy to regain her composure.

The infected, who had turned into monsters resembling zombies, relentlessly pursued her. They moved at a walking pace, so it was simple to outrun them. If there was only one… but as soon as she tried to escape from one, others seemed to sense the sound and came from all directions. She couldn’t stop, and so she kept running until she finally managed to create some distance and hid in the back alley.

“What is this… what’s happening? I’m scared, Onii-chan…”

As she caught her breath, she couldn’t help but utter a complaint to her brother, Kanata.

However, there was no response. Upon learning about the situation from the TV and realizing that her brother might be there, Hinata had rushed here without thinking. Now, she wondered what she could possibly do, but at that moment, she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Hinata had pushed herself to the limit, but she had made it to the game center. The brand-new walls and glass windows were covered in intense bloodstains, and many infected creatures were crawling around the area.

Of course, as soon as they noticed her presence, they swarmed towards her like ants to a feast. Somehow, she managed to evade them and catch her breath at a safe distance. She had narrowly avoided being grabbed multiple times as she searched for Kanata, but she hadn’t been able to find him.

What’s more, she couldn’t return home the way she had come. The path she had taken had now attracted a large number of infected creatures, who had followed her. It seemed impossible to go back that way. To make matters worse, she had dropped her smartphone somewhere along the way while running around frantically, so she couldn’t call for help.

The loneliness and the realization that she had put herself in danger without thinking made her feel like crying, but she gritted her teeth and held back the tears.

Hinata had some basic knowledge of swordsmanship, but she was still only 13 years old. It was impressive that she hadn’t panicked yet, but she was reaching her limit.

“I don’t want to lose like this… to this…”

Hinata knew that she was responsible for the current situation. She was sure that Kanata must be taking shelter somewhere. The evidence for this was that she hadn’t encountered Kanata at any of the places she had been to, but she hadn’t seen his body or any infected individuals who looked like him either. It was a somewhat biased assumption, but she decided to believe it anyway.

“All I have to do is get home safely. I’m sure… no, I won’t think about anything else…”

She mumbled these words to herself, then turned around and banged her forehead hard against the wall she had been leaning on.

As she endured the pain that resonated to the core of her head, she felt like her mind had cleared. She needed to replace her previous consciousness, which had been living in a peaceful and secure environment.

“…. Alright!”

Hinata took a deep breath and looked around.

There didn’t seem to be any infected creatures nearby for the time being. As she watched, she noticed an open toolbox with tools scattered around it. Perhaps someone had been working here and fled when they noticed the commotion. There were also some pipes lying around.

Hinata first prayed that the person who had been working there had managed to escape safely. Then, she picked up one of the pipes and put it back down a few times.

“It’s either a water pipe or a gas pipe. It feels good in my hands, though…”

Eventually, she gripped one of the pipes and nodded slightly. She moved to a slightly wider area, assumed a ready stance, and then suddenly brought the pipe down.

A satisfying “Boon!” sound echoed. It was a well-weighted and perfectly sized iron pipe. She then took some vinyl tape from the toolbox and wrapped it around the handle.

Once she was satisfied with her new weapon, she bowed slightly in the direction of the toolbox.

“I’ll be using this.”

If the old worker were there, he would reflexively say, “Take as many as you want!” upon seeing her adorable appearance.

Hinata, now armed with her new weapon, carefully walked in the opposite direction from the way she had come. Hinata hadn’t often been to town by herself. When she came with her family or friends, she only knew the main streets. Hinata, who had been running through the back alleys being chased, didn’t know where she was. All she could do was pray that she chose a path with fewer infected individuals and that it would lead her back to a familiar main road.

Still, the loneliness she had felt earlier had somewhat subsided. Perhaps it was the nature of a swordsman to feel exhilarated when armed with a weapon.

“Alright, you’re Onimaru. It’s the name of a famous sword that cut down demons. Compared to demons, zombies are a piece of cake!”

Saying this, she began to swing the iron pipe around.

Incidentally, Hinata was also a huge sword enthusiast, influenced by Kanata. The Onimaru she mentioned was named after the famous sword Onimaru Kukonatsugu. It was said that this sword, owned by a powerful figure of the time, had been used to cut down demons that appeared in his dreams.

Hinata had also picked up the habit of naming her favorite things, which she tried to keep hidden, from Haruka. Hinata had clearly been influenced by both of them.

“I think this is the main street… but it’s all rice fields, so maybe not. The other direction leads to the mountains, though.”

Hinata ran lightly through the alley, but the buildings became fewer and fewer, and the path seemed to be turning into a rural road. It seemed that she had gone in the wrong direction. Her choices were now limited to either the rice fields or the mountains. Hinata finally stopped and considered her options.

There were buildings beyond the rice fields, but they looked like warehouses or factories, places Hinata had never been to before.

Incidentally, Hinata’s line of sight was directed towards the Hinotori building, where Kanata and Haruka were currently located. However, Hinata had no way of knowing this.

“I guess I’ll have to go back…”

Hinata returned to the original path, unaware of her near-encounter with Kanata and Haruka, and ended up back at the entrance of the alley. That’s when she heard it.

“Huh?”

Hinata heard a voice that sounded like a person’s scream. She was curious, but if she followed the voice, she might end up in an unknown path and get completely lost. She was already lost, but she hadn’t admitted it to herself yet.

“Oh, maybe that’s a good idea.”

After a moment of thought, Hinata seemed to have an idea and started running towards the voice.

“Someone… aaaah!”

Katsuya Okura was panicking. Earlier, a zombie’s hand had almost grabbed his clothes. He kept running, but they kept appearing from nowhere, and he couldn’t stop. He was already out of breath and couldn’t even properly call for help.

He had no idea how he had ended up in this situation. If only he hadn’t left the house…

A few hours ago, Katsuya had learned about the situation from a video site that had been open all morning at his home. He was so shocked that his mouse flew across the room. The behavior of the infected individuals he saw in the video was exactly like the zombies he knew from movies. Of course, Katsuya knew that the zombies he was familiar with were fictional movie creations…

Katsuya watched, transfixed, as the panicked people in the video became the infected’s prey. He mocked them in his mind, thinking, “It’s the head, right? The head is the weak point of zombies. You can easily defeat a slow-moving zombie with just a knife.”

Katsuya believed he could defeat them. Without any evidence, he was convinced of his own invincibility, and the sight of people screaming and running away only made him feel superior.

“Oh, that lady just now. She was cute, what a waste.”

As he watched the stream, a woman was caught by the infected and lost her life. The fact that he thought “what a waste” showed that he was quite a jerk.

However, Katsuya had an idea. If he had been in a similar situation and had saved someone in a dashing manner, he would surely have won their affection. He thought this might be his time to shine.

He wanted to keep watching the videos, but the servers gradually began to shut down, and eventually, he couldn’t connect to any site.

“What’s this? Damn it! Now is the time to increase the view count, so film it no matter what!”

He complained, then turned off his computer, which had stopped working, and lay down on his bed. He felt like he was about to have a realistic dream, one where he, who knew how to deal with the situation, would be the hero. He looked at the clock before closing his eyes… it was 10:30. His mother would probably come to wake him up for lunch. He decided to take a nap until then.