I’m In A World Infested By Zombies… But I Have Special Perks As A Formerly Isekai’d Person! - Chapter 2: Return from the Other World

Chapter 2: Return from the Other World

When Hayato opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by a familiar landscape.

It was the high school he had attended when he was summoned.

“Is this my classroom?”

Hayato muttered as he looked around. He recognized the classroom, but three years had passed. Of course, the students had changed, and Hayato’s desk was long gone.

It was daytime, but there was no sign of anyone, and a quiet stillness filled the classroom.

“I wonder if it’s the weekend.”

It was fortunate that it was the weekend, Hayato thought. If it were a weekday and a man suddenly appeared in the classroom wearing a medieval European-style suit, the students would be shocked.

Some of the male students might secretly be delighted, though.

“I might just have to live up to their expectations.”

Hayato imagined himself attracting attention and declaring, “I’m looking for a hero in the other world. Please come forward.” Perhaps a brave soul would stand up.

But the reality was that the other world was a black company on par with Japan’s food and beverage industry. And Hayato himself couldn’t transfer to the other world.

Hayato, indulging in these fantasies, changed into his three-year-old uniform, which he had stored in his spatial storage. If he remained in his other-world attire, he would be considered suspicious, but with the uniform, he would be seen as a student. At least now, he could be heard out without being reported immediately as a suspicious person.

“I wonder how I’ll explain the last three years.”

Explaining that he had been summoned to another world would only confuse people. Sighing, Hayato left the classroom, troubled by what lay ahead.

The building was the familiar school, and Hayato felt a sense of relief. But the deserted school filled him with anxiety.

Then, from a distance, he heard an eerie moan.

“What’s that?”

The sound was clearly abnormal, and Hayato became cautious. On a weekend during the day, there was no reason for anyone to be making strange noises at school. Perhaps it was a teacher who had fallen ill or a suspicious person who had entered the premises.

Remembering that he himself was a suspicious person, Hayato headed in the direction of the sound. He could talk to a teacher, and with his bear-like physical abilities, he had no fear of losing to a suspicious person. As Hayato turned the corner in the hallway, he saw a zombie standing there.

“Whoa!”

Hayato recognized the zombie because he had encountered them in the other world. Zombies were powered by magic energy and didn’t need to eat humans. However, they wanted to spread the virus, so they would bite humans.

And if someone was infected with the virus, they would eventually die and become a zombie.

At first, zombies were still smart, like drunk people, because their brains hadn’t decayed. They could use weapons, open doors, hide, and launch surprise attacks. But the zombie Hayato encountered had been zombified for quite some time, and it simply moaned loudly.

Then, upon spotting its prey, the zombie opened its mouth wide.

“I just got back from the other world, and now this?”

Hayato thought he would have to fight again, but his body moved naturally. He drew his spear from the space and traced a path like a shooting star. In an instant, the zombie’s head was destroyed, and it fell to the ground.

“Haa…”

Hayato sighed deeply, looking down at the fallen zombie. He didn’t put his spear away as he walked toward the staff room.

The zombie Hayato encountered had been zombified for several months. If such a creature was still wandering around, someone should have reported it by now. If it was just walking around, it meant the country hadn’t been able to respond for months.

“Maybe I’ll find some information in the staff room.”

Hayato knew his way around, so he remembered the location of the staff room. When he arrived, the door was unlocked, but there was no one inside. He pressed the remote for the TV, but it didn’t turn on.

“I hope it’s not just the batteries.”

He pressed the power button on the TV directly, but there was still no sign of it turning on. Hayato gave up on getting information from the TV and looked around the staff room.

In the back, there was a cluster of desks with whiteboards lined up. On the whiteboards were contact information for the Kirigaoka City Hall Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters, the police, the fire department, the Board of Education, and evacuation centers. Next to each organization’s name was a cross.

“I guess they couldn’t get in touch with them.”

Hayato thought this was probably true. But the whiteboards only had the necessary information at the time they were written; there was no information about the initial outbreak. No one needed to write down what everyone already knew.

Hayato looked at the files on the desk, and there was a file summarizing the situation.

“Teachers are always prepared.”

Hayato was impressed as he opened the file. The first date was around three years ago, when Hayato was summoned to the other world. It seemed that some of humanity had become zombies on a global scale.

“Huh?”

Hayato was taken aback. According to the records, an unknown virus had spread through the atmosphere and infected people. This was probably the zombie virus.

But in Hayato’s understanding, the zombie virus was spread by zombies biting humans. If there was a high concentration of magic energy, which the zombie virus needed to function, then infection through magic energy was possible.

However, a global scale was impossible according to the other world’s common sense. This led Hayato to consider one possibility.

“Maybe various creatures in the other world used magic energy, but on Earth, they didn’t.”

Perhaps there was a large amount of magic energy accumulated on Earth, which the zombie virus needed to function. So the virus spread explosively on a global scale through magic energy. And if humans on Earth had no immunity to the zombie virus…

“Some humans became infected with the virus that spread explosively through magic energy and turned into zombies.”

Hayato thought this was a possibility and continued reading the records.

It seemed that the world had fallen into chaos due to the zombies. New zombies looked normal at first but moved like drunks and couldn’t speak. Their abnormal behavior was obvious, but their initial appearance was human, so if you didn’t know about zombies, you wouldn’t know they were already dead.

If a family member turned into a zombie, at first, instead of knocking them out, you might try to convince them to stop biting, which would be pointless. And then the person who was bitten would turn into a zombie, and the zombies would spread throughout the world.

“Even in America, where people have guns, zombies can’t be stopped.”

New zombies could still run and use weapons at first because their brains hadn’t deteriorated. In America, where civilians can own guns, the zombies could also shoot guns. They could shoot humans with guns and then bite them, creating new zombies. Military zombies might have even fired missiles. Even in a drunken state, they could do that.

The records in the file were as serious as Hayato had imagined.

– After about half a year since the outbreak, the world could no longer import fuel.

– Electricity, gas, water, distribution, and the internet stopped, and urban areas suffered from a lack of supplies.

– Agriculture and fishing stagnated, and factory operations ceased, making food production difficult.

– After a year had passed, looting became rampant in urban areas and spread to the countryside.

It seemed that Japan was able to maintain order for about a year. Even zombies appeared from the Self-Defense Forces, and they would indiscriminately fire machine guns at their allies. Confusion was inevitable, and there was no way to resolve the situation.

Evacuation centers were set up in various places, but after a year and a half, even food could no longer be delivered. Hayato’s alma mater was designated as an evacuation center, but the surrounding area became a lawless zone.

After the supply of fuel to emergency vehicles stopped, there was no one to stop the looters, and eventually, the evacuation centers also began to procure supplies. At least, that’s how it was recorded in Hayato’s hometown of Kirigaoka City.

“I wonder if zombies got in somewhere.”

The records in the file in the staff room ended a year ago. It seemed that Earth had become a world infested with zombies.

Hayato closed the file, having a general understanding of the situation.

“I wonder if only islands are safe.”

If Hayato were the prime minister, he would evacuate with the elite of the Self-Defense Forces. Perhaps somewhere like Izu Oshima or Hachijo Island, where zombies couldn’t physically reach.

He would have the Self-Defense Forces eliminate the zombies on the islands, have them engage in agriculture, and retake the Japanese archipelago, which had been taken by the zombies. Hayato might live a carefree life in a safe zone while breathing fire about retaking the islands.

Hachijo Island was warm, and there were plenty of fish to catch

.

“I used to watch fishing videos before I was summoned.”

Hayato left the school, which now seemed to be filled with zombies.