02: Return from the Other World

Hayato opened his eyes. Before him stretched a landscape he recognized.

This was the high school he had attended when summoned.

“Is this… my classroom?”

Hayato murmured, scanning the surroundings.

The classroom itself was familiar, but three years had passed since then.

Students had long since changed. His desk would not remain.

It was daytime, yet no one was visible. Silence ruled the room.

“Maybe it’s a weekend.”

That might have been fortunate.

If it were a weekday, and a man in medieval European-style robes suddenly appeared in the classroom, the students would be shocked.

Though perhaps some of the male students would secretly be delighted.

— Almost makes me want to fulfill their expectations.

If Hayato drew attention by declaring, "I am searching for a hero in another world. Anyone come forward," a fierce warrior might rise from the crowd.

In truth, however, the establishment was a black company comparable to Japan's food service industry.

Even more so, Hayato himself could not perform a transfer to another world.

Having entertained such a delusion, Hayato changed into the school uniform he had stored in his spatial containment three years prior.

Wearing the attire of the other world would make him a suspicious figure. The uniform would make him appear a student.

He was no longer the first suspect to be reported. At least, he could now be heard.

"Should I explain the three years?"

Saying he had been summoned to another world would only trouble the listener.

Hayato sighed, pondering his next steps, and stepped into the hallway.

The building was the familiar school structure. That fact brought relief.

But in the empty school building, unease grew.

At that moment, a strange groan echoed from afar.

— What is that?

The unnatural sound raised Hayato’s alertness.

No one should be making odd noises in a school during weekend daytime hours.

A teacher on duty might be ill. Or an intruder might have entered.

Recalling that he himself had been an intruder not long ago, Hayato moved toward the sound.

A teacher could be spoken to. And with strength comparable to a grizzly bear, he had no fear of confronting an intruder. As Hayato turned the corner of the hallway, a zombie stood there.

— Oof!?

Hayato identified the figure as a zombie because zombies existed in the other world.

Zombies were powered by mana and did not need to consume humans. But they sought to infect others with their virus, so they bit humans.

Infection by the virus led to death and eventual transformation into a Zombie.

Zombies were initially intelligent enough to be comparable to a drunk human.

They used weapons, opened doors, hid, and launched ambushes.

But the Zombie Hayato encountered had been transformed for a considerable time, and moved with dull, mechanical persistence, moaning continuously.

Its eyes widened at the sight of prey, mouth opening wide.

"Wouldn't have thought I'd be back from another world only to face this again."

Even as he prepared for another fight, Hayato’s body moved automatically.

The spear, pulled from space, traced a path like a falling star.

The Zombie’s head was shattered in an instant and collapsed to the ground.

"...ahh"

Hayato looked down at the fallen Zombie, shoulders rising and falling, releasing a deep sigh.

He did not sheathe the spear, but walked toward the staff office.

The Zombie had been transformed for several months.

If such a thing were wandering around, someone would have reported it by now.

Walking about like that would mean the country had failed to respond for months.

"Maybe I can find information at the staff office."

He knew the location well, having visited often enough.

When Hayato reached the staff office, the door was unlocked, but no one was inside.

He tried the remote on the television, but it did not turn on.

— Not dead batteries, surely.

He pressed the power button directly on the TV, but it showed no sign of turning on.

Hayato gave up trying to get information from the television and scanned the staff office.

In the far corner, a cluster of desks had been arranged, with whiteboards lined up.

Approaching the board, contact information for the Kirikou City Disaster Response Headquarters, police, fire department, education board, shelters, and other agencies was listed.

Next to each organization’s name, an × was marked.

"Means communication has been lost?"

A speculative assumption, yet it seemed accurate.

The board contained necessary information as of the time it was written, but not details from the moment of the incident.

Nothing needed to be recorded that everyone already knew.

Hayato glanced at the desk, where a file summarizing the situation had been placed.

"Typical teacher."

Hayato admitted it with genuine respect, then opened the file.

The first date listed was around three years prior—when Hayato had been summoned to the other world.

A portion of humanity had turned into zombies on a global scale.

"……huh?"

Hayato stared, stunned.

Records estimated the cause as an unknown virus spreading through the atmosphere and infecting hosts.

Likely the zombie virus.

Yet Hayato’s understanding held that the zombie virus spread through bites from zombies.

Infection via magical essence required sufficient concentration of magical essence.

Global spread, however, defied the norms of the other world.

Contemplating this, Hayato considered one possibility.

—In the other world, various creatures used magical essence, but Earth did not.

Perhaps Earth had accumulated vast stores of magical essence.

Thus, the virus that emerged used magical essence as a carrier, spreading explosively across the globe.

If Earth’s humans had no immunity to the zombie virus…

The virus that spread explosively using magical essence had infected some humans, turning them into zombies.

Hayato, considering it not impossible, continued reading the records.

The emergence of zombies had brought global chaos.

Newly turned zombies appeared ordinary at first, but moved like drunkards and could not speak.

Their abnormal behavior was obvious, yet their initial appearance remained human. Without knowledge of zombies, one would not know they were already dead.

If a family member turned, one might first try futilely to reason with them, asking them to stop biting, rather than striking them down.

Then the bitten person would become a zombie, and the zombies would spread across the world.

"Even with guns, America couldn't contain them."

New zombies initially had no brain damage.

Thus, at first they staggered but could still run, and could still use weapons.

In America, where civilians could possess firearms, zombies could also fire guns indiscriminately. If a human was felled by gunfire and then bitten, a new zombie would emerge.

Military zombies might have fired missiles.

Even in a drunken state, they could manage that.

The records bound in the file were as grim as Hayato had imagined.

— Fuel imports ceased after about half a year from the outbreak.

— Electricity, gas, water, distribution, and internet failed. Urban areas fell into scarcity.

— Agriculture and fishing stalled. Factory operations halted. Food production became impossible.

— By the time a year passed, looting spread through cities and spread to rural areas.

Japan maintained order for about a year after the outbreak.

Zombies emerged from the Self-Defense Forces, opening fire with machine guns on allies. Chaos was inevitable. Containing the situation was impossible.

Evacuation centers were established across the region. By one and a half years after the outbreak, food supplies could no longer be transported.

Hayato’s alma mater was designated an evacuation center, but the surrounding area had become a lawless zone.

After fuel supply to emergency vehicles ceased, no one remained to stop raiders. Soon, evacuation centers began acquiring scarce supplies on their own.

At least, the records indicate that the city of Kirigamine, where Hayato had lived, followed this pattern.

"Perhaps someone was bitten somewhere."

The file in the staff room ended abruptly one year prior.

The world, it seemed, had become overrun with zombies.

Having grasped the general situation, Hayato closed the file left behind in the staff room.

In this situation, the only safe places might be islands.

If Hayato were Prime Minister, he would evacuate with the elite of the Self-Defense Forces.

Izu Oshima or Hachijō-jima, where zombies could not reach physically, would be suitable.

He would rally the Self-Defense Forces to clear the zombies from the island, resume agriculture, and reclaim the Japanese archipelago from the zombies—while he himself lived comfortably in a secure zone.

Hachijō-jima was warm. Plenty of fish could be caught there.

—Before being summoned, he used to watch fishing videos.

Recalling that, Hayato left the school building, where only zombies remained.