05 Story: Suspected Unemployed
"What were you doing?"
The girl examined Hayato from head to toe, her expression questioning.
Hayato, having returned home, changed into casual clothes for ease of movement.
Navy hoodie, heather gray sweatshirt, black sweatpants, thick-soled sneakers.
Three years had passed since he was summoned at age eighteen, yet he had never been without clothing.
His current concern was the approaching renewal date for his driver’s license, which had not been renewed, and no one appeared willing to process the update.
Thinking of the harsh world outside, Hayato exhaled.
"My name is Kumakura Hayato. I graduated from Miritaka High School three years ago. I am twenty-one now."
Hayato, asked by the girl, first identified himself as a local high school graduate.
Kirioka City had no notable industry. It was not a famous villa district. To say one had graduated from Kirioka High School meant one was a local from Kirioka City.
Hayato had not received his diploma. He had been summoned in February of his third year of high school, after final exams had ended, and attendance had met the minimum requirement.
He should have been considered graduated, even if he had not attended the graduation ceremony.
‘And what have you been doing?’
Three years had passed since high school graduation. The period was a blank.
For now, he would be classified as a NEET.
The world was harsh.
‘I’m Yui Shirai. Third-year at Kirioka High. So I might be your junior.’
The girl introduced herself.
Hayato observed Yui, who had called herself a junior, and felt doubt.
Because the clothes she wore were the uniform of Kirioka North High School—same as the one Hayato had worn.
Hayato saw that Yui’s height did not reach one hundred and fifty centimeters.
Yui let out a low groan, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
Just felt nostalgic, that's all—I wore my middle school uniform again. Yui is eighteen, a third-year high school student, an adult now!
Hayato directed further suspicion toward the girl who introduced herself as Yui.
"...and Yui-chan, then"
Eighteen years old, adult!
Yui raised a firm protest against Hayato being treated like a child.
And immediately, counterattack began.
And so, Hayato, what did you do for three years after graduating high school?
Whether it was retaliation for Hayato treating her like a child and using the polite suffix, Yui addressed Hayato casually, without honorifics.
Moreover, the job interview panelist would press with questions like, "What have you been doing since graduation?"
Hayato, cornered, grimaced with suppressed anguish.
"Three years ago, zombies emerged. I understand that makes it hard to focus on anything else."
Seeing Hayato's strained expression, Yui paused her questioning.
Civilization had fully collapsed about one year prior, but zombies had been spreading across the world since three years before Hayato was summoned to another world.
Even with difficulties in furthering education or securing employment, the situation was unavoidable.
She seemed to be offering a lifeline.
—Though not due to zombies.
Hayato's unaccounted time was the fault of those who summoned him without prior consent.
If proper confirmation had been made, Hayato might not have agreed.
Who would volunteer for a job with nearly a hundred percent mortality rate, only to be exiled after defeating the Demon King?
"Worked for a black organization for three years, then discarded. That’s why I’m suspicious of people."
Hayato, presumed to be a NEET, asked Yui to reconsider her assessment.
He looked up at the ceiling and exhaled deeply.
"Oh, I see. Sorry about that."
Yui apologized, her tone tinged with regret.
Her gaze held the pity reserved for a man forced to work one hundred hours of overtime every month in the food service industry.
Which was worse—the Black Empire of the other world, or the black corporation of Japan?
Hayato, comparing the two great evils, eventually regained composure and spoke.
"So, I’m asking the adult Yui for advice."
"What? Just so you know, I’ll warn you upfront—touch me, and you’ll get infected."
When Hayato referred to her as adult, Yui raised a precautionary barrier.
Zombie virus infects through bite, or through sexual contact.
Hayato’s knowledge of zombies came from foreign-world sources.
Yet on Earth, civilization did not collapse for two years after zombie emergence. During that time, various properties were studied and information shared.
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what?”
Yui responded with a lethargic tone.
In several hours, at most by tonight, Yui would become a zombie.
Conversing with Hayato was preferable to hearing the groans of zombies pounding at the front door.
She might be engaging him only as a trade for repelling the zombies.
Hayato was the first survivor Yui had met since her return from the other world.
Yui held information from the three years she had not been on Earth. She had been exiled and isolated for contracting the zombie virus.
There is no more convenient ally for acquiring information.
Large shelters offer abundant information, but Hayato considers this unfavorably.
——I’m done being used by people.
Physical strength comparable to a grizzly bear, virus removal via sacred magic, spatial storage.
If these abilities became known, being treated like a draft animal would be easy to imagine.
Hayato refused to sell himself to temporary governments or large groups. He wished to live freely.
In pursuing that life, Yui, exiled and isolated, was a convenient ally.
“If the virus can be removed before zombification, and I perform the procedure, would adult Yui pay a price?”
“…Huh?”
Yui’s complete disbelief was within Hayato’s expectations.
In front of Yui, Hayato withdrew a spear from spatial storage.
Not the same as the zombie earlier—this is a clean spear.
Yui’s eyes widened in surprise. Her gaze was fixed on the spear’s tip, which glimmered faintly.