Episode 38: Methods of Acquiring Rice After the Collapse of Civilization

After greeting Sakurai's daughter, Anna, Hayato and the others entered Room 714.

"Twin room, as expected."

As Natsuki had judged, the room was indeed a twin room.

Immediately upon entering, a unit bathroom, shower, and toilet were visible.

Going straight ahead, two semi-double beds were present, with a table and two chairs opposite them.

The room's fixtures included a non-functional air conditioner, television, and air purifier.

At the back of the room, a window offered a view of the quiet countryside scenery of Chukann City, which was fairly rural.

"Before the zombies appeared, it would have been several thousand yen per person per night."

"There's a more tactful way to say that."

Yui interjected, criticizing Hayato's blunt phrasing.

Hayato then adjusted his tone to something more typically Japanese, offering a single compliment instead.

A country-style hot spring hotel, that’s what it feels like. The food might have been good.

It’s fine, I guess.

Apparently, it passed the threshold.

There was no surplus space in the room to accommodate a third bed.

After closing the door, Hayato pulled out their belongings from the spatial storage while warning the two.

If someone sees the room for any reason, having an extra bed would leave no room for explanation. So no extra bed will be brought out.

That’s right. Yes, exactly.

They agreed in unison.

Entry and exit from the hotel is strictly monitored.

We’ll make several trips with the vehicle and the room to simulate carrying a large amount of luggage. But there will be no way to bring in a bed.

The staff won’t come to clean the room. But the Sakurai family might visit.

If the bed is seen, there will be no explanation possible.

“So, is it fine to use the Bed the same way as yesterday at the Police Station?”

At the back of the Police Station, two Beds had been placed side by side for three people to sleep.

The floor where a skeletal corpse had lain moments before was too unsanitary to sleep on.

At that time, Yui’s Single Bed and Hayato’s Semi-double Bed had been used. The hotel had two Semi-double Beds, so sleeping there was more spacious than at the Police Station.

Without additional Beds available, this was the most reasonable arrangement.

But Yui blushed, her face coloring, and made a quiet, stubborn expression.

If Yui refused, there was no choice but to try Natsuki.

Hayato decided to change his target.

“Natsuki, we’ll be sharing the Bed from today.”

Natsuki, who showed high cooperation, would likely agree if told it was unavoidable under current conditions.

Yui would pout if not addressed, so Hayato spoke to her as well. Three people would share the two Beds.

Hayato adjusted with careful flexibility, adapting to circumstances. Unexpectedly, Natsuki closed her mouth, cheeks flushed, embarrassed.

— Why.

It should have been a moment to simply say, “Yes.”

Hayato thought this way, selfishly.

Natsuki’s response, contrary to Hayato’s expectations, might have triggered cooperation not only toward Hayato but also toward Yui.

After a silence without form, Yui spoke as if to deflect.

“We paid for three people. A two-person room is unreasonable.”

The matter of sharing the Bed would likely dissolve without explicit mention.

Hayato decided to go along with Yui's change of topic.

The lodging fee was two kilograms of raw rice per person per month.

Three years ago, that would not have covered even one night's charge for a basic room.

But since the spread of zombies, the value of rice had skyrocketed.

Having gone to the trouble of paying the proper fee in rice, Yui had expressed dissatisfaction at being offered only a two-person room.

"Probably had to make special arrangements for all-male groups on the lower floor. Allocating a three-person room must have been difficult."

"Could be."

"We'd have trouble carrying our supplies or sharing meals if we were separated."

Yui reluctantly set aside her objection, perhaps recalling freshly baked bread.

On the matter of the hotel room, she had reached a broadly acceptable compromise.

While Hayato searched for a replacement for the broken vehicle, Yui and Natsuki would have to remain in the safe zone.

Using rice in the exchange was not an unnecessary act.

But consideration should be given to replenishing the rice used.

"I think we can find rice somewhere. A search of civilian homes might yield some."

Three years ago, when the zombie virus infiltrated, people had suddenly turned into zombies.

If their homes had not been searched, rice should still be present.

When Hayato said this, Natsuki, a second-year student at the agricultural high school, made a face that showed little agreement.

"Japan has high heat and humidity. Depending on storage conditions, raw rice can develop mold or degrade in quality."

Poor quality is acceptable. But consuming moldy rice harms health.

Hayato could use healing magic, but it was not an omnipotent force that automatically repaired anything. He had to actively work on the nanomachine-like entities he perceived.

If moldy food was consumed, how exactly did it harm health, and what method should be used to treat it?

If that part remained unclear, treatment might fail.

"Hmm, is it no good if it's in a bag?"

"Without a sealed environment, preventing moisture and oxidation completely is difficult," Natsuki said.

Yui gave Hayato a half-smile after hearing Natsuki's criticism, recalling that Hayato had sold raw rice.

Seeing Yui's expression, Natsuki offered Hayato a lifeline.

"What about going to Chukann City’s Country Elevator?"

"Country Elevator?"

A mid-level facility where farmers deliver harvested paddy, cooperatives dry, store, and process it for sale to rice merchants. There are over eight hundred nationwide.

"Hoh."

Hayato tilted his head, prompting Natsuki to continue.

The Country Elevator was a large-scale drying and processing facility.

Inside, drying machines and sorting devices processed paddy from farmers. Paddy entered a rough sorter, dried to an optimal moisture level for storage, then transferred to silos—storage bins.

After storage, rice hullers separated brown rice from husks. Grain sorters standardized grain size. Stone, glass, and metal contaminants were removed by stone extractors and color sorters. The brown rice was then stored in variety-specific tanks.

From the tanks, brown rice was bagged for transport to milling plants or nationwide distribution.

"Also serves as long-term storage for paddy rice, adjusted by harvest timing."

"Such places exist?"

Hayato, hearing about a world unknown to him, nodded with quiet interest.

"Country elevators are fully automated. Without power, paddy rice inside silos or brown rice inside storage tanks cannot be removed."

"So there's still rice inside the silos, then."

"Brown rice lasts five to ten years. Polished rice stays edible for about a month. The silos contain paddy rice awaiting shipment. Power failed suddenly. There should be a large amount remaining."

"Wouldn't be surprising if it were always stocked."

Natsuki did not state it as fact, but explained the likelihood was extremely high.

Hayato also believed the rice remained, unless it had been recovered by the Self-Defense Forces.

"By the way, how large is a silo?"

"The tank height is around thirty to fifty meters, depending on the facility. In Kirigahara City, one tank held approximately three hundred tons of paddy rice."

"……That’s how much?"

"Since paddy rice yields about seventy percent when converted to brown rice, that’s two hundred ten tons of brown rice. The average Japanese person consumes fifty kilograms per year, so that’s enough for four thousand two hundred people. Incidentally, Kirigahara City had six silos per facility."

Hayato understood completely. No one could carry it out.

How would one extract large quantities of paddy rice from a tank inside a fully automated machine? Even if it were possible to remove it from the silo, the large machinery inside the facility made it impossible to position a vehicle beside it.

—The Self-Defense Forces might have recovered it through demolition and manpower.

Perhaps a few locations had already been destroyed.

Near a military garrison, it might have already been reclaimed.

Yet, a politician elected by national vote directing plunder under their own name seemed unlikely. The Self-Defense Forces maintained a clear chain of command. Not everything had been destroyed.

"Electricity has stopped. Silos can no longer manage temperature or airflow. But the lower sections of the silo are compressed by pressure from above. Air movement is minimal. Temperature remains stable. Dry conditions are preserved."

"So, unless it's at the top, the spruce remains in good condition."

"That is correct."

Natsuki's information was valuable. Hayato was impressed. Indeed, a farm high school student.

"At the Home Center, we have acquired a generator, a hulling machine, and a rice mill."

"Then, if we obtain the spruce, we can process it into polished rice."

The issue is how to retrieve it.

Yui's expression suggested, "Don't expect much, but let's go check anyway?" Her face carried a subtle tension, softening the blow of potential failure.

— Reading emotions from facial cues alone felt like a lesson drilled into me.

Hayato frowned, returning a grim expression.

"Just to be clear, spruce continues respiring while stored. The air inside the storage tank is thin. A human entering risks oxygen deficiency."

"Attempting to enter with a rope securing the body would be dangerous."

The plan to go check was set.

If Chukann City failed, searching the country's rural elevators would likely yield results somewhere.

"Assuming rice remains in that tank, how do we extract it?"

As Yui pointed out, that was the obstacle.

Hayato had a gasoline generator, but it did not seem capable of powering a facility of that scale.

The method of diving from the top of the silo into the rice—was not promising.

"Something will work out."

High flexibility meant improvisation.

Thus, Hayato decided to search for rice in Chukann City, in addition to the vehicle.