Episode 39: Cooperation with Sakurai

"A low-temperature, humidity-controlled warehouse for buckwheat flour is located here. A large quantity of buckwheat flour is stored."

Hayato listened as Sakurai, seated in the passenger seat, registered Chukann City on the Car Navigation System, explaining its layout.

In truth, the information passed from one ear to the other without settling.

— No good. It won’t stick.

In his hometown, Kirioka City, he could move without consulting the navigation system.

He knew where goods were sold. He could visualize the routes and the local scenery.

But Chukann City remained unclear. No matter where Sakurai said a store was located, the details failed to register.

Sakurai, a local resident, knew the area well. Yet, with a fractured left elbow, movement within the town was difficult.

Thus, the two formed a cooperative arrangement.

Sakurai provided information. Hayato collected supplies. They shared the results.

"Would a six-to-four split work if we acquire supplies from the spot you introduced?"

"Completely fine. In fact, I'd say I'm getting too much."

"This arrangement improves Yui's safety while I'm away from the hotel."

The distribution in exchange for information was merely formal to Hayato.

The main purpose was making Sakurai a cooperating party to protect Yui and the others.

While searching for a new vehicle, Hayato wanted to keep Yui and the others in a secure location.

"Improving safety—does that mean you're concerned about something?"

"Not being chased by anyone. But Yui is short, looks childlike, and Natsuki is a high school girl. Male guests at the hotel might approach them."

"That can't be ruled out."

Yui was about 150 centimeters tall—comparable to a sixth-grade elementary student.

Natsuki was, from any angle, a genuine high school girl.

Someone might genuinely worry about Yui. In a peaceful era, Natsuki could be approached on the street.

If approached, and refused, but the other party did not relent, it would become a serious nuisance.

Even without Hayato present, Sakurai, an adult male with clear reasoning, would serve as adequate protection.

Anna, as a woman already residing at the hotel, would also act as an ally.

Hayato sought not information, but allies for Yui and the others, to improve their safety.

"We will distribute supplies at locations beyond the ones you introduced. In return, we ask that you keep an eye on Yui and the others."

"If that’s the arrangement, I understand."

Sakurai grasped Hayato’s intent and accepted. The cooperative agreement was established.

Sakurai turned gaze once more to the outside view, staring at the distant road stretching into the horizon, muttering quietly.

"But driving to explore might be dangerous."

"Why?"

"Zombies, yes—but also members of the New Order Coalition."

"That's right. There were those peculiar ones."

The front windshield of the vehicle bore a large spiderweb crack.

With most vehicles inactive now, any surviving remnants who spot it might remember, even if they have the memory span of a chicken.

Still, if Hayato had attacked alone, and someone asked whether that would be dangerous, the answer would be no.

"Where exactly are they located?"

"Their base was formerly the Chukann City Disaster Relief Hospital."

"A hospital?"

"Disaster relief hospitals have their own power generators and stockpiled food."

Sakurai explained the situation to Hayato, who appeared puzzled.

Chukann City General Hospital has a diesel-powered generator and a groundwater pumping system. It has many patient rooms and beds. Entry and exit points are restricted to prevent patients from leaving at will. This allows many people to stay. It also prevents zombie incursions.

Is that how it is?

Hayato understood the reasoning behind using the hospital as a base after hearing the explanation.

Diesel fuel is currently recoverable from gasoline stations.

Currently, the situation is such that it is safe, and electricity and water are available for use.

To achieve this, hospital patients would have to be expelled. Yet the group that had attempted theft or abduction against Hayato and others did not appear to hesitate because the target was elderly.

Their numbers seem high.

Originally, the bad group had grown to around three hundred people.

……In the Sengoku period, perhaps around the number of troops a daimyo with ten thousand koku would command.

Rice output during the Edo period closely matched population numbers.

A daimyo with ten thousand koku would command roughly ten thousand people.

The New Order Coalition, in Edo-era terms, was on par with a domain controlling a town of ten thousand people.

Chukann City, designated as a 'city' only above fifty thousand residents, was too small to be fully dominated by the New Order Coalition's scale.

— Perhaps enough force to control about one-fifth of the city.

The Coalition's arms consisted mostly of blunt weapons, weaker than Edo-era spears.

Yet they might possess tools like survival knives, and wild bears had died from such wounds.

Guns could not be ruled out entirely.

"Too much trouble to deal with. Let's focus on finding a new vehicle instead."

"That might be best."

Sakurai nodded, satisfied by Hayato's recognition of the risk.

"They've taken over the hospital, looted supplies from across the city, and abducted women. Evacuation centers have been attacked before. That's why I can't leave Anna behind at home or in a shelter while I go searching."

"I imagined a Sengoku warlord, but they're just bandits."

The fact that they're left unchecked alone makes Japan's collapse in public safety clear.

Someone like Oda Nobunaga may appear one day, aiming to unify the land.

But Oda Nobunaga was born the heir to the strongest clan in Owari.

If unification can only happen after zombie defense systems stabilize and local families with strong regional roots emerge, then it may be impossible for decades to come.

"By the way, may I ask what kind of relationship you two have?"

Sakurai pulled Hayato back to the present from his thoughts about history.

Explaining the nature of Yui and the others’ relationship with Sakurai was not unwarranted.

"Yui and I grew up near each other. We attended the same school. Natsuki is a junior at the high school my friend attended. Both are close enough to bring along."

Hayato described his relationship with Yui and the others as if he were an old friend or a junior classmate’s acquaintance.

He was not lying.

"Nearby" meant literally close. Hayato and Yui’s homes were indeed near each other. He had first seen her wearing the uniform of Kirioka North High School, so she was a junior at the same school.

Hayato’s friend had attended Kirioka Agricultural High School, so Natsuki was also a junior at that school. She had enrolled after her peers had graduated, but the school was the same.

Hayato concluded, avoiding further inquiry.

The two cannot meet their parents again. But I am twenty-one. I entered employment after high school graduation. Yui is eighteen. Natsuki is seventeen. The legal age is eighteen. They should be able to stand on their own.

Sakurai considered Hayato’s words for a moment. Then nodded.

Then looked off into a distant place.

“How long will it take my daughter to become self-sufficient?”

“How old is she now?”

“If civilization had not collapsed, she would be attending middle school graduation ceremonies about now.”

Anna was a third-year middle school student, then.

Of course, with civilization having collapsed one year ago, she did not attend school for three years.

The current situation is far more severe than what one could expect from a middle school dropout three years ago.

“If parents are still alive, they need not force independence. The world is harsh.”

“But my parents died first.”

“That is as you said, Sakurai.”

Hayato agreed, yet internally he considered something that likely was not common.

Hayato considered the principle that the purpose of life was survival and reproduction of offspring.

Under that philosophy, remaining in the position of wife to a high-ranking member of the New Order Coalition could be seen as one efficient means of achieving biological goals.

If efficiency in survival and reproduction were the only concerns, methods existed.

Whether one found the idea agreeable or not, of course, was another matter.

— If Oda Nobunaga had risen in rebellion with the aim of unifying the realm, cooperation might not be out of the question.

If cooperation allowed avoiding the Incident at Honnō-ji, one might become a lord of a single province and a single castle. Then, one might casually take a concubine.

But following a politician currently on vacation in the southern islands? That was undesirable. No return could be expected.

Hayato thought such thoughts, or did not think them. That was Hayato.