48th Episode: Zombie vs. Special Operations Lieutenant

When he awoke, the hotel was surrounded by zombies.

That was the most concise summary of Hayato’s current situation.

"Several dozen arrived around dusk, but new ones kept coming after dark. In the end, there were hundreds."

Hayato looked down from the terrace and explained the situation to Yui and Natsuki behind him.

The source of the information was the people gathered in the banquet hall on the second floor.

The number of people in the banquet hall was so large it was surprising.

"Was having fun in the panoramic bath. Didn’t notice a thing."

"Didn’t you say your hearing was good?"

"Ordinary noise is unbearable under normal circumstances. Without focusing, it’s just normal hearing."

Yui gave Hayato a look of exasperation at his claim of not being on alert for zombies. But Hayato remained calm, unfazed.

Hayato and the others were on the laminated floor of the hotel’s tenth floor, with the sliding doors and terrace sealed twice over. Or perhaps inside the indoor viewing bath, doors closed on the interior side.

Double-glazed windows were said to reduce external noise by forty decibels.

With normal hearing, the groans of zombies thirty meters below outside would not be audible, nor would anyone wish to hear them.

It was only after waking and opening the sliding doors that they finally noticed the anomaly.

“What did the hotel staff say?”

Natsuki asked, gazing at the troubling scene spread beneath the terrace.

Hayato recalled the words of the people gathered in the second-floor banquet hall.

“Apparently, the outbreak started when people were evicted for unpaid rent. They brought zombies from the direction of the shopping mall.”

“Zombies… were brought intentionally?”

"Apparently. Of the four men evicted, two brought zombies while ringing bicycle bells, leading them around the hotel grounds."

Yui and Natsuki exchanged expressions of disbelief and disdain upon hearing this.

Not paying the hotel fee made eviction inevitable.

To be angry over that was nothing but resentment.

"The fools were attacked by the very zombies they brought. Apparently, two of their companions have also turned."

"Good that the perpetrators are gone."

"True. At least no more zombies will come."

Hayato agreed with Yui's summary.

"Also, the hotel itself seems secure."

"Really?"

"Handheld tools and blunt weapons cannot break reinforced concrete walls."

Zombies were once human bodies.

Striking the outer wall with bare hands breaks the arm first.

The rear loading entrance is protected by concrete steps designed for unloading cargo, preventing vehicle entry. Even if a newly created, highly efficient Zombie could operate a vehicle, penetration remains impossible.

Beyond the pedestrian ramp lies a steel door.

Even if one could breach the steel door, the interior of the hotel remains inaccessible without destroying the stainless steel door, five centimeters thick.

If barricaded inside the hotel, one is safe. The worst threat would be starvation from a siege.

"By yesterday, Room 1001 had paid for one month’s stay, and Room 714 had paid for six months. There is no reason one cannot remain barricaded here for half a year."

"When did you pay?"

"When I returned from the country elevator."

Hayato had seen the expelled men. He had pretended to travel to and from the vehicle, transporting rice.

Using two thirty-kilogram rice bags, Hayato extended the occupancy of Room 1001 by half a month, and Room 714 by five months.

"The problem is that Room 1001 was only secured for one month. Under these conditions, pretending to go outside and bring back additional rice is impossible."

At the hotel entrance, Hayato was monitored by the hotel staff, Nishiyama and others.

He carried large bags in and out, but without space storage, only one bag could be brought in.

It would be unnatural to produce extra rice while holed up in the hotel. If left as is, Hayato would have to vacate Room 1001 in one month.

After staring at the glass-walled shower room, Hayato spoke heavily.

"Returning to Room 714 is impossible."

Yui’s small hand slapped Hayato sharply.

"Are you stupid?"

Hayato recalled what stupidity meant when confronted with the remark.

Hayato recalled the story of the Qin chancellor who presented a deer to the second emperor, saying, "This is a rare horse," while testing which ministers would side with him or the emperor.

Those who honestly said it was a deer were all executed the following day.

The emperor said he had been mocked. The phrase "the honest are fools" originated from that event.

In such a situation, honesty was labeled "foolish honesty."

"Right, the term 'fool' comes from liars being horses, and honest people being deer."

To yield to pressure or to remain true to oneself.

Hayato felt, perhaps, that being a deer was acceptable.

From the spatial storage, he withdrew a right-hand glove.

"There is a glove called 'Yumi-kake'—made from deer hide."

The Yumi-kake Hayato retrieved was a glove used when drawing a bowstring.

Whether passed down by a previous transfer or not, Hayato's unit used yumi bows.

Hayato slid the yumi-kake onto his arm, then drew the war bow.

The war bow was a yumi-tai yumi, reputed to have an effective range of four hundred meters during the Sengoku period.

Japanese kyudo featured the term jinshi, meaning a shooter was considered skilled if their range exceeded four chō—four hundred thirty-six meters.

Hayato, wearing deerskin gloves and carrying an arrow, chose to be honest with himself.

"I'm a deer. I'll deal with you for a bath-equipped guest room."

"…Wow. This guy's an idiot."

"I'm a deer who's honest with myself. Don't pair me with a horse."

"Isn't that just calling him an idiot in general?"

Ignoring Yui's disbelief, Hayato stood against the handrail wall and looked down at the space below.

From his spatial storage, he withdrew an arrow and held it in his right hand.

The arrowhead was a willow-leaf point, classified as a penetrating arrow, with a damascus steel tip.

Damascus steel offered superior flexibility and resilience. Eight out of ten arrows used could be reused.

Hayato nocked the arrow, aimed at a single zombie, and drew the bowstring taut.

The arc of force generated by his arm aligned precisely with the zombie’s head.

The bow, string, and arrow—drawn with the strength of a grizzly—remained perfectly steady.

In an instant, a sharp crack split the air—shvān.

The arrow raced straight down, piercing the zombie’s skull from above.

The zombie collapsed instantly.

Yui and Natsuki stared, stunned, shifting their gaze between the fallen zombie and Hayato.

"My arrow flies five hundred meters."

The target on the ground was only thirty meters from the tenth-floor terrace. For Hayato, nearly zero margin of error.

Moreover, most of the zombies failed to understand the attack from above and remained clustered around the hotel.

Only a few, however, saw the arrow impaled in their kin’s head and raised their faces toward the sky.

“First, you.”

A dull gleam of Damascus steel struck the forehead of one among the few that looked upward.

The zombie’s frontal bone cracked. It fell backward.

“Five seconds per arrow.”

A tearing groan began to echo from the front of the hotel.

Shu-baan… shu-baan… the rhythmic groans rose.

Each time, the sound of Damascus steel splitting bone rang out below: zugaan.

Zombies struck by arrows collapsed one after another, knees buckling, bodies falling.

Headshot accuracy: approximately eighty percent.

Hayato showed no sign of fatigue. Accuracy improved steadily.

"What's happening?"

"Amazing."

With Yui's disbelief and Natsuki's admiration behind him, Hayato drew another arrow and fired.

He struck with the force of a thrown spear, shattering the zombie's skull.

"My stay in Room 1001 caused your defeat."

Hayato displayed unwavering resolve, prepared to fight to the death no matter how many zombies approached.

Yui beside him wore an expression of disbelief.

She did not feel pity for the fallen zombies, nor did she reject the act of killing. But she silently questioned whether such intense effort over such trivial motives was justified.

Hayato saw the difference as personal, or a matter of gendered perspective. To him, this was a significant issue under current conditions.

The zombies under continuous attack recognized Hayato. They reached for him with outstretched hands, groaning.

Hayato remained on the tenth floor of a vertically standing hotel. No matter how he struggled, he could not reach them.

The windows up to the ninth floor were designed so that no one could lean out.

He had a one-sided advantage. No risk of friendly fire.

"More comfortable than when I was on active duty."

Hayato's hand moved like a machine—nocking arrows, drawing the string, firing without pause.

Fifty zombies in five minutes. One hundred in ten. He continued without pause. Eventually, the number of fallen zombies exceeded the number of walking ones.

Hayato then adjusted his angle and began attacking the surrounding zombies.

Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes.

He did not stop attacking. He continued hunting one-sidedly, until the enemy could no longer respond.

One hour after the attack began, the zombies surrounding the hotel had been cleared.

"Only about four thousand arrows remain. Retrieve the ones fired, for reuse."

"Reuse? Can you actually use arrows that have been fired?"

"Damascus steel is the opposite of the high-quality steel used in Japanese swords. Up to eighty percent can be recovered and reused."

Hayato quickly left the hotel and began collecting arrows.

He moved immediately to avoid being stopped by guests or having high-performance arrows taken by others.

As Hayato walked through the area where zombies had fallen, his expression tense, the guests did not interfere.

Thanks to this, Hayato collected the arrows and secured the shower rooms.

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