High School Girl Warrior: How to Save an Apocalyptic World - CH 26

Chapter 26 – I’m home

As I ran out of the drugstore and moved through the market district, I found four zombies in front of me. However, this time, I didn’t feel scared of them… Instead, I felt like I could keep moving.

My katana, which was a memento from my grandfather, felt extremely light. It was almost as if it was part of my body… I intuitively knew its range, and felt as if I was touching whatever it touched.

I swung it with the minimum force necessary, swiftly stabbing the brain of the zombie in front of me. Then, I pulled it back and made an upwards swing, swiftly cutting the next zombie in half.

Without stopping my motions, I stabbed the eyeball of the third zombie, then did a horizontal swing with the sword, cutting the last’s zombie’s head in half too.

And with this, they were down. Now that I have the ‘Sword Technique (Intermediate)’ skill, it seems like zombies aren’t really a threat to me anymore.

No, I can’t think like that. Zombies’ bites can instantly kill anyone. No matter how strong I get, I cannot get cocky.

Let’s keep moving, I have to go back to school.

… The path doesn’t feel like it’s that big though. Yesterday I felt as if the road was a thousand miles long, but now it’s nothing more than a light stroll.

However, I did not try to actively kill the zombies on the way. What I wanted to was getting back to school, and I am not going to risk getting surrounded, so I was avoiding as many unnecessary battles as possible.

Luckily enough, the number of zombies in the city doesn’t seem to be that big. There were a lot near ‘Captain’, but that was probably the largest group in the city, and they’re now scattered, so I didn’t find any large groups on my way.

I did find groups though, for the zombies seem to be aware that there are people at the school, so their numbers got larger and larger as I approached my target.

By the time I could see the main gate, there were over a dozen zombies behind me.

For now though, I quickly killed the two zombies that were stuck at the school’s main gate and shouted as loudly as I could, “Is anyone there!?”

“S-senpai!?” Takenaka Isao exclaimed from behind the gate. He was so surprised that he even dropped the book he was reading, “I can’t believe it! You’re amazing, senpai! I saw the fireworks yesterday, you know!? I’m so glad you’re safe!”

“Talk later! Open the gate!” I told him, as the zombies were closing in on me.

“W-w-w-w-w-wait just a minute! I’ll get it!” As he saw the approaching zombies, he hurriedly started searching his pockets for the gate’s key, “We kept watch over the gates throughout the night so that senpai could come back at any time…” I appreciated the consideration, but I’d appreciate it even more if he could hurry up and open the gate, “There! I found it! Wait a bit, I’m opening it!”

However, the zombies were already on me by then… Too late! I’m tired of waiting!

I stabbed the head of the nearest zombie, then beheaded it. As it started falling down, I used its body as a trampoline to jump over the gate, before the other zombies could reach me.

The gate was over 3 meters tall, but I still jumped over it just fine.

As I landed inside, Takenaka looked at me with an absolutely stunned expression. His hands were still holding the key that he had just inserted into the gate.

“I’m home.” I said.

“Eh? That was… High… Uhn… Welcome back, senpai!” It was a bit of a troubled reply, but he seems to have recovered after that small stutter, “We were all really worried for you, you know? I even pulled an all-nighter to keep watch!”

“Oh my? You did quite the naughty thing.” I joked.

“Eh!? Come on, I can’t fight like you and Kousuke, so let me at least do this much!” He exclaimed. Seems like he took my comment seriously.

… Though he really stayed up all night waiting for me, while I spent my time reading manga. I felt a bit guilty for that.

Well, let’s leave it at that, “How is Kousuke’s family?” I asked.

“All three of them are safe! And please go meet Kousuke, he’ll surely be overjoyed to meet you.” Takenaka replied.

In the end, I just did what I felt like I was supposed to, then ended up resting and enjoying myself with a bath, but it seems like I caused a lot of worries for everyone… And also saw the private parts of an unfamiliar old man.

Let’s not think about that, “Did anything happen while I was gone?” I asked.

“Ah, well, nothing big, just… Do you remember Nakata?” Takenaka asked.

“Nakata? Can’t say I do…” I replied.

“Well, he is a bit of a tall and handsome guy who likes flirting…” He explained.

“What about him?” I asked.

“Well, there were three girls who were getting annoyed at him, so they took it out on him.” He said.

“Took it out…?” I asked.

“Yeah, like, beat him up?” He answered.

“He was lynched in front of everyone? This seems troublesome.” I replied.

“Oh no, nothing that big! They just slapped him hard and the like. Basically, they openly called him an annoyance.” Takenaka explained.

“Oh, so that’s what it was.” I was relieved.

“I mean, the boys are just laughing at it, but Nakata seems to be quite down because of it, you know?” He told me while giggling.

So this was the incident? I guess things really are quite peaceful right now.

“Though should you really be badmouthing him in front of me?” I asked him.

“Ah, I mean, it’s just that you give an easy to get along aura of sorts, kinda like how I’d feel around other boys of my class, I guess?” He hurriedly explained.

“A boy…?” I asked in disbelief.

“I-I-I-I mean! Senpai just feels a little mentally boyish!” He seemed to be panicking a bit.

“B-boyish!?” Though I too was panicking now…

“Ah, no, I mean… Senpai is really charming, just like… I mean, behaves a bit like a boy? Ah, oh no… Why did I even mention this…?” He seemed to be lost on how to fix things…

That was quite the low blow. I was harmed by an unexpected attack.

“A-anyways, senpai is easy to talk to and I like staying with senpai! And everyone else also thinks so!” He tried to deliver some comforting words while diverting the topic a bit, but it didn’t help much.

I heaved a sigh, then turned towards the school building. Better end this conversation here before it gets any worse.

Though before I started walking towards it, I saw the cover of the novel that Takenaka was reading… ‘No Longer Human’. What a fitting title.