High School Girl Warrior: How to Save an Apocalyptic World - CH 27

Chapter 27 – The imminent giant monster crisis

As I moved towards the school’s building, three students rushed towards me at a tremendous speed.

“Senpai!” Asuka shouted as she hugged me. Ritsuko then hugged me too and Rintarou stopped a bit farther than the other two.

“We’re the same age, so you shouldn’t call me senpai.” I told Asuka, as usual.

“Senpai! I love you! I love you! I love you! Don’t ever stay away from me again!” Asuka exclaimed while hugging me even tighter than before.

“Senpai… I’m glad you’re safe.” Ritsuko said.

I was being sandwiched by the strong hugs of two beautiful girls. They had a nice smell even though neither of them had bathed in a while.

Though I’m not that happy about it since I’m straight… And why are Asuka’s lips moving closer to mine!?

I hurriedly put my hand in front of her face, and then my palm was deeply sucked by her… What is this sudden yuri development!?

“Oh, wow! Me too, me too-!” Rintarou suddenly exclaimed, but he then got his belly hit by Ritsuko’s elbow.

“You deserved it, idiot.” She told him… And yet, even while crouching down in pain, Rintarou didn’t stop smiling, “Anyways, where were you, senpai? Everyone was so worried!” Ritsuko asked me.

I then briefly told them about what happened after I left ‘Captain’. Like how I injured my leg and had to hide in a drugstore to rest.

“You injured your leg?” Ritsuko was worried when she heard that.

“Ah, I just tripped a bit, nothing big.” I lied, but it couldn’t be helped. There’s no way I could explain how I got an antidote.

“Ah, I’m glad.” She heaved a sigh of relief, “Then please go meet Kousuke. That idiot has been worried sick about you, he didn’t sleep a wink since yesterday even!”

“Alright, I’ll do that.” I told her.

I did expect that he’d do something like that anyways. He really has a troublesome anime-protagonist-like personality…

***

After parting with Ritsuko, Asuka and Rintarou, I went to the 3rd class of the 2nd grade, where a meeting was being held.

As I opened the door, I could hear an unfamiliar man speaking to everyone, “I’ll say it again. If we don’t start moving as soon as possible, we’ll be dead. There’s no-”

“Senpai!” Kousuke suddenly exclaimed, cutting the man’s speech. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kousuke this happy before, “I’m so glad you’re okay…”

Not only him, but it seems like everyone in the room was relieved to see me back… It’s a bit embarrassing.

However, the sweet mood didn’t last long, because the unfamiliar man spoke to me, “So you’re the rumored girl.”

Only now, after paying proper attention to him, that I recognize who this man was… He was Kousuke’s father, who I only got a glace of back when we were at ‘Captain’.

“You must be Kousuke’s father?” I asked him just in case.

“Indeed. I’m Hibiya Norio, a pleasure to meet you.” He told me as he shook my hand. His palm was very rough and powerful.

At that moment, the usual fanfare resounded.

–Congratulations! Your level has risen!

–Congratulations! Your level has risen!

What timing to get this. I guess it’s because I was able to safely return to the school after a dangerous situation while properly finishing the rescue operation?

It was nice that I gained two levels from it, but let’s leave the choice of rewards for later and focus on the conversation for now.

“From what I’ve heard, it’s because of you that we were saved.” Mr. Norio said.

“Well… I suppose that isn’t wrong.” I replied.

“I’m thankful for your help… However, where is Mr. Kobayakawa?” He asked me.

“Kobayakawa?” I asked him back with a frown.

“You’ve met him at ‘Captain’. He’s the member of the self-defense forces that brought us this far.” He explained.

“Ah, so that was his name… He…” I then explained his heroic sacrifice, where he saved my life when I was in a desperate situation, and ended up falling prey to the zombies.

Mr. Norio was visibly disheartened to hear that, “I see… So he too…”

“If I were to say something, I think he didn’t have much will to live. He did not try to flee from the zombies at all, so perhaps he was fine with how things ended for him.” I told him. I didn’t expect it to be much comfort, but I figured I should at least try to say something about it.

“He was a very responsible man for his age. However, he lost a lot of his companions after the incident at the camp… It must have taken a toll on him.” Mr. Norio explained.

However, it didn’t make things clearer to me at all, “Incident at the camp? Could you perhaps tell me about it? Is this related to why you were saying we had to leave the school?” I asked.

Before Mr. Norio had a chance to reply though, Mr. Sasaki ended up interrupting us, “Before that, I just want to ask you something… Did you really see a dragon?” He asked me. It seems like it was hard for him to actually say those words, he probably has a hard time believing that I saw one.

… I wonder how he got hold of this information though. I’m pretty sure I didn’t tell him.

Well, it’s fine either way, “I saw one.” I told him.

When I did, all adults on the classroom became restless.

“When?” Mr. Sasaki asked me.

“About a week ago, from my apartment’s window, before I came to school.” I explained.

Mr. Sasaki heaved a sigh and said, “Well, if she is saying it, then I think I’ll believe it.”

“I’m kinda lost here, can you tell me the story from the beginning? Where did this question even come from?” I asked him.

It was Mr. Norio, who had a very bitter expression, that replied to my question, “A pig appeared.”

… That wasn’t a very good explanation, “A pig? Was it edible? Or maybe pretty?” I asked him. I actually like eating pork quite a bit.

“Not this kind of pig.” He said, then spread his arms out, “A gigantic pig monster.”

I had a blank expression as he said that… And at the same time, everyone’s eyes seemed to be focused on me for some reason.

It felt as if they were asking me for my opinion on what Mr. Norio had said so far, but… It really wasn’t much.

So I nodded and said, “Alright… Please continue.”

He then explained his story properly.

About 10km from here, there was a factory that was surrounded by a sturdy fence. After the zombie outbreak started, the military used that factory as a refugee camp. The Hibiya family stayed at that camp for a while, being under the care of the members of the self-defense forces.

Things seemed to be mostly stable at first. However, one day a loud trumpet resounded throughout the camp. A sound that signified that the defenses had been breached.

A thing attacked their camp and broke the fences. It easily tore through the self-defense forces and started spreading death everywhere.

Mr. Norio was able to see the thing… it was a giant pig monster who was over 3m tall and had two huge fangs growing from its mouth.

After the pig breached the defenses, chaos issued. While soldiers were busy handling the pig, the zombies invaded the camp. The refugees were defenseless at this sudden attack, especially without many soldiers available to protect them.

At that moment, under the command of Private First Class Kobayakawa, Mr. Norio and his family escaped on a military truck, aiming towards our school, hoping to find out if Kousuke was still alive.

And now they’re here.

“I see… So it was a giant pig…” I mused.

Kousuke, who probably thought I wasn’t believing the story, said, “Senpai, my father isn’t a liar.”

“I believe him. There are zombies, there are dragons, and there are giant pig monsters. That’s all there is to it.” I gave him my honest opinion.

“I-I see…” Kousuke seemed to be surprised by my answer. I guess most people didn’t believe Mr. Norio’s story at first.

“By the way, how many pig monsters were there?” I asked Mr. Norio.

“I don’t know. I only saw one, but there may be others.” He replied.

“The members of the military were surely armed. Were their guns able to wound it?” I asked him.

“I don’t know… As soon as I saw it, I ran towards my family, so that we could escape that place.” Mr. Norio answered.

“I see, then it’s possible that the members of the self-defense forces might have actually killed it, isn’t it?”

“Maybe they did, maybe they did not… Either way, when thinking of the possibility of being attacked by threats like that… It is better to get out of here as soon as possible.” Mr. Norio said.

After thinking for a few seconds, I sighed, “We don’t have any guarantee that there is a better place to go to though? This might be the safest option available, so I don’t think it’s ideal to move away.” I explained.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Mr. Sasaki complemented, “We’ve seen hell on Earth over the past week. I understand that the world was turned upside down, and I can accept that we may also have a giant pig monster on top of zombies, but… Mr. Hibiya, what you’re saying is unreasonable. We have elderly here. Even if you can somehow escape the zombies and find a different place to reside at, you can’t seriously expect everyone to be able to.”

“I don’t expect everyone here to agree with me. I only expect those who are capable of to do so.” Mr. Norio said.

The one who was mostly shaken by those words, was none other than his son, Kousuke, “What are you saying, dad!? You’re telling us to just abandon the people here!?”

“Kousuke, shut it.” Mr. Norio ordered.

“I’m not leaving! I’m staying with everyone!” Kousuke exclaimed.

“We’ll talk about this later. Leave this to your father for now.” Mr. Norio said.

“Don’t talk to me as if I was a kid!” Kousuke shouted.

Ignoring their arguing, I butted in and asked, “Mr. Norio, what is the weakness of the pig monster?”

Mr. Norio was visibly confused by my question, “Weakness?” He asked back.

“Yeah. You said he was 3m tall, but how thick is its skin? Do you think a katana would be able to cut through it?” I asked him.

“J-just what are you talking about?” He seemed to be even more confused by this last question, so I clarified.

“I just wanted to know if I would be able to kill it in a fight.” I explained.

Mr. Norio seemed to be in disbelief, “Are you… Always like that?” He asked.

“Like what?’ I asked back.

“No… Never mind that.” He ended the conversation with those words.

Did I make a mistake on his route? Could I have lost likeness by giving a wrong answer?

While I distracted myself by thinking of our relationship as if he was a visual novel character, Mr. Norio said, “Anyways, I’ve found Kousuke, and I’m only staying here to care for him for a short while. All I wanted to say, was that I’m not going to refuse anyone who wants to come with me once I leave.”

The classroom went silent at this statement.

Everyone had already said their points, so it seemed like there wasn’t much point in continuing the meeting, so Mr. Asada Gozou ended the conference.