Chapter 61: In the Shadow of the Zombie Outbreak
"Kojou-san, Akame-san, I'd like to step out for a bit to level up," said Akatsuki, since they were a team and needed to talk things over before anyone made a solo move.
"Me too," said Akame after hearing Akatsuki, as she had been thinking the exact same thing.
"This..." Kojou muttered, since he too had been thinking about it—he had intended to go hunt zombies for experience points. "Let's wait a little. We still have plenty of time, and now isn't the right moment for that."
Even though Kojou wanted to kill zombies and level up, the timing wasn't right. The zombies had begun spreading some time ago, and there were still plenty of living humans around.
To Kojou, humans were more dangerous than zombies. Unlike zombies, who obviously tried to kill you, humans could easily hide their true intentions and betray you at your weakest, most vulnerable moments—especially in this collapsed world where the law no longer held sway.
"Now isn't the right moment?" Akatsuki murmured in confusion, not really understanding what Kojou meant. Still, she nodded. "Alright, I'll listen to you, Kojou-san."
"..." Unlike the innocent Akatsuki, who didn't grasp Kojou's meaning, Akame understood perfectly. More than anyone, she knew how treacherous and deceitful humans could be. So, she nodded silently and decided to follow Kojou's lead.
Seeing the two of them agree to his suggestion, Kojou couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh of relief. He didn't want to have to use force against them, and he certainly didn't want to let them go off alone—so it was best if they stayed with him of their own will, without unnecessary complications.
"By the way, since you're from this city, could you tell us about it?" Kojou asked the purple-haired beauty beside him, who was also a guild member. There was no reason to hesitate—especially since she carried a shard of Lucifer's soul.
With Shido and the other students staying in the small store, there weren't many people on the bus, so Kojou and the others were able to sit at the back and talk in relative comfort—though they still had to keep their voices down, especially since the twin-tailed girl named Saya was paying very close attention to them.
"First of all, this is Tokonosu City, a place well-known for..." Saeko smiled faintly and began giving them a brief introduction to the city, then moved on to explaining its geographical divisions and the balance of power—information that was far more important to Kojou and the others. She also described the other people on the bus; though she didn't know much about them either, a little knowledge was better than none.
—
"Excuse me, I'm Komuro Takashi. Nice to meet you." Takashi smiled politely as he introduced himself to Kojou and the others.
"Akatsuki Kojou. Nice to meet you too," Kojou nodded lightly toward Takashi. Unlike the loathsome, sin-stained Shido, Takashi was just an ordinary teenager. "You can just call me Kojou."
Although calling strangers by their first names without prior familiarity was generally considered disrespectful, Kojou didn't mind—especially since someone else already shared his family name.
"Akatsuki. Nice to meet you too," Akatsuki nodded lightly toward Takashi. Despite her appearance as an elementary school student, she carried a faintly mature presence that would be impossible for an actual child her age.
"Akame..." Akame said in a flat tone, not being the talkative type.
"Kojou-san, may I ask you something?" Takashi nodded to the girls before turning his gaze back to Kojou, who gave a light nod in response. "I remember you bought a lot of supplies earlier, but I don't see anything with you besides that small bag. Can you tell me how you hid all of them?"
Takashi was straightforward, hiding nothing. He wanted to know how Kojou had managed to make all those supplies disappear—if he could do the same, it would be extremely useful in the future.
"I stored them in another dimension," Kojou said indifferently. He had no intention of hiding his abilities, especially since he planned to use them openly when killing zombies in the near future.
"Another dimension? Are you saying you have a superpower?" Upon hearing Kojou's words, Takashi raised a brow in puzzlement—but there was an unmistakable spark of excitement in his eyes. "Like in anime and manga, where people gain supernatural abilities when zombies appear and the world ends?"
By now, everyone on the bus was paying attention to Kojou's words. In the past, they would have laughed at something like that and called it nonsense, but with zombies suddenly appearing out of nowhere, it wasn't far-fetched to think that some people had awakened supernatural powers.
"That's right. It's not just me—there are four of us here with powers beyond those of ordinary humans." Kojou spoke without a trace of concern, raising his hand toward Takashi as golden lightning danced around his palm. "See? Supernatural abilities are very real, though the number of people who possess them in your world is extremely small."
Bzzzt*
Bzzzt*
Bzzzt*
Kojou was being completely honest, with no intent to hide the fact that he was from another world. There was no point—he planned to leave this world after killing Shido anyway, and he didn't care what Takashi or the others thought. Moreover, he had no intention of becoming their babysitter, and so he needed to make that clear as well.
...
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