Chapter Five: Toward the Academy
The silence was suffocating.
After I ate, I felt a bit of life return to my body — but hunger wasn't my only enemy.
I needed a way to communicate… a phone.
I stood up sluggishly from the floor, brushed the dust off my old pants, and started searching.
I checked drawers, under the bed, behind the cabinets, until I found something small… covered in a thick layer of black dust, barely visible except for a faint glint of light through the shattered window.
It was a mobile phone.
Or what was left of one.
Its screen was cracked in every corner, the side button missing, and the back cover hanging by a thread of worn-out plastic. Still, I pressed the remaining button… and waited.
One second… two...
The screen flickered dimly.
An indescribable feeling washed over me. The phone worked!
[Battery: 40%]
"Nice… not bad," I muttered, wiping the screen with the edge of my shirt.
Despite the cracked glass, I was able to slowly navigate between the apps.
No signal. No internet. But I wasn't looking to chat… I needed a map, a compass, anything to guide me.
I paused for a moment.
Before I left, I spotted a long coat hanging on a nail in the wall — dusty, but still relatively intact.
I grabbed it, gave it two good shakes, then wore it.
It was warm… maybe too warm. But I felt a strange sense of comfort in it.
...
I stepped outside.
The sky was gray, the clouds heavy as if on the verge of collapse.
Everything outside that house was even more depressing.
Now I understood clearly. The neighborhood I had stepped into was completely empty — abandoned, silent, as if life had left it long ago. Yet it still carried traces of those who once lived there: destroyed homes, shattered windows, old footprints, maybe even echoes of voices that only lived in memory.
The entire neighborhood… was deserted.
Houses lined up on both sides, broken and ruined. Their windows gaped like open mouths, doors dangling loosely, as if waiting to be closed for the last time.
The street was covered in a layer of gray dust. No tire marks. No footprints. Only the wind… moving a plastic bag here, a crushed can there.
As if life had left this place years ago...
I took a slow breath.
"I don't remember ever seeing this place in the anime," I couldn't help but think.
...
I walked cautiously.
At the corner of the street, I saw a rusted bicycle lying on its side, with grass growing around it.
The door of a shop was open — half-broken — and the sign dangled from its last nail. I walked in.
Empty shelves. Cracked floor. The heavy smell of dust.
I searched the place, hoping I might find something… anything.
I continued on, through the silent street.
Everything was still… no sign anyone had been here recently.
The whole neighborhood… a ghost town.
Just a few cats and dogs here and there.
But people?
No people.
I stopped.
Pulled out the phone again.
Opened the compass app.
The needle spun a little, then settled northwest.
[Hero Academy: 8.3 km]
I looked in the direction it pointed — a long, straight road, lined with ruins on both sides, but clear.
Hero Academy… finally, a destination.
I stood there for a moment.
Looked behind me at the silent neighborhood, then ahead.
"Damn it… I can't stay in this place even one more second."
I clenched the edge of the coat and started walking.
---
The road ahead was quiet, long, and dull.
The sound of my footsteps was the only thing audible — sometimes blending with the soft wind passing through the debris and the old, abandoned cars lining the sides.
I kept checking the compass every few minutes, making sure I wasn't straying from the path.
"8.1 km… 7.9 km… 7.6 km…"
The numbers on the map were slowly decreasing.
...
After about half an hour of walking, I reached a street that looked somewhat better.
The houses here weren't destroyed like in the last neighborhood — but there was still one thing in common: not a single soul in sight.
Suddenly, in the middle of all that silence, I heard a faint meow.
I stopped instantly.
Looked around… and then I saw her.
A small, completely white cat, standing on a broken wooden box. She stared at me with wide eyes, gleaming faintly under the weak sunlight.
I approached cautiously.
"Hey… what are you doing out here all alone?" — but what came out of my mouth was: "Salmon."
She didn't run. On the contrary, she jumped down from the box and walked toward my feet, then sat calmly.
I crouched down, gently patted her head.
I felt her warmth beneath my hand, and the soft flutter of her purring.
It was something simple — but it made me smile for the first time since I arrived in this place.
"Oh… I thought you'd run away," I thought with surprise.
"I think I used to have a cat like her once… but what did I name her again… Hime? No, Shira? Doesn't matter."
I placed the cat back on the ground and continued walking.
I stood up and kept going, while she watched me until I disappeared from her sight.
---
A long time passed, and fatigue began to creep into my legs. But I didn't stop.
The sky was still overcast, and everything around me stayed frozen — like it refused to change.
Then suddenly…
As I was walking along a long iron fence, I heard a sound behind me.
It was soft… but very clear.
"Meow."
I froze in place.
Still following me?
I turned around slowly.
She looked up at me, then let out another meow...
I blinked in surprise.
"A… are you still following me?" I thought silently.
She paused for a second… then started walking toward me again, as if she saw no reason to stop.
I sighed.
I kept walking, thinking she'd stay behind.
But she didn't.
I could hear her tiny footsteps on the cracked pavement. I'd glance back now and then and see her quietly panting behind me — stopping when I stopped, walking when I walked… never ahead, never too far behind.
"Is she serious?" I wondered.
I stopped suddenly.
She stopped too.
I stepped toward her, crouched down, and stared into her wide eyes.
"Salmon," I tried to shoo her with my hand.
She didn't run.
Didn't respond.
Just walked closer… and gently rubbed against my leg.
"Meow."
A moment of silence passed between us.
Then… I let out a long sigh, and shook my head slowly.
"Alright then… no point ignoring you, is there?"
I loosened part of the coat, folded it into a small pouch, gently picked up the cat and wrapped her inside.
She was surprisingly warm — like a piece of life in the middle of all this ruin.
I felt her relax, purring softly.
"You won't regret this… right?" I couldn't help but think.
---
…One hour later…
I looked up at the tall buildings and wide roads before a wide smile spread across my face.
I thought about heading to the academy right away — but there was something I had to do first.
I looked down at the sleeping cat in my arms, then headed toward a pet care shop.
On one side of the road… a small wooden sign, hand-painted, showing a picture of a cat.
[Pet Care Center – Open]
I looked at the cat.
She was calmly sitting, licking herself with her tiny pink tongue.
I stepped closer, crouched down beside her.
Gently picked her up. She didn't resist.
I walked inside. The place was warm, clean, and filled with the smell of pet food.
A woman in a white coat looked startled the moment she saw me.
"Please sir, don't hold the cat like that!"
I looked down and realized I'd been holding her like luggage — but I didn't care. I was going to leave her here anyway.
The employee quickly took the cat from my hands and spoke.
"Is this your cat?"
I hesitated, then silently shook my head.
She gently held the cat, stroking her head softly.
"She's healthy… and her behavior shows she used to be a pet."
I pointed at the cat, then at the woman.
She smiled.
"Of course."
I stood there for a few
seconds… looking at the little cat, now in the woman's hands.
"Salmon," I whispered.
Then I walked out.
I hope I never see her again.
End of Chapter