The imagined Apocalypse did not come. Eishi stepped out of his apartment complex. The view of the 'city' looked extremely normal.
He looked between the elevator and the stairs and chose the latter.
'I had a habit of wearing oversized shirts…'
His physical changes are huge. Eishi could barely recognize his own face. His height increased to 185 centimeters after the serum's injection. It wasn't wrong to say it is the super soldier serum.
Naturally, his previous medium-sized clothes felt tight. He tried wearing his school uniform, only to end up with noticeable muscle outlines. It can be hidden with the blazer, fortunately.
He chose to wear the "oversized shirt" and jogging pants to the nearest supermarket. The intersecting highways, bustling crowd, and high-rise buildings created a cacophony of noise.
'Yokohama… is more prosperous than I thought.'
Perhaps it is the gap between the two worlds' timeline. His past life remained in 2023. There is also the addition of behemoths such as 'Argus' that create the world-altering virtual reality headsets. Not to mention the impenetrable fortress, Ocean Turtle, that housed 'man-made souls' inside a virtual machine.
There are also the Zaibatsus (Financial Conglomerates) coming from different anime. Japan is one huge financial behemoth in this world.
'All of this, descending into the apocalypse…'
Eishi's surrealism ended when he arrived in the supermarket. He took a cart and began shopping like normal. He casually looked around for security cameras. A hint of excitement and thrill appeared in his heart.
He looked at the end of this aisle. There is milk, yogurt, water, and energy drinks inside the refrigerator. His vision became exceptionally sharp upon consuming the serum.
With a thought, one of the water bottles disappeared. Eishi looked inside his 'spatial backpack' and saw it in a static state.
Like that, he took several items at once. He left the few in front of the refrigerator. He maintained his distance as he took the items. Eishi did it over and over in the food section. It only took a small section of his football field sized spatial backpack.
Instant noodles, self-heating rice, frozen meat, vegetables, water…
'It can last for a month.'
Eishi felt his 'results' were disappointing. He began eyeing the supermarket's surroundings. He was fortunate to see two doors painted in the same color as the walls. One of them was in the refrigerated section. The other one is in the dry goods section.
He mentally took note of them before heading to the other sections—hygiene and clothing. His discreet stealing did not catch anyone's attention. The amount he stole was too little.
Overall, he managed to scavenge for a month's worth of supplies. He outwardly bought a week's worth of food in his cart.
The female cashier could not help but glance at him several times. Eishi noticed this and gave an awkward smile when their gazes met. A set of numbers are written on his receipt as he left.
'This should be a phone number… Of course, what a genius.'
Still unused to such treatment, he placed the receipt in the eco bag. He strolled around the supermarket's surroundings. It has a huge parking lot beside it. Several staff-only doors are present.
'I can make a move at night…'
The clock on his wrist showed 4 PM. It was just the dismissal time of high schoolers. Eishi didn't see these students when he went back to his apartment.
'Right. I skipped classes today…'
Four floors did not break a sweat for him.
Just then, he saw a 'familiar' acquaintance standing in the corridor. Her waist-length golden hair swayed with the gust of wind. Her exquisite golden pupils stared intently at the door lock.
'Why am I even surprised..?'
The girl was Shiina Mahiru. A character from a well-known wholesome anime—the type to give you type four diabetes. Her troubled face spoke volumes of her situation.
"Excuse me. Do you need help?"
"Ah?!"
She turned to look at Eishi. His lazy look contrasted the lines of muscle revealed in his arms. The bags of groceries made his features more prominent.
"I live here. Next door. If you forgot your keys, the building has a locksmith. I can come with you."
"Thank you!"
Her soft voice was followed by a bow.
"Please wait for a while. Let me bring these inside."
"Please do so."
Her choice of words are very formal. Eishi didn't mind it and brought his groceries inside. Moments later, he came out.
"There are several cases of being locked out in this building. The owner brought a locksmith to live here, on the second floor…"
The conversation between the two was sparse. A long period of silence descended until they arrived at the locksmith's door.
In the end, the password lock was cracked open in twenty minutes. The locksmith gave Shiina several reminders. She handed out five thousand yen to the locksmith. Then, to Eishi's surprise, she also took out three identical bills for him.
"There is no need to, Shiina-san. Calling him over is not a big deal."
Under his persuasive words, she ended up not giving him the money. She knew it would be bad to force it on Eishi. It is blatantly impolite.
"Then… please wait for a while. I will bring Hiraoka-san dinner."
This time, Eishi agreed. A soft click rang as the anti-theft door was locked.
'A kind and elegant young miss…'
Girls as beautiful as Mahiru were few and far in-between in his past life. They are either pursued by dozens of guys or possess a status far beyond his reach. It was completely unlike now.
Ring-!
The phone in his pocket rang. When he saw the caller's ID, he paused.
Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Eishi was surprised when he found out she was 3C's homeroom and Modern Japanese teacher. He answered the call.
"What's the matter, Hiratsuka-sensei?"
"You… Are you sick?"
An exasperated sigh came from across the phone.
"Uhm, yeah. I couldn't use my phone in the morning…"
Eishi lied without batting an eye.
"Alright. I will mark your absence as excused. Call me once you get better."
"Yes."
He ended the call as he stared blankly in the kitchen. Memories of his high school flashed in his mind.
Out of every homeroom teacher, it was Hiratsuka who showed the most concern to him. Eishi vaguely guessed of his 'orphaned' status being widespread in the school's faculty. His past homeroom teachers never went as far as showing personal concern. At most, it's leniency.
Thinking of his memories of Hiratsuka's 'source material', Eishi sighed.
"No wonder she's the best girl of them all…"
*****
"Stir-fried sweet and sour pork… This is heavenly…"
Eishi cleared up the dinner on his tupperware. He cleaned up an entire rice cooker. Worse, he still felt hungry.
Knowing his shabby cooking skills, Eishi decided on beef curry. He took out the sets of beef he bought at the supermarket.
Onions, potatoes, and carrots…
His increased agility made it easier to chop vegetables. His skillful usage of the kitchen knife went up to the level of a professional chef.
'First, saute the onions until they caramelize. Defrost the frozen beef inside a microwave before putting it along the onions. The potatoes and carrots don't need to be fried much…'
Curry is Eishi's staple food even in his past life. It is easy to cook, too. Fry the vegetables, toss in the meat until cooked, pour two cups of water, and toss in the solid curry roux.
Another round of feasting began. Only after he finished his second rice cooker and the curry did he feel full. Warm currents ran through his entire body. His heart beat strongly.
Eishi couldn't stay put. He went against the normal conventions and began exercising after meals.
Unsurprisingly, he did not feel like vomiting. The warm currents grew stronger. Every inch of his body utilized his ingested nutrients perfectly.
Only when the warm currents stopped did he stop exercising. His entire body felt satiated.
The clock struck 8 PM.
'12 AM… It's time to act.'
*****
The night escapades of Yokohama remained as prosperous as the day. Lights could be seen on high-rise buildings. Several bars and nightclubs remained brightly lit amidst the sea of darkness. Drunk people could be seen sleeping on the streets.
Nobody paid attention to Eishi. He wore a hoodie and a black face mask. It did not take long before he arrived at the supermarket. He went to its parking lot, circling the huge establishment. He wore a pair of sunglasses after that. It didn't take long before he found a locked staff-only door in its back.
Eishi glanced at the door's lock. A metal hammer appeared in his hand.
With one swing…
Bam-!
Clang-!
…the lock was obliterated. The u-shaped lock separated from its main body. Inside was total darkness. Eishi's eyes, however, can see clearly. Having ten times the normal person's eyesight made him a superhuman.
After breaking several locks, he arrived at the warehouse of dry goods.
'Hm. The cameras…'
Eishi had zero intention of showcasing the spatial backpack's capability. He circled around the huge warehouse. One by one, the surveillance cameras were shot down by the stones he threw.
At first, he lacked accuracy. The force behind the stone, however, was so strong it dented the metal bars it struck. He compared it to the force of a low-caliber handgun.
'How insane…'
He spent five minutes to circle twice and strike at the cameras. Eishi readied himself for confrontation at any time. He waited near the door without padlocks.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
When twenty minutes came and no response came, Eishi decided to act.
Wherever his eyes could see, he stored them all. The dry goods—instant noodles, self-heating rice and hotpot, bags of rice—filled his desolate spatial backpack. It only took him five minutes to sweep through the entire dry goods warehouse.
He looked at his panel and clicked on the spatial backpack.
[Space: Backpack (SSS, First-order, 6,813/10,000)]
'It took up so much space. But…'
He thought hard about the boxes and containers of the items. They reappeared inside the warehouse. Now, only the supplies remained static inside the space.
[Spatial Backpack (SSS, First-order, 2,810/10,000)]
The huge change made him smile. Carton boxes took up the majority of the spaces. Eishi only needed their contents.
With steady steps, he navigated through the huge building. The doors aren't locked this time. After spending another twenty minutes, he arrived at a cold steel door. Eishi broke the lock using the hammer.
Bam-!
Clang-!
This time, both the lock and the hammer snapped into two. Speechless, he pushed the cold iron door. What greeted his sight was hooked frozen meat. There is also frozen meat stored in separate refrigerators.
Eishi did his usual thing. He circled around the entire cold storage thrice. All of the surveillance cameras broke under his gun-powered stones.
Frozen meat began appearing inside his spatial backpack.
[Spatial Backpack (SSS, First-order, 7,001/10,000)]
Eishi "spat out" the refrigerators and the iron hooks, leaving the frozen meat floating statically.
[Spatial Backpack (SSS, First-order, 4,908/10,000)]
The chill of the cold storage room did not affect him one bit. Until he left the supermarket, he didn't come across anyone. He took out a set of clothes and changed them on a dark alley. Once he walked out, he circled around places without surveillance. His suppressed heartbeats broke out at this moment.
'These supplies will last me for a lifetime…'
The first hurdle to the so-called 'apocalypse' was gone.
*****
The next day, Eishi woke up to a string of news in his phone.
[Large-scale robbery inside a supermarket warehouse]
The headings differed, but the content remained the same. The warehouse he robbed last night made it into international news.
[One unidentified person broke into the warehouse and destroyed the footage. The authorities are looking…]
All sorts of comments flew. Nobody would believe that it is the work of a single person. The empty boxes of cartons and refrigerators Eishi left made the entire thing even more confusing.
In one word: explosive.
"One down…"
There are still a lot of things to do. Clothing and hardware tools are a necessity. There's also the shelter issue. He also needed to buy an 'Amusphere'. It is the device needed to enter virtual worlds. It is the safe version of the Nervegear.
Eishi considered the virtual reality games as training grounds prior to apocalypse's descent. He can familiarize himself with guns and fight people. Although his physical body cannot be brought over, his sharp senses can be carried in-game.
As for weapons, it is a big no. Japan has a very strict regulation of guns and blades. He could only list down the locations of military bases near Yokohama as well as its police station. He planned on raiding them after moment the apocalypse strikes. Granted, he has an opportunity to do so.
Overall, there are still a lot of things to settle.
Eishi prepared himself for the morning. Before leaving the apartment, he knocked on Mahiru's door, intending to return the tupperware she gave. It took a while for his brain to realize she went to school. The current time is 11 AM. He woke up at 10 AM.
"Forget it. I'll return it later…"