The next day.
"Huh? An unfamiliar ceiling."
In a simple Japanese-style residence, Ryuji looked up at the strange ceiling and complained to themself.
Pushing open the wooden door, he found this was a detached courtyard residence inside a large compound built on a hill.
Looking out, Ryuji could take in all the houses and streets below at a glance. The buildings down the hill were all timber-and-tile structures, looking extremely crude.
Completely out of place with them was a towering wall that enclosed the entire city as if humans were being penned in. It reminded him of Attack on Titan — where humans also hid behind high walls like livestock.
"I almost forgot."
Ryuji opened the system's World Rewards. In an instant, the entire world turned gray and white.
⤚———————————————————⤙
〖1. Kabane Virus〗
〖2. Kōtetsujō Blueprints〗
〖3. McRucky Engine Mechanism〗
⤚———————————————————⤙
"Tsk. Trash." Ryuji was disappointed. He had thought there might be something good.
In the end, he chose option 3. The first two were completely useless, while the McRucky Engine at least had some value.
"Looks like the World Rewards isn't useful in every world."
"Ah… t-teacher, good morning."
Suddenly, a shy, pleasant female voice sounded out.
Ryuji turned and saw Ayame walking over, cheeks slightly red, greeting him as she came closer.
"Good morning, Ayame."
Perhaps because of what happened yesterday, this girl in the bloom of youth was extremely embarrassed. After approaching him, she kept avoiding their gaze.
But she also didn't avoid Ryuji because of yesterday's overstep — which surprised him a little.
It seemed Ayame wasn't only gentle; she also had a brave and strong side.
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After spending some time together, Ayame had lost the earlier nervousness and shyness and could laugh and talk normally with Ryuji.
Ryuji followed behind her, heading toward the city's Kōtetsujō maintenance area.
Ayame carried an unwrapped short gun in her hands, intending to have someone repair it there.
"Did you hear?"
"Supplies got delayed again. They say the station fortress up ahead got overrun."
"Who knows how long we can hold out here."
"Don't say that — if the samurai hear, we're finished."
As they passed a street, they overheard the conversation.
Ayame couldn't help stopping. When Ryuji turned back, they saw the girl's expression turn worried.
"Don't worry. Even if this place falls, I'll still take you and keep you alive safely." He leaned close and promised in a low voice.
"Teacher… thank you." Ayame forced a smile, but the gloom in her eyes didn't fade.
Ryuji held her hand, not knowing how to comfort her.
He had once considered warning her father in advance — having him prepare to leave early, or stopping the Kōtetsujō that would arrive at night. But Ryuji understood that even if he prepared ahead of time or stopped that train, the world would automatically correct itself. Then nobody knew where a horde of Kabane would come from to make this place fall anyway.
All he could do was ensure the safety of the harem members he had chosen. Besides, he didn't consider himself a saint — there was no need to save everyone.
Early on, after arriving here, Ryuji had already dispatched the Shadowkhan, sending them to slip into the chosen people's shadows to protect them.
When they arrived at the Kōtetsujō maintenance area, Ryuji successfully met Ikoma, the protagonist of this world. Though there were some differences from the original work, the olive-green hair and the green monocle still made him very recognizable.
However, what he cared about most was the green crystal in Ikoma's hand. He felt there was some inexplicable connection there, like it was calling out to him.
After taking the short gun from Ayame's hands (no physical contact at all), just like in the original work, Ayame asked him: "Do you want to become a hero?"
"I just hate running away." Ikoma lowered his head, checking the short gun, and asked in return: "Lady Ayame, what do you think the muzzle should be aimed at?"
His question made Ayame freeze. Before she could react, she heard voices coming from the doorway.
"The West Gate is opening! The Kōtetsujō is here!"
The speaker was clearly the person in charge here. After he spoke, most of the staff ran toward the West Gate.
"Wasn't the Kōtetsujō supposed to arrive tomorrow?"
The drawbridge at the West Gate slowly lowered, and a silver-gray train stained with mottled blood rolled in.
As the train stopped, Kenshō arrived as well.
What Ryuji found strange was that, in the original work, the young samurai in blue, named Kurusu Konochi, should have been Ayame's guard — so why was he always at Kenshō's side?
But it wasn't a problem. It meant she didn't have much contact with that samurai.
"Father, wasn't the Kōtetsujō supposed to arrive tomorrow?" Ayame walked to her father's side and asked, confused.
"The Hayatani Station Fortress has already fallen. With fewer stations to stop at, arriving early is only reasonable." Kenshō's tone seemed indifferent to the fall of the station fortress — or perhaps he was simply used to it, "Attach the inspection cars!"
After that, he greeted Ryuji briefly and went to wait by the inspection car.
The blue-clad samurai — Kurusu — looked back at Ayame, then glanced at Ryuji, and followed behind Kenshō.
When the inspection cars connected to the Kōtetsujō, Ryuji realized it wasn't a single car like in the original work, but two cars. Men and women were inspected in different cars, and the car inspecting women was staffed entirely by women.
"Looks like I can't get too immersed in the original." Ryuji thought to themself.
After all, in the previous Highschool of the Dead world, whether it was character appearances or plot, the overall direction was the same, but there were still plenty of differences in the details.
For example, Rei hadn't played with Takashi when they were kids; instead, she was childhood friends with Saya. Another smaller detail: the pseudo-yuri pair Misuzu and Toshimi were only pretending to be that way to avoid people confessing to them — in truth, their first times had all been taken by Ryuji.
"Alright, begin maintenance."
With someone shouting, a group of workers wearing gloves and waterproof cloth wraps on their heads climbed onto the Kōtetsujō, each using tools to clean off the grime and blood.
Ryuji glanced over. Sure enough, the male lead of this world — just like in the original — ran beneath the Kōtetsujō to pick up chunks of Kabane flesh.
He couldn't help admiring his research spirit. Ikoma had created, with no assistance from any special equipment, something capable of easily piercing the membrane outside a Kabane's heart — a membrane that even Steam Guns had difficulty breaking through at the time.
And it was also his research spirit that allowed him, after being infected with the virus, to still maintain his sanity and become a Kabaneri.
Ding-ling! Ding-ling!
Just as Ikoma and his buddy Takumi were under the train doing research, someone Ryuji had been looking forward to leapt down from the Kōtetsujō.
A girl only around 1.3 to 1.4 meters tall, with a yellow headband tying her short black hair into small braids on both sides. She had a delicate, doll-like cute face and a pair of amber eyes. A blue butterfly-knot ribbon was tied around her slender neck, and she wore a short pink kimono.
Despite clearly being middle-school age, even the kimono couldn't conceal the impressive fullness of her chest. Because of the motion of jumping from above, her fair, slender legs were exposed to the air.
What surprised Ryuji was that she was wearing pink safety shorts under the kimono, which made him both relieved and disappointed. As she walked, ten round, jade-like toes stepped on silver-gray wooden geta, and the bells beneath the geta chimed along with each step.
"Hey! That kid over there!"
As an ugly-looking middle-aged man holding a matchlock shouted, everyone turned their gaze this way.
With the lord of Aragane Station here, he felt he should perform well. Maybe then he could get promoted and make a fortune.
Feeling smug, the man walked up near the loli and pointed the matchlock at her as he barked: "The exit is on the other side. Kids need to be inspected too… huh — "
Pa!
Before the scruffy man could finish, his nose was struck once by a red ball-like object. Startled, he quickly shut his eyes and leaned back.
Getting scared that easily — honestly, the braver he looked a moment ago, the more pathetic he looked now.
"Judging by appearances is a foolish act. That's what my mother taught me, moustached uncle." The loli said this while playing with a kendama in her hand.
"What did you say? You — "
"Enough!"
The scruffy man raised his matchlock, about to flare up, but was stopped by Kenshō.
After that, the conversation was similar to the original, and Ryuji didn't feel like listening. They continued admiring the doll-like loli's figure instead.
Perhaps sensing his intense gaze, the loli turned her head and said to him: "Hey! You over there — are you what they call a lolicon? I think that's what my mother called it."
She didn't seem too sure about the word "lolicon", and she pressed her left hand to her chest as if holding something.
"Uh… me?" Ryuji pointed to himself in confusion.
Why wasn't this like the original now?
"Yeah, you. My mother said only lolicons look at me with that kind of weird look."
Thankfully, the people here didn't know what "lolicon" meant — or Ryuji would have died of embarrassment.
The loli played with her kendama as she walked up to him, craning her head up to look at him.
"Heh. You're pretty handsome, but you're too tall. I have to tilt my head up just to talk to you."
"Ahem. Should I say thanks? Also… do you know what lolicon means?"
Ryuji looked strangely at the loli who only came up to their chest. By all logic, the word "lolicon" shouldn't even exist in this era, much less come from Mumei's mouth.
"Of course. My mother said anyone who likes small, easy-to-push-over little girls like me is a lolicon."
"Pfft — "
Ryuji spat blood. This explanation was painfully clear and easy to understand.
The conversation made Ayame, who stood nearby, look over with a strange expression. He wanted nothing more than to dig out a whole soccer field with their toes.
"Ahem. Little sister, I'm not a lolicon. I'm just being respectful to the elderly and caring to the young — "
"Aaaah!!!"
Ryuji tried to explain, but a scream interrupted them.
Everyone followed the sound and saw a man wearing only a strip of white cloth covering his lower body running out from the men's inspection car.
"He has wounds on him!" Someone shouted.
As if the samurai's skills and their Steam Guns were purely for decoration, the samurai who had been blocking the man's way all panicked and moved aside.
Ryuji immediately grabbed Mumei and Ayame by the hand and pulled them behind him.
After all, the plot wasn't exactly the same as the original now — who knew whether the man running out was a virus carrier?
Although he had already been intimate with Ayame yesterday, they still hadn't given her the Retainer Contract. She wasn't a familiar yet and had no skills — she was just an ordinary girl. He naturally had to protect her well.
Mumei looked oddly at the tall figure in front of her, and a faint, inexplicable emotion rose in her heart.
'Mother once said: if, when you're in danger, someone stands in front of you right away, it means that person cares about you a lot. Does that mean this big brother cares a lot about Mumei?'
Mumei's thoughts ran wild, while Ayame — also behind Ryuji — felt worried.
She was afraid the man who ran out really was Kabane, and that Ryuji might be in danger standing in front.
However, the man didn't run this way. He ran toward the other side instead.
Seeing that, Kenshō immediately barked: "Don't let him get away!"
After that, it was much like the original. Several samurai who had been frightened earlier, now embarrassed into anger, opened fire at the man.
Perhaps still terrified, the samurai who fired couldn't hit him no matter what. The man ran desperately, shouting "I wasn't bitten!", "I'm not Kabane!", "Save me!" — and then fell to the ground.
Yet the surrounding samurai still looked at him with fear and rage, closing in and pointing their Steam Guns at him.
Ryuji already knew what would happen next and lost interest. He pulled Ayame and Mumei away from the scene.
Mumei looked at the big hand holding her small one, and for some reason she felt safe.
✦✦✦
T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want 20 chapters ahead of this novel for just $1, as well as smut chapters ($2) or spicy images ($5) or enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations (free or starting at $1.5): MrBlackWing (you know where to search)
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)