Chapter 43: CH 43

Chapter 43 – Words of Farewell

“I-Isao…? This can’t be real…” Kousuke knelt next to Takenaka’s corpse.

We had spent the entire night eradicating zombies. The sky had already started to brighten up.

And I… Hadn’t told anyone about Takenaka’s death until now. I thought they’d be troubled by it, and would maybe be unable to fight properly if they were aware that someone was sacrificed in this battle.

… His corpse felt a lot neater when compared to the ones of zombies.

Kousuke cried as he held Takenaka’s hand.

… Everyone was visibly affected by it.

Rintarou was averting his eyes.

Asuka was holding back her tears.

Ritsuko’s face had no semblance of emotion in it, as if she was holding everything in, in order to not crumble down right here and now.

Mr. Asada looked up at the skies.

Mr. Sasaki averted his gaze as well.

Ms. Asaka covered her face with her hands.

And Mr. Norio… broke the silence. He crossed his arms and said, “He was a good boy, he deserved more.” Then, he took a deep breath and continued, “But we cannot stay here forever. We need to fix the barricade… Kousuke, stand up.”

“Shut up!” Kousuke exclaimed, “At a time like this… Why are you so…?”

Mr. Norio stood still for a small while, but then he said, “I see…” and turned around.

… I decided to move closer to Kousuke and tell him my thoughts on it too, “Don’t you think there might be different ways for mourning the dead for each person?”

“I’m sorry, senpai, but… For now… Just for now…” Kousuke replied.

… I guess he requires time. I suppose that can’t be helped.

Then, since there was no way around it, I decided to get up and move after Mr. Norio.

After I got close to him, Mr. Norio said, “You know… I really wish you could become my daughter-in-law.”

“This is not the time for that. Also, please don’t bring it up ever again.” I replied bluntly.

“… I’m sorry.” He apologized. It seemed frank.

Then, he went to the school building to pick up his tool box.

***

While Mr. Norio got the necessary tools, I ate three bags of instant noodles as a breakfast substitute, but still wasn’t satisfied… Well, it can’t be helped with the current situation, so I’ll just have to endure it.

Then, once he was ready, we headed to the fence, which luckily enough, wasn’t torn too badly, so it seemed like it should be possible to fix the torn wires… Though there were still quite a few zombies near the torn fence.

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“So uhn… Are you going to bring it out again? The fire, I mean.” Mr. Norio asked me.

To that question, I averted my eyes, “Ah, well…” I guess I can’t hide it at this point, so I used ‘Enchantment’ and ‘Fire’ on my sword, then quickly wiped out the nearby zombies.

And with them out of the way, Mr. Norio repaired the fence in the blink of an eye.

–Congratulations! You earned the ‘Repair’ achievement!

–Congratulations! Your level has risen!

“You’re skilled at this.” I told him.

“Ah, I used to make stage props, so I’m good at doing this kind of work in a rush.” He replied.

“Wait, like, for plays and stuff?” I asked.

“Yeah, for quite a few plays too. The ones that make the most money are those aimed at youngsters, by the way.” He told me.

“Oh my.” I commented.

“I even helped with the play involving an idol, and I was hoping it was going to be a job that would end quickly, but the customers kept on returning, so it ended up lasting quite some time.” He explained.

“Amazing…” I muttered.

It was nice to talk like this. About the things of the civilization that we haven’t seen in a while. It healed my heart, perhaps.

“Well, I’m done here, so let’s go back, there is still a lot of work to do.” Mr. Norio said as he got up.

“Okay.” I replied.

“… And we have to make a funeral too. We can’t bury him together with the immortals.” Mr. Norio said.

“… Okay.” I replied.

Then, we both went silent for a while.

Only our footsteps were heard as we slowly moved back to the school.

But eventually, Mr. Norio asked, “Are you… Actually an Esper?”

“Come again?” I asked back.

“I mean… What else would you be?” He asked.

“I don’t really understand it myself in all honesty. One day, this just started happening to me.” I told him truthfully, though I don’t know if he actually believed it.

“Well… Alright then.

“Above all else, I want to tell you that no matter what you are, I’m very grateful. I mean it.” Mr. Norio replied.

I nodded to that statement, but… It somehow felt like words of farewell.

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