The Importance of Comfort

After we finished constructing the basic setup for the traps of our new base, I pondered what to do next.

Currently I was in the English Classroom. Since the desks and chairs had all been moved before hand, the place had a rather ambient, yet barren atmosphere to it. Inside the room with me, were the others. Cher, still slumped to the floor with a reddened face that gave me shivers, stood a few feet away from me. Cielle, who stood directly at the center of the room, was looking out towards the window overlooking the city… or at least that’s what it first looked like. In actuality she was staring at her dead eyed sister, who remained unmoving ever since she entered the room.

“...”

While her current mental stability was a bit of a troubling problem, I was lost as to how to fix it.

I was a person who lacked any real social experience, so fixing someone’s mood, or comforting them was out of the question. If I did something carelessly, it might backfire and worsen her already fragile disposition. If it was something less… less emotional… like fighting a monster, or collecting supplies… then maybe I could have handled things, but this type of problem was clearly not within my area of expertise.

For now, the only thing I could do, was give Hina some space, and hope she relieves her own issues by herself….

With that in mind, after looking at the empty classroom, I had a spark of an idea.

“Miss Pitiful, come with me for a bit.” I quickly stated while making my way to the door that connected to the hallway.

This entrance way was the only one not rigged with a bucket of [Dark Gemini]. Instead, it was a door which I planned to keep locked at all times. It had a counter to lockpickers in the form of an extended rope that extended out from the door’s knob. Since the door opened outwards, if anyone tried to recklessly pull on it, they would be met with resistance from the rope, which was tied to a table on the other side of the room. As an extension, I also propped a bucket to titter on the edge of the table, so if anyone yanked on the door knob with enough excessive force to move even the table, then the bucket would topple over and alert us of any would be intruders.

It was during the setup of this particular trap that I forgoed setting up barricades or the like. In all honesty, while I called this place a “base”, it never changed the fact that it was only temporary. If worse comes to worse, it was more convenient for there to be no obstructing objects in our way. I’d rather be able to escape with ease then keep my enemies temporarily at bay.

I dismantled the trap with ease while I heared the outright complaints of the person behind me. “Eh, wait a minute... Where are we…”

“Geez, for a slave, you sure are slow.” I interrupted while making my way into the hallway.

My semi-hostile tone of voice caused Cher to panic before she hurriedly followed behind me. When I turned to look at her, I saw someone’s silhouette quietly following, as if it were the most natural thing to do in the world.

Cielle had an oblivious expression as she walked behind the panicking Cher.

“....”

“... Cielle, sorry about this, but I’m going to need you to stay here for a bit.” I said.

Cielle’s reaction was unexpected. She showcased a dumbfounded face as she widened her eyes in my direction.

“W-why….” She cautiously asked.

I awkwardly scratched my head at her inquiry. “Well, for now, I need you to stay put. This Miss Pitiful is enough for what I have planned.”

Upon my words, a wave of expressions flashed onto her face, while a slight tremble could be seen on her shoulders. In the end, she settled for a vicious glare directed at Cher as she stood by the doorway. This glare only caused Cher to shrink back before me, inadvertently causing Cielle’s own glare to intensify.

Seeing this, I let loose a tired sigh.

In actuality, I was planning on going out for a bit, so I needed someone reliable to guard the newly established base while I was away. Hina was obviously a no go, so the only person I could rely on was Cielle.

“Anyways,” I started. “ I’ll be gone for a bit, so Cielle stay in the room with Hina. Watch out and see if anybody regularly patrols around this area. It’ll be troublesome if they do.”

In the face of my earnest request, Cielle reluctantly nodded while she kept a cold eye firmly on Cher.

“Before we leave, Pitiful, go and grab a few strings of rope.”

“R-rope…” She whimsically muttered to herself as she brought her open hands to her cheeks while her face began flushing in a familiar shade of red.

“Oi, don’t get the wrong idea, pervert. Just, go get the rope already.” I bitterly retorted, a fair bit of annoyance inlayed in my words.

Like that, with a pervert in tow, I left the Eastern building and made my way down the barren hallway.

****

Currently, we we’re back within the main building, on our way towards a familiar location.

In my quiet trek, I thought about a few things. I thought about the school. I thought about this dungeon. I thought about the monsters, thought about the food problem, thought about the survivors, thought about the new world… I thought about everything that had happened to me so far.

Analyzing and categorizing my own experiences, I narrowed down my current situation to three main obstacles. Food shortage, hostile survivors, and escape.

These were the three present obstacles standing in my way. I racked my brain for a solution to these problems. Escape and dealing with the hostile survivors would undoubtedly bring me into conflict, thus, I needed to get stronger. The lack of food… well, in actuality, it wasn’t that tough of a problem. The president even hinted at a solution; monsters. If I wanted food, then I’d just needed to hunt it myself.

I’m sure a few of the monsters within this dungeon we’re edible. As long as I avoided those vaguely resembling humans, since it gave off a semi-cannibalism vibe, and as long as I stayed clear away from anything with a poisonous or acidic attribute, then I’m sure everything will work out.

While the President did say something troubling about how difficult it was to hunt, I’m sure I can find someway around it, after all I-

“H-Hide, why are we heading towards the infirmary again?”

A voice from behind me interrupted my train of thought, and pulled me back into reality.

From the shivering in her words, it was easy to tell she was quite scared. I smiled wryly at her needless worry.

“What’s wrong, scared?” I nonchalantly asked as I continued down the open hall.

“N-no, that’s not it, I-I’m sure with Hide here then….” she mumbled a bit while tripping over her own words. “I-it’s just that… that….”

“Don’t worry so much. All your shaking’s going to attract attention. Didn’t you say it yourself, Satou’s range of movement doesn’t encompass the infirmary?”

“Uuu… Y-yes… the only reason I was there in the first place was because we were running away…” She dejectedly mumbled while her head remained downcast.

Even with the reassurance from Cher that Satou wouldn’t be here, I had a backup in the form of my [Sensory Remapping]. Enhanced hearing was quite a useful tool, especially in this echo inducing hall.

“B-but still… why are we going there now? All the medical supplies have already been taken.” She pressed forth. By now, it was obvious enough that being anywhere remotely close to Satou was enough to cause her to quake in fear.

“That may be true, but there is one thing that they left unattended…” I said, a hint of excitement in my voice.

“T-that is?”

With an uncharacteristic grin, I turned towards her and said, “Obviously, it’s the beds.”

For the past few weeks, I’ve slept on tables, and on the floor continuously. This may have been a decision made on a whim, but since I’ve determined myself to stay within this school and see things through the end, then I want some measure of comfort.

With that type of childish reasoning, we arrived at the infirmary.

In the end, the trip here was an uneventful experience. Although we did come close to running into a couple of Satou’s stooges, we managed avoid detection easily enough. The rather dull duo simply passed by us as we hid in an abandoned classroom.

At the infirmary, the familiar scene of blood and empty cabinets filled my vision. Paying closer attention, there we’re three separate beds, virtually left untouched by the chaos within the room. My objective here were the mattresses and a few of the pillows.

Cher was brought along so that she could drag everything back while I stood on guard. After all, it’s the duty of a slave to handle all the menial labor.

As we entered the room, my trepid footsteps landed into a sort of reddish puddle. With a soft splash, my unexpecting shoe was dyed a deep shade of murky red.

I looked down, only to see a red puddle with varying lumps mixed in. A few white spots bubbled out from within the red puddle while it lay spread across the center of the infirmary.

“What the… this wasn’t here the last time I visited….” I quietly murmured as I scrunched my brow in confusion.

Cher, who was behind me all this time, also noticed the puddle. Unlike my confused reaction, she showed an expression of dismay, one intermixed with heavy doses of despair,fear, and familiarity.

“T-t-that….” She stuttered uncontrollably as she took two quick steps backwards. Eventually, she hit the bed frame, causing her to topple over into the mattress.

From how she acted, I knew she was fairly familiar with the gooey mess on the floor. I also had a fair bit of an idea as to it’s origin, but overcome with curiosity I used [identify] on the lump of red.

ding

Human Leftovers

Corroded remains of a human body.With the power of an unknown force, it has been thoroughly melted and turned into something with a consistency reminiscent of syrup or honey. The corrosive acid has long since lost its effects.

Rank F Alchemy Material. Rank C- Necromancy Material.

Quietly reading through the display panel, I confirmed my original theory.

“So it’s that huh…” I quietly muttered. “That guy… Satou, the Boss, he’s been here…”

I bent over to inspect the mass of blood and guts with a closer eye. Upon closer inspection, the white lumps that floated in the soap of red we’re pieces of protruding bone, while the reddish lumps we’re leftover remains of this poor guy’s intestines.

From what the information panel told me, the acid the Boss used has already lost its effects, but still, I couldn’t help but gawk at its destructive power.

Cher already informed me before hand about what type of effects Satou’s skill had, but seeing it before me was simply baffling. In all honestly, I had the vague impression that Satou’s skill was extremely broken. Something with this much destructive power and danger shouldn’t have resulted from a simple Elite Monster kill.

Closely inspecting the lump, I noticed that even the surrounding concrete below it exhibited signs of mild corrosion. As if the mass of flesh had been acid, the floor melted off, only to come to a stop about 3 feet away from its original epicenter. Luckily enough though, much of the acid has since simply dissipated and lost its effects.

“....” Seeing all this, my expression darkened.

This skill had a huge destructive potential. It was truly a cheat like ability. One scratch, one injury could result in permanent damage, or in more extreme cases, death. Would a lucky hit to the head kill me? If it pierced my arm, can I save myself with an amputation? As I pondered these thoughts, I made a solemn expression as I wordlessly looked over the mass of blood and guts.

Eventually, I snapped myself out of my darkened whimsy and refocused in on my original objective.

While I stood to the side, I instructed the still shaken Miss Pitiful to gather the mattresses together. She stacked them up on top of each and then fastened them all together using the rope I asked her to bring. Afterwards, I gathered the sheets and the pillows and placed them on top of the stack of mattresses.

In total, Miss Pitiful and I returned to the East Building with a stack of three mattresses in our care.

On the way back, we were lucky enough to avoid running into anybody, but we did come close during several occasions….

****

After we returned to the English classroom, I set up the beds alongside the walls. Two of the mattresses were joined together as if to form a giant bed and pushed towards the right of the room, while the other one was placed towards the left and away from the others. It was obvious, but the left matress was for me, while the remaining two were for the girls.

As I took a step back to admire my work, a weary wave of fatigue swept past me.

I tiredly sighed, and stretched out my arms.

-then, with this….

In the end, after all the effort into setting up my new base, the total time elapsed was a little over three hours. I felt a wave of gratification sweeping past me, and as a result, I decided it was time for a change of pace… in other words, a bath.

Now was the perfect time to indulge in something I never once experienced these past two weeks. While this wasn’t anywhere near the showers of the gymnasium, it was still a perfect location. This small section of the East building, this section away from all the other survivors and monsters, had completely fallen into my protection. It was the safest place (in my opinion) from any of the dangers this school had to offer.

Back in the old school building, I never really got the chance to relax, due to the constant danger present. But right now, it was a different story.

With that in mind, within an adjacent restroom, and with the assistance of Hina’s convenient water magic, the girls were the first to clean their bodies.

Naturally, I stood guard. Even if this place was safe, an unexpected development was still viable, so it was always necessary to stay vigilant. With such intentions, my [Sensory-Remapping] was revved up and my hearing was boosted to the max.

Not only any outside force could be detected within a span of about several dozen yards, but the inexplicable sounds and noises from the rest room could be easily heard. My hearing was boosted to such an extent that all sound within my vicinity was as loud as a roaring freight train.

Even if I didn’t want to, I ended up listening in on them.

Rather than the familiar sound of running water, the noise of thunderous splashing, and vigorous scrubbing were present. Of course, I resisted to form any mental image of the scene that currently played on without my knowledge.

Through the flimsy wooden door, I heard the content sighs interlayered with small “Hyaa~” and “Kyaa~”s.

I could differentiate those sighs by the different tone and octave of their voices. The majority of it was from Cher, whom I imagined had remained dirt and grime covered ever since the apocalypse started. Cielle and even the depressed Hina also sighed gently as I pictured them washing their tired and sore bodies clean with freshly produced magic water.

I made an awkward, cramped smile as all this took place. I was honestly thankful that they remained silent, and didn’t bother with the legendary, “girl’s talk” that I’ve heard only in legends. If such a spectacle were to take place, then I fear that my sanity may very well be compromised...

In the end, their bathing time lasted about 20 minutes, a bit longer than I would have liked, but nonetheless, a well deserved bath.

As they exited the restroom, I momentarily deactivated [Sensory Remapping]. The inexplicable scent of blood and grime which I had grown familiar of, had dampened, only to be replaced by the somewhat soft, and strangely flowery scent of adolescent females.

The three of them had a wavy smile on their expressions and their skin glistened cleanly while trickles of water remained stuck on their supple flesh. All three of their moods obviously improved. The sulking Cielle had a smile on her face. The pitiful Cher was grinning from ear to ear, while the still absentminded and depressed Hina had a somewhat vague expression on.

Since they didn’t have a towel with them, they were obviously still wet when they wore their usual clothing. Normally, wet cloth resulted in accentuating figures… in this case, it wasn’t any different. The normal attire of a summer uniform now clinged closely to their developing bodies. Here and there, the uniform donned on a transparent sheen as I saw through the flimsy fabric towards what lay poorly hidden underneath.

Cher’s own outfit, consisting of a simply navy skirt and uniform, was sloppily worn. The dampened cloth she wore revealed a surprisingly buxom figure, one normally hidden by layers upon layers of dry cloth.

Hina was much the same. The trickle of water which ran down her cheek traveled down all the way to her neck and collarbone, leading to the dampened fabric she wore. It accentuated her normally… impactful body line, reminding me again that this type of person was definitely popular with the opposite sex. Although all this was slightly worsened by the dead eyed expression she maintained.

Cielle’s case was a little different. Her one-size-too-large sweater was still fairly dry, absorbing much of the runaway moistures. But nonetheless, she had a soft glow to her. Her smile fit perfectly with Cielle’s slightly reddened cheeks. Along with the slow trickle of a bead of water then ran down her forehead, her normal curtain of dark black hair, was bobbed up for a change, revealing a pair of almond shaped eyes which softly narrowed into satisfied crescents.

While their refreshing figures and fluttery expressions were, in of itself, an enrapturing scene to behold, the remaining dirt and grim still present on their uniforms sort of ruined the whole scene.

-Maybe next time, we could wash our clothes as well…

As I pondered this, I struggled to maintain an indifferent expression on my face as I nodded towards them.

“We’re done now~” Cher happily stated with drooped shoulders as she continued walking.

“Hmm…” I nodded again, keeping up a stiff poker face.

Cielle walked over and stopped in front of me. The soft fragrance she emitted floated listlessly to my nose as she looked up at me.

“Nnn… Don’t worry… I will stand guard while… Hide cleans up…” She stated with a certain hint of determination that couldn’t mask what I felt was a sort of hidden motive in her words.

“Ah, um, okay then…” I uttered while I mechanically moved forward.

Wordlessly, I took a bucket prefilled with water produced by Hina’s magic and entered the male restroom, leaving the act of surveillance for the girls to handle.

Like that, I too washed myself. Taking care to get rid of the putrid stench of dried blood that had permeated around me ever since the start of this whole mess. I washed away all the collected grime and blood, while I stayed oblivious to the small open crack of the restroom door, and the peering eyes that stood beside it.

*****

Author's Note:If you liked this chapter or this story in general, please review or rate. I appreciate it.