Tanaka runs. Running with several cups of noodles in his arms. Carrying away goods from the supermarket that have not been paid for.

Or rather, there was no way for Tanaka to be able to transact to pay for the goods he brought.

"I don't know what they're doing, I'd better get out of there!"

Tanaka quickened his footsteps. The incident just now left Tanaka's mind filled with questions. An incident where a girl turns into something akin to a zombie.

What really happened?

Is the girl still alive or not?

Why didn't I get attacked by them?

Those thoughts haunt Tanaka.

"Could it be that they weren't zombies in the first place?"

Tanaka tried to find a logical reason why he wasn't being attacked.

The high school girl was a human. Tanaka is also a human. However, it would be strange if only the high school girl was attacked even though Tanaka was also of the same race as him, a human.

"Heretic Sect,"

For a moment, Tanaka thought of that obscure thing.

The Heretical Sect, an organization that was created recently around. They have a main activity related to giving offerings to a 'God' which of course is opposed by many parties. It was trending a while ago as Tanaka recalled.

However, in the same vein, the heretical sects didn't make such blatant riots as before. What they usually do is kidnap or frame others to become converts to the organization. Biting other people in public places until the victim dies, it's not their activity.

Moreover, it was logically impossible to bring someone back to life after their gruesome death. Unless it really was a zombie like Tanaka had previously thought.

A heretical sect became a heretical sect. So it was a bit unreasonable that these people were members of a heretical sect that Tanaka knew about. However, this is still a possibility that is possible even though it doesn't make sense.

However, that still didn't answer the reason why he was the only one who wasn't attacked. Even heretical sects should still be aware of Tanaka as their target.

"No, I guess they're still zombies... But for what reason am I not being attacked?"

Tanaka returned to his initial estimate, a zombie.

"Could it be because I'm not human?"

From his run, Tanaka paused for a moment. On the right side there is a pole with a mirror that is usually installed at a fork in the road.

Tanaka looked at the convex street mirror. Tanaka's body looks like an oval shape.

"No… this can't be right… It shouldn't be like this!"

Tanaka snapped the words out of his mouth. He panicked.

"What the hell, I'm a normal human!"

That was the reality that Tanaka saw. It's a strange fact where Tanaka is a human, but Tanaka is not targeted by the zombies. Or so Tanaka was thinking at the moment.

"Could it have something to do with me looking younger?"

Tanaka was still trying to find a logical reason for what had happened.

"No, that's impossible!"

Tanaka refuted his hypothesis. However, Tanaka had strange thoughts about the attributes that existed within him. It is a hikikomori attribute.

"That's right, hikikomori!"

It was the result of Tanaka's intense thinking over and over again. Hikikomori are considered as non-human humans.

Or so the people of the world described it.

So, whether it's an updated cult or zombies, there's at least a plausible reason that hikikomori aren't their target. This may be because the mindset of the people who have changed assumes that hikikomori are humans who are not humans. That was Tanaka's first hypothesis.

While solving the problem and answering the question, Tanaka had arrived in front of his boarding house. The boarding house was built right on the side of a large road. Although it is not a main road, the road in front of the boarding house can still be passed by three cars at once.

Boarding houses where there are not enough residents. Or you could say the occupants are only on the count of fingers using one hand.

Boarding houses with walls as high as two adults circled all around except the front which led directly to the street. The front is only fitted with a one meter high iron fence which is usually used in city parks.

Tanaka unlocked his bedroom door. Entered the room and put the ten cup noodles on the table where there was still a laptop on. Still on by going to the laptop's network settings tab.

Tanaka immediately went downstairs, hoping that there was still the landlady who could explain the situation.

"Excuse me!"

Without needing a knock or anything like before, Tanaka just broke down the door. A crash that makes a pretty loud sound.

"Eh, that easy? Was it unlocked from the start?"

Tanaka was confused. It was a strange thing for him to be able to successfully break through in one try considering his weak hikikomori body. Even back when he was a fit high school student, it took four to six hard thumps for the school's warehouse door to open.

Ignoring that, Tanaka noticed that the room he entered was dark. Tanaka fumbled around the wall for the light switch.

After getting it, Tanaka flicked the switcher. The center light was on, he could now see the room clearly. The rooms were quite empty.

“Excuse me, landlady!”

Tanaka calls Landlady with a formal nickname according to her position in the boarding house where she lives. Even though their age gap wasn't much different, Tanaka was more comfortable calling her by that nickname than calling her by her real name. Tanaka is a typical person who is afraid of being thought of as 'trying to become friendly creep'.

While looking for the landlady in various corners of the room, Tanaka kept calling out to her. Unfortunately, landlady could not be found.

Even so, there is one thing that makes Tanaka at least know the information regarding the owner's whereabouts. It was in front of Tanaka.

It was a note or memo attached to a wooden notice board. The board should be outside the room to stick some kind of up-to-date information or just a landlady wanting to stick something interesting. However, since the board was placed inside, it meant that the landlady was indeed traveling as Tanaka had expected.

Tanaka read the memo. The memo is quite long.

[If you see this memo it means you're trying to rob my house right!]

"Wait a minute, the beginning of this memo seems weird even though there is some truth on it,"

Tanaka responded to the initial writing in the memo. It was a landlady habit which liked to make some kind of random statement.

Tanaka continued reading the memo.

[…I hope you don't mean it like that. Because right now I'm being invited by my friends to vacation on the island of Hawaii to celebrate the birthday of one of my very rich friends. Well, not jealous or anything but I really want to switch positions with her. So if you see this memo message, don't forget to turn off the electric switch near the entrance if you are going out for a long time. And you guys are free to take food from my fridge as long as you don't tear it apart. So goodbye and have fun. Muwachhhh.]

"What a strange memo!"

Tanaka said expressing his creepy feelings for the landlady.

However, from that memo Tanaka was reminded of something. The plural form of the word 'you guys' made him remember the existence of the other occupants of the boarding house.

She lived right next to Tanaka's room. According to Landlay's words, she is a young girl. Landlady herself warned Tanaka not to mess with the girl because she was having bad luck. He was afraid that Tanaka would make the girl's condition worse.

Before leaving the room, Tanaka checked the refrigerator in the room. A large enough refrigerator where the contents are full of mineral water.

"Well, it's her habit anyway."

Do pranks. Or so thought Tanaka who felt cheated by the memo message written by landlady.

Tanaka immediately closed the refrigerator and left the boarding house's room. In front of him is a boarding house that looks like an elongated dormitory. It was a very large hostel which could have lived a lot of people. Or so it should have been if only the place didn't have any strange rumors about ghosts or anything like that.

Beside Tanaka's room, room number 205 or room number five was on the second floor. It was the place where the girl referred to by the landlady lived.

Tanaka ventured to knock on the bedroom door. A hikikomori trying to deal with the problem of his 'hikikomori' attribute.

"Hello, is anyone still there?"

...

There was no answer at all after Tanaka waited for a while. The knocking should have been loud enough to wake the owner of the room from his slumber.

"Ah, maybe they're gone,"

thought Tanaka as he was about to head back into his room.

"Is it from JDF?"

Suddenly a voice came from behind the door. A voice that was hoarse like a girl's, but sounded somewhat like that of a middle-aged man.

Tanaka, who had not spoken to anyone except the convenience store cashier for a long time, became a little nervous. However, he still tried to start the conversation.

"Ah no, but I'm just like you, I live in this boarding house!"

Tanaka explained his identity which seemed to have something in common with the girl. Both inhabit this boarding house.

"Liar! There's no way you're a resident of this boarding house. They're all gone!"

The girl's voice that sounded ambiguous said that she was sure that this boarding house was no longer inhabited with a serious tone. In fact, there was still Tanaka living right next to him.

"What, no no. It's me in the room next to you, my name is Tanaka, my room is right next to yours!"

Denies Tanaka tried to confirm his identity. However, there was something that was quite confusing for Tanaka. That was the reason why the girl tried to disguise her voice.

Tanaka had two possibilities. Possibly that his throat was having problems or because he was deliberately trying to disguise his voice.

After all, both possibilities were still suspicious to Tanaka.

“What, you think you can fool me! How could there be other occupants of the boarding house on the second floor besides me. Surely you just want to set me up for food right!? Go! Mine itself is about to run out here!”

Hearing that, Tanaka's feelings became a little sore.

It was true that Tanaka was a hikikomori which was the lowest type of human in that world. However, until someone who has lived in the boarding house for a year and a half is not considered, it clearly makes Tanaka's feelings a little hurt.

"No no, you may not know but I've really lived next door to you this whole time. If you want proof ask me anything about this boarding house. I'll answer!"

Tanaka challenged the girl behind the door. This is to prove that he is indeed knowledgeable about this boarding house.

"Whatever? Then how many occupants of the boarding house downstairs?”

The question was immediately asked.

It was actually an easy question, if only Tanaka had known.

Unfortunately Tanaka doesn't know the exact number of occupants downstairs. However, as Tanaka recalled, there used to be some kind of crowd in his downstairs room. At least the crowd can only be made by three people.

"I think there are three, right?"

Tanaka tried to guess. However, the information he knew from Landlady about the residents of the boarding house was only those who lived on the second floor.

The only other occupant who was notified by Landlady was the girl in the room who was now being stared at by Tanaka. Or that was the only information Tanaka had given to the boarding house occupants.

"Wrong, since the beginning I was the only one who inhabited this boarding house since half a year ago. You're suspicious so hurry up or I'll call the pol… I mean hurry up or your life will be in danger if you keep standing at my door!”

'What does it mean?'

Tanaka thought without speaking.

There are some irregularities in the statement of the person inside. To Tanaka, the existence of the one inside was now even more suspicious. He became unsure that it was the girl inside.

The statement that he had been in the boarding house for half a year was obviously very strange to a Tanaka who was more veteran than her. At least if she had lived for half a year, there should have been an awareness that there was an occupant in the next room since that room which the landlady often came to collect.

However, in retrospect, Tanaka remembered that the current conditions were indeed very dangerous. Perhaps what the person inside was doing was an act of preventing outside danger.

Tanaka tried to think it was just a statement that took the form of a defensive lie.

"Well that doesn't mean you're the only occupant in this whole boarding house, right. I mean if you really want to get the answer right, it should be two or three instead. Including you and me and the landlady?”

Tanaka tried to explain as well as deny the girl's statement. Now Tanaka was sure that the one in there was the same girl the landlady had told her about earlier.

“Why are you so adamant that you belong to that haunted room! Aren't you afraid of karma for associating with mystical things?!”

Tanaka was a bit surprised to hear the girl's reply.

'Mystical things? Haunted room? What did she say?'

The room that Tanaka the hikikomori has lived in for a year and a half is called the haunted room.

'There must have been a misunderstanding!'

Tanaka thought in response without speaking.

“No no, it's me Tanaka who inhabits that place. You might mistake me for a ghost!”

“Ha, if you insist on confessing then answer this question! What is the name of the landlady in this boarding house?!”

Landlady means the owner of the boarding house. This was an easy question for Tanaka who knew her very well.

“Her name is Fumiko, Fumiko Kurokami!”

Tanaka answered firmly and confidently. However, those were the only names of other people who lived in this boarding house that he knew.

Back then, when Tanaka was in the early days of leaving his job, he was still a brave man. He was even able to ask the name of the young woman he was attracted to at first glance, that was Fumiko Kurokami.

The landlady.

At that time, Tanaka still had some hope of having a normal life and maybe he could propose to her. Well, that was until Tanaka realized that he had completely lost hope and had no ability to propose to such a beautiful woman.

“…You're right, but are you really the occupant in the next room? I still can't believe you!"

Tanaka who was already confident in his answer was now a bit annoyed. What the girl behind the door said did not match what she had promised at the beginning.

Although the first question was answered incorrectly by Tanaka, a question as important as the name of the boarding house owner had answered her suspicions.

"Okay fine, I understand. Whatever it is I'm really a 'ghost' living in this room next to you. Just remember if you need help, 'go' to me because I'm a good 'ghost'!”

Tanaka said it with a slight accent in some words. It was sarcasm whose meaning was actually quite the opposite of reality.

The sarcasm aimed at venting Tanaka's frustration whose expectations were not met even after he did what the girl wanted him to do.

Tanaka then went to the door to his room which was still slightly open. The door he had left when he was about to go out to check the building or the room of the boarding house.

The man who lived in the room entered his area, leaving all worldly problems unanswered.

Is the world experiencing a zombie apocalypse?

Is there anyone other than the occupants of the next room?

What happened in the government?

Why did he feel so different?

And there are many other questions that are in his mind lined up in the waiting room of the brain. At this time, the hikikomori man was trying to focus on his 'daily activities' to forget the fatigue he felt.

Normal activities of a teenager or maybe an adult who has not been successful. Activities which are very embarrassing if known by others.

"Well, even without the internet I can still watch videos of Kami Kuroha!"

Very private activities.

"No matter what happens outside, I will stay in this safest place!"

Tanaka exclaimed before he took off his clothes. However, it is true that he was one of the survivors who survived the apocalypse.

Zombie apocalypse.