Countryside Breather
After an entire day of traveling, the group finally stopped. They were in a place that Ryo recognized as Shirakawa-go, a countryside village in the Gifu prefecture. It was estimated to have only 1.5 thousand inhabitants and it was one of the oldest villages in Japan, having been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1995.
Thinking about it, the houses were strong, the place was good for farming, the area was away from bigger cities and it was easy to secure the place with the nature around it. Ryo decided to stay there for the rest of the day and, once they managed to find Kouta and the others, they could come back with everyone else.
"We spend the day here" Ryo said once he got off the bus. He immediately began going house by house, searching for zombies and other pests. His
Silently, everyone began following his actions and checking house by house, knocking on each door before opening them. There were only about 600 zombies they made short work of. Zeke, in particular, moved faster than everyone while digging the brains out of every zombie. His new claws being perfect for the task. Once they were done, Ryo and Hiratsuka gathered the corpses in two piles and lit them on fire with their lighter.
"Ok, the place is cleaned up" Ryo said while he watched the first corpses burn. "Let's go into a house and rest there"
*
After searching for the best house to lay in, Ryo decided to simply move a few couches from other houses into the biggest one. Once he was done, he plopped down in one of the couches, Zeke laying by his feet.
"So Ryo... what are we going to do now?" Yugo asked while Ryo smoked a cigarette and stared at the ceiling. He exhaled the smoke slowly and answered. "We need to find the other's once again"
"How do you exactly want to do that?" Aki asked this time. Honestly, she would rather staying in the village, but she also didn't want to separate from those that could protect her and Yugo. Ryo looked at her before answering. "Currently... we can't"
Ryo sighed when he said those words. It pained him to admit it, but without a method of transport for so many people, he couldn't go into the city. His priority were, and would always be, the girls.
"Our best shot is move in the nearby areas and search for big vehicles I can fix" Ryo said as he put his cig off on the sole of his shoe. "Then we can move back to the city with more vehicles and bring everyone back here"
Yugo thought that it was a possible and logically sound plan. Ryo wasn't risking it because of his own pride or anything like that, but taking the long -yet secure- route.
"Ryo, don't worry. You left Kouta and my parents there" Rei said as she hugged him from behind, pressing her boobs on his head. "They'll be fine, ok?"
"*sigh*... I don't doubt they'll be fine but..." Ryo leaned his head back, looking at Rei's face. "I kinda can't help worrying, you know?"
"They are my responsibility"
*
When the night came, everyone was eating merrily and drinking a bit. They were just allowing what had happened go past them. Everyone was talking over a bottle of tequila, since Ryo would ever only share one glass of whisky at a time.
"Ryo, why wontyou sleef with me already?" a drunk Rei asked while pointing at Ryo with a fork over the table. She was the one who drank the most. "*sigh* Rei you're drunk... I think we have to ban alcohol for you"
"Buuuut..." Rei wanted to argue more, but the alcohol took effect on her and she dozed off. Ryo sighed seeing this and stood up, carrying her to one of the couches he brough over. Laying her on the couch, he gave her a soft kiss in the forehead. "Sleep well, Rei"
"That was so tender I almost can't believe you fucked three other girls" Rika said with no decorum at all. Ryo choked on his whisky and almost spit everywhere when he heard that. He had a wry smile while everyone laughed at that.
Overall, it was a peaceful and enjoyable night that helped them cope with the situation.
*
The following day, Ryo woke up with Shizuka on top of him. He didn't remember when she climbed on the couch he was in, but he didn't complain. As always, his braind woke him up at 6 AM. Carefuly getting up and laying Shizuka on the couch, he left the house.
Lighting a cig once outside, Ryo began searching the area for anything of value, but the village stayed true to its origins in that sense. There was absolutely nothing. Zeke had woken up with him, so he from time to time kicked a stone and he would run to pick it up. Of course, their version of the game looked like something you'd expect from an action movie, with a superdog and a superhuman.
Once he got back to the house, he found Saeko sitting crosslegged while polishing the Murata-Tou.
"Quite the dilligence you have there, Saeko" Ryo said as he observed her delicate movements intently. He was mesmerized by how beautiful she looked with a serious face while she did something. "It is a must, since it is out of respect for my father's memory and love for the sword"
He just sat there, not bothering her too much. Not long after, Yuriko and Hiratsuka left the house. Apparently, they had been conversing among themselves while the rest slept.
"So, what did you talk about?" Ryo asked inquisitively. He alwasy felt curious about what the girls talked about when they had "girls talks". Yuriko answered first. "Mostly about which direction we should head now..."
"We thought about it but couldn't decide, so we wanted to ask you" Hiratsuka continued. Ryo thought about it for a bit. If they were in Shirakawa-go, the closes city would be Tokyo, but he wanted to stay away from it if possible.
The other big cities he wanted to avoid that were close to him where Osaka and Nagoya, since he had the easiest access to them. North, not further than a few hours from Shirakawa-go, he had Toyama Prefecture. It had Toyama City, a portuary city on the northern banks of the Chubu Region in central Japan. Even closer was the Ishikawa Prefecture, and the nearest city there was Komatsu City, another portuary city in the northen side of Chubu. There was one big difference among them, though.
"We're going to go to Komatsu City in Ishikawa to search for a generator and more vehicles" Ryo said terminantly. He didn't want to go to Toyama for safety reasons. Yuriko tilted her head and asked. "Why Komatsu City specifically?"
"It is the closest and it has a population of only one hundred thousand" Ryo explained calmly. Even though a hundred thousand inhabitants sounded like much, Tokonosu City where they came from had an average of 500 thousand. "Besides, we should be able to find weapons there. Right, Rika?"
Everyone was surprised when Ryo suddenly asked a question to Rika without even looking at her. Rika herself had her eyes piercing through his head, wondering just how inhuman he had become. They would never know that Ryo could tell who was who with eyes closed just based on their presence.
"Yeah... Yeah, we should be able to. Since it has an airport, more likely than not the military was there" she explained while chugging a shot of vodka. She was a heavy drinker. "So unless they managed to stand their ground, which I doubt, they have abandoned weapons in that airport"
Once the general plan of travel was made, they kept talking aboutthe more minute plans.One, for example, was how they needed a change of wardrobe. Ryo most of all, since his clothes had been bathed in zombie blood. They also talked about what they thought of Yugo and Aki, with Rika insisting heavily on them both being virgins.
"You seem oddly fixed on virgins" Ryo teased Rika when he heard her say that Yugo and Aki hadn't done it for the fifth time. Rika fired back instantly. "What? Don't like the challenge of someone experienced?"
"First you gotta work on what you want yourself, Rika" Ryo said, taunting her to spill the beans. "I might not look like it, but I don't fuck anyone anywhere"
Yuriko chuckled when Rika remained silent at his words. She didn't want to compromise because she was afraid of commitment, that the main reason she didn't have a boyfriend in spite of her experience with boys. But she did want Ryo, and badly. Unluckily for her, Ryo demanded her heart as forepayment.
"You know, you also haven't even made a move on me, besides kissing" Hiratsuka said to him with a serious face. Ryo smirked when he heard that and looked her in the eye. "I just really want to give you a special moment, you know, Kitsu?"
Seeing the serious and sometimes violent Hiratsuka blush deeply, everyone laughed. It was moment like those, when they could talk and laugh, that gave them the energy to push through each and every day.
"Good morning, Master!" Miku said excitedly when she left through the door, followed by Shouko, Saya, Rei, Shizuka, Kururu and, hand in hand, Yugo and Aki. Kururu had little to no progress in her expressions, mostly because they didn't have time to work on it, but Ryo planned to dedicate a bit of time each day to talk to her. Ryo answered with a happy smile. "Good morning, everyone"
He then looked at everyone who was present and remembered something important he had forgotten to talk about the previous night.
"Yugo and Aki" he said seriously while looking at them from head to toe. "You two need to get stronger because we won't always be able to keep you alive"
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Being able to use a filler as an actual breather and at the same time make it kind of important by explaining future plans... I love being a writer, Jesus.