Chapter 60: Future Planning! Shocked Rika

To avoid being seen as a god who only throws parties, Shirakawa decided to help Saeko and Shizuka properly train after making them Chosen of Pleasure. After all, even combat practice is still a kind of party!

Becoming supernatural beings required proper training to master their powers. With time to spare, he brought them out for drills.

The surrounding area had been cleared of zombies the night before.

Even if a few wandered in, their numbers weren't overwhelming—perfect for practice. Shirakawa didn't bring any of the firearms from Rika's house.

Enhancing combat skill was more important. True strength came from within.

"..."

Holding a wooden training sword, Saeko could immediately sense the physical boost after becoming a Pleasure's Chosen.

Her mastery of the Busujima-ryu sword style...

Combined with her enhanced physical abilities, made her movements even smoother. Spotting a zombie charging her way, she met its lunge with calm, decisive eyes.

She swung the wooden blade with such speed that afterimages trailed her strike—cutting the zombie cleanly in half at the waist.

She didn't just defend. Noticing more zombies drawn by the noise, her eyes filled with battle spirit. Her burst of speed was fast enough to surpass a professional sprinter.

She closed a 20-meter gap in the blink of an eye, cleanly slicing through several zombies with crisp, practiced strikes.

"..."

"So... Saeko-Senpai can take on zombies that easily?"

Rei Miyamoto watched in awe. Her face held surprise. She'd only known Saeko as the kendo captain of Fujimi Academy.

But this fierce Busujima-ryu swordplay was changing her perception completely.

"From now on, you'll all train under Saeko."

"Firearms are powerful against zombies, but if you rely only on them, your personal growth will stagnate."

Although Shirakawa knew Busujima-ryu himself...

He preferred letting the expert handle it. Watching Saeko and the others spar helped him understand how his divine skills worked.

The divine authority he granted resembled how the gods in DanMachi (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) built their Familia—updating ability stats for their followers.

As for what powers they developed...

That depended purely on their talent. If he had to provide direction, he'd have to rely on the KonoSuba world.

"Now there's a lot more I need to take care of..."

He didn't have enough spare points to travel to the DanMachi world yet—so he couldn't learn Hestia's ability stat update skill to visualize their stats.

And next...

He had to find a way in the KonoSuba world to awaken professions—so his Pleasure Chosen could strengthen along a clear path. He couldn't just recruit and leave the rest to fate.

That kind of chaos wouldn't do.

Shirakawa didn't find it troublesome, though. He noticed Saeko had already taken care of the nearby zombies with ease. Her powers as a Chosen had clearly improved her strength.

"Looks like it's time."

"I'll have to trouble you, Saeko, to teach your sword style to the others. If anyone isn't interested in swordsmanship, they can wait for now."

He glanced at the girls around him.

Power growth wouldn't happen overnight. And aside from expanding his group of Chosen in this Highschool of the Dead world...

There was grinding to do.

"Of course, Shirakawa-kun."

Knowing how powerful Shirakawa was, Saeko understood that truly helping him was nearly impossible. But she could still do what she could—teach swordsmanship to the others.

"And if I remember right, there's a car nearby, right? Bring something loud we can use to draw out the zombies—we'll clear them out quickly."

Shirakawa turned to Shizuka and smiled as he asked.

"Yes, there is! It's my friend's off-road vehicle. She's probably too busy at work right now anyway, so borrowing it temporarily shouldn't be a problem."

Shizuka smiled gently and nodded.

She actually wasn't particularly interested in combat, but if there was something she could help with, she would absolutely offer her loyalty without reservation.

---

After leaving the airport—

Minami Rika rode her motorcycle toward her home. She was full of confusion, especially about the explosion sounds from last night.

There was no way conventional weapons could have caused that.

An explosion is a sudden discharge of energy, and the long-lasting blast flames didn't look like the result of a gas pipeline burst either.

Still full of doubt.

She weaved her motorcycle through the complex city streets. Corpses were everywhere, cars burned from collisions.

"Why does it feel like... there are way fewer zombies around here?"

Occasionally, a few zombies would be attracted by the engine noise, but their numbers were down at least 80% compared to the airport where she had been on duty.

It was strange—

Almost as if someone had cleared the area. But with government institutions basically paralyzed and only capable of setting up defensive lines to slow the zombies, how could they spare the effort?

As for the survivors, they were basically left to fend for themselves.

Minami Rika furrowed her brow and formed a theory: "Could someone have used the zombies' sensitivity to sound to lure them away?"

...

With nothing blocking the way, her bike cruised through the streets unhindered. Before long, Minami Rika arrived at the road near her home. The difference was immediately noticeable.

It was clean—so clean there wasn't a single corpse in sight.

In the distance, she saw clearly dismembered bodies, blood trailing along the ground still reeking with a metallic stench—fresh kills, it seemed.

"Someone really is maintaining order."

Minami Rika finally relaxed her brows into a smoother expression. After parking her bike in the yard, as the captain of the SAT special assault unit—

She immediately sensed something wrong as soon as she got to the door. The mat that usually hid the spare house key had clearly been disturbed.

Thinking it through for a moment, she understood right away.

There were only a few friends who knew where her spare key was.

Shizuka Marikawa.

And the high heels on the shoe rack confirmed it. One of her few friends was safe, and the tension in Minami Rika's heart finally eased.

"Good thing that woman's okay. Otherwise, it'd be a real pain trying to track her down."

Just as she was about to unlock the door, she heard a car engine roaring from the garage. She looked in that direction—

The garage shutter slowly opened.

Her beloved Hummer H2—so rarely driven that she didn't even use it to commute to SAT—was now backing out, with her familiar friend Shizuka Marikawa behind the wheel.

"Shizuka!"

...

Wearing flat sneakers for driving convenience, Shizuka poked her head out the window when she heard the familiar voice.

There stood her friend Minami Rika at the door.

She smiled and waved. "Rika, you're back?"

"...If I didn't come back now, I don't even want to imagine what you'd have done to my house!"

Minami Rika looked at the unfamiliar faces sitting in the Hummer. Her expression turned more resigned than anything. She couldn't help but facepalm. "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah."

"Saeko, Saya, and Rei Miyamoto are all students at Fujimi Academy. I was with them when Lord Shirakawa rescued us."

Faced with her longtime friend—

Shizuka's joy couldn't be hidden. She'd seen too much death in this apocalyptic world. When she spoke of Shirakawa, her tone was practically dripping with affection.

"As long as you're safe."

Minami Rika glanced at the women inside the car, then focused her gaze on Shirakawa. If there was no mistake, this delicate-looking young man—

Should be...

The Shirakawa her friend Shizuka said had rescued them?

Though she couldn't imagine why the word "rescue" was necessary, Minami Rika still gave a serious nod of thanks. "Thank you."

"If not for you, finding Shizuka would've been extremely difficult."

"Just doing what anyone would."

Shirakawa didn't seem to mind. His eyes fell on Minami Rika—long purple hair tied up in a high ponytail revealed her attractive features.

She was still wearing her SAT tactical combat uniform.

Weapons strapped to her waist, a fitted crew-neck shirt that perfectly outlined her excellent figure—though not as voluptuous as Shizuka Marikawa's.

Still, her sun-kissed skin gave off not only a healthy vibe, but even a touch of wildness?

"So, where are you all heading next?"

As he asked, Minami Rika's eyes twitched at the large speaker in the backseat—that was her Harman Kardon she spent half a month's salary on!

"We're following Lord Shirakawa's plan," Shizuka explained seriously. "We're using the zombies' extreme sensitivity to sound to lure them into an open area."

"..."

"So the reason there are so few zombies in these streets is because Shirakawa... lured them away?"

Following Shizuka's explanation, Minami Rika was able to piece together a lot. The nearby streets had fewer zombies—likely because of him.

She'd never allowed any man to sit in the passenger seat of her beloved Hummer.

But now—

She looked at Shirakawa again. He suddenly seemed a lot more agreeable. Drawing the zombies away had no doubt helped many survivors in the area.

"I'm free right now, so I'll go with you. That way, even if there's danger, we can watch each other's backs."

...

Shizuka looked toward Shirakawa in the front passenger seat. Seeing that he had no objections meant he had accepted Minami Rika's offer to join.

She softly said, "Sure."

"But if you're coming, you'll have to follow Lord Shirakawa's orders. As long as we stick with him, nothing will go wrong."

...

Minami Rika didn't ask why Shizuka was giving such high praise to Shirakawa.

She opened the rear car door.

Seeing there weren't any weapons inside, she frowned slightly. "Give me a minute. I have plenty of firearms at home."

"They're still really effective against zombies. One headshot and it's an instant kill."

Although Shizuka wanted to say that Lord Shirakawa could handle zombies with ease, Minami Rika didn't give her a chance to explain.

She headed straight for the house.

Worried her friend might give Shirakawa the wrong impression, Shizuka added, "She's my close friend Minami Rika. She's the captain of the special assault force."

"Her approach is just... cautious."

"It's fine."

Shirakawa didn't seem to mind. In fact, he was seriously considering something: if he wanted to unlock a new profession panel, he still needed two more Chosen of Pleasure.

Since Minami Rika was also from the Apocalypse world, could she potentially become one of his divine followers?

If all went smoothly—

The new blank profession panel could be activated...

Minami Rika didn't keep them waiting long. She quickly returned from the house carrying a tactical backpack.

A MAC-10 submachine gun.

She probably thought it was too reckless to try luring zombies without carrying any weapons. To boost their combat strength, she armed herself fully.

"Alright, let's go then?"

With Shizuka driving the Hummer H2, she was far more composed than she had been the day before. She kept the speed just right—fast enough to stay ahead of the zombies, slow enough to keep them chasing thanks to the horn's noise.

After the cleanup—

The number of zombies in this district wasn't too high anymore. Most had already been lured to other areas. Now, they headed into zones swarming with the dead.

"Didn't think there'd still be this many zombies here!"

Driving down a wide road, the constantly honking horn kept drawing the zombies in. From all directions—

Uncountable zombies charged toward them.

Even Minami Rika tensed up. There were easily more than 2,000 zombies here—a sea of death.

"This... the virus outbreak was way too extreme!"

She couldn't help but click her tongue. Just as she was about to ask what they would do next, a powerful force pushed her back against her seat.

Shizuka floored the accelerator.

The Hummer H2 shot forward, jumped the low curb, and drove straight toward the open square's center.

Stopping in the spacious central zone—

Thanks to their strengthened stats, the girls divided up tasks smoothly, unloading the Harman Kardon speaker and turning the volume to max.

The high-decibel sound...

The range of the sound had expanded significantly, becoming fatally attractive to the undead. Zombies surged in from all directions like a tidal wave.

Even Minami Rika, sitting in the back row of vehicle 523, felt her heart tremble.

She gripped the MAC-10 submachine gun tightly, her finger already on the safety, ready to help carve a path out at any moment.

"That should do it."

"Hold on tight, I'm driving now!"

Even Shizuka Marikawa rarely looked this serious. The moment she started the engine, she floored the gas pedal, causing the car to drift slightly as it accelerated toward the area with the fewest zombies.

Watching the zombies outside, Minami Rika's heart stopped momentarily when she saw the empty front passenger seat.

Shirakawa hadn't gotten in the car!

In a rushed tone, she shouted, "Quick, the zombies haven't swarmed yet—go pick up Shirakawa now! Don't hesitate, or it'll be too late!!"

But no one in the car responded. The Hummer stopped in a relatively safe area, roughly 500 meters away from Shirakawa.

Saeko Busujima, Rei Miyamoto, and the others got out of the SUV, faces full of anticipation.

They all looked toward the distant figure standing in the middle of the square—Shirakawa's silhouette, small from afar—almost as if they were expecting something...

"Could it be that Shirakawa... isn't as kind as he seems?"

Minami Rika remained silent. This was someone who was willing to sacrifice himself to lure away the zombies and create a safer environment for the others.

No matter what...

She just couldn't associate the word "bad guy" with Shirakawa. Seeing Shizuka unmoving while the zombies closed in on him, she finally lost it.

Only less than a hundred meters remained between the zombies and Shirakawa.

"Shizuka, you idiot!!"

As a former SAT special forces member, Minami Rika didn't consider herself especially virtuous—but since the keys were still in the ignition...

She jumped into the driver's seat without a second thought.

Didn't even buckle up—just started the engine, spun the car around, and sped straight toward the square despite the overwhelming number of zombies that made her scalp tingle.

"It should..."

"It should still be in time!"

She had no idea what Shirakawa was thinking—but things shouldn't end like this. Just as she stepped on the gas—

Shirakawa's small figure vanished as if into thin air. Only the speaker remained, still blasting noise.

Zombies pounced on the spot in droves.

Unable to locate him through the sea of undead, Minami Rika slammed her fist into the steering wheel.

"Why... why did you do that?"

"You could have lived!"

There was no answer for her. She even began to wonder if Shizuka was hiding something.

But then—

Minami Rika looked up and saw the once-clear sky engulfed by an enormous swirl of magic energy, tinted through a mysterious filter.

Her mind went completely blank.

She couldn't even comprehend what was happening. A massive burst of magical energy erupted, glowing in all colors and rising to the sky, its explosion changing even the color of the heavens.

"So-someone—please tell me what the hell that was!!"