Change: New World

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.

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